“I wonder, my friend. If we were to continue to expand magnification, continue to refine the resolution, could we focus down on this single island, enter this spire, and end up gazing at representations of ourselves staring back at us?”
“Don’t know.” Low drew back his hand and watched as the globe of Cocytus shrank back down to the size of a marble. “Don’t need to know. If I want to look at myself, I’ll use a mirror.”
Turning, he gestured in the direction of a cluster of dense red stars. Instantly they swelled and rushed toward him. He had to steady himself to avoid flinching away from the onrushing fiery spheres. Concentrating on the largest, he caused it to expand while dismissing its companions as effortlessly as one would push aside soap bubbles in a bath.
Two planets circled the red giant, which also wore a tiara of comets and asteroids. Cursory inspection revealed both worlds to be charred and lifeless. With a gesture, he flung the stars aside, casting them back to their rightful places in the firmament with a casual wave of his hand.
“A planetarium.” Brink spoke as if in a cathedral. In a sense, it was—a place to worship astronomy. “But what a planetarium. I do not recognize a single constellation.”
“Neither do I. Look beneath your feet.”
Brink complied. There was no floor. They were standing on nothingness, contemplating depths that extended forever. Stars swirled beneath his toes. The miniature of a grand nebula, remnant of an ancient supernova, illuminated one heel with crimson and yellow highlights.
Experimentally, Low took a step forward. The illusion lost none of its perfection. He felt but could not see the solid surface underfoot. They weren’t about to fall off, to go tumbling forever through an inveighed against cosmos. The planetarium was marvelous, but no place for anyone with vertigo.
“Nothing’s changed,” he assured Brink. “The floor’s still there in every sense except the visual. Come on, you try it.”
“I will remain here, thank you.”
“Suit yourself.” Taking several steps into the spangled void, Low amused himself by enlarging and then shrinking an assortment of stellar objects. “Pick a world, Ludger. Any world. Just use your hand.”
The scientist nodded. At his behest, the supernova nebula rose from his feet, expanding until they were both standing within it. The colors and light were mind-numbing. Embedded within the fluorescent gas were innumerable individual fragments, the detailed study of any one of which would have settled questions of a hundred years’ standing among the astronomical community. Behind the nebula lay stars unknown on Earth, whole constellations unsuspected.
“Small gestures, that’s the ticket.” Low demonstrated, calling up features as tiny as craters on individual moons. Though he never gave up on the hope, nowhere did he find signs of intelligent life. But then, the galaxy was vast, he had no idea which direction to go or where to look, and they’d only been playing with the system for a few minutes. Given time to learn how to operate the remarkable mechanism more efficiently, there was no telling what they might find.
“Fascinating.” Brink was toying with a system that contained no less than three asteroid belts and fifteen planets. “It responds to limbs of any size and shape. No actual contact is necessary, so we can operate it as easily as a Cocytan, or any other intelligent being. Apparently mere presence is sufficient for activation.”
“Can you imagine what a teaching tool this would make?” Low flung a handful of deep-space comets back into their orbits. “The sense of empowerment it would give a child? You’d never get a group of ten-year-olds out of here.”
“I am most reluctant to leave myself,” Brink admitted. “If we only knew what direction to probe, how far to go, I suspect we could call up a perfect representation of the solar system. Assuming that their observations extended that far, of course. The Sun and Earth may lie outside the boundaries of this highly detailed map. Our solar system might not be discernible in detail from Cocytus.”
“There has to be a key somewhere. A galographic index,” Low surmised.
Brink agreed. “I suspect there is, but finding it is another matter. And if found, how are we to read it?” He waved at the enveloping artificial firmament. “Without knowing even in which direction to begin, it would take years to examine every individual system contained within this projection.”
“I’ve been looking. Concentrating on the brightest stars.” Low’s expression was glum. “I still don’t recognize so much as a single sun.”
“There is no imagining the distance we have traveled. We must be far from home indeed.”
