Sidespace (43 page)

“Iapetus? Do they know it’s named itself after a god of mortality?”

Caleb’s tone gained an edge of cynicism. “Somehow I doubt it. It seems the joke’s on the Khokteh.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Every Metigen we’ve encountered has claimed the name of a Greek Titan. Do you think it’s possible Greek mythology was in reality the Metigens meddling in our early development?”

“Sure, it’s possible. But…” he at last shifted his focus away from the dais to gaze off into the distance, then at her “…mostly what bothers me is this: why is this Metigen using a Greek Titan name
here
? It should’ve taken a Khokteh name.”

“I agree, it should have. What are you getting at?”

He cast a long glance back at the dais, where Pinchu bestowed more sanctifications on ‘Iapetus.’ “What if they’re not
our
mythology? What if instead they’re the Metigens’ mythology—or everyone’s mythology?”

On the dais the Metigen visitor dissolved away to chants and bows; all the deference and worship made her sick to her stomach. “I always hated mythology—the gods acted like petulant, narcissistic bastards. So, yes, knowing what I do about the Metigens, I’d buy that.”

She pushed off the pillar. “Come on, let’s stay close to Pinchu. I want to find out exactly how this ‘providing of knowledge’ occurs.”

The Chief Military Engineer, who had been introduced to them as “Nakuridi,” led them down a winding staircase. The air gained a slight chill as they descended, leading Caleb to suspect they were now below ground.

A display of innocent, professional interest had convinced a distracted Pinchu to arrange a tour of the weapons development facility for them. Nakuridi had been at the temple, waiting to receive this gift of deadly, divine technology, and following a quick discussion they had been pawned off on the Chief Military Engineer.

The facility was near the northern edge of the city, beneath a building devoted to civil engineering—again, there was almost no separation between civilian and military pursuits.

They came to a wide doorway. The staircase continued to descend, but Nakuridi motioned them through the door into a large room. The floor space was devoted to the manufacturing of the personal heavy weapons they had used during the Nengllitse attack.

It wasn’t an assembly-line production in the strictest sense. A combination of automated machinery and Khokteh workers in full-body lab suits assembled the weapons along three parallel rows.

“Here we produce the personal firearms for our military personnel. We—”

Alex was peering toward the nearest workstation with interest. “Can we take a closer look?”

Nakuridi grumbled in apparent uncertainty. Though he’d voiced no unease on meeting them, he’d acted awkward and formal with them thus far. He retrieved two lab suits from a cabinet beside the door. “You must don these…but you are so little…. Simply make do?”

Alex shrugged, and Nakuridi thrust the suits in their direction.

After a cursory examination of the suit’s mechanics, Caleb stepped into it through an open front—and found himself surrounded by scads of excess material. A long pouch in the rear for the tail was obviously superfluous; the too-long legs bunched up on the ground. He found the hood and pulled it on, tightening a strap to draw it snug. A few latches on the torso gave it a modicum of closure, and he was set.

He spread his arms wide in display, evoking a snort of laughter from Alex even as she fumbled with her own suit. He went over to help her make sense of the jumble of material. “Make fun of me if you like, but which one of us is dressed?”

She rolled her eyes but mouthed a thanks as he fastened the front of the suit, while Nakuridi looked on in palpable discomfort.

“Good enough?”

“Ah…yes, I suppose that will do.” Nakuridi indicated the left-most row. “As you can see, this is where final assembly…what is she doing?”

Alex had maneuvered down the row to a station near the end. A robotic arm retrieved a rectangular amber block encased in a dark metal cage from a refrigerated compartment built into the wall and seated it in the center housing of the weapon’s frame.

He suppressed amusement. “I think she’s interested in the power source.”

She glanced up as they approached. “What type of power source are you using?”

Caleb, I’ve never seen anything like this.

He studied the amber block more closely.

Neither have I.

Distract him a minute so I can give Valkyrie a peek.

He cleared his throat and pointed to the previous station, back toward the entry. “So this is where you connect the various components?”

Nakuridi considered Alex briefly then turned in Caleb’s direction. “Correct. Then the whole assembly is encased in a protective cushioning before it’s sealed up.”

“Interesting—so you don’t have to worry about friction or the various components wearing on one another.”

“Not generally speaking, no.”

Alex came up beside him and spared a passing glance at the station. “Neat.”

Any luck?

Not on sight. She’ll analyze the captured images.

Caleb nodded politely. “I think we’re ready to move on to the lab now.”

“Best if you remain in the suits, as you’ll need them to enter the lab as well.”

“Great,” Alex grumbled under her breath. “I look like a clown, or one of those ridiculous circus performers.”

He chuckled. “More like a harlequin—but it’s cute.”

“Says you.” She gathered up the excess material that had pooled at her feet and held it up so she could walk faster.

It was two more floors down to the development lab, and they took the stairs with inordinate care.

The lab floor was easily twice as large as the assembly room had been, though it had a segmented design, with half-walls separating out different areas—presumably discrete projects. As in the assembly room, the walls, ceiling and floor were sandstone, but everything else was metal, glass, or ceramic. In this respect it was fairly similar to a human R&D lab.

Khokteh in lab suits worked in two-thirds of the segmented areas. The nearest one contained equipment recognizable as more conventionally power-related. In another, a worker ran tests on a new model of electrified spear. Several of the workers eyed them suspiciously, but by this point every Khokteh in the city knew of their presence, so there were no screams or panicked shouts.

