LINKS
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The Christa Affair
Chapter Seventeen
"You've got to be kidding!" exclaimed Suu, as she rose from the table and began gathering the breakfast dishes.
"As beautiful a sunset as you've seen on any world in the galaxy!" answered Rang. "I had a little trouble believing it myself. Then it clouded up and started raining -- the Keeper said the shower would last half the night, so we decided to come back to the ship. Didn't seem to be much point in hanging around."
"How long is the night?" inquired Toko?"
"We had a little trouble with that one," responded Jashi. "There's no common time reference. As near as we can figure, by comparing what the Keeper told us with our computer measurements of the energy levels from below, the complete light/dark cycle is just under thirty-six hours long. The day is longer than the night -- about twenty-two hours. Sun-up should be in about three hours. Let's finish up and get going."
"Wish we could all go; it sounds like such a beautiful place," sighed Suu wistfully. "I know... Somebody's gotta conn the ship."
"If the situation permits, you'll all get to see it before we leave," responded Jashi gently. "Lito, you take the conn with Suu and Mowii as crew. The rest of you will go this trip. Toko, I need your scientific training, and we'll have to have Roi for communication with the ship -- the communicators won't work back to the surface."
*********
Though the air in the dome was quite chilly, and the layer of water on the floor was still frozen solid, the five members of the shore-party shed their pressure suits before entering the underground chamber. Karli shivered a little and pressed close to Jashi as the door slid softly closed overhead; the temperature inside the chamber was much warmer.
(.... "It's okay, Kitten. Rang and I made the trip down and back last night without any trouble....")
(.... "Sorry, I keep remembering last time. Are you sure that thing can be trusted? It almost killed us once....")
(.... "Don't call it a 'thing' out loud. It's a bit temperamental....")
Rang inserted the sphere into the opening in the wall. The control panel materialized as before; the sphere popped from the orifice and waited in mid-air for him to snag it. "Now watch the shaft," he said. He touched the panel, and a glowing pink cylindrical cloud formed over the opening, extending all the way to the door overhead.
"That's an elevator?" gasped Roi. "You can see right thru it! And the shaft is still empty."
"Jashi and I had a little trouble believing it ourselves," responded Rang, "but it \is\ an elevator... And the damnedest one you ever saw at that. Twenty thousand feet straight down in less than ten seconds, but there's no sensation of falling at all. The Keeper showed us how to use it. It's set for five people. Let's go."
The five of them stepped into the pink mist together. For a moment nothing happened; they stood on solid nothingness, staring down past their feet into the bottomless shaft below. Suddenly there was solid floor beneath them, and they found themselves in a room identical to the one on the surface; the only difference was that the floor was solid and the shaft was now a hole in the ceiling directly overhead. The cloud around them swirled and faded away.
"Holy Shit!" muttered Toko. "You trusted the Keeper enough to try that?! What if it had been out of order?"
(.... !!!!!.... "Not if I'd been along, Jashi Abram! ....")
"Not exactly," laughed Jashi. "We both tied on safety lines before we stepped in. All that came with us was the part that was inside the cloud; the rest was laying on the floor of the upper chamber when we returned, still tied to the railing of the staircase."
Rang inserted the sphere into its opening in the wall, then touched the control panel; a section of the far wall disappeared, leaving a door to the outside. The five of them stepped out into a deserted street, still wet from the night's earlier shower; overhead, two moons chased each other across a cloudless night sky.
"I see it, but I still don't believe it!" gasped Roi. "How...?"
"Jashi, are you sure we're inside the planet?" asked Toko. "Maybe that funky elevator transported us somewhere else."
(.... !!!!!! .... "It looks so damned real! Jash, this is spooky! ....")
"You ain't seen nothin yet. That grass across the street \is\ real!"
*********
The five of them sat on the warm wet grass of the square across the street from the entrance chamber, and drank in the beauty of their surroundings, waiting for daybreak. No sound or movement broke the eerie stillness of the dead city, and the little group huddled together as if seeking comfort from the lifelessness surrounding them.
