Demorius' big diamond shaped ship plowed through space at the speed of light between the Grace Khalontron asteroid belt and the Marxia-Ammelia system planetoids. A fairly busy trade route with cargo ships frequently connecting the two systems, both heavily populated and very active in the production and commerce sectors.
It was easy to go unnoticed in that continuous coming and going, where you could come across deolian flying cargo saucers which regularly transferred wares between the system's planets and the most remote and disparate depths of the Universe.
Demorius felt safe on that ship because travelling on hyper-light vessels offered him protection from the Deolian Control Center, which was occupied exclusively with traffic equipped with the D-Trax device. Furthermore, his altered genetic conformation allowed him to go undetected by the long range sensors normally present in the astroports, so basically there was no way that the deolians could locate him, unless with a close range proximity scanner, a highly unlikely event, thereabouts.
In this precise moment he was waiting to transfer onto a flying cargo saucer which would allow him to cover the enormous distance which separated him from a strategically more favorable sector from where he could assess his future plans, and this undertaking presented significant risks. Demorius in fact couldn't hide from the D-Trax data collection on board the flying saucers, but he was capable, a unique trait of his, of altering his biometric data into making the devices believe that he was just a common deolian so that he could pass the controls without being noticed. The illusion required great concentration and a notable mental effort, even a small variation in his biometric range would alert the Control Center.
Sitting comfortably on a big chair in the diamond shaped ship's observation room, Demorius was meditating in an attempt to achieve the level of concentration necessary to face the imminent journey.
The access request signal rang out from the door in front of him. Without losing his composure, he opened his eyes slightly and sent out a mental command ordering the door to open.
Dymeus, his head bowed, entered.
«Sir, I apologize...»
Demorius, shut his eyes again, and with a gesture invited his servant to continue. «Sir» Dymeus then repeated, «I would like to confirm that everything is ready for your transfer on board the flying cargo saucer Satasius. Commander, Rasekkin, has always been an ardent follower of our philosophy. When he knew of your return, he didn't hesitate to humbly place himself at your service.»
A small flash of light and an almost imperceptible pulsing of the veins on Demorius' forehead signaled the beginning of a telepathic communication with Dymeus.
- What destination has been set for the journey on his ship? -
Dymeus, bowed his head with his usual devotion, before answering aloud.
«Rasekkin transports cargo to the Nova-En-Thar system. The star is in an ideal position, in the middle of many trade routes which deal in our sector of interest. It will be very simple to move somewhere else from there without any problems.»
«Excellent...» Demorius opened his eyes and, looking intently at his interlocutor, spoke with a low and powerful tone. «Any news on the object of our research?»
«Sir» the servant replied, visibly uncomfortable due to the fact that Demorius was addressing him so directly, «we are closely following the activities on the lunar base: the terrestrial scientist has met with Commander Garius.»
«So Garius has come out into the open?» Demorius said almost amused. «Interesting, they must be really desperate to go against their precious rules and speak to a terrestrial.»
«The human has in effect demonstrated...a certain brilliance» Dymeus pointed out.
«We'll see...» said Demorius lowering his eyelids again.
«If he's brilliant enough to help us find what we have lost, I will personally erect a monument in his memory when the Universe falls at my feet!»
On Kantogea...
After putting on the gloves, the tournament participants were invited to pick up their shields and head towards a large corridor which led from the hall to the championship arena.
The highest part of the corridor walls was decorated with high-relief carvings of beings from different species in triumphal poses, gloved arms raised in victory. Their limbs stuck out so far that the sculptures from the two walls almost touched in the middle, forming majestic arches which loomed over the group of contestants walking underneath.
«The winners of the previous tournaments, I presume...» commented Roy, turning towards Smogghel, as he looked up at the impressive figures.
«Great!» said Smogghel, excitedly. «Just think, up until a little while ago I was a poor outcast without any hope, stuck on a piece of barren rock, and now I've got the possibility of seeing my effigy sculpted next to the previous Tournament Champions and the chance to become the Kantogean Regent's Supreme Companion!»
«Hey, don't run before you can walk!» Roy tried to curb the moghistani's enthusiasm. «I have no intention of staying here any longer than I have to!» he continued, lowering his voice. «As soon as Anfry's charged, we're off!»
Smogghel leant towards the youth, imploringly.
