"Remarkable." Truzenzuzex's antennae waggled back and forth with excitement. "Truly remarkable. And what did you experience during this sharing, my dear?"
She looked at Flinx, who shrugged. Schrödinger's cat was out of the galactic bag. "Might as well tell them, Clarity. If anyone can make sense of it, it's Bran and Tru. Besides," he added with a glance in the thranx's direction, "most of the people I trust in the entire Commonwealth are in this room right now." Tse-Mallory smiled slightly, while Truzenzuzex made a meaningful gesture with both truhands.
The visitors listened intently while Clarity described her experience. When she had finished, they pondered her words for long moments before Truzenzuzex broke the silence.
"It certainly coincides with what Flinx told Padre Bateleur. You have these experiences frequently, Flinx?"
He shook his head. "Not frequently, no. But more often than when I was younger. They're entirely unpredictable. What I do have more often are skull-splitting, brain-rattling, mind-numbing headaches. Not only are they increasing in intensity, but I also have reason to believe that they sometimes can affect others who happen to be in my vicinity."
"Thanks for the warning." Tse-Mallory's response was devoid of irony or humor. He had experienced firsthand the volatile potential of the young man's capricious mind.
"So you can now not only read the feelings of others," Truzenzuzex was saying, "but you can also project emotions." The Philosoph seemed remarkably unconcerned for his own safety. "Is this ability as erratic as the original always was, or have you learned how to control it?"
"It's still erratic, but I am getting better at it. I don't know how to describe what's happening. Both processes are becoming more fluid. But as they do so, my headaches grow worse."
"We must try to find a cure, or at least a palliative, for that. According to your conversation with Padre Bateleur, you believe something existing within or behind the astronomical phenomenon known to us as the Great Void to be a great evil-evil existing in an actual physical sense and not merely as a moral judgment or a quantum probability."
Flinx nodded somberly while Clarity added vigorously, "That's certainly how it felt to me." Remembering, she all but shuddered. "It-it touched me."
"Most intriguingly strange." With a foothand, the thranx scratched idly at a joint in his carapace. "All this is clearly somehow linked to your unique neurological gift."
"I don't think I'd call it a gift." There was more than a hint of bitterness in Flinx's reply. "You still haven't said how you found me."
Tse-Mallory nodded and stepped away from the wall. "After we determined to try and do so, we began by paying a visit to Midworld. At Counselor Druvenmaquez's urging and with the aid of the first colonists' intriguingly adapted descendants, a small scientific station is in the process of being established there. Apparently, there are some-difficulties."
Flinx repressed a smile. He knew Midworld. "I'm not surprised."
"It became quickly apparent that you were not there. No unauthorized vessels were in orbit, nor could any be detected elsewhere in the system. So-well, Tru and I put out the word, as it were. We have our own extensive network of contacts, many time-honored and long-established, others that might best be described as nontraditional."
"It took a while." Truzenzuzex took up the tale. "The Commonwealth is a big place." Compound eyes glistened at Flinx. "And you tend to move around a lot."
That's because I'm equally comfortable everywhere, Flinx thought, and because I'm completely comfortable nowhere.
"On the other feeler," the thranx continued, "there aren't many young men walking around with Alaspinian minidrags. After following up numerous false leads, our search eventually brought us to New Riviera." He eyed the man on the bed. "As I remarked earlier: in the interim, you've grown."
In more ways than you know, Flinx thought.
"In addition to researching the Tar-Aiym," Tse-Mallory explained, "we have also been striving to delve into the history of their ancient enemy, the Hur'rikku."
"And that somehow ties into my experiences?"
"Not directly, no. You see, in the years that Tru and I have spent digging into what little is known about pre-Commonwealth sentients, we occasionally came across information about extinct species other than the Tar-Aiym and the Hur'rikku. We made careful note of these on the chance that they might tie in to the history of one or both of those two long-gone races." He smiled. "Remember that I mentioned our interest in interconnections. One of these involves a singular discovery that was made on the world of Horseye, known to its inhabitants as Tslamaina."
