It was strange to watch a screen that didn’t exist. No matter where Serenity looked, he could see it, yet it didn’t block anything else he could see. It wasn’t the same as looking at the Voice’s words in text or watching a spellform; in both cases, concentrating on those made the rest of his vision go fuzzy as he focused his vision. That didn’t happen with this; it was more like having a second set of eyes or something.

Not that there was anything interesting happening in the cave. If there had been, Serenity wouldn’t have been able to pay attention to what was going on there and still be alert up above as the soldiers set up camp. He wasn’t supposed to need to be alert; that was what the soldiers were there for.

The four soldiers - Air Force, as it happened - had brought what they could, but it still amounted to very little equipment for what Serenity was certain would be a large encampment by the time everyone arrived. It would have to be built as people arrived; Serenity suspected that a lot of it would be done by bringing in furnished trailers if people were going to stay on site; Dr. Mattingly hadn’t decided when they talked. For now, though, they didn’t have those.

What they had was tents. Two of them were large, pavilion-style tents, while the other four were family-sized. There were also a number of folding chairs and a pair of large folding tables, along with five sleeping bags; they’d been told to get stuff for Serenity but no one had mentioned Doyle. Serenity was amused to see that some of it still had the Walmart stickers.

Of course, there was also a lot of stuff without Walmart stickers - cots, MREs, and an assortment of things in yellow or camo plastic cases. Serenity wasn't certain what half of it was, and he had no particular desire to ask. The soldiers were busy, and sticking his nose in their business didn't seem likely to endear himself to them; he simply asked if he could help, then moved stuff wherever they told him to take it.

The camp, such as it was, came together quickly with six of them setting it up. Once they had everything else set up, Serenity went to help Doyle move pillows. He was expecting maybe a dozen throw pillows; more than enough for the two of them, they’d probably share.

What he saw once they pulled the tarp off was pillows set on end, stuffed in tightly, completely filling the pickup bed and then some; the passenger seat was equally full. There were pillows in every size and shape Serenity could think of. “Where did all this come from?”

“I told Echo you wanted pillows. She said she’d spend a couple days’ worth of the accumulated settlement credit on it.” Doyle reached over the top of the pickup bed and started pulling pillows loose, setting them on top of the others that were still tightly packed. “I wasn’t expecting this many.”

Serenity stared at the pickup bed. If these pillows were the same quality as the ones in his treehouse, then in this quantity, this many was worth thousands at retail prices. Even if they were cheap pillows they’d be worth several hundred, and proper branding should mean that they could get quite a bit more, especially since it looked like Echo could easily make the odd-shaped ones in whatever material she wanted. “Doyle, do you know how much good pillows cost? Why aren’t you selling these instead of produce?”

Doyle stared at the pickup bed and seemed to start counting pillows. After about a minute, he chuckled. “Because no one thought to ask Echo how many pillows we could get in a day. We were concentrating on doing other stuff with the settlement credit, like adding houses. But it’s just piling up now…”

By midafternoon the next day, Serenity was starting to make sense of the spellform underlying the portal. It had some similarities to the short-range teleportation that he’d done in the past, but all he could claim was that they were similar. It was clearly item-based; Serenity could see the enforced rigidity of an item. The portal definitely used Space magic, but it worked by twisting Space in such a manner that the two points were adjacent.

If that was even the right word.

It was as much a manipulation of topology as it was of Space; it completely ignored the Time aspects and simply expected the topological constraints to be sufficient, as though there were a single Absolute Time in the universe.

He could also see where something had tweaked the portal as it initiated. There were hooks specifically set aside for that, though the Intent they held was oddly muffled and blurred. Serenity wouldn’t have entirely trusted a spell cast the way the item seemed to be constructed; it was clear that the manufacturer had been working to a plan he didn’t really understand. Admittedly, Serenity knew that many people were content to cast spells that way as well.

Serenity was already confident that a spell based on the portal wouldn’t work for him. His understanding of SpaceTime was simply too far different from that of the person who made the item, and his expectation that something would go wrong would guarantee that it went wrong.

After all, that was Intent, even if it wasn’t the Intent he wanted.

There were still pieces he could pick out of the magic of the Portal. The topology comparison was interesting; it was probably why his Liminal Affinity reacted so strongly. Serenity wondered if he could manage a portal with pure Liminal, or if he’d need SpaceTime as well. He was certain it was possible with only Liminal, but doubted he’d ever make one that way. Adding SpaceTime should make it more reliable and far cheaper.

Serenity’s phone rang, interrupting his study of the portal. It was Doyle, letting him know that Dr. Sandra Mattingly had arrived.

It was sooner than he’d expected, given what she’d said when he talked to her the previous day; he’d expected it to be nearly a week before she arrived. She must have decided to handle things in person.

As long as he was taking a break anyway, Serenity checked on the stuff Aide ordered for him. There were several packages already waiting at the storage locker.

