by Hylton Smith
Inside the hangar, the Hulks couldn’t see any snipers, because there weren’t any. They could however see Tolstoy, chained to a girder. Attila asked for total silence, and called out to Cleopatra. She came out from an aisle and this caused considerable tension, as the Hulks shifted their focus to other locations where snipers could be lurking. The order from Attila for her to unlock Tolstoy’s chains was met with a resigned nod, and she approached the captive. As soon as she had put the DPB in his hands, she ran for cover. The weapon was set at the broad-kill option and Tolstoy took out over thirty Hulks. The return fire was sporadic until the subroutine disorientation quelled the response, and the meltdown mimicked a giant skittle alley. Cleopatra lost her left foot in the initial confusion, but that was an acceptable price, as spares were not in short supply. The Neanderthals were disappointed, but reassured that there would be another opportunity very soon.
The reconfiguration of the fallen Hulks took longer than anticipated and the Neanderthals were detailed to the nearby industrial estate to take over a bio-laboratory. It was lightly guarded and would not present much resistance. After the building and staff were secured, they were to move on to a broadcast station on the city outskirts. Harley led this foray unarmed, with Christophe marshalling the military side, and every one of his soldiers would be carrying a DPB. This time the Hulks were turned to fragments without any break of stride. Christophe accompanied Harley to the actual broadcast studio and it proved to be an even easier acquisition. Harley wasted no time in speaking through the local network, to declare Seattle free once more, and passionately called for mass enlistment. He referred to this struggle as the last throw of the dice for the Rebel Brotherhood. Christophe left to return to the bio-lab. He asked the director about the in-house bioengineering expertise and was met with a promising reply. They had already been scheduled to take the place of the Vancouver facility in Tolstoy’s programme for the region. They had not yet heard the details of the Borg plan, and Christophe didn’t enlighten them. He said he would come back with Albert, and left a patrol unit to keep the building secure. There was an air of jubilation about the city, yet the inhabitants had been here before. Somehow this felt different, and the stature of the Neanderthals had a lot to do with it.
Cleopatra had used the time to re-interrogate Attila, about the whereabouts of Alexander. Although he could not be precise Attila was pretty certain that the Borg High Command leader was frequently in Dallas to keep an eye on his prized asset of Hulk production. “He moves around constantly and we are never given specific coordinates of his location, but we have many requests to reinforce his personal security around Dallas. I have no information regarding when he arrives or departs.”
She couldn’t help feeling that this information was given freely and wondered if he was not entirely happy with the campaign of the High Command. She would speak to him again on this subject.
Chapter 23
Harley realised that the news of the fall of Seattle would spread quickly, and that Alexander probably knew already. He took the opportunity to make a mass appeal before the scheduled stadium execution date was planned. As he was restricted to broadcasting in the northwest, his appeal was kept extremely simple in terms of the question it posed.
“The liberation of Seattle was achieved despite the fact that the rebel forces were heavily outnumbered. In other cities and rural communities we face a similar challenge. However, if the forces are assisted by citizens enlisting, the odds become more even. We have to ask - how can we compensate for the lack of weapons with which to confront the loyalist hordes? The issue of communication is one such tactic. We must use our personal communicators constantly to update our friends and relatives in other locations. The enemy cannot track these messages continually without being confused and distracted. The power of this activity may culminate in helping us to pin down Alexander. We know from interrogating captives that he moves about but always returns to Dallas. Knowing when he is there would present us with a chance to behead the snake. We would also benefit from a temporary shift in constitutional framework. The Borg template, with its pre-designed architecture is intended to operate on only logic command protocols. I should know because I am one, but apparently a rogue, or a misfit. The recent global centralisation of virtually everything suits them perfectly. I am suggesting that we begin to think and act as City states. If we happen to have a different plan to our neighbouring city it will help confuse them. Seattle forces will gradually move outward to assist military campaigns based on the aforementioned blanket communication network. Additional acquisition of broadcast operations is vital. Please begin communicating now, because finding Alexander will potentially save millions of lives.”
Harley’s mention of his own rogue character resonated with Cleopatra. She returned to speak with Attila. She noticed the same miniscule misalignment of his eyes, which had been observed in Harley by the little autistic boy on the train to Vancouver. She began to wonder if this was responsible for some ‘off specification’ manufacturing glitch which was not picked up by the closed loop controls. If this was the case, it had also got past final quality screening. Was this responsible for the number of domestiques who were prone to rebellion? She didn’t know enough about the manufacturing process to decide if this could lead to a valid theory. Attila responded to her questions by finally admitting that he suffered from periodic conflicting sub-routines. She didn’t have the eye misalignment, so she was further confused by what caused her own defection to the domestique cause.
*
Christophe and Albert were introduced by the bio-lab director to Bianca Fleming. She was, according to her boss, the best microbiologist in the facility. The general chat revealed that in her student days she’d been intrigued by the banned branch of synthetic biology. When Albert began to outline his project, Christophe interrupted his flow and asked Bianca what it was about synthetic biology which spiked her interest.
“Very simply, the opportunity to create life from the most basic building blocks.”
