The Dave Brewster Series

by Karl Morgan

  “But this is just crazy! You have to admit this is crazy talk.”

  “I will admit that I was confused for a long time too,” Bandopaz said. “But you and I have become exactly what you wanted. We have evolved. That is why I am here tonight. I want to welcome the only other member of my species and help you to focus. You wonder why sometimes you feel you are in a fog.” Eon nodded. “There is no fog. What you perceive as fog is the fuzziness of your understanding of your spiritual existence. Once you can accept that you are a transcendent man, your doubts will melt and your spirit will coalesce. Then you will see the other realm clearly and hopefully realize the purpose in your new life.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “That’s for you to decide,” Bandopaz laughed. “For me, I have chosen to be a servant to mankind. I have been traveling the galaxies for a long time, doing what I can to help others who need it. For you, I think you have a more noble future.”

  “I’d be happy helping others as you do,” Eon said.

  “The Accord is very dangerous,” Bandopaz stated. “But there is great hope for them too, after all, they have given birth to you. They have lost their sense of humanity, but have tremendous intelligence. Perhaps you can help them evolve as you have, or at least limit their destruction of others.”

  “I don’t know if I have the strength, Bandopaz.”

  “You’ll be surprised at how strong you are, once you accept your spiritual reality, Eon,” the other said. “Well, the sun will be rising soon, and I can sense Lini stirring from her sleep already. You should get some sleep, brother. I will come looking for you again soon. If you need me, just reach out for me. I am always listening.” Bandopaz faded away, leaving Eon alone in his kitchen, trying to understand what he had just learned.

  §

  “Good morning, Dave,” Nostu said as Dave limped into the Logistics Office near the center of the planetoid. “I hope you are feeling better.”

  “I am, and thanks for your concern, Nostu,” he replied as he sat in front of the robot’s desk. “I guess I’m reporting for work.”

  “Excellent! I have spent the last several hours being briefed on the job here myself. We have a lot to do, so if you’re ready, let’s head over to your workstation.” Dave stood slowly and then followed the brain-in-a-jar robot out of the office and into a sea of cubicles. Dave thought it was odd that he had left the twenty-first century years ago, where he had been stationed in a similar cubicle for much of his career. Life has a funny way of circling back when we least expect it, he thought. They passed rows of workstations where Nan workers sat motionless with large helmets on their heads. He wondered what kind of work this was. There were no computers with spreadsheets that he could see. Nostu stopped at another workstation and motioned Dave to enter. “Please have a seat Dave.” After he complied, the robot continued, “This kind of work is probably quite different than you are used to. The helmet connects you to our servant robot pool. Please put it on.”

  Dave lifted the large helmet, which was surprisingly light and looked inside. The interior was padded for comfort, but seemed to have no electronics that would connect to him. “Go ahead, Dave,” Nostu insisted. Dave set the helmet over his head. The device almost completely covered his entire head. Instantly, the dark gray interior of the device disappeared and Dave found himself looking down on a virtual model of what he assumed was the planetoid. “Do you feel any pain? Tell me what you see.”

  “No, I don’t feel any pain, but it’s so weird. It’s like I’m looking down on a schematic model of this planetoid,” he replied.

  “Excellent!” Nostu exclaimed. “Since you are not Nan, we weren’t sure the systems would be compatible with your brain. If you ever feel pain, just take the helmet off, okay?”

  “Yes, boss,” Dave chuckled.

  “Take off the helmet for a minute now,” Nostu said. When he had done so, he saw Nostu was standing inches from his face. “Let me explain your role. Throughout your shift, you will receive requests from me to move goods and fluids around the station. You’ll see a red light where you need to go. Just concentrate on the dot and you will dive into the schematic. If I tell you to move a pallet of corn to another location, just imagine yourself picking it up and walking with it. The end location will show as a blue dot on the schematic, and you will find a blue trail to follow. When you set the pallet down at the blue dot, it will turn green, meaning you did it correctly. Always do exactly what you are told to do with no side trips or circuitous routes. Just follow what you see. Failure to follow orders can lead to reprimands. Continued violations will lead to demotions to less friendly jobs, like in the sewage systems or on farms or ranches within the station. If you continue to be disobedient, you will be consumed. Is that clear?”

