by Hylton Smith
Cheverry had taken all sides by surprise to avoid more fence-sitting. Carvalho’s inclusion on behalf of Mars was no different, but he at least saw the merit in banging heads together. He wasn’t sure that everyone would see it that way. The Council members themselves were first to respond over non-consultation. The delegation was simply asked if they agreed or disagreed with the proposals. If they agreed he would apologise in good time, but crisis management was just that – time was not a luxury. If they did not agree with the proposals they were asked to say so and he would not have to be fired, he would walk. They had to have their period of reflection, in other words to see how it was received elsewhere. He had gambled on this too. The other recipients from whom a response was demanded would perceive this as unanimity in the Council, and make their judgements on that basis. The broadcast would only go ahead if Sadat had a signal from Kinsey to do so. Cheverry had been busy.
Carvalho could now appreciate Rebrov’s confidence in this man, and it became obvious how he had dragged a virtually bankrupt EU into the real world. He pondered the timing of his return. He would exercise flexibility; it may be beneficial to stick around to see initial reaction.
********
A discussion within the ‘reproduction team’ branched off unintentionally into the semantic conveyance of procreation to each species. It was not frivolous, more to ascertain weighting factors of the populations in general with regard to family, spiritual beliefs, and forces or instincts of natural selection. It emanated from Doc, and his particular objectivity as a totally synthetic being. The programming feat which produced him had unconsciously instilled a desire to ‘belong’. He was not showing emotional discontent, it was more akin to ambition. It was not necessarily focussed on sexual partners or offspring, just something which he felt he did not have. He cited the Axis trauma of almost disastrously achieving with science what the gas giants were threatening with cosmic aberration. That feeling of futility light years away from the catastrophe had haunted them for millions of years. “I believe that this longing for procreation being satisfied, may not be as fulfilling as they expect. Individuals have to die and resultant generations achieve distance from the direct experience to slowly extinguish the longing and replace it with more positive personal goals. Merely having more offspring will placate only part of the anger and guilt.” He suggested that the human situation was different as they were not yet facing sterility except by their own hand. He wondered if they really needed to reverse engineer their reproductive system, or seek relative immortality just to service objectives of interstellar exploration. The new proposals for this were going to be far less demanding of their physiology than first expected, so ‘why fix it if it ain’t broke?’ His main thrust was that from a vantage point of a sentient, immortal being, he embraced the concept of death, as it would give more meaning to his life. It would focus on satisfying the longings within the maturing period and a balance of inherited experience would pass to any offspring - if only he was capable of having any. He wondered if this made sense to the gathering, bearing in mind this was ‘easy for him to say’.
Pascal 2 could not repress a ‘kindred smile’. Mac’s colour display betrayed his feelings of agreement without having to offer further confirmation. Stella and Scillacci declined immediate comment by mannerisms rather than speech, and the silence prevailed. It seemed to have created a pleasant paralysis when Pascal 2 suggested a break.
Doc was semi-apologetic when they re-convened. “I did not mean to be critical of our objective. I wanted to consider the benefits and weaknesses of the component targets, compared to simply trying to correct malfunctions. It occurred to me that the Axis situation represents a deeply wounded species, and humans only think they feel unsettled. Superimposing my own perceived ‘Utopian’ existence adds caution. Maybe we need to concentrate all initial research on restoring only Axis reproduction capacity while they wrestle with immortality. Remember, after much debate about this prior to meeting humans, then a change of mind by some, a total rethink caused me to be designed. There is some illogical component in that sequence. In the meantime human progression has some way to go and therefore some time to reflect before confronting such crossroads.” After the meeting Scillacci beckoned Pascal 2 and Stella.
“This all sounds quite logical and yet takes in emotional considerations. My question is about Sabine; where will this kind of synthesised ‘cross breeding’ stand when her modification is no longer a closely guarded secret? I would have thought the Axis would be most interested in such a possibility, as they are already synthetic in the sphere department and would not have hang-ups about enhancement.”
The others acknowledged this observation, and that it would possibly clash with Doc’s suggestion to invite the grim reaper into the cultural mix.
********
The cracks began to appear. South Korea believed they could sustain their own border integrity without American help. They certainly did not want to lose a trade licence and joined the condemnation of the UN. They went a step further and questioned why they had continued to subscribe to this toothless fraternity. America then had no reason to resist the proposals and also put the boot into the UN. The Chinese were as usual in favour of small steps, especially if they were concessions. They started with a tirade of accusations at the UN, for completely abrogating their responsibilities. This situation would not have arisen but for that. They were campaigning for a heavy rap over the knuckles for this ‘eunuch’. The Chinese delegate to the five called Cheverry. “Mr Chief Executive, we are grateful for your intervention. It has reminded us that we must extract more from these UN people or withdraw our subscription. We will support your initiative to do that.”
“That is good to hear but we would like all parties to commit to the proposals. In your case we need the assurance that there will be no other action against North Korea than defending your borders. This way we will force the UN to belatedly take responsibility. A retraction of certain denials over the American position in the Korean plans would also help transparency for contributions to UN peacekeeping forces. The broadcast may embarrass you if it needs to go ahead.”
