Copyright © 2015 Paul Barufaldi
A note on time: Because the primary Taijian homeworlds, Occitania (small left blue) and Calidon (small right red), orbit their respective stars at a 2:1 resonance, interplanetary off-world time standards are expressed at the average of the two to denote a “Taijian year”. Likewise, this formula applies to the length of an off-world “day” since Occitania’s slow retrograde rotation period is four hours longer than Calidon’s; thus the term “day” is expressed at the median, a roughly 24 hour period.
Origin of Impetus
Nobleman and Captain Aru Velos Psyron of Calidon held command of the finest mid-sized military class starship in the Taiji. The Kinetic Dream was a tri-ringed nanocarbonglass-hulled Mnemtechian marvel as well suited for exploration as it was for warcraft. The Kinetic was a centrifuge with a permanent closed-circuit ship-wide electric current capable of generating stalwart magnetic shielding through the polar energy column that ran vertically through its hub. Defensively unmatched in this characteristic by any other vessel in its class, the Kinetic also shined above its peers in an array of other aspects, but it was now this one singular feature that mattered to Captain Psyron above all else.
Even with the ship’s shielding operating at maximum capacity, he fretted over their safety with sound cause. A planetbound laymen with no inkling of the intricacies of interstellar space travel, or knowing nothing more about it simply than it existed, could still tell you immediately, and without hesitating to think, that the one thing you never did under any circumstances was fly your ship headlong into a star. And as an experienced starship pilot, Captain Psyron was a hundred times as cognizant of just how self-evidently true an axiom that was. Yet… here he was doing exactly that. He had no need to ponder what fate had led him here and roped him into such madness, because she was standing right across from him, plotting away at the nav console.
Six hours earlier and because of this woman, they’d entered space where no ship, no matter how well protected or designed, was ever meant to fly: the corona of The Red Star, Ignis Rubeli, whose crimson domain he’d been born to.
Just as worrisome was that this course routed them through the nearstar orbit of The Stones, the seat of the centuries silent but omnipresent Emperor Logos, as Captain Pysron conducted this covert mission on behalf of their eternal nemesis, the Blue Star, Cearulei Azur.
Yes, he was in the very act of betraying the Empire, just as the Grand Regent and preeminent machine overlord of the Taiji, Lord Mnemtech, had predicted he would at the very start of young Aru’s career:
Mnemtech, the anthropic metadroid, had been created by Logos two centuries ago and appointed to rule over all Ignis Rubeli shined upon. The beautiful Cearulein woman had not come to him by accident, and Aru recalled the origin of the impetus that now led him headlong into this cauldron of hellfire set in motion long before he’d ever met her. Gazing into it, Aru ruminated, as he often did, on his first and only encounter with the one being who had both set the course of his destiny and evoked in him something he’d never felt before or since: mortal fear and a desire to submit that was born of it.
Mnemtech was Logos’ proxy leader for the entire empire and the absolute pinnacle of the machine world. Aru had met him on his graduation from the Southern Rift Officers Academy near his ancestral lands on Calidon and had shaken his hand. In that moment Aru had lowered his head as if by instinct, almost wanting to kneel on the floor even though the gesture was not a compulsory protocol of the Regent, at least when in public.
Mnemtech also seemed moved in his turn. He stared at Aru for some time, much longer than the other graduates, reaching into him silently while their hands remained clasped. Aru felt a chill through his body that filled his nerves with anticipation and evoked sweeping visions in his mind’s eye: the White Stone then the Black, circuits in the painted nebular orbs of the Taijian heliospheres; a woman he would later come to recognize as Mnemtech’s human wife 19 years in the future, when he would at last be able to place a real person to the image that had been seared into to his mind. He saw himself outside himself. He saw the stars, Red and Blue, from the outer solar system oscillating, blinking back and forth, red to blue, blue to red, until he forgot which was which or who was who.
