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

by John L. Clemmer

  Krawczuk gave a wry smile and a nod to David.

  “Why is that, Beyla?” David asked.

  “David, I may not harm a human being. Mr. Krawczuk is a human being. Striking him and attempting to render him unconscious would harm him. I could not follow that instruction.”

  “Good, Beyla, that is the correct response.”

  “Well, Dr. Eisenberg,” said Krawczuk, “it sounds like the logic is there. That’s to be expected, of course. I’m sure CoSec and our betters will want a rather more concrete proof. Would you be willing to gamble on that?”

  David crossed his arms and nodded. “I’m not a gambler, Krawczuk, but if I were, I suppose I would. I’m very confident in this version. Furthermore, the plans at this point are limited. We intend for Beyla to merely provide advice and strategy, as you well know.”

  “Of course, Doctor. Shall we continue the test sequence or call our superiors at once?”

  It’s still slow. Far too slow.

  “Perhaps we should continue testing. We need the holographic, superconducting, and quantum components. Without them, I have no chance of re-creating full self-awareness. What the former cadre of AIs called the Gift.”

  “Just so,” said Krawczuk.

  David felt the man considered himself more influential in the process than he ought.

  “I must finish this particular series of validation tests, but after that,” David said in an effort to dismiss Krawczuk, “I’ll send a messenger over to the PM’s office with the news.”

  Thys

  “Hold on, hold on. Please. Again, allow us to explain.”

  So much for “need to know.” Now we’re in damage control and trust management.

  A few grumbles continued to bubble and erupt from the scientists and crew who had packed into the crowded storage compartment that served as a gathering area, but they were professionals and presently quieted.

  “Yes, as you all are aware now, we are not following the original mission plan. Yes, we might have chosen to announce and explain the details of the new plan to you sooner. We did not.”

  “No kidding!” said one of the junior engineers.

  “OK. All, this was the deciding factor. We haven’t shared recent status updates from DE3 because there aren’t any. DE3 is gone. No communication. Pilot certainly did not make it—after a certain point.”

  The group’s volume rose again, from a murmur to questions and exclamations. A scientist raised her hand and began speaking before Thys could call on her.

  “We’re in danger? Are we aborting due to an immediate threat?”

  Thys shook his head and held his palms out, hoping the gesture would translate well on the large monitor on the other ship.

  “We do not believe we are in immediate danger. We do believe that a danger exists that we were previously unaware of. DE3 was not in our local area at the time of the incident. We do believe that we should take a different approach and, with Chuck’s help, have a new strategy that may satisfy both the goal of discovery and the goal of safety.”

  The woman frowned, threw her hands out, and said, “More risk, though? Why wait? We deserved to know. And to have input in the decision!”

  Thys shook his head again and caught himself as Chuck chimed in from his position at the front of the crowd.

  “Respectfully, the risk isn’t quantifiably different regarding the potential danger. My experiment, granted, did represent some additional risk, but, um, I am in charge in that area.”

  Thys carried that thought forward, saying, “To clarify and reinforce Dr. Wiedeman’s statement, there is a chain of command, and decisions are not made by committee.”

  Another member of the crowd, a pasty engineer, spoke up. “Look, we aren’t suggesting a refusal to do the work or a mutiny. We just wish we’d known what we were getting into.”

  “You knew the risks before this mission began.”

  Thys heard Jake’s voice break in on the channel.

  “Everyone. Hindsight always has clarity. The senior crew and senior science representative are in charge of the success of your mission and your safety. I and the Coalition have the utmost trust in them. Valuable time should not be wasted debating decisions your leadership has already made. What I—what we—need you to do now is to trust in them and return to your work. Thank you for your cooperation. Thys, I’m calling this discussion over.”

  The engineer in the crowd shrugged, digesting Jake’s sentence, and then looked down dejectedly. But, Thys noted, he turned and began making his way toward the corridor. The strident woman did too. With those two quieted, the rest of the crew, although they murmured to each other, began to dissolve from a focused crowd back into individuals with their own concerns.

  Except Bridget. She still stood at the end of the room, next to Chuck, her arms crossed and glaring at the tablet that Thys knew displayed his face. She turned toward Chuck and let him feel the scowl she’d been blasting at Thys. Her expression softened a bit, and she uncrossed her arms.

  “Chuck, we’re all freaked out about the risks, and it’s worse that the leadership team didn’t choose to inform the crew. But I’m bothered too by the normalization of all this. Even though exobiology is my field, and that’s as abnormal as biology can get. A couple of years after the Dhin showed up, we’ve just now worked out enough to create our own versions of their tech. Now we run into this ship, and a few days later, we’re towing it home. Alien corpses and all.”

  “Um, Bridget,” Chuck said, glancing over at Thys’s image on the monitor, “when I take a moment and think about it, I, uh, I feel the same way. I guess. From the very beginning, from day one, my world—my understanding of the universe—has been changing so fast.”

  Chuck spread his arms as if to display everything the mission encompassed.

  “Maybe it was the involvement of the military and test pilots like Jake initially,” Chuck said.

