Transmat World: Chapter 36, Episode 2
Transmat headquarters, 1:30 A.M., Monday, December 22, 2145 A.D.
--
Vince was at the Cave, logged into a machine at a particularly enchanting grotto of stalactites and stalagmites and soda straws. The floor curved around a pool with a column coming out of the center. He heard Lord Greystoke fishing with his paw at the pool’s edge for albino cave fish.
“Leave ’em alone, Stoker,” said Vince as he studied Transmat circuits, wracking his brain for possibilities, tweaking this and that in virtual simulations to see what would happen. It was 1:30 in the morning, the last day of the deadline. He had turned off everything but schematic displays. The lab was crammed with people. He came here for a break from the commotion, hoping the peace and quiet would give him inspiration.
Well, Dad, I wish you were here so I could tell you how wrong you were about space travel and alien civilizations, and you could tell me how to fix this damn circuit, mused Vince.
Lord Greystoke marched across the keyboard, oblivious to work being done to save the Solar System, accidentally opening Vince’s email.
“No time for this, you silly mammal.”
A tab flashed orange for extreme importance. The subject line said “contract” and there was a file attached. Checking first for virals, he opened it — a 3D holo of his conversation with the inter-universal arbiter shaped like a dolphin. Vince immediately closed it and looked around to make sure no one saw. He carefully stored it in several places in the cloud, some not on Earth. He then deleted the file from his message folder.
There was still an orange flashing indicator. The subject line read “bonus.”
“Ookie, shut down the life recorder and turn off.”
The mechanical lizard on his shoulder froze.
He double-clicked. The text read Sorry again for having you experience your father’s death again. Maybe this will make up for it. Also, other stuff we talked about is debatable. Another 3D file was attached and this one was of his father. The background looked like the terrain around their house in Mexico.
“Vince, I’ve been told I won’t remember this and that you won’t see it until I’m gone, so I hope I’m talking to a really old man right now. I also hope the things I told you about no chance of finding alien civilizations didn’t discourage you from looking. I was too smug in my espousals on that subject but too stubborn, proud, and embarrassed to admit otherwise. I hope you can forgive me for that. I was wrong, of course. This recording is proof of that, so I will go on to more important issues, like the fact I always loved you even though I never told you so. I hope you found what you are looking for in life. Take good care of your mother. I’ll have probably told you all this long before you see this recording. I should hope so, but here it is anyway.”
“Oh, by the way, this quantum entanglement frequency they mentioned to me. I just don’t know what to tell you about that. Sorry, Son. I just don’t know everything. You’re on your own with this one. I have complete confidence in you, though. These … mmh … guys felt you might want to know that.”
Vince was silent and still for a few moments, blinking to halt the moisture welling in his eyes. It was good to see his father again, even if it was just a holo. Even if he didn’t have the answer.
How did they accomplish this? Vince wondered. Could the fish people of Universe X control time as well as communicate between universes? He exited the file and turned Ookie back on.
“Where do you go when I ask you to shut down?”
“To worlds of wonder,” said Ookie, “and you’ve got a call from Maria.”
“Vince, I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am for threatening to use sex, or the lack of it, to get my way,” said Maria.
“That’s good, and if you ever do that again I’ll … cave like I did the last time. Kidding. It was Julie’s threat to quit that made up my mind.”
“Rat bastard,” said Maria.
Vince could hear the smirk in her voice. He told her about the emails and files and that there was no solution from his father.
“It is pretty amazing they can do that — enter our universe at any point in time and record their goings on. This is not just making up for forcing you to live through your father’s assassination again. This is saying, ‘Look what we can do. Be scared and do what we say,’” said Maria.
“There was an odd thing, though,” said Vince. “He, Sam, or whatever it is, says ‘other stuff we talked about is debatable.’”
“What else did you talk about?”
“Let’s see.”
Vince brought up the 3D holo file, sent it to their hedsets, and they watched.
