Astraeus Station

by D. L. Harrison

  He nodded, “Exactly, but there’s no need to panic. They can’t attack you by their own laws unless you attack someone else outside your territory. That will keep you safe, you aren’t like the Sonex at all. I suspect like us, you’ll guard your worlds, but will send out unarmed ships of trade to other territories.”

  Susan asked, “How can you know that?”

  He laughed, or at least I think he laughed, the sound was a little alarming actually.

  “Because I am sitting at this table, and no one has killed me or blown up my ship. You have been gracious, and you offered us your bounty for our comfort,” he waved at the glasses of water.

  Susan nodded, “That’s all good to know, even if it’s just speculation it fits, but what does that have to do with what you want from us?”

  “Technology,” I said. Obviously, but I didn’t say that last part out loud.

  He nodded in agreement, “I would not ask for weapons technology, at least not until our species gets to know each other better and trust is built, but I hope to convince you to part with a wormhole drive.”

  Wow, if I was reading him right, the guy was practically salivating over the idea.

  Not all that surprisingly, half the representatives in the room gave me an annoyed look, as they realized I was the only one in the room with the ability to trade with the alien.

  “Do you trade the raw knowledge, or will we be trading services? I would be far more comfortable with the latter.”

  He nodded, “So we can’t install them on warships, very prudent, and a good first step. We will of course trade information on the other races, no choice there because it is just knowledge, but for our medical advances and implants we sell our expertise and devices, those are protected from tampering to prevent reverse engineering. We do not wish competitors for our merchandise either.”

  “Good, so what are you offering, for me to install a wormhole drive on your ship? One that will also be tamper resistant.”

  I was already planning it out, I’d have to remove programming for just about everything the nanites could do, except for that one function, FTL drive and self-repair. Just in case they did manage to reverse engineer it, they wouldn’t get everything. Still, it was doubtful, unless they had a tech mage of their own. I wondered if their species had supernatural races in it.

  I kind of doubted it, if they had they’d have stolen the tech from the Grays a long time ago.

  Threx said, “We would as I said, give you the database in return. It is our most valuable resource, because we can only sell it once per species. I will also give you a case of sample technology for our most popular exports. Instructions on how to install it and use it will also be provided. Both medically and for implant technologies. We will also give you a communicator that will connect to our consortium, they can route the call to me. Once you decide what devices you want, we can talk how many of which kind, and how many FTL wormhole drives you feel they will be worth.

  “I imagine you can sell only that, until our entire merchant fleet is equipped.”

  “Please excuse my curiosity, but why that technology?” I asked.

  Threx said, “We are traders. We channel all of our aggressive instincts into that hunt of a different kind, it works well for us as a species in this empire. As I said in the beginning of our discussion, we have information on about a third of the species, all the ones closest to us. The fifty galaxies in the empire span a vast amount of space, a lot of the species are simply too far away to make the trip worthwhile. With our current FTL drives it would take months to get there, over a year for a round trip. Wormhole drives would cut that down to days and open up possibilities for new business.”

  I nodded, that made a lot of sense, “How many samples of each technology?”

  Threx replied, “Fifty for the implant technologies. Two thousand for the biological technologies, we understand most races will want a large test population before determining something is medially safe and without side effects.”

  Susan frowned, “No side effects at all?”

  Threx snorted, “We would not use it if it had side effects.”

  I smirked, I wondered what Threx would think if he ever saw a drug commercial that listed all those horrific side effects at the end of it.

  Threx said, “Of course, there are no samples for genetic diseases. For that service we would need to run tests, and then lend the expertise of our doctors.”

  “Alright, I think you have a deal, as stated, but I’ll get back to you within a day and we can discuss particulars.”

  I stood up, and everyone else did.

  Threx said, “Thank you for hosting us, we will await your decision on the ship.”

  Threx and Pherie left the room, and their security escorts led them away.

  I said, “Alright. I think we should do it. I’m also willing to share. The database will be freely given to all of your countries, and others. The samples will be split up, I’ll keep a few but otherwise will give the rest to the U.N. to split up among the countries with interest in investigating the products.”

  Susan scowled, “And what do you want for your generosity?”

  I didn’t bother denying the accusation, and I looked to Cassie.

  Cassie said, “We’ve run into a problem, it seems no nation wants to sponsor the station, and take responsibility for it. I’m preparing to declare this station an independent nation, with commander Akin as the president. We’ll be making that declaration shortly, perhaps even this evening. We would… appreciate, any influence or support your nations could muster in getting us recognized by the U.N. and other countries.”

  I felt all dirty, asking for a wash my back and I’ll wash yours favor, damned politics.

  Karl asked coldly, “And if we don’t?”

  I nodded, “I’ll still give you the samples, this isn’t blackmail, we’re just making a point. Market value attached will be my guide in the future when I sell them to Earth for a small profit, after equipping another one of their ships with an FTL drive. Obviously, I’d also be guided by you and the world on what to ask for. I’m willing to be reasonable, and I’d love to see a healthier humanity. Of course, if I have no sponsor, and Astraeus isn’t recognized as a nation, then I can’t legally sell anything to any of the companies in your countries. I can’t sell alien technology or cures, and I can’t sell my own inventions which many hospitals are already clamoring for.”

