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later Yorky too was online.
    “What in the world was that all about,” Ben asked as he rubbed his jaw. The commander’s hybrid D’rlalu organic and human AI neural net had regained consciousness at slightly different times. The result was a brief period of “lock-in” syndrome where his organic mind was conscious but unable to control his cybernetic body. It was not an experience he enjoyed.
    Sassi, the Ashkelon lieutenant, twitched his low-frequency antenna nervously. “I think what we experienced was a higher dimensional plane reverberation from our jump attempt.”
    Ben looked at his captain, raised an eyebrow and then turned to look at the blue-eyed Ashkelon moth, “English please.”
    Cat stepped forward. “What the Lieutenant is saying is that when we jumped… and that was successful… we caused unintentional vibrations in one or more higher dimensions of space-time.”
    Both Ken and his First Officer continued to look confused. “Think about a stone hitting a bell. The stone travels in a single straight line but once it hits the bell, the sound radiates in all directions. As we shunted energy to and from higher dimensional planes in order to facilitate a hyperfield jump outside of a normal jump point we introduced a vibration in these higher dimensions.”
    “And that is what ‘rung our bell’?” Ken asked.
    “In a manner of speaking,” Cat agreed. “Sentience or ‘self-awareness’ is a fourth-dimensional manifestation of a higher-dimensional plane. Mathematicians and theologians call it the God plane.”
    “That’s why both organic and electronically sentient systems were effected,” Sassi interjected.
    “So,” Ken said, “we can jump from anywhere to anywhere… but the cost is one heck of a headache and total vulnerability while we nap.” He looked at Cat and Sassi with a hopeful expression. “Is there anything we can do about it?”
    Cat shook her head and then immediately regretted to movement.
    Sassi answered for her. “I don’t think so Captain. The more energy we shunt the more dramatic the effect. I would imagine jumping from a known jump point to a non-jump point or vice-versa will reduce but not eliminate the effect.”
    Cat looked thoughtful for a moment. “We may be able to modulate the shunting field to generate a cancelling effect… basically dampen the higher-dimensional vibration as it occurs but there is a lot of inherent risk.”
    “Meaning?” Ben asked softly.
    Cat smiled at her friend. “Meaning if we get it wrong we could amplify the effect.”
    ***
    Sharn Dragos kept a wary eye on the man sitting across from him. While Sharn was the only one in the room with a criminal record, it was the other man who in Sharn’s mind was the real villain.
    Senior fleet Admiral Imera, through his aid Commander McMillian, had requested an off-the-books meeting with the Talus Pirate league. The nature of the meeting was still unclear but the incentive to come had been enticing. Full amnesty and license to operate unencumbered in select regions of Coalition space. Whatever the Admiral wanted, he wanted it badly.
    Neither man said a word as their respective aids swept the conference room for bugs. Neither had any interest in their conversation becoming an intelligence bonanza for competing factions.
    The Fleet Admiral, for his part, cast an equally wary eye on the swarthy man seated across the conference room table from him. Sharn Dragos, the Pirate King. He appeared to be a man in his early forties of Middle Eastern descent. If half the stories about the man were true, he was considerably older than he appeared. It was said that his appearance could and would change over time. He was a master of disguise. If Imera had realized just how often the Pirate King had sat in the same room as he, wearing a GCP uniform with the same facility as he wore his pirate garb… the Admiral might have rethought the wisdom of this meeting.
    Finally both aids looked satisfied that the room was