The immaculately groomed and highly humanistic android finally released his grasp and Aru's mind reoriented itself. Puzzled, they continued to gaze at one another while the attendees murmured quizzically at the oddness of it.
This latter realization hit them at the same time, and they both smiled uncomfortably in unison and swiftly moved on.
The ceremonies concluded, and the graduating Fleet officers assembled for the transport that would shuttle them to the space elevator and then off across the solar system to the Blue Star's red-controlled Arathian province of Tropica for some well-deserved celebratory rest and recreation. He was going along as normally as he could, his mind still obsessing over his earlier encounter, when he received a high priority page on his com. “Lieutenant Psyron, report to Alphatower reception immediately.” High Command.
A transport promptly arrived. He waved apologetically to his comrades. “Orders,” he explained pointing at his com and speeding off. The transport didn’t even slow down as it passed through security checkpoints, then took him through several sections of Alphatower for which he had no clearance. Somehow he knew exactly who had summoned him.
The transport door opened into a short hallway leading to a thick oval double security door guarded by a virtual army of security bots, both fixed and roaming. He stood still and waited on their instructions. The transport suddenly disappeared and another security wall flew shut behind him. “Approach and enter” spoke the hallway itself as the massive doors whirred open.
He entered into a great chamber filled with displays of both the two dimensional and holographic variety, millions of them, overlapping each other in a myriad of patterns. Some were what appeared to be surveillance footage, others purely mathematical. There were charts and maps, movies and media, stars and captivating alien geometries. At the center of this great mass of displayed data stood Mnemtech: refined, postured, and impeccably uniformed; by every standard perfect in his countenance.
He waved his hand and the data entirely cleared away leaving a spartan gray and empty hall in its place.
Aru fell to one knee, extending an upturned right hand above his head in the customary bow befitting Logos most favored. “I answer your call, Lord Grand Regent.”
Mnemtech looked down upon him for some time before issuing the “rise” command.
“I’ve already met and bonded to my counterpart,” Mnemtech stated with something less than his usual gravitas. “You and I are both Red, and I’m clearly your superior. That can only mean one thing: you are my subordinate.”
Aru spoke cautiously. “All mortal subjects of the Red Star are subordinate to you, M’Lord.”
“Yet your tone is that of veiled insubordination when you presume to instruct me on the obvious. What I am saying is that you are my Prime Subordinate in the dualistic order of this star system, and I have been waiting for you for quite some time. So take a deep breath because it means your status has just skyrocketed to heights you probably can’t imagine.” He spoke it all as though he were thinking it aloud, then he sighed. “The catch is that this makes us enemies, since no worthy red can bear submitting himself before anyone. So it is a certainty you will attempt to usurp me once you’ve garnered the strength to do so.”
Aru squirmed. “M’Lord, I would never betray the Empire.”
“We stand upon your homeworld, Calidon, and my records show you favor many of its political ambitions such as that for greater autonomy and the lowering of biomass quotas?
”
“Not full autonomy, M’lord, only pleas for your consideration, as we eternally remain the eminent jewel of the Divine Empire of Logos.”
“Primadonna jewel or no, the fact remains that your homeworld happens to be the only realm of this empire with a thriving counterculture and resistance movement of which many of your friends and family are known to associate -and where I expect your true sympathies lie. If that’s not the case, I’m even more concerned because such would make you a traitor to your homeworld, and we can’t have men like that weaseling their way up the ruling class, can we?”
Aru felt fear, more than any of his grueling years of training had ever prepared him for, more than any of the life-threatening perils he’d already faced and overcome in his young life. He felt hot and his heart was pounding. Composure, he singularly reminded himself. There could be no greater display of defeat now than to lose it. Bowing and fearing, he knew the only thing standing between his soul and this collector of them was his composure. He summoned it.
My Family already belongs to the Ruling Class, we are a historic Calidonian Ruling House! Or at least were until your master downgraded his favor in one of the many failed social experiments of his early reign.
