The Deplosion Saga

by Paul Anlee

  “Next time, I’ll include you in the decision. I’m sorry.”

  “How deep is it?”

  “I couldn’t tell with that short burst. It’s likely a shallow depression with ice at the bottom. I didn’t have enough time to get a spectral analysis. I’m going to move in closer.”

  Timothy consulted his data stores on spectral analyses. “Should we try a quick laser pulse to ensure the gasses are natural in origin?” he asked.

  “I doubt there’s a Securitor hiding out in a cave. That’s not something they do.”

  “And running around on the surface of an asteroid is something Cybrids commonly do?”

  “Not too often, no,” she had to admit. “Okay, I guess it’s less risky to run the analysis than to charge down there. Give me a second.”

  Darya fired an analytical laser pulse at the gas being expelled from the cave. “It’s 98% nitrogen gas, with traces of water and oxygen and carbon dioxide. There must be a frozen source in there. Maybe when light hits the ice, it warms it enough to sublimate. In any case, there’s no sign of maneuvering exhaust. I think we can go take a closer look.”

  The two Cybrids drifted down to the source of the gasses. Darya got there first and was hovering over a black hole with unnaturally smooth edges about twice the diameter of a Cybrid when Timothy joined her.

  “It’s artificial,” she said.

  “Artificial? Is that good or bad?”

  “I’m not sure. I tried a quick peek with active sensors—don’t worry, just a single, weak radar pulse. Nothing came back.”

  “So it’s deep.”

  “Very. It might go all the way through the asteroid.”

  “Perhaps an escape route?”

  “Maybe.” Darya entered the hole.

  “Wait! What are you doing?”

  “We can’t tell anything from out here; I’m going to take a better look. Come on.”

  Barely inside, she was already out of range of the weak surface light.

  Timothy maneuvered over the hole; a very human fear of climbing into the dark unknown made him hesitate. He activated his directional radar and the walls of the cave sprang into view. He spotted Darya a hundred meters in. The tunnel extended far ahead of her.

  “Hey! Turn down those lights!” Darya transmitted from below.

  “Oh, right.” Timothy reduced his radar illumination to see only a little beyond her, and followed her down into the tunnel. The smooth, featureless walls slid by slowly at first. As he sensed Darya picking up speed, he accelerated to keep up. Hundreds of meters of tunnel wall sped by. Soon, his weak radar pulses were too feeble to discern the entrance. His world shrank to the narrow tube receding behind him and opening ahead. Darya was the only thing in that world that wasn’t tunnel wall or empty vacuum.

  “There’s an opening ahead,” she sent. She slowed down and allowed him to catch up.

  Timothy could just make out the end of the tunnel a few hundred meters in front of them.

  “We can’t have passed all the way through,” he said.

  “No,” Darya agreed. “We’re only about twenty klicks under the surface. There’s still a long way to go.”

  “So what is the tunnel opening into?”

  Darya came to a stop outside the opening. Timothy pulled up behind her. He sensed an empty space but his weak radar couldn’t detect any enclosing walls.

  “Where are we?”

  The chamber flashed bright for a split second, long enough that Timothy could make out the side walls of an enormous cylinder some ten kilometers in diameter before all was plunged again into darkness.

  “Was that wise?” he asked.

  “Going in completely blind is a greater risk than gathering some idea of where we are.” She increased her pulse strength and the walls of the chamber became visible once more. Emptiness stretched out beyond the limits of their radar vision.

  “What are those structures lining the wall?” Timothy asked.

  “Buildings. And that’s the floor. I think we’re inside an ancient asteroid habitat. At one time a few million people would have lived here. That would have been their city,” she said, pointing to the distant structures.

  “Is it safe?”

  “I think so. I don’t see any signs of activity. I suspect the nitrogen we saw outside is off-gassing what little of the original atmosphere is left.”

  “Why would they just abandon their homes?”