The twin moons crept across the sky until the larger of the two dipped from view below the horizon; a light breeze sprang up from the south, softly rustling the leaves overhead, and bringing with it a whole new range of aromatic sensations. Slowly the night released its hold upon the city; the second of the two moons was barely twenty degrees above the horizon when the eastern sky began to turn from black to grey, then to amber. In anticipation of the coming day, the soft glow of the pedestal lamps along both sides of the street faded and died.
It was the most spectacular daybreak any of them had ever seen, made all the more awe-inspiring by the beauty of the alien architecture surrounding them. In all directions, to the limit of their vision, there wasn't a straight line to be seen. Tall conical spires, domes, arches, cylinders, concave and convex walled structures with domed roofs -- some only one or a few stories tall, others towering high overhead -- all blending together in perfect natural harmony; even the streets of the city were laid out in gentle curves.
Except for the street, which was a smooth golden color, the ground everywhere was covered in lush purple grass, dotted with bushes and trees in varying shades of the same deep purple -- all looking as if they had been freshly trimmed the day before. The effect was as if the entire city had been created in the mind of the architect, then spoken into existence all at once.
The geometric effect was so striking that it was long moments before any of them noticed the absence of color; every structure was the same shade of pastel yellow with chocolate brown trim.
(.... ???? .... "I like yellow, Jash, but this is ridiculous ....")
At last, Toko broke the silence. "Do you think they were color-blind, Jashi, or did they just like yellow?"
"It doesn't need color," was Jashi's simple reply.
They fell silent again, watching as the morning grew brighter, until at last the sun peeked over the eastern horizon. "It all still works!" spoke Rang at last. "That sun up there, those two moons, the street lamps and fountains, that crazy elevator... This grass looks like it was trimmed just yesterday! It's as if they expected to return any moment."
"This must be a park," ventured Roi. "Benches, fish ponds... looks like a fresher building there in the middle." They all started as the "fish ponds" suddenly sprang to life.
"They're fountains!" gasped Karli. "And look at your fresher building," she exclaimed, pointing at the single small structure in the center of the square. "There's one on the roof!"
*********
At long last the five rose from their grassy perch and stretched their muscles. "Where do we start, Rang?" asked Jashi. "We still don't know why we were sent here."
"Why don't we just forget it and stay here?" Rang replied in jest. "A whole city for the taking... And not a grasshopper in sight!"
(.... !!!! .... "He's starting to sound like Mowii....")
(.... "Don't be sarcastic, Karli....")
"Can we contact the Keeper from here?" asked Toko. "There ought to be some sort of a Hall of Records. That seems a good place to start."
"Good idea, Toko," Replied Jashi. "We talked to him last night from the entrance chamber. Rang, why don't you go back and ask. Roi, how are things at the ship?"
"Lito reports everything okay, except Mowii's beating them both at chess, as usual."
(.... "Wish she could see this, Jashi. Maybe it would improve her sour disposition....")
"Let's fan out and have a look inside some of these buildings," suggested Jashi. "But stay within sight of the square and be careful -- there's no telling what kind of surprises there might be in this place... And keep your communicators on."
They all set out in different directions; Jashi and Karli walked toward the building in the center of the square. They tried to look in at a couple of the windows; the openings seemed to be covered by black shades from the inside. The door in the front was closed and had no apparent handle or knob.
"Anybody find an open door?" asked Jashi over the comm. "The fresher's locked up tight."
"Same here," answered Roi; he was echoed by Toko -- also in the negative.
"Meet me on the square, guys," came Rang's voice over their headsets. "I've got the info we need".
The five of them stood on the grass in front of the small building Roi had assumed to be a fresher. It was one of the few buildings in sight that was a single story high. The walls of the building were concave, curving outward from the foundation to meet the likewise concave roof; in its center, the fountain spouted upward some forty feet, to fall back to the roof in a soft spray -- none of which seemed to escape the bowl in spite of the breeze.
"That's it, guys," said Rang. "According to the Keeper, this building contains the total knowledge of the people who built this place."
"Say what?" exclaimed Toko. "It's not even big enough for a single-person habitat. You're telling me all their records are stored in there?! It can't be more than fifteen feet square!"