  “Nostu, I like you. I will do what you say, I promise. The last thing I need is another beating. But how does my playing a video game help?”

  “It’s not a game, Dave. Your mind will control servant robots on this station. When you think about moving a pallet, a real robot moves a real pallet. The Friends of The Accord within this station could do this work, but it is beneath us. And from looking at me, you know I could not move a pallet. The servant robots have code in their systems to stop them from going to unauthorized areas and they record their own steps, so making them do something stupid will be detected and punished. Please put your helmet back on now. I’m going back to my office. You’ll start receiving orders from me very soon.” The metal man turned and moved back down the corridor of cubicles. Dave turned the helmet over in his hands and considered his options. Ultimately, it came down to work or be dinner. He put his helmet on again and sat back.

  Dave heard Nostu’s voice in his head. “I’m sorry Dave, but your first assignment will be a bit different than I explained. There is a blockage in one of our pipes leading to the feeding stations. Look for the red dot, which is where a swimmer is ready to find out what is blocking the pipe. Follow the blue line to the problem area. In this case, you will not be following the schematic, but actually looking through the eyes of the robot swimmer. When you arrive, tell me what you see, okay?”

  Dave concentrated on the red dot. He dove into the schematic, and layer after layer passed by. The schematic image of the pipeline was right in front of him. He concentrated on it again and the schematic disappeared. The view changed to the actual interior of the pipe, but there was no blue line. Dave thought about turning around and the robot complied. Now the blue line was in front of him. His mind reached forward and the swimmer began to move along the line. The line dropped straight down and the robot turned and raced deeper into the pipe. It almost seemed as though he was back on Tak-Makla, watching his shuttle fly through the tubes, but he knew the reality was not that good. He was a slave in the body of a monster. The blue dot appeared in the distance and the swimmer raced toward it. After another minute, he arrived at the blockage. Dave had to fight hard not to vomit and his mind was spinning. “Nostu, I am at the blockage.”

  “What can your report, Dave?”

  “I’m looking at several dozen Nan heads that are jammed together into a large block. That’s your problem. I wish you could see this too. Then maybe you’d understand the horror you guys do to innocents,” Dave said.

  “I am sorry you had to see something like that Dave. I really am. I will dispatch a cleaner robot to clear the blockage. Please remove you helmet,” Nostu ordered.

  Dave pulled the device from his head, but the image was burned into his retinas. He noticed Nostu standing next to him again. “Yes, boss?” he asked.

  “I know you don’t care, but I have notified the feeding station about the problem in the systems and they will correct the root cause of this problem,” Nostu replied. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Dave smiled and said, “That’s okay, friend. I know you are new to The Accord and maybe don’t know everything that goes on. Maybe you should send me to a farm or something where I won’t face that kind of thing.”


  “I would prefer you to stay here with me, Dave,” Nostu replied. “I will talk to Master Vanda about the feeding systems. I don’t think humans should be involved in that part of the station. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again. Will you stay?”

  “Yes, Nostu. I still like you and consider you to be my friend,” Dave said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to accept the slaughter of innocents as food, but that is the way things are, so I’ll try to do what I can for you.”

  Chapter 15

  “It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Loni Arrak reported. She was standing in Zee’s office on Tak-Makla. The Galliceans, Fa-a-Di and De-o-Nu, along with Darlene Brewster and Jon Lake sat with Zee, listening intently. “I was watching the fog within Universal Power over that planet near Stit when it suddenly shrank to a pinpoint of intensely bright light. I rushed toward it to find out what was going on. When I was close to the planet’s atmosphere, I noticed there were two such bright lights, extremely close to one another. I could see Dar Lini asleep in a bed and raced to her side, knowing the fog could return any second. When I was in her room, I could swear I heard two people speaking in the ancient Nan language. I thought that was very odd. At that moment, I could sense three Nan on the planet, Lini and the two speakers. I reached out to retrieve her, but the fog returned and I was shoved far back into space.”

