Chill

Chapter 4

The short journey down the escarpment, past the inn and towards the lower cluster of houses on a wide shelf of rock that marked the chief settlement of Upper Maeven was performed in thoughtful silence.

Maena's long legs and skimmer shoes gave her a rapidity of motion Tam was hard pressed to keep up with, yet her movements seemed casual, assured. He had never viewed a girl from an athletic perspective before. The school encouraged sports of course but someone like Sara Manderby or the equally luscious if somewhat snobbish Tessanna Diomaristal would simply go through the motions to generate a daintily feminine perspiration and no more. Maena Madrullian, in spite of her delicate physique, suggested at times a wiry strength that belied a lack of muscle or body weight. Tam was grudgingly impressed with the unusual fitness of the girl, and glanced at her repeatedly as she marched along, limbs swinging with rhythmic balance. She never seemed to be out of breath. On one occasion she even jumped down a height Tam would not dared have attempted but he reminded himself of her special shoes. He wondered what other gadgets she might be able to lay her hands on. It would be awesome if she owned a set of magnetic wings!

For her part, Maena felt every glance from the bronze-eyed inn keeper's son. What a transformation in her fortunes in the past few days, all thanks to whispers. She was not only talking to the boy but they were engaging in activities together. Her grandfather was going to be very surprised when a popular and handsome boy from the school of Lower Maeven walked through the door arm in arm with his usually shy and solitary granddaughter.

Yet after Maena had led Tam to the arched gatehouse door that marked the entrance to the Madrullian residence and when they passed through the outer corridor past the impressive stonework that was the outer shell of the fortress-like structure and into the more welcoming interior of the grand entrance hall it was not the urbane, bearded professor who greeted them, but a large, bustling woman with hair tied up in a turban and wearing what looked like a leather apron.

She shrieked and raised plump hands in alarm at catching sight of the girl.

"Your hair! Your face! How long did I spend creating that masterpiece for you dearest and then you go dipping in a lake without a care for the consequences," she declared in horror on catching sight of chestnut curls returned to their usual straggly self and make up smeared across hot red cheeks. Maena's impromptu swim had ruined her free day make over.

"It's okay Falma, just an accident. Blind spot," Maena explained. The woman paused in her protest, understanding immediately where the blame lay and said no more. An inner door opened and the tall, somewhat majestic form of Professor Madrullian appeared in the hallway.

"I could not help overhearing we had visitors," he said archly, giving the housekeeper a meaningful glance.

"I go and make refreshments," the woman bowed and departed, wringing her hands in embarrassment.

"Hi grandfather," Maena said. "Got wet, need to change." She took a step to a stairway and then paused and as a seeming afterthought introduced the boy standing uncomfortably on the wooden tiles by the door. "Uh, this is Tam Sorrell, from the inn, you know," she said.

Silver-grey eyes, just like Maena's yet somehow completely different, fixed themselves upon the boy pleasantly.

"Ah, the young lad you've been repeatedly telling me so much about," he said and clasped his hands together in greeting.

"Grandfather," Maena whined, blushing furiously, before thundering up the stairs and out of sight. Tam could hear her footsteps for some time as she made her way up several distant flights of stairs in the large, complex structure that once held authority offices. The dignified old gentleman who seemed so suited to such grandiose surroundings gestured Tam to follow him through the door he had appeared by and the latter found himself in a dimly lit cavernous room. It was richly furnished with traditional wood and not so traditional banks of instruments that must have required huge electrical generators to power. Lights flashed, screens flickered and there were constant murmurs from tiny voices as news streams spewed out information from several locations at once. It was like an instanet comm centre. Tam did not know where to look as a kaleidoscope of sound and light confused his senses. Inevitably he tripped and tumbled over a pile of papers on a desk placed right in the middle of the room. The professor turned at the sound.

"My apologies," he said. "I am so used to this labyrinth I forget strangers would find it a challenge." He clicked his fingers and the light level increased, revealing even more chaos as well as the impressive splash of sheets Tam had sent across a narrow space on the floor. He made an effort to pick them up but they slithered and scampered from his grasp in the hurry of his embarrassment.

"Please, leave them. Here, take this seat and my housekeeper will bring you some refreshment."

