Spinspace: The Space of Spins (The Metaspace Chronicles Book 2) (8 page)

“But it can also be used to concentrate light to a focus.”  he picked up the board and the tops fell off it onto the table.  Holding up the board, he caught the light coming in the window on it.  “Now watch,” he said, and held up the lens in the path of the light.

The sunbeam coming through the window, barely visible from small motes of dust in the air it was slicing through, went through the lens and the beam narrowed.  The spot of light on the board became smaller but brighter.  For a moment, he moved the lens so that the light on the board came to a single point.  When he did this a tiny plume of smoke curled up from the point, then he moved the lens out of the beam.

“As you can see, the lens can take the energy in the light and focus it into a small region to burn things.  On any decently sunny day you could use a lens like this to start a campfire.”  The burned spot on the black square stopped smoking.  “You will also have notices that when you focus the light this way, the bright spot is surrounded by a shadow where the light is less.

“The first thing I want you to work on,” he said, “is imagining the spin distribution in the space around the cone and then focus it on the cone, so there is less spin in the space around it and more spin in the cone.”

Lester tried again.  From what Xander had said he decided it would be simpler if all of the spin was in the same direction.  He imagined a cluster of spins around the cone, all pointing up, all with left-handed spin.

That part was hard enough.  Now holding that picture in his mind, he tried to imagine redistributing the spin, seeing flowing radially inward, so that the space near and containing the cone got more than its share of spin while points further away lost some of theirs.

After concentrating on this for a minute the cone began to slowly turn on the left-handed spin direction.

“It worked!” he said.  But in the instant that he let his concentration slip to formulate the thought, the cone stopped accelerating and settled down to a constant slow spin rate.

“Yes,” said Xander.  “Well done.  You have succeeded in your first spinspace manipulation.  You have also discovered that concentration is key.   In the beginning your work with
spinspace
, like your work with
pathspace
, will require all of your concentration to succeed.  Later on, as you grow more adept at it, you will find it easer to do and it will take less of your attention.”

At this point Carolyn came back from her settling in.  “What are you guys up to?”

“I was just rewarding Lester for finding you with an advanced lesson,” said Xander.  “To repay
me
, he is now going to give you
your
first lesson in
pathspace
.”

“I am?”

“Yes, you are.  Consider yourself promoted from student to assistant professor.”

Chapter 19

Nathan
: falling

עבור אדם צדיק יפלו שבע פעמים

“a righteous man may fall seven times”

– Proverbs 24:16

The door to the study opened and the men in white robes came out and out their coats back on.  Isaac was the last to emerge, and he had a look on his face that Nathan had never seen before.

Rebekah closed the font door.  What is it, Isaac?”

Isaac looked like a man who is lost.  “I have been asked to go to Denver,” he said, in tones that didn't believe it.

“What?  But your life is here, with your family.  How can they not know that?”

Isaac slumped onto a couch. “They know.  But I have been asked to go anyway.”

Rebekah sat down next to him.  “Husband, you have responsibilities.”

He just looked at her.  “Yes,” he said.  “Yes, I do have responsibilities.  To help the poor, to defend the weak, to settle arguments...and to serve my nation when called.”

“Tell them to send someone else, then.”

Isaac gazed at his wife and reached out to stroke her hair.  “It is part of my job,” he said.  “I have not been called for many years, because they knew I had a family.  But I cannot shirk my duty now, when I am needed. Yonatan has served his time, and my own turn has come.”

“But why Denver?”

“Things are stirring there.  Things that the brethren are concerned about.”

“Well then, we're coming with you!”

Isaac kissed her.  “I would like that,” he said.  “But you know that's not how it works.  I've taken an oath to fulfill my duties, and this is one of them.” 

Rebekah was having none of it.  “Your duties to us – “

“I know,” he sighed.  “This is one of those times when I cannot do both.  If I go, I will be failing you, and if I do not I will be failing our country.  There is no win here.  Either way I will be falling down.”

She laid one of her hands on his.  “A righteous man may fall seven times, but he gets up again,” she quoted.”Husband, if you are serving God, you are not failing us.”

“I haven't told you the worst of it,” he said, looking into her eyes.  “I can only take one family member with me...and it cannot be you, because one of us should be with the children.”

While she digested that, he continued his confession.  “They recommended that I take Nathan, since he's the oldest.”

She considered this.  “It will interrupt his schooling.  He's so close to graduating and picking a guild.”

He sighed.  “That's true.  But I'm sure I can find tutors for him in Denver...and of course it will be good for him to know  more about other countries than he would learn here.”

