Webcomics and Stories

Dimitri himself stood off to one side of the room with two of the other inhabitants, and all six of them watched the seventh, as she slowly circled the table, examining the artifact in a casual manner.

"She's been at it for almost an hour now," whispered Cecil Owen. Dimitri glanced at him. He was the chief administrator for the Avernus colony, and though he decorated himself in the same manner as the others, including Dimitri, his was more understated, as befitting his authoritative position.

Dimitri simply shrugged. "She's got to at least put on a good show."

"I still don't see why we need her here at all," complained Jamie Cronkite. She was the colony planetologist, and the one who first discovered the symbols. She stood slightly in front of the two men, so Dimitri could look at her without having to shift position. She wasn't native to Avernus, but had been born and raise on Toliman in the Alpha Centauri system. Though a garden world nearly identical to Earth, the planet tended to be warmer and the sunlight stronger, because Alpha Centauri was larger and brighter than Sol. As such, Jamie stood another quarter of a meter taller than the Avernians, with a bigger build, mahogany-brown skin, and a billowing mane of fiery red hair. She also hadn't decorated herself like her fellow colonists, except for a few pieces of modest jewelry, but she didn't need to.

"The Feds won't give us the reward until the company signs off on its authenticity," Cecil explained (and, Dimitri knew, not for the first time), "and the board of directors won't do that until they have their own expert examine it. Besides, our shares of the reward would only come to a hundred thousand Federal credits each. Croesus Conglomerate will pay millions, and they will pay in Centauri ducats. So I think it's worth our time letting her have a look at it."

"Damn red tape-worms," she cursed, "as if my word wasn't good enough."

"Your word was at least good enough for them to pay the cost to send her all the way out here from Earth."

Jamie turned to give Cecil a look of shocked surprise. "Six whole light years!" she exclaimed. "That must have taken months!"

Dimitri could sympathize. Space travel was not popular among ordinary citizens. Even with faster-than-light capability, it took a spaceship a long time to travel to even the closer stars. Besides, the ships were cramped, cold, smelly, and often weightless, with only the barest of amenities, virtually no entertainment, and absolutely no privacy. Only the hardiest of adventurers could stand it, and those who made their living as spacers were generally thought to be half mad.

"Thirty-four weeks, to be precise," replied a sing-song, contralto voice.

Dimitri returned his attention to the woman examining the artifact as she approached him and his friends. Her name was Medb hErenn, and she was the most singular-looking of the people assembled, but even in a group of other Terrans she would have stood out. For one thing, she stood two meters tall, a full head taller than even Jamie; for another, she was more massive than any other human they had seen. In fact, statuesque was probably the right word, what with her broad shoulders, wide hips, large, firm, well-rounded breasts and backside, and thick arms and thighs, combined with a narrow waist and flat stomach. Yet she was no soft pleasure-princess, as the hard, corded muscles in her limbs, abdomen, and back attested to. As well, her undecorated skin was the color of adobe mud and her hair had the natural, rich color of bronze tinged with gold. She wore it straight and loose down to her waist, except for two long braids that hung from either side of her head down her front. Her only ornamentation was a headband of white-gold above her brow; a heavy ring of twisted yellow-gold around her neck, which was open at her throat and tipped at each end with a large uncut red gem; a brooch of red-gold pinned just below her right shoulder; and a handful of yellow-gold balls woven into the tip of each braid.

"How could you stand it?" Jamie asked.

Medb favored the woman with a mischievous smile. "The crew and I found ways of keeping ourselves entertained." Her long, oval face was too strongly featured to be considered beautiful, though it was still quite handsome, especially her emerald-green eyes framed by jet-black eyebrows, and her blood-red lips. In fact, the only thing that really marred her appearance was that, despite her friendly demeanor, those eyes looked cold and hard.

"Yes, well, Cecil informed us that your psych-profile indicated you were promiscuous." Dimitri smirked at the catty response. Tolimanians were infamous for their puritanical morals.

If Medb was offended she showed no sign. Grinning she said, "Promiscuous is not the word for it, my dear. But I am also an accomplished singer, story-teller, and magician; after all, even I can get tired. The only thing I found hard to bear was the lack of alcohol. You see, I also have a prodigious appetite for drink as well as sex."

But Dimitri wasn't following the conversation too closely. He had been fascinated with her from the moment she arrived, especially her cool forest green outfit. It looked like it had been spray-painted onto her body and acted as little more than an extra layer of skin. It covered every millimeter of her body from her chin on down, including her hands and feet, and followed every line and curve exactly except for her feet, where it assumed the form of a pair of square-toed boots. Just above her hips it had a built-in black belt, and aside from the usual items that an archaeological investigator might carry, it also bore a knife over a half-meter long with a heavy, curved, serrated blade and a metallic handle with a spherical knob at the end. Dimitri wasn't concerned about the weapon. Being a frontier town, Dis was pretty wide-open; about the only things forbidden were firearms and explosives. But like everything else about her, it was quite different from the usual weapons the Avernians tended to carry.

"I read your phys-report, too," Jamie pressed. "It has something to do with your liver; you can metabolize ten times the amount of alcohol any one of us can."

