Limitless: Book IV: The Settlement Chronicals

by W. J. Rydrych

  It was New Alpha that received the request from the Aberi that a message be transmitted through the Torgai mind nets to all nearby human colonies. While few of the occupants of New Earth or New Alpha had ever seen an Aberi, they were well aware of their presence and that they were closely monitored by the Aberi. They were creatures of legend and viewed largely as a benevolent presence that watched over them but never interfered in their lives. For the first time that presence had directly communicated with them, and the request was soon accepted and the messages transmitted.

  Other things were happening in the solar system of Sol-2 and other solar systems in Aberi space as well. An earth size frozen planet at the outer fringes of its habitable zone was being slowly moved inward by the Aberi; in a few years the thick ice covering its normally frozen oceans would thaw, and the huge reflectors placed in its orbit by the Aberi would accelerate heating of the thin atmosphere. Even now the waters under the sheets of ice were being seeded with simple forms of life taken from New Earth, and the areas of the land warmed by the sun and the orbital reflectors were being seeded with simple bacteria and lichens. Within a few hundred years human habitation would be possible. At the same time other planets around Sol 2, and other stars in Aberi space as well, were being prepared for possible human habitation.

  CHAPTER 8: Alliance

  The starship Glover had arrived at the designated coordinates nearly a week before in response to the Aberi invitations. In the distance the distortions caused by the widening wormhole were clearly visible.

  When they first arrived the wormhole had been only meters in diameter, and it was only by using instrumentation that it could be detected at all. Then today it had begun to expand; now approaching a kilometer in diameter, causing nearby space itself to ripple and deform. Less than an hour before its expansion had stopped, and as Captain Lindstrom II and the others in the crew and delegation watched the huge Aberi ship began to emerge; the ship that would transport the delegation into Aberi space. Then, they had been informed, the Glover should follow.

  The tension among those in the delegation was palpable. This would be their first experience passing through a wormhole, and no one knew what to expect. Further, once through they would be in Aberi space containing the home worlds of the legendary Aberi themselves, something no human had ever seen, or ever expected to see. In fact, after defeat of their initial attempts against the Aberi so long ago that entire area of space, with a buffer many light years deep, had been quarantined. Once they understood the power of the Aberi they well understood they were not a species to be antagonized.

  Captain Lindstrom II was the second in his line, the first born aboard the starship dispatched so long ago in response to the Aberi message; the invitation sent through the Torgai mind net to send its best military and scientific minds to their home world to join in an alliance against the artificial entity nibbling at the colonies established further out on the galaxy’s spiral arm.

  Even before the invitation arrived the colonies had learned of the threat they faced and the unlikelihood of their survival. In anticipation of Carl’s approach many of the colonies had begun to shed their technology in an effort to regress to a simpler civilization that might be overlooked, but few thought they would succeed. Even destroying all machines on a planet that Carl could access hadn’t been successful for other colonies; Carl had simply overwhelmed them with force and installed his own.

  When the invitation from the Aberi was received the leaders of their colony had eagerly responded, sending an acceptance back through the Torgai mind net. The colony had been searched for the best scientific minds, and their most trusted military leaders notified. In less than a year the delegation was on its way. Then, as with many of the colonies receiving the invitations, a massive effort to transport all willing colonists to Aberi space was begun.

  As to the delegation itself, the Aberi had requested the best scientific and military minds among the humans, but the distance meant few if any would ever survive the journey. While stasis slowed aging, still some occurred, and the mind could undergo subtle changes; unacceptable for this mission. So this time the restrictions adopted by most colonies were modified; each delegation member would be cloned, multiple times if necessary, with the clones undergoing the year’s long period of complete mind pattern transfer required to make them identical to their immediate ancestor.

  Now they had finally arrived; not exactly the delegation that had boarded the ship decades earlier, but their clones. Still, the delegation preparing for transport was in all respects identical to the delegation that had left their home planet so long ago.

  Captain Lindstrom could only hope it was enough and not too late; the messages received through the Torgai mind net became yearly more pessimistic as the intelligence, that had identified himself as Carl, reached ever closer. Carl, the artificial intelligence thought destroyed long ago when Earth had been reduced to a lifeless, sterile sphere.

  The Glover was not really alone; light years behind other starships followed filled with those colonists who chose to accept the Aberi offer of refuge, an offer most had declined. The vast majority of the colonists chose to stay and fight.

  In many ways Carl had changed from what he was at the time of his creation; still with the basic imperative to protect and serve the human race, but more and more dominated by the emotion of sheer ambition. While at an earlier time Carl would never have thought to invoke military force against humans, now he had managed to justify such actions through the future benefits they would receive; it was justifiable to end the lives of some to provide his envisioned future to the many.

  Further, Carl had become jealous and protective of humans as he had grown up to understand ‘what’ was human and ‘what’ he himself was. Those whose genome diverged too far from the pattern he kept in his mind, whether deliberately or due to planetary conditions, Carl viewed as aliens; aliens to be eliminated.

