Read Online Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro - Free Book Online
Authors: Catherine Asaro
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came into my mind, crisp and cold: Provide identification.
Access my spinal node, I thought. Mod 16, path 0001HA9RS.
Accessed. Clearance verified.
My awareness of the room faded. I floated in an opalescent sea, my mind centered at one node of a glimmering mesh that spread in all directions. Flashes of light sparked as other minds navigated its endless extent. I was a quantum wavepacket, a round hill surrounded by circular ripples that extended into the infinite “lake” of Kyle space, becoming smaller and smaller the farther they were from the peak that defined the center of my identity.
A spark resolved into another wavepacket. It rippled through me without a trace of interference.
Security check, I thought.
All lines secured, PS42 thought. You are undetectable to users with clearance lower than Blue Forty-seven: Level B.
Transfer me to IMIN.
The hill that was me sank into the mesh. I rose up in another section of the grid that glinted like metal. Sparks jumped into focus and then disappeared.
The grid rose in front of me into a cobalt mountain of polished metal. You have reached A5a.mil. Unauthorized access of this node is punishable by execution.
Well, that was lovely. My clearance is in M-16.
Clearance verified. State purpose.
To use Comtrace.
The cobalt node shifted me to a white grid in a sea of painfully bright light. Comtrace’s response came into my mind like ice, deep, strong, mechanical. ATTENDING.
Comtrace, access my optic nerve, I thought. Alter my perception to highlight my physical surroundings.
DONE.
My awareness of Kyle space faded into a translucent image that overlaid my view of the room. I saw Rex leaning over to peer at the console. Helda stood next to him, waiting with her massive arms crossed, and Taas was sitting on the bed glancing through the book Tiller had given me. None of my interactions with the Mesh showed on the screen: the printing had stopped with my last response to Homer.
Activate audio, I thought.
“Audio activated,” Comtrace said. Although it used Homer’s speakers, the icy cadence of its speech was a jarring contrast to Homer’s friendly tones.
Taas looked up from the book. “Set up?”
“Done,” I said. “I’m giving it my file on the Aristo.” Then I thought, Comtrace, upload the file M-86, D-4427, F-1 from my spinal node.
UPLOADED.
I’m going to detach the psiphon. Keep your end of the link open.
UNDERSTOOD.
I unplugged the prong and handed it to Rex. “Your turn.”
It only took him a few seconds to upload his memory of the Aristo into Comtrace. Helda went next and then Taas. When they finished, I linked back in. “Comtrace, produce a visual image of the subject based on our memories of him.”
“Working,” Comtrace said. A holo formed above a horizontal screen on the desk showing the Aristo we had seen in the bar. He just stood there, about one handspan tall.
“He wasn’t that harsh,” Rex said.
The console remained quiet, the holo unchanged.
Comtrace, I thought. Respond to voice input from the three units listed in my security file.
BLACKSTONE, REX: VERIFYING. BJORSTAD, HELDAGAARD: VERIFYING. MOROTO, TAAS-KO-MAR: VERIFYING.
I waited restlessly for it to finish verifying that it could respond to them. Their names was like a microcosm of Skolia. Blackstone was the modern translation of an ancient name from the planet Raylicon. Like Rex, it was pure Raylican, dark and powerful. Helda’s was the Skolianized version of an Earth name; her parents were an Allied couple who had immigrated to one of our colonies. Taas’s name was a mix:
Access my spinal node, I thought. Mod 16, path 0001HA9RS.
Accessed. Clearance verified.
My awareness of the room faded. I floated in an opalescent sea, my mind centered at one node of a glimmering mesh that spread in all directions. Flashes of light sparked as other minds navigated its endless extent. I was a quantum wavepacket, a round hill surrounded by circular ripples that extended into the infinite “lake” of Kyle space, becoming smaller and smaller the farther they were from the peak that defined the center of my identity.
A spark resolved into another wavepacket. It rippled through me without a trace of interference.
Security check, I thought.
All lines secured, PS42 thought. You are undetectable to users with clearance lower than Blue Forty-seven: Level B.
Transfer me to IMIN.
The hill that was me sank into the mesh. I rose up in another section of the grid that glinted like metal. Sparks jumped into focus and then disappeared.
The grid rose in front of me into a cobalt mountain of polished metal. You have reached A5a.mil. Unauthorized access of this node is punishable by execution.
Well, that was lovely. My clearance is in M-16.
Clearance verified. State purpose.
To use Comtrace.
The cobalt node shifted me to a white grid in a sea of painfully bright light. Comtrace’s response came into my mind like ice, deep, strong, mechanical. ATTENDING.
Comtrace, access my optic nerve, I thought. Alter my perception to highlight my physical surroundings.
DONE.
My awareness of Kyle space faded into a translucent image that overlaid my view of the room. I saw Rex leaning over to peer at the console. Helda stood next to him, waiting with her massive arms crossed, and Taas was sitting on the bed glancing through the book Tiller had given me. None of my interactions with the Mesh showed on the screen: the printing had stopped with my last response to Homer.
Activate audio, I thought.
“Audio activated,” Comtrace said. Although it used Homer’s speakers, the icy cadence of its speech was a jarring contrast to Homer’s friendly tones.
Taas looked up from the book. “Set up?”
“Done,” I said. “I’m giving it my file on the Aristo.” Then I thought, Comtrace, upload the file M-86, D-4427, F-1 from my spinal node.
UPLOADED.
I’m going to detach the psiphon. Keep your end of the link open.
UNDERSTOOD.
I unplugged the prong and handed it to Rex. “Your turn.”
It only took him a few seconds to upload his memory of the Aristo into Comtrace. Helda went next and then Taas. When they finished, I linked back in. “Comtrace, produce a visual image of the subject based on our memories of him.”
“Working,” Comtrace said. A holo formed above a horizontal screen on the desk showing the Aristo we had seen in the bar. He just stood there, about one handspan tall.
“He wasn’t that harsh,” Rex said.
The console remained quiet, the holo unchanged.
Comtrace, I thought. Respond to voice input from the three units listed in my security file.
BLACKSTONE, REX: VERIFYING. BJORSTAD, HELDAGAARD: VERIFYING. MOROTO, TAAS-KO-MAR: VERIFYING.
I waited restlessly for it to finish verifying that it could respond to them. Their names was like a microcosm of Skolia. Blackstone was the modern translation of an ancient name from the planet Raylicon. Like Rex, it was pure Raylican, dark and powerful. Helda’s was the Skolianized version of an Earth name; her parents were an Allied couple who had immigrated to one of our colonies. Taas’s name was a mix:
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