The Fall of the Absolute

by Karen Page

Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

Earth Two might not have been a bad name, mused Jennifer, as she set off for her run with Theo, Kelly and Hope. There was a slight difference in the chemical composition of the atmosphere, but the light wasn't too different. The hue of blue was a bit off, but that was something the mind soon forgot. The flowers were different, she noticed, as they made their way up the road, following the instructions they had been given.

Not once did they see an Earth plant. Nobody had brought something to remind them. If that was chance, deliberate, or the law, she didn't know. Surely someone would have wanted a rose bush, or a cherry tree.

The road was quiet. It was early, but why drive when most things were only a ten-minute walk away? The total population was just under a thousand. She'd once asked why there weren't more settlements. The answer was quite simple: settlements on Earth sprang up because people needed to be where they worked. There were no factories or mines on Scorpion. Two test farms had been created to see whether some of the indigenous animals could be bred and used for food. Until there was a reason for another settlement, New Toronto would remain a small blot on an unspoilt planet.

New Toronto wasn't ready to stand on its own. It was still reliant on food from Earth. Water and sewage were on a closed circuit. Electricity was local too, but food and rubbish were not something they could yet handle. It was no harder to ship from the warehouse to a shop in Toronto on Earth than it was to ship to New Toronto on Scorpion. Yet the desire to be independent resulted in the test farms. The near miss, three years ago, of an Earth-bound asteroid had given them the push to solve those last problems.

As they finished their run, they came out on the other side of the park. They went past the hopperport and into the centre. They slowed to a walk so they could take it in. There was a food store, a hardware store and a hairdresser. There was no sign of anybody selling clothing, unless that was in the back of the food store. There was a store under renovation, with a sign indicating Cathy's Café would be opening soon.

As they approached the street, they saw Alex and Adelle coming in from the direction of the wilderness beyond. They must free-run, rather than stick to structured paths.

After Jennifer showered, she quickly checked her tablet. There were two messages. The first was from her parents.

Jen,

We're so proud that you managed to get a job so quickly. It didn't surprise either of us, though. Your temperament has always been close to Tina's. You've never taken the easy road, but one that is true to your heart. Stay safe and train hard. Based on how long it was before Tina saw relatives, we know we probably won't see you for a while. Just let us know every so often that you're well.

You are an adult now, so we've secured your DTD to stop your location from being stored. You never used it at school, and you said you'd only use it in an emergency because your location could be derived. Use it as you see fit, as nobody, not even us, can track you that way.

Love, Ma and Mum

Jennifer sat there for a few minutes, crying. The enormity of what she was doing overwhelmed her for a moment, but it seemed they understood.

"Hey, what's up?" Theo asked, putting his arms round her.

Jennifer pointed to the screen and he read.

"They care. You told me about Tina and Luke. Your parents know the type of thing they do. They've done so much in life that they know what you're doing. They haven't said to stop. They haven't tried to persuade you to change your plans. Your parents have always let you control your own destiny. Doesn't that make it easier?"

Jennifer wiped her eyes. "It does and it doesn't. It is like one of those unwritten things. They know what I'm doing, but we still have to dance around the subject."

"You'll always have to dance around it. They might understand that you're an investigator, but what you do and where you go will always be a mystery to them. They know that. You have to come to terms with it."

Jennifer laughed. "That's easy as I don't know myself what we're going to be doing."

"It sounds like our first deployment is to embed ourselves on the Rohastin Station and listen. That place is the centre of this segment of the galaxy. Nothing happens without some rumours there. It sounds like they realise it is a hole in their current intelligence network, and we are going to fill that gap. What's a DTD?"

"Direct Tunnel Device," Jennifer whispered back. "I don't have to use the beacons to communicate."

Theo's mouth dropped open. "But that's impossible."

Jennifer's eyes twinkled. "One of the privileges of having a parent who designed it."

The final message was from Evan.

Jenny,
I bet you are taller than me now. Liam and I were impressed with your questions. It isn't something we know all the answers to. The longest single tunnel has been 493.2 lightyears. That was the limit based on the ship's power. None of this is confidential, though it's rarely discussed. A larger ship takes more power than a smaller one, but that ratio is a lot less than the distance. As an example, an Alphonian City Ship using our drive would go about 470 lightyears.

If you try to dial in a distance longer than the power allows, the tunnel doesn't form. We block the attempt for safety reasons. The ship knows the power available and what distance is permitted based on that power. If that restriction wasn't there, you would attempt to draw more power than the system could give, and cause a failure. The power core has a safety mechanism to stop that.

For our tunnels, the power needed for a distance is the only restriction we are aware of. What it is for other species we don't know. Tunnel technology isn't shared.