Rebekah knew when to accept a decision.  “When do you have to leave?”

“As soon as possible.”

“And when will you come back?”

He grimaced.  “That depends on so many things that it's impossible to say yet.  With God's help, we will get through this.”

“Forgive me for being a silly wife,” she said, “but you won't forget me and fall in with a Rado woman, will you?”

Isaac smiled at her.  “You know I love you, but allow me to elaborate,” he said, and carried her to the bedroom.

Chapter 20

Esteban
:
deportantem molientemque

“All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again.”

– Ecclesiastes 1:7

It was hardly a surprise that they already knew.  When Brother Esteban returned to the
Reconditorium Prohibitum
, he found a group of his superiors in the Order waiting to brief him on the particulars of his mission.

The
Reconditorium Prohibitum
wasn't a big building with a sign warning people away.   It was, in actual fact, the cellarium of the Monastery of St. Bruno, the Dallas Chapterhouse of the Carthusian order.  In ancient times the cellarium (whose resemblance to the English word cellar is not accidental) was simply a lower level where wine and food of the monastery was stored. In a secular building it probably would be called the wine cellar.

Since he rarely left St. Ignatius for the outside world, returning to the place was an opportunity for Esteban to see it with fresh eyes.  Now that he had received the shocking disclosure from His Holiness that what it contained were
not
demonic snares but merely a collection of alien technology, it seemed (for the first time) to be a bizarre place.

Bizarre and yet totally understandable.  If you wanted to hide alien technology, where would you put it?  You'd need somewhere close by, for convenience, but somewhere nobody visits. How about an old building with a lot of monks in it?

He was so buried in his own thoughts that he nearly walked right into them in the Refectory.

“Brother Esteban, we thought you might need to talk after your audience with His Holiness.”

He sat himself down at one of the tables. “It was certainly...unexpected,” he said.  “Tell me, if official Church policy regarding the Gifts is really going to change, will that...will that affect the Order?

Brother Marcus lifted an eyebrow.  “Affect us?  How?”

Isn't it obvious?
  “Well...if the Gifts are not demonic, the Church won't need us to store and guard them, will they?  If that is the essential purpose of our Order, won't we have lost our purpose?”

Marcus shook his head.  “You know better than that, brother Esteban.  Our Order was formed over a thousand years ago in France, long before the coming of the Tourists.  Seeking a better relationship with God through solitude and contemplation is not something that will become meaningless, even if our special duties become unnecessary someday.”

Esteban considered that. “That may be. Nevertheless, I have to confess, I am feeling a little conflicted, brother.”

“How so?” 

“I guess you know His Holiness wants me to go to Denver.”

“Of course.  It was our recommendation.”

“To study at a school for wizards.  I mean, I know that the Gifts are not demonic.  But to study sorcery...”

“Not really sorcery, brother Esteban.  We all know His Holiness would not ask you to commit a sin.  We just want you to observe and report what they are doing there.”

“Yes, I know.  I mean, I understand it's not really magic that makes the Gifts work, and I know I've been around them for years without feeling any temptation toward evil. It's just....I don't know, it's one thing to get used to being around them and quite another to be trying to learn how to
make
them.”

“You don't have to do that, to succeed in making a single swizzle, in order to fulfill your mission, brother.  But to be there and seem to not be
trying
would raise eyebrows.”

“Very well.  But how am I to report my observations?  It's not like I can come back every week or month to check in.”

“Don't worry about that, brother.  We will find a way to set up a secure channel for you to communicate back to us.  You will be allowed, I'm sure, to write home to your relatives, for example.”

“But they might read my letters.”

Marcus smiled.  “We have codes you can use to ensure your privacy.”

He swallowed.  “Wouldn't using a code be suspicious in itself?”

Marcus shook his head.  “Not if you tell them you're writing to your fiancé and want privacy.”

“What?  But I'm a monk!  They'll know – ”

“They'll know only what you tell them, Esteban.  They will know you are probably Catholic, but you can tell them truthfully that you are not a priest if they ever ask, which they won't since you're so young.  And I seriously doubt that they will think you are a monk, since we are not known for traveling much.”

“But what will I tell them?”

“That you want to learn what they are teaching.”

He frowned.  “That's not really true, though, is it? I don't think I can lie.  I didn't ask for this.”

Marcus smiled again.  “Do you want to serve His Holiness and the Church, brother?”

“Of course.”

“Well then, His Holiness wants you to do this, for the good of the Church.  So if you want to obey Him, then you want to go and learn, right?”