Tam sat upon a soft red sofa and on cue Falma the housekeeper reappeared from some hidden door elsewhere in the crowded room, bringing a plate of biscuits and fruit juice to regale the youngster with. He ignored the biscuits but gulped a long draught of juice. The morning's work keeping up with Maena had dehydrated him considerably.

"Thank you," he said, wiping his mouth and replacing the tumbler carefully on the tray. It was so heavy he felt it must be made from real glass and was terrified of dropping it. He found the professor seated opposite him in a rather formal upright chair, looking at him expectantly. Tam blinked.

"Your, uh, granddaughter, had a bit of an accident," he felt obliged to explain his reason for being there, disturbing what appeared to be very important and complex work. "Sorry to barge in and all," he added by way of apology.

"Think nothing of it, I was having a mid-morning nap," the man chuckled. He indicated a heavy door in a corner of the room with the word library etched upon it in dull gold. It was half open and beyond Tam caught a glimpse of shelves of books and discs. An impressive offworld library full of information he knew he would never know. "Falma's high-pitched shriek put paid to that," the elder cut in on Tam's sad thoughts. "Sadly too," he chuckled into his beard, "for I was having a most pleasant dream at the time." He glanced at the floor and noticed Tam's wet trouser legs. "You mentioned an accident?"

"Yes sir. She, uh, that is, your granddaughter, fell into the lake and I kind of pulled her out."

"That girl is so full of animal spirits. Just like her mother," and he sighed. "Fell in, you say?"

"Um, she called it a blind spot, just now," and Tam gestured over his shoulder as if the location of her saying it was significant to the explanation.

"She's told you about these blackouts she has been having?" Tam nodded and the professor looked thoughtful a moment.

"I know it's not my place to say anything sir," Tam pursued, spurred on by what he had seen, "but she mentioned these attacks only began after she moved here. Perhaps - perhaps she's not used to this place. It's so different from where she's come from." He chose not to mention her comment about the missing Madrullian woman calling to her in her dreams, but glanced briefly at the elder man in front of him, expecting some kind of reaction that would be a clue to the true state of affairs. There was a smile and the professor leaned back into his upright chair. It creaked noisily and he stood, as if fearing it might break.

"You mean, softer worlds full of light elements and frothy soils," Professor Madrullian said. "It's an interesting theory, but holds no water in the light of test experiments which are being carried out every day at Ithak and elsewhere." There was an air of a lecturer about the man which suggested years of experience holding forth in front of classrooms filled with eager-eyed students. He paced the narrow and winding floor space a moment. Clearly he was not going to back up Maena's statement of earlier. The matter was too personal perhaps to share with this stranger suddenly thrust into the midst of this intensely private family.

"I thank you with all sincerity for looking after Maena," the professor continued, his eyes flickering with silver and other colours picked up by the news screens opposite. "My decision to allow her to mix more with people her own age this spring seems already to have improved her spirits. She has made friends, which is essential for someone her age. Dwelling on the past is not good for anyone, not least for her. I'm glad she has befriended you." He smiled through his beard.

Tam was tempted to say it was through no desire of his that the man's granddaughter had befriended him. Thrown herself at him might be a better description. Yet it was true she had seemed to make other friends rapidly. On the other hand, all the excitement associated with such friendships had brought on blackouts. Then he remembered her last attack was about keeping something secret from the man before him and he blushed. The professor did not seem to notice his embarrassment.

"Maeven School has a limited curriculum it is true," he observed thoughtfully, as if drifting off on another topic all together, "but enough to at least give you some picture of where we are in the galaxy. The overwhelming majority of humanity inhabit those lighter worlds, scattered across star clouds and dust bands for thousands of star leagues in every direction. We are surrounded by them of course. Here in this tiny enclave of the galaxy among the Mineral Stars there is what, a million souls all told, concentrated mainly on Illior in the Pelasgus System, and here on Troy. What has drawn them all here is the peculiarity of the place."

"The meta-minerals," Tam said, unsure how this fit with his granddaughter's blackouts, or rather how such peculiarities were not responsible for her health problems.

"To a degree yes," the professor responded. "Yet there is more to this story than just wealth, like as if a piece of the human soul was trapped here crying out to be freed."

