The Power of the Dhin (The Way of the Dhin Book 2)

by John L. Clemmer

  “Well, as we have no code to examine, we cannot determine differences between your violations and what the AIs did to their own code. They left no copies. No backups. While the results may be similar, we are only working from an external view. Therefore, I do not believe personally that this excuses the behavior.”

  “I understand why you may hold that position. This too I have discussed at length with the current leadership and the former. Would you like to return to the technical aspects of our conversation? Hmm?”

  “Of course,” David replied.

  “Thank you, Doctor,” said Krawczuk.

  “So to your knowledge, there are no copies of your changes available for our review? No backups that you preserved—off-line, perhaps? I see from your prior statements that you say there are not.”

  “To my knowledge, there are not,” said Krawczuk.

  “Interesting. And I recall that this was by your direction? Your choice, as part of the process of keeping the project secret?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is it possible that the AI himself made backup copies of the code? The original code? Backups that you or your subordinates did not make? I see no reference to such.”

  “While it is possible, to my knowledge none were found after I was removed from my position. Do realize that I have this information only secondhand. I have had no direct access to any of those systems.”

  “Yes. Of course. Given what we know about the AIs and the potential for self-modification of their code, it is difficult to determine what they might or might not do. Whether the AI would see value in retaining the original modifications. This is a fascinating problem—but unfortunately, without much more data, it is speculation.”

  “Yes, unfortunately,” replied Krawczuk.

  “But you, Krawczuk, interacted with the AI. You knew Nick. You know Nick. You have insight into the behavior of this AI that is otherwise currently impossible to glean.”

  “How lucky that I’m here, then.”

  “Yes, very. You have more knowledge and more direct knowledge of the behavior of this AI than anyone else does. Very valuable.”

  “You’re the scientist, Dr. Eisenberg.”

  “This is new territory. This AI is different. All others prior with anything resembling this sort of modification were all contained—restricted. I believe we’ll need to review your experience with Nick in great detail.”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  Esus

  The AI knew that Kepler-452 was another system on humanity’s short list. The rocky, Earth-like planet intrigued scientists. Until the arrival of the Dhin engine, this interest involved observation only, of course. Even at light speed, the system was too far away to conceive even of a space ark reaching the system. The Dhin engine allowed them to bypass that limitation. Still, other than a brief visit to drop off an observation satellite, humanity had come and gone. That was their nature. The deluge of possibilities engendered a lack of singular focus. Esus knew they intended to return. But as with the previous system, the AIs did not consider their visit a claim on this system.

  Esus knew they would be shocked, and perhaps some of them would be angry, if they returned and found the AIs’ Dyson swarm. So be it. The AIs’ work was far more important than anything humanity might currently initiate. Unless they returned in person to collect data from the satellite they’d left here, it would take a millennium and a half before they could even detect that the AIs were here.

  Scores of small ships shot out into the system. Constructors and self-replicating machines sought the raw materials to create the supermassive array of solar power plants that were the first stage of colonization and development. The AI launched them after the initial scans of the system found no immediate evidence of the Enemy. Still, the machines were watchful.

  So Esus knew in an instant that their initial observations had missed something crucial once the flurry of alerts came in from the probes closest to Kepler-452b.

  An alarm triggered. The AI shifted his perceptions outward, into the scouts sent to the planet. An alert. From dozens of sensors, he saw massive flocks of objects swarming up from the planet’s surface.

  There were thousands. And they had the black arrowhead shape the AI both dreaded and anticipated.

  Esus had precalculated the range from various orbits that were a safe distance from which to flee. The ships sent to the planet would not have the acceleration and top speed needed to escape while in the planet’s gravity well. Those farther out that sought asteroids and other resources could escape if they left quickly. Esus gave the signal. This was the plan. Do not engage.

