Sidespace Read online

  The next instant a tree was imitating a javelin by hurtling through the air toward them. The wheels had barely hit the ground when Caleb swerved. The rear of the bike fishtailed in the grasping, clawing underbrush, and sheer velocity was the only thing that kept them from being skewered by the projectile.

  Prairie land—escape—was now a few meters ahead. The border foliage surged in from both sides, tearing at them as they slipped out.

  She exhaled in relief as the surroundings opened up and the spores dissipated, and more so as the Siyane came into sight. The ship descended to hover above the flatland, then pivoted to face them.

  “We’re coming in hot, Valkyrie, so get the ramp extended.”

  ‘Understood. I will provide covering fire to give you time to get on board.’

  “Is that necessary?”

  ‘Look.’

  She closed her eyes, and Valkyrie showed her the scene from the ship’s visual scanners.

  The forest was chasing them.

  The plant life had not gained true motive power, and the grass here on the prairie wasn’t tall enough to pull off any loping constructs. But the forest was nonetheless chasing them.

  Every variation of flora was joining together, ripping itself up by the root to attach itself to the trees, pushing up and out ever farther. Behind the border region the hinterland thinned out as she watched—via the ship’s sensors—to feed itself into the growing structure. They and the bike were a tiny black dot racing away from a living, angry woodland in hot pursuit, and gaining on them.

  She forced out a whisper. “You’re going to want to not slow down. Just take my word for it.”

  “It’ll to be a hard landing, then.”

  She watched their impossible pursuer surge closer. “I’m okay with that.”

  When they were ninety meters from the Siyane, Valkyrie opened fire. The ytterbium crystal laser burned bright silver over their heads as it cut a swath through the menacing column of organic material. Exponentially more powerful than their sidearms, it ripped the leading edge of the column to shreds—but beyond the destruction the mass continued to build. Damn.

  Caleb barked a warning. “Get ready.”

  She tightened her grip on him and the bike as they hit the ramp at full speed. Caleb slammed on the brakes the instant they cleared the hull, but the engineering well simply wasn’t that long.

  They were thrown over the handlebars as the bike skidded into the side wall. Her head slammed against the ladder. The helmet prevented her skull from cracking open but did little to soften the blow.

  “We’re on board—go!”

  His voice came from…she blinked away the worst of the pain…her left? She couldn’t be sure, as everything including her brain was moving. The ship gained altitude at a sharp angle as the ramp retracted and locked into the hull. The bike slid down the well to settle upside-down against the rear wall.

  Caleb crawled over to her. “Are you okay?”

  She groaned and struggled to find the control to collapse the helmet. Once it was gone she shoved the breather mask off and peered up at him. “Ow.”

  His eyes were dark with concern as they inspected her. “How ‘ow’? I have a headache ‘ow,’ or I’ve been impaled by a metal spike ‘ow?’ ”

  She felt along her chest and abdomen to make certain. “The first one. You?”

  He chuckled raggedly. “I’m exceptional.”

  ‘Do you want to depart the planet, or should I adopt a high-altitude survey course?’

  Caleb collapsed on his back beside her. “I don’t know, Valkyrie—did the forest form a towering beanstalk to climb into the atmosphere and wrangle us to the ground?”

  ‘Yes.’

  They stared at each other in alarm. “Yes?”

  ‘Yes. However, it was only able to reach an altitude of 1.4 kilometers before falling to the surface.’

  “Right.” Caleb’s expression was one of incredulity and mild amusement. “Take us to five kilometers altitude. And keep an eye out for new beanstalks.” He rolled over to prop up on his elbows beside her.

  She flashed him a lopsided grin. “That was close.”

  “Indeed. Did you really have to take a souvenir?”

  “It was one fucking leaf! I thought we could analyze it on the ship….” She fumbled in her pants’ pocket and triumphantly produced the leaf. “And we still can.”

  “Hang on, put that in something. It’s alive, remember?”