The Chinese delegate stalled but promised a second call before a final position was expressed. They knew their General had gone AWOL and could now guess he was the broadcast, but wrongly assumed it would be from America. It was a classic case of what is to be gained compared to what will be lost, and whether there will be another time to make the original gains if this concessionary route did not deliver. The call came barely two hours after the conclusion of the first one. “Mr. Cheverry, we have agreed with your proposal. The one caveat is in regard to potential failure of suitable UN intervention. I am merely pointing out the obvious; if this plan of yours does not succeed we still have to deal with the Korean problem and it will not require American troops. We do not acknowledge that our denials of American insinuations were unjust. This was not part of your proposal, and is a request we cannot comply with. You must decide if this broadcast will prejudice your proposal or otherwise.”
This was good enough. Any lingering doubts the Council executive had were brushed aside and the UN were to be approached for their reaction to the plan now that the others were on board. The anticipated UN posturing was accommodated by Cheverry just long enough for the interruption to be considered as impatient rather than rude. “Yes, believe me, I do sympathise with all the complexities you have enumerated, but this does nothing to dilute the tension of a situation which could lead to nuclear strikes. I put it to you that this is exactly the kind of mediation your organisation was conceived for, rather than debate the interminable statements of intent, which have possibly been taken forward to a resolution, which in turn is awaiting ratification before proceeding to a form of words which will offend nobody. Oh incidentally, by this time they will also be guaranteed to have no impact on the issue whatsoever. The deadline must be agreed or you are now solely to blame for any encouragement that this would give to North Korea to
intensify the problem. There is also the mood of the nations who have already agreed to the plan to consider their future contribution or continued membership. I fear you are presiding over whether you have anything to offer anymore - anachronistic judgement awaits, the danger does not.”
Chapter 22
It had to happen sooner rather than later, even in the midst of the ongoing dragooning of the UN. Cheverry had to disclose the truth about Sabine’s operation, true to character he preferred to avoid deluding himself that there would be a better time. It would not derail the progress so far and he wanted it out of the way. It was more likely to affect his perception in the public eye about his relationship with Mars as well as his leanings on ethical boundaries. He informed Carvalho and suggested he held back making it public on Mars until he was to deliver the news to the Council.
Carvalho was pleased that he stayed on. This man had the hallmarks of the strong leadership which had been missing in the short period since Xiang’s passing. Carvalho had offered to deliver his own take on the decision which Madame Cheverry had to make, but it was gratefully put on hold.
The new C.E. of the invigorated council said he may need more tangible support from Mars on other issues in the not too distant future. It was pledged and with that accord Carvalho wanted to contact Karl Koppelt to thank him personally for setting up the connection with Sadat. De Santos apologised. “I’m terribly sorry Commander - you must not have been informed. Mr. Koppelt passed away last week at his home in Switzerland. A transmission of a message he sent to us just prior to his death was forwarded for your personal attention. It must have crossed with your visit here.” Carvalho made preparations to leave.
As he was prohibited by safety considerations from making the trip alone he thought about the options. There would be a long list of migrant applications. Instead of plucking the one at the top of the list he wondered about re-uniting Reuben de la Cruz with his son, not as a migrant but on the same compassionate short stay basis as the Cheverry family. This was also justification of the need for several independent Martian craft. As this would take a few days to formalise he transmitted the need to lift the blackout of the procedure Pascal 2 had carried out on Sabine. Alex 2 was asked to make the community at large aware of this to fit with Cheverry’s announcement.
********
When it did ricochet around both planets the reaction was predictably different. On Earth it fuelled both sides of the divide on medical ethics, but gained Cheverry respect in being open about it in a personal address and not dodging the difficult questions. Together with his swift action in the Korean crisis his standing in opinion polls improved markedly. It did ultimately have an indirect watering down of the ethics lobby protest. On Mars it was hailed as a mercy miracle and unsurprisingly inspired one radical suggestion. Yamamoto wanted to have this ‘treatment’. It was the first time the ethical dilemma had reared its head in their society. This uncertainty was distinctly in the human camp. The Symbiants had no gain to consider, and the Axis interest was currently only at fascination level about the potential it had to offer.
Stella and Scilacci were inundated with requests to see the little girl who had been saved by the operation. They had to give thought to using the medium of TV to satisfy the clamour and minimise exhaustion for Sabine. The young lady herself was thrilled and said she would be confident about her English, but also wanted to make visual aids for the Axis in their own symbols. She had developed a sufficiently rudimentary understanding of that language to enlist Symbiant assistance to prepare them.
Finn’s report of a mini-eruption in the chasm almost went unnoticed, but not quite. A large crack had widened suddenly to allow lava to spew into the chasm bed. It had not lasted more than a few minutes but had partially covered seven screens and obliterated two others. At the point of the eruption the chasm floor was raised several feet by the cooling lava. Finn advised creating more boreholes and enlarging the existing ones after some rock-splitting and analysis of the emergent lava.
