Anvil of Fate (Meridian Series) by Schettler John

Author:Schettler, John [Schettler, John]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780983354284
Publisher: The Writing Shop Press
Published: 2011-11-07T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Arch Complex, Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Saturday, 9:00 A.M.

“Another set of footprints?” Kelly registered surprise when Paul and Robert told him the story. “Then someone must have seen you manifest,” he said. “Not good.”

“Not good at all,” said Paul. “But there’s no helping it now. We saw no one else in the area, and the three of us immediately went north to approach the outskirts of the city. Maeve found a horse with no problem,” he beamed.

“That’s my girl,” said Kelly. “Well, if you were seen on arrival, then it would have scared the fellow shitless. He probably cowered in the hedge until you were long gone.”

“A story for his grand children,” Robert agreed.

“Let’s hope that’s the worst of it,” said Paul. “I don’t think we have any worry about contamination with this. But it’s Maeve I’m concerned about now.”

“She went south?” Kelly was adjusting the controls on the retraction module, carefully watching the status on his new program monitor. He still had a tenuous hold on Maeve’s pattern signature, and he could see that it was drifting well off the initial manifestation coordinates. He wondered how far she could go and still be tracked by the system.

“How’s the quantum fuel holding up?” Paul was looking at the chamber mix integrity, assessing numbers on the reading.

“Stable,” said Kelly. “For the moment. And the fuel on the number two generator is holding up well. That was fast work! You two were in and out. I had the system programmed to give you three hours there, but it signaled retraction after twenty minutes here. At first I thought something was wrong, but then I noticed the chronometer reading for the target Meridian was moving much faster than the time here. Three hours there was just twenty minutes here. At this rate Maeve should be ready to shift back in another twenty minutes.”

Something distracted him and his glance was drawn to another monitor. The Golems were active again, signaling another variation. “Would you check that monitor?” he asked Paul. “I want to keep a firm hold on Maeve here.”

Paul threw back his hood, still in his monk’s robe and looking strangely out of place in the modern environment of the lab complex. He activated the Golem module and called up the history time line. Something had changed, not greatly from the readings, but the history had varied. He clicked on the documentation button to begin calling up references. The Golems were still fishing in the data stream. In time they would reach a weight of opinion, and Paul could actually call up documents from other Meridian, altered and at variance with their touchstone data in the RAM Bank.

“Our lady has been busy. Something has already changed,” he said. “But whatever she’s about, it isn’t that traumatic—at least not to the projected outcome of the Meridian as I read it here.”

Robert was at his side, curious, and looking at one document after another as Paul clicked on various links. “See if you can call up anything from the Vita Landiberti Vetustissima.

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