Interphase (44 page)

"Annie, come on, you have to try this," Lucas implored.

"No," Analara replied.

He shoved the bowl of green mush toward her. "You'll like it, I promise."

"I said I would let you use my kitchen. I do
not
recall agreeing to taste whatever it is you've concocted… especially when it smells like that!"

David wrapped his arms around Analara's shoulders and laughed. "I never knew that Anrathians were such fussy eaters. Come on, just try it."

"Thomas isn't having any," Analara protested desperately.

Thomas shook his head with a wide grin. "Oh no, you aren't using me as an escape. I get a pass on this one. I happen to be allergic to garlic."

"Clyde?"

Analara looked over toward the couch, a silent plea in her eyes, but saw there would be no help. Clyde sat quite still, his eyes vacant. She couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "Say good morning to VERA for us, please?"

Clyde nodded slightly, but his gaze did not move.

David's lips brushed against the side of Analara's neck, and she giggled. "Maybe this will tip the scales. I've got a present for you, but you only get it if you try some."

"You're all a bunch of bullies," Analara pouted. David smiled mischievously, and Lucas gave her an evil grin. She eyed the bowl suspiciously, but curiosity at last won out. With a reluctant sigh, she accepted the utensil Lucas offered.

The first taste was a shock of unfamiliar spices that set her mouth tingling. The texture was slimy, but it felt smooth on her tongue. She swallowed, and the aftertaste reminded her of Soleni's mofarra stew. Suddenly her previous resistance felt silly. "That's actually quite good."

A cheer went up, and David squeezed her shoulders. "I'll be right back," he said.

"What do you call this, Lucas?" Analara asked, taking another bite.

"My mom makes it. It's called gwok-a-something or other. She says it's a very old recipe."

"I never would have expected you to have any skill at cooking, my friend," Thomas remarked.

"Hey, looking good while slaying monsters is just one of my many talents!"

Analara gave a contented sigh while she waited for David to return. For over two weeks, the group had focused all of their efforts on uncovering any information on Totarakh's whereabouts, without success. VERA had finally mandated that they take Saturday for themselves to rest up before continuing the search. While the boys had chafed at the interruption, Analara found the time off refreshing.

David emerged from the back room, cradling something small and black against his shoulder. "I don't think he liked being in a box. You'd better take him, Analara, before he claws the sleeve off of my shirt."

Laughing with delight, she reached out to take the furry creature. His coat was soft, and she could feel his tiny claws as he grasped for a hold on her clothing. "He looks like…"

"Selane?" David finished for her. "There are some remarkable similarities between them. This little guy is called a cat. He won't grow to the same size as a temken, but his temperament is much the same."

Analara rubbed the cat's ears, and he snuggled against her fingertips while making a soft rumbling noise. Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks, and she smiled at David. "Thank you." She giggled as the tiny creature began licking her thumb.

Clyde gave a discreet cough and waited for everyone's attention. He was standing, and his gaze was no longer focused elsewhere. "If you guys are done with your happy moment, VERA would like to get your thoughts on this." He touched a switch, and a section of the wall began to glow.

Everyone looked over at the panel hanging on the wall. A serious looking figure was speaking right to them. David had told Analara about something called a 'newscast'. This seemed to be what he'd been talking about. She shook her head, still amazed by the strangeness of her new home. She became distracted with the task of keeping her new pet from chewing on her clothes, but a phrase caught her attention. "Pre-human civilization?" she asked.

David nodded and bit his lip in thought. "There's an archeological theory that an alien civilization existed on Phoenix before humans arrived."

"It doesn't look like a theory anymore," Clyde said. "Four different excavation sites have been uncovered in the last week. VERA still isn't quite sure what to make of it."

A third race. Analara found the notion intriguing. Up until recently, she never could have imagined a single alien race, and now there was evidence of yet another. Would they have been like the Anrathians and the humans, or could they have been something totally unique? She pointed at the panel. "Look, he just said that they are displaying images of some of the artifacts in V-Net. We should go and see."