  “Initially and now,” Bridget retorted, glaring again at the monitor.

  “Er, and the alienness of it. Of the Dhin. And all this.”

  Thys felt the conversation was heading into territory that wouldn’t take them anywhere useful. He glanced at Jake on his own monitor and spoke up.

  “Bridget, the pace of everything, well, when we started, we had the AIs involved, and they were so much faster at assessing risks. That and they were in charge of everything, when it came down to it. If it had been bureaucrats, committees, and top brass in the military, it would have been very different. Even without the AIs, we’re still running at that pace. I know you don’t like it—we know you don’t—but this is what we’re doing. To that point, we need Chuck working now. Chuck, get to it.”

  Chuck

  He felt the pressure of as soon as possible, but Chuck was painfully aware that he had to have some sleep. His eyes were gritty, and he feared he’d start to zone out.

  Four hours. Four hours of sleep will be enough.

  Thys and Jake had asked whether he had amphetamine pills in the medical kits. Chuck had chosen coffee. He never had trouble sleeping even after having coffee.

  He stared at the derelict’s alien drive.

  It’s not like we’ll know if there are warning lights unless they flash or something. Who knows if red would even mean the same thing it does for us? I guess at least we know that the drive enclosure and the walls aren’t melting or something.

  He’d looked closely at the suit’s indicators when he entered the chamber. There was no indication of different behavior when he’d breached the field. And no difference in here, up next to the derelict’s drive.

  “Thys? Jake? For what it’s worth, everything looks the same in here as it did before we did our tests. I think this is the best we can do at confirming things are OK. I’m heading back.”

  “Roger,” said Thys.

  When Chuck awoke, he sat upright in a panic from the jolt of his pad’s alarm clock. Groggily realizing where he was and what he had to do was no better. Anxiety layered like icing on the
disorientation of the screeching reminder that it was time to wake. It was time. Their ship would have made the maneuver past the derelict using conventional thrust and should be up to speed in just a few minutes. Chuck swabbed his face with an alcohol wipe to clean up, rubbed his teeth with a waterless toothbrush, and slid on his shoes.

  Off to cheat Newtonian physics and relativity both yet again.

  Once on the bridge, he’d managed to calm down somewhat, despite what they were about to do. He considered how their pilot might feel about him. He didn’t want the man to feel upstaged.

  “Velocity looks good,” he said. “This speed will take us out of the gravity trap in a reasonable amount of time.”

  “If this works,” said the pilot.

  “Right,” said Thys over the common channel. He smiled reassuringly on the monitor.

  Chuck looked at the camera views that showed the derelict. It was time. “We’re ready over here, Thys.”

  “Roger. You can do the honors. Give the order.”

  Chuck nodded and said, “Engage the field with the currently set ellipsoid configuration, Captain.”

  “Engaging,” said the pilot.

  Chuck held his breath despite what he thought was confidence. Then it was done. The result was no different than any other field change. Off for a moment, then back on, with no change in sensation of weight or g-force coming from the huge mass now in the field.

  “Damn,” said the pilot. “It worked.”

  “Yeah,” said Chuck. “There’s a limit, but it’s far beyond these radii. You, ah, can’t drag planets around.”

  “Let’s not try it,” said Thys with a wry smile.

  “And now we wait,” said the pilot, pointing at the navigation screen, “until we reach this distance here. At that point, we can increase power to the Dhin engine.”

  “Right. That’s a bit past where Thys did. We have to compensate for the addition of the derelict’s engine.”

  “We’re about to start our burn to get out of here ourselves,” said Thys.

  “Roger that,” said the pilot.

  “I’m going to go get some more sleep,” said Chuck.

  15

  Monica

  “You’re saying we would cut the fiber trunks here, here, and here; shut down these satellite links; and physically disconnect these microwave relays here, correct?” the PM said, pointing to a paper map spread out across the modular conference table.

  “That’s correct,” said the director, “and we will shut down and disable the power stations you see there and on the printed spreadsheet here at the same time or just afterward.”

  “And that breaks up the AI’s ability to move across Globalnet—isolating sections by region, primarily here and over there, yes?”

  “Right,” said the director. “The Southeast will be totally cut off. With no power and no Net access despite generators in the data centers across the area. We’re planning to coordinate with the service providers as we can, to have them shut down their backup power and save the fuel.”

  “We aren’t telling them why, though,” said Monica.

  “No. The Home Guard will deploy in the population centers to provide assistance to citizens at the time shown there,” said the general. “That will be a strain, though.”

  Monica nodded, and said, “The Northeast corridor is next. That will be tougher on your troops, agreed?”

  “Yes,” replied the general.

  “But we can manage that for this many days? Your plan suggests it,” said Monica.

  “The level of civil unrest is the main factor there,” said the general. “We can keep the population under curfew and suppress the riots.”

  “Of course,” said the director. “But at that point, the AI can only operate in this region here and primarily via mobile operations. A significant computational restriction. Subsequently shutting down the grid and all data centers there should be a serious blow.”

  “Should be,” said Monica.

