“Wouldn’t they be just as safe in the Hidden City?” she asked.
“Yes, I suppose so,” Jackson replied. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking it’s a shame that all of this is hidden away. These items represent the history of your people before they came to Jasan. Wouldn’t it be better to put them out, in a museum perhaps, so everyone can see them?”
“They have always been here,” Jackson said. “But I think you are right, niha. They should be displayed for all to see. I think we will suggest that at the next Enclave.”
“I think that’s a very good idea,” Hope said with a smile. “Can we go home now?”.
“Of course,” Jackson replied. “Clark, why don’t you and Rob make a list for Olaf. I’ll take Hope home now.”
“Certainly,” Clark replied. He kissed Hope, then stepped aside so that Rob could do the same. “Get some rest. We’ll be home soon.”
Jackson wrapped his arms around their Arima, turned slightly and disappeared.
Day Fourteen
Michael leaned back in his chair and grinned tiredly at the vid screen. It had taken three days of almost round the clock work, taking breaks only when his body, or the Vulpirans, insisted. Even then, he’d never stopped thinking about the spectrum puzzle. He’d been in constant contact with Elder Vulpiran in Berria as they, too, worked to solve the puzzle using the other bio-suit, but until now, they hadn’t cracked it.
Just that morning, as Michael had stood staring in frustration at the interior of the bio-suit, wondering what it was he was missing, the answer had finally clicked. It had taken several hours of trial and error, but he had done it.
He reached up to tap the vox in his ear that the Vulpirans had insisted he wear at all times while working in the vault.
“Yes?” Lance said into his ear.
“Lance, I got it,” Michael said.
“We’ll be right there,” Lance replied. There was a soft click and the connection closed. Michael stood up and stretched, then ran his hands over his face, grimacing at the feel of beard stubble. He’d been so focused on this project that he’d barely bothered to shower, and had skipped shaving for the more important activity of sleep. He shrugged. It didn’t matter what the hell he looked like. It wasn’t like anyone cared.
He went to the small chiller that had been installed for him and got a bottle of juice. By the time he finished his drink, the Vulpirans arrived.
“You got it Michael?” Vikter asked with barely restrained excitement.
“Yes, Vikter, I got it,” Michael replied, grinning again. “It was so damn obvious you’re not going to believe it.”
“Try us,” Vikter said.
“White,” Michael said simply. Vikter, Lance and Hunt all frowned at him.
“The color white,” Michael said. “That’s the key. The background inside that damn bio-suit is white.”
“But white is not on the color spectrum,” Vikter said, knowing that Michael was fully aware of that, but unable to grasp his meaning.
“No, it’s not,” Michael agreed. “It’s a Summation.”
“You treat the white as a Sigma and attribute numerical values to the other colors...the mathematics of that must have been a pretty thing to solve,” Lance said after a moment. “You must have used some sort of quantum progression.”
“It wasn’t easy to come up with the right formula, but I got it,” Michael said, waving toward the vid-screen. “I borrowed a little from Feynman’s diagrams.”
The Vulpirans gathered around the vid-screen for several minutes as they read through Michael’s formula, and the final result of his calculations.
“This is wild, Michael,” Hunt said.
“It’s pure genius is what it is,” Lance said. “It makes sense, but how you came up with it is beyond me.”
“Have you tested it yet?” Vikter asked, turning away from the screen.
“No,” Michael said. “I thought we should do that part together.”
“Let’s do it then,” Lance said with a rare grin of his own.
The four of them gathered around the bio-suit and Michael reached inside to the narrow keyboard panel. He used a stylus to press the keys since they were very narrow, designed for the tips of the Xanti’s legs, not human fingers.
“You remember the results?” Vikter asked as Michael began pressing keys. If not for Arima Aisling’s work translating Xanti, they wouldn’t know what keys to press, but now each one had a tiny tab on it denoting a Standard translation.
“No, I remember it,” Michael said as he continued to enter the numbers one after the other without hesitation until he’d completed the fourteen number string. He looked at the screen, checking himself, then glanced at the Vulpirans. “Here goes,” he said softly. Then he pressed the key marked Enter and they all held their breath, their eyes glued to the screen.
For a long moment nothing happened. The string of numbers Michael had entered, displayed in Xanti script, blinked repeatedly. Then, just as Michael was ready to concede defeat once again, the screen went white, flashed black, then rapidly flashed violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, then started over again, and then a third time.
Then, the big payoff. The screen began to flash star maps, coordinates, lists of worlds and, amazingly, what looked like detailed reports of the Xanti home galaxy, the worlds within it, the races that populated it, and so much more they could barely take it in. Each screen displayed for only a few seconds before moving to the next, but that was fine. It was, they knew, just a sampling of the data that they’d uncovered hidden in the bio-suit’s core processor data base, probably hidden as binary states of the molecules of the processor itself when it was made. Information that the Xanti was certainly unaware of and could never stumble onto.
“Were those jump points?” Hunt asked in a low voice filled with wonder.
“Yes, I think so,” Lance said. “I can’t read the language, but those maps are certainly easy enough to understand.”
