“Thank you,” said Vega. “But we didn’t use it for that. English didn’t even exist when my people were here last. So no shortcuts, just a lot of hard work and a lot of reading.”
The alien leader stared at Anna for several long seconds. “But getting back to your . . . demands,” he said, “you win. I’ll see to it that they all come to pass.”
“Thank you,” said Anna. “But I’m afraid I’m not done yet.” She forced a smile. “After all, when will I have another opportunity to negotiate on behalf of my species like this?”
“What did you have in mind?” said Vega warily.
“You’ve agreed to help us eradicate the Tarts,” said Anna. “But this is just to prevent something negative from happening.” She paused. “My next requests involve going in the positive direction.”
Vega thought about this. “You want more of our technology, don’t you?”
“Good guess,” said Anna. “But let me be specific. Invisibility is a nice trick, but I want you to bury that. It’s too dangerous. And the optics improvements and algorithms you sold to our companies to raise money are cute, but I’m looking at much bigger fish.”
“Just how big are you talking about?” said Vega.
“Starship technology big,” she said simply. “Planetary shield technology big. I’m not asking you to bring us from where we are, technology-wise, to where you are overnight. We need to get there on our own. But starships and shields are part of a handful of technologies that I’ll insist upon. I want humanity to be able to spread across this sector of space, ensuring our survival, and unleashing our spirit of exploration. And while battleships from your region of space can’t come here to attack us, the shield will make sure that no meteors ever hit our planet.”
“These technologies are too advanced,” said Vega. “You aren’t ready for them. You couldn’t possibly understand the science.”
“I’m not intuitive or clairvoyant,” said Redford, “but even I know why that’s bullshit. You already told us that none of the intelligent species in the galaxy understand these technologies. We’d be no different.”
Vega sighed. “Even if we wanted to tell you how to build a starship and planetary shield,” he said, “we couldn’t. You can’t begin to imagine the complexity involved. Our minds are good at retaining information, but there’s no way, even collectively, we could recreate the necessary specifications. Any more than you could tell us how to build a supercomputer.”
“Come on, Tom,” said Anna irritably. “I am intuitive and clairvoyant, and you aren’t winning points by lying to me. Each one of you carries a technology library tens of millions of pages long, don’t you?”
Vega raised his eyebrows. “Now why would you possibly think that?” he said.
“I notice you didn’t deny it.”
“With you, there’s no use. As you’ve just proven again. But I stand by my question. How did you figure it out?”
“I didn’t,” said Anna. “Turns out I don’t just like Steve for his uniform and good looks.” She gestured to the colonel. “Do you want to share how you reached this conclusion?”
“Sure,” said Redford. “You weren’t there, Tom, but when we were trapped in conference room D and having a chat with our buddy, Shane Frey, he said something intriguing. He wanted us to know just how screwed we were. So he boasted that they had brought a library here to Earth to help them recreate their favorite Tart inventions. He said it was the equivalent of tens of millions of pages. He called it a detailed compendium of all of their technology.”
“I have to admit,” said Anna, “I didn’t really zero in on the importance of this statement the way Steve did.”
“When I thought about this later,” said Redford, “here’s what occurred to me. They obviously didn’t carry tens of millions of pages worth of bound books through the portal. I did the math and that would be a stack of books two-thirds of a mile high. And they couldn’t have brought it in the form of computer memory. The portal, in its arbitrary randomness, might have decided that a flash drive was too techy to let through. Besides, our computers would likely be so different from theirs that the information could never be read.”
“Impressive,” said Vega. “This is precisely the analysis we made as we prepared for a possible second visit to Earth. We weren’t sure if you had advanced enough to have built computers, but we decided that even if you had, this wouldn’t be a viable option. I’m sure the Tarts reached the same conclusion.”
“Fortunately,” said Anna, “Steve’s a bit of a science nerd, and was familiar with information storage alternatives. He realized that the best way for you or the Tarts to transport this much information through the portal was to encode it in your DNA. DNA that you could store in excess cells created for this purpose.”
“Even humanity has made backup copies of all human knowledge,” said Redford, “so why wouldn’t you and the Tarts have done the same? And apparently, all the data on Earth can be embedded in an amount of DNA that can fit inside a teaspoon.” He smiled. “But I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.”
Vega sighed. “Very good,” he said. “You’re right, of course. We all carry a significant amount of extra DNA. Not enough for us to notice,” he added, “since, as you said, a little goes a long way. But we already knew from our last visit that our DNA is quite close to yours in construction. Not the same, but close enough that we should be able to modify one of your DNA sequencers in less than a year to decode our library. And ours is at least as extensive as the Tarts’.”
He faced the detective and sighed. “So you win, Anna. I’ll see to it that your people get the plans for building a starship and a planetary shield.”
“So why did you try to lie your way out of it at first?” asked Anna.
