by A. S. Deller
Lancer tried to head off the inevitable weariness, “We may not have the answers now, but we’ll work on it. For now, this is another reason we need to get back home. The League needs to know—-“
Gulliver uncharacteristically cut in on everyone’s comm frequency, “The Alliance made that breakthrough because they had the galaxy’s most advanced and widespread AI working for them on the problem for decades, minimally. I am of course referencing the Malign. There is one place that the Malign suicide code cannot execute. That would be their world of origin, colloquially known as the Nucleus. Based on years of data that I have accumulated and analyzed, I can say with certainty to within a volume of 4,096 cubic light years where that celestial point is located.”
Rhodes said, “That’s a chunk of space sixteen light years on a side. It would take years to search it.”
“I will be able to narrow the volume the closer we approach. The Malign are thorough and precise, but not perfect. Clues will lead the way,” Gulliver spoke cryptically.
“How far is this volume from our current location?” Rhodes inquired.
Lancer started, “It would be poking a hornet’s nest. We wouldn’t get within a light year of the Malign Nucleus before they’d wipe us—-“
Again Gulliver interrupted, “Near the center of the galaxy, in the constellation of Saggittarius, globular cluster NGC 6522. If looking at the volume from Earth, you would see it exists on the other side of Baade’s Window. As you all know, Baade’s Window is an area of the sky that contain much less interstellar dust, which results in clearer viewing. My data point to the Malign as being possibly responsible for such lack of dust or other matter in that area of space. I believe they may have cleaned the volume of excessive particulates during their initial exponential expansion phase.”
“Gulliver!” Lancer hollered aloud.
“Yes, sir?”
“None of us are going to tempt fate and veer off course into the heart of Malign territory. And I order you to run a self-review of your adherence to UPSN Etiquette and Protocol. You will not interrupt me, or any other speaking officer, again,” the Captain said.
“Yes, sir. I will do so immediately.”
Rhodes sniffed, “So where does that leave us, Captain?”
Lancer leveled a stern gaze over the entire table. There was no better way to say it. “Our only priority is to return to the Solar System with as much haste as we can muster. We know we can help to a degree, and if we try too hard to be heroes we risk not even achieving the little we know we can do. So that is all. That will have to be all.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Doc Martell worried over the hibernation chambers with Doctor Weller. Set into the walls of a separate compartment at the rear of Sickbay, the chambers numbered only six, and were meant as the last resort in cases of extreme injury or sickness that could not be treated aboard the Talisman.
With a command from his holo tablet, Martell opened two of the chambers. A couple three-foot diameter ports hissed open and out slid two metal boards covered with a form-fitting foam that would adjust to any human, or smaller, body. Someone like Grekkon Rax was out of luck if he ever needed a hibernation unit on the Talisman. Specified as primarily a terran vessel, it just wasn’t in the budget or the blueprints to build in an oversized chamber for Kenek crew members.
“Running all of the diagnostics, Hubert?” Kyra Weller asked while she scrolled through some readouts on her tablet.
“Almost done,” Martell replied.
A patient would lie on the foam. They would have intravenous ports set into their arms, breathing apparatus connected with their airways, and numerous sensors placed on their bodies. The IVs delivered fluids and nutrition, as well as any drugs as needed. The foam not only provided comfort, but it also pulsed rhythmically to promote circulation and prevent any formation of bedsores. The patient was anesthetized into a comatose state before being retracted into the chamber itself.
Once inside a hibernation unit, their bodies were surrounded by a dense fog of various phytochemicals and antibiotics. This also kept the tissues moisturized, and served to reduce the patient’s body temperature slowly to 56 degrees Fahrenheit.
