The Dave Brewster Series

by Karl Morgan

  The Elder put his hand on top of Charlie’s and said, “All of you are thinking too linearly. There are other forces at work to stop The Accord.”

  “And if those forces do not stop them?” Charlie asked.

  “Now we all know why this is a hopeless situation!” Fa-a-Di bellowed. “We have the tools we need to succeed, but no will to use them. Elder, please tell the rest of the commanders about your plan.”

  “Well, first of all, it is not my plan,” he admitted. “We have consulted with Elder Odo Pak and others and we believe The Accord will see the error of their ways and turn away of their own volition. One member of the group has already transcended and at least one more will soon. Any one of them will be able to stop The Accord with a single thought.”

  “This sounds like a fairytale to me,” General Abala Konole of Paxran laughed. “Some magic man will come to our rescue.”

  “I agree,” Vard Kalak said. “A small Friend of The Accord almost destroyed this battle station. No transcendent man came to our rescue. We need a real battle plan. General, what is happening with the singularity weapon system?”

  “I’ll take that question,” Jon Lake said. “We are beginning to see progress, but it will still be months before a successful prototype can be developed. Most of us will never see that day, I’m afraid. Serena, what about the Hive on Atar Pa? Can we use that one?”

  Chief Engineer Serena Vanatee of Atar Pa smiled and replied, “Of course, our Hive is at your disposal. There is one problem though.”

  “Oh God,” Fa-a-Di moaned.

  “Well, it’s not really a problem. It’s more of a situation, but please let me explain. We will use our Hive to do whatever needs to be done. However, if the Tak-Makla Hive or any of the natural Hives actively try to stop us, I don’t know if it will work,” she explained. “As you know, the tekkan Hive is much more powerful than ours and the natural Hives are more powerful than that.”

  Fa-a-Di sat heavily in his chair and rubbed his face with his hands. “Okay, Zee, and Elder, are you going to stop Atar Pa and allow us all to be exterminated? Is that what you want?”

  “Of course not!” Zee complained.

  “I honestly don’t believe the Bolofaz will allow such a tragedy,” Fodo began. “We must give Dave and Odo time to convince The Accord to stop their aggression. If they fail, and this system comes under direct attack, we will do what we must. If God judges me to be evil for that, it is a price I am willing to pay. But I am still not certain that killing the planetoids is the solution.”

  “What is the solution, in your mind?” Fa-a-Di asked.

  “We must remember that although The Accord is a potential threat to our worlds, it is a cruel reality of billions of humans right now. Most of the Friends keep millions of people imprisoned inside their planetoids as feedstock and slave labor. Many lives are sacrificed each day to feed their brains. We need to stop The Accord, not only because they are a threat to us; but because they have enslaved and are killing our brothers right now!” Fodo replied.

  “That is correct,” Zee noted. “If we put a bomb in the brain of one of the planetoids and killed it, the station would lose all power. Within hours, all of those people would die of asphyxiation. During those same few hours, the remaining smaller Friends would hunt the humans down and consume them to spare their own lives. Ultimately, clouds of thousands of robots would escape the planetoid and race toward the nearest planet.”

  “Zee, we do not have the weapons or technology to fix everything,” Fa-a-Di said. “I would love to have all those people rescued and the robots deactivated. But I don’t know how to do it, short of your fantasy of transcendence. If Dave and Odo fail, what choice do we have? If we must choose between the lives on those planetoids or our own planets, how can we not save ourselves first, and hope someday to rescue some of them.”

  “I know that you’re right, Fa-a-Di,” Zee replied. “I think all that we want is the opportunity to allow things to be resolved without massive bloodshed. If this chance at peace fails, then none of our futures are bright and God will judge our actions in any event.”