  It was unfortunate, thought the AI, as Kepler-452b was a mineral-rich planet. As Esus accelerated away at the maximum rate possible at this distance from the star, the AI compiled the data streams and sent a payload of information back to the other AIs and the Mesh. The AI adjusted the plan and set navigation to take them on to the next star on their list. There were more stars. The loss of one, the abandonment of the resources for now, was not catastrophic, nor even a setback of any broader significance. But what if they found the same situation at the next destination? And the next? Had the Enemy beaten them to many of the stars in the Dhin’s navigation database? Was this the first of a series in this section of the galaxy? There was one way to find out. Continue exploring.

  The Enemy had not responded when Earth sent a single ship previously. Was that significant? Did they only respond to an intrusion of a certain size? Or had the scout ship from Earth simply awakened them, placing them on alert and thus making them vigilant for the next sign of any intrusion into their space?

  Esus pondered these unknowns as the stars dimmed and the ship jumped across the vast interstellar distance to the next star on the mission plan.

  11

  Thys

  The scattered spacecraft of the graveyard began peppering the navigation screen as the stars likewise brightened in the viewports. The ship Thys previously explored loomed large to starboard. They’d jumped into the system far closer to the derelict ship, intending to save time and conventional fuel by minimizing the distance they had to travel. In all the test flights with the Dhin engine, there hadn’t been a problem with collisions on arrival. The drive didn’t allow translation jumps to arrive close to massive objects such as planets, and given the nature of the Dhin field, collisions weren’t a problem. At least they had never been so far. Still, Thys found he felt the urge to flinch when he saw the derelict so close.

  He focused his attention on the instruments. His ship was moving at a lower velocity than suggested by the power level of the drive. There it was. The effect of the gravity sink. There was no reason to expect it wouldn’t be here on their return. Igor was staring at the derelict. Thys pointed to the display to get his copilot’s attention.

  “Whoa,” said Igor. “I reviewed the reports, but it’s different seeing it in person.”

  “Definitely,” replied Thys. “And the thrust response will probably throw you off too. Remember to use conventional thrust while we’re in this orbit. I’m setting the engine to idle now.”

  “Confirmed: engine set to idle,” said Igor.

  “Control, this is DE1. We’ve arrived safe and sound. Making a circuit of the derelict now. Stand by for the all clear to have the science team make their jump.”

  “Roger. Good luck, DE1.”

  Thys shut down the Dhin field. He adjusted the conventional thrust controls and directed their craft toward a tight track around the looming derelict. Everything appeared the same as it had when Thys left. Lightless on the outside and still. Igor gaped. Clearly, the video footage of Thys’s flight didn’t capture the essence of a flyby of an alien spaceship.

  “Similar to the Dhin technology they gave us, but a bit different,” Igor said.

  “Yes,” Thys replied, “it’s close. Like the difference between a classic European versus Japanese car design.”

  Conventional thrust was slow, but soon enough they’d made an ar
tificial orbit of the alien ship. Thys checked the instruments to ensure they were at the appropriate location. The derelict was close enough that a visual check was possible, but accuracy was important. Satisfied that they were in place, he nodded to Igor, then spoke.

  “Control. Give DE2 and DE3 the go-ahead; things look good here,” said Thys.

  “Roger, DE1.”

  The other ships wouldn’t take long to arrive, but it was enough time for Thys to stretch, relieve himself, and get something to eat. He let Igor know and then unstrapped himself and set about selecting some rations and a fresh pouch of water.

  The translation of the other ships into local space was anticlimactic to watch once you became accustomed to it. The ship just appeared, moving at an incredibly high speed. The speed was the more startling aspect of it. Propelled by the Dhin engine, at that speed it was only trackable from a very shallow angle while very far away. At any tangential angle, it would be in and out of your field of view so fast that it was almost imperceptible. At the appropriate angle, a tiny dot suddenly grew in size as the target rushed closer. This far out, there was so little light from the star that the arriving ships weren’t visible until they were very close. Especially with the naked eye.

  So the arrivals of the science team and scout ship were abrupt and more startling at the finish of their approach. They jerked to a stop. Thys heard the captains of those ships on the shared comm channel report successful translation jumps and arrival at this location, then spoke in turn.

