"If the tests go through as planned, there will be devastating consequences for the com-zones of Ophilion." She went on to make her point as quickly as possible so they wouldn't think her mad. "There is physics and chemistry involved. I'm not an expert; our own scientists understand the whole theory, but I'll explain it to you the way they told me."
The com-kids watched her as if she were a strange species of forest animal, or an alien from another planet.
"Over the last eight cenro the prime rulers in Kypro have been developing a weapon which they hope to use against our neighboring planet, Quarinor."
"Quarinor?" Fel asked. "Why Quarinor? They never had any hostile intentions, have they?"
"No, but the council does. They want to tap the energy resources, and, if the have their way - dominate them. There are other forces at work here too, which I'll explain later, but the point is that they are in the process of developing a weapon to break through the bio-shield that Quarinor has placed around their planet to protect themselves from this threat.
"So far, the attacks on the Quarinor shield have been ineffective, that is why the rulers of Kypro are developing this bio-weapon based on hexolium and a new breed of superheating explosive charge called 'quantol'. We don't know if it will, in fact, be effective against the Quarinor shield, but, if the information we have is correct, that won't matter - the weapons test in our asteroid belt is the problem.
"The way it works," Jenna went on, "is that when they fire the quantol explosives in the planetary ring, the reaction will have an effect that they are not aware of – If they were aware of it, they would never attempt it. There is a mineral called iridonium-3 that naturally co-exists with Hexolium. Not much testing has been done with iridonium-3 because there is no commercial demand for it, but what we have learned is that when iridonium is superheated in a zero-gravity condition - such as would occur as a result of quantol explosives - its molecules will fuse with the hexolium and cause a sub-nuclear reaction which will result in a wave, or possibly multiple waves of hexolium radiation.
"Naturally occurring hexolium radiation is harmless, some people even take concentrated hexolium as a narcotic." Fel and Orion exchanged meaningful glances. "In the free-zones this wave of radiation will have no effect on flora or fauna, but in the com-zones... it will be very different. The problem occurs when the massive quantities of hexolium radiation combine with the high concentration of air contamination in the com-zones. The air, as you know, is saturated with larintor and pherion particles, which come mainly from the chemical fusion fuels used in industry and transportation. When the three elements combine the air will become extremely toxic."
"So if you're right," Celli asked, "then your people in Bonthran-Tel wouldn't be affected."
"Not directly, no, but we are one planet; we are all connected."
"It seems you'd be better off without the com-zones," Celli's voice had become uncharacteristically bitter, "maybe we all would."
"That's not for us to judge."
"So, you would risk your life traveling to Kypro for people who could care less if you even existed?" Orion asked skeptically.
"Not everybody in the com-zones is like that. You're not."
Orion conceded her point.
"So, by 'extremely toxic' you mean...?" Fel wanted specifics; he suddenly felt mildly concerned. Something in Jenna's voice.
"From what our agents have told us... it will have a fatal outcome for most or maybe all people inside the com-zones and close-range agri-zones. The agri-zones further out will probably fare better. It will depend on wind direction and velocity." Jenna looked at each of them. "The com-zones will become death-zones, and it will happen quickly."
"How quickly?" Fel asked.
Jenna swallowed. "So quickly that... most people probably won't have time to get out once the effect is noticed, or if they do, the toxic effect will probably be irreversible."
The com-kids sat in silence as they assimilated this information.
"So, where do you come in?" Orion asked.
Jenna looked lost for a moment. She seemed to be struggling with her own grasp on reality. "I was given a mission," she said. "It was the agents - our information source - an organization called the Merenthaal."
"The Merenthaal," Celli pronounced the unfamiliar word slowly.
"They are the ones who gave me this mission, but in order to complete it..." She looked at them soberly. "I am supposed to find three people from Kypro; two boys and a girl who are going to help me..."
Orion swallowed and looked at the ground again. "Jenna," he said softly, "if you had told me all of this three calah ago, I would have thought you mad, but..." he shifted his gaze to meet Jenna's eyes, "after what we have been through...I don't think I have any choice but to believe you."