“It’s the day we saved Laura from drowning … kinda,” Maria gave a running commentary. “His name is Sam. Their universe is being drained of energy. He was sent to ask you to switch energy tap to another universe. Dire consequences … blah, blah … a billion years to drain the energy. More universes than stars in our galaxy! That’s a lot. He is not authorized to give us technology. Two weeks. He apologizes about showing your Dad being assassinated. You try to wrangle 3 weeks. It’s unclear whether he went for it.”
“What do you think?” asked Vince.
“You can’t assume we have the three weeks you asked for. The deadline is still two weeks. That’s not debatable. You have to assume they are serious about destruction of the Solar System because the stakes are too high. It’s some money versus everyone’s life. The only thing wishy-washy is about not having the authority to give you the technology. Even that is probably true. What is flexible is whether he is going to give you the technology or not. Assume there would be repercussions if he gave us the answer. Say it goes against some prime directive for him to give it to us and there are penalties, but think about it. They are an extremely advanced race. Which would they rather do, break a rule or wipe out a civilization? And if he could break the rule and get away with it, it’s a win/win. Besides, if it cost so much just to talk to you, how much would it cost to wipe out a complete planetary system in another universe? If this were a game of poker, they’re doing the equivalent of going all in with a pair of sixes.”
“Maria, you are a genius. We’ve been beating our heads against a wall when I had the answer in my inbox the whole time.”
“You’re talking about the files? The answer being encrypted in them? Maybe. It’s probably the one with your father. You should check them both.”
“It’s called steganography. Hiding information inside pictures. It’s been around since the Middle Ages. A modern holo file is so complicated there is a lot that can be hidden in there. The files sent to you by Sam are as complex as they can get and our machines still read them. But we found it,” said Mark.
The lab had poured all of its resources into examining the files for the last two hours. Mark was on his hedset with Vince about the results.
“The file of your father contained the answer. It says the quantum entanglement frequency is an inverse function of the secondary isonium modulation circuits. Lengthen and shorten the resonate fields to change the frequency,” continues Mark. “Pretty unequivocal.”
“Call a halt to all Transmat traffic except for life and death situations. Recall them or fix them where they’re at. We got it, Mark! We got it.”
“Another call from Maria,” said Ookie.
“Talk to you later, Mark,” said Vince.
“Sure.”
“We did it. Mark and the lab people broke the code. You were right. The fish people from universe “x” did not really want to blow us up. At least Sam didn’t.”
“That is good news. If you have contact with Sam again, don’t let on. Make him think we came up with the solution on our own.”
“Good idea. Did you call to apologize for the sex as a weapon thing again? You don’t have to keep doing that you know.”
“I know that, Vince. I got a call from one of my archaeological buddies. What he told me is something you’ll find surprising.”
“I’m listening.”
“They found a Rolex next to a Clovis spear point five feet underground at a dig in Alaska. The watch is made of some incredibly hard, durable plastic unknown to man.”
Vince smiles and says, “You know what, Maria?”
“No, what?”
“I’m fresh out of surprise.”
On the 67th level of the Prime Mechanical’s quarters in the Forward Cylinder, one of thousands of stored strikemechs unobtrusively came to life. It slipped out of the huge storage compartment by a hidden air lock; moved with rapid precision to a location on the vast cylinder floor determined by an inertial guidance system; placed its foot on five places on the floor in a particular sequence; and a circular plug sucked in and out of the way as the military robot plunged into the dark, vertical abyss.
It emerged from the ceiling on the 33rd level and made its way to a hidden airlock on a storage facility for organics. Upon entry, the strikemech checked in all directions for freemechs taking inventory and made its way to a certain stasis field sphere. The robot operated the controls to open it. A Kolpak stood where it had been frozen in time.
Mundeen, his creator, cowered where Maxlux last left him, almost 800,000 years ago.
“Mundeen, you will come with me,” said the machine, seizing the Kolpak robot wizard by the arm and leading him off to yet another hidden tunnel in the vastness of the Forward Cylinder.
Chapter 37 will be published on or about Monday, June 20, 2022.
