Worlds Away by Valmore Daniels

Author:Valmore Daniels [Daniels, Valmore]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Opera
ISBN: 9781927560013
Google: sYXYAAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00BJ8B1LY
Publisher: Mummer Media
Published: 2013-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

26

Qin Station :

Sol System :

After his conversation with Alice, Alex gave her a brief rundown of the events that occurred from the moment he first entered the Centauri system over more than fourteen years ago, to the point when they were captured by Chow Yin’s patrol.

He left out a few choice tidbits, such as the fact that Ah Tabai was human, and that Justine had been captured by the Kulsat. Instead, he told her that his friend had died when the alien ship was destroyed by the mines around Pluto.

When he’d finished his story, the two of them returned to the larger lab and approached Sian. The programmer gave him an inquisitive look.

“How is it coming along?” Alex asked. He kept his voice even.

Sian blinked. “Slow going. There are a lot of variables.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Alex asked. “We need to speed up the timetable.”

Glancing at Alice, Sian took on a look of concern.

Alice turned to the guard. “Leave us.” At first, the soldier didn’t budge, but under her continued glare, he finally nodded. “Your Highness,” he said, and stepped outside.

Alice closed the door behind him and faced Sian. “I am aware that you and Alex have been dragging your feet on this project.” She held up a hand. “Not to worry. I will report that you were merely being meticulous in your calculations. There are new developments that require the utmost efficiency.”

Sian said, “There’s a lot of work to do, in that case.”

Stepping over to the other computer, Alex opened the program code. “Just tell me what you need. It’s been a while, but I catch on quickly.”

∞

Over the next two days, Sian and Alex worked through the program to create the algorithm to disseminate the frequencies hidden in the Song of the Stars. While they wrote code, Alex wondered at how Klaus had managed to create his program so accurately: according to Justine’s report, he ended up with six possible combinations of the code.

At one point, Alex couldn’t follow Sian’s work anymore, and he was just getting in the way.

Every few hours, Alice came in to check on their progress. Whenever she was there, she ordered the guard to leave them alone.

One such time, as the code was nearing completion, she motioned for Alex to join her on the other side of the lab.

“Yes?”

She turned on a holoslate and called up several astrophysics charts.

“I don’t know how much you learned from your alien friends, or how much you’ve theorized on your own, but I have a few thoughts I’d like to run past you.”

“Of course.”

“It has to do with the nature of the star beacons. When you traveled to the Centauri System, you did so just under the speed of light—though you were not conscious for the duration. However, once the Gliesans returned you here, the trip was near instantaneous.”

“Yes,” Alex said. “They said the star beacons exist at the same point in space.”

Alice’s face clouded over. “That would imply some kind of quantum entanglement, but that’s not what you said earlier.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.