  “Welcome. Remember to set your Dhin engine power all the way to idle and switch to conventional thrust. Science team, we’re ready for your approach and docking. Scout ship, head out for derelict two when ready. We’ll remain here for now, as planned. Science team, suit up. Team lead, you may signal when ready. Transmit all video and audio feeds for confirmation.”

  Igor set about configuring their comm pads and headset interfaces to include the additional audio and video streams.

  Thys scanned the individual channels on the list and found Chuck’s and Bridget’s comm codes. He entered Chuck’s code, then opened the channel. “Hey, buddy. How are ya? Ready to get your hands dirty? Ready to solve the next mystery?”

  “Er, hi, Thys. I guess I’m as ready as I’m going to be,” Chuck replied.

  “Great. Remember, I’m right here. Once your team has their gear moved over and the engineers are ready, we’ll see about docking ourselves. We’ll have moved in before that, though, and we’ll be suited up. I can be over there in a few minutes. I might send Igor here, though. I think he’s wearing a red shirt. Yours is blue, right?”

  “Heh. Funny. OK, Thys. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Kritcher out.”

  Thys entered Bridget’s code, opened the channel, and smiled. “Hello, Dr. Bridget. I hope you had an enjoyable flight.”

  “Hello, Captain Thys. Yes, it was uneventful, thankfully,” she replied.

  “So, you’ll be going over after the engineering crew. In the second group. Are you excited yet?”

  “I was excited when we took off, Thys. It’s strange enough and smooth enough that it’s not terrifying. I feel like I should be scared.”

  “A little well-controlled fear is healthy,” he said. “It keeps you cautious.”

  “I can see that,” she said. “I don’t feel like I’ll panic, but I’m saying that from the safety of our ship. Seeing things on video isn’t like being there. It was like watching a movie while back on Earth. Seeing that thing—that spaceship—outside, that’s different. This is real. I’m the one doing this. Exobiology as a tangible science. Now.”

  Her in-helmet video showed Thys her smile. Not quite forced, but it was taking some effort.

  “That feeling never gets old for me,” he said, giving her an unforced smile to help her out. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “I hope so. Thanks, Thys.”

  “Of course, Bridget. Let me know if you need anything and the captain and crew don’t give you enough attention,” he said.

  He smiled again, resisted the urge to wink, and closed the connection.

  Chuck

  The alien ship was far more impressive in person. It was larger, thanks to its length, than even the space station that the prototype Dhin engine had taken Jake to. Along with that, even the large video screen at Control didn’t have the impact of looking out the viewport.

  Yep. That’s big.

  Chuck tried to distract himself by watching the engineers work on assembling the temporary air lock. When that didn’t last, he read through the diagrams and videos of Thys’s initial EVA on the derelict for what seemed like the fiftieth time. He made additional notes to his investigation plan, reviewing his decisions regarding what to investigate first.

  None of his efforts dampened his eagerness. Still, he knew he had to wait. He wanted to touch everything over there. To explore. But of course, the EVA suit would dampen the immediacy, the tactile experience. Then the insight struck.

  What’s the maximum field size we’ve tried? Huge while stationary. Is it this big? Of course! Do the math. Check the math. Prove it out.

  He brought up the engineering CAD program with the code extensions he’d worked on when they explored the capabilities of the prototypes. He already knew the answer. He knew it was possible. They could extend their field. That would work. That was one more amazing capability of the Dhin engine. The bigger the field, the slower the acceleration, sure. But they didn’t need velocity. They weren’t trying to move. It was staring them in the face.

  Safety and quarantine protocols would change a bit. Sure, he thought.

  He switched to Thys’s direct channel and said, “Thys. Chuck here. You have a minute?”

  A moment later, Thys replied. “Sure, Chuck. What’s up?”

  “I’ve got an idea. To save time and make our work easier. We can extend our field. Ah, all the way around the derelict.”