"I can attest to that," Dimitri confirmed.

"Yes, you and I had quite a time last night," Medb agreed, giving him a lascivious smile, and she tousled his hair with affection. Dimitri could feel himself blush, which wasn't his usual reaction towards women, but Medb had been no ordinary companion. He had taken her on his usual date: first to his favorite bar and grill, then a bathhouse, and finally back to his apartment, and sex was ordinarily the climax of the evening. This time, however, he and Medb had started off with sex and continued it on and off all night: once at the grill in the men's room, twice more at the bathhouse, and four times straight at his place — twice in bed, once on the floor, and finally in the shower that morning. It wasn't until then that she finally said she had had enough. But while he had thoroughly enjoyed himself, he found the whole experience disconcerting. Each time left him exhausted and limp as a wet rag, but all she had to do was touch him a few times and he was ready to start all over again. He figured he might drop dead later, but for the moment he felt better than he had in years.

"It's just that you don't strike me as the kind of person who would be an archaeologist, unless your specialty is ancient sex toys."

"Jamie!" Cecil reprimanded her, "that's enough."

This time Medb's reaction, while carefully neutral, was not as friendly. "I have special knowledge and certain abilities that make me ideal for this kind of investigation, but your opinion of my competence is irrelevant. It will be my decision that will determine whether you receive your bonus and reward, so you may help me or you may stay out of my way, but I would advise you not to hinder me. Now, have you made any attempt to date it?"

Dimitri knew that Jamie was by no means intimidated, but neither was she a fool. For now she had to put up with this person, and she was a successful enough scientist to know when to play politics. "Of course, I'll just need a moment to collect the results." Satisfied, Medb nodded and went back to study the artifact.

Cecil followed Jamie to her desk where she kept the printout of her tests, and Dimitri tagged along. "Take it easy, Mee, we'll get through this okay."

"Yes, well, I just resent having our future decided by a dilettante who doesn't know the first thing about proper scientific investigation."

"Just don't get her mad. She's a deadly fighter, either armed or unarmed, and she's stronger than any ten of us."

"I'll keep that in mind," Jamie said with naked irony, then headed back to the table as the two men followed her. Without waiting for acknowledgement she began her report.

"The patina covering the artifact contained no radioisotopes, but its composition is identical to a deposit common to the rock strata where it was found. The deposit is created by a chemical reaction and the rate of formation is relatively constant. Based on the amount of material that accumulated, I estimate the artifact was put into place a little less than ten billion years ago, shortly after Avernus formed. Elemental analysis of the artifact itself revealed traces of thorium-232. This is the longest-lived isotope we know of, with a half-life of fourteen billion years. The amount that was left, along with the amount of decay products present, establishes that the thorium had undergone approximately ten half-lives of decay before analysis, which puts the age of the material the artifact was made from at around one hundred and forty billion years. This gives us an upper and lower limit to the age of the artifact itself." Finished with her report, Jamie offered the printout to Medb. The massive woman took it without comment and walked off to one side to read it.

Cecil took the opportunity to check in with his office, leaving Jamie and Dimitri alone. Sidling up next to him she asked, "I understand you gave her the 'tour' last night; how was it?"

The security chief replied, "Probably like you and Cecil, only better." It was no secret in Dis that Cecil and Jamie were lovers, despite their attempts at discretion. But it was Jamie who was mostly concerned with keeping their affair a secret, while Cecil would have bragged about it openly if he could have.

"Isn't she a bit big for you?"

Grinning, Dimitri answered, "That gave us some trouble at first, but we figured out how to work around it. The important thing was that when we got our hips lined up, I could bury my head in her breasts with little effort. The only real problem was that she liked to be on top; she damned near smothered me a few times. Still, it was kind of interesting to be completely covered by a woman like that."

"How did you get that suit off her, or did she even bother to undress?"

Dimitri guffawed. "I get the feeling she wouldn't wear any clothes at all if she had the choice. She just touched a spot on the front of the belt and the damned thing flowed around her body into the belt itself. After that, all she did was take it off."

Any further discussion was interrupted when Cecil came back over to them. The trio then waited for Medb to finish with the report.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before she looked up to address them. "It would seem we have a paradox on our hands," she declared, somewhat imperiously, or so Dimitri thought.

As Jamie nodded, Cecil asked, "I don't understand, what paradox?"

Before Medb could respond, Jamie explained, "The current estimate for the age of the universe is eighteen billion years; that makes the material the artifact was constructed from older than the universe by a factor of ten."

Dimitri was so stunned that he couldn't say a word. However, Cecil recovered faster. "No, there must be some mistake. You must have done the analysis wrong."

Before Jamie could object, however, Medb spoke up: "No, it appears to be correct."

"But how's that possible?" Dimitri finally asked.

Jamie replied, "I believe it not only proves the existence of advanced extraterrestrials, but of parallel universes as well."

Now that was almost too much. "Isn't that just science fiction?" Dimitri asked.

"No," Jamie continued. "In fact, there could be an infinite number of universes lying all around us."

"How?" from Cecil.