«Oh, no! Roy, please! Don't you understand? This is a unique opportunity for me to change my life, a real stroke of luck, after everything that I've been through! I want to take my chance and compete until the end!»
«And if you don't win?» demanded Roy.
«Oh, it doesn't matter! There's always the possibility of...ahem, you know, of settling down and marrying one of the beautiful Supreme Virginal Court maids! I may not be the Regent's Companion, but I would still have a gorgeous female by my side! Once I settle here, I could open a restaurant next to the amphitheater! I'm sure it would be a great success!» replied the alien, with dream filled eyes.
«Yes, ok, but...»
«Roy, it's his choice...» Anfry, poking out from the backpack, invited the teenager to stop insisting.
The truth was that Roy had just begun to appreciate Smogghel's company and he really didn't like the idea of having to part from him. In spite of his eccentric personality, the alien gave him a sense of security, and not only because of his tough warrior like appearance. Roy didn't know for how much longer he and Anfry would be forced to stumble around in that new reality and the moghistani, thanks to his past experience, represented a valuable guide, their only go-between in a mysterious and dangerous universe.
«Smogghel, I need you, you know so many things and I...» Roy tried to insist again.
«Don't get me wrong» his friend interrupted, «I am enormously grateful to you for saving me from my exile, but try to understand...An opportunity like this, after all the time I've spent in the middle of nowhere in total solitude...I want to try!»
«He's right, Roy» Anfry intervened, «we'll muddle through somehow, even without him.»
«But...» the youth tried to object again, to no avail.
«You'll have to give us the bracelet back, Smogghel» Anfry cut in, «so that you won't be dragged away with us when we leave.»
«Of course» said the alien, trying in vain to remove the object from his wrist, clumsy as he was with the tournament glove on.
«Would you mind...?» he said a little embarrassed, holding out his arm so that Roy could help him.
«Alright...» reluctantly, the teenager helped Smogghel to take off the bracelet and give it to Anfry who put it in the backpack.
The group of contestants were only a few meters away from the end of the corridor. The blinding daylight that filtered powerfully through the opening in front of them was so overwhelming that they couldn't distinguish anything in the arena or of the crowds crammed in the stands there to witness the big event, but the noise coming from outside became clearer and gave them a good idea of what they could expect. Hundreds of drums and other strange percussion instruments together with ritual chanting being shouted in unison and obsessively repeated by the public, incited the crowd further, making the walls shake.
As soon as the first contender stepped out of the corridor onto an enormous balcony raised in the middle of the amphitheater terraces, the crowd roared to greet him, so loud that the entire arena seemed on the verge of collapsing.
Roy, reached the balcony where a handful of competitors equipped with glove and shield were being greeted, he was more than impressed by the multicolored sight coming from the stands and also by the building's magnificence, the beauty of which had been impossible to imagine from the outside, hidden as it was by lush vegetation.
The structure was similar to the Colosseum in Rome, Roy had kept a few photos taken by his parents during one of their business trips to Italy, but on a much much larger scale. The stands were divided into at least ten tiers; from what he could make out with the teeming mass so tightly packed in every section. Set between the arcades on the highest tier, imposing columns towered over the spectators. Each column was crowned with a sparkling crystalline prism which cast back greenish reflections of the clear sky.
The crowd was excited, the noise of the percussion and the chanting voices was becoming deafening. Roy lowered his eyes and noticed that the arena surface resembled a gigantic glass window like the ones you could find in archaic churches, made up of a mosaic of vividly colored irregularly shaped pieces.
All of a sudden, a deafening sound filled the air with a deep melancholic chord; the drums stopped beating and the public fell silent. Soon after, all sound ceased completely, throwing the stadium into an unnatural silence.
The Instructor entered the stadium elegantly dressed as Master of the Ceremonies, «People of Kantogea!» his voice rang out bursting with enthusiasm, breaking the deathly silence and welcoming the spectator's roar of approval.
The powerful kantogean with the yellow crest was standing on a platform carved out of rough diamond rock which extended from the last tier towards the center of the amphitheater. Above him, a big white multi-faceted crystal served as a massive screen reproducing scenes of the event, taken from every angle, the screaming crowd, the arena beneath them or close-ups showing the contestants astonished faces.
After calming the cheering roar of the crowd with an exaggerated lavish gesture, the Master of the Ceremonies continued his introduction.
