Mer-Cycle

by Piers Anthony

  Gaspar clicked it off. “That goes on continuously,” he said. “That’s the net that Eleph is on. Always different, always the same. Crisis to crisis. Worlds blowing up. A real alien invasion. If they don’t subvert a world, they destroy it.”

  “No!” Eleph cried. “That’s not it at all!”

  Don looked at him, appalled. “The city! The ship! You set this all up! Why—?”

  “Something we’d all like to know,” Gaspar said. “But he won’t talk.”

  “Now, wait, give Eleph a chance,” Melanie protested. “He said he would explain, if he gets clearance.”

  “Tell me how you make contact,” Gaspar said.

  “Let me sit down,” Eleph said. “I am not in good form at the moment.”

  “Of course,” Melanie said solicitously. She and Don helped him get comfortable.

  “I am of Earth,” Eleph said. “I am human, and of this culture. You can verify this by the language: it is the same on my communicator. But not this Earth. I have come to save your world. That is all I can tell you, without clearance.”

  “You are not getting your hands on this radio!” Gaspar said.

  “Maybe you can answer for him,” Melanie suggested. “For the clearance.”

  Gaspar was surprised. “Eleph?”

  Eleph nodded. “It will have to do., It is difficult to distinguish individual voices on this circuit. Turn it on, and when you hear this world’s number, acknowledge.”

  “Number?”

  “Proxy 5–12–5–16–8. I am the proxy for this alternate world, which is one of twenty in this frame.”

  “What’s that number again?”

  “Perhaps the mnemonic will help. If you number the alphabet, with the letter A being the number one, and B number two, and so on, it spells out E L E P H. 5–12–5–16–8.”

  “Got it,” Gaspar said. “And how do I report?”

  “You will be asked for your status. Then simply say that you request permission to clarify the mission for the locals. It will be granted. Then I can tell you.”

  “If you know it will be granted,” Melanie asked, “why not simply tell us now?”

  “We have to coordinate. Central must know the status of each mission constantly, especially when one is in trouble.”

  Gaspar shrugged and turned on the special radio.

  “… political situation here is deteriorating, and I’ll need central guidance, if I haven’t blown it already. The president will not be moved on this issue, and unless I reveal myself—”

  “No! You know that is out of the question, in this situation.

  “But there is a diminishing chance that—”

  “OVERRIDE!” a man’s voice cut in. “I have failed. The alternate faction has launched a full strike.”

  “Phase out!”

  “No. It was my miscalculation. I must remain. Just put a prohibition for all remaining—”

  There was a ghastly sound that abruptly cut off. Eleph winced.

  In a moment the first man’s voice resumed. “GENERAL OVERRIDE: Option fifty twenty one demonstrated ineffective. Proxy lost. Prohibition for that course for all alternates within—” Unintelligible gabble followed. Then the man resumed normal transmission. “Attention, 16-19. Word from Central: appeal to his vanity. Do you require detail?”

  “Not yet. Off.”

  Gaspar looked at the others. “This can continue forever!”

  “No; they check each proxy frequently,” Eleph said.

  Sure enough, a few minutes later the number came.

  Proxy 5–12–5–16–8: Attention.

  Gaspar jumped. “Acknowledging.”

  Status?

  “Permission to inform locals of mission.”

  “16–8, why have you not acknowledged recent calls?”

  “The locals made me captive,” Gaspar said with a straight face. “Now I must explain the mission if I am to have further access to this radio.”

  Do so. We shall call again. Off.

  Gaspar looked at Eleph, who nodded. “The essence is simple,” he said. “There are a seemingly infinite number of alternate worlds, the adjacent ones very similar to each other. But a considerable number of them face a life-destroying threat. It is a particular type of meteor that—”

  “A calcium meteor?” Gaspar asked.