The only ships that would need to go further are research and exploration vehicles. We plan to upgrade their power and drive as we further develop that technology.

If there is ever a need to go beyond the drive distance, you can perform intermediate jumps. For instance, if you needed to go 800 ly, simply jump 400 ly and then do the last segment. Our knowledge of stars is less comprehensive the further away you go. The difference between current and visible position becomes harder to account for as distance increases. Dimmer stars will be missed, and safety goes down.

There is more to say, but not over email.

Evan

"And who are Evan and Liam?" Theo asked, as Jennifer sent a thank-you response.

"Evan is the chief scientist at Star Bright. Liam works with him. Last time I looked, they were both still in the UK's current top ten for IQ."

"And you can just email them? I mean, I know you said you were sending an email last night, but that was a lot of detail."

"They used to give me science lessons when I was young. I would hang out in their lab and listen as they came up with the drive concept. When Kelly lived near me and was told they'd created Aurora, she used to get science tuition from them with me."

"I knew your Ma came up with the idea and worked with a team, but I'd no idea you used to be there. You never said."

"I don't talk about that company, like we don't talk about what we do. If someone could replicate the technology, they could send anything anywhere."

"I know. Bad people would do bad things if they got that power."

"I get enough issues because of the Trinity prophecy. If people realised that I knew Star Bright, I'd get offered all the wrong jobs. I want to make my own way because of what I can do, rather than because of who my parents are, or what some Oracle has said."

Theo shook his head. "You are you because of what you've learned and your genes. Star Bright is part of that. The aliens are also part of that. You didn't get an alien pen pal because you were chosen, but because you asked. You earnt that. It wasn't given. When you were learning with Evan, it wasn't because you were Becky's daughter, but because you wanted to learn. If you didn't want to learn, or didn't have the attitude to learn, he wouldn't have bothered."

"Let's go and have breakfast before my head explodes," Jennifer said, getting up. "Anything from your dad?"

"No. Not a thing. It shows he opened it."

"That's great. It shows he's not ignoring you."

Kelly and Hope had been busy in the kitchen and breakfast was ready when Jennifer and Theo came down.

"I got a response from Star Bright," Jennifer said, as she tucked in. The others looked up and she started to fill them in, stumbling when she realised it contained a human measurement. She had to pull out her phone and convert 493.2 lightyears into srohytms.

Kelly pulled out her phone and did a quick srohytm to lightyear conversion.

Adelle frowned. "That isn't the way to think. You have to think in Hytuna measurements. You might be able to converse in Hytuna without translating, but you aren't fully immersed until you can think in their units without converting."

She went to the fridge and pulled out some sausages. "How long should I cook these for and at what temperature?"

"That's a trick question," Hope said. "On the Rohastin Station, they don't cook using heat."

Alex sniggered and Adelle laughed before saying, "Perhaps that wasn't a perfect example, but I think you get what I meant."

Hope piped up again, her eyes wide with realisation. "Hayfield got it wrong. When we did a concert in Italy, we learnt Italian and we immersed in that. But Hytuna is different. It isn't just a language. When we did the concert on the Rohastin Station we could all make ourselves understood, but we converted measurements. I still thought in seconds, not ticks."

Hope reached for her tablet to send a message to Rachel Ruiz, but Kelly put her hand on her partner's. "Don't. I'm sure Alex or Adelle has a way of letting Dr Ruiz know without it becoming obvious that we are studying Hytuna at such a level."

"Which of your family taught you to be so security aware?" Adelle asked Kelly.

Kelly looked unsure. Jennifer answered, "She was always like that. She was inquisitive and wanted to know things she shouldn't, but she never gave anything away."

"What aren't you telling me?" Kelly asked. "What do you know about my family that I obviously don't know?"

"We didn't realise you didn't know," Alex said apologetically. He looked at his wife unsure and she shrugged.

"Can you tell me?" Kelly persisted.

"If you want. Do you want to go next door?"

Kelly shook her head adamantly. "No, tell the others too. It saves me telling them."

Adelle was the one to tell. "Your great-aunt used to work for MI6. Your father worked for GCHQ while he worked in Cheltenham."

"So why the move to London?"

"When the World Government was formed, GCHQ closed. He worked out of London for them on their internal communications security. Poacher turned gamekeeper."

"Is that why the police didn't deal with my parents when I was kidnapped and after?"

"Probably. Everything you said would have been channelled through a security team to make sure you didn't tell them anything you shouldn't have."

