by Nick M Lloyd
Aytch remained silent for a moment, taking it in, Justio had seen these types of things all before. But, operationally, it was new to Aytch—up until now he’d only had the theory. ‘Am I right in thinking that the wars only started after the Trogians found out about Triple Alphas?’
‘While only a few Trogians knew about Beta to Alpha transitioning there was no problem. But then there was an incident in which an existent Alpha was converted into a Triple, and this Triple became very noticeable, very quickly. The Gadiums tried to cover it up, but failed.’ Justio walked back to the central bench and sat down. ‘Once the particular Trogian government saw the power of their very own Triple Alpha the outcome was inevitable. All made worse by the rumours that aliens were supporting various factions more than others.’
Aytch nodded. ‘Then all the Trogian governments started trying to produce Triple Alphas.’ He took a few more notes.
‘Gadium couldn’t stop them, not short of an actual attack, which would have been pretty poor first-contact diplomacy.’ Justio sighed. ‘So the governments with Triples started exerting their will.’ Justio stretched out his leg. ‘The usual stuff, probability-based attacks on technology systems: code breaking, denial of service, faked messages, etc. It was easy while the Haves were simply bullying the Have Nots. Then one country got greedier and made a significant attack on another Triple enabled country. They dropped their own Triple Alpha commandos into the rival government command centre with orders to kill the government and military officials.’
Walking over to the nutrition dispenser, Aytch pulled out an energy tube. He unclipped one end, put it in his mouth and inhaled deeply. The chemical compounds flooded Aytch’s lungs and were quickly absorbed into his blood stream. ‘Traitors. Why didn’t the GEC intercede?’
‘The GEC were over twenty light years away, sitting in their committee room on Gadium. They only knew what they were told by the commanders who were in orbit around Trogia.’
Aytch looked around the walls of data. ‘Thank you for your insight, commander.’
Justio nodded an acknowledgement and turned back to his own work.
Aytch returned to his own reading, but Justio broke the silence. ‘They were traitors, but they may not have been completely out of control. I heard a rumour once of a case where a Gadium team did create a Triple from a normal Alpha using standard conditioning.’ Justio paused. ‘They kept the Triple on-planet for a year and then took it off-planet. The claim was it re-boosted the Beta to Alpha transition rates.’
‘Do you believe it?’
‘It was many hundreds of thousands of years ago. And there’s no proof and no underlying scientific explanation. Most people reject the example as an error in measurement. I’ve not heard it repeated in the last few thousand years…definitely don’t mention it in your exams.’
Aytch turned back to his own work.
Again the silence was broken by Justio. ‘Another thing to be mindful of, but not to mention in the exams, is that the meddling probably condemned billions of Trogians to an early grave; not just the war, but the inevitable delay to Full Emergence as we cleaned up.’
Chapter 6
All quiet currently. Just over a thousand light years away, Commander Jenkins, of the Gadium Emergence Committee (GEC), sat in his office and reviewed the latest real-time message back from Earth, courtesy of the QET communications grid. Jenkins recalled that, fifty years previously, there had been some furious activity on Earth, but it had not developed into a Full Emergence.
An alarm on his desk chimed quietly. Jenkins reached over and switched it off. Bringing his hand back, his gaze flicked across the desk and lingered on the hologram of his daughter, the only truly personal ornament in his entire office. Cleaning up Trogia.
There was a polite cough from the doorway, Jenkins’ adjunct had entered the room. ‘Sir, the Gadium Emergence Committee meeting will be commencing soon. Shall I call you an escort?’
‘I’ll walk.’ Commander Jenkins stood up briskly. Another long meeting of sideways glances, hand-wringing and indecision. He picked up his jet black jacket and put it on. With his various medals gleaming across his chest, he left the room shaking his head.
As usual, the GEC meeting was being held in the main government buildings in the centre of Gadium City. It took Jenkins a brisk ten minute walk to get there. Once inside, he made a quick detour to the Military Intelligence offices. There were a few people in the reception and he put his head inside. ‘Good afternoon, gentlemen. Status?’
