by Moulton, CD
Kurk also felt that Boss could, as could the rest of them, be totally merciless if the occasion called for it. When he was relating what he said to Zaft should any innocent people – meaning mostly the family at the farm – be hurt his eyes and voice were as hard as corundum.
Fair enough. There had to be rules to any game. Zaft and any who were listening through the spy device in the farmhouse were told in no uncertain terms that all innocent bystanders were to be protected. Period. No excuses.
Extrx pointed toward a path, then printed on the communicator that Kurk was to go close to the place on the map showing on the holoscreen in flashing green. There he was to release the small spy floaters, which would automatically survey the suspicious area. They were fully programmed for their job.
"Please stay out of sight," came onto the screen. "Use your eyes. Note everything that seems in any way to be artificial or out of place. Use the videocams to record everything. We will meet here in one hour. Be most careful."
Kurk gave the "understood" sign, then headed up the path. It was less than a kilometer to the spot so he lost little time releasing the six small floaters hanging under the one he was riding. He scanned the area while the little machines did their jobs, found one thing that seemed odd, recorded it twice then when the floaters returned to re-attach themselves to his floater went back to wait for Extrx.
Kurk felt he would always think of the fellow as Extrx, not Ehrak. It made no difference. They worked well together. They had a deep honest mutual respect.
*
Ehrak printed out the instructions for Kurk, saw him give the "understood" sign, then watched as the big demon moved quickly away along the path indicated.
He couldn't help but think of Kurk as a demon.
Well, that's what he WAS on Tlorg!
Z was right. Maybe bringing these people into the empire was a good idea. The big and rather terrifying being would be a very good friend to have around in case of trouble. He learned fast – note how well he handled the floater – and had a great sense of humor. He had guts, too! To join into the games Maita and the crew played even to the point of matching wits with TR was a thing Ehrak only played around on the fringes of. The group were merciless with one another. The remarks and little tricks were best described as outrageous. Tom's memories showed him a somewhat different approach to each other at the time when they were first on Tlorg in that they used insult, as they did now, but mostly with double meanings. The old sexual undertones in the remarks to Z had changed as Z lost his inhibitions. The game would surely constantly evolve or it would become too predictable. If only Kurk's laugh weren't so startling and even terrifying!
The obvious affection among Z, Thing, Maita and even TR was a thing to be ... almost envied. Ehrak felt some affection for Thing, but wasn't familiar enough with Z yet. Tom's memories were of a strong affection among all of them. Hopefully it would come.
Ehrak couldn't begin to picture Kurk displaying affection, but the big demon played with those children in a really affectionate way. He said he liked children.
Face it! Nothing could be as terrifying to a mammal as the Feach, yet they were known to be one of the more affectionate races in the galaxy! Another mammal could be as terrifying in aspect. Kurk certainly was!
Here we are facing an invasion from another plane by beings we can't even conceive of and I sit here wondering about which race is more affectionate! Ehrak thought. Wouldn't the group make a deal out of THAT!
He concentrated on the area ahead. He would soon be to the place he was to investigate so he'd better be sharp. Just around there and lower, so it would be in a valley of some sort.
It was a narrow cleft. There was a house by a stream below, but not much else. Smoke was coming from the chimney so someone was home. Ehrak sent a small floater to investigate the house while he explored the ridge he came over. When the floater returned he sent out several others to look around for anything out of the ordinary, then returned to find Kurk waiting after the devices were back. They headed back to the starting point, relayed the video information they had gathered to the waiting communications floater and headed for the second pair of locations while the com floater reported everything to Maita.
So far it didn't look terribly promising, but that was to be expected. Every world had thousands of little unexplained things happening all the time. It was important they be checked here simply because no one knew for sure what they were up against yet. Maita would add up all their clues, discard the ninety five percent that had no connection and they would then have a direction.
First those clues had to be gathered, both the many without meaning and the few with.
*
Thing moved around on its floater settling the long "skirt" hanging below when it appeared in the guise of Maybe. The force shields were up and tested so the Jornians wouldn't be able to detect it. If efficiency were to be needed the force shields could be dropped instantly. Hopefully they could all stay in character for the time being. The Jornians would know about Mentans. They would have to remain local lifeforms if possible or it would become much too obvious the empire was here. Knowing that could precipitate something they couldn't know of or expect and that something could prove deadly to a lot of people.
Z was working on his own theories so Thing decided it would wait awhile to break his chain of thought. There was still a lot to think about in all of this.
For an instance; how did this being from such a complicated plane figure into the zero theory? If everything was only a dream sequence anyhow there was no real problem in shifting beings from plane to plane. Dimensions had no meaning. There weren't any. Reality, such as it was, showed that beings from those other planes DID interact and DID die – or worse.
There was one negative plane the group had been in, minus TTHN, which was composed of what was antimatter in N space. The group had used matter from that plane several times.
Thing had stayed in the O dome to observe the TTHN plane at first though had any of the others done so they might have become insane. Most minds couldn't hope to cope with angles that were “opposite” of what was generally seen. Thing's independent eyes put it in a much better position, there.
