by Ran Vant
“Will it still be safe?”
“He'll be behind an energy barrier. You'll be well out of range. No more need for medical treatments. Just talking. I just need the neural data.”
“Well, I'll talk. Let's hope he does his part.”
68.
Always
“You like the new accommodations? You don’t even have to use the spiderlyn straps on the floor. Nice change, huh?” Maren asked.
Michael answered: “Nothing has changed.”
“Sure it has.”
“Everything in the world is as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” Maren fiddled absent-mindedly with her pendant.
“The fortresses still protect the Ancients, the Ancients still live, and the truds can change nothing.”
“I believe we can change things. One person, even a trud, could change the world.”
“You ascribe too much power to yourself and your kind, as do most truds. From the fortress, you can see how small a single trud is. Nothing changes. Nothing will.”
“But the gens plan the Event. If the Event happens, things would change then, wouldn't they?”
Michael did not answer.
Maren didn't wait too long before continuing. “What happens if the gens actually get rid of us truds? What happens to you? What happens when you aren’t necessary anymore, when you become obsolete? What will your masters do with you?”
“I will always serve the Ancients.”
“Yes, but what if they no longer NEED you to serve them?”
“They have always needed me, since the liberation from the sea until now.”
“But if the Event comes to pass, we will be gone and there will no longer be a purpose for you. You won’t have any truds around to keep down.”
“The Ancients will always need protection.”
“Only if we’re around, and you know the old gens have a plan to be rid of us ‘primitives.’ So what happens when they don’t need you?”
Michael again did not answer, for he did not have one.
69.
The Event Nears
“We talked about the Event,” Maren reported. “He doesn't seem to comprehend that if the truds are gone, he is worthless to the gens. I wonder how real the Event really is...”
“Have no doubt,” Dr. Psycho assured her. “The fact that the Event is being planned is very real. Intercepted communications indicate the gens have been planning this for many years and that final preparations are now at hand. They have begun issuing orders to the gens to prepare for execution of the Event.”
“How do you think they'll try to accomplish it?”
“Well, we're going to hit them before we have the chance to find out,” Doctor Psycho said. “But the honest answer is that we still don't know exactly how they intend to accomplish it. Of course, everybody has their pet theory. Some think they’ll try to accomplish the Event with a virus, some think robots and machines, some think massive bombardment, others think it will be something entirely new that we haven’t seen before, maybe that we can’t even imagine.”
The Doctor went on. “Regardless of the methods, our sources know the intended outcome, and that is to be finished with us. However, intercepted communications also indicate internal disagreement among the gens as to whether the Event should be carried out now. Some gens are fighting to prevent the Event from happening right now, they think they need to wait until they are better prepared. That’s why you can see the desperation of General Win to make this work and the pressure Colonel Red is under.”
“So you do know more.”
“Listen, of course you can’t share all of that with the others, especially the intercepted communications piece, but it’s important you realize how serious the situation is. Your work with the genbot is critical to our plan to strike them and I don't like hearing doubt about whether our actions are absolutely essential. Everyone’s been talking about a hypothetical ‘Event’ for so long that some people have begun to be complacent or don’t think it will ever happen. But all of our intelligence suggests the Event may be imminent, and that changes how we have to deal with the possibility.”
“How can you be so sure? How do you know so much about intercepted communications?”
“Colonel Blue has reasons to call upon my capabilities, from time to time. Let’s just say I’ve taken the opportunity to learn a little in the process. Now the key thing is for you to try to do the same with the genbot. Any detail you can tease out of him could make the difference. Time is of the essence. Here is how I recommend you approach the issue…”
70.
No Holds Barred
“Is the prepositioning operation proceeding according to plan?” the scarred one asked of the NHA's eyes.
“Yes, we are distributing everything to the operational pre-staging points,” Damien confirmed. Colonel Red had made him the de facto liaison between the Natural Human Alliance and the Network. Damien had taken on the assignment eagerly. As the assignment went on, he began to see more and more what the Network was capable of and how they saw the world. And that worldview started to make more and more sense to Damien.
“And the test results? Is the equipment up to NHA standards?” Niles asked, already knowing the answer.
“All as you said: Everything works.”
“It just works?”
“Okay, it exceeds all our benchmarks. It is exceptional. Happy with my report?”
Niles nodded.
Damien placed another skip drive in the false bottom of an office couch, preparing it for its short term resting place. It was weak as far as camouflage went, but it would be good enough for their purposes.
Niles stared into space and seemed to comment almost absentmindedly, “We were intrigued by your comments regarding the project the other day.”