They immersed themselves in the delights and marvels of the planetarium, until Low reluctantly reminded his companion that they still needed to check out at least one more spire.
“This is fun, and enlightening, but it’s not getting us any closer to home. I’d like to find Maggie, too, and introduce her to our discoveries.”
“I confess you have me wondering about her condition.” Brink stood surrounded by stars, his head tilted as he surveyed a sky like no other. “How do we turn it off, I wonder?”
“By doing the opposite of what’s needed to turn it on, I guess.” Low studied the darkness. There was nothing to indicate a way out—no illuminated arrows, no distant light demarcating the location of the arch, nothing. “I think the door was back this way.” He headed off through the stars, Brink following him closely. The scientist had a good sense of direction, but knew it would be no match for an astronaut’s.
They’d walked for what seemed like half a mile but in reality was much less, when the universe twisted around them. The incredible artificial cosmos vanished. Once again they found themselves in a high, featureless, empty domed chamber. The exit loomed just ahead, and beyond, the transport sphere waiting silently on its track bed.
“Incredible.” Brink turned a slow circle. There was nothing to indicate that the room held so much as a dim light bulb. The only remaining glow came from the life crystals that filled the scientist’s pockets. “We must come back to this place!”
“Yes.” Low was in complete agreement. “After we’ve found something we can eat.”
“I wonder what marvels remain to us.”
“I’d settle for a return ticket.”
As it developed, further exploration was to be delayed.
Brink pulled up suddenly and pointed. “Commander, I thought I saw something move over there.”
Low whirled. “What? Where?”
The scientist pointed. “That way, near the back of the tunnel. The sphere loomed before them, beckoning. Brink cupped his hands to his mouth. “Maggie? Maggie Robbins!” There was no reply. “Could she have followed us here?”
“Not unless the sphere went back for her, or there are two running on this same track. You’ve been squinting at too many nebulae, Ludger.”
“Verdampt! I was sure I saw something.” He started forward … and found his progress blocked.
The creature had no legs. That in itself was not surprising. Legless life-forms were common enough on Earth. But as a general rule they did not run to size. This Cocytan counterpart was big. As massive as Low, it boasted a bony exoskeleton that was dominated by a swelling rib cage. The equally gaunt skull swayed back and forth on the end of a long, flexible neck, while the tail terminated in a spatulate, diamond-shaped flange. Two thin but strong structures that might equally well have been arms, legs or wings protruded from the upper third of the emaciated body.
As to the function of one visible structure the two men shared no doubts: The double jaws were filled with sharp white teeth. In addition to teeth, the creature also had company.
“Easy.” Low’s voice dropped to a whisper. “We’re an alien form. Maybe they won’t know what to make of us.”
Responding to the pilot’s voice, the creatures raised themselves up and began to hump across the floor toward them. They resembled an ambulating boneyard, a brace of pythons turned inside out. Convinced the creatures had no intention of presenting him with a bouquet of posies, Low began to backpedal toward the archway.
“Eellike motions.” Brink kept pace with his companion. “They could belong to any phylum, any family.”
“Look at those teeth,” Low exclaimed. “Those didn’t evolve to crop grass.” He halted, and Brink bumped into him.
“Really, Commander. I think we should continue our retreat. Perhaps activating the planetarium will disorient them.”
“Too late, Ludger.”
Three more of the monstrosities had materialized behind them, leaving the two men to wonder how the beasts had gained access to the doorless, windowless, featureless planetarium chamber. It was a mystery whose solution would have to wait. The active, inimical creatures posed a more immediate problem.
Cut off from the planetarium and the transport sphere, they turned and ran toward the back of the boarding platform.
“Somehow we’ve got to get around them and into the sphere!” Low exclaimed as he ran. “And we’ve got to do it before one of those things accidentally flops inside and sends it racing away, or we’ll be stuck here. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to try to walk that tunnel. Not only aren’t there any lights, it would be a real awkward place to get caught if a sphere came rolling toward you.”