“With corrupted genetic material,” Banen nodded, “it is obvious what the conclusion of that process would mean.”
“We believe the most efficient course of action,” Haleth continued, “is neutralizing each Velaspheres’ ability to deliver these molecules and render the problem moot; this should be the point of our combined investigations.”
“Do you have a proposed treatment method, Haleth?”
“Although you have limited blood filtration capability, we agree with your initial approach. Until another solution presents itself, we recommend proceeding with the plan to filter out as many Velaspheres as possible. The secondary task of identifying a way to intercept their delivery process will require more updated information, however.”
Banen nodded and said, “I will send the latest data now.”
“Thank you, Doctor; we will contact you soon.”
When the display went dark in Qural’s laboratory, Tindas turned at once to Haleth.
“Do you agree with Banen’s belief this weapon was adapted from a Searcher design on Eru Toa’s order?”
“There is no doubt; the Kez’Erel could never conceive of such a system, let alone the manufacturing facilities or skill to construct examples, but Toa enjoyed considerable influence and could easily have convinced some of our researchers to develop such a weapon for the Merchants to use.”
“You mentioned a theory or hypothesis about the Velaspheres themselves?”
Haleth waited for a moment before answering.
“I cannot be certain, but I have noticed signals hidden in Banen’s data that suggest there may be a way to attack and neutralize them before they can release the molecules to attack Onallin’s base pairs. It is promising, but I will require another hour or two to confirm.”
“Hidden signals? Are you saying he has not been forthright with us?”
“Not at all. Banen’s research, given the limitations of the available equipment in his medical bay, has been extraordinarily intuitive—I am impressed with his skill and knowledge.”
“Then what about these signals?”
“There are other, ancillary findings his analyzer has revealed, but they are not directly related to the release of the impostor molecules. I might have missed them myself, if following other areas of investigation.”
“What are the findings?”
“Additional molecules, separate from the organic compounds Banen believes may mimic nucleotides; I have not isolated them yet, but it would appear they include unstable, decaying atoms.”
“What could that mean? Does it provide clues?”
“Perhaps. I believe this discovery may hold the answer, but as I said, it will be a few hours until I know with certainty.”
“Stay at it, Haleth; we cannot allow this to continue.”
“I understand, Professor.”
Qural remained silent throughout, but the worry had turned to obvious dread.
“Is she going to die, Ommit?”
“We’re doing everything possible,” he said softly.
“Please, just tell me.”
Tindas looked down, unwilling to see the sadness he knew was waiting in her eyes.
“Unless a solution is found soon, I’m afraid she’s not going to survive this, Qural. You must accept the possibility and adjust; we still have a mission to complete or billions more will die when the Namadi clouds arrive. If we fail, Onallin’s death will have been for nothing.”
Qural paced with folded arms, seeing in her thoughts the miserable, frustrating moments playing out on that distant ship. Worse still, she battled against her own despair with all her hope a way might yet be found.
“It is difficult to think of her in this condition,” she said softly.
“I know.”
Qural sat slowly, looking at the doorway to the inner lab where she knew Haleth was working. At last, she stood beside Tindas.
“She was once a dangerous barrier to everything we are trying to accomplish. Do you remember our conversations when Torbal revealed her demands as a precondition to helping the others escape from Bera Nima?”
“Of course; you were quite disturbed with him, as I recall.”
“I thought it would be better if the Inspector retained an assassin to kill her and remove the risk entirely.”
Tindas listened, but said nothing as Qural looked away suddenly.
“I allowed my prejudices to interfere, but I was wrong.”
“Under those circumstances, no one could blame you.”
“Perhaps, but now…”
“Yes?”
Qural looked away, hoping Tindas wouldn’t notice the tears welling in her eyes.
“It is so painful to imagine what it will mean for Darrien if she does not survive; they are far less on their own than they would be together. As it was with him, the others have become dear to me now, especially Onallin. I know it seems unlikely, but I cannot bear to think of her this way—to know she may die. We must find a way, Ommit; do whatever is necessary, but please stop this before it is too late.”
“Haleth and Banen are very capable, Qural; if anyone can sort this out, they would be my choice.”
WHEN THE SHIP reached its final waypoint between Esharam and Fells Moll, an alert indicator blinked silently from the command station. Intended as a progress marker for navigators, it only underscored the urgency and the sobering truth Rantara’s time was running out. Norris walked nervously between the medical bay and communications station like a swimmer making laps in a pool as he waited out the hours until at last, it chimed twice to announce an incoming message from the laboratory. Hesset opened the link and Tindas’ image, now clearer and less distorted as the distance lessened, appeared in the display.
“Hesset, is Banen close-by?”
“He is on his way, Professor,” she replied as Banen moved quickly forward to the bridge.
“Haleth has found something we believe you will want to see.”
Haleth’s face moved into view.
“As your data indicated, Doctor, we have confirmed the Velaspheres are made of polycrystalline silicon, but a closer investigation revealed a secondary material that may help us neutralize them.”
