Crucible of Time

by Jeffrey A. Carver

  He answered around a full mouth. “So you’ve said.”

  “But I’m pretty sure it is a modulated signal.”

  “For us?”

  “Pretty sure. It is no doubt compressed. I have several decoding methods.”

  Bandicut swallowed, lifted a mug of coffee to wash it down. “And?”

  “By all but one, we get a pretty hashed up signal.”

  “So what about the one?”

  “By that one, we get a phrase that includes something close to the name Amaduse.”

  Bandicut frowned, taking a moment to absorb that.

  “And . . . something that could be rendered as danger.”

  “Jesu,” Bandicut whispered. Had that Logothian found a way to send a message across those thousands of light-years? How? And more importantly, why? A warning? About what? Bandicut spoke slowly. “If it is Amaduse, then he must have something pretty important to tell us. We should make damn sure we know what it is.”

  “Agreed,” Jeaves said. “I am continuing to work on it.”

  “Every available resource?”

  “Of course. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about right now? Because I’d like to give it my full attention.”

  Bandicut shook his head, and the holo of the robot blinked out.

  He rubbed his eyes. He was very tired, and if he didn’t get some rest, he was going to start making stupid mistakes. It would be smart to rest before he was needed again.

  ***

  He was buzzed awake from a fitful nap by Jeaves summoning him to the bridge. When he arrived, massaging a stiff neck, he was greeted by Copernicus with:

  “The two new incoming? It’s three now, and they seem to have gone solid—ready for action.”

  Bandicut swore. He looked around to see if the Uduon were paying attention, but they had left the bridge. Just as well.

  “And something’s happening to the one here,” Copernicus continued. “The one Ruall went into. It seems to be coming apart.”

  Now he was wide awake. “Let me see!”

  “I don’t have a good image—the visuals are degrading to hash, as if they’re being jammed somehow—but the multi-radar echoes are coming back as if the target is literally in pieces.”

  “That’s good, right?”

  “Depends on Ruall and Bria’s status, doesn’t it?”

  Bandicut found it hard to take a breath. “If the Mindaru is coming apart, wouldn’t that mean they’re free?”

  Copernicus seemed to ponder the question. “One can hope. It depends on the manner in which it broke up, I think.”

  Jeaves spoke suddenly. “We’re picking up some fragments of signal. I’m pretty sure it’s from Ruall. I think she’s trapped somehow in junk-space and needs help getting back.”

  Bandicut jerked his head back and forth between the two robots, trying to parse all this. Junk-space? “What kind of help?” he asked finally.

  “The kind you’re not going to like hearing about,” said Jeaves.

  “And what kind is that?”

  “I’m not certain, but I think before it died, the Mindaru managed to wrap Ruall and Bria into some weird kind of folded-over, knotted-up n-space.”

  “Junk space?”

  “The kind of space that’s really hard to move around in, or do anything in,” Jeaves explained.

  Mokin’ A! Bandicut thought. He knew little about n-space except what Jeaves and Copernicus had told him, notwithstanding the fact that he had flown thousands of light-years through the stuff. He certainly didn’t know how to rescue someone from “junk-space.”

  “I believe,” Jeaves said, “that what Ruall might be stuck in is a “twist” in n-space where the structure curves in on itself in all relevant dimensions, blocking any path out.”

  Like my life in these missions? Bandicut thought. “Okay. Then what can we do about it? Is Bria still with her?”

  “Unknown,” Jeaves said. “But as for what we can do, that’s what I have been discussing with Copernicus.”

  Bandicut swung back toward Copernicus, thinking, It’s just me and two robots—and we’re going to rescue a pair of sheet-metal creatures who do things in dimensions I can’t even imagine? He felt a twinge in his wrists, a reminder from the stones that he was not quite that alone; he had them, as well.

  “We cannot be certain what she needs,” Copernicus said. “Based on what I can map of the Mindaru wreckage, I believe our best approach is to move in close, and then try to match the approximate level of n-space that they’re in, and see if we can unravel the blocking layers to get them out.”

  “Which you will do by—?”

