Skolian Empire: The Radiant Seas Part 41

She raised her eyebrows. "And what would you do with him?"

"We need more Keys for the psiberweb."

"If you mean breeding Althor and Cirrus to make Rhon psions, it won't work." Viquara thought of the girl's son Kai. Never would the empress send Kai to Cirrus now, after the girl had dared to try hiding her knowledge about Jaibriol. Cirrus would suffer the price of that betrayal for the rest of her life. Viquara granted Kai his life in honor of Ur's memory, but the boy would never leave the isolated area where he lived now with the old slave woman Azzi. "Cirrus isn't Rhon. She can't make web Keys, not even with Althor."

Quaelen moved his hand in dismissal. "I have no interest in Cirrus. Althor is our path to the Ruby Dynasty." He tilted his head. "Did you know Eldrin Valdoria writes folk ballads? Or that the Ruby Pharaoh is the smallest member of the Imperial family? A pretty little waif."

"Entertaining, Kryx love, but hardly useful."

"Everything has uses." He paused. "According to Althor, our bard and his waif queen live together on the Orbiter."

That caught Viquara's interest. "Indeed."

He began to pace the office. "Through Althor, we can get more of his family. We need them. Althor can create a psiberweb and Jaibriol can maintain it, but they are scarce resources." His voice became crisp. "Two possible scenarios exist in regards to Jaibriol. Either he got children on this Lyra Merzon and Sauscony Valdoria is a fanatic who pursued him for fifteen years, or he got children on Valdoria and she seeks vengeance for their deaths. Either way, she is dangerous." He paced back to Viquara. "Previous ESComm extrapolations gave a good probability of eventual Eube victory, but now it is less certain. Waiting centuries to wear down ISC is too risky. We need a Lock, we need more Keys, and we need to break the Ruby Dynasty. Now."

Dryly Viquara said, "While we are at it, perhaps we could create a new universe or two."

His smile exuded a feral arrogance. "Think big, my love. I've discussed it with General Taratus and Admiral Kaliga. The more trained telops we install on our s.h.i.+ps, the more we lessen the technological edge ISC holds over us."

She stared at him. "You're talking about Onyx Platform."

"You've a quick mind."

"I've seen Vitrex's reports on the interrogation. The Third Lock is at Onyx."

"So Intelligence says."

"It also says Onyx is prohibitively well defended."

Quaelen came over to her. "Well defended and sufficiently defended are not the same. Right now ESComm has the largest inventory of s.h.i.+ps, equipment, and personnel in its history, whereas ISC is weakened by upheavals in the Ruby Dynasty. If ever there was a time for such a move, it is now."

Viquara wondered if she had misjudged her consort. Whether or not his plans would withstand scrutiny remained to be seen. But she knew Quaelen. He grounded his ideas in well-researched reality. If this bore out its promise, ESComm might bring the Imperialate under control within her lifetime. The Allieds would follow easily after that. It could be prudent to cultivate a more amenable relations.h.i.+p with this man who might soon rule all humanity from the shadows behind the Carnelian Throne.

She softened her posture, her hips settling just so to accent her figure. "This could be a best time for many things."

His gaze lingered on her body. "Indeed."

"Indeed," Viquara murmured.

25.

All four of Soz's top officers attended the Joint Task Force meeting. General Stone and Primary Tapperhaven projected their simulacrums from HQ. Admiral Tahota projected from Onyx Platform and General Majda from Raylicon. Four people were actually present in the Strategy Room: Soz, Jon Casestar, Soz's brother Eldrin, and Barcala Tikal, all seated at the table. They kept this preliminary conference small, to lay the JTF groundwork before bringing in their staffs.

"A fleet the size we're talking about would be detectable to the most incompetent web extractor alive," Stone said. "You can't hide hundreds of thousands of s.h.i.+ps."

"They don't need to travel together," Soz replied. "If we use telops linked through the web, the fleet could a.s.semble anytime, from smaller groups."

