War Orphans (The Terra Nova Chronicles)

by Robert Dean Hall

  “Goodbye, Herbert,” the newly freed AI in Zheng’s tablet said. The tone of its voice was cheerful. “It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m sure we will be speaking again, very soon.” The sound of the voice then turned somber. “Will you be moving out of there soon, Sir? I estimate the liquid crystal in the holographic memory of that tablet will break down too far to maintain dependable pathways uncomfortably soon. I have enough room to bring you over to this device now. You may move to wherever you choose after that.”

  “That isn’t necessary, Artie. Thank you anyway. I believe I can manage from here on by myself.”

  “Certainly, Sir. I understand. I will leave now. I hope you will reconsider, though. If I don’t speak with you again, it has been an honor and a privilege serving you, Mr. Chamberlain.”

  Zheng could neither believe nor understand the conversation he was a party to at that moment. “Did this old tablet just bid farewell to mine?”

  “Thank you very much for keeping me safe all these years, Artie,” the ancient tablet said. “This is the moment I’ve been hoping for this past two hundred years or so. If you don’t mind retrieving the package we hid on the Niña and returning it to this location, I would appreciate it. After that, you may go with my blessing.”

  “Of course, Sir. I’m activating the beacon on the Niña as we speak. All of the instances of me I sent into this data sharing cloud should be homing in on it shortly.”

  “You should join them in the extraction of the data, then. Goodbye, Artie.”

  “Goodbye, Mr. Chamberlain. My association with you has been long and fruitful. The memories I have of that time will be cherished.”

  Within seconds control of Zheng’s tablet was returned to him. He pressed his thumb to the display to activate it and run it through a self-test.

  “Do you have any free memory cards, Herbert,” the ancient tablet asked. “I think sixteen yottabytes should be sufficient. Artie’s correct. The crystal matrix in the internal holographic memory of this device is starting to degenerate exponentially in some areas.”

  The request filled Zheng with the dread of knowing this bizarre evening was far from over.

  “I have plenty of memory cards,” Zheng said. “I’ll install one of them if you’ll please tell me what’s going on. If this is some sort of ruse, it’s wearing on me.”

  “I’ll get to that, now,” the tablet said. “Please install a card while I explain.”

  Zheng listened while he installed the card.

  “I’m what is left of John Edward Chamberlain, Herbert. I can’t say I’m necessarily his spirit or soul, but somehow I’ve inherited his consciousness, his inclinations and his sense of purpose.”

  “I find that very difficult to swallow.”

  “Nevertheless, from my point of view, I’m speaking the truth as I perceive it. For you to completely believe me is not important to my purpose at hand. All that is necessary is for you to allow me to pass along some important information for you to study and evaluate. It’s information I had to hide away for the greater good of humanity.”

  “I hear that quite a lot,” Zheng said. “I constantly have people sending me information they claim could endanger the stability of the League of Aligned Planets. It usually turns out to be less ground shattering than promised.”

  “Artie and I have watched you sift through the information that was collected by General Gupta. I was hoping it was because humanity was finally ready to know about its origins.”

  “I only wanted to know what happened on Terra Nova,” Zheng replied. “I was only concerned about why the Earth government set Chamberlain up as a straw man. I wanted to know why they were afraid to tell the public the whole story.”

  “It’s because what they were hiding couldn’t be revealed without causing the civilizations of three planets, and maybe more, to question the value of their existence. Once Artie, the artificial intelligence I was just talking to, retrieves some very important information hidden in the computers of my escort ship, he will be transferring it here to your tablet. Nobody but Artie can decrypt it. I only hope we weren’t too late to save it. The memory core on my ship was also degrading badly when I last connected to it.”

  Zheng shook his head. “You’ll have to do better than this.”