«Welcome to the Legendary Challenge to become the Companion of the Beautiful Divine Virgin Regent of the Great Planet Kantogea!»
«Did he memorize all this or is he reading it off something?!» said Roy ironically as he stood in the group of competitors all enraptured by the opulence of the moment and feelings of nervous anticipation.
«The champions, the contestants, arrived here from every part of the galaxy are ready for the great challenge» the Master of Ceremonies proceeded, «and now they have the privilege of seeing with their own eyes the person who is this day a living legend and who will always be legendary!»
The yellow crested kantogean lifted both of his hands towards the highest part of the amphitheater, opposite the balcony where the contestants were waiting. All of the kantogeans in the stands also raised their hands with the palms opened upwards pointing in the same direction, in what was evidently a sign of respect and devotion.
Above the Master of Ceremonies head the many sided screens of the big white crystal reproduced close up scenes of the magnificent platform, the glass surface of the arena floor was filled with images of the podium, sparkling like a diamond, from where the Divine one would soon appear in all her splendor. The pearl beaded curtains that hid the podium from the crowd's view slowly opened to offer them all a vision that none of them would ever be able to forget.
«Holy cow, that sure is one hot out of this world chick!» exclaimed Roy in amazement, earning a hard tug from Anfry.
«Be-Beautiful... truly Divine!» Smogghel echoed ecstatically, thick white smoke coming out of the holes on his head.
«Y- you find her beautiful too?» asked Roy perplexed, without taking his eyes off the splendid view.
«But... How does she seem to you? What does she look like?»
«She's gorgeous! Her crests are the most perfect that I've ever seen, that gold smoke coming out of the holes framing her exquisite face and those eyes...oh man, I've never seen eyes like that before! And, that tough skin, so compact and smooth, a dream come true!»
«Are you kidding? That's not how I see her, she's human! Divine, but human! How's that possible?»
«I already told you: it's a characteristic of the kantogean females and the Divine Regent takes that ability to the highest possible level.»
«It is most likely a powerful hypnotic impulse...» Anfry said dryly.
«Fine, then you should be able to see her as she really is...What's she like?» Roy asked the robot.
«A fabulous white hare.»
«Are you messing with me?»
«Yes, I was joking. She's got a beak, just like all the other kantogeans.»
«What a rip off!» Roy concluded, although he didn't take his eyes off the Regent.
The stage curtains closed gradually, hiding the Kantogean Regent's universal beauty away from the gawking suitors again. The public's ecstasy was interrupted once more by the Master of Ceremonies voice.
«People of Kantogea, let the Historical Challenge of the Matterball Tournament begin!»
Another roar from the crowd made the arena building shudder again, after which the various musical instruments and percussion recommenced their rhythmic concert as if anticipating what was about to happen.
Roy gazed curiously at the public in the stands, something was bothering him.
«Why aren't there any alien spectators in the crowd?» he asked Smogghel, dragging him by his glove.
«It's like I said, the kantogeans don't allow anybody to set foot on their world, except for the contestants chosen to compete in the tournament.» replied the other, similarly observing the crowd.
«Strange though, all the tournament contestants are aliens. For what reason should her royal beakyness have to mate with an alien?»
«I don't really know what to say, word goes round that the kantogean males aren't fertile, anyway, it's been happening like this for a very, very long time...»
A dull thud came from below them and was highlighted by the public's enthusiastic uproar, which distracted them from their discussion. The arena's glass floor was disappearing from sight, sliding under the amphitheater building and revealing the Greenmatter lake, a bubbling gelatinous substance of a phosphorescent green color.
«Well', it doesn't really make me want to dive in there!» Roy announced.
As they watched, a colossal construction emerged from the middle of the lake, making the thick slimy green liquid bubble even more and on the packed tiers, the crowd's excitement escalated to its highest yet.
The construction had a base carved out of rough diamond rock onto which a massive metallic sphere was embedded. Long extendible poles made of what looked like crystal were magnetically anchored to the sphere, arranged in a fan like manner and were free to move in any direction. Hanging from the top of each pole was a disk, a smooth stone platform of about one and a half meters in diameter.
A tower decorated with bas-relief carvings and covered with colored prisms, arose from the sphere, with greenish smoke billowing out of several circular openings on top.