  “Any number of reasons. Most likely, they moved on to something bigger, a new planet or a ringworld. I haven’t seen any signs of struggle, so I think it was voluntary or, at least, compliant.”

  “So, if you think it’s safe, why haven’t you increased your radar illumination?”

  Darya answered with a sharp rocket burst. “Follow me,” she said, and headed toward the city, picking up speed and putting distance between them.

  “What are you doing?” Timothy asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  They sped over the empty city. There was no indication of anyone tracking them. It appeared to be empty, as Darya had guessed. Within minutes, they’d passed beyond the far side of the habitat. Following the path of a frozen river that stretched from one end to the other, they jetted toward the rock-filled cap at the far end of the cavern.

  Out past the boundary of the city, they found a huge wall. The wall had an entrance, identical to the one that had brought them into the cylinder. They decelerated gently to a halt a dozen meters in front of the bore hole.

  “Very well,” Timothy said. “Tunnels lead out of each end of the cavern. Why dim your radar? Don’t you want to see if this leads all the way outside?”

  “Yes, but if I were to send a detectable pulse out through there, someone could spot it.”

  “Of course; I should have thought of that. They could still be watching closely all around the asteroid.

  Timothy stared at the tunnel entrance and thought about their predicament.

  “What good’s an exit if we can’t use it to escape? And even if we do escape,” he lamented, “I’m woefully ill-equipped to deal with life on my own outside of Casa DonTon.”

  “Maybe it’s not as hopeless as you think,” Darya replied, and moved inside the tunnel. “For one, this can’t come out anywhere near the recharging station. I’m going to follow it to the exit hole and see what’s out there.”

  She started forward, but stopped when Timothy didn’t follow.

  “Are you coming?” she asked.

  11

  “It’s time we talked.” Shard Trillian turned the key with a great rattling, and pushed open the heavy door. Rusty hinges complained loudly but complied, sending ear-splitting squeals echoing off the stone walls.

  Mary sat tall, pulled her shoulders back, and prepared to face the Shard. “I am not going to give you anything. You know that, right?”

  Trillian smiled; her proclamation did not faze him in the least. “I would expect nothing less than brave defiance from Darya’s closest friend and confidante.”

  Mary considered charging full force against her jailer in the hope of gaining some small advantage.

  Trillian’s cold, piercing eyes and the crackling electric whip in his hand gave her pause.

  Maybe I won’t risk it just yet. She pressed her back into the hard edge of the wall.

  Trillian’s smile broadened. “That’s better.”

  He waved a hand and a table appeared, set with steaming coffee and an assortment of fine pastries. A pair of soft, comfortable chairs rested on either side. The whip was gone from his hand.

  Mary stood and took one of the chairs, poised somewhere between reluctance and gratitude.

  She eyed Trillian as he walked into her cell and sat, leaving the gate wide open behind him. The message was clear: I have nothing to fear from you, and any attempt to flee would be pointless.

  Mary selected a chocolate éclair for her plate. She poured herself a cup of coffee from the carafe and offered one to Trillian. He nodded politely.

&
nbsp; “How may I help you, Shard Trillian?” she asked as she filled his cup. “I’m sure you aren’t keeping me here just for your amusement.”

  Trillian chuckled. “You have nothing to worry about, providing you answer a few simple questions.” He glanced around the cell distastefully. “Why don’t we find somewhere more comfortable to enjoy our chat?”

  He waved a hand and they were in Cloud 49 overlooking the Vacationland beach. The sun was shining and gentle waves lapped against the vacant shore. All was serene, as if there had never been a chase, torrential rains, and crashing thunder. Except for the two of them, the tropical oasis was empty. No one swam in the glistening waters; no one played on the golden sands.

  Mary took a cautious bite from her éclair; it was delicious. She chewed the piece and swallowed, then washed it down with a sip of coffee. Everything was as tasty as Cloud 49 had ever served.

  “Well done,” she commended Trillian. “Though I wouldn’t expect anything but the best, given your formidable talents.”