  “Did Lini appear to be safe and healthy? Were there any signs she was being held against her will?” Fa-a-Di asked.

  “She seemed to be in good health. The building she was in was like a palace, and her room looked very opulent and comfortable. If I would have had a few more seconds, she might have been here with us today,” Lini reported. “I’m sorry that I failed.”

  “Don’t apologize, Loni,” Darlene said. “You did your best. I’m afraid we’re dealing with something unique here. Did you sense Dave anywhere?”

  Zee put his hand on top of Darlene’s and squeezed it gently. “Unfortunately, we have seen Dave inside a giant planetoid that is moving from the Large to Small Cloud as we speak. I believe the planetoid is the robotic body of a Friend of The Accord.”

  “How big of a ship is it?” De-o-Nu asked.

  “At least ten thousand miles in diameter,” Zee replied. “It does not look like Dave is in danger of being consumed yet. There are hundreds of Friends inside the ship and millions of Nan. It would appear this Friend has quite an ecosystem built inside of him.”

  “Can we rescue him?” Fa-a-Di asked.

  “Odo Pak has asked us not to try for now,” Zee answered.

  “What? Why would he do that?” Darlene shouted.

  “Please be calm, Darlene,” Zee began. “Now that we have found him, we can extract him if he is in danger. We have agents monitoring him around the clock. Odo has convinced me that Dave is the key to solving the problem with The Accord. If we rescue him, we may lose the opportunity to stop them from within. Then our starships will have to fight and many planets and lives will be lost.”

  “This is ridiculous!” Fa-a-Di exclaimed. “Dave is one human being. He can’t take down The Accord by himself. We all love him very much and want him to be safe. We should extract him as quickly as we can.”

  “Everyone please relax,” Zee urged. “We will not allow him to be harmed any more. If his life is threatened, we’ll pull him back here immediately.”

  “What did you mean by any more, Zee?” Darlene asked.

  “I hate to be the one to report this, but when we found him on that planetoid, he had already been severely beaten. He has been treated and is recovering, but it did happen,” he answered.

  “What happens if you lose the connection to that planetoid again?” Darlene asked. “Maybe they’ll kill Dave if that happens.”

  “I don’t know how we could lose the connection,” Zee said, “although I understand your concern. We will protect Dave Brewster. If we sense any problems arising in our connections, we’ll pull him out. But we need to remember what we learned on Bandabar. With the large number of Friends of the Accord who will be coming this way, trillions of innocent lives will be lost along with countless valiant soldiers if we have to face them in battle. The dead will probably include most of us. How is the progress on the singularity weapon coming, General?”

  “Very slow, I’m sad to report,” Fa-a-Di replied. “Every day, the explosion that weakened Zeet seems more like just dumb luck. We haven’t been able to replicate anything like it, even with all the best minds working on it. Even Captain Jon Lake here has been forced to give up his ship to help in the project. What do you say, Jon?”

  “You are exactly right, General,” Jon said. “Getting massive lumps of plasma to collapse to subatomic size is not as easy as it sounds.” Everyone laughed. “The theory is sound and the math makes sense, but we’ve had no luck so far.” He turned to look at Darlene. “Every extra day that Dave can get for us will help.”

  “Can you at least reach out to Dave so he knows we are close by?” Darlene asked. “If he knew we could save him, it might make his life there a bit better.”

  “I’m afraid Odo has also ruled that out too,” Zee said, squirming in his chair.

  “If Odo is making all the decisions, why isn’t he here to tell us himself?” Fa-a-Di shouted. “I’m getting sick and tired of other people making the decisions. This is the Free Society. We have a High Council. They need to make these decisions, not Odo Pak!”

