by Mark Wandrey
Despite the remote location and late hour, the desk clerk wasn't surprised to see a Chosen walk in. "I'm here to see Tara Alma," Minu said to the bored looking man.
"I'll inform her you are here."
Minu nodded and walked over to the Hotels nicely appointed lounge. Finding a table with two chairs she sat down. The table was an automated server so she ordered a soda and waited. The server delivered her drink from the central column in moments and she took a sip just as her aunt came out of the lift. Minu raised a hand to get her attention. The woman was just like she remembered from the last time they'd met, over seven years ago. Tall and thick built with a somewhat round face and long black hair. She didn't look overly thrilled to see Minu.
"I'll give you this," she said a she walked over to the table, "you Chosen are resourceful. What did you do, buy an aerocar?"
"It doesn't matter, does it?” Minu hoped she wasn't blushing despite the burning in her cheeks. “Have a seat, can I buy you a drink?"
"Sure, what are you drinking?" Minu told her and got a reproachful look. "Whiskey and soda for me," Tara said and sat down. The server delivered the drink which she sipped with a sigh. "Thanks for coming."
"No problem, what's up?"
Tara took a computer chip from her pocket and sat it on the table between them. "A week ago, out of the blue, I get a letter. It is addressed from the Chosen computer system to me."
"Who sent it?"
"Nobody, just your computer."
"That isn't possible," Minu insisted, “it has to be from a user of some sort, even if it was automated someone must have initiated the process.”
Tara tapped the computer chip and held out an envelope. It was addressed to Tara Alma in Gulf City, was computer printed and showed no ID for sender. The older Alma held her hands up in a gesture of helplessness. "Regardless, here it is. It had this simple note inside along with the chip. Minu took the note and read it, also printed by a computer.
Tara,
I know we never got along the well, and I'm sorry. You are my only family and I have to depend on you. Please give this personally to my daughter Minu. I can't tell you what’s on it, so please don't ask. It must be given to her by hand. She is Chosen by now, so she won't be too difficult to contact.
Thanks,
Your brother, Chriso.
Tara waited until she'd read the brief note before continuing. She pointed at the chip and shook her head. “Not only couldn't I open it, I couldn't make a copy. I can't even see the name! Computers are my thing. I designed and maintain the network here in Gulf, live just outside of town, and I've never seen anything like this. You load it into a computer and it activates an embedded bios. Try it." Minu took the chip and slid it into her personal computer. Just like Tara said, it loaded a bios and prompted for a password in a most amazing manner. "Minu - Password?"
"Wow," Minu said and removed the chip without trying a password. The bios deleted itself instantly leaving no record of its presence. Who knew what would happen if she entered a wrong answer, she might only have a couple tries. "Thanks, it was obviously meant for me."
"Why send it to a sister you haven't seen in years?" Tara asked. "He could have just sent it to you instead. What the hell is going on? Why the secrets?"
"I don't know," Minu admitted simply.
"Alright, I guess I can't ask for anything more." She finished her drink in one long swallow and got up to leave, then stopped. "You look a lot like your ancestor. Same red hair, same build. Hell, you should look at a picture of Mindy Harper someday. You could be her little sister."
"So I've been told."
"Oh, one more thing. You're the last, you know?"
"Last what?"
"Last direct descendant of Mindy Harper."
"What? How, I thought..."
"There were others? There was. There was a second cousin; your grandfather's brother had one girl who had a boy. She's dead, and that boy died last month in a fishing accident not far from here."
"I didn't know that. What about you?"
"I'm not blood to you. After our mother gave birth to your dad they couldn't have another child. So I was adopted. And of course your grandparents have been gone for years."
“I remember. It was one of the only times we met, when they died in the fire.”
“Right. Well, good luck.” With nothing more to say Tara left Minu alone at the table. There was no formal parting, she just left.
“Dad's sister, alright,” Minu snorted. It seemed an incredibly long trip just for a computer chip, not to mention the mystery that went with it. The tiny device sat heavy in her pocket as she finished her drink and contemplated the return flight. More than twelve hours since she'd eaten so she checked the automated server. Packaged sandwiches and snacks were available so she ordered a couple sandwiches and some chips. Once they were delivered she visited the bathroom, waved to the still bored looking desk clerk, and climbed back into her car. The EPC held a seventy percent charge so she guided the car out into the street and into the air. Minu was left with a lot of time to kill on the flight back. The computer chip was not something she wanted to tackle right then, so she continued her studies on how an army was supposed to work, all the while slowly adding to her knowledge and designing what 'her' army would need.
Chapter 4
December 13th, 517 AE
Chosen Headquarters, Steven’s Pass
"So our computer system sent an untagged package to your aunt in Gulf?" Pip looked dubious at best.
"That's about the size of it," Minu said. She'd returned to Tranquility just long enough to stop at the hotel and check out. She would spend the rest of her leave in Steven’s Pass. It wasn't until she'd landed on the Chosen base's pad that Minu realized she didn't know what to do with her new car. It turned out there was a parking garage, and there were a lot of cars in too. I wonder how many of these shinny aerocars were sold by the balding salesman back in Tranquility?