Alex turned to Nakuridi. “Where’s the new weapon you received from the…” Caleb could all but hear her teeth grinding in irritation “…temple?”

Nakuridi gestured down the central walkway toward the rear of the long room. “It’s not a weapon yet—we’re still studying the schematics and material requirements. I would not be inclined to show it to you, but Tokahe Naataan instructed me to do so.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t break anything.” Alex smiled blithely.

“Clearly you will not, as it does not yet exist to break.”

“Right. And when will it exist?”

“We’re producing several rarer materials at a separate location now. I expect to be able to assemble a prototype in another two days.”

“That fast? Impressive.”

“Iapetus provides us weapons and tools that are designed with our technology in mind. It is rarely difficult for us to create and assemble the finished product.”

“I’ll just bet it does—” He elbowed Alex in the ribs to cut her off.

“This will be the most powerful weapon we’ve ever built, but I’m confident in our ability to construct it.”

They passed a segmented area larger than most. Suspended from the ceiling was the housing for what appeared to be the weapons attached to the fighters they’d seen at the hangar, if both larger and longer. This was not their destination, however.

Finally, they reached an area partitioned off by floor-to-ceiling glass. Four displays ran across the back wall above terminals. Khokteh occupied three of the terminals.

Nakuridi slid a portion of the glass aside and allowed them to enter. They both moved directly to the displays, causing some animated fidgeting on the part of the Khokteh working at them.

The first display showed a rotating exterior schematic of a cylinder, almost as wide as it was long, and an object that resembled a laser turret on one end. Multiple internal compartments were visible inside the main cylinder. The second display was filled by stacked schem flows of a form of circuitry—likely the interior workings of the weapon. The third display presented two data columns; the left column was a list and the right a series of chemical formulas.

The list was in the Khokteh language. His eVi could capture the words using his ocular implant and translate them, but it was a slower process than communications. His eyes ran down both columns as rapidly as possible before he shifted to the schem flows.

The few words it contained were also in the native language, but there weren’t many ways to draw the directional flow of electrical current, and he found he was able to follow it well enough.

The image which immediately sprang to mind was of a portable LEN reactor; inner and outer insulation chambers surrounded a central rod. But there were also two additional compartments on either side.

“Oh, fuck me.”

He and Nakuridi both pivoted to Alex. Nakuridi made a frothy, sputtering sound. “I don’t see how—”

Caleb quickly smiled in apology. “Bad translation. She was merely expressing surprise. At something. Weren’t you?”

She pointed to a formula on the third display. He nodded comprehension, and her finger lowered to another formula.

He noted the shorthand symbols then returned his attention to the schem flows. The separate chambers’ designated purposes were to hold the results of those formulas, one for each.

He faced Nakuridi with deliberate calm. “This is an anti-matter weapon.”

“Yes. That would suffice as a description of its functionality.”

He worked to keep his demeanor neutral. “Do you…commonly use anti-matter weapons?”

Nakuridi’s shoulders rose. “This is a new concept for us, but an ingenious one.”

Caleb brought a palm up to his chin and refocused on the schem flow. He pointed to the power input. “We’re not familiar with this shorthand—what level of power is this?”

Nakuridi responded, and the translation came through.

He rubbed his temples.
“Valkyrie, that can’t be right.”

‘I’ve studied multiple technical texts. It is correct.’

Alex stepped in front of him and craned her neck to glare up at Nakuridi. “We need to see the Tokahe Naataan.”

“Tokahe Naataan is meeting with his military council this evening and cannot be disturbed.”

“At all?”

“There are conditions under which he can be disturbed. You do not meet them. He instructed me to have you returned to his residence when the tour was complete—and to tell you he may be quite late arriving home. The servants will prepare a meal for you, and you have his apologies.”

Alex was twitching in agitation, but she kept a modicum of outward control. “Please pass on our own message to him: we need to speak to him about a very important matter as soon as he is available.”

“I’ll see he receives it. Are we done here?”

Caleb gazed back at the image of the cylinder, spinning on its axis in slow tumbles. “Two days until it’s built, you said?”

“That is my estimation.”

“Okay. Yes, we’re done here. Take us to Tokahe Naataan’s home. We’ll wait for him there.”

39

IRELTSE

C
ALEB WAS AN ABSURDLY
light sleeper, and it took Alex several minutes of delicate movement to ease out of the bed, gather her clothes and tip-toe out of the room. She held her breath until she was out of the house.

Two vehicles were parked in front. Had Pinchu finally come home, sometime after they had given up and retired for the night? She hesitated. Should she go back inside, wake him from sleep and confront him now?

She decided against it. There would be time to try to talk sense into him tomorrow, but this was likely to be her sole chance to slip away.

She hefted herself up into the open vehicle and studied the dash. She’d watched Pinchu operate it, and once the various controls were identified, it shouldn’t be complicated to fly.

Pinchu will not appreciate you stealing his vehicle.

I’m not stealing it—I’m merely borrowing it for an hour or two.

Alex, I’m not certain this is a wise course of action. I am as intrigued as you regarding the Metigens’ purposes here, but Caleb is right that—

That it’s a risk. I agree. But I may not get this kind of opportunity again
.

She played with the ‘start’ control until the engine fired, then lifted off the ground. The engine was more powerful than she’d expected, and the vehicle cavorted roughly in her hands. She gripped the stick jutting out of the dash with both hands and, after several gyrations, accelerated toward the temple.