Part 10 (1/2)

The aperture moment.

9.

The Cyaneans Toby put his arm around Besen and held on for dear life. The Argo groaned and pulsed. Decks and bulkheads creaked. Toby felt his own boots rock with unseen stress. His Isaac Aspect called, What marvelous tides!

”That's what moves water around in lakes and such, right?”

Yes, but the force comes from another gravitating body. Like the doomed star we saw at the edge of the great disk, torn apart.

Now the black hole is pulling on Argo, a bit more strongly on theside closer to the hole, than on the outer side. We feel that as tension, trying to pull the s.h.i.+p apart.

”d.a.m.n!” Toby told Besen this, then asked, ”Can Argo take it?”

I believe so. The stress is annoying, that I concede -- ”How would you know?”

I can generalize from my past life. Admittedly I do not feel your bodily discomfort, but-- ”Or pleasures either, right?”

Quite so. I merely watch your visual input.

Toby didn't like the thought of Isaac even seeing some parts of his private life, and Besen's close warmth made him even more sure of it. It 131.

was embarra.s.sing, to think that his Aspects had been there, in some limited sense, in the warm, aromatic intimacy of the bedclothes...

Do not trouble over that. Our opinions mean nothing.

This was from s.h.i.+bo. A deeper, resonant voice that carried nuances that without warning drew him into her own interior world, the full spreading wealth of her past.--Her beloved Citadel beset by forces bleak and imponderable, ill-shaped and just beyond the deranged horizon. Would they come by seething air or across the cratered plain? And when? Or were their amba.s.sadors already inside the shut gates?--gray enemies no bigger than an eye's pupil, yet seeing just as much, and rapping back to their comradestheir microwave reports, machine tales of the soft goings here.-He regained his balance. ”How... how come?”

Aspects are static. Aspects cannot grow. So their views do not alter. You cannot truly change their minds about anything.

Toby wasn't sure this was much consolation. He noted that s.h.i.+bo did not say that she could not change. Were Personalities different? He had the distinct impression, from subtle changes in Isaac and Joe and maybe even Zeno, that s.h.i.+bo was carrying out some sort of therapy on them, resolving the clas.h.i.+ng psyche-storms that beset such truncated minds.Then his distracted thoughts came to an abrupt end when a sudden wave flexed through the deck. He and Besen slammed into a bulkhead and tumbled to the deck of the Bridge.As he got up, Toby saw that Killeen had remained standing, legs braced to take surges. But the Cap'n's face was drawn and he searched the wall screens intently for understanding. They showed a blinding hail of gauzy hot gas and chunks of unknown matter, all spraying by them at blistering speed. Warm breezes now blew through the Bridge, fluttering Toby's hair as the circulators labored to ease the steady heating from outside.Killeen called again for the Magnetic Mind. Again there was no answer. It had abandoned them.The s.h.i.+p's officers were all anch.o.r.ed in their shock couches, staring at Killeen, visibly wondering why he did not strap himself in, too. Toby knew why. If he conceded even this small vulnerability, it would whittle him down in the eyes of those he now had to lead. So he turned and conspicuously paced, hands behind back, as another ripple shook the Bridge. He did not stumble, did not even slow his steady pace.Toby looked around, but there were no vacant shock couches for him and Besen. If they wanted to see what was going on, they would have to stand. n.o.body noticed them, or else they would have been hustled away.

All eyes watched the screens and the Cap'n.

132.

Killeen turned slowly, holding the Bridge crew with his level, stone-faced gaze. Then he saw Quath's head, s.h.i.+fty-gimballed in a hooded carapace, jutting into the Bridge entrance. The Cap'n called out with a faint note of desperation, ”What do your brothers know about this place?”

<only ancient=”” texts=”” can=”” guide=”” us.=”” the=”” myriapodia=”” ventured=”” this=”” way=”” once,=”” probing=”” to=”” see=”” what=”” had=”” drawn=”” the=”” mechs=”” here.=””> ”They never came back?”

<we, too,=”” suffered=”” a=”” fall=”” when=”” the=”” mechs=”” discovered=”” us.=”” they=”” sensed=”” us=”” here=”” first,=”” disturbing=”” their=”” works.=”” we=”” withdrew=”” quickly,=”” unlike=”” you=”” humans.=”” you=”” persist=”” beyond=”” reason.=””> Toby broke in. ”How come you hunted humans, then? We could have been allies all along.”

