The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga (33 page)

“It wasn’t easy to come up with the right formula, but I got it,” Michael said, waving
toward the vid-screen.  “I borrowed a little from Feynman’s diagrams.”

The Vulpirans gathered around the vid-screen for several minutes as they read through
Michael’s formula, and the final result of his calculations. 

“This is wild, Michael,” Hunt said. 

“It’s pure genius is what it is,” Lance said.  “It makes sense, but how you came up
with it is beyond me.”

“Have you tested it yet?” Vikter asked, turning away from the screen.

“No,” Michael said.  “I thought we should do that part together.”

“Let’s do it then,” Lance said with a rare grin of his own.

The four of them gathered around the bio-suit and Michael reached inside to the narrow
keyboard panel.  He used a stylus to press the keys since they were very narrow, designed
for the tips of the Xanti’s legs, not human fingers.

“You remember the results?” Vikter asked as Michael began pressing keys.  If not for
Arima Aisling’s work translating Xanti, they wouldn’t know what keys to press, but
now each one had a tiny tab on it denoting a Standard translation.

“No, I remember it,” Michael said as he continued to enter the numbers one after the
other without hesitation until he’d completed the fourteen number string.  He looked
at the screen, checking himself, then glanced at the Vulpirans.  “Here goes,” he said
softly.  Then he pressed the key marked Enter and they all held their breath, their
eyes glued to the screen.

For a long moment nothing happened.  The string of numbers Michael had entered, displayed
in Xanti script, blinked repeatedly.  Then, just as Michael was ready to concede defeat
once again, the screen went white, flashed black, then rapidly flashed violet, blue,
green, yellow, orange, red, then started over again, and then a third time.

Then, the big payoff.  The screen began to flash star maps, coordinates, lists of
worlds and, amazingly, what looked like detailed reports of the Xanti home galaxy,
the worlds within it, the races that populated it, and so much more they could barely
take it in.  Each screen displayed for only a few seconds before moving to the next,
but that was fine.  It was, they knew, just a sampling of the data that they’d uncovered
hidden in the bio-suit’s core processor data base, probably hidden as binary states
of the molecules of the processor itself when it was made.  Information that the Xanti
was certainly unaware of and could never stumble onto.

“Were those jump points?” Hunt asked in a low voice filled with wonder. 

“Yes, I think so,” Lance said.  “I can’t read the language, but those maps are certainly
easy enough to understand.”

“Arima Aisling can translate all of this for us, correct?” Michael asked.

“Yes, I believe she can,” Vikter replied.  “Even if she can’t, I think we’d make some
headway on our own.  Besides, thanks to her, the council has a good database of Xanti
now which could probably handle most of this.”

“But, jump points,” Hunt repeated.  “That means we can actually go to the Xanti home
galaxy.”

Michael looked at Hunt, waiting for more information.

“Arima Hope has a talent for reading objects,” Hunt explained.  “She used it to determine
that the Xanti come from the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own. 
Unfortunately, it would take many years for our ships to reach it, and once we got
there, we wouldn’t know where in that galaxy to go.”

“I see,” Michael said.  “It seems obvious that the Xanti travel back and forth at
will, and have for a long time.”

“Yes, we realized they either had jump points, or technology that allowed them to
travel many times faster than we can,” Vikter said.  “Since we’ve only just discovered
what the Xanti look like, we had little hope of learning so much so soon.  Thanks
to you, Michael, we’ve just taken a giant step in the war against the Xanti.”

“War?” Michael said.  “I didn’t realize it had come to war as yet.”

“It’s war, even if the Xanti do not do battle as we would,” Vikter replied.  “They
do not fight openly.  They sneak in, kidnapping women, poisoning unborn children,
implanting devices in unknowing people’s minds and bodies, all the while hiding behind
technology created by those they enslave.  We can’t fight an enemy we cannot see,
and they never show their faces.  Now, thanks to you, Michael, we have what we need
to take the war to them, in their home galaxy, perhaps even to their home world itself.”

