Digital Venous (15 page)

Napean Secrets

WEZ ARRIVED EARLY with the thawed lens, preparing all necessary equipment to record and process any of the information that may come to light. “How is he handling it do you think?” he asked Madi. “We’re just worried that as soon as he puts on the lens he’ll be seen.”

Wez was adamant: “No, identification comes through the point of access. We don’t even know his point of access. As far as I know it’s a first …”

“But it’s a big responsibility,” said Bes, “he’s so little.”

“I think he’s handling it,” said Madi.

“He’s so independent,” agreed Alia.

“Yeah well, I suppose he’s been locked up by himself for most of his life. No wonder he’s a little detached.” Alia and Bes shared a glance—they had other ideas as to who was a little detached.

Ryan got up late and was quiet as he prepared for another trip into the twilight world of the Napean information system.

Wez had his OCTO processor, a small computer improved over many years, through constant tinkering. It was the same machine he used to introduce the anxiety bug. It contained everything they knew about Napean network. He had removed the lenses from the eyes of the Napean guards placed them in frozen storage. One of them had now been defrosted for Ryan to use.

The lens was tested on a beam of light which projected the blue/green image onto the wall. The six navigation points were clearly visible. But without an active contact with the network it was merely a screen. If the lens was activated it provided a number of gateways to worlds within worlds. The lens didn’t seem to have sustained any damage in the thawing process but whether it would be any use to Ryan was still unknown.

Wez wasn’t the type to be driven by a political cause. Self-interest was his main motivating trait. Intelligent and with an incredible capacity for logic and mathematics –when approached by a group of Amazonian beauties keen on wreaking havoc on the Napean population—“apolitical” Wez suddenly developed some political backbone. Of course he had a problem with the Napeans and the way they treated Real people.

He had never grown to be comfortable in his own skin and was defined only by what he did. He was fine in an environment where he wasn’t challenged by anyone, especially another male. Say he’d just been beaten in a chess game, he would feel a loser forever more until such time as he could win again, and be back on top in his universe.

Wez was an emotional ding-bat; who fell in love just about every day. He was a serial crusher. In the early days, it had been the upright and compelling Claire. She was so upright that she believed all other people to be as good as herself but often found that ‘People are so disappointing.’ Claire could be intimate, funny and presented an argument better than anyone. Men with any brains always fell for her and she always made it clear to them that it was just a friendship. To Wez, this distancing was irresistible. So he decided to let her know his feelings. But with a humorous remark and a smile, she shut him down so quickly, he hardly knew what happened. But somehow she allowed him to emerge with his pride intact and there was no harm done.

He had more recently developed a bigger infatuation with Alia. Big mistake. Everyone developed an infatuation with Alia. Males and females—it didn’t matter whether they were intelligent or not. She was tall, strong, beautiful and bright with a great sense of humor, yet had a way about her which was appealing without being arrogant. The ingenious thing about her was that she did not seem to arouse jealousy or envy in other women.

Wez had a number of problems in attempting to date Alia. Firstly they had been friends for some time. Everyone knew that going from long-term friends to lovers was practically impossible. The other problem was that Alia was so used to attention that she hardly noticed when someone was in love with her. He would therefore have to do something obvious or pull off something huge to make her notice—and then he’d look like an idiot or a desperado, or both. But to do nothing would guarantee his unrequited love. He couldn’t win. He had to stay focused on his work and it would just happen.

Wez described to Ryan what they were trying to achieve. “We’re also looking for planets which are okay for humans to live on. You know about Telesync, right?”

“Yeah,” said Ryan. “Napeans go on every night—Dad used to do it.”

“Yeah, well, that’s how they process all their information about the galaxy. We’re trying to find out about other Earth-like planets; that’s the information you’re looking for.”

“I don’t really know a lot about that,” said Ryan.

Alia said casually, “Darling, just have a look at what’s there—you’re the only one who can. If you see anything that might be helpful, then great; otherwise, no harm done! Okay?”

“This will fit perfectly onto your eye; might feel a bit dry at first…” said Wez. “What is that ?” asked the boy.

“It’s the lens, silly,” said Madi.

“Where did you get it?” asked Ryan. Suspicion seemed to come naturally. “Never you mind. Now do as Wez says…” she said.

