by Hylton Smith
Rodriguez digested this précis, and began to worry about the welfare of his partner Michaela, and their two children. “I hope your trust in me isn’t misplaced Harley. I have a duty to my family as well as the one you expect from me. Let’s get on with the tests and see how they influence our actions.”
They returned to the excavation to find Nero in a quandary. “While I have been comparing the two sets of genetic data, something has changed. The outer layers of the entity in the capsule have commenced some kind of transition. Look, the head is becoming transparent. Other regions are following suit. We can clearly see the brain in three dimensions already. I was just about to embed the process in my data storage, but I thought I should wait for you.”
Harley acknowledged his caution. “Go ahead. We will observe.”
The transparency of the entire body was achieved within an hour, and a return to opaqueness was triggered, again starting with the head. While the filling in of the framework was proceeding, holographic symbols began to provide the link for which Nero had been searching. It effectively picked out the areas of departure from the Neanderthal in the original holographic image. Apart from those already noted in a physical context of the epidermis, there were indications of cerebral modification.
Now that this Neanderthalien had revealed all, the scanners showed no further life signs. Whatever the earlier ones had hinted at, they had now expired.
Rodriguez whispered in Harley’s ear. “How much does Nero know?”
“Everything.”
“So I can speak freely?”
“Of course you can.”
He made sure Christophe was out of the loop.
“Ok, surely we can report that there is no immediate problem for Akhenaten to worry about. The entity has given up its secret, which is no threat to anyone; it’s just a history lesson and some veiled suggestion that Neanderthals could be enhanced. That was at least twenty-four thousand years ago, when they became extinct, and there is no other evidence that these medical architects have been back to Earth. Case closed.”
“That would be the situation but for one additional factor. The magnetic emission from the Rift Valley did not point to only this location. The magnetic field of Jupiter is so large and powerful that its influence reaches out as far as Saturn. As the trajectory was charted by Borg technology, there was an automatic correction warning. The tracking telemetry indicated a split once it hit Jupiter space. The main noise terminated on the other side of Ganymede. The errant trace came here. No humans were informed of this, not even you, and you were supposed to be included in all mission briefings.”
“So why are you only telling me this now? All of this trust stuff is bullshit.”
Nero intervened. “I was not informed either. Why?”
Harley asked them to think about it. “You couldn’t be forced to express an opinion on something if you didn’t know about it; this was simply a precaution for your own safety. Have you forgotten the pre-mission checks, the truth serums in particular? Before you ask, we could not risk talking about this on the flight because of Christophe Rivet. I must continually repeat that keeping Akhenaten free of suspicion is paramount, and he speaks to Christophe about your health Cameron, but not exclusively out of concern for you. I shouldn’t have to paint a picture for you. I’m continually assessing what it is safe for you to know, because we will face a frightening interrogation when we return, if we return. We need to do exactly as you suggested, inform Akhenaten that there is nothing to raise concern here. He will then ask us to move to site number two, and instruct me to tell you that they have just discovered a second magnetic flux to the other side of the moon.”
It all appeared logical to Nero, while Rodriguez was sinking into total disorientation, including the germination of another possibility. Could he trust Harley?
Chapter 4
Rodriguez managed to capture Nero on his own during the short trip to Ganymede Major. “Do you believe everything we’ve been told? I only ask because I don’t think I will ever be able to evaluate like a Borg, and Harley seems to be getting more short-tempered every time I raise a doubt.”
“Yes, I can understand your confusion, but to answer your question, I trust Harley’s judgement implicitly. Even if he continues to reveal crucial information as he feels necessary, he will explain why. I realise that you may suspect I am programmed to offer such loyalty, but I have illegal upgrades which give me equal capability to him. He has to take the decisions on this mission; it doesn’t work like that when we meet on Earth to discuss strategy for our Rebel Brotherhood. Another thing you should know is that he trusts you completely, and his word is good enough for our representatives back home, and here, meaning me. Give him reciprocal respect, he has earned it, and we must cooperate to prevent the High Command agenda from being realised. Akhenaten would never have selected a leader for this mission more than three years old because the High Command has no tolerance for pre-conflict morality. I am fifty-seven years old and without the upgrades, I wouldn’t be here. Who do you think got them for me?”
This helped settle Rodriguez’ nerves, and got his concentration back, with respect to the mission. He still had to consider his family, especially as the mission protocols had been made clear at the outset – no personal communication was allowed. Only mission related contact was authorised, and this meant that Harley was the sole nominee to transmit to Earth, whereas Akhenaten had access to any of the crew.