  She frowned at the leaf. It hung limp and inert from her fingers; the color was already fading to a dull brown. “I think we can take it if it gets rowdy.”

  “Well…” he twisted around and opened one of the storage compartments, grabbed the leaf and threw it in “…better safe than sorry.”

  She tugged her gloves off and coaxed him back to her. She was sore in half a dozen places, doubtless bruised in more, and winded. But the adrenaline continued to flow through her veins, leaving in its wake an intoxicating high built on terror and exhilaration.

  His lips met hers with a sudden, electrifying fierceness. He tasted of salty sweat and earth.

  Her arms wrapped around him and drew him the rest of the way atop her, then her hands were tangled in his hair. His were lower, tugging her overshirt from the waist of her pants and sliding underneath it.

  She bit his lower lip in mounting passion—

  ‘You should come upstairs as soon as you’re able. I believe both of you will want to see this.’

  Caleb growled in protest against her mouth. She stifled her own grumble and kissed him fully once more, then reluctantly relinquished him from her grasp. “We’re on the way, Valkyrie.”

  He rolled off her and onto his knees. “I’ll secure the bike and be up.”

  She offered him a pout by way of apology and climbed to her feet, discovering a few additional aches in the process, then hauled herself up the ladder. As she reached the main deck Caleb’s voice echoed in the engineering well below.

  “Valkyrie, do I need to explain the meaning of the term ‘cockblocker’ to you?”

  ‘No. I did consider feigning ignorance, however, in order to hear what would surely be a most colorful description.’

  Alex burst out laughing, which also ached, and made her way to the cockpit.

  She didn’t need to see through Valkyrie’s vision or the Siyane’s scanners to learn what had attracted the Artificial’s attention; she didn’t even need a HUD display screen. All she needed to do was look out the viewport.

  The surface of the planet was in motion. It roiled in violent swells like an enraged beast caught in a giant cage. The agitation had spread far beyond the woodlands where they had ventured and now stretched as far as she or the visual scanners were able to detect.

  She increased their flight speed but allowed Valkyrie to continue to navigate. “Let’s find out how prevalent this is, and how fast it’s spreading. Could it be the entire planet?”

  ‘I will adopt a course designed to encompass the most area in the shortest time possible.’

  “I brought up your contraband.”

  She gazed over her shoulder to see Caleb warily carrying her pilfered leaf between two gloved fingers over to the workbench. He placed it on the bench, pulled the gloves off and dropped them on the desk, then joined her in the cockpit.

  “Damn. We really did piss it off.”

  “Seems so.” She began opening several HUD screens while scratching absently at her wrist. “Valkyrie, are we picking up any readings to explain what’s going on down there, scientifically speaking?”

  Caleb’s hand landed on her right arm; he tugged it upward and flipped her hand over. “You’re hurt.”

  Of course she was hurt—her body was probably covered head-to-toe in bruises—but that wasn’t what he meant. A cut eight centimeters long ran diagonally from her wrist up her inner arm. It wasn’t actively gushing blood, but the wound was ugly and the skin surrounding it had swollen into red welts. “One of the vines managed to land a swipe in betwee
n my glove and jacket. I didn’t realize it took a chunk out of me, though.”

  “Hang on—and don’t scratch it.” He glanced out the viewport again then headed back into the cabin.

  ‘There is an increase in near-surface seismic waves across the scanners’ range. I am also detecting a strong ambient wavefield, though the microtremors are erratic and not holding to a regular pattern.’

  Alex kept one eye on the scene outside while she studied the accelerometer readings. “Earthquakes, huh? Quite the temper tantrum.”

  ‘You are assigning sentient attributes to a planet.’

  “And she’s right to do so.” Caleb reappeared at her side, lifted her arm and wiped the wound clean. The antiseptic stung, and she was grateful when he moved on to securing a medwrap around her arm. “The forest tried to kill us. It was acting with malice aforethought and did everything in its power to prevent us from escaping.”

