Tallyn settled into his chair on the bridge and studied the main screen, which showed the star field around Earth, and in one corner, the dull grey-brown orb. The sun was just starting to form an arc of gold along its edge, prelude to the dawn of another drab day on the surface. Only the twinkle of the tiny crystals that covered the many consoles broke the bridge's silent gloom. A crew of five sat before them, their hands occasionally touching a crystal as they attended to the running of the ship.
Dim holograms hung in the air before certain crew members, while lists of data scrolled up before others. The overall atmosphere was one of hushed industry, somewhat relaxed now that they were in orbit. Tallyn looked over at Marcon, who sat at the compiler's console, his eyes flicking over three holograms. He monitored all the ship's functions, ready to correct any errors that other crew members made. As usual, Tallyn hated to disturb him; he always looked so busy.
"Marcon, set course for Atlan. We've got what we came for, let's go home."
"Yes, sir." He turned and touched the crystals on his console, causing those on other consoles to light and alerting the officers who manned them to the new directive. They ran their hands over their boards, or pressed their palms to sensor slots to communicate with the ship's neural net. Two pilots entered the bridge and lay down on their couches, strapped themselves in and pushed their hands into sensor slots to link with the ship. The whole exercise took a little over a minute, during which time the activity in the dim room rose to a high state of tension. Marcon reeled off the list of procedures for his commander's benefit, in case he decided to change anything.
"Course laid in. Neural net expanded and online. Pilots linked. Back up net online. Proximity repellers charged, course changing. Preparing to link with the transfer Net." He paused, his eyes scanning the scrolling holograms. "Link successful. Heading reached in five, four, three, two, one… Transfer Net charged, acceleration factor five, normal status, all systems functional."
Tallyn sat back and laced his fingers as Vengeance turned out of her orbit with ponderous grace, curving away towards a distant star. He could imagine how the sun's light would glint on her sleek silver flanks and flash on the many protuberances that robbed her of any great claim to beauty. As a star ship designed purely for space, her array of antennae, weapons and emitters was only possible in a vacuum. He had seen many ships use the Net, and knew that a web of golden lines crawled over her, embracing her in a crazy cage of lambent power, like snakes of lightning. The transfer Net activated in a flash of pure energy, and with a twinkle, the ship shot away.
During the five-hour trip, Tallyn ate a meal and relaxed in his cabin, enjoying a new holofilm from Atlan. On the bridge, the crew's subdued industry continued. The pilots each spent two hours in control of the ship while the other observed. Marcon was relieved after three hours, his head undoubtedly aching from the strain of the high level of vigilance necessary from a compiler. His replacement, Vandiar, informed Tallyn of their approach to Atlan half an hour before the transfer Net dispersed. Tallyn entered the humming bridge and sank into his chair, glancing up at the blank screen.
"Where are we?"
"Decelerating. Fifteen minutes to Net dispersal," Vandiar informed him. "You came quickly, sir."
"I usually do," he grumped, settling back to wait.
From inside the ship, Net dispersal was no more interesting than its initiation. Only the resumption of the external feeds brought any new sensations to the crew. After the prescribed number of minutes, the main screen filled with the welcome image of his home world.
Tallyn gave a curt nod. "Good. Get us an orbit, and have them send shuttles. I'm sure most of the crew want to go to the surface, and we'll need a maintenance crew to replace them."
Tallyn made his way to his guests' quarters and pressed the plate beside the door to activate the entry call buzzer. The portal opened, and he entered to find Rawn eyeing him, looking sullen and dishevelled. He muttered and went into the bathroom to splash his face. Rayne stretched and yawned as she slid from the shelf-like sleeping alcove, her hair tangled. She smiled, and Tallyn returned it.
"I hope you've had sufficient sleep. We've arrived at my home world and will be disembarking soon."
Rayne's eyes widened in shock, and Rawn emerged from the bathroom, his face wet. They stared at him in horror, and Tallyn realised his blunder and strived to correct it.
