Avalon

CHAPTER 26

A FEW MOMENTS LATER, JETH SAT DOWN IN AN ARMCHAIR in the common room and watched as Sierra slid the data cell Milton had given her into one of the ports on the gaming table. Metatech . . . biological . . . dying . . . The insanity of such a notion nearly made him dizzy, and yet, somehow, it made sense. Especially the idea that the failed drives looked the way they did because they were literally dying. He’d witnessed that for himself.

“They’re called Pyreans,” Sierra said, facing Jeth. “They’re not quite animal and not quite plant, but something in the middle, something unlike any of the life-forms we know from First-Earth. They’re also a superorganism, which means they’re comprised of billions of tiny organisms that live together and are governed by a collective consciousness. The metatech hardware and computers that you are familiar with were invented centuries ago by the ITA—or, technically, by the various organizations that would become the ITA—to manipulate this consciousness so that it would allow ships to pass through metaspace. Since then, the ITA has refined this technology into the gates and drives that we have today, and have all the while harvested the Pyreans like crops, using them to power the gates and drives. But in recent years the Pyreans have begun to die off, like they’ve been hit by a plague. The scientists who have been searching for a cure have named their search the Aether Project.”

Jeth exhaled, trying to process this. He pictured the porous, colorful material that made up the power source for metatech. There was something fundamentally organic about it. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized it before. “Okay, so metatech is a living thing and not tech at all.”

“No, only the power source is a living thing,” said Sierra. “The tech is just tech, man-made.”

“Got it. So where do these Pyreans come from? And how has the ITA kept it secret all this time?”

Sierra took a step backward, resting against the edge of the gaming table. “I don’t know everything. Only that the Pyreans were discovered about five hundred years ago by First-Earth biotechnicians, right around the time that Mars was being colonized. The Pyreans just appeared on Earth, right out of thin air. Out of metaspace, as the scientists would later discover. Back then, First-Earth wasn’t governed by a single body, but rather several nations, who ruled the various parts of the planet. One nation in particular, America, I think it was called, was the first to discover the Pyreans, and they immediately took actions to keep it secret, for fear of the other nations claiming a piece of their power.”

This, at least, was a concept Jeth understood perfectly. “So all the Pyreans originate on First-Earth?”

Sierra shook her head. “The Pyreans weren’t unique to First-Earth. They likely didn’t originate there. But they are connected to other colonies of Pyreans through metaspace. Once the scientists discovered the existence of metaspace, this connection led them to new planets with more Pyreans for them to harvest.”

“And keep secret, no doubt,” said Jeth.

Sierra pursed her lips in agreement. “There was soon an abundance of Pyreans for them to access. And for centuries what they harvested would grow back quick and healthy, like pruning branches from a tree. Only now the branches have stopped growing back, and the tree appears to be dying. The ITA has since been trying to locate the Pyreans’ true origin, the root of the tree, if you will, in the hope of fixing whatever is making them sick.”

Jeth tried to wrap his mind around such a concept, couldn’t, and so moved on. “What does this have to do with my mother and Cora?” Jeth turned to Milton, who was sitting on the sofa across from him. “Is she really my sister? Fully my sister?”

“Yes,” said Milton.

“But what about the DNA test you showed me?”

Milton shifted in his seat. “Well, it’s like Renford said. During that last trip your parents took into the Belgrave, they were exposed to something that altered them on a genetic level. It caused the mutation I found on the results.”

Mutation. The word felt nasty in Jeth’s mind, like something diseased. “But what is the mutation?”

“The cure for the Pyrean sickness,” Sierra said. “Or, an alternative solution, to be more precise. At least, as far as the ITA is concerned.”

Milton frowned at her. “Let’s not jump ahead. This will be hard enough for him to take in as it is. We should start at the beginning.”

Sierra shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

Jeth shifted his gaze between the two of them, wondering what had happened in the last few days. Then he glanced at the port where Sierra had inserted the data cell and figured he was about to find out.

Milton cleared his throat. “Your parents found the planet Empyria.”