"My dad was very good at not saying anything. I got the opportunity to have science lessons at Star Bright. One of the rules he laid down was never to tell him what I saw or learnt. He said he couldn't tell what he didn't know. I didn't get that then. It makes sense now. Sheesh. His bosses would have loved to know what went on in that old pub."

"Your family couldn't have told you," Jennifer said. "That was part of their operational security. They kept what they did to themselves. Just like you aren't going to tell them what you do."

"Finish up, we have classwork to do," said Alex.

When they got there, they all sat in a circle of chairs. Alex didn't stand up at the front and preach; it was more of a conversation. "We need to do some reframing. So, we will start with a few basic pieces of human general knowledge. What temperature does water freeze? How long does it take light to get from the Sun to Earth? How far is Scorpion from Earth?"

"I've got another," said Kelly. "What is five times three?"

Alex nearly answered and then stopped himself. "Wow. I nearly fell for that one. Seventeen. I instinctively nearly said fifteen."

"When Jen and I were eight, we had a few hours at a multispecies school on the Rohastin Station. It took me ages to understand why fifteen was wrong."

"Is the school leader as fierce as the rumours go?" Alex asked.

"No," Kelly replied. "Unless you're thinking about the senior school or someone else has the job. They were a Pretotian. And yes, they do have feathers. They were so caring of the pupils."

The Pretotian were one of the few species where gender wasn't male and female. Surprisingly, that trait, seen in a lot of Earth species, was the same across space. The Pretotians laid an egg, but the egg was only activated by the blossom from the Itotran bush.

"Kelly is right, though," Alex said after a moment's thought. "Base-8 maths is where we need to start. It's like we are back in primary school. We have to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide in base-8 as instinctively as we do in base-10. I know it sounds boring, but knowing that four times two is ten is fundamental to the rest. For instance, if it takes a Yvestigan vehicle five ticks to travel three hundred srohytms, how long will it take to get to Earth from their home world? Actually, let's try that. I will do it too. I want to see all your workings."

"Do you have any contact with App builders?" Hope asked after they worked away on the question. "I'd like a calculator that only worked in base-8."

"Try HCalc," Theo responded absentmindedly as he scrubbed out his calculation.

"I did. It also shows the decimal values. I want something purely Hytuna based. Total immersion."

"Go to settings. There is that option."

A few seconds later, a "Yay" from Hope made Theo smile.

There were so many different variables, it took time to bring it together, but after thirty minutes, they had all reached the same answer.

"Not bad for our first attempt," Alex said.

"Why are you doing this with us?" Jennifer asked. "I thought since you were teaching us, you would already be an expert."

"We are mentors, here to guide you in the preparation for your first assignment," Alex said after a moment's thought. "You've already proved at Hayfield that you can learn quickly and adapt. What you need now is different from school. Nobody has ever trained for this task before. There isn't any syllabus. So, our role is to guide you, highlight what matters, and help you build the instincts you'll need."

"This is the first time a team has been asked for this level of immersion in non-Earth environments," he continued. "Two of you already have more direct experience with other species than most investigators currently do. The bosses believe that our experience in preparing for taskings, combined with your abilities, will get you where you need to be."

He gave a small smile. "And you're already bringing ideas to the table. The discussion about not converting into familiar units? Kelly added another angle, and now you're working towards using base-8 instinctively. That's exactly what we want. This afternoon we'll move downstairs where Adelle will lead the weapons session. That's an area we are already skilled in, and by the time you leave here, you'll be better than us."

"Can you get a dartboard?" Kelly asked.

"What?" Alex said, confused at the sudden request.

"A dartboard. Base-8 of course. It has double and triple scores. We have to add up our three darts and then subtract from the starting number."

Alex grinned. "I'm going to like preparing you. You have a gift for making it fun!"

"You'd better add a Hytuna version of Monopoly too. Shake a five and a four, that is eleven. Land on somewhere with a set, that is double. It's all maths. Perhaps we can add a timer. If you can't work out the value in seven ticks, you forfeit the request."

"Great ideas, but unless Hasbro has one in development, don't expect it quickly. The dartboard is something that we could easily get a company to make."

As promised, the afternoon was in the basement. Adelle was ready for them. "Let's start with knives. Choose one each and we can work from there."

There were four knives on the table, each one a favourite style for one of them. Jennifer knew they were being played, so she grabbed Hope's. Noticing, each of them grabbed someone else's.

Adelle didn't comment, but pointed them to four lanes. "Let me see your style."

They each went and threw. Four bullseyes.

"Nice. How far would you say the target is?"

"About..." Theo tailed off with a groan. "Is this torture ever going to end?"

"Finish off what you instinctively were going to say," Adelle pressed.