  The robot tapped. “I’m working this out as we go, Cap’n. If I can’t find a way to pull them free, I hope they will be able to cross over into our n-space field once we have removed enough of the barriers. Then we should be able to bring them back aboard, I think.”

  “And you can do all that by modulating our own n-space field?”

  “That is my thought.” Copernicus tapped again. “But—”

  “What?”

  “While we’re busy doing that, we could be vulnerable to attack from those incoming Mindaru if they decide to investigate.”

  That thought gave Bandicut the shivers. “How far away are they? And how long do you think this rescue will take?”

  “Threading our way through pieces of crumbling Mindaru—and finding Ruall and Bria—and hauling them out of n-space? I have no idea. It’s not exactly a standard procedure.”

  “No. No, I don’t suppose it is. And the incoming Mindaru?”

  “Based on information from Dark,” said Copernicus, “they might be here in a couple of hours. That’s if they come this way. They might fly right on to Karellia and threaten them instead.”

  “Or just head out to conquer the galaxy,” Bandicut muttered. “All right, Coppy. Get us in there as fast as you can.”

  “Yes, Cap’n.”

  “And, uh—make sure you have the best firewall protections in place. Because I haven’t forgotten what it’s like to have Mindaru in your AI.”

  “Nor have I,” Copernicus said.

  “Then let’s do it.”

  ***

  It was like descending into the sea, except that what changed as they penetrated through the layers wasn’t just the light, color, and visibility, but the shapes of the objects before them, or at least the way the shapes were revealed in the viewspace. The Mindaru hulk changed from what looked like a cloud of jumbled pieces to a distorted view of an intact solid. Copernicus steered them through a particularly gnarled folding of n-space and slowly brought them alongside the wreckage.

  It took Bandicut a minute to parse what his eyes were telling him, what Bria and Ruall had done to the enemy. Its body, which had once resembled a cross between a burned meteorite and a sea urchin, now looked like something that had gone through a food slicer. Its sliced-up parts had drifted apart to open up the space between them; but there was more to it than that. Every slice seemed offset from the next slice, and weirdly distorted, as though each had been translated into a different dimension.

  “What’s holding it together?” Bandicut asked in amazement.

  “It could be inertia, if the dissection happened cleanly enough,” Jeaves said. “But I suspect it has to do with the n-space layers folded around it.”

  “Is it dead? Did they kill it?”

  “We’re doing every kind of scan we know,” Copernicus said. “I haven’t found any sign of activity.”

  “Move with caution, anyway,” Bandicut said. “Don’t take unnecessary risks.”

  Copernicus clicked three times. “What risks would you like me not to take?”

  Bandicut winced. “Sorry. Use your best judgment.”

  It soon became clear, though, that Copernicus was relying more on guesswork than anything else. Apparently, when Ruall and Bria had killed the Mindaru, the dimensional maze inside the Mindaru had collapsed around them like a vehicle crushed in a crash. They would
need to peel back the layers like bent sheet metal. If they could not do that, Ruall and Bria could wind up as dead as the Mindaru.

  “Coppy, would it be better to just grab the whole thing and haul it up out of n-space?”

  “Cap’n, I am hesitant to bring even a dead Mindaru object that far inside our protective n-space fields. With your permission, I’d like to try to unfold the wreckage right here.”

  “Go ahead, then.”

  There was a flicker, and a glow of purplish blue light in the viewspace. The glow expanded, enveloping the wreckage of the Mindaru. “I’m enlarging the outermost field that surrounds us in n-space, and hoping to use that as a containment field for the wreckage. The question is, will we be able to unwrap the layers of n-space around it?”

  “Don’t forget there are more of them coming. Shall we get started?”

  “Yes,” Copernicus said. “Let me see if I can cinch it in a bit tighter. Maybe twist it slightly in the outgoing manifold . . .”

  As Bandicut watched, the image in the viewspace morphed, becoming luminous and soft. It looked more like interlaced clouds in a sunset. “Huh?” he said.

  “Bear with me,” said Copernicus. “I think what we’re seeing is the folding of space, rather than the object itself.”

  Bandicut looked at Jeaves. “Anything from Ruall or Bria?”

