by S A Pavli
“Let’s do it,” I said enthusiastically.
“Now?”
“Yes. That way nobody else will see me.”
“Well… I think the Guardian Council will like to see you as you are. We are going down in a dedicated shuttle. I will ask that we are kept private for now until you meet the Council. Then we can disguise you.”
“All the Guardian Council? How many is that?”
“One member for each settlement. That’s five hundred and seventy nine,” she said.
“Five hundred and seventy nine? I’m meeting all of them?” She detected the alarm in my voice.
“Not individually,” she added hastily. “They will all be in the hall.”
“Manera, it will be impossible to keep me a secret if that many people know of me. Can I suggest that only a few members of the central committee, or whatever they call themselves, need to know.”
“They all know you are here Paul, and they all know what we are trying to achieve. It has been agreed by the whole Council. That’s how we do things.”
“But do they all need to see me?”
“Would you deny them that historic right?” I paused to think about what she was saying. She had a point. The whole Council had agreed mine and Alfred’s involvement in this enterprise. They would surely want to at least see the Earthman.
“Okay, I guess even if the secret does get out there’s no harm done. And if I am in disguise I can move around without people pointing fingers.”
“I’m not sure the disguise will be that good,” she said with an impish smile. “Just don’t frighten the children.”
“Ha! Very funny.” The last time Manera had said that, it had been literally true. She had been asking me not to frighten the children during the visit to the Kreslatcha village.
We left the apartment and joined the others at the assembly area. There was a call from one of the crewmen and we trouped out to the air lock to enter the shuttle. I checked with Alfred that our comms channel was working. He was to stay on line continuously in order to translate for me. The plan was that Alfred’s container would be transferred to the Lisa Jane shuttle, and the shuttle would make a landing at a site to be designated. There, Alfred would be connected to the Hianja computer systems containing the designs and documentation for the Peacekeepers and their programming. This was to happen tomorrow, after Manera and I had got the formalities of our arrival out of the way.
All the Ensadis crew and the scientific team were disembarking for a period of leave, but the shuttle had ample seats for all of us. The ship disconnected from the Ensadis and we waved it goodbye as it slid by our windows. The ride down with the AG shuttle was quiet and peaceful, unlike Earth shuttles. AG allowed the ship to decelerate gently, re-entering the atmosphere at a moderate velocity and circling gently down to its landing destination.
Over the city the views out of the windows were spectacular. I felt like a tourist visiting an exotic destination. Doesn’t get more exotic than this I thought. The ship approached a huge circular building, built as a series of rings on top of each other, each ring smaller than the one beneath and rising almost to a point a thousand feet above the ground. Our ship landed on a circular landing strip with dozens of shuttles parked on either side.
Manera and I were asked to stay in our seats while the crew and scientists from the Ensadis disembarked. We were in the front two seats and as they passed us they all shook my hand with smiles and declarations of friendship. I was touched by their good wishes and used my few Hianja words to thank them. After they had all left we were escorted off the shuttle by a small security team. The security team clearly had no idea who I was and ignored me, until one of them noticed the uniform, then spotted my appearance. Soon they were all giving me curious looks. Had they heard about the alien I asked myself.
We were led to a lift which took us down a few floors and we exited to a large and sumptuous open area. There was a circular water fountain which was surrounded by colourful flowers, the spray from the fountain rising fifteen feet and creating a pretty umbrella of spray. Standing around the fountain I recognised my friend Chairman Krusniet and Guardians Hamolatonen and Kemato. They came forward with broad smiles and we all exchanged handshakes and shoulder hugs.
“We meet again Captain,” boomed Krusniet. “It seems our fates are interwoven.”
“It does indeed Chairman. In a good way I hope,” I replied. He nodded, but looked pensive.
“It seems there are many problems in our way. Your leaders are concerned about the Peacekeepers?”
“Yes Chairman. I am sorry about that.”
“I am not surprised. It is also a problem that concerns us. We are mobilising all our computer expertise Paul. We thought that maybe your AI Alfred can be of help to us.”
“Yes, Manera has explained that. We can’t really give an opinion on that until Alfred has had a chance to look at the programming. But I hope we can be helpful to you.”
“Is Alfred on line now?”
“Yes, he can talk to us.” I indicated the comms unit attached to my lapel.
“Welcome Alfred,” said the Chairman.
“Thank you chairman. It is a pleasure to be here on your beautiful planet.”
“It is our pleasure to have you. Now if you will follow us Paul, I will show you and Manera to your apartment and we will talk later over dinner.” I nodded and took Manera’s hand. We followed the three Guardians down a short corridor and were shown into our apartment.
“We three are also staying here along the corridor,” said the chairman. “If you need anything the apartment has a comms system. We will see you later.” We parted with handshakes and shoulder hugs. The apartment was sumptuous and had a superb view of the city. There was a large veranda and we went outside to enjoy the view. The air was clean and fresh, a cool wind ruffled Manera’s dark hair. We leant against the railing, my arm around her waist, the firm curve of her thigh pressed against mine. I turned and kissed her and looked back out into the city.