  I looked around the room at each of them.

  “By blocking this, you’ll in essence be shooting yourselves in the foot, since you have nothing to offer the aliens. Honestly, I think I’m being very reasonable, downright generous, even. I have a lot to offer the world just healthcare wise, between the alien’s tech and the health bed Doctor Diana Young developed, and a lot more besides that which will improve life in other ways. Is asking for recognition as a nation really too much to ask?”

  Of course, it’d occurred to me with my magic I could reverse engineer all the tech and just cut out the aliens, but that would be a dick move. They’d be valuable as trading allies. Plus, the Gray’s nanites were too power hungry to run on bio-electricity. I’d have to build their micro-technologies, that would no doubt not be self-replicating. That meant building it all myself, or even building huge factories to do it, which would bite into my time and money in a way that building an FTL drive wouldn’t.

  Plus, the Vax would love us forever if we outfitted their merchant fleet.

  No, it’d be much easier, and much better, just to install an FTL drive and let the aliens do all the work. We’d also lose their consulting services if they were cut out, I had a feeling some of their services required their expertise, not just a syringe of magical cure-all.

  I also wasn’t sure about their genetics science, for all I knew that technology was purely biological in nature, and my magic couldn’t do anything with biology. I dismissed the whole idea, it’d be easier, more fun, and more profitable to deal with the aliens, and not try to take it all
on for my own. I already had my own technologies, more coming, and was in a great place financially. It just made sense on every level not to abuse my powers in that way, morally, socially, and business wise.

  Susan nodded, “I’ll do what I can, and can get behind that with a clear conscience, but I can’t give you any promises.”

  I nodded, “I’m not asking for promises, just support and recommendations to the right ears.”

  I had another card to play if it was necessary, but I hoped it wasn’t. I’d also been purposefully vague about the other technologies. I had the feeling if I told them I was going to completely disrupt the communication, transportation, and power industries the governments would stonewall any recognition hard. Despite it making sense, I knew there’d be an uphill battle against the moguls who currently profited from all those industries, not many would care about the benefits of the newer technology, and even less would care about significantly lowering pollution on our planet.

  The meeting split up.

  Chapter Four

  A hologram of Threx came up over the control table as he answered my call. I carefully didn’t smile and just nodded my head.

  I said, “You have a deal as outlined Threx. The information on the races, and a sampling of all your available technologies for the wormhole FTL drive.”

  He nodded back, “Almost all, like I mentioned earlier some will require adaptation to your species, others will self-adapt, and still others will require consultation and testing. A full list of those other services and products will also be included.”

  “I understand. I’ll need the technical specifications of your ship. At the very least, the power systems and precise architectural design and dimensions. The former will tell me if you meet the power requirements, the latter is to design the field geometry of the drive and to determine install points. I don’t need your other systems.”

  “Install points?” he asked.

  I nodded, “The drive isn’t a single device like subspace FTL drives, it’s a network of devices that will run along both sides of your inner hull. Opening a wormhole is just step one, it needs to be maintained, and your ship needs to be shielded from the forces within the wormhole, or it will be torn apart. Your ship is generally well shaped for wormhole travel, if a little big in height and width, which is why I have power concerns.”

  It was a narrow and short, but a very long blocky rectangle. I suspected it was designed that way for ease of loading and unloading cargo, the large airlock doors along the sides would mean anything on the ship was less than twenty yards from an exit.

  Threx said, “Stand by a moment.”

  It took a few minutes, but he sent me a data stream that included his power systems, as well as the power conduits which ran in maintenance shafts along the four edges. That was just about perfect, actually. His power systems were a little weak for the drive, it’d take close to a hundred and fifty percent power to open a wormhole, but only sixty percent to maintain the subspace tunnel once opened, and to shield his ship.

  “While in FTL travel, is forty percent of your reactor output enough to maintain the rest of your systems?”

  Threx frowned, “Barely, but I can get another reactor installed when I get home.”

  I nodded, “I can design a system that will work on your ship. The system will need to be charged at five percent power for thirty minutes to open a wormhole, or ten percent for fifteen, and so on. So, once you open one you won’t be able to open another one right away. That shouldn’t be a huge issue I wouldn’t think. If you accidentally wormhole into a bad situation, you can always use the old FTL drive to skip a few light minutes while it’s recharging.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  I designed in a second supercapacitor in front of each of the devices, the initial wormhole opening would fully drain the extra, but ship’s power after that would be sufficient to keep it open and keep the second supercapacitor fully charged.

  I also programmed it to fit his ship, and use his power systems and EPS specifications, or in layman terms, so I’d be able to plug it in. Lastly, I designed a navigation substation for the bridge, which would be an extension on his current navigation console. It would have its own navigational database separate from his, since he didn’t give me the specs on that I couldn’t fully integrate it.