As usual, he could not argue with their logic.  “I suppose so.  I just wish His Holiness had asked someone more qualified.”

“Brother Esteban, you are uniquely qualified, believe me.”

Chapter 21

Kareef
: “
So travel through the earth”

“...
so travel throughout the earth and see how was the end of those who rejected the Truth!”

– Quran 3:137

Kareef didn't know what to make of Ambassador Qusay.  He was genial enough, but you could never quite tell how much he knew about things.  He supposed it made the man a good choice for an ambassador.

“Do you know why this new School in Rado is of so much interest to the Emirates?”

Qusay looked up from the document he had been reading. “There are so many ways to answer that question. Kareef.  I could say that Rado itself is of interest to us, and thus anything they do, such as founding this School, would also be of interest, because it is they who do it.”

Kareef tried not to frown.  “Forgive me, sir, but that is not as informative an answer as I might have hoped for.”

Qusay laughed.  “You're right.  Sorry, my training has conditioned me to be as vague as possible in my dealings with other diplomats and leaders, to avoid committing the Emirates to specific agreements and actions before the Emirs can be consulted.”

“I understand. But can you be more specific with
me
, at least?”

“As you know, Rado, which is more properly known by its Ancient name of Colorado, is remarkable insofar as it has been continuously ruled for many years now by a woman, the Governor Kristana.”

Kareef nodded.  “But so is Southern Californ,” he pointed out.  “So Rado isn't unique.”

“True...and yet not true.  I'm sure you know that the Queen of Angeles is a sorceress, whereas Kristana is not.”

“Are we certain of that?”

“Oh yes,” said Qusay.  “We receive detailed reports on the heads of other countries.  The two situations are quite different.  The Queen runs a monarchy with no intent whatsoever to democratize it, whereas Kristana, who holds her office by virtue of her marriage to the former ruler of Rado, appears determined to shed her quasi-monarchy and revert the country to a democracy (someday), as part of following the late General D'Arcy's Dream of restoring the United States of America.”

“That's what she says, but look at her actions,” said Kareef.  “She's been absolute ruler for two decades and, from what I learned in my Geopolitics class, she is grooming her daughter to take over for her someday.  It seems to be that this Dream of restoring democracy is just a pretext to put a nice face on her rule.  Or maybe it is a sop to those who don't want to be ruled by a woman forever.”

“She is a woman of contradictions,” Qusay agreed.  “She is very firm in her control, which she would have to be, to survive as a female ruler.  And yet according to our reports she is serious about following the General's Dream, and will commit her daughter to fulfilling it if she cannot achieve it in her lifetime.”

“Words are louder than actions.”

“Indeed.  The fact that she is permitting the founding of this School, however, says a lot about her, and about her differences from the Queen.  As you know, the Queen of Angeles did not acquire her throne by marriage, but by right of conquest.  Since her rule of terror rests on her magical abilities, she has no interest in encouraging the development of other sorcerers who might someday replace her.”

“Whereas Kristana has no fear of magic-users?  Is that what you're saying?”

“It is said that one of her closest advisors is Xander, the wizard who is founding the School.  He is reputed to be a powerful magic-user, yet he makes no effort to replace her.”

“The Emirs, blessings be upon them, are not magic-users, are they?  Yet they are supported by the Order of Sihr.  It seems to me,” Kareef commented, “that in some ways that makes our system of government similar in some ways to Rado's.”

“It is true.”

“Sir, can you tell me why the Order is content to merely support the rule of the Emirs...instead of seizing power, as the Queen did in Californ?”

Qusay stroked his beard.  “I cannot pretend to speak for the Order, since I serve the Emirs, may they be blessed,” he said.  “However, if I were to speculate, I might suggest that those in the Order are as devout as any, and would feel it to be a sin to so betray the trust of their Emirs.”

Kareef considered that.  “Don't you think there could be another reason?  Maybe the Order actually
is
the real government of the Emirates, but prefers not to have to deal with all the trivial details of government, and also the danger of assassination, and so they let the Emirs be
seen
as the rulers.”

Qusay gave him a piercing look.  “That,” he said, “is a very adult way of looking at it.  I can see why you were given this Hajj, instead of another student.”

“I wish they had chosen another.”

Qusay smiled slightly.  “Think of it as an opportunity. Evil seems to prosper sometimes, but in the end it is always destroyed.  Kristana, though she is not Muslim, has continued to prosper, which implies to me that she cannot be considered among those who have denied the Truth.  We can learn from her, and especially by watching for the success or failure of her School.  It is written, '
Travel through the land and see how terrible was the end for those who rejected the Truth!'”