Page 65 of Secret War

“I’m fine. Can I get you anything from the kitchen?”

“No. I might take a break in a few minutes for a snack, if you want to join me.”

“I’ll be glad to.”

His heart warm, but still searching his surroundings, Ilid moved on down the hall toward the front of the home. He hoped he’d eventually be able to stay on his own. For now, he appreciated having a parent nearby. They planned to take turns keeping him company until he felt capable of being alone.

If only he could keep them safe. Unfortunately, it was out of his hands. Dr. Degorsk was determined Ilid accept the truth. “Can you guard them from shuttle accidents? Illness? Even in the best of times, life has no guarantees. No one can prevent tragedy if it happens. It’s the same where the Darks are concerned, and you’ve already put in your share of worry and effort on that front.”

Degorsk always made sense. Sometimes Ilid hated him for it, but mostly he appreciated him.

The young man made his way to the common room, where the vid entertainment system was. He’d heard the rimnastin band Casual Innuendo had uploaded a new concert, and it was as good a diversion as he could wish for. He settled on the vast lounger before the vid and commanded it to switch on.

As was normal, the system was tuned to the Royal Council chambers. Jadel was a political reporter for the local news affiliate. Even when he was home, he kept an eye on committee meetings, as was being currently transmitted. He re-watched the day’s legislation each evening to ensure he hadn’t missed the smallest nugget of information.

Ilid opened his mouth to order the system to find the concert just as a councilman rose to his feet to speak to his fellow planetary defense committee members. Ilid’s attention hadn’t been on the blue-robed Dramok, instead on the legend bearing his name…Councilman Terbal.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Dark draped over Terbal’s shoulders.

“My father!Gruthep!” Ilid shouted at the top of his lungs.

Chapter Eighteen

“There. The same fluctuation,” Hope pointed at the computer’s screen breathlessly.

“I see it. We have to program the containment to compensate immediately. Or as close to immediately as can happen,” Lokmi said. His fingers flew over his computer keys in their office, part of the guest suite Clan Tranis had put them up in.

“What did you find?” Piras asked.

“It was among the theories we considered.” Hope turned to him since Lokmi was running the computations. “There isn’t a jump straight from one dimension to the other, but an in-between area where they overlap. It isn’t entirely stable there.”

“Which means?”

“The dimensions constantly fluctuate strength.”

“Wouldn’t it mean our phase capabilities aren’t stable either?” Kila asked, scowling.

“We barely penetrate the in-between. We remain so close to our own dimension, the other has no effect on us when we’re in phase. The farther we move from ours, however, the more influence is exerted by the second dimension.”

“We went by the measurements of the Darks’ dimension, which is what the nanobot Hope sent through reported. The reading it took of the overlap didn’t take the constant shifts in account. Now we can do so and compensate,” Lokmi said.

“Then the containment will work in the future?” Piras asked.

Lokmi paused hammering the keys to regard him. “We can program it to shift with the fluxes present in the overlap. It’ll do so in a hundred zeptoseconds, which should do the job.”

“But?”

“But you saw how fast the mother organism we encountered at Bi’is left orbit. How fast can the Darks access their dimension? We don’t know. To the naked eye, it appears almost instantaneous. The containment sensors can’t measure anything under a millisecond, so it’s impossible to figure out how quickly Hobato’s rider moved to escape to the in-between when a window opened in the containment.”

“Fluctuation compensation is the best we can do.” Hope was certain a hundred zeptoseconds was adequate…what creature could think fast enough to take advantage of an escape that closed almost as soon as it opened? But they were dealing with beings beyond their wildest imaginings. She had to admit hers and Lokmi’s best efforts might fail.

It made her grumpy. To quell the disquiet in her gut, she switched topics when Lokmi resumed his calculations. “How’s Admiral Hobato?”

“Physically, he’ll be at full strength once they stabilize his blood sugar levels. No additional lingering effects from months of being controlled by the creature.” Piras’ tone was careful.

Hope took his reticence as a hint Hobato wasn’t doing so well mentally. She could only imagine the trauma he suffered after being consumed by the Dark’s machinations. “Any memories of what he went through? Did he say if others on Kalquor had been overcome?”

Piras exchanged a glance with Kila. “He heard vague snatches of conversations…he thinks. Most of it’s a blank. But yes, he thought some of the voices he heard weren’t far off. Like Ensign Ilid, he had an impression distances weaken their ability to communicate. Some voices were clearer than others.”

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