Free Into the New Millennium: Trailblazing Tales From Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 2000 - 2010 by Penny Publications Page B

fields.
    Jerik heard K'chir come to his side.
    Suddenly the thing emitted a hissing sound, and then Jerik heard the sounds of falling bubbles and the smell of them reached his nose: life-bubbles, and they smelled pure and sweet. The hissing grew stronger and the trickle sounded now like gushing torrent. Jerik chirp-mapped faster and observed the bubbles cascading down from a crack in the object and forming an air lake around the object's base. He gasped as he understood the significance. Then he heard K'chir gasp as well.
    "Observe!" K'chir shouted to the people. "If life-bubbles come only from the Great God, this device cannot be a thing of evil. It cannot be a surrogate of the Antigod."
    Jerik heard chirps of agreement.
    "What is its purpose, I wonder," Jerik whispered.
    "Maybe," said K'chir, softly, "maybe someone from another world wants to say hello. And if it does, I certainly . . . What's it doing now? It's opening up."
    Jerik observed what seemed to be a thin slab of ice pivoting away. "There's some sort of a . . . a cave in its side."
    As Jerik chirp-mapped, a roughly spherical device of some sort emerged from within the cave. It floated upward for a time then stopped. High levels of electromagnetic radiation came from small areas of the thing.
    "What's going on?" said Jerik.
    "I think it may be . . . observing us." K'chir scuttled up to the bigger object. "Amazing!"
    "Be careful," Jerik said at a loud whisper. He chirp-mapped furiously and observed his friend wallowing in the lake of air, his leg and body fur absorbing the precious bubbles.
    "This is wonderful!" K'chir called out.
    Jerik detected that the people were in a frenzy of chirping, but no one said anything, not even Harshket. Jerik turned and pinged the people. They're probably too stunned .
    Then he heard a collective gasp, staggered, of course, as each of the people observed at his own map speed. Jerik swiveled back toward the object and chirp-mapped. Then he too gasped. K'chir had leaped up from the lake and into the cave-like opening in the object.
    Jerik sensed a sudden increase in the electromagnetic field around the object and he began chirp-mapping as fast as he could. He observed the slab pivoting very slowly back. "Get out, K'chir," he shouted. "Fast! The cave is closing."
    "No!" K'chir shouted back. "This thing comes from another world. And I want to experience that world." He held up his two forward legs. "I will be back!"
    When the slab had completely covered the cave, the thing began to rotate. A loud churning and grinding sound filled the water and the object gradually sank down into the ice. At the same time, the floating sphere rose slowly toward heaven, increasing in speed as it went.
    Almost too shocked to chirp-map, Jerik listened as the sound from the ice gradually morphed to a distant rumble and then, all at once, changed to a far off whisper. Then, abruptly, the ice went silent. Jerik felt alone. His best friend was gone. Jerik ping-chirped the hole in the ice, a perfectly circular opening, clearly not something made by nature. He chirped deep into the opening. Empty! Just water where ice had once been. And no ping echo came back from the hole. A void, nothingness!
    "The Antigod has taken the heretic," came the High Priest's voice shouted from behind. "Praise God. And take you that as a lesson."
    Jerik spun around. "No!" he shouted. That's a lie." He startled himself; he'd never openly contradicted an authority—especially not the High Priest. He turned back briefly and pinged the lake. "Those are life-bubbles. But they are not from any god."
    "It is time for your beating," said Harshket, loudly and angrily.
    "I will not be beaten," said Jerik with equal anger. He heard a chirp of support from someone he knew to be a student in the Third School. Then he heard a flurry of encouraging chirps from other Third Schoolers—and then from students in the Fourth. He felt a surge in the current as a mass of the people came toward him,