Infinite Exploration

by D. L. Harrison

  “You’re not wrong, but now that I’m aware of it, and see the potential problem, it’s hard to just move on and forget them. I suspect at least a quarter of the universes will be like this, humanity exists and is in space, but are in a rather precarious position and one that doesn’t require instant influence by us that might work out on their own.”

  Cassie asked, “How tough are their ships?”

  I frowned, and I brought up the data. Talk about arrogance, I hadn’t even considered the idea they might be able to put up a fight if we decided to take them down. I’d have to keep an eye on that attitude, it’d only been three days since we started this… mission of ours.

  Not that I was wrong, in this case anyway.

  “Their weapons and shields are stronger than what we have. Their subspace energy beams are denser than ours, somehow. As are their shields. Not enough to matter, we could easily overwhelm them with numbers, even if we lost one or two ships for each of theirs. Their power systems, drives, and acceleration are close to the same. They don’t have quantum jump drives.”

  “Denser?” Jessica asked.

  I nodded, “The beams have a lot more subspace energy packed into the beam, making them deadlier. Hmm, they also have faster wormhole drives, a lot faster. Instead of ten million light-years per hour, it’s closer to five hundred trillion light-years per hour. Our network just caught a ship travelling via wormhole across their entire empire in seconds.

  “Their ships and fleets are broken up into a mix of dreadnoughts, battleships, and destroyers similar in size to the three warship sizes the Grays had, and they’re an off white in color. The ratio is two, four, and eight respectively. Back to Jessica’s point, not sure what else we can do, but I’m uncomfortable with the idea of washing our hands of this humanity. They seem… better than we are, than we were.

  “But I get your objection. We want to save and help a humanity every two days, or at least that was the plan. Just doing nothing seems like a waste, especially when there’s an infinite amount of Earths to look after.”

  Cassie snickered, “We can’t get too caught up in that overwhelming task.”

  “Agreed, but one every two days seems like a good healthy balanced approach to an infinite universe, and one we’re already not meeting, and we just got started. Any ideas?”

  Darrell said, “I believe I understand enough to set the parameters to identify a version of humanity that doesn’t need our help immediately, but is in a precarious position that could work out in the long term without interference of any kind, or be destroyed in the near future depending on unpredictable actions of their more powerful neighbors.

  “While I feel some impetus to protect other humanities, my emotions will not be overly compromised, and I will not be overwhelmed by frustration or the feeling of not doing enough. It also occurs to me the more universes we have eyes on the safer we’ll be.”

  I nodded, “So, what exactly are you suggesting?”

  Darrell said, “Allow me to copy more than one stealth fleet. I already skip those universes without humanity left in it, I can also determine these and leave a fleet, but not bring them directly to your attention. If I build more than one fleet, that increases the odds of us finding a humanity being abused or in dire straights every two days.

  “Further, I can independently help all universes in which only minimum interference is necessary. Such as the Atans universe where we just destroyed the expansion Stolthrim fleets, and we knocked the Vrok out of space. Every two days, I can pass along a universe where more subtle and direct help is required for you to take part in the effort.”

  I thought that through.

  “So, you want to identify those like today, pass by those humanity doesn’t exist in, and for the simple problem universes you will go blow stuff up to safeguard humanity? Then just send the difficult ones to us?”

  Darrell said, “Yes, if I build ten fleets per two-day period, two or three will have no humanity, two or three will require no interference, another two or three will require simple direct action to safeguard humanity which I will undertake unilaterally, and of the remaining I can feed you the one or two in the most precariously complicated position. That way you’ll be ensured of taking action every two days, but you also won’t be overwhelmed.

  “You may of course review what I do if you wish, it will all be in the database.”

  Jessica said, “I like that plan. Every two days we’ll help one or two humanities and so will Darrell on his own. I think we can keep up with that without adding too much stress to our lives. We can always adjust, or even add in vacation time where we take a break from it, if it grows overwhelming.”

  I shook my head, “That’s the problem. A vacation from it will just cost us a few billion human lives so we can have fun on a beach, or skiing? And that’s just the ones we’ll know about. It’s… huge, really. Too big to be responsible for.”

  Cassie said, “Like Diana said, we need to focus on the ones we save, it’s all gravy in this project. It’s the fault of others for the ones that die, not ours. If we lose sight of that we could lose ourselves.”

  She wasn’t wrong, but easier said than done. I already felt crushed by the weight of it, maybe I was just too soft. I couldn’t save everyone, and it was wrong to put that on me, but it was what it was. I hoped I’d get used to it, and our limitations.

  “Alright, you have my approval for that plan, Darrell, and my thanks.”

  Cassie asked, “Okay, what about technology. Should we try to get the beams and shields of the Keldet? Even if we’re not interfering with humanity’s survival in this universe, yet.”

  At ten every two days, that was eighteen hundred and twenty-five per year. At the end of ten years we’d have stealth networks in eighteen thousand two hundred and fifty universes. In a hundred years, we’d have a hundred and eighty-two thousand five hundred universes.