Flinx gave a twitch of recognition. The ever-observant Truzenzuzex took note but said nothing.
Tse-Mallory continued. "The discovery in question was made several hundred years ago, in 106 A.A. to be exact, by a husband-and-wife team of researchers named Etienne and Lyra Redowl. Concluding their tour on that world they prepared an extensive report of their findings. Like so many such reports, it was filed away for peer review only to vanish into the bowels of Commonwealth Science Central on Earth."
Truzenzuzex concluded for him. "We read the report because we thought the technology described might connect with either the Tar-Aiym or the Hur'rikku. When it was apparent that it did not, we set it aside." Both of the thranx's feathery antennae were inclined in Flinx's direction. "We immediately recalled this particular information when we gained access to the details of the report Padre Bateleur filed concerning his meeting with you on Samstead. Can you imagine why?"
Flinx noticed that Clarity was staring at him intently. It made him uncomfortable and he tried to focus his attention on his old friends. "I'm sure you're going to tell me."
"It seems that there is a still-functioning, incredibly ancient device on Horseye whose origin and purpose are unknown and unfamiliar to the three native sentient species of that planet. Locked in ancient glacial ice and powered, remarkably, by the planet's own internal tidal forces, it is at the center of a kind of uniquely unified network of widely scattered smaller devices that appear to be monitoring two corners of the cosmos. These functions have since been identified and isolated by a research team from Hivehom. What particularly intrigued Bran and myself and sent us looking for you again is that one of these cosmic locales is the same as the one you specifically identified for the somewhat bemused but dutiful Padre Bateleur. To the best of our knowledge, you have no access to a similar alien device."
"You understand, Flinx," Tse-Mallory added softly, "how certain people such as Tru and myself might find this an intriguing coincidence. One worthy of investigating."
"And all this time I thought you'd come looking for me just to say hello and reminisce about old times." Flinx sighed heavily. "Actually, I do happen to know about the device on Horseye."
The two scholars exchanged confounded glances. "How?" Tse-Mallory demanded. He did not say "You couldn't possibly" because he and Truzenzuzex knew Flinx too well.
"I'd rather not say. But I don't have access to the device, or to anything similar." He was reluctant to identify his friends the Ulru-Ujurrians as the source of the information. For one thing, their world was still strictly Under Edict.
Much to his relief, Truzenzuzex and Tse-Mallory did not force the question. Both knew that Flinx had "ways" of finding things out. For now, it was enough that he had confessed to familiarity with the discovery.
"Very well. We can discuss the particulars at a future time. What do you know about the workings of the device?" Truzenzuzex asked.
"Not much," Flinx responded truthfully. "Only that it may be all or part of some kind of warning system related to the spatial phenomenon I've encountered in my dream-the one I spoke of to Padre Bateleur."
Truzenzuzex acknowledged Flinx's response with a slight gesture of one foothand while murmuring to his companion, "That much correlates with what we know." Louder, he resumed explaining to Flinx. "The Redowls were informed by the Mutable responsible for watching over the mechanism that it had been constructed by a
race called the Xunca. Our research indicates that these Xunca dominated this portion of the galaxy before the rise of the Tar-Aiym and the Hur'rikku, so the device is incredibly ancient indeed."
"Wait a minute." Clarity put in. "There's no such thing as Mutables. Rumors of such things occasionally crop up in the gengineering community, but that's all they are-rumors."
Tse-Mallory turned his deep black eyes on her. "Apparently, my dear, there is something more to such creatures than inventive anecdote. In their report, the Redowls claim to have met one. I can say with confidence that that aspect of their report has been confirmed. Tru and I have been to Horseye and seen the proof for ourselves. Or at least, we have viewed the meager remnants of what purports to be that same thing."