"All right, think of it like this. We start with a point, which has no dimensions. A one-dimensional line contains an infinite number of points, a two-dimensional plane has an infinite number of lines, a three-dimensional cube has an infinite number of planes, and so forth. Do you see the pattern? Each new dimension contains an infinite number of objects of the previous dimensions. Cosmological theory tells us that spacetime possesses up to eleven dimensions; so, an eleven-dimensional hyperstructure would have plenty of room for an infinite number of four-dimensional universes like ours."

But Medb shook her head. "You are over-extending the analogy. The space-time continuum is eleven-dimensional, but portions of it can undergo a symmetry breaking event — which we would call a Big Bang — that causes some dimensions to expand infinitely while the rest collapse. Our universe formed when four dimensions expanded and the others became bound up with the strings that created the fundamental particles that formed the foundations for all matter and energy. The greater cosmos is still an eleven-dimensional hyperstructure, but there is no nested hierarchy of higher dimensions like a set of Russian dolls, as you seem to imply. Our universe is simply a five-dimensional pocket containing a highly convoluted four-dimensional hyperstructure."

"Okay, this is all very interesting," Cecil remarked in a sarcastic tone, "but what does any of it have to do with the age of the artifact?"

"Jamie is partly right. While our pocket contains just the one universe, the same kind of symmetry-breaking event can create other universes in other pockets, at different times and so all with different ages. I agree with Jamie that the artifact, or at least the material it was made from, originated in another pocket universe; in which case, the aliens that brought it here can not only cross space, but dimensions as well."

Cecil, Jamie, and Dimitri looked at each other, then Cecil asked the obvious question. "So you believe it's genuine?"

Medb gave them a look as if to say don't be stupid. "Of course it is genuine; I realized that as soon as I saw the dating analysis — you cannot fake that kind of data. There is no possibility that it can be native to Avernus or even our universe; it had to have been brought here deliberately."

For a brief moment no one moved or said a word. Then Dimitri gave a whoop and a holler as he threw his hands into the air, and then the two chiefs and the scientist seized each other in a grand bear hug. The three colonists along the wall were more sedate, but the guards grinned at each other and the lab tech, who in turn gave them a thumbs up sign. Only Medb appeared solemn.

"Great Father Cosmos, we did it!" Cecil cried, and Dimitri shouted simultaneously, "Rich! Hot damn, we're filthy, stinking rich!"

"More than that, gentlemen," Jamie added, "we're famous. And it gets better. I believe this is more than simply some kind of artifact; I think it's a device of some kind."

"Ho, whoa there, girl, let's not get carried away here," Cecil cautioned, pulling back from the other two.

"What makes you think so?" asked Dimitri, ever the pragmatist.

"I performed a crystallographic analysis of the material's structure. It has a standard metalloceramic matrix, nothing special, but the bulk of the mass of the material is some kind of inorganic polymer unlike anything in the literature. It's similar to silicon-based plastics, except it's made of germanium. Germanium falls in the same family as carbon and silicon, so it can form long, complex polymer chains just as they can; it's also a semiconductor, so it can act as a computer chip. Analysis shows that while the backbone chain is basically germanium and hydrogen, the side chains have a surprisingly wide variety of elements, suggesting they could have an equally wide variety of functions. Based on that variety, a computer model predicts that it can absorb and store light energy, that it can perform like a quantum computer, and that it has superconducting capability."

"So what can it do?" inquired Cecil.

"I haven't figured that out yet," she admitted, "but given a bit of time and luck, I should be able to get some idea."

"You cannot keep it," Medb stated unexpectedly.

The others looked at her for a moment in surprise; then Jamie began, "Now just a minute —", but Cecil interrupted her.

"Mayv's right, we've done our job, now someone else can figure out what makes it tick."

"That is not what I meant," Medb objected, but she was drowned out by Jamie declaring, "Let someone else take the credit for my discovery? I don't think so!"

But Dimitri had heard her, and he looked at the massive woman with concern.

"No one's going to steal your thunder," Cecil tried to reassure her. "Look, we'll all sign an affidavit attesting to the fact that you first discovered it was a device. Meanwhile, it'll take a few days to arrange for transport to Toliman; that should give you some time to do a few more tests, and maybe by then you'll have figured it out."

As Jamie considered that proposal, Medb took advantage of the silence to say, "No one can have it; it must be destroyed."

This time she had everyone's attention. "What do you mean we have to destroy it?" cried Jamie in utter disbelief.

"It is too dangerous to have around, especially if you plan to try to activate it."

"How do you know this?" asked Cecil.

For the first time Medb hesitated in answering. "I recognize it," she finally said.

The two chiefs and the scientist glanced at each other in bewilderment. "How?" Cecil pressed.

"I have seen it before," she stated in a defiant manner.

Exasperated, Cecil demanded, "Where?"

Medb narrowed her eyes in displeasure, but she replied with tight-lipped irritation, "On Earth."

"There've been no reports of alien artifacts found on Terra," Jamie declared in an adamant manner, but then her demeanor changed as she added in a more thoughtful tone, "at least, nothing made public."

"It was not recent," Medb said, evasive, but then she sighed, as if deciding it would be best to come clean. "It was in 1286 B.C.E., using the old calendar, in Ireland."

