The Deep Dark Well

by Doug Dandridge

  "It’s lost the track," called the chief tactical officer over his link to the flag bridge. "The system doesn’t have unlimited instantaneous transmission and acquisition ability."

  "Now we see how long it takes the system to acquire the rest of the targets," said the admiral.

  Over the next half hour several more of the torpedoes were picked off. Within fifty minutes more were destroyed. At an hour, with a flurry of activity, the rest of the torpedoes were destroyed in flares of light. None remained to continue toward the target.

  "So once we get past the wormhole acquisition system," said Lemasi, "we only have to deal with the standard sensor array of the station."

  "Which of itself is still pretty formidable," said Captain Midas.

  "But not invulnerable," said the admiral. "Not operating at the limits of light speed.

  "I want a complete analysis of the defense system, and the best pattern to use the specials to penetrate it."

  Chapter 13

  All my possessions for a moment of time.

  Elizabeth I, Queen of England, Last Words

  "Damn," said Fleet Admiral Nagara Krishnamurta, watching the hundreds of miniature flares on the holo.

  "Of course this is a time accel report of what the visual sensors picked up from the region of the Donut," said the Danaus' tactical officer.

  "It still looks like quite a battle," said Krishnamurta.

  "More of a probe," said the tactical officer. "All of the detonations were consistent with one to two gigaton antimatter warheads. No detonations were consistent with the explosions of capital class warships."

  "So they fired most of their torpedoes at the Donut, and none of them made it?"

  "Yes sir. That’s our interpretation."

  "Trying to figure out the best way to get past the thing's defenses?"

  "Yes sir."

  "Admiral," came the voice of the captain from the view screen. "We will reach turnaround in one hour."

  "Go ahead and turnaround now," he ordered. "I want to stop a good distance from that artifact. If the Nations' people are having that much trouble getting close to it I want to keep a wide berth. Let me know if we have to add decel."

  "Yes sir," agreed the captain. "It won’t hurt to ride the decel tubes for a couple of hours."

  Yes, thought the admiral. He never liked the liquid filled decel tubes. Most times they didn’t need to be used, except when the ship had to surpass the ability of the inertial compensators to absorb accel forces. But he would rather ride in liquid, breather in his mouth, than crawl under four or five gravities for an hour or more.

  * * *

  "Well, they’ve been sitting there for hours," said Pandi. "I guess they have something better to do than come forward and be destroyed."

  "They are probably planning their next move," said Watcher. "Something risky."

  "Yeah. That’s just like our species. Trying to get up their nerve to do the something risky."

  Watcher winced, as Pandi watched his face, feeling concern for the eternal being who remembered not all of his past.

  "What’s wrong?"

  "My head always aches when I have stayed awake too long," he answered with a strained voice. "My brain feels as if it can’t deal with anymore, and wants to shut down, and the pain is my signal."

  "But when you go to sleep you black out," she said.

  "That is why I avoid it till I can hold out no longer," he said with a grimace. "It’s not too bad, yet. I can probably hold on for another six hours or so."

  "Why don’t you lay down," she said. "I’ll watch over you and make sure nothing happens."

  "What if Vengeance comes for you, or me, while I’m out?"

  "I’ll be right back," she answered as she got up from the bed. She walked into the next room and dressed herself quickly in her survival gear, arming herself as well. When she returned Watcher looked at her with a smile on his face. It was erased quickly by another wince of pain.

  "My protector," he said in a strained voice.

  "That’s right," she agreed. "You lay back and get some sleep, and I’ll stand guard over you. I don’t think Vengeance will get to me so easily this time." She patted the stock of the assault rifle for emphasis.

  "OK. I’ll lie down. You’ll let me know what happens while I’m asleep? I am very curious."

  She nodded as she smiled at him. Of course she would tell him. It was the dominant question in his mind. What happened when he was asleep?

  * * *

  Pandi sat on the side of the great bed and studied the sleeping form of the man called Watcher. While she looked she thought about how she felt about the being. Being. She knew he was genetically human, more or less. But he was not a human such as she understood the term.

  Did she love him? She had only known him for a little over a day, real time, taking into account the time he was missing, and she was the prisoner of his brother. But she found she cared about him. Was that love? Or merely gratitude to the being who had helped to anchor her after she had come through time and space. A trip she was sure most could not have undergone and maintained their sanity.

  And he was a terrific lover, the best she had ever had. But did that mean she loved him? After all, physical pleasure didn’t always translate into love. She ought to know that. She had many lovers in her life, but none that she had truly loved. Love had seemed to her to be a barrier to her dreams, her dreams to confront the unknown. Well, here was the unknown, embodied in her newest lover.

  Was that what she felt? Infatuation for the man who embodied her dreams? How did one tell they were in love, if it was the first time?

  And what did he feel for her? How could he feel anything for her, except gratitude for ending his loneliness? He was as far above her as she was above his pet cat.