"I apologise. I should have warned you before we left."
Rawn raised a finger and wagged it, water dripping from his chin. "Listen, buster. Just a few hours ago, we were on our own planet, and now you tell us we're on the other side of the bloody universe? You kidnap us, feed us drugs, fry us with weird lights, confiscate our clothes, and fly us a thousand light years without so much as a 'by your leave'? Bugger 'warned us', what about 'asked us'?"
Tallyn frowned, a little nettled. "You're in my care. You've come to no harm. All that was done to you was for your benefit, and the safety of my crew. It was unavoidable. The trip was necessary. Rayne had to be brought to the safety of Atlan, where she can be guarded and cared for. Informing you of our departure would have been a mere courtesy, and I did say you would not be returned to Earth. There was no point in staying in Earth orbit any longer."
Rawn wiped his face with a towel, looking incredulous. Rayne went to a chair and sank into it, her eyes downcast. Rawn tossed the towel onto a nearby shelf and stepped closer to Tallyn.
"You may find that all quite satisfactory and logical to your little alien mind, but what about us? We never even got to see our world from space. We never had the chance to say goodbye. Maybe we have feelings you lack, but you could have found out about that first."
Tallyn inclined his head. "Perhaps. I regret any distress this might have caused you. I understand your anger, and I would have the same reaction if it was done to me. However, returning to view your planet is a simple matter, and can be arranged sometime in the future if you wish."
Rawn glanced at Rayne, looking mollified, but still angry. "You okay, Ray?"
She nodded, fighting the sensation of unreality that threatened to overwhelm her. "How far are we from Earth?"
"Seven point four light years, by our measure of time," Tallyn replied. "Since our days are twenty-eight of your hours long, it would be around eight light years of your time. If you're feeling shock, I can have the doctor give you a tranquilliser."
"No, I'm fine. But I would like to know how we got here so fast. We could only have been asleep for a few hours, unless you did something to us."
"I didn't do anything to you. You've slept for five hours, which is how long the journey took. At the moment, we're waiting for shuttles from the surface, so I have time to explain it to you if you wish."
"That would be nice," Rawn muttered, sitting next to Rayne.
Tallyn took the third chair and settled back. "Obviously we travel a great deal faster than light. We do this by using what's called a transfer Net. Essentially, we tap into a parallel dimension that comprises pure energy, where things like time, weight and distance don't exist. By establishing a link with the energy dimension, we draw power from it, and at the same time use it to ferry us through space. You could liken it to one of your electric trains, which draws its power from an overhead cable, and uses it to drive its wheels. The only difference is that the link is also a tow. The energy dimension exists everywhere in the known universe, and everywhere in the energy dimension is in the same place and the same time."
Rawn shook his head. "You've lost me. How's that possible?"
"As I said, distance and time don't exist in that dimension."
"So you go into the other dimension, then come out where you want to?"
"No, not exactly. That's how it works for the transfer Net with which we transport people and supplies, like the one that brought you here. In the case of the ship, it never actually enters the other dimension. The power needed to achieve that is too much for our machinery to deal with. The ship has no engines, as such. What we have are complicated conduits, through which the energy is channelled. It's difficult to explain." Tallyn looked a little vague, gazing into space.
"We're not morons. Explain it as it was explained to you," Rawn suggested.
"Okay. Imagine the universe is a series of layers, like a sandwich. We live in one layer, and the next layer is a mass of energy so powerful it exists everywhere at once. We establish a link with the energy, which, since it exists in all places, is able to tow us through space. We plot a course, and the link moves us at the speed we wish. The speed is actually infinite, but our ship's structure limits it."
"Why's that? There's no substance in space."
"There's a great deal of substance in the form of dust, meteors and other debris. Our scanners warn us of obstacles, and proximity repellers deflect the dust."
"What are those?"