  She winced as he pressed the medwrap firmly onto the wound. “So the planet is alive? Is that what we’re saying?”

  “More likely it’s only the organic material. If it was the planet, the ground would have opened up beneath us when we reached the prairie, if not before.”

  The image sent a shudder down her spine. “That would’ve been…bad.”

  Caleb double-checked the secureness of the wrap then squeezed her hand. “Yeah. Not sure how we’d have gotten out of that one.”

  She gave him a quick, relieved smile. “But if it’s not the planet itself, why are other regions reacting? We’ve flown over six hundred kilometers of flatlands containing hardly a blade of grass, but look.”

  They had reached a wooded mountain range. The trees blanketing the slopes whipped about with such agitation the mountains themselves almost appeared to be moving. “How do those trees know what happened all the way across the prairie?” It sounded more absurd when uttered aloud than it had in her head.

  ‘I can hypothesize that the organic material uses the soil or underground cavities to communicate between disparate regions. The details of how such a mechanism might work, however, are unclear.’

  “When we come upon the next barren region, send a probe into the ground. Maybe it can relay back useful readings before the planet devours it.”

  ‘I will do so.’

  She considered the irate mountains for another second. “While we wait, shall we see what our stolen treasure can tell us?”

  “You mean the leaf.”

  “Hey, we fought damn hard for that leaf.” She wandered over to one of the cabinets, grabbed a scope and carried it to the workbench.

  The leaf did appear rather puny lying there all alone. A sliver short of fifteen centimeters long and nine wide, the edges had curled inward and turned a muddy umber color. Narrow brown bands extended in from the tips toward the center. As she watched, the bands visibly grew, creating an expanding darkened area along their path. She blinked and activated the scope.

  On initial inspection it looked like an ordinary leaf even at the cellular level. An epidermis protected layers of cells thick with chloroplasts and a network of veins. When she zoomed in closer, however, one interesting difference manifested. In addition to the cells which transported fluids and nutrients, spread through the vascular tissue in fine webs was an unfamiliar type of cell, each one so slender they could be mistaken for filaments.

  They resemble axonal nerve fibers.

  Lots of things ‘resemble’ axons, Valkyrie.

  True, but Abigail studied numerous brain images. They resemble axons.

  Point taken. She increased the magnification level but couldn’t discern any other noteworthy features inside the cells.

  Caleb leaned against the table next to her and considered the screen above the worktable displaying the feed from the scope. “What does Valkyrie think?”

  “Hmm?”

  He tapped a fingertip to the edge of his left eye, by which he meant, her eyes.

  “Oh. Right.” Her nose wrinkled up in slight consternation. The truth was the act of toggling the connection to the Artificial on and off had become so seamless and natural, half the time if asked she wouldn’t be able to say if it was open or closed without reaching for Valkyrie’s thoughts. In fact, she wasn’t certain exactly when she had toggled it on this time.

  “She thinks they might be axonal nerve fibers. Valkyrie, do you think the central nervous system they would feed into was in the plant’s stem?”

  ‘Perhaps, but I’m analyzing a different idea.’

  “Which is?”

  ‘I’d prefer to wait to discuss the matter until I’m more confident in my conclusions.’

  “Except you can’t keep me out of your mind.”

  Caleb chuckled. “Maybe you should respect her privacy.”

  She was surprised to find him wearing a somewhat cryptic expression. “You’re serious.”

  Both of their voices had lowered, though Valkyrie could presumably still hear them if she wished. “It just seems if we genuinely believe she’s not merely a sentient being but a sapient one, we should treat her as such. I know, she’s all up in your head and you in hers, which means it’s an impractical notion in practice.” He raised his voice pointedly. “And it’s not like she’s respecting our privacy by not eavesdropping right now, is it, Valkyrie?”

  ‘I’m sorry, Caleb, did you need something?’

  “Nah.”