Tam gulped at this for he realised this was exactly what Maena had said after all.

"Trapped by whom?" he ventured to ask.

"The Imortas perhaps, knowing that human endeavour would always need a spur, a goad, something to drive us on to ever greater things."

"You believe in those things?" Tam could not give a name to the vague idea of beings predating the universe perhaps, toying with the future like all-knowing gods, plotting and planning the whys and wherefores of every living and unliving thing. He had heard such a theory described as simply the arrow of time, going in one direction to an inevitable future, inevitability being the equivalent of conscious fore-planning. All too metaphysical for his young mind to grasp. However he fully appreciated the professor's speech on the desire to achieve. The Mineral Star Zone was the very place for that.

"Tell him," a soft girlish voice sounded from one crowded corner of the room and Tam looked to where Maena Madrullian stood, having just entered by another hidden door, a different one from that used by the housekeeper. She was dressed in a simple one piece frock with a split down the right side to allow movement. It made her look tall and elegant, regal even. Her chestnut hair had undergone some furious brushing by Falma and looked longer, now straightened out, cascading over one shoulder. Tam gulped at this vision, and then she moved from the doorway and sat gently on the soft red sofa by his side to face her grandfather.

"Tell him what you told me, about the Mineral Stars, and what happened... to my mother."

Professor Madrullian remained frozen there a moment as if thunderstruck by what the girl had asked. He seemed reluctant to comply, to uphold the seeming madness regarding his granddaughter's claim to be the daughter of that long lost soul who so dominated her waking thoughts and night dreams. He sighed.

"I'm not so sure, my child," and the professor glanced at Tam uncertainly. The latter was about to stand, realising he was intruding way beyond where he intended but Maena pressed his hand and he relaxed back on the sofa to await this battle of wills.

"It's okay grandfather," the girl said softly. "He understands. Sacrifice. Endeavour. He is like my mother in a way, willing to risk everything to fulfil a dream."

Tam was thinking, "is that me? Is she talking about me?"

Falma the housekeeper had brought a second tray of drinks by this time and bowed herself out silently as the professor and his granddaughter locked gazes.

"Well, you appear to have regaled the young gentleman with something of our family already," Professor Madrullian admonished the girl with gentle sternness. "Perhaps," he continued thoughtfully, "to avoid misunderstanding I should paint a fuller picture for his benefit."

Maena looked down at the glass of juice she was nursing between long, slender fingers and nodded. A ring glinted on one finger, real gold. The professor prepared for the moment by dimming the lights in the room, creating an atmosphere for the kind of storytelling that would span the stars. Tam suddenly found himself a willing audience member in a lecture from a distinguished offworld professor brimming with knowledge of distant and mysterious things. He leaned back prepared to drink it all in.

"Long ago," the professor began, "it was resolved to call any element manufactured in star fusion heavier than hydrogen or helium a metal, even carbon. The occurrence of such elements within a star's shell registered as the metallicity of the star and was linked firstly to planetary formation and later to the mineral value of those planets. With the advent of star travel through Gates it became useful to catalogue stars according to their economic value and the Second Great Expansion was shaped by this.

"In a certain region of the galaxy where sodium star groups with short life spans evolved, exploded, evolved and exploded again, dust clouds were created rich in varied metals that encouraged complex molecules to assemble in the coldness of interstellar space. The stars that formed from the molecular clouds were not only metal rich but also mineral rich and were thus named mineral stars. They have a specific light signature overlying the traditional spectral types, whether Sol Dwarfs, Betel Giants or Extreme Violets.

"The worlds that orbit these stars contain exotic and highly complex minerals that owe nothing to planet formation and lithologic metamorphism. The latter in fact was destructive to those very same minerals and lattice formations so sought after by the Crystal Lumos Agency. Thus volcanically inactive worlds were the best source of these meta-minerals.

