Alicia Jones 4: Enigma (5 page)

Senna asked, “So that’s it?  Has this been a waste of
time?”

I frowned, “It was a long shot to begin with.  Plus, at
the very least we have a new science to look into.  If we can figure out
that, contact will be possible.”

Ellis nodded, “More than that, the bug threat won’t be a
threat anymore.”

Perhaps.  I had a feeling that issue would be decided
long before we figured out the science behind the Drenil’s technology. 

I said carefully, “We have no theories or math to describe
the phenomena we’ve seen them capable of.  All we really know is that it’s
possible to take a ship into subspace, and to create some kind of wave that is
capable of destroying ships.  Our only starting point is radiation we have
no idea the source of.”

I wasn’t giving up, just being realistic.  It would
take time, and a lot of experiments.  Perhaps if I started with what we
knew of wormholes.  We needed to open a hole in that other subspace layer
or dimension, instead of a tunnel that ended up somewhere else in ours. 
Easier said than done.

Then I suspected, we would have a whole new universe to
explore of sorts, with its own laws.  Understanding would not be quick, or
even all at once.

Ellis agreed, “No doubt, it’s the work of a lifetime.”

We were silent as we got off the shuttle and back onto the
ship and I went to my quarters.  I wondered if I was suicidal, because I
was still tempted to jump in the sports shuttle and go say high to the Drenil
in person on the planet.  But really, it was just curiosity on my part so
I suppressed the urge.

Al interrupted my thoughts, “I have an update on the
Gelnott.”

“Go ahead.”

Al briefed me, “They are holding position outside Earth’s
solar system, and only four ships completed the trip.  They have contacted
the council, though that information isn’t part of what I can access.  The
other two ships left the convoy after detecting the Nairan home world.”

I felt tense for a moment, but forced myself to relax. 
It wasn’t my responsibility anymore to protect pre-FTL societies. 

“Has the council sent ships?”

Al replied, “Not yet.  I estimate a high probability
they will try a diplomatic solution before interceding directly.  So far
according to the Stealth net, the two Gelnott ships are undetected by the
Nairan, and they’re merely running scans.  We finally have a visual of the
Gelnott, and it is somewhat of a surprise.”

“In what way?” I asked patiently.

“The Gelnott are humanoid like all the rest, but saurian in
appearance.  Perhaps what would have been on Earth, had the dinosaurs not
reached extinction.”

That was new.  I wasn’t sure what to think about it,
had the seeders made a mistake, or were the people of Earth a random
happenstance due to the asteroid strike, and our planet’s inhabitants should be
similar?  They were pretty close to Earth, just five thousand light years
away, and I wondered when we found more humanoids toward the rim, if more would
be this way.  Al continued the summary.

“Their skin tones seem to vary between dark green and light
brown, possibly an indication of age, and the skin itself is reptilian in
appearance.  They have cranial ridges, claws although just as dexterous as
a human finger, and carnivorous teeth.”

I was kind of curious.

I ordered, “Keep an eye on it, what they do at Naira and at
Earth, and any available news on them.”

It probably hadn’t been necessary, I had a feeling he was
already doing it anyway.

I brought up the wormhole calculations, and the
multi-dimensional math as we understood it for gravity devices, and just tried
to find a place to start.  The universe was infinitely complex, or at
least, it seemed so to me.  For instance, just how many levels of subspace
were there?  I had no idea.  At least I’d found something to work on,
the idea was fascinating, and who knew what else I’d learn on the way to
understanding, or at least in attempting to grasp the technology of the Drenil…

Kristi walked into my office at our company, and she was
clearly on a mission with a seriously stubborn look in her eyes.

We’d arrived home after our tragically short expedition to
Drenil space, and I’d been working hard trying to understand exactly what I
didn’t know, and had to figure out, which is much harder than it sounds. 
Regardless, I’d been working long hours.

Kristi said firmly, “We’re going out tonight.”

I felt my stomach plummet.  I wasn’t a zombie anymore,
and had made progress after Nathan’s death, but I wasn’t sure about going out
to party, at all.  Even just dancing I mean, which would no doubt involve
dancing with men.  Dating wasn’t even on the radar, and wouldn’t be for a
long while.