  “Why yes. It—”

  “It grazes the atmosphere and fragments, interacting with the water of the planet, forming calcium oxide. Not too much damage to the physical features, if it powders thinly enough, other than crusting them. But most or even all of the water could be gone.”

  “What are you talking about?” Don asked.

  “The phase world,” Gaspar said. “I’ve thought about that quite a bit. It’s just like ours, only without water, therefore without life. If a meteor with a dark shell came, the telescopes could miss it until too late, and we couldn’t stop it anyway. We don’t have the technology to intercept something that massive and fast. But there’s one thing I can’t figure. That world should be buried in ash, especially in the ocean basins. Miles deep, perhaps. That’s obviously not the case here. Calcium oxide is fierce stuff. Touch it and you’re burned.”

  “The ash is there,” Eleph said. “The phase takes care of that, too. The ashes are phased out, leaving only the stripped world for us to relate to.”

  “The phase,” Gaspar agreed. “Of course. And the weight of that ash prevents the sea-floor from rebounding, so it still matches our world almost exactly.”

  “I thought you were against him,” Melanie said to Gaspar.

  “I just want to know the truth,” Gaspar replied evenly. “He brought us on this wild chase. There has to be a reason.”

  “You mean you’re the one who set this up?” Don asked, surprised.

  “I am,” Eleph said. “This is another world facing the disaster of the comet. But this is not the normal type of collision, such as generated the waves of extinctions including those of the dinosaurs. This is a fluke that will extinguish all life on Earth. Indeed it has done so, on countless worlds, and is proceeding to others.”

  “Wait,” Don said. “If it has already happened, where it’s going to, then we’re out of danger, right?”

  “Not so. The worlds differ slightly in time as well as substance. The meteor has already struck some, is striking others, and will strike the rest, in this sector of the spread. We know this, because we are seeing it happen. It is my mission to warn your world of this threat, so that it can expend its effort and resources to save itself.”

  “Why not just tell our leaders?” Gaspar asked. “Why go through this convoluted business of exploring under the ocean? We aren’t significant people! We can’t do anything about it.”

  “That is the crux,” Eleph said. “We have been trying, literally, to save worlds, with a poor record for success. The true leaders of the world are generally inaccessible, both physically and intellectually. In America, a man cannot simply walk into the president’s office and tell him to change his policies to save the world. The same is true in other parts of the world. Since considerable short-term sacrifice is required, even if the politician understood the need, he would be unlikely to act, because his first concern is the security of his office. We did try this route, and got nowhere, as our ongoing reports from other worlds demonstrates.”

  “Well, then, why not be more direct?” Melanie asked. “I mean, if you have the technology, land in the capital city in a shining space ship, or something.”

  “I can answer that,” Gaspar said, smiling. “Such a ship would get blasted out of the air before it landed.”

  “It has happened,” Eleph said. “We have also tried sending messages to key figures. So far these have either been ineffective, or have destabilized the political situation so that mischief results.”

  “Such as nuclear warfare!” Don exclaimed, remembering part of the radio sequence of reports.

  “Precisely,” Eleph said. “While such events are not the disasters they
may seem, in view of the coming total destruction by another cause, they do represent failures of our policy. It is our purpose to save worlds, not to hasten their destruction. So I am trying a completely different route. I am attempting to demonstrate the reality of the alternate world framework to a select group of ordinary residents of this world. If I can convince them, then they may be able to convince their world. That is, you can convince yours. Your world may listen to you, when it would not listen to me.”

  “But what has archaeology to do with this?” Don demanded.

  “You, as an archaeologist, are able to appreciate the reality of the knowledge I was able to draw on, from my contact with the larger framework of worlds. I routed the party to the Yucatan ruins, and then to the Minoan ship. You know how the phase works, and that the information it provides is genuine, not cobbled together. You believe. Also, you are in a better position to understand the cultures of other worlds that are not virtually identical to this one.”

  “But I have no power to influence anyone!” Don protested.

  “Yes you do. You can convince Gaspar.”