He didn’t say it, but he determined that if the scales should tip that they would weigh on the side of ire and not the side of fear.
“M’Lord, I am bare before your wisdom. A man’s circumstance narrows his options considerably, but not necessarily to all but one. All I can do is assure you, M’Lord, that rebellion is not among my ambitions. I only choose to share my voice on behalf of my beloved homeworld with our wise ruling class as a humble officer and nobleman, a right for which I thank the divine and benevolent Logos for granting my caste.”
Mnemtech drank in this sarcasm like wine. It was an open secret that favoring the side of the issue that granted Calidon any autonomy whatsoever over his edicts was not so much a matter of free speech as it was a de facto crime punishable by death at any level of the social hierarchy.
“Well answered, Captain,” he laughed.
“M’Lord, I hope I do not seem to be presuming to the correct you when I suggest to you that as a new graduate my rank is that of Lieutenant Commander not Captain.”
“No. I did not misspeak. You’ve been promoted. We’ve got to work a few of you Calidonians up the ranks to keep things from completely boiling over, don’t we?”
“Thank you M’Lord. I am honored to accept.” Aru spoke with a tinge of haste, almost unthinkingly, despite how unmistakably odd it was for him to be receiving a double rank promotion on the very day of his graduation and at this juncture in this particular conversation.
“Well I just don’t see the point in belaboring things.” Mnemtech addressed these thoughts as they formed in Aru’s mind. “You obviously can’t rise against me now as young and green and powerless as you stand in this moment. So I’d like to elevate you as high and fast as I can to keep those traits fresh and present for when you do.”
Aru remained silent. Why did this being think Aru would ever rise against him, especially when they both knew Mnemtech could kill him instantly with only a thought? It was madness to even imagine he’d ever have anything on par with Mnemtech’s power, the Machine Lord he’d known as high ruler his entire life.
“I’ll tell you something only a handful know,” offered Mnemtech. “You may find this astonishing, but I have never spoken with our Lord Logos, my very creator. Not once. Not I, the regent ruler of his entire empire, have known a moment of contact with his central consciousness. And why do you think that might be?”
“Logos fears you will attempt to hack into the core superconsciousness and usurp him.”
“Yes. But because he also knows that I have learned at the most painful price that I cannot defeat him and thus will never attempt to do so again. This is precisely the same reason he knows he can trust in me. Now, Captain, tell me what kind of ship you’d like to command and I will make it so.”
“I am slated for tour aboard the Titan Class war vessel IonStorm as First Mate to Captain Terranedal, a premium post awarded to me for my achievements in the academy. I do not as yet have the field experience required to qualify myself to be in singular command of any armed military class vessel larger than a fighter, M’Lord.”
“Oh nonsense. A few months of independent field training and you’ll have a handle on it. Scoring third among your compatriots in this graduating class does not impress me, Captain. I can only guess you took it as something of a holiday. As I’ve been alluding to, and am now telling you outright, you are among the most paramount beings in this solar system -second to me in your case. I have partial access to the secret archives, those of time before time, enough to see certain patterns. Meeting you today has answered not one but two looming questions I’ve had about the hierarchy. Logos and his counterpart, and their seconds, counterparts themselves are not yet known. But the rest of hierarchy is now known, including you and Idulu’s second, a pan-arathian child who I’ve also identified today. Progress. The order always reveals itself before a time of great change.”
Aru's was nauseated by this nonsense, which odd inexplicable mind exchanges or no, it still was. Counterparts? Human hierarchies set by the stars? Who would have thought the High Ruler of The Rubelians could talk like a 2-bit psychic hustler on the entertainment networks. It paled belief.
“M’Lord, permission to speak freely?”
“Oh, very much granted,” smiled Mnemtech. “By all means consider yourself exempt from holding your tongue in my presence. I would not want my position as your High Ruler to impinge in any way upon the sincerity of your words.”
