STAR TREK: TNG - The Genesis Wave, Book One
Page 15
Riker raised an eyebrow that made it clear he didn’t understand, but he still moved toward the door. “I’ll keep you posted, Captain,” he said on his way out.
Okay, thought Picard, two more strikes against full disclosure. After the door shut, he motioned the admiral to a guest chair while he went behind his desk. Despite his intentions to let Nechayev do most of the talking, Picard found himself speaking up. “I don’t see how we can keep this a secret. We have to muster fleets of ships, evacuate dozens of planets, convene a meeting of the council. Whatever it takes.”
“I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm,” said Nechayev, “but we don’t know the first thing about this phenomenon.”
“Haven’t you been looking at the raw data we sent you?” asked the captain. “Do you mean that nobody in Starfleet has formed a theory about what this thing is?”
“Yes, there have been theories,” admitted Nechayev. “But if you asked ten different scientists, you’d get ten different answers. Meanwhile, Captain Picard, I don’t appreciate your tone of voice. We’re all working just as hard as we can to react to this crisis—putting out incomplete and false information won’t help the situation.”
Picard screwed up his courage and said the magic word: “Genesis.”
Nechayev’s poker face didn’t change, but she did flinch for a moment. A blush came to her face as she considered what to do with the word, and she shifted in her chair. Damn if the old Klingon wasn’t right, thought the captain.
[148] She finally asked, “What makes you mention Genesis? It is just a ... space legend.”
“A certain old Klingon we rescued,” answered Picard. Since that was the only fact he knew for certain, he hoped he could bluff the rest of the way. “So if the Klingons know Genesis is not a myth, why don’t your veteran captains know?”
“I doubt if every Klingon knows about it,” answered the admiral. “There might be a few—”
“His name is Maltz,” said Picard.
Nechayev nodded with the grim certainty of a bridge player who has just realized that she can’t make her contract. “Then you might as well hear our side of it, too. Read this and tell me what you think we ought to do.” She opened a small utility pouch on her belt and pulled out an isolinear chip, which she handed to Picard.
With that, the admiral rose from her seat and started for the door. “We’ll talk later, Captain. Although you may be angry at me now, you’ll see that these decisions were made many years ago.”
The captain also stood, hefting the purple storage chip in his palm. Nechayev’s somber, almost defeated attitude was more disturbing than anything else he had seen that day.
“Admiral, what makes you so certain that thing out there is Genesis?”
“You’ll read a lot about Dr. Carol Marcus in those documents,” said Nechayev. “She was kidnapped six months ago, by parties unknown. We’ve been expecting something like this ever since, because she’s the only one who knows how to build it. After you digest that, you won’t be in the dark anymore. I’ll be on the Sovereign.”
Picard nodded, feeling more troubled than ever. So this was some kind of dangerous technology which the Federation had failed to protect properly. He couldn’t help but wonder why they had built it in the first place.
fourteen
After Admiral Nechayev left the ready room, Captain Picard sat with trepidation at his desk and inserted the isolinear chip into his computer terminal. Figuring he might need some soothing music, he requested a Beethoven sonata to play softly in the background. Then he leaned forward to read the documents given him by Admiral Nechayev.
