by Jeff Inlo
"Can you rotate the picture? Get a view of what's behind here and perhaps closer to this corner."
"That I can do," the tech responded with a hint of pride. "We're bouncing white light through the shaft. The Fenrites can't see it, but it's allowing for a full 360 degrees of vision. We're recording everything so we don't miss anything. We've also located a secondary access tunnel. It appears to be just a ventilator shaft. We're using the light imaging from there to gain a three dimensional perception. That way, we can see behind corners."
"Good, good," Farmer hummed. He watched the view screens intently. He constantly asked for a wider angle. He looked at every component and every apparatus in the lab. He muttered at the inconsistencies, but reveled in the efficiencies. The oversized glass bubbles filled with embryonic-like liquid brought him near ecstasy.
He could not withhold his exuberance. "Can you believe this?"
The tech shook his head. "No sir, I cannot. But it can’t possibly work."
Dr. Farmer just smiled. "It won’t work, not at this stage. It’s just a model. But it is the mark of a beginning. Just like our own beginning, how we started out when we began the process outside a living host. This lab is a remarkable find."
"But why in the ground? Why out of our sight? Do you think they know they're being watched?"
"Maybe, maybe not. They might have just had a natural instinct to dig down. In the womb, so to speak. But that is rather irrelevant. Get a request to the science vessel back on Fenrir. Have them make visual checks of all the Fenrite underground facilities. It may not be working here, but I bet it’s working there. The truth is that we've found their ‘Mother.'"
#
Two messages at once for Dr. Sinclair. Neither one of them brought a smile to her lips. Her pudgy cheeks shuddered as she sighed heavily in exasperation.
The first note came from her sources near Fenrir. The Fenrites were experimenting with space flight. They had already achieved self-propelled satellites capable of adjusting their own orbit, as well as discovery probes directed toward neighboring, uninhabitable planets. Now, there were reports of orbital shuttles, experimental spacecraft piloted by the Fenrites themselves. Not what she wanted to hear.
It was also not what the Authority wanted to hear. The same message alluded to growing Authority intolerance toward letting the situation fester. If the Fenrites were reaching for the stars, then they were becoming an even greater risk.
The second message offered little solace. Dr. Farmer had transmitted a priority call with little additional information. He wanted her presence immediately at EMOF. Nothing further was included.
"I don't have time for this," she mumbled.
In the end, however, her curiosity got the better of her and she requested an immediate transport from her earth headquarters to the moon-based Fenrite observation post. Before she left, she sent her own message to the liaison with the Authority. It was voiced into a courier directive.
"Don't let them do anything stupid. We knew the Fenrites were going to achieve space travel. It was only a matter of time. There is no conceivable risk to the Authority Planning Station at this time."
She shook her head, not truly expecting anything of great consequence from the message. The Authority was going to do what it wanted. She just hoped they'd wait long enough for her to find some more information. Maybe it was good she was going back to the moon. She wanted some answers and Dr. Farmer had enough time to find them. If not, there'd be a new geneticist in charge before she returned.
#
Dr. Farmer ignored Dr. Sinclair's abrupt entrance. He barely heard her bellowing demands for long overdue answers and her curses to assistants that got in her way. His focus remained fixed upon the recordings of the Fenrite cloning laboratories, both the active ones from Fenrir and the model on the moon colony. He requested computer generated comparisons between them and with the cloning facility used to create the Fenrites back on earth. The results were not surprising.
He was blurting out statements to no one in particular, not even truly aware that Sinclair had entered his office. "They're so close. It's like they used our cloning lab as a blueprint."
Sinclair's footsteps fell heavy on the metal floor. She didn't say anything, just stared coldly at the transfixed research scientist.
Farmer looked up with a start. He jumped slightly. "Sorry, I heard you come in. I just didn't think you we're next to me."
That was about the extent of the attention he gave to her. He returned to analyzing computer generated models of the population growth on Fenrir.
"It explains so much," he said with heady joy. "That's how they were able to expand their population on the planet. It's all there. Their initial population expanse was due to their own accelerated reproduction, but their ability to populate so-much of the planet with adult Fenrites came from their ability to achieve this! I knew that was the key."
"What are you talking about?" Sinclair finally demanded.
Farmer sang out his finding with unfettered joy. "They're cloning themselves. Cloning in chambers. They can actually reproduce without a living host."
Sinclair's eyes narrowed. "The Fenrites are capable of cloning?! That's not possible!"
"But it is. Take a look for yourself. This was found by an EMOF tech. He was tracking mining patterns. It's an underground lab."
Sinclair grew quiet, and astounded. She peered into the terminal screen with quiet appreciation of the discovery. She could not deny the facts. The laboratory was crude, not a true cloning chamber, nothing that was acceptable by today's standards, but the intent of the apparatus was clear. Her respect, however, quickly turned to angst. Again, she faced the nagging question of the Fenrites.
“And here, look at this!” Farmer insisted. “These are hidden facilities on Fenrir. They are operational, have been for quite some time!”