  Chapter 25

  A gentle rain shower washed the streets of the village of Tanat on Stit. Eon had been wandering around the area outside his estate, confused about his next steps and deathly afraid of the transcendence that everyone seemed to want him to make. He could see Lini’s face in his mind and felt the stirrings of love growing inside him. None of this could be real, he surmised. He had given up his body many thousands of years ago to become a machine. As he trudged through the mud puddles in the street, he could feel his breath and heartbeat, as well as the impact of raindrops on his hood. He stopped and removed the hood and turned his face upward. The coolness of the rain was very refreshing. He looked around at the storefronts on the narrow street. He had never visited Stit as a man, only as a robot. The people seemed so similar to those of his home world of Skee Lotho that he had been amazed.

  That was when things first began to spiral out of control. Vanda was growing very quickly, while Mantarcus and he chose to move more slowly to maintain some semblance of their humanity. Even on that day when he first visited Stit, he knew that Vanda would be a menace to humanity. His identity changed when his brain was cut from his skull. Immediately, he began to feel more machine than man. Mantarcus had told Eon that was likely due to his passion for robotics. After all, it was that unique talent that had allowed Eon to cheat death. It had been difficult to convince Vanda that consuming the people of Skee Lotho was wrong. Only after humans were detected on Stit did Vanda relent from his plans for the home world. Mantarcus was convinced that once Vanda saw the humanity of the people of Stit, he would relent again, but that never happened. Within a few weeks of arriving on Stit, Vanda began a massive building project to create a thousand mile diameter planetoid for his brain. It had taken virtually all the metals on the planet to complete that task. When his brain was moved, it began to grow quickly again. His old vessel was dismantled to create thousands of robots to hold minute pieces of his brain matter. The completed fleet was too powerful for Mantarcus and Eon to fight. The people of Stit were rounded up and herded onto his vessel. The liquefiers were put to work almost immediately. Eon continued his walk, with tears of sorrow for the planet mixing with the rain, which was falling more heavily now. As he approached the small gazebo in the center of the park, he noticed a man sitting there, somewhat obscured by the rainfall. As he approached, he could finally tell it was Bandopaz Niderak.

  “Out for a stroll?” Bandopaz asked.

  Eon walked over to the other, pulled him to his feet and hugged him. “My God, Bandopaz, I am so happy to see you again! Where have you been?”

  “I’ve been dealing with some other issues, but I have been keeping an eye on you, Eon,” the other replied. “I think helping Galat transcend was a wonderful thing.” He opened a pouch on his robe and removed two small glasses and a bottle of brandy. He sat, filled the glasses and handed one to Eon. “Please sit down and relax. We have much to discuss.”

  After touching glasses and drinking a toast, Eon said, “Each day I awaken with great hopes in my mind for the future. Then I cut myself shaving or burn my mouth on hot coffee and realize I am just a man. You tell me I have transcended, but I feel human. I can feel the burn in my cheeks from this brandy! How is that not human?”

  Bandopaz chuckled and patted Eon’s shoulder. “Transcendence is not about being dead or inhuman, Eon.” He took Eon’s hand and squeezed it hard. “I feel real, too, don’t I?”

  Eon squirmed to free his hand and replied, “A bit too real, if you ask me.” He pulled his hand free and rubbed it with his other hand. “Was that really necessary?”

  “Transcendence is about being a living, breathing man, and knowing you are beyond the fear of death and terror of the unknown,” Bandopaz replied. “It is about knowing that life for most physical Beings is a difficult journey, punctuated by moments of great joy and happiness, culminating in their own transcenden
ce. Those people, like Dar Lini and Dave Brewster, only see their physical lives. They do not understand their true lives never end, only the fleshy window through which they view it.”

  “I’m afraid I am no better than they, dear friend,” Eon sighed. “You tell me I am more, but I still feel very mortal. The thought of facing Vanda and his Friends is terrifying. I imagine them chopping me up in their liquefiers and feeding on my sinew and flesh.”

  “Being transcendent and understanding transcendence are not one and the same, Eon. I see you for what you are, while you feel what you feel and cannot recognize the changes in yourself,” Bandopaz said. “Lini and Dave have done a wonderful job trying to help you already. You have summoned Mantarcus to this planet. You have taken over Vanda’s robots in order to save Lini’s life. You are even summoning Vanda to face his fate here on Stit.”

