Omnipotence: Book I: Odyssey

by Geoff Gaywood

  “What’s happened to those two Bangladeshi children? Did you find a home for them? Will you come to Berlin with me to see my niece and her new triplets? I love you.”

  * * *

  Marcel, Chang and Julia were sitting in the Navigation presentation room with Cobus Vermeulen, the head of the Navigation section, looking at a floor-to-ceiling projection of the Omega 16 planetary system. “Planet 16-3 is at 185 million kilometres from Omega 16 and 16-4 is at 265 million,” said Cobus. They both have a habitable temperature range and atmosphere, but there’s more CO2 and methane on 16-4 so 16-3 looks like an easier habitat for us humans. Now, we’re heading for an inspection orbit around 16-3 here,” Cobus pointed, “at which point 16-5 will be here” – he pointed again – “our LDST entrance is in the orbit of 16-6 and will be here, and the new discovery – LDST 2 – will be there. I just hope that nothing nasty creeps out of there while we’re busy on 16-3,” he concluded.

  The three visitors saw his point. Their escape route, should it be required, would be in full view of whoever might be observing them from some vastly distant world down that weird tube. “How sure can you be that LDST 2 is functional?” asked Marcel. “Perhaps it was used aeons ago and just hung around.”

  “’Fraid not,” said Cobus. “There’s a communication satellite just there” – he pointed at the mouth of LDST 2 – “it’s spewing out data to someone, and certainly not in a form that we can recognise.”

  “Well, how do you know it’s linked to the Andromeda galaxy?” asked Chang.

  “That’s the easy bit,” said Cobus. “Andromeda has a very distinctive radiation profile, and what we are getting out of LDST 2 matches it exactly. What baffles me is why someone there would want to visit someone here. They just have to wait four and a half billion years and they’ll be here anyway; our galaxies are on a collision course, as you know.” Cobus got a wan smile for that one from Marcel, inscrutability from Chang and a thoughtful gaze from Julia. Not much fun, these guys, he thought.

  “Have you detected any other activity, in the LDST or in the Omega 16 solar system?” ventured Julia.

  “No,” came the response. “There are no other artificial objects around, just the usual complement of rogue asteroids and stuff.”

  “How do you know whether anything is in orbit around one of the planets which we can’t see?”

  “Oh, we would pick up anything like that automatically. We couldn’t see anything that had landed on a moon or something of course, but that’s not a feasible option for an intergalactic spaceship … as far as we know,” Cobus added, giving the prospect some more thought.

  “How much warning would we get if something was coming down LDST 2?” Chang wanted to know.

  “We would have to set up a satellite receptor located at the entrance in order to receive any signal coming down the tube. We may want to do that in the interests of our own security, but if we do we would probably want to knock out the communications satellite that is already there on the assumption that it is armed, just as ours is.” He paused and looked around at the uncomfortable faces of his visitors.

  “That done, we really do not know how much longer an intergalactic wormhole is than an intragalactic one. We can put a laser beam down the tube until it hits something and is reflected back. So I’d say we’d get anything from ten to fifty days’ notice of a new arrival.”

  “Thanks, Cobus,” said Marcel. “Please let me know immediately if the status of LDST 2 changes.”

  He called Arlette and gave her a brief report. “Get back here, and call Bertin and fill him in,” she said.

  The three of them hurried back to command quarters. Henri was already there when they arrived.

  “Right,” said Arlette as they settled down around the table. “We are apparently not the only race prepared to come a long way to look at Omega 16. What action do you propose we take … Chang?”

  Chang leant forward in his customary fashion, his fingers tightly entwined.

  “The only data we have about these unwelcome visitors is that they almost certainly emanate from Andromeda, they have the capacity to create and utilise a wormhole on a vastly larger scale than we can, and they have a satellite here in Omega 16 which has almost certainly detected our arrival and can probably monitor our activities. I would conclude that this civilisation is probably more technically advanced than ours. The most likely reason for their presence is the same as ours, although I am baffled as to why they can’t find a perfectly good alternative rocky planet in their own galaxy.” Chang sat back and surveyed his colleagues.

