Last Merge

by Pam Uphoff

  "Good. Good that you could measure it."

  "If it keeps going straight now . . . " Dr. Esna scowled and poked. "Is that the One World?"

  "No, that's another X World. It's going to be close. Again, close enough to change its course, but probably not close enough to merge. The course change will be entirely the wrong direction, for us. We had every indication that it was going to miss the One World, but the first X World encounter has pulled it back closer. This will make it even worse."

  A touch and a faint cone extended forward from the Helios Miniverse.

  "Projecting its course after it passes the second X world is difficult. I think this cone is a reasonable estimate." She touched one membrane, it brightened into a spark. "This is the One World."

  The growing cone of the Helios Miniverse's possible paths included the One's crumpled membrane, off center, but not comfortably off.

  "I'll update it frequently. Especially after I have placed hundreds of gates between Helios and this world down here. I hope that it will counter any deflection toward the One World. I am also planning to put a storm of gates up to this world up here, EP 11566, again in hopes of influencing the course of Helios. It's a lot further than the others, but the direction is right and all it costs is a few weeks of labor." Q drew a dozen parallel lines to the worlds she hoped would anchor the Helios Miniverse.

  "Then the next three encounters. You can see that there's a Dino World, and a Primitive World crossing paths—close, but not overlapping—as they cruise through going different directions. And then Helios passes the One World."

  "If the next world bends its path . . . " Urfa looked pale, lines of stress marred his usually calm expression.

  "It might still miss. There are more worlds I can use to try to steer it." Q met his gaze. "I need you to monitor the situation, well, I know you will, but I need you to tell me if it's working."

  "Of course, we have no way to tell if it's what you're doing or the natural result of a close pass." Wrla glowered at her.

  "You have the data from the deflection after passing XC 12634. And the other lesser changes. Try to estimate the effect of passing the second X world. If we can influence it—if its final path is on the 'Miss One World' end of your range of error, if it pulls it even a little—I can repeat with EP 11566, the Dino World, and again with the Primitive World. Those last two are both possible merges. We will not stop trying to deflect it away from the One World." She leaned back, and looked up the table at her audience.

  "As far as I know the merge process requires their actions, a close enough pass won't merge spontaneously. These last two worlds will be very close." She drummed her fingers on the table.

  She was staring at the far wall, shoulders tense. "And if it is close enough, it is possible that all my gates will trigger a merge. Whether the Helaos want it or not."

  "Q?" Xen stared at her, realization dawning. "You're going to try to force Helios to merge with the Dinosaur World?"

  "Yes." She looked away from him. "And if they merge with an Empty World, with no people there to merge with . . . we won't have to wonder what the Helaos will do after they've passed the One World."

  "Right." Xen swallowed, and sat back, a bit relieved at the appalled expressions on the Oners' faces.

  Because we all know that it will kill however many Helaos are left. A few million, perhaps. But no matter how many Helaos would die, it'll be less than the number who will refuse to budge from their homes on the One World.

  Oh. Bloody. Hell . . . And she looks like she's going to cry, but she's right.

  But it is not for us to choose which world to sacrifice . . . is it?

  Oh. Dear. God.

  Change the subject. Quick!

  Xen looked back at the president. "So . . . how are the suburb worlds working out?"

  President Orde finally relaxed, sitting back as his eyes crinkled with humor. "Oh. One. You have changed so many dynamics, I don't know where to start. But we have infrastructure in place and being expanded, on twelve Empty Worlds. So the twelve largest metropolitan areas could be evacuated in days. Which would barely be five percent of the population."

  "We'll put up a whole lot of gates, at need. To those worlds, and your other colonies."

  "And pray to the One True God we don't need them." Urfa shivered. "Or the millions of temporary housing units we're moving Across. We have another four months to track them before we go into panic mode . . . maybe. If you need personnel for any purpose, just ask."

  Xen raised his eyebrows. "Actually . . ."