One of the officers noticed Commander Jenkins, and threw himself to attention. ‘Sir! Currently 95 missions active: 33 in transit outward and 62 on-station. There are also 22 missions in transit inward back to Gadium. Of our 62 active missions, we have 12 Full Emergences under control, and 5 other planets with early signs.’
Jenkins smiled. ‘I really just meant…How are you all doing?’
‘Fine sir! Thank you for asking sir.’
With a friendly nod, Jenkins walked on. He was sure he hadn’t been so regimented when he had been the head of Military Intelligence. I should have asked to speak to someone about the latest on Rolumpus. Secession risks. They’ve been making noises about quarantine zones and use of AI for a while now.
A few moments later, Jenkins arrived at the Gadium Emergence Committee meeting. It had not quite started yet. There were a few Gadium members dressed in black military uniforms, the rest wearing the more common cream citizen robes. Taking his seat at the conference table, he studied the members.
As he was sweeping his gaze around the table, his eyes locked with the Deputy Chairman sitting opposite. The Deputy was close to being the eldest member of the Gadium government, and was certainly one of the most respected. Jenkins nodded his head in silent greeting and got an almost imperceptible nod back. The Deputy looked unusually sour today; every few moments he turned and whispered commands to one of the four lackeys who stood in readiness behind him.
The rest of the table held the remaining 30 or so active members of the GEC. The rules were clear; to have a voice on the council you had to be physically present. Jenkins continued to look around. There were very few gaps at the table, except in the most important places.
For a few minutes the background of conversations continued to bubble, then there was a loud knock and a junior council member held the doors open. Jenkins watched as the Chairwoman and Commander Sharnia walked in slowly, their heads close to touching, whispering to each other as they made their way to their places. He heard the jingle of Sharnia’s medals tightly packed on to her full military dress uniform, as she passed behind his seat.
Jenkins could feel her stare on the back of his head, but he kept looking straight ahead, not daring to turn and meet it. There were some games of nerve you didn’t play unless you played them for real.
The Chairwoman sat at her place, and without looking up, read from the agenda. ‘Item 1, mission summary, please.’
A junior minister, at the far end of the table from Jenkins, directed his answer to the Chairwoman. ‘Lady Chairwoman, the 64 open missions are mostly quiet in the pre-Emergence stage.’
From across the full length of the 20 metre long table, Jenkins interrupted. ‘I thought there were 62 open missions.’
The junior minister turned towards Jenkins and slightly shook his head. ‘The latest report did show 62 sir. However, it was a manual entry operator keying error. We’re definitely at 64 sir.’
Jenkins shook his head. ‘Poor data? I accept that we don’t want to risk over-reliance on computers, but…’
The Chairwoman looked up and interrupted. ‘Commander Jenkins. We all live with the restrictions on computational activity. If the only issue we get is the occasional piece of incorrect data then the price is cheap.’
Jenkins acknowledged the point with a slight nod. I’m sure we could improve our data analysis without accidentally creating artificial intelligence.
The Chairwoman turned back towar
ds the junior minister. ‘Please continue. Are there any planets we think are close?’
The junior minister consulted his notes. ‘We have four looking warm, with potential Emergences underway.’
Jenkins could not help himself. ‘I have heard there were five, and the truth…’
The Chairwoman cut across him. ‘Commander Jenkins, the truth is whatever we report in this meeting. Don’t quibble over plus or minus one unit.’
Sharnia leant over and whispered into the Chairwoman’s ear. She nodded, then looked back at Jenkins.
Jenkins held out his hands palms outwards in supplication, then he looked around the room, briefly locking eyes with the Deputy Chairman. The Deputy gave a small smile. Jenkins sat back in his seat, wondering why he always came to these things with such high expectations.
The Chairwoman looked up, straight ahead. ‘Mr Deputy Chairman, if you would give your updates please.’