Jeth couldn’t help his astonished smirk. “You’re kidding, right?” His eyes flashed to the painting on the wall. “Empyria is a myth.”

“It’s not a myth, at least not anymore,” Sierra said. “The Pyreans are where the legends about the planet come from. The scientists hypothesized that the Pyreans originated from an actual planet, one that, like them, exists both within the dimensions of our universe as well as the dimension of metaspace.” Sierra paused, a frown curving her lips. “You do understand what metaspace is, right?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m not stupid.”

Her frown deepened. “Okay, explain it to me then.”

Jeth glared at the challenge in her voice. “I don’t know all the technical crap about it, but I know what it is.”

“Let me explain,” Milton said, rubbing his eyes. “For the sake of argument, let’s describe metaspace as the fifth dimension, never mind if that’s not scientifically accurate. Humans can only perceive four dimensions.” He raised his hand and began to tick off fingers. “Length, width, depth, and time, although the latter we can only perceive as a half dimension because we only experience it in one direction. That is, we can only move forward in time. Do you understand?”

Jeth nodded. He’d taken enough math and science classes to have a basic understanding of such concepts.

“Metaspace is a dimension that we cannot perceive or measure in any way,” Milton continued. “We’re not born with the correct biological equipment. We only know about it because of the Pyreans. But we can deduce that it is a dimension that exists around and through the other four. That is how we can travel so far across the universe in so short a time, because metaspace exists outside of the dimensions of time and space. Understand?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Milton gestured to Sierra. “Going back to what she was saying about Empyria, this lack of the correct biological equipment is why we have never been able to find the planet before.”

“That’s right,” Sierra said. “Most of Empyria exists within metaspace and therefore beyond our perception. But on their last expedition into the Belgrave Quadrant, your parents discovered that part of the planet does exist in our dimension. Or it might have emerged into it, perhaps.”

Jeth blinked his confusion.

Milton stood up, walked over to the gaming table, and opened a drawing program. He drew something on the screen and then switched on the overhead viewer, displaying the image for Jeth and Sierra to see.

“Think of it this way,” said Milton. “The planet is like an underground tunnel with an entrance above ground.” He pointed to the area on the crude diagram he’d drawn. “The ground itself is the barrier between our four-dimensional space and metaspace. Everything above the ground we can perceive, everything below the ground we cannot. Yet we can still travel through the tunnel, through metaspace. Your parents found a part of Empyria that exists above ground.”

“Yes, they did,” Sierra said as Milton sat down again. “The ITA scientists long suspected the planet might be located somewhere in the Belgrave. They believe Empyria is the cause of the energy field as well as the strange occurrences within the quadrant.”

“You mean this invisible planet is what put those holes in Avalon and the Donerail?” asked Jeth, glancing at the holes in his favorite armchair, now sitting pushed against the far wall.

Sierra bit her lip. “Yes, the planet’s disruption caused most of it. That disruption has been getting worse for years. The Aether Project scientists believe there’s a connection between the Pyrean sickness and the Belgrave disturbance.”

Jeth suddenly remembered how Lizzie had to keep recalibrating Avalon’s nav when they were searching for the Donerail. Almost as if there’s some kind of massive gravity field out there that keeps pulling us toward it, she had said. A gravity field like the kind created by a planet, he realized.

“So, my parents found Empyria,” Jeth said, accepting the fact at last.

“They certainly did,” Sierra said, a note of awe in her voice.

He wondered if finding it had made his mother happy. Only the dream come true seemed to have turned into a nightmare.

“But when they returned,” Sierra continued, “they refused to tell the ITA where it was located, and they destroyed all of the ship’s records about the discovery, making it impossible for the ITA to retrace their steps. That’s where the treason charge comes into play.”

“Yes, but they didn’t execute them, right?” Jeth said.

Sierra folded her arms. “No. Your father, to my understanding, died during the arrest, an accidental shooting. And your mother, well—”

“They turned into a lab specimen,” Milton said, his expression darkening.