  The cat. What happened to the cat? It had been underfoot most of the time they were in Watcher’s quarters. Now it was nowhere to be found. Another mystery.

  He looks so innocent and angelic. Lying there with his eyes closed, his face smoothed out in total relaxation. His breathing slowed as he slipped deeper into sleep. Immortal. What would he think of loving one who would someday die? Who would grow old and wrinkled? While he continued in good health and life for eternity. How would she feel? Would she resent him his heritage?

  Movement across his face brought her out of her thoughts. His eyes were twitching back and forth, quickly moving beneath the lids. REM. Rapid Eye Movement. She knew that was a sign of dream sleep, and the workings of the mind to process the events of the day and store them as memories. But he said he didn’t dream. Or at least he didn’t remember any of his dreams. What purpose did it serve for him to not remember?

  His body twitched as well, as did his facial muscles, as if creatures of nightmare fought through his mind. What memories might his mind hide, that only came out at night? Not the memories of Vengeance, she was sure. That would have shown in the probe she had done on his mind. He was not Vengeance.

  After a half hour the twitching and eye movements stopped. His face smoothed out in the deepness of sleep, and Pandi began to relax a bit. Might as well get something done.

  "Computer," she said. "I want to see more of the files on the Watcher Project. Put it on the holo here."

  The images sprung to life in the center of the room, as her brain tapped into the massive computer system of the station. Soon she was again immersed in the data, trying to learn all she could about the great mystery that slept by her side.

  * * *

  The first perfected homo superiors were no such thing, she learned. They possessed one hundred times the memory capacity of a normal human, which seemed immense. Even though the human race had found ways to cheat death, to extend the normal human life span to near immortal limits, it was not true immortality. Only the covering of time’s ravages by medical technology. But humans would eventually reach a point where their minds were incapable of further reconfiguration. Memory would stop at that time, the person no longer able t
o remember new information from moment to moment.

  One hundred times the memory capacity, paired with an eidetic system that allowed the beings to remember everything they encountered, in all sensory modalities. Enough to last a lifetime? But not an eternal lifetime. And the homo superiors processed and engulfed information at twenty times the rate of a normal human. So within the span of ten or twenty normal lifetimes the creatures were in the same boat as ordinary humans, unable process or remember new information, as mad as any human with progressive dementia.

  Next had come the generation before Watcher. The neural structure of the brain had been changed, with an unlimited capacity of reconfiguration. But the brain could still only hold so much information, and reconfiguration beyond a certain point, though it would allow the storage of new memories, meant that some memories had to be dumped. But which memories? This generation dumped at random, forgetting vital information, or losing much of the emotional component of their lives as early memories were lost.

  Watcher’s generation had been the culmination of research, using the technology of mind uploading. This allowed, through the construction of an enhanced implant, the storage of memories from the immortal’s brain. Memories that could be recovered whenever the being needed them. This allowed the immortal to have an essentially unlimited memory system.

  Pandi felt her eyes begin to burn slightly. She rubbed them as she looked back at Watcher, still asleep at her side. I've been going for a long time, she thought, not sleeping for over thirty hours. Life as a member of a spaceship crew had inured her to long hours of work, and she could keep herself going for days without sleep if necessary. But she had been running, fighting, learning. No wonder she felt so tired.

  She got up from the bed, making her way to the food-processing outlet. Coffee would be good, she thought. Thick with heavy cream and sugar, expresso strong. The room began to darken as she walked. She shook her head to clear it. But it wouldn’t clear, and the room got darker, beginning to spin around her. Her knees buckled as she fell heavily to the floor, her mind blanking out as the darkness enclosed her.

  * * *

  Pandi struggled to pull herself awake; sure that something important awaited her. Something she had to do. Something she had promised someone she would do. But she couldn’t remember what. Her eyes slowly opened, taking in the room which seemed unfamiliar at first, and familiar as well, like something out of a dream.

  She shook her head to clear it as awareness returned. And with it the thought of what she was supposed to do. She pushed herself up to her feet, turning slowly to bring the bed into her view, knowing what she would find. It was empty, the sheets ruffled. She looked around, scanning the room, catching no sign of Watcher. The robots were also gone.

  What the hell had happened? Had he gotten up and left, without waking her, or even seeing why she might be laying on the floor, unconscious. Not likely, she thought, unless he was not in his right mind. Could he be a sleepwalker? That was a possibility. Or could Vengeance have come for him, taking him from under the nose of his protector? That was the most unlikely of possibilities. Why would Vengeance take Watcher, and leave her lying on the floor.

  "Computer. Where is Watcher?"

  "The being known as Watcher is not currently available at this time."

  "I didn’t ask about availability you idiot?" she screamed. "I asked where he is, at this moment."

  "The being known as Watcher is not currently available at this time."

  Dammit. Why couldn’t the damn thing give her a straight answer?

  “Is the being known as Vengeance currently available at this time?”

  “Vengeance is on the station,” answered the computer.

  Pandi felt panic begin to grab her as her hand tightened on the pistol grip of her rifle. Vengeance was on the station.