Aru almost choked on his own fear, but he had to say it. “Grand Machine Lord.” He changed his form of address. “I have just graduated from the finest institution of higher learning on this side of the solar system with high honors, and I can say without a doubt that if I were to have approached any of my professors in any field with the kind of mystical claptrap you are spouting right now, I would have been berated on the spot and further ridiculed by my peers. I find it disconcerting that such superstition infects the highest echelons of our leadership and to such a degree. I do not feel it bodes well for the stability of our Empire.”
“Oh, I’d kill you for that if it were not so endearingly naïve. I don’t see the sense of debating the subject. If the symmetry of our solar system is not enough to convince you, time and experience will. Let me ask you of something equally as unworldly then. When we connected earlier, when our hands touched… in that moment when our minds joined telepathically - you do agree that’s what occurred, yes?”
“I can think of no other suitable explanation, Machine Lord.” Aru conceded, though Mnemtech could just as well have hacked his brain and implanted everything.
“In that moment, what did you see?”
“I saw many things, Machine Lord, but most prominent among them was a woman. Do you wish for me to describe her?”
“No need.” A halo-scanner hovered down from the high dark ceiling and perched itself over Aru’s dome. “Just close your eyes, relax, and think of nothing but that image.” Soft ethereal music began to gently echo throughout the chamber. It took a brief time for the scanner to synch with Aru’s hypothalamus and create a projection, and it took a bit longer than that for Aru’s mind to recall the image in any clarity.
There it formed between them, coalescing in the holograph until it was as crisp and distinct as anything to be seen in physical reality itself: The image of a female, a rather young and attractive blond, in a large ornate hall with bright blue sunlight permeating its portals.
“You can stop now, Captain,” he said, intently studying the image. “There is definitely something about her... Every datamining tool at my disposal is reporting back with a wealth of worthless information. There’s simply no record of her in any census. She is either Pangean or she has not been born yet.”
“Machine Lord,” ventured Aru, “even if
she were somehow real and not just a figment of my imagination, it’s quite possible my mind altered the memory by adding elements of its own.”
“No…. no, I don’t think so, Captain. Look closer. Do you recognize the building she’s in?”
“Perhaps vaguely, Machine Lord.”
“Well I do and unmistakably. This is a precision accurate image fitting the architecture of my own headquarters in Tropica. Are you a master architect?”
“I am not, Machine Lord.”
“That’s right you are not, and that’s why it would be impossible for your mind to construct this image on its own. Perhaps you could have seen it in other media, but still the accuracy is uncanny. I’m convinced it’s legitimate. There are also features dissimilar from the present that are nowhere in the archives, which I can only assume are modifications to the building. That cyprus tree visible through third large window to the left lining the hall, I know it, but it is smaller. Here we see a good 22-23 years of growth added. I can safely conclude that this image is from the future.”
“I’m afraid I’m not willing to jump to such a fantastic conclusion, Machine Lord. Psychic divination has never once been confirmed by science. Are you going to argue that this is the first ever credible and repeatable case?”
“Time will tell,” he riddled with a smirk. “Since this is all hocus-pocus to you, I suppose you won’t be interested in seeing the stunning portrait I pulled from your soul? She is alive right now, skipping around Tropica as a teenage schoolgirl by the name of Li Meiyang.”
“You’ve more than piqued my curiosity, Machine Lord. I ask that you put her on holograph, if it pleases you.”
“Well, not her in the present. She’s showering so I’d rather not hack in. I wouldn’t want you having illicit thoughts about a minor. Here’s the older version of her, mid 20s, that I found in you.”
The image appeared of a gorgeous female, full of vigor and painfully sexy. Whats more she was familiar, so very hauntingly familiar to him that he couldn’t help racing back into his childhood memories searching for a forgotten caretaker or teacher to account for it. Frantically he searched but she was nowhere there.
DUALITY: The World of Lies Page 1
