Excolopolis_Poles of Enforcement

by Jack L. Marsch

  “Okay, okay, I get it. Don't they teach anything like team management or strategic planning?”

  “Maybe you need a military school,” answered Archer.

  “I don't think it will hurt you to learn something in technical areas, like energetics. That covers lots of useful fields,” Pat added.

  “Perhaps … c'mon, let's go get some information then,” said Jeff.

  “Well, that's why we're here,” said Pat, smiling. She was glad that Jeff had at least joined them at this event. A quiet cough at the back suggested that they were chatting too much, but by that time they had finished their conversation and directed their attention towards the presentation. The professor was in the middle of a presentation about robotics and the development of automated systems, when an unexpected guest suddenly arrived. To everyone's surprise it was Steersman who stepped into the auditorium. Two robot bodyguards placed themselves by the doors while their master shook hands with the professor.

  Pat, Jeff and Arch looked at each other with nervous shrugs and slid down slightly in their chairs, watching him suspiciously. Steersman turned to the audience with a quiet smile on his face. He was calm as always.

  “I'm Sean Steersman and the purpose of my brief visit is to give you a short warning,” he began strongly. “Over the course of your lives you were brought up to be better, smarter, or faster than anyone. That means you are winners. Parents and teachers teach to the best of their abilities and intentions, but you all need to do more, and do it better than anyone else, to make this happen.

  Winners are not purely characterized by being merely smarter, faster, or better than others. Winners are distinguished by one thing only: namely, by having the strongest will to achieve their goals.” He looked around the audience. His gaze lingered for a moment on the three friends and it almost seemed as if Jeff was going to be singled out, but then he continued. “Of course, knowledge is power, information is power, money is power, and it doesn't hurt if we really are the best, the fastest or the strongest, but that is secondary. It falls far from the internal drive to achieve something. If it's not strong in you, if you do not yet know what you want, then you must develop and build an overwhelming urge to want something first, and only then can you choose the means through which this will be achieved.” He finished on that note and then shook hands with the professor and left in the same way he came.

  “What the hell was that all about?!” said Archer in horror.

  “Nothing! I doubt that he even remembered us,” said Jeff.

  “After all, we were just spying on him. I don't really think he had his heart in it,” joked Pat sarcastically.

  “Yeah, right. That's why he visited us in my room, right?” Archer added. “I've been having nightmares since then.”

  “It doesn't matter. He didn't make a big deal out of it,” said Jeff, dismissing it with a gesture, and no more was said about it.

  By the end of the day everyone was exhausted, but the information they had gained was worth it. Their task was clear. All three of them, along with thousands of others would be getting up and going to bed with a single idea over the next two months: doing the best that they could in the entrance examinations at the PrEUST admissions office so that they could study at the world's most innovative university.

  Alone

  Karen was not the type to be easily scared, but her heart was in her mouth as she walked along the west corridor to the ‘robotics’ room. Steersman had asked her to check the testing process while he was at the opening of PrEUST. She wasn't thrilled at the idea as she already felt uncomfortable enough when the robot bodyguards were close to her.

  Her phone rang. She shrugged.

  “Karen Colella,” she answered, and it echoed along the corridor.

  “Hello, Ms Colella. My name is Ruy Santos Martins. Mr Steersman asked me to make an appointment with you for tomorrow.”

  “Certainly, and could you tell me your status code?”

  “505.”

  “Thank you. Where are you staying?”

  “I have just arrived today.”

  “Go to the Palace Hotel, ask for room 1002 with the code RFG and we will send for you at 8:30 in the morning.”

  “I will, thank you.”

  The line went dead.

  Karen took a deep breath and as she identified herself at the second sector security gate, she began to feel a little nauseated. She really did not want to enter. The door opened slightly and bright light that flooded from the crack blinded her briefly, allowing her to compose herself.

  Then she was in.

  Only the guards paid any attention to Karen's presence, nodding at her in greeting. She nodded back embarrassed, but somehow this made her feel even stranger, and she left the gesture incomplete. The thing that scared her most was being alone amongst machines that behaved so intelligently, succumbing to feelings of being overcome by the crowd.

  The vibrant, light green circle of the anti-gravity ray was already glowing on the ground, waiting for her. Karen hesitantly stepped into it, like someone using an escalator for the first time.

  It began to rise, but this time she enjoyed it.

  Inside the vehicle, she marked out the area that had been planned for the visit on a touch screen and the vehicle began to glide in the specified direction. She crossed the distance above the robotic aircraft engineers at lightning speed.

  She had to check the assembly status of the Sumo type II vessels, the largest cargo aircraft that had been designed so far. The vessel was packed with second generation drive units that provided acceleration to the giant structures that no human could have born.

  The Sumo II, in addition to being able to carry aircraft and ground forces, was equipped with dozens of gravity radius cannons. This monster could take virtually anything from the air without destroying it. For this very purpose a cargo collection bay had been designed into its hull, where objects that were picked up on land, sea or from the air, could be stored there.