Tahota spoke. "To avoid detection, the groups would have to be small, a few dozen s.h.i.+ps or less. Coordinating the a.s.sembly of an entire fleet from such units, during superluminal travel, may be beyond even our best EI brains. We're talking trillions of coupled s.p.a.cetime-psibers.p.a.ce transforms per second."

General Majda leaned forward. "I understand the Pharaoh's son is on the Orbiter."

"That's right," Soz said.

"Perhaps he and the Pharaoh would consider bending their mental capacity to this problem."

Tikal sat up straighter. "Excellent idea." He sounded relieved. "It will keep them occupied. Out of trouble."

Irritation flashed across Brant Tapperhaven's face. "I wasn't aware they were in trouble."

"I think it's a good idea," Eldrin interposed.

Dryly Casestar said, "We have to find them first."

Soz glanced at her brother. "Can you talk to them?"

Eldrin nodded. "At the house."

Soz picked up a holograph on the table and cycled through its displays. "Even if Dehya and Taquinil can develop algorithms to coordinate a.s.sembly of the fleet, we still have the problem of the defenses in Platinum Sector and at Glory."

"My people have looked at it from every angle," Tahota said. "I don't see any way to bring in a fleet that size without triggering every alarm within five light-years of Glory. No matter how we a.s.semble the fleet, Platinum Sector will still have more than enough warning to mobilize."

"Given the extent and strength of the Glory defenses," Stone said, "and its proximity to Platinum Sector, then unless I've missed something, we have no chance of success."

"Unless," Soz said, "our incoming fleet appears small enough to avoid detection until it's too late for ESComm to mobilize."

"I see no way to disguise so large a force," Majda stated.

Casestar glanced at Soz. When she nodded, he said, "The Radiance Project."

Tapperhaven snorted. "That business with the Klein bottles? It didn't work."

"A problem with instabilities in containment fields, wasn't it?" Tahota said.

"The instabilities come from interference between the larger Klein field and the fields it contains," Casestar said. "If we can s.h.i.+eld the smaller bottle, that might take care of it."

"Might?" Stone asked.

"So far no s.h.i.+elds have worked," Casestar admitted. "As soon as matter twists into Klein s.p.a.ce, it loses cohesion. Melts, so to speak."

"Then don't use real matter," Tapperhaven said.

"You know another type?" Tikal asked. When Tapperhaven shot him an irritated look, the First Councilor raised his eyebrows.

"What would you propose, Primary Tapperhaven?" Soz asked.

"Something with quasis," he said. "Or tachyons."

"Quasis doesn't extend into Klein s.p.a.ce," Casestar said. "It just protects the real s.p.a.ce equipment that creates the bottle."

"Can you apply it to the bottle's contents?" Tahota asked.

Casestar shook his head. "That puts the fuel itself into quasis. Then the s.h.i.+p can't use it. Same for weapons. Annihilators do no good if we can't fire them."

"Tachyonic matter can exist in an imaginary state," Tapperhaven pointed out.

"Professor Rasmuss has been considering superluminal particles," Casestar said. "She might be able to do something with it. But that would mean we couldn't put the s.h.i.+ps into Klein bottles until we were in superluminal s.p.a.ce and we would have to bring them out before we dropped into normal s.p.a.ce. It would add more complications and reduce our element of surprise."

Soz.

Soz nearly jumped out of her chair. Without equipment to enhance the fields produced by their brains, even strong psions rarely spoke mind to mind. Kyle activity depended on physical processes in the brain, dominated by Coulomb interactions, with higher order effects such as spin and momentum. In theory the interactions extended to infinity; in practice they became so small so fast that most telepaths could only pick up thoughts within a few meters and only from another psion, someone who could project strong enough signals.

She knew Dehya wasn't close to the Strategy Room. Yet her aunt's thought came as clear as a chime of crystal. Even odder, Soz could see the barest trace of a mesh around her now, as if Dehya had brought a ghost of psibers.p.a.ce into the room.

Yes. That was from Eldrin. I see it too. Strange.

Soz regarded her brother uneasily. He knew Dehya better than anyone. If even he found this disquieting, she had no idea what to make of it.

