A Larger Universe (34 page)

For the same reason, the council decided the repairs to
The
People's Hand
had to be complete by the end of the Gathering.  The ship had
become too big a prize to be left vulnerable.  While the Nesu traded and
socialized, the artisans had worked long shifts to make the ship whole again. 
 

As
The People's Hand
moved toward the derelict
My
Flowing Streams
to transfer Tommy aboard, he received an urgent call to go
to the bridge.  He found Ull standing by Luns, the ship commander for the week.

"
Trident
,
Water Serpent
, and
Leaper
were detected entering the system," Ull said.  "If the computers your
artisans installed are functioning, they have already reentered transit and
will close with us within minutes.  We will not have further warning from our
sensors until they arrive."

"They couldn't have their guns converted by now.  That
took us weeks." Tommy said.  He took his handheld computer from his inside
pocket and began tapping on the screen.

"All three are raiders," Ull said.  "I am
certain their old track computers remain effective.  We must transit now."

"But that means leaving
My Flowing Steams!
" 
Tommy's voice grew louder.  "And I sent a few of my artisans to begin our
investigation.  Vent is there!"

The three raider ships exited transit less than ten
kilometers away and began driving toward them.

Luns spoke into the microphone by her chair.  "Send
message." She turned to the navigation console.  "Execute preset
transit in five seconds."

The missiles were coming toward them when the blackness of
transit enveloped the ship.  They had left
My Flowing Streams
behind.

Leegh gave a rasping whistle as the door chime pulled her
from the water. 
At least they could leave me alone until I get settled
,
she thought. 
This is the first good swim I have had in two months.
  As
she waddled toward the entrance, she gave a satisfied look at her new
chambers. 
We definitely got the better of the trade. 
My Flowing
Streams
was a wreck even before the attack.  I may not be a council
member here, but this is much better than living in one of the community lakes.

Opening the door revealed Director Ull, two warrior guards,
and a strange human.  The creature seemed to be male, but with humans it was
hard to tell. 
What impertinence!  The human is looking up at me!  And
Director Ull doesn't notice or care!

"Director Ull, welcome to my chamber!” she said.  “You
honor me.”

"Thank you, Director Leegh,” Ull said.  “May we speak
with you?"

"Please come in,” Leegh replied.  “And you know I am no
longer a director of anything." 

I wonder whom she means by "we?  Surely not the two
warriors.  This strange human?
 

The door closed behind Ull and the human, leaving the
warriors outside.  "You were a director and could be again.  We have a
position on our council, and your wisdom would be of great benefit to the
ship," Ull said.

Did she mean that?  Was that why I was given private
quarters?  No, the other former directors were also given private quarters. 
What does she want?
  "How may I help you Director Ull?" she
asked.

"First, I would like you to meet Master Tommy,"
Ull pointed at the strange human, "the guildmaster of the Computer Guild
and one of The People."

A reflexive shudder shook her skin, scattering water from
her wet fur.  "One of The People?  A human?  How is that possible?"

"Tommy is a feral we took from Earth," Ull said. 
"We will tell what he has done for us to our kits and they to their kits. 
In its entirety, it would be best told during a leisurely day in the Reserve. 
For now, you should know we owe him our ship, our lives, and the water in which
we live."  Ull waved at Leegh's expansive chamber.  "This could never
have been yours without Tommy.  For all he has done, we made him one of The
People."

Director Ull seems serious, but the concept is repugnant!
 
Aloud she said, "I would welcome a day with you in the Reserve and a
chance to hear how this could be."

"We will soon," Ull said, "and we have other
issues I would discuss.  For now, if you will indulge us, Master Tommy has some
questions to ask you."

"Of course," she said. 
Do I have a choice?

The feral human spoke for the first time.  His use of The
People's language was surprisingly fluent.  "I have been told your hobby
is the history of The People."

"That and other things.  I have several hobbies." 
She pointed at a large pile of bound books, notebooks, and loose papers stacked
against the wall across the pond from the waterfall.  "I have not
organized my work since I arrived."  She glanced at Ull.  "I was not
able to bring my desk and storage shelves with me.  Would it be possible to
obtain replacements here?"

"I will see to it" Ull promised her.

Talking to this feral human became much easier.

"I am searching for information about the Kadiil
drive,” the human said.  “Ull told me of the bargain The People made with the
Kadiil, and how that bargain ended with the destruction of your home world. 
Ull also told me your ship,
My Flowing Streams,
was involved in the
experiments that caused the Kadiil to destroy Stream.  Did any record of those
events survive?"

Leegh glanced at Ull.  "How much do you want me to tell
this human?"

"If you will, whatever you know.  Your bargain with
this ship has been satisfied with the remains of
My Flowing Streams.
 
You may live here for the rest of your life, as one of us, and we will place no
further demands on you.  However, the council will be grateful if you help
Tommy with this."

Leegh gave a low whistle.  "I will tell you what I
can.  Perhaps we should make ourselves comfortable.  This may take a
while."  She dived into the pond and surfaced by the rock on the other
shore.  Ull dived after her as the human made his way on foot.  She watched him
take off his sandals and dangle his ugly feet in the water. 
He has done
this somewhere before.
 

"The first thing you should know is my many times
foremother was one of the scientists involved in those final experiments.  Not
all the scientists were on the moon that was destroyed.  Some were in
My
Flowing Streams
to monitor satellite transmissions.  I still have her notes
in that pile."  She swirled water with her tail.  "In every
generation since, at least one kit has carried on, as best she could, what our
foremother started, and passed her knowledge on to the next generation.  In my
generation, I am one of those.