"As I mentioned we are surrounded by developed worlds, some founded in the First Great Expansion, yet this is like a frontier colony still as the original push among the stars avoided the then misunderstood nature of this place. More pleasant lands were there for the taking in countless numbers. Why bother with heavy, tinctured worlds with unknown qualities and potential side-effects?" He glanced at Maena in the darkness and Tam felt her slender form shift slightly on the sofa beside him. "Troy is a world of convenience," the man continued, "a geotype with a strong agricultural economy that is growing all the time. Some minerals can be mined here and the Crystal Lumos Agency founded its prosperity on the quarrying in the south that shaved off a million square miles of crust. Thankfully this extreme digging ended when quakes increased so mining operations were scaled back to tunnelling and eventually ending all together."

Tam remembered the strange caves near the vicinity of the Cut that he played in as a child and knew they were manmade, not natural formations. He returned his attention to the impromptu lecture, respectfully listening as he sat next to the apparently entranced Maena. She had heard it all before of course, yet she seemed as attentive as if it was all new to her as well.

"The true focus of interest," the professor continued, "was the Spark, as we call it on Troy. The bright silver star that appears in our night sky all year round, even when on the other side of Myscenna, as the orbit is tilted enough to avoid eclipses completely. Sometimes of course the Spark appears in the day time at twilight like the legendary love star of old." The man paused in his speech, not it seemed to catch his breath, but to gather his thoughts as memories of the past flooded his mind and scattered his ideas momentarily.

"The world is twice a geotype in size," he took up the theme again, as if there had been no interruption, "named in the records as Cimmeron, and is a frozen world unsuitable for colonising. Yet all the spectral analyses done on the world declared it rich in meta-minerals of the Borosthene type essential for DNA Gate imprinting and of course priceless space time mapping properties.

"Thus the Resource Directorate's affiliates on Atherbridge Nine decreed a mission to the world, giving the Crystal Lumos Agency the licence to exploit and profit from the discoveries. Only they had no Gate to get there. One had to be constructed with a Pioneer Guild member's DNA imprinted already, and then cast in the vicinity of Myscenna. Such was the confidence of the Lumos that they could hit Cimmeron directly, all their calculations confirmed this, that the mission was agreed upon. The Pioneer member chosen for this dangerous task was one Phileece Madrullian. With her helpmate crew she embarked through the symbiote Gate as agreed and was never heard from again. A fault had occurred in the Gate." There were tears in his eyes at this point. Tam recognised all the basic elements of the story. This was the Madrullian Mission of course, and the emotion on display from such an elderly, distinguished professor left no doubt in Tam's mind Phileece Madrullian was a close and loved relative.

"It became a Ghost Gate," Maena said in the ensuing silence and there was a silvery glint in her eyes too. Tam felt he was in the middle of a private family tragedy and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable at such intimacy.

"Precisely," the professor resumed, sniffing briefly. "There were many theories as to what happened. Something about the destination, a mineral peculiarity of Cimmeron, or a defect in the Gate, meant the anchor never occurred. The true reason however was never revealed." He said this in such a manner which suggested strongly he either knew that concealed reason or was determined to find it out and Tam was about to ask if this was so when the girl picked up the story.

"She stepped through a doorway that led nowhere," she said slowly, her voice heavy with emotion. "She became a ghost, nowhere to go, alive but lost forever in a time bubble." Maena seemed more reconciled to the woman's fate, the woman she claimed was her mother, as if it was a romantic and worthy end to a Pioneer's life. Yet she showed extreme aversion to Tam risking his life on a similar mission.

"Yes my dear, although not quite scientifically put. I suppose she is still out there, one might say, in essence." The professor remained thoughtful.

"And my father?" This question surprised Tam when Maena asked it.

"At first he lost hope of ever seeing his wife again and chose to disappear. I stepped in and took legal possession of you, of course."

"He still loves me, I know. I hear whispers," and she squirmed pleasantly in her seat. "Why did we move here, so close to Cimmeron?" she then asked as if following a prompting script for Tam's benefit.

"It seems a bit romantic, but I thought it would be nice for you to be able to gaze upon the world your mother dreamed of visiting so much." The way the professor said this it seemed to Tam like a prepared speech, not for his benefit but for that of Maena.

"I hate the sight of it," the girl responded with unexpected anger. The professor sighed again. His reaction this time conveyed the notion he thought her too young to understand the sacrifice her mother had made all those years ago.

For Tam this family exchange was excruciatingly painful to witness, but there it was, out in the open, both of them determined to declare Phileece Madrullian the mother of the young girl sat next to him.