Dr. Sandra Mattingly seemed younger than Serenity expected. She was a tall, heavily-freckled redhead with an obvious drive to get things done. In the few minutes it took Serenity to get to the surface, she’d already managed to set up a clear office area for herself in one of the pavilion tents.

“You must be Serenity Rothmer. I’ve been wanting to meet you in person; I’m sorry our talk was cut short yesterday.” Dr. Mattingly stuck out her hand.

Serenity shook her hand. Her grip was firm but not too tight. “Yes. I wasn’t expecting you so soon; have you decided if you’ll be staying on site or traveling back and forth yet?”

He knew he’d be staying on site; he’d prefer to travel back and forth from the Settlement, since it was more comfortable, but there wasn’t a way to get messages back and forth. Until there was enough set up to be confident someone else could handle a rockfin, Serenity didn’t want to be far away, and without a way to get messages into the settlement, overnight was simply out. He could hunt a rockfin down, but fighting it in a tunnel it made while in his Void Sovereign shape was not something Serenity wanted to try.

“I’m going to set up quarters here. I think most of us will; it’s simply too far to the closest lodging if we’re watching instruments. Some people will run back and forth; anyone who can afford to be away for half the day. It’s too bad there’s nothing closer; under other circumstances this wouldn’t be too bad, since it’s only an hour or so out, but I just don’t want to lose that much research time.” She paused and moved notebooks, then leaned over and started something on her computer.

Serenity turned to look for Doyle. He was leaning against his pickup, looking at his phone. “Hey, Doyle, how far is it to the Settlement by road?”

Doyle looked up without putting his phone away. “Hm? ‘Bout five miles. Not a long trip. Only long part’s once you leave the road. Why?”

“Think we could spare some lodging for sleepy scientists and soldiers? Maybe some food?” Serenity knew dungeons liked having people in them; were Settlements the same way? It would explain some things if they did, such as where the daily “settlement points” Echo used on making the pillows came from. Maybe settlements were similar to the “Sanctuary” dungeon he’d accidentally created on Tzintkra? It used points to let people buy things. It sounded like the settlement’s points were more limited, but he hadn’t actually looked.

“Only if they pay.” Doyle grinned. “And for fresh food and a comfy bed, I bet they would. I’ll have to talk to Echo about bathroom upgrades, though; I’m tired of communal showers, and this would be a good reason to have plumbing in each house.”

Dr. Mattingly watched the exchange with a smile before interrupting. “I’ll talk to you about that in a bit, but before anyone gets distracted, I need to talk to Serenity.”

Serenity turned to face her. “Oh?”

“Pull up a seat; this could take a while.” She suited her actions to her words and sat in front of her computer.

While he found a chair, Serenity turned to Doyle. “Can you run to town for me? I’ve had some stuff delivered and I can’t be away from the portal for that long.”

Doyle snorted and shook his head. “A trip sounds good, I’ve been sitting here too long.” His focus turned to Dr. Mattingly. “I’ll come find you when I get back. If you’re to sleep in the Settlement, there’s some planning to do. Unless you’ve got someone arranging it for you?”

“Might have a deputy for it by the time you get back, but right now it’s me.” She turned towards Serenity, clearly dismissing Doyle from her attention. “Serenity Rothmer. You’re supposed to know something about magic and all this nonsense. I’ve been trying to get your contact information for weeks now. Tell me everything you know about portals.”

Oh. That was what this was about. Fair enough; he’d written some of it down, but it was true that it’d come out mostly in bits and pieces as he thought of it. “First, it’s not nonsense. I’d recommend treating it like an advanced science you don’t know much about.” He waited for her to nod before continuing. “Talking about portals isn’t the best place to start; I need to tell you a little about magic itself first.”

“You have no idea how it found those portals?” Dr. Mattingly sounded incredulous. “None at all?”

Serenity shook his head. “No. I also don’t know why it didn’t find all of them. I’m pretty sure there weren’t anywhere near five hundred of them on the display. All I can say is that it means I know there’s a way to do it. And if there’s a way, I’m sure it has to echo in some other force we can detect, as well as magic. So I’ll do all the testing I can, and you can do the same, and we’ll compare notes.”

She nodded, then pushed back her chair before tapping something on her computer. Serenity assumed she was turning off the recording; she’d asked early on if she could record him to show the rest of the team so he wouldn’t have to answer the same questions repeatedly. “Your friend should be back soon. I was hoping I’d get more stuff that was directly actionable out of this, but it does give me some ideas. The fact that this is in a cave is really helpful; it’s a relatively controlled environment. I’m hoping to avoid drilling in through the top, so we can keep it that way.”

“Knock knock.” Doyle’s voice came from the pavilion’s entrance and Serenity chuckled. “If I’d known you were sending me after enough stuff to need a pickup, I’d have gotten help to move it.”

Surely there couldn’t be that much. Sensitive electronics were expensive; just what had Aide bought?