  Chapter Four

  Rael gets roped in

  One World, Government House

  15 Yusef 1404yp

  "Possible effects of a large scale change in the philosophy and organization of the One. One help me. All based on a single discussion." Rael Withione Al Media Montevideo scowled at the report.

  "That's more than anyone else has." Director Urfa tapped at her open door and stepped in at her wave. "And based on a greater depth of knowledge than anyone else in the Directorate."

  "You could ask Qayg." Why does he look so worried?

  "Did. She told me to wait until another Alternate Philosopher showed up to finally take the majority away from the current Philosopher."

  "Oof! But who, and what will his philosophy be?"

  His eyes crinkled. "I wondered about you."

  "Me!" Rael cleared her throat to get it down to its usual timber. "Umm, I'm popular entertainment. Not a focus of . . . a worldview."

  "Happiness? Fan of Xen Wolfson? Speaking of whom, I'm going to rescue you from this analysis and send you and some guards to him." But his laughter lines settled back into stress wrinkles.

  "Why so worried, Boss?"

  "Helios."

  So? What's the worst thing . . . Oh . . . Shit, no!

  Rael swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. "Is Helios coming this way?"

  She caught the stiffening of his shoulders, and the change in the rhythm of his breath. And controlled her own breathing. This is no time to hyperventilate!

  "Very, very closely held, Rael." He pulled a metal wafer from his pocket and set it on the table.

  Rael studied the illusion that lit up. She'd seen Q's multiverse maps before. The most obvious feature of this one was a transparent red cone, widening as it got further from the starting world. The cone curved a bit as its center line passed worlds. Multiple worlds were within what had to be the range of possible courses. "And this brighter world?" She poked the spark, off center of the cone, but not very far off. "Us?"

  "Yes. Of the twenty worlds in their path—we're the third most likely to be close enough for them to trigger a merge. Q's trying to steer them away. And we really need new vocabulary to describe what's really going on in non-three-dee dimensions."

  Rael controlled her own breathing. "So . . . is the project Xen's requested guards for related, and . . . why do they need guards?"

  "Q is going to open hundreds of gates between specific worlds and Helios in an attempt to steer it away from us. Helios will be passing an X-World in a month."

  "So that's the first target for Q's steering experiment?" Rael poked a world close to the midline. "But it's already bending it toward us."

  "Exactly. They'll be trying to minimize how it changes Helios's path, so they'll be pulling it another direction." Urfa poked a spot well below the red line. "From down here. They're hoping that they can pull it enough to minimize the curve caused by the X World. It'll be Q, Xen and some Fallen Witches.

  "Ajki's beside himself, says he's desperately short on trained field agents. And doesn't think some Action Teamers would be . . . appropriate for this. So I volunteered some of my guards and equipment. You and whoever you would like to take."

  Oh One. I just tried to kill Q's brother a few months ago.

  They won't want me near him.

  I can't . . .

  But no one else really knows them . . .

  I . . . will do it because it is necessary.

&
nbsp; She straightened her shoulders. "Right. Can I have some of the Black Horse Guards or do you want me to take your other agents along to get familiar with the Fallen, and Disco?"

  "Either. People who will—hopefully—behave around seven Comet Fall witches. Your Speed Squad buddies?"

  Rael nodded, thinking. "Yes. They'd do nicely, no problems with the witches. And can I take Bunny? I'd like to have a woman along to schmooze with the witches, in case they . . . are extremely pissed at me. And Bunny is so unthreatening."

  Urfa's eyes crinkled. "They're going to get a horribly wrong idea about Princesses from you two. By all means, take her. I'll tell Eppa he's about to lose some people and equipment. Xen said he'd provide food and shelter, so I thought I'd pitch in with transport. Start with five utes. If Xen or Q needs something else, anything, just ask. So round up your team and weapon up. You leave in six days."

  ***

  First stop Disco. It was the middle of the day, so business suit—well, her blouses tended to be unusually colorful for "business attire"—but nothing really sexy. And not in uniform . . .

