Chapter X
One of the damaged uniforms, which was uselessly hanging in the closet, became a shoulder bag, essential to accommodate the necessary things. Smaller devices, such as the modified iPhone could be put into pockets of the trousers, but it would be very hard to expand them to fit a laptop. Although Sara could do without it when moving around the laboratory, for this particular case, the computer was specifically needed.
She was definitely not a master in sewing and when she was finished with the bag, the final product occurred to have an irregular bulge on one side. In addition, tight, crude seams were visible in their full misery. However, there was no time for perfectionism in such a trivial matter. She had a more difficult task at hand. She suspected that it wouldn't be easy to find herself once again in the topography of the laboratory, modified by its principal on a regular basis. What Sara had at her disposal were just a few tricks up her sleeve.
Using the map application, she reviewed the draft plan of the facility. She had already tracked a route to the great hall, reminding her of the factory floor. Now, she decided to head in the exactly opposite direction, hoping that instead of the Octava Fraccion, she would find their boss.
In order to achieve that, she additionally launched the app measuring the reiatsu. At some point, it alarmed her with an incredibly high record, indicating that probably the Espada was nearby. She found herself at a crossroads of three routes, each of them identical and absolutely indistinguishable, lacking the vital clues. Without putting much thought into it, Sara sat on the floor, studying the randomly selected wall. Then, the energy fluctuations plummeted to negligible reading, and after a minute or so rocketed to the top of the scale.
"Looking for something?"
A door appeared on the perpendicular corridor, which just a second ago was made of solid wall. Szayelaporro, dressed in his inherent white uniform, emerged from the dark entrance. Sara quickly rose from the floor, so that she wouldn't be teased by the Espada looking down at her. Even when she straightened up, her eyes were at his arms level, but still, it was better than the perspective of a beetle waiting for the crushing boot.
She titled her head a bit, trying to see where the tunnel was leading to, but saw only an obscure and definitely uninviting corridor.
"Can we talk?" she asked shortly
He made a gesture in her direction to follow him straight into the mysterious black space. Because she was the supplicant, it was not appropriate to protest, although when she was ushered courteously into the tunnel, it immediately aroused her suspicion. It was careless of her to have the enemy behind, especially in the dark passage, as the arrancar did not bother with lighting them.
Although Sara's eyes quickly adjusted to complete darkness, she was very insecure in exploring the surroundings. She used her hands to navigate her way around and avoid bumping into any obstacles. She reached out, touching things to get an idea where she was.
"Head straight ahead" she almost jumped when this command was issued.
She didn't trust him one hundred percent, instead relying on her outstretched arms and stepping carefully over the invisible ground. She sighed with relief when they finally reached the destination. Behind the black barrier, which was enveloping corridor like a curtain, there was a spacious, bright room of a rectangular shape.
The floor was made of wood or its faithful imitation in dark, smoky hue. Two perpendicular walls and the ceiling (with LED lights), were painted white. One of these walls drew her attention because it was equipped with a glossy writing board. By looking diagonally from the board, she could see an LCD screen. It was probably linked with the monitoring system in the laboratory.
The other part of the room, accented by a wallpaper made of raw silk dyed in irregular, horizontal stripes of light brown and hazel, was a private zone. A small sofa, upholstered in the same fashion as the walls, was decorated with lots of pillows with different textures of the fabrics. There were, among others, animal fur, wool, various types of old-fashioned knit, and avant-garde neoprene. Sofa was placed directly opposite the screen for presentations, providing seating as well as the perfect cinematic perspective.
A few stairs lead to an entresole in the central part of the room. Sara and Szayelaporro went upstairs to pursue their discussion in a comfortable balcony, furnished with a coffee table and two armchairs. All the appliances were upholstered in leather in a natural shade of gray and – as basically everything else here – looked like they had just left the manufacturing site. Sara thought for a moment about the consequences of intense use of these furniture, including possibility of scratches, but as soon as she touched them, her worries vanished instantly. The whole set was solid as a rock, and the owner could get away with regular spilling wine and coffee, crushing strawberries or scraping fingernails down any of its elements.
Round, hairy rug muffled footsteps and added coziness to this part of the interior.
They sat opposite each other, as if they met at a coffee break, but the atmosphere was heavy and must have weighed more than the famous Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest. Sara wanted to start her speech, to impose some sort of order of a discussion she was anticipating to follow. Despite meticulous preparations, she was still considering the words to express her wishes. However, Szayelaporro was not in the mood to wait quietly and unceremoniously laid out his conditions.