Flinx was immediately intrigued. "You actually saw a Mutable? Did you talk to it? Did it remember the Redowls? Did you ask it about the device and the specifics of what it was intended to warn against?" Responding to her master's excitement. Pip opened her eyes, raised her head-and promptly returned to her nap, since the source of the perceived stimulation was not visible.
"Sadly," Tse-Mallory explained, "we were unable to do any of those things, since by all reliable estimates the Mutable had lain dead and frozen in the ice for at least a hundred years. Or so we were told. As Tru stated, we were able only to view the remains. They were very, very ancient. According to the official report, great care was taken when removing the creature from its icy tomb in order that a proper autopsy might be run on it. In spite of the team from Hivehom taking every precaution, the remains swiftly disintegrated. The researchers assigned to the task never were able to decide if it had been a living creature or some kind of organic appliance that had been constructed from basic molecules on up."
Truzenzuzex continued, "The system itself employs subspace wave communications and is at once much more powerful and yet simpler in design and execution than anything known to Commonwealth science. Not only is it monitoring two areas simultaneously, but the most recent report on the device claims that it also occasionally emits a spurt of modulated wave indications via a still-not-understood variant of space-minus toward a location different from those it is monitoring. The scientific team on site hasn't been able to find out how the device is doing this, far less where it is sending to or what might be on the receiving end. Work on these enigmas continues even as we speak."
So the Xunca device could send as well as receive, Flinx thought. Could it still be trying to carry out its original function of warning its builders of a threat? And if that was the case, would the unknown, enigmatic, ancient Xunca be in a position to receive it?
"You said that the system is monitoring two different locations in space." He eyed Truzenzuzex absorbedly. "I'm only aware of one."
"Yes, the one you spoke of to Padre Bateleur," the Philosoph noted. "The site of perceived evil that you visit in your dreams, or whatever peculiar state of mind you enter into when performing such observations."
Flinx nodded. "Whatever it is, I have a feeling it must be what the system centered on Horseye was designed to warn the Xunca about."
This time Truzenzuzex gestured with both truhands. "Except there are no more Xunca to interpret the readings or receive a warning or anything else."
"No," Tse-Mallory added somberly. "There is only us." He peered steadily at Flinx. "The phenomenon we are discussing lies behind the Great Emptiness, a region of space called by the thranx the Great Void, in the direction of the constellation Boötes as seen from Earth. It is some three hundred million light-years across, encompassing a volume of approximately one hundred million cubic megaparsecs, and appears to be moving in the general direction of our galaxy. What this something is or might consist of is blocked by a vast gravitational lens composed of dark matter that prevents anyone from seeing behind it or into it. Through means we do not yet fully understand, the Xunca system centered on Horseye can peer beyond the distorting effects of the lens. While we do not yet understand the physics involved, we have been able to decipher some of the data." Clasping his hands behind his back, he strolled over to the window to gaze thoughtfully down at the busy street outside.
"One thing is clear. Where this unidentified something passes, everything else vanishes. Virtually nothing is left behind, only a little free hydrogen gas, not even the dark matter composed largely of CHAMPS particles. Incredibly, the phenomenon may even violate the law of the conservation of energy by neither converting energy into mass or mass into energy, but by utterly eliminating both." He looked to Truzenzuzex to continue.
"Calculation of the eventual consequences to us is not particularly complex," the thranx informed them. "One day in an undetermined future, depending on an as-yet-unspecified rate of acceleration, this phenomenon will reach the Milky Way. And possibly consume it."
It was quiet in the room. Outside, the happy and contented citizens of the accommodating world of New Riviera went about their daily concerns, unaware that in an ordinary hotel room not far from where they were walking and talking, a most unusual quartet was calmly discussing Armageddon.
"What about the other place?" a subdued Clarity finally thought to ask. "The other phenomenon this Xunca device is monitoring? Is it anything like the-like what you just described?"