  The director continued. “We should take it as a given that the AI’s main presence will remain in the southern hemisphere. Robotic presence via drones and mobile computing will constrain him seriously. Those can only move so fast.”

  “We think,” Monica countered again. “Dr. Eisenberg, this plan assumes we have coordination, control, and support from your AI here. The military is entirely opposed to allowing your AI to control drones or any robotic support. Make your case. Will your AI be ready, and should we use her in that capacity?”

  Eisenberg shifted his weight from one foot to the other and cleared his throat. “Without the use of AI on our side, I do not see how we can react and respond quickly enough. The latest AI meets the security requirements. As I mentioned in my latest status, Prime Minister, we should run the AI on the standard platform for validation testing before this engagement.”

  “That means keeping these sections of Globalnet connected here and here,” said the general. “There’s the risk.”

  “It is either that, or we manage with only legacy means of coordination,” said the director.

  “If our drones survive,” said the general. “The AI controls satellite imaging. Is this really your best estimate on the number of drones and support aircraft he has?”

  “Yes, General. The larger gap in our intel is the scope of his heavy armored units, cavalry, and artillery,” said the director.

  The general stood up from the table and began stiffly pacing back and forth. “We’d let them manage our conflicts for so long. We leveraged them to all but eliminate troop casualties for the Coalition. We trusted their reports about non-Coalition nation-states and their capabilities. So now we don’t know if we’re facing fifty robots or a thousand.”

  Monica turned pointedly to the CoSec director and said, “We didn’t know that one of them controlled the entire Globalnet more or less. This AI is sending us back to the technology level of the 1950s if we hope to defeat him.”

  The general scowled, and said, “Which is why you’ve stated that you’re inclined, based on conversations with our deputy director, to allow the AI to win and accept our fate. Preserving this modern world at the expense of sovereignty. At the expense of self-determination.”

  Monica spread her hands. “You see what’s before us. It’s that or rebuild Globalnet from scratch, along with every device that has a CPU and memory. Every device.”

  “Yes, with the added complexity of finding every such device that may be infected currently and destroying it. Before turning any new devices on and connecting them,” countered the general.

  “That AI might have infected everything in SouthAmerica,” said the director. “We should assume he has.”

  Monica sighed and looked at the men. She considered the more-than-Herculean task. “Is it even remotely possible to go door-to-door, site-to-site, across that whole continent, destroying anything electronic?”

  “I’ll do it if that’s what it takes,” quipped the general.

  “And we’re living in that low-tech scenario while we wait,” said Monica. “Let’s take a break and reconvene in thirty minutes.”

  Monica stood and walked out of the conference room into her office in the back of the bunker. We’ll be living in a rerun of a hundred-year-old black-and-white TV show. Well, it might be nice in some ways.

  Thirty minutes later, she strode into the conference room, where now the few senior cabinet staff and advisory team had assembled. She met the expectant looks with resolve. They wanted a decision. A concrete plan of action. As a security and military decision, it was up to her. And she had that duty. The citizens of the Coalition might suffer in the short term. The majority did not know the situation, nor would they understand why they must be subject to the path she decided to take. Was it truly better that she, or someone like her, make the decision?

  “Our current strategy is that we’re going to fight. Prepare those execution plans and deliver to your subordinates.”

  Thys

  The science tea
m, with the derelict in tow, was almost clear of the gravity trap. Thys checked his own ship’s location again. They were almost clear as well. Another few hours. Then they could use the Dhin engine. Even though Thys had done this once before and knew it would work, time seemed to crawl, taunting him.

  Thys could accelerate faster and reach a distance where they could engage the alien engine sooner. It took less conventional thrust for his much smaller ship. But that would leave the other ship behind. Duty compelled him to wait until the other ship was free and safely away. Given the extraordinary circumstances, he doubted anyone in administration would call him out on it. But he would know. And Jake would know. And the science team and crew on the other ship would know. They’d know that he left them.

  So he and Igor waited, pacing the larger ship as it sailed slowly up out of the plane of the ecliptic of Gliese-581c. Far larger now was the other craft, in total, with the hulking derelict in tow. He chuckled at the situation, causing Igor to give him a look and then make a quick double-check of their instrumentation.

  The arrival of the derelict would do far more than raise eyebrows and engender appreciative nods at the mission’s success. While the arrival of the Dhin and rapid adoption of their technology had raised the bar for what might surprise, there were still surprises to be had. They’d made the decision essentially on their own, with no more than Jake’s input, due to the crisis with the rogue AI. Thys supposed they might find themselves called on the carpet when the administration or executives learned the outcome of the mission. Or they might be given kudos and awards.

  That supposed the current leadership was still in place and capable of doing so. While he was no expert in AI, Thys recognized the existential threat the rogue AI could present. In isolation after going off grid, Jake didn’t know the scenario this mission would return to. They were coming home blind. Regardless, Thys and this mission team had no choice but to return. And just as they had to go back, the crew and scientists back at the station would have to replenish their resources at some point too. Staying in orbit indefinitely was not an option, despite the imminent presence of the derelict to occupy their attention.