"How are they able to do this? This is impossible! This is cloning. They are nowhere near this kind of technology, not even on Fenrir?"
"But they are," Farmer stated joyously. "And it's the answer to all the questions."
Sinclair’s response was quick and pointed.
"How?"
"You wanted to know how they advanced so quickly. That was the main objective of our research. The thing is, they didn't advance on their own. We gave it to them. We gave it all to them. It was the knowledge infusion, the transplant of basic principles into their memories while they were being created. They absorbed the knowledge of how to clone while they were being cloned! From the colony on the moon to the original Fenrites placed on their home planet, they all have the basic knowledge. Their genes were altered so we could enhance their level of intelligence as well as inject basic knowledge within their brains as instinct. It was the act of transferring the basic knowledge of agriculture that caused this. But they didn't just get an implant of agriculture instinct. They got a basic understanding of one of our most advanced forms of technology. They understood the process of cloning. Their memories were filled with all the critical technologies involved. Don't you see? If they started with the knowledge of cloning, then they were capable of understanding a wide range of studies. From chemistry to biology, from engineering to electronics, the micro processing and the control factors, the advance circuitry of cloning chambers and the structure of chemical reactions; all of this was given to the Fenrites when they were cloned."
Sinclair grew angry. "Are you saying this was some kind of accident?"
Farmer showed no other emotion than the joy of understanding. He didn't care if Sinclair was trying to find fault, he just wanted to explain what he now knew as the truth.
"Yes and no. It wasn't like cloning knowledge was added to the principles of agriculture. It was a side effect that wasn't considered. It's exactly the same as they were able to pick up our language. We used knowledge transfer and memory implantation to bring the original Fenrites up to an acceptable level of advancement. We wanted to watch them at a preordained leve
l of experience, so we preset the species with a series of learned principles. From these knowledge implants, the Fenrites were found capable of New English almost immediately."
Sinclair failed to make the connection. "You said the language was part of the transfer, part of the understanding of agriculture. When did cloning processes become part of basic agriculture?"
Farmer turned animated in his anguish to explain his own understanding. "It didn't, but you have to remember the process going on. We fed the Fenrites knowledge while they were being cloned. The implementation of agricultural principles was threaded into their memory cells while their own bodies were being replicated. The two were not separated. Just as they were given the understanding of basic agriculture, they absorbed the principles of everything that was going on around them."
Dr. Sinclair's eyes opened wide. "Cloning technology… Cloning! Then that's it!"
"Of course that's it. We were trying to find what enabled them to invent and discover on such an accelerated path. But it wasn't discovery, they already knew. Back in he recesses of their brains, they understood more technology than we ever dreamed they were aware of. Back on Fenrir, they're not inventing anything, not really. They're copying. Their discoveries are based on the information imprinted in their brains. We gave them the map."
"Incredible." Sinclair regrouped. She shook her head one last time. "That may explain how they advanced so quickly, but not why. That's the last thing I need to know."
Farmer smiled. "Then let me lift your last burden. It's 'Mother.'" He paused to let the revelation sink in. "You asked about 'Mother' once. It was right after inception on the moon. The cloning chamber is what gave them life. They saw it in the recesses of their memory, and they wanted to find their ‘Mother’ from the moment they were born, another natural instinct. But ‘Mother’ wasn't there for them. They had to create her. That is why they worked so hard and so fast. They strived to recreate their giver of life, but to do this they had to make great leaps, leaps they were capable of from the information implanted in their memory cells."
The picture came together, nearly the whole picture. The Fenrites were given the knowledge at creation of the most sophisticated technology available. It was the technology to recreate life and the Fenrites viewed it as their “Mother.” In their devotion to find their parent, they utilized the transplanted knowledge to make one staggering leap after another.
Farmer finished with some of the smaller details.
"This is also explains why they work together. They think they're all related in some fashion. The original colonies on Fenrir were created to make differences, but they all understood they came from the same place. There was nothing we could do to shake that belief. No matter how far we separated them, no matter what we did to their appearance, they all believed they were of the same family."
Conceivable, but it left one gaping hole, a burdensome question that Sinclair pressed. "But what about the militaristic nature of their other inventions? If they had no hostility toward each other, why did they build rockets and anti-missile defense systems?"
Farmer was not deterred, not for a moment. He understood all too well the workings of Regency politics, how it is difficult to separate scientific research from military needs. "Where do you think this technology came from? Maybe missiles have nothing to do with cloning, but the understanding of electronics is the same. Jet fuel is as much a result of the study of chemistry as is cloning fluid. You can't separate them so easily. The knowledge which led to cloning is as much the embodiment of previous knowledge as the development of the Boscon Prop. There is no one path. The Fenrites had to follow them all. Otherwise, they could never be certain they would find 'Mother.' I think that's the reason why the Fenrites in the smaller colony gave up and died. They knew they did not have the resources to build anything close to ‘Mother.’ The knowledge that they could never tap was trapped in their brains and they didn't know how to reach it. It drove them to despair, and finally, death."