  “But Gaspar can’t influence anyone either!”

  “Yes he can,” Eleph said. “He is an agent of your government. They will give his report credence. Especially when he shows them the ruins and the ship, and you publicize your interpretation of the manuscript. When the four of you together speak in a way that I could not. They will see that the government takes my message seriously. In that may be the salvation of your world.”

  Melanie was aghast. “What a roundabout route!”

  “Yes,” Eleph said. “I knew you would reject it if you didn’t learn much of it yourselves. So I specified the coordinates, and arranged other challenges whose purpose was to make you interact and learn to rely on each other and to trust each other. This process we call melding. It seemed to be working—until it abruptly went wrong.”

  “It was working,” Melanie murmured, glancing sidelong at Don.

  “But there are holes in it,” Gaspar said.

  “Holes?” Don asked. “You didn’t see that ship!”

  “I didn’t need to. Consider this, Don: if the calcium meteor destroyed all the water and wiped out life and in the process even leveled those ruins off Yucatan so that we could walk right through them—why did it leave your ship? That wooden vessel would have been completely destroyed, and certainly no documents would have survived.”

  Don was stricken. That was true!

  “The ruins were not destroyed by the meteor,” Eleph said. “That world was further advanced archaeologically than this one. Both ruins and ship were excavated. But for this purpose, we arranged to have a similar ship phased back in from a third world, complete, to match the one here. The ship is genuine—but the one in the phase world is not from this world. It is merely a prop to enable you to explore the real one. The manuscript is genuine too, as you can tell.”

  Eleph paused, looking tired. “Now if you can satisfy Gaspar of that, we may yet recover this mission and save your world. You are the key, Don; it depends on you.”

  Don looked around. He was convinced. But how could he satisfy the others?

  CHAPTER 16

  MISSION

  Gaspar frowned. “If what you say is true, we must cooperate with you to save our world.”

  Eleph nodded. “This is the case.”

  Now Don remembered how Eleph had hesitated when they had discussed governmental foul-ups, including the exploding shuttle and the wrong-shaped mirrors on the telescope. Eleph had not known of these episodes—because he was not from this world! His world would have had different episodes.

  “But first we have to believe you,” Gaspar said. “And I’m not sure I do. There are too many oddities. Such as the mermaid Pacifa described.”

  “Splendid,” Don said. “She helped me translate the tablets.”

  “And he goosed her,” Melanie said.

  “What’s a mermaid doing there?”

  “They are Chinese,” Don said. “Learning how to colonize Jupiter. The sub is theirs—bringing supplies, protecting them. They mean no harm to us, and should be left alone.”

  “How do you know?” Gaspar asked.

  Don shrugged. “I have no reason to doubt. They helped me get here quickly. They could have dropped me and killed me, if they wanted to stop me. I did get to know Splendid somewhat, and I believe she’s sincere.”

  “But the chances of their being right there by that ship—”

  “That was not coincidence,” Eleph said. “The freshwater outflow is ideal for both the colony and the ship, and they were interested in the ship anyway. And Jupiter is part of the answer.”

  “Answer?”

  “The mer-colony was to be the last challenge for this group, before you learned of the mission. Once you saw that it is possible for man to adapt for residence on another planet, and understood how much can be done when there is dedication. Then, I believed, you would be ready to grasp the greatest of all: the saving of your world.”

  “How can it be saved?” Melanie asked.

  “Any living things that are to be saved will have to depart Earth, and it is not possible to build enough spaceships for the whole population of human beings, animals, and plants. But Jupiter could serve as a substantial base for adapted creatures. Ordinary ocean denizens could be adapted more readily. They could be ferried there by the shipful.”

  “Couldn’t everyone be put through the phase tunnel to a safe alternate?” Melanie asked.

  “No. The phasing is an extremely limited resource, to be used only for those who are trying to save worlds. I was the only one to cross to this world, with my equipment for the recruits.”