High above us streams of Tanseh flew in regimented patterns along their airways. Occasionally one would break off and descend towards a building or one would rise from a building and join the stream. Road traffic was made up of little autocabs moving along narrow strips between the buildings. They were clearly used for short journeys while the Tanseh were used for longer ones. I could see squares and precincts with what appeared to be shops fronts, stalls and restaurant areas, and the tiny figures of people moving around. Everywhere there was greenery, flowers, bushes and trees, running water and fountains. This is what a city can look like after ten thousand years of civilisation I thought.
I was aware that, if these machines were as dangerous as we believed them to be, then it was possible that very same civilisation stood on the brink. And on Earth, people were going about their business unaware that far away, on an alien planet, their future was also being decided.
It was a responsibility that I had not chosen, nor wanted. But it was not one that I would shun.
Chapter 14
That evening I had the onerous task of meeting the Guardian Council, all five hundred and seventy nine of them! I dressed in my SES uniform and Manera and I were directed to a large auditorium where Manera and I were ushered onto the stage with a group of senior Guardians including the Chairman. As soon as the assembled Guardians saw me there was a mutter of comment with individuals staring at me, turning to their neighbours to whisper and talk, then staring again. There was clearly a great deal of surprise at my Hianja like appearance.
Chairman Krusniet introduced me and gave a little speech detailing the circumstances of my encounter with Hianja explorers. It was a sanitised version, leaving out a small detail; the attempts by those same Hianja explorers to kill me and Manera. I was concerned about this. It seemed to me that the Guardian Council should be fully conversant with the nefarious and indeed murderous activities of the insurgents. However, it was not up to me to interfere with Hianja politics. Particularly since
Alfred had reminded me that my presence here was ‘unofficial’. I did not represent Earth.
I gave my own little speech, using my broken Hianjese, keeping it simple. But they seemed to like it and I got a good ovation, the Hianja, like us, used clapping to show approval. I did notice however that there seemed to be a few dissenters who failed to clap either the chairman or myself. Perhaps the ’dissidents’ view that contact with Humans was not a good thing was more prevalent than I had imagined? .
The Chairman then went on to talk about the failure of the Humans to initiate contact and Manera’s secret trip to Earth to contact me. This provoked questions, even shouted comments and the meeting threatened to get out of hand. I was getting some translations via my comms inplant from Alfred, and the general gist was that Manera’s trip to Earth had not been sanctioned by the Council.
“What if the Humans had captured the Peacekeeper aircraft?” someone asked. “We would have given them the latest military technology.” The individual who made the point was one of those on the front row who had not clapped.
Krusniet replied that there was no chance of the Earth’s military forces capturing the aircraft and had they done so it would have detonated, destroying itself. And Manera with it I thought. There were attempts at further protests but Krusniet firmly squashed them and we left the building with a number of heated discussions under way in the hall. It appeared that things had not gone quite to plan.
I noticed that, significantly, Krusniet had not raised the question of the Peacekeepers with the Council. We returned to our apartment with Krusniet, Hamolatonen and Kemato and the Chairman asked if they could come in to talk. I was pleased he did so because I was about to ask the same thing. Seated around a table on the veranda Manera brought us soft drinks and after a somewhat strained drink the Chairman sighed and relaxed back in his seat.
“You may have noticed that the dissidents have not been defeated,” he said.
“Your dissidents don’t want anything to do with Humans, and my government doesn’t want anything to do with Hianja. It’s an unholy alliance,” I observed. “Perhaps we should just let them get on with it.”
“It is tempting,” agreed Krusniet.
“To be honest,” said Kemato, “I don’t much care if Humans don’t want to proceed with contact for now. It is the issue of the Peacekeepers which is concerning me.”
“Perhaps you are worrying unduly?” I asked. “After all, they have been programmed to protect Hianja civilisation. I can see why my governments may be worried, but why should they be a threat to you?”
“As we said Paul, our analysis of their programming indicates they may have reached a point of instability,” said Krusniet.
“Which means?” I shook my head questioningly.
“A point at which their original programming has been subsumed into a higher order, one in which their original programming may have been lost.”
“Or weakened,” added Manera.
“The incident with the dissidents at Mesaroyat,” continued Krusniet. “When the Peacekeeper ship simply shot down the dissident’s starship. There were people on board, including you and Manera, but it showed no regard for that. It didn’t care about the loss of life.”
“Well, I did point this out to you at the time,” I reminded him. “But you reassured me that it was following a logical path.”
“I wanted to believe that,” said Krusniet. “But subsequent analysis by computer experts and our AIs has actually proven the opposite. The Settang Despass should not have been able to use force when it knew there was no threat. Its programming has been corrupted.”
“Alfred, what are your thoughts on this?” Alfred was always on line, as long as my communicator was switched on via my implant. He was my alter ego, always ready to analyse, expand, explain and, given half a chance, advise.
