The shuttle then turns into the orbiting giant, finding one of the three planned crevices within the structure. They run in the dark, only sensors lighting the way as the autonomous pilot discovers new, hidden routes toward the center of the beast.

  “Manuel,” Raymond is unbuckled now and handing out armour and helmets to those in need. “Pull this on and affix your helmet. We’ll be stopping soon and then moving into the facility.” He hands Tobias and Ginny a helmet then pulls his body armour on. “Our armour is operational in vacuum to -”

  “Minus 300 Celsius, and up to plus 200 Celsius,” Manuel cuts Raymond off, the military stats populating his insert as he dresses. “They can deflect lance fire from a pulse rifle up to three metres away, include three hundred metres of safety line, thrust boots, 48 hours of recycled oxygen, mini MakerTech additive repair pours, and a medic kit designed to work with your vital signs.” He looks up having just pulled the tag on his boots so they will activate. Nausea enters. Why did he interrupt?

  Tobias laughs his barking laugh. “Anything else, recruit?”

  “Just, uh, the basic water uptake to keep us hydrated and …” He stops himself, looking to Raymond. “Sorry, sir, it’s just that I have all this information in my implant from when I joined the military.”

  “Not at all, Manuel,” Raymond assures him. “I feel better and better about taking you on. You know your shit. It should come in handy.”

  “So, what’s the plan, uncle?” Tobias wonders. “If this orbiting ball of steel is anything like what we encountered with the cruiser, then there will be no place to stand inside, let alone carry out any kind of sabotage.”

  “Trust me, I’ve considered that,” Raymond explains, “but after speaking with Tessa on the subject, she has assured me that to build what he’s building there must be large open areas for manufacturing within. Not only that, but plenty of possible entry points to Allfather’s data centres.”

  Tessa looks at Tobias. “Odds are for us.”

  Tobias looks at Ginny and nods. “I like those odds.”

  “I thought you didn’t play the odds,” Ginny says knowingly.

  “When they’re in my favour, who am I to question their logic?” He smiles and elbows his wife in the shoulder. Tessa is amused.

  “Labyrinth has the best chance at accessing Allfather’s processor or equivalent. He – sorry, she has experienced a devastating virus delivered by Allfather and survived it. So, we believe she’ll have a better shot at understanding the language in order to disrupt this facility, and ideally Allfather himself.” Raymond’s plan now revealed to the group, they would need to find access into the twisted sphere.

  “I’d feel better about this if we had a few F-class to assist,” Ginny admits.

  “If we need them, they’re just a shuttle away,” Labyrinth says. “First we must attempt this under cover of stealth. It appears Allfather’s attention is with Captain Runninghorse, who, I regret to inform everyone, is no longer with us.”

  The team is quiet. “He knew exactly what he was doing,” Raymond explains. He looks to Tessa. “He knew the odds.” She concurs. “Let’s ensure they didn’t die in vain.” The group agrees and secure their helmets.

  ____________________________________________________________

  “Labyrinth tells me they have gone stealth. She felt she was taking a chance in using the ParaCom at all. We won’t receive anymore notifications from them until they have accomplished what they’ve set out to do,” Senator Quinn explains to his Chancellor via EC.

  “And what is it they’ve set out to do, exactly?” Chopra asks. “Is Raymond among those carrying out this mission?”

  “Raymond, Labyrinth, Tobias, Ginny, a Chimera named Manuel, and the woman known to us as Tessa,” Quinn confirms.

  “Tessa? The daughter of the Betaists?” Jim Chopra pulls up the ship’s log of colonists. She was a last-minute addition to Tyson 4, given the seat by the council, he recalls. “So, she joined them.”

  “It appears so, Chancellor. With her uncanny abilities, likely a good addition to their team.” Quinn seems suddenly uncertain. “She will not have been trained for anything like this. With the exception of Tobias, Ginny, and Labyrinth, I don’t know -”

  “Raymond has logged many hours tactically and personally with the general’s war and the Allfather offensive against earth,” Chopra reminds his Senator. “His experience, relationship with Allfather, and leadership should come in very useful.”

