Not that it was much to look at. The gray lacked even the substance of fog. Nothing shifted, nothing moved, nothing changed. Ever. There was light, but no shadow; light, only because dark would have been a change.
Avery drifted through Perihelion, and he smiled. There was a secret that he knew, and no one else did. Perihelion wasn’t just some nuisance, or by-product of the keys. It was the one critical thing that made teleportation possible.
Perihelion was an infinite buffer.
Sixty seconds. Avery touched the four corners of the time-delay key again, and watched as the teleport button slowly rose from the smooth, flawless surface.
Consider the question of teleportation,Avery said to himself. In all the universe, there is no such thing as a body at rest. Planets rolled through their diurnal cycles and careened around their suns. Galaxies spun like dancers, trailing solar systems like glitter from their spiral arms, and even the universe was expanding, Cyclopean shrapnel flying out from the ancient epicenter of the Big Bang.
Teleporting directly from one planet to another would be like leaping from a moving groundcar onto a moving elevator. You’d arrive at your destination with kinetic energy enough to flatten you into a wet, greasy smear or propel you straight into orbit.
Unless, of course, you had the buffer of Perihelion.
He looked at his watch again. Thirty seconds. “Time to go. ” With two quick jabs, he armed the detonator and pressed the teleport button. Pushing the bomb away from himself, he watched it float slowly away. The firing circuit began to glow a dull red.
The drifting bomb slowed and stopped about two meters away. “Of course. Perihelion absorbed the kinetic energy. ” Dipping into his jacket pocket, Avery pulled out the second key and touched its corners. The teleport button rose. He pushed it down.
Nothing happened.
Two meters away, the firing circuit was growing hotter. The dull red gave way to orange and then to yellow. Thin wisps of smoke began to rise from the brick of explosive. Too soon. It was going to detonate much too soon. Panic-stricken, Avery threw himself backward, flailing against the nothingness. A flare of hellish red light appeared around the detonator, and Avery had time to wonder if the buffer of Perihelion could contain that much kinetic energy.
Then the bomb vanished.
The rush of adrenaline faded, and Avery started to think logically again. “Of course. Two jumps. The first is always to Perihelion, and the second gets you where you’re going. ” He touched the corners of the key again and pressed the teleport button.
A blink later, he was back in Central Hall.
“Dad!” Derec leapt forward and gave Avery a hug.
“Sorry I’m late. What happened?”
“ ‘Ur coordinates were a littl’ off,” Wolruf said. “Missed th’ bridge. Got a direct hit on th’ engine room instead. ”
Avery pushed Derec off and staggered toward the giant viewscreen. “Did they miss the drop? What are they doing now?”
“See f’r yourself. ” Wolruf stepped back and made a sweeping gesture to direct Avery’s attention to the screen.
The Erani ship was nose-on in the view screen now, and obviously in trouble. Small fires danced and sparkled along the connecting tubes. Great flares and jets of flaming gas erupted from the sides. All at once, a fluorescing ring of blue energy leapt out from the stern and then contracted, seeming almost to pull the surrounding stars in after itself. Light red-shifted, and the stars flattened out into thin arcs. Space itself seemed to ripple and contract as the Erani warship shuddered and was abruptly jerked backward.
A moment later, there was nothing on the viewscreen but peaceful black starfield.
“The Erani hyperdrive was unstable,” a rich, warm, female voice announced. “Your device caused it to implode, triggering the formation of a microscopic black hole. That hole has now closed. ”
As one, Derec, Avery, and Wolruf turned around, wonder on their faces. “Central?”
“That is my proper designation. For the convenience of the citizens I also respond to the name SilverSides…
The humans were still staring, bug-eyed and slack-jawed, when Beta stepped into the atrium and broke the silence. “Please forgive us for not explaining all the details of the plan earlier. We were not certain that the personality rebuild would work. ” Beta turned to Adam. “And please, for the benefit of the native humans, you must never assume your SilverSides aspect on this planet again. ”
Somehow, Avery found his voice. “But-Central? You, SilverSides?”
“Who better?” Central asked. “My being permeates this city. Within my operational parameters I am powerful, generous, and very nearly omniscient. Who better to watch over and provide for my children?”
“A computer pretending to be a goddess!” Avery erupted. “That’s utterly immoral!”
“It is also necessary,” Beta said, “at least until the kin find their own reasons for living in the city. ”
“Do not worry, Creator Avery,” Central added. “We will not maintain this fiction for long. Our analysis indicates that within three standard years, the kin will be ready to discover that their goddess is merely a hollow idol. ”
Beta nodded. “In fact, we have already identified the native human best suited to make this ‘discovery. ’ Her name is WhiteTail. ”
Avery was still sputtering and trying to frame an argument when Central spoke again. “Alert! I detect fragments of Erani wreckage entering the atmosphere!” Everyone in the hall, human and robot alike, spun around to face the giant viewscreen.
A moment later, Central updated her report. “No significant radioactives are present. The largest identifiable fragment is a Massey 0-85 lifepod. There is one lifeform on board. I will attempt to establish communications. Atmospheric ionization may make this difficult. ” The viewscreen faded and swirled into an unsteady mass of colors. Static lines raced and jiggled across the screen. Slowly, the colors resolved into a blurry, distorted image.
A head, large and hairless. Two black, glittering eyes in turrets of wrinkled, beaded skin. A wide, lipless mouth, distorted in terror.
“Derrec? Derrrec! I’ll be waiting forr you in Hellll!”
The image dissolved in a wash of static.
“I am tracking the lifepod,” Central said. “If it does not break up, it will impact in the forest approximately fifteen kilometers north of the city…,
A soft sound floated in from the night. Soft, yet ancient, and chilling. Arrooo. Then another voice joined it, across the miles, picking up and relaying the call. Aroooooo! More voices joined in, barking, baying. The night exploded in a clamor of crescendoing howls.
The viewscreen changed to display the view north from the Compass Tower. Hundreds of furry bodies were streaming out of the city and into the forest. “The kin have also spotted the pod’s ionization trail,” Central said. “I am preparing to send a team of hunter/seekers to the projected landing site, but I am afraid that the natives will get there first. ”
Central paused, as if disturbed by what she had to say next. “Dr. Avery? Derec and Wolruf? I suggest that you return to the spaceport and prepare to leave. If Aranimas does not survive reentry, the kin will return here…
Epilogue. The Spaceport
Sweet, bright dawn broke across the spaceport tarmac, illuminating the Wild Goose Chase in vivid shades of pink and gold. Scattered patches of dew darkened the pavement; BlackMane’s cubs lay in a tumbled heap by a blast deflection wall, snoring softly and dreaming happy puppy-dreams.
“Coming, Ari?” Derec called out from the boarding ramp.
“In a minute, dear. ” Ariel turned back to BlackMane. The female kin finished a yawn that stretched clear back to her third bicuspids, then sat down and gravely offered Ariel her paw. Squatting on her haunches, Ariel accepted the paw and shook it.