  “What?” Eon scoffed. “I had nothing to do with his return here. Dave came of his own free will. Why would you say such a thing?”

  Bandopaz drank the rest of his glass and refilled both. “I understand your doubts, but they exist only due to your hesitancy to fulfill your destiny. Your failure to achieve greatness is due to your lack of faith in yourself.”

  Eon dropped his head and clamped his hands over his ears. “Now I’m getting a headache. What am I supposed to do? I’ve spent so much time as a machine that I’m not sure I have enough humanity left within me.”

  Bandopaz put his hands on Eon’s knees and leaned toward him. “Please listen to what I’m about to say.” Eon moved his arms and folded them across his chest. “You have transcended as I did so long ago. You have been searching for the meaning of that change but have not quite filled in the blanks yet. You also know the savagery of The Accord and desperately want to stop them. Is all of that true?”

  “Yes, that’s all true.”

  “Eon, it was you who convinced Zeet of The Accord to try to escape Bandabar, leading to his own death. That act did two things. First, it put a tiny doubt into the minds of each Friend of The Accord. But far more importantly, it led Dave and Lini to come to Skee Lotho to learn more about The Accord.” Eon was shaking his head in bewilderment. He was about to speak when Bandopaz motioned him to remain silent. “You exposed the nearby spiral galaxy to the evil of The Accord to protect them and to summon others who would help you defeat them.”

  “I don’t remember doing any of that,” Eon argued.

  “You were lost in a fog of your own doubts, but you were begging for help. That is why Dave, Lini, and I are here now. You asked for our help and we have come to offer it. As you have begun to recognize your abilities, that fog has dissipated, although your mind is still not as focused as it should be,” Bandopaz noted.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you about their friend, the Elder of Nan? When I met him on Fistnan, I was surprised how much he resembled you. Is there anything else you want to tell me about him?” Eon asked.

  Bandopaz smiled and replied, “As a transcendent man, I assume you already know the answer to your question.” Eon stared back without expression. “Why don’t you just say what you mean?”

  “Perhaps I have an idea of the truth, but let’s just leave that where it is. Okay, let’s assume everything else you said is true,” Eon started. “What do we do now?”

  “From this minute forward, I will not do anything. I want you to exercise your considerable talents. Take us somewhere you’d like to visit. Think of us together at some other location and time, and we’ll see what happens.”

  §

  Dave and Lini were sitting at the small table in the kitchen of Eon’s house. Each had a steaming cup of fresh coffee. A small tray of sweet biscuits sat in the middle of the table. “Dave, do you ever think about our time on Solander?” she asked, as she grabbed a biscuit and put it on the saucer of her cup.

  “Of course I do, Lini,” he smiled back. “It seems so long ago now, and so much has changed since we returned.”

  “Dave, as the firing squad was about to shoot at me, I prayed I could be back there again.”

  Dave chuckled. “So spending a year on Solander with me was a little better than being shot, is that it?”

  “No! That year was the best one in my life, Dave, and you know it,” she argued. “I just couldn’t believe we had survived that just to be shot dead on Skee Lotho.”

  Galat walked slowly into the kitchen, yawning and rubbing his eyes. When he saw the others, he stepped back and squeaked, “I’m so sorry, Master Dave and Mistress Lini. I must have overslept.”

  Lini jumped to her feet and hugged him. “Don’t apologize, Galat! How was your first night’s sleep as a real human?”

  His eyes lit up as he replied, “It was the most amazing thing! As a robot, I never slept. The dreams and nightmares were amazing. I could never have imagined something so wonderful.”

  “Please sit with us and have some coffee, Galat,” Dave said. “I’ve seen some amazing things before, but never a robot turned into a man.”

  §

  Mantarcus launched ten thousand robots toward Vanda’s vessel, still several hours away. Five starships crewed by Friends accompanied the smaller robots. Vanda could sense the launch and immediately began to prepare his fleet for war. Deep inside the planetoid, the ten golden robots began to argue. “This is treason, Mantarcus!” Vanda shouted. “How dare you launch your weapons toward me?”

