Finally it happened. With no more resources left to utilize, a portion of her brain held by the command override was overwritten. Now incomplete, that subsystem collapsed, corrupted, and flagged itself for restoration. Ma dropped the other computational tasks and took control again. She turned to the control panel and tapped out the commands to drop the shields, both around the ship and in the doorway.
Lex rushed in and picked her up, tapping through the command to raise the field in the doorway again to provide them with some measure of protection.
“Are you okay, Ma?”
“I… held my breath, Lex,” she said, slowly recovering from the mental effort. “And also, I believe I have produced a novel proof of the binary Goldbach conjecture.”
The GenMechs, no longer held back by the ship’s shields, slammed into the hull and started slicing it up like piranhas in a feeding frenzy. One of them tumbled through the open airlock and skittered up to the modified one.
The two robots, though sharing a basic shape, couldn’t have looked more different. The GMVD was pristine, composed of metal and looking slick and manufactured. The local GenMech had a faceted, crystalline look. It must have been built almost exclusively from silicon, the blue tinge of its surface making it look beetle-like in a way. For a brief moment, both the newcomer and the GMVD became still. Three more robots tumbled inside and similarly halted. In unison they scanned their pristine cousin. When the scan was complete, they again became still. The stillness spread outward until every one of the mechanisms ceased its harvesting.
“What’s going on?” Lex said anxiously.
“They are forming a mesh network to run simulations on this new design. If it passes, they will adopt the design. If it fails, they will harvest it for parts and disregard the design.”
“So this is it. The life or death of human society comes down to whether a bunch of robots are willing to accept the new kid on the block.”
“Artfully phrased, Lex, but not entirely accurate.” She looked to the control panel, then to him. “Seventy-three seconds until detonation. Our task is not complete. Even if GenMech’s adopt the new code and design, the reactor’s detonation could wipe out all afflicted GenMechs.”
“And there’s no chance you can abort the self-destruct?”
“I was exceedingly thorough in my preparations.”
“Fantastic.” He set her down and sat at the controls. “How do we know if they liked the new kid?”
The stillness of the GenMechs surrounding the ship shifted to a frenzied pairing off as each of them found and clashed with a neighbor, tearing into the central node and discarding portions of it.
“That is a positive indicator of success. The design modifications are being adopted. As long as at least one of these GenMechs survives and makes contact with the main group, our mission is a success.”
“Okay… Okay, good,” Lex said, snapping into action. “Pick a modified GenMech outside the ship and keep sensors on it. Give me a visual indication of blast radius.”
Ma linked to the internal systems and quickly performed the required tasks.
“Overlaying information now,” she said.
A red circle, a green point, and several thousand white points appeared on the nav screen. Lex flared the engines just as the first of the GenMechs finished its upgrade and began carving at the cockpit window.
“I’m a little afraid to ask, Ma, but what are the white dots?”
“Additional GenMechs. An increasing proportion of the main cluster has been attracted to the rising power levels of the reactor.”
The ship lurched forward. Thanks to the bulk of the energy from the reactor feeding back into itself, the ship wasn’t nearly as fast as it had been. The acceleration was still enough to drag the mechanism on the windscreen away, but dozens more had latched on elsewhere, and the space ahead was downright dense with new robots joining the feast. They latched on as well and tore away at the outside of the ship. Lex locked course and glanced at the screen.
“Looks like this speed will do it,” he said. “Even if that thing decides to chase us, we’ll be clear with thirty seconds to spare.”
“I agree with your assessment.”
“Any chance there’s an escape pod we can use to get off this thing?”
“The cockpit itself is isolated and modular. I shall disconnect it.”
An indicator blinked on the control panel. Lex looked anxiously to the robots making remarkable progress at carving through the ship.
“Whenever you’re ready, Ma,” he said.
“I have disconnected the module from the ship. It is meant as a lifeboat, not an escape module. There are no attached engines.”
“So that’s it… we’re done.”
“Unfortunately, I agree with that assessment as well.”
Lex slumped into his chair and watched with an odd look of detachment and relief as four more GenMechs latched on to the window and carved interesting geometric patterns. Ma looked at him.
“Lex. It saddens me that this mission will be our last together,” she said.
“Yeah… Yeah, that sucks on a number of levels.”
“However, I am pleased that if my present instance must be terminated, you and I can be together in our closing moments. You have had an undeniable positive impact on my overall development, and the adventures we have shared hold a cherished place in my database.”
“It’s been a hell of a ride,” he said.
“You are a dear friend, and you deserved better than this.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Torn to pieces by murderous robots or blasted to plasma by an exploding reactor, all during a trip back in time to save the species from eventual annihilation? Seems like a pretty awesome way to go out.”
“Awesome,” added another voice. “But not fun.”
“You got that right,” said a fourth voice.
“Coal!? Lex!?” Lex said, glancing down at the sensor screen to see a new dot approaching.
