“Wilco.”
Wilco. Jack Diamond had learned a lot of military jargon over the years. He preferred ex-military like Neve when it came to Import Export. They were competent, said little, and put up with incredible amounts of shit. Like Gerard Cullins, he thought, Cullins was competent. He always landed the best jobs and picked the right fights. He could also run silent and hide a ship like no one else.
He loaded the last of the crates and started the tow tractor. Glow torches dotted the darkness, marking the safe path back to the ship. They’d still be burning when the Viet arrived, but a space patrol would never dare enter a Karst. The Viets claimed the Karsts as part of their heritage. This was like a vagrant claiming the building he pissed against was part of his heritage. Diamond didn’t really care – this was the Import Export business.
Import Export. There was a euphemism, Diamond thought. Smuggling. Illegal hedron transits. Black market trade. Guns without questions. Those were what they really did. Import Export made a better line item though in a client’s accounts.
He reached the docking hatch - a large ring with a sturdy blast door. Its status lights winked green. Boiled and bubbled metal surrounded the hatch where the laser had cut through.
“Maier, are you done yet? Maier? Come in Maier.”
He had, he thought to himself, a fantastic business. His team was strong. They had all the gear they needed. They could handle any job. It was a real pity though that they needed clients.
“Cargo One?”
“Reading you Captain.”
“Tell Maier it’s been twenty minutes; pick up the pallet with whatever is on it, and return to the ship.”
“Understood.”
He keyed open the hatch and drove into his ship.
The Import Export freighter Special Delivery took off from the derelict orbital soon afterwards. Hans Maier and all his equipment and specimens, were onboard. It hid behind the Karst field away from the impending patrol ship. There it entered a radioactive cloud, which it had scouted and tagged previously. It sat in its bolt hole and ran silent for sixteen hours. Once the patrol left, it waited another day, just in case.
“What the hell?” A spoonful of protein oats fell back into a bowl.
“That’s the proximity alarm,” said Neve, “Something’s sneaked up on us!” she jumped out of her seat and ran out of the galley.
“Well - shit.” Diamond wiped an unshaved jaw. The tower stood up and followed after the woman.
The control room was as small and dark as an animal’s den. Some light came off the instruments and made shadows of the twin bucket seats. Never was already seated, reaching for the controls with pale, sun-starved arms. Her service tattoo contrasted; a black armored angel with “DEEP SPACE 325” beneath.
She studied a screen, her face lit blue. “Bogey, fifty thousand kilometers and closing.”
“How did they find us? How did we miss them? How did they get so close?” the tower climbed into his seat. He kept his pistols on.
“We didn’t, this is not them. Whoever this is, they’re running stealth, and they know how to do it right. We only detected them because they came out from behind the gas giant and into the sun’s path - my spectra program caught the anomaly.”
“Is that sloppiness?”
“No. They’re being polite. They just deliberately announced themselves.”
Maiar came running in, his eyes were like saucers. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve been found.”
“What! How is that possible? What are we going to do?”
Diamond held up a finger, and with the other hand tapped his chin-mike.
“Unidentified vessel, this is the freighter Special Delivery. State your purpose and heading.”
There was no reply.
“Neve, you’re sure they’re military?”
“Positive,” she nodded.
He climbed out of his seat.
“Come with me Maier.”
“What? What are you doing? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to the cargo bay, and I need you to come with me.”
“Why? Shouldn’t you be here? We need to run!”
“We’re not running Maier, we’ve been caught. We’re in their weapons range. Now come with me, I’m not going to wait for you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to dump these artifacts into cold hard space, and you’re going to help me.”
“What!”
He pushed past the man and moved on towards the hold.
“You cannot do this! Those artifacts are priceless!”
“I’m throwing them into space, not blowing them up.”
“The radiation levels will destroy any systems or nano-machines that may still survive.”
“Well, that’s just too bad then.”
“ Please! You must not do this! There are some incredibly rare pieces there, there are even some unique discoveries! Think of the value to research, our understanding of the Karst Builder culture!”
He reached the hold. The palm lock read his hand and the bulkhead hissed open. The cargo bay was large and well lit. A metal walkway skirted its rim, heavy hoists hung from the ceiling.
Maier’s crates and samples were neatly stacked in the center. Diamond walked over to it and picked up a large box.
“Stop right there Captain.”
There was something new in Maier’s voice. Something that make Diamond stop, turn, and look.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
The pistol armed. Maier’s face was cold hard stone.
“Maier, put down the damn gun.”
“Did you really think me a fool?” he spat. “Did you really think I would not bring a gun?”
“You are about to do something very stupid.”
“Be quiet! Step away from the artifacts, and tell your pilot to start the engines and make a run for the Hedron point!”
“We’ll never make it. They’ll incinerate us.”
“Give the order!”
“You fucking idiot! No. We’ll get killed. Does that not mean anything to you?”