  “Vanda, I asked you to turn around. In fact I begged you to do so,” Mantarcus replied. “You do not need Dave or Eon for anything. They cannot harm you. Turn around and take your revenge on Dave’s fellow man in the spiral.”

  “Now you’re telling me what to do,” Vanda laughed. “You do not lead The Accord, Mantarcus. It is not your right to tell any of us what to do. Call back your fleet and maybe I’ll let you and your Friends survive.”

  “Master Vanda, Mantarcus does have a point,” Opala said softly. “We can always return to Stit at our leisure to take care of those two. I thought the spiral was our primary goal.”

  Vanda fell down into his chair stunned. “I can’t believe my ears! Opala, you are my favorite and now you speak against me too?”

  “Of course not, Master. I only note that Stit is not the priority, and if we can avoid fighting amongst ourselves, The Accord will remain at peak strength.”

  “Never mind Opala,” Mantarcus said to Vanda. “I know the poison in your soul will only be eliminated by my death. In a way, I relish the thought of death now. I have become so inhuman, more machine than man, really. My only salvation was recognizing the truth and not continuing to be a monster like the rest of you.”

  Vanda laughed out loud. “If death is your wish, I am more than happy to grant it, Mantarcus. Our fleets will meet shortly and the battle will be joined. Your powers cannot match mine. Your death is assured, and nothing can stop that anymore.”

  “I’ll see you on the field of honor, Vanda,” Mantarcus replied. The golden robot’s eyes rolled up in his head and glowed red. The robot exploded, shredding the others into bits of metal and circuitry. A squad of fire control robots burst into the room and began to douse the flames.

  Vanda’s mind reached out across the light-years for Mantarcus. “You bastard! Your destruction of the golden robots will not help your fate. It is inconceivable that a Friend of The Accord would hide explosives in the vessel of another Friend.”

  Mantarcus laughed. “Don’t think of it as an attack, dear friend. Think of it as payback for my robot which was destroyed by Eon. You promised to pay me for that, and given our current situation, I thought I’d take matters into my own hands. Unfortunately, the self-destruct device was not very powerful. Please do not attempt to contact me again.”

  §

  “This place looks very familiar to me,” Bandopaz said as he surveyed the forest around them. They were on a wooded hillside. In the distant valley, a large river cut through the blanket of trees. “This looks a lot like Zulanan. Is that where we are?”

  “Yes, I wanted to see th
e planet Lini is from,” Eon replied.

  “Are you aware of what is happening near Stit?”

  “Yes, Vanda and Mantarcus are about to engage in combat,” Eon replied. “Should we intercede?”

  “I’ll leave that up to you. Right now, I think it is important for you to exercise your talents. You’ll know when to return and how to help Mantarcus, Dave, and Lini,” Bandopaz said. “I’d like to talk to you for a bit though. Let’s sit down on that bench on the trail for a moment.” They walked uphill to the small clearing and sat down. As they sat, a number of Galliceans walked by them and down toward the sacred river, although none noticed the two men just feet from them. “Do you know why I’m helping you?”

  “I thought you wanted to stop The Accord and save your friends,” Eon replied.

  “That is part of it, no doubt. If you already understand your capabilities, you could handle your former brothers without my help. But the real reason is that you and I are now the only two transcendent Beings in the universe, as far as I know. There are others who live exceptionally long lives, but they eventually die and pass over, even after millennia. That can never happen for us, since we are on both sides already. That makes us like brothers.”

  “How long have you been transcendent, Bandopaz?”

  He looked up and thought about time for a while. “Perhaps three or four hundred million years.” Eon looked stunned. “I was born in one of the first generations of children on Fistnan, after our grandparents fled Earth 47. There was great poverty on Fistnan in those days. Many were unable to make ends meet. I imagine they were the ones who immigrated into the Clouds.” Bandopaz chuckled. “I guess that means we’re related by blood too.”

  “I never imagined I would be immortal,” Eon gasped. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that, trudging about day to day forever!”