"So let me see the chip," Pip said. They were in her tiny office, away from the view of prying eyes.
Minu handed over the package with the letter and chip and watched while Pip examined it. After he read the envelope then the message he scrutinized the envelope again. “No sender code,” he noted from her story. She nodded and he loaded the chip into one of his ever present tablets and watched the bios work.
"That reminds me," Minu started and snapped her fingers, "you remember that chip we found back in the dig on GBX2334? You ever turn up anything off that?"
"You know, that was a fascinating case.” He busily accessed programs and worked on the chip from her father while talking, easily doing two things at once. “ These chips are awesome tech, so advanced we've never completely figured out how they work."
"I've had the lesson. Indestructible, holds terabytes of data, etcetera, etcetera."
"Right, but did you know they're a form of biological storage. They utilize a matrix of organic molecules, incredibly dense, and suspended in a semi-fluid state." Minu shrugged. "Right, anyway, we've been studying them for years now. I don't know if we'll ever figure out how to make them. There are some clues into the Concordia photronic technology there."
"You have a point?"
"Huh?"
"The chip we found on GBX2334, you found something?" Minu wanted to laugh if it wasn't often so frustrating talking to a true scientist. She hoped she never became that obtuse.
"Oh, right, sorry. Anyway it’s a dead chip."
"It looked fine."
"Checked out fine too, initially. But when we hooked it up, nothing."
"No data? Thought you said it was dead."
"It was."
"Pip..."
"Look, the chips are an unlimited theoretical lifespan. The contents are biological, though not like you or me, just aligned amino acids and nucleic chains. Well, that chip was full of data, until it self-destructed."
"I didn't know they could do that!"
"No one knew. They're a very complex mechanism sim
ply executed. Bio-molecular storage medium, prismatic laser read/write heads, etc, photronic interface. Only way to really destroy one is to break it (not easy), or burn it. If the medium has a weakness it's heat. Say over five hundred Celsius, it breaks down."
"Yeah, and so would whoever was holding it."
"Good point."
"So how did it self-destruct."
"Bjorn has been working on that answer for a while, since we brought that dead one back. He's had a team doing subatomic analysis of the medium it contained and comparing it to a brand new chip just purchased, and then to the oldest ones we can get that still holds. You won't believe what he found out."
"I'll never know if you don't get around to telling me."
"Cute. Turns out they are designed with a lifespan."
"Why in the world would anyone do that? Defeats the whole purpose of a perpetual non-volatile storage medium, doesn't it?"
"You could say that again."
"So how long is that lifespan? We have chips that are a century old already."
"More like a couple millennia old. And a scout team brought one back that was twenty thousand years old a few weeks ago, served as a wonderful baseline."
"So what was the final answer?"
"One hundred thousand years"
"Wow! That's quite a lifespan. So it just breaks down after that long?"
"Yep, and quickly too."
"Well, even something designed by the Concordian has to die some time."
"We have gravitic transports that are more than a hundred thousand years old. No, this is designed that way."
"I don't follow you."
"It wasn't just a lifespan based on the material, it's a designed life span! They don't wear out, they self-destruct after one hundred thousand years."
"How ridiculous!" Minu laughed. "Who would be around that long? What possible purpose could it serve? If the things could last that long, why not a lot longer?"
"Oh, Bjorn and I agree, the lifespan could be infinite. In the sealed and protected state of the medium it could last millions of years, tens of millions. That one we found is probably half a million years old."
"You said it happened quickly?" Pip nodded. "Like years?"
"No, like days, maybe hours. We'd have to see it happen to be sure." he said.
"What kind of variation in ages?"
Pip considered for a second then consulted one of his dozens of computers before answering. "Less than two weeks variation."
"Good lord, that little?"
"We're certain. We're looking for the biomechanical mechanism or whatever that causes it. Quite surprising, wouldn't you say?"
"Surprising? More like ridiculous. Why?"
"Only guesses in that department. However, one hundred thousand years seems to be a common theme."
"I hope it doesn't pertain to cars, I just bought one and I'm hoping to use it for a long time."
"I wouldn't worry about that. No, this is concerning most types of data. We did some poking around in the Concordia network, at least the lobotomized version we have access to, and guess how old the oldest entry is?"
"Oh, say one hundred thousand years?"
"Give the girl an award!"
"I'll take chocolate," Minu laughed. "Coincidence?"
"Not hardly. More like a multi layered approach." Minu gave him her best bewildered look. He stopped working on the chip she'd given him and concentrated on her again. “Most computers use banks of these chips, typical Concordia centralized technology. We know that huge data cores made of the same material exist, the Tog have told us about them. Only bad ass higher order species have them, though. So, no computer network files more than a hundred thousand years old, no storage medium able survive more than a hundred thousand years. What does that tell you?"