So what? The math was all wrong, which was just as scary. All the evidence was that there was something. If it was truly zero there would be nothing. That fact would have to be postulated even if it did ignore the fact that even the theory would have to be a dream.
Too much detail. No dreamer, god, combination of gods or anything else capable of a dream could handle all the details. There would have to be a consciousness of every atom. Every atom of the thing doing the dreaming would also have to be held in consciousness so that was a doubled infinite projection. There would have to be an atom for each atom that was dreaming of each atom, then another atom for that atom that was conscious of the atom that was conscious....
Impossible isn't a word that anyone likes, but this IS! Therefore, the math is wrong.
Postulate back to the primal zero theory. Everything adds up to zero. Time and motion are all of it. Everything. All the math fits. Dimensions are interacting fields, nothing more. Each field has a positive and a negative "spin" which cancel one another. That's absurdly easy to figure. One charge plus its opposite charge on the dielectric equals zero. That's a projected subdimension. It holds true all the way through. Every body in the N plane has positional relative bodies in all other planes sharing the dimensions that will allow matter to exist. Time plus structure equals mass. Reality is that only time and motion truly exists. We can postulate an opposite motion so it's all very neat. Time, being the dielectric, has no direction, thus antitime is unneeded.
Okay, the exception we seem to have found is the position in TTH9 of Tlorg is called Hades there. That should be the only N space representative of Hades.
Tlorg. If there is time displacement there could be an infinite number of each of.... That's another multiplied infinity that doesn't actually affect the math because
the balance would be the same in one or infinity.
In N space we apparently have Terra in the TTH9 position of Hades, which means that Terra IS Tlorg. Time displacement can't be a factor because the scale wouldn't allow them to exist in the same moment. Z wouldn't exist in N and neither would Earth. It would become N = N' so would revert back to original proposition time displacement. Not viable because Earth and Z DID exist as much as any of them.
Horse – as Z would say – manure! How can this be? Either Hades is not the world which matches Terra in TTH9 or Tlorg is Earth!
[ Maita? ]
*Yes, Thing?*
[ What have you learned about the zero theory so far? Have you managed to deduce extensions into planal multiplicities? ]
*I haven't had time to work on it. We're missing something obvious. Something simple. We're thinking only in complicated theoretical terms so it's not presenting itself to us. It's, therefore, non-complex. Basic.*
That was through the silent communicator so as not to get Z's concentration broken – or so Thing assumed.
[ I would rather wait with this until I have more time, but it may be important. If supposed beings from TTH nineteen can survive here ... it could be important because we would have to transpose too much of the math from present TTH theories. I don’t believe we have time. ]
*We never do know exactly what we'll need. If it gets too complicated we can always ask Kurk, Ehrak and Z. You know how the organic mind works, the ones like theirs – so maybe they'll blurt out your answer for you. Z does that sort of thing all the time. We overlook something simple so his simple mind spots it right away.*
[ I think he'd prefer that you say that his mind is uncluttered instead of simple. ]
*Oh, okay. His mind is uncluttered with things like knowledge and facts. Fair enough?*
So Maita had brought Z into their discussion. Thing hadn't noticed the audios were on.
[ Okay, Z! What have we overlooked in our little theories? What's the obvious point we're overlooking? ]
"Well. There's a theory on simple little old Earth having to do with curved space. Maybe that could be it. Earth's on the other side of Hades so we come to it at a different angle. A little wilder would be that ALL the worlds in TTH nine are alike.
"Does your primal zero theory allow for that?"
[ Curved space? That's silly unless you mean.... Hey! That could be it! Space isn't curved, but the PERCEPTION of a curved space would lend an explanation of displacement through depressional curvature. It's only the math that must treat it as a true curvature. ]
*I take it you want me to send a probe into TTH nine to see where the force bubbles are located?*
"Force bubbles? You mean black holes? That's where space is supposed to be curved, all right."
[ If there is such a bubble in TTH nine and one.... There is, isn't there, Maita? ]
*We have the one in the center of the galaxy. I'll know the two places where there would have to be one in TTH nine. In one of the two places, anyway.*
[ Maita! Find that force bubble – and FAST! If it's there we have to know! This is much more important that anything else in this universe – and I'm speaking literally! ]
*I seldom see you so excited, Thing. I'll have to use TR, though. I can't leave this castle.*
[ Use TR for one location and T Six for the other! Maita, this is important! Nothing they're doing is so important! Dump the damned castle if you have to! I need an answer and I need it NOW! ]
"What've you found, Thing?" Z asked, startled. "I've never seen you so excited!"
[ If what you've shown me is true it would explain how someone from TTH nineteen could exist here. That's fair enough. If it's true it also shows me what they want that big portal for. Maita, they have three or possibly four more subdimensions than we do in N space, all of them STRESSED force! ]
*I ... see. Tab will go with TR and Kit will go with T Six. We'll have a report in a few hours. Z, don't hesitate. Ground that ship's energy! We'll probably have plenty of time because they're not ready yet. I can vaguely see why they're doing what they're doing, but the math is different here than it is there. They've made a truly horrible mistake!*
"Yeah. We said earlier they didn't seem all that smart. To make that challenge was anything but."
