Page 27 of Spectral Seas (Spectral Worlds #2)

A BBY ROLLED ONTO his back and, as he did most mornings, thought to engage his in-home intelligence system. “Stella,” he said as he let his eyes slip open. “Tell Anya to adjust the fabric continuity to something softer. These sheets are…” He was going to say, ‘too coarse,’ but these weren’t his sheets, and this wasn’t his room. The walls were stone, the furnishings sparse—the bed, a chair, a small bare writing table—all a shade of blue. He was in a monastic cell, and the tint of blue light flooding in through the porthole above was the daylight of the Indicus Plane, not the eternal neon night of the Low City.

Abby remembered that he was in the Indicus Plane and, along with Leta and Soren, was to investigate the crystal gardens.

What had woken him was the aroma of something baked, wafting through the transom space above his door, and he suspected that breakfast was already being served in the communal area between their rooms. He dressed then joined Leta and Soren, already seated and midway through a tray of fruit and vegetable pies .

“Mmm,” he said. “I see you two were lured in by the baked pies too.”

“They are delicious,” said Leta. “It’s so simple here, and the food so good. I could get used to this.”

“I take it that everybody slept well?”

Soren and Leta nodded in agreement.

Abby poured himself juice from a clear pitcher and placed a small pie on his plate.

“Me too,” he said. “First time in a few days.”

“You still look flush,” said Soren.

Abby smiled at the Umbra’s levity.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go over this before we meet with Uhggwa and Sss’kallion. The Indicus Crystal Gardens are located at the same coordinates as the Viridian mines. Once there, we can search for the illegal quant.”

“And if we find it?” asked Soren.

“We destroy it,” said Abby. “Or sabotage it anyway we can until we’re able to report back for a formal response.”

“That’s a coincidence,” said Leta.

“What is?”

“That the two gardens are at the same spacial point.”

“This is no coincidence. Remember how I said the monatomic crystals manifest in different planes, each with special properties, the emeralds in the Viridis, the indigo sapphires in the Indicus plane?”

“Right,” she said. “The yellow in Pratinus, the ruby in the Maro plane, and on and on. Different crystals, different planes.”

“Different planes, but same coordinates. There need to be certain conditions for the single atom crystal lattices of the monatomics to form and thrive. They can be found in trace amounts virtually anywhere in the planes, but they’re primarily concentrated in volcanic soil, particularly where ley lines cross to form high energy vortices. ”

“The same way Bubbles are located on major ley line vortices?” asked Leta.

“Exactly the same,” said Abby. “The vortices are transplanar. It’s believed that’s why the Bubbles were built around them, to harness the electromagnetic energy. The same energy vortex that allows transit through the Bubble’s interplanar harmonic portals affects the particles in a one-dimensional lattice, causing ions in the structure of the forming crystals to create a unique electromagnetic field—different plane, a different frequency. There’s a theory that back when the Bubbles were built across the planes, the locations of the crystal gardens were active volcanoes.”

“So, all of the crystals,” said Leta, “no matter which type, are at the same spacial point, in this dormant volcano, across all of the known planes?”

“It’s dormant on most planes and no, not all of the crystals are at that point, but it is one of the few major vortices without a Bubble where the Earth’s electromagnetic energy is so high and, due to the tending of the gardens, the most robust.”

“Hmm,” said Leta. “Makes sense. But if they’ve been in the same place for so many millennia, how is this not common knowledge?”

“It’s best kept secret,” said Abby. “Volcanos, ley lines, vortices, power centers, everything you need to create monatomic lattices, and most of the planar races don’t realize that there’s a myriad of crystal gardens right next door.”

“And you knew this,” Leta asked Soren.

He nodded. “The consortium holds this information close.”

“How about the Viridians and the Indici? ”

“Most of what we know about crystal resonance technology comes from them,” said Abby. “They’ve been key to controlling the technology and the market.”

“In partnership with the consortium,” added Soren.

“Yes,” said Abby. “In partnership with the syndicates. In exchange for technology, the Viridians and Indici have autonomous control of their mines on Earth and the consortium controls the galactic colonies. That’s what makes the Viridis incidents so intriguing. Due to the sheer power of the Bermuda vortex, quantum devices are strictly prohibited in any of the documented gardens. The treaty stipulates that if there’s a violation, the offender’s gardens are surrendered to the Homeland Bureau for arbitration.”

“The Bermuda Vortex?” said Leta.

“Well,” said Abby. “Even though it’s secret, it has a name.”

“Of course it does,” said Leta. “It seems to me that someone may have an interest in pointing the blame.”

“Or creating an incident,” said Soren.

“Neither race trusts the other,” said Abby. “And neither would have much more of a benefit other than spite.”

“If they wouldn’t benefit,” asked Leta, “then who would?”

Before either of the men could answer, a monk entered to escort them to the flight deck.

~*~