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The UN had been humbled into what they considered a foolhardy timescale, but for others it was more like one of Nero’s longer concertos for the violin. Their pleas to world governments to assign troops to the ‘Korean Question’ were pledged in overwhelming numbers and jolted them further from their comfort zone. At least this got the hermit North Korean hierarchy to buy time by asking for a diplomatic summit with them. The five reacted by insisting on being represented, to avoid the Corinthian culture of the UN being hoodwinked into a plethora of empty pledges. The EB was to sit in too, reflecting the proportion of military backup it had offered. Cheverry was vindicated by his sheer doggedness in seeing this through. He asked for Rebrov to return to help author a new chapter of Earth-Mars ambitions. He had also managed to settle De Santos without ever knowing there was a problem.
Kinsey was relieved enough at the tension reduction to return home, but only after making an official inspection of the returned crystal. Unlike the boffins in Beijing he checked every single container. He brought De Santos to explain variations in the appearance of roughly thirteen containers. It was an almost insignificant quantity but something or someone appeared to have tampered with them.
The labelling indicated that they were all from Earth origin and analysis showed evidence of layers of what appeared to be ‘fossilised’ bacteria. There was good evidence historically that certain bacteria could survive inactivity, even in space, for long periods. The worrying element here was that in the short period the crystal was not chilled, there were tell-tale signs of some amorphous re-crystallisation. It was not yet known if there had been interaction.
De Santos said he would draft in expert microbiologists to examine the samples and contact Alex 2 to see if there was historical information of their replication and any advice he may have.
********
When Yamamoto was asked why he was so keen to have a hybrid box he replied honestly, “Why are any of us here? We all have in one way or another dared to leave Earth when billions won’t. The call of new frontiers is not too common now, but when it happens, you either respond or decline. Nobody has queried why we want to test out the QSD technology, yet it has more potential to kill us by failure than the technique which actually saved the child’s life. I am attracted to an opportunity to understand as much, and more than Evander does about cosmology, to improve my memory and data recall to a much higher order. I’m not considering this because it also potentially gives me a brain of greater longevity than the one I have. I would want this even if the reverse was true. It’s about quality of life, not quantity. We all have our different opinions on what constitutes quality, mine is maximising my comprehension of whatever is out there.”
This was seen by the Martian TV audience, including Scillacci, and she remarked to Stella, “I didn’t expect my prediction of this to surface so soon, and Yamamoto has thought rationally about it. Commander Carvalho could be riding into a storm.”
Alex 2 responded to De Santos immediately. “Indeed we have interacted with microorganisms on Mars and most were brief and of little significance. However there were instances in which the bacteria would show instant promise, and subsequent alteration of their infection (or survival techniques from their position) of other primitive species. We can’t say for certain, but this may have caused extinction of lines of evolution which could have developed into much more promising and complex life forms. We cannot exclude the scourge of Legionella which afflicted the Axis and caused their retreat to Europa. There is historical record of our interaction with Legionella but the mechanism of their virulence billions of years later with the Axis is too sketchy to assess what contribution later mutations had. In summary you cannot ignore the head start we gave them, even if it appeared minor at the time. I suggest after your experts conclude their evaluation, you destroy the contaminated samples in the hottest furnace available.”
********
Carvalho and Reuben de la Cruz were
on their way and it proved to be a very enjoyable journey. The Commander was more relaxed about Earth relations now and Reuben demonstrated an extremely rounded knowledge in classical history and basic sciences. It was easy to see how this patient man with no formal education had recognised the need to ensure his son did not miss out. He was also a very unassuming man, and surprisingly it was always Carvalho who brought up Evander’s name. “Don’t you wish he was back with you and the rest of your family?”
“Of course, but he has been frustrated by not being taken as seriously as he would like by Earth physicists. He feels his age is used as a buffer to exclude him from certain fraternities. I can’t comment on the validity of his claims, as the subject matter is beyond me, but he is obviously enjoying a meaningful relationship with your people, and for me his happiness comes first. I am sure he will return sometime; hopefully this will not result in another situation like the kidnap.”
Carvalho responded sympathetically. “He is well respected on Mars, not just by his Earth peers but the Symbiants and Axis science specialists. I have to tell you that such an accolade from the Symbiants is rare, and I know how stimulating the interaction has been for Evander. Although it may appear selfish we would love him to stay as long as he wants; he’s making a hell of a contribution. This will not go unnoticed by those on Earth who have downplayed his theories.”
Reuben was almost embarrassed with pride in this testimonial for the young man who had spent much of his short life surviving the perils of shanty town lawlessness.
********
Yamamoto’s declaration had provoked much discussion on Mars and most of it was not angled to whether or not such techniques should be allowed, but to who should qualify for them. It was accepted that some would not wish to avail of the transitory novelty of becoming a genius. It could then be a potential fork in the evolutionary development of the population. Although it may be perceived as distant ‘threat’, the origin of separation into sub-species could be in the process of being sculptured here and now. It did have the effect of ascribing escalating importance to the data collection by the team studying reproductive mechanism and genetic conference. It also had the makings of fostering a ‘schizophrenic’ society if it was not handled in a transparent way. This was true of the human contingent but did not yet factor in the Axis population.
