Duhyle stood at the ocean wall of the canal, looking out over the patches of late-morning mist that drifted across the low waves of the Jainoran Ocean. There was no sign of anyone who had been on the cargo-sailer. A day after the destruction of the vessel, the sea-canoes and kite-sailers had vanished. The narrow beaches below the western cliffs were empty of all human presence, without any prints in the intermittent patches of sand between the pebbled shingle. Seabirds swooped and landed, and skittered along the edge of the waves. An occasional crab scrabbled sidewise to avoid or to engage the water.
"You won?t see anything, Kavn." Helkyria stepped up to the ocean wall beside him. "Not yet. Not until just before they decide to attack-if they decide to attack." She half-turned.
Duhyle heard boots on the stone. He glanced back to see Captain Valakyr and Subcaptain Symra approaching. Both wore professionally grim expressions on faces that might otherwise have been attractive.
"Ser?" offered Valakyr as she stopped a yard from Helkyria. "What have you heard?"
"Outside of the reports of political chaos, the violent demonstrations in Asgard and all across Midgard, the more muted counter-demonstrations in Vaena, the political maneuverings among assistant magistras, the blanket condemnations of Security? Outside of those?" Helkyria?s eyebrows lifted, and highlights of green and dark gray momentarily appeared there, while the tips of her hair darkened into nearly pure black before fading to gray and then resuming their silver-blond hues. Her eyes remained silver.
"Ah…yes, ser," replied Valakyr.
Symra nodded, the tips of her hair darkening the slight bit that was possible.
"All the Aesyr representatives to the Assembly have left Vaena, and so have the magistras in charge of Environment, Transport, and Finance and Commerce."
"Those were all the departments headed by Aesyr, weren?t they?" asked Captain Valakyr.
"That?s my understanding."
"Why the condemnation of Security?" asked Duhyle. "At least half the security companies are primarily Aesyr."
"The Magistra of Security didn?t deploy those companies." Helkyria?s voice was dry.
"For rather obvious reasons."
"Some of them might be down there, hidden out of sight." Valakyr gestured toward the ocean and the empty beaches. "Seventh Company all requested leave at the same time. Major Gemli granted it."
"What else did she grant? Access to unlimited lethal weapons? Use of company vehicles or government transport?"
"I wouldn?t know, ser."
"I wouldn?t have thought anyone would go that far, but…these days, who could say?"
Helkyria nodded. "If you will excuse me, Captain, Subcaptain, there are matters to which I need attend. Please don?t draw any power from the local net without checking with me or Duhyle first. Let me know if you see any sign of activity from the Aesyr…or anyone else."
"Yes, ser."
"I?ll let you know if I hear anything else from Vaena." Helkyria inclined her head to Duhyle, then turned. He immediately joined her, but did not say anything until they were inside the station and walking up the ramp to her laboratory.
"You?re going to try something with the fermionic entanglement and ghost diffraction imager?" After her earlier reaction to the FEGDI acronym, he wasn?t about to use the term in speaking. He still thought of the odd assemblage of equipment that way.
"Yes. It?s the next logical step beyond implementation of a matching protocol system."
"You?ve made sense out of those ghost patterns?"
"They?re more like shadow patterns, created by some sort of entanglement. I can use them to open and close the doors and windows without being near them. That?s interesting, but not terribly useful. I need-we need-some way to lock the entries. Beyond that…" The corners of Helkyria?s lips lifted, if for a moment.
"Beyond that?" prompted Duhyle.
"There?s more beyond the stone than meets either the eye or past instrumentation and equipment. The question is whether I can find a way to view and control what else is there. It?s unlikely, but not impossible, that anyone has done so since the station was first used by the early Vanir. Before that, who knows?"
"Isn?t it possible?"
"Possible? Yes. Probable, no. The potential power of the canal is so great that had its secrets been rediscovered and used, it?s unlikely Earth itself would be anything but fragments."
"Like the Mist Ring?"
"I wouldn?t be surprised if the two were linked, but right now I have no way to even prove theoretically that is possible. We do know that the Mist Ring constitutes what remains of Earth?s moon, and that ancient tidal patterns confirm that it was an unusually large satellite in comparison to Earth itself, so much so that some scients have doubted those findings."
"If the science shows it…?"
"Even in those with an education in science, belief can dominate education, facts, and proof. That?s why not all who are educated in science are actually scients." She laughed. "It?s the same everywhere. Not all who study music turn out to be musicians. Not all students of economics end up as competent economists…If unfounded belief is stronger than discipline and knowledge, then the practitioner is seldom a true professional in the field, whatever that field may be." She stopped short of the equipment. "It will be a bit before I?ll need your help. Is there anything you need to do?"
"Not now. I do have some biotherm ready."
"Save it."
"In a while I?ll need to think about fixing lunch." Duhyle moved to the second stool and settled onto it.
Helkyria turned her attention to her assembled devices.
Outside the station, the security forces patrolled, watched, and waited.