Damien knew exactly what Niles was talking about. “I’m sorry, sir. Forgive me for doubting my superiors.” Damien had had second thoughts since their last conversation. After he had returned to the NHA base, he wondered what on earth had possessed him to talk so openly with the Network. Now he was back at the Network's manufacturing facility, overseeing the placement of critical equipment, and back in the orbit of Niles. What had made him think he could trust Niles? Trust... “I trust everything will go as planned, and I will work hard to make sure it so.”
“There is no need to apologize, Damien. We understand. It’s normal to have such thoughts. In fact, we’ve had such thoughts at time ourselves. Often, if the truth be told.”
“Still, it's not my place to question.”
“If not yours, whose place is it? You are here at General Chi’s command to ensure that everything works, that we deliver what we promised: the skip drives, the nova bombs, the sleds, everything. Despite what some say, we want this to succeed as much, if not more, than you do. So tell us, Damien, what concerns you? You said you worried the plan to stop the Event would not be enough. What would you have us do?”
Perhaps Niles was right. Perhaps Niles and the Network had always been right. Damien had gambled before, revealing his true thoughts. It was the end game. Time was short. If he didn't speak up now, when would he? And he remembered why he had talked openly with Niles before: because it might make a difference.
No holds barred.
So Damien would gamble again. “We can strike them. They’ll be hurt. This is more than just possible, but probable with this technology. I believe we can take out several of the fortresses, something that has never been done before. But...” Damien paused for emphasis. “But what good does it do to take down fortresses? How will that alone stop the Event? It would merely be a setback for the gens. In just a short time they would come back, and more powerfully than ever.”
“So, again: what would you do?” Niles asked.
“I would hit them harder.”
“With what?”
“With everything.” Damien paused before continuing. “I know the Natural Human Alliance c
ould use technologies considered forbidden if they willed it. It's within our power, but High Command isn’t willing to go that far.” Damien swallowed. His confidence returned. He was going to take this as far as he could. Forget NHA regs, forget Red, forget all the barriers to success. The fate of humanity rested in stopping the Event. Damien would do everything he could to contribute to that effort. He would go further than anyone else in the Natural Human Alliance was willing to go. “I can only imagine how much farther the Network could take us.”
“How far would you have us go?”
“All the way. As I said: I would use everything.”
“Even if it meant some of the truds would die? Perhaps many?”
“Many of us will die anyway. The only thing that matters is that some of us survive, and the gens don't.”
“It may not be possible to destroy them all right away,” Niles explained. “We tried that before, and somehow some of the gens survived. But what if we told you that we can do more than destroy their outer ring of floating fortresses? What if we told you we could destroy their base of power? We can strike at the gens themselves. We can destroy their cities.”
“I would welcome it. But we aren't strong enough yet. What could we use to accomplish it?”
“Dreptex. A reformulated version, but one based on the same idea, targeted for gens. We probably have enough now for the gen cities. But just barely. We have endeavored to slow down the so-called Natural Human Alliance in their eagerness to attack until we were ready. We believe that we are ready now, that the time to attack has arrived.”
“But how will you get the Dreptex to the west?”
“Destroying the fortresses with nova bombs will open a window. The NHA thinks it stops there. They foolishly think destroying a few fortresses will be enough to delay the Event. You, Damien, are smart enough to see beyond that. The Network thinks the same. As far as the Network is concerned, destroying the fortresses is only the beginning. We will use the hole in their defenses created when the floating fortresses crash to the ground. For the first time in generations, the sky will be open for us. There will be nothing to stop us in the air. During that brief window we will launch the missiles, missiles that no one but the Network even knows exists. The Dreptex warheads should be capable of killing off most of the cities, if they are targeted properly, if the conditions are right.”
“Then we should make more Dreptex and be doubly sure.”
“Dreptex is not as simple as it sounds. It has taken a long time to reformulate it, to make sure it can kill gens in their modified form, and it is not a merely a simple compound that can be manufactured. We have no more time before the Event. We must use what we have and hope that it is enough. It should be enough to wipe most of them out.”
“But if you had a multiplier, a dispersant, you could ensure that it was enough.”
“Yes, we know of what you speak. Back when the original Dreptex was used there was another substance that made it so much more powerful. But the substance of which you speak is lost even to us.”
Damien smirked. “What if I told you that years ago I found reserves of a certain substance? And what if I told you I know exactly where that Greendust still is today?”
71.
Saints and Sinners
“Why wouldn’t you do what you are told to do?” Michael asked. He always did what Rex and Magritte commanded. He could not understand why Maren was confused about the proper course of action.
“I didn’t know if it was right to follow what the officer was telling me I needed to do or whether I should have done what I thought was best,” Maren said.
“Not knowing what was right? It does not sound very complex. It is right to follow commands,” Michael reasoned.
“What if you have two conflicting commands?”
“That demonstrates the primitive nature of your social hierarchy. There should be not conflict. There is only one optimal course of action.”