  “Is Vengeance nearby?”

  “The being known as Vengeance is not in the vicinity,” answered the computer.

  “Why did I pass out like that?” she asked. “What happened to me? What happened to Watcher?”

  “Your connections were not complete,” said the computer, “and a period of imposed inactivity was necessary for full integration. The being known as Watcher is not available at this time.”

  “Dammit,” she swore. “I wish you would stop telling me he’s unavailable and tell me something useful about his whereabouts.”

  “Wait a second,” she said as her hands went to her head, feeling her scalp. “What do you mean my connections were not complete? What connections?”

  “You were not yet integrated into the system,” answered the machine. “It is necessary for the health of all involved that all sentient creatures be integrated into the system.”

  Dammit to hell. She stormed from the room, her mind a mass of roiling emotions. Anger warred with fear, and betrayal. The connections were not complete. That could mean all kinds of things, but what came to mind was horrible to contemplate.

  Into the scanner room, where she had conducted the screens on Watcher. The room with an independent computer system not connected to the station central system. Screened as well. It would not be able to contact her through her mind while she was in here, unless she wished it.

  “Make sure nothing interferes with my studies,” she told the scan room computer. “Only allow access by outside systems if danger threatens. I want a full scan of my brain. The works.”

  She sat in the chair as the scanner plates automatically moved into position. The humming sound of the machinery at work soothed her slightly. The plates maneuvered around her head, building up a three dimensional image of her brain at the molecular level.

  “Show holo, full brain,” she ordered as she got up from the chair. Her eyes fell on her helmet for a moment. Then all her attention was focused on the holo, holding the representation of what had seemed before to be a totally normal brain.

  Was it her imagination, or were the short tendrils that had connected the implant to her brain centers grown? And were those enlarged nodes at the ends of the tendrils?

  “Superimpose over previous scan of my brain.”

  The image of her brain as it was when she was last in this room appeared on the holo, with the ghost image of the current scan placed over it. No. She hadn’t imagined it. The tendrils had grown, and the nodes were something new. But she had told the computer not to increase her connection. Why had it disobeyed her? Had Watcher wanted her to have a complete connection to the machine like his? Or did the computer have its own agenda.

  “Can the connections be taken out?”

  “Affirmative,” answered the scanner computer. “Nanobots can be ordered to disassemble the level two implant connections, leaving only the basic level one connections in place. This can be done while the subject is mobile.”

  “How about the level one connections? Can they be taken out as well?”

  “Period of complete immobilization required for dismantlement of level one connections. Time required, two hours.”

  She didn’t like that idea at all. Totally immobilized for two hours on a station that Vengeance ruled.

  “Is there any way to keep the station computer from accessing my mind?” she asked. There had to be a way to keep that thing out of her brain, in case she had to act against it. And she was beginning to suspect that she would have to act against it, if only to unravel its enigmatic purpose.

  “The Class One combat helmet can be augmented to block out electromagnetic transmissions to brain implants.”

  “Like the helmet I have here?” she asked, picking it up from the table. “What do I do to augment it?”

  “Nanobots within the helmet can be programmed to increase the translucence level of the helmet. Would you like me to order such.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Immediately. And do you mean the damn nanomachines are in everything in the station?”

  “Affirmative,” said the computer. “They perform a necessary maintenance function throughout the station. Modern civ
ilization could not function without their ministrations.”

  “I want all the nanobots within the Class One Combat Helmet to deactivate themselves after they perform their task,” she yelled. “The same goes for those that are in my head, after they complete the job of taking out the level two connections. I want them completely out of my body.”

  “You will not have access to the most sophisticated healing procedures if the nanobots are purged from your physiology,” protested the computer.

  “I got along without them just fine before,” she replied through clenched teeth. “I’m sure I can get along without them just fine for now.”

  Pandi sat in the chair for what seemed like an eternity, though she was sure it was only fifteen minutes. Her skin crawled at the thought of the billions of tiny insect like robots running through her body, taking apart the foreign objects in her head, then taking apart themselves.

  “It is done,” said the computer. “Your body is totally purged of nanobots. They may be injected back into your body at any time if you so desire.”

  “I don’t desire,” she said. “Now I want you to access the main computer, with all filters in place. I want access to all information on the Watcher.”

  “Emergency transmission coming through from the central computer system,” said the scan room computer. “Do you wish to allow access?”

  “Wait a second,” she said as she pulled the helmet over her head and buckled the chin strap. “You’re sure that this thing will block unwanted access to my brain?”

  “With the augmented helmet in place you must consciously allow contact with the computer to your mind.”

  “OK, let it through.”

  “Pandi Latham,” said the voice of the central computer, much more human and alive sounding than the slave unit of the scanner. “I have an emergency message for you, priority one.”

  “A message? From a living creature?”

  “Yes. One that is known to you.”

  “Put it on the holo,” she said, suspicious of allowing the computer too much access to her mind.