"Wait a minute; are you trying to tell us that you're thirty-six hundred years old?" Cecil asked skeptically.

"Closer to thirty-eight," she corrected with a slight smile, "though exactly how old I cannot say; I stopped counting over a millennia ago."

"Just what do you take us for, idiots?" Cecil began, but Jamie interrupted with, "No, she may be telling the truth. Her liver's not the only thing different about her: her immune system can fight off just about any disease and she has phenomenal healing powers. Also, her cells show none of the usual signs of aging; it's as if they have the ability to rejuvenate themselves somehow."

"So how is it dangerous?" asked Dimitri.

"Jamie is again right, it is a device. It is used to open gates to anywhere within the Cosmos."

"How is that dangerous?" Jamie objected. "Humans have been trying to develop that technology ever since we finally verified string theory."

"The danger," Medb replied, as if lecturing children, "is not in the gates themselves, but what could come through them."

Grinning, Jamie said facetiously, "You mean, like alien monsters?"

But Medb replied with a perfectly straight face, "Yes, that is exactly what I mean."

Dimitri was the only person in the room — besides Medb — who didn't laugh, and at first even he wasn't sure whether to take her seriously, until he saw her mouth turn down in a hard frown at the other's reaction.

"Do you believe this is a all just a farce?" she asked in a quiet tone, but with such menace the others sobered immediately.

"Well, you have to be joking, right?" Jamie tried to reassure herself. "I mean, really, you sound like one of those old science melodrama movies from the mid-twentieth century."

"No, I am deadly serious. The Spheres are filled with Beings, all of whom care nothing about mankind and most of which would be hostile to us. Many can sense the wormhole created by the gate, and more than a few can redirect it and force it to open onto a location of their choosing. The Archons pose the greatest danger. Any attempt to open a gate will attract their attention —"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Jamie interrupted vehemently; "'spheres' and 'beings' and 'archons', it's all superstitious nonsense!"

Medb narrowed her eyes in anger, but replied coldly, "Yet you believe in parallel universes and extraterrestrial races. I simply used different terms."

Jamie opened her mouth to make another rejoinder, but hesitated as the meaning of Medb's comment got through to her. Scowling, she said instead, "Alright, I see your point, but there's no need to sound like some kind of crank occultist."

"My dear," Medb replied in a patronizing manner, "what you call the occult is simply phenomena not yet recognized by science as being real."

"Look," Cecil addressed Medb before Jamie could retort, "you may be right about these 'spheres', but we can't really take your claim of monsters seriously."

"Then you are all fools," she replied tight-lipped, "and I have no patience for fools. I would leave you to your fate, except that if you somehow activated the artifact and the Archons came through, our entire Sphere would be in jeopardy, so I have no intention of giving you the opportunity."

"And just how do you plan to stop us?" Jamie challenged her.

Medb put her hands on her hips before she replied. "I can invoke Federal Rule 356-C-12-j and confiscate the artifact as a dangerous item. Of course, that would mean you would forfeit both the Federal reward and the company bonus."

"What makes you think we'll let you just take it?" Cecil asked, ominous, his hand drifting towards his sidearm.

"What makes you believe you can stop me?" Medb countered in a quiet tone.

Looking from the massive woman to the administrator and back again, Dimitri licked his lips and deliberately stepped between them. Addressing Medb, he asked, "What'd be our other options?"

Without taking her eyes off Cecil, she answered, "Let me take it with me. Along the way home I will dispose of it and claim that it was lost due to a shipboard accident. That way, you will still receive your reward and bonuses."

"And let you take credit for my discovery?" Jamie objected. "I don't think so!"

"Then I will destroy it here, now, which will lose you your bonuses. You will still receive the Federal award, and I will see to it that you are adequately compensated for the discovery."

"Not much of a choice, is it?" Dimitri lamented.

Looking directly at the security chief, Medb said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I am not interested in fame; I just want to prevent universal Armageddon." And as he looked her in the eye, Dimitri realized he believed her.

"Bullshit!" Jamie cursed.

"Maybe if you could tell us about these 'archons'," Dimitri suggested, "explain why they're a threat."

Staring malevolently at the scientist, Medb replied, "What would be the point?"

"I want to know!" he shot back in a forceful manner; then relaxed as he added with a slight smile, "It's my job after all."

Medb gave him a level stare, but she quickly determined that he was being sincere. Pausing a moment to take a deep breath, she said, "Very well. But you cannot have a proper understanding of them unless I explain to you about the Elder Beings —"

"Gods?" Jamie interrupted in a derisive tone, but Medb simply gave her a dirty look and continued.

"— which would make no sense without taking far more time than I care to at this point. So I will say only this, and you may accept or reject it as you see fit. The Archons are the true rulers of the Cosmos. They are able to manipulate the natural laws and physiochemical forces, thereby altering the Spheres as they see fit. They have done so in such a way as to increase the pain and suffering of the Races and Beings that dwell within them, for they feed upon our sorrow and misery and, after we finally die, upon our spiritual essence. Their one weakness, however, and the basis of our salvation, is that they are trapped in the space outside the Spheres, and so cannot interact with the Spheres directly. Otherwise our existence would be a hellish, prolonged nightmare of virtually nonstop torment.

