[This is a chapter from my latest novel, a sequel to The Fall of Doc Future and Skybreaker’s Call. The start is here, and links to my other work here. It can be read on its own, but contains spoilers for those two books. I try to post something new about every two weeks, with short stories and vignettes if I don’t have a new chapter ready. The next update is planned for the week of March 26th.]

Previous: Chapter 42



“No,” said Doc. "It wasn’t dishonest. I don’t even consider it misleading; I would not have believed you at the time, and you optimized for as much truth as I could accept and still let you help me. Your life was too unlikely. On top of everything else, you had to put up with the same messy uncertainty about directed probability manipulation that I did. The picture of you I put together was…“

Stella smiled wryly. "A shadow on a cave wall? An impressionistic ideal rather than real?”

“Wrong but still necessary. Both you and Yiskah paid a cost for that. And not correcting it later it is on me. You asked. I could and should have made the time.”

Doc look down at his tented hands. "I can adapt how I work with you, so we can prevent the avoidable political and professional problems. As for the personal ones…“

Stella’s smile faded. "They aren’t relevant right now, because I don’t have the attention to spare. You can talk to Three or DASI if you wish. I unlocked some privacy blocks.”

She waved a hand. "And for the rest, there are still potential timeloop and probability manipulation influences. On both of us–I am not immune. The world can be moved around me. I strongly suspect that Golden Valkyrie has been using me as the fulcrum for Archimedes’ lever ever since I killed the Trickster. That is the kind of joke he’d like.“

Doc frowned, remembering Golden Valkyrie’s words to Stella before the fleet battle: That we cannot work together, you and I, is a jest. One a Trickster might make.

"Plausible,” he said. "On that note, I should tell you what I discovered last night.“

"Very well. But we’re likely to–”

“Priority interrupt,” said DASI from the display speakers.

Stella did not look even slightly surprised.

“Yes?” said Doc.

“Ashil has achieved a portal theory breakthrough that Flicker and Journeyman believe will allow them to construct Skybreaker’s Spear. Journeyman wishes to consult with you before they act on the resulting plan.”

Doc glanced at Stella. She was smiling wryly again.

“Go ahead,” she said. "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is someone sending a damned message.“

*****

Flicker waited impatiently for the inner airlock door to the isolation room to unseal. Journeyman waited with her. He had shifted his hat to the form of a safety yellow hardhat–perhaps a clue to his mood.

"Penny for your thoughts?” she said.

“Promises to keep.” He looked over at her and smiled weakly. "And miles to go before I sleep.“

He was saved from further questions by the door opening. The two of them joined Doc and Stella in the room and DASI sealed the door behind them. That still made Flicker uneasy, but if worst came to worst, leaving in a hurry just meant property damage.

Stella wore her interface helmet, and had the distant expression that meant that most of her visual cortex was busy with things other than her immediate surroundings. Doc had his goggles on, and glanced up from a holodisplay showing one of the new portal proofs. Neither of them looked happy.

"Well,” said Doc, “The plan seems solid to me so far, but Ashil and DASI would have caught anything obvious. I can still do a full analysis–it’s an interesting approach, and Europa’s new atmosphere won’t have precipitated out enough for a decent safety margin for while yet, so–”

“Priority interrupt,” said DASI. "Call for Doc from Breakpoint.“

"Answer,” said Doc, and “Here,” over the bone-conduction phone built into his goggles. Flicker watched his eyes move, but couldn’t hear anything.

“Just me?” asked Doc, and “Timestamp?” after a short reply.

Everyone else was silent, watching.

“Oh, yes. Very relevant. Thank you, you may have just saved the world.”

Flicker glanced over at Journeyman. He looked grim.

“No, no reason to cut your vacation short,” said Doc. "You deserve it, and you and Katya together are about as safe as any humans on Earth can be, wherever you are. All my best to both of you. DASI will keep you updated.“

Doc smiled. "You too. Take care.”

He pushed his goggles up on his forehead and let out a long breath.

“Well?” demanded Flicker. "What was that about?“

"Distant early warning.”

*****

Sam was officially done for the day, but she scanned the latest summaries anyway. Things were moving quickly, as more and more people adjusted and started taking advantage of the ways UPPfones–which didn’t necessarily have to be physical phones–were changing the world. Seamless microtransactions, effortless secure communication, personal safety monitoring, and the hundreds of things the UPPfone Helpers could do, all supervised by DASI. And available to almost seven billion people already.

But not everyone. There were levels of access, and conditions. And the reactions from those who were starting to realize there was no way around those conditions were building.

But that wasn’t something she should be obsessing over–that was DASI’s job. She switched the big screen in the lounge to a beach scene as Ambassador Wilson entered the compartment, carrying a cup of tea. She waved a greeting as he eased into one of the chairs with a sigh.

They were aboard the former Xelian troop transport that had become the provisional administrative headquarters of the EDU. Although the ship hadn’t required any modifications to make it habitable, there were still dozens of little environmental and ergonomic quirks to remind Earth humans that it had been optimized for Xelians. And apart from the maintenance robots, it was still mostly empty. So most of the humans on board tended to clump together to reduce the sense of creepiness.

Ambassador Wilson was no exception, and Sam was glad for his company. There hadn’t been any new crisis alerts, so his trip couldn’t have gone too badly. He blinked, looking a little disoriented.

