What Judgments Come

“Well,” Xiong said, offering a wry grin, “I appreciate you being here, even if you’re not supposed to be here today.”

“No problem, Lieutenant,” Anderson said. “Commander alKhaled prefers to have us on hand when there’s a possibility of something blowing up, or ripping open the fabric of space-time.”

O’Halloran’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not going to happen today, though. Right?”

“I can’t predict what might result from this test,” Xiong replied, “but I’m fairly confident the space-time continuum is secure, at least for the moment.” Even as he spoke the words, Xiong considered his answer. If Operation Vanguard had taught him anything, it was to anticipate the unexpected, the unlikely, or even the impossible.

“Good,” Anderson said, making his way toward the row of workstations that had been installed in the cargo bay and configured to act as the center of operations for the forthcoming series of tests. “I hate to mess with that kind of stuff, at least before lunch.” Settling into one of the seats positioned before the consoles, he ran his hand along one set of controls and nodded. “Everything shows green.” Gesturing toward the container, he asked, “I take it our guest is behaving itself?”

Xiong replied, “So far.” Moving to stand next to where O’Halloran had seated himself at another of the consoles, he tapped a control, and one of the workstation’s monitors flickered to life before settling on the image of a now quite familiar crystalline polyhedron. Somewhat larger than a human head, the Mirdonyae Artifact—one of two currently held by Xiong and his team of researchers on Starbase 47—emitted a pulsing, violet glow, just as it had since he had used the mysterious crystal to capture the Shedai entity that had attacked the station months earlier. Whether the energy emitted by the crystal originated from the object itself or the mysterious being it now held within its confines, Xiong did not know. Weeks of intensive sensor scans of the artifact as well as its companion, which remained in its own secure containment facility within the Vault aboard the station, had yielded nothing in the way of tangible information.

“Is it me,” O’Halloran said, “or does that thing just look pissed off?”

Anderson leaned back in his chair. “I think you’d be feeling the same way if somebody stuffed you into a fishbowl.” Then, he asked Xiong, “We’re sure this thing is safe?”

“As safe as it’s going to be,” Xiong replied. Given the awesome power already demonstrated by the Shedai entities since his first encounter with them on the planet Erilon, the young archeology and anthropology officer had his doubts that there existed one place or containment system that would render the artifact and the being it held “safe.” The last attempt even to co

“Once we activate the damping fields,” Xiong said, “the chamber will be completely self-contained.” Even the couplings co

“I should’ve taken bets,” Anderson said.

Xiong ignored the remark as he studied the status displays before him. All power readings were nominal. All that remained would be to activate the additional layer of damping force fields al-Khaled and his team had designed to act as a buffer for the series of sensor and communications scans to which the artifact would soon be subjected. If they were lucky, they would be able to examine the enigmatic object, and perhaps even the equally mystifying entity it contained, without threat of another attack.

And if we’re not lucky, Xiong mused, it could be a bad day for everyone.

The sound of the cargo bay’s hatch opening drew his attention, and Xiong turned to see al-Khaled entering the room. The commander was followed by Doctor Carol Marcus, the civilian supervisor of Starbase 47’s Operation Vanguard research team.

“Good morning, everyone,” Marcus said as she and al-Khaled approached. Exchanging smiles with Xiong, she added, “Lieutenant, I trust everything is ready here?”

Nodding, Xiong replied, “Just about, Doctor.” He paused, offering a small smile. “I just wish Nezrene was here.” Operation Vanguard’s Tholian benefactor, Nezrene, had defected and sought asylum aboard the station, and her knowledge and assistance had helped Xiong and the Vault research team to better understand the artifacts of Shedai technology they had encountered and acquired on a handful of planets throughout the Taurus Reach. Nezrene had also helped Xiong and his people to better comprehend the Shedai themselves, offering a much-needed yet terrifying perspective on the ancient race and the incredible power it commanded. Present at the time of the Shedai’s attack on Starbase 47, the Tholian had been killed when the powerful entity tore its way through the station and penetrated the Vault in search of the Mirdonyae Artifacts to which it had been drawn.

Marcus reached out to place a hand on Xiong’s shoulder. “Me, too, but I like to think she’s here, after a fashion.”

Comforted by her words, Xiong smiled before turning his attention to al-Khaled. “Are we in position?”

“Yes,” said the head of the Lovell’s Corps of Engineers detachment. “We’ve established orbit at the limits of Vanguard’s weapons range. If anything goes wrong, they’ll be ready.”

“Why don’t I find that comforting?” O’Halloran asked.

Marcus replied, “Relax, Lieutenant. We may not be the Corps of Engineers, but we have a few tricks up our sleeve.”

“Exactly,” Xiong replied. “The damping fields may not be able to fully block any signals or energy the artifact might emit, but they should at least weaken and scatter them, thereby preventing a repeat of the last time we tried this.” Eyeing Marcus, he added, “After all, I really don’t think we want anotherof those things coming after us.”

“I can certainly live without it,” the doctor said. “What about sensors and communications?”

Al-Khaled answered, “That’s where we’re still shooting a bit in the dark. Since we’ve had no apparent success contacting the Shedai entities within the artifacts, we’ve decided to go back and start from scratch. We’ll begin with low-intensity scans and work our way back to the levels that triggered your prior … incident. At each step, we’ll reexamine the findings and see how they measure up so far as this new setup is concerned, and make the appropriate adjustments before continuing.”

“Even after all of that,” Xiong said, “there’s still no guarantee we’ll learn anything new, much less make actual contact with the Shedai entity.”

“And we might just irritate it all over again,” Marcus added.

Nodding, Xiong said, “That is a possibility, Doctor.” It was this scenario, above everything else, that was behind the extraordinary lengths to which he, al-Khaled, and their teams had gone to prepare for this round of experiments. Despite all the precautions, Admiral Nogura had been reluctant to see the research continue, but had relented when offered the idea of using the Lovellas the test bed rather than the station itself. That the suggestion had been presented by the ship’s captain, Daniel Okagawa, after he had explained the situation to his crew and they all—to a person—had supported the plan, had convinced Nogura to allow the effort to proceed.