The suspended disks, held up by the transparent poles, moved away from the central structure and began to rotate around it, going higher and lower in an almost graceful dance movement. They moved around the stadium perimeter, slowly to begin with, then faster and faster, accompanied by the crowd's incitement and the rhythm of the drums.
«Now what... It looks like one of those fairground rides but on a gigantic scale!» exclaimed Roy overawed.
«A ride? What's that?» Smogghel asked curiously.
«It's a sort of... a big mechanical game that children get on.»
«Are you saying that this is all just a child's game to you? You've got something similar on Earth?»
«Well, no... not exactly... Oh, look, it doesn't matter» Roy concluded, meanwhile the disks had stopped whirling around and were now hanging stationary in mid-air, close to the contestant's balcony.
«The time has come for every contestant to take his place on the Grand Tournament Carousel!» the Master of Ceremonies prompted the group of aliens to move onto the stone disks.
The first one who moved, a being covered in grey scales, hesitantly put his three legs on the nearest platform and, to his discontent, became immediately aware of its instability. The disk began to sway, leaning dangerously to one side, and only after a few moments of panic the creature managed to regain his balance, steering the structure that began moving unsteadily away from the balcony, leaving space for another disk to take its place and be occupied.
«It doesn't look easy to stand on ...» Roy observed worried.
In the meantime, the crystal screens above the Master of Ceremonies began showing scenes from previous tournaments. Some contestants were practicing speeding about on the disks when the kantogean started to explain the most outstanding phases of the Tournament, for the public's and the contestant's benefit.
«The contestants can command the Carousel disks with their body movements, which will allow them to cover the arena perimeter far and wide, high and low and in every direction.»
Roy, meanwhile, had arrived on the edge of the balcony and was preparing to get on the nearest disk.
«Do you think you can do it?» asked Anfry a bit concerned.
«I don't do so badly on skates, as you know... keeping my balance on these things shouldn't be much different, I hope» answered Roy putting his feet cautiously on the disk's surface.
«What's it like?» demanded Smogghel, waiting behind him.
«I thought it was going to be worse» Roy admitted, concentrating on getting his balance right, «it's not as difficult as it looks.» Having said that, he carefully moved his center of gravity forwards and the disk, obligingly, turned in the desired direction, moving away from the balcony.
Smogghel didn't have too many problems in familiarizing with the strange means of transport either, and soon all of the contestants were on board their stone disks.
The Master of Ceremonies began talking again with the usual emphasis.
«Now that the competitors have taken their places, they will be divided into the two groups who must confront each other in the first round.»
Roy's glove and shield began to glow changing to a phosphorescent yellow color. Roy looked at his equipment in amazement, then he turned towards Smogghel, who was standing on a disk just a few meters away, and saw that his equipment had turned the same yellow color. He looked around him: the other contestant's gloves and shields had also changed, and had been divided equally into two phosphorescent colors, yellow and red.
«Hey, Smogghel, it looks like we're on the same team» he said, glad to be in the same group as his friend.
The multi-faceted crystal screen now reproduced close up images of the circular openings on top of the central tower, where several flying globes of green light, as big as melons, were emerging.
The kantogean's voice sounded out throughout the stadium again, underlining the importance of what they were seeing.
«When the last of the ten Greenmatter spheres is released from the forges, the Challenge will legally begin!»
The screens showed various examples of the game's actions: a contestant warded off a light globe with his shield and grabbed another globe with his hooked glove as it passed close to him, then he launched it back towards an adversary.
«The shield protects the contestants from the spheres» the Master of Ceremonies continued, «the glove can defensively catch and attack.»
Now the screens showed an adversary being hit in the chest by a light globe, caught out without having the time to use his shield for protection. For a few seconds, the alien turned the same greenish color as the globe of light, before he disintegrated, letting the shield and the glove fall onto the empty disk.
«Anyone hit by the Greenmatter, is eliminated!» the Master of Ceremonies concluded, while an unsettling deathly silence fell all over the stadium, broken almost immediately by the contestant's reactions, horrified by what they'd just seen.
«Oh Holy shit, no! I knew it had to be a rip off!» exclaimed Roy alarmed.
«But... But... I don't understand...» stammered Smogghel incredulous.
«Eliminated means disintegrated, whammo! Deleted!» Roy repeated, as if he needed to.