<we mistook=”” you=”” for=”” animals.=”” you=”” had=”” fallen=”” so=”” far,=”” beaten=”” down=”” by=”” mechs.=”” only=”” your=”” father=”” and=”” your=”” legacies=”” reminded=”” us=”” that=”” you=”” are=”” of=”” the=”” stuff=”” which=”” once=”” blazed=”” so=”” bright=”” and=”” now=”” is=”” so=”” pitiful.=””> Toby gulped. Quath was no diplomat.

Killeen asked, ”These 'texts' of yours--what do they say?”

<many s.h.i.+ps=”” were=”” lost=”” here.=”” it=”” is=”” easy=”” to=”” slip=”” on=”” the=”” sliding=”” surface=”” of=”” s.p.a.ce=”” itself.=””> ”s.p.a.ce? h.e.l.l, what about the heat? And this stuff coming at us, big chunks--”

<those are=”” ma.s.ses=”” crushed=”” and=”” compacted=”” by=”” the=”” stretch=”” of=”” geometry=”” here.=”” avoid=”” them,=”” and=”” otherwise=”” ignore=”” them.=”” they=”” are=”” on=”” their=”” way=”” to=”” their=”” funerals.=””> Some consolation, Toby thought. Probably they all were on the same trip.

”Did your brothers map this place?' Killeen demanded impaently. The screens swam with colors, forming and reforming into images that might make sense to the Myriapodia, Toby thought, but not to him.

The image was three-dimensional, shot through with gaudy rus.h.i.+ng dots. It whirled and jumped and made no sense. Then Quath squashed it down to two dimensions, and Toby could see what was happening.

133.

”That empty ball at the center--it's the black hole, right?” he asked his Isaac Aspect. He heard a rapid cross talk, Zeno's sad static-clogged phrases, entries spooling out from a text-chip he carried but could not read by himself.

Indeed. I consulted with Zeno, who agrees that these Myriapodia have correctly mapped the geometry near it, as well. The bulging, shaded region wrapped around the hole is the ergosphere--a zone where the black hole's spin warps everything, forcing s.p.a.ce-time to rotate with the hole itself.

”Sounds dangerous.”

No one knows. Zeno's folk believed that the ergosphere was a place where nearly all the energy of a s.h.i.+p would be required simply to keep from falling into the black hole itself.

Toby watched the figure on the wall screens, the way the spin of the hole made a whirlpool in s.p.a.ce. Isaac told him that it was not matter spinning around there, but s.p.a.ce-time itself.”Uh, what's s.p.a.ce-time? I mean, I know s.p.a.ce, and time's what a clock talks about, but...”Quath broke into his mind, transmitting directly.<lower beings=”” do=”” not=”” see=”” the=”” fundamental=”” essence=”” of=”” the=”” world,=”” which=”” combines=”” s.p.a.ce=”” and=”” time.=”” do=”” not=”” knit=”” a=”” knot=”” of=”” concern=”” for=””></lower>< p=””>

Even the Myriapodia do not see s.p.a.ce-time. We, too, divide it into the easier ideas of distance and duration.>Until that moment Toby had not realized that Quath could pick up his whispering talks with his own Aspects. He felt embarra.s.sed, then irked--and then pushed aside his feelings. No time for that now.”So how do we get out of here?”

134.<we do=”” not.=””> ”Huh?” Toby noticed the dashed line of their planned trajectory. It lifted some, then plunged toward the top crescent-shaped blob.

<we must=”” pa.s.s=”” through=”” the=”” cyaneans.=”” there=”” is=”” no=”” other=”” way=”” to=”” enter=”” the=”” portal=”” that=”” the=”” myriapodia=”” believe=”” dwells=”” here.=””> ”Those? The crescents? They're awfully close to that ergosphere thing.” The hazy crescents hovered like caps over the poles of the black hole, seeming to screen it.

<the cosmic=”” circle=”” will=”” clear=”” our=”” way.=””> Toby looked around, dazed more by the ideas that were coming thick and fast than by the fluttering, lurching waves that swept through Argo.

More tidal stresses, twisting with immense hands.

Then it dawned on him that everyone in the Bridge was looking at him. He blinked. Knowing his easy way with Quath, Killeen had just let Toby extract information from the alien. Well, it was efficient.

”So what do we do now?” Killeen studied Quath as if he could read an expression in the great, many-eyed head.

<let the=”” cosmic=”” circle=”” do=”” its=”” work.=””> ”It's going to get us out of this?”

