QUANTUM
(Vol. 2)
Napoleon
By
Stephen Arseneault
Published By:
Stephen Arseneault
Copyright 2018 Stephen Arseneault. All Rights Reserved.
“What we know is not much. What we do not know is immense.” —Pierre-Simon Leplace
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Novels written by Stephen Arseneault
SODIUM Series (six novels)
A six-book series that takes Man from his first encounter with aliens all the way to a fight for our all-out survival. Do we have what it takes to rule the galaxy?
AMP Series (eight novels)
Cast a thousand years into the future beyond SODIUM. This eight-book series chronicles the struggles of Don Grange, a simple package deliveryman, who is thrust into an unimaginable role in the fight against our enemies. Can we win peace and freedom after a thousand years of war?
OMEGA Series (eight novels)
Cast two thousand years into the future beyond AMP. The Alliance is crumbling. When corruption and politics threaten to throw the allied galaxies into chaos, Knog Beutcher gets caught in the middle. Follow along as our hero is thrust into roles that he never expected nor sought. Espionage, intrigue, political assassinations, rebellions and full-on revolutions, they are all coming to Knog Beutcher's world!
HADRON Series (eight novels)
HADRON is a modern day story unrelated to the SODIUM-AMP-OMEGA trilogy series. After scientists using the Large Hadron Collider discover dark matter, the world is plunged into chaos. Massive waves of electromagnetic interference take out all grid power and forms of communication the world over. Cities go dark, food and water supplies are quickly used up, and marauders rule the highways. Months after the mayhem begins, and after mass starvation has taken its toll, a benevolent alien species arrives from the stars. Only, are they really so benevolent? Find out in HADRON as Man faces his first real challenge to his dominance of Earth!
ARMS Series (eight novels)
ARMS is cast in one possible future, where Earth was nearing an apocalyptic event. Two competing colony ships were built, taking five million inhabitants each through a wormhole to a pair of newly discovered planets. The planets were settled and not long after the colonies looked to the surrounding star systems for ownership and expansion, which led to a centuries-long war between them. A truce was declared after the aggressor side began to lose ground.
Tawnish Freely and Harris Gruberg are genetically engineered Biomarines. Their lives have been dedicated to fighting the war. With a truce declared, they find themselves struggling to find work among a population that fears them. Work is found only by delving into the delivery of illegal arms to the outer colonies. Things go awry when they discover their illicit dealings may just be the catalyst that brings back the Great War. They are determined to prevent that from happening.
FREEDOM Series (eight novels)
After a period of domination over the lesser alien species of the galaxy, humanity finds itself enslaved for nearly five hundred generations. A highly addictive drug called Shackle has made Humans little more than drone workers. They are abused, sold, traded, and hunted, valued only in credits. But a mysterious virus is sweeping through the Human population, altering gut bacteria, making them immune to the drug that subjugates them. Humans are becoming aware of their condition. They will fight for their freedom.
QUANTUM Series (eleven novels)
A lifetime lived in under a minute...
Impossible, everyone thought.
Until now.
An Opamari scientist has found a way. By cloning a subject and sending the clone back in time, the subject can live the clone's entire life in less than a minute of sleep.
But all actions have consequences. Playing with the past can be disastrous for the present.
When a ruthless tycoon steals the technology, the future of the galaxy is at risk. Will humans, after being slaughtered by the Opamari more than 50,000 years before, be resurrected by the tycoon's actions?
If you love science fiction intertwined with time travel and historical fiction, the Quantum saga will keep you burning through the pages late into the night!
Find them all at www.arsenex.com
Chapter 1
_______________________
Reno asked, “When and where would you like to travel next?”
Naffi thought for a moment. “Hmm. I could go back to the war between the States. Perhaps earlier in the conflict? Or maybe to fight for the other side? Although the thought of fighting against Teddy and Jim gives me a feeling of nausea.”
“Make your decision. I'll bring around a clone. Caucasian?”
“As good as any, I suppose.”
Reno returned with a Human body a short while later. After Naffi lay back on the table, a bio-link was inserted and validated. Sensor hookups completed the preparation effort.
As Reno began the reset sequence, the hum of the power generators ramping up sent reverberations through the station. Instead of the normally increasing frequency and lessening amplitude, the frequency dropped and the amplitude grew, violently shaking the walls of the lab. A high-pitched alert screeched, and a message flashed on the console.
Reno yelled out, “It's the generators! One has spiked out of control!”
A series of buttons were pressed, sending an emergency shutdown to the surging, ultra-powerful, energy-creating unit.
