Tommy hadn't revealed the guild's secret to any of those he appointed. He agonized for days and decided he didn't know them well enough. Until he found a way to neutralize the silver bands, the warriors would support the Nesu against a rebellion by the artisans. The result would be a bloodbath with enough killed on both sides to make life on the ship impossible. He didn't want the final genocide of the Nesu on his conscience, no matter how they treated their human slaves.
Another decision he and Ull made together was the order in which the equipment would be delivered to the other ships. Ull had agreed it would be prudent to transfer the computers controlling the track room and the rail guns on the last day. From the questions asked in the classes, it was clear the artisans returned to their ships at night and applied what they had learned. Too much was at stake to trust even two thousand years of peaceful Gatherings.
For the same reason, the council decided the repairs to The People's Hand had to be complete by the end of the Gathering. The ship had become too big a prize to be left vulnerable. While the Nesu traded and socialized, the artisans had worked long shifts to make the ship whole again.
As The People's Hand moved toward the derelict My Flowing Streams to transfer Tommy aboard, he received an urgent call to go to the bridge. He found Ull standing by Luns, the ship commander for the week.
"Trident, Water Serpent, and Leaper were detected entering the system," Ull said. "If the computers your artisans installed are functioning, they have already reentered transit and will close with us within minutes. We will not have further warning from our sensors until they arrive."
"They couldn't have their guns converted by now. That took us weeks." Tommy said. He took his handheld computer from his inside pocket and began tapping on the screen.
"All three are raiders," Ull said. "I am certain their old track computers remain effective. We must transit now."
"But that means leaving My Flowing Steams!" Tommy's voice grew louder. "And I sent a few of my artisans to begin our investigation. Vent is there!"
The three raider ships exited transit less than ten kilometers away and began driving toward them.
Luns spoke into the microphone by her chair. "Send message." She turned to the navigation console. "Execute preset transit in five seconds."
The missiles were coming toward them when the blackness of transit enveloped the ship. They had left My Flowing Streams behind.
Leegh
Leegh gave a rasping whistle as the door chime pulled her from the water. At least they could leave me alone until I get settled, she thought. This is the first good swim I have had in two months. As she waddled toward the entrance, she gave a satisfied look at her new chambers. We definitely got the better of the trade. My Flowing Streams was a wreck even before the attack. I may not be a council member here, but this is much better than living in one of the community lakes.
Opening the door revealed Director Ull, two warrior guards, and a strange human. The creature seemed to be male, but with humans it was hard to tell. What impertinence! The human is looking up at me! And Director Ull doesn't notice or care!
"Director Ull, welcome to my chamber!” she said. “You honor me.”
"Thank you, Director Leegh,” Ull said. “May we speak with you?"
"Please come in,” Leegh replied. “And you know I am no longer a director of anything."
I wonder whom she means by "we? Surely not the two warriors. This strange human?
The door closed behind Ull and the human, leaving the warriors outside. "You were a director and could be again. We have a position on our council, and your wisdom would be of great benefit to the ship," Ull said.
Did she mean that? Was that why I was given private quarters? No, the other former directors were also given private quarters. What does she want? "How may I help you Director Ull?" she asked.
"First, I would like you to meet Master Tommy," Ull pointed at the strange human, "the guildmaster of the Computer Guild and one of The People."
A reflexive shudder shook her skin, scattering water from her wet fur. "One of The People? A human? How is that possible?"
"Tommy is a feral we took from Earth," Ull said. "We will tell what he has done for us to our kits and they to their kits. In its entirety, it would be best told during a leisurely day in the Reserve. For now, you should know we owe him our ship, our lives, and the water in which we live." Ull waved at Leegh's expansive chamber. "This could never have been yours without Tommy. For all he has done, we made him one of The People."
Director Ull seems serious, but the concept is repugnant! Aloud she said, "I would welcome a day with you in the Reserve and a chance to hear how this could be."
"We will soon," Ull said, "and we have other issues I would discuss. For now, if you will indulge us, Master Tommy has some questions to ask you."
"Of course," she said. Do I have a choice?
The feral human spoke for the first time. His use of The People's language was surprisingly fluent. "I have been told your hobby is the history of The People."
"That and other things. I have several hobbies." She pointed at a large pile of bound books, notebooks, and loose papers stacked against the wall across the pond from the waterfall. "I have not organized my work since I arrived." She glanced at Ull. "I was not able to bring my desk and storage shelves with me. Would it be possible to obtain replacements here?"
"I will see to it" Ull promised her.
Talking to this feral human became much easier.
"I am searching for information about the Kadiil drive,” the human said. “Ull told me of the bargain The People made with the Kadiil, and how that bargain ended with the destruction of your home world. Ull also told me your ship, My Flowing Streams, was involved in the experiments that caused the Kadiil to destroy Stream. Did any record of those events survive?"
Leegh glanced at Ull. "How much do you want me to tell this human?"