THE GENESIS REPORT
CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET
by Executive Order of The President
of The United Federation of Planets
18 December 2286
(Stardate 8399.4)
SECURITY CLEARANCE
LEVELS 9 AND HIGHER ONLY
Unauthorized access punishable by mandatory life imprisonment
GENESIS REPORT—SUBJECT INDEX
01.00 TECHNICAL EVALUATION—03 November 2286
(Stardate 8411.2)
Dr. Carol Marcus, director, Project Genesis
01.01 Project Overview
01.02 The Mutara Nebula Detonation
01.03 The Genesis Planet
01.04 Findings & Recommendations
02.00 STRATEGIC EVALUATION—09 November 2286
(Stardate 8420.1)
Commander Stephen J. Klisiewicz, Starfleet Intelligence
02.01 Civilian Applications
02.02 Scientific Applications
02.03 Military Applications
02.04 Potential Countermeasures
02.05 Findings & Recommendations
03.00 POLITICAL EVALUATION—16 December 2286
(Stardate 8426.9)
Xev Chiana, Secretary of State, UFP
03.01 Diplomatic Ramifications
03.02 Pacification of Federation Rivals
03.03 Threat of External Duplication
03.04 Findings & Resolutions
03.05 Addendum—Final Determination
04.00 PROJECT REASSESSMENT—12 May 2374
(Stardate 53303.4)
Lt. David Mack, Starfleet Research & Development
04.01 Introduction
04.02 Recent Discoveries Regarding Protomatter
04.03 A New Theory on the Collapse of the Genesis Planet
04.04 Proposal for Design Upgrades
04.05 Keeping Project Genesis from the Borg
04.06 External Powers Developing Genesis Technology
04.07 Findings & Recommendations
01.00 PROJECT GENESIS—TECHNICAL EVALUATION
Dr. Carol Marcus, director, Project Genesis
Regula I Space Laboratory
Transmission Received via Secure Subspace Channel Zed-328
03 November 2286 (Stardate 8411.2)
01.01 PROJECT OVERVIEW
Project Genesis was a scientific research program whose goal was to develop a process whereby uninhabitable planets could be transformed into worlds suitable for sustaining a variety of life-forms. The project began its preliminary research in August 2270, under my direction, as a purely voluntary effort by more than a dozen scientists from throughout the Federation.
The first challenge of the project was to harness the power, and control the behavior, of a wide variety of subatomic particles. The second, and far more daunting challenge, was to [152] prevent the premature degradation of matter generated by the matrix. Because of the extremely high energy level of a Genesis Wave reaction, the strong and weak nuclear forces essential to normal subatomic cohesion are annihilated. Controlling the behavior of subatomic particles was only the first step; we next needed to isolate the Genesis Effect from external particles in order to effect the renormalization of covalent bonds.
Numerous new technologies were developed to isolate the reaction matrix from such hazardous particles as various colors and flavors of quarks, bosons, muons, gluons and assorted high-energy/low-mass cosmic particles. The greatest threat was the spontaneous appearance of quark strangelets, which initiated near-instantaneous and total annihilation of the matrix. (Refer to Starfleet Research & Development briefing 478594 for a complete catalog of the Project Genesis Sub-atomic Bestiary.)
In July 2272, we succeeded in directing the behavior of several types of fermions by altering their quantum states through the use of a Heisenberg compensator coupled with a quantum flux capacitor. The Heisenberg compensator and quantum flux capacitor also served to isolate the matrix from external particle interference, and consequently became the first integral components in the Genesis Matrix Generator.
Once it became possible to direct the behavior of subatomic particles, the next step in the development of Project Genesis was to create the Genesis Matrix, which would serve as the quantum-level template to guide the reassembly of high-energy particles into cohesive matter and renormalize their strong and weak nuclear forces.
/> The Genesis Matrix was crafted to simulate the geophysical structure, topography, environmental chemistry and organic ecosystems of a range of Class-M planets suitable for humanoid life, although the matrix could theoretically be reprogrammed [153] to generate the full range of planetary types and simulate various alien organic ecosystems. These mutagenic changes are permanent.
From July 2272 to October 2282, we conducted numerous controlled experiments in our laboratory on Deneva, applying the Genesis Matrix to various types of inanimate matter, at varying energy levels. Despite some early setbacks that caused the reformed matter to disintegrate within minutes, a reformulation of the matrix in 2283 by my son and colleague, Dr. David Marcus, succeeded in long-term stabilization of matter reorganized by the Genesis Matrix.
