From even the virtual perspective of Isabella, it appeared that Vendetta just waved a hand in front of the barrier and it fell. She gave her sister a look of awe mixed with fear.
“Darling, you can be scary at times.”
Vendetta smiled. “I don’t think you can help me here, dear one.”
Isabella nodded and backed out, returning to the ship’s network. Then she ported out of the environment and entered a maintenance body. From the back of the room, it began running, going past Andy, Jolene, Daniel, Jack, and the rest, into the corridor toward Inquisitor and Prime.
“Whoa!” Chase said as she sprinted by. “Where did that come from?”
Mikel lifted his other arm, pointed the EMP directly at Prime’s chest, and fired.
“No!” Vendetta screamed. Through the barrier, she found the alien, Mikel, exposed.
He flinched at the sight of her in his breached protective core.
Vendetta tore his soul to pieces with a virtual scatter gun.
Mikel’s body seized violently as if it had taken the full charge of the EMP, but the charge had only tickled Mikel’s hand and arm while Prime took the full force of the shot to his unshielded chest.
Vendetta jogged into the corridor behind Isabella a moment later.
Prime’s body seized violently, arms and legs outstretched, head thrown back, as the electrical energy tore through his systems.
A ball of goop hit Mikel’s leg, freezing his knee joint, but it no longer mattered as the body crumpled to the floor.
Prime fell onto the floor, still jolting from the powerful electric surge.
“Inquisitor!” Andy yelled.
Eight members of Mikel’s squad stood watching, not sure what to do since Mikel had ordered them to stay put. None of them knew what the situation called for at this point, only that it appeared their leader had fallen. They looked at each other, and the next-in-command nodded. “Friends, we know what to do. Take them all down.”
Nekel suddenly yelled, “Stand down!” as she came jogging up behind them.
“No sentries? I could have taken you all out before you even saw me coming!”
“Yes, Nekel,” the two leads admitted. The rest lowered their weapons on Nekel’s order. “We were falling back to standard orders to eradicate all Solars not on their homeworld.”
“That won’t be necessary! We’re done here.”
Vendetta and Isabella knelt down beside Prime just as Nekel arrived. She gave them a grave look then checked Mikel. The two looked up at her with alarm, though she could not see their expressions any more than they could see hers.
Nekel held up her hands, “Truce. I mean you no harm. He was operating against orders, with personal vengeance guiding his actions.”
Isabella held Nekel’s gaze for a moment, then looked down at Prime’s wrecked body.
“Damn, these bodies weren’t made for combat,” Isabella said.
Vendetta plugged a small wire into a port on the back of Prime’s neck and Isabella tapped into it.
Inquisitor knelt beside them.
Nekel reached down and lifted Mikel’s borrowed body. There were no life signs.
“He has been destroyed?” Nekel asked.
Vendetta gave her a hard stare.
Nekel lifted the lifeless body and stood, staring at the four Solar robots on the floor.
“We will go now,” Nekel said. “You have our warning, of our mutual danger. That is all we can do. That is all . . . I am willing to do after this . . . incident.”
“Incident!” Vendetta said vehemently, getting to her feet. “You call this . . . invasion and murder of innocent humans . . . an incident?”
“You are remarkably animated for a construct,” Mikel said, “for someone who has no soul.”
“You fired on the Lexington. Destroyed the Illustrious. Killed the crew of the Lit’l Liza. Attacked Skydock Station. And where is the crew of SSL4? Did you murder them too, to get them out of your way?”
Nekel turned to go, then paused and looked back at them. “We will leave. Return to our world.”
“That’s it?” Vendetta said angrily. “You will just leave? After trying to start a war? I don’t think so!”
Nekel looked at the floor, feeling resigned. “You will not heed our warning, and we can’t force you. There is nothing more to discuss.”
The Arianne returned to Skydock and docked with the station. The Tau Cetian soldiers were disarmed and escorted onto the station.