“I’m not convinced that humanity is ready to handle this, especially starship technology. But I guess we’re going to find out.”
“I understand your rationale,” said Anna. “But please don’t lie to me again.”
“Believe me, I won’t. And I’m sorry I tried this time.”
“Getting back to your library,” said Redford, trying to change the subject after this awkward exchange, “I assume it contains non-technical information as well. Like galactic history. Cultural analysis of the twenty-eight intelligent species. Military tactics and strategy. And so on.”
“That is correct. We can translate these sections into human languages for you also.”
“Thank you,” said Anna. “And you’ll be happy to know that we’re almost done. My intuition tells me that you’ve developed a way to get unlimited free energy, and to dramatically prolong life. Am I right?”
Vega nodded.
“I want humanity to have both of these,” she said.
The alien nodded. “Why not?” he said. “I hoped that you would be open to longevity treatments yourself. I wouldn’t mind keeping you young and alive in case the portal disappears and doesn’t come back for a century or so.”
Vega paused. “Anything else?” he added miserably.
“Last thing,” said Anna. “I get to select as many crewmembers for the flagship as I want. If I’m admiral of your fleet, I need people around me I can trust. People I’m comfortable with. And that means fellow human beings. Beginning with Steve Redford. I want him to be my first officer. We’re social animals, and I require companionship and intimacy for my psychological well-being.” She glanced at Redford and gritted her teeth. “Assuming Steve agrees, of course. Who knows if we’ll even be together by that point.”
“If anyone would know,” said Vega wryly, “I would think it would be you, Anna.”
Redford laughed. “I don’t know if we’ll be together when you’re ready, Anna,” he said, “but if we are, you have yourself a first officer. I mean, you already know how I feel about the chance to sleep with the admiral of a space fleet. It’s every boy’s childhood dream.”
“I thought every boy’s childhood dream was to become an
astronaut,” said Anna.
“That too. But this way I can do both. Travel in space aboard an actual starship, and sleep with a fleet admiral. And you’ll have it in your power to help me fulfill my third greatest dream along these lines.”
Anna raised her eyebrows. “I’m listening.”
“Weightless sex,” he said with a straight face.
Anna laughed. “We’ll have to see about that, Steve. Sounds challenging.”
The detective’s smile vanished, and she became serious once again. “So that’s everything, Tom. Can I assume we’re in full agreement?”
“Yes,” said the alien leader. “We’re in full agreement.” He shook his head miserably. “Although it occurs to me that I might have made a rookie negotiating mistake.”
“You mean telling me I’m the one being out of trillions who can end a twenty-thousand-year galactic war?”
Vega actually smiled. “Yeah, that’s the one,” he said. “I could be wrong, but I think this may have strengthened your hand a little bit.”
67
Anna and the colonel asked to have a few minutes alone before the video call was ended, and both waited patiently as Vega and Lisa left their respective conference rooms, six thousand miles apart.
Once they were gone, Redford rose from his chair and gazed into the virtual, holographic eyes of the woman who had come to mean so much to him in so little time. “That went well,” he said.
“I think so, too,” she replied.
“Well done, by the way,” added Redford. “On behalf of the human race, let me be the first to say thanks.”
“Do you think Tom is right about us not being able to handle having our own starships?”
“I don’t,” said the colonel. “Maybe if we had them this moment, he would be. But we’ll mature fast when we realize that we aren’t alone in the galaxy. And nothing will bring the species together faster than a common threat.”
He paused. “But I do think he’s right about you being chosen by fate. And I do think he’s right that you’re the one person who will be immune from corruption, no matter how strong you get.”
“I’m counting on you to keep me honest, Steve. To be the voice in my ear if I’m getting carried away. As always, assuming we stay together. We barely know each other, after all, so for all we know, it won’t last out the month.”
“Even the little bit of intuition that I have tells me this won’t be the case,” said the colonel. “And if it doesn’t work out, it won’t be by my choice. I’ve known a lot of women in my life, Anna, but I’ll never find your like again in a million years.”
The detective smiled. “That’s just because you’ve never dated a woman who could get you a starship before,” she said wryly.
Redford laughed.
Anna became serious once again and blew out a heavy sigh. “If all of this has been due to some sort of cosmic fate,” she said, “maybe you’re part of it too. What are the odds that we’d meet the way we did? Get thrown together the way we did? And maybe you really are the key ingredient it will take to keep me grounded. I need you to watch me relentlessly. I need you to make sure I don’t get too big of a head, or become too drunk with power.”
“I will,” said Redford. “I’ll be watching your backside every step of the way.”
“Don’t you mean back?”
“No,” said the colonel impishly. “When it comes to you, I mean backside. But I’ll try not to watch it when we’re on the bridge,” he added in amusement. “Because that would be inappropriate.”
“That would be inappropriate,” said Anna, feigning dismay. “Not the talk of sleeping with an admiral and weightless sex?”
