Chereads / Eyes of the Void / Chapter 26 - Morning Light

Chapter 26 - Morning Light

Oregon morning arrives with steady rain and a stubbornly malfunctioning coffee maker that insists on heating the water to temperatures that shouldn't be physically possible without converting it to steam. James watches with barely concealed amusement as I try to convince it to behave.

"We could just get coffee somewhere else," he suggests.

"And risk me warping reality in a Starbucks? Hard pass." I glare at the coffee maker, which responds by briefly existing in several quantum states at once. "Besides, I need to practice control."

What I don't say is that I barely slept after the dream of Adrian, spent hours watching reality ripple around the edges of normal space. The darkness behind my eye still pulses with remembered connection, with the lingering temptation of complete understanding.

James spreads a map across the small table, various locations marked in red. "There are three facilities that match the profile. All doing research into consciousness, quantum biology, or both. All with funding sources that are hard to trace."

I abandon the coffee maker to its quantum fluctuations and join him at the table. "She'd want somewhere isolated. Somewhere she could work without drawing attention."

"Agreed. This one's too close to Portland, too many eyes." He crosses off one location. "And this one's part of a university system – too many documentation requirements, too much oversight."

"Leaving this one." I tap the third marker. "Hidden Lakes Research Center."

"Very hidden. Middle of nowhere, private access road, minimal staff. Perfect place to study things that shouldn't exist while avoiding Church attention."

The map ripples slightly under my finger, showing topography from several possible realities simultaneously. I pull my hand back before it can get worse.

"You okay?" James asks quietly. "You seem... less stable this morning."

"I'm fine."

"Vesper..."

"I said I'm fine." The darkness pulses, making the map briefly display roads that don't exist in our reality. "Let's just go find Rachel Chen."

The drive takes two hours, mostly on winding forest roads that seem designed to discourage visitors. James handles the car while I try to keep my quantum fluctuations from affecting the engine too much. The GPS keeps trying to route us through other dimensions.

"Talk to me," James says after the third time we have to restart it. "Something's different since last night. Since whatever you dreamed about."

I watch trees pass by outside, their shapes occasionally suggesting geometries that shouldn't be possible. "Dreams are just dreams."

"Not for you. Not anymore." He glances at me. "You're not just seeing Their realm anymore, are you? You're... connecting with it. With someone in it."

The darkness pulses in confirmation before I can suppress it. "Don't."

"I need to know what we're dealing with. If something's affecting you..."

"You don't need to know anything." I force the darkness back as the car's electronics start to glitch. "You're here to help me find Rachel Chen. That's it."

He accepts this with a slight nod, but I can feel him watching me when he thinks I'm not looking. The rest of the drive passes in silence broken only by the GPS occasionally announcing turns in languages that won't exist for centuries.

Hidden Lakes Research Center lives up to its name. The complex sits in a valley surrounded by hills and evergreens, its modern buildings trying to blend into the landscape. A single gate blocks the access road, with cameras that start behaving strangely as we approach.

"ID?" the guard asks, then blinks as his security screens begin showing impossible colors.

James hands over the fake FBI credentials he used at the airport. I focus on keeping reality stable, on not letting the darkness show this man what his guardhouse looks like from five different dimensional perspectives.

"Purpose of visit?"

"Meeting with Dr. Helen Martinez," James says smoothly, using the name we think Rachel Chen is working under. "Bureau matter. Classified."

The guard checks something on his computer, which briefly displays text in fractal patterns before I get it under control. "Don't have any Dr. Martinez listed."

"That's interesting," James says in a tone that suggests it's anything but. "Because we have multiple publications from this facility under her name. Would you like me to make some calls? Get some other agencies involved?"

I recognize his technique from his Church enforcer days – the careful balance of authority and implied threat. It works as well now as it did then. The guard waves us through with a mixture of annoyance and unease.

"That was easy," I mutter as we park.

"Too easy?" 

"Maybe. Or maybe Rachel Chen is better at hiding than we are at finding."

The facility's lobby is all glass and polished wood, trying very hard to look normal and scientific. A receptionist looks up as we enter, then does a double-take as her computer screen begins showing equations that describe reality in more dimensions than mathematics currently recognizes.

"Can I help you?"

James launches into his FBI routine again while I try to keep my quantum fluctuations under control. The darkness pulses stronger here, responding to... something. Something familiar.

"I'm sorry," the receptionist is saying, "but we don't have anyone here by that name."

"Then perhaps," a new voice says, "you could tell them about the quantum consciousness research we've been doing. The papers we've published on dimensional theory and evolutionary consciousness."

The woman in the doorway is in her sixties, with silver hair and eyes that miss nothing. She's wearing a lab coat and an expression I recognize from looking in mirrors – the careful control of someone hiding something just beneath their skin.

"Dr. Martinez?" James asks.

"Among other names." She studies us both, but her gaze lingers on my left eye. On the darkness that pulses behind it. "I wondered if you'd find me eventually. Though I expected the Church, not... whatever you two are."

"We need to talk," I say.

"Yes." She gestures for us to follow. "I suspect we do. Especially about what's trying to reach through your quantum field right now."

I start to ask what she means, but the darkness pulses with sudden recognition. For a moment, reality bends around us like light through crystal, and I catch a glimpse of something – someone – trying to manifest in the spaces between spaces.

Adrian's voice whispers through dimensions that shouldn't touch: Found you.

The darkness surges, and every electronic device in the lobby goes haywire at once. Rachel Chen – or Helen Martinez, or whatever she's calling herself – watches with scientific interest as reality ripples around us.

"Well," she says dryly, "this should be an interesting conversation."

Behind me, James tenses, ready for trouble. Above us, security cameras display feeds from several possible realities simultaneously. And through it all, I feel Adrian's presence, his consciousness brushing against the edges of normal space.

Time to get answers.

If reality holds together long enough to get them.