“How was the trip back?” she asked

“No trouble,” he said. "Other than the feeling that I’ve misplaced a day somewhere and I’m going to have to make it up when it’s least convenient. Diplomats get used to jet lag, but running around on orbital shuttles makes the problem even worse.“ He sipped his tea.

"I hear you,” she said, and frowned. "You’re still wearing your suit. Is the Director keeping you on call?“

He smiled. "No. I did change. You will note I am not wearing my tie. But apparel can convey subtle authority in ways useful to a crisis negotiator called upon to deal with a sudden emergency, and old habits die hard. I’m perfectly comfortable.”

“Ah. So how did it go in China?”

“Moderately well,” he said. "Certainly better than I had feared. They aren’t going to try to ban UPPfones.“

Sam let out a breath. "Good. That’s… good.”

“Indeed. I don’t think everyone I spoke to believes–yet–that any serious attempt would be suicidal, but they do understand coups and purges. And the significance of who ended up in charge in Russia. So they are going with ‘study and negotiate’. I spent a lot of time stressing the importance of economic stability in a country with 1.3 billion people, and the ways UPPfones will help with that during a period of dramatic transition. Nothing DASI couldn’t tell them, but hearing it officially from a human always helps.”

He took another sip of tea. "They aren’t quite ready to let you give any talks there, though. I think they’re waiting to see… hmm, how to put it…“

"Whether anyone tries to assassinate me in America or Europe, and how severe the consequences are?” she said.

“Yes. That. I haven’t wanted to pry, but–”

Sam smiled. "It’s okay, I’m getting used to it. Chances of an attempt are up, chances of success are down. Aki and my other guards are at chemical and biological weapon countermeasures practice right now. But my next talk isn’t for a few days. If they don’t cancel; it’s a Pomegranate developer conference, and their corporate directors are in full panic mode. So we’ll see.“

She looked down. "And we may also see what happens with those space things that Flicker is trying to stop. But there’s nothing we can do about that.”

“On the contrary,” said Wilson. "We’re contributing to progress and stability on Earth while she’s busy. Which does help, because she knows it. It helps keep her from getting distracted. The Director was quite clear about that.“

"Yeah,” said Sam. "I guess that’s the best we can do.“

*****

Flicker slowed back down again, frustrated. The security measures in the room drastically reduced the top speed she could pull data through her visor interface, but that hadn’t really mattered; DASI’s answers to Flicker’s questions had been no real help. She’d gotten confirmation of a few obvious things, four privacy blocks, two emotional hazard blocks, an existential threat distraction block–that was new–and a flat 'I don’t know.’

The 'I don’t know’ was the scariest.

Doc resumed his interrupted gesture, stabbing a finger at the display as he spoke to Journeyman.

"You wanted my analysis,” he said. "Here it is. You have a plan. Use it. It will either work or we’re all dead anyway. DASI? How far out is Learning?“

"The Learning Is About To Occur will reach zero relative velocity near Earth in 3 hours and 17 minutes,” said DASI.

Doc frowned. “That quickly? I thought–”

“Three asked him to change his deceleration profile to resume coasting followed by maximum deceleration as soon as you ended your call. Confirmation expected in 70 seconds.”

“Ah, good.”

“Whoa,” said Journeyman. "Why the rush? If Europa’s atmosphere is still too thick, then it won’t help to–“

”There is no time,“ said Doc, his eyes blazing. "This is it. If–”

“Relevant information,” announced Stella. "The Floaters brought an atmospheric exploration vessel, intended for conducting a survey of Jupiter. I just sent a request to borrow it as a windbreak for the black hole construction portal ship, along with full translated copies of all of Flicker’s work on hypersonic shockwaves. If that does not suffice, an emergency request from Admiral Ghiralt, under the Trade League mutual defense treaty, should work.“

"Ground effect!” said Flicker. "The shockwave will reflect.“

"What’s behind you is not important,” said Doc. "Not until the next orbit, and any waves will be long gone by then. Flight path coordination could get fun for the construction ship, though. DASI?“

"I estimate a 97% chance the ship will survive,” said DASI. "Assuming Flicker does not cause the incoming mass flow to exceed planned parameters.“

"Great,” said Journeyman. "Like I needed any other worries while I try to stabilize the portal that will be gift-wrapping Flicker’s Fimbulblizzard.“

Three’s lilting voice came over the speakers. "Don’t worry, sweetie, I’ll be piloting. You’ll be fine.”

“Gaaah…”

“Doc,” said Flicker. "Why is there no more time? What’s your new data?“

"Three things,” said Doc. "First, the Floater’s doom warning. They rushed their mission for more than one reason, so something they can detect got worse, recently. Second, the timing of your interruption. Stella thinks it was a message from Golden Valkyrie, sent the only way she can, and I agree. Third, Breakpoint just warned me about a danger spike that was both specific to me and catastrophic. There’s no obvious threat, which means I was in danger of making a world-ending mistake. What was I about to do? Take more time to analyze. So we have no more time.“

He waved a hand. "We’ve been wondering how long it would take for our Visitors to arrive. I think they’re already here. Close enough to zero in on a time travel port if you and Journeyman try another one. The only reason they haven’t popped into local space yet is that Golden Valkyrie is stalling them. But she can’t keep that up forever. So it’s time to roll. Now.”



Next: Chapter 44