  Karen descended to the specified area of the gangway and walked towards Sumo II production area. A naked guard robot approached her with disturbing litheness.

  “Ms Colella,” it said, an unearthly voice emanating from the robots vocal module. “We have been awaiting your arrival. I have been assigned to overseeing production in section 714.”

  Karen had to swallow. I'll get used to that too, I guess, she thought to herself.

  “Thank you. I am here to check the assembly level of the Sumo II,” she said, not trusting that the machine understood her.

  “We are on schedule. The aircraft body has been assembled, the drives have been installed, and the installation of the control unit is currently in progress. The G-radius defense weapons are now being subjected to testing,” the robot listed without any hesitation.

  “May I observe the tests, please,” Karen requested.

  “Certainly. Please, follow me,” it said, and started towards the work area.

  Karen walked behind it, but did not feel comfortable at the thought of having to trust a machine. She was following it as it had requested, but why? As she disappeared amongst the colossal machines, she shivered with the feeling that anything could happen to her and no one would be any the wiser.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by another phone call.

  “Karen Colella,” she quickly responded.

  “Hello, sweety, it's your mum. Doesn't your phone show my number anymore?”

  “Hi Mum, I didn't look. How are you doing?”

  “Everything is fine, dear. I can hear some sort of background noise. Are you okay?”

  “Yes, don't worry. Everything's fine. I'm at work right now. Is there a problem at home?”

  “Well, things are not as good as they could be. We've just moved out of the house because we sold it and now we are looking for a small semi-detached one.”

  “Mum! Are you kidding?”

  “No, why? We're signing the contract next week, then we'll pay off the bank and we'll be moving in
to a new place.”

  “Why didn't you call me earlier? I could have helped.”

  “Oh, darling, don't worry. You know your father, he wouldn't have allowed it anyway. He's as stubborn as a mule”

  “Well, he would have felt less stressed if he had asked me for help,” said Karen.

  Around her, the monstrous machines moved with absolute calm and precision, seemingly undisturbed by the conversation. This made Karen start to feel tense.

  The robotic production supervisor stopped at the test site and ordered all of the tests to be re-run. A few seconds later the G-radius tubes moved into place, indicating that they were activated, then test artillery shot test objects into the air. The Sumo II weapons systems lit up and cast gravitational radii towards the nearest objects, then quickly pulled them into the cargo bay of the aircraft.

  Karen gasped in amazement and the phone dropped from her hand. She picked it up hurriedly and held it to her ear.

  “Karen, what a hell is gong on over there?!” her mother asked worriedly.

  “Nothing Mum, I just dropped the phone. I have to go, but I will call you in the evening.”

  “Your father wants to talk to you!”

  “Mum, I can't now, really!” she shouted, surprised by an object that shot towards her and was stopped by a radius just inches away from her nose. A dull thud echoed in her ears.

  “Karen!” Her father was on the phone. “We didn't call you to burden you with our troubles. We would love to visit you sometime and, as your mother and I know how busy you are we thought of calling to talk over some dates for a visit. What do you say?”

  “That's a great idea, Dad,” gasped Karen, flinching as another object hurled itself towards her. “Come whenever you want.”

  It seemed that test would last for ever. A series of thuds came from nearby as the radii brought down the objects.

  “Phase Two,” boomed the robot suddenly.

  “What was that?!” her dad asked.

  “Nothing, Dad. I am at a test run right now and I really need to go,” said Karen.

  Phase two made a huge racket as a large number of globular metal forms raced towards the Sumo II in a simulated attack. It took only a few hundredths of a second for all of the spheres to be collected.

  “It sounds as if you are in the middle of a battle, darling. That's a hell of a noise!” said Mr Colella.

  Karen was now totally out of it. She wasn't nervous anymore, numbed by the noise and frenetic activity around her, and she let her dad talk on. She waited until the testing was completed, and then said goodbye to her parents. She thanked the robot for the presentation and said goodbye, then she walked back to the transport unit and left the factory.

  All she wanted to do was to lie down and relax for a little.

  Report

  Commander Murinko appeared Steersman's office early the next morning and delivered his report on the astrophysicist, listing who he was related to and who his co-workers were. In essence, he lived like a scientist and devoted all his time to his profession. He fostered a close relationship with the German-based European Observatory Center. He had been living in São Gonçalo with his wife and two daughters.

  “Apart from the material facts, what I'm more interested in is what sort of person he is. What does he do in his free time, what are his principles, his beliefs,” said Steersman.

  “He actively participates in two organizations that work against the destruction of rainforests. Last year he was involved in protest activities and when it came to light, he wasn't too popular in political circles. They wanted to replace him, saying that he wasn't fit to be in charge of a scientific institute of such standing, but he was helped by the German Senate and kept his position. The Institute has been constantly deprived of financial aid since then, however.”