The Deputy Chairman stood, paused and looked around the table. ‘Our mission team is closing in on the Vantch system. The remaining journey time is something of an unknown, but they have recently reported passive receipt of electromagnetic emissions from Vantch indicating significant ongoing conflicts. We need authority to order the incoming Gadium mission to increase its velocity.’
A moment passed while the Chairwoman considered the situation. She had a short whispered exchange with Sharnia, then turned her attention back to the Deputy, who was waiting with ill-concealed impatience. ‘As I understand, you want us to authorise the Gadium mission to increase velocity to 0.98c? With all the associated risks of getting close to light speed?’
Jenkins watched Sharnia out of the corner of his eye, she was sitting with barely concealed tension. What’s her view?
After a short pause, the Deputy replied. ‘Yes, Madam Chairwoman. They’re currently at standard operational speeds, but we have to get on-station as soon as possible. They may be slipping into a Full Emergence without any support.’
A murmur from somewhere around the table sounded like ‘good luck to them’.
Sharnia leapt to her feet, towering over the table. She growled. ‘Treason!’ She stood stock still while sweeping her gaze across the members of the council. ‘Let me remind you all membership of the GF is still currently illegal as well as eternally immoral.’
The Deputy had not yet seated himself when Sharnia stood up, but even from across the table she loomed over him. She was a good metre taller, and well over twice his weight (as were all females of the Gadium species). Their eyes locked, and it was Sharnia who nodded her head slightly and sat down.
The Deputy stood for a few moments and then sat down too.
The Chairwoman turned to Jenkins. ‘Commander Jenkins, can you give us a military assessment?’
Jenkins stood. ‘A 20% increase in velocity would be meaningful. All the intelligence so far has been gathered from passive scanning of Vantch, but we’ve only been signalling ahead for the last fifteen years. The quicker we get the first return signals the better.’
The Chairwoman nodded slowly. ‘And how far are we away now?’
‘The latest estimates are that we are just over a year away.’
‘But?’
‘There is some uncertainty; however, the commanders on the Vantch Mission believe they are about one year away.’
Jenkins noticed a quiet, but noticeable, grumble around the table. The uncertainty was a cause for concern. He sat back down.
The Chairwoman held up a hand and the grumbling stilled immediately. ‘All of us here are very aware of our custodial obligations.’ Slowly she scanned every face at the table, looking into their eyes in turn. ‘These new civilisations need our stewardship, and particularly our guidance, in their development of new capabilities. Are there any votes against authorising the velocity increases?’
No concerns were raised.
The Chairwoman nodded to the Deputy. ‘Passed.’
Sharnia leant over again and whispered into the Chairwoman’s ear. This time, Jenkins noticed the Chairwoman give a look of slight disapproval.
A waiting silence settled on the room.
‘Now a related matter.’ The Chairwoman stood up. ‘I am aware that some of you here have sympathies with the GF. Let me remind you, they are an illegal organisation and their mantra of non-intercession runs counter to our creed. You will not support them.’ She paused. ‘Secondly, we are coming up to a pivotal point for the Gadium civilisation. You are all aware that more and more star systems under our protection are wondering if perhaps they would benefit from a little more freedom. Let’s be honest with ourselves; individually they would benefit from some loosening of our rules, but collectively it cannot be allowed.’
As he looked around the table, Jenkins noticed a few faces not wholly sympathetic to the last rallying call from the Chairwoman. But there was a general murmur of assent, and he sat quietly while the rest of the meeting continued with negligibly interesting reports.
After a few hours of general discussion, the committee filed out, but not before Sharnia addressed the meeting herself.
As she stood, her bulky muscles and savage scars dominated the room. ‘Let me be perfectly clear, I will not allow the GF to whisper lies about the so-called freedoms we withhold from our territories. The GF are pushing for us to withdraw from certain star systems—Never. The GF are pushing for us to provide all technologies to our dependencies—Never. The GF are looking for political legitimacy to retrench the Gadium civilisation—Never. We have a duty to the galaxy, and we will execute on our duty to the fullest of our abilities.’