"My family has been studying her notes and trying to
understand the drive and the science behind it for two thousand years.  After
generations of study, our understanding is little better than that of my
foremother the day Stream was destroyed."

"I do not know even that much," the human said. 
"Please tell me what you can."

"If Ull has told you the story, you know the key to the
drive must be in the science The People were exploring."  She knew enough
about humans to understand his nod meant yes.  "Much of that science
survives in the books and journals my foremother brought with her as well as in
her personal notes."

She stopped for a moment to organize her thoughts. 
With
this audience I must keep it simple.
  "The theoretical basis of those
fatal experiments describes a universe of ten dimensions, not just the three of
space and one of time we experience.  Objects of more dimensions than three or
four could and should exist in that universe. 

"Physicists were arguing over many variations of the
theory in the years before the end.  One view was that the extra dimensions are
tightly curled and inaccessible."  Her whistle warbled through the
chamber.  "Had they known, that view is disproved by our ability to
transit and the drive that makes transit possible.  A competing solution at the
time depicted our visible universe as one of the three-dimensional boundaries
of a five-dimensional sheet.  The physics had progressed to proposing ways to
interact with the other dimensions as a means to verify the theory."

"Did the theory include a way to manipulate
gravity?" asked the human.

"Yes, gravity was seen as a particular type of
vibration of a multidimensional filament at the smallest possible scale of the
universe.  Gravity is also the only fundamental force of our three-dimensional
universe that extends into all dimensions.  According to the theory, if the
vibration could be manipulated, we could project gravity as a point source
without an associated three-dimensional mass of matter." 

"As does the drive," the human said.

I am beginning to understand what Ull sees in this feral
human!
  "Yes, and that is one of the things they were attempting to
do.  The control of gravity offers many further possibilities for experiment.

"Since we have had no way to conduct those experiments
since the destruction of Stream, all that generations of my family have added
is speculation from the mathematics.  The first speculation is that, if our
universe is a three-dimensional boundary on a five-dimensional sheet, it should
be possible to create a six-dimensional superbubble into the seventh dimension,
like a soap bubble on the surface of a pond.  If an object, for example, a
ship, were drawn into the bubble as it is created, it would be outside the
three-dimensional universe and not subject to its laws.  The second speculation
is that some objects that could exist in the ten-dimensional universe are
unstable and would create enormous energy when they decay.  I believe the drive
uses that energy to power the gravitational anomalies and to create the thrust
that moves this ship.  To continue the analogy, our bubble, with our ship
inside it, are blown across the surface of the five-dimensional sheet like a
soap bubble blown across the pond's surface."

"Does the mathematics say anything about the relationship
between the mass inside the bubble and the energy needed to move that
mass?" asked the human.

"Everything about this theory is strange to our common
sense understanding of the real world, but that is one of the strangest.  In
the universe we experience, more mass means more inertia and more energy to
accelerate an object.  Inside this hypothetical bubble, greater mass means less
inertia, if you choose to call it that, and less energy to accelerate an
object."

"Yes!" the human stood up.  "Leegh, you have
been extremely helpful."  The human glanced at Ull.  "We will be
conducting some simple experiments using the drive that might verify at least
some of your and your foremother’s speculations.  If you would participate,
giving us the benefit of your knowledge and understanding, those experiments
would have a much greater chance of success."

Actual experiments?  How is that possible?  And with this
human?  Work with this insolent feral? 

"Let me think on it," she said.

"You would honor this ship and The People you have
joined if you would help us," Ull said.

Us?  This was Ull's project?
  She almost didn't stop
the low grinding whistle.  "Of course, Ull.  If you present it that way,
how could I refuse?"

Tommy arrived on the bridge to find every station occupied
and Luns still in the command chair.  Ull stood at Luns' left, gazing at the
dome.  Leegh paced next to the platform, her tail twitching back and forth, her
snout pointing first at Ull, then up at the dome.  A quick glance upward as
Tommy walked toward the platform revealed nothing except the blackness of
transit.  The ship had escaped the raiders the day before.  The destination
couldn't be this close.

"Welcome, Tommy,” Ull said.  “You should be just in
time."

"I told you my calculations could not be so
precise," Leegh said.  "You should expect the ship to exit within the
next hour, not in the next minute, as you are obviously expecting it to
do."

"Leegh estimated the ship's mass, and combined your
idea about mass and transit interval with her mathematics to predict our
exit," Ull said.  "We are waiting to judge her accuracy."

Leegh whistled roughly.  "The idea was implicit in the
mathematics and did not originate with Tommy."

"Very accurate," Tommy said, as stars appeared
through the dome. 

Leegh voiced a low whistle that could only be surprise. 
"Humph, the calculations were tedious.  I did not expect this
precision."

"You did the calculations using pencil and paper?"
Tommy asked.

"Yes.  How would you have done them?"

"Using a computer." Tommy turned to Ull. 
"The work Leegh is doing is too important for her not to have the best
possible tools.  If you agree, I will have a computer installed in Leegh's
quarters."

"Of course," Ull said.  "I want Leegh to be fully
productive.  If that is what she needs, then you must give it to her."

"And I would honored, Leegh," Tommy said, "to
show you how to use it."

"One of these Earth computers for my own?” Leegh
responded.  “Certainly, I will accept it!"

Maybe I should put one in Ull's quarters, too.  Not that
I expect her to make much use of it.

Tommy turned back to Ull.  "But why such a short
transit?  Was it just a test?  We could not be more than a half a light year
from the Gathering site."

"You are correct,” Ull said.  “Our transit was slightly
less than one-half light year.  Our target is a red dwarf, which should be
approximately nine light minutes away.  The Gathering brought too many visitors
from the raiders to go to our announced destination. 
The People's hand
would
be no match for three of them."