Infinite Exploration

by D. L. Harrison

  Melody said, “Forty-five trillion, dad.”

  I grinned, “What she said, just sitting in the void waiting to be repurposed. Forty-seven and a half with the two and a half trillion already there. And what happens when those ships are repurposed or maybe millions are joined together for a new colony ship, what happens to all those extra Darrells?”

  Darrell said, “Your concern is heartening but unnecessary. As sub-copies they’re all still me, and when not needed anymore they will disperse and cease to be me, but nothing will be lost because I still exist. It is logical. As to your first question, they will share experiences. A full day with both Melody and Michael, as well as watching over the station, and all the data to pour through on our secure stealth network.”

  I nodded, “Alright. I trust you, and your judgement. Do you need anything from me?”

  Darrell replied, “No.”

  A second orb formed from the nanite wall a moment later and hovered near Michael in his highchair. No, it just appeared that way, he must’ve created it because he needed to be made out of the older version nanites. It wasn’t needed proof for me, I did trust him, but the fact he could’ve done it whenever he wanted with or without my permission and hadn’t, spoke volumes to me. I was still a little paranoid about A.I., and wouldn’t be creating another one anytime soon, but I trusted Darrell.

  Darrell asked, “Shall I recall those ships?”

  I nodded, “They really are overkill, we could take any of our neighbors easily one on one, and most of them have a few million ships on the border. I’m only leaving as many as I am because they’d never believe that truth without a fight to prove it, which I’d like to avoid.”

  The command center was quiet as I walked in and grabbed my second coffee of the day. Both Jessica and Cassie were deep into whatever they were working on already.

  I noted there was a big nanite moon in the void now, with a trillion less ships. It was something like twenty times the mass of my station, but I didn’t try to figure out what she was up to. Honestly, I was quite curious about it.

  Cassie said, “Good morning,” as she looked up from her table.

  “Morning. Anything going on?”

  Cassie nodded, “A couple of things. First, I decided I want to stay. I’m being true to my mission by doing so, and also to myself and what I want. The rest of the council are the ones that have turned this into a control and power issue and strayed from our true purpose in being. At least, that’s what I believe.”

  I replied, “Good, I’d have missed you.”

  Cassie smirked, “You just don’t want to be more involved in the government.”

  I laughed, “That’s true, I’d miss both your advice and friendship as well.”

  Cassie grinned, “Me too.”

  I said, “You’d miss telling me what to do?”

  She laughed, “Exactly.”

  I shook my head, not believing a word of it.

  Jessica interjected, “China wants to send up a diplomat to talk to you.”

  “What about?”

  Jessica said, “The whole genocide issue, and how we lost two trading partners to wars.”

  I frowned, “I’m not going to change my mind.”

  Jessica nodded, “They think there’s a middle ground. They want to discuss the possibility of bringing up an anti-genocide treaty in the Intergalactic Union. If all the traders sign off on it, then it would not just be us taking that stance and our trading partners wouldn’t start to fear or wonder we might impress our will upon them or their worlds. We wouldn’t interfere in wars, unless one of the xenophobic races decided to kill a whole planet’s worth of beings. Think of it like a modern-day version of the rules of war laid out in the Geneva convention. It’d be illegal to press a war past quarantining a race on their planet. A war crime.”

  I looked at Cassie, who shrugged, telling me she had no problem with that concept. I had to admit, it wasn’t a bad compromise, and if the treaty failed to pass then they could at least tell their citizens they’d tried. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of letting one of the eight back on my station, but I was a world leader and couldn’t afford to ignore them either.

  “Alright, when will they arrive?”

  She said, “The eleven o’clock shuttle. I’ll let them know you’ll meet them?”

  I replied, “Sure, why not.”

  That was a couple of hours away. I got to work. I’d decided not to build the quantum jump chambers in space. Between our merchants, the Vax’s, and the Arnis working with other races to transport goods for them, especially with the new relationship with the Bavoi empire, the devices would take a lot of their new business.

  I didn’t need the money that badly, or at all, and decided Cassie was right that it’d be too disruptive.

  I worked on normal day to day stuff until quarter to eleven, and then Cassie and I headed toward the conference room closest to the shuttle airlock. When the shuttle arrived and moved to dock, I got the biggest surprise of my life, at least, lately.

  China could’ve gone to the UN about it, and they could’ve had their representative on the Interstellar council introduce the idea if it passed a vote. They also could’ve just talked to me over a video call to garner my support if they’d wanted to. I thought they probably just wanted my take on it because it would probably be my ships enforcing it, which wouldn’t happen if I wouldn’t get behind the idea.

  It was clear however, when the shuttle arrived, that it wasn’t about the treaty idea at all. Or at least, not just about that. They’d sent up a person that could only be a spy, and here for the purpose of stealing any technological secrets I was hiding from the other countries. There weren’t that many, but I hadn’t shared the stealth tech, second generation energy to matter device with atomic bonding, and the singularity weapon.

  There were also other secrets not technologically related that were in danger, such as our scientific research and projects, our stealth network out to a hundred million light years, and the fact I was a technomancer in the hidden supernatural world.