"First of all, I need to say that if you are here because of the other test subjects, there is no room for any further discussions. I'll save you any questions, comments, requests, pleas and not so sophisticated blackmail. For your information, I intend to continue conducting tests on them. It's not only a matter of the command I received, but my own advancement as a scientist and the opportunity to acquire new knowledge. Therefore, I won't stop my research, although without any doubt, you've prepared an extensive argumentation" he smiled sourly. "You may return to your work. Don't overstretch the negotiations, which are doomed to failure."
"We established certain facts before" she said, undeterred by his introduction. "One of them was the mental state of those four people. We agreed that most likely they are seriously ill. Because we are not able to provide them with proper treatment or cure them, they are sentenced for inevitable mental breakdown. Then, they would either fall into apathy and become puppets, incapable of any social interaction, or, on the contrary, would be possessed by madness and become dangerous to you."
"Become dangerous? Since when?" he asked in almost insulting tone "Do you have any idea what you're talking about?"
"The four of them have supernatural abilities. Ahmad is a separate issue, but the other three became friends and it's possible they'll unite against you. I suspect what exactly keeps them in check and it is the same device you mentioned at the very beginning. I know, however, that any mechanism based on reiatsu can be nullified. As soon as they find a weak spot in your defense system, you'll be exposed to their attack and vulnerable as a child."
He snorted.
"I managed to get them cornered, captured and transported to Las Noches, and you think I won't be able to defend against their special abilities in my own laboratory?"
"In my opinion..."
"I'm not interested in your opinion on this issue" he answered sharply. "The facts are not like you claim. Just like I told you before, these humans have gone through penultimate stage of my experiments. My plans involve their participation in warfare tests, then presumably I'll no longer need them. But, even if they manage to survive, they won't be cherishing the human world, as I don't allow anyone to share the sensitive information they obtained in my lab. Any responsible scientist would do exactly the same. On the other hand, I can't tell now whether I definitely won't need them in the near future, so the safest option is to keep them here. Therefore, once again, I need to emphasize you're wasting your time. Is it all you've got for me?"
"I didn't come here like a beggar" she said, reaching for the bag and taking the laptop out of it. She put the computer on the table in a manner of making a gift. "I brought information that may be of interest for you. I've prepared a short presentation about the travel through spacetime. There was a mention in your notes that somewhere in the past you've started to deal with this project, but you gave up on it due to lack of research material. I can help you with reactivating this program."
"So what?" he asked aggressively "You'll give me the laptop, and I'll read what you've produced. If your assessment is correct and there is something of value for me, that's great, I'll make use of it."
Sara was prepared for a tough conversation, although she had to admit she didn't expect the cards to be thrown on the table at the start. She was now grateful that she had experience in dealing with difficult clients and had learnt before that the best she could do was to stay calm and not freak out. Fortunately, as the Espada was not really a client, she didn't need to be nice and permitted herself to speak her mind.
"Please go ahead" she agreed hypocritically. "Slides comprise several bullet points I put together to organise my thoughts. There are no further details in the file. True knowledge is here" she pointed at her head. "It's highly likely that in a moment you're going to preach me how you'll make me confess everything I know. Still, I think it'll be much more convenient for you if I voluntarily share my findings."
"Voluntarily" he repeated in a bored voice. "But not for free, right?"
"Exactly" she nodded. "Are you still interested in my offer?"
He shook his head firmly, surprising her.
"I see no reason why I should negotiate with you. You live and you are kept alive thanks to me. You are using my lab and gain information through the devices I share with you. In other words, everything you've discovered during you stay in Las Noches in one way or another belongs to me and I don't owe you anything. You'll share your findings with me? Don't make me laugh. Truth serum is equally simple and I can use it to put my hands on your concepts without further ado, such as soliciting your consent."
"Now you are talking nonsense" she pointed out. "Truth Serum is a tool used to obtain specific answers to specific questions. If you want to know my favorite colour, dish or song, go ahead. But now" overly sweet tones took over her voice to underline this particular sentence "you have no idea what questions to ask and what answers to expect."
He did not reply right away.
"All right" he finally agreed. "I'll review your presentation, and tomorrow we'll discuss the topic in more detail."
"Tomorrow?" while the answer was positive, Sara was astonished. Postponing the presentation made no sense. "Why do you want to wait until tomorrow?"
"I'm not going to talk about science with a screeching harpy" he rose. He had his both hands tucked into pockets, which was alarming, knowing his passion for gestures. "We'll get back to business once you calm yourself down."
Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, he grabbed a syringe from his pocket. Firmly holding Sara in place, he made a quick injection in her arm. Instinctively, she reached with her free hand to stop the bleeding, but the drug started working immediately and she couldn't move. She slid limply to the ground, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Szayelaporro switched her laptop on, smiling to himself.
Her back ached.
It was the first glimpse of Sara's consciousness after waking up from not very pleasant sleep. The second was to determine what the colour of the rug was, or more precisely whether it was stone, taupe or dove gray. When her senses sharpened enough to decide on this extremely important issue, she moved to the next stage of diagnosis, that is, what made her sleep in such an awkward place.
Then she recalled the memory of how she tried to help the other prisoners, her proposal in exchange for granting her request, and... the continuation.
Her mind began to work feverishly, inquiring what could have been done with her when she was unconscious, but nothing pointed to the fact that it was anything unpleasant.
She couldn't complain on anything else than a stiff back and a trace of an injection.
Luckily, electronics absorbed him more than I did.
"Have you slept well?" sounded a familiar voice
She murmured an insult under her breath, trying to pick herself up while not looking like a child just learning to crawl. It was tough to maintain dignity when every movement was terribly painful. An outside observer must have found her unnaturally straight back hilarious.
The arrancar looked at her with amusement, and his attitude was the ultimate expression of complacent self-righteousness.
"Sure" she replied, sounding slightly nasal. "When's breakfast? The eggs ought to be free ranged ones, bread should be delivered by a local, family-owned bakery and I won't drink anything except freshly ground coffee."
He laughed out loud.
"Not so fast, darling" only because of her bad condition, she didn't throw any sharp object in his direction for calling her like that. "The luxury has to be earned. You've previously promised me something and I would be very disappointed if you didn't keep this promise. And believe me, you don't want to see me disappointed."
"Okay, okay, you don't need to explain me everything like to a layman" she interrupted him impatiently. "I remember our discussion yesterday..."
Was it yesterday?
"...and I'd like to finally get my point across. I don't need any extra preparation. I could do a decent presentation about travel through spacetime even woken up in the middle of the night. Now, how should I connect the laptop to a projector? I can't see any cables. Do you use a wireless USB-based connection?"
"I told you there is no rush" he assured her for the second time, but his tone was more aggressive than giving comfort. "Firstly, we'll take a walk."
He waited mercifully until Sara collected her belongings and after she was ready, he opened a passage in the wall, a moment ago being an impenetrable surface.
"Where are we going?"
"To a nice place" he said, as though it was something obvious. "I guess you'd like to take a bath and change clothes, correct?"
"Yes" she admitted reluctantly. "Have you got a mini-spa camouflaged somewhere here?"
"It depends what you mean by the 'mini'. I hope to live up to your sophisticated expectations."
She rolled her eyes, recognising that there is no point in continuing this conversation. She wouldn't obtain any new information, and the arrancar seemed to master a technique of ignoring her provocations. Since she didn't like his answers, it was easier not to say anything and just enter another dark tunnel. Listening to short instructions and following them gave her additional time to develop a strategy for the upcoming presentation. She had a couple of salesperson tricks in her sleeve, but that was yesterday. How she could anticipate delivering a speech while being sleepy and sore? Fortunately, every step forward was like a shot of energy. She didn't feel hunger or thirst, which implied that probably synthetics weakened these needs.
Sensing deception and detecting ulterior motives was starting to become Sara's second nature during her involuntary stay in the laboratory. Therefore, when she went into that 'spa' area, and the Espada courteously left her alone, she regretfully missed a modern hot tub and other widgets. Instead, she took a quick shower and changed into a clean uniform. Having no other alternative, she used the make-up tools available here, being more bold than usual. She started with the soft peach eyeshadow, but then went for dark blue glitter kit and black eye pencil, and a 'false eyelashes' mascara to achieve spectacular smoky eyes effect. Although she avoided using blush on a daily basis, this time she liked the healthy glow effect. The lipstick was the final touch before arranging her hair in soft waves.
When she was fully prepared, she opened the door to where Szayelaporro was waiting for her. This place looked like a dining room in an old-fashioned style, totally different from the cool minimalism, being a signature design in the laboratory. The interior was basking in bright, rather monochromatic colour scheme with predominance of white, ecru and beige, accented by pale pink, adding to this small space extravagant breadth and palatial elegance.
