The Mirrorverse
Chapter 31

Syrhahn

Syrhahn was sat at the kitchen table drinking fruit juice. His admiration for the large chunk of oak that comprised the table in the wooden house was short lived, being replaced by the same doubts and uncertainties that had kept him awake all night.

What am I doing here? He thought, his head no clearer than when he went to bed. He couldn’t decide whether he could trust that this woman was indeed his wife’s mother, this far too young lady that was seated opposite. He could see she had Angel’s eyes, but it was so hard to believe that she was genuinely twenty seven years older than Angel would have been. Her argument was sound, that she regularly visited a futuristic world and received anti-ageing treatments. Sound given recent events at least. Not long ago Syrhahn would have had her committed.

His doubts were dispelled slightly as he looked into Angel’s eyes set in Xhisara’s face, which did bear some resemblance to Angel’s. He was trying to convince himself that it was possible, but then he had just travelled in space through artificially generated wormholes, generated by the ordinary looking woman sat with him in a rustic kitchen. Not least that the kitchen was on an unknown planet in an unknown universe.

Xhisara broke the silence. “What does William want with Viskra? Why now?” she asked, sipping her highly viscose mulberry coloured drink.

Syrhahn sat there and pondered as to whether he should tell her or not. His fear was that if anyone found out what Viskra was doing for the military, they’d never be safe in that universe again. The military would track them down and kill them for leaking military secrets. If there ever was an ‘us’ to kill, he thought miserably.

He decided ultimately that Xhisara needed to know, and that he needed to trust her. Without her he would never replace Viskra, and if she was who she claimed to be, she wanted him back dearly.

“Viskra was working on an anti-matter ray,” said Syrhahn finally, putting the not entirely unpleasant juice down on the table. Xhisara waited while he continued.

“It calibrates itself to the object in its line of sight, then shoots anti-particles at it. The annihilation of each particle and anti-particle causes an explosion, and he was working on its shield, to prevent the explosion from being as wide ranging as the unshielded model did. He took out half the military base during testing.”

Xhisara stared at him for some time, lost in contemplation of the horrific purposes that William could put it to.

“So he’s more like his grandfather than I thought,” she murmured callously.

Incensed, Syrhahn jumped up, knocking over his juice as he slammed his hands down on the table and leaned over it to her.

“Don’t you EVER say that!” he shouted, losing control. “He is a genius, a quiet, shy boy who did as he was told by his employers. He is not a psychopath!”

Breathing heavily, he sat back down, somewhat disconcerted by the calm that remained over his only ally. If she felt shocked at his actions, she certainly didn’t show it.

Syrhahn got up and started picking up the pieces of broken glass, while Xhisara just sat there watching him in silence.

“We’ve got to go to the Spectrals,” she stated without warning, making Syrhahn look up and stab him self with a piece of glass. He dropped all the glass that he was holding, and went to pick it up again.

“You’re bleeding,” Xhisara grabbed a towel and wrapped it tenderly around his hand, more tenderly than he felt he deserved after his outburst, despite being still angry at her accusations of Viskra.

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Syrhahn assured her, as she led him back to his seat. Xhisara picked up the broken glass and brought him another glass of juice, making him promise to drink it rather than throwing it. She claimed it had wondrous healing properties.

“Where do the Spectrals live?” asked Syrhahn. “And where are we going to replace a tracker, a future world with advanced technology?”

Xhisara laughed genially at his ignorance.

“I never explained the astral plane,” she observed, as Syrhahn shook his head. “Wherever the physical multiverse goes, the astral plane goes too. It exists in the same space as the physical world, however it is a world of energy only that matches the physical world exactly. You can move in an instant from one point in the astral plane to any other point, distance is not a factor.

“Like the astral plane, the ethereal plane in which the Spectrals reside is not really a universe in itself. The astral plane is like a mammalian vertebra, holding the pieces of the physical world together and supporting the structure.

“The Spectral plane is a branch off the astral plane. While the astral plane is a reflection of living universes, the Spectral plane has no reflection, and no mirror.” Xhisara paused for breath before continuing.

“And trackers are people. Very rarely, a traveller gets the ability to follow other traveller’s trails. They can also cover their own. Anyone that enters a portal with a tracker cannot be followed. So remember to only jump into my portals, or no-one will be able to follow where they take you.”

“So we’re going to these folk who live in a world without matter to discuss tracking people who can’t be tracked.” Syrhahn’s enthusiasm was infinite.

“Pretty much.”