He sat upright, folding his arms. “I don’t want to have someone else’s eye in my eye.” Wez responded, “Hey, it’s not their eye. It’s just a bit of plastic that’s been completely cleaned—been in the freezer for months.”

“He’s right,” said Madi.

“But it’s going to hurt,” said Ryan.

“Listen,” said Alia. “If it hurts, we stop. It’s that simple—I’ve done it lots of times.”

“It’s easy,” said Wez. “You relax, open both eyes wide, and just keep them open. I’m going to slip it on for you.” After much protesting and wriggling, the lens went in and Ryan was encouraged to find his telepathic portal.

Bes, Madi, and Alia had a data book each to record anything Ryan said that they thought significant.

It took only a minute for the boy to find his way into the network. Once “IN” he found his way back to the “Telesync data” area.

“He’s there. Open your eyes, Ryan. Use the lens. What can you see?” Wez was being more pushy than Alia, but Ryan seemed to be responding to him.

“Different areas, headings, words…”

Madi and Bes smiled at each other. Alia was busy scribbling. “What are they, the words?” asked Alia.   “Telesync… ETP...” the rebels looked at each other, ecstatic.

“Go to ‘Service.’…” Wez waited a few seconds, and then said, “Go through.” He was referring to a map they’d used previously.

Ryan walked through the dark doorway, feeling the strange shove from behind as he did so.

“There are more doors in here… okay, I’m there. It says ‘medical, questions, news, renew, astro’… ”

“Go in there.”

“Stars, lifestyle, Service...”

“Go in there.”

“It’s that brick wall again. It’s all orange in here. I can read the headings now. It says ‘Sagittarius’ at the top of the left column with a less-than sign, thirty degrees…”

All four of them wrote down what Ryan had said. No one seemed to know what it meant. “What now?” asked Ryan. “Am I in the right place?”

“One second,” said Wez.

“What does it mean?” asked Madi, quietly.

“Must be a zone,” said Wez , drawing something on the page. Then, to Ryan he said, “Try and open it somehow.” Ryan’s head moved slightly in different directions as if looking around the room. He felt all around one of the bricks. It wasn’t a solid structure; it moved slightly, this way and that. He gave it a push and watched in astonishment as the brick slowly came out from the wall, about a meter, and dropped down at a forty-five-degree angle. Trailing behind it were a multitude of titles running horizontally across the spine of the extension.

“The brick popped out and there are more headings,” said Ryan, sounding less than amused.

“Wow!” The others in the room gasped with excitement. “What do they say, the headings?” asked Wez.

“It says ‘star system’ at the top. Then a list of letters: HD10180, HD70899, HD77352, numbers, letters…” Instinctively Ryan tapped a title and a glimmering white page sprang upwards.

Ryan described what had happened. “I don’t know what it means.”

“Ryan, that white page is an analysis of a star, and under that title a list and analysis of the planets orbiting that star—if there are any. Scan for sentences.”

“I am! Just thousands of letters and numbers.” Ryan seemed to go blank. They watched him waiting for some other sign of change.

“Ryan?” Still, he didn’t move. They waited. “Ryan!”

“I’m looking!”

“He’s getting tired,” said Bes.

“Keep him going, Wez. You’re doing well.”

“How many rows of bricks are there, Ryan?” asked Wez. Ryan began counting. As he lay on the couch they could see his mouth moving and his fingers going up and down as he checked each brick.

“There are twelve across and thirty down on this wall.”

“Okay,” said Wez, writing it down.

“How is it significant?” asked Alia.

Wez was thinking. He looked at Madi, and then at Alia, then back to Madi. Then she started writing again.

“It’s a grid,” said Alia.

“Yes,” agreed Wez. “They’ve split the galaxy up into twelve longitudinal sections across, and each row represents a degree—which is probably something like ten lightyears across. It’s like a three-sixty-degree scan of one level of the Milky Way.”

“That’s a lot of ground to cover in an afternoon!” said Madi.

“Yes, exactly,” said Alia. “And we were just asking him to give us the results!”

“Poor kid!” said Bes.

“They must have analyzed this material somewhere, though…” said Wez. “There’s no harm in looking… Ryan, you’re looking for words like conclusions, results, findings…”

“There’s nothing like that here,” said Ryan.