“Arima Aisling can translate all of this for us, correct?” Michael asked.
“Yes, I believe she can,” Vikter replied. “Even if she can’t, I think we’d make some headway on our own. Besides, thanks to her, the council has a good database of Xanti now which could probably handle most of this.”
“But, jump points,” Hunt repeated. “That means we can actually go to the Xanti home galaxy.”
Michael looked at Hunt, waiting for more information.
“Arima Hope has a talent for reading objects,” Hunt explained. “She used it to determine that the Xanti come from the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own. Unfortunately, it would take many years for our ships to reach it, and once we got there, we wouldn’t know where in that galaxy to go.”
“I see,” Michael said. “It seems obvious that the Xanti travel back and forth at will, and have for a long time.”
“Yes, we realized they either had jump points, or technology that allowed them to travel many times faster than we can,” Vikter said. “Since we’ve only just discovered what the Xanti look like, we had little hope of learning so much so soon. Thanks to you, Michael, we’ve just taken a giant step in the war against the Xanti.”
“War?” Michael said. “I didn’t realize it had come to war as yet.”
“It’s war, even if the Xanti do not do battle as we would,” Vikter replied. “They do not fight openly. They sneak in, kidnapping women, poisoning unborn children, implanting devices in unknowing people’s minds and bodies, all the while hiding behind technology created by those they enslave. We can’t fight an enemy we cannot see, and they never show their faces. Now, thanks to you, Michael, we have what we need to take the war to them, in their home galaxy, perhaps even to their home world itself.”
“The Thousand Worlds will remember your name for all time,” Lance said, bowing to Michael with fist to heart.
“If they forget, Clan Jasani will remind them,” Hunt added as he too bowed.
“Fo
r Clan Jasani never forget,” Vikter finished, bowing as well.
Michael felt his cheeks heat and was suddenly glad for the two days worth of stubble on his face. “I didn’t do it alone,” he said. “Jasan captured the bio-suits to begin with.” Seeing that Vikter was going to argue with him, he spoke again. “Now, how about we send the code to Elder Vulpiran so they can see if their bio-suit has the same information.”
“There’s been much concern over the interception of messages,” Vikter said. “We do not want the Xanti to get wind of this. There could be different data on different bio-suits, or even in different types of machines produced and sold by the Xanti.”
“I’ll go in person then,” Michael offered. He looked down at himself. “Right after I take a shower.”
“We cannot risk the Xanti getting hold of you again, Michael,” Vikter said. “You are far too valuable, as is the information you carry.”
“We can send a couple of male-sets with him to keep him shielded,” Lance suggested. “He is the best one to go in case the code for the other suit is not the same as this one.”
“Agreed,” Vikter said. “Lance, contact Merrick Falcoran and tell him our situation. He can suggest the best male-sets for this task.”
“Michael, how soon can you leave?” Vikter asked. “If you want to sleep first, we will not object.”
“No, I just want to shower and shave,” Michael said. “I can sleep on the transport. But first I need to make a copy of all this data. Give me an hour.” He hesitated a moment then shrugged. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to visit Nica before I go, and say good-bye to Honey as well. I haven’t seen them for a few days.”
“Michael, we have no objection whatsoever to your relationship with Honey and Nica,” Vikter assured him. “It would hurt them terribly if you left without farewells. You are as a beloved brother to them both, and that is a relationship we understand fully.”
“Thanks,” Michael said with a relieved smile. The Vulpirans had told him this before, but he wanted to be sure. “Maybe we should make that two hours then.”
“Of course,” Vikter said. “When you are finished here, make your preparations, then vox Lance when you’re ready.”
“Thanks, Vikter,” Michael said, already reaching for a memory crystal. He was looking forward to seeing Nica especially. He missed the little imp even more than he’d thought he would.
Vikter frowned thoughtfully as they left the vault, then reached over and stopped Lance as he began to make his call to the Falcorans. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “This is information that should be shared with our Princes before we do anything else.”
“Agreed,” Lance and Hunt said in unison.
“Vox Prince Trey and ask him if it’s possible for us to have a meeting with them. Tell him how important it is, but don’t say what it is over the vox.”
Lance nodded and tapped the vox. He didn’t even try to keep the excitement out of his voice when he spoke with the Prince. He wanted him to understand they had something big to discuss. A few moments later, he tapped the vox and turned to Vikter with a smile. “They’re coming now.”
Before Vikter had a chance to say anything, Prince Garen, Prince Trey and Prince Val appeared before them. The Vulpirans bowed, but Prince Garen waved away formal greetings. “You have news?” he asked.
“Yes, very good news,” Vikter replied. “Since you’re here, come on down to the vault and see for yourself.”
The Dracons followed them into the vault, where Michael happily showed them what he’d found. Their excitement was no less than the Vulpirans had been. When Vikter explained their plan of sending Michael via transport to Berria with male-sets to shield him, Prince Garen shook his head.
“No, that is not secure enough,” he said. “We cannot risk this information, or this man, in any way. We will speed-travel you, Michael, to Berria.”
“Speed-travel?” Michael asked doubtfully.
