“The secrecy is fun. Fine.” He sat on the same boxes Wruck and Algar had used as chairs. Fitting. “What were you given?”
Pulled the envelope out of my purse and handed it to him. Did not congratulate myself on my lying to my best and oldest friend. In no small part because I didn’t want to so congratulate and then have him figure out I was lying. I knew how the cosmos loved its little jokes.
Chuckie examined the envelope. “Looks like it’s been in your purse for a while.”
“It has. I really only just now had time to take a look at what was inside.”
“We’ve had downtime, but I know you, and I know what you and Jeff were doing when the kids were asleep, so I get why you haven’t looked at this until now. So, let’s see what’s in here.” He pulled the contents out and took a look. And whistled. “Wow.”
“Yeah. So, when I was first joined with Lilith, I saw the entire galaxy in a glance. My limited experience says that when a superconsciousness joins with you, you, the vessel, see all they know of. When it was ACE I saw Alpha Centauri and Solaris. But Lilith has been all over.”
“So, you saw this?” He waved the first map at me.
“No.” Showed him the one on the bottom of the stack. “I saw this. And this,” pointed to the solar system in the black between galaxies, “in particular.”
He nodded but didn’t speak, so I didn’t, either. He thumbed through the stack of pictures. There were a hell of a lot of them.
Got bored, because Chuckie thought silently and I didn’t. “I wonder if it’s like animation or something, like one of those flipbooks where you see the stills of Peter Pan but when you flip the pictures he’s now flying.”
He jerked and looked up at me. “I hadn’t thought of that.” He took the stack in one hand and did the fast flip through with his thumb. He did this from every side. “Good call, Kitty. I think I know what these are.”
“A space flipbook?”
“In a way. I think they’re a series of pictures that show the progression of the galaxy over time. Over a lot of time.”
He handed the stack to me and indicated I should do the flip. So I did.
“Wow. So, somewhere, a long time ago, this solar system started to, what, move? And now it’s moved out of the galaxy?”
“Yes, I think that’s part of what we’re being shown. But it’s more than that.” He got up, leaned over my shoulder, and turned the stack ninety degrees. “Flip just the first quarter.”
Did so. “Huh. We’re looking at a different solar system here.”
“Yes, we are, but I think for a reason.” He turned the stack again. “Flip the first third now.”
“Oh. Wow. So, if I’m interpreting right, this system is the first one. Something happened—it looks like the star exploded—and then, suddenly, we’re focused on this other system.”
“Right.” He flipped the book ninety degrees once more. “Flip from here.”
“Huh. So, something happened again, not in this new system but near it, and it knocked them, what, out of galactic orbit?”
“Exactly. I knew you paid attention in more than our animal sciences classes.”
“Tell no one, that remains our little secret.”
He chuckled. “I know. But I do love it when you hit Stryker and the others with higher thought they persist in thinking you’re incapable of. But you having protective coloration is more important.”
Turned the stack once more without prompting, and flipped it again, this time trying to see as much of each page as possible. “So, do we take the leap and assume that we care about the people in these solar systems, versus the systems themselves?”
“Yes, absolutely. We’ve been on a rescue mission. Yes, we’ve had to save planets and a sun, but the real focus has been saving the people, the sentient beings.”
Went back to the first page and stared at it. “How old is this image, do you think?”
“Old. I can’t calculate it without a computer of Mother’s level or higher, the hackers, Drax, and probably your pal Tyson.”
“Who is probably green with envy that we’re on this trip.”
“No, he’s probably frantically working to figure out how to get us home. Once we’re back? Then he’ll be envious.”
“Good point.” Resisted the desire to keep our “probably” one-upmanship going, though it took effort. “So . . . I guess the question is, why do we care about this system? Not the one that’s moved out of the galaxy. I mean, that looks dangerous in the extreme, like ‘Here Be Dragons’ should be written in huge letters next to it. I’m talking about the first system. Why, specifically, are we being shown this? And don’t say progression. We could have started from when the newer system moved and gotten the clue that leaving your galaxy is probably dangerous.”
Chuckie was about to speak when the door opened and Jeff looked in. “What in the hell are you two doing in here?” He didn’t sound happy.
CHAPTER 90
“UM . . . THIS PROBABLY looks bad but it isn’t.”
Jeff rolled his eyes. “Why me? Baby, I may have my blocks up, but I can feel you and Chuck easily. Neither one of you is hiding an illicit affair from me. We’re going to be coming up on Ignotforsta sooner as opposed to later, though, and I think you two should be on the command deck, not playing cards.”
“How soon?” Chuckie asked.
“An hour or two, give or take.”
“Plenty of time.” Chuckie pulled Jeff into the room and closed the door. He then explained the pictures, meaning I didn’t have to lie again, because Chuckie was the one stating things as fact. I loved it when a plan came together.
We then had Jeff do the flipbook thing, and reach the same conclusions we had. “Okay,” he said when he was fully caught up, “I’m assuming we have to save this escaping solar system because of course we do. Why are you two still stressing?”
“I want to know why we care about the first system.”
Jeff examined it again. “Chuck, this is showing the star exploding, you’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Huh. Baby, I wonder . . .”
We waited. He was wondering silently. Was I truly the only one who thought aloud? “Wonder what, Jeff?”
“If this is where the Mykali came from.”
We’d met the Mykali during Operation Immigration. We called them Glaucus atlanticus and thought they were a form of sea slug, but that was because only Turleens and those with Dr. Doolittle powers could talk to them. They were tiny blue and white creatures with bodies that resembled a gecko but with six rounded and spiny limbs or fins, depending on who you talked to.
“The Mykali had been on an abundant world, a very old world, that had run out of water. At least, that’s what they told us.”
“Suns going supernova get larger and hotter and dry up the water on the planets closer to them,” Chuckie said. “And this explosion is definitely a supernova.”
We all stared at the first picture. “So, this is where the Mykali come from?” I asked.
“That’s my only guess,” Jeff said. “Their race is millions of years old on Earth, and they aren’t from Earth.”
“I think it’s a good guess,” Chuckie said.