Jeth stared at him, torn between disbelief and cold fury. His father murdered and his mother’s death faked. And all for what? Because they’d destroyed a couple of records? He didn’t understand why his parents had done it, but they must’ve had a reason. They were idealists, sure, but not stupid or reckless. Especially not his mother. What had happened to her out there?

“Tell me about this biological change,” Jeth said.

Sierra shifted her weight from one foot to the other before answering. “Their DNA now resembles something like the Pyreans themselves. But the main measurable difference is increased cognitive abilities. The change seems to have activated a dormant region in their brains. Moreso in Cora than in your mother, but definitely true of both.”

Jeth let out the breath he’d been holding. Increased brain power didn’t seem so bad. He’d been expecting something far more drastic and scary. “So, she’s a lot smarter than she used to be. What does that matter to the ITA?”

“It matters,” said Sierra, “because Marian and Cora are now able to perceive metaspace—and manipulate it. Both of them can move objects through it in the same way the Pyreans move spaceships across the galaxy.”

Jeth’s eyes widened. “My mother can move objects through metaspace?”

“Yes. We call it phasing for lack of a better term.”

“Right,” Jeth said, deadpan.

Milton leaned forward. “It’s true. I’ve seen it.” He motioned at Sierra, his expression unaccountably stricken. “Show him file . . . file ten-dash-thirty.”

She turned toward the gaming table and accessed the data cell. A 3D image appeared on the screen, depicting a large white room, austere and sterile looking, like a hospital. On one side of the room sat an empty table. On the other was a chair with a woman sitting in it, her arms, torso, and legs strapped down.

Not just any woman, though. Mom. Jeth’s heart throbbed in his chest, and his mouth went dry as tears burned his eyes. He glanced at the timestamp on the bottom right hand side of the screen and saw this video was taken less than a year ago. She’s alive.

But she was changed. Her face was still the young, vibrant one he’d seen in her video journal, but her hair was completely white, as if it had been dyed to match the room.

On the floor in front of her stood a table the same size and shape as the one on the other side of the room. On top of the nearest table sat a red rubber ball, like the kind schoolkids play with at recess.

A man stepped into view on the screen. He wore a white lab coat and was holding an electronic tablet in one hand.

“That’s Dr. Albright,” Sierra said, pointing at the man.

Albright gave Jeth’s mother a cold stare. “Please phase the ball to the other table.”

Marian shook her head. Jeth squinted at the screen, his eyes drawn to something attached to the back of his mother’s head. With a terrible sinking feeling, he realized it was some kind of brain implant with white, spindly tentacles, nearly invisible against her hair.

Albright clucked his tongue “Come now. The more you help us learn about what’s happened to you, the sooner this will all be over.”

A horrible sneer twisted Marian’s mouth, transforming her beautiful face into something ugly. “It will never be over.”

The scientist sighed, then motioned to someone offscreen. The next moment, Jeth’s mother began to scream as her body convulsed, limbs straining against the straps.

Jeth’s fingers clenched around the sides of the armchair. “What are they doing?”

“Electro-persuasion therapy,” said Sierra, shuddering. “You’re mother was never a willing participant in these experiments.”

Jeth thought he might be sick. He realized that this wasn’t any different than the way Hammer had ordered him beaten.

Marian’s screams died a moment later. Jeth wanted to tear the self-satisfied look off Albright’s face as he said, “Are you ready now?”

Marian didn’t reply, but her eyes slipped closed. The next moment the red rubber ball disappeared from the table in front of her and reappeared across the room on the other one, the movement punctuated by bursts of bright light.

“Very good.” Albright made several notes on his tablet, then motioned to someone offscreen again. A woman in a white lab coat stepped into view and placed a square metal object on the table. Jeth thought it might be a battery of some kind.

“And again,” said Albright.

A second later the battery disappeared and reappeared. Next they had her phase a large rock so heavy it took three men to lift it onto the table. Then she phased a rat in a small cage. Then a rabbit and finally a monkey.

The monkey didn’t make it. At least, not all of it. The phase cut through its head, feet, and tail, slicing them off in a roughly circular shape and leaving them behind.