The floor was made of the milled wood, inspired by Provencal style was the most random design element. As a contrast, soft, beige curtains looked dignified, similarly as a noble table on bent legs, clearly inspired by the rococo classics. Its monumental character was broken by the material used during production, because the classic furnishings were certainly not made of white lacquered high gloss plastic. Its smooth surface reflected a glass vase with roses.
Above the table hung two crystal chandeliers, consisting of hundreds of components - each of them smaller than a fingernail - draped in compositions resembling pearl necklaces. They were polished so accurately that even cut off from the power source, they could gleam on their own.
Curtains, which certainly weren't covering any windows, smoothly blended with the wallpaper in different shades of ecru, with embossed plant ornament. Decorative background required no images or other bibelots. The only such detail adorned the wall in front of her – it was a mirror without frames, cut out in shape resembling lace. The surface of the mirror was cloudy and completely non-reflective.
All these features seemed completely out of place, moreover, they didn't match the modestly dressed Espada and a modern laptop laid on the dining table. Sara felt a bit uncomfortable and just stood speechless in the doorway for a while.
"Welcome" he said, smiling smugly.
She nodded, walking over to the table. Still not believing in the images unfolding before her eyes, Sara sat down on one of the chairs outfitted in rich fabric printed with beige and pink motifs. She noticed that the cushioning was decorated with mythological scenes. Themes related to, among others, Apollo and Diana, the Abduction of Ganymede, Apollo and Marsyas, Diana Leaving Her Bath, the Birth of Venus...
After all, it's classical art, isn't it?
She switched on the laptop and opened the file with the presentation. She experimented for a while with the machine setting to have them both see the content, but soon realized that the arrancar probably learned the slides by heart by now. The most important at this point was her comfort in getting her idea across.
"Shall we start?"
She was proud of how confident was her voice. Szayelaporro nodded, a mischievous smile disappeared from his face, replaced by a razor-sharp gaze, which wouldn't miss even the most trivial mistake.
"The topic of instant journeys through time and space was nothing but a fleeting dream until one inventor undertook construction of an intact time machine, which managed to transmit a neutron into the past. The machine used the laser to bend the light and to slow down its course. The theory says that if such an occurrence was proved true in the case of subatomic particles, one day would also succeed in case of more complex organisms."
"More complex, that is...?" he asked expectantly
"Multicellular ones. I meant humans, but for the sake of clarity, we can say this includes all humanoids."
"I understand. Please proceed."
"We both know that Las Espadas have the ability Descorrer that allows them to open the gates to other worlds, so I won't elaborate on it more. I'll add, however, what made me interested in this idea. It's the way of transitioning between dimensions and the procedure to open the gate" she paused eloquently.
Sara began her speech sitting stiffly, his hands resting on the table, but quickly she transitioned into the role of a professional presenter, highlighting the most important parts verbally, and through strong gestures.
"While studying available materials, I came to several conclusions. The first one of these concerns crossing the borders between worlds. To some extent, it starts with temporarily breaking the barrier separating them."
"This is not a conclusion" interrupted Szayelaporro. "But an observation."
"Okay" she agreed reluctantly. "Whatever. Then, another issue is somewhat related to the previous one: breaking the barrier results in creating – for a very short period of time – of a black hole that sucks or flips to the other side everything in the vicinity. The barrier is capable of instantaneous self-regeneration and managing to breach it, following by the maintenance of the gate, requires huge amounts of energy. It's also an easily detectable process, making it difficult to send intelligence units or leading a surprise attack, and secondly" she smiled spontaneously "it means that your power is under the constant control of your boss. Moreover, I know he is rather averse to accept your escapades outside of Hueco Mundo."
Her interlocutor frowned.
"I'll take that as a side note" he commented. "Don't try to insinuate that I'm interested in creating illegal transport system between the worlds."
"I wouldn't dare" she said ironically. "You can't deny, however, that the possibility of an enemy detecting your moves and the energy expenditures are serious drawbacks of the current system. Using a suitable mechanism can help to eliminate them."
"It's just a theory" he said indifferently, but Sara caught a flash of interest in his eyes. Therefore, most likely he was just teasing her. "How do you think this would work in practice? By the way, these 'black holes' are called 'garganta'. Please include this definition in the presentation, as it's the most proper term to describe what you have in mind."
Sara nodded. This name was familiar, it could be included somewhere in the footnotes. She did not want to argue about something so unimportant, moving to another topic instead.