Jenna's expression was inscrutable.
"Assuming though, that everything you told us is true," Celli said, "how can we help; I mean, we're Cholan; we're factory workers, we don't have access to the places you're talking about."
"Let me put it this way," Jenna said not wanting to lose ground, "what are the chances of us meeting way out here. What are the chances that we met in your dreams?"
They watched her, contemplating.
Jenna tried a new approach. "Have you ever seen one of these?" She pulled out a necklace from under her blouse and showed them the pendant.
The com kids gasped and stared in shock. Orion shook his head, "Now I know I'm going mad, either that or this has to be true." Jenna cocked her head as Orion pulled out his necklace and showed Jenna a pendant identical to hers.
Jenna drew her breath in sharply and placed a hand to her lips. "I never thought I would actually see another one of these," she whispered. Orion removed it, handing it to Jenna for her inspection. She turned it till she found the Ophilion script. "Orion Formoren," she read aloud.
Fel took his necklace out from under his shirt. Jenna was elated. He took it off, placing it in her hands. "Felerom Collimmer." Jenna looked to Celli; she too removed her necklace and placed it gently in Jenna's hand. "Cellion Rimala," she read, wiping away a tear. "I'm sorry, you don't know what this means to me. It's been seven cenro since I received my necklace, and a message from one of the agents: that I would meet three others; two boys and a girl who would also have these." She wiped away more tears then took Orion's and Celli's hands in hers, "And now... here we are!" Jenna's smile was radiant. She looked as if she were meeting close family members for the first time. "Tell me," she said eagerly, "how many cenro have passed since you received your necklaces?"
Orion winced. "Jenna," he said carefully, "we... we just found them... yesterday."
Jenna's smile faded. "You... you mean, you..."
"I think there are some things we need to tell you, Jenna," Celli said. And she did. The three of them did. They told her about what happened in their last game - the gut feelings that allowed them to win first place, the dreams that had led them to the free-zone and ultimately to the sphere, the fact that Celli knew the code and was able to open the safe because a girl in her dream - a girl strongly resembling Jenna - had shown her which places on the sphere to press.
Jenna nodded, recovering from her own shock. "So then, you don't know...about The Merenthaal? – the Dimensional Agents?
"I'm afraid not," Celli said, "but I'd like to hear about it."
Fel nodded.
"Jenna," Orion asked, "how did you get your necklace?"
Jenna looked at her pendant, reviewing the lines of the tree branches and roots and yellow stones which she had committed to memory. She turned back and looked at each of them before starting. "It happened at the end of my tenth cenro. One night an agent came and gave it to me. She... was beautiful... and her eyes, they were like magic. She smiled at me... it made me feel like there was nothing else in the world at that moment. Then she told me to keep the necklace well guarded, that I would need it one day for a task that I would be called to perform. She never opened her mouth; she used a telepathic technique more advanced than anything I'd heard of."
Jenna paused for a deep breath before continuing. "I had no idea what she meant then, and it was strange that she appeared to me and gave me this necklace because my people usually don't see the agents; up until that moment they had only received telepathic communique. I had never heard them myself, and I'm sure I would have thought it was just a dream, except for the feeling it gave me, which was something I had never felt before or since, and... in the morning, this," she lifted her pendant, "was around my neck."
The com kids wondered how to react. "So, who was she?" Fel asked.
"She was one of the Merenthaal – a dimensional agent. They are alien beings – not of our world; they work for Togan."
"Togan – the mother of nature?" Celli asked.
Jenna nodded.
"So.. she's real?"
Another nod.
"I always thought she was more myth than reality," Orion said.
"Have you ever seen her?" Fel asked.
Jenna chuckled. "No, as far as I know, no one has."
"So, she may be a myth." Celli pointed out.
"No, she's real," Jenna said, and paused, thinking. "What exactly she is – I don't know, but there is definitely something there."
"I have this feeling," Orion began slowly, "that there is a lot more going on here than what I know, but it's difficult..."