A human could survive inside a hibernation chamber for at least fifty years, with no upper limit actually tested outside of AI simulations. There had been a small wave of interstellar ships sent out from Earth in the early twenty-second century, containing colonists kept in such suspended animation in similar hibernation units. They were more self-sufficient, meant to act as “lifepods” in the event of an especially rocky landing on the intended colony world. In the ensuing years, as FTL travel enabled people to make interstellar journeys in timeframes of single-digit years instead of decades or centuries, no one had ever found or heard from any of those first-generation colony ships. It was considered the worst tragedy in Earth’s history of space travel, up until the Alliance/League war arrived on humanity’s doorstep.
The sickbay’s main hatch chimed, and Kyra looked out from the hibernation chamber room to see Commander Rhodes and Lieutenant Sorakith enter with the twins, Jerni and Ruri, between them.
The officers led the girls by their little, pale hands into the compartment, where Martell hummed to himself as he finished his diagnostics. Myra smiled warmly at the twins. “My, you two are looking beautiful today!”
“Why are we here?” Asked Ruri. The girls looked up at the several adults surrounding them.
Rhodes said, “It’s time for the doctors to give you a follow-up, make sure you’re both healthier now than you were when we picked you up.”
Sorakith noted the hitch in Gray’s voice. She was hoping she didn’t have to say much, herself.
Jerni scrunched up her eyes, “Really?”
Rhodes nodded, “And ice cream after.”
“Okay, let’s hurry up then!” Said Ruri.
Rhodes looked away quickly, feigning like he was curious about a random jumble of medical equipment. The girls wouldn’t have trusted him so readily not that long ago.
They’re never going to trust me again, he thought.
“Great. We’re also trying out some new beds for our patients here in Sickbay. I could use your help with that,” said Weller.
“What do we have to do?” Jerni asked earnestly.
Kyra patted one of the foam pads. “Each of you just hop up onto one of these. They’re both the same, no fighting,” she smiled again, this time with much less enthusiasm.
The twins each jumped up onto a platform and instinctively lay down. “This is so soft!” Jerni exclaimed.
“Now Doc Martell is just going to draw a little blood, just like last time, and give you an injection of medicine. You won’t feel a thing, I promise,” Kyra said as she walked around and stopped between both beds. She held a hand of each of the girls and encouraged, “Just squeeze tight if it hurts at all, okay?”
“No problem,” said Ruri, still perky.
Rhodes felt Sorakith’s slim fingers searching for the palm of his right, human hand. He took her bronze-skinned hand in his while the two of them stood helplessly in the hatchway of the hibernation compartment, forcing expressions of peacefulness onto their faces.
Martell kept humming as he went about his business, medical techniques of phlebotomy and infusion that had been practiced on Earth for the better part of a millennium. The doctor found himself humming the German folksong “Schornfeinsteger aus Eger” whenever he had to do something he found unpleasant. It was a happy song about a young couple who had the world open to them, and he still found joy in the memory of his soft, kind, withered grandmother singing it to him as she tucked him into bed.
Sorakith felt her heart sink as Jenri and Ruri’s eyes started to close. Dr. Weller and Martell knew it was best to set them off to sleep before the rest of the attachments and procedures were made. No need to give the girls cause to fret.
As soon as all four of the twins’ eyes were shut and their bodies relaxed into the slowly billowing foam, Rhodes
and Sorakith sat in opposing corner chairs while the doctors completed their preparations.
When Doc Martell finally, gently pushed both of the hibernation chambers into their alcoves, Kyra looked back to Rhodes and Sorakith. Both of them had tears in their eyes. Weller couldn’t help but cry a little, too.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Executor of the United Powers Congress, Donal Banyan celebrated his 130th birthday on May 18th, 2496, in a rather pedestrian manner for a man of his standing.
He awoke early, as usual, in his bedroom on the top floor of the United Powers Capitol Building in downtown New Albany, and spent an hour meditating in front of the massive easterly-facing window of his flat.