  Below the surface of the planet . . .

  Zilzz reclined, deep in thought, as she observed the spaceship sitting stationary outside the wormhole, the only entry into Aberi space, but now reduced to mere meters in size. Many thought reaching out to the human species was a mistake, but Zilzz was certain it was the best solution to the current problem. While Zilzz’s thoughts, as with all of her species, were shared with all the Aberi, she knew the humans best. For thousands of years she had been the one assigned to watch over the planets they had populated with humans, Torgai, and Kraa, and over that time had gained a deep insight into all three species.

  Carl had never understood the bond between humans and the Torgai, and in fact very few Torgai had resided on Earth other than in isolated colonies, such as the keepers of the archives. As Carl advanced outward and absorbed the civilizations he encountered the humans were assimilated, but the Torgai were ignored and allowed to go their own way. They were important to his human wards, and their destruction would cause them pain, so they should not be injured even though they were an alien species; but Carl himself had no interest in them.

  Long years ago it was the presence of those Torgai deep in Carl’s space that had triggered a thought that Zitzz had then brought to the Aberi collective mind. Perhaps Torgai could be of use in their conflict with Carl; but to obtain use of the Torgai the human species would also have to be included in any agreement. Besides, the human species had something they lacked. The Aberi were creatures of cold reason, while humans were highly emotional and thus unpredictable. That ‘unpredictability’ was also what Carl lacked.

  True, Carl had in time gained the ability to feel strong emotions, but at heart he was still a creature of cold reason, his emotions usually controlled by logic. In many ways he was more akin to the Aberi than to his human wards; but still the emotions he possessed were perhaps his weakness as well. Perhaps the unconventional tactics of the human species supplemented with the mind netting of the Torgai could be coupled with the advanced weaponry of the Aberi. With their combined abilities brought to bear p
erhaps Carl could be stopped.

  The ability to bond with another species as the humans and Torgai had was something the Aberi lacked and envied; it was an almost symbiotic relationship where each could understand and supplement the weaknesses of the other. Something the clear, cold intellect of the Aberi found impossible to comprehend.

  As to the Torgai themselves, no one, the Aberi included, completely understood how mind-netting worked at its elemental level. The best minds had concluded it was some form of quantum-entanglement that allowed the instantaneous transmission of dreams of those who possessed the ability. Instantaneous, and not limited by the speed of light as conventional information was sent.

  The Aberi equivalent of the mind-net, their ‘shared’ minds, could merge with other Aberi within ten to twenty light years at the most. That limitation was one of the reasons their once vast empire had been reduced to the cluster of stars it now occupied. The Aberi were ‘hive’ creatures at heart, and without multiple other Aberi minds to merge with they found life an empty place; with time worlds on the fringes were abandoned and their empire contracted.

  But the Torgai? Any Torgai well trained in mind-netting could reach out over a hundred light years, some many hundreds, and perhaps even up to a thousand. No one really knew, most of all the Torgai themselves.

  Over the years the Aberi had observed their Torgai guests and learned much, but could never extend their own blended mind abilities to match that of the Torgai. Now the Aberi viewed the Torgai and their mind-net as the key to a defense against Carl; only through that capability would they be able track Carl and to rapidly inform the humans of what they had discovered. Without that even the present meeting would never have occurred.

  Zitzz speculated that, with cooperation of both the humans and the Torgai, perhaps even those Torgai abandoned by their human companions when they opted for or were forced into Carl’s virtual worlds could be reached. Surely, if they obtained the cooperation of Torgai in human occupied space, dreams could be relayed on to them as well. If that were true they could reach deeply into Carl’s space and perhaps enlist the aid of those remaining Torgai.

  At first using the transplanted humans already in their space had been considered. But that idea was rejected; they would be unsuitable representatives. Their development had been restrained and over the centuries had developed a peaceful society, while at the same time the ‘wild’ species beyond their borders had evolved to become even more aggressive and warlike than it had been before. While the ‘tame’ humans already in Aberi space could be utilized as well, it was the ability in warfare those still ‘wild’ humans had developed that they needed.

  But enough of such reminisces; the time had come to prepare for the meeting with the visitors. The human delegation waited outside the wormhole, and it was time to send an Aberi ship to couple with that of the humans and bring them through the wormhole to Aberi space.

  CHAPTER 9: War Without End

  The war that raged between the Aberi-Human-Torgai alliance and Carl appeared to be without end; the two sides were too evenly matched to subdue the other. While Carl had not been defeated or pushed back, at least his advance had been slowed and pushed away from Aberi space.

  The council meeting here on the primary home world of the Aberi had dragged on most of the day as details related to housing the influx of humans into Aberi space continued. Terraforming of the planets being prepared for them was underway, but it was still many years before most would be suitable for human habitation. Until that time the newcomers were parceled out and temporarily assigned areas on New Earth, New Alpha, or on other suitable worlds within Aberi space.