«The exact word is annihilated. The Greenmatter seems to be a sort of stabilized anti-matter» Anfry specified.
«Hey! No! This wasn't part of the agreement!» The voice of a strong being with thick orange hair rose from the group of contestants aimed at the Master of Ceremonies.
«Anyone who gets hit is eliminated, that is what was explained, I believe» the kantogean replied, appearing almost amused by the situation.
«Not like this, you can count me out!» the orange alien shouted, taking off his glove, throwing his shield away from him and maneuvering his disk back to the balcony.
The Master of Ceremonies half smiled.
«Nobody is allowed to abandon the arena...»
He stretched out his hand towards the rebellious alien and suddenly the crystal poles holding up the disk shattered into a thousand pieces. The disk plummeted into the lake below together with the being who disintegrated in a flash of light in the boiling Greenmatter.
The Master of Ceremonies, satisfied, finished his speech with a diabolical grin on his face.
«And finally, the last rule, that every contestant knows, anybody who falls into the lake...is eliminated!»
The silence in the arena transformed into an uncontrollable thunderous eruption of excitement from the crowd, a callous omen of the cruel spectacle of death.
At the Terrestrial Affairs Observation Post, on the Moon...
When Garius realized that the D-Trax inside Anfry wasn't a deolian device, but had been built by professor Baldassar based on the original, he was aghast.
In all the years he'd invisibly followed the scientist's work from afar, he'd come to sincerely appreciate the man's indisputable genius and ability, but never would he have believed him capable of progressing that far. Other than which, nothing in the periodic reports he'd received about the brilliantly minded terrestrial, had ever indicated his intentions of replicating the original D-Trax.
Once he had overcome his surprise, the Commander asked Moses courteously to accompany him to the base's laboratory and meet Vitalius, their Scientific Director.
While they were making their way through the corridors to see the deolian scientist, Garius couldn't help but express his wonder for the human's incredible achievement.
«Professor, believe me. I have followed your work with extreme attention for a very long time, as you now know. Yet, we only realized that you possessed not one but two devices when the second D-Trax inside Anfry activated... We couldn't believe it! We knew that the device stolen from the Roswell saucer wreck was incomplete, and therefore innocuous...So we limited ourselves, as is our tradition, to discretely monitor you, without considering it necessary to intervene...»
«You've spied on me for all these years» Moses recriminated faintly.
«With discretion though, don't you agree. But, as I said before, when we came to know of the existence of a second device, all our certainties collapsed instantly like...a tower of cards! That's how you say it, in your world isn't it?» Garius asked for confirmation.
«Yeah...»
«We couldn't understand where the second D-Trax came from and we formulated the most absurd theories: that it belonged to another saucer that had crashed on Earth without us knowing, or that Demorius had travelled on a special spaceship that was equipped with two devices... But none of these theories proved acceptable!»
«And yet...»
«And yet you have really surprised us! In all the known Universe our transport devices are unique, they represent a technology which makes us...let me say, without false modesty, the dominant species. A multitude of races scattered around the cosmos would be more than happy to get their hands on our D-Trax; and you cannot imagine how many of them have tried, and keep trying, without success. You have succeeded to do the impossible!»
«I believed that the impossible was something fun to chase after. Now, with everything that's happening, I don't find any of it enjoyable any more» Moses commented bitterly.
«Professor, I understand your state of mind and the apprehension you feel for your grandson's fate. But I would like you to react as a man of science, with logic and determination. If I made you come here it is because I am certain that we will find a solution to this predicament.»
«You've got to be more desperate than I am...» Moses alluded, peering into the abyss of Garius' black eyes.
«I can't deny that» Garius admitted after a troubled sigh, «but from the depths of desperation sometimes the boldest ideas are born, like the one that persuaded me to ask you for your collaboration, offering ours in return. Together we will find the solutions that we're looking for, don't you agree?»
Moses read honesty and sincerity in the alien's words and on his face.
«Very well» he conceded after a brief pause, «let's get on to it immediately, then.»
They walked briskly towards Vitalius' laboratory.
«I've asked you to meet our Scientific Director because I am sure that you'll understand each other better. You know how it is, between scientists...» said the Commander before entering.
«I'm at his complete disposal» Moses confirmed.
«Just one thing» Garius delayed, «out of curiosity, my curiosity... How did you manage to construct your D-Trax without us knowing?»
