His grandfather was most likely completely ashamed of Terry. He hoped the old man was all right. Jose had promised to keep him safe and secluded in case anyone from Quantum Resources or NASA tried to use him to figure out where the Cruzados were and what they were doing. Terry realized now that they were, in effect, holding Yaxche hostage against Terry’s continued cooperation.
It was a complete disaster. He probably couldn’t have screwed things up any worse if he had planned it that way.
He pulled up a chair near the window and sat down to wait out the rest of his vigil. Although he wasn’t the kind of person to give in to despair, he half-hoped the Kinemetic radiation might leak through the window somehow and permanently turn him into a being of light.
∞
A few hours later, Terry looked up when he heard footsteps out in the hall.
The workshop door opened and Jose entered the room.
“How is it going,” Jose asked, and Terry shrugged.
“All right, I guess.” Terry looked, but he didn’t see a plate of food or even a bottle of water in Jose’s hands. The Cruzados leader must have forgotten. Stomach rumbling, he said, “You mind if I take a break?”
Jose, stepping toward the window as if he could see what transpired within, waved his hand dismissively to Terry. “Sure. Be back in an hour, would you? That’s when the experiment should be over. We’ll find out if the price we paid is worth it.”
∞
Before heading down to the mess hall, Terry stopped at the lavatory. Inside, he entered one of the stalls and sat down on a chrome toilet lid. He had no need to relieve himself, but just needed a few moments to pull himself together before facing any of the Cruzados.
They were all very rough men, raised in some of the most poverty-stricken regions of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. If Terry didn’t act as tough as them, they would see it as an act of weakness. He had already lowered himself in their eyes by his protests on the liner. If he had any chance of getting out of his situation alive, at the very least he had to maintain whatever status he had left in the eyes of the Cruzados.
While gathering up his courage, Terry heard the washroom door open and two men entered. He recognized them by their voices. It was Klaus and his uncle, Captain Gruber. Making himself as still as could be, Terry waited for them to go about their business and leave.
The two men spoke in German, so Terry had no idea what they said, but their tones were full of menace.
Klaus said, “Achten Sie darauf, Ihre Männer sind bereit. Ich werde Signal, wenn der Vorgang abgeschlossen ist. Sie wirst sie töten Jose und Terry.”
When Terry heard his name, the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up, and he cursed himself for not being able to understand what was said.
In English, Captain Gruber asked, “What about the rest of the Cruzados?”
“I have enough evidence to convince them Jose was just using them for his own benefit; he was never a true believer. Don’t worry about them; without a leader, those sheep will soon flock to my banner. —Oh, and if you can, make sure it looks as if it was Jose who killed Terry. Fuel for the fire.”
After a moment, Gruber said, “Shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Soon, Uncle, we will finally take what Alex Manez promised but failed to deliver. I won’t rest until that little brat is dead, too.”
∞
“You’re late,” Jose said in a reprimanding voice when Terry returned to the workshop. “The Kinemet has almost burnt out.”
Klaus didn’t look up from his computer. Captain Gruber stood off to the side, but the older man didn’t look directly at Terry. His eyes, however, took everything in, and a chill ran down Terry’s spine.
“Uh, sorry,” Terry said and shrugged as Jose shot him a scathing look.
He tried to make sure none of the three other men in the room saw how his hands shook, how his breathing was ragged, or how hard his heart thumped in his chest. Almost, he had decided to run and find a hiding place somewhere in the observatory. He knew, however, that if he had, it would have only been a matter of time before they discovered him.
He was a dead man anyway. He knew it deep in his heart. Even if he returned to the lab, once the experiment was proved a success, Captain Gruber would murder him. After all that Terry had done, he felt he deserved it, and decided to face his destiny. If he was to die, at least he would die brave, instead of running like a coward.
“Not a moment to spare,” Klaus said and motioned toward the other room.
The light inside the lab flared and suddenly extinguished, and Klaus retracted the window tinting.
Soon, everyone could see the soldier slowly rematerialize as thousands of tiny flashes of light coalesced and went out.
The entire transformation took less than six seconds, according to a timer display on one of the monitors, and Klaus stood up, obviously excited.
“Did it work?” Jose asked.
“I don’t know,” Klaus said, never taking his eyes off the soldier. “I need to revive him and run some tests. If he shows all the signs of a successful metamorphosis, then we can run him through a simulation and measure his reactions.” He tapped a command, and an intravenous tube in the lab turned blue as some kind of stimulant was introduced into the subject’s system.
Within moments, the solider stirred. His legs jerked as sensation and consciousness returned to him.
Through a microphone, Klaus called out, “Private Teegs, can you hear me?”
“Whass,” the soldier said, his speech clearly not at full capacity. He licked his lips, forced his eyes opened and tried again. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“How do you feel?” Klaus asked. “Can you describe the sensation?”
“I heard it,” the young man said, voice filled with wonder. “It was a song. Haunting. It filled my head. It—”
Just then, his entire body shook with a convulsion. A look of panic spread across his face and his eyes bulged out. Veins popped up on his forehead and neck.
