Six hours later, they had completed their passage of the wrecked fleet and come within viewing range of the structure, which stood at a resonance point formed by the gravity wells of the three brown dwarves-now huge, distorted discs on the display, shedding a ruddy glare which the v-panes automatically blocked out-and the swirling vortex of the accretion disc hiding the singularity. Each sun was distended, extruding a long tail of mass corkscrewing down into the black hole.
“ Kyo? We’ve lost hyper gradient-the local g field is tremendously distorted.” Thai-i Olin licked his lips nervously. “Something emanating from that-object-is maintaining field equilibrium. While we’re inside its influence… there’s no way we can punch through to superluminal.”
At this close range, the Naniwa ’s hull was completely locked down, all booms drawn inboard. Hull temperature was rising as well, for the ambient radiation storm in this area of space was intense. Their external sensors were now limited to a set of battle-hardened scanners built to operate during a bomb-pod storm. Despite stepping down the fidelity of their data capture by orders of magnitude, the “structure” was of such colossal size they could not help but make out some detail.
General silence prevailed in Command as they watched the visuals unspool. Nothing in the natural world contrived this, Kosho thought, trying to wrap her mind around the sheer scale of what they beheld. Nothing in the world of men could have built it. It cannot even hail from this eon in time. Why aren’t we dead right now?
She tore her gaze away, looking to the Prince for fresh orders. He was silent, eyes hooded, fingertips steepled beneath his noble nose. Now which way will Sayu jump?
Presently, Prince Xochitl frowned hugely at Susan and grumbled, “I agree that caution is required in dealing with… with this relic. Dispatch an exploratory team in a combat shuttle as soon as possible. They can perform a short-range scan and begin detailed mapping of the surface.”
“ Hai, Lord Prince.”
Kosho gestured for Konev to join her at the command station. When the weapons officer was within range of a quiet conversation, his hands clasped behind his back and veritably vibrating with desire, she looked him up and down, troubled by the eager expression on the Russian’s face.
“If you wish to try your luck-out there-find two other volunteers and refit one of the cargo shuttles to fly by wire. We’ll run the boat out, and you can fly in on camera.” She raised her hand sharply, cutting off the boy before he could protest. “If you’re successful with a close-in approach, and can drop some sensor packs onto the surface with the shuttle’s cargo arm-then we’ll work up a manned landing. But until then-you’ve your orders.”
“ Domo arigato, Chu-sa! I know just who to ask.”
Bowing, he left. Kosho stared after him for a moment, and then flicked the Prince’s v-pane away from her display. Now the Prince owes me a shuttle, she thought, suppressing a wave of irritation. Unable to sit any longer, she rose and paced over to Oc Chac’s station, where the Sho-sa, Pucatli, and Holloway were poring over the detailed model of the structure being assembled by the ship’s comp as measurements flowed in from the shipskin.
The Mayan’s face was filled with delight as he shifted views, drilling down to successive levels of detail. “Looks like a Chimalacatl -the shield-reed, doesn’t it, Chu-sa?” he remarked, looking up as she approached.
Susan nodded. If the Gods made sunflowers as big as a large moon, and gave them long, spiked metallic petals, and a center formed from triangles within triangles…
Xochitl’s face was visible on Chac’s console as well, his visage equally bright-though not with the joy of exploration or curiosity, but naked greed. “Each petal is comprised of hundreds of thousands of folds-do you see them? Set one within another… such scale! We’re still waiting for an estimate of age, but surely this is something from the First Sun!”
Kosho felt her gut clench. She looked to Pucatli. “No erosion rates from the surface?”
“Nothing, kyo. The skin should be pitted by micrometeoroids or cosmic ray impacts-but we’re seeing nothing at all-just like it came from the fab yesterday.”
“ Chu-sa.” Oc Chac’s voice shaded into awe. He was indicating a fresh set of scan data, from shipborne receptors pointed towards the singularity itself. “Look at this… A tether or beanstalk of some kind?”
Something with barely any cross section at all traced a hard, straight line down from the “flower” towards the boiling fury of the accretion disk and-one supposed-the event horizon of the black hole.
The Mayan rubbed a hand across the back of his head. “Could they be powering this structure from the electromagnetic field generated by the infall? Gods, that would give them almost unlimited capacity!”
“It is possible,” Susan replied, resisting the urge to fold her arms. Instead, she kept both hands clasped behind her back, forcing her mind to consider the implications of such a place to her ship. Her gut churned, triggering her med-band to dispense antianxiety meds in a sharp, cold burst.
Gretchen was standing in a portal, her tripartite shadow thrown sharp on a glassy floor by a harsh, brassy glare at her back. Before her, a massive chamber stretched off into a hazy distance, the room spined with endless ranks of sharp vaults. Everywhere there was motion-long streams of the white-garbed Chosen flowed up from the vaults below, and then passed out through the triangular exits, shepherded by guardsmen who loomed above them, armor glinting black and crimson. The air reverberated with the sound of their feet on the floor, their bright, carefree chatter, and heavy tread of the protectors watching over them. With stately grace, she descended a phalanx of steps. As she moved, the nearest of the Chosen looked up, their faces emerging from the haze like flowers opening before the rays of the first sun. Three of them cried out, seeing her, raising their hands in greeting. Now she was close enough to touch Isabelle’s hair, see Tristan’s bright blue eyes shining. Duncan was looking away, his attention caught by something speaking in enormous, earth-shaking tones. She put her hand on his shoulder, and he turned. Anderssen saw – the roof of the medbay as she blinked away tears. Anderssen gasped, drawing a ragged breath into lungs starved for air. A queer humming died away, replaced by the sound of someone drinking soup and the distant rattle and clink of men and women working in an enclosed space. The smell of the soup-picken, she guessed-struck her hard, turning her stomach into a twisted ball of hunger.
“Oh sweet Jesus.” Gretchen rolled sideways, feeling utterly drained. A parchment envelope slipped from her hands, landing amongst the blankets. “There had better be a liter of that for me, Crow, or I’ll murder you where you stand.”
Hummingbird looked back at her, dark green eyes curious over the edge of his bowl. “There has been a full breakfast the last two days, Anderssen, but you have been sleeping-so I’ve done you the favor of cleaning the plate.”
Lacking even the moisture to spit, Gretchen managed to sit up and found that-indeed-there was a full tray set beside her bed. More soup, a bowl of red gelatin, kaffe, two bottles of hydrofast. Fingers shaking a little, she popped the top from the first of the orange bottles and began sipping carefully.
After a few minutes, Hummingbird set down the bowl and Anderssen drained the last of her bottle.
“So, Hummingbird-I confess confusion about the purpose of the Judges. Once you said to me your duty was to protect humanity from those powers or even ideas which could destroy us, particularly alien influences we might encounter in the depths of space.”
He nodded minutely, watching her with an impassive face. Gretchen drifted her fingertips over the parchment envelope and the block hidden within. “What is this, then? An experiment with my mind, my physiology? Do you even know what this is?”
“A tool.” The old Nahuatl stood up, leaning heavily on the bed. “One you can operate, where others cannot- where I cannot.”
“Really?” The Swedish woman looked up at him sidelong, tasting deception in the air. “A tool that you needed working when you came-here, to this hidden place.”
He nodded, face somber. “My powers are not infinite, Dr. Anderssen. Even beyond your professional skills- which are well regarded, you should know-your other talents have not escaped notice.”
“By who?!” Gretchen felt chilled at the thought. How long have I been under surveillance? Another part of her