<the myriapodia=”” believe=”” this=”” is=”” the=”” only=”” path.=””> Killeen paused, reflecting as the flickering screens lit the Bridge with eerie, s.h.i.+fting patterns. He was at the end of his tether, Toby saw, tired and confused. His heart went out to his father, caught in this huge engine of destruction, led here by hopes and legends, driven by fear. He let go of Besen and went to his father's side. Hesitantly, as Killeen watched the vibrant flux, he reached out and clasped Toby's arm.

They stood that way for a long moment, watching now as the Myriapodia s.h.i.+ps came into view. Against the seethe of sky and ma.s.s Toby saw ,that this place was not evil or good, but something far worse. It was I indifferent. Beauty lay here, and terror. It could witness anything, this churning machine. Its unforgivable vast resplendence mocked the human plight.

The glinting Myriapodia s.h.i.+ps held the huge cosmic hoop between them in a magnetic grip, and it glowed with intense brilliance. Isaac told Toby that the hoop was gathering energy as it fell toward the black hole. It pa.s.sed through the magnetic fields anch.o.r.ed in the hole and extracted from them strong currents, electrical surges that lit up the hoop like an immense sign.

<the cusp=”” moment=”” approaches.=””> ”That the same as what the Magnetic Mind said?” Killeen whispered, eyes fixed on the screens. In the warming air the Bridge was silent.

<no. this=”” is=”” the=”” end=”” of=”” the=”” mech=”” device.=””> Toby frowned. ”Mech? What's mech-made here?”

<the cyaneans.=”” they=”” are=”” great=”” twisted=”” regions=”” of=”” s.p.a.ce-time,=”” turbulence=”” trapped=”” in=”” caps.=”” they=”” would=”” shred=”” us.=””> ”So? Just more of the weird weather here--”

135.

<the mechanicals=”” made=”” the=”” cyaneans.=””>Killeen and Toby alike regarded Quath with disbelief. The alien went on, <the mechanicals=”” can=”” bring=”” great=”” forces=”” to=”” bear.=”” you=”” saw=”” their=”” ma.s.sive,=”” shadowy=”” constructions,=”” feeding=”” on=”” the=”” energy=”” and=”” matter=”” here.=”” their=”” researches=”” are=”” many=”” and=”” wide.=””>”But... the Cyaneans? Hard to believe,” Killeen said. ”Those things, they're huge.”<larger than=”” stars.=”” that=”” is=”” why=”” the=”” myriapodia=”” bring=”” their=”” own=”” craft=”” to=”” bear.=”” my=”” kind=”” shall=”” lead=”” the=”” way.=””>The Cosmic Circle had raced ahead of Argo now. Then on the major wall screen Toby saw ahead an enormous sheet--the Cyaneans. It was like a choppy gray sea, waves of blacks and troughs of white making s.h.i.+fting patterns as far as the eye could see.In the brilliant white-hot glare of yellows and reds that blazed up all around them, the eerie lack of color in the Cyaneans filled Toby with a sinking dread. He felt as though the bottom had fallen out of his stomach.

Only Besen steadied him, holding from one side while Toby stood with the other arm around his father. There was nothing here for mere humans to do.Ahead, the hoop plunged down into the gray, rippling expanse. And cut. Like a knife, it sheared through the ashen surface and deep, deep into the interior.Released, the edges of the strange dusky surface pulled away. They curled away from the Cosmic Circle, peeling back.But the hoop paid a price. It crumpled along its leading edge. The resistance of the turbulence dented and deformed it.Toby could not guess what colossal energies grappled there. The sharpness of the Cosmic Circle was a mere atom wide, his Isaac Aspect said, but its tight curvature was more than equal to the gray, storming surges. It pierced the tossing turbulence, sending sputtering hot light in its wake.”What... what do we do?” Killeen asked quietly.<follow the=”” cosmic=”” circle.=””> Quath sent a chorus of lilting sounds through the human-linked sensorium, a plaintive long note of sympathy.Killeen made a sign to Jocelyn, who was watching him with round, frightened eyes. She turned the s.h.i.+p downward, into more of the blazing luminosity, toward the s.h.i.+fting gray sheet. Long moments pa.s.sed as the grayness swelled like an impa.s.sable wall of strangely s.h.i.+fting stone.They rushed into the shadowy gap carved by the hoop. To all sides peaks and valleys formed and dissolved, like mountains of ash made from burned bones.Fringes of the stuff washed over Argo and brought dizzying, reeling moments when Toby thought he had been s.n.a.t.c.hed up by his heels and shaken, upside down, hair fraying in the air. Crew vomited on the Bridge.

Others howled with fright and nausea. The s.h.i.+p's deep skeleton protested, popping and creaking.