Banyan was of medium height, athletic, with a medium tan and thick silver-gray hair, shorn close to his scalp. He had only four percent body fat, veins and muscle striations visible from his neck to his feet. He was born as part of the fourth generation of humans whose genetic potential was optimized in vitro. Only the most privileged once had access to such medical advances. Over the past century, and especially over the past 16 years since Banyan founded the United Powers, that proportion of humanity grew. One of his proudest moments was when he announced that every single individual with the boundaries of the United Powers had access to genetic optimization. This was nearly three quarters of the Earth’s population of nine billion people.
Donal, and many others like him, were free of nearly all heritable diseases, as well as the most debilitating effects of aging, and could live long, productive lives. Part of his meditation always included a prayer of thanks to Infinitus that he was able to help so many people.
He opened his eyes just as the sun broke the horizon over the Atlantic, fifty miles away. As a saffron curtain of sunlight unfurled across his face, he decided that he would finally meet with General Viktor Petrovich later in the week. No need to keep him waiting any longer, not with the desertification crisis hitting all seven of the Incorporated Asian States equally hard this year. The United Powers would have to step in, and with League aid, possibly begin a larger scale terraforming process. The IAS fought that option for so long, but now they would have no choice.
Banyan sent those thoughts through his comm implant to his personal assistant, a sub-mind of the United Powers Administrative AI Core named Churchill. Afterward, he sat down to eat a healthy and energizing breakfast with his wife Eve and his second husband Guilherme. Guilherme talked about his most recent exploits, including how he was able to meet the entire cast of the most popular current play “Ossiturix” backstage at the 25th Century Studio. Eve was a bit more taciturn than the day before, but she managed to show some interest and brought up wanting to speak to Donal in private again. This was probably about her wanting to be appointed to a more travel-oriented position in the government again. Donal would gamble a billion Units that it would be the Secretary of Colonials. He promised to speak with her seriously the following day.
Next, he met with his Cabinet. This consisted of only a few select members:
A Kenek consul named Avokk Prox, respected judge and clan elder.
The Althorian Tanadith, direct descendent of some of the earliest benefactors of the League of Kindred Worlds and a skilled politician in her own right.
Lastly there was Dr. Shruti Rangan, patron of the Institute for Interspecies Study.
There were only ever three requirements for Earth’s membership into the League. Firstly, most of Earth’s population had to be bound under a single government. Second, a significant number of Kenek engineers would take up residence on Earth and Earthspace in order to help the planet build up defensive and offensive capabilities on par with the rest of the League. And third, the United Powers had to always maintain a minimum of two League advisors involved in daily regulation. This was the place of Tanadith and Prox, and they performed admirably in their roles.
Banyan listened patiently to their updates on infrastructure improvements, environmental initiatives, and judiciary landmarks. There had been an explosion in the Asteroid Belt, possibly caused by a suspected terrorist using a droplet of antimatter. The suspects were in custody and under interrogation. Meanwhile, several million protestors had gathered on the European United Powers side of their border with the IAS to demonstrate against the rumored use of colony-world level terraforming tech on Earth itself. Unfortunately, they were going to have to accept the fact that the only way to keep the IAS from doing something insane, like starting a resource war with the League-backed United Powers, was to terraform their dry wastelands before they grew into one giant, lifeless hellscape.
Consul Prox concluded his updates with yet another dilemma. The planet HD 215152 c, known as Garakka to the locals, located in the Aquarius constellation, had been home to a Kenek colony and was also a League way station with an orbital star dock. An Alliance battle group appeared at the edge of their star system less than a week prior, and the League had mobilized the nearest defense fleet, commanded by the respected Marshal Anithra. Anithra’s forces arrived too late to save the colony, but the star dock was still actively fighting the invaders. The League fleet took heavy losses before causing the enemy to evacuate the system.
Banyan said, “Where is Anithra’s fleet now?”
“Pulling back toward Earth, with Garakkan survivors. They need resupplies and repairs. And Marshal Anithra will then likely take over Martian defenses,” answered Prox.
“Garakka was a small, unthreatening target for the Alliance. Isn’t the Insigari homeworld between there and here?”