“What’s happening to me?” he cried out.
Klaus spoke in a hard voice into the microphone. “Calm down. It’s just an after-effect of the procedure. I assure you, you’ll be fine.”
But the man was anything but. Both Terry and Jose ran forward to look as another spasm took the soldier and he fell off the gurney to the floor.
Like a fish out of water, he writhed and twitched, all the while howling in agony. The imaging machine and medical monitors sparked as they were overloaded with electricity. Most fizzled and went dead, but one caught fire and popped with a couple of tiny explosions until the overhead sprinklers shot CO2 into the room to smother the flames.
“You have to help him!” Terry shouted, looking over his shoulder.
There was no concern or empathy evident in Klaus’s eyes; merely a look of disgust and frustration. “It’s over.”
“But he’s dying.”
Without replying to Terry, Klaus turned to his uncle and shook his head. Captain Gruber, who had looked as tense as a tiger ready to spring, relaxed visibly.
Jose, watching the soldier’s final death throes, asked, “What now?”
“We’ll have to clean up the lab, reset everything and try again tomorrow. Only one variable left; at least we’ll have a fifty-fifty shot.” With that, Klaus walked out of the workshop, his uncle following a few steps behind.
Terry turned to Jose. “We can’t just stand here and do nothing. He’s dying.”
“He’s already dead,” the leader of the Cruzados said, his voice hard and steady. “Nothing we can do at this point.”
Trying not to let Jose see the tears streaking down his face, Terry turned away from the window. His hands continued to shake.
If the soldier had lived, Terry would now be dead at the hands of Captain Gruber. Which was the more just outcome?
Terry remained alive, but now he had more death on his conscience.
“Sometimes,” Jose said quietly, “I wo
nder if you are fully committed to our cause.”
24
Unofficial Transcript :
Alex Manez Interview Part One :
Dated August 2103 :
Edgar: “Good morning, Alex. My name is Edgar Janz. I’m the assistant to the science advisor for USA, Inc.’s Board of Directors’ oversight committee for Quantum Resources.”
Alex: “Morning.”
Edgar: “Did you have any questions before we begin? I’ve cleared the entire day, so there’s no rush.”
Alex: “I had hoped to be debriefed by Michael Sanderson.”
Edgar: “I’m sorry, he’s retired from Quantum Resources. I’m afraid his security clearance has been downgraded since then. Anything you speak to him about must be of a personal nature only.”
Alex: “What about Captain Turner?”
Edgar: “Major Justine Turner is attached to the training facility at Kennedy Space Center. I’m sure you can arrange to speak to her after your debriefing. Are there any other questions I can answer for you?”
Alex: “I guess not.”
Edgar: “Well rested after your trip to Honduras?”
Alex: “Yes, thank you. I’m sorry if that delayed your report.”
Edgar: “I won’t lie. There are a lot of people waiting to hear your story. It wasn’t easy putting them off. But that isn’t a big problem. I have a preliminary report I already submitted, but we need to verify some facts. Are you ready?”
Alex: “Yes.”
Edgar: “Excellent. All right, let’s do this. Ahem. This is the official debriefing of Captain Alex Manez, first human to travel to another solar system. It has been five days since his return to Earth. All medical and psychological tests have come back, and aside from the difference in his biological and chronological ages, Alex Manez has been given a clean bill of health. —Yes, Alex?”
Alex: “I’ve been a little achy since yesterday.”
Edgar: “Uh. I’m sure that’s just an after-effect of all the traveling. The doctors cleared you.”
Alex: “All right.”
Edgar: “Good. Now, can we start at the beginning? Can you describe your experience traveling in a quantized state?”
Alex: “For me it was instantaneous. I didn’t experience anything. One moment I was here; the next moment I was there.”
Edgar: “I’m going to ask you a series of questions. They might seem repetitive or obvious, but this is for the benefit of the oversight committee. I would like to start with the events leading up to the explosion of the Quanta.”
Alex: “Of course.”
Edgar: “Was there power in the ship when you first materialized in Centauri System?”
Alex: “No there wasn’t.”
Edgar: “According to pre-flight experiments this was expected. Just for the record, can you explain why?”
Alex: “Of course. There were two separate quantities of Kinemet on the ship. One for each leg of the trip. As I understand it, the Kinemet that had been primed with photons would burn out just as I arrived in Centauri. The second load, which had not been primed, was merely quantized as was every other substance on the ship. The astrophysicists determined that once the non-charged Kinemet rematerialized, it would re-react with its own photons and cause a secondary reaction. Without applying a coolant, it would reach critical mass and undergo a nuclear fission.”
Edgar: “And this is why there is a need for a human pilot at this point, correct?”
Alex: “Yes. Assuming I would be rematerialized as well, my only task was to restart the onboard electrical systems. I merely had to turn on a generator, which would return electrical power to the ship. The onboard computer would then initiate the Kinemetic dampers and interrupt the second load of Kinemet before it reacted.”
Edgar: “And was there a problem preventing you from sparking the generator?”
