The Horicon Experience

by Laughter, Jim

  “You say nothing showed a clear preeminence?” Jake asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “Sounds to me like you would make a good generalist,” Jake said. Delmar’s face darkened.

  “Hey! What’s wrong?” Stan asked, looking at his friend. Delmar didn’t answer for a minute.

  “I’m just an aimless failure,” he finally offered quietly. The others were momentarily stunned. Jake finally took the initiative.

  “First off, you’re not a failure,” Jake began. “Now, what specifically seems to be the problem?”

  Delmar seemed to hold back for a moment and then burst forth. “For one, here Stan is about to graduate while I’m washing out,” he said. “Then I’ll have to try to get into another school and they probably won’t want a washout anyway. And I’m still not sure what I’d be good at!”

  He paused to gather more steam for another outburst when Jake gently stopped him.

  “Wait a minute,” Jake said quietly. “Let me touch on a few things. Number one – just because you didn’t cut it in advanced computer theory doesn’t make you a failure. The service guided you to that school based on your earlier aptitude test. Since then you’ve discovered that your abilities and aptitudes have changed. A man is not a failure when he realizes his strengths and follows them.”

  “But that’s just it!” Delmar exclaimed. “I don’t have any strengths! The aptitude test didn’t single out any particular skill.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Sherry cut in, looking him in the eye. “That test does show your strengths. Most people have one or maybe two areas of great ability. It’s rare to find someone who rates high across the field. We call those people generalists, and they are perhaps more valuable than a specialist. It’s a generalist who can coordinate the efforts of single-minded specialists into a team.”

  Delmar sat silent for a moment. Jake picked back up where he had left off.

  “Delmar,” he said, “I’ve known you and watched you for over a year now. You’ve shown a great variety of talents in a large number of fields. Sherry’s right. You’re a generalist, and as such are somewhat rare.”

  “Yeah, right,” Delmar reluctantly agreed.

  “You also show a great aptitude for assessing a situation and adapting to it. You proved that on your basic training cruises. You have above average curiosity and are able to operate independently of outside direction. Now try and tell me you don’t have any skills!” Delmar sat and thought about that for a minute.

  “But what field should I train in?”

  “Do you have any particular area that really grabs your interest?” Sherry asked.

  “Well, I am interested in discovering things,” Delmar offered.

  “You really dug into the files about the Horicon archaeological project,” Stan added.

  “And look where it got me,” Delmar replied with a blush. “Now I’ve got a nutty alien computer that won’t leave me alone, and the whole staff and board of regents at the institute think I’m a trouble maker.”

  “That’s beside the point,” Jake said. “What Stan is pointing out is that you’ve shown an interest in exploration.”

  “Sounds like he should look into the Survey and Exploration Division,” Sherry added. Delmar and Stan stared at her.

  “I never heard of that division,” Stan said.

  “Neither have I,” Delmar added.

  “Not many people have,” Jake said, stepping into the opportunity. “It’s a little-known division of the Observation Department.”

  “Jake spent several years in Survey and Exploration before we met,” Sherry added. “I think the time he spent in solitude praying to the Unseen One is the main contributing factor to his calling into the ministry.”

  She squeezed her husband’s hand. He winked back at her.

  “What do they do?” Delmar asked.

  “They work independently in one and two man scout ships exploring little-known areas of the galaxy,” Jake said. “When they find something interesting, they map it then turn it over to the Watcher Division.”

  “But I thought the galaxy was thoroughly explored thousands of years ago,” Stan said. “I mean, the Axia has spanned from rim to rim for generations. You mean we still haven’t fully explored it?”

  “That’s right,” Jake said. “Although the Axia has planets throughout the galaxy, there are still areas that were only lightly scanned. The Horicon project is a prime example. Initial surveys showed it as a planet of non-interest. Later exploration turned up the buried remains of a civilization, and later the computer. If that damaged ship hadn’t set down on Horicon, there’s no telling how many more millions of years that machine would have gone undiscovered.”

  “Please don’t remind me of that,” quipped Delmar with a groan.

  “Sorry,” answered Jake, “but that’s still an excellent example. In any case, look into it when you get back to school. The Counseling Department and the liaison officer should be able to help.” Delmar appeared to be considering it. At least his mood had lightened.

  “You care about people, don’t you Delmar?” he asked gently.

  “Sure I do,” Delmar answered, slightly puzzled.

  “Do you want to make a difference?” Jake asked. “In the lives of people, I mean.”

  “Of course,” Delmar stammered. Jake paused for a second as he seemed to consider saying more.

  “You won’t see this in the news, but something pretty exciting is going on right now on a closed planet,” Jake said in a low tone. Even Sherry looked at him in bewilderment.

  “What’s happening?” Stan asked for the others.

  “Imagine if you will what would happen if an industrial planet with nuclear capability and a tendency toward war suddenly got their hands on Red-tail technology?” Jake suggested quietly.

  “There’d be a real mess,” Delmar said.