Once outside the meeting room, Jenkins found the Deputy waiting for him. ‘Commander Jenkins, please walk with me.’
Jenkins fell into step with the Deputy, with the Deputy’s retinue trailing behind at a respectful distance.
After they’d walked down a little way down the corridor, the Deputy turned to Jenkins. ‘You will be pleased when the Trogian interim review gets back, I assume?’
Katrina. ‘Yes, Mr Deputy, very much so. It’s been hard to be away from my daughter: stasis holidays, personal diaries and QET messaging help, but it’s still hard.’
They stood in silence for a few moments. Commander Jenkins knew the Deputy’s own son had taken a deep space mission some years earlier and was basically gone forever—at least 8,000 years. Although the Deputy would very likely still be alive on his son’s return, emotionally they would be nigh-on strangers. What was even more saddening was the Deputy’s son had also taken his wife and children. Jenkins supposed this had broken the Deputy’s heart. ‘We take too much on ourselves.’
‘Yes, we do…But it’s our calling. We do what we must. Endure what we must. Give up what we have to.’ Then he looked directly into Jenkins’ eyes. ‘However, I fear that, on Vantch, the late arrival of the Gadium mission will be very much short of the mark. It’s almost impossible to safely shepherd civilisations through an Emergence once a major conflict has taken hold.’
For a split second, Jenkins thought there was a hint of a smile creeping into the corners of the Deputy’s mouth. ‘I agree, sir, Vantch is most likely beyond saving.’
‘And Earth?’
‘We have an experienced commander. Justio has over 30 missions to his name.’
The Deputy raised his eyebrows. ‘Is he older than me?’
‘Not quite, sir. He’s done a lot of deep space missions but biologically he is closer to 9,000. Anyway…he has our interests at heart. His co-commander, Aytch, can be trusted to do things by the book.’ Jenkins looked back towards the meeting room. Sharnia was emerging with the Chairwoman.
The Deputy followed his gaze. ‘They’re both very worried about the GF. Rightly too. I’ve heard they’re launching a major push.’
Gadium First. Jenkins scrutinised the Deputy’s face, but the Deputy looked away.
The silence dragged on, then the Deputy turned back to Jenkins. ‘Perhaps we can complete the con
versation in the next few weeks, if you can make it to my favourite restaurant.’
Jenkins nodded and mumbled an acceptance; the Deputy moved off with the cadre of Gadium bureaucrats waiting to accompany him back to his office suite.
Jenkins stood for a moment, watching the retreating back of the Deputy, now lost in his own thoughts; the Gadium Republic had made galactic peace and prosperity a key tenet of their constitution and, admirable as it was, this put a large strain on the actual citizens of Gadium. Fundamentally, the whole planet seemed to spend most of their extended lives on either covert observation, active intervention or long-term bureaucratic missions. A hundred billion stars in the galaxy, of which about 30 million actually fell within Gadium’s operational range. Almost a thousand planets with either emerged or pre-emerged sentient species were being nurtured or administrated. So much effort and sacrifice; for what?
A low voice cut through his reflections. ‘Commander Jenkins.’
Jenkins turned round. Sharnia stalked towards him, her reptilian face a mash up of age-earned wrinkles and valour-earned battle scars. As she got close, Jenkins fought the urge to step backwards. Looming over him, she was all muscle, scars and menace.
He nodded a respectful greeting. ‘Commander Sharnia.’
She flicked her eyes towards the retreating back of the Deputy. ‘So how is our Deputy?’
Jenkins tried to hold Sharnia’s gaze but the genetics of over ten million years of subservience could not be undone by his will alone; his gaze drifted to the floor. ‘Just the usual; missions, statistics, operational choices.’
‘Any mention of Earth?’
Jenkins looked up briefly. ‘Not specifically…why?’
‘Don’t insult my intelligence, Jenkins. You know perfectly well Aytch is a grandson of mine.’
He forced a smile. ‘Earth is going fine. You know as much as I do, it’s all on track.’