"If you try to activate that device without knowing how to operate it, the chances are very good you will open a gate somewhere between the Spheres, which will allow the Archons to enter our universe. If that happens, there would be no stopping them. They are invulnerable, and so cannot be killed; they are virtually omnipotent, and so cannot be driven back. Our only hope would be to use the device to close the gate, but when they come through they will take possession of it, to protect it. Once established they would begin to alter the space within their immediate proximity and everything in it to create an environment that would maximize the pain and suffering they can cause while also prolonging life as much as possible. From there they would grow exponentially, like a cancer, and metastasize to form new centers of growth, first throughout our Sphere, then in the other Spheres around ours. I know this to be true, because in the incident I spoke of in Ireland, a fool only slightly more reprehensible than your planetologist used a similar device to open a gate so as to deliberately unleash the Archons onto Earth. Only with the help of a coalition of persons from the races of Ireland was I able to seize the device and close the gate before the Archons could come through."

Looking Dimitri straight in eye, she then concluded with, "The choice is now yours, the same one you had earlier: you can assist me or stay out of my way, but I intend to destroy this device, and I will crush anyone who tries to stop me."

Dimitri returned her stare and immediately appreciated two things. The first was that he believed the sincerity of her threat, while the second was that he also believed her story about the Archons. He didn't exactly know why, but he had learned to trust his instincts, and right now they told him that she was neither lying nor crazy. Whatever the truth might really be, he had come to accept that the artifact represented a real danger.

"Can you guarantee we will get our reward and bonuses?" he asked her.

"I give you my word," she assured him.

"Alright, you can take it," told her.

"Damn you!" Jamie shrieked, and from Cecil, "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Turning, Dimitri confronted them both. "My job," said in a stern tone. "My people and I will cooperate with her fully, at least until she gets it loaded on a spaceship; then it's her problem."

"Don't tell me you believe all that nonsense?" the scientist demanded.

"I take no stand on the truth of her claims, but I am convinced the artifact is dangerous. As long as we get our money, I don't care what happens to it. If she's telling the truth, we would be stupid to ignore it—"

"And if she's lying?" Jamie countered.

"If she's lying, I still say let someone else who's better equipped than us take it from here. In any event, I'm not changing my mind."

"Cecil, do something!"

"He can't, not in this case; it's my jurisdiction, so it's my decision."

Enraged, Jamie turned and stormed off to her desk. Dimitri looked at Cecil for a moment, then gave him an apologetic smile and a small shrug. "Sorry, Ces."

The chief administrator returned the shrug with one of his own. "She'll get over it; no big deal." Then he turned and followed Jamie. When he reached her, he put a hand on the small of her back and said, "It's okay, Mee, everything will work out for the best."

"Yes, of course it will," she agreed. Except her voice was utterly calm and somewhat chilly.

"Hey, don't get mad at me; if there was something I could do, I would do it, you know that."

She looked down at him; her face was as serene as her voice. "I'm not mad, Ces, believe me, but there is something you can do. I know how to activate it; I figured it out last night, after we made love. The symbols on the device are not letters, they're notes, like music. While you were in the shower, I instructed the lab computer to write a program to translate the symbols into a digital song; it's just now finished. I can play it over the lab's speakers; I just need you to keep Dimitri and Mayv busy while I set it up."

Cecil looked uncertain. "I don't know, Mee, Dimitri's right about one thing; if it's dangerous, we're not equipped to deal with it."

"There's no danger, Ces, I can assure you of that. The worst that can happen is that it would open up onto deep space, in which case I can kill the speakers and the gate should close. But I think it will open onto the alien's home world. I think this device is a kind of invitation, scattered throughout the universe, so that any species advanced enough to find it and turn it on can prove they are worthy of meeting the aliens and sharing in their technology."

But Cecil shook his head. "Dimitri seems convinced —"

"He's an idiot," Jamie spat. "She's got him besotted; he's probably hoping to get more sex from her before she leaves." Her manner then turned softer, more seductive, as she nestled up against him and put a hand on his rump. "Please, Cecil? You can trust me, and it will mean more money, probably enough to buy and terraform our own asteroid." When he hesitated, she added, "Afterwards we can celebrate, anyway you want; I'll even go with you to Daphne's Pleasure Salon if you like." Then she bent down and whispered in his ear all the things he had always wanted to do with her, but she had been too prudish to consider.

Unable to resist, he said, "Alright, I agree," and he tried to kiss her, but she pulled away, saying, "Do it now, before she has the device locked up."

He nodded, and she watched as he went over to where Medb and Dimitri stood beside the table with the two guards, discussing security arrangements. Glancing over at the lab assistant, she nodded. He signaled back, then casually began to stroll over to the table, but careful to keep the artifact between himself and Medb. As he did so, Jamie programmed her computer to play the music it had deciphered. She then waited until the assistant was in place. As he neared the table, Medb sensed something was amiss and looked straight at him. Her intense stare startled him at first and he paused briefly, but then he took the last few steps towards the artifact.