  “Odo thinks if Dave knows we can rescue him, he may take unnecessary chances and anger The Accord. Then we might have no choice other than to rescue him. Our chance to work within The Accord would be lost,” Zee argued. “He also said that he personally checks on Dave every day. There is no chance that Dave will be harmed now that we can see him.”

  “That doesn’t change anything,” Fa-a-Di replied. “The High Council makes these decisions, not you or Odo.”

  “Well, there is one other thing,” Zee began. “Odo has a signed order from President Mencius giving him the power to do exactly that.”

  §

  Lini was sitting on the patio enjoying her breakfast. It was going to be a warm and sunny day near the palace, and she wanted to explore the area nearby for signs of stone temples. She also wondered if there was an ocean nearby where she could call out to any Zula on the planet. If this planet was a Hive, she could find Dave and help them both escape. Eon emerged from the building, followed by G17 carrying his breakfast. She smiled and waved at him. When he arrived, he sat down across from her and took a sip of his coffee. “Good morning, Eon,” she said. “Did you sleep well?”

  “For most of the night I slept very well,” he replied. “I know this question will seem odd, but do you know someone named Bandopaz Niderak?”

  “No, that name is not familiar,” she replied. “But I come from a planet far from here and we rarely traveled much past our village. Who is that?”

  “Well, that’s a good question,” he said. “At this moment, I don’t know if it was real or a dream. I awoke in the middle of the night to use the restroom and when I returned, there was a man sitting on my bed. He said he was Bandopaz Niderak.” He turned to the robot butler and asked, “Did you sense another human in the house last night, G17?”

  “No, Master, although I did find two snifters that had been used and an open bottle of brandy in the kitchen. I assumed they were used by you and the lady here,” the robot replied.

  “I didn’t have any brandy last night, Eon,” Lini said.

  “So, he was here and my dream was no dream,” Eon gasped. “This can’t be true. There must be another explanation.”

  “What did that man tell you, Eon?” she asked.

  “He called me a transcendent man, although I am still struggling with the thought. He said I now live simultaneously in both the physical and spiritual planes of existence. He also talked about something called Universal Power. Do you know what any of that means?” he asked.

  “I have experienced Universal Power myself,” Lini
responded and Eon’s expression brightened. “When Dave and I were imprisoned on Solander for a year, we made our way back to our own time by using a natural Hive on the planet Fistnan. Then, when we came to Skee Lotho to research The Accord, a constructed Hive sent us here.”

  “Was this Universal Power thing full of ghosts? Bandopaz said it was the realm of spirits. What did you see there?” he asked.

  “Actually, it seemed pretty much like normal to me, except I had the feeling my mind was separated from my body,” Lini reported. “When we were leaving Fistnan, Dave and I lay down on stone beds and closed our eyes. Instantly, our minds were flying through space at incredible speed. But I couldn’t see Dave or my own body. We were just like strings of light!” Eon gasped. “Next thing, our minds and bodies were back together again on the same stone benches, only four hundred thousand years in the future.”

  “Lini, do you think I’m a ghost?” Eon asked. “I feel alive, but I just don’t know anymore.”

  She smiled, rose and walked over to the old man. She took his wrist in one hand and touched her lips to his forehead. “Well, you have a pulse and are warm, so I don’t think you can be dead, Eon. I think you are a Nan, just like me, although how you helped me escape the firing squad is a big question.” She patted his head and returned to her chair.

  “Lini, there are a couple other things you may not have recognized about me,” he began. Lini looked at him intently. “You know I was the first Friend of The Accord, right?” She nodded. “Then you must know this is not my original body, although it looks much as I did back then. I was very old and ill when Vanda and Mantarcus moved my mind into a robot. That first machine was very alien to me. The robot was only a couple feet tall. The head included sensors, but was capped by a glass sphere where my brain was encased.”