[ If we don't stop this it'll all be academic. N space and TTH nineteen will suddenly cease to exist. ]
Z saw that Thing was excited, but that hit him right between the eyes, so to speak! Maybe he didn't know many of the complicated theories of omniversal physics, but he didn't have to to realize what Maita and Thing were saying was that the Jornians and their otherplanal friend were about to bring certain dimensions in N space into direct contact with certain opposite dimensions in TTH19 causing the two planes to cancel! Would that mean there would be imbalance in all the planes?
"Does that mean there would be an instant imbalance in all the planes?"
[ THEN we'll have true zero! ]
"How fast?"
*Instantaneously. Listen, Z. Don't try to ground the energy in their ship. You haven't tested the ability and may not be able to accomplish it. Failure could make them act now instead of later. Ehrak and Kurk are locating some things so we may be able to divert this another way. TR has used the spell, but only on an energy sphere on a repowering platform. The circuitry could be able to hamper its effectiveness. Old Lordrum used the spell on the sphere in Allen Dale's ship (Science!), but he knew it well. My math shows the energy in that ship couldn't do the job so they'll have to get more generation or will have to import some. I don't think they can retain control of the Jornians if they allow the ship to leave here. Thing, I know where they got that ship now. I know why it has to be on Tlorg and why it has to be very nearly on the spot where it's sitting on Tlorg.*
[ Ten thirty two six point nine four zi alpha fourteen delta five at rel ninety gamma six sixteen projected to penta zed plot qat? ]
*Yo! I wonder how long they waited?*
"What the hell is that all about?" Z demanded.
[ The fact that space, or the fabric of time as you might say, is curved in such a way as to allow Hades to be a nexus for Earth and Tlorg – as well as our otherplanal adventurer – also shows there is this one spot on Tlorg and one spot six point one six plazsis from here in a small area where the TTH nineteen being can appear. It is phenomenal luck there was nothing in between in any of four planes when they shifted that ship to this point or we would already be at zero. Maita, that spot will be fixed so maybe it should be inside of a hollow and useless body? Half a kilometer will do. Beacons on its surface. We can put one in TTH six as well. That's the only other one where there's any danger. We have to protect four planes at once. ]
*That will make their only other vaible contact location in this plane contained, Z. We'll have to find a way to deactivate this one on Tlorg. The Jornians are exploring in the asteroid belt around RD nineteen B six, which is the nearest star, for several useful metals. That ship happened to cross a point where the TTH nineteen beings could grab it. They transferred it to Tlorg at the only other point in this plane because there's a place to land. The curved space that makes this a secondary interstice point for Earth made all of that possible.*
"You mean they might have been waiting for centuries for a ship to cross that one little spot?"
[ For any large power source. Z, it seems rather too much of a coincidence that they would find this at this particular place and time, but you must remember it's only in the last century anyone but us and a couple of Immin ships have ever come to this area. The chance a ship would EVER cross that one point was vanishingly small, but one very obviously did. We can see nothing like this can happen again by blocking the points. We can figure all possible points, but we can NOT control this happening in another plane or in another galaxy. The end result would be the same, I think. ]
"That's scary!"
*Not really. If it ever happens we'll never know it. The omniverse will simply be ... gone. Like tu
rning off a light only a hell of a lot faster. The omniverse is a point so the result will be truly instantaneous. I said before we came there was some kind of anomaly reported by the satellite so our presence isn't part of the coincidence. Only that ship crossing that point.*
"Well, we have to find a way to stop all this. Let's go on to the Jornian ship and make some kind of statement or something that'll make them think they have all the time in the galaxy. We DON'T want anyone acting too hastily!
"What kind of information do we have from the others?"
*I think they've prepared a kind of large power storage facility in a mountain cave. The one place is suspicious because a road comes to a blank solid cliff, a used road, and ends there. Our past experiences show something's wrong in that equation. Kurk took the pictures, but didn't really think too much about it. Ehrak has located two sorcerers working on power spells, thus the readings I got earlier.*
"The sorcerers are all close?"
*Um-humm. The otherplanal being recruited them. It must be planning to have them bring the energy, which it'll then store. Maybe it simply copied the standard power sphere from the captured Jornian ship. I estimate it'll need three to accomplish what it has in mind.*
"It has the one in the ship so it'll need two more. That's one hell of a lot of energy to be getting from sorcerers. They can divert the energy from thunderstorms directly, but a sphere holds the power of thousands of thunderstorms!"
[ They'll need three. The one in the ship is being used to sustain the portal. The traveler can't stay for more than a few minutes at a time as our air here won't give it enough energy to survive. It doesn't contain the right dimensional structures. I'm assuming the thing breathes. Is there any energy stored in the mountain yet, Maita? ]