  “People could get killed!” Stan declared.

  “You’re both right and more,” Jake confided.

  “Where’s this happening?” Sherry asked.

  “I can’t really say more, but I want you to think,” he said, especially to Delmar. “Think what a talented operative could do if the Axia had a way to get him safely down onto the planet. You know what Red-tail weapons can do. What would you do to stop them from being used on innocent people?”

  “Anything I could,” Delmar said. “I’d try to stop it somehow. Shut down the equipment, try to stop their experimenting.”

  Jake didn’t say more for a few seconds while he weighed Delmar’s words in the balance. Clearly, he was feeling restrained from disclosing more.

  “That’s exactly what some brave troopers are trying to do right now,” Jake said. “I can’t tell you where, but as we speak lives are in the balance. Possibly a whole solar system. A few select troopers are going to be landed covertly to do exactly what you outlined – stop the madness!”

  “But how does the Axia choose who goes in?” Stan asked quietly. “Being on a closed planet is dangerous. Especially when such monkey-business is afoot.”

  “They choose those who are ready,” Jake said. “Those who are both knowledgeable and adaptable. Most of all, they choose those who are willing.”

  The group became very quiet for several moments with Delmar mulling this information over in his mind. Delmar finally looked into Jake’s eyes.

  “And the question you want to ask me?” Delmar asked.

  Jake’s demeanor took on a steely quality as his eyes bored into the young man before him.

  “Are you willing, Trooper?” Jake challenged.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The operations officer glanced up just as a trooper from radiography entered the cabin. Momentarily setting aside proposals for intervention on the planet below, a fearful premonition crossed his mind. Looking up at the trooper expectantly, the ops officer tried to be hopeful.

  “Things have gotten pretty dicey down there, sir,” the trooper reported. “Several of the co
untries are beginning to move their troops against each other.”

  “Do you think it’s more posturing again rather than attack?” the officer asked.

  “No, sir, I do not. There have already been scattered reports of fighting along several fronts.”

  “Show me,” the ops officer ordered, getting up and turning toward a large map of the areas in question.

  “The troop movements are along several fronts,” the trooper stated as he indicated different borders. The ops officer noticed that many of these confrontations were regular trouble spots between nations on the planet.

  “What makes you think this isn’t . . . what was that term you used once? Oh yeah, saber rattling this time?”

  “Because instead of just shows of force, there have been widespread crossings of long-held borders,” the trooper answered. “The most worrisome incursion is around this zone,” he added, pointing to one region on the large display. The ops officer took note and then checked a more detailed map posted nearby. It was in the suspected vicinity of the Red-tail equipment.

  Just then, the comm line signaled. The operations officer answered it. After a moment, he hung it back up and looked at the anxious face of the trooper. The ops officer never ceased to be amazed at how seriously some of his staff took to heart the happenings of people they had never even met. He liked that in his people. It spoke of commitment to duty as Watchers, and the strength of the greater fellowship of humankind.

  “That was monitoring,” he said as he turned toward the door. “He thinks the situation is going critical at that installation.”

  The two men headed down the passageway to monitoring. As they entered the compartment, they saw an erratic signal displayed on the wall monitor.

  The trooper on duty looked up. “For the last fifteen minutes, I’ve monitored the signal signature of the Red-tail device being warmed up,” he said, nodding toward the trace. “As far as I can tell, it’s aimed parallel to the surface on a vector of twenty-three degrees relative from the installation.”

  “Are there any military units operating in that area?” the ops officer asked the trooper from radiography. “If so, find out if they have nuclear capabilities.”

  “Just a minute and I’ll check,” the trooper replied and picked up the comm line. While he talked to his section, the operations officer watched the signal trace record yet another spike in the power level of the device.

  “Rok says there are at least two installations,” the radiography trooper reported from the comm. “I asked him to feed it to us so we can monitor it from here.”

  The operations officer nodded his approval. A moment later, a speaker came to life with the sounds of intercepted radio signals from the planet.

  After a minute of listening, it was possible to glean the general picture of what was happening below. One hostile military unit was trying to move against the installation in an attempt to capture it. A second force was rushing to defend the location, but was lagging behind. Sure wish we had a real-time visual, the ops officer thought, lamenting the security and safety concerns that prevented it.

  “The signal looks like it is about to go critical,” the trooper monitoring the tractor ray reported.

  On the screen, the amplitude increased considerably with obvious signs of a feedback harmonic developing. The comm line rang again. Picking it up, the trooper from radiography listened and nodded a few times. Hanging up, he turned back toward the ops officer and the trooper monitoring the signals.

  “They got a trace on the military squawk units,” he said, referring to the coded radio traffic of the military units on the planet. “The hostile forces are directly in the path of that Red-tail beam. Looks like they’re going to use the beam as a defensive weapon to protect the installation.”

  “What other kinds of weaponry do they have at the installation?” asked the operations officer.

  “Let me check tactical,” the trooper from radiography said as he grabbed the comm again and punched in a code. After conferring with the other department, he hung back up and looked up at the other two.