Naffi began to remove the sensors that held him in place. “What's happening?”
A heavy rumble rocked the station.
“We just had an explosion! And we have fire! There was a power surge from the other generators when that one went offline, it appears to have blown out a transformer coupling! The halls outside are filling with smoke! I'm shutting down the other generators!”
Lights in the lab went dark with much dimmer emergency lighting kicking in to illuminate the room.
“What do we do?”
Reno took in a deep breath. “We put out the fire. Should it spread it will be our end. We are living in a confined space— in space. Fire is our enemy. You need to order your maintenance bots to extinguish the flames.”
Naffi hurried to the console, opening a comm. “Pietri, have all maintenance units work to put out that fire! Immediately!”
The bot replied, “I am sorry, sir. We cannot comply. We do not possess the programmed knowledge for this task. Can you explain what might be required?”
Naffi's jaw dropped as he turned to face Reno. “What? How do these ultra-expensive machines not have expertise in such? Someone in my corporation is going to pay for this shortsightedness!”
Reno returned a look of unease. “Fire suppression was a primary skill for my prior maintenance team.”
Naffi replied with scorn. “Would you like me to apologize now or should we focus on getting this catastrophe under control?”<
br />
“The clone.” Reno pointed. “Send it out to stop the flames.”
A diagram of the station was pulled up.
Reno said, “You will find suppressors at each of the five flashing locations out in the hall. There are masks there as well, although they are sized to fit an Opamari face.”
The clone spun on the pod slab and stood.
Naffi scowled. “I do not see this ending well.”
The door to the hall was cracked open. Smoke roiled in.
Reno shook his head. “It is spreading! We should evacuate, but that smoke is coming from the direction of the bay!”
The clone walked out. The door was closed. The Opamari Naffi made several jerks as if wanting to cough.
Reno took his shoulder. “Here. On the table. Allow me to put you under.”
“What? Why?”
“So you can focus. If your clone fails, I will awaken you, but we cannot have your body here distracting the clone from what is needed. We need to keep your mind focused there.”
“Very well.”
The former Opamari businessman hopped onto the table and laid back. The sensors were once again connected and a sleep-shot administered.
Reno moved to watch on the display. The clone had reached an emergency station and retrieved a mask.
“The fit is poor.” Several deep coughs followed. “I will need a wet towel. I'm heading to the kitchen.”
A hurried run had a towel soaked and wrapped around the lower, open area of the mask. A suppression canister was grabbed. The naked clone rushed toward the now glowing end of the hall. Flames shot from a side room. Smoke boiled out, initially clinging to the ceiling before settling toward the floor as it cooled.
“This will not be pleasant.”
Reno said, “Pull the tab, aim, and squeeze the trigger.”
“Why does this station not have a fire suppression system of its own?”
“The infrastructure was not of my design. And when was the last time you heard of a fire aboard a space vessel such as this?”
A stream of dry chemicals spewed from the canister. The flame receded but returned as soon as the stream stopped.
“This isn't working!”
“Keep trying!”
Several further attempts were made, pushing the flame inside the doorway. The canister then ran dry.
“I'm out!”
Reno shook his head in disbelief. “Get another!”
Two additional canister runs were made before the flame was extinguished. The environmental system began filtering the air, a task the console display reported would take more than an hour.
The clone of Naffi returned to the lab. The skin on its front-facing surfaces was heavily blistered.
“Please terminate this clone and wake me, in that order. I am in extreme pain.”
Reno looked around the lab. “Kill it? With what?”
“With whatever you can find. Please. This is excruciating!”
The clone was led over to the pod and made to kneel on the floor. Reno forced its head over before hurrying back to the console controls.
“What are you doing?”
“I'm going to crush your head with the pod.”
“Please hurry.”
The commands were typed in. The pod slowly closed over the blistered body of the clone, stopping as it came into contact with its head.
“What's happening?” A pained and irritated Naffi clone begged.
“The safeties won't allow the pod to close. I'm sorry. Give me a few minutes and I will see if an override is possible.”
The clone pushed itself to its feet. It stumbled to the door and out into the smoky hall, going past the area of outed flames and ending in the docking bay. An airlock was opened with the clone stepping in. When closed, the button for the outer door was pressed.
A rush of air pushed the damaged body out into the cold vacuum of space. Liquids leaked from every orifice on its body, freezing almost instantly. The lack of atmosphere and the ultra-cold quickly robbed the clone of its life. Naffi awoke on the table, his eyes without emotion, staring at the ceiling for several seconds before turning to glare at Reno.