“Please elaborate, Haleth.”
“We discovered the presence of random atomic particles in the near vicinity of each Velasphere. Suspecting their purpose, and with the help of a colleague’s instrumentation at the university in Aremor City, we have established their relationship to the Velaspheres.”
Norris fidgeted impatiently where he stood beside Hesset.
“What have you found, Haleth?”
“The Velaspheres draw power from decaying atoms suspended in a very thin film applied to the outer shell of each device’s structure. The process of decay sheds off radioactive particles a Velasphere then converts into usable, photonic energy.”
“How does that help us?”
“This is significant, not because of the conversion of decaying atoms into energy, but for the nature of the film in which the atoms reside.”
Norris frowned at the answer, but Banen nearly leapt toward the console; he knew what it meant.
“Haleth, have you established the material used in the manufacture of this film?”
“Yes, and it was a relief to find the film is composed primarily of proteins, mingled within a complex lattice of non-organic polymers.”
“Is that good news, Doc?” Norris asked suddenly.
“Indeed it is!” Banen answered. “Protein construction of this film has made each Velasphere vulnerable!”
“Exactly,” said Haleth. “We have no mechanism to destroy the Velaspheres without harming Onallin, but the proteins used for each device’s power-generating film can be attacked and destroyed by enzymatic action.”
“This is very promising, Haleth,” Banen said excitedly. “Please go on.”
“If the film coating can be dissolved by exposure to the proper enzymes, its cohesive structure will break down, dispersing the decay atom
s prematurely in the process. This result will effectively deny the Velaspheres their power source and render them incapable of releasing their contents.”
Banen finished his thought.
“Every disabled Velasphere could then be removed by cycling Onallin’s entire blood volume through a more effective filtration instrument, and it can do so without a concern for time. Once neutralized, they will all find their way into her blood through the normal course of eliminating foreign matter from her system!”
“Yes, we believe so,” said Haleth, “and the computer simulations confirm the theory, but completing the treatment will require Darrien’s assistance.”
Norris felt his nerves tingle.
“What do you need me to do, Haleth?”
“The protein film coating each Velasphere has been modified and enhanced to resist the enzymes Onallin’s body produces naturally; the designers of this weapon clearly had Khorrans in mind when they built it, strengthening the film against any counterattack her body could mount.”
“Then what’s our next move?” asked Norris, suddenly aware the salvation for Rantara was still distant.
“Data archives at the university are extensive, but they revealed no example of an enzyme capable of causing damage to the protein film; it simply does not occur naturally in this region’s various races, including Anashi, Porseth and Revallan.”
“But you found something?”
“Yes. I remembered odd variations of enzymatic production from another source long ago. I reviewed my notes after studying the various compounds in human physiology from your first visit with us, Darrien, and the answers may lie within. Your body produces enzymes unique to your species, and absent from most races we have studied. More importantly, several of them are suited to this purpose.”
“And they’d be able to attack and dissolve these proteins?”
“Yes, we believe so. I ran additional simulations through the university’s computers less than an hour ago and the results were very positive, which I will send to Banen now. The specific enzymes in your body should be extremely effective in breaking peptide bonds in the target protein’s amino acids.”
Banen smiled at the prospect.
“The enzymes are naturally occurring within Darrien’s body chemistry?”
“Yes,” Haleth answered; “extracting samples from Darrien should be an easy step.”
“What happens then?” Norris asked.
“A sufficient supply of enzymes will be introduced into Onallin’s bloodstream to seek out and surround the Velaspheres. Once the peptide bonds are broken, each device’s protein film will lose cohesion very quickly, dispersing the imbedded decay atoms. When this process concludes, every Velasphere in her body will shut down.”
Norris understood.
“How long will this take, Haleth?”
“Given the baselines Banen provided, I would conclude exposure of twelve hours should be more than enough.”
“But these things still have to be removed, right?”
“Yes, but you will have returned to Fells Moll. When you arrive, Onallin can be transported to the university’s medical center in Aremor City for the high-volume filtration phase. I will send Banen the chemical profile of the enzymes. As you will see, most are present in Darrien’s blood, but others must be extracted from tissue inside his intestines to ensure a sufficient volume.”
Banen looked into the display.
“Thank you, Haleth; I will send an update when the process is underway.”
“We look forward to the results, Doctor.”
BANEN WAITED FOR Norris to settle on the adjacent examination table and the brief, painful process began with an extraction needle to remove tissues from his intestines. The blood sample exercise followed and in less than an hour, the doctor was armed and ready. They waited and watched in the med bay’s alcove as Banen worked at his instruments. Hesset watched, too, but an alert from the test medium’s monitor only heightened the tension; three of the sample Velaspheres had activated at last in Banen’s emulsion baths, waiting for the proper chemical instructions that would begin the release of their microscopic cargo.