  “Why not simply blow up the meteor?” Gaspar asked.

  “That is another possibility. But it would require a phenomenal unified effort, because your technology is barely at the necessary level. It would be better to transfer as many people, animals, and plants to other sites as possible, in case that is not effective.” Eleph took a breath. “The point is, your world can surely be saved—if it makes a concerted effort. But first your leaders must believe in the necessity, and organize the effort.”

  “And other worlds have not made that effort?” Gaspar asked.

  “They have not. So the worlds are being lost.”

  “Because they don’t believe,” Don said.

  “Or don’t choose to,” Melanie said. “I read about a girl, once. She was grabbed in a shopping center and hauled into a car, and no one objected. Later she managed to get away, and ran screaming down the highway, half naked, and no one stopped to help. Two days later they found her raped and strangled body in a ditch. She was ten years old.”

  There was a silence. What better comment was there on the nature of man? Knowledge of trouble was not enough. There had to be leadership. Would I have stopped to help? Don asked himself, and did not know the answer.

  “Nobody will stop to save a world,” Melanie said.

  “How much time—before the meteor?” Gaspar asked.

  “For this world, ten years.”

  “It couldn’t be done in that time, even if everybody believed and acted,” Gaspar said.

  “It could—with technological advice from more advanced worlds. But it will be extremely close.”

  Gaspar shook his head. “I can’t say I believe you, Eleph. But I don’t think I can take the chance. Will you talk to my superiors if I take you to them? Will you open your communications to them? Show your technology to our experts?”

  “Yes, if the rest of this party will speak for my sincerity and tell what you have seen.”

  “Then we’d better intercept Pacifa before she reaches Florida and makes a report that brings a force to arrest or destroy us,” Gaspar said. “We thought that you were working with the Chinese subs to establish a base here to compromise American interests. You won’t be able to persuade anybody of your mission, once she reports that and they send a military force to take out the colony.�
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  “No!” Don cried. “That’s what the mer-folk are afraid of. I promised them—”

  “How well I know,” Eleph said. “My whole effort was to persuade the four of you first, so that you would help me to persuade your world. Other approaches are failing, but I hoped that this personal approach would provide me that necessary channel. I need exactly the right key to alert the right people in the right way. Then it becomes possible.”

  “It’s an odd device,” Gaspar said. “I agree with your radio contacts there.”

  “Well, it worked for me,” Melanie said. “I believe Eleph, because I’ve come to know him. If you hadn’t been so paranoid—”

  Gaspar smiled. “I was infiltrated into this mission because my superiors were paranoid.”

  “I can intercept Pacifa,” Don said. “The sub will help me, and I can get to the tunnel she used before she does, and stop her.” Then he hesitated. “It is still there?”

  “Yes,” Eleph said. “It is a single unit, left there for our return.”

  Melanie was perplexed. “Now wait. I can see how you handled the interviews and all, with your fuzzed-up voice. You could have taken your tunnel-generating unit to Don and then to Gaspar and then to me. But you were the fourth person through. How did you get it to Pacifa?”

  Eleph smiled. “I wished to conceal my nature, in case of suspicion, until the group had proper chance to meld. That was evidently ineffective, as my present situation demonstrates. So I went to Pacifa and sent her through with instructions to practice her phase technique, until the designated time for rendezvous several days later. Then I went through myself and rode down the highway to my own coordinates. It was a simple ploy.”

  “Which Pacifa saw through, when she reflected on it,” Gaspar said. “So she knew the tunnel was still there.”

  Eleph nodded. “She is an intelligent woman. I deeply regret—” He did not finish.

  Gaspar smiled. “She likes you too, Eleph. She was sorry to learn of your alien involvement. But her first loyalty is to her own world.”

  “Which I am trying to save.”

  “I’ll have to load up on supplies, though,” Don said. “I don’t want to be caught hungry.”