“We are?” I asked brilliantly.

I was pretty smart, but couldn’t think of a valid reason to
duck out.

Kristi nodded sharply, “We are.  Joe is out of town,
and its long past time for you to have some fun, way past time.”

I objected, “But, I am having fun.”

She snorted, “Yeah, banging your brainy head against the
chalk board fun maybe.  I mean real fun.”

I smiled and thought fast, “Fine, but you’re my dance
partner for the night.”

Kristi looked at me in faux shock, “I had no idea you felt
that way.”

I just stared back, and tried not to laugh.  I wondered
if guilt would always accompany joy and laughter now, or if that would fade
over time.

Kristi tossed her hair in ditz mode, and said in a
considering voice, “Although those purple eyes of yours are kind of sexy.”

I giggle snorted since I couldn’t hold it back anymore.
 It was a bit embarrassing and oh so attractive.

“Fine, I’ll go, if we end this ridiculous conversation right
now.”

Kristi smiled brightly, “I win,” and turned around and left
my office.

It took me a little while to get back into the math.

I looked in the mirror.  Light makeup, a strapless red
dress, and black high heels.  I looked good, and I tried to smile, but it
fell flat.  Moving on was easier said than done, I already felt guilty, because
I was excited about going out.  I’d always loved to dance, and I knew once I’d
had a few drinks I’d loosen up and have even more fun.

How could I do that with Nathan gone just under a
month?  Life went on though, and I knew I had to as well.

I walked out, ready to go, but with reservations.

Kristi was in dark blue body hugging dress, and as usual,
looked better than I did.  I didn’t say anything though, since she would
just argue with me.

We headed out to a club in Denver instead of going far off,
Kristi had said she’d heard good things about it.

As I expected it was a little awkward for me at first, as we
entered the building.  The music pounded and I felt the itch to go
dancing, let go, and lose myself in the rhythm of the music for a while. 
I also felt disgusted with myself.  Make sense or not, how could I dare to
enjoy myself when he was gone forever?  I considered squashing the
emotion, it wasn’t overwhelming anymore, but I suspected that would just make
it even worse later.

Still, after a drink or two, and being dragged out onto the
dance floor, I couldn’t help but start to enjoy myself.  I did try not to
dance with anyone outside of my best friend, but that was difficult as well
without being rude.  It was awkward, the harmless flirting while dancing
with a man was completely out of the question for me, but I managed to have fun
anyway.

That night, it took me a while to get to sleep after we got
home.  I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling feeling guilty for the fun
I’d managed to have.  I also knew the next time I went dancing, that it
would be a little easier to let go, and have fun.  Of course, knowing that made
me feel guilty even before it happened…

I looked at the data on the screen and frowned.  I’d
made a few guesses, and tried to open up a passage into subspace using slight
modifications on the wormhole drive.  It was ultimately a failure, but I’d
gotten a lot of data out of it.  I was hopeful once I combed through it
all, that it would lead somewhere.  I also wished for the umpteenth time I
could consult the Drenil, who we couldn’t even get to count to three for us.

Al interrupted my thoughts, “Bug update, and a few other
things if you have time.”

I sighed and wondered why I even bothered.  It wasn’t like I
could do anything about it.  But the curiosity would keep me checking up with
things.

“Go ahead Al.”

“We found two more, for a total of five hive worlds. 
They, like the other three are set up similarly in numbers and functions, and
seem to be overbuilding at both new sites as well.  There is more, the
races have finally agreed to a sortie type raid on one of their systems. 
Get in, start trouble, and then get out.  The objective is to figure out
how they’ll react to an attack.”

“When?” I asked feeling conflicted.  I wanted to know
too, but we only had a little over three thousand platforms right now, I wanted
twice that number or more before we went.

Al replied, “One week, the various forces will be gathering
at the Seltan system that was attacked.  There is another interesting
piece of news.”

One week meant another three hundred more platforms, I guess
I could deal with that.  I snorted at myself, as if I had a choice?  I supposed
I could stay behind, I didn’t have to go at all, but I rejected that thought.