“I am sorry,” Reno said. “I had nothing prepared for ending the clone's life.”
Naffi took in a deep breath and let it out slow. “Give me a moment for my rage to subside. You do not want to know what I am thinking right now.”
Reno smirked. “If it is violent I am not worried. There is nothing within this room for you to use to harm me.”
Pietri came over the comm. “A restoration effort has been initiated. We will have estimates for repairs once an evaluation is complete.”
Two months passed as every piece of equipment was examined. A plan for repairs and to acquire spares was put in place.
Naffi moved to a table in the station dining room, carrying two packaged meals, as Reno collected beverages.
“I just received status from Vara. The restored generator will be here tomorrow. The other parts following in a few weeks.”
“Have you decided on a time and location for a journey?”
Naffi shuddered as he had a momentary thought of being connected to the blistered clone. “I have. I won't be returning to the war. Instead, I found what I believe to be an interesting time where I might have technological influence. There was a scholar named Pierre-Simon Laplace, in the land of France, who was instrumental in the development of mathematics, statistics, physics, and astronomy. We had talked about accelerating Human knowledge, I thought this to be a suitable time and place to begin such.”
“What is the Earth-time where you wish to travel?”
“The year is 1784 A.D.”
Reno asked, “This scholar and this place, other than what you mention, what is notable about him?”
“It was a time of revolution for his country. I had the thought this might work in our favor. The new nation was soon to be ruled by one of Laplace's students, so I reasoned we might also find favor with this student, perhaps even accelerating his rise to power.”
“And what is the name of this youth? I'd like to look up the historical information surrounding him.”
“Napoleon Bonaparte. But why bother with research when we can have the archives instantly uploaded through the means of a memory injected clone?”
Naffi chuckled. “Hmm. I should have considered that. It worked well for my attaining knowledge of the Civil War, it will work equally as well here.”
A single clone was prepared. Memories were injected and a bio-link connected to Reno. The memory transfer was almost instantaneous. Using the bio-link equipment a second time, the link was disabled in the clone and a new link-end inserted. The second bio-link was then connected to Naffi and the equipment was wheeled back.
Naffi sat up, taking control of the clone only moments later. “Excellent use of our resources, Reno. We should have been doing this all along.”
“You are to be congratulated for your suggestion. Why waste a perfectly good clone on a memory transfer? We now both possess the same knowledge.”
Naffi lay back on the table as the clone entered the pod. “Strange. Aside from my attempted firefighting, I miss this sensation. I know how relieved I felt when each clone had passed and the bio-link was disconnected, but I hadn't thought of the link being something I would miss. I am still in awe of your genius with some of this, Doctor.”
“This genius was Dr. Bouthis. And please stop calling me doctor. I am only Reno now.”
The sleep injection was performed as the pod reset sequence was activated. Minutes later, the clone of Naffi was standing in a field in the French countryside, between the cities of Orleans and Paris. Clothing was acquired from a local farmhouse before a trek north was made. The clone arrived in Paris two days later, just after noon.
Naffi sped through the recording. “I had a difficult time at first. There were guards surrounding École Militaire, the military school where Laplace was a professor of mathematics. It took six months of
work for me to gain the monies that allowed me to purchase clothing worthy of an introduction. During that time I wrote out many of his coming mathematical formulas, ones that later became the basis for his groundbreaking work in celestial mechanics. In a matter a days I was able to accelerate his work by several years. I just wish I had an understanding of the math I was using.”
“Perhaps it would have been better had I taken on this journey.”
“As to the math and physics of it, yes. And we still have time to do such.”
“It says your clone survived for two years. What transpired during that time?”
“After spending time with Laplace, I came to realize he was difficult to work with. He demanded full explanation of the formulas I had laid out for him, only I was unable to deliver those explanations. The formulas were in my head, but their meaning and their use— those were beyond me. So I attempted to follow Napoleon, joining the military and specifically the battalion he was eventually given to command.”
The recording was set to play during a cannonade of the Siege of Toulon. The clone of Naffi defended a battery of artillery against an attack by British soldiers. The defense was successful, but not before a musketball found its mark, killing the embattled clone.
Naffi sat back from the darkened display. “I have to say, I'm uncertain as to why, but I find witnessing the fights between these Humans to be tremendously satisfying. The excitement, the thrill of risking one's life... I find myself eager to participate. I believe Credin once stated that it was because I had no fear of death. Perhaps that is true.”
Napoleon Page 1