Medb spoke, "Coisc," and the assistant froze just as he reached the table, unable to walk further. But he could still move is arms, and he reached under the edge and flipped a switch. Immediately the tabletop lit up as a hum filled the air.

In the same instant, Medb shouted, "Sétim," and pointed at him. A flash of light engulfed him, and he was picked up off his feet and thrown across the room, to land in an unconscious heap against the far wall. She then turned to confront the scientist, but as she did so Jamie flipped a switch on her desk's console, and a moment later a weird, asynchronous, ululation following an alien rhythm flooded the room.

"Damnaigh!" Medb cursed, and ran for the desk with Dimitri in tow; Cecil remained behind and restrained the guards.

"Switch it off!" the security chief bellowed, "Switch it off!"

But it was too late. Even as Medb reached the console and struck Jamie with the back of one hand, a smoky, silvery-black vortex had formed behind and above the artifact. She flipped the switch, but the music kept playing. Cursing again, she slammed her fist down on the console, crumpling the control panel, but the music still would not shut off. She then took hold of her weapon and, stepping around behind the desk, used it to cut the power cable in a shower of sparks. Immediately, the music ceased, but by now the vortex had opened into a gaping maw of utter blackness, framed by a ring of glowing mist, and from it issued forth a sound utterly unlike anything human ears had heard before. To the imagination, it sounded like countless trillions of souls screaming and wailing in torment, while back of it all there came a low, throbbing, bubbling noise that sounded like insane, gibbering curses, accompanied by a weird, monotonous piping.

Medb ran for the artifact, but she had barely gone a few meters when appendages like monstrous tentacles shot out of the gate. One seized the device as two others knocked the guards aside; another wrapped itself around Cecil's waist and yanked him off his feet into the gate with no effort whatsoever. His screams faded for long moments, until they became part of the background cacophony, while everyone but Medb stood frozen.

Swinging her blade furiously, Medb charged the tentacles holding the device, screaming, "Shoot! Shoot!"

Snapping out of his shock, Dimitri pulled his pistol and yelled at the guards, "You heard her; fire!" The guards hesitated for only a moment longer, then began firing as the chief joined them. Great chunks and slabs of flesh melted under the tremendous power of the particle ray guns, but even as a beam moved on to another spot the damaged healed instantly. Even when Dimitri held his beam on one spot, the flesh just seemed to grow back as he watched, only to vaporize again a moment later. Medb meanwhile seemed to have slightly better luck. The tentacles she cut off dissolved so fast they almost seemed to evaporate into clouds of sticky, stinking greenish gas, but in almost the same instant the tentacles regrew. Still, she seemed to be making slow progress towards the artifact, so Dimitri left his guards to join and help her.

Though horrific enough, Dimitri could not help wondering why the Archons did not press their advantage. They had the opening and the artifact secure, and their enemies did not have any effective weaponry; now would be the time to send in the shock troops to establish a beachhead. Yet they seemed content merely to hold the gate open. What were they planning?

That became self-evident a moment later, when the tangle of tentacles that filled the opening to the vortex opened, and out stepped Cecil. Or rather, Dimitri realized, what used to be Cecil, or more likely something that looked like Cecil. It stood as tall as Medb, but was half again as wide as a human being, with huge, ropy arms and trunk-like legs; it was naked and hairless, with skin a putrescent, grayish, phosphorescent green. It was shaped like a human, with a gigantic block head wearing Cecil's face, but those familiar features were now twisted with lunatic mania, leering, gibbering, and giggling insanely, as a long tentacular tongue dripping saliva lolled out of its hugely distorted mouth. Real tentacles sprung from its shoulders and hips, the sides of its chest, and from out of its back, while between its legs its penis, now four times as long as normal, writhed sinuously as it dripped a glowing, silverish goo. And attached to the back of its head, an umbilical cord stretch into the maw of the gate and disappeared back into the vortex.

The homunculus surveyed the room for a minute, ogling the inhabitants as if sizing them up for a fucking. It then opened its mouth wider, and in a hideous, squelchy, croaking voice that sounded like Cecil's it distinctly said:

"Flesh. Flesh!"

The female guard moved to put herself directly in front of it and aimed her assault rifle at its face. "Flesh!" it boomed, and as she was squeezing the trigger, the manikin's tentacles seized her arms and legs, spread-eagled her, and lifted her up towards it. She managed to fire a short burst, but the shot went wild, and then another tentacle tore the gun from her grasp. She was pulled to within reach of the hands, which then began to tear off her clothing. She struggled frantically, screaming for help, but she was too close for Dimitri or the other guard to fire, and the tentacles that held her were too strong for her to resist. When she was completely denuded, the tentacles maneuvered her into a position where the snake-like penis could rise up and penetrate her. As Dimitri watched, he could see it pulsing as it pumped its discharge into her body. She screamed continuously in terror as the hands groped her breasts, the tongue slavered her face and neck, and the mouth laughed insanely and babbled rude comments.

