Alpha One - Chris Burton [53]
She wanted to think about her sister. She wanted to see her again, but every time she thought of her, the taboo subject re-entered her mind. It was time for decisions, she told herself. She decided to confront the issue straight on. She got up, sat at her desk and opened a web link. She explored teachings of the Collective, the Sentinels and the Betanica Sect.
Joely and Carla had talked for nearly two hours after they finished dinner that night in London.
Joely seemed completely normal, cracking jokes and making references to her family life and, in particular, her parents as if she had seen them just yesterday. If it weren’t for the Collective and what Joely believed in, Carla would have assumed everything was normal and Joely had simply moved on.
This was far from the case. Joely described, sometimes in detail but at other times vaguely and almost secretively, the purpose of the Collective. They were Earth’s representatives of the Betanica Sect. They were much more than a spiritual church. They were a political animal, a forum and a pedestal for a specific objective: to persuade ECG and Alpha not to enter the Tri-Star system.
Joely provided a coherent and technically-correct summary of a blue wormhole and what would happen if one opened. Rare, they occurred as a result of changes in the fabric of space, usually resulting from a second or third space anomaly.
Joely continued by suggesting the Tri-Star wormholes were a case in point. Each wormhole provided a gateway to another galaxy. However, when opened together they merged and formed a much bigger and more powerful blue wormhole.
The Sect was not a product of the Sentinels, and the teachings of the sect pre-dated the Sentinels’ first contact with humans by over a thousand years. In fact, the Sentinels were by no means the only race who believed in the Sect, despite Alpha’s and ECG’s assertion that this was the case. Over the centuries, there were many references to the blue wormholes and what lay beyond them.
The teachings of the Betanica Sect were to protect the wormholes and prevent them from forming a blue wormhole. They were also clear on how opening the wormhole would open a channel to another universe. That universe contained an alien race so fierce and powerful that the existence of our galaxy would be at risk. The Kryl were the most grotesque and monstrous alien species ever encountered in the home galaxy: they were demons—powerful, belligerent and hell-bent on the destruction of everything they encountered.
The Sect and the Collective believed the Kryl were the devil itself.
Why is Joely taken in by the ridiculous assertion of a demon-like race from another universe lay in wait for the opening of a blue wormhole? thought Carla. The Tri-Star wormholes are separated by the largest of the three stars which make up the configuration. If the wormholes created a blue hole when opened together, surely the adjacent star would be engulfed within the anomaly, which would prevent a blue wormhole being created. The consensus from Earth’s leading scientists, astrophysicists and those of other leading powers in the region was that a blue hole here was unlikely. For some reason her sister, a rational and intelligent woman who had, prior to her disappearance, no clear faith of her own was taken in by the Collective.
The answer was clear. Professor Nigel Winterburn was an alluring and powerful man, whose presence was both seductive and enticing. Her sister was drawn first to him, and then to his beliefs. Carla would not make the same mistake. She agreed to visit her sister and the Collective on Titan again, and she would use the trip as a further opportunity to research the Sect’s theories in more detail. She already asked her tutor whether the subject was worth investigating, and received encouraging support.
Jake agreed to join her. Despite his current status as unavailable, this excited Carla. She wanted Jake and somehow she would have him. Perhaps now was not the time to bring the matter into the open. She didn’t want to scare him off. She would bide her time