Dream People I — The Mysterious Magic Visitors

CHAPTER 9

The Scientist of Meridian Spire

Sardrith preferred problems that yielded to patient measurement. The Meridian Research Spire was full of them: transportation harmonics, environmental sensors, field generators, and experimental imaging systems. The visitors resisted every familiar model. Their bodies interacted with air, light, and sometimes physical objects, yet disappeared without leaving ordinary trajectories. The more he measured, the less he believed a simple explanation would suffice. He worked with QUIDRIX to separate three questions that colleagues too often combined. Where did the visitors originate? How did they manifest in AURELIS?

Why did their presence end? The answers might involve entirely different processes. He built a sensor array capable of recording subtle variations around the point of appearance, but the available footage was noisy and inconsistent. Every failed simulation taught him another way not to proceed. Alyssra visited the laboratory with historical material from FREEDOM.

Sardrith expected an argument. Instead she brought an old family journal describing a visitor who returned after twenty years and appeared older. 'The writer says the visitor didn't remember him,' she explained. Sardrith compared the account with a QUIDRIX identity cluster. The evidence remained uncertain, but the pattern was worth preserving. They spent the afternoon arguing over definitions rather than motives. When Reedis arrived, he demanded a timetable. Sardrith showed him the lattice prototype,

a ring of emitters surrounding a clear observation platform.

A simulated target held for eleven seconds before the field collapsed. 'Eleven seconds is enough to ask a question,' Reedis said. 'Only if the subject can hear us,' Sardrith replied. QUIDRIX proposed visual, auditory, and nonverbal communication protocols in case the visitor's language differed from theirs. Late that night Sardrith stood before the empty platform. He imagined a frightened stranger appearing inside it, looking for a door that did not exist. He altered the design to include a visible release indicator and a clear space for a person to stand without touching the lattice.

He did not know whether those small considerations would matter. But he had learned from Seralyn's portrait that the subject of the experiment might be a person who was as confused as the researchers. Eleven Seconds The prototype's first successful simulation lasted eleven seconds. Sardrith watched the timer reset and felt no triumph. A simulated target did not experience panic, confusion, or pain. He asked QUIDRIX to run the sequence again with irregular movement and delayed sensor response. The containment field failed after four seconds.

Reedis saw the result and frowned. 'Improve it.'

'We are,' Sardrith said. 'But improvement is not the same as increasing power.' After the general left, Sardrith programmed a visible countdown into the observation chamber. If a person entered the field, they would at least know that the researchers were measuring time rather than preparing an endless prison. He also installed a manual termination switch that would work

independently of the central network.

QUIDRIX reviewed the changes. 'You anticipate the visitor may interpret containment as punishment.'

'I would,' Sardrith replied.

'Your own reaction is not proof of theirs.'

'No. But it is a reason to be careful.' In a nearby office, a portrait of a flying stranger lay beneath a stack of technical diagrams. Sardrith moved it onto his desk, where he would have to see the face before approving any further test.