Mapped Space 1: The Antaran Codex (17 page)

“So to stop the Kireen wiping
themselves out,” I said, “no one in the galaxy is allowed to trade with them?”

“Exactly. The Forum decided that
giving the Kireen what they needed to rebuild their civilization would only
hasten their extinction – not something they could permit.”

“Because genocide is the worst
possible Treaty violation,” I said. “Lucky they didn’t block mankind on that
basis.”

“They nearly did,” Sarat said.
“Fortunately, there were centuries of peace after the Tactical World War, so
the Forum gave us the benefit of the doubt.”

“It’s a twisted legal argument,” Vargis
said with obvious distaste, “isolating an entire species so it doesn’t destroy
itself.”

Sarat shrugged. “Perhaps, but the
Kireen are not extinct. They still make war on each other, only instead of
using fleets of starships they now use stone tipped weapons. I guess some evolutionary
lines become dead ends, even among interstellar civilizations. So you see, the creators
of the Antaran Codex will not come asking for their property back. It really is
just a piece of salvaged alien-tech for sale. Speaking of which,” Sarat said
rising, “shall we conclude our business?”

“You said there would be a demonstration?”
Vargis asked.

For once we were thinking alike,
although for different reasons. He wanted to confirm he was buying the genuine
article and I wanted to know what that article was.

Sarat nodded, “Of course, Senor.
This way.”

We assembled in the hall, now
filled by the muted scream of the wind outside the metal shutters, then Ani-Hata-Ga’s
three dimensional image appeared.

“Greetings good customers,” the Irzaen
said. “Welcome to the joyous moment of transaction, to which all our efforts
have been focused.”

“Esteemed Principal,” Sarat said,
addressing the Irzaen formally, “a demonstration has been requested.”

“Fitting indeed is it to confirm
the faith we have all shown,” Ani-Hata-Ga said, then vanished.

“Where’d he go” Vargis demanded,
suspecting he’d been cheated.

Sarat motioned for calm. “The
holographic projectors Ani-Hata-Ga has been using are required for the demonstration.”

The circular base of the transport
device supporting the Codex glowed, then it floated from the table, down to the
holo projector’s floor plate. When conductive contact had been established between
the Codex and the holo emitter, a three dimensional image of the Local Group of
galaxies appeared. More than fifty smaller galaxies orbited the two great formations
at the center, the immense spiral of Andromeda and the smaller barred spiral of
our own Milky Way Galaxy. Together, the Local Group formed a sparkling
gathering of a trillion stars spanning a sphere ten million light years across.

“Here be the scope of the Antaran
Codex,” Ani-Hata-Ga’s voice sounded from the ether. “To prove its worth, let us
investigate what is known to you as the Galaxy Triangulum, three million light
years distant.” The image zoomed into the local group, sending galaxies flying
off the sides as the focus shifted towards the third largest of the local
galaxies. “To cross the plane of Triangulum from the point closest to this
galaxy to that most opposite, shown is the path to be followed.” A bright red
line
zig
zagged
through the
spiral galaxy’s forty billion stars, depicting the course a ship would follow
for the fastest possible transit from one side to the other.

Suddenly, I got it!

The Antaran Codex was like Mapped
Space. It identified every atom of dark matter lurking in the endless void of
space, but instead of covering a mere half of one percent of our galaxy, it spanned
ten million light years! It’s why the Codex had to be virtually indestructible,
why the Irzaen had said without it we were trapped – because we’d be unable to
navigate between the stars without it. It was the keys to the kingdom! Not just
our kingdom, but to dozens of kingdoms, even those currently far beyond the
reach of our technology.

“It includes maps of all the
galaxies in the Local Group?” I asked.

“Such is its extent, unparalleled
in accuracy,” the Irzaen responded.

“And all the space between the
galaxies,” Sarat added.

“How did the Kireen get all this
information?” I asked, astounded by the sheer size of its coverage.