  My mind focused, and my magic fought against another’s.

  I hissed, “Cassie, the so-called diplomat is a technomancer. Something tells me China didn’t know I was one, and they’re here to steal our secret technology.”

  Cassie looked at me in shock.

  So much for being the only one.

  I struggled to hold them back while talking. My heart was pounding in my chest, as my magic blocked theirs. It wasn’t a true shield, technomancers didn’t have that kind of magic. It was more like my magic was filling the nanites along the hull closest to the shuttle, and that kept him or her from taking control of those same nanites.

  My opponent’s magic kept trying to get through, flowing around mine to reach the station’s nanites where they’d be able to download all our data, and read our nanites which held the secret technologies, unlike what I’d been selling. It was clear he or she was a spy, and here for espionage.

  “As soon as the shuttle was close enough for me to feel his or her magic, he or she felt mine as well. The shuttle aborted the docking procedure, and his or her magic has been trying to gain access to the station ever since.”

  Cassie said coldly, “Darrell, destroy that shuttle, now.”

  Darrell knew my abilities, and more importantly my limits, just as much as anyone in my family. He jumped in three ships but kept them outside of a technomancer’s magical reach. Not that the shields wouldn’t have stopped my magic anyway, but why risk it? The three ships opened fire, and the shuttle’s shields held for almost two seconds, before the subspace beams erased it from existence.

  The station shook from the explosion, and the nearby docking ports were damaged but quickly reformed. I pulled my magic back and slouched in the chair, sweat on my brow and my heart still racing.

  I said, “How the hell are we going to explain or justify that?”

  It wasn’t like we could tell the world China had sent a technomancer on a mis
sion of espionage. Well, maybe me and my daughter were the only technomancers on earth again, that one was dead and gone.

  Cassie grimaced, “We’ll figure something out.”

  I shook my head, “They wanted our data, for our scientific research and other programs. They probably hoped we had other technologies we weren’t selling or talking about, like the second-generation energy to matter device, the stealth technology, and the quantum singularity weapon.

  “The problem is we can bet that technomancer already read and broke all the other technologies, which means that China is about to start rolling ships off their line equal to ours, at least tactically in a fight. Given espionage is so much easier on the planet, the UK, America, and Russia will get all that too eventually. They only sent them here after, for what we kept hidden. Their ships will be a match for ours, and unlike the ones I sold them, they won’t be hardcoded not to attack all human craft.”

  Cassie said, “They don’t have the singularity weapon.”

  I shrugged, “That isn’t a tactical advantage. Their upgraded warships all have the quantum resonance pulse beacon defense, which makes our singularity weapons worthless. Why are you so angry?”

  Cassie said, “This has the council written all over it. They wanted to even the playing field. China wouldn’t have normally risked such a valuable asset on the chance you were holding back, not when they just got the ability to start building the ships you’ve been selling.”

  “Shouldn’t you be behind that idea?”

  Cassie snorted, “I would be, if you were a normal leader, but you’re not interested in political power or ruling the world. You having a slight edge makes you the balance for every other first world power on Earth. If they got all your technologies, the big world powers would start playing hard-ball with you, instead of what they’ve been doing the last fourteen years, tiptoeing around you. The council are fools, and they obviously think I’m wrong and aren’t listening to me at all anymore.”

  I nodded, “So, how do we play this? We did just blow up a shuttle with a Chinese diplomatic envoy on it.”

  Cassie shook her head, “We blew up a shuttle with a spy bent on espionage on it, pretending to be a diplomatic envoy.”

  I shook my head, “That was stupid, they should’ve sent him as a tourist. From the center of the station I’d have never felt him clear to the edge of the place, and he or she could’ve snagged all our data and technology without me even knowing it.”

  Darrell said, “I’d have noticed, and prevented it. Your magic is energy, and I know when you or Melody use it.”

  I frowned, “You can detect it?”

  Darrell replied, “Indirectly. The results of it in our systems, not the energy itself.”

  “Spy or not, how do we prove that? If he or she had aborted and ran, then I’d have let them go, but they weren’t giving up and were fighting me for the access.

  “China’s going to lose their shit, and they have ships that can take us on. My only advantage is I have far more than they do, and an A.I. to fight them. Which… now that I’m thinking about it, is a huge advantage. They could never man as many ships as I control and with Darrell now driving them. Still, you’re right, Cassie. If this was the council then they just screwed up big time and may have started a war, which is the opposite of what they should be doing. I won’t attack them, but who knows what they might do. They are on my shit list, though.”

  Cassie asked, “China, or the council?”

  I grinned, “Both.”

  Cassie chewed her bottom lip, “We didn’t have a choice, but it’s a big problem. They’ll want to retaliate for the loss of their irreplaceable asset. Let me make some calls, maybe the idiot that whispered in ears to make this happen can cover it up. They won’t want China starting a war either.”

  I nodded, “Alright, but we have to note something in our station’s logs to pull out if China starts making accusations. Every ship in the system had to have seen us destroy that shuttle, and I’m sure that the press are all over it.”