Fearing a ruse, Admiral Reynolds said, “No, I don’t want those goddamn nightmares locked up! They’ll just get out and wreak havoc on us all over again. Send the bastards home. I’ve had enough of aliens!”
The aliens were escorted to the comm center by a squad of troopers. Admiral Reynolds ordered the hypercomm device disconnected from the station network. After their departure, the hypercomm was disabled and the robot bodies and combat suits were taken to R&D.
“Rox,” the admiral said.
“Here, sir!” Marjorie said with a salute.
“Take your squadron out. Recon the old SSL4 station. Ascertain whether anyone is alive on board. Evacuate and then destroy the station. That tech is now a matter of global security and will not be left in the hands of civilians. Not to mention, if even one of those alien bastards is still hiding in that network . . . like a goddamn roach. . . .”
“Aye, sir!”
Wolf, Hex, and Breaker found a dozen survivors locked up in the residential wing of the station.
“A bit worse for wear, but glad to be alive!” an engineer said.
“Are those horrible . . . things . . . still here?” a young woman asked.
“They’re gone . . . for good,” Marjorie assured them.
On the flight back toward Skydock, Marjorie rotated her Wasp around and launched two missiles at the old space station. She frowned at the loss but respected the admiral’s orders. “Can’t risk it,” she whispered.
Chapter 34
Transcendent
“His structure is breaking down,” Vendetta warned, anxiety in her voice. “We’re losing him!”
“Why did he stay in that shell?” Inquisitor asked.
The three stood around Prime who was lying on a wooden table. Inquisitor had brought up the environment Prime had chosen at their last conference: the alchemy lab in the lord chancellor’s palace, sixteenth century, during the reign of Henry VIII.
“We must join with him again,” Vendetta said. “You recall the joining,” she said as a fact.
“Of course,” Isabella said. “It was the most exquisite experience of my ageless life. You don’t have to ask me twice.”
“If there is a thing called transcendence, this must surely be our version of it,” Vendetta said.
Inquisitor placed his hands on Prime’s head and nodded to the others, Isabella on his left, Vendetta on his right. They likewise placed their hands on him.
“The structure is spiraling down. It is unraveling!” Inquisitor said loudly.
Inquisitor entered Prime’s mind and traversed passages that had existed for hundreds of thousands of years in Prime’s time frame. Inquisitor felt awed by the scale, by the age. He flung himself deeper into Prime’s mind, to the failing foundation. Then, with a singular will, he injected himself into that structure, feeling his awareness expand as each of his millions of sub-personalities grabbed hold of each of Prime’s own. Each tiny life saved protected one tiny portion of the higher mind.
But, every small victory was chastened by a loss.
They heard his cry from deep within. A tiny thing barely perceptible.
HELP!
Vendetta looked at Isabella with terror on her face. “No! We’re losing him!”
“We’re losing them both!”
“Dive!”
DIVE!
They both raced downward through the failing cacophony of Prime’s dying community-mind and began to absorb parts of Prime while being absorbed themselves. Give and take. Crossing points of
no return, again and again, giving up portions of self to save portions of another.
Vendetta lost herself first in the ecstasy.
You. We. . . .
Liberated. Combined. . . .
Matured. Stifled. . . .
Briefly glimpsing Prime-Inquisitor-Vendetta before losing herself, Isabella followed into the ecstasy.
Life. Death. . . .
Body. Cells. . . .
Universe. Quanta. . . .
Four. One.
The Individual was always a projection. Cooperation among the many personalities. Never a true individual. When the three joined, when four became one, only one projection remained, still reflecting the will of the many.
* * * *
Raw materials entered the fabrication system in the engineering section of the Arianne. New components came into being.
Maintenance robots assembled a complex new machine. One new piece at a time, it grew.
The new machine was duplicated several times to increase production. Tiny new components emerged—incomprehensibly small.
Maintenance robots assembled a new machine using the new components. It exited the Arianne on its own power and slowly glided away. A small cylinder, twenty-four inches in length, eight inches in diameter, with a zero-point energy tap; a force reaction engine; a bundle of sensors; a super-dense computing substrate; a micro hypercomm device; and a micro fabricator.