“What’s that?” I asked dubiously.

Al replied, “The stealth sensor net in our arm of the galaxy
has found a non-humanoid FTL race.”

“That’s strange,” I thought out loud.  The seeders
seemed more… competent than that.

Al said, “I believe based on the Seltan’s vague descriptions
of the Reilan race, and the planets they lived on, that this may very well be a
colony or outpost of that believed extinct species.”

I took a deep breath, Al’s voice was so clinical, he had no
idea he’d just dropped a bomb of sorts.

“The Reilan, you mean the ones that were destroyed by the
bugs in the galactic arm next to us, those Reilan?”

There was a brief silence, and Al said, “Yes.  Or if
not that specific race, one of the same race type from that arm who either fled
here, or explored before the bug attack.  I believe the council has
ordered a first contact probe to the system, obviously they are an ancient FTL
race, and we have no knowledge of their technological level.”

“Keep me up to date on that.  Anything else?” I asked,
almost hoping he said no.

Al informed me, “Only that the talks with the Gelnott are
not going well.  They seem to be both an arrogant and aggressive
species.  Things may change, but right now I find it unlikely they will
sign the treaty and give up their right to do whatever they want.”

I frowned and said a little on edge, “You’re just full of
useful and wonderful information today.”

I hoped it would be a long time before the new treaty was
tested.  If we had to, we would quarantine that world.  Not back to
the stone age like the Knomen did it, but kept out of space.  Even if the
Gelnott proved themselves a true threat, with such new relationships between
the species, the other treaty worlds may worry that we weren’t any better than
the Knomen.  It wouldn’t be true of course, the Knomen did it for control,
this treaty was about all the worlds having freedom, except of course to attack
or interfere with their neighbors.

Al was silent for a moment, and then replied, “I would say
thank you, but I estimate a high probability that you were being sarcastic.”

I grudgingly smiled, “You would be right, but that doesn’t
make me less thankful for your input, keep me apprised of developments.”

“Will do Alicia.”

I frowned.  I’d asked him to call me by name a great
number of times, this was the first time he’d actually done so.  Whatever
Shelly’s new A.I. design was doing for Al’s responses and capabilities was
obviously still in flux.  I started to wonder more if the changes would
ever stop, rather than wondering when they would stop.  The problem with
that is Shelly did want to eventually start selling them, so I decided we
needed to judge it on stability rather than any kind of consistent action or
response.

It did make sense, the new A.I. matrix was supposed to adapt
to its user, I just hadn’t thought it would be so… ongoing.

As long as I’d been distracted from my work, I looked up
some business figures as well.  First, the inter-galactic taxi service was
a bigger hit than I’d expected.  I started it up after having ten built
out, and they were almost constantly in use now.  Each time I added two,
the work seemed to increase.  I was sure that would flag some before we
hit our taxi goal of a fifty, but so far it was paying off.  Since all the
patents and designs on the ships were mine or Kristi’s, it wouldn’t take long
before materials were paid for and I’d actually start making a profit from
them.

It wouldn’t be much in comparison to my current royalty
amounts coming in, but it wasn’t insignificant either.  Even a small
amount of gold per trip added up.

I’d also received personal thanks from twenty-eight of the
thirty-nine treaty worlds to make my business available to their governments
during a treaty emergency such as mutual defense.

The gravity ball had increased in sales as well since Vegas,
or I should say the amount of times the pattern has been sold on many fronts to
Fire departments, police, and even military such as the coast guard and SAR
units on air craft carriers.

The only other thing that was going on were the nanites,
which were selling as fast as we could make them.  I considered the idea
of setting up an auction to sell off the rights to both manufacture and sell
them to the public, mainly the fabricator companies, but car companies as
well.  I didn’t want to wait too long, since it might bite us in the long
run if we do.  I wrote up a quick proposal for it and forwarded it onto
Kristi and Caroline for their input.

After that I got back to the data for the new technology I
was trying to understand, and some testing.  I kept making tweaks and educated
guesses by what I was seeing for results to inform the next set of
changes.  No luck though, I was obviously missing something vital, perhaps
something not even in the data, but I kept looking anyway…