  “I worry about our friends all the same, but I do not know the nature of their objective,” Quinn says. “I will keep you apprised as information is collected.”

  “Thank you, Quinn. As for your proposal of earlier, I’m considering it.” Jim is referring to the Senator’s suggestion of sending ships to aid the hijacked envoys.

  “You’re considering a pre-emptive strike,” Quinn says, “using the tools Allfather left hidden?”

  “I wonder,” Jim says thoughtfully, “if we were to send unmanned ships with a payload of nuclear warheads set to detonate upon arrival - might this wipe out his ability to return to our system?”

  “That’s dependent on the same tools not being hidden dimensionally on the other end,” Quinn points out. “A bold step, but one I fear might have the opposite effect.”

  “How do you mean? Do you feel we might be showing our hand?” Jim has reflected on this too. It’s why he initially rejected the strategy of sending ships at all.

  “My greatest concern is that sending an unmanned ship to parts unknown could leave us blind to what, if any, damage they might do.” The senator leaves a deliberate pause for contemplation. “A manned armada on the other hand, could strike decisively and report on their successes.”

  “After seeing what Labyrinth showed us, Quinn, the whole fleet may not be enough to overcome Allfather, and then we would be defenceless to push back an attack at home.” Jim realizes the benefits of talking out options with Quinn in his next approach. “What if we sent just one manned ship with a payload, and they were able to accomplish a conclusive strike?”

  “It would be a suicide mission,” Quinn points out, but the chancellor has already weighed this.

  “I’m not sure there is another option, Senator.” Jim is diplomatic in his rebuke. “I believe your strategy has merit, but not without assurances. I won’t send the entire fleet; I just won’t do that. You’re right about the unmanned ship; it would be wasted. So, we require a compromise.”

  “Do you feel you could reach such a compromise, Chancellor? One which demands the lives of those piloting the ship?” Quinn’s question is vexing. Jim has ordered soldiers to die before, albeit unknowingly. This mission would almost certainty be one-way. “It is not an easy thing to ask of anyone.”

  “No, it’s not.” He says resolutely. “That’s why if I’m going to propose it, I should be the one to implement it.”

  “Surely you’re not suggesting that the Chancellor board a starship and join the fight?” Quinn’s tinny voice sounds distressed.

  “That’s exactly what I’m advocating, Quinn,” Jim tells him. “If this is to succeed, I must head up the operation.”

  “That is folly, sir, you are needed here! Earth needs you.”

  “Earth needs leadership,” Chopra says agreeably, yet unyielding in his approach. “We have Vice-Chancellors for this very reason. I am an Admiral. My duty is to protect the citizens of United Earth, not preside over them.”

  “Chancellor, I strongly disagree with your argument.”

  “Noted, Senator,” Jim says back.

  ____________________________________________________________

  Mr. Meiser stands on the bridge of the destroyer allotted him and his team to locate, assess, and destroy Allfather’s toys. That Allfather has acquired the knowledge to bury something in another dimension is as exciting as it is terrifying to him. Meiser has free reign onboard the warship but is being watched by a very attentive C-class AI Host. A collection of consoles which make up the imaging centre bent on discovering Allfather’s tools makes up half of the destroyer’s bridge, something its captain is not thrilled with.

  “All stop,” Captain Esposito of the Destroyer UE0023 orders. “This is the event horizon as mapped by Luna base where envoy 1 through 3 disappeared. We have our orders to stay put until Mr. Meiser has found what he’s looking for.” The young captain looks over his crew and the team of scientists assigned this objective. His ego offers little leniency to failure and expects results for the appropriation of his vessel. That being what it is, neither he nor his crew have been briefed as to what exactly they’re looking for.

  “Thank you for your assistance and use of your ship, Captain,” Meiser says confidently, feeling empowered to be out of his cell and on a mission of unparalleled importance. “We will require your cooperation in linking ships systems with our own if this search is going to reward us with any results.