"Out of my way!" Medb screeched at Dimitri as she tried to get past him, but even as he moved the penis withdrew and the tentacles threw her halfway across the room. She landed on her back, but her screams did not diminish, and she began thrashing about as her abdomen swelled hugely like a balloon. She gave a final shriek as her belly burst like a swollen pustule, spraying mucus around the room. A shape stirred in the cavity that was once her womb, rose, and revealed itself to be a homunculus identical to the first.

"Flesh!" it gurgled and started to advance on Dimitri.

The male guard shouted, "Look out!" as he threw himself between the security chief and the monstrosity. Too close to fire, he swung the butt and hammered at the homunculus's face, but it simply giggled insanely; then it seized him with its own tentacles and held him backwards as it proceeded to strip off his clothing. It maneuvered him closer and jammed its penis into his anus, which began pulsing as it injected fluid into his body. As it fondled his backside and slavered its tongue all over his back, the guard shrieked a high-pitched wailing sound that rose and fell like a siren, and didn't stop when the creature pulled out of him and threw him beside the body of the female guard. He only fell silent when his belly burst to reveal yet another marionette.

Frantic, Dimitri glanced at the room's only door. The gate lay between him and it, but by coincidence Medb had thrown the lab assistant against that wall, and he was beginning to wake up.

"Seal the door!" he shouted. The assistant shook his head and looked around in a daze of confusion. Then he focused on the tableau at the other end of the room.

"Seal the damn door!" Dimitri bellowed again, but the assistant was screaming too loudly to hear him. He scrambled to his feet and dived for the door mechanism, but to open it so he could escape. Just as he reached it, however, a tentacle from the Archon seized him by the legs and jerked him backwards. Shrieking, he desperately grabbed for something to hang on to and caught the lever that would close the blast doors. He clung to it with a death grip as the tentacle pulled on him, then it snapped him up suddenly before jerking him back quickly, breaking his grip in the process, but not before the lever had been pulled down. Relieved, Dimitri watched as the half-dozen, thick, heavy slabs of durablium steel began to slide into place over the door.

Jamie had awakened during this time, and watched as the tentacle tossed the assistant kicking and screaming into the waiting embrace of the newest manikin. She watched, dumbstruck, as it handled him as it's "parent" had been handled. When finished with him, it then threw his body with the other two. Jamie then found her voice when his abdomen swelled and burst, revealing a fourth homunculus; she began screaming in mindless panic and refused to stop.

Without thinking, Medb pointed at the lab tech's body as the new homunculus began to stir and shouted, "Glámain!" A flash of light enveloped the body, and when it disappeared there was nothing left of either the assistant or the manikin except a fine gray ash. She then pointed at the second marionette and repeated the command, but while the flash seared the skin off its body, the damage instantly healed itself.

Horrified beyond reason, Jamie threw herself at the door just as the last slab slid into place. She pounded on it for some moments, then ran over to the lever and started trying to force it up. The Archon seized her around the waist and tossed her onto the floor, at the feet of the first homunculus. "NO!" she screamed as it seized her; "Cecil, please, don't!" she pleaded as it ripped off her clothing; then: "Dimitri! Help me! Help me!" as it penetrated her.

The security chief started to race towards her, but Medb caught him by his belt and threw him away into a corner. At the same time, Jamie was thrown onto the floor. She looked up at Medb and cried, "Please . . . help . . . ME!" Medb just gave her a disdainful look and began to back away. The scientist opened her mouth to plead again, but was cut off when her skin broke open with a sickening pop. Medb instantly flash-burned her body to ash to destroy her manikin. She then retreated into corner with Cecil.

"Why did you stop me?!" he raged at her; "I could have saved her, or at least put her out of her misery."

"She was a contemptible fool," Medb answered in a cold tone. "Her actions have sealed our fates and damned our entire Sphere unless we can figure out a way to close that gate; she deserved to pay the price for her folly." She lashed out with her blade at a tentacle the Archon unleashed at them, as Cecil vainly fired on the three advancing homunculi.

"Cover me!" she ordered, then closed her eyes and began to chant. Raising her hands, she gestured, and a blue curtain of mist formed in front of them, from floor to ceiling and across the corner from wall to wall. As she finished, the mist solidified into a solid crystalline wall; the Archon and the manikins pounded on it, but it held against them, much to Dimitri's surprise.

Medb gasped as she opened her eyes, and collapsed into the corner. "That should hold them for a few minutes," she whispered weakly.

Dimitri eyed the shield dubiously, but he was grateful for the respite. Then he noticed something odd.

"It's still got the device," he said.

Medb had recovered quickly, but seemed distracted. "What did you say?"

"The Archon," he said, pointing at it, "it still has the alien artifact." He watched it for a moment, then turned back to Medb. "Why doesn't it just take it back to its realm?"

"It cannot," Medb said. "The mouth of the gate on this side is tied to the device. If it took it through the gate, the wormhole would fold in on itself and become an isolated loop in space and time; the Archon might even become trapped . . . in it —"

Medb broke off so abruptly that at first Dimitri didn't catch it. When he realized she wasn't going to say anything else, he asked her, "So now what do we do?"

She didn't answer right away; instead it looked as if she was thinking furiously. When she finally did, however, her voice was subdued and pained. "We wait for the shield to fail, then we fight them until they take us. Rest assure, however, that I will kill you before they can have their way with you."