Jeth covered his mouth, revolted by the sight.

He fixed his gaze on his mother, ignoring the mangled remains of the animal. Tears streamed from Marian’s eyes, her body shaking with sobs. Like Lizzie, Marian was an animal lover. This was just another form of torture.

“Biological objects are harder to phase,” Sierra explained.

“No kidding,” said Jeth. “But why the implant?”

“It contains the same technology as the metaspace computers that communicate with the Pyreans.”

Jeth nodded, losing the ability to speak as he imagined all the suffering his mother must’ve endured these last few years. She wasn’t dead, but he didn’t know if this was any better. He resisted the impulse to finger the implant architecture in the back of his skull.

On screen, Albright ordered another monkey be brought out.

“No, I won’t do it,” his mother hissed.

The scientist engaged the electro-persuasion therapy again. Marian convulsed in pain, the torture lasting longer this time. When it stopped, she slumped against the chair, eyes closed as if unconscious.

“Ready to change your mind again, Marian?” Albright asked, his tone smug.

Marian’s eyes flashed open, and the look of hatred on her face made Jeth flinch. A bright flash of light burst across the screen, obscuring the view for a second. When it cleared, Jeth saw that one of the table legs had disappeared, only to reappear in the middle of Albright’s chest. For one brief second the man looked down at the thing sticking out from inside him, blood oozing around its edges. Then he collapsed.

The other scientists in the room converged on Marian, knocking her unconscious with a couple of stunner blasts.

Slowly, Jeth realized that she had done it. That his mother had phased the table leg right through the man’s heart. He swallowed, bile burning his throat.

“Turn it off,” Milton said.

Sierra did so, and nobody spoke for several long moments afterward, letting Jeth digest what he had seen. His mother was alive, but was she even still his mother?

Yes.

No. She killed someone with just her mind.

He deserved it. The ITA made her this way.

Jeth clenched his fists, his hatred so great that for a moment he thought he would go mad. He had to do something. They had to pay. Jeth took a long breath, wrestling his emotions under control. Anger would get him nowhere.

“So, is my mother a Pyrean now?”

“She’s the start of a new species,” said Milton. “At least, she would be, except she has become infertile. Cora’s birth was difficult for her, although they don’t know for sure if that caused the infertility or not. Any number of things could be to blame.”

Jeth wondered why his mother’s fertility would be a topic of study for the scientists, but he was afraid to ask. For now, all he cared about was that she was alive. If she’s alive, she can be rescued.

“Tell me the rest. Why did the ITA lie about her being executed? And what does this have to do with Lizzie?”

“They lied,” Sierra said, “because they needed the Aether Project to be as secret as possible. From what I gather, your mother not only refused to disclose the planet’s location, but she attempted to go public about the Pyreans. I don’t know why. She’s never spoken to me about anything that happened on Empyria. There are interviews on the data cell where the scientists try to get her to talk about it, but she sort of goes crazy at the subject.”

“You’ve spoken to her?” Jeth said. It was so hard to believe, so terrible and so wonderful at the same time. My mom’s alive.

“Yes,” Sierra said. “She’s the one who convinced me to steal the Aether Project and to rescue Cora. They never let your mom see Cora after she was born, but it was as if Marian could sense her. It’s strange, but there’s some kind of connection between the two of them. The scientists would sometimes run concurrent experiments on them, and Cora and Marian never failed to act in unison.” Sierra took a deep breath. “I would’ve rescued Marian as well, but I could only manage one. Of the two of them, Cora was in more danger.”

Jeth felt something shift inside of him, his anger toward Sierra easing just a little. “Why?”

“They were preparing her for AGT, Accelerated Growth Therapy. It’s a form of gene therapy that can rapidly age a person both physically and mentally. Cora is much more powerful than your mother, you see, but she doesn’t have the same control. Instead of sending just the object through metaspace, she’ll sometimes send the entire table. She’s unintentionally phased some of the scientists and techs. If she gets too excited or emotional she can do even worse damage.”