  “We’ll first be scanning for energy signatures. For this we will require the ship’s sensors.” He looks at the young captain in his command chair. “If you please, Captain Esposito.” The captain nods at his comm officer and she releases the passcode to the imaging centre to pair systems.

  “Your lance will also be required by my team in order to -”

  Meiser is cut off by Captain Esposito. “You will not be granted access to the weapon systems, Mr. Meiser. I know who you are.” The young captain’s expression grows grim. “You are out of your cage for now, what you do with that time will determine in what manner you return to it, or for how long. Weapons remain a military asset. If you need them for a task, you will work through my crew, not the reverse, is that clear?”

  Meiser shrinks back, bumping into a console. He’s surprised the captain has been informed of his status. That will not make his job any easier. He had hoped for the crew’s respect, instead he now has their suspicion to navigate. “Of course, Captain, I only wish to list what systems will be required, I am a servant of the State.” He bows, realizing his Germanic accent has gotten thicker.

  Dimensional dynamics isn’t even a field of serious study in United Earth. In fact, the probability of their finding something folded into spatial dimensions is laughable, but he is happy to take on the challenge, whether real or imagined, just to be free of his cell. Meiser and his team are working on the idea there are more than four dimensions. That three of those are made up of space, and one of time, are the norm. For superstring theory to work, however, it has been proposed there need to be up to eleven dimensions with one being time. That gives him a hypothetical basis where they should look for at least seven other dimensions hidden from the human experience. How is he going to do this? String theory has remained unproven for nearly 200 years; likely because it has no free parameters and is the only scientific theory with this characteristic. Nonetheless, he has been tasked to find something unfindable and if he has to spend the rest of his life out here looking for it, it is preferable to his stack of romance novels in his cell on earth.

  “Mr. Meiser,” the captain’s eyes penetrate Meiser’s. “You have a message from the Chancellor.” He walks toward the small, gray-haired man. As he approaches, he swipes his EC and the message lands into a small data pad which he hands to Meiser. “Friends in high places, eh?”

  “Hardly friends,” he explains, turning his back on the strapping young officer. He’s nervous to know what the chancellor wants. They’d only just arrived. Was he going to pull the plug already? “Chancellor, you honour me.”

  “Not my intention, Meiser,” Chopra replies sharply. “You’re there now, have you assessed a timeline to unravel our little mystery?”

  “We’re all here, yes, but I haven’t had an opportunity to begin my scans.” He clarifies, uneasy over the call. “We have just begun to link systems.”

  “Tell me, what would be your educated opinion on what’s on the other side of those devices?” Jim asks, fishing for inspiration to support his plan.

  “I would suspect a similar set-up.” Meiser tells him, surprised at the question. “I don’t know they would require hiding as Allfather has done in our system, but -”

  “You think they may be out in the open?” This is what Chopra wants to hear.

  “I think that would make sense,” Meiser continues to support the chancellor’s optimism. “If the ships are being pulled back into our dimension. Of course, Allfather could be operating from another dimension altogether.”

  “And if that were true, the tools would be in his domain, and therefore he wouldn’t need to hide them.” Chopra wants his outcome verified.

  “Sir, we’re discussing a field which doesn’t even exist to humanity outside of hypothesis. I can speculate all day long over what might be, but you’ve placed us here to discover what is. Your guess, at this moment, is as good as any.”

  Chopra ends the call and Meiser returns the data pad to the captain. “We’ll need to accelerate our experiments.” He tells the young man. “The chancellor is becoming impatient.”

  ____________________________________________________________

  Chancellor Chopra considers all Meiser has said and wonders, what would Allfather do? He will have to use what he knows of the entity in order to make an educated decision.