“Search the other walls,” said Alia.

“I am,” said Ryan. After walking slowly around the room, checking each column, Ryan noticed a separate column on the fifth wall was different. Then he started reading: “Final directives.”

“That’s it,” said Wez. “Ryan, it’s important that you read this out. Take your time. Just do it slowly.”

Ryan opened the casket and began reading what he saw.

“It says ‘summary notes: our fifth nearest planet… ary system… features a number of possibilities… firstly the planet HD29458B… bio sig… nature… has CO2, water, methane, and O2, and to date … is one of the possible nine settlement targets selected for 2273…”

“Next year!” said Bes.

“That can’t be right,” said Madi. “No,” said Alia. “Shhh.”

Ryan continued: “… Current estimated travel time 4.5 years. ’ ”

“That’s it he found it,” hissed Alia. The women grabbed each other excitedly, then shushed each other. Ryan continued his reading of the casket rolls.

“There are other lists…lots of lists.”

“What do they say?” asked Alia.

“Names, numbers…Letters and numbers, like the other ones, all have same headings under them. There are miles of them! Same same same, it says…”

“We need the names of the other planets.” said Alia “Read the names darling!” echoed Madi.

Ryan read slowly, “spec-trum of ele-ments and compounds, numbers, numbers, numbers… at..at.. atmosphere…” Wez helped him out “atmospheric?”

The boy continued reading: “Star HD48915, Canis Majoris, astro…metry? Radius, mass, lumino..sity, atmospheric pressure, numbers , numbers, numbers… mortifism: same, gravity: more numbers. Then it says : orbiting planets, IB 77614 D and E planets are habitable and almost identical in make up: (lists of numbers again) under the heading of bio—spectrum of elements (more numbers) then it says: two of the 8 habitable planets are within 2 year maxtransit time and the others are max 5. Each planet moves on the same orbital path and possesses similar chemistry.” That’s all it says in findings for that casket…”

“Well done Ryan, that’s given us plenty to think about!” said Wez “What the…?” said Alia slowly, looking wide eyed at the other women.

“They’ve found habitable planets that will take less than ten years travel,” said Wez “Get him out now,” said Alia.

“Ryan come back.” Madi shushed everyone as Ryan made his way back through the different doorways and arrived in the physical world again.

“What’s going on?” asked Ryan, sitting up and looking at them. “It sounds like they’re going!” said Bes.

“The Napeans?” said Ryan

“And they’re leaving us behind,” confirmed Alia. “Well of course they are!” said Madi

“This is huge.” said Alia

“What did it mean?” asked Madi. “…planets are the same.”

Wez spoke slowly, “2 of the 9 hospitable planets are … twin planets.”

“What does that mean?” asked Bes

“That …those two planets in that system are the same.” said Wez

A Tonic and a Debrief

IN THE REAL world there were an amazing number of bars
per head of capita
. There were small hole in the wall bars that were just a long, high, stone table with some stools, poor lighting and some background noise or music. There were big bars hewn from the natural rock, such as the ones that existed next to each transdome; large, open, split-level with lots of recycled wood and building material salvaged from ancient city or picked up from the Napean rubbish heap, broad windows and plenty to do. They were unlike any of the other underworld buildings—high roof, big front door and huge rooms. They usually had large front windows so that passersby could see the fun going on within. The modern pub had a room for everything: pub sports, pub movies, pub music, pub food, pub meeting, pub gambling and probably any other activity known to humanity.

When Alia asked Wez to meet him for a drink, hope leapt in his chest, before he was aware that she just wanted to talk about the network information. With the lubrication of alcohol and the required intimacy of bar conversations—it would be easy for Wez to misread the signs. He’d have to be careful.

Madi was spending more time with Ryan, Claire was busy as usual and Bes was meeting a man somewhere. It was possible they might see her later.

Alia came passed Wez’s house to collect him. He had been looking at an algorithm, which represented part of the design for the Napean network. Its existence was still something of a mystery. He was developing a theory that, as well as being a virtual object, the network, actually existed somewhere physically.