"I know what you mean," Jenna rescued him, "but you have to admit that what's happening to us right now can't be a coincidence."
Orion nodded hesitantly. "But why us?" he asked again. "We're just Cholan... teenagers... we all work in a factory in Kypro. Tur-Lam 64. We don't have any experience in the things that you're talking about."
"We do have some Keneso education," Celli reminded him. "Orion and I can speak and read the high language. Orion used to be Keneso..." she stopped short, realizing that she was speaking for her friend who had not chosen to breach that subject.
Orion nodded. "Until my father was killed," Orion finished what Celli had started. "They say it was an accident, but he was in disagreement with some of the directors in the Science Circle. He refused to follow some part of a program they were involved in. My father was a science overseer and they couldn't have him opposing them, he might have led others against them as well." Orion looked at the ground. "So they... poisoned him," he said quietly, and with dignity, "they said it was some experiment gone wrong, but my Father was very careful. He wouldn't have made the kind of mistake they said he did."
"I'm sorry," Jenna said, placing her hand on Orion's. "What was he working on?"
"Something for the Qonaar; it was kept very secret – some kind of weapons program, that's all I know." He looked up at Jenna, then at Fel and Celli, suddenly realizing that it could be connected. "Maybe... he was working on what you are talking about, Jenna – the weapons for the Quarinor shield."
"It's probable," she said. "The timing matches."
Orion felt a strange movement inside of him, as if a piece of a puzzle had fallen into place, or as if an important symbol had been illuminated. He felt his heart rate increase.
"Maybe we should show Jenna the other things we found in the safe," Celli suggested.
Fel and Celli saw that Orion was deep in thought.
"I'll get them," Fel said. He went into the tent and retrieved the objects. "Here," he carefully placed the projector in Jenna's hands.
She slowly turned it over a few times. "I've never seen anything like it," she said, and gave it back.
"What about these?" Fel handed her the maps. "They outline the three zones in our meteor belt that contain hexolium; it must have something to do with the weapons tests you were telling us about."
Jenna studied the unfamiliar markings. "If they were in there," she said pensively, "then you're right, they must have something to do with our mission," she looked at Orion, who's eyes were out of focus, staring at the ground, "but honestly, I have no idea what."
Orion raised his head. He suddenly felt overwhelmed with information and emotions. He felt that he needed protection.
"Jenna," he said chuckling nervously, "all of this is a little sudden for us. You see, when we came out here searching for this... safe; we really didn't expect to find it," he glanced at Celli who made no reaction, "at least I didn't," he admitted. "We have lives. We have jobs and family. I mean... what... are we supposed to just leave everything and go on this... mission?" he lifted his hand and laughed, "...to try to stop something that's way beyond our control?"
Orion suddenly became disgusted with himself. He felt angry and helpless. "Look!" he raised his voice a little, "we don't even have any real proof that what you're saying is true. I don't see how our scientists could make this kind of mistake in their research; it's... it's not even realistic!"
He impulsively grabbed his necklace and held up the pendant. His heart was pounding from his sudden burst of emotion. He gazed at the golden stones and the tree. Like an elixir, a soothing wave washed through him. His mind became clear and the inner turmoil dissipated. He slowly lowered the pendant. "I'm... I'm sorry," he said just above a whisper.
"It's okay," Jenna said just as quietly. "It's a lot to have to take in at once. I've had many cenro to learn it all. It's become part of me. It was only the timing that wasn't clear until recently."
Orion sighed deeply. He looked up at Celli, then Fel. "So, what are we going to do?"
"We could get this stuff checked out, like we thought," Fel said quietly, "might answer some questions. We could also take a look at your transport Jenna; maybe we could get it working. I'm in mechanics, Celli is in programming... oh, and Orion is a licensed pilot." He half smiled. "Was..."
Orion gave a begrudging smile. He punched Fel on the shoulder and Fel punched him back and they broke out laughing. Celli looked knowingly at Jenna, who was glad that the tension had subsided.