  “Well, I’ll give you a theory,” said Marcel. “If they are at least as advanced as we are, they will be aware that our galaxies are on an eventual collision course. Perhaps they want to secure a strategic foothold. However,” he added, “does it matter? We find ourselves in a space accessible to aliens whose motives we can only guess at. We may be exposed already to weaponry vastly superior to ours. Can we really afford to sit and wait to see if they offer the hand of friendship?”

  “I think not,” said Henri. “Our primary responsibility is for the safety of this ship and its crew. If we were to be pre-emptively attacked we would be wiped out. I propose that we take out their satellite and put one of ours in place to monitor any activity in LDST 2.”

  “Well!” said Julia. “That’s a great way to make friends and influence people. How do we expect them to react if we attack them first?”

  “They won’t know,” said Henri. “We’ll use a laser beam to disable their satellite, not a missile. That way they won’t get any data on the cause of its destruction. It could be just a chance meteor strike.”

  “You can’t be sure that you’ll take it out instantly, that they won’t have the means to trace the origin of the attack,” said Julia. “It’s a risk.”

  “I’m afraid it’s a bigger risk to proceed with our exploration plans under the noses of an alien civilisation that seems to have an interest in the same chunks of real estate that we do. We damage some of their hardware – well, we could always excuse ourselves for that if it turns out that they have peaceful intentions,” Henri said, sitting back and folding his arms. Marcel and Chang were nodding in agreement.

  Arlette frowned. “I’m afraid we have no choice,” she said. “I’ll report our intentions to home-base and await their confirmation.”

  “That will take at least twenty-two hours. I don’t think we can afford that amount of exposure. We need to act immediately to ensure the security of the ship.” Henri was adamant.

  “Prepare the satellite and one of the laser batteries, Colonel Bertin,” said Arlette. “I’ll give it some more thought while you do.”

  Henri made the calls.

  18

  Fire Red 1

  On his way to the vehicle launch area Henri dropped in on Benny Tromper in Maintenance. “Hey, Benny, how are my Samurai swords coming along?”

  “The swords will be works of art,” beamed Benny. “It’s the transmitter inside that’s giving IT a bit of a headache.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, it’s a very complex combination of frequencies, Shinji says, and he’s battling to duplicate it. Still, my swords will nicely dispatch a villain or two without the need for any electronics,” he said with evident satisfaction. “By the way, do you know anything about Columbo and Kinross? The clinic’s telling me that they’re concerned about their reaction to the vaccine and they’re keeping them under observation. I’m short-handed now and I need them back asap. Can you apply some pressure for me?”

  Henri shook his head. “I think they really do need to be careful about any potential health issues considering the scale of the manpower losses we’ve sustained.” He turned to leave.

  “Bullshit,” said Benny, grinning.

  “Sorry?”

  “I said ‘bullshit’,” said Benny again. “Don’t imagine that we can’t see the connection between this vaccination programme and the terrorist attack, Colonel. The sooner you share
the truth with us, the better we’re all going to feel. Think about it.”

  Henri held his gaze, then he winked and grinned. “I know I can count on your loyalty, Benny, and you should know that you can count on the leadership to protect the lives and welfare of all loyal crew members. We’ve had some knocks, but we’re ahead now. Trust me,” he said, and left.

  The launch area, a brightly lit hanger, was a hive of activity. A communication satellite was standing on an assembly platform while technicians swarmed over it. “How’s it going, Jianxing?” said Henri to the Group Leader.

  “It big surprise to be putting a satellite into the 16-4 vicinity,” said Jianxing. Henri knew that this was a question, not a statement, but he nodded and waited for an answer.

  “We didn’t expect to be using Andromeda radiation coordinates,” said Jianxing in the same vein.