“Is that philosophy counterbalanced with any concern that such manipulation could produce any number of problems for our species?”
“Of course, but you use the word counterbalance, so what would happen if these loyalist circuit boards eradicate us? The knowledge obtained from synthetic biology research could recreate us at some time. There are always pros and cons to be considered, for example, these giant Neanderthals who have helped in freeing us from the Borg oppression. Who created them? Did they think about counterbalance? Having the knowledge, and deciding how it is used, is a labyrinthine challenge for technical progression and its ethical counterpart.”
Christophe motioned for Albert to continue. When he had concluded his discourse, Bianca suddenly realised the real thrust of Christophe’s question. “This is an unashamedly transparent creation of a biological weapon. May I ask about your own background?”
Christophe was brutally honest. “I am a doctor, a medical practitioner who took the Hippocratic Oath.”
“And you queried my ethical stance?”
“I merely wanted to know if you were the right biologist as well as the cleverest one available. I lost my wife and child courtesy of the loyalist circuit boards you mentioned. I have argued all of my life against capital punishment, as a principle, but when all of a sudden it is you who suffers the loss, you begin to wonder. Having tried to reconcile my professional and personal views in the midst of this genocide, I find it difficult to just roll over and do nothing. When reason isn’t an option, as is the case with the loyalists, I feel compelled to act. Millions have already been executed, and this brought the Rebel Brotherhood to the point of surrender. Millions more are being scheduled again. Where do you draw your line Bianca?”
“I will have to think about it, now that you’ve confronted me with the Borg threat to reinstate the mass extermination.”
“Well don’t dwell too long on the purist morality. If it helps you to decide, I can reveal that I was heavi
ly involved in creating the Neanderthals, and my friend who stands here beside us. I am about to create more of each, as I have the vials with the required ingredients. I don’t have the template of a pathogen for circuit boards otherwise the conflict would be over for ever. Do you have any further questions as to where I stand on the ethics?”
She agreed to begin the research.
*
There was more good news for Christophe, as Cleopatra’s prediction was correct in relation to the Neanderthals’ willingness to see the campaign through before discontinuing the maturation process. They put it succinctly through Atlas. “It is our chance to cheat the historic extinction of our ancestors. This, together with our appreciation of the quality of that new life, is dominant in our decision. Longevity is less important than continuity.”
*
Alexander was angry at the fall of Seattle. He was doubly annoyed about the capture of Tolstoy. He was also frustrated that the logistics involved didn’t allow him to bring forward the mass execution. The reports received about the Neanderthals were worrying, and had been grossly exaggerated with respect to their dominance over his Hulks. A defensive strategy was the distillate of all such considerations. He took the prudent step of trying to confine and let the bush fire burn itself out. Orders were issued to destroy re-energising booths outward from Seattle, to restrict the area of influence of domestiques. Harley didn’t yet know that minor successes in Brisbane and Copenhagen had pushed Alexander into thinking that it was a coordinated effort. Taking his foot off the offensive gas accorded more time for progress of a true means to counter the Borg elite on a grand scale. In his ignorance of Alexander’s real motive in going on to the defensive, Harley called for a strategic discussion with his closest advisors. He invited Cleopatra, Christophe, Atlas, and Albert to attend. Cleopatra suggested that Attila should be included. The initial brainstorming on ways to compensate for the lack of re-energising booths was top of the agenda, but because of the other ‘one hit’ irons in the fire, it quickly became evident that not everyone was in on all options. It was a sobering comment from Atlas which conferred a calming overtone to those who felt they had been deceived.
“We don’t have much time in which to respond to the problem with the booths, but it affects only the domestiques in terms of their range of effectiveness. That should be considered as a temporary inconvenience. My brothers and sisters have an imminent death sentence which can’t be altered. Even though we have agreed to continue with the maturation technique, the caveat has to be that it is not wasted, and there must be sufficient quantities of our DNA template retained for normal growth of our kin when this is all over. If we waste this precious time arguing we must rescind our decision.”
Harley endorsed Atlas’ position and insisted that all options were evaluated as expeditiously as possible. There were still murmurings of resistance, and it was Albert who finally broke the lock-jam. “I suppose many of you would expect that the death sentence referred to by Atlas also applies to me. It does, but is of a different nature. I will die of oxygen poisoning. It may be quite a bit later than the Neanderthals, because I have a limiter embedded to offset the premature ageing problem, but my tolerance for this oxygen-rich air will shorten my existence. That’s why I am, with Christophe’s help, about to produce more of my kind to help carry the baton in my absence. In describing my solution to the campaign, I make no apology for any side issue which comes with the technique. There is also a factor which will help judge the relevance of each strategy, which I will only reveal after we have heard all ideas.”
When he elucidated his ‘circuit pathogen’ strategy, Cleopatra, Attila and Atlas were shocked, but to varying degrees. Attila was vehemently opposed to genocide, full stop. Atlas believed that without the domestiques around the planet, all of the Neanderthal vial would be squandered for no overall gain, thus meaning genocide of two species. Cleopatra was appalled at first, and then asked Albert a question. “When you claim that the pathogen can’t or won’t discriminate between Borg elite and domestiques, is this just another hypothesis, or do you know so for certain?”