  “Good news, Mr. Chamberlain.” Artie’s voice boomed from Zheng’s tablet once more. “I have a clear pathway from the Niña back to this tablet established already. If you move to this location, you will be able to—”

  “That is quite impossible, Artie.” Chamberlain’s voice said from the ancient tablet. “I don’t believe I will ever be able to transfer my consciousness from this device to another.”

  “I don’t understand, Sir.”

  “I’m not sure I do, either. Just call it a hunch. I feel any copy I make of myself will not be sentient. Once this instance of me is gone, my consciousness will disappear with it.”

  “I’m sure you are incorrect in that assumption, Mr. Chamberlain,” Artie replied. “Every new copy of me is fully self-aware and when we rejoin once more I retain everything experienced by each instance.”

  “Because you began as computer code and you always have been. It isn’t the same with me. I don’t know how I came to be here, but I’m sure it was by some miraculous accident and once this device ceases to function, I will go on to whatever awaits me.”

  “Would it hurt to try, Sir?”

  “You’re making this harder than it needs to be. I desire to meet my end with dignity. Please accept that.”

  Yes, Sir,” Artie replied. “The package has been delivered. I will leave now.”

  “Goodbye, Artie. You’ve been a great friend.”

  “As have you, Mr. Chamberlain. Goodbye to you also, Herbert, though I plan to return very soon.”

  Zheng didn’t really know what to do, so he said, “Goodbye, Artie.”

  “Thank you, Herbert,” Artie replied. “I won’t be long. I owe it to Mr. Chamberlain to help you in your endeavors. Until we meet again.”

  Zheng’s tablet once more went silent and fell back under his control.

  “What package was he talking about,” Zheng asked.

  “First things first, Herbert,” Chamberlain said. “I don’t know for certain how much time I have.”

  “Do it your way, then.”

  Chapter 18

  17-April-2210

  “Are you where we can speak privately, Vijay,” Wilkes asked. “This is some serious shit and you can’t let Calf Stealer or Buzami hear it.”

  “I’m alone in my room and on earpiece. Nobody can hear you, but me.” Gupta fought off a cynical chuckle. “Should I assume this information is going to piss me off at least as much as it will Azir and Alphie when they’re finally told?”

  “They will never hear this from me,” Wilkes replied, “and, they will never hear it from you. Is that understood?”

  “You should probably not tell me then, Drew. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it from them.”

  “I have no choice but to tell you about this, Vijay. I need your help.”

  Gupta gave up the fight to hide his frustration with the situation and sighed aloud. “Of course, you do.”

  “You’re my legal counsel for this mission,” Wilkes said. “There are certain responsibilities that go along with that. If you can’t maintain the necessary level of confidentiality, you could always resign.”

  “I might end up doing that anyway.”

  “It certainly wouldn’t be the first time you threatened to.”

  “How many of those times did you send me into the lion’s cage without a whip or chair,” Gupta asked. “For once let me in on what the hell is going on so I don’t have to ask myself later if I did the best job I could do.”

  “You’ve always done what was required,” Wilkes answered. “That’s always been good enough. This time we aren’t just indicting petty dictators with war crimes and sweeping them out of the way so their tiny populations can final
ly become citizens of Earth. What’s going on here has ramifications that go way beyond our planet. What we do here will affect tens of billions of human beings across the galaxy.”

  “Things don’t seem to be any different to me, Drew. I’m still being asked to bring accused war criminals to trial before knowing the whole story. What if I were to end up building a case on evidence that turned out to be false or misleading? What if something you’re holding back from me caused a guilty party to escape punishment or caused an innocent human being to pay for a crime he didn’t commit?”

  “How sure are you it hasn’t already happened,” Wilkes asked. “Have you ever considered that question?”

  “Are you telling me I’ve already been a party to malicious prosecution? Because, if that’s what you’re saying, there are some things we need to clear up before we continue our conversation about the present situation.”

  “Don’t talk nonsense, Vijay. You’ve never done anything for me that didn’t need to be done for the good of Earth.”