“The same way this spiral arm, or
our entire galaxy, was mapped,” Ani-Hata-Ga replied. “Many thousands of
civilizations over millions of years shared their individual knowledge to gain
access to the whole. No one civilization could achieve this, only collectively
could it be done.”

“The Tau Cetins never told us sharing
existed on such scale,” Marie said.

It had been taken for granted cooperation
was limited to those civilizations inhabiting the Milky Way Galaxy. No one had
ever considered the senior Forum members were in partnership with civilizations
in other galaxies, or even had contact with them! The distances were so vast,
it seemed impossible that the true cooperative civilization we were seeking to
join was intergalactic in scope.

“What purpose would it serve for
you to know?” Ani-Hata-Ga asked. “Much time will pass before you could use such
knowledge.”

He was right. I did a quick
calculation, discovering it would take the
Silver
Lining
more than two thousand two hundred years to reach Triangulum.

“If the Codex device is seven
million years old,” Bo asked, “is the data not out of date?”

“How could it be?” Ani-Hata-Ga
asked.

“In all that time, everything has
moved. Old stars have died, new stars have been born.”

“Valued customer,” Ani-Hata-Ga
replied, “What is once known is known for all time.”

“But that would mean the Codex
can predict the evolution of the physical universe itself!” I said.

“Your description of the
merchandise is correct, although this particular product’s usefulness is constrained
to the extent you have seen. A larger device is required for detailed
astrographic mappings of the entire universe. We have no such product for sale,
although they do exist. With regret, the Irzae are not permitted such devices.”

“Do the TCs have them?” Marie
asked.

“We do not know what the Tau
Cetins have access to,” Ani-Hata-Ga replied, “although it is known they sent
ships deep into what you call the Virgo
Supercluster
during the Intruder War. This demonstrates knowledge far greater than the expanse
of this Codex. We Irzae have no such capability.”

As the Irzaen’s words sank in,
the shocked look on the faces of the others told me none of them had fully
understood what the Antaran Codex really was. It knew where every element of
the visible and non-visible universe was hidden and used that knowledge to
produce detailed mappings across ten million light years. It could compensate
for every gravitational variation, every collision, every explosion, and
predict any variable that would impact the Local Group into the distant future.
The variables to be calculated were almost infinite and demonstrated complete
mastery of the physical sciences.

“None of us are going to
Triangulum in the foreseeable future,” Vargis said. “The proof I seek is for
our galaxy.”

“As you wish,” Ani-Hata-Ga
replied.

The image of Triangulum was
instantly replaced by the Milky Way, and a dozen courses were plotted from a
point a third of the way out from the galactic center to various points in the
outer rim. “Here the Codex reveals multiple pathways from your Earth to the
edge of this galaxy.”

Vargis nodded, convinced. With
the Codex in their possession, the Consortium could send ships across the Milky
Way in search of business opportunities. If the others had won, it would have
allowed the Beneficial Society to monopolize travel beyond our current Mapped
Space and build a trade empire rivaling even the Irzaens, or enabled Bo and
Gwandoya to move their criminal operations far beyond the reach of Earth Navy.

“Does it know where habitable
planets and resources are?” I asked.

“They are all computed outcomes
from known data,” the Irzaen trade representative replied.

That explained Breckinridge’s
interest. With it, his mining conglomerate could have exploited distant,
untapped mineral resources.

Now that I understood what the Irzaen’s
were selling, I knew whatever the price, the Antaran Codex was worth it.

“That concludes the
demonstration,” Sarat said. “Are there any other questions?”

No one spoke as the Irzaen transport
device lifted off the floor and carried the Codex back to its display table.
The image of the Milky Way vanished the moment it lost contact with the floor
plate, replaced by Ani-Hata-Ga’s cumbersome quadrupoidal form.

“Pleased we are that the moment
of decision has arrived,” Ani-Hata-Ga said.