  Point being, at some point, we’d have an incredible amount of universes like this latest one under supervision. Well what happened if fifty or more tipped over into the Earth being imminently endangered at the same time? That would be overwhelming, and we couldn’t possibly save them all at the same time. Still, we had the technology, and I had to learn to internalize it and accept it for all the good it could do. All without overwhelming my ability to withstand all its inherent limitations when dealing with the infinite.

  Enough about that, I answered Cassie’s question.

  “Umm, we could probably do it without them noticing, but let’s not risk us accidentally triggering a confrontation. We’ll restrict espionage to those that we have to take on and confine to their worlds. I’m sure we’ll get it eventually, and it’s not a difference maker, just a small advancement in our current technology.”

  Cassie urged, “No one has been able to detect your magic yet.”

  I was fairly sure she was testing me again, with temptation, but it was hard to tell.

  “Not directly, but my actions have been detected by the Grays, and Darrell could do it too. Maybe the Gray technology just has more robust network intrusion detection protocols. We know the Vrok have no clue we tapped their systems, but the Grays would’ve noticed. We won’t know the Keldet’s capabilities that way until we take a chance and see, so it’s not worth the risk to the humans in that universe, or in starting a war. No reason to be greedy, we’ll get there ourselves, or find an opportunity when we find a universe we do have to fight them in.”

  Cassie nodded, “You already considered it?”

  I shrugged, “Not consciously until you mentioned it, but the reason not to seemed obvious to me. So maybe subconsciously?”

  The conversation waned, and we all got back to work for our lives in our universe.

  It was later that day at lunch, and Melody looked excited, so I asked her what it was about.

  She said, “The fusion reactor worked, for a time. I was able to verify my theory, though I’m not sure what practical technology we can adapt if any.”

 
I asked, “What theory?”

  She said, “Normal space is a balance of matter and energy, birth and death, creation and destruction. I suspected and still do that normal space is the central layer of the universe, and that all the other layers support it in a mostly closed system.

  “The higher harmonic quantum fabrics are levels of subspace, filled with ever more powerful and concentrated levels of raw energy inimical to all matter. The energies are affected by mass in normal space. I suspect the quantum harmonics are connected, what connects the fabrics, and that it also leads to… leaks? Let’s go with leak, it’s those higher dimensions that are responsible in some way for the energy in normal space.

  “So, my theory was going the other way would be the opposite. We’d find entropy of some kind, and perhaps the source of gravity. It’s been long theorized that gravity is a force from another dimension, because it’s not nearly as strong as it should be.

  “I don’t know much for sure yet, but I do know that the lower harmonic dimensions are inimical to energy, in the same way subspace dimensions are inimical to matter. The reason the first ship died was that lower harmonic dimension was completely inimical to drawing vacuum energy as I’d guessed. The fusion reactor lasted for a while, but it consumed fifty times the amount of hydrogen to maintain a fusion reaction in the power systems, something about those lower dimensions in our universe has vastly more entropy toward energy.

  “I believe it’s also where gravity originates from. The effect of mass on the curve of space-time and the biasing of the quantum fabric allows that force to leak through, the greater the curve the greater the leak. I’m just getting started though, and I have a lot of work before I can even begin to understand the relationship there.”

  I grunted, “What’s it look like?”

  She said, “It’s an endless dark void. Inimical to energy means no light. I’ve only gone over there in the void between stars, so I have no idea what exists inside a solar system, just a stronger force of entropy maybe, like subspace has stronger energy inside a solar system, or maybe even matter of some kind that’s responsible for that force in some way. I’m being cautious, my next step is to try to transition to that dimension inside a dead solar system, next to a dead planet.”

  “You think it responds to mass, like subspace?”

  She shrugged, “Gravity seems to, but the entropy part is just as likely to be responding to energy and not mass at all. Like the sun. Point being, I have no idea, but I’m going to find out. We can’t assume anything though, it might be our dimension that’s effected by theirs, instead of the other way around like in subspace. Though that goes both ways as we get energy from them. Point being, doing the wrong thing in that space could have a deleterious effect on normal space.”

  It was interesting, but I wasn’t sure what we could do with it, if anything.

  “Right, try not to blow up the solar system.”

  Melody grinned.

  Diana said, “I have no idea how the Keldet are organizing their subspace beam energy so much more tightly. I suspect it will take a breakthrough to learn how to focus the energies so much more efficiently. The wormhole drive advancement is more obvious, and I’ve got a team working on it. I’m kind of annoyed I didn’t think of it myself, after Melody’s second level subspace breakthrough. The jump drive is faster of course, but it’s worth doing if only to offer to sell it to the Vax and Arnis.”

  “It is? Obvious I mean.”

  It sure as hell wasn’t obvious to me.

  Diana smiled, “The speed difference made it so, because it conforms to another well-known ratio thanks to our daughter’s research. A wormhole travels through the dimensional layers between normal space and subspace. I suspect their wormhole drive simply travels through the layers between subspace and the second even more dense subspace layer, which would be a whole lot smaller. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to access that layer instead of the first one while ripping a hole in the universe to travel through. Give me a few days.”

  “Oh, obviously. Got it.”