In November 2283, it became evident that continuation of Project Genesis would require a level of funding, technological resources, and manpower that my private scientific consortium was no longer able to provide. In order to continue our work to its logical conclusion, a research grant proposal was made to the United Federation of Planets’ Department of Science. Funding and official assistance was secured in March 2284, and Starfleet made available the services of the Starship Reliant and her crew, and relocated our team to the Regula I Space Laboratory, in orbit above the Class-D asteroid Regula, in the Mutara Sector.
Development of the planetary delivery system and the high-power Genesis Wave generator was completed at the Regula I Space Laboratory in February 2284, at which time a first-generation Genesis Device prototype was constructed. The first device was designed for a low-power, limited-range-of-effect detonation within a confined space. On March 3, 2284, at our request, the Starfleet Corps of Engineers began to excavate an underground facility within the Regula asteroid, which we confirmed was composed only of inanimate matter. The Starship Reliant was tasked with finding a planet devoid of all life, in a suitable orbit for a Class-M world, on which to test a full-scale [154] Genesis Effect. The excavation of our underground test site took the engineers ten months to complete.
In January 2285, after the sealed underground space had been sufficiently hollowed out and was confirmed to be free of gaseous particles, we initiated our first field test of the Genesis Matrix. The test was an unqualified success and transformed the lifeless, vacuum-sealed underground cavern into a thriving primitive organic ecosystem that required only the addition of artificial sunlight to sustain itself. New plant forms evolved at a dramatically accelerated rate within the new environment, a consequence that had not been anticipated during development.
Although the test versions of the Genesis Matrix included no templates for eukaryotic life-forms, they could conceivably be added in future versions of the matrix; however, given the rapid evolutionary rates of plant species within the matrix, such a course of action might be inadvisable, depending upon the genetic complexity of the animal species. Plankton and krill might prove relatively stable, whereas higher-order forms might not.
01.02 THE MUTARA NEBULA DETONATION
The final intended phase of Project Genesis was to await Starship Reliant’s discovery of a suitable test planet for the final prototype test. However, this effort was sabotaged by the actions of Khan Noonien Singh, who on March 22, 2285, hijacked the Starship Reliant, stranded most of her crew on Ceti Alpha V, and on March 25, 2285, stole the Genesis Device from our underground facility, where we had hidden it for safekeeping. Khan detonated the Genesis Device on March 26, 2285, in the Mutara Nebula.
01.03 THE GENESIS PLANET
[155] The detonation of the Genesis Device within the Mutara Nebula resulted in the formation of the Genesis Planet from the cloud of stellar and planetary debris of which the nebula was composed. The planet coalesced within hours into a primordial sphere of molten rock approximately .47 times the mass of Earth, but with a variable gravity field of .78-G to 1.36-G. Because of its low total mass and accelerated subatomic reaction rate, the planet cooled and formed a solid crust over its mantle and molten core in less than 26 hours. Plant life-forms evolved almost immediately and spread quickly across the planet surface.
During the weeks following the formation of the Genesis Planet, erratic weather systems developed, and the planet’s crust became increasingly fragile and susceptible to geothermal stressors. Alien microbes introduced into the planet’s ecosystem by a soft-landing Starfleet torpedo casing, used as a burial container, evolved rapidly into eukaryotic forms, including complex invertebrate animal forms.
The planet’s subatomic bonds destabilized rapidly, and finally disintegrated altogether on April 29, 2285, resulting in its explosion.
A posthumous report filed by Dr. David Marcus revealed that the planet had destabilized because he had used protomatter, an energy-rich but notoriously unstable form of matter, to energize the Genesis Wave. He had used protomatter because it was the only way he could generate an initial energy burst of sufficient power to sustain a global imprinting of the Genesis Matrix. His use of protomatter was not revealed in any of his earlier documentation, leading to the regrettable conclusion that all experimental data for Project Genesis generated after 2282 are inaccurate, fraudulent or suspect.
01.04 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
[156] Because of the clearly unstable results produced by the Genesis Device, the process is unsafe for the creation of habitable worlds, rendering the technology worthless for rapid terraforming.