  “Everything I’m picking up is so distorted . . . I just don’t know.”

  Bandicut chafed at the time. “Coppy?”

  The robot ticked patiently. “This may take a little while, Captain Bandicut. May I suggest you sit down?”

  “You can suggest.” Bandicut turned away from Coppy and paced in front of the viewspace.

  ***

  A long half hour later, Copernicus said, “It’s harder than it looks to tease these n-space sections apart. I beg everyone’s patience. Especially the captain’s.”

  Bandicut hadn’t even realized he’d circled back to stand staring down at Copernicus. “Yah,” he said, and turned away again.

  “John, I think you should see this,” Jeaves said, snapping a tracking window up into the viewspace.

  Bandicut craned his neck to see what Jeaves was showing him. The robot floated forward in the viewspace until it looked as though he might sail right out of the ship. He stopped, and green pointer beams popped into space, indicating three objects dwindling in the distance. “Those are the three incoming Mindaru. The good news is, they’re passing us by. The bad news is, they’re accelerating toward Karellia.”

  Bandicut’s throat tightened. Before he could think of anything to say, he heard Sheeawn’s and Akura’s voices behind him, and turned to see them coming onto the bridge. They both picked up at once on the tension in the air, and stopped talking as they tried to size up the view Jeaves was showing.

  “John, what is happening?” Sheeawn asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep his voice steady.

  Bandicut’s own voice was a tight rasp as he explained.

  Sheeawn and Akura spoke for a moment, as they took in the seriousness of the moment. “Are we going to go after those Mindaru?” Sheeawn asked.

  Bandicut’s voice got even tighter. “Just as soon as we get Ruall and Bria out.”

  “But it sounds like that could take time,” Sheeawn said. “Aren’t you taking a risk—?”

  “Yes!” Bandicut swung back toward Copernicus. “Coppy! I really need to know! How are you coming? How soon?”

  Copernicus made a sound like sheet metal bending. “Another layer of n-space folded back.”

  “Good. How long?” With every passing minute, the three Mindaru were closer to Karellia . . . “Jeaves, how long before those Mindaru will be too close to Karellia to intercept?”

  “Perhaps an hour,” Jeaves said. “Maybe a little less.”

  “Give me a countdown. And have a plan for releasing this thing and laying rubber to intercept the others.” Bandicut swallowed. “Coppy?”

  “If I knew . . .” Copernicus began. “Ah, there’s another layer blocking our way. You can see it up there.” In the viewspace, bright line drawings indicated the stretched and creased space-time fabric stretched across their path. “I just heard something! I think it was Ruall!”

  “Is she free?”

  “No, but I’ve cleared away enough junk-space for her signal to leak out. That’s—”

  “A hopeful sign?”

  “Yes. I’m calling back to her. I don’t know if she can hear.”

  Bandicut managed to keep silent, as he breathed, Hurry.

  In the viewspace, several of the n-space lines quivered, and a soft-edged shadow passed over them. After some work by Copernicus, two of the lines snapped away, revealing . . . “Another layer gone. Wait, I think—yes, she’s definitely in there!” But a new, tangled web of lines appeared, blocking the way.

  “Thirty-five minutes,” said Jeaves.

  Bandicut could feel his pulse throbbing in his temples. “Jesus, Coppy, how many more layers are there?”

  For a few seconds Copernicus didn’t answer. Then: “Remember, we’re just looking at a depiction based on readings. This isn’t a true image . . . But I think if I can slip aside this one strand here . . .”

  Bandicut balled his hands into white-knuckled fists, watching the depiction as Copernicus did something that caused a loop to squirm and detach itself from the fragmented mess. Behind him, Sheeawn was breathlessly whispering, “The Mindaru . . . what about the Mindaru?”

  Not now, Sheeawn! Bandicut’s gaze flicked over to the window where Jeaves kept the tracking of the Mindaru visible. They were moving with frightening speed toward Karellia.

  “Twenty-five minutes.”