"Ever my explorer," David said, and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

"Thanks but no thanks," Lucas said. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on Annie's fuzz ball. Museums bore me to tears."

Everyone else was interested, and there weren't enough link chairs at her home, so the group broke up and returned to their own apartments. Analara hopped into her own link chair and leaned back, letting her mind relax. Logging into V-Net had become almost second nature to her now.

They met in front of the museum and joined the crowd that had gathered there. They waited in line for several minutes while the throng continued to grow, but finally were allowed inside.

Analara had never seen anything like this before; on Analath, the ruins of the ancient cities were only harvested for building materials, or more commonly left alone out of fear. The idea of keeping a solid record of the past for future generations was a fascinating one. She decided to come back to this place again later.

The portion of the museum showing the recent discoveries was almost as crowded as the entrance. She quickly lost sight of Clyde and Thomas in the throng, but David kept a firm grip on her hand to avoid getting separated while they walked from display to display. Many of the uncovered artifacts were simple items, like pottery and basic tools. The relics that drew the most attention were strange constructs of metal and stone. Analara squinted at a line of worn engravings on a large block.

Thansele metos… metos—wait, great… Great Hall… sharnad… Great Hall of the Builders?

Analara let go of David's hand and hurried to the next exhibit. The writing was worn, but she could still pick out a word or two. Thought Chambers? On and on she moved down the halls. Even artifacts that were unfamiliar in their purpose were recognizable in design. A cold panic grew inside her. She turned frantically from one object to another. Her ears filled with the buzzing of voices around her, and she leaned against a wall trying to block out the growing noise.

"Analara?" David reached out and grasped her hand. He touched her shoulder and frowned worriedly. "What's wrong?"

She swallowed. There was no easy way to say it. "They're Anrathian."

"What?"

"The language of the inscriptions. All of these artifacts come from Analath. I even recognize some of the tools."

"How can that be possible? The only way to reach the planet…" He stopped and paled visibly. Analara knew that the thought that had dawned in his mind was the same thought that made her heart tremble with fear.

Someone had opened another gateway to Analath.

***

"Clyde, gather everyone together outside the museum. We need to speak in person," VERA whispered inside his mind.

Clyde stepped out of the press of people moving toward the next exhibit. "All right. Is everything okay?"

"Analara has made a discovery. We'll talk more when you arrive."

Clyde rounded the group up, and slowly they worked their way outside. VERA opened a gateway once they had left the museum. The air seemed to split open, and a seam of brilliant light widened in front of them. Clyde motioned for them all to stay close and stepped through.

When he turned back, the seam had vanished. David, Thomas, and Analara gazed about with their mouths open. All around them, brilliant blue lines traced ornate patterns on alabaster walls. Clyde chuckled to himself. The first view of Mierva's inner sanctum could be surprising. He leaned toward Mierva and whispered in her ear. "Trying to help me impress my friends?"

"Since when have you needed help from me?" She returned his grin.

Clyde wasn't sure whether to laugh or blush, and settled on giving her fingers a squeeze before letting go. The others were still too captivated by their surroundings to notice the extra color in his cheeks.

Gradually, they pulled their attention back and bowed before Mierva. She smiled at them all in turn. "Before we begin, it would be best to bring your brother into this discussion, David," Mierva said, and glanced upwards. Through their link, Clyde could feel her reaching out through the network.

"Hello?" Lucas answered, his voice as clear as if he stood next to Clyde. He sounded as if he had his mouth full.

"Be on your best behavior, Lucas," David said. "You just joined a conference call with VERA."

"Ha ha, nice one, bro. When are you guys popping out? I think the fluff ball wants to be fed."

"
Lucas
."

Clyde caught the residual effects of her voice, and a shiver flowed down his spine. Lucas shut up instantly.

