Breach

fiction by michael werneburg

2002.07.26

«Sir, we have found several memory chips on the Terran's person. We're scanning them and we're finding unbelievable quantities of high-grade scientific and technical data.» The Special Agent nodded slightly but didn't break eye contact with the alien. He had met, interrogated, tortured, and killed many Terrans, so their presence didn't bother him.

«Surely, it's encrypted?» asked the familiar voice of his most senior scientist.

«Yes, it's encrypted but with an older technology we acquired from the To'uith many years ago.»

«This Terran fool must have been in a hurry!»

The Special Agent's warm smile slipped into a delighted grin. He was about to become an obscenely wealthy and powerful man.

"What may I call you?" the Terran asked.

The Special Agent gave his name. "Special Agent Four-Quartet-Oauryiid-of-Sector-North."

"Oh! May I call you Four-Quartet?"

The Special Agent considered that insanity for a moment. It was clear that the Terran knew nothing at all about the society of the Benanjil. "But of course, your Highness. And your designation, if I may?"

"I am Tensom, Prince of the House of Mol No'r, Kingdom of Outer Dath, V538 Aurigae III."

"A pleasure to meet you, your Highness. Your appearance gave us quite a start!"

"I bet it did. Have you heard of subtime, Four Quartet?"

"No, your Highness." But he nearly choked in surprise. He was one of a few Special Agents within Alien Technology Branch who were privy to the Ministry's theory that the Terrans could alter their rate of travel through time. "Do you mean to say that you were here previously but undetectable to us?"

"No, no, my friend. I mean I was traveling on this sled but at a speed you couldn't detect. It's the basis for a proposition I would like to make."

And there it was. While his team copied the Terran's data, the Special Agent said, "Tell me more, your Highness."

"I'll do more than that, I will show you. If you would but agree to step onto my sled, I can activate the field and we can tour this mining operation of yours. We'll be back so quickly your people won't have noticed we're gone."

"But of course I would be honored, your Highness," the Special Agent said.

«No, please, send one of us,» came the voice of one of his female agents. The outburst was forgivable, she was completely in his thrall.

The Special Agent gestured for the Prince to lead, and followed him. "My personnel are expressing concern for my well-being."

"Oh! Not at all, sir. Not at all. I'll be with you myself, you can see am I quite alone and it is a simple sled."

"You're too kind," the Special Agent told the Prince. "Will you please allow me to set their minds at ease?"

Stepping onto the sled, the Terran said, "But of course!"

«Friends,» the Special Agent addressed his people with unprecedented kindness to signal absolutely how serious his next words were. «You know I wouldn't endanger any of you, this is a risk I must take myself.» This was a bald lie, the Special Agent had dispensed with members of his own staff on more occasions than he could count. Even before becoming exposed to the wonderful artificial dust substance in the Terran repository, he had been regarded with fear and loathing by his people and accused of sociopathy and worse.

By having analyzed the repository's contents, he had isolated the narcotic element and had begun administering it to himself and his people with wonderous results. It clarified the mind in incredible ways, dispensing with doubt and quibbling considerations such as morality and propriety. His staff, of course, got a version blended with a number of elements known to the Benanjil. He had brought them under his complete control. Best to say something now to motivate them. «We are about to embark on one of the most serious scientific advances in the history of our people. This is going to advance our people by centuries. But this Terran won't have come to this world alone, and I suspect that his compatriots will come for him very soon. Many of you haven't seen a Terran war vessel, they are not to be trifled with; not if we had a fleet of a hundred craft of our own. Given the circumstances, the Terrans might even do something drastic like destroy this site utterly. We know they have the technology to drop meteors on a planet. Now; I want you acting as one. Start packing, we will be leaving with the data and the equipment as soon as I am done with this buffoon. Secure all of the Terran machinery we have recovered from the site and set a course for a safe distance. Fully cloaked, mind you. The Terrans are unaware of our cloaking technology, but if we are seen they will destroy us at once and take it for themselves. Act now, act with care. I will see you shortly.»

The Special Agent didn't even wait for an acknowledgement. He stepped onto the deck of the sled next to the Terran and said, "Okay."

What happened then was truly astonishing. The Terran activated the subtime field, and they were surrounded by a visible bubble in reality. There were patterns traveling on the surface of the field and outside the field the Special Agent could see that things were different. His people moved as if in a slow-motion video. When the Terran took the sled forward and off the ground, it was more like watching a recording than experiencing motion. There was little sense of inertia, for instance. They set off around the pit mine, and the Terran pointed out, "See there? Some men are shooting at a, is that a helicopter?"

"Ah, yes. Well spotted, your Highness. Best to steer clear of them, no?"

"Yes, but I want to highlight one of the effects of subtime. Because we're moving so quickly, those men would have a chance of seeing us but only if we remain still."

"Your Highness, how fast are we traveling right now, relative to the normal passing of time?"

"Time is moving at 10% of normal, inside the field."