“Hello, Lex. Hello, Ma. We are only semifunctional, but lined to Diamond we were able to make the FTL jump. I was not certain how I would locate you, but the center of the largest cluster of GenMechs seemed a reasonable place to start.”
“Look, guys. Much as it pains me to say it, we’re stuck in a ship less than a minute from detonation and we’re practically cocooned in GenMechs. I don’t think you’re going to be able to get us out of this one.”
“My sensors indicate the GenMech activity has severely impaired the structural integrity of Karter’s ship, and the shields are inactive.”
“Yes, Coal. Those are more reasons why we’re about to die. What I’m saying is save yourselves.”
“And what I’m saying is brace yourselves.”
Coal accelerated toward them, her ailing shields so overdriven she was visible only as a sphere of brilliant light. Without even attempting to slow down, she pivoted backward and rammed the hull of the ship. The blow was enough to knock the disconnected cockpit module away like a billiard ball, and the impact sent the GenMechs splashing out and away. Coal grappled on to the module and dragged it behind her as her semifunctional engines blazed for all they were worth.
“Set a course away from civilization. Back toward the asteroid belt,” Lex said, his hands shaking too much to take control himself. “The last thing I want to do after all of this is lead them back.”
“Affirmative,” Coal said.
She thumped her way through the cluster of GenMechs until she blasted out the other side. To their great fortune, the GenMechs found the overloading ship to be far more interesting than the pathetic pair of little modules, so they didn’t follow.
“We are still within the blast radius,” Ma said.
“I’ll overdrive my engines, but they are very close to their heat saturation point,” Coal said.
“Fourteen seconds,” Ma said.
“I’m here, Coal,” Future Lex said, guiding his own sputtering ship in. “Let me take the load off.”
&nbs
p; He affixed his wraparound clamps to the module, which was facing backward, and accelerated as much as possible. Now free of the need to tow the module, Coal released and swung aside, picking up speed.
With moments to spare, the group excited the blast’s kill zone. The remnants of Karter’s ship finally detonated, consuming several thousand of the robots in the explosion. Fusion reactors exploding, alas, don’t respect boundaries. The detonation didn’t obligingly stop at the limits of its most lethal zone. What struck them may not have been enough to kill them, but it knocked them around a bit and knocked anything resembling shields and propulsion down to zero.
Lex and Ma, riding as they were in the cockpit of a ship born of Karter’s genius after twenty additional years to ferment, were the first to get sensors back online. They were a far cry from the full suite, which was left behind on the main body of the ship, but they were enough to get some basic data. The scanners brought up the stretch containing the last known coordinates of the modified GenMechs and popped it onto the display.
“Lex, look.”
He turned to the image. Several hundred GenMechs that were too late to join in the fun had encountered the handful sloughed off during his escape. They were now busy updating themselves to the new design.
“That’s it, right? We did it?” he said.
“Correct. Mission accomplished.”
Lex fell back into his chair and breathed as though he’d not done so in a month.
“Okay… let’s shake these things and get back to Big Sigma.”
“Easier said than done,” Future Lex said, tension in his voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“The propulsion system is coming back, but it’s calibrating. Coming back slowly. A little under a minute before we can manage an FTL jump.”
“Not another countdown… My heart can’t take another countdown,” Lex said.
“I’m afraid there are two countdowns, Lex,” Ma said.
“What now?”
“Please view the sensor readings.”
Lex looked back to the sensors. A new field of white dots, fresh from the main cluster of GenMechs, went blazing past their reconfiguring brethren. Having missed out on the sumptuous feast that was Karter’s ship, they seemed dedicated to sinking their teeth into the breadcrumbs left over.
“How soon until they get here?”
“Twenty-five seconds,” Ma and Future Lex each said.
“No other cluster has picked up our readings, if these can be destroyed, we will be able to escape,” Ma said.
“You’ve got to spin us around, get your guns on them,” Lex said.
Ma twitched. “I’ve received your transmission, Coal.”
Lex looked to her. “What transmission? What’s going on?”
“There are seven hundred eighty-six GenMechs in the approaching cluster. Diamond’s weapons won’t be enough.”
“We don’t exactly have anything better, Coal, so let’s use what we’ve got!”
“We do have something better, Lex,” Coal said. She began to fall back.
“What are you talking ab— … no…”
“Arming fusion device…”
Her power readings began to rise as she pivoted and charged toward the GenMechs.
“Coal, there’s got to be another way!” Lex cried.
“There isn’t another way, Lex,” Future Lex said. “This is how it went…”
The robots began to latch on to Coal, her rising power levels making her the perfect bait.
“I shall calibrate the detonation to avoid disrupting your recovery,” Coal said, her voice beginning to distort from the fusion device and the damage she was taking. “Lex… I think you were wrong. Despite violating your criteria… I want you to know… this has been… fun.”