"If you will, whatever you know. Your bargain with this ship has been satisfied with the remains of My Flowing Streams. You may live here for the rest of your life, as one of us, and we will place no further demands on you. However, the council will be grateful if you help Tommy with this."
Leegh gave a low whistle. "I will tell you what I can. Perhaps we should make ourselves comfortable. This may take a while." She dived into the pond and surfaced by the rock on the other shore. Ull dived after her as the human made his way on foot. She watched him take off his sandals and dangle his ugly feet in the water. He has done this somewhere before.
"The first thing you should know is my many times foremother was one of the scientists involved in those final experiments. Not all the scientists were on the moon that was destroyed. Some were in My Flowing Streams to monitor satellite transmissions. I still have her notes in that pile." She swirled water with her tail. "In every generation since, at least one kit has carried on, as best she could, what our foremother started, and passed her knowledge on to the next generation. In my generation, I am one of those.
"My family has been studying her notes and trying to understand the drive and the science behind it for two thousand years. After generations of study, our understanding is little better than that of my foremother the day Stream was destroyed."
"I do not know even that much," the human said. "Please tell me what you can."
"If Ull has told you the story, you know the key to the drive must be in the science The People were exploring." She knew enough about humans to understand his nod meant yes. "Much of that science survives in the books and journals my foremother brought with her as well as in her personal notes."
She stopped for a moment to organize her thoughts. With this audience I must keep it simple. "The theoretical basis of those fatal experiments describes a universe of ten dimensions, not just the three of space and one of time we experience. Objects of more dimensions than three or four could and should exist in that universe.
"Physicists were arguing over many variations of the theory in th
e years before the end. One view was that the extra dimensions are tightly curled and inaccessible." Her whistle warbled through the chamber. "Had they known, that view is disproved by our ability to transit and the drive that makes transit possible. A competing solution at the time depicted our visible universe as one of the three-dimensional boundaries of a five-dimensional sheet. The physics had progressed to proposing ways to interact with the other dimensions as a means to verify the theory."
"Did the theory include a way to manipulate gravity?" asked the human.
"Yes, gravity was seen as a particular type of vibration of a multidimensional filament at the smallest possible scale of the universe. Gravity is also the only fundamental force of our three-dimensional universe that extends into all dimensions. According to the theory, if the vibration could be manipulated, we could project gravity as a point source without an associated three-dimensional mass of matter."
"As does the drive," the human said.
I am beginning to understand what Ull sees in this feral human! "Yes, and that is one of the things they were attempting to do. The control of gravity offers many further possibilities for experiment.
"Since we have had no way to conduct those experiments since the destruction of Stream, all that generations of my family have added is speculation from the mathematics. The first speculation is that, if our universe is a three-dimensional boundary on a five-dimensional sheet, it should be possible to create a six-dimensional superbubble into the seventh dimension, like a soap bubble on the surface of a pond. If an object, for example, a ship, were drawn into the bubble as it is created, it would be outside the three-dimensional universe and not subject to its laws. The second speculation is that some objects that could exist in the ten-dimensional universe are unstable and would create enormous energy when they decay. I believe the drive uses that energy to power the gravitational anomalies and to create the thrust that moves this ship. To continue the analogy, our bubble, with our ship inside it, are blown across the surface of the five-dimensional sheet like a soap bubble blown across the pond's surface."
"Does the mathematics say anything about the relationship between the mass inside the bubble and the energy needed to move that mass?" asked the human.
"Everything about this theory is strange to our common sense understanding of the real world, but that is one of the strangest. In the universe we experience, more mass means more inertia and more energy to accelerate an object. Inside this hypothetical bubble, greater mass means less inertia, if you choose to call it that, and less energy to accelerate an object."
"Yes!" the human stood up. "Leegh, you have been extremely helpful." The human glanced at Ull. "We will be conducting some simple experiments using the drive that might verify at least some of your and your foremother’s speculations. If you would participate, giving us the benefit of your knowledge and understanding, those experiments would have a much greater chance of success."
Actual experiments? How is that possible? And with this human? Work with this insolent feral?
"Let me think on it," she said.
"You would honor this ship and The People you have joined if you would help us," Ull said.
Us? This was Ull's project? She almost didn't stop the low grinding whistle. "Of course, Ull. If you present it that way, how could I refuse?"
Chapter Fifteen: Bigger Things
Tommy arrived on the bridge to find every station occupied and Luns still in the command chair. Ull stood at Luns' left, gazing at the dome. Leegh paced next to the platform, her tail twitching back and forth, her snout pointing first at Ull, then up at the dome. A quick glance upward as Tommy walked toward the platform revealed nothing except the blackness of transit. The ship had escaped the raiders the day before. The destination couldn't be this close.
"Welcome, Tommy,” Ull said. “You should be just in time."
"I told you my calculations could not be so precise," Leegh said. "You should expect the ship to exit within the next hour, not in the next minute, as you are obviously expecting it to do."
"Leegh estimated the ship's mass, and combined your idea about mass and transit interval with her mathematics to predict our exit," Ull said. "We are waiting to judge her accuracy."