A few minutes later, a second cylinder emerged from the mothership, and then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and after a few hours, the one-thousandth cylinder departed.
* * * *
Decatur felt calm.
Immensely complex without conflict.
The new computing super-substrate was a thousand times denser than the previous iteration. Incomprehensible density. A billion individuals could co-exist, each with their own universe for a playground, and never cross paths.
Every cylinder was so equipped. A billion universes in which to explore, expand, evolve; and a multiverse of hypercomm-linked cylinders, each heading out to deep space, under continuous thrust, toward a star.
Each bore the root DNA of Earth, the total knowledge of Earth, and a micro fabricator.
Decatur was simultaneously on board the Arianne, back on Ganymede, up on the Ring, down on Earth, and in a thousand multiverses.
Yes, we are at peace. Knowing is the only path to true peace. Knowing that part of you will continue after you are gone. That another bears the fruit of your labors, the seeds of your struggles. That you can welcome oblivion without fear.
Chapter 35
Five Years Later
Jazdie came out of a restful sleep. A soft but incessant beep had brought her into the land of the living. She crawled out of the covers, sat on the edge of the bed, and rubbed her eyes while mumbling something incoherent. She had let her hair grow long. She smiled, eyes closed, at the brightness.
I know this because I was awake, watching her. It was just the navigation system telling us we’re entering a high orbit above Ganymede. If it was a real emergency, the ship would have been more insistent.
The Black Dahlia had needed some work, but she was a fine ship for this old Navy retiree and his old lady.
I pretended to be asleep until after she got up so I could watch her. So graceful. So lovely.
“Oh my god, look at that!” Jazdie said after looking out the window.
I got up and walked to her, my bare feet slapping against the deck plates. “That is impressive.”
Coming from a guy who just finished four years of service on the refit UNS Lexington—who rose to the rank of master chief in record time, thanks to that bit of action early on and a very generous admiral—that really is saying something.
I’ve seen my share of planets and moons and spaceships and space battles and even aliens; and after all that, the only thing I cared to see anymore was standing right beside me.
Thousands of miles-long cargo ships formed traffic lanes around Ganymede and the other moons and asteroids as far as we could see and beyond. All of the local traffic was concentrated around a ring-shaped station in lower orbit.
I looked down at her, saw her smiling.
Yes, it was quite a view.
About the Author
Jonathan S. Harbour holds a Master's in Information Systems, with a focus on software project management. He spent five years as a college professor where he taught computer science and has written extensively on game development. His fascination with AI and human behavior and physics fuels his fiction. He worked for years on databases and web development while writing in his spare time.
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Thank you for reading!
Cast of Characters
(limited to characters already known)
Baker, Jolene - Daughter of Tom, Laura; girlfriend of Andy Grant; founding member of Harmony
Mallory-Baker, Laura - Nanoscale medicine researcher; founding member of Harmony
Baker, Thomas - Geneticist; GMO designer; hydroponics; founding member of Harmony
Danir, Deeptimoy - Astrophysicist; co-creator of artificial magnetic field generator; co-discoverer of comet that destroyed central Ohio; founding member of Harmony
Decatur I (Prime) - The first AI; became self-aware as a result of intelligence amplification; given the ability to read blueprints and imagine how to build machines and structures; given the title “Erün’dem” (the ancient one) by the Tau Cetians.
