Chapter 19: The Sanctum

Cass exported the results and stored them in a mental box labeled “list.” There might have been, perhaps, in this list, a word that, once sufficiently pondered, would alert the Transients (though, having traveled through the cables of the Dark Unit, the risk was already as great as real).

She rose back onto the Fortress floor, donned her Armor which sealed around her, and activated the Entangled Gate leading to the Sanctum.

This required several manipulations: first, the gate activated for a millisecond to send an alert to the Wau present in the Sanctum. They refrained from having any thoughts whatsoever during the following minute, after which the gate reactivated fully, allowing Cass to pass through.

The gate was usually round to maximize surface usage from available energy, but, as the ultimate luxury, the Sanctum’s gate was rectangular, resembling double doors leading into some esoteric realm. When it activated, it shone brightly, a flash illuminating the Fortress, since stray air molecules were abruptly severed (gates also served to cut masses or beings in half upon activation or deactivation, though obviously never used that way). And then there was simply continuity of space, as if the corridor of black metal streaked with gold had always been there.

One step, the gate closed behind her. Flash. Corridor.

The Wau never encountered each other, even accidentally. Each had their own Fortress, their Entangled Gates, their business, presumably. A Wau was sufficient unto themselves, she had been told during recruitment when an AI drone guided her from the rendezvous point on Lennox to Francisco-1 and then this space.

This place also featured an Hypnos on the right door and a more conventional living area, but above all, a place for remote visual exchanges with other Wau, located at the end of the corridor behind august double doors, and finally, to the left, a space dedicated to meditation.

This meditation room was also constructed of black metal streaked with hyperchalcum gold. The lighting was dim and warm. A single large armchair faced a bay window revealing absolute darkness.

An absolute darkness demonstrating precisely what the Sanctum was.

The question the Wau posed upon first encountering the Transients was: where could we hide so that they could not eavesdrop on our thoughts? Unable, unlike certain Xenos, to slip into decimal or higher dimensions, the answer was: as far away as possible.

Thus, they created a vessel loaded with Entangled Gates and initiated a Drift of force 6 in a random direction. Unfortunately, the first vessel, by an extraordinarily unlucky, highly improbable, and perhaps even suspicious twist of fate, incinerated itself within a star. Well, there was a Sanctum 2, and that one had a safer destiny: this was the ship the Wau currently inhabited.