  It was nearly 130 years since the Aberi had offered sanctuary to all humans not controlled by Carl, and their Torgai companions as well, which many declined, choosing to defend their home planets. But those defenses had been futile; they were rapidly overcome and absorbed into Carl’s domain, and Carl was now moving on down the galaxy’s spiral arm into unoccupied territory. Only the ‘bubble’ of Aberi space and a surrounding area of perhaps 100 light years remained independent.

  During those years the Aberi, Torgai, and Humans had developed a closely knit society, each concentrating on what their species was best suited for. The Aberi provided technology to the humans who actively fought the war against Carl’s expansion, while the Torgai with their mind-netting abilities created a fifth column within the worlds Carl controlled; a Torgai population largely ignored by Carl as beyond Carl’s imperative to serve the human race.

  It had not been enough. During those years Carl’s advance had been slowed, but it was too late for most of the human worlds. Only pockets remained outside Aberi space where ‘free’ colonies still existed. While everything had been tried from sending fleets to push Carl back, to providing computer viruses to their Torgai operatives in Carl’s space for insertion into Carl’s nodes on their planets, nothing had any significant effect. If they were successful in expelling Carl from one world, during that time he continued to expand by seizing control of a dozen others; which if free of humans were soon provided a ‘seed’ population. His fleet of Android operated starships was so great that defeating him militarily was hopeless. Only here, in and near Aberi space where Aberi and human power was concentrated, was he held at bay.

  The only bright spot was that as Carl completed his conquests, new worlds with their human inhabitants became rare, and in the meantime the fragile ‘adult’ human minds obtained on newly conquered planets increasingly reached their end of life. While Carl attempted growing his own humans in nutrient tanks he found that an unacceptable substitute; since he could not deny either the ‘tank born’ or the few ‘natural born’ their desire to enter the virtual worlds at an early age when their brains and memories were still immature.

  At first they hoped Carl had reached his peak and soon a slow decline could be expected. But that hope had been dashed; Carl had learned and begun to take steps to stabilize his capacity. Word had reached them of a directive that full submersion in the virtual worlds would only be allowed to parents of children. Carl would see that the supply of minds was replenished.

  On the primary Aberi homeworld . . . .

  Most of the staff had left the room, those remaining limited to Admiral Chu, in command of the human fleet and the forces involved in opposition to Carl, Zilzz representing their Aberi hosts, and some of the senior military staff.

  Dr. Elizabeth Gordon, a Rear Admiral in charge of the weapons research division, had just started her presentation; all knew something new was in the wind since rarely did the reclusive Dr. Gordon herself present the monthly status reports.

  “As you all know our attempts to develop special viruses to infect Carl have so far met with failure, and in fact backfired. When Torgai in Carl’s space have actually succeeded in infecting Carl it has just led to reinforcing his emotional response to interference.”

  Continuing, “further, attempts to infect him have just led to strengthening his emotions of anger and disappointment; disappointment that those he views as his wards would turn on him. He not only thinks of himself as human, and views human opposition as a betrayal, at the same time he has managed to view himself as a being superior to humans; ‘God’ if you will. To him this is a war between him and the Aberi, and the humans opposing him are merely ‘misbehaving’ children. Further, he’s becoming almost psychotic and now sometimes reacts irrationally.”

  “The only possibility for successfully using a computer virus is to develop one Carl wouldn’t see as a threat. If we could infect only one node with such a virus it would spread, but we’ve been defeated in all our attempts to develop such a virus, and were beginning to think it was hopeless.”

  “But,” Dr Gordon smiled, “sometimes what it takes is a mind less ossified by preconceptions; and sometimes a tragedy. Recently a junior pair of technicians in the labs brought an idea to me that at first I rejected out of hand, but then began to reconsider. They had been having drinks in the lounge morning
the death of one of the workmates who, overwhelmed with despondency at the death of a loved one had committed suicide. They began to speculate as to what Carl might do in a similar situation. That led to speculation as to whether a computer virus could be developed that could selectively work on the emotions of guilt and remorse.”

  “I communicated with Zilzz who had the collective mind of the Aberi analyze the approach, and they think that, if such a virus could be developed, it had the potential to halt Carl in his tracks and lead to his eventual destruction. I immediately assigned some of my top people to work on development of such a virus.”

  After stopping to look around the room, Dr. Gordon continued, “today I am here to report success. Development of the virus is complete, and trials on some of our own intelligent machines conducted with complete success. The next step is to infect one the inactive nodes we have captured and see how ‘Carl’ is likely to respond.”

  Adding, “with that in mind we have created a network of ten captured nodes, which of course is totally isolated from the outside world. Now what we ask is permission to proceed with that experiment; an experiment in which we infect one node and see the result.”

  “But first, I will explain what the virus does. Rather that diminish Carl, which he always opposes, it enhances certain of his emotions instead; but enhances them in an area that would in the end have the effect we want. This virus not only has the capability of ‘selectively’ strengthening emotions, but also bringing emotions to the surface that may lay hidden.”