  “I wonder why hasn't he settled down in Germany? I'm sure he would have received their help and permission.”

  “Apparently he hasn't because of his colleagues. He didn't want to leave them in the lurch,” answered Murinko.

  “Hmm. Well, that means he's loyal,” said Steersman.

  “Yes sir, he is,” Murinko agreed, remaining firmly at attention. His posture suggested a tough character, built rock solid with wiry muscles. His skin stretched over his face thinly covering the bones and muscles of his etched cheekbones and jaw. A gaunt man, his carotid artery pulsed when he talked. Murinko had retired from military service two years before, after more than thirty years of service with elite European forces. He had planned thousands of missions, most of which had ended successfully. He was more of a strategist than an ordinary soldier. He could always recognize enemy strategic thinking which meant that he was able to properly prepare his men for any situation on the battle field. Formations under his leadership had the lowest mortality rates in the world.

  “All right, we shall listen to Dr Martins,” said Steersman.

  They know of our existence

  Half an hour later, the astrophysicist entered Steersman's office. He was wearing the same white coat he was in the day before. He looked as if he had been on his way home and, acting on a spontaneous impulse, had turned off the highway to the airport and boarded the first flight to Excolopolis, as if, without changing his clothes or booking a hotel, he had simply decided, at that very moment, to come and tell Steersman what was on his mind.

  “I have to say that, as you appeared from nowhere, you have created a rather strange impression, but not a bad one, however, Dr Martins,” began Steersman.

  “Does that mean you have thought about my offer?”

  “Yes, of course, and I'm prepared to support your work, and that of your team in the future, but first I need to know how your work can apply to our goals here at the ASEC.”

  “Certainly. I hope to convince you that you're not dealing with lunatics.”

  “You mentioned a positive result that you've found in your research for signs of alien intelligence, something of interest.”

  “Yes, that's right. Our work in astronomy has been focused on looking for traces in space that could only indicate species of advanced intelligence. In short, we are not looking for newer and newer planets, we do not map the far corners of the universe, and do not study planet surfaces. We examine the effects and processes that take place in the universe. To put it simply, we are hunting for radiation anomalies. This is why there are more mathematicians in my team than there are astronomers.”

  “Well, it's not a spectacular work then, is it?”

  “No, indeed it's not. It consists of numerous calculations, analysis and interpretation. However, this way we are more likely to find other civilizations than when we look at specific planets themselves.”

  “And how far did you get?”

  “We found radiation patterns which, with a special equipment, can be distinguished from the constant background radiation of the universe itself. It has different frequencies than that used on Earth.”

  “I see, and what have you been able to deduce from your results?”

  “We had been working systematically on charting results for about a year, when we realized that there were duplicates, and in rather large numbers. This gave us a good enough reason to use decoders on these signals. We have been working on them till now.” The scientist pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose and continued. “And our original hypothesis is supported from a number of angles.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning that the radiation contains information, or a message if you like. Much of what we thought was part of a broadcast message is just some kind of environmental context, or ‘wrapping’ as it were, and we soon realized that it could be discounted. Now we know which waves are meaningful and which are not.”

  “So you're saying that this radiation has a message from an intelligent and advanced species?”

  “We have no knowledge of how technically advanced this civilization may be, but we are sure that it has intelligence.”

  “Please excuse
me if I seem a little skeptical, but are you sure that it's not someone from Earth fooling around?” asked Steersman with a smile, slowly pacing around the room.

  “All the same questions have been going through our minds also. Up until two weeks ago we didn't dare come forward with the idea, but now it's almost certain that the source does not originate from the Earth.”

  “So, you have known for two weeks now that an alien civilization exists somewhere in the universe? What have you done about this discovery, so far?”

  “Nothing. Frankly we were startled by the certain thought that, after we had excluded all other doubts, we were able to be sure that there are others out there.”

  “So, we have a message,” said Steersman thoughtfully.

  “Yes,” Martins confirmed.

  “And have you been able to decipher its content?”

  “Yes. We were able to decipher it using an algorithm that we have developed,” he answered.

  “Please tell me that they're not threatening us,” said Steersman, allowing himself a smile.

  “No, they aren't, sir. On the contrary, in the part we have decoded thus far, the message states that, and I quote: ‘we are waiting for you’.”

  Steersman stopped pacing and looked at the scientist. He was not smiling anymore.

  “We are waiting for you?!” he repeated, as if to clarify it to himself.

  “Yes, sir, exactly. This sentence was repeated several times. Other parts of the message are a little more complicated. We suspect that they are using terms to describe objects or concepts that are, as yet, unknown to us, but this is not really too much of a surprise.”

  “No?”

  “This happens on our planet as well, when other cultures use different terms to express a concept that is alien to another culture.”

  “Yes, I suppose … I suppose they must have quite a different culture.”

  “I am sure they do, sir.”

  “Do we have any information on how far away this message comes from?”