Nero continued. “Not only did Harley obtain and fit my upgrades, which is an offence punishable by instant decommissioning, he got me into the crew to balance the bias of Beethoven and Anton. That was very risky, if the upgrades had any unusual registration data, we could have both been eliminated. He is a risk taker, but it is always calculated, and yet he courts danger. He believes that the High Command is obsessed with their agenda to the detriment of lateral thought. An excellent example of this is his name. No other Borg has, to my knowledge, two names. He waited until the last day before the mission, as you well know, to announce the addition of David. When he was told it was not allowed, he feigned immaturity and threw a tantrum, saying he wanted to withdraw. All hell broke loose and the incident was suppressed. When Akhenaten asked why he was being so petulant, it could not disguise the panel’s worry that the comprehensive mission training was not transferable to a reserve candidate with such excellent inter-species skills, at very short notice. He answered Akhenaten’s question by saying there was a very good chance that the crew would not return, and he wanted to be remembered for his utterly loyal acceptance of this fate. He thought the best way was to be unique, in having two names. He admitted that he’d read about mechanical research by humans, because the mission may throw up situations requiring improvisation. In quoting the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, as being unique among such human indulgence, he wanted similar recognition. The High Command put this down to a mixture of utter dedication and low self-esteem. In other words it became a self-congratulatory accolade for making the perfect choice for such a conspiratorial mission. If you think about it, he’s set a precedent with Akhenaten, in case such aberrant behaviour becomes necessary on Ganymede.”
“I guess I’ll take your word for it Nero, and put that down to my inability to grasp the Borg ‘critical path’ approach to making every decision. Thanks.”
As they had to look for an acceptable descent location, due to the extremely uneven terrain, Rodriguez recalled his father telling him something when he was a boy. He had asked why all of the individual Borgs looked the same, unlike humans. “They apparently intended to introduce such variation, but it was rejected by the masses of Borg domestiques. They claimed this would cause visual discrimination, and could lead to conflict within the species. In any hierarchy the chain of authority is crucial to retaining control, and the High Command shelved the plan. The roughly pyramidal structure is a strength but also a weakness.” Rodriguez settled down to the task in hand.
The coordinates for the destination of the mag
netic signal from the Rift Valley was in the most awkward position of the region. The ranges of folded terrain had produced columns and rows of mountainous proportions. It was a black and grey world of battered impact. They would have to walk to the spot from wherever they landed. Harley was very happy about this, because it implied difficulty in carrying sophisticated equipment without serious risk of accidental damage, to both the crew and the analytical apparatus. He therefore had a means of disputing instructions from Akhenaten. He transmitted a close-up picture of the area immediately, with an appended message that he wasn’t hopeful of gaining further information. He suggested that it may require a second mission with specialised, remote control hovercraft, to access the target accurately and safely.
The best spot they could find was in a sunken patch not much bigger than a tennis court. They would have to climb out of it, but at least it had a flat surface. On exiting the lander, the reality of puncturing a suit was even more of a worry to Rodriguez, and Harley decided that only he and Nero would make the first crossing of the Ganymede Alps.
By the time Rodriguez had returned to the main craft, Akhenaten had responded to Harley’s concerns over the topography. The transmission was protected by passcodes and Harley informed Rodriguez that he would check out the content when he got back.
It was over two kilometres to the warm spot according to the SAS-Corder, and it proved to be a challenge, even for the ‘mechanical men’. Nero had already damaged his laser attachment, and they proceeded with more caution. When they did arrive there was nothing to see. As they split up to get better visual assessment, their individual scanners alerted them to a dimensional difference between their present positions and the starting point. They now backtracked and extrapolated the altitude measurements independently and were still puzzled. The location indicated was where they had separated, but not at ground level. The flashing cursor was ever so slightly displaced upwards by approximately eight feet. They hadn’t noticed this initially because of the scale setting used. Adjusting this only a fraction confirmed that the scanner was pointing at ‘thin space’ directly above their heads. It took a couple of minutes before Nero motioned Harley to stand back. He then asked his commander to fire a thermal blast from his laser attachment, focussed on the predicted region. With only a modest rise in temperature, a hologram magically appeared. It was virtually identical to the one at the first site, but had a different purpose. It illuminated an elevated entrance on a ledge high above their current position. Harley felt this was more good news. He would be able to spin a web of half-truths to Akhenaten.
The ‘cave’ entrance was just a recess and the DPB was required once more. The same method of distributed focus managed to crack the alien barrier slab. They couldn’t have imagined the thousands of inscriptions which adorned the perfectly squared internal walls. The Neanderthalien DNA profile which they had seen at the first site was again in a position of prominence, but was linked to what looked like an ‘evolutionary tree’ depiction of variants from this ‘ancestor’. This tree however, was actually an experimental flow chart emanating from the single Neanderthalien. It had been spread in three directions, each one attempting to fine tune the relative Homo, Neanderthal, and Chimpanzee behavioural characteristics. The final ‘generations’ seemed to have been compared, and the base template of Neanderthal was chosen as the starting point with most potential. It was considered to be the best derivative of the common ancestor of all three ‘designed mutants’. The assumed theoretical individual which was selected was then further modified, but only in appearance. The projected perfect specimen was indeed fifteen feet tall, completely hairless, and incredibly muscular. The height now seemed to be logical, because of the immense brain. The proportionality was one of awesome simplicity, to optimise the centre of gravity, while creating a formidably visual soldier with immense physical prowess. The investigators still weren’t prepared for the final revelation. In addition to all of these DNA templates, there was a diagrammatic recipe for nurture of the contents of sealed stone vials, which contained the specific authentic soup of life for each variant in the tree. It was an encyclopaedia of new primates which could be brought to life. The last reference was one of caution. It indicated that the previous recorded ‘experiment’ of this nature had been carried out thirty-six thousand years ago, and was considered as unsuccessful. The explanation depicted primate DNA extracts which had been grafted on to an alien genome. This strongly implied that they had interfered with primate evolution at a time before Homo-Sapiens and Chimpanzees emerged from a path of extinction, but Neanderthals did not. That it was judged a failure was not accompanied by a date of such a pronouncement. Neither did it elaborate on whether the entire experiment was one which had been engineered specifically for the survival of their species, or merely fiddling with the fate of others. Harley and Nero decided to return to transmit a bland, disappointing landscape to Akhenaten. They needed time to process the situation and plan a more exacting ‘translation’ of the diagrams to match with the associated alien symbols.
