“Very well. What about the others? They are willing to pay Dobelle very substantial amounts for the privilege of visiting Quake.”
“I would approve their visits — well after Summertide. Darya Lang can study the Umbilical without being on the surface; Atvar H’sial has the whole rest of the year to study species under environmental stress.”
“They’ll never agree. Refuse access at Summertide, and you lose them and the money they would pay to Dobelle. What about Louis Nenda?”
Perry finally met Rebka’s eye, and a different tone came into his voice. He even managed a smile. “He’s lying, isn’t he?”
“I certainly think so.”
“And he’s not very good at it.”
“He doesn’t give a damn. He should have picked a more plausible story. He strikes me as the last man in the spiral arm to be interested in land tides — I’m tempted to get Steven Graves to ask him a few technical questions about them. But that wouldn’t solve anything. He came a long way to get here, nearly nine hundred light-years — unless he’s lying about everything else, as well. But he certainly came from the Zardalu Communion, and that’s at least four Bose Nodes. Any suggestions as to what he’s really after?”
“I have no idea.” Perry went quiet again and looked far off at something invisible. “But I don’t think he’s the only one who’s lying. The inquiry you sent to Circle intelligence about Darya Lang confirmed that she’s an expert on Builder artifacts, but there’s no reason for her to go down to the surface of Quake. She could do all her work here, or on the Umbilical itself. But whether she’s telling the truth or not doesn’t make any difference to my opinion. You asked for a recommendation. I’m giving it: no access for Lang, no access for Atvar H’sial, no access for anyone until after Summertide. And if Graves chooses to override us, that’s up to him.”
“You would let him go to Quake alone?”
“God, no.” Perry was genuinely shocked. “You might as well kill him here. I’d go with him.”
“I thought so.” Rebka had made up his mind. “And so will I.”
And for all the wrong reasons, he thought. If I allow access to Quake, I may find out why everyone is so keen to go there. But if I refuse access, I’ll find out just how keen they are. And I’ll probably force some of them to take action. That, I know how to deal with.
“Commander Perry,” he continued. “I have made my decision. I agree with your recommendation.” He smiled inwardly at the surprise on Perry’s face. “We will refuse access to Quake for all parties until Summertide is over.”
“I feel sure that’s the right decision.” Perry’s self-control was excellent, but the expression of relief could not be hidden.
“Which leaves us one more decision to make,” Rebka said. “Maybe we should toss a coin for it. Who is going to give the bad news to Darya Lang and to Atvar H’sial? Worst of all, who will tell Louis Nenda?”
ARTIFACT: LENS
UAC#: 1023
Galactic Coordinates: 29,334.229/18,339.895 / — 831.22
Name: Lens Star/planet association: None, free space entity
Bose Access Node: 108 Estimated age: 9.138 ± 0.56 Megayears
Exploration History: The full history of Lens may never be known. Lying as it does in the clade of the Zardalu Communion, all early records were lost with the collapse of the Zardalu Empire. However, given the preoccupation of the Zardalu with biological science and their relative indifference to physical ones, it is most unlikely that any systematic exploration of Lens was ever attempted by them.
The recorded history of Lens begins with its observation in E.122, but it was long assumed to be extragalactic. The local nature, as part of the spiral arm, was discovered in E. 388 from parallax effects. The Lens was approached directly in E. 2102 by Kusra (one-way journey), but no physical evidence for material existence could be obrtained. Paperl and Ula H’sagta (E. 2377) measured a polarization change of beamed lasers passed through the region of the Lens, confirmed its location, and mapped its extent.
Physical Description: The Lens is a focusing region of space, 0.23 light-years in diameter and of apparently zero thickness (grazing incidence measurements have been made down to one micrometer). Focusing is performed only for light with wavelength range of 0.110 to 2.355 micrometers, approaching within 0.077 radians of normal incidence to the plane surface of the Lens. There is, however, weak evidence of interaction with radiation of wavelength in excess of 0.1 Iight-years (the low energy of such radiation makes its separation from cosmic background of debatable validity). All other light, all particles or solid objects, and all gravity waves pass through the Lens apparently unaffected. Radiation focusing appears to be perfectly achromatic for all wavelengths in the stated range. In that range, the Lens performs as a diffraction-limited focusing device of 0.22 light-years effective aperture and 427 light-years focal length. With its aid, planetary details have been observed in galaxies more than one hundred million parsecs distant.
Physical Nature: This must unfortunately comprise an eliminative list of what the Lens is not. Today’s science and technology can provide no tenable suggestion as to what it is.
The Lens is not built on any particles known to today’s inhabitants of the spiral arm. It is not a form of space-time singularity, since such a singularity cannot affect light of certain wavelengths and leave all other forms of matter and radiation untouched. For the same reason, it cannot be an assembly of bound gravitons. It cannot possess a superstring or superloop structure, since no spontaneous or induced emission is observed.
Intended Purpose: Unknown. The Lens represents macroengineering by the Builders at its alrgest and most mysterious. The specific wavelength range has, however, induced some students of the artifact to speculate that this range corresponds to the spectral sensitivity range of Builder eyes. Since there is no evidence that the Builders possessed anything equivalent to eyes in human or Hymenopt terms, the conjecture is of passing interest only.
It has also been conjectured that the Lens performs modulation of the light passing through it, in a way not understood. If so, its function as a focusing lens would be no more than an accidental by-product of the structure’s true purpose.
CHAPTER 10
Summertide minus eighteen
“Come in,” Darya Lang called out automatically when she heard a tentative knock on the door. She saw it swing open.
“Come in,” she repeated. Then she saw that the visitor was already in, or partially so. Just a foot above the ground, a round black head with a ring of bright eyes was peering past the edge of the open door.
“She don’t understand you worth a damn,” a gruff voice said. “Only knows a few command words in human talk. Get in there.”
A frowning, squat, and swarthy man came striding through the door, pushing a diminutive alien ahead of him. A stiff halter around the Hymenopt’s plump thorax was connected to a black whipping cane in the man’s hand.
“I’m Louis Nenda. This here” — a downward jerk of the cane — “is Kallik. Belongs to me.”
“Hello. I’m Darya Lang.”
“I know. We need to talk.”
He was the worst yet. Darya was becoming impatient with the level of manners in the Phemus Circle. But it was catching. “You may need to talk. I certainly don’t. So why don’t you leave now?”