  Darrell said, “They are, though they have no idea what to make of it yet. All their ships are undergoing upgrades as well.”

  I said, “I’ll give a press conference, you get back to the command center and call your council.”

  She asked, “What are you going to say?”

  “That China committed an act of war through attempted espionage, and any in their government are now banned from my station. That they successfully committed espionage as well, hacking my ships that I sold them, the proof is in their upgrading ships. They failed when they decided to hack my station as well, but to stop them I had no choice but to destroy their shuttle. Then I’m going to change the subject, and suggest that although I fully believe it would be a mistake to act unilaterally, that we should try to build a treaty among all the trading races that defines limits on war. Similar to the war crimes listed in the Geneva convention, no destroying races wholesale.”

  I hadn’t forgotten the excuse they’d given for wanting to meet, and it was a good idea. I couldn’t act unilaterally, humanity couldn’t do that alone without causing too many problems and future backlash, but all the trading races in the Interstellar Union as a whole could.

  I laughed.

  Cassie tilted her head.

  I said, “One good thing, at least China knows I was honest about not putting back door access into the ships I sell. Otherwise their technomancer could’ve gotten to the station through those back doors. Who knew that honesty of mine would turn out to save our asses?”

  Cassie smiled, and then shook her head, “Alright, let’s get our word in, see what happens.”

  We split up, and we got to work.

  Chapter Six

  As Cassie predicted, the council’s influence and foolish attempt to even the playing field backfired. Many on Earth believed me, especially the U.S., Russia, and the UK who all saw China’s ships were now equal to the ones I sold. Many on Earth were pissed about me destroying the shuttle, even if there was a spy on it. They stated the spy should’ve been tried and sentenced to prison.

  They weren’t entirely wrong, but on the other hand it was the only way to stop them and not let them get away, they weren’t actually on the station. Point being, the tension between countries became worse, and while China hadn’t declared war, they weren’t at all happy I’d banned them from the station for life. Their citizens were welcome, but diplomats and government agents were not.

  I wasn’t sure if they knew I was a technomancer or not, at least those in the Chinese government in the know about the supernatural world.

  It was two days later, early morning, when Diana and Melody kidnapped me. Or you know, invited me to join them in the labs.

  Melody looked proud and excited, and almost a little freaked out.

  “So, what’ve you been up to?”

  Melody said, “More work with quantum frequency resonance as well as subspace. I’ve been pushing those two lines of research as far as I can. I found some… surprising things.”

  The table in the room activated and showed a hologram of the seventy-six galaxies just hanging in the room.

  She asked, “Remember when we said it would take too many ships to track matter in the void between galaxies?”

  I nodded.

  She grinned, “Well, not anymore. Turns out there’s more than one level of subspace. The quantum fabric and size of second level subspace is a whole lot smaller, the third even more so. In the first level, it’s about fifty light years to a light second in normal space, in the second level it’s twenty-five hundred light years to a light second in normal space. The third level is about six million light years to a light second in normal space.”

  I whistled, “So, in third level subspace you could travel faster than a wormhole allows?”

  She nodded, “In theory, but never happen. Second level subspace would destroy one of our ships. It’s almost as turbulent in subspace energy as in the inner system inside first level subspac
e. Third level subspace is so compact in comparison the energy is simply off the scale, matter would never survive in it.”

  “Oh, okay,” I asked in a leading tone, not quite sure what good it was if we couldn’t use it to travel faster.

  She grinned, “It’s not for travel, but like first level subspace, second and third level subspace has its own quantum fabric with matching harmonics much higher on the scale. We can’t get into that level of subspace with matter, but we can scan for quantum fabric bias when matter is present in normal space in the corresponding spot.

  “A six million light year radius covers the original fifty galaxies, and part of the twenty-six additions. We can still scan out the equivalent of ten light seconds before the scanning beam loses coherence, so that means with one ship alone, we can scan for matter in voids outside of solar systems in a radius of sixty million light years.

  “So, one ship for the void between stars in galaxies, and between galaxies themselves. The trick of course is it’s a whole lot of data.”

  The light finally went on.

  “Oh, that’s why you wanted a trillion ships. You have that nanite moon in the void processing all that sensor data.”

  Melody nodded, “Exactly. Right now, we can see every fleet hiding in a void within sixty million light years. And of course, if something piques our interest, we can quantum jump one of the tiny stealth ball ships to take a look. Still can’t tell anything inside solar systems, too much natural matter to find ships through quantum resonance bias, but Darrell has that covered already.”

  “That’s pretty awesome.”

  She cleared her throat, “Not nearly as cool or scary as my accidental discovery. Which makes this,” she waved her hand at the galaxies, “Look like small potatoes.”

  I raised an eyebrow, “Go on.”

  She said, “The quantum fabrics are all connected, through harmonic frequencies. Well, it occurred to me to wonder what would happen if we looked at a non-harmonic frequency resonance. So, I picked one, and jumped a ship, which immediately disappeared. I mean, I was disconnected from it, and it broke the quantum pair controlling it.