ONA SUDAK
At the bear’s insistence, I allowed Bochnak free roam of the ship. After all, where could he go? He couldn’t escape, and he couldn’t access any of the ship’s systems. All he could do was rattle around like a rat in a trap. He couldn’t even operate the airlock’s controls without permission. Although if he did somehow find a way to hurl himself out into the void without a suit, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over his loss.
Right now, I had other things on my mind, such as the true nature of the Intrusion.
“If I’m to make tactical decisions,” I said, “I’m going to need to know why the Fleet’s so reluctant to approach the Intrusion.”
The multi-eyed bear sat on its haunches. We were in a white room identical to nearly every other room on the ship.
It is the conduit of our builders. They built it to escape from us.
“I comprehend that. But why are you so fearful of it?”
We are not afraid. We are cautious.
“But it’s just a hole in space, right?” I had seen pictures of the thing. It looked like a vast plughole.
It is so much more than that.
“Would you care to elaborate?”
The bear lowered its muzzle onto its front paws and looked up at me with its hard, pearl-like eyes.
It is a place where two incompatible sets of physical laws collide. A storm in the teacup of reality. And it is sentient.
“It’s alive?”
Our builders imbued it with intelligence, in order to guard their retreat and prevent us from pursuing them.
“So, it can defend itself?”
The bear’s claws slid from their sheaths.
We lost many of our number when we first tried to assault it, in the immediate wake of their evacuation. We are understandably wary about undertaking a second such action.
I glanced at the notes Bochnak had transmitted to the Trouble Dog. “And what about the dragons?”
They avoid it for the same reason.
I tapped a finger against my chin. “We humans have been studying the Intrusion for centuries. How come it has never taken action against one of our ships?”
The bear tilted its head to one side.
Have any of your craft attempted to enter the wormhole?
“A few.”
And did any of them return?
“No, but we assumed they were destroyed by gravitational stress, or failures in the fundamental laws of physics.”
They were destroyed by the Intrusion. Without the proper access codes, none may pass the way of the Hearthers.
“And what way is that? Where does the wormhole lead?”
We do not know. All we have is speculation.
“Another universe?”
Perhaps. That would account for the incompatibility of physical laws.
“Okay.” I crossed my arms. “So, if the Trouble Dog’s heading to the Intrusion, you’d be reluctant to follow it?”
To do so would be to expose our forces to significant risk.
“But it’s not impossible. We could follow and destroy it, if we had to?”
Correct. Provided the Intrusion refrained from destroying it, and us first.
“And they wouldn’t be able to flee through it?”
Only those with the access codes may pass, and the Hearthers took those codes with them when they left. They did not wish to be followed. If the Trouble Dog attempts to enter the Intrusion, it will be destroyed.
I let out a breath. “Then it seems our pursuit of Captain Konstanz approaches its endgame.”
So it appears. But may I ask why you are so fixated on this particular ship?
I frowned. “I wouldn’t say I was ‘fixated’.”
Nevertheless, we are expending considerable time and effort to apprehend it when several similar ships have already escaped the borders of the Generality.
I drew myself up. “The Trouble Dog’s different. You’ve met her. She’s resourceful and tricky, and it would be a mistake for us to underestimate her capabilities.” I wagged a crooked finger at the bear’s muzzle. “Those other ships are simply fleeing for their lives, but she’s up to something. You mark my words.”