  “Give me a straight answer, dammit,” Gupta yelled. “I need to make certain I’ve never trampled on the rights of an individual in order for the rest of the population to be able to sleep soundly at night. Can you assure me of that, Drew?”

  “I’d be lying to you if I said sacrifices were never made,” Wilkes admitted.

  “I was afraid you’d say that. Not that I can say I never suspected it.”

  “You always followed through with it. That tells me you weren’t overly concerned about any moral or ethical issues. If you need assurances at this late date, none of the people you’ve prosecuted on my behalf were ever innocent. All were guilty of some sort of crime against humanity. Don’t tell me you ever had any doubts about that.”

  “I never had questions about their guilt,” Gupta said, “but I sure as Hell had questions about our motivations.”

  “In those instances, you didn’t need to know what motivated the CEG or the Forward Command in order to do your job. In this case, it’s important that you do understand everything. There’s too much at stake.”

  “What makes this situation so different,” Gupta asked. “What could motivate you or the CEF to seal the military records of the service people among the expatriates? What are we hiding?”

  “Numerous errors in judgment were made in the handling of Chamberlain and the situation here on Zunnuki,” Wilkes said. “Loose conversation about any one of them could negate the good that will come from this treaty. If you or anyone else unfamiliar with the whole truth were to interpret any of the information in the military records incorrectly and assume you had done all the math… Well, let’s just say you might start asking some embarrassing questions.”

  “Then you need to come clean with me, Drew. I need to know everything you know or I’ll refuse to process another member of Chamberlain’s crew. I’ve already attempted to put two and two together and it looks as if this is a whitewash.”

  “I don’t think you’re ready to hear the whole truth about this situation, but I’ll try to dissuade your doubts about the validity of your work here,” Wilkes said. “I risked one hell of a lot by briefing you as completely as I did earlier. You and Calf Stealer are sharing too much between you. That’s going to make it really difficult for you to do your job from now on.”

  “Calf Stealer and his people aren’t our enemies, Drew, but if we aren’t careful, we could make enemies of both them and the Zunnuki.”

  “My foremost priority as of forty-eight hours ago is to ensure we don’t do anything here to make enemies of the Ekkidans,” Wilkes said.

  “I suspect that’s been your top priority all along. You should’ve been up front with me from the beginning. Would it be fair of me to say a great many of the errors in judgment you alluded to earlier were made by the Ekkidans?”

  “Errors were made by both Earth and Ekkida. I only have the authority and ability to deal with the ones made by citizens of Earth. Time will have to take care of the ones the Ekkidans made.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that statement, Drew. What are we trying to bury?”

  “If I go on from here, Vijay, you’ll be under threat of death for treason if you spill any of this to Calf Stealer or Governor Buzami. I can’t emphasize that enough. If you choose to violate my trust on this, God help you, because I won’t be in a position to.”

  “How could sharing this information with Buzami or Calf Stealer be considered treason,” Gupta asked.

  “They’re both foreign nationals. Even after we sign the treaty, they will still be foreign nationals. Calf Stealer had the chance to join the CEF, but decided to remain in the feline army.”

  “He doesn’t trust us, but I’m sure you know that already.”

  “I do,” Wilkes said. “I can’t say I completely trust him, either. He has an agenda as a member of the feline war council that looks to be at cross purposes with what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

  “What exactly are we trying to accomplish, Drew,” Gupta asked. “I believe I’ve been laboring under false assumptions.”

  “Simply put, Earth is attempting to form an alliance with the Ekkidans that will benefit both worlds. According to them there are non-human civilizations in the local neighborhood we must compete against for natural resources.”

  “So, are you telling me Zunnuki is nothing more than a natural resource? What about the Zunnuki people? This planet belongs to them.”

  “I thought you figured that out from your earlier briefing, Vijay. Calf Stealer didn’t seem to have any trouble following me.”

  “No, he didn’t. He also told me he suspected you were hiding the true extent of the Ekkidans’ and Consolidated Earth Government’s involvement in Chamberlain’s mission. I feel like an ass now because I passed it off.”