Tallyn smiled, and Rayne reflected that, although he had a nice smile, she had yet to see him use it with enough enthusiasm to reveal his teeth. Her curiosity about his dentition was growing, meanwhile. He glanced at her, perhaps sensing her stare, and launched into another explanation.
"Proximity repellers are powerful, negatively charged coils of super magnetic alloys. They will repel anything, from a planet to a dust particle. Even air molecules react to a certain degree. We also call it anti-gravity, when it's used on a planet, but those systems are a lot weaker."
"Is that how you generate gravity on this ship?" Rawn enquired. "By reversing it?"
"No." Tallyn looked patient, apparently resigned to explaining everything. "The gravity on this ship is generated by a layer of super dense metal on its underside. As I'm sure you know, the denser the object the higher its gravitational pull. This metal is extremely dense, so much so that to call it metal does it an injustice. Lead would be like cloth next to it."
"Why can't you use the super magnetic alloy things?"
"The proximity repellers? That would be extremely dangerous, since, if you reversed the polarity and turned them into attracting magnets, they would work differently on different parts of the body. Liquids, solids and gasses all react differently. They would not generate true gravity, but rather a magnetic attraction that, if it was strong enough, would flatten the ship before it made people stick to the floors. You understand? Metal is far more magnetic than flesh."
"But surely gravity works the same way? The denser something is, the heavier it is," Rawn pointed out.
"Ah, yes and no. The difference is, a measure of water, or flesh, can be compared to a measure of lead, let's say. The lead, though a smaller amount, would weigh the same, right? But with magnets, the measure isn't weight, it's attraction, and flesh is like feathers compared to lead when you talk about attraction." Noting Rawn's blank look, he elaborated. "Look, you know how strongly an ordinary magnet attracts a ferrous metal, right? But it doesn't do anything to flesh. So imagine how strong it would have to be before it attracted something as nonferrous as flesh."
"I see," Rawn muttered, looking a little awed. "We never discovered anything like that. Not as far as I know, anyway." He looked at Rayne, who raised her brows and shrugged.
Tallyn went on, "But you must understand, these are not ordinary magnets, they attract, or repel, all forms of matter, not only ferrous metals. The comparison is not really valid; it only serves to elucidate my point. An ordinary magnet, no matter how strong, would not attract flesh."
Rawn nodded. "I get it. And all this runs off the power you suck out of the energy dimension?"
"Correct. Everything that requires power. You never discovered the energy dimension, which is why your culture foundered and destroyed itself by using combustible fuels. A Net link would have saved you."
"Pity nobody told us about it," Rawn muttered.
"Unfortunately for you, we don't interfere with primitive cultures. The destruction of a good, living planet like yours is a great shame. There aren't that many of them around. Many intelligent races come from worlds whose atmosphere we would find toxic. Most have a metabolism that burns hydrogen, since that's the most plentiful element around, and generally found in all atmospheres. They're able to live very comfortably in an atmosphere like yours, but we can't survive in their air, which often lacks sufficient oxygen."
Rayne stared at him, the sheer eccentricity of his words leaving her dumbstruck. She would never have considered a metabolism that burnt hydrogen, but why not? It was just as combustible as oxygen, and far commoner. Tallyn, surprisingly, looked a little embarrassed by her scrutiny, and glanced away. Rayne mused that this was one of the few emotions she had seen him express, apart from the stiff, rather false smiles he apparently forced himself to make. She wondered if all Atlanteans, or, indeed, alien races, were as reticent as him, or if smiling was just not an Atlantean expression, but one he put on for their benefit.
When the silence grew pregnant, Tallyn rose and made a vague gesture. "We should find a shuttle to the surface, if you're ready?"
Rayne sat forward, attracting his attention. "Do Atlanteans smile, usually, Commander Tallyn?"
He looked surprised. "Yes, they do. It's a natural expression of friendship or joy, same as you. Why do you ask?"