(.... Laughter.... "I thought they were smarter than that, Jash! ....")
(.... "You know what they say about small packages, Karli....")
"How do we open it?" asked Roi, looking at the featureless panel blocking the archway that was obviously the entrance.
"The key to the city, of course," laughed Rang, taking the sphere from his pocket. "If it admits us to the city, it certainly will open City Hall to us!"
Sure enough, there was a receptacle set into the archway, just to the right of the door and about chest high. He inserted the sphere, and they all watched as it did its thing and the door slid open a few inches. When he had snagged the floating orb and returned it to his pocket, the door opened fully, exposing an inky-black interior.
(.... Shiver... "Dark as that spooky night sky outside! ....") Karli remarked, referring to the starless sky visible overhead when their position on the surface faced away from the galaxy.
Strangely, no light from the outside seemed to penetrate the intense darkness within. (.... "Just like the windows, Jashi. But the door's open! Isn't it? ....") She reached out to touch the dark nothingness -- Jashi slapped her arm away.
(.... "Wait! ....") He removed the torch from his utility belt and shined it inside. "Roi, give me a glowtube and a plate."
The beam of the powerful hand lamp seemed to penetrate only a few feet beyond the open doorway before diffusing into nothingness; only the faint outlines of shadowy shapes could be seen. The others shined their torches into the interior with the same strange results. Jashi took the glowtube and grav-plate offered by Roi. "Let's see if light from the inside can get out."
He secured the tube to the plate and set the lift device for one foot. When it was hovering steadily and the green light stabilized, he gave it a gentle push thru the dark doorway -- three feet inside and it had faded to a dull glow, another two or so and it was gone. "What the..." muttered Jashi under his breath; no one else uttered a sound. A few seconds later there was a small "thump" as the lift-disk bumped into something inside.
Karli's thoughts were so jumbled inside his head that Jashi had to damp them. (.... .... "I know it's impossible, Karli, but so are a lot of things we've seen since we grounded on U-Seven. Why should we expect this to be different? Attenuate it or withdraw! You're giving me a headache ....")
(.... "Sorry, Jash ....") The contact became less intense -- he released the damping so he could think clearly.
"Did the Keeper say anything about this, Rang?" asked Toko in a whisper.
"Not a word. Want me to ask him how to turn on the lights?"
"Negative!" snapped Jashi. "If we keep asking dumb questions it may start thinking we stole the sphere again. I've had all of that I can stand, thank you! It was several seconds before the plate hit anything, and the few feet we could see inside looked clear... I'm going in." Before anyone could stop him, he turned on his torch and disappeared thru the open door.
For several seconds, not a sound was heard from inside, and it was Karli's turn to be assaulted with an overload of jumbled thoughts. "You won't believe it, guys," came Jashi's voice from inside the building. "Come on in. It's light as day in here!"
They got in each other's way trying to get thru the door all at once. At last they were all inside and stood mute, unable to speak at the shock of what they saw. The interior of the tiny building was brightly lighted... And it was huge. They stood in the center of a lobby that was as large as the whole building appeared when viewed from outside; beyond the lobby were circular rows of small tables -- each with a single chair in front of it.
Their amazement gave way to incredulity, and they all began talking and acting at once. Toko walked to one of the nearest desks and began to examine it. Roi was ducking in and out of the door repeatedly, as if to verify that the interior was indeed lighted, even though the doorway still appeared dark from the outside; from inside, the lawn and street beyond were plainly visible. Rang examined the still-hovering grav-plate and its passenger to determine that the glowtube was working properly, still emitting its brilliant blue-white light, then switched it off.
Jashi and Karli joined hands and began walking down the center isle between the desks. (....?????! .... "It \can't\ be this big, Jash. We walked all the way around it! ....")
(.... "I know, Karli, but we're here! ....??!!....")
(.... "Mirrors?....")
(.... "Never saw a mirror I could walk thru....")
(.... "Now I know how Alice must have felt! ....") Karli was a fanatic for Old-Earth classic literature.
