artificial construct itself, with fluid applications across all Dimensions. One second in this Dimension might equal a century in another.
Ryol would have been protected by a Stasis Bubble before traveling between Dimensions, but the Inhibition Field keeping Falia from connecting with Ryol would also keep Ryol from connecting with Aurora. Without Aurora’s protection, she would be subjected to the flow of time native to that alien Dimension.
How much time had passed for Ryol? Had she lived the equivalent of a lifetime since having been cut off?
Falia wondered if she would look upon the face of her daughter again. If so, would she look into the eyes of a stranger? Without her connection to Ryol these questions were unknowable torments.
Falia was suddenly grateful for her inability to feel.
A dull hum, rising in pitch and fervor, resonated in the back of Falia’s mind as a line of thought came to a conclusion. Falia answered the alarm and found herself unsurprised by the result.
Your prediction proves seventy-three percent likely. A Dimensional Overlap has occurred.
Unsurprising, but no less intriguing. A possibility long theorized by Lenorean scholars, the Overlap had never been observed outside a simulator.
And the Graesians? Are they responsible for the stolen Inhibition Field?
Probable.
Falia pushed her thoughts out into the Universe, past the reaches of her own Dimension, to the Delegates of the Alliance assembled in the Neutral Zone.
Madam Leader, we’ve checked and verified that the Graesians remain within the Inhibition Field you yourself placed them under, came the familiar rumbling tones of Delegate Oleid, Acting Leader in Falia’s absence. They remain prisoner to their own Dimension.
“We have experienced a Dimensional Overlap, with the Graesians responsible for this act,” Falia said. “They themselves are probably unaware of the merger.”
How did they come by the Inhibition Field?
“I predict they stole it after overthrowing the Alliance in their Dimension.”
But why use the Field on this young planet? What value could it possibly hold?
“Eitr.” Falia twitched and her hand responded. A tingle crept up her arm as the sedatives relinquished part of their hold on her. “They will need Eitr to power their stolen Lenorean technology. With it, they cannot be stopped.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ryol
Ryol’s body mutinied against her brain’s control, trapped inside her own black sea of thoughts, romping on untraceable strands and tangents. She gave in to the chaos, rode the winds of thought wherever they carried her. That breeze blew in circles, always returning her to the Graesian’s words, to her dead mother.
Being severed from the flow of information streaming across the Universe caused Ryol a dull ache she felt in her bones and joints. She hid in the wreckage of her own mind, not daring to peek from behind the curtain.
Ryol.
The voice called out from across the chasm that had cleaved Ryol’s mind into opposing halves of discontinuity.
“Aurora?” she whispered to herself.
I need you. Come back.
Something was amiss. The voice in her head sounded nothing like Aurora. Felt nothing like her. Panic had corrupted this voice. Fear. Emotions beneath Aurora.
She searched for the source of the voice, but could not find it from inside her locked mind.
WAKE UP!
Pain ripped Ryol from the void like a thousand sheared hangnails. Tendons tensed, muscles jerked. The world poured through unaccustomed pupils in waves of liquid fire dancing along her optic nerve. A firecracker of color burst in her occipital lobe.
Ryol gasped and slammed her eyelids shut, waiting for the pain to recede.
“Are you okay?” the voice said, this time coming from outside her mind.
Ryol shaded her eyes from the harsh light overhead with the back of her hand. When her vision cleared she stared into the face of an alien. The haze enshrouding her mind lifted
Ryol would have been protected by a Stasis Bubble before traveling between Dimensions, but the Inhibition Field keeping Falia from connecting with Ryol would also keep Ryol from connecting with Aurora. Without Aurora’s protection, she would be subjected to the flow of time native to that alien Dimension.
How much time had passed for Ryol? Had she lived the equivalent of a lifetime since having been cut off?
Falia wondered if she would look upon the face of her daughter again. If so, would she look into the eyes of a stranger? Without her connection to Ryol these questions were unknowable torments.
Falia was suddenly grateful for her inability to feel.
A dull hum, rising in pitch and fervor, resonated in the back of Falia’s mind as a line of thought came to a conclusion. Falia answered the alarm and found herself unsurprised by the result.
Your prediction proves seventy-three percent likely. A Dimensional Overlap has occurred.
Unsurprising, but no less intriguing. A possibility long theorized by Lenorean scholars, the Overlap had never been observed outside a simulator.
And the Graesians? Are they responsible for the stolen Inhibition Field?
Probable.
Falia pushed her thoughts out into the Universe, past the reaches of her own Dimension, to the Delegates of the Alliance assembled in the Neutral Zone.
Madam Leader, we’ve checked and verified that the Graesians remain within the Inhibition Field you yourself placed them under, came the familiar rumbling tones of Delegate Oleid, Acting Leader in Falia’s absence. They remain prisoner to their own Dimension.
“We have experienced a Dimensional Overlap, with the Graesians responsible for this act,” Falia said. “They themselves are probably unaware of the merger.”
How did they come by the Inhibition Field?
“I predict they stole it after overthrowing the Alliance in their Dimension.”
But why use the Field on this young planet? What value could it possibly hold?
“Eitr.” Falia twitched and her hand responded. A tingle crept up her arm as the sedatives relinquished part of their hold on her. “They will need Eitr to power their stolen Lenorean technology. With it, they cannot be stopped.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ryol
Ryol’s body mutinied against her brain’s control, trapped inside her own black sea of thoughts, romping on untraceable strands and tangents. She gave in to the chaos, rode the winds of thought wherever they carried her. That breeze blew in circles, always returning her to the Graesian’s words, to her dead mother.
Being severed from the flow of information streaming across the Universe caused Ryol a dull ache she felt in her bones and joints. She hid in the wreckage of her own mind, not daring to peek from behind the curtain.
Ryol.
The voice called out from across the chasm that had cleaved Ryol’s mind into opposing halves of discontinuity.
“Aurora?” she whispered to herself.
I need you. Come back.
Something was amiss. The voice in her head sounded nothing like Aurora. Felt nothing like her. Panic had corrupted this voice. Fear. Emotions beneath Aurora.
She searched for the source of the voice, but could not find it from inside her locked mind.
WAKE UP!
Pain ripped Ryol from the void like a thousand sheared hangnails. Tendons tensed, muscles jerked. The world poured through unaccustomed pupils in waves of liquid fire dancing along her optic nerve. A firecracker of color burst in her occipital lobe.
Ryol gasped and slammed her eyelids shut, waiting for the pain to recede.
“Are you okay?” the voice said, this time coming from outside her mind.
Ryol shaded her eyes from the harsh light overhead with the back of her hand. When her vision cleared she stared into the face of an alien. The haze enshrouding her mind lifted
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