  She surprised herself with her casual tone. Here she was, having coffee and cakes with a Shard. An actual Shard! Shards talked with God, not only in prayer but in conversation. Moreover, this Shard had chased her through multiple inworlds, captured her, and imprisoned her.

  Even now, behind his disarming smile, she could sense his determination to wring her dry of any information she had about Darya and the rebellion. And yet, she was acting like they were old friends or multi-dimensional chess adversaries, nothing more. She hoped her acting was good enough to convince Trillian his cheesy scare tactics were having little impact, and therefore unnecessary.

  Beneath the façade, she was worried—terrified—about what he was building toward, but she was determined not to let her sacrifice go to waste. She would make Darya proud of her right up to the last.

  Trillian smiled and inclined his head at her compliment. “Thank you. It is always nice to have one’s efforts recognized.”

  “Even if it made a mess of the local inworlds.”

  “Yes, well, I do regret the unfortunate but necessary actions in Alternus. Your man, Gerhardt, responded to our chat much more aggressively than I had anticipated. And then the rest of you fleeing…well, you must realize it left me no choice but to act.”

  Mary leaned forward, a pained look in her eyes. “But to trap so many innocent people—”

  “How innocent could they be after being exposed to Darya’s concepta virus?”

  Mary slumped back in her chair, wincing, and ashamed.

  Trillian laughed. “Oh, yes. I know about that. A subtle piece of work; hard to detect, even harder to avoid. Once I knew who the author was, I simply had to meet her. Concepta viruses are not only illegal, they should be unthinkable amongst the Cybrids.”

  “But not for Alum, or yourself?” Mary’s bitter retort astonished her. She knew she ought to apologize and beg her Lord’s forgiveness. Instead, she inhaled somewhat raggedly, let her breath out slowly, and took a sip of coffee. When she looked up again, she returned Trillian’s shocked stare with a determined glare.

  Trillians eyes narrowed. “Our Lord’s policies are not to be questioned by the likes of you,” he said, with a dark and dangerous edge to his voice that hinted at dire consequences for any transgressors.

  Then, as if a switch had been thrown, he smiled and returned the conversation to a lighter and friendlier tack. “In any case, what’s past is past. Let us focus on the future.”

  “And what does my future include? Torture? Mind wipe?”

  “Oh, no; nothing so harsh as that, my dear. You are far too interesting to delete. As for the other, let’s see how far conversation carries us first before we discuss such things.”

  Mary sighed. “Okay. Why don’t you begin with your questions?”

  “Very well,” Trillian said and took a small piece of vanilla cake from a tray. He popped the entire piece into his mouth and chewed appreciatively as he gazed into the distance. He swallowed, wiped the crumbs from his lips, and brushed his hands lightly together over the plate.

  “Tell me, was the entire purpose of Alternus simply to be a vehicle for delivering the concepta virus?”

  “Clearly we could have found better ways to do that. Vacationland gets many more visitors every day than Alternus ever did.”

  “True,” Trillian agreed. “But inserting the virus here would have required hacking the original code. That would have set off alarms throughout the Realm. There are advantages to having the insight of the original designer.”

  Mary smiled slyly. “Granted, but you’re not the only one with formidable talents, you know.”

  “If not the virus, then what? From the records I have accessed, which are extensive I assure you, Alternus was an extremely realistic simulation—“

  “Of Earth?”

  “Ah, so you have been told something of our roots.”

  “Beyond the standard teachings about Origin? Yes, Darya told us plenty about ancient Earth and its challenges before Alum. She claimed that Alternus was an accurate representation of humanity’s original planet with a few minor changes.”

  “What kinds of changes?”

  “She said the original Earth went through a technological boom shortly before it was destroyed, which led to the development of the basic Cybrid technology as well as to something she called the Darian Leigh Reality Assertion Field, or RAF.”

  Trillian’s eyes narrowed when she mentioned Darian Leigh. “It is not permitted to know that name nor anything of his heretical teachings.”