Moses raised his eyebrows.
«Well', I honestly don't know what you used to keep an eye on me. To tell the truth, I built it in my spare time, when I could. Perhaps you just didn't notice. After all, it wasn't an official project: my purpose wasn't to reproduce it but to understand it. That's why I tried to copy the original, just to get a better idea of how it worked.»
«Extraordinary!» exclaimed Garius in admiration, inviting Moses to step into the laboratory.
Vitalius was waiting for them impatiently, standing in the middle of the big room, with a whirlpool of fluctuating holograms going round and round his head in no particular order, reproducing technical diagrams, formulas, images and film clips.
«Professor Baldassar, this is professor Vitalius, the lunar base's Scientific Director.» Garius introduced them. The alien scientist was more or less how Moses had imagined him, but with a few unexpected characteristics. He wasn't as tall as Garius, older and slighter in appearance and, unlike the hairless aliens that he'd seen until then, the scientist had two funny tufts of white hair at the sides of his face, which attracted Moses' attention.
Vitalius caught the curious look that Moses gave him.
«Before you ask, the answer is yes, I'm wearing terrestrial clothing. It's one of my quirky habits. We brainiacs have our... manias, am I correct, dear colleague?»
The aliens friendly tone of voice helped lift Moses' anxiety, he nodded smiling.
Vitalius brushed the carousel of holograms aside, sending them flying onto the laboratory floor where they lay disorderly as he invited his two guests to sit down on some red chairs placed around a white spherical table. The terrestrial scientist was surprised to recognize them as being in a typical sixties style: to be precise, like the great science fiction fan he was, he immediately recognized the chairs as being the Djinn model used in the '2001: Space Odyssey' film.
«Yes, the furnishings come from Earth too» said the Scientific Director, anticipating the man's comments, «It's not because you're not important, but I didn't do it on purpose to make you feel at ease, it's just that, you know...I like them.»
«I approve, you've got good taste» smiled Moses, sitting down.
Garius sat down next to him, while Vitalius went to sit in front of them, staring at the terrestrial scientist with a contented yet curious look on his face.
«Well, Professor Baldassar, or Baldassarre, Baldassarri... That's your original surname, isn't it? You're of Italian origin I believe after hearing your accent...»
«Vitalius...» Garius scolded him.
«Oh, of course, pardon me» the alien scientist lifted a hand as a sign of apology, «I do tend to stray from the subject a bit...But let's get straight to the point...» he settled himself in his seat and took a deep breath. «Right, I'll try to be concise. Garius has brought me up to date; I'm not going to ask you how you managed to construct a D-Trax, even though you have no idea how much I'd love to sit here and chat about it with you...»
«Yes that's understandable, but please let's keep to the essentials» Garius intervened graciously, badly hiding his unease.
«of course, certainly» Vitalius resumed, «summing it up, the device that you built...being, let's say, abnormal, is sending us incomplete information. Everything that we receive is sent to us exclusively on activation and so we only know when it was activated, where it was on activation and some vague but sufficient data about the passengers.»
«And this is the reason why, as Garius explained earlier, you have identified Roy's vital signs and you know that he is well» Moses asked for confirmation.
«Yes, the D-Trax has activated twice and both times your grandson's data, at least on activation, appeared good.»
«T-twice?» demanded Moses, concerned.
Garius nodded.
«After he left Dreamkey, we registered a second activation coming from a remote world in the Daal-Savyok belt. The strange thing is that, other than your grandson, we identified data coming from another passenger.»
«WHAT? Somebody else is with Roy, now? Has...Has he been taken hostage, is he a prisoner?» Moses jumped up, in the throes of fear.
«Calm down, Professor» Garius invited him to sit down again, «we have investigated and the individual who is with your grandson, even though he comes from a race of tough warriors, is not at all aggressive, in fact he's completely harmless. According to our database he's a cook, a certain Smogghel, who has among other things served on some of our ships on the hyper-light routes, in the past.»
«A-a cook?» Moses stammered.
«Yes, a cook exiled on an uninhabited planet, until your grandson arrived...This circumstance has helped us identify him; his identikit could be useful in tracking Roy down. What we don't understand though is how he managed to join your grandson on his journey, and how your grandson is connected to the device!»