"That's all?" Dimitri asked in shocked surprise. "How did you stop it last time?"

"I sang a song."

"Well, sing it again; I'll cover you if necessary."

But she shook her head. "It will not work this time. It is a long song, with a slow build-up; the shield would fail and we would be taken long before I could complete it."

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

Medb looked defeated. "There is only one option left, but we would not survive it."

"What is it; tell me."

"I can open another gate, a temporary one, close to the surface of Van Maanen's star. The gravitational pull should be great enough to pull everything in this room through that other gate, and the heat from white dwarf should vaporize the artifact, thereby closing the gate. The temporary gate will close as soon as we are dead."

Dimitri stared hard at her, but again what he saw convinced him she was telling the truth. "Will it work?" he asked point-blank.

"Certainly," she replied.

"Then do it," he said tautly.

She gave him a level stare. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," he assured her, "as long as it means we can send these fuckers back where they belong for good."

"You can have no regrets," she pressed.

He smiled thinly. "The only one I could have would be that I didn't have a chance to repeat last night. Now, stop talking and get it done."

Medb seized him then and kissed him hard; when she let him go, she was already concentrating and mumbling bizarre words in a low whisper. He turned to look out through the crystal shield. The homunculi and the Archon had not ceased trying to break through, and he saw that cracks were beginning to appear in it, which grew longer, wider, and deeper with each blow. He set his gun on maximum and waited for the shield to finally break.

He saw a vortex open up above the Archon, and a shaft of blinding, brilliant light shot through it and fell on the artifact. In the same instant he saw the ash, the loose papers, the dead bodies, all the furniture, even the heavy desk, get pulled up into the opening and disappear. Another vortex formed inside the newly opened gate as the room's air began to get sucked in as well. Dimitri could feel the massive pull of the gravity field on the other side drag at him; he could hear the roar of the cyclonic wind; he could feel his lungs ache as the air became too thin to breath. Gasping, he collapsed to his knees as he fought to stay conscious.

When the other gate opened, the homunculi paused in their efforts; when the contents of the room were drawn up into its maw they turned and bounded towards the Archon like frightened rats. They leaped through the gate into the mass of tentacles, which began it retreat into the vortex to protect themselves. Instantly the new gate above it disappeared; Dimitri found he could breathe again, and saw that in fact nothing in the room had been disturbed. Medb strode past him and hit the shield with the knob-end of her weapon, shattering it into fine shards that then evaporated into blue mist.

"On your feet!" she ordered at him. "Shoot out the tentacles holding the artifact."

Dimitri immediately realized what was happening and complied. Bracing his gun hand with the other, he burned away the tentacles one after another, and when they reformed he blasted those as well. Medb marched towards the Archon, and at the right moment pressed a stud on the handle of her weapon. The blade immediately telescoped out on a long shaft as an equally long extension appeared out the other end at the same time. She stopped then and, bracing her feet, threw the now converted spear as hard as she could. It struck the artifact just as Dimitri burned away the tentacle holding it, and the spear knocked it back to bounce off one wall. Medb sprinted around the Archon's flailing tentacles as Dimitri followed, laying down covering fire. She reached the artifact and snatched it up, but a tentacle wrapped around her waist and lifted her off her feet. It bore her around to the front of the gate, where she saw the Cecil-homunculus emerging from the opening. As soon as she was directly in front of the vortex, she threw the artifact towards it into the space that opened between the tentacles to let the manikins back through. It struck the third marionette square in the chest; it caught it out of reflex, then stumbled back inside the vortex.

Immediately the mouth of the gate folded in on itself and began to collapse. The tentacles instantly retreated into the maw, dragging Medb and the Cecil-manikin with them. Dimitri sighted on the tentacle holding the massive woman and cut it in half just before the rest of it disappeared into the rapidly dwindling maw. She landed at the feet of the homunculus, which grinned in lunacy at her, but when the gate snapped shut with a clap of thunder, the umbilical cord was cut and the manikin collapsed. Medb rolled away before it could fall on her, and as soon as it hit the floor it burst and splattered into a puddle of ooze.

Dimitri took her hand and dragged her away from the rapidly spreading noxious smear, then helped her to her feet. She held onto his hand for a moment longer, then caught him up in a massive bear hug that lifted him up off the ground.

"Hey, take it easy there," he joked, "at least until I'm ready to get physical."

Laughing, she set him down. Then she gave him an affectionate look and tousled his hair.

"You did well," she complimented him.

"You didn't do so badly yourself," he returned the favor, "especially the way you suckered all of us."

"The Archons can be fooled by powerful illusions," she explained, "but they can read minds, so you also had to believe that what was happening was real, otherwise they would have known it was a trick."

"Hell, I don't care, just as long it worked. Come on, let's get out of here. We need to get this mess cleaned up and I've got a report to write. I'm also starving."

"So am I," Medb breathed lasciviously, "but not for food." She then picked him up by the armpits and gave him a long and passionate kiss.

When they finally came up for air, he remarked, "Well, I suppose I can write that report tomorrow."