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No immediate information resulted from their entry into this new interdimension as Xaila and Aerdin kept their eyes and ears open. They scanned opposite walls, the floor, and ceiling for smaller anomalies offering clues to where it was anchored, how it was formed, points that may fail. Nothing obvious reached the surface of this structure, which looked stable and solid in the current dimensional space.
But Xaila sensed a deeper structure that was undulating, perhaps even dynamic. If true, it meant there could be active changes in progress, variations of integrity, possible displacement of the origin or destination.
“It’s still in the process of completion,” Xaila said.
“Yes,” Aerdin agreed. “I’m sensing layers of activity. Like an extensive construction site.”
“I don’t think we’re going to learn much more from here, Aerdin. We’ll have to dig deeper. Why don’t you take the distal aspects for say two orders and I’ll do the same on the proximal aspects. Then we meet back here before we decide on any further translations, okay?”
“That’s a good plan. See you back in a couple of minutes.”
Xaila translated herself into the dimension immediately adjacent to the portal’s interior space that intersected its floor. She looked straight up and saw Aerdin’s two-dimensional image upon the ceiling. In another second, Aerdin shrank into a line segment. As she made the next translation, neither of them shared dimensional space in common. Xaila did a quick visual survey of her surroundings and groaned with annoyance. She translated another order deeper right away, and her groaning became an angry growl.
Xaila’s memories of hunting down Heryn, the Rival Enchantress, through hyperspace contortions returned, reading in the pattern of forces and dimensional intersections the sort of manipulations, which to her displayed Heryn’s personal signature. Without turning around, Xaila counted five anomalies that must have migrated through from the spaces they traversed almost two years before.
Xaila had enough for this stage of the survey and carefully picked a pathway to translate back to the original interdimensional interior to rejoin Aerdin. A moment later he reappeared next to her.
“Wynx!” he exclaimed, using the versatile word that, depending on the context, tone, and emphasis, serves to express anything from an expletive curse to sheer delight. Aerdin’s exclamation came across as being astounded.
“Wynx is right!” Xaila huffed, her connotation of the word more like swearing. “Anything look familiar to you?”
“Yes, it did. But Xaila, we can’t be sure yet. What if it’s a natural anomaly? Look how far it would have to have gone.”
“Come on, those did not look natural,” Xaila said. “And if a couple of parallel-perpendiculars gave way, that could be hardly any distance at all.”
“Okay, I agree. But we can’t just jump to the conclusion Heryn caused all this. She has been without her dimentricy powers, and locked up in a prison hospital for the past two years. We’re going to need to dig a lot further to resolve this. At this point, does it matter whether it was Heryn? She’s out of the picture.”
Xaila took a deep breath. “No, I suppose she can’t be any more imprisoned. You’re right, we need to follow the evidence to determine a course of action. But can we agree, Heryn’s actions could be one possible explanation for whatever is happening here?”
“Sure. We can’t rule it out yet.”
Aerdin gave the right answer, though part of Xaila’s emotional instincts wanted him to give the Heryn hypothesis more weight. Xaila’s intellect and professional reasoning understood they needed to do further analysis. With the tip of a spear, Heryn had literally managed to get under Xaila’s skin.
“All right,” Xaila said. “Let’s head in to the next stage together.” Aerdin and Xaila reached a third-order space, finding more evidence of unbalanced manipulation at this level. As they turned around, an immediate problem confronted them.
“I’ll take the top one!” Xaila shouted.
“Got it!” Aerdin answered as he focused on the lower boundary heading in their direction.
They recognized the developing parallel-perpendicular from the rapid alternation of the approaching dimensions trying to resolve their conflicting adjacencies. Before the twin anomalies could collide into a chaotic paradox, Xaila and Aerdin double-teamed its progression to resettle the dimensional boundaries into a lower-order.
“I’m glad we were here together,” Xaila said. “It would have been a handful by myself.”
“Could’ve been ugly. Our timing was impeccable though.”
Xaila gave a nervous snicker. “Right? It’s hard to tell what it would lead to. Let’s go one more level to see if we’re looking at better or worse.
The words “for better or for worse” resonated in Xaila’s mind as they performed the translation to the next level of hyperspace. Her marriage to Lanbito was on her mind, of course, and a creeping worry accompanied the phrase. So much to do, not enough time, and now…this.
The two Archidimentrists emerged into the fourth-order space. The source for some of what they’d seen in the higher strata was obvious here. Signs of all kinds of meddling with dimentricy littered the space. Xaila was trying to decide if it was the sloppiest practice of the craft she could imagine or a diabolical execution of the highest art. She kept analyzing every aspect surrounding them.
“Doesn’t something seem off to you?” Aerdin asked Xaila. “I don’t mean the altered dimensional stuff. Like something in the air?”
Xaila considered the question for a moment, continuing to gaze up, down, and around.
“I think the lighting is unusual, isn’t it?”
“That’s it, Xaila. I’ve never seen this kind of illumination in hyperspace.”
“Hm,” she said. “I wonder if fracturing is letting in sunlight to an extent. Right now, I can’t come up with another explanation. It is still daytime, isn’t it?”
“Yes, still morning, in fact.”
The pattern Xaila was discerning dawned on her then.
“It’s a catastrophe,” Xaila announced with a flat voice.
“I wouldn’t say that yet, but yes, I’m sure it will be if we don’t fix it.”
“What I’m referring to, Aerdin, is a mathematical construct describing a complex of stresses and variable behaviors in catastrophe theory.”
“I…never heard of it before.”
“I’m not surprised. Well, I majored in applied mathematics, and I dug into catastrophe theory quite a bit. This whole…situation…the new interdimension…fits the characteristics of a swallowtail catastrophe. Fixing it won’t be quick or easy.”
“I don’t understand, Xaila. Dimentricy should have all the tools we need to deal with this. It’s a mess, but there’s seven of us with the best of skills.”
“If this was only a standard dynamic system you’d expect to find under natural dimensional conditions, you’re right. But this interdimension is supported by a complicated dynamic system in which a small variation in a parameter can create a drastic change in outcome. A swallowtail catastrophe has three control factors and one behavior axis, defined by a fifth-degree equation in algebraic topology. We have the skills to unfold the catastrophe. The trick is, we’ll have to do it in a way we don’t exceed any of the control factors that would result in a behavior we don’t want to happen.”
“So, this was a deliberate design? A booby trap?”
“And a ticking bomb, Aerdin. The stresses in at least one of the control factors is increasing. Right now, it’s progressing at a rate the system can remain stable. But it will eventually move toward rapid instability. So, it’s a matter of time for something to give in a bad way.”
“Anything we can do now to make this more stable, for now at least?”
Xaila shook her head. “I don’t think so and I don’t want to do much until we understand the status of the system. I think we should go back, go over what we’ve learned and talk about how to proceed.”
“Does anyone else on the Table have catastrophe theory experience?”
“I doubt it.”
“This will keep you kind of tied up then. Not a good time for it to come up.”
“I guess there’s never a good time.” Xaila was trying to sound philosophical, only so to cover her dejection.
“I didn’t see any indication where the girl’s parents might be on those levels.”
“No. I think if we go back out, do some analysis, we can probably narrow down where to look.”
“Do you think so?” Aerdin asked.
“No…I don’t know,” admitted Xaila.
Ancient Light is the sequel to my earlier book Enchantress of Turquoise Sky. You can read and enjoy this new story whether or not you have read the previous book, but if you would like additional backstory on the characters and the world of Turquoise Sky, please check out Enchantress of Turquoise Sky via the link above. Thank you for joining me on this creative journey and I look forward to your comments about Ancient Light!