“Do not worry, it is safe and quick,” Garen told him. “We will have you in Berria in moments.” Garen turned to Trey. “Contact Faron. I want a male-set in Berria ready to act as guards to Dr. Davis from the moment we arrive there. They must be among the best warriors we have.”
Trey turned and left the vault, tapping his vox as he went.
“Are you sure that’s necessary?” Michael asked. “Now that those gadgets the Xanti put inside of me are gone, how would they even know where I am? Or care?”
“What a Xanti can do, or will do, is not something we care to speculate on,” Garen said. “I give you my word, Dr. Davis, the Clan Jasani set to guard you will do their best not to interfere in your life.”
Michael didn’t like the idea of being guarded so closely, but he disliked the idea of the Xanti getting a hold of him even less. “I understand, Prince Garen.”
“When will you be ready?” Prince Garen asked.
“Two hours,” Michael said. “In the meantime, these are probably safer with you than anyone else.” He held out two memory crystals, one containing the formula he’d created, the other holding all of the new data from the bio-suit.
Garen took the crystals from Michael and held them in his own hand for a long moment. Then he placed them carefully in a protective pouch on his belt so that his magic would not effect them when he shifted or speed-traveled.
“If you’re ready now, Dr. Davis, I’ll speed travel you to your guesthouse,” Val offered. “It will give you a taste of speed-traveling, so you’ll know what it’s like.”
Michael tore his gaze from Prince Garen’s pouch and nodded reluctantly. Psychic abilities were one thing. But magic...well, it was better than a long, boring transport flight. He supposed.
***
Honey drove her ground-car up the narrow, gravel road toward the River House. They’d only been living in the River House for a couple of days now, but she loved it. She’d never lived in such a beautiful home before. The rooms were big, airy and open, with lots of windows looking out over the valley below in front, and the river in back. The one thing Honey loved most were the big river stone fireplaces in every room. She’d already told Vikter, Lance, and Hunt that she wanted stone fireplaces in their new house, and they’d promised to contact the architect and let him know.
The only thing she and Nica had not liked about the River House was its isolation. Like all of the other homes on the ranch, even the guesthouses, it was set off on it’s own rather than next to another house. The privacy was nice, but it was an awfully big house to be all alone in.
Honey smiled, remembering how uncomfortable the Vulpirans had gotten when she admitted being nervous about staying in the River House alone. Vikter had started to tell them how safe the ranch was, but one look from her had ended that. It had been less than a week since the explosion, after all. Then Lance had suggested posting guards around the house, and the three of them began discussing who they thought would be best qualified for that job.
“Why don’t the three of you move in here with us?” she asked matter-of-factly.
They stared at her with such surprise she wondered why their mouths weren’t hanging open. “Nica, why don’t you go check out the bedrooms and pick which one you want. Except for the big one.”
“You won’t leave without me?” Nica asked.
Honey frowned. Nica wasn’t usually skittish. “Of course not, Sweetie. I’d never forget about you.”
“Okay,” Nica said brightly and skipped off toward the bedrooms.
Honey watched after her for a moment, then turned back to the Vulpirans. “Unless I’m very much mistaken, we’re all going to be living together, probably quite soon, anyway,” she said.
“That is our hope, yes,” Vikter said. “But, we have no wish to push either you, or Nica. There is time for us to go slowly.”
“Yes, there is,” she agreed. “But Nica and I prefer not to be alone here. I’m not saying the four of us need to rush into anything, but there are more than enough bedrooms here for each of us. Besides, it
will give us all a chance to get used to living in the same space. Who knows, maybe living with a five year old will turn out to be more than you bargained for.”
She smiled, remembering the feel of their eagerness, though they’d tried to hide it. Even if she hadn’t felt it, their speed in making arrangements for all of them to move into the River House would have made it clear. It took less than twenty-four hours, in fact. That had been three days ago and so far, things were going very well.
The Vulpirans got along fantastically with Nica, and were never impatient with her. Nica was a bright and curious child, and could be annoying to some people with her constant stream of questions. But Vikter, Lance, and Hunt seemed to thoroughly enjoy her no matter how many questions she asked them. Honey loved that about them.
The only problem she had at the moment was her own impatience. She realized that three days wasn’t very long, but they were all meant to be together, and she was ready to get on with it already. She was in a constant state of arousal whenever she was with them, and she couldn’t stop thinking about them when she was away from them.
Unfortunately, the Vulpirans were taking their time, holding back, restraining themselves in an effort to give her time to get to know them. She appreciated their efforts, but she was ready for more. She just wasn’t sure how to go about telling them that.
She parked the ground-car in the garage and got out, glad that the Vulpirans had brought their long-time housekeeper, Adori, over from Berria. After a long day at the clinic, just the thought of cooking a meal for all of them was exhausting.
Adori was a smiling, round woman of middle years with a light smattering of gray in her dark hair and bright, light brown eyes. She and Nica had taken to each other at once, which made Honey very happy. No more secrets, no more worries, no more fear. It was a nice way to live.
As she stepped onto the front porch and reached for the doorknob, the door swung open, revealing all three of the Vulpirans waiting to greet her. She smiled and stepped inside.
The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga Page 24