"I was going to say about six metres. I stopped because I suddenly realised what I'd done, but I couldn't articulate the distance without converting. I don't want to convert, because I won't learn then."

"Good. Now go and fetch your knives. I see you didn't go for your expected versions. It wasn't a trick. You will go through each weapon."

When they returned, Adelle said innocently, "How heavy would you say your knives are?"

The four trainees looked at each other, despair on each of their faces.

"I see," Adelle said, looking at each one of them. "What are you going to do to fix this?"

The four of them looked bewildered.

Adelle continued. "This isn't school. You have some issues. We aren't here to spoon-feed you. We are here so you learn how to be an investigator. Part of that is recognising when you have an issue, and another part is coming up with your own solution to solve it. I heard about your idea with the dartboard. That was an interesting solution for becoming instinctive with the basic maths, but what are you going to do for weight and distance?"

"Do you have any alien cookbooks?" Jennifer asked.

"Sorry?"

"We need to get up to speed not just with Hytuna, but with four alien cultures. Cooking will be part of that. When you cook, you have to weigh the ingredients. Some species may also have cooking times. As we cook, we get to learn weights instinctively. We also learn about their base ingredients, so we are proactively learning more about them."

Theo added, "Some human recipes mention the size of tin you need, such as when making a cake. I've no idea if they'll have that, but if so, we get a bit of extra measurement knowledge."

"No," Kelly said slowly. "Well, I think no. We need to check. Wouldn't an Alphonian recipe be in Alphonian units, rather than Hytuna? They, and the Reginaddes, are one of the oldest races in the Rohastin Council. Would Hytuna units have filtered into their customs, rather like base-8 has, or will they use native units?"

"If they are in native units," Theo said, rubbing his nose in thought, "how instinctive would the species be for weight and distance in Hytuna? Wouldn't they always naturally think in their native units?"

Adelle smiled. "But what if an Alphonian and a Reginadde are discussing something? Wouldn't they then use Hytuna? Remember, they grow up with their native culture and the Hytuna culture. They learn both, rather like some parents on Earth used to speak multiple languages to their children, so they naturally became bilingual."

Kelly sighed and said, "Why don't we carry on with weapons training now. We can discuss more later."

Adelle nodded and brought a knife from the cabinet. "This is a traditional Alphonian hunting blade. They are rarely used today, especially on worlds close to their home world. It can be found in some of their wilder worlds which haven't been fully tamed."

They each held it, taking in its feel, weight and balance. Hope ran her finger gently along the blade. "The handle certainly isn't for a human. What metal is this?"

"A type of iron compound. Not steel in the human sense. There is no carbon in the mix. It is quite a weak metal, but it doesn't break easily."

"Can I?" Theo asked indicating the lanes.

"Yes. Use lane five, it has a soft target setup. We only have one of these."

Theo hesitated when he heard it was the only one.

Adelle nodded in appreciation. "Throw it. It isn't a priceless weapon. We can acquire more from their markets."

Theo shrugged and let it fly. He didn't use as much force as he had earlier, but it still found the centre of the target.

"It wasn't comfortable in my hands and felt strange as I let it go. For me, the handle is too large and the blade too thick."

Jennifer pondered and said, "It isn't designed for human hands. And if they are readily available in a market for use on underdeveloped worlds, they probably aren't going to be well made."

Adelle took out a jewel-encrusted blade. "This is a Hobitoa. It's a Reginadde ceremonial blade. I'd rather you didn't throw this one. The metal is liable to snap."

Jennifer's eyes grew wide when she got a closer look. "Kelly, think about the Reginadde neck and then this tip."

"It's an assassination knife! Well, not anymore if it is ceremonial, but I agree with Jennifer. That's what it looks like."

"The Reginadde hands aren't too dissimilar," said Jennifer to Kelly. "Try it, just don't break my skin."

In a flash, Kelly had twisted Jennifer and held the knife to her throat. A deafening alarm rang out, and Kelly quickly removed the blade, wondering if she'd set it off. Hope took the knife from Kelly and put it to one side, out of the way.

Adelle looked at the nearest camera and made some sort of gesture. She repeated it, and the sound stopped. She put the knives away and locked the cabinet.

"Now you get a different type of training. You learn how to write a report explaining what you just did and why."

Alex was at the door, his face ashen. "Are you all okay? The life at risk alarm went off."

"Yes. Some eager trainees decided to see if a knife felt like an assassination weapon. I don't think Kelly was going to kill Jennifer, but the automatic system hadn't been warned, so it triggered the alert."

"I'm sorry," Jennifer said, almost in tears. "I didn't mean to cause a problem."

"We know," Alex said. "We also have to do a report on why we didn't warn you."