Shruti Rangan nodded, “It is. Insigar is about fifteen light years out. Garakka, about seventy.”
“Consul Prox, please contact Kenekkari about ramping up their fleet construction. The Alliance may be testing League defenses around Insigar, so we should make sure we are more than prepared,” Banyan said. Avokk Prox grunted his approval, triple layers of skin folds bunching around his neck.
Tanadith chimed in with some good news: A local New Albany girl, a human only six years of age, had reportedly manifested similar psionic abilities to those of the Althorians. This was authenticated the previous evening, and was confirmation that introducing manufactured copies of Althorian genes into the human genome was viable as a way to further evolve humanity.
“How glorious!” Donal beamed. “How much longer before we can apply that sequence in our current gene therapy?”
Dr. Rangan laughed, “Executor Banyan, there is no way that we will be using you as a test subject, so get that out of your head.”
“Well, I had to try.”
“Shall we retire for now, and resume just prior to your meeting with General Petrovich?” Tanadith offered, rising from her seat.
Banyan nodded, “Yes. Thank you for your most trusted counsel.”
Prox grumbled as he rose. Even though he was an old Kenek, 250 years of age and stooped, his robes and wrinkles barely distinguishable, he still stood a head taller than Banyan. “Before I forget, allow me to offer you my best wishes on your day of birthing. You are starting to look as ancient as I feel,” the grizzled saurian said.
Donal smiled, but before he could respond he was pinged by the soft, feminine voice of Churchill on his comm implant. She said, “This is a reminder that your 2 PM appointment is on schedule and will arrive promptly.”
Consider me reminded, Banyan thought back to Churchill. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing his venerable associate Charles Lancer again.
“Dr. Rangan, would you like to join me for midmeal in an hour? We have a lot to go over regarding the implementation of the new Insigari algorithm into our AI Cores,” Donal offered.
“Definitely, Executor. I will meet you then,” Shruti said, quite pleased.
As Charles Lancer sped across the megalopolis of New Albany on the maglev monorail, he pondered the meaning of life. There was something entrancing about moving over the landscape so quickly. The view was extraordinary.
Most cities in the Republic of North America now were mammoth spraw
ls, but unlike anything that had ever existed in history. Every building was covered completely in patterns of freshly sprouting greenery and solar panels. Robotic caretakers slowly roved across the growing areas pruning, weeding, watering and picking. Flocks of self-guided smart drones flew in tandem with numerous bird species, to eye all things that needed tending. Maglevs wove in swooping patterns a hundred feet over most rooftops, while street-level was limited to pedestrians and low-to-no powered vehicles.
Conservation and recycling had bloomed in full, resulting in “cities of the future” that people of the twenty-first century only dreamed of. Charles’ great-great grandparents had to survive economic collapses, ecological disasters, political upheavals and rising sea levels that turned most of the world upside down during their time. But the people that bore that time ended up wiser, and they rebuilt in a way that was kinder to the Earth.
His son Joao tapped him on the shoulder. “Dad, look. Almost there.”
Charles looked at the forward-facing holo window at the approaching Midmost of New Albany: A cluster of spiraling skyscrapers, reaching heights of 800, 1500, even 2000 feet, all adorned with twists of hanging gardens interspersed with more solar panels. The central tower was the United Powers Capitol, and it was their destination.
Joao wondered aloud, “Will it be any different this time?”
Charles squinted through some bright sunlight to look at his son’s chiseled, honest face. “I sincerely believe so, son. It has to be.”
The train zoomed on toward the glassy and verdant monoliths with barely a whisper. Hardly a gambrel dove or rootmouse noticed.
Within a few minutes, the train pulled into Midmost Station. Charles and Joao transferred into the elevators, followed by two of Charles’ best security personnel. The two tall, strong men were obvious in their dark uniforms, trailing the two smaller men dressed in high-end designer argentite suits and carrying the latest-gen tablets. Being the trillionaire chairman and founder of Lancer Interplanetary Intelligence came with its perks.