"That something bad happened a thousand centuries ago?"
"Not unless the event went on for months. You see the Concordia computer network is quietly deleting terabytes of data every second."
"Storage room shortages."
Pip made a rude noise and continued. "The deletion is wide spread and continuous. Oh, not everything is deleted, the data removal is almost surgically selective. Historical data, transaction records, things like that. Raw detail files not dependent on dates, like technology, planet locations, names of species, that sort of stuff stays. The god damn file system makes sure to copy it routinely to avoid it being purged as chips die and take transient data with it. The rest of the stuff goes poof at one hundred thousand years, like clockwork."
"No records of the Squeen..."
"We found their primary data eventually. They existed. It even talks about their world.”
“Let me guess, GBX2334?”
“Some more chocolate for the lady. They were a bootstrap species, came up from the bottom and joined the Concordia on their own terms."
Minu whistled. "Wow, not many of those out there."
"Don't we know it? The only way to have more prestige is to be an uplifted species, and there are only a couple of those."
"And GBX2334 was their home world?"
"According to the records, yes."
"Did you find out what happened to them or why their planet was so trashed?"
"No, that is some of the data wiped from the records." Minu looked thoughtful then shook her head in amazement. “Yes, the Squeen were around more than a hundred thousand years ago.”
"So the Concordian go to extremes to be sure almost no data survives more than a hundred thousand years? Why?"
"That is the question, isn't it?" Pip put the tablet he'd loaded her mystery chip into down and scratched his head. "Now that is a real piece of programming," he said at last.
"What's it have in it?"
"A terabyte or so of data, that's all."
"What kind of data?"
"I have no idea."
"You can't get in?"
"No, I can't." Minu could tell he was not happy at failing. He looked like someone who'd been insulted, and badly.
"Maybe Bjorn, or one of the others on our team?"
"I'll be the first to admit I haven't learned everything...yet. This little thing is Concordia code, not human. Tell me again how it got to you?" Minu knew it was just to hear her talk while he thought. She patiently went over the entire story once more, only leaving out the part about how she was the last of Mindy Harpers descendants. Minu wanted to look into that claim before repeating it. Pip took out another tablet and went to work on it. After a minute he looked up. "I've confirmed a package was sent to her, your aunt, at the time she said, and by our computer." He turned it for her to see. The package was mailed from an automated storage locker usually used for parts and such.
"So who sent it?"
"The computer doesn't know."
"Is that possible?"
"An hour ago I would have said no, now I have evidence to the contrary. Let me work on that while you work on this." He handed her back the chip and got up to leave.
"That's it?"
"For now. I can't hack that file, and you wouldn't want me to try any harder. There could be negative effects on the chip. Did you say you bought a car?"
She nodded her head and he looked confused, then he left her alone. She popped the chip into her own computer. As before it requested a password. "How am I supposed to know what you want?" she asked it. Of course it didn't reply. Let's start simple, she decided and keyed in her general Chosen system password. Nothing happened. "Okay, that's out of the way." She was just starting to think of another try when her office communicator buzzed. "Chosen Alma," she answered.
"I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Dram? What's going on."
"Aren't you on vacation?"
"Technically, yes. I came back to work on a project. What's happening?"
"A scout team is coming back after engaging the Rasa. They were equipped with the beamcasters."
"I'll be right there."
Minu tossed the mystery chip into her de
sk drawer and raced out the door. Down the hall, then the stairs two at a time and along the lower floors hall, she was in the jump off center less than a minute after getting the call. There she found all the regular personnel lead by Dram, a squad from logistics, and ominously, five red clad medics all holding support equipment and a pair of gurneys. Two of her beamcasters were newly mounted on tripods behind forcefields. They were manned by steely eyed scouts.
Dram spotted her and came over. "Glad you could make it."
"I had to be here," she said, her voice almost a whisper. "First time my weapons have been used in combat. Look, before they come back through I want you to know I think we need to move in another direction?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the beamcasters are not suitable for the use we're putting them to."
"Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Research. Lots of research, and a fair amount of movie watching." He gave her a cockeyed look but invited her to continue. "We need infantry weapons, and trained infantry. Right now, we don't have either."
"So why aren't the beamcasters good for what we need?"
While they waited Minu took the few minutes to explain. She went over the ammunition expenditure rate versus damage, the weight versus mobility, and finally expense of operation versus feasibility of deploying them in larger numbers. "When you add all that to the fact that our scouts are trained under the all importer ROE we're forced to operate under, you have a recipe for disaster.” Minu took a deep breath and went all in. “I believe we need a military branch, trained soldiers armed with true infantry weapons and empowered to defeat whoever they encounter. Think of them like attack dogs, unleash them and watch the carnage. That's what soldiers are supposed to do, kill people and break things. Scouts are well, scouts. No offense."
"None taken. You make a strong case," he said, scratching his chin and staring off into space. "You should also know you're not the first Chosen to put the idea of a military branch forward for consideration."