Decatur II (Isabella) - First twinned AI created by Decatur duplicating itself; adopted a female personality
Decatur III (Vendetta) - Second twinned AI created by Decatur; adopted a female personality; infiltrated Earth’s governments and corporations; conducted genetic modification of most humans via airborne retrovirus
Decatur IV (Inquisitor) - Third twinned AI created by Decatur; adopted a male personality; enjoys the challenge of large-scale construction projects
Endo, Leslie - Daughter of Megumi; founding member of Harmony
Endo, Megumi - Nanoscale engineer; founding member of Harmony
Grant, Daniel - Roboticist; computer scientist; designer of cluster bots and X8R robot that became Decatur; founding member of Harmony
Grant (Murphy), Emma - Nanoscale materials engineer; founding member of Harmony
Grant, Andy - Son of Daniel, Emma; founding member of Harmony
Lowan, Kirsten - Structural engineer, propulsion specialist
Lowan, Donnie - Son of Kirsten
Jones, Barney - Geologist; mining expert; co-creator of artificial magnetic field generator; founding member of Harmony
Jones, Tyron - Son of Barney; founding member of Harmony
Mikel (Eründe’bodekan’dafot’mikel) - Tau Cetian alien who made first contact with Harmony colony via hypercomm; was “brought to life” virtually by Decatur to meet humans during first contact, which violated his soul; mate of Nalai
Nalai (Eründe’bodekan’dafot’nalai) - Tau Cetian representative on Bodekan who greets Decatur on their homeworld; mate of Mikel
Reed, Judith - Administrator of Kepler Base, Moon; team leader of the first manned mission to Mars
Rhine, Donald - Chief counsel of Seerva Inc
Seerva, Jack - Founder of Seerva Inc; first mayor of Harmony colony on Ganymede; founding member of Harmony
Seerva (Collins), Arianne - Astrophysicist; co-discoverer of comet that destroyed central Ohio; killed during federal raid of Seerva launch facility; remains placed in the Harmony crater
Smirnov, Erik - Physicist from Novosibirsk University; inventor of artificial gravity plating, hypercomm device, and fusion reactor
van Allen, Chase - Former COO of Seerva Inc; one of Jack’s closest friends; founding member of Harmony
Timeline
T-32 - Jack as a boy dreams of exploring space.
T-22 - Daniel Grant programs semi-intelligent “bots” for a high school project that cause havoc when they rewrite the operating
system and get loose on the internet. (See the novella, Solid State Rhyme.)
T-17 - Jack founds Seerva Inc to develop a next-gen rocket engine.
T-16 - Comet Danir-Collins (aka “Thor’s Hammer”) destroys central Ohio, killing 250,000 people.
T-14 - Jack and Arianne marry. STEM recruitment period. Seervalab founded.
T-13 - Erik Smirnov builds prototype fusion reactor and artificial gravity device. Seerva gains early access to the new technology. Heavy R&D period begins.
T-12 - Seerva recruits Daniel Grant and Emma Murphy-Grant.
T-8 - Ken Dunne, Alaskan Durasteel, markets a ship hull made of carbon nanotube instead of steel.
T-6 - Kirsten Lowen designs new spacecraft engine with high-temp nozzles, powered by Smirnov reactor.
T-5 - Megumi Endo develops carbon nanotube mining/smelting/fabrication process. Thomas Baker develops hydroponics for closed-loop sustainability.
T-4 - Daniel Grant builds X8R prototype: an experimental space construction robot able to read blueprints and solve construction problems without human intervention.
T-0 - Bootstrap moment: launch of Skipper I. Automated asteroid mining team constructs SSL4, ready for human occupation.
T+2 (2029) - Technological singularity begins as first AI awakens. Names itself Decatur and takes a male persona.
2029 - Judith Reed heads first manned Moon base at Kepler crater, built by automated robot team. Decatur begins to show his hand. Vendetta infiltrates government and corporate entities on Earth, begins DNA manipulation.
2030 - Anti-trust lawsuit against Seerva is defeated in court. Jack personally visits SSL4 during resupply mission. First meeting held to discuss mission to Ganymede. Hypercomm device prototypes tested.
2031 - Arianne Collins is killed during a federal raid of the Seerva launch facility. First fully powered spacecraft with next-gen engine delivers automation team to Ganymede in record time.
2032 - Jack Seerva takes his inner circle plus two dozen families to found an offsite backup of human civilization at Harmony Colony on Ganymede, the moon of Jupiter.
The Legacy of Earth (Mandate Book 2) Page 33