The conversation wasn’t going in the direction Maren expected. How could she put the issue in terms Michael would understand? “Well, you are sworn to protect the gens, but suppose one gen told you to destroy another gen. What would you do with that conflict between what you are sworn to do and what your master tells you to do?”
“If the Ancient issuing the command had the proper authority, I would do it.”
“What if you didn’t know which gen was in command?”
“That wouldn’t be possible. And if it was not evident who was in command, then it would be evident that neither had authority to do so.”
“Oh, you’re being impossible. Right doesn’t always equal following a command.”
“On the contrary, rightness, as I understand you to mean it, can only be to follow orders. There is no difference between doing what is right and obeying. They are the same. That is why I do not understand your conflict.”
Maren replied, “Man, this is tough. It’s not like I’ve studied at an academy or anything, but I just know you are wrong. I just can’t find the words to explain to you why.” She felt a little foolish for thinking Michael might offer some insight into her dilemma. Instead, it just seemed to demonstrate the impossibility of ever truly communicating.
“If you do not even have the words to describe your so-called dilemma, how can you think you have the knowledge to question your superiors?”
“I... this isn't going to convince you, but I had a feeling, a conviction. Some part of my gut told me it wasn't right.”
“Right is to follow the commands of the Ancients.”
They were back to where they were a few minutes ago. As far as the immediate conversation was going, Maren was getting nowhere and not winning any points. But the goal was not to win verbal arguments. The goal was to get the genbot talking. And in that regard, Maren was winning, hands down. She hoped Doctor P was getting what he needed out of it.
She pressed on.
“What makes the Ancients right, if there is no one to give them commands?”
“It is not for me to question them. They know more than I do, they see more than I do, they understand.”
“How do you know?”
“When they tell me something, I do it, and I see that they were right. They reveal what is real.”
Maren was getting a little excited. He was talking about the old gen farts now. He was explaining, at least in part, how they communicated.
“How do you know what is real? How do you know that what the Ancients tell you is the truth?”
“They have given me no reason to doubt them.”
“That’s because they need you to serve them. Maybe they’ve just created a world up there for you so that you’ll do what they tell you. You can’t know if it’s real. As you said yourself, you’ve never even seen an Ancient!”
“Look,” Maren went on, “consider the possibility the gens, your ancient masters, have only told you what they wanted you to know. How do you know you haven’t been lied to? How do you know you aren’t just a tool for them? You're just a specialized tool, they can’t possibly care for you. And if the Event happens and we truds are wiped out, the gens won't have any need for you whatsoever. Why should you trust the gens' version of things?”
To his surprise, Michael enjoyed the verbal jousting. It was like a form of the simulator on Magritte. He had never engaged in this type of battle before, but he was beginning to understand its form. It was practice warfare, and he liked it.
“I know it is real, because I experience it. They tell me about things hidden in your world and they are shown to be correct. Ideas and words are made manifest. They understand the laws of nature and therefore rule the earth. They are truth.”
“But you understand nothing of their motives, of the 'why' they do things. You don’t know if your gen masters are saints or sinners.”
Michael did not know these terms. “What is a ‘sinner’?”
“Somebody who does something wrong.”
“Then it is someone who disobeys.”
“No, not necessarily. It is someone who does the wrong thing, who makes the wrong choice or decision.”
“Why would they choose to do the wrong thing?” Michael asked.
“Well, maybe they are greedy or want power or something. Or maybe they think that they are doing the right thing, but it isn't actually right.” Maren knew this wasn't making any sense to Michael. How could she convey right and wrong to a person who thought that right was always to follow some order as told to him by all-knowing Ancients? She tried a different tack, “I guess a sinner is someone who is imperfect. Someone who, as you might say, someone who does not always find the optimal solution.”
This definition seemed to satisfy Lightbringer. So he moved on to the other term. “What is a ‘saint’?”
“It is someone who always does what is right or tries to do what is right, even if other more powerful people try to stop that person. Or, I guess, somebody who is perfect or who is made perfect. I never studied theology, so take it with a grain of salt.”
Michael always obeyed, but his memory of training on Magritte was good enough to remind him that he often did not find the optimal solution. Though he was skilled, the simulator regularly scored him less than perfect. Thus, Michael always obeyed but was imperfect. Michael did not know if this made him a saint or a sinner.
“But maybe I got sidetracked there,” Maren said. “I was trying to explain that you don't know what motivates the Ancients and whether they are good or evil. You only see what they want you to, because they made you, because you serve them.”
Michael ran his finger along the deep scar on his arm, caused by the retractor arm on the submersible, in what seemed like another age. The scar was real. He was real. What he had seen with his own eyes was real. The Ancients did not lie to him. The Ancients were truth, and they always would be.