"On the contrary, it is everything the Great Void is not," Truzenzuzex informed her. "The other area of the cosmos that the system on Horseye is monitoring is known to your kind as the Great Attractor. This is a region of space that all the galaxies in the local group are moving toward. Whatever it is-and both your astrophysicists and ours have been studying it for hundreds of years-it possesses the energy of ten thousand trillion suns. Current cosmological theory still can't explain it." He turned from Clarity back to Flinx, who looked surprised.
"Well, don't look at me, Tru-I certainly can't explain it."
The thranx chittered softly. "I didn't mean to suggest that you could, Flinx. No one can."
"If the Xunca system is monitoring both what's behind the Great Emptiness and this Great Attractor," Flinx hypothesized, "then it follows that there may be a correlation of some kind between the two phenomena." Visions of swirling galaxies filled his head, among which he and his friends and the Commonwealth entire were so insignificant as to constitute little but nihility.
"So one would suppose," the Philosoph commented. "To make such a connection one would almost have to be intoxicated with physics. Or with metaphysics."
"Go ahead and tell them, Tru," Tse-Mallory urged his friend.
Truzenzuzex tried to wave his companion off. "It's too absurd, Bran. Too fantastic to share. I feel a complete fool for wasting the thought-time even to do the envisioning."
"Tell us, Tru." Flinx was as encouraging as a former acolyte could be. "Nothing you could imagine could be more fantastic than what I've already experienced and encountered in my dreams."
"You think not?" The thranx cocked his head. "Contemplate this, then: imagine a sentient species, perhaps our mysterious Xunca, who have advanced so far beyond contemporary intellect and science that they can conceive of trying to save not merely themselves but an entire galaxy from a threat of the magnitude posed by whatever lies behind the Great Void-by moving it out of harm's way. How to accomplish such an impossible feat? By somehow creating something like the Great Attractor. Something with sufficient gravitational strength to draw an entire galaxy out of the path of the oncoming Great Emptiness."
From his position near the door, Bran murmured tersely, "Just call Galaxy Movers, Inc."
Truzenzuzex nodded somberly, effortlessly employing the human gesture of which his kind had become quite fond. "We are speaking here of technologies beyond imagination. But if that's the case, if there's any truth to the outrageous hypothesis, it doesn't matter. Because it's not working. The Great Emptiness and whatever it hides has begun to accelerate even faster toward the Milky Way. Whether this is a coincidental phenomenon or a direct-I hesitate to say conscious-reaction to the pulling of our galaxy out of its path and t
oward the Great Attractor we have no way of knowing."
Clarity swallowed hard. "So-how much time do we, do the peoples of the Commonwealth-have?"
Tse-Mallory eyed her compassionately. "We are still talking sometime in the far future before the first congruency occurs. But when it does, unless some kind of solution can be found, it will mean the end of everything. Not just of humanxkind, the AAnn, and every other sentient race but of planets and stars and nebulae and-everything. With nothing left behind to re-form or re-create what has gone before."
"Apparently," Truzenzuzex added, "other solutions to the threat have been pondered, though not by us."
"What other solutions?" Remembering his few but always terrifying mental encounters with whatever lay beyond the Great Emptiness, Flinx was hardly sanguine. "If moving the whole galaxy doesn't have a chance of working, what else possibly could?" He did not mention that he had come to feel that he himself might somehow be a part of, be one of the keys, to such a solution.
Vast, shimmering golden eyes regarded him thoughtfully. "Flinx, have you ever heard of a world called Comagrave?"
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Flinx and Clarity exchanged a glance before admitting that neither of them was familiar with that world.
"No need to be self-conscious of your mutual ignorance," the Philosoph assured them. "It's a minor Class Eight colony world located in a distant reach of the Commonwealth, in the general direction of the AAnn empire. The nearest settled world of any consequence is Burley. That alone tells you how far the place is from the centers of civilization. Though inhabitable, the surface is mostly desert to semidesert. Needless to say, it is not high on the list of places where I, or any other thranx, would choose to spend time, though humans seem to find it agreeable enough."