  THE TOOLS

  The Chancellor is impatient for good reason, Meiser muses as he runs over data collected where the UE ships had disappeared. Nothing out of the ordinary reveals itself. No hiccups in space, no heat signatures or foreign energy detected. No anomalies whatsoever. Everything registers as normal in this dimension. Allfather could have us on a wild goose chase. The possibility leaves him tense. However, if Allfather has accomplished this thing, then, it follows, it is real and so could be replicated. Physicists have broken barriers no one thought possible with space flight in recent times. This is just another form of propulsion, Meiser contemplates.

  His lead Astrophysicist approaches with a look of empowerment on his small, round face. “Sir,” he greets Meiser. “What if we took a similar approach to planet hunting? To say, spectroscopy.” He pulls up a holo from his EC; graphics dance above his forearm. “Using a High Dispersion Spectrograph scan - which is available to us on this ship - we might be able to determine certain elements that were distributed during the theft of our envoys.”

  “And discover where the elements are most concentrated,” Meiser follows the man’s logic. The physicist nods enthusiastically.

  “If we could pinpoint where the tools are, we would have a starting point.” Two more scientists join the astrophysicist and hum in agreement.

  “Put that to the test,” Meiser orders them, encouraged by potentially making some headway but still haunted over the means of translating the unseen and intangible into real results. Looking at this logically, they can only manipulate the elements of the periodic table into detectors. What impossible technology would they have to invent to see into extra dimensions? To affect what lies in wait for them? He considers the quote, Necessity is the mother of invention, and laughs to himself. To fight against extinction is obligatory. To invent in the face of extinction is distracting. They have no way of knowing when Allfather will return, and until they have found and disarmed his tools, they are in the direct path of his malice.

  “Mr. Meiser,” another eager scientist approaches, this time a young woman who has extensive fields of study to draw from. “We should consider a scan for gravitational waves underlying the extra dimensions as well.” She also pulls a holo from her EC, igniting her dark features with its reflected yellow light. “If we could use the same principles suggested with the spectrograph, we might be able to detect warping of space/time due to the mass of the hidden tools.” Her eyes sparkle behind her holo example.

  This proposal brings all the scientists into a tight circle in their growing portion of the corvette’s bridge. Some agree, while others argue they would require a detector so sensitive it would need to be made up of only atoms. Meiser delights in the pure intellect but, as lead scientist, must make decisions designed to tender results. He would love to see this detector but can’t allow it as time constraints are far too real.

  “You can theorize on that proposal another time,” Meiser announces. “Right now, we need every working hour dedicated to realistic goals. It’s a brilliant thought,” he leans in and touches the woman’s arm, “but we haven’t the time or resources to put into it. Send the proposal to our Host branch on Earth and let them visualize it.” He smiles at her and looks to the others. “Prepare the spectrograph.”

  “Sir,” The young female physicist stands her ground with Meiser after the others have returned to their duties. “Many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, including string theory, propose a sterile neutrino; in string theory this is created from a closed string. These could leak into extra dimensions before returning, mapping what is hidden.”

  “You’re talking about tachyons,” Meiser realizes. “If we could do what you’re proposing, Dr. Chandra, we would have ships burning at speeds faster than light by now.”

  “Sir, tachyons have been developed in the lab,” she explains in a whisper, her eyes sparkling, but not from the holo anymore. “My lab. I haven’t announced it yet. But we’ve achieved it.”

  Meiser pulls her gently aside. “You have tachyons? How are you containing them? What speeds have they reached? Can they be employed in our quantum computing?”

  “I can answer some of your questions, sir, but I suggest we have the tachyons delivered to our ship. I can try to reconfigure the lances to fire a spread and get some real data.”

  Meiser is impressed. He’s also jealous of the work SciTech has been undertaking in his absence. If tachyons exist, which is an extraordinary discovery, it opens up an entirely new field for United Earth. Tachyons must travel faster than light to achieve the goals they were theorized to accomplish. If a particle can travel faster than light, then it is possible they could time travel. You can’t have one without the other. This is a revelation. One that demands immediate study. He nods absently at Dr. Chandra and she immediately contacts her lab with the order.