Alex: “Yes. The ship had turned solid, but I remained in a semi-quantized state and was unable to physically grab the pull ring to charge the generator.”
Edgar: “Do we know why you didn’t fully return to a physical form?”
Alex: “One of the analysts surmised the longer a biological entity was in a quantized state, the longer the transition to a normal corporeal form.”
Edgar: “Do you agree with this theory?”
Alex: “No.”
Edgar: “Uh … Alex. I don’t have anything in my notes about your disagreeing with that assumption.”
Alex: “I know.”
Edgar: “Well, what do you think is the reason?”
Alex: “I believe I have not been fully transformed into a Kinemat. I am an aberration. I didn’t know this before the trip, but I do now. We need to stop thinking about using Kinemet for light-speed travel and start examining its other properties before more people end up like me.”
Edgar: “Will you excuse me a moment, Alex?”
Alex: “Of course.”
Edgar: “I just need to make a call.”
∞
Edgar: “Hello, Alex. Sorry that took so long. I hope you’re comfortable.”
Alex: “They served me an early lunch.”
Edgar: “Good. I’ve been instructed to strike your last comment from the official record and concentrate on the actual verifiable events only. Please restrict your answers to facts rather than conjecture.”
Alex: “All right.”
Edgar: “Where were we? Right. There was a delay between when the Quanta rematerialized and when you returned to physical form.”
Alex: “Yes. But during that short time, I was conscious and aware of where I was. I was halfway between light and matter.”
Edgar: “And how long, exactly, were you in this transitional phase?”
Alex: “It was about eight or ten seconds before I brought myself back to material form. It’s hard to judge.”
Edgar: “ ‘Brought yourself?’ Alex. I have nothing in my records stating that you brought yourself back.”
Alex: “I know.”
Edgar: “Did you tell anyone this before?”
Alex: “Of course, but they think it was just my imagination, or my memory playing tricks. Did you need to leave the room again?”
Edgar: “No. Let’s just skip that last part for now.”
Alex: “All right.”
Edgar: “So you rematerialized. How long did you have before the ship exploded?”
Alex: “Just a few seconds. I wasn’t thinking straight, and tried to pull the kick starter ring.”
Edgar: “But … I thought that’s what you were supposed to do.”
Alex: “It didn’t have any effect. I tried to tell them before we left. The generator needed more of a boost to get started than a simple pull cord—being quantized for that amount of time, the electrical system was weakened. I had to use my electropathic ability to start the generator.”
Edgar: “Electropathic ability? What is that? Alex, I’m not sure I can report any of this. My record and your story doesn’t match up. I have nothing here that says anything about this.”
Alex: “I’m sure they’ll edit the parts they don’t want to hear.”
Edgar: (coughing sound)
Alex: “Okay … the generator started, but it was too late to start the dampers.”
Edgar: “It was too late?”
Alex: “There was only about a second or so left before the Kinemet reached critical mass, and the coolant required at least four seconds.”
Edgar: “How did you survive the blast?”
Alex: “Well, the automatic capsule ejector launched the cockpit just as the Quanta silently burst into fragments of light.”
Edgar: “All right. That’s what I have in my report as well. What happened next?”
Alex: “I was a little stunned by the escape, and I was dazed. After a few minutes, I realized I was stranded more than forty-trillion kilometers from home with no way back, and I started to panic.”
Edgar: “That’s understandable.”
Alex: “All trac
es of the Quanta were gone. The capsule only had about a week’s supply of oxygen and food. I … felt completely alone.”
Edgar: “What happened next?”
Alex: “I instructed the shipboard sensors to scan the vicinity for trace electromagnetic vibrations. The ship’s spectrographic analyzer picked up a signal.”
Edgar: “The signals were similar to those emitted by the artifact in our solar system, the Dis Pater?”
Alex: “Yes. The computer calculated it was a little over twenty-thousand kilometers away.”
Edgar: “Then what?”
Alex: “I programmed the navigation system to fly to it.”
Edgar: “Based on the calculations you provided, at the capsule’s top speed, it would take a little over a month to get there.”
Alex: “Correct.”
Edgar: “You only had a week’s worth of oxygen and food. So how did you survive the trip?”
Alex: “I put myself back into a quantized state.”
Edgar: “You put—? Alex, there are significant discrepancies between my reports and what you are telling me. I’m not sure we can continue until I get this straightened out.”
Alex: “I tried to tell the analysts, but no one believed me.”
Edgar: “We’ll continue this debriefing tomorrow. Right now I need to get to the bottom of this.”
25
Lucis Observatory :
Venus Orbit :
Justine had never been more frightened in all her life. She had never fully experienced the acute isolation and helplessness of being blind like she did now.
When she had first lost her sight on Pluto, she had run the full gamut of emotions on the six-month voyage home: anger and frustration, denial and false hope, depression and finally acceptance.
During the trip home, however, she had never once feared for her life. The entire ship’s crew had been as supportive and accommodating as anyone could be. NASA had kept in constant communication with her and made arrangements for her optilink surgery upon her arrival back on Earth.
Music of the Spheres (The Interstellar Age Book 2) Page 16