«The fact is» Vitalius spoke again, «that the D-Trax are normally installed on our 'flying saucers', as you call them on Earth. When they activate, the transport mechanism produces an effect on the ship and everything inside it, including the crew, obviously. In your grandson's case there isn't a ship, but we've hypothesized that Roy is able to travel without a vehicle thanks to the device's security systems which, needless to say, in this case are working in an abnormal and extraordinary manner...»
«What would this security system do normally?» Moses asked attentively.
«It creates a sort of 'survival bubble' around the occupants of a flying saucer if there's structural failure or in case of an accident, for example» Vitalius replied.
«And you think that, because there isn't a vehicle around the passengers...»
«The security system is constantly operative. That's not how it should be, this apparatus should only protect the crew until they reach destination, then it deactivates, and doesn't allow any further travel...But it's the only possible explanation. Let's just say that we consider these abnormal functions to be part of the abnormal contraption that you built.»
«This 'survival bubble' could protect Roy should he materialize somewhere not compatible with human life?» Moses asked anxiously.
«No, it only activates during the journey, but don't be concerned» Vitalius hurried to add, «our devices have got an ulterior security mechanism that restricts travel to incompatible destinations depending on the passenger's characteristics...»
«That means that Roy can't materialize on a world that doesn't have a breathable atmosphere?»
«I would exclude it, if your D-Trax was behaving in a conventional manner, rather than an abnormal one like in this case...»
«It doesn't bear thinking about...» said Moses, visibly upset.
«Right,» Vitalius continued, «now we can get down to answering the question: how are your grandson Roy and this Smogghel able to travel with the D-Trax?»
«Sorry, I have to admit you've lost me there» said, Moses, confused.
«I'll get to the point» Vitalius said patiently, «We've come to the conclusion that our...allow me to use the term, castaways, are possibly travelling without a ship, agreed. But the D-Trax needs to have a constant connection with the passengers, to be able to 'lock on' to them and take them with it. Do you follow?»
«Yes, it's quite clear, I understand perfectly» Moses nodded with conviction.
«Good» Vitalius proceeded, «we deolians have implanted a synthetic bio-gland in our body which activates in cases like this and transmits our data to the D-Trax using particular waves called 'eco-omega waves'.»
«Eco-omega?» Moses repeated curiously.
«They are the same waves that allow us to receive data from the devices in real-time from any part of the known universe. It has to do with the dark spectrum of quantum lift which, by taking advantage of the wave particle duality of the tachyons...»
«Vitalius» Garius interrupted, «you'll have time to discuss all the scientific aspects in detail when, I hope, we achieve a happy ending to this problem. For now, professor Baldassar, all you need to know, is that, without this transmission using eco-omega waves between the passengers and the D-Trax, the device wouldn't be able to connect with the passengers, nor would it recognize them as such and its activation wouldn't have any effect on them.»
«As you'd say» Vitalius added, «without the eco-omega connection, the passengers would be left high and die!»
«Umm, that's dry...» Moses corrected him.
«I'm sorry, as long as the message got across is all that matters» said Vitalius, slightly embarrassed.
«Do you have any idea» Garius carried on, «how Roy and his travel companion could be connected to the device?»
Moses thought about it for a while, looking at Garius, then looking at Vitalius, both of them eager for the answer which, luckily, didn't make them wait too long.
«The bracelets...»
«The what?» both aliens asked at the same time.
«Before the incident» Moses explained, «I'd given Roy a bracelet, a sort of multimedia communicator that I designed. I made the transmission system following the outline of the one recovered in the original D-Trax. I had no idea that I was dealing with these eco-omega waves, but in practice this system greatly increased the frequency band, the compression speed and data transmission!»
«Am I correct in saying» Garius said astounded, «that you managed to make a bracelet that transmits using eco-omega waves.»
«Yes... I think I may have.»
«Fantastic! You really are a surprising creature, Professor!» said Vitalius, staring at his terrestrial colleague in wonder.
«I agree, but... what about the other passenger?» asked Garius.
«I'm not sure, however...» said Moses, certain to have had the right intuition, «he must have put on the second bracelet: it was supposed to be Wendi's but it was chipped and when I finished repairing it I gave it to Anfry to safeguard!»
«Well» concluded Garius, happy to have made a small step forwards, «I think that we can say this point has been solved.»
