“And keep secret, no doubt,” said Jeth.
Sierra pursed her lips in agreement. “There was soon an abundance of Pyreans for them to access. And for centuries what they harvested would grow back quick and healthy, like pruning branches from a tree. Only now the branches have stopped growing back, and the tree appears to be dying. The ITA has since been trying to locate the Pyreans’ true origin, the root of the tree, if you will, in the hope of fixing whatever is making them sick.”
Jeth tried to wrap his mind around such a concept, couldn’t, and so moved on. “What does this have to do with my mother and Cora?” Jeth turned to Milton, who was sitting on the sofa across from him. “Is she really my sister? Fully my sister?”
“Yes,” said Milton.
“But what about the DNA test you showed me?”
Milton shifted in his seat. “Well, it’s like Renford said. During that last trip your parents took into the Belgrave, they were exposed to something that altered them on a genetic level. It caused the mutation I found on the results.”
Mutation. The word felt nasty in Jeth’s mind, like something diseased. “But what is the mutation?”
“The cure for the Pyrean sickness,” Sierra said. “Or, an alternative solution, to be more precise. At least, as far as the ITA is concerned.”
Milton frowned at her. “Let’s not jump ahead. This will be hard enough for him to take in as it is. We should start at the beginning.”
Sierra shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
Jeth shifted his gaze between the two of them, wondering what had happened in the last few days. Then he glanced at the port where Sierra had inserted the data cell and figured he was about to find out.
Milton cleared his throat. “Your parents found the planet Empyria.”
Jeth couldn’t help his astonished smirk. “You’re kidding, right?” His eyes flashed to the painting on the wall. “Empyria is a myth.”
“It’s not a myth, at least not anymore,” Sierra said. “The Pyreans are where the legends about the planet come from. The scientists hypothesized that the Pyreans originated from an actual planet, one that, like them, exists both within the dimensions of our universe as well as the dimension of metaspace.” Sierra paused, a frown curving her lips. “You do understand what metaspace is, right?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m not stupid.”
Her frown deepened. “Okay, explain it to me then.”
Jeth glared at the challenge in her voice. “I don’t know all the technical crap about it, but I know what it is.”
“Let me explain,” Milton said, rubbing his eyes. “For the sake of argument, let’s describe metaspace as the fifth dimension, never mind if that’s not scientifically accurate. Humans can only perceive four dimensions.” He raised his hand and began to tick off fingers. “Length, width, depth, and time, although the latter we can only perceive as a half dimension because we only experience it in one direction. That is, we can only move forward in time. Do you understand?”
Jeth nodded. He’d taken enough math and science classes to have a basic understanding of such concepts.
“Metaspace is a dimension that we cannot perceive or measure in any way,” Milton continued. “We’re not born with the correct biological equipment. We only know about it because of the Pyreans. But we can deduce that it is a dimension that exists around and through the other four. That is how we can travel so far across the universe in so short a time, because metaspace exists outside of the dimensions of time and space. Understand?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
Milton gestured to Sierra. “Going back to what she was saying about Empyria, this lack of the correct biological equipment is why we have never been able to find the planet before.”
“That’s right,” Sierra said. “Most of Empyria exists within metaspace and therefore beyond our perception. But on their last expedition into the Belgrave Quadrant, your parents discovered that part of the planet does exist in our dimension. Or it might have emerged into it, perhaps.”
Jeth blinked his confusion.
Milton stood up, walked over to the gaming table, and opened a drawing program. He drew something on the screen and then switched on the overhead viewer, displaying the image for Jeth and Sierra to see.
“Think of it this way,” said Milton. “The planet is like an underground tunnel with an entrance above ground.” He pointed to the area on the crude diagram he’d drawn. “The ground itself is the barrier between our four-dimensional space and metaspace. Everything above the ground we can perceive, everything below the ground we cannot. Yet we can still travel through the tunnel, through metaspace. Your parents found a part of Empyria that exists above ground.”
“Yes, they did,” Sierra said as Milton sat down again. “The ITA scientists long suspected the planet might be located somewhere in the Belgrave. They believe Empyria is the cause of the energy field as well as the strange occurrences within the quadrant.”
“You mean this invisible planet is what put those holes in Avalon and the Donerail?” asked Jeth, glancing at the holes in his favorite armchair, now sitting pushed against the far wall.
Sierra bit her lip. “Yes, the planet’s disruption caused most of it. That disruption has been getting worse for years. The Aether Project scientists believe there’s a connection between the Pyrean sickness and the Belgrave disturbance.”
Jeth suddenly remembered how Lizzie had to keep recalibrating Avalon’s nav when they were searching for the Donerail. Almost as if there’s some kind of massive gravity field out there that keeps pulling us toward it, she had said. A gravity field like the kind created by a planet, he realized.
“So, my parents found Empyria,” Jeth said, accepting the fact at last.
“They certainly did,” Sierra said, a note of awe in her voice.
He wondered if finding it had made his mother happy. Only the dream come true seemed to have turned into a nightmare.
“But when they returned,” Sierra continued, “they refused to tell the ITA where it was located, and they destroyed all of the ship’s records about the discovery, making it impossible for the ITA to retrace their steps. That’s where the treason charge comes into play.”
“Yes, but they didn’t execute them, right?” Jeth said.
Sierra folded her arms. “No. Your father, to my understanding, died during the arrest, an accidental shooting. And your mother, well—”
“They turned into a lab specimen,” Milton said, his expression darkening.
Jeth stared at him, torn between disbelief and cold fury. His father murdered and his mother’s death faked. And all for what? Because they’d destroyed a couple of records? He didn’t understand why his parents had done it, but they must’ve had a reason. They were idealists, sure, but not stupid or reckless. Especially not his mother. What had happened to her out there?
“Tell me about this biological change,” Jeth said.
Sierra shifted her weight from one foot to the other before answering. “Their DNA now resembles something like the Pyreans themselves. But the main measurable difference is increased cognitive abilities. The change seems to have activated a dormant region in their brains. Moreso in Cora than in your mother, but definitely true of both.”
Jeth let out the breath he’d been holding. Increased brain power didn’t seem so bad. He’d been expecting something far more drastic and scary. “So, she’s a lot smarter than she used to be. What does that matter to the ITA?”