  “Several crude nuclear devices and a large assortment of conventional and ground-to-air armaments,” the trooper reported. “He’s sure there are multiple nuclear devices in underground silos on or near the facilities.”

  Suddenly, the signal trace peaked upward sharply. “They’re activating the device!” the trooper at the monitor shouted.

  Over the feed from radiography, they could hear the harmonic bleed the modified ray was causing all across the electromagnetic spectrum.

  “It’s going to blow!” the monitor trooper called as the signal trace peaked sharply again. Immediately, the troopers heard a crash of static over the feed while a gigantic explosion of electrostatic energy blanked their screens for a moment. The signal trace scrambled at the same time and then disappeared altogether. They all stood silent for a moment when it occurred to them what had just happened on the planet below. The operations officer went over to the comm line and picked it up.

  “This is Daniels in operations,” he said into the comm. “Dispatch the Reacher immediately to give us a close-in visual of the planet.”

  ∞∞∞

  Since revealing its presence to the bipedal creatures, the Horicon computer, Ert, found that its circumstances had changed. The original group of creatures that included Delmar was gone, replaced by an older contingent of the creatures.

  The activities of this new group were not very dissimilar to the group that had included Delmar. Ert was able to teach them how to perform needed repairs and maintenance to itself. Several times, it had to correct their procedures, but Ert was pleased at how quickly they learned. Not at all unsatisfactory for an obviously backward species.

  To amuse itself, Ert continued to explore the computer systems and files of the institute. With its new understanding of the customs and prohibitions of the creatures, Ert refrained from accessing any file that he did not have permission to explore. Fortunately, the library was again fully accessible and Ert quickly assimilated its massive files. He found the society of this thing called the Galactic Axia to be reasonably similar to the societal structure of the long-extinct Horicons. Ert pondered the parallels and amused himself, postulating the sociological implications.

  For all of the new areas of interest open to him, Ert found that some things were still lacking. Having previously observed and spoken to Delmar and the other students, he now found that he missed them and their curiosity. The current group of technicians seemed to lack the imagination that Ert had become accustomed to in Professor Angle’s computer class.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Delmar had been moody most of the morning. Up early, he found Jake also up and busy in the living room of their modest house. Plopping down in an overstuffed chair across from the older man, Delmar brooded while Jake continued studiously pecking away at the keyboard of his portable computer.

  “I’ll never figure out how to type with both hands without looking at the keyboard,” Jake commented while single-finger poking at the keys. “I’m better at preaching than poking at this thing.”

  “Aw,” replied Delmar mechanically as he stared at nothing in particular, “it just takes practice.”

  Jake looked across the room at Delmar and wondered what could be bothering the young man this early in the morning.

  “You’re being mighty sullen this morning, Delmar,” Jake observed. “Is there something on your mind?”

  Delmar looked up at Jake and leaned forward, his expression still a mask of concern. “Yes, sir,” he finally admitted. “There is.”

  “Is it something I can help you with?”

  “I don’t know,” answered Delmar. “It’s just something that’s been gnawing at me ever since I arrived back here on Mica.”

  Jake saved the file he had been working on, and using his good leg to propel himself, rolled the desk chair across the room to face the young man.

  “If it’s been eating away at you th
is long, it’s time you get it out into the open.”

  Delmar leaned back in the chair and saw that Jake was right. He would have to deal with this situation or it would chew at him the rest of his life.

  “Jake?” he said. “Do you remember the day we met?”

  “The day we met? Sure I do. You wandered into the temple during a service and sat down in the back. Why?”

  “Did I ever tell you the circumstances of how I happened to be in Port Mulvey at that particular time?”

  “Just the basics,” Jake answered. “I know you ran away from home because of your abusive brother. You said you worked your way to Mica on an independent freighter. You said the ship needed some repairs so you’d been released from the crew and you were looking for a berth on another ship.”

  He paused for a moment to assess Delmar’s mood. “But something happened and you ended up in Port Mulvey. That’s about all you said.”

  “I didn’t tell you that I wandered around the streets of the city for over a week before finding the temple, did I?” Delmar asked. “That I slept in doorways and underpasses and alleys? That when I met you, I had run out of money and couldn’t find a job, and was just on the brink of having to beg for food, or worse, steal it, did I?”

  Jake could see the concern in the young man’s eyes.

  “No, son, you didn’t,” Jake answered. “As I remember, your clothes were dirty and you needed a bath and a meal, but you never told me your situation was that desperate.”

  Delmar knew he could trust Jake Sender, and that any secret he divulged to the minister would never leave this room. He knew his confidence was assured and safe.

  “Then I never told you that the first night I was on Mica that I broke into a building and destroyed another man’s property just to stay warm, did I?”

  “No, son, you didn’t,” Jake answered, concerned with the attack of conscious the young man was experiencing.

  “But if you’d like to tell me about it now, I’ll listen. And if there’s any way we can rectify the situation, we will.”