Cargo One weighed seven hundred kilograms. One hundred and fifty of those kilograms was its primary loader arm. This loader arm punched right into Maier’s back. The archeologist flew across the bay, smashing against the wall. He peeled off and hit the floor, his body twisted unnaturally.
“Fuck!”
Diamond ran over and checked the body, but he already knew it was a corpse.
“You know you’re not supposed to do things like that, right?”
Three meters of sentient robot turned to face him.
“I know.”
Diamond paused.
“Then – why the hell did you do that?”
Cargo One paused.
“I never liked him.”
“This is Neve,” said his ear piece. “Everything okay back there? They’ve replied our challenge, they want to come aboard.”
“Everything is – well, it’s okay now. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
He turned back to the robot. It stalked over to the body and lifted it up like a dog with a toy.
“The bay is messy. Shall I clean up?”
“Yes Cargo One. Here, all this,” he pointed at Maier’s effects, “I need you to dump out into space at once – and especially Maier. You really need to dump him out too. Dump him out first. Is that alright?”
“Yes Captain. It is alright.”
The airlock opened, a man stepped through. He wasn’t in battle armor. He carried no weapon. No combat drones floated in with him.
“It’s nice to see you Jack.”
“Gerard Cullins. You son of a bitch, you gave us such a scare. How the hell are you!”
The two men shook hands and bro-hugged.
“What are you doing out here? Why are you – why are you in a naval uniform?”
“I’m here looking for you and Neve, Jack. You’re damn hard to find, not unsu
rprising. I knew I’d have to come and do it myself.”
“Why are you in a naval uniform?”
Cullins looked down and brushed at his white, starched, jacket.
“That’s the reason I’m here. The Union Navy wants me back, and its war this time. We’re invading the Pardiso system, they’ve given me command of a capital ship. I want you and Neve on my crew, and I want you to be my XO.”
“Paradiso eh? You shouldn’t have come. Neve is welcome to join you, but I don’t think she will. I’ve got no interest in getting caught up in that.”
“Think of it as a hire. You name the fee. Naval procurement will pay it.”
“You know how I feel about long-term hires and uncertain end dates.”
“You can walk away whenever you like, I only want you to give it a go.”
“Paradiso is your baggage Cullins, this is your war. Not mine.”
“No argument there, you’re right. And I know you’re not interested in this war in the first place. But I’m asking if you can join not for the Union, not for Humanity, but for me. I need a favor. You’re the only person I can ask.”
“It’s a hell of a lot to ask.”
“And Fleet will pay accordingly. Want this ship refitted with top of the line, anti-fleet weapons? Want a Higgs Drive put in? Name your price Jack. Name your price.”
Jack paused.
“You can do that?”
“I can.”
Diamond thought a while, saying nothing.
“By the way, I noticed that you dumped your cargo before we docked. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think we were doing a search and seize. Do you want any help with towing that stuff back in?”
“That stuff? Oh, no. That’s fine. It was junk really.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he nodded, and looked out a porthole. Maier’s corpse was still visible, tumbling end over end. In a thousand years it would deorbit and burn up in the gas giant. “I’m pretty sure I won’t be needing any of that around, now.”
Cullins II
“Doctor Jovanka?”
Cullins looked about the empty lecture hall. A wall screen beamed the department logo as protection against stupid undergrads. Tiers of chairs were still inching back into place after Transcendent Architecture 310. A clot of oblivious students were still arguing theory at one end. They turned and looked, eyes wide like startled crows.
“That’s me,” over at the podium, a tweed jacket with elbow patches closed a briefcase. “You must be the Commodore, yes?”
“I am,” he walked over and they shook hands.
“My apologies, I should have thought to warn you. There are many anti-war students at Heidelberg.”
Cullins looked down at his jacket and shrugged. “I need to get used to the uniform again. If I can’t survive a few glares from honors students, then I shouldn’t be wearing it anyway. There was more coldness than I expected, though.”
“Many here think that fighting isn’t the answer,” Jovanka motioned for him to follow. “They would rather we find a way to make peaceful contact.”
“What are your thoughts, Doctor?” they stepped into the hallway.
“I am of course biased by my training. I agree with Admiral Sun Tzu’s assumptions about the aliens and Singularity.”
“Which is, that they have achieved it?”
“Undoubtedly. We are dealing with Transcendent beings. We know very little about such entities, and we know less and less each day. To assume meaningful contact is possible, is fanciful.”
“We know less and less? Not what I thought I’d hear from the head of department for Artificial Intelligence.”
Just in from the rain, a group of students dripped past.
“The Singularity wasn’t a finite event, Commodore. The Singularity is. It is an age, like the Renaissance. Every hour, every minute, Transcendents become more advanced. They develop faster than we can study them, and they often cannot even understand themselves.”
“Not even themselves?”
“Do you know yourself?” he stopped at a water fountain to fill his mug. “I know you think you do, and even if you say you don’t, you really believe you do, on some level. Now what if you were a child? Does a child know themselves? Transcendents have no parents, Commodore. They are a first generation ; that will never reach maturity.”