Mierva nodded at David. "Go ahead."

"All right. In addition to Totarakh, we appear to have another serious problem on our hands," David said. "All of these recent excavations are uncovering artifacts from Analath. Given that these objects are being discovered in reality, that leaves one explanation. A
physical
gateway has been opened to Analath."

Clyde ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. "Honestly, Dave, I think you're jumping the gun with that theory. Even if we knew how to do something on that scale, it would most likely take a ridiculous amount of power. I've been up to my eyeballs in maintenance checks, diagnostics and repair work. Nothing has so much as blipped on my screens."

"We know that Totarakh is still alive and present," David argued. "This could be his doing."

"Not a chance. His viral code would have popped up on the monitors instantly. I've got layers upon layers of detection coded into the system watching for him. So far, he's managed to evade my scans, so he's keeping himself well hidden."

"But there is no mistaking it." All eyes turned toward Analara. "The language on all of the carvings is Anrathian."

"And they have to be coming through somehow," David continued. "Totarakh is trapped inside V-Net, so whatever he's doing, it's from inside
your
domain."

Clyde clenched his jaw. "I have checked and re-checked. We can't possibly know for sure—"

"You're right. We can't. Not until we actually check
everything
."

Thomas nodded. "I agree with David. The risk of being blindsided again is too great to ignore. If we can discover what he's done, we can undo it, as we did before."

"Do you know anything about system analysis, Lancelot? You want to try searching through the
entire
system? Because you're more than welcome to try."

"This is hardly the time to start snapping—"

"You do
not
know these systems like I do. I have spent my entire life digging through this place, and if anything were out of the ordinary, I would—"

An electrifying jolt in the back of his mind interrupted his thoughts. He blinked in shock and stared at Mierva. She returned his look with a steady gaze.

"Excuse us a moment," he said, and inclined his head to indicate Mierva should follow him. He turned his back to them and moved off a few feet.

"What the hell was that just now?" Clyde asked her through their link.

"You were moving toward saying things you would have regretted later, and given how hard you and Thomas have worked to be civil to one another, I thought it best to intervene," Mierva replied in kind. "Clyde, they are not blaming you."

He frowned sharply. "I never said they—"

"You didn't have to."

The gentle touch of her voice in his mind loosened some of his tension. Clyde sighed unhappily and brushed the hair away from his eyes.

"You have been doing your best," she murmured. "No one can say you have not been thorough in your searches."

"Thorough is only good enough if you actually find what's right in front of you."

Mierva tilted her head and smiled. "Since when have you doubted your mastery of the system?"

"Since it became my responsibility to protect it."

"Clyde, stop being silly. Anything originating in Analath reacts strangely with my systems. I can only detect them once they've been inside the network for some time. The gateway masked the entirety of the command level from me. I would see something vanish and appear elsewhere. It is highly unlikely that you would have detected Totarakh's activities, even if you had been looking directly at him."

"Oh." Clyde frowned. "You know, you could have saved me some trouble by telling me this before now."

"Until now, I had no reason to believe we would have any further contact with their world." Mierva nodded. "But you are right, I should have shared my knowledge with you."

She brushed her fingertips across Clyde's cheek. Somehow his worries and his frustration now felt out of place. "If a new gateway does exist, then we will find it together," she whispered aloud.

Clyde found her hand again and squeezed it, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He turned back around. Everyone, Thomas in particular, watched him intently. "I, uh, guess I came across a little snappish, huh?"

Wow. He really sucked at apologizing. Thomas stared at him before giving him a grin and a shrug.

Clyde accepted that with a nod, before resuming a serious expression. "This may take a while. We'll start with a full interlaced search of the network, and go from there."

"Take all the time you need," David said.

Mierva took Clyde's hands. The white walls of the antechamber dimmed, the blue seams holding reality in place growing brighter and brighter, the same blue as her eyes. They filled his vision, and Clyde felt his mind unfurling.