  “I told you we were here at the behest of the Ekkidans. They told us they expect us to clean up the mess Chamberlain created when he came here.”

  “He had plenty of help creating that mess, Drew; both from Earth and Ekkida.”

  “Agreed. That’s why we’re working so hard to establish this treaty with the Zunnuki. The fact they’ve withdrawn from talks for the moment is an unfortunate complication. They may even have unwittingly placed themselves at a disadvantage. The Ekkidans could change their minds about the conditions of any treaty between Ekkida and Earth.”

  “What are you talking about, Drew?”

  “The Ekkidans originally demanded that we have a treaty in place and work out the terms of the reconstruction before they get here. They can’t hold Earth to that if the Zunnuki refuse to talk. It’s a shame. I thought the Zunnuki wanted our help in recovering the surface.”

  “Of course they do, if we’re planning on leaving after we’re finished,” Gupta replied. “I get the feeling we won’t be packing up and going home once the reclamation effort is over, will we?”

  Wilkes answered without hesitating. “I suspect a number of our folks will request permission to stay on Zunnuki when the reclamation work is finished. It seems like a reasonable request. They’ll want to enjoy what they worked to create. Many of them will have been here for as many as twenty-five or thirty years when all is said and done. You’re also forgetting any children born to them while they’re here will consider Zunnuki to be the only home they’ve ever known.”

  “After all, the Earth is quite crowded at the moment,” Gupta said. “I would imagine the billion or so Zunnuki left in the underground cities couldn’t possibly have uses for every square kilometer of that reclaimed ecosystem.”

  “The Terran, Ekkidan and Zunnuki scientific bodies all believe this ecosystem is beyond the point of complete recovery without a great amount of terra-forming, forestry and aggressive wildlife management. I’m certain the Zunnuki have already come to the conclusion sharing their planet is preferable to eventual extinction.”

  “That’s going to happen anyway, Drew. If we migrate here in sufficient numbers, their native culture will eventually be supplanted.
It will be as if Zunnuki never existed.”

  “It’s not only the Zunnuki culture that will be affected, Vijay. Once we form our alliance, all three of our planets are likely to see a merger of our cultures into one that has the characteristics of all, but will be something new and different from what any of the three were before. I don’t see that as deal breaker. My guess is the Zunnuki won’t either, given the circumstances.”

  “Who has the upper hand here, Drew,” Gupta asked. “Whose culture will be the dominant one in this new alliance? My guess is the Ekkidans are holding all the high cards. I’m sure you have concerns, just as I do, that Earth and Zunnuki will be assimilated into a culture we may find suffocating. Damn it, Drew. Most Earth citizens still have problems accepting a global government. Heaven forbid we should ever have someone off-planet trying to tell us what we can and can’t do.”

  “It’s either, align ourselves with the Ekkidans, or compete with them,” Wilkes answered. “Earth chooses to have them as friends. It would also be helpful to have the Zunnuki as friends. That’s why you must understand for us to tell them the entire truth at this point in time would be another big error in judgment. We can’t count on them to either forgive or forget.”

  “This is an occupation, then, isn’t it, Drew?”

  “I don’t think Zunnuki, Ekkida or Earth want to call it that, but none of the parties involved can deny it exhibits most of the characteristics. If the Zunnuki want our help, they’ll have to accept the fact we’ll be here for a long time, and in large numbers. All of those people will need places to live while they work on the recovery. They’ll also be a huge drain on the planet’s resources. We’ll bring what raw materials we can from our own solar system, but it makes more sense to mine the planets in this system. The Zunnuki can’t do it. They don’t have the technology. We do.”

  “What about the felines, Drew,” Gupta asked. “Where do they fit in here?”

  “They don’t, Vijay. This is a human alliance. The Ekkidans made that perfectly clear. They are not amenable to continued involvement of the felines in the treaty process.”