****
He wandered. The dreams had sent him from Athena, but not to anywhere. He restlessly searched for Hensk, dodged a few attacks by dark brethren he'd already destroyed, and wandered.
"Find her, my gallant one. Find the second who bears my name. Build the door."
He awoke aching with loneliness. A door? A door to where? He stumbled to the comp station. He was being driven. He avoided looking in a mirror. He knew what he'd see. Knew because his clothes hung on him. Knew because he couldn't eat or rest. A door to where? A door to beyond where he was? Where was he?
He began again. From where he was. If he defined that, he would, perhaps, know what was beyond. The name Hrune. It came to his mind again. Hrune... He tapped Alice's memory banks. Hrune... Yes! Orbel Hrune, Lahathan mathematician. Theory of infinite universes. He patted the console.
"Thank you, Alice. Now I know what door I'm to build. Let's see if you and I can figure out how to build it. I hope you're in the mood to help."
She was, but it still required months of work. Most at the comp station. He found a red giant to power it and began the work of building it. Athena hadn't come to his dreams since he'd begun the work. She came the night before he opened the door and whispered, "The second Athena."
Gallant cautiously explored the universe he'd created a way into. It shocked him when he discovered it was 'the same' as his. He was sure it shouldn't be. He was stunned when he learned his own people didn't exist in it. There was a race as old as his in another galaxy, but very different. He wasn't surprised to discover he actually liked them better.
He set coordinates for Earth. It was home in his emotions and humans were the people he truly needed to know existed in this universe. Alice flashed "Well it's about time, Nervous Nellie!" on her screen and he laughed.
"You're right, Alice. I've been avoiding it, just as I avoided visiting Earth after the twentieth century, for several thousand years, because I was afraid it would change too much. This universe shouldn't be at all like ours, but it is. And telling myself it doesn't matter if there aren't humans in it is not working."
He hopped through time. Humans not only existed, they flourished. By the twenty-second century, they'd put all their boundless energy into exploring their galaxy. Earth was the home of the Orion Arm Federation of Free Worlds and the base of the highly regarded Exploration Fleet, but they had a problem. It was called the Durcassin Empire.
He hopped forward and saw the Federation and the Empire settle into an uneasy truce. The Federation grew on one side of the wide 'Zone of Neutrality,' by inviting space-faring peoples to join. The Empire grew on the other side, by conquest.
Gallant decided he was lonesome and wanted people to talk to. He laughed when Alice gave him the location of a group of humans. She knew him very well. She flashed, "And it's a dangerous place." He told her to give him data and hurry. He knew what 'kind' of danger when she landed. The fact she landed close, told him she was worried. He walked around a small outcropping and introduced himself.
"Hello, I'm Gallant."
"You have no business being here!"
"Hey! The weapon is hardly necessary. I'm unarmed and intend injury to no one."
"Commander Telas?"
"He's as unarmed as he claims, Captain. My sensors detect nothing that could be construed as dangerous."
"Cybernetic augmentation. Isn't that a bit unusual?"
Gallant smiled and cautiously lowered his hands.
"It wasn't a choice. Captain, he's not human. Very advanced physiology. Two hearts and a unique cell structure. Slow continual replacement. He probably has a life span of thousands of years."
"Thank you, Commander. Now, Mr. Gallant, why don't you tell me what you're doing on a planet that's, basically, falling apart under our feet."
"Looking for someone to talk to. Your scientific teams attracted my attention. I just decided to be friendly and say hello. Hello."
The captain laughed and Gallant's smile widened. He'd missed humans.
"You've picked a pretty unstable setting for a chat. I'm Justin Merris, captain of the Federation Exploration Vessel Curie. We're trying to find out why this is the fourth planet in this region that's disintegrating."
"I think I know what's happening to the planet. If I'm right, it will spread. I'll give you the data I've collected."
"Thank you. It'll probably give my security chief fits, but why don't you come back to the ship and have a cup of coffee with me?"
"I'd love to. With your permission, I'll land my craft in your shuttle bay. Captain, I'm going to take a very unusual step and invite Commander Telas aboard my ship, to make the journey with me. He's already deduced more than I really want known about me. I'd like the opportunity to convince him not to reveal everything he learns. The best way to do that is let him know everything, then choose not to reveal it."
"Commander?"
"It's rather convoluted logic, Captain, but a very accurate judgment of my personality. I believe Lt. Ochis would feel a great deal more comfortable about having both his craft and him aboard if I arrived in it."
"Agreed. Commander Duchelle!"
"Yes, Sir! Where did he come from?"
"A ship. Mr. Gallant, Lieutenant Commander Athena Duchelle."
"Athena?! How interesting. Just Gallant. Now, Commander, if you'll come this way, I'll show you my ship."
Gallant just turned and walked off. He couldn't think of anything to say to her. He noticed Telas followed at a nod from his captain, but he was a bit surprised he did. He wasn't surprised by what the woman named Athena said behind him.
