Read Online Touchstone (Meridian Series) by John Schettler, Mark Prost - Free Book Online Page B

least
an hour… Yes, I’ve got Robert right here. He’s on to something as well. Hold
on, Maeve. We’ll be there in a flash.”
           “What?” Robert was about to explode.
           “It’s Kelly,” said Paul. “He’s collapsed. They’ve got him
over at University Hospital . I’m afraid your notebooks will have to wait, Robert.”
           “Collapsed?” The look on Robert’s face was plain, and it
was clear that he immediately associated this news with his own misdeed in
using the Arch. The professor was up and heading for the door in an instant,
but something jarred Paul’s thinking and his anxiety increased with every step
his friend took. The notebooks…
           “Robert, wait! Stand where you are! Don’t take another step!”
His tone was so urgent and strained that it served as a strong leash, jerking
his friend around, who stared at him with wide eyed surprise.
           “Now what?” Nordhausen gave him an exasperated look.
           “The notebooks,” Paul repeated. “The Meridian has changed , Robert.
There’s been a Transformation. Don’t you see? I know nothing about these
hieroglyphics, the Rosetta Stone, and all the rest. But the information is safe
and sound in Kelly’s RAM bank—and in your head.”
           “Yes, yes—but we can talk about this on the way, Paul. Come
on!”
           “Let me finish!” Paul’s voice was riveting. “It’s not a
Gordian knot, Robert. It’s Paradox I’m worried about now. It’s you . The
information about the Rosetta stone is in your head too, alive and well. But if
you set foot outside the protective bubble of the Arch Nexus, then…”
           “Then what?”
           “You expose yourself to Paradox—Free Variable or not. Time
has no way to account for your knowledge of the glyphs if you set one foot
outside this room.” He folded his arms, his breathing finally stilled now that
he had given birth to his fear and delivered his warning.
           Nordhausen just stared at him.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Part III
     
    Schroedinger’s
Box
     
     
    “Contradiction should awaken the
attention, not passion.”
     
    — Thomas Fuller : Gnomologia
    7
     
    The revelation had shocked the professor, but his emotions transitioned quickly
as he thought on it.
           “You mean to say that I’m trapped in here? If I leave the
Lab then I’m going to be … erased, like Kelly?”
           “Possibly,” said Paul.
           “But you said I was a Free Variable.”
           “That too,” Paul equivocated.
           “Well, which is it? Am I going to vanish or not?”
           “I don’t know—but why take the risk? I can go check on
Kelly while you remain on station here. We’ve got an alert on, remember? The
whole point of this setup was  to get one of us safely under the influence of
the Arch Nexus so we could research the Variance and see what could be done
about it.”
           “But Kelly…”
           “I’ll go. You stay here, safe in the Nexus.”
           Nordhausen hesitated, torn between Paul’s warning and his
overriding sense of guilt, heightened by the fear that he was somehow
responsible for Kelly’s collapse. His emotions roiled, and the tension was
pulling at his face as he struggled to know what to do. Then he reached an
inner conclusion, his jaw set, his eyes hard as he spoke.
           “No,” he said flatly.
           “But Robert, I’m not fooling around here. The risk is very
real. You know about the hieroglyphics, and that creates an impossible
contradiction in the world outside this room—outside the influence of the Nexus
Point. As long as the Arch is running we can maintain a safe Nexus here until
we decide what to do.”
           “No!” Robert’s tone was even more adamant. “Until we decide
what to do? Listen to yourself, Paul. How long might that take? We can’t