  I'm going to need field gear. . . clothes. Boots . . . I got a box back from the Army. I won't ever wear an army uniform again . . . I hope. But those were nice combat boots. Guess I'll have to finally unpack it and see if they sent them. Pants, shirts, socks, ugh, heavy socks.

  She took her own car and parked around behind the embassy.

  The walk to Disco should give everyone there enough time to decide whether or not to shoot me on sight.

  Apparently the decision was “not.” But not unanimous, judging from the glare and drumming fingers of the usual receptionist.

  "What are you doing here?"

  A snicker from the balcony above. "Now Dagger. Be nice."

  The glare turned resentful as the young woman glanced over her shoulder. "She tried to kill you!"

  Xen just grinned. "C'mon up Rael. You look official, is your business with me, or . . ."

  "Q, possibly. Urfa said you needed some guards for some witches and thought maybe an Action Team would be a bad idea. So he's sending some of the Black Horse Guards. I'm here to check what you need." She trotted up the steps.

  "You're in charge? Are we going to have to be professional, pretend we barely know each other?"

  Rael giggled. "That had not actually occurred to me. One! It's true though, isn't it?" She followed him into his office and kicked back in a chair, forcing herself to not kick off her shoes and put her feet up on his desk.

  "Well . . . yes. So, Q's in Ash recruiting witches. She's got plenty of volunteers, but Answer has to wield her authority and approve of them 'missing lessons.' Not that they won't be learning, but Answer's territorial, and our family's reputation as wild rebels . . ."

  "Really?" she snickered. "You I can see, but Q? A rebel? Well, my starting point is five utes, four guards and another princess, in case my . . . presence becomes a problem."

  He winced.

  "The utes'll take twenty-five people if you're friendly, twenty comfortably."

  "Q wants two triads, besides herself, so that's just fourteen total."

  Rael pulled out her comp. "So no problem toting along a bunch of stuff. Although knowing you, it'll all be in bubbles."

  "Yep. I'm preparing for two weeks in the field at a time, although unless conditions are bad, half that should be plenty." He grimaced. "It's the waiting to see if it worked that is the toughest part."

  Rael hunched her shoulders. "And if the reports I read are right, you've only got four chances to pull it off. Then the President's got a very bad announcement to make."

  "And two months to evacuate almost seven billion people." Xen met her eyes. "We will do everything possible to stop this. Or help deal with it if we can't."

  Rael smiled wryly. "One only knows why."

  "Because we keep meeting so many really nice Oners." Matter of fact feminine tones preceded Q through the door.

  "Add four guards and two Princesses to the total. Five utes, plenty of room, unless you decided to bring an entire Pyramid."

  "Nope. One triad from Ash, and one from Rip Crossing."

  Xen grinned. "Heaven help the poor, poor Oners. Rip Witches. Dare I ask?"

  "Goldfinch, Jacana, and Ibis. An experienced Halfmoon triad. Ditto the Ash witches. Demoiselle, Egret, and Lapwing. And they've had plenty of cross-over triad practice, so they're pretty much ideal."

  Xen winced. "Jacana and Lapwing . . . "

  "I'll remind them." Q eyed Rael. "You're very good at not looking massively curious. Witches work in threes, like Oner men work in fours or eights. It allows them to do things as a group that they can't do singly."

  "Oh? You gals must get along better with each other than most Princesses."

  Xen snorted, coughed to repress a laugh.

  "Oh dear." Rael giggled. "I'm bringing along a very nice little girl of a Princess, just in case my presence disrupts the group. I'd hate to leave you thinking only male Oners were . . . oh . . . powerful or whatever."

  Q shook her head. "I did not choose these witches for their sweet dispositions."

  "Dear me. Well, I'll round up the boys and load up the utes. Are we staging out of here?"

  Two head shakes. Xen grabbed a old fashioned paper pad and wrote for a moment. "We're using one of your quarantine worlds. Urfa wants more control of rumors, or worse, actual leaks."

  Rael glanced at the directions. "Three gates to where you'll be laying your gates?"

  Q shook her head. "That's just the staging area. It'll be one more gate to the first world we'll be using." She glanced at her brother. "Someone is being paranoid."