She let herself in, yelling out, “Wez! I’m here!” and strolled into his lounge. Her smile made him feel like his entire being was encapsulated in warm honey, pleasantly sweet but completely paralyzing. She went to his cold room and grabbed a bottle of beer. “Traveller?” she called out to him. She opened one, taking a long swig, and then threw another across the room. Luckily he caught it. “Oops. Better open that one outside,” she advised.

Alia set a cracking pace as they walked to the pub. No one strolled in the underworld streets; there was nothing to look at. They went to one of the large transdome bars. They intended to get a seat, but it was busy, so just they stood quite close to the bar, drinking and talking. He struggled to concentrate as she placed her lips close to his ear to make herself heard. But as the conversation developed momentum, he started to relax.

Looking around the bar, one could see all shapes and sizes. Gnarled faces, hairy faces, red faces, pale faces. Some of the younger ones sat in small groups talking, with one or two doing most of the work while other members sat in various states of interest. There were older patrons sitting on their own, glad to be doing no work at all and in various states of inebriation. Several sat almost in a state of reverie, meditating on some facet of their life, or were simply just relieved as the alcohol massaged the brain into a state free from pain and worry.

Alia and Wez were animated as they talked. They had both always believed that biota would be found on other planets. It seemed that life was like fire—a freakish accident requiring only some basic ingredients. Yet they were disturbed by the information they had found and that it had been kept secret.

“There was a staggering amount of information there,” said Wez.

Alia replied: “I’ve been in a daze since hearing it. I feel like we’re just one tree in a huge, never-ending forest.” The idea seemed to be causing her physical discomfort. She wriggled her shoulders and ground her fingertips into her hair. Wez was thinking,
She’s so cute when she’s trying to work something out!
And then he reassessed:
It’s not that; she’s just so cute.

It took him a while to respond. “Well, we are descended from tree monkeys…”

“I think you might be missing my point,” said Alia.

“No,” clarified Wez. “I mean we’re like monkeys who depend on that tree... and we don’t know how to move to another tree.”

“They must be doing light speed…” said Alia, remotely.

“It can’t be nuclear power; that went out years ago. They were working on mortifism as a power source. It’s almost free energy.”

“Oh! The stuff from black holes?”

“Partly—axion matter.”

“Who would want to travel, though? The universe is horrid,” said Alia, half-jokingly. “I know,” agreed Wez.

“I mean, look at what the sun did to us! We were just sitting quietly on our own planet, minding our own business, then POW!”

“True,” said Wez. “Technically, we shouldn’t even be here.”

“But we survived!” said Alia positively.

“We just keep finding ways of perpetuating ourselves,” said Wez. “And that’s a bad thing? You think we should just end it all?”

“Maybe. Probably the intelligent option,” he said, taking a long draught of a light brown amber fluid.

“But,” said Alia, “we’ve stumbled across information as important as… the Bible, only it’s factual...  and you think that now is a good time to flick the switch?”

“So we’ve learned that our planet is one of many that are habitable but we can’t get to any of them. Our boat’s sinking, there’s an island just over there… but we can’t swim,” he observed.

“It is actually worse than that,” said Alia.

“Oh, really?” Wez liked talking philosophy with anyone; this was bliss. “Why is it worse?” he asked.

“Because our boat was sunk by some other people, on another fine boat just over there,” said Alia.

“Mmm. Well, it’s time we put a little hole in the side of their plans,” he said.

“What’s the point of starting a war with them when neither of us are leaving? I mean, how do we know they haven’t cracked it?” she asked.

“Cracked what?” asked Wez.

“All we have to do is get half way to light speed and we can visit our neighbors! Or at least something quicker than those old golf buggies we get around in…”

“I’m sure aliens would have already invented golf buggies…” said Wez.

“Yes, probably even funnier if they’d already invented golf… as a means of combat and hit you over the head with a nine iron,” said Alia.

Wez laughed at her joke. She liked him doing that—laughing at her joke. She liked him a lot. Wouldn’t do him, though. At least, she didn’t think she would.

“Anyway, we need to summarize this whole thing, if we’re going to,” said Alia.

  “Easier said than done,” said Wez, trying to maintain his rational brain. “We have to rely on their summary…”

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

“Well, let’s—as you say—establish the main points, have one more look through the Napean memory banks, and then work out a plan.”