Eventually, the passageway ended and we found ourselves on a ledge over a huge, sweeping chasm. The floor just fell away from my feet, and I stopped shuffling along barely in time. I found myself looking down over a sheer drop that rivaled the Grand Canyon itself back home.
By this time, I was walking almost naturally, but my head still hadn’t cleared. I wondered how long his drug would affect me, but I wasn’t dumb enough to ask. Did that mean it was beginning to lose its grip? I wasn’t sure.
Armel stood at my side and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “You see that bulk? Down there? That’s an energy plant. It operates by harnessing a tiny singularity.”
“A black hole? That’s what’s inside that big machine?”
“Yes… sort of. It is a controlled gravity source that’s managed and utilized in many ways. Just think, McGill, if we could harness the forces of gravity so thoroughly. The Rigellians use it as a power source.”
“Uh… can’t we already do that? We’ve got floaters and stuff back home. Hell, I’ve got a coffee table that—”
“Yes, yes, but you fail to understand my point, imbecile.”
When you were hanging around with the likes of Maurice Armel, you couldn’t afford to have a thin skin. He was positively obnoxious, but I’d gotten over that for the most part. Still, I felt a twitch of irritation at his continuous barrage of insults. If he’d been a bit closer, I might have reached out and given him a push, sending him spinning off the ledge and down a kilometer or two. He’d make a nice splattering stain on that big machine down there…
Snorting, I gave my head a shake. Yes, there could be no doubt about it, I was returning to normal.
“What’s troubling you, my primate friend?” he asked me.
“Uh… I don’t rightly know.”
It was half a lie. I rejoiced inside. I hadn’t exactly lied, but I hadn’t told the truth, either. I was definitely returning to normal.
Swaying on my feet and blinking, I made a show of rubbing my face, then my hair and my neck. I looked as stupid as possible and kept staring into the abyss.
“I should have expected nothing more,” Armel sniffed. He turned back to the pit and the machine that crouched below us. “You feel its tug, don’t you? Doesn’t it seem like we’re being pulled right off this ledge? That is the power of the machine below. It is like the center of the universe.”
“It kind of does feel like it’s pulling on me.”
“Right. That is the effect of a tiny pinpoint of mass. A singularity of manageable size. It’s the reason why you are feeling almost a normal level of gravity here on a small moon.”
“Oh… I get it.”
“No, you don’t—it is probably beyond your limited capacities. But I will try to elucidate anyway. The singularity is trapped within a containment device. To generate power, the gravity it exerts is being switched on and off again in rapid pulses. Like a combustion engine, this moves various objects—think about them as pistons—and their falling and rising generates a great deal of energy.”
“Uh… so that thing is turning off and on all the time? Why don’t we feel it tugging on us then letting go?”
“We are feeling it. Aren’t you a bit unsteady on your feet?”
“Yeah… but I thought that was the effect of the drug you shot me up with.”
“Not entirely. Part of it—probably most of it by now—is due to the perpetual tug and release going on every microsecond from that vile machine.”
“Hmm…. it feels like I’m in an elevator that’s moving. Like I’m swaying just a little.”
He snapped his fingers at me. “Yes. That is the sensation.”
“So, uh, are you planning to sell this tech to Central? Is that the plan?”
“No. They’re already working on such things. Nothing I could add to their knowledge would be so valuable.”
“What then?”
Armel turned toward me with a nasty smile. “My plan is complex. You are to play a key role in it, however. Here.”
He handed me a teleport harness. That was a shocker. I checked the charge—it was full-up.
“What’s this for?”
“It is already targeted for Earth. No! Don’t fool with the settings!”
I let my big hand slip away from the coordinates. “I was just checking.”
He rolled his eyes. “Listen to me. Part of this plan requires that I die here, under your observation. Touch your tapper to mine, please, and start recording.”
Inwardly I cursed myself. He was right, I should have been recording everything. His drugs or that infernal machine had messed up my thinking for sure.
“Done,” I said. “What now? Are we porting back together, or…?”
“No. That won’t work. I want you to record my death and then port out to Central. Once there, you will get them to revive me via the recorded data in your tapper. They’ll want to question me at least, don’t you think?”
“At least that.”
“Well then… do you agree to participate in this scheme?”
“I guess so… but why are you all fired up to die and leave Rigel? I thought you were sour on Earth.”
“A good question. I already told you that I think Earth will prevail in the coming conflict.”
“Why, exactly?”
“In all history, rebellions of conquered nations rarely succeed. Did you know this?”
“Nope,” I admitted.
“It is true. So, I would place my bet with Earth. But my actions here today are about more than a simple desire to be on the winning side,” his face shifted, and it took on a real look of pain and disgust. “I’m sick of Rigellians and Vulbites and Steel World saurians. I hate the stink of all of them in my nostrils. I yearn for real humanity again. I would rather live among my own