  “Well, Jianxing, surprises are to be expected when you’re in a new part of the galaxy. How long do you need to get the satellite ready for launch?”

  “’bout two hour,” said Jianxing.

  “OK.” Henri took the stairs to the defence platform.

  As he passed through the triple security check and strode into the complex of situation rooms, Henri acknowledged salutes from all those who passed him. Now reduced to twenty-eight men and women after the loss of Brady and one of the Wayward 19, the unit was on full alert footing and activity was intense. He made his way briskly to the office of Major Charles Connolly, the unit commander.

  “Hi, Chuck!”

  “Colonel!”

  “You are to destroy a satellite of unknown composition and you’re to bring maximum beam strength to bear on the order. Here are the coordinates of your target, Red 1. No test-sighting. Don’t count on a second shot – there might be some push-back.”

  “Colonel!”

  “How long do you need to be on full readiness?”

  “Twenty-four minutes, sir!”

  “OK, get to it. My order will be ‘Fire Red 1’, delivered by earphone.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Henri was in a sombre mood when he reported to his commander that preparations to replace the alien satellite with their own would be completed within two hours.

  Arlette announced that her recommendation to Mission Control had been to pre-emptively destroy the satellite but that she had decided to wait for their response before acting.

  “Even if we are to assume that the alien satellite is armed and could inflict significant damage on us, it is clearly not programmed to react like that or it would have done so already. Therefore we can conclude that it will wait for instructions and we can assume that those instructions will take longer to arrive than our own response from Mission Control. Stand down the laser attack and satellite launch teams for twenty hours.”

  “OK, Commander,” said Henri.

  On his way back to his office his thoughts drifted to Admiral Yamamoto and his reputed fears that he had awakened a sleeping giant when he attacked Pearl Harbor, 174 years earlier. He tried to imagine how he would react if he were on the receiving end of a message that one of his satellites had been knocked out by an alien agency. His conclusion was that he would act with restraint while he tried to determine the other party’s intentions. ‘And how would we do that?’ he wondered. ‘Send a reconnaissance mission? Armed? Manned?’ He didn’t know, but he could not put his trust in an entity whose motivation and intentions he could not know. He clenched his jaw, got up and went to find Julia.

  As he walked, Henri called his key lieutenants for updates on the activities and whereabouts of the Wayward 19. Seven of them were being detained in the clinic in what was effectively house arrest. All the other twelve were engaged in normal activities in their sections, no two of them together. Henri began to formulate how he would use his knowledge to test whether he could control them, one at a time, with the knowledge about triggers that he now had, but he really needed Shinji to come up with a copy of the transmission device in the sword handle first.

  He gave him a call.

  “Damn difficult,” said Shinji. “Can’t use standard components. We’re working manually on circuitry. Damn difficult,” he said again.

  “Can you give me an idea, please?” asked Henri as sympathetically as he could.

  “Twenty-four hours”, came the response.

  Julia was in her quarters, working on her word processor. She flipped open the door as Henri arrived without leaving her desk, and gave him a broad smile as she studied his worried face.

  “Come in! Henri, what’s bugging you?” she asked as he stood there, towering over her.

  “There are some ethical issues I’d like to discuss with you,” he said at last.

  Julia leaned back, and her chair-back moved with her to the point where she was almost looking vertically upwards into his face. ‘He really is very attractive,’ she thought, ‘especially when he’s looking a little vulnerable.’

  Henri looked around for a chair. There were only a couple of sofas in the corner of her quarters, and a large bed. He sat on the bed and looked around, taking in the tasteful blend of pastel colours that decorated the walls, ceiling and floor. The external view projection was on, making the room an observation platform for the universe outside, but the only internal decoration was the electronic family photo album on her desk.

  Julia paddled her chair towards him. “Ethics? Ooh, am I a lucky little philosopher to get to discuss virtuous behaviours with a toughie from the CIA?”