The transmission did ensure a hiatus in communication. Harley and Nero returned to the cave without disseminating the detail to Rodriguez, as they couldn’t seem to separate him from Christophe Rivet for any length of time. Their prodigious combined effort to form a nucleus of human words, diagrams, and the associated alien glyphs produced a further breakthrough. Feeding the nucleus into their uplink to the linguistic pattern recognition database caused a cascade of new information to appear. Terabytes of this new data was restructured and offered only one logical conclusion. The thousands of stone jars containing each DNA ‘gloop’ were only the landmark examples. The periods between each of them were packed with those considered to be ‘dead end’ candidates. There were over a million such rejects. The purpose was indeed to aid the survival of the alien architects. They had travelled outward from the central galactic region, because over a period of several million years, the supermassive black hole at the galactic core had been busy scheduling the destiny of their solar system, by pulling it closer to the event horizon. The detailed documentation of their work was both inspirational and worrying. They had caused detours in the evolution of Earth’s fauna and flora, but never found a means of grafting any promising hybrids on to their own genetic core. They were nitrogen breathers, hence the interest in the Earth’s entire ecosystem. The story ended abruptly, suggesting extinction, but the legacy was presumably preserved in the event of primate survival, and ascension to a spacefaring species. One of the stone jars apparently contained the pure alien DNA template, and the even more significant declaration that several jars were filled with enabling catalytic broth to incubate the landmark creations. Because of their increasingly desperate need for a solution, the aliens had altered the respective maturation genes to enable fast-forwarding of growth of the specimens. Just how many more revelations were buried in the detail would take days, if not months, of poring through the staggering volume on offer.
This information was a game-changer in every respect. Harley began to think through the various levels of repercussion. The very first stray conclusion he reached was, that even if this new situation added to the complexity of a paradox, it did not prevent him from making decisions. In fact he believed that this was an essentially correct way of dealing with either a perceived or real paradox. After all, a paradox was at least in part, a product of sentience.
Chapter 5
Akhenaten was under pressure from the High Command. They saw the situation with sublime clarity. These aliens had given them an ancient history lesson, primarily involving an extinct Earth species. The second site offered no interest because any remaining evidence of their existence had fallen victim to destructive tectonic shifts. The pictures of the landscape had shown it would be impossible to excavate safely in this terrain. It all fitted nicely with pushing forward their agenda. Alexander was losing patience with Akhenaten.
“What more can we learn? We have preserved the fragile peace within our
kind. We have welcomed human input and presence in the mission and in the panel. We have encouraged openness in broadcasting the information as it arrived from Jupiter. Just terminate the mission and recall the crew.”
Although he was uneasy about truncating any further surface exploration of Ganymede, Akhenaten felt it was risky to refuse to comply. When this was transmitted to Harley, and he shared it with the crew, the humans were relieved. Rodriguez said that their families would be pleased at the news. Harley’s train of thought jumped tracks.
“Yes, it is something we Borg can’t have, yet feel a longing for, you know, a family. Although Nero and I are related to one another as constructs, there are hordes of others who similarly qualify as relatives. Our ‘family’ is Borg. It doesn’t convey the same closeness as your passing on of DNA to your progeny. Unfortunately, I have to challenge this edict from Akhenaten.”
Before Rodriguez could protest, Harley looked at Nero and there was reciprocal understanding.
“We have some information to share with you. Please let me get through everything Nero and I have discovered before you comment, there will be ample opportunity for you to assess our situation. Once I have concluded dissemination of our activity on the surface, I will bring Christophe up to date with the reason for taking extreme care in our decision-making rationale between now and returning to Earth.”
The open-mouthed bewilderment was sustained while Harley sketched in the Borg agenda for Christophe. It became abundantly clear to both humans that simply returning was still an option. There would be only cursory checks, and the mission would soon be forgotten. The bigger picture was, however, one of grandchildren and beyond. Harley stressed the dedication of the Rebel Brotherhood in averting genocide of humanity.