As she looked at the status display, Hesset noticed Rantara’s temperature had begun to dip slightly, even as the Velaspheres waited at the edge of their activation zone—a welcome sign when so few were available. At last, after six hours and three successive applications, Rantara’s body was fully infused with the attacking enzymes drawn from Norris’ body. Banen predicted another fever would quickly follow and when it did, Hesset had to remind Norris there was no cause for alarm. The moments seemed to slow, but Banen’s extraction of a blood sample from Rantara’s jugular brought the news they had all been waiting to hear; seventy-three Velaspheres drifted inside the syringe, motionless and stripped of their film coatings. More importantly, Banen noted, each captured Velasphere was intact and unopened, indicating the release of impostor nucleotides had not occurred—the treatment was working, just as Haleth predicted.
Norris nearly collapsed into a technician’s seat outside the medical bay, exhausted from the ordeal. Hesset urged him to rest in his cabin for a while, but he waved her off, still unwilling to leave Rantara’s side. At last, Hesset pulled him to stand and aimed him to his bed; it would take time to complete the treatment, she insisted, and he would need to be alert when Rantara woke. Reluctantly, he obeyed as the ship sped on through the darkness, but inside its cold hull, they felt a renewed sense of hope and purpose.
THE GENTLE, CURVED lines of the vessel—a classic Searcher design—shimmered in the dim light of the system’s stars as it exited from the Plexus. At once, the navigator saw and accessed a lone sensor pod where it orbited high above Esharam. Still there were no answers from the surface to a series of hails as the ship slid effortlessly through the cold, clear atmosphere, leveling off only kilometers north of the facility. From their view ports, the Merchant crew saw at a distance the reason for their archive’s silence in the dissipating column of wispy smoke rising high above the compound.
They slowed to make a cautious survey of the grounds from five hundred meters above, but soon found in their optical scanners bodies of Kez’Erel soldiers lying where they fell in the blood-soaked dirt. Beyond, the black and charred rubble that was their most prized possession smoldered with pockets of bright blue flames swirling upward like tornados in a furnace. It took nearly an hour before two technicians found the shredded remains of Eru Toa’s body where it lay cold and grotesque near the entry portal to his residence. With no sign of injury from weapons, his wounds made clear he had not been killed in the gunfire of a desperate battle, or even by the violence of his shuttle pod’s crash. Instead, Toa had been violently murdered by one who clearly meant to inflict horrific pain.
With no life signs and the entire complex now a smoldering ruin, there was no point in remaining. They returned to their ship and sped quickly to altitude, but the Merchant commander wanted answers and his first officer had at least some of them in the logs of the captured sensor pod.
“Have you identified this device’s origins?”
“It is a medium-range survey and movement scanner—a standard, Khorran design they use to detect intruders into a planetary system,” he replied. “But there is something interesting in the communications log.”
“Go on.”
“They left the Esharam system three local days ago, but their last indicated course did not lead to Khorran space.”
“Where are they?”
“There is no way to know with certainty, but when I mapped outward along their heading, it points directly to this Hyperthread access gate,” he said, pointing at a blinking indicator on a display screen. “It is a relatively common, well-used tunnel, but it passes very close to Fells Moll. I can’t explain it, but the Anashi home world could be their destination.”
The commander nodded with satisfaction and turned for the comm unit.
“No explanation is needed. Contact the Elders; they will be very
interested to know Kol’s hand is in this. When that task is complete, make the necessary arrangements with our associate on Belex—you know the one I mean. There is little chance the people who did this left Esharam without copies of the archive’s contents, which may yet provide an opportunity to recover.”
“With this much destruction, it’s impossible to know if they found the lower chamber.”
“It no longer matters; without evidence, the Porseth authorities would be powerless to move against us. Judging from the severity of this mess, the bodies would be unrecognizable at this point.”
“I will send the notification now, sir.”
ON THE THIRD day out from Esharam, the assault ship made its silent transition from the Hyperthread into steady space, and before them, the distant, brilliant light of a single star bathed Fells Moll in the warmth of a new day. Theriani made the clearance request transmission and settled at the controls as they closed quickly on the planet. When Banen called forward, fifteen hours had passed since the treatment to cleanse Rantara’s system of the danger it held in each Velasphere. Norris went quickly to the med bay; she was awake and moving.
He found her sitting up, wrapped in a soft blanket against the chill and held steady in Hesset’s embrace. Rantara’s body temperature was within a degree of normal and Norris’ relief was immediate.
“How are you feeling?” he asked softly as he brushed back her wetted hair.
She squinted against the glare until her vision cleared, reaching at last for his hand.
“Sore,” she whispered. “Where are we?”
“Inbound to Fells Moll; we’ll be there in a few hours.”
“Banen said I got hit when a hidden Kez’Erel device exploded?”
“Yes, but you’re beyond the worst part now. How much do you remember?”
“Waking up in here, after we found those people inside the archive. He told me about the Velaspheres inside my body, but…”
Echoes of Esharam Page 23