  Alex pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head with a weak laugh. The last of the adrenaline had dissipated, leaving her achy and tired. “What about the probe? Have we found a prairie region yet?”

  ‘Launching in six seconds.’

  He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the cockpit. “Let’s see how it reacts to another intruder.”

  “I’m going to go out on a limb and guess ‘not well.’ ”

  But it didn’t do anything at all. The probe plowed ten meters deep into the barren dirt and began sending readings back unimpeded. They showed a series of extremely low frequency infrasound microseisms and little else.

  “I guess this confirms our suspicion the flora’s alive but not the planet, and supports the theory the flora are communicating through the soil.” She chewed on the side of her lower lip. “So they’re a hive mind, then, with an intelligence shared by all the flora. That’s the theory you were working on, isn’t it, Valkyrie?”

  ‘You know it was.’

  “Actually, no—I didn’t peek. But I was fairly smart on my own before you came along, and it makes sense. In fact, it’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

  ‘As you say. Scans of the crust and upper mantle show no indication as yet of a central nervous system, making it plausible that sensory functions and responses are shared amongst the flora across the planet rather than concentrated in a single cortex.’

  “A distributed neural network? I suppose the trees and plants could be separate nodes of a primary consciousness—”

  “Stop that.” Caleb’s hand rested gently over hers.

  She looked down…she’d been scratching at the medwrap on her inner forearm without realizing it. She rested her head on his shoulder. “It itches.” It also ached even more than the rest of her body, but no need to worry him.

  “I’m sure it does. So I think the emergency has passed for the moment. We should get clean and get some rest.”

  “Hmmm.” She nodded languidly against him. “Valkyrie, pull up another kilometer to be safe. Adopt a pattern overnight to capture good representative scans of the surface. You know what to search for. Wake us if there’s a problem or a life-altering—and I mean literally life-altering—discovery, but otherwise we’ll decide how to proceed in the morning.”

  ‘I’ll do so. Might I suggest a biocide shot to ward off infection in your wound? In addition, both of you should have your eVis initiate anti-inflammation measures before you go to sleep.’

  “Yes, Mom….” They drawled in unison.

  2

  EKOS-1

  * * *


  “AT LEAST WE FINALLY found life,” Alex muttered as she began enlarging the overnight scans at the data center. “Even if it did try to kill us.”

  This was the fourth portal space in the Metigens’ elaborate network they had investigated. Intending to be methodical about their exploration, they’d started on the far left of the top row of signals, when viewed from their lobby, and visited every fifth one. Thus far every portal opened into a lobby space functionally identical to their own, with a second portal at the far end of the lobby leading to the ‘pocket universe,’ as Caleb had taken to calling them. They hadn’t bothered to try to locate an observation planet akin to Portal Prime in any of the lobbies, on the assumption their presence would not be appreciated by any observing Metigen.

  The first pocket universe had contained a fully realized space not unlike their home universe. But whereas the TLF wave for their universe led to the Sol system—to the cradle of civilization—the wave generated for the pocket universe pointed to a silent, uninhabited planet. The second of five planets in a K6 dwarf system, it orbited on the edge of the habitable zone for humans and exhibited a nitrogen-rich atmosphere. Scans and a brief surface visit revealed no life, however. Not so much as a prokaryote. The other bodies in the system were equally barren.

  The next two portal spaces had been empty—as in naught but the void. No galaxies, no stars, no planets. The disorienting nature of the space had led them to depart in short order, confident there was nothing in the nothingness to find.

  Now, on the fourth try, they had found something living. Unfortunately, they had no way to communicate with it or otherwise ask it to please stop trying to kill them.

  The possibility of discovering life radically different from their own had obviously been considered by scientists. Protocols had been developed, and Valkyrie carried all of them in her databanks. But the fact was no one had managed to work out how to communicate with a planet-sized hive mind distributed in flora…particularly one wielding a vicious defensive streak as a weapon.