"Well! I've never had quite that reaction to my name before. Or quite that response to an introduction. Not the politest person I've ever met."
"Commander Duchelle, your greeting was not exactly fleet protocol. He's not human. Telas seems to find him more than a little intriguing. He also seems to have some idea what's happening to this world. Finish your tests, then report to me aboard the ship."
"Yes, Captain. Non-human. Hmm."
"Commander, your intense interest in non-human anthros almost got you left behind on Base Six Four. This is not the place to be thinking of other things. I'd like as much information as we can get before this world becomes an asteroid belt."
"I know, I know. Curb my curiosity and get on with the job at hand. Yes, Captain. Still, he's very interesting."
"Yes, and he has data to add to yours, so I suggest you assemble some."
"Yes, Sir. We're about done."
Gallant didn't take Telas directly to the Curie. It was nearly three months before he took him there. Of course, it was only ten minutes as far as the captain was concerned. In those months, they became very good friends. They had a great deal in common.
Telas' cyber augmentation had been done by an alien scientific group when he was a child. He had been, basically, a slave to the computer that ran their ship. A fleet ship had tracked the abducted human children and freed them, but too late for Telas. Federation medical knowledge was incapable of reversing the augmentation. Telas would live for thousands of years as part man, part computer. He laughed when he told Gallant Alice was the first girl he'd ever truly loved. Gallant smiled and ached for him. The laugh was real, but tinged with longing.
Gallant showed Telas what was causing the breakup. The device was small and nearly undetectable in the vast reaches of the neutral territory. The Empire had invented a new weapon. Soon it would begin to destabilize stars. Soon after, it would affect inhabited worlds. They landed on the Curie and Gallant joined the captain for coffee. They'd just begun to chat when Telas' voice came over the com.
"Gallant! Now!"
Gallant ran from the captain's ready room. Telas had a man in his arms and was stepping into a lift. Gallant leapt consoles and people and dove into it just as the doors began to close.
"Emergency one, shuttle bay two. Eme
rgency two, medical. He's a mess inside. I don't know how he got from the pad to the lift. 'Something' destabilized the transport system. You stunned the bridge crew."
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you planned it. You timed it perfectly. Shuttle bay first."
"Doctor Marsh says we can save him, but Commander Duchelle is still on the planet and it's coming apart. I couldn't get her on comm."
"Damn! Telas, convince him he must violate neutral space. Destroy that thing."
"I will."
Gallant ran for Alice as soon as the lift doors opened. He hadn't given the captain an easy job. The Curie would take a real beating just getting close enough to blast the device. He'd take a real beating saving Commander Duchelle. He didn't quite reach her before it began.
Athena got a shoulder under him and got him to his feet. The landslide had rolled him about three hundred meters, then near buried him. She was amazed he was alive and astounded he was conscious.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Would you believe rescuing you? My ship's over that cliff that used to be a ridge. Your transporter is nonfunctional."
"This job would be easier if you weren't quite so... "
"Comfortable. I'd still weigh more than a human. This won't work. There just isn't time. Here. Go. Take this. It's the key to my ship. Push the green button on the navigation console. It'll take you to the nearest inhabited planet."
"Look, big, blond, and 'comfortable', you'll get out of this with me, or we'll not get out of it together. Don't argue! Just keep going."
"Why do I keep meeting stubborn women named Athena?!"
"Explain that statement while I 'stubborn' us to a bit more stable ground. If there is any."
"There isn't. This whole planet is about to crumble around us. LOOK OUT!!"
She cried as she rigged a travois. He'd pushed her out of the way, then thrown himself between her and the falling, bouncing rock. It would have killed her. She didn't know why it hadn't killed him. She reminded herself the travois "put basic physics to work" and she knew she could do it, dragged him to a spot that didn't have tumbling cliffs on both sides and dropped to the ground, exhausted. The planet was coming apart, but she had to rest.
Gallant awoke and looked around. Athena Duchelle was curled on the ground near where he lay. She'd gotten him a long way while he was unconscious. He decided it was probably his turn. He assessed his condition and smiled. He'd always liked a challenge. He struggled to his knees, waited for his head to stop spinning and his vision to clear, then got to his feet.
She was small and ordinarily he'd have found her weight an easy load, but this wasn't ordinarily. He decided she'd been asleep when the rock hit her. She'd probably regain consciousness in a few hours. But they didn't have a few hours. He got his bearings, put her on the travois and set out.
He faced the hill and laid down the travois. He'd have to carry her. He begged for just a little luck. If the hill would stay stable just a few minutes, he thought he could make it to Alice with her. He picked her up and started up the hill. He got about two-thirds of the way before the hill began to disintegrate. Suddenly, Alice was around him.
He laughed, told her he loved her, gently laid Commander Duchelle on the floor and collapsed, before he could get his healing unit out of his pocket.