Sarat turned towards the plain
rock wall behind them. A screen, identical to the one in the main dining area,
glowed blue as the Earth Bank auctioneer advised it who the successful bidder
was. Now that Vargis had seen what the Codex could do, he was already
calculating how the Consortium would exploit its vast potential. That desire
triggered a moment of uncertainty as he faced the prospect of losing. We
watched the screen waiting for the winner’s name to appear. Instead, it
flickered from blue to white noise and back several times.

Was Izin blocking the result?

Sarat glanced at one of his
butler-guards. “What’s wrong?”

The guard shrugged, turning to
the Earth Bank auctioneer and examining its settings. “Nothing, it’s working
perfectly.”

Behind Sarat, the screen flashed
back to life and my name appeared on it. The characters were a different size
and shape to what we’d seen before, but the result was visible for all to see. And
its meaning clear: Izin had broken the unbreakable.

“Yeah!” Jase declared with a fist
pump. “Good work, Skipper!”

Sarat turned towards me.
“Congratulations, Captain Kade. I’m sure Jie Kang Li will be very pleased with
his acquisition.”

“That’s impossible!” Vargis exploded,
glaring at me. “There is no way the Yiwu could have topped my bid!”

“You underestimate Jie Kang Li,”
I said. “Many people make that mistake.” I glanced at Bo who seemed genuinely
surprised I’d won.

“The Promise has been fulfilled,”
Ani-Hata-Ga said officially, “completing the activity for which we have gathered
here this day. Humble thanks.” His image vanished, signaling the end of the
auction.

Bo stepped forward to shake hands.
“Well done, Captain Kade.” He leaned forward, adding in a low voice. “It
appears someone underestimated you.” He glanced meaningfully at Sarat.

“Thanks Bo,” I said, following
his gaze, wondering what he meant. “No hard feelings?”

Bo gave me a philosophical look.
“One cannot be angry over failing to obtain the unobtainable.”

Marie gave me a grudging smile.
“I thought he had you.” She leaned close and whispered, “How’d you do it?” She
said, telling me she knew I’d cheated.

“I paid what it was worth,” I
whispered back.

She kissed my cheek, then with
her lips close to my ear, said, “Now I know you’re lying.”

Sarat motioned for me to
approach. “The auctioneer will automatically update your vault-key.”

I wondered how long I had before
Sarat discovered the Earth Bank auctioneer had deducted only one credit from my
balance. I realized I’d made a foolish mistake, bidding only one credit. As
soon as Sarat saw the transfer, he’d know the result had been fixed. I needed
to grab the Codex and get out of here fast, before he set the guards on me.

Sarat retrieved the Codex from the
invisible protective field encasing it, and offered it to me. “This is now yours,
Captain Kade. I’m sure your benefactor will put it to good use.”

I hesitated. “You’re sure it’s
not going to cut me in half, like it did Breckinridge?”

“The protective field is keyed to
my bio signature,” Sarat explained. “Only I can remove it safely from the
Irzaen transporter, but now that I have, it’s quite safe.”

I took it, testing its weight.
“It’s lighter than I expected.”

“And infinitely stronger than the
hardest polysteel,” Sarat assured me.

My palms tingled as the device
began to interact with the bionetic filaments in my hands. Shocked, I realized it
sensed my threading and thought I was a system it could link with! I tried
blocking it, erecting a neural barrier in my wrists, but it had no effect.
Whatever was coming out of the Codex passed through my defenses as if they
didn’t exist.

“The auctioneer will take care of
my commission,” Sarat continued, “and the transfer to our Irzaen host’s representatives
on Earth.”

I turned to Jase, nodding for him
to take the Codex, trying not to look alarmed by the alien-tech assault on my
threading. The tingling sensation was halfway up my arm by the time Jase took
hold of the alien device, breaking the nascent link that had almost turned me
into a human terminal. While Jase ran his eyes curiously over the Codex, I
clenched my fists, relaxing as the tingling sensation passed.