Keystones: Altered Destinies Read Online Free PDF Page A

give anyone the idea that he’d be interfacing in proscribed ways to answer questions.
    He’d been in his assigned room for less than two minutes when there was a knock on the door. Apparently they were eager to have him start. He opened the door and was greeted by a surprise.
    Not one to be star-struck, Cay still couldn’t help himself. His visitor was a tall, broad-shouldered man with an oval face framed by medium-length brown hair. It was the most famous person alive and the last person Cay would ever have expected to see deep in the Oort Cloud. “You’re Calm!” he exclaimed.
    Calm inclined his head and replied, “Yes.”
    “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you on Earth, or anywhere else?”
    “I’m here because there are few distractions in this place, and you’re someone new. As to the rest, they obviously haven’t told you much,”
    Cay laughed, still delighted by the surprise. “No. When I was promised a release from detention if I could do a job, I jumped at it.”
    “Well, you’re going to be working with me.”
    Unable to stop himself, Cay blurted out his questions. “What will we be doing? Why do they need you out here? There isn’t either wind or fire in space, is there?”
    “No. Can you pilot a ship?”
    “If it runs on electricity, I can make it do what I want.”
    Calm nodded to himself as though that response answered a far more complex question. “Interesting. What do you call it?”
    “Call what?”
    “Your ability, your power. What do you call it?”
    “Oh, interfacing.”
    Again Calm nodded. “That’s appropriate.”
    “So what will we be doing?” This was the real question. After a month of posing it, Cay was no closer to knowing what he was supposed to do.
    “Unlocking a problem. Baldstone decided that you might be the key we need.”
    “Can you be more specific?”
    Calm shrugged. “I’d tell you, but like you I’m a little outside the chain of command, and they’re touchy about that out here.”
    “So . . . no?”
    “No.”
    “When do we start?”
    For the first time in their interaction Calm looked pleased. His mouth curled up, and his eyes crinkled. “Today,” he said.

    Cay’s mood had lifted when he’d been brought to Armstrong . Seeing the small craft had validated the hours he’d spent piloting it in the simulator. They had of course insisted that he demonstrate his competence with it before going on the mission. It was always the same with everyone: people might have been told what his Keystone ability enabled him to do, but no one ever appreciated what it meant without at least one demonstration.
    He’d given them their demonstration, and they’d briefed him on the artifact. They would never know what an effort of will it had taken for him to wait for them to tell him rather than dive into their systems and absorb the information for himself. Once the briefing was over they’d left on the Explorer within the hour.
    Now accompanied by Calm, he watched the artifact loom into view. Exotic energy swirled around them, never quite breaking through Calm’s protection. “I’m supposed to interface with that ” asked Cay, “while all the purple stuff is attacking us?”
    “No,” replied Calm. “Now let me focus.” A moment later the wild energy abated and disappeared. “You’re supposed to interface with anything you can,” he added. “I’m just here to get us in and out.”
    “What do I do now?”
    “You’re asking me? Sorry, kid, but you’re supposed to be the expert on that.”
    Cay turned to his task. He’d been told what to expect before they left the station. Ever since then he’d been racking his brain over how to do it. This wasn’t some human device designed for his personal use. He didn’t know where to begin.
    He reached out toward the artifact with his mind. Large though it was physically, the mental footprint presented to Cay was more impressive. It cast a shadow in his mind as though he were standing at the base of a