Sinclair nodded in final approval. "Very good. Very nicely done indeed. Keep watching them and alert me of any changes."
She turned and walked from the room. The answers were coming clearer now. This revelation was the bridge to the rest. More importantly, she felt she was regaining control of the Fenrir experiment.
16
Time was their only true constraint. Within their bodies they possessed the skill. Within their brains, they possessed the intelligence. And within their memories, they possessed the knowledge. Some prerequisites, however, simply required time. Certain steps had to be followed, certain procedures needed to be executed. Resources needed to be discovered and then mined. Components manufactured. The overall designs were placed in their memories at the time of conception, but many facets required mapping. The creation of certain basic and even archaic contraptions was essential to pass to the more advanced stages.
But trial and error, the plodding steps of experimentation, was not an impediment. The understanding of great technology was unlocked at their birth. There was no need to waste time in discovery. Advancing simply meant the creation of a manufacturing base and the ever constant progress through obvious stages of development. If possible, the Fenrites could have built a cloning lab on the first day of their existence, but progress had its own path.
Through it all, the Fenrites remained tireless in their pursuit. Their focus, their grasp of what must be done, never waned. They worked together, an entire society. They worked without a thought to individual wealth, without a desire for personal luxuries. There was no division, no argument over the distribution of resources. Common goals pressed them all into this incessant service.
During their meager existence, they had but two absolute objectives. One was to find their “Mother.” That instinct was born with them, and it overpowered any other natural desire. It snuffed out any controversy which might have created dissension or diversion. It removed every intrinsic barrier, either naturally inherent or manufactured by the human geneticists that created them. The Fenrites simply produced food to eat and basic shelters to live. Beyond that, they focused entirely upon building the means to recreate their own giver-of-life. It was a path that brought them through hundreds of other inventions. And it brought them to “Mother.”
It was also the key to reaching their second desire, to unravel the mystery of the sky. Just as there was an understanding of cloning technology, there remained within each Fenrite a clear picture of space, of the galaxy, and what it meant. The Fenrites did not have the time or the desire to develop their own folklore. They did not create myth and fantasy about the edges of their world or the reaches of darkness. They did not fool themselves with false conceptions about the importance of their tiny planet. There existed a deep memory centered on the stars, a trip through the blackness of space. It was a part of “Mother.” a part of their birth.
They had also witnessed mechanical birds, the only birds they had ever seen. First the scout, then the melees. They were birds that had flown not only through the sky, but through space as well. And these birds were predators.
The melees had brought death and destruction to Fenrir. Space was now not only a part of the Fenrites origin, but the source of an enemy with great power. In response, the Fenrites focused their energies on defending themselves, defending their home, and defending “Mother.”
They gave the enemy a name steeped in the knowledge implanted in their brains... Storm Bringers. The enemy ships brought streaks of lightning and claps of thunder, and hot winds that melted their homes. And the storm was considered another threat to the crops, and thus a threat to the Fenrites themselves. Just as the agricultural knowledge infusion transferred the instinct to fight drought and pestilence to save their harvest, the Fenrites possessed the desire to end the threat of the storm.
The secrets of the enemy were only a partial mystery, and the Fenrites understood far more then some researchers might have ever guessed. They knew th
at the key to the Storm Bringers' power rested in the ships that carried them across the sky and beyond. To fight the storm, the Fenrites would need to reach the stars. With the tenacity used to create “Mother,” the Fenrites turned toward duplicating what they learned from the invading melees and the downed missiles
“Mother” was now secure, her presence spread all over Fenrir. She was there, making more of them, replacing the losses reaped at the hands of the enemy. There was no longer a need to devote resources toward that end. The stars were now the destination and the Storm Bringers were now the target.
#
The Fenrite built vessels were exact duplicates of the melees from the Planning Station in every way. The only exception involved their form of the Boscon Prop. It lacked the power to go hyperlight. Fenrite ships relied more on ancillary engines and gravitational thrusters. This is what powered the melees during their excursion in Fenrite airspace, and this is what Fenrites monitored and recorded during the attack. As for Boscon props, they had seen them used for accelerated takeoff and landing, but they had yet to witness the utilization of full push. In truth, a few modifications would have allowed for hyperlight speed, but the Fenrites lacked the awareness of such potential and thus, remained ignorant of the possibility.
For their immediate needs, however, hyperlight was inconsequential. Their space faring vessels would take them out of the atmosphere and into orbit, even to the edges of their particular solar system. They did not believe they had to travel far, only to a point where they could strike out against the enemy.
They still could not see the Storm Bringers directly, but they could sense them. They still acted very much on instinct. They believed the threat still existed. They felt the existence of the enemy. The Storm Bringers were there and the Fenrites would wait no longer.
They prepared every ship, and the meager force represented the embodiment of their full concentration, effort and resources. In very real terms, the fleet of small ships signified the very existence of the Fenrite society. Each had labored tirelessly to build these vessels. And now, they stood ready to risk it all on one brazen assault.