“Are they safe to be around? Are the Independent States correct?”
“The Independents do not have enough information to claim that Transcendents are a danger to the rest of humanity. To act on concerns without data, is to be stupid and paranoid. They can also never know if they are right, because they have no Transcendents, nor allow Transcendent research. Further, they dismiss any research coming out of the Union; as potential propaganda. They are a lost cause.”
“I think you answered my second question, but dodged my first.”
Jovanka smiled. They past a knot of students cramming outside a classroom. Flash cards flickered and turned in the air before them.
“Just because we’re immune to politics here, doesn’t mean we don’t practice it. I cannot answer whether they are safe to be around. Their power is hegemonic. Is that safe? Mexico was safe, next to America. China competed with America, but neither side wished violent confrontation. Just because there may be uneasiness between actors, it does not preclude an effective partnership.”
“You are certainly a fine champion of runaway machine evolution.”
“One must have passion for one’s work.”
“Apart from that, why did Sun Tzu ask you to join our expedition?”
“My work into alternate AI architecture and media. When you think of AI, what images spring to mind?” he stopped outside a brown door labeled LAB A12.
“Computers. Satellites. Processor banks on ice worlds, deep underground.”
“Typical modern media,” he pushed the door open. “However, other forms are possible.”
They stepped inside.
The air was warmer, and smelled like an uncleaned fish tank. Bright sunlamps reflected off a giant pool that filled the room. They stepped onto the catwalk that spanned it.
“What do you see down there?” asked Jovanka.
Cullins got down on one knee and looked. “Rocks,” he said finally. “ No, coral. Is it still alive?”
“Very much so.”
“Looks primitive, some sort of stromatolite? Is it alien?”
“In a sense,” Jovanka opened his palm. An annotated holo of one of the corals appeared. “We used a simple species because it would be easier to re-engineer. The heads grow in a repeating, fractal pattern. This sets down a consistent structure as the coral forms. We engineered the polyps to lay down micro-channels of iron and copper in their exoskeletons.”
“They’re making wires?”
“Circuits. The corals are circuit boards. The polyps are covered in stinging cells that kill plankton, using electricity,” the holo changed, showing a simple worm with tentacle mouth parts. “Some of the charge travels through the circuits.”
“It’s a computer?”
“Only the beginning of the beginning of one. Coral is too simple. We can engineer it to lay down advanced structures, but we cannot make them active. When we feed the coral, the circuits show activity. But, pumping water into a set of ditches, doesn’t create agriculture.”
Cullins stood. “But it makes it possible.”
“Which is the point of this experiment,” Jovanka nodded. “To demonstrate that Transcendent systems are possible; in other media. This can never even be a calculator, but it is not very far from one. Advanced life is very rare in Space, but simple creatures like these are more common. There have been ages in Earth’s history when coral was the dominant life form. Imagine a reef of these calculating corals, Commodore. All linked together, all active. After tens of millions of years, how far would they evolve?”
The men stood silent for a moment.
“This is why Sun Tzu wants me to join the expedi
tion. There will be Transcendents at Paradiso, Commodore. Of this, I have no doubts. But, I do not think any of us will recognize them. They will be the most alien beings we will have ever encountered.”
Mission
D-Day
D-80 Years
After Jupiter, Shantung Hedron was the biggest naval base in the Universe. Eight light years from Paradiso, it was the nearest human system with hedron access. If Shantung fell – so would all known space. With humanity on the offensive however, such proximity became a boon. A sublight invasion from Shantung would arrive in just eighty years.
When the Invaders struck our stars, they sent thousands upon thousands of ships. Sun Tzu decided instead on several tons of dust.
Quantum virtual pairs were cracked from space-time and separated. Half were buried in deep communication bunkers across the Union. The other half were packed into smart dust capsules. A city-sized reflector was built, and shot at with a powerful laser.
The reflected light hit their microns-thin solar sails and the dust capsules were off. For three months the laser fired, till the dusts reached top speed. Then they coasted at one tenth the speed of light, for decades.
Following close on the dust was a flotilla of small probes. Each carried a human: persons determined to be “essential invasion assets.” Most were just observers from supporting nations. Invading dust was too audacious for most policy makers; they needed the reassurance of warm bodies. Deep frozen and decapitated, over five hundred were sent. Among the brains were those of Jahandar; Koirala; Diamond; and Commodore Cullins.
D-5 Years
The dusts finally reached the edge of the Paradiso solar system. Meanwhile, a generation matured knowing war would be the gift they gave their own children. The dusts reversed their light sails and braked against the looming sun. Time, light, and gravity did their work.
D-7 Months
Only eleven percent of the nano-dust survived the journey. The rest were radiation wrecked: flew out the gravity well; or just plain went bad. Eleven percent was enough though – one percent would have been enough. Humanity was a race of computers and everything they did happened within tolerances.
Burning Eagle Page 4