“The Thousand Worlds will remember your name for all time,” Lance said, bowing to
Michael with fist to heart. 

“If they forget, Clan Jasani will remind them,” Hunt added as he too bowed.

“For Clan Jasani never forget,” Vikter finished, bowing as well.

Michael felt his cheeks heat and was suddenly glad for the two days worth of stubble
on his face.  “I didn’t do it alone,” he said.  “Jasan captured the bio-suits to begin
with.”  Seeing that Vikter was going to argue with him, he spoke again.  “Now, how
about we send the code to Elder Vulpiran so they can see if their bio-suit has the
same information.”

“There’s been much concern over the interception of messages,” Vikter said.  “We do
not want the Xanti to get wind of this.  There could be different data on different
bio-suits, or even in different types of machines produced and sold by the Xanti.”

“I’ll go in person then,” Michael offered.  He looked down at himself.  “Right after
I take a shower.”

“We cannot risk the Xanti getting hold of you again, Michael,” Vikter said.  “You
are far too valuable, as is the information you carry.”

“We can send a couple of male-sets with him to keep him shielded,” Lance suggested. 
“He is the best one to go in case the code for the other suit is not the same as this
one.”

“Agreed,” Vikter said.  “Lance, contact Merrick Falcoran and tell him our situation. 
He can suggest the best male-sets for this task.”

“Michael, how soon can you leave?” Vikter asked.  “If you want to sleep first, we
will not object.”

“No, I just want to shower and shave,” Michael said.  “I can sleep on the transport. 
But first I need to make a copy of all this data.  Give me an hour.”  He hesitated
a moment then shrugged.  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to visit Nica before I go, and
say good-bye to Honey as well.  I haven’t seen them for a few days.”

“Michael, we have no objection whatsoever to your relationship with Honey and Nica,”
Vikter assured him.  “It would hurt them terribly if you left without farewells. 
You are as a beloved brother to them both, and that is a relationship we understand
fully.”

“Thanks,” Michael said with a relieved smile.  The Vulpirans had told him this before,
but he wanted to be sure.  “Maybe we should make that two hours then.”

“Of course,” Vikter said.  “When you are finished here, make your preparations, then
vox Lance when you’re ready.”

“Thanks, Vikter,” Michael said, already reaching for a memory crystal.  He was looking
forward to seeing Nica especially.  He missed the little imp even more than he’d thought
he would.

Vikter frowned thoughtfully as they left the vault, then reached over and stopped
Lance as he began to make his call to the Falcorans.  “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. 
“This is information that should be shared with our Princes before we do anything
else.”

“Agreed,” Lance and Hunt said in unison. 

“Vox Prince Trey and ask him if it’s possible for us to have a meeting with them. 
Tell him how important it is, but don’t say what it is over the vox.”

Lance nodded and tapped the vox.  He didn’t even try to keep the excitement out of
his voice when he spoke with the Prince.  He wanted him to understand they had something
big to discuss.  A few moments later, he tapped the vox and turned to Vikter with
a smile.  “They’re coming now.”

Before Vikter had a chance to say anything, Prince Garen, Prince Trey and Prince Val
appeared before them.  The Vulpirans bowed, but Prince Garen waved away formal greetings. 
“You have news?” he asked.

“Yes, very good news,” Vikter replied.  “Since you’re here, come on down to the vault
and see for yourself.”

The Dracons followed them into the vault, where Michael happily showed them what he’d
found.  Their excitement was no less than the Vulpirans had been.  When Vikter explained
their plan of sending Michael via transport to Berria with male-sets to shield him,
Prince Garen shook his head. 

“No, that is not secure enough,” he said.  “We cannot risk this information, or this
man, in any way.  We will speed-travel you, Michael, to Berria.”

“Speed-travel?” Michael asked doubtfully.