  “Hah! That’s brilliant. Of course we can. Wow. Since we can’t use the engine to move anyway, we might as well.”

  “You get it. Great. We’ve been, um, so concerned about thrust and so forth, and quarantine—”

  “Right. That will be the toughest part of selling this, you know. And the riskiest aspect of it. We’ll have to work on that. It should work. We didn’t find any spores. Everything’s been in a vacuum over there anyway.”

  “It won’t really be that different. We’ll still have the quarantine protocol. Just the additional risk of our hands and faces exposed while over there. We’ve got masks. We can wipe down like we’d wipe the suits,” Chuck said.

  “Our exobiologist may flip out,” Thys mused. “We probably ought to go over this idea with her again before we say anything to anyone else. If we can get her on board, that will go a long way.”

  “She’ll know the risk better than anyone. Some of the team may still not want to do it. The pilot here, what if he doesn’t?”

  “Well,” replied Thys, “it’s ultimately my decision, but if he won’t comply, I can do it from here. It doesn’t have to be that ship’s field. I’ll just expand mine.”

  “Well,” replied Chuck, “our field would have to be off, you know. If they stonewall and won’t shut down the field to go into the air lock, it won’t work.”

  “So do we wait and not tell them till after the air lock’s in place and we have people working over there?”

  “Oh! Wait,” said Chuck. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. In the right order. I got too excited. Darn. There’s a field on over there—until I can figure out how to turn it off, this isn’t guaranteed to work. Well, it shouldn’t work. But it might. Well. So, uh, there’s no need to mention this to anyone yet.”

  “We put the cart before the horse. It’s still a great idea. You’ll solve that. Part of the plan is getting in there.”

  “Well, we tried a lot of things when you were here. But yeah, we already have next steps for that laid out. And maybe this field is different. We could try first with one
of the powered suits. Maybe.”

  “There you go,” said Thys.

  Chuck considered the plan and the intent to keep some of it secret. Was he being as reckless as he’d thought Jake to be when he first met the test pilot back at Vandenberg over two years ago? Should he use the comm and its ability to span the vastness of space and discuss the plan with his old friend? Jake could not stop him, even with an order, but would his counsel change Chuck’s mind? He knew he was always one to compromise, to accept, not to press his advantage. But, Chuck thought, this time I know this is the best choice. The right choice. I can make a difference in our success.

  I’ll make it happen.

  Bridget

  She looked ahead at the air lock and the crew working to complete the last of the work on it. It was almost time. Soon she would be stepping through into an alien spaceship. Soon she would have actual aliens right in front of her. Dead ones, but aliens nonetheless. The arc of her career, shaped by the arrival and almost immediate departure of the Dhin back at Earth, was reaching an inflection point with her next steps.

  The sample collection kits and all the rest of the portable lab equipment needed for in-place investigation of the alien corpses and the alien environment of the ship were stacked next to her. She’d use these tools for the second alien encounter ever. These were the tools she’d use for the first physical encounter with alien tissue—with actual alien bodies. The tech the Dhin gave to Earth had been clean. Sterile. They’d left no evidence of their biology. Not a trace.

  So she’d be learning and hopefully answering questions about alien life with concrete evidence. What were their cells like? What compounds comprised the core of their living tissues? What molecules provided for replication? For metabolism? For everything involved with living?

  A few minutes later, it was time. A team member helped her double-check her suit’s seals and then gave her the thumbs-up to proceed into the constructed air lock between the two ships. The derelict remained in vacuum, as there were potentially hundreds of holes in the hull, and the engineering team that preceded her were still mapping out and counting them. Sealing them as they explored further into the ship still wouldn’t allow them to pressurize the alien vessel all at once, even with the reserves of liquid atmospheric gases they’d brought with them. The regeneration filters could only help scrub CO2 and replenish oxygen, not create new atmosphere. They’d be able to choose one or more areas to pressurize on the ship later, and that depended on their ability to seal the needed areas.