"I'll tell you about the practical implications, but first I'd like to give you an overview of similar phenomena, which have been analysed by humans. According the Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravity causes a curvature of spacetime to such an extent that it affects both mass and light or energy. I would like to bring up the example of self-collapse of stars at least three times larger than the sun. The star is, in plain words, being compressed and, as a result, gradually turns off, changing into a black hole. Due to concentration of huge mass in a sufficiently small area, the gravitational field on the surface becomes so strong that not even light can escape from it and remains there forever."
Sara observed that her interlocutor's interest increased, although he was expecting to cease purely theoretical considerations.
"This can be explained by the concept of such a curvature of spacetime in the vicinity of the surface of the star" she continued "that the route of the light takes the form of a loop, and therefore returns to its previous position, because it can't escape anywhere else. We can conclude that a black hole does not allow light to pass through and, as there is nothing traveling faster than light, it gives the idea how immense is the gravity force around that particular area. The collapse process shrinks the star to an infinitely small point known as 'singularity' with zero volume and infinite density. In the human world, this theory is only hypothetical, because no one has found convincing evidence of their real existence so far. The discovery of almost certain black holes was noted" at that point, she glanced at the slide listing the names "by labeling the specific locations as Cygnus X-1, A0620-00 Monoceros, V-404 Cygni, Nova Sco 1994."
"How this could be done?" asked the Espada "Black holes are by definition completely invisible. You've just said that they are blind spots with no volume."
"You can't see the air, either, and yet, we all are able to feel its impact on us, for example when its quality gets down" she answered with a slight smile. "There are loads of indirect evidence of their existence, that is, obviously, not a photo of a black hole, but the image of how its presence affects its surroundings. Detailed studies have provided testimony beyond a shadow of doubt. I might add that black holes aka gargantas can be 'seen' by spiritually aware beings, and the level of visibility of the image is directly proportional to their power."
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Even if it's possible to see a black hole, it's not equal to traveling between worlds."
"Of course not" she admitted. "This is just the start, or actually the foundation. Since this phenomenon is found in the natural world, is repetitive and there is documented mechanics of the process, we can try to play around with it in artificial conditions. The prerequisites are an appropriate algorithm and vast amount of energy, provided via carrier, which wouldn't fall apart under its influence."
"The conditions to achieve this are less demanding than I expected" he commented nonchalantly. "Do I understand correctly that we are near the finale of your speech, or would like to add anything else?"
"That's all I had to say in this regard. What do you think about it?"
"Your reasoning includes a lot of mind shortcuts that can cause you many problems when you start developing of the project. For example, what does it mean that light can't escape? Is there a way, in which light can jump and run away?" he joked, but she didn't even smile hearing this banter "I assume that you meant ultimately strong gravity force, which bends the very fabric of spacetime, but this should be stated clearly. Generally, however, I think your thesis is fine, and the conclusions are logical. I would explore this topic once again and get back to you with more questions.
"I'm pleased that your feedback is positive" she leaned on the chair as much as her stiff back allowed and folded her arms. "Now I'd like to discuss the second item on our agenda. What is going to happen with the other prisoners?"
He took his time to answer this question. His face was difficult to read and Sara was not sure whether her interlocutor was contemplating, or ostentatiously ignoring her by pretending he had not heard the question. She decided, however, to withstand the silence and resisted the temptation of saying a single word.
Finally, Szayelaporro let out a barely audible sigh.
"Since you want to help these people so much, why wouldn't you grab a sword or a cleaver and treat them with all the best of your euthanasia?"
Despite the obvious irony in this question, he sounded deadly serious.
"I couldn't kill another human being" she refused strongly. "Apart from my ethical dilemmas, I simply don't know how to do it. I'm too weak to chop anyone with a cleaver. Or to stick a dagger in the right place..."
"...because you prefer to use other people's hands, and you thought that I would be the best candidate for this kind of a deal?" he finished her line
"Isn't it true? I guess that for you killing people is as natural as breathing."
He laughed.
"I'm not sure is that a sign of your genius or my dementia, but you've convinced me."
He rose from his seat.
"I'll take care of these prisoners, but under one condition. I won't lift a finger to help them, unless you visit them together with me."
"Why do you need me there?" she asked cautiously "I don't have any power."
"Aren't you interested in saving your friends?" he answered with another question "Don't you want to ensure yourself if they received proper care? If I guessed correctly, get ready to meet your people, rebel queen."
To confirm these words, he headed toward the exit.
"Right now?" she asked with hesitation
"You said you want to curtail their suffering. If you define 'suffering' as the time spent in my lab, every second must be an indescribable torture. Therefore, the sooner we'll rush to rescue them, the better, correct?"