Part 22 (1/2)

'The s.p.a.ce*time continuum has eleven dimensions,' Legion replied, 'although four of them are inaccessible.'

'So, what's it like then, living in seven dimensions?'

She took another bite of fruit. Legion did not reply.

'Legion?'

'Indescribable.'

'Nice one!'

'But imagine, if you are able, watching small creatures floating on the surface of a pond. Imagine that these creatures cannot look up or down, but only across the water itself. They are not aware of the air, or the depths. Their world is flat.'

As it talked, Legion's voice changed. The various elements combined until it seemed to Ace that a choir was whispering to her.

'You reach down from your exalted position, beyond their understanding, and put your the things on the ends of your forelimbs...'

'Fingers.'

'...fingers into the water. What do these creatures see?'

After a few seconds, Ace realized that this was not a rhetorical question. 'Er... My fingers?'

'No, because your fingers exist in three dimensions, and they can only perceive two. They see...' It paused. 'How many fingers do you possess?'

Ace held up a hand.

'And is that normal for your species?' Legion asked.

'You don't pay much attention to your staff, do you?'

'I have more important considerations.'

'Yes. Five fingers on each hand, if you include the thumbs.'

'Thumbs?'

'Never mind.'

'Then these creatures see five discs suddenly appear in the water. As far as they are concerned, these discs are five separate ent.i.ties. Why should they a.s.sociate them with each other? But if you plunge your hand deeper into the water, up to the the hinge section...'

'The wrist.'

'Up to the wrist, then the creatures who inhabit the surface of the water will see the five discs suddenly merge into one large ellipse. Do you understand?'

Ace had actually understood some time ago, but if there was one lesson that she would take away gladly from her time with the Doctor, it was that it was better to have people underestimate your abilities than overestimate them.

'I think so,' she said cautiously.

'And if you pick one of these creatures up and place it a little distance away on the surface of the water, all its fellows will see is that it vanished, and reappeared elsewhere. Neither they, nor it, can see the air through which it moved. Do you understand?'

'Uh*huh.'

'What you see of me,' and the hairy, three*legged blob standing at the front of the table stretched like hot toffee and broke apart into fifteen warty blue spheres which bounced, very slowly, between the floor and the ceiling, 'is merely a three*dimensional cross*section of a seven*dimensional shape. As my body moves in and out of your perception, you see different aspects of it. Your three*dimensional brain is not capable of appreciating the beauty beauty of my true body.' of my true body.'

Ace was fascinated. 'So all I can see are your fingers, your toes and your naughty bits?'

The spheres coalesced into a black and vaguely hairy shape that threatened to develop three thin and multi*jointed legs. Ace was beginning to get the message.

'I apologize, Captain,' she said formally. Best to get on its good side. 'And so when our conversation was out of sync before '

'What you call time is a dimension, like any other,' Legion said casually. 'I tend to drift around in it, if I am not concentrating. Sometimes I answer questions that you will ask in a while, sometimes I respond to queries from moments ago.

'Well wicked!' Ace said. 'But what are you doing working for IMC? You could wipe the floor with them.'

'My race has no interest in power,' Legion replied haughtily. 'A mere three dimensions is nothing. I may as well offer you complete control over the direction east.'

'But why bother working for a scurvy Earth company, then?'

'You ask a lot of questions.'

'You're not wrong.'

'I am under contract. Our respective worlds have only recently met. We have certain technologies that humanity lacks, but we in turn lack protection. IMC have offered us weapons in return for specialist help. I am that specialist.'

'But what do you need the protection from?'

A shudder seemed to run through the various sections of Legion's disconnected bulk. 'There are dark forces in the universe before whom we are powerless. I can say no more.'

Ace thought for a moment. 'Okay then, what is IMC doing in the Lucifer system?'

'Ah,' said Legion, 'you humans and your obsession with business affairs. We have come across other species like you the Cimliss, the Usurians, the Okk. Always worrying about the indefinable moment. To put it simply: your Earth Government has declared bankruptcy. Its affairs, its goods and its chattels have been put in the hands of the receivers.'

Ace pushed aside a feeling of dread. 'And who are these receivers?' she asked.

'Something called the Earth Alliance of Corporations; a collection of the most powerful companies and conglomerates which trade off*Earth. You may know it better as the Holding Company.'

'And IMC?' She already knew the answer.

'We get the mineral rights,' Legion said, almost happily, 'of all subcontracted colonies. Like Eden.'

The medlab on the IMCV Insider Trading Insider Trading was large, high*tech and as soulless as a plaster saint. Legion led Ace into it with a certain swagger, if a green balloon trailing pink strands could be said to swagger. A medical orderly bustled towards them. He gestured towards the first of a long row of recuperation pods, where Christine LaFayette's face was visible through a clear plastic window. She looked to Ace like a frozen corpse. was large, high*tech and as soulless as a plaster saint. Legion led Ace into it with a certain swagger, if a green balloon trailing pink strands could be said to swagger. A medical orderly bustled towards them. He gestured towards the first of a long row of recuperation pods, where Christine LaFayette's face was visible through a clear plastic window. She looked to Ace like a frozen corpse.

'Trauma and some tissue damage,' he said, snapping to attention as Ace peered into the pod. Ace absentmindedly returned a sketchy salute.