  Copernicus ticked again and muttered something. Another loop snapped. Something in the image flexed, and suddenly the entire tangled wreckage let go and exploded soundlessly. Bandicut braced for a shock wave, but there was none. Instead of exploding outward, the pieces of the wreckage burst apart and vanished instantly into a hundred different layers of n-space. He blinked in shock and fear. Had they just blown up their friends, as well? Then he saw two silvery threads floating in darkness, right where they must have been contained in an inner core of the tangled thread-lines.

  The two fluttered forward, as though carried on invisible magnetic lines that swept them in an arc that carried them off to the far left, and then in a smooth curve brought them directly alongside The Long View.

  “Coppy, is that them?” Bandicut whispered. “It is, isn’t it? How will you get them aboard?”

  “I believe—” began the robot. He began ticking so rapidly, the ticks turned into a buzz . . .

  And with a pop! Ruall and Bria suddenly appeared in midair on the bridge.

  “—they will come through the walls,” Copernicus said.

  Bandicut stood speechless, gazing at them. He was too overwhelmed with joy to say a word, or even take a step toward them. Ruall hummed weakly, spinning in short bursts. Bria drifted in the air beside, not moving. Was she alive?

  “We got you!” Bandicut finally managed to exclaim in a husky voice. “You’re back!”

  Ruall made a soft, continuous cymbal sound.

  Bandicut wanted to hug her, two-dimensional blade or not. He suppressed the urge, and instead knelt to look at the gokat. “Is Bria all right? She looks—”

  The gokat let out a sudden, keening sound. Pain. But she was alive.

  Gong. “She is hurt,” Ruall said, speaking for the first time. “The Mindaru hurt her. She needs rest. So do I.”

  “Take as long as you need,” Bandicut said. “I am so glad to have you both back.” He let out a heartfelt sigh of relief. “And you did one hell of a job slicing that Mindaru to pieces. How did you do that?”

  Ruall bobbed, and then bent down toward the gokat. “You led the way, yes, Bria. I was merely following your example.” Bria made a buzzing sound, and vanished. Ruall raised her head to the others again, but she seemed to have trouble holding it up. “We will speak—later. And I—she . . .” Ruall
seemed to have trouble finding the right words. “She—cannot speak—yet. And I—”

  Bandicut waited.

  Ruall’s disk-head turned from side to side, as though she were taking in the whole of the bridge. “I . . .” She struggled. “Captain . . . Bandicut?”

  He nodded, surprised by the form of address. “Is there something we can do to help? Either of you?”

  The Tintangle rang once. “Haven’t you already? Thank you.” And with that, she rotated once and vanished.

  Bandicut stared at the empty space, briefly wondering if he had dreamed all this.

  He heard a rasping cough, and Sheeawn was suddenly standing beside him.

  “This is good news, yes? But now, are we not running out of time to stop the other Mindaru?”

  “I estimate we are eleven minutes from last chance to launch intercept course,” Jeaves said.

  Bandicut forced himself to stand straighter. “Yes. Yes, indeed.” He swung toward Copernicus. “Hit it, Coppy! Best possible speed! And ready all weapons.”

  “Sir, yes sir!” said the robot with a bright-sounding tick. “Cap’n.”

  The deck quivered as the power kicked in.

  Chapter 21

  Intercept

  THE TENSION OF the pursuit was interrupted by a call from Li-Jared.

  “It wasn’t easy, but we’re close to a consensus at the leadership Council,” Li-Jared said, sounding breathless over the com. Bandicut wished he could see the Karellian’s face. He imagined Li-Jared pacing in front of the com. “There was a lot of suspicion, of course—but the fact that we destroyed those Uduon launchers went a long way toward convincing the Council that we mean to protect Karellia. Give credit to Koro—his people are not all backers of Quin, but he spoke up and supported her, and that made a huge difference.”

  Bandicut felt a breath of hope. With The Long View speeding toward a confrontation with three Mindaru, he needed all the encouragement he could get. “Where do things stand now?”

  “We’re heading back to emergency session very shortly. They’ll be voting on whether to shut down the temporal shield.”

  “Okay, that’s good.”

  “And on whether to approve the temporal pulse to blast the Mindaru in the timestream.”