Jeth thought about all the destruction on the Donerail and wondered if Cora might’ve been responsible for some of it. But he held back asking about that now as Sierra went on.

“The problem is that the success rate of AGT is abysmal, especially in prepubescent subjects. Seventy-six percent of them die within the first year.”

“But if Cora is so valuable, why would they risk it?” Jeth asked.

A sound almost like a growl issued from Sierra’s throat. “Because they’re desperate. The failing metatech is a massive problem, almost apocalyptic. There are hundreds of planets and spaceports with billions of people on them who won’t live long without the gates to transport food and supplies. And since they haven’t found a cure for the Pyrean sickness, they plan to replace the metatech with beings like Cora. They believe that once she is more mentally mature she should be able to move entire ships through metaspace at will. To create those beings, they plan to harvest her eggs once she reaches sexual maturity through the AGT, and they also hope to successfully clone her.”

Jeth gaped, disgust a bitter taste in his mouth. “But that’s crazy. Aren’t there supposed to be all kinds of problems with human clones? Like physical deformities and psychotic behavior? Wasn’t that the reason cloning was outlawed?”

Sierra grimaced. “It was, and the problems you mentioned are definitely a factor. The ITA plans to deal with the mental issues by adding behavioral controls into the metatech implants, but none of the clones have lived past infancy yet to prove if it works. Still, the ITA will succeed with the cloning sooner or later.”

“But how do they plan on getting away with it if it’s illegal?”

“Because the clones aren’t human beings, not technically. Not at the genetic level.”

Jeth glared. “You can’t be serious.”

“Unfortunately, I am.” Sierra tapped her foot. “Don’t get me wrong. I agree with you, but that’s the loophole the ITA plans on exploiting, that Cora isn’t human and therefore not entitled to human rights.”

“That’s bullshit.” Anybody who’d ever meet the kid could tell she was human. Mostly.

Milton grunted. “Yes, it is bullshit, but this is the ITA, the most powerful entity in the universe. If they say it’s right, no one will question it. And whatever moral objection people might have, the need for interstellar travel will soon convince them otherwise.”

Jeth tried to imagine what it would be like to have a clone, a person, on his ship doing all the work of a metadrive. It was outrageous, disgusting. He pictured Cora as a human battery, mindless, forever plugged into a metatech computer. Jeth wanted to hit something. Instead he took a deep breath, trying to focus that outrage into something useful. “So, how does Lizzie play into this?”

Sierra scowled. “The ITA has been planning a way to abduct her for the last few months, now that she’s thirteen and has reached sexual maturity. They want to harvest her eggs to try and alter them genetically to match Cora’s. They’re determined to produce a whole new species as quickly as possible.”

Jeth clamped his mouth shut, too outraged to speak, to breathe.

“Apparently,” Milton went on, “the ITA believes that there’s something unique in your mother’s genetic makeup that made the change possible. They believe she passed this ability on to Lizzie and you. Of course, you, being male, are not quite as useful, as it’s passed down the female line. Which is, no doubt, why Renford didn’t bother trying to take you as well as Lizzie.”

Jeth’s resolve hardened inside him. “We have to get them back. The ITA can’t get away with this.”

Sierra sighed, her expression stricken. “That’s the hitch. Renford isn’t going to bring them back to the ITA. He stopped working for them a long time ago.” She waved a hand at Jeth’s shocked expression. “Oh, the ITA doesn’t know it, or at least they didn’t at the time that I stole the Aether Project. Renford is an Echo and head of a black ops division, which means that he works almost completely independently from ITA headquarters. He’s been pursuing his own agenda for a while now. His endgame is to destroy the ITA by selling the secrets of metatech and making himself a wealthy man in the process. Now that he has a copy of the Aether Project as well as Cora and Lizzie, he has everything he needs to succeed.”

Jeth swallowed hard as a wave of despair crashed over him. All the stuff about clones and space travel and AGT might not make sense to him, but Renford’s motivation was something he understood well. This was Hammer’s realm, one of conmen and kingpins, where everything was a gamble, a game of cards.

And where Jeth had only ever held a losing hand.