"Thank you for telling me all this sir," he said in a quiet voice as the lights in the room slowly rose again to a more civilised level. He could see the elderly gentleman had ruddy cheeks and Maena was tugging on a strand of hair thoughtfully, on the point of another blackout for all he knew. "But, didn't all that happen, like decades ago? I mean, it's part of our history lessons and all." He tried his very best to make the question sound like he was not asking why they were still mulling over this ancient story which to his sixteen year old self it was.

The professor looked at the bright-eyed girl opposite where he was standing, as if considering his response in light of her feelings.

"To some this is a tragedy freshly felt," he replied solemnly, gaze fixed upon Maena. "To others a wrong in need of being righted. The Crystal Lumos and I agree on one thing certainly, that human endeavour cannot be allowed to atrophy for want of a goal." Then more softly, "Yet it is another thing to lure young minds with propaganda to seek glories that may only end in death or worse."

Worse? Something worse than death. Tam glanced at Maena a moment. She was her grandfather's granddaughter certainly, endeavouring to save him from himself in light of his dream of adventure on the frozen wastes of Cimmeron.

"Your mother... disappeared over eighty years ago?" he hinted quietly.

"Oocytes," the professor interjected, seizing upon the boy's meaning.

"Sorry?"

"You are wondering how the young lady sat next to you can be the daughter of someone who disappeared over eighty years ago."

Tam swallowed hard. Was the professor the mind reader in the family? Maena smiled at him.

"What grandfather's trying to say is before my mother went through the Gate, she donated some eggs to the Pioneer Guild archives. People used to do it all the time when about to go on a long journey. If they didn't make it, the family could still continue because the eggs could be unfrozen and turned into babies. Falma birthed me but Phileece Madrullian is my bio mother." She stood up and stretched, joints cracking disconcertingly. "It's been a really busy morning. When's lunch grandfather? Can Tam stay?" She seemed capable of shrugging off the heaviest of emotional turmoil at times.

"No, it's okay," Tam Sorrell stammered, not made of such sophisticated offworld stuff. "They'll be wanting me at the inn. Final free day and all, so there'll be lots of polishing and rubbing and stuff to do." He stood, making to leave. Maena sniggered.

The professor reached over a long arm and grasped the boy's hand in a hearty shake.

"Thank you for watching out for my granddaughter. She's a bright little thing, but as you can see, occasionally loses her way."

"Grandfather," the girl in question protested with a stamp of her foot. "I'll show you out," she briskly added, grabbing Tam's other hand and making to pull him into the hall. The professor held on a moment so that Tam felt stretched. Maena paused.

"Please do not be a stranger," the man said. "I think we have a lot to talk about, you and I," he said. Tam nodded with enthusiasm.

"Yes sir."

"Yes sir," Maena mimicked and giggled as she hauled the poor boy through the hall and out the gate onto the main path. They stood there, facing each other a moment, not sure what should happen next.

"Well," she said, and paused. "Been a few eventful hours, hasn't it?" she continued breathlessly, clasping her hands before her and swivelling back and forth absently. What she wanted was for him to lean forward and kiss her. "Understand now why I just couldn't let you go join the Pioneer Guild?" she briskly added.

Tam nodded but he really did not understand anything. For one, why were the Madrullian family on Troy, to right a wrong that happened so long ago it was too late to do anything? Were they after compensation from Crystal Lumos? Yet that body was based thirty eight star leagues away. They only had mining garrisons on Troy. To find out what went wrong? Again the symbiote Gate laced with Phileece Madrullian's DNA was on Atherbridge Nine, still being used, functioning perfectly well. It brought them here as the nearest Life Gate to Troy. There were of course no Gates on Cimmeron.

Gates were an extension of the wormhole theories of old, a means to undertake faster than light travel, defying the laws of quantum mechanics. The inadvertent discovery of the strange alien artefacts left scattered across the galaxy by creatures variously called the Imortas or simply Space Gods allowed theory to become reality. The phenomenon was eventually identified as massless based, the vacuum of space being the medium through which the FTL effects occurred. The Gates utilised the properties of space-time as a binding of the whole universe into a single indivisible unit, subject to manipulation instantly anywhere, thus the possibilities for exploration were endless. So long as the Gates functioned or new ones found, for all endeavours to create Life Gates from scratch remained beyond human science.

