Ouroboros

First Consul's Office: Republic Council Building 

A large, oval room, the office of the First Consul of the Solar Republic, highest planetary political official, certainly suits such a man. The floors are made of reddish bloodstone, a curious mixture of reds and tans and greens.

The walls of white marble are carved with frescoes of battle scenes of ancient history, climaxing in a huge mural on the ceiling of Lucius Cornelius Sulla sacking Rome, the only Roman to ever do so, and hundreds of years before the Barbarians were even thought of.

Directly under this grisly scene is set a massive black onyx desk, its front bearing the symbol of the planetary government etched in gold. Directly behind this, ever spinning, is a holographic projection of the red planet, a fitting backdrop.

Two chairs are set before the desk for any visitors, but other than this there is truly little in way of decoration about the place. It holds a certain elegance and serves as a definite sign of wealth and power, the centre of the planet's government, but yet refrains from ostentation and gaudiness ... a perfect balance ... a perfect battle tactic.

The First Consul is currently sitting behind his desk, a couple of security guards on watch as he peruses the infomatrix readouts on the holodisplay. An aide shows Leodhais into the room. "Leodhais Chaloux to see you, Consul," the aide says. She smiles at the reporter and then steps out into the front office, closing the door behind herself. Darian Ellesmere nods to Leodhais, smiling. He waves a hand over a sensor, deactivating the holodisplay. "Please, have a seat."

"Leodhais Chaloux, Foreign Office, Sivad," Leodhais says in way of introduction. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir," he says, sitting down.

Ellesmere considers the Sivadian for a few moments and then says, "I hope you don't mind my saying so, but ... you're a reporter and you work for the Foreign Office? My aide told me that you came here on behalf of the Sivadian government, but she also said you gave some indication of being a journalist. Was she mistaken? Or is Sivad now conscripting reporters into public service?"

Leodhais looks at him for a moment, and then gives him a pleasant smile. "I'm a journalist on the side, sir. I am here on behalf of the Sivadian goverment, in place of Dame Amanda Ramlan."

The First Consul chuckles, waving a hand dismissively. "As you wish. Just seems an odd position for a so-called objective member of the Fourth Estate, as it were. Rather like me joining the Nall badminton team or something." He slides open a drawer. "Bourbon?"

"No thank you," he replies softly. "I'm fine, sir." He settles back in his chair, studying Ellesmere. "Sir, do you know why I'm here?" he finally asks.

Ellesmere doesn't even blink at the visitor's refusal. He takes out a small crystal tumbler and a bottle of bourbon. Pours some of the bourbon in the glass. "Dame Ramlan sent a communique in advance of yours. Something about the rifts that have been popping up all over the galaxy lately." He puts the plug back into the bourbon bottle, sets it in the drawer, and then closes the drawer. "I appreciate the sentiment, but the problem didn't start because of anything the Solar Republic did."

"So you will freely admit that you know nothing about the rifts at all," Leodhais says, leaning forward in his chair a bit. "Have you seen one of these rifts in person? Have you read about them?"

Ellesmere tilts his head, smirking. He takes a sip of bourbon. As the First Consul sets down the glass, he says, "That wouldn't be an admission. It would be a denial. But, yes, as there is, in fact, a rift at the Avocet Spaceport, I could hardly avoid seeing one in person. I have also read numerous reports on the one here and in Earth orbit. The one close to Earth seems to be the epicenter, for lack of a better word."

Leodhais grins back at Ellesmere, though it looks more like a shark baring its teeth than a friendly smile. "I recall reading something in the news about you denying something. Was a headline, I think. Ahh, yes, I'm remembering it now... a coincidence, I believe you called it? Very strange coincidence, wasn't it? The rifts appearing when they did. You stick by that story?"

The Martian leader's smile fades. "Yes. Backed up by Castori scientific data. If you want to lay blame for the rifts somewhere, you'll have to go fishing for the remnants of Oswald Cottington out in Nall space. The rifts were spawned by an event that took place in late 2651, right around Earth, at exactly the same moment as Sanctuary's drive mishap caused that ship to slip into Hiverspace while they were running from the Kretonians."

"I don't play the blame game, sir," Leodhais says, sitting back again, his expression softening a bit. "That's actually the sort of thing I'm looking for. Though...I am curious about what you said about the one close to Earth being the epicenter. How does that work, when the rifts seem to appear throughout Orion's arm - more or less simultaneously?"

Ellesmere shakes his head. "They were not simultaneous. Yes, they were closely spawned, but they were not *simultaneous*." He stands, picks up his drink and walks toward one of the battle-decorated walls, studying the artwork. "They took longer to open the farther they spread from Earth." He smiles faintly, takes a sip of his drink, then looks back toward Leodhais. "I don't know how much you remember about your Sanctuary history, but when they slipped into Hiverspace, they discovered that time functioned differently there. A year passed here for every day they spent there, or something to that effect. The Castori seem to think that because of the drive mishap, some dimension of Sanctuary remained ... anchored? ... to normalspace and caused a transdimensional quake of some kind, which spread not through space but time. We are now being gifted with the effects of that quake."

Leodhais tilts his head slightly, considering that. "...how do you know that they weren't simultaneous?" he queries, his gaze following after Ellesmere.

"Have you carefully examined the data from each affected planet that has experienced one of these rifts, to see the precise second of data they lost?" Ellesmere inquires.

Leodhais blinks. "How would I be able to do that?" he asks, a puzzled expression on his face. "How would anyone? How would you?"

"I'm a busy man, Mr. Chaloux," the First Consul replies. He wipes a droplet of bourbon off the rim of his glass as he walks back to his desk and settles into his chair. "I don't have an abundance of free time to scour records. But the Castori seem to have nothing but time for this sort of business. Apparently, it didn't take much more than an audit of computer systems on every planet in the Orion Arm. The first rift, which we'll call Rift Prime, opened near Earth orbit. Milliseconds later, the rift opened at our spaceport here in Hesperia. *Milliseconds*. But it was actually four seconds before the rift opened on Centauri. Nearly seven before the rift opened on Sivad." He chuckles. "Eerily comparable to light speed. We are four light years from Centauri. About seven from Sivad. Much faster than light speed, of course. But the Castori are convinced there is some connection. They also found that the rifts are already starting to diminish."

Leodhais nods. "All right. Then, just a few more questions for you, I know you're a busy man. Do you know about the events that happened near Earth before the first rift opened?"

"The experiment between the Republic and the Castori?" Ellesmere asks.

"I know that," Leodhais replies patiently. "I was just wondering if you knew the details of said experiment. If not, would you give me some contacts so I can follow that up?"

Ellesmere shakes his head. He taps his fingers firmly on the desktop. "State business, I'm afraid, Mr. Chaloux. Unless you're ready to open the books for all of Sivad's scientific activities, I am not prepared to do the same. All I can tell you is that it had nothing to do with the rifts."

Leodhais nods to himself. "All right. Can you answer me this, then? You said that the rifts are diminishing. How long until they disappear, do you have any estimates?"

The First Consul grins broadly. "You don't even want to hazard your own guess, based on what I've already told you?"

Leodhais smiles back at him. "Math was never my strong suit," he says. "I'll go puzzle it out on my own time." He stands up. "I thank you for your time, First Consul," Leodhais says, holding out a hand to him.

"I doubt your superiors at the Foreign Office would care much for your lack of answers there, Mr. Chaloux," Ellesmere says, rising to shake the offered hand. "Six months from now and six years ago. The rifts will close when Sanctuary returns from Hiverspace in the year 3000."

Leodhais shakes his hand. "Good thing I'm not my superiors, hmm?" he says with a little grin. "Have a good...evening? I'm still on New Luna time." He shakes his head, and then gives a little formal bow at the door before heading out.