“The Peacekeeper’s original programming did not inhibit taking life.” said Alfred.
“Because they may find themselves in a situation where they would have to choose the lesser of two evils,” I suggested.
“Yes,“ replied Alfred “Where one action may mean the loss of some lives, and another action may mean the loss of many more lives, they must be able to act appropriately.”
“But in the situation we were in with the dissidents, there was no need to shoot the ship down since the dissidents had already agreed to stand down, as long as their political demands were met,” I added.
“And their political demands were for us to decide,” said Krusniet, finishing off my reasoning. “Not for the Peacekeepers. They pre-empted a decision which should have been within the remit of the Guardian Council.”
“So they made a decision which was not theirs to make, and they took lives unnecessarily,” I finished. There were nods of agreement from everyone. I turned to Krusniet.
“So what’s the plan, and have the Guardian Council agreed it?” I asked Krusniet. He looked shifty.
“No, the Council have not been informed. The plan is, there is no plan until we have more information. That is why we need Alfred to help us analyse the code. We will transfer his drum to your shuttle and fly it down tomorrow to a secret location. There we will interface him to our software systems.”
“What you said before mister Chairman, that the dissidents have not been defeated. What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means that they have some support in the Council. They have released the videos they captured from the damaged Earth ship and have persuaded some that Humans are too primitive and violent.” The Chairman paused to take a sip of his drink.
“Ironic really. These individuals think Humans are too violent, and Humans think we are too dangerous.” He shook his head. “Are we to return to the past when all strangers were treated with suspicion?”
“Well, we have to deal with that by proving them all wrong,” I said. “We can do that in good time. But first, we have to pacify the Peacekeepers. If that makes sense.”
Chapter 15
We had a restful night in a very comfortable bed and the next morning Manera prepared us breakfast from a fully stocked fridge. It was a little chilly for us to sit on the veranda but the dining table had a beautiful view from the huge picture window. Tanseh and pedestrian traffic were on the move and a few autotaxis wended their way along their narrow tracks between the tall buildings. Robots bustled along between buildings, outnumbering Hianja.
Someone, probably Alfred, had thought to bring down some of my ship’s rations and the smell of bacon and eggs and coffee filled the apartment.
“Home from home,” I remarked, pouring myself a cup of steaming coffee.
“No milk I’m afraid, but we have the Hian equivalent.” She pointed to a small jug on the table. I picked up the jug and had a little sniff, swirling the liquid around. It certainly looked like milk.
“You have cows?”
“Cows?”
“Large grass eating mammals with um, generous milk making apparatus,” I said.
“Yes, we call them gruse. They have been farmed for thousands of years.”
“Gruse milk. Let’s check it out.” I poured some in my coffee and took a slurp. “Very authentic,” I pronounced. She smiled and joined me at the table with her own coffee. She had loved Earth coffee from the first time she had tasted it.
“I forgot to bring some coffee seeds from Earth,” she said. “Grow my own coffee.”
“Coffee beans I think. Yeah, could catch on. I can see you as the new coffee millionaire magnate. Do they have millionaires here?”
“Yes, we have privately owned industries. Entrepreneurs are encouraged. Many of the Guardians are rich.” I was surprised by this. It had seemed to me that Hianja society was largely money free, essential services being free for all citizens.
“Many of the Guardians are rich?” I asked. This was even more of a surprise. I had understood that being a Guardian was a sort of unpaid hobby, Guardians being chosen for their wisdom and expertise. “Doesn’t that conflict with
the principle of being a Guardian?”
“The Guardian Council does not take economic decisions,” she said. “Those are taken by each planetary government. The Council mostly mediates between planetary governments. And makes sure that the common democratic principles are properly observed.”
“That sounds very loose,” I observed.
“As it should be,” she said. “We want to encourage diversity and enterprise.”
“Very sensible,” I agreed. “But that does mean that some of these characters we saw yesterday must be very powerful in their own back yards.”
“Back yards?”
“Home planets.”
“Ah. Yes they are but that means nothing here. All Guardians are equal,” she said. I nodded but the thought “ ...some are more equal than others” passed across my mind.
We finished our breakfast and I helped Manera clear up. We topped up our coffee cups and checked out the veranda which was now catching the morning sun.
“So while Alfred is analysing Peacekeeper code, what do we do?” I asked.
“I can show you around Hian,” she offered. “We are honoured guests with an unlimited expense account.” I chuckled appreciatively.
“I do like the sound of that. Not just the expense account, but being shown around by you.” I gazed at her fondly over my coffee cup. She was seated on the settee, long shapely bare legs crossed demurely, dark hair falling across her pale shoulders. Azure eyes smiled at me and I decided that at this very moment I was the luckiest man in the Universe. “But, we must carry out my disguise first.” I added.
“I’m going to enjoy that part,” she said with a cheeky smile.
“Remember, the idea is for me to merge into a crowd un-noticed,” I said warningly. She laughed.
“You do resemble a very famous comedy actor,” she said musingly, studying my face carefully. “He has a very odd face.”