It was what the professor was implying regarding the meta-minerals and why they were so priceless. The composite substances of the Gate frames were exotic interweaves of matter and massless space-time agglomerations shaped to behave as matter. The Mineral Stars seemed to be a source for these exotic substances so essential to Gate building.

Each Gate was attuned to its user originally by a process not fully understood and were known simply as Life Gates. Imprints were essential to allow Gates to be used. Life Gates recognised DNA from living substances to allow those substances to pass through to the other side by an Anchor Gate attuned to the same DNA imprint, like a key that unlocks a door. Lifeless Gates were so called as DNA, organic molecules, were not required to make them function. Instead they used complex minerals as keys, but the minerals had to be extremely complex, on the order of half a million atoms per molecule. Such intricate minerals were extremely difficult to manufacture by artificial means and were somewhat hit and miss when tried in Gates. The Mineral Stars contained the very complex minerals required to allow Lifeless Gates to be manufactured easier and developer companies like Crystal Lumos wanted to utilise these Gates to exploit the rich resources of planets orbiting those selfsame Mineral Stars. The failure of the Gate on Atherbridge Nine as part of the Madrullian Mission had been only a temporary setback to such endeavours in the greater scheme of things. The organisation simply side-stepped the problem and set up business on Troy instead. Leaving a family to mourn its dead.

All attempts to manufacture actual Life Gates remained on hold. Their rarity as discovered artefacts and the inevitable loss or malfunction over the years meant the time would eventually come when the scattered worlds of humanity would find themselves truly isolated among the stars, trapped on the worlds found so fortuitously when Life Gates were still at their disposal. Unless the Mineral Stars could somehow provide a solution. Perhaps the professor was driven to find this answer, just like the Crystal Lumos, only he was doing it alone, for they had betrayed Phileece Madrullian by luring her to her death in a forlorn and untested hope. An innocent victim of blind ambition.

Was not Maena Madrullian something of a victim too? With her headaches, nightmares and blackouts caused by being on a world heavy with toxic metals, warped by fluctuating magnetic fields. Simply so her grandfather could prove the Madrullian Mission was feasible, that Maena's mother need not have died in vain? Obsessive, compulsive disaster.

Tam was starting to get a headache himself now as he stood uncertainly on the path that led to his home.

"Wish I had your skimmer shoes," he said half-jokingly, looking up at the half mile of climb ahead where a roast lamb lunch awaited no doubt.

"I'd offer to lend them to you but your feet are too big and the pink flashes too girlie for a boy," Maena laughed. "See you at school tomorrow?" There was an awkward pause.

"Uh, yeah. Of course," Tam muttered, briefly raising a hand in farewell. Maena responded with a thin smile and then turned. He caught a glimpse of a long pale leg bared by the split in her dark dress as she disappeared beyond the gate of her home.

As he climbed the hill, determining on looking up the word oocyte, he ventured a glance back and to his surprise saw a group of dark clad men toiling up from Lower Maeven intent on some business. Not with his father at the inn surely? Rent was paid, no licence rules had been broken, and besides it was the final free day, the day of rest. Notices and the like could only be served on a work day.

They looked like Crystal Lumos men. Dark and sinister, paramilitary in style with glistening insignia. Not armed of course, except with legal powers as their presence on Troy was through Resource Directorate mandates. As Tam paused to watch he realised they too had halted. One hammered on the wooden outer gate of the Madrullian residence. There was a brief wait and then they all muscled in through the narrow entrance. Tam felt sure he heard the high-pitched shriek of Falma the housekeeper as they entered, all eight of them.

He awaited events, looking more than a little suspicious on the path, halfway between nowhere. A shout from above told him lunch was ready and he was about to go when the gate opened again. The Crystal Lumos agents came pouring out, walking jauntily, and there between them, wearing the same sweeping robes Tam had seen him in earlier, the unmistakable form of Professor Madrullian. It looked to Tam as if the professor was being marched down the hill somewhat against his will. Like as if he had been arrested.

To be continued...