“I can only say that it is specifically targeted, whether the organism can react differently in a variety of hosts is unknown.”
Cleopatra continued. “Well, we have many examples in humans in which ‘deviant’ minorities survive pandemics. Indeed there is one such Borg possibility in our midst as we speak. I have noted a very small difference between Harley and myself in terms of conformance to specification. It was first observed by a boy who recognised Harley as the ‘spaceman’. This was such a small margin of difference but he was still able to tell Harley apart from other cyborgs. Even I hadn’t noticed until it was pointed out. Now, I notice that Attila has the same ‘defect’. Other aspects they have in common are the tendency to feel compassion, to rebel against oppression, to share certain human values and needs. I have some in common too, but not all. If this is a mirror image of miscopying human genes and a resultant variation in the immune system, could it not mean your pathogen will not affect all Borg?”
Albert was intrigued. “Actually, I have extracted the detail on how to construct the organism from the Ganymede inscriptions, and we may be able to study this concept of yours. Of course we would need volunteers.”
Christophe was then invited to provide detail of his solution, which he had vowed to carry out several times. The possibility that Cleopatra had guessed anyway, the current lack of re-energising booths, and Albert’s more efficient proposal persuaded him to concede to outlining his plan. “Everyone seems to have forgotten that the Ganymede mission was equipped with thermonuclear devices for unforeseen circumstances. They still exist. I was one of the personnel entrusted with the arming codes. The others were Harley and Rodriguez. I wanted to find the devices at the Cape and detonate them so that the entire High Command structure was destroyed with one action. If I’m honest, it was Alexander I wanted most, but the destruction of the infrastructure, including the master computing complex would disable many Borg operations. It would swing the odds in our favour, and yes I was prepared to countenance the loss of innocent citizens.”
It was Harley’s turn to be shocked at the level of barbarism which characterised both concepts heard so far. There were further ideas which were more tactical than strategic, and all were to be kept in mind. However, before any decisions were taken, Albert rose to speak again.
“In having strayed on to less effective items I believe I should finally make you aware of the important overlay I mentioned earlier. In meticulously filling in the missing chunks of the Ganymede translations, I made Harley aware of the probability that we are all an integral part of a temporal paradox. I can go into much more detail on this, as I have isolated more missing text. Apparently the cavern on Ganymede had an additional chamber which was never discovered, despite its location directly behind the one with the vials. There was a disguised and coded access mechanism. It is supposed to contain, amongst other explanatory historical data, a definite plan to return to Earth to check out the programme. This identifies the unfortunate need to see all cybernetic life eradicated. It is not ambiguous, as it is part of their current survival struggle. You must factor this into your thoughts. The present conflict may be difficult, but I would estimate that one with the Primedes is unwinnable”
Chapter 24
The strategic discussion had produced a waterfall of questions rather than a single campaign path. Most were directed to Albert’s final assertion that they had to take into account displeasure of the Primedes, if their tweak of the timeline had not delivered the desired adjustment. Atlas was puzzled.
“You are trying to convince us that the Primedes are ancestors of all of us, but the cyborgs are inventions, and therefore not a sub-species. We could say the same about spacefaring vessels.”
“Not really, the important delineation is one of sentience and its tendency to challenge everything which has become the accepted way.”
Christophe had been t
he least inquisitive so far. “If the Primedes are in a death match with cybernetic life forms right now, what do you think would happen if they lost the fight?”
“I can only assume that at some point those cyborgs would discover the temporal programme of the Primedes and may themselves return to Earth in the future.”
Christophe had his platform. “So, at least in theory, we could well be debating a second war with the Borg, but one assisted by kin from other parts of the galaxy. I’m intrigued by the admission that these Primedes could be losing a battle, against a foe which by your logic will have absolutely no burden of conscience in disposing of humans. It seems you are implying that we would lose against either of these super-alien races. So, what have we to lose by at least taking out the loyalist Borg? I can guess – the Primedes would purge the remaining domestiques, whereas the galactic cyborgs would dispose of humans and Neanderthals forever. At least humans could re-invent more compatible Borg, if that was deemed a requirement.”
“Aren’t you missing a small but important detail? The Primedes have an advantage to be deployed in extreme emergency. They can interfere with the timeline further into the past than the cyborgs can. They would have to unravel much more of this paradox than they want to, and that is why the vial with their template was offered on Ganymede. I am evidence of the power to delete millennia of evolution. They prefer to alter rather than remove.”
Harley, Cleopatra and Attila, as representatives of the erasable species expressed the joint view that it logically came back to winning the present campaign. Harley spoke for the others. “If we can determine how to develop a modifier along the lines of Cleopatra’s claim to domestique immunity from your pathogen, then the rest is out of our hands. Even if we had never found anything on Ganymede, we wouldn’t be able to prevent a visit from the Primedes. So let us work with what we can control. At least if we can convince them that we have Neanderthals, domestiques and humans living in harmony, we may alter their disposition towards cybernetic entities. Couldn’t that be one of the reasons that you are their ‘ambassador’?”