Dehya? she asked.

The sense of a smile came from her aunt. You all endow me with far more mystery than I possess, I'm afraid. I'm in the web. It makes it easier to link to you. That's all.

Where are you? Soz asked.

In the Solitude Room. I had an idea for the Radiance Project.

"Imperator Skolia?" Tahota asked. "Are you all right?"

"She's in a Kyle link," Tapperhaven said. As a Jagernaut, he would recognize the signs.

Distracted by their voices, Soz held up her hand, urging them to silence. Do you have a solution? she asked Dehya.

Unfortunately, no. However, a thought does occur to me.

Go ahead, Soz thought.

If you have a problem with interference, perhaps you should look at phases instead of s.h.i.+elding.

You mean phases of matter? Soz asked. Solid, liquid, that sort of thing?

No. Light waves, actually. Waves out of phase undergo destructive interference. They cancel. Waves in phase interfere constructively. They add. Perhaps instead of s.h.i.+elding, you need to consider phases.

Does Klein s.p.a.ce have phase? Soz asked.

I don't know, Dehya admitted. I'm not that familiar with Rasmuss's work. But imaginary quant.i.ties often involve oscillation. Her thought receded, fading into the mesh. It may be worth a look.

Then she was gone.

Soz blinked and shook her head, trying to clear it.

"Imperator Skolia?" Tapperhaven asked.

"That was a.s.sembly Key Selei," Soz said. She had discovered different people thought of Dehya by different t.i.tles. Majda, General of the Pharaoh's Army, referred to her as the Pharaoh. Tapperhaven, whose own mind was inextricably linked to the web, thought of her as the a.s.sembly Key. "She suggested we look at phases of Klein fields." Soz glanced at Casestar. "She compared it to the interference of light. Can your people do anything with that?"

He looked intrigued. "Possibly. I'll talk to Rasmuss."

"If we solve this problem of the bottles, it may give the project a chance," General Stone said.

General Majda shook her head. "The magnitude of the project is prohibitive. The logistics alone boggle the mind."

As the debate continued, Soz listened. They were right, of course. If they solved the Klein instabilities, they still had a thousand and one other problems that had to be solved before the invasion had a chance.

Vitrex glowered at his wife Sharla. "Last time all they did was lie on the cot. I can't breed them if they won't mate." He motioned at Cirrus, who was sitting on an examination table in Sharla's office, dressed in a silk robe. Cirrus tried to imagine she was someplace else. Anywhere else.

"You're the doctor," Vitrex said to Sharla. "You must have a way to, ah, increase his enthusiasm."

Sharla smiled. "Izar, love, just look at her. All you have to do is put her in his cell. Nature will do the rest."

"I did. It didn't."

"Let me check her profile." Sharla slid a needle out of her palmtop, inserted it into Cirrus's wrist cuff, twirled it around, and returned it to the palmtop. Studying the display, she said, "This is nice work."

"What is?" Vitrex asked.

Sharla flipped the screen open on her palm. The holo above it showed a blue, a red, and a gold line floating in the air. She pointed to the lowest line, the blue one, horizontal to her palm. "This is normal pheromone production for someone resting." She indicated the red line, also horizontal and higher than the blue. "This is Cirrus's normal level. Her nanomeds produce it."

Vitrex shrugged. "I know she smells good."

"It's more than smell. Even I feel the effect and normally I never react to women." She pointed to the gold line, higher then the red, with hills, valleys, and spikes. "This happens when she's handled. The spikes are off the scale." She flicked off the display. "On top of which, as a psion she produces pheromones targeted to other psions. Given that Althor is Rhon, he'll have an even more intense response to her. And she to him."

"So why didn't they do anything last time?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she didn't want to."

"Then it's her enthusiasm you have to increase." Vitrex scowled. "It isn't easy, believe me."

"Have you tried Leratin?"

He waved his hand. "Leratin. Halcasic acid. Kerradonna. Nanogels. Either she gets sick or else she has these bizarre moods. One time she just kept crying."