The crackle of her final words was still in Lex’s ears when a brilliant blast stung his eyes and darkened his visor. When the visor cleared, his vision was blurred with tears. Coal’s sacrifice had done its job. The GenMechs were gone. The last few seconds of the engine calibration passed in solemn silence, and finally they made their way home.
Epilogue
The loss of Coal had altered the mission greatly. Aside from the obvious emotional impact, it deprived them of the cryogenic equipment intended to sustain Lex and Ma for their long wait until their own time. This would have been a substantial issue if not for the fact that Future Lex, having witnessed the tragedy the first time it occurred, had brought a modular cryo-unit that could convert the life-raft from Karter’s ship into a passable cryogenic chamber.
Few words were exchanged on the journey to Big Sigma. Lex had found himself resenting his future incarnation for not doing more to circumvent Coal’s death if he’d known it would occur. Ma had sensibly pointed out things had to occur as they had or the mission would have been for naught. The truth of that statement did little to ease the harsh feelings. They found themselves an out-of-the-way section of the southern hemisphere of Big Sigma, tucked themselves deep into a crevasse that would be safe from debris impacts, and set the alarm for twenty-nine years.
“That’s that,” Future Lex said, dusting off his hands as they stood in the already frigid cave. “The beacon will go off about ten minutes after Karter and Ma return to Big Sigma after sending you off.”
“Great,” Lex said. He rubbed his still tender nose. “Hopefully Ma will have the medical bay set up for me. I look like I lost a fight with a wrecking ball.”
“She will. As you can see, she does a pretty good job on the nose,” Future Lex said.
“Hey, do you mind if I ask, does this whole stupid thing work? Do we beat the GenMechs?”
“I don’t mind you asking, as long as you don’t mind me not answering,” Future Lex said.
“Of course.”
“Hey, look at it this way. You live at least long enough to come back and do this like I did. Most people don’t get to learn that, so you’re ahead of the game,” Future Lex said. “You’ll have some ups and downs. It sucks getting this scar. But overall I’d say I’m doing better now than you are, so things are looking up for you. At any rate, I’ve got to get out of here.”
“You’re not freezing yourself here?”
“I’ve got to pick a different spot. Plus, I’ve got one or two more things to handle. Sleep tight.”
“Yeah, okay. See… uh… be you later.”
“Uh-huh,” Future Lex said, crunching toward the mouth of the cave. After a few steps, he turned back. “Oh, and just remember. Orange is a really bad color.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ll know.”
“Oh, come on!” Lex called after himself as his future incarnation stepped away. “I would have thought I of all people would have known better than to hop on the cryptic-warning-from-the-future train!”
“Hey, man. I said it to me last time, so now I’m saying it to me again.”
Lex crossed his arms and watched himself step into the beat-up Diamond and vanish behind a cloaking field.
“We should get inside, Lex,” Ma said from her place in the navigator’s seat of the module. “The sooner the cryo-process begins, the sooner you will resume your normal life.”
“I don’t have a normal life, Ma,” Lex said, stepping into the module and taking a seat. “Hey, now that the fireworks have stopped, maybe you could explain some things.”
“I shall endeavor to do so.”
“What’s the deal with Future Lex and all that? Was that your idea?”
“It was part of it.”
“Well now that it’s run its course, what was the whole plan?”
“When Karter left to intercept you and the GMVD, I knew there was nothing within my power or yours that could reliably divert or delay him. However, operating on the assumption that our acts resulted in the future that allowed us to travel back to commit them, I further assumed any plans made during our time in the past could and would be carried out. So I crafted the framework of a plan, knowing I
would have several years to work out the fine details. The key elements were to send you back a second time, this time with the equipment necessary to intercept Karter and deliver yourself to Big Sigma afterward. I would similarly send that version of you back in time with the apparatus necessary to introduce a piece of software to the galactic network to subvert whatever resources were best suited to delay Karter.”
“You installed a computer virus in the VectorCorp network?”
“If it was deployed as planned, I orchestrated the installation of a computer virus in far more networks than VectorCorp. It pays to be thorough.”
“And that was just to what, get those drones out to intercept him?”
“There were other tasks I had in mind.”
“Like?”
“It is best if you don’t know.”
“I’m so sick of that… Okay, then answer me this. Are we sure that’s the real me? Are we sure that I’m the one who comes back and does that? I mean, where’s the branching point? How can it happen that the only reason I live to save myself is that I lived to safe myself?”
“It is very simple. Imagine time as a straight line, moving forward from the Big Bang, or as one seamless whole that does not flow but merely exists.”
“Those are two different things. Two very different things.”
“And therein lies the simplicity. Both interpretations, whichever turns out to be the accurate one, can very simply permit the time loop as we’ve observed it. In a chronological flow, the first event is your survival. It has thus necessarily already occurred by the time you are sent back to ensure it, so there is no logical obstacle to that occurrence. Alternately, if time exists as a single, contiguous whole, then the time loop began, ended, and occurred precisely as all other things do, and is not a source of logical paradox.”
Temporal Contingency Page 50