"Because you seem to have trouble with it in our company."
"Ah. Well, we hardly know each other. Naturally things are a little strained."
"No." Rayne frowned. "It's something else, which you're not telling us. What's waiting for us on your planet? A battery of tests and experiments? Perhaps ones you don't altogether approve of, so you find our company unpleasant because you feel guilty?"
"There will be a few tests, naturally, and a lot of vaccinations. You won't be allowed to mingle with the populace until your immunity to our diseases is established. It's for your own good. Our diseases would kill you otherwise. We still have a few that can't be eradicated, unfortunately. No harm will come to you, I promise."
"Even if I'm not this Golden Child in your book?" She enquired. "What happens to us then, Commander?"
"Nothing. You'll be welcomed into our society, given jobs and a house. Eventually you'll find mates and settle down."
Rawn demanded, "What if we don't want to do that? What if we don't like your world?"
"Then it'll be up to you to decide what you want to do, but I'm certain Rayne is the Golden Child, in which case, she'll be well cared for before and after the prophecy is fulfilled. She'll be a heroine, after all."
"Unless I fail," Rayne pointed out.
"Then you won't have to worry about it. You'll be dead."
"Well that's just great," Rawn said, rising to his feet with a scowl.
Tallyn raised a hand. "Please bear in mind that if you'd remained on your own world you'd have perished horribly within the next five years, anyway."
Rayne rose and took hold of Rawn's arm. "It's okay. Leave it."
Tallyn glanced at an instrument with luminous alien characters on the wall. "It's almost time to go down to the surface. All your questions will be answered, I promise. Not by me, I have many duties to attend to, but a first contact officer will be assigned to you. Now, if you wish, I can take you to see the bridge before we leave."
Rawn glanced at his sister and shrugged. "Yeah, that would be great."
Tallyn led them to the lift they had arrived in, and they ascended a long way before stepping out into a gloomy room. Soft illumination revealed the floor, chairs, and table edges. Other light came from dim images and hundreds of tiny crystals. Men sat at the various consoles, concentrating on data that scrolled up before them, ghostly in the gloom. Rayne's gaze was drawn to the massive screen that dominated the far end of the room.
It held an image of an orb swathed in pale clouds that swirled in bizarre patterns, reminding her of Venus. Patches of pale green or dark blue could be seen through thinner areas, but mostly the planet shone like a vast pearl. An alien sun blazed with a brilliant, almost white light.
Tallyn said, "Atlan is the fourth planet of this system. It has five moons of various sizes, and is a lot larger than Earth."
Against the inky backdrop, ships in orbit shone like stars, and further out, several space stations glittered. A few closer ships had strange, spiky shapes, and the moving lights of shuttles seemed to crawl past. Tallyn waited while they absorbed the astounding sight. Rawn studied a nearby ship, clearly fascinated by its strange shape and lack of symmetry.
"That's a weird looking ship," he commented, pointing it out to Rayne.
Tallyn followed his finger. "Not at all. Compared to some, that one's ordinary."
"Who are they?"
"Those are Wellans, from the planet Predantia in the Urmanian system. If you're curious about them, I'll introduce you to some. Now it's time to go."
They followed Tallyn back into the lift, which shot downwards, judging by the flicking counter next to the door, the only measure of their progress, since there was no sensation of descending. When it stopped, they stepped out into a vast room where a sleek grey vehicle was parked on a smooth metallic floor. As they approached it, a young Atlantean with blond and brown hair emerged and saluted Tallyn. He eyed the humans, who studied him with equal interest.
Tallyn returned the man's salute. "This is Egan, our first contact officer. He speaks your language, and will be your guide and liaison."
"Will we see you again?" Rayne asked.
"Of course. I'll visit you as often as I can, and if you wish to see me, just tell Egan."
They boarded the shuttle and strapped into comfortable seats, then it headed for the alien planet.