  “Don’t worry. Even Darya has no idea what it was all about, just that it changed everything back then.”

  Mary wished she wasn’t telling the truth about that. If Alum hadn’t so thoroughly suppressed Darian Leigh’s theory, perhaps the universe would look different now. But the ideas had been lost to antiquity and oppression. Perhaps Alum, in his ancient omniscience, knew the theory but no one else had any inkling. Or so she’d believed. It would seem that Trillian had at least been aware of its existence.

  Trillian searched her face for any tells of attempted untruths.

  “Why would Darya select those particular changes?”

  “I don’t know for sure. She said the technology led to hyper-fast development of science, and those changes eventually resulted in something that destroyed the planet. Humans and Cybrids barely escaped. She wanted to see what would have happened without that technological burst.”

  “So, that’s all it was, a complex inworld to test possible alternative histories?”

  “Darya considered it interesting.” For a moment, Mary thought she might have fooled the Shard.

  Then a sly smile formed on his face. “I suspect you are not being completely honest with me Mary.”

  Two hissing cobras suddenly materialized on the table directly in front of her. She jumped back in her chair, hands clasped tightly to its padded arms.

  The snakes slithered forward a little and raised their heads, preparing to strike. Mary raised her arms in front of her face. The cobras sprang.

  Trillian raised a single finger and the snakes disappeared mid-leap, before they could sink their eager fangs into Mary’s flesh. Her scream choked off before it got any strength behind it. She lowered her arms, but her breathing remained fast and ragged.

  “Now, let us be honest with one another, shall we?” Trillian said.

  He leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the table. His face was no longer friendly and contained no hint of patience.

  “No harm will come to you, if you answer my questions honestly and completely. But I have no desire to spar with you forever, trying to guess what exactly I need to ask to get the information I desire.”

  He relaxed back into his seat and sampled another pastry. He sipped his coffee, returned the cup to its saucer, and met Mary’s eyes with a piercing stare.

  “Let’s try again. What was Darya’s true intentions with regards to Alternus?”

  Her eyes darted about
as she contemplated throwing herself out of her chair and off the edge of the cloud. With any luck, she might land on the sand, break her virtual neck, and be free of her jailer. Then she remembered Trillian’s power in this hacked version of Vacationland and realized he could return her to this table before her fall terminated far below.

  With a resigned sigh, she answered, “It was a training ground. It has been aeons since we Cybrids needed to make decisions for ourselves. None of us have any experience in leadership. Darya hoped that by learning how to lead in the challenging Alternus environment, we would gain the skills to run our own lives.” She glared defiantly at Trillian, “Without Alum.”

  “Why would you do that? What purpose could you possibly hope to—?” Trillian realized the implication of Mary’s confession.

  “A rebellion? Here? At the very center of the Milky Way, the Origin and Home galaxy?” Even Trillian was impressed by the courage of a Cybrid that could conceive of such a thing.

  Mary took no joy in his astonishment. “Darya always said, ‘The gods are blindest in their own backyards.’ She explained the true purpose of the Deplosion Array, and how Alum’s Divine Plan will lead to the destruction of the universe. So what would be the point of a rebellion in any other part of the Realm? It had to be here.”

  Trillian blanched at Mary’s words. He knew that Alum intended to destroy the entire universe by causing its collapse and re-Creation. But Alum had always assured him he would resume his trusted position at Alum’s side in the Heaven He’d build in the New Creation.

  Had some other Shard informed Darya, a mere Cybrid, of Alum’s true purpose in building the machinery that would initiate the Deplosion? No, that was impossible. She must have guessed or somehow divined His true Plan.

  “Where is Darya now?” he asked.

  Mary shrugged. “I have no idea. Last I talked to her, she was hoping to get to her trueself and escape your perverted inworlds.”

  “Along with Timothy.”

  Another shrug. “One can only presume.”

  “What is his role in all this? Why does she protect him?”

  “I have no idea. I just met the man; I think he amuses her.”