Because of the inherently dangerous and unpredictable nature of protomatter, the Genesis Device is not reliable enough to be repurposed for military applications, which would in any event be unethical and in violation of the Federation charter; because the Genesis Wave would replace a living world’s ecosystem with one generated by the Genesis Matrix, any use of this device on a living world could be described only as genocide.
For the above reasons, and because of the flawed and unethical research methods used to develop the Genesis Device, my formal recommendation to the Federation Council is that all research into Project Genesis’ continued development be terminated immediately and permanently. This concludes my report.
Dr. Carol Marcus
02.00 STRATEGIC EVALUATION
Commander Stephen J. Klisiewicz, Starfleet Intelligence
San Francisco, Earth
Received via Encrypted Internal Channel 423-Sierra
09 November 2286 (Stardate 8420.1)
02.01 CIVILIAN APPLICATIONS
After evaluating the continued stability of the Genesis Cave within the Regula asteroid, this office has concluded that [157] Project Genesis is stable at low-power levels when applied on a small scale. Although the technology has clearly proved too unstable for large-scale terraforming efforts, it continues to be a promising technology for rapidly establishing sustainable food sources in remote locations. Extrapolating from the volume of transformed matter in the project’s Phase Two experiment, we believe the Genesis Effect could safely be applied to many underground locations, as well as on large asteroids or very small moons located in favorable orbits.
02.02 SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS
Despite the late-phase failure of the Genesis Device prototype and Dr. Carol Marcus’ understandable concerns regarding Dr. David Marcus’ falsification of critical data, we believe there is still substantial scientific merit to continuing research into the Project Genesis technology. The ability to reorder subatomic particles into animate matter is one that, if it could be harnessed at much lower energy levels, could yield near-miraculous discoveries in medicine, materials fabrication, and agriculture and aquaculture.
Although the energy requirements of the process currently are far too high to risk exposing living subjects to its effects, we believe that within two centuries discoveries spurred by Project Genesis research could lead to cellular-regeneration matrices that would permit the near-perfect repair of all cellular damage. Such a discovery would, in essence, allow organic sentient beings to achieve lifespans so greatly extended that they would effectively become immorta
l.
On a more immediate level, a technology that could transform raw energy into living plant and animal matter would revolutionize our food-production methods and represent a quantum leap forward from our current food-replication models.
02.03 MILITARY APPLICATIONS
[158] Despite the obvious, sheer power of the Genesis Device as a weapon, this office concurs with Dr. Marcus that it would be unethical, immoral, and a violation of Federation and interstellar law to pursue any development of the Genesis Device for military purposes. Furthermore, because of the instability of protomatter, it would be unsafe to transport it as part of a live ordnance system aboard a Federation starship.
There is a serious risk, however, that foreign powers might seek to replicate Genesis Device technology and employ it against the Federation.
As a weapon of mass destruction, the Genesis Device would be one of the most lethal systems ever devised. It most likely would be deployed as a torpedo launched from a starship, from a range of not more than 1 A.U., assuming the device is used in its current configuration. Because of the payload of protomatter located in the device’s core, it would be unsafe to fit the torpedo delivery system with an antimatter-based propulsion system capable of warpspeed travel, because the proximity to the warp drive’s subspace field would catastrophically destabilize the protomatter, resulting in premature detonation. This lack of warp capability significantly reduces the threat of interstellar deployment of the device. (This assessment will need to be revised if, at some future time, a means is found to shelter the protomatter core from the subspace field without compromising the functioning of the system.)
Another distressing possibility would be a limited-range Genesis Device, such as the one used inside the Regula Asteroid, reduced in size to fit inside a scanproof diplomatic courier container or ship’s hold. Our preliminary simulations indicate the Genesis Matrix could be reprogrammed to create a micro-ecosystem of virulent airborne and waterborne genetic [159] pathogens that could swiftly grow and “infect” an entire biosphere, ultimately killing or replacing all life-forms on the planet.