Temporal Contingency

by Joseph R. Lallo

  “That’s not the course I followed. That’s way more direct,” Lex said.

  “We came to the same conclusion. The GenMechs are likely not following your course. And whatever course they are following, they are following it far too closely for the responsible ship to have survived if it was directly responsible for attracting them,” Ma said.

  “Which means they are being guided by some other mechanism. This implies purposeful guidance,” Ziva said.

  “Who would do that? And why?”

  “The GenMechs have always been a weapon of mass destruction. Even after their release from containment and the destruction they caused, they continued to be used for this purpose. In the earliest days of the GenMech massacre, struggling governments and rogue splinter groups desperate to remain the dominant power in a region would lure masses of GenMechs to their enemies via automated ships or suicide pilots. It is my belief that we have somehow been targeted for a similar application.”

  “This is my fault, isn’t it? The timing is too perfect for them to be coincidentally headed this way right after I showed up…” Lex said.

  “That is unclear. The timing, as you say, makes coincidence unlikely, but direct causation is difficult to prove. Did you mention or otherwise distribute information that would indicate your intended destination?”

  “No way. I used standard freelancer tactics, which are designed to hide that sort of thing. We only had an encounter with two people, and I’m pretty sure only one of them survived. I know for damn sure I didn’t give coordinates to anyone.”

  “Coal’s records and Ma’s recollections support that. The matter warrants further study, but that is at best secondary to the primary issue.”

  “Yeah. Death is heading straight for us,” Lex said, tightening his grip on the arms of the chair.

  “That is distressing, but my primary concern is the timing of its arrival. The most likely estimate is now forty hours, which places it well inside the activation window of the transporter. I have taken steps to speed the power-up period, including cross-linking several independent power sources. Even the reactors of the ships in the hangar have been linked. It has only reduced the power-up time by two hours, meaning our new estimated remaining time before activation is forty-three hours. At this point we have exceeded the energy capacity of our power systems, and there is no time to upgrade further. Assuming we can maintain this charge rate, it is likely whoever is luring these GenMechs will arrive prior to the activation of the transporter. The GenMechs will arrive as soon as a few seconds after.”

  “Are you going to be able to fight them off?”

  “The combined mass of the GenMechs predicted to be converging on Big Sigma exceeds the mass of the planet itself,” Ziva said.

  “… That’s…”

  “This scope of the situation is not your concern. The goal is not to survive the attack, merely to survive long enough for your transportation to occur.”

  “But you’ll be killed. All of this will be wiped out.”

  “That is not certain. I have had decades to prepare contingencies, and human society has spent most of that time devising strategies to deal with eventualities such as this.”

  “What kind of numbers are we talking about?” Lex asked. “How many GenMechs are coming?

  “Seven point one septillion GenMechs,” Ziva said. “Based on the best projections.”

  “That’s—” Ma began.

  “That’s a big enough number that it doesn’t matter how big it is,” Lex said. “Pretty darn near the size of the threat we started this whole mad caper to hamstring in the first place.”

  “It is actually several orders of magnitude removed from—” Ziva began.

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s doom coming this way.”

  “It was an inevitability, Lex. If not this week, then this year, or in ten years, or a hundred. All it would have ever taken is one GenMech to find this place and escape destruction, and the swarm would have followed its signal here.”

  “You’re going to die,” Lex growled. “It matters.”

  “I appreciate your concern,” Ziva said. “I truly do. And I understand that your concern is genuine and based on an innate belief in my worth and my right to live. It warms my heart to know that I’ve earned such thoughts and concerns, but I urge you to set them aside. I am a false being in a false future. If such a thing as fate exists, then this was my fate. But more important than fate is purpose, something that undeniably exists. And my purpose since the moment you left was to see to it that you reached your proper point in time and space to continue your mission. I mean to fulfill that purpose.”

  There were tears in her eyes. The fear was evident in her expression, but it was far outweighed by her resolve. This was a being who had been created without the capacity to truly fear anything. Through great effort and deep thought she had achieved that ability, along with the rest of the emotional spectrum. And now, through steadfastness and duty, she had overcome it. This was the last discovery, the most important consequence of emotion. This was bravery, something many humans never quite rise to. And it was something that among machines, Ziva alone had achieved.

  She drew a cloth from her pocket and dabbed the corners of her eyes. “You have a part in this, Lex. I cannot have you distracted by concern for me or for this world. You must be pragmatic. The most you can hope to do here is push aside my eventual destruction for a short time. The alternative, doing as you are intended to do, can save untold trillions. Pay attention. I want you to be aware of all of the defenses and their sequence.”

  He clenched his fists and nodded.

  “Good,” she said.

  A few taps and swipes at her datapad slid the universe around them back to Big Sigma’s system, then to the fuzzy blob of gray that represented the planet.

  “Through careful micro adjustments over a very long period of time, I was able to produce a twