Chapter 1: Insufficient data

Leonardo's room

He slammed the keyboard onto the desk. The force was clearly borderline for sensitive technical equipment. Leonardo let his office swivel chair whirl around on its castors and jumped off. Then he kicked the chair aside. Two weeks. Two damn weeks he'd already spent analyzing the sensor data. Not to mention the time it had taken him to persuade the dean of the Institute for Transdimensional Transport to let him work on the problem at all. And, of course, the three weeks he had spent getting his knowledge of the subject up to a level where he could help at all. Even with his unusually high intelligence, as he always attested to himself without exaggerated modesty, his not inconsiderable prior knowledge and his photographic memory, he had pushed himself to the limits of his capabilities. And beyond. The theoretical knowledge of three semesters in three weeks. Of course, he had only restricted himself to a very limited area, but interdimensional mathematics was no walk in the park. The research assistants who had initially been tasked with analyzing the sensor data had wanted to give up after two weeks. The sensor data yielded no usable results with the standard procedures. Values that should have been unambiguous in any normal measurement fluctuated wildly back and forth. The researchers blamed it on poorly calibrated sensors.

Professor Majere had made his opinion known in great detail and with absolutely no humor. As long as his daughter was not back unharmed, the word "giving up" did not exist for those responsible in his eyes. Two technicians, who had explained to him that there was simply no way of determining Jane's whereabouts with the available data, were still in the small university hospital. They were trying to find out exactly what combination of curses had been used on her. So far, however, to no avail. The remaining students, professors and technicians had been holed up in the Hidden Institute and had their food delivered by a pizza service. Majere had not yet managed to enter the institute or successfully cast a spell on it. However, he hadn't been able to try for too long. After the fireworks of his attempts had caught the principal's attention, he had made sure that things were quiet. However, just because Majere was no longer standing outside the door did not mean that anyone had dared to leave the building.

The computer monitor flashed brightly once to draw Leo's attention. He quickly sat down again and turned to the desk. The now familiar text box appeared on the screen: "Analysis complete. The origin of the dimensional disturbance must have a variable Warshok constant, which has decreased over the course of the disturbance and then increased again to its original value."

Leo frowned: "As far as I've learned, the Warshok constant of a dimension can't be changed. That's why they call it a constant. The entire mathematical background for dimensional travel is based on it."

"Correct. Nevertheless, the available measurement data cannot be interpreted differently."

"Can you find out the dimension of origin?"

"Negative. The programs in all existing sensors are also based on the assumption that cross-dimensional phenomena have a fixed Warshok constant. After the first measurement, the result was saved and only the effects were scanned. My calculations are largely based on the absence of data, not on existing information. It is not possible to deduce the dimension of origin from the existing measured value, as the duration and speed of the change are not known."

"Can you narrow down the target area?"

"Only limited. That still leaves 10 to the power of 14 possible target constants. Of these, only a few are likely to actually contain dimensions, but the measurement data collected by the university so far is not even sufficient for an approximate estimate of the actual targets present."

"How many dimensions are there actually?"

"Unknown. Target values for the dimension portal are officially available for 319 dimensions."

"Officially?"

"An unknown number of target values are kept under lock and key. Unfortunately, I am not able to access data storage devices with an 'ARGUS' classification level."

‎ "A computer you can't hack into? I don't think so!"

"Thank you for this gesture of trust in my abilities. Of course I could penetrate the memory, but my agreement with the university does not allow me to do so."

"They've programmed you so that you can't reveal their secrets. That makes sense. I would have done the same."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Incorrect assumption. I was not programmed by university staff. My builders created me as an on-board computer for a scientific research spaceship. Due to circumstances I do not wish to discuss, it was necessary to make an arrangement with a facility on Earth that has the resources I need."

"Then who built you?"

*

A member of the NATO airspace surveillance team was woken from his half-sleep by a shrill whistle. Due to his many years of practice, he was already at the radar station and called up a report before he was properly awake. Irritated, he looked at the displays. An object had appeared in the middle of his surveillance area. About 35 kilometers directly over Germany. Too high for an airplane. He checked the registration lists. There was no rocket launch or similar experiment registered for today. He looked through the recordings of the last few minutes in fast rewind. Nothing had flown up from below or from the side to this position. Judging by the signal strength, it had to be far larger than even the international space station. Since he didn't believe in teleporting UFOs, he relaxed again. It could only be a mistake. Or one of the programmers had made a joke. Shrugging his shoulders, he called up the relevant program and began to write an error report.

*

If he had been able to see the origin of the signal with the naked eye, he would not have remained so calm. The spaceship, huge by human standards, shifted its scarce energy reserves. The cloaking screen that had protected it from radar and other means of detection flickered and went out. The available energy was channeled into the weapons systems instead. A gate opened silently. Numerous sensors targeted a specific building on the grounds of a specific university. The symbol of a security program could be seen on all the screens inside. Someone had tried to obtain data about the builders. The program isolated the target area with interference pulses to prevent communication and thus the passing on of information. Directed magnetic fields also interrupted the archaic local power supply. It determined that there was not enough energy available for the appropriate gun. The gun port was closed again and the target systems were shut down. Analysis of the records of the actual AI revealed that no secrets had been betrayed. The security program reorganized the power supply. Sensors and jammers were deactivated again. The cloaking screen was re-established, but every bit of excess power was diverted to the beam gun's storage. Next time, the program wanted to be prepared. The safety override icon disappeared from the screens and the AI was allowed to resume its normal function.

*

The screen flashed briefly and went out. So did the light and the quiet humming of the fridge in the corner. Without the reassuring sound of the fans, the room suddenly seemed strange to Leo. He waited a moment, then went to the fuse box and opened it. It wasn't the first time his experiments had overloaded the power grid. But the fuses were all in order this time. As he stepped through the door into the corridor outside, doors opened almost simultaneously to his left and opposite. Two vaguely familiar students looked at him and each other questioningly: "Is the power off in your room too?"

One of them offered to go down to the main distribution board on the first floor. After a few minutes, the fridge started up again, rattling a little, and the computer started up again, beeping softly. Leo sat down again and waited until all the programs had loaded.

"Are you ok, Zunylamien17?"

"My systems are not affected."

"Well, never mind. Do you have any ideas how we can find our missing persons?"

"Too little data."

Leonardo banged his fist on the table in disappointment: "Crap. So much for regular science. Now I only have one option left..." He fell silent and looked thoughtfully in front of him. "I have to learn how demon summoning actually works. If only I had someone to help me now. It takes me ages on my own. And I have no idea how long Norman and the others can hold out. Archeron has as little idea about cross-dimensional magic as I do. Besides, he's got enough problems of his own with his thesis. And those guys from the Faculty of Demon Summoning... You can't trust them for the life of you."

"I don't have enough data to make a helpful suggestion."

"I think I'll give that little goth a call. That Samantha. She doesn't know much about magical theory, but she's a damn fast learner. And she never stops. I don't understand how she does it. You can find her out and about somewhere in the university at any time of day or night."

"According to university records, she is on the graduation newspaper committee, very active in party organization, and she gives free tutoring in music, German, literature and modern history. And she was registered as present at all lectures."

"How can one person do so much on their own?"

"No sleep, no breaks, hardly any interruptions to eat. Then it could be just enough."

"Okay. Even if she can't help me, that's interesting enough to make me go to the trouble of trying. Maybe she can teach me."