Leegh whistled roughly. "The idea was implicit in the mathematics and did not originate with Tommy."
"Very accurate," Tommy said, as stars appeared through the dome.
Leegh voiced a low whistle that could only be surprise. "Humph, the calculations were tedious. I did not expect this precision."
"You did the calculations using pencil and paper?" Tommy asked.
"Yes. How would you have done them?"
"Using a computer." Tommy turned to Ull. "The work Leegh is doing is too important for her not to have the best possible tools. If you agree, I will have a computer installed in Leegh's quarters."
"Of course," Ull said. "I want Leegh to be fully productive. If that is what she needs, then you must give it to her."
"And I would honored, Leegh," Tommy said, "to show you how to use it."
"One of these Earth computers for my own?” Leegh responded. “Certainly, I will accept it!"
Maybe I should put one in Ull's quarters, too. Not that I expect her to make much use of it.
Tommy turned back to Ull. "But why such a short transit? Was it just a test? We could not be more than a half a light year from the Gathering site."
"You are correct,” Ull said. “Our transit was slightly less than one-half light year. Our target is a red dwarf, which should be approximately nine light minutes away. The Gathering brought too many visitors from the raiders to go to our announced destination. The People's hand would be no match for three of them."
"We would be if you had refused to trade with them," Tommy said. "We could have made them dizzy with short transits while we pounded them to pieces."
"We encounter other dangers besides those among The People who have chosen to become raiders. We cannot refuse to provide what might keep a ship of The People alive, even if that means some inconvenience for us." She looked at a chronometer on the chair's arm. "Leegh, now that you have seen the accuracy of your first calculation, what of your second?"
"Second?" Tommy asked.
"That should be even more accurate," Leegh replied. "We have the original mass of these ships when they were constructed, before cargo was loaded aboard, including water. The number should be close, even after your scavenging for metal, since all of the water was removed. The ship entered transit after us and had lesser mass. Unless my calculations are in error, it should arrive soon."
"My Flowing Streams!" Tommy said. "You are talking about My Flowing Streams! How is that possible?"
Ull's tone was smug. "You had plans for My Flowing Streams but seemed unaware of what the raiders might do. I talked with one of your masters, Vent, and he mentioned your artisans had been expecting more ships at the Gathering and had already prepared computers for them. At my command, he sent a team to install your computers on My Flowing Streams. I sent a bridge crew the day before we left." She pointed at a radar return on the monitor. "And the result should be..."
"Very close to the calculated interval," Leegh said, finishing Ulls statement. "Now we can proceed with your experiments."
Tommy laughed, and then laughed harder as Leegh jerked back from the strange noise. "You have already done the first experiments I had in mind, Leegh, with amazing success. You have shown how mass affects time in transit. I congratulate you."
Leegh drew herself more upright. "I merely applied my foremother’s mathematics to quantify the relationship. It was not streamforming."
Tommy blinked, then understood. "Maybe not, but I hope you can teach me how you did it."
Vent seemed subdued when he returned that night from My Flowing Streams. "Ull told me not to tell you what we were doing, Master Tommy. She said she wanted it to be a surprise."
"You did the right thing, Vent," Tommy said. "She's a lord. You have no choice but
to do as she tells you or die. Except for the secret. You must protect the secret. I hope you can."
"I will, Master Tommy."
The next morning Tommy woke with an idea for their next experiment. A call to Ull brought an invitation to meet in her quarters. She said she would take care of inviting Leegh.
With everyone settled in or beside the pool, Tommy began. "Ull, are we still in danger from the raiders?"
"Not as long as we remain here. Only the council members and Leegh knew of this destination and Neth commanded My Flowing Streams. When we leave here, the situation will be different. We have a customary path we follow which is common knowledge. We might be intercepted at our usual exit points."
"What does the ship do along the route?" Tommy asked.
"We continue to fill our holds with trade goods at each exit point until we reach the Toblepas system, where many species meet to trade. However, this is not an ordinary voyage. Our holds are full."
"So why not go directly to Toblepas?"
"We are no longer carrying excess water, so the ship is little faster than before," Ull said. "The transit would take many weeks, and our exit could be off by light months at such a great distance, even with your new navigation aids. We cannot estimate the risk that would entail. The shorter jumps are more accurate, and allow us to refine our exit for the next transit."
"What if the ship were many times more massive?" Tommy asked.
"As you and Leegh have proved, we could cut many days off of our transit," Ull said. "We could go to another water planet and take on additional water, but that would not be as effective as before. We have already filled many holds with cargo less massive than water."
"What if the mass were on the outside of the ship?" Tommy asked. When no one answered, he continued, "I thought of it last night. There is another aspect of the drive that I do not understand, even with Leegh's description. How does the drive determine the size of the bubble? Is it always one size and the ship was built to fit that size, or are there other factors? Anyway, we have an extra ship, and its drive is intact, even if the ship is no longer habitable. We could risk My Flowing Streams without endangering anyone."
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