  Also, I stripped everything else out of the nanites, all other systems be they weapons, shields, gravity, and all the other instant designs it’d otherwise be able to transform into. Even if they could hack a nanite and read the code without tripping the security protocols, at best they’d be able to reverse engineer an FTL drive. Self-repair and the kernel operating system was the only other subsystem I left.

  I said, “Can you open up the external door of bay eighty, and the hatch doors for the access crawlways, A1, B1, A40, and C… eighty-six. Oh, do you have atmospheric shields?”

  He nodded, and I relaxed. My request would have jettisoned all the air on the ship in both engineering and on the bridge if they didn’t have it. Atmospheric shields would stop the air from being lost, but wouldn’t prevent the passage of a shuttle, or the creepy arm of nanites that I intended to extend from the station. The shield would automatically adjust and conform around the invading object to maintain atmospheric integrity.

  He said, “Done.”

  It seemed rather trusting at first, until I remembered he was completely at our mercy, and wouldn’t even defend himself if we decided to blow up his ship, or even steal it and try to learn their secrets. Talk about bravery, being a merchant must be a terrifying job, and take more balls than working on a warship.

  The nanites flowed like a pseudopod out of the station, remaining connected to the station as it dove into the open bay. It needed to stay connected, to maintain power to the nanites. Then a large block of nanites started to form in the cargo bay, enough to build the whole FTL system on the ship.

  My own reactors were already replacing the mass I needed to use, they’d be done in less than an hour.

  Once it was formed, and the nanites accepted the new programming I’d designed, a new pseudopod was formed and ran up into the crawlway access, made its way through into engineering, and plugged itself in. At that point, the pseudopod from the station withdrew, since it had local power to finish the job.

  The nanites then formed the components along both sides of the ship in the crawlway space, a thin EPS conduit of its own connecting all the components, until the drive was complete. Then it used the access crawlway to access the bridge, and it set up a secondary navigational console which attached to the current one.

  “Instead of using your EPS conduit junctions, I connected it all together. The FTL drive system is self-repairing, as long as you have main power the system won’t go offline for more than a few seconds, even if your ship is partially severed by an attack.”

  He was speechless for a moment.

  “That was incredible, I knew it’d be fast to build, but I hadn’t realized it would install itself. I’ll send the data in a transmission, and the sample container and communicator are available to be picked up anytime.”

  I nodded, “I’ll send someone down. I expect it’ll be a month or two, but I believe we’ll be doing business again soon.”

  He nodded, “I’ll standby, and be ready to depart after delivery.”

  That was a lot of nodding, I wondered if we were just doing it every so often because it was a gesture we held in common.

  “Astraeus out,” I hung up.

  I called Diana, I knew she’d love to poke around in that case, and I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d trust more to take our samples and forward on the rest to the world. Of course, I was curious myself, about the augmented reality implants, and perhaps other cool shit as well.

  Before I got up, I sent the new alien database on to the right places.

  Diana scowled, “You are not going to be a guinea pig.”

  I frowned, “But… I checked it with my magic, it won’t hurt me.
”

  Yeah, forget the phone I invented, the augmented reality implants made the thing obsolete. Phone calls, entertainment like music, movies, and books, digital assistant, configurable control interface for other technology. Augmented overlays, vision correction, the list went on. Although, I didn’t really need the control interface part, my magic could already do that. My magic also let me read data, but it didn’t let me watch a movie, or listen to music, or make a phone call and talk with my mind.

  Admittedly, I was geeking out a bit.

  I’d actually read all the technology with my magic, despite the fact I wouldn’t use the knowledge to cheat, I’d just wanted to know. They really did have a lot of cool stuff, that wasn’t on the Gray’s ship. Well, the implants and the intergalactic phone, which was ironically a less advanced version of the phone I’d created. But… a lot of the medical stuff was biological technology though, and something I couldn’t duplicate. Scary shit, like advanced intelligent viruses, that could read our DNA and automatically adjust a gene treatment to improve our DNA correction, extend life, and slow the visual signs of aging as well.

  It was horror science fiction fodder, except I believed this stuff was the real deal, and wouldn’t turn anyone into a monster.

  Regardless, I was a little leerier about trying that one, or the others. There were gene treatments to correct and sharpen vision, hearing, and even partially reverse aging. The list went on, including enhancements from the norm in strength, reflexes, senses, and the like. There were even more in the attached list, which required Vax doctors to scan and adjust the medication, for genetic diseases, and things of that nature.

  In short, with the Vax’s help, we could eliminate disease and all be disgustingly healthy, with longer lives and a few biological upgrades. Add in the health bed technology, and even serious traumas would be correctable, as well as much less riskier procedures and operations. Imagine a quadruple bypass being an outpatient procedure.

  I figured the health industry wouldn’t be happy about that. There was entirely too much money in sick and dying people. That sounded pessimistic, but I knew it was just realism, the people making money off death would fight it.