“Do not worry, it is safe and quick,” Garen told him.  “We will have you in Berria
in moments.”   Garen turned to Trey.  “Contact Faron.  I want a male-set in Berria
ready to act as guards to Dr. Davis from the moment we arrive there.  They must be
among the best warriors we have.”

Trey turned and left the vault, tapping his vox as he went. 

“Are you sure that’s necessary?” Michael asked.  “Now that those gadgets the Xanti
put inside of me are gone, how would they even know where I am?  Or care?”

“What a Xanti can do, or will do, is not something we care to speculate on,” Garen
said.  “I give you my word, Dr. Davis, the Clan Jasani set to guard you will do their
best not to interfere in your life.”

Michael didn’t like the idea of being guarded so closely, but he disliked the idea
of the Xanti getting a hold of him even less.  “I understand, Prince Garen.”

“When will you be ready?” Prince Garen asked.

“Two hours,” Michael said.  “In the meantime, these are probably safer with you than
anyone else.”  He held out two memory crystals, one containing the formula he’d created,
the other holding all of the new data from the bio-suit.

Garen took the crystals from Michael and held them in his own hand for a long moment. 
Then he placed them carefully in a protective pouch on his belt so that his magic
would not effect them when he shifted or speed-traveled.

“If you’re ready now, Dr. Davis, I’ll speed travel you to your guesthouse,” Val offered. 
“It will give you a taste of speed-traveling, so you’ll know what it’s like.”

Michael tore his gaze from Prince Garen’s pouch and nodded reluctantly.  Psychic abilities
were one thing.  But magic...well, it was better than a long, boring transport flight. 
He supposed. 

***

Honey drove her ground-car up the narrow, gravel road toward the River House.  They’d
only been living in the River House for a couple of days now, but she loved it.  She’d
never lived in such a beautiful home before.  The rooms were big, airy and open, with
lots of windows looking out over the valley below in front, and the river in back. 
The one thing Honey loved most were the big river stone fireplaces in every room. 
She’d already told Vikter, Lance, and Hunt that she wanted stone fireplaces in their
new house, and they’d promised to contact the architect and let him know. 

The only thing she and Nica had not liked about the River House was its isolation. 
Like all of the other homes on the ranch, even the guesthouses, it was set off on
it’s own rather than next to another house.  The privacy was nice, but it was an awfully
big house to be all alone in.

Honey smiled, remembering how uncomfortable the Vulpirans had gotten when she admitted
being nervous about staying in the River House alone.  Vikter had started to tell
them how safe the ranch was, but one look from her had ended that.  It had been less
than a week since the explosion, after all.  Then Lance had suggested posting guards
around the house, and the three of them began discussing who they thought would be
best qualified for that job. 

“Why don’t the three of you move in here with us?” she asked matter-of-factly.

They stared at her with such surprise she wondered why their mouths weren’t hanging
open.  “Nica, why don’t you go check out the bedrooms and pick which one you want. 
Except for the big one.”

“You won’t leave without me?” Nica asked.

Honey frowned.  Nica wasn’t usually skittish.  “Of course not, Sweetie.  I’d never
forget about you.”

“Okay,” Nica said brightly and skipped off toward the bedrooms.

Honey watched after her for a moment, then turned back to the Vulpirans.  “Unless
I’m very much mistaken, we’re all going to be living together, probably quite soon,
anyway,” she said. 

“That is our hope, yes,” Vikter said.  “But, we have no wish to push either you, or
Nica.  There is time for us to go slowly.”

“Yes, there is,” she agreed.  “But Nica and I prefer not to be alone here.  I’m not
saying the four of us need to rush into anything, but there are more than enough bedrooms
here for each of us.  Besides, it will give us all a chance to get used to living
in the same space.  Who knows, maybe living with a five year old will turn out to
be more than you bargained for.”

She smiled, remembering the feel of their eagerness, though they’d tried to hide it. 
Even if she hadn’t felt it, their speed in making arrangements for all of them to
move into the River House would have made it clear.  It took less than twenty-four
hours, in fact.  That had been three days ago and so far, things were going very well.