“Hey,” said Redford, “you had the vision of us kissing, not me.”
Anna laughed. “So what’s next?” she asked.
“Good question. I just want to celebrate that we got to this point for a little while. It wasn’t too long ago that I was sure I’d never leave my own headquarters alive. And that humanity was totally screwed.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been,” he replied. “Not that we don’t have a lot of work cut out for us. A lot to learn, and to figure out. Evie will need to be expanded dramatically, and I think it makes sense for the Vorians to live and work within its confines.” He paused. “And you too, Anna.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I’m listening.”
“I’m sure your good name as an honest detective has been restored by now,” he said. “And even if not, it will be soon. But given that you’ll be hunting down Tarts, and sucking in all the information the average gal needs in order to, literally, conquer the galaxy, I suspect you don’t see yourself going back to your precinct.”
Anna grinned. “I guess this would give me an excuse to go out on top,” she said. “With my coveted solve rate intact.”
“Exactly my thought,” said Redford in amusement. “I see you as a civilian consultant at Evie, with sleeping quarters, offices, access to all resources, and the power to come and go as you like. And not just access to resources, but authority equal to my own.” He smiled. “I really need you to agree,” he added, “so I can get thank you gift baskets from every criminal in LA.”
Anna’s smile returned. “You make a compelling offer.”
“Good,” said Redford, “because I don’t intend to take no for an answer. And I forgot to mention the pay. Your compensation will be . . . well, anything you want it to be. I’ve seen you negotiate, so I’ll save us both some time and surrender now.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Steve,” she said, laughing once again. “Can I have my own parking space?”
He grinned. “You can have your own parking lot.”
“Okay then,” she said. “I’m in.”
“Outstanding!” said Redford.
“And you know I was only kidding about the parking space. I don’t want to become drunk with power, or a diva. And you’re supposed to be keeping me in check. Catering to my every whim is doing the opposite.”
“I won’t let it happen again,” he deadpanned. “Unless you want me to, of course.”
Anna was still smiling, but also beaming. “Good to find someone with a sense of humor I can relate to.”
“Given what we’re likely to face in the future,” he said, this time more somberly, “we’re going to need a sense of humor.”
“There’s no one I’d rather face it with,” she said. “But I’d better sign off, Steve. Tom wants to fly back to Utah as soon as possible.”
“I want you back here as soon as possible, too, believe me. Holograms are nice, but they really don’t cut it.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” said Anna.
“Well done, again,” said Redford. “The way everything worked out is just mind-blowing. Given everything that happened, everything we were up against, it’s impossible for me to even imagine how things could have worked out better.”
Anna blew out a long breath. “I hope you’re right,” she replied. “But to paraphrase a great Zen Master, only time will tell, Steve. Only time will tell.”
Author’s Notes
Table of Contents
1) From the Author
2) Oracle: What’s real and what isn’t (and why I wrote this novel and chose this title)
3) Author bio and list of books
4) Essay: “Scientific Advances are Ruining Science Fiction.”
1) From the Author: Thanks for reading Oracle. I hope that you enjoyed it. Since a large number of ratings, good or bad, can be instrumental in the success of a novel, I would be grateful if you would rate Oracle on its Amazon page, throwing up as many stars as you think it deserves.
Click here to rate ORACLE (and then scroll down to where the reviews begin and click on the link that says, “Write a customer review”)
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Write to me at [email protected] (I love to hear from readers, and always respond.)
2) Oracle: What’s real and what isn’t (and why I wrote this novel and chose this title)
As you may know, in addition to trying to tell the most compelling stories I possibly can, I strive to introduce concepts and accurate information that I hope will prove fascinating, thought-provoking, and even controversial. Oracle is a work of fiction and contains considerable speculation, so I encourage you to explore the subject matter further to arrive at your own views and conclusions.
With this said, I’ll get right into the discussion of what information in the novel is real, and what isn’t. I’ve listed the subject matter I’ll be covering below in order of its appearance. So if you aren’t interested in an early topic, feel free to skip ahead to one that might interest you more.
Is Oracle the right title?
Why did I write Oracle? (part 1)
Why did I write Oracle? (part 2)
Are UFOs real?
Does our subconscious control our lives?
Intuition
Microtubules and the hard problem of consciousness.
Retrocausality
DNA Information Storage
The center of the galaxy
Is Oracle the right title?
Now that you’ve read the novel, I hope that you can see why the name Oracle seemed so right for the title. But I have to admit to agonizing over this, because it doesn’t matter how perfect a title might be for a work if it fails to grab potential readers.
I’m going to admit something shocking: I’m an old guy. (As I always say, you can’t teach an old Doug new tricks). I grew up before Oracle, the character from the Matrix movies, and Oracle, the software company. So to me the word Oracle was always about the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece.
Oracle Page 40