  He shrugged. "A few hundred gates to Helios? What could possibly go wrong?"

  Rael giggled. "Meet you there in five days."

  ***

  Xen watched her walk out of the room, all bounce and glow. Caught the edge of a thought from his sister, and eyed her.

  Q shrugged. "Interesting. Her glow is happy, all the way down. I'll have to try that sometime." She looked back at Xen. "And something's changed, she's much more relaxed . . . very centered."

  Xen raised his eyebrows. "Probably just an assignment she can get behind a hundred percent. Speaking of which, how the hell are we going to find a couple hundred cones all in one place?"

  "I think you and I will be catching them at a distance and herding them in to the triads."

  "Right. And that's why we need these guards. Because we won't much be paying attention to anything else."

  Q gave him an innocent look. "Except your happy girl?"

  Xen raised his nose. "Watch. I'll ignore the hell out of her while I'm catching cones. Off duty, relaxing in the Great Stone Inn? Then you can watch me act like an idiot . . . assuming I have enough energy to do more than eat and sleep."

  ***

  "So." Rael giggled at the apprehensive glances her off-and-on students exchanged.

  The Speed Squad, the rest of the guards call them. Because they can all do high level speed. Some of the best of the Black Horse Guards.

  "External Relations Director Ajki is so hard pressed to field the teams he needs for projects currently underway that Urfa has decided to use some of the Black Horse Guards to fill a special request from Disco for some people to protect a field project of theirs. So, do we have any volunteers to go guard some gorgeous young witches from hungry dinosaurs? Keep in mind that I have no idea what the age or appearance of the witches actually is, but I have been told there will be dinosaurs, sometime." She grinned. "Might even pick up some Fallen style magic techniques, inasmuch as Xen will be there at least periodically, and possibly constantly."

  She glanced at Scar. "I've invited Bunny, so we don't give the impression of an all male group."

  He grinned. "I'm in."

  A chorus of affirmatives from the other three.

  "Excellent. Major Eppa has signed off on five utes, Xen says he'll handle food and shelter. So weapon up. I understand the 20mm penetrating frags works very well o
n dinosaurs, but bring along lighter guns as well."

  "Rael?" Ohhe was eyeing her. "I didn't catch what the project is?"

  "Oh. Well, the witches are going to put up hundreds of gates between various worlds and Helios in hopes of diverting it away from the One World."

  Horrified silence times four.

  "So. Tell no one. Weapon up, pack for a month in the field. Day after tomorrow we go save the Empire."

  Chapter Five

  Working together

  Staging World

  21 Yusef 1404 yp

  Early Summer 1402 px

  Xen ran his eyes over the four Oners. He'd asked Urfa for a few guards, and received four men that he suspected were Urfa's best. Strong. At ease with each other. An experienced squad. I don't get much feel of mental contact. I don't think they do much Compass work.

  "So, did I just not notice you four while I was undercover in Versalle, or are you more recent additions?"

  Sergeant "Oh-he" nodded. "More recent. I transferred in shortly after the assassination attempt. The others afterwards. At our level, the Black Horse Guard Unit is generally two or three back-to-back four year assignments, so there's turnover every year. The officers tend to be lifers."

  "I see. I couldn't ask too many questions, while I was being a proper spy, for fear of sounding too ignorant to be a Halfer, or Oner, or whatever."

  Rael snickered. "You did anyway. In retrospect, it's embarrassing we didn't figure you out immediately. Or at least after a couple of months. So . . . why don't you tell the guys what we'll be doing, while I introduce Bunny to the witches?"

  He watched her walk away, all official in her black and purple uniform, the pulled his mind back to business.

  "I'll start with the overall plan, then get to the details." Xen set Q's latest hologram on the tailgate of the lead ute. This particular "quarantine world" was bleak, dry and rocky. A few ferns and mosses in damp spots, but most of the life was still in the oceans. But the humidity was low and temperatures mild. Shame to waste it as a way-point, but then building up a whole land-based biosphere is time consuming.