  “Be serious, Julia; we are the vanguard of human civilisation out here and we don’t want to be the harbingers of its destruction. We’ve taken a tactical decision about destroying that alien satellite, but I’m not comfortable that this is only about short-term tactics.”

  “Hmm. What’s your educational background?” asked Julia.

  “Physics and Military Science.”

  “OK, but you know something of classical philosophy?”

  “It wasn’t my strong point,” said Henri.

  “Do you remember Nietzsche?”

  Henri looked worried. “Don’t test me,” he said.

  “Well, Nietzsche took issue with religion, particularly Christianity, which had shaped the values of western society for 1,500 years. He believed that it was very much the responsibility of the powerful and influential to champion the creativity of the human race and do great things, not that virtue was about being nice to someone so that they would be nice to you. In my view he was right on the button. That is the way political democracy works. Those who seek power do so by making deals with sectorial interests and then doing what they intended to do for what they perceive is the greater good. They don’t pander to the weak and ignorant. The super-rich, tired of their toys, devote huge resources to great deeds, like eliminating disease. This is virtue. It’s not about placating others. It’s about doing great things for mankind even if it costs. That’s your job, Henri. Go and do it.”

  Henri looked at her, smiled a wan smile and nodded. He was about to get up but Julia was out of her chair and standing close up to him. She put her hands gently on his shoulders, smiled and said simply, “These are broad enough.” Henri held her against him for an instant and felt the softness of her breasts against his face, then both let go and the moment was past.

  When the response was received from Mission Control, it was unequivocal. The command team watched a short video from General Lee assessing the situation and confirming the view that the alien satellite should be promptly destroyed and replaced by one of theirs to monitor any activity in LDST 2. Additionally, a probe carrying a basic exploratory capacity was to be prepared and launched down LDST 2. Both the satellite and the probe would be equipped to emit a suitably conciliatory message to Andromeda, which Mission Control would prepare with the SETI Institute. He further recommended that an asteroid should be captured and held in an appropriate orbit, so that in the event a potential intruder should be detected in LDST 2 with an estimated arrival time prior to the departure of Pro
metheus from Omega 16, it could be launched into LDST 2 to prevent the intruder from reaching the sector.

  The message concluded with a brief summary of environmental and political news, none of it good. Global CO2 emissions had fallen another 1 per cent but atmospheric content had continued to rise, apparently due to ongoing deforestation and fires. More seriously, methane emissions from Siberia, where the tundra was melting, were now a major component in the increase in the greenhouse gas effect, and it was feared that some very large methane concentrations in the oceans would shortly reach the critical temperature where they too would be released. Gangsterism in the US was now so widespread that large parts of some states were declared no-go areas where the law was unenforceable. A similar situation prevailed in southern Africa, where an estimated three million refugees were commandeering vessels of any size to try to cross the Indian Ocean to Australia. The death rate was almost 50 per cent.

  Back on Prometheus, Arlette looked at each of her command team in turn and detected no concerns with General Lee’s directive. “Right,” she said. “Colonel Bertin, bring all available laser firepower to bear on the alien satellite, destroy it and replace it with one of ours. Marcel, have a probe prepared for launch as soon as possible, and get Navigation to select a suitable asteroid, farm it and position it for use in LDST 2 if necessary. Let’s get this done and proceed with our mission.”

  Henri turned to look at the screen, now blank. “Fire Red 1,” he said soundlessly into his earphone. Then he turned back to the group. “Marcel, could we talk to Navigation together? I’d like to be comfortable with the mass and structure of the asteroid we select.”

  “Sure,” said Marcel, and the two men got up and left.

  The destruction of the LDST 2 communication satellite was not as clean as Henri had hoped. Despite the intense radiation being poured on it from four laser sources on Prometheus simultaneously, it emitted a burst of communication for several seconds before expiring. Cobus Vermeulen made this point as Henri and Marcel joined him. “I think you guys have gotta assume that our green-skinned friends back in Andromeda will be hearing some rude things about us in due course,” he said.