Paul smiled. “You’re suggesting the Islamic Thought Police have a line on our location and coming in to take us down?”
“Well, we didn’t initiate the breach, Paul. I have no base number as a reference. Someone clearly knows our coordinates—the exact temporal and spatial coordinates of the Arch.”
“Forget the murder scenario,” said Paul. “The fact that the Arch is their focal target is good evidence that they intend no harm. As you can see, their arrival is not exactly a secret. I could reverse polarity now and stop the breaching sequence altogether if I wanted. They have to know that as well. And to answer your question, they are using the Arch because we’re in a Nexus Point. You can’t run a breach into a Nexus without assistance at the other end. I think they sent through their breaching pulse to give us a little nudge and ask for some help. How’s the power look now?”
“Ninety-four percent. It’s sluggish. I don’t know if the on-site turbines can give us a hundred percent, and we have no reserve if anything should fail.”
“When it hits ninety-five I’ll start the infusion.”
“Go!” said Kelly, pointing with his finger.
Paul activated the retraction module, feeding in the precious quantum fuel and hoping the equipment would hold together.”
“This is ridiculous!” said Nordhausen as the elevator opened on the bottom floor of the Arch bay. “Look at us… we’re still dressed up in costume. If anyone comes through they’ll immediately think they’ve got the wrong time.”
“Nonsense,” said Maeve. “Since this is the earliest functional Arch in any Meridian, they can’t be coming from the past. That means they’re from the future. They’ve probably had decades to research this,” she concluded.
“It’s creepy,” said Nordhausen. “I don’t like the idea of someone knowing everything I’m likely to do for the remainder of my life, and making casual visits to chat like this… unless they intend something more. Damn, I wish I had my walking stick.”
They were beyond the final door now, the last barrier between the world they knew and the heart of the Arch corridor where an artificial singularity was spinning out in a mad dance of quantum particles, a strange temporal waltz. The sound of the generators was pounding in the confined space, and the temperature was noticeably cold. But the most obvious sign that the breach was commencing was the cavalcade of lights, a whirlwind of auroras directly in front of them. The radiance and hue of the colors was awesome, and Robert found himself gaping at the display as he recalled the images he had seen when he first opened his eyes in the Arch flow.
The thick yellow line on the concrete floor ahead was the only thing between them and the hole that was now opening in infinity. Robert seemed to press toward it with an eagerness that seemed compelling. Maeve hung back, reaching to grab hold of the professor’s arm to restrain his forward movement.
“Not too close,” she warned. “This is a retraction. We’ve never tested for this scenario, and I have no idea what would happen if someone was in the Arch when the breach actually opened. Stay well back from the event line.”
Robert nodded, but his face was alight with wonder and expectation. Whatever fear he had conjured up, of sword wielding Arab Assassins bursting through the Arch on a death mission, it had evaporated now that he was in the presence of the incredible spectacle before him.
The temperature dropped precipitously, and there came a low growling sound, like a train passing, or again a tornado as it swept by on a raging unseen tempest. Then a hazy fog, thick and cold, and tinged with neon blue, began to materialize before them in the center of the Arch. Robert strained to see as the mist grew in density, resolving to the unmistakable shape of a man, though he remained obscured by the fog. There came a long howling sound, wolf like and hungry, as if pack of rabid dogs were on the prowl. Through the torrent of light and sound, they could hear the voice of Kelly on the intercom, distant and tinny.
“Breach closing… Is everyone alright down there?” His voice had a strange hollow echo to it, as though it was coming from a thousand miles away, barely discernable in the noise of the corridor.
A man strode forward, the cold mist evaporating around him in a crackle of blue light. He was heavy set, and Robert saw that he wore a long gray cape, and black floppy headpiece. He looked at Maeve, and they shared a flash of recognition as the man stepped toward them with a smile on his broad, fleshy face.
It was LeGrand.
“We meet again!” he said with enthusiasm.
He seemed a bit pale, clearly shaken, yet recovering well considering the strange disorientation and nausea that could accompany a time shift. Maeve raised her eyebrows, her suspicions immediately aroused, but civility prevailed, and she was the first to reach out and take the visitor’s arm, steadying him as he swayed in momentary spell of dizziness. Robert moved to assist her, and together they helped LeGrand away from the event line and back through the massive titanium door behind them. A moment later it closed with a sibilant hiss.
“Vapor barrier,” said Nordhausen. “We have slightly negative pressure in the Arch, at least relative to that in the main lab complex. Just a precaution. But my word, LeGrand, whatever are you doing here? How could you shift here from Rosetta? Why, not an hour ago you were gaping at the stone and no doubt wondering how the other side pulled off that little coup.”
“That’s an understatement,” said LeGrand. “It was no small matter. Who knows how they managed it, but Lord save us, there’s been a transformation—a grand transformation. It’s the very thing we live in fear of each and every day of our lives. The guardians spin out one scenario after another, the research takes years, but we are quite good at it now. The agents stand their watch on all the key milieus, waiting for new orders to come in at any time. It seems I have been given mine.”
“You mean to say you were pulled out and then immediately sent on a new mission?”
“Quite…” LeGrand ran the back of his thick hand over his brow, clearly distressed.
“Come on, Robert. Let’s walk him to the elevator and get up to the lab where it’s more comfortable.” Even as they started, something seemed to come to LeGrand and he looked from one to the other with an expression of great urgency.
“They must keep the Arch spinning,” he said quickly. “Don’t shut anything down. Can they hear me?” He looked around as they entered the elevator, and Maeve toggled the intercom button as the doors closed.
“Kelly?” She had a worried expression on her face. “Are you there?”
“Of course I’m here,” came the reply through the overhead speaker, but it had a strange resonance to it, as if the transmission was suffering interference, possibly from the Arch.
Maeve let out a long breath. “Good then… We have a guest, and we’re coming up now. All is well here. We’ll be there in a minute or two.”
“Roger that… Roger, Roger…”
She could not tell if Kelly was just repeating the phrase or if there was a feedback loop in the system. LeGrand looked up at the speaker, his eyes narrowing with concern.
“Dissonance,” said LeGrand. “They must keep the Nexus open. Tell them not to reduce the power. The Arch must keep spinning.”
“He hears you,” Maeve assured him. “But what was that you said? Dissonance? What do you mean?”
“No time to explain,” said LeGrand, smiling at the irony of his statement. “Don’t you understand? There’s been a grand transformation. Everything has changed… everything. The only stable wells in the flow of time are the Nexus Points that were open at the instant the Heisenberg Wave was generated. We’re in one now, and you must do everything possible to preserve it against the flow. Otherwise…”