  Melody giggled.

  Diana smirked playfully and gave me a kiss.

  Chapter Eleven

  Darrell said, “The situation has just changed, which is quite a coincidence given we’ve only been monitoring that universe for twelve hours. I honestly can’t even give you the odds of it happening.”

  “What happened?” I asked as I looked up from my work, and I saved my spot.

  He said “Fleets are forming across the Keldet empire and going to FTL. It looks like one of the FTL races broke one of the rules. All I can say for sure is they’re converging on the Milky Way. I wasn’t privy to the actual message. At least all the worlds not too far away.”

  I brought up the data from that universe again, and I looked at Earth’s ships and fleets. Earth had been in space as an FTL species for just ten years. They had just over two hundred small warships with high intensity lasers and missile capability. They were also capable of thirty gravities of acceleration. If they were the ones targeted, they had no chance at all.

  “They seem to be aware of it, and they’re forming a small fleet. They just haven’t gone anywhere yet. That suggests they got the message.”

  Darrell said, “True, but just because the Grays left the target out of the transmission to form a genocidal joint fleet, doesn’t mean the Keldet do… stand by. Earth’s leaders are arguing about joining the cleansing as ordered by the Keldet, against Nyria.”

  “Nyria?”

  Darrell replied a few moments later, “The Nyria are one of the two civilizations destroyed by the Sonex in our universe before we reached space, we never met them. Their home world is only two hundred and thirty-six light years away from Earth.”

  “So they have plenty of time to argue about it before they’re late.”

  Darrell said, “Almost a week. Any races out of range are excused perhaps? It would take almost six months to cross the territory in FTL subspace.”

  “Cassie?”

  She looked over, “What are you thinking?”

  I sighed, “It seems almost mentally cruel, but should we wait to see what this Earth decides? They may not decide to die defending their principles, in which case they won’t be targeted next and will be relatively safe. The universe is a nasty place, all of them apparently, so where do we draw the line? I’m sure it wouldn’t take much effort to decide we need to form a territory in every universe to protect humanity.”

  Cassie nodded, “This self-proclaimed benevolent mission of mercy is becoming stickier.”

  I laughed, “That’s life, no simple answers, but yes. I don’t think we should try to protect their feelings, even if such an act would be devastating to many, humanity there would survive and continue to thrive at the same time. It seems cold, but we can’t save everyone from everything. After all, the Keldet in this universe still exist and play their petty games just next door. There’s always another asshole next in line. I think we have to draw the line at Humanity in another universe under threat of genocide or being used as a Vrok food farm, or something similar of that type.”

  Cassie said, “I agree, if only to preserve our own souls. We can’t help everyone.”

  I nodded, “Darrell, let us know if that Earth decides to stand on their principles against such an act, and becomes the next target in line.”

  Darrell said, “Understood.”

  Cassie said, “What if we find an Earth that’s the bad guy?”

  I snorted, “Go away.”

  She giggled, then said, “Seriously, it’s bound to happen.”

  I blew out a breath, “I don’t know. If an Earth has a genocidal empire, similar to the Keldet, Olmai, or Grays, then we remove them from our list of protected humanities. If we don’t take out our Keldet and Olmai, I don’t think we can take out another humanity, ever. Our mission is to protect humanities from being destroyed or evilly exploited, not destroy other races. A subtle distinction perhaps, but one we need to stick to
, or we’ll lose our souls.”

  Cassie smiled, “That sounds right, and wise. I’m impressed, but I’ll need to consider it a bit longer I think.”

  It was the next morning when we found out the answer.

  Darrell said, “I was able to get a stealth probe into the United Space Fleet’s offices yesterday, for that universe. They just sent a message to the Keldet that they would not participate, and that genocide was against their nature. The Keldet said they were next, and after the fleets removed the Nyria the joint fleet wouldn’t have to go far.”

  I nodded, “I don’t suppose you have a stealth probe near one of the Keldet’s build platforms?”

  Darrell said, “They use large space stations capable of building twelve ships at once, and yes I do. I anticipated you may wish to read their technology. I have also mapped out an attack against their thirty-eight million ships using three hundred and eighty million of our own. We could leave four million each on their four borders, and then recall the rest once the Keldet’s space stations and other space infrastructure was wiped out. I have all those targeted as well as secondary targets, once the fleet is removed.”

  I absorbed and pondered all that.

  “That all sounds fine. What about their comm systems. I want to make an announcement to all the races that the Keldet have been removed, and that Nyria and Earth are no longer targets. I also want it translated as it goes out, so the origin language appears to be Keldet that’s translated again on their side. I don’t want them knowing a second version of humanity is guarding their borders, we’ll be a scary and unknown benefactor guarding their thirty-eight galaxies.”

  Darrell said, “I have not located where all the paired communicators are located on the Keldet’s side, but you could use magic to do it through Earth’s communicator. Route my message, which will be in Keldet, to it and to the Keldet’s where it can be sent out to everyone.”

  I nodded, like we wanted to do with the Grays fourteen years ago, and I looked at Cassie and Jessica, “Anything we missed?”