(.... !!!! .... "If a rabbit pops up, I'm gonna shoot it ....") He spoke aloud, over his communicator. "Looks like about two hundred yards to the back wall, guys. I'm about halfway there, and I can assure you it ain't done with mirrors." Jashi released the transmit switch, "Let's go back, Karli. It's all the same as far as I can see."
"Come here, Jashi." It was Rang, who had joined Toko in his examination of the desk in the front row. "Here's another for the Ripley Foundation!"
At his insistence, they all gathered around the desk where Rang was seated. It was plain and featureless, made of a shiny material that was the same ever-present shade of yellow as the rest of the place; in the upper right corner was a receptacle for the sphere.
"Don't get shook, Jashi -- we've already done this once. Just watch." With that, Rang inserted the sphere into the indentation; the whole desk disappeared -- and Rang along with it. Where the desk, the chair and Rang had been, was... Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing -- more like \nothingness\.
Karli gasped and grabbed Jashi's arm. Jashi withdrew contact as her emotions overwhelmed him; his own were almost more than he could handle. Rang spoke over the comm, "Don't panic. I'm okay... But you'll have to use the comm to talk to me. I can't see you or hear you."
Jashi reached out to touch the nothingness -- it really was \something\; his view of the room beyond was blocked by it -- but his hand went right thru it. He felt a slight tingling sensation that moved up his arm as he thrust it deeper, then he felt the firm grasp of his brother's hand in his. "Hello, Little Brother," laughed Rang over the comm.
"How big is it inside there?" asked Toko.
"About ten by ten... Feet," answered Rang. "I can stand up and walk around. I had to get up out of the chair to reach your hand, Jashi." From where Jashi stood, it appeared to be about four by four.
Jashi withdrew his hand and looked at it; it appeared normal. "Reach out to me, Rang," he said.
"I can't. From this side the wall is solid."
Karli was assaulting him with wordless questions. "Can it, Karli!" he snapped aloud. "I'm already on overload." He stood looking at -- \what?\ -- scratching his head.
"There's a kind of a helmet on the desk, Toko. It just appeared when the wall went up. Should I put it on?"
"Absolutely not!" shouted Toko and Jashi in unison; Jashi forgot to press his transmit switch. More of his brother's damned impulsiveness! "Don't you dare, Rang!" This time he remembered to transmit.
"Okay! Don't have a melt-down, Little Brother. Hand me something... Anything you can identify."
Jashi wore a gold chain about his neck -- Karli had given it to him on the night of their bonding. He removed it, and handed it thru the "wall" to Rang inside. "Got it," Rang said. "I'm going to place it on top of the helmet in front of me and remove the sphere." Suddenly the desk, the chair and Rang were as they had been when he inserted the sphere minutes before; on the desk in front of Rang was Jashi's gold chain... But no helmet.
They spent the next few minutes experimenting with Rang's desk and the two next to it. Jashi found he could hand his torch thru the wall to Rang inside, but once it was all the way in, it couldn't be removed -- he had to release it to withdraw his hand. He could reach inside and feel the helmet, but it couldn't be removed -- neither could anything else that was inside -- and the helmet simply ceased to exist each time the sphere was removed from its orifice. He stuck his head inside and looked around.
"Wonder what would happen if I tried to go all the way in?" he mused, as he withdrew his head. "A little tingle, like on my arm, but it doesn't hurt... Think it would be okay, Toko?"
"Don't see why not," answered Toko. "It's some sort of fancy force-field -- a privacy screen -- though I don't understand the logic of allowing a person to reach in and grab the occupant from the outside. Anyway, I doubt it's dangerous... We walked thru one something like it when we came thru the door." Karli gasped as Jashi walked slowly thru the field and disappeared inside.
The field snapped off and they all pulled up chairs and sat down to discuss it. "The field itself, I don't have any problem with," said Toko. "We do some pretty slick things with them ourselves, though I never heard of one that could block sound or light... And certainly not one you could walk thru -- in either direction. The part I can't believe is the size of the field on the inside. Just like this building -- the damn thing is about ten times as big inside as it is outside! The building, not the field -- it's only larger by a factor of two. And the helmet... These people knew how to manipulate matter, and space itself! Nothing can be larger on the inside than on the outside..." His voice trailed off in wonder.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
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