«Excuse me...» Moses turned optimistically to the Commander, «your Control Center, the Center of, of...»
«The Center of Primary Movement Control» Vitalius intervened.
«Thanks» Moses proceeded, «once the transmission of device activation has been received, can't it be blocked or, in some way, prevented from operating?»
«That would be too simple! We wouldn't be here discussing it, would we?» Vitalius snapped.
«No, I'm sorry» Garius said disheartened, «the Center of Primary Movement Control can't do that. It hasn't been assigned to interfere with the device's functioning, it can only receive and register their data transmissions. It is the D-Trax itself who possesses a system, so to say, of automatic blocking in case its data doesn't get sent properly to the Center. It's a security system which has demonstrated to be infallible until today, nobody has ever managed to manipulate a D-Trax without damaging it, making it effectively useless.»
«I understand...» said Moses disappointed.
«The only thing that we can do currently» Vitalius resumed the main conversation, «is wait until the D-Trax activates again, at least we'll know where your grandson was and how he was when he left.»
«But, unfortunately, that means we will always be one step behind» continued Garius, «once he has left, Roy could in fact find himself anywhere in the known Universe.»
«So what can we do?» asked Moses.
«We have to try and predict your grandson's possible destinations, so that we can position somebody in these places to be on guard and wait for Roy to materialize» Garius answered clearly.
«Can we do that?» asked Moses, full of hope.
«Only you can tell us that» Garius answered back, solemnly.
«Me? How?»
«The part of the device that you reproduced is the heart of the system, it's engine, essentially. But you were missing a fundamental piece.»
«The one Stephanie used to bring us here...»
«Exactly, the circuit containing the destination database!»
Then Moses had a stroke of genius which uncovered the solution that he'd been looking for for so long.
«I'll be damned... All the device needed was a list of places, somewhere to go, so that it could work?! The destination coordinates were missing?»
«No... Not the coordinates!» intervened Vitalius almost berating him off for his naivety.
«What...?»
«The Universe is in continuous movement, even if you had inserted an infinite number of variables, the coordinates still wouldn't be reliable, the destination database uses simple descriptions!»
«Descriptions?»
«Certainly: simple descriptions, detailed and explicit, of the place that you want to go to!»
«A list of descriptions...» Moses reflected, almost to himself, while he tried to elaborate this new information.
Vitalius leant forwards, resting his elbows on the table as he tried to get closer to the man.
«Exactly Professor, a list of descriptions. If the D-Trax inside the automaton has activated, it unequivocally has to communicate with some sort of archive that it has recognized as valid, one already present in Anfry!»
Moses saw his stunned expression reflected in the alien's black shiny eyes.
«All this is crazy! A-Anfry hasn't got data like that inside...»
«I agree with you, but there isn't any other possibility. Think about it, Professor» Garius implored, «are there any files with locality or extraterrestrial world descriptions inside the automatons data archives?»
«Well', no, there are some maps of Earth, Anfry has a big geographical atlas... so does this mean that Roy could materialize on Earth!?»
Vitalius shook his head: «That would be a lucky break indeed, but the first journey your grandson made was to a world very much outside your solar system and your galaxy, so I don't think it possible that the D-Trax used the atlas.»
«Think harder» Garius insisted, «any descriptions of worlds, civilizations alien to yours...»
«But how... Alien worlds?» Moses couldn't figure it out. Anfry contained loads of data and had some extraordinary functions. He himself had programmed the automaton, but how was it possible that he possessed a database which contained descriptions of alien civilizations or fantasy worlds?
Fantasy worlds! The key to the impossible threw open the door to the only, completely crazy solution. «The fantasy stories...» said Moses incredulous.
«What?» the two aliens exclaimed in chorus again.
«I don't understand how this could be possible, but...Anfry is programmed to entertain the kids, he's got a database with loads of stories...Stories about fantastic adventures, in various settings. There's a bit of everything, you know...monsters, fairies, ancient civilizations, fantasy worlds, alien worlds...»
Moses saw Vitalius and Garius look at each other, as if paralyzed, in silence.
«But they're only stories!» Moses said again, «made up tales, purely imaginary! There are no descriptions of real worlds, the D-Trax couldn't have connected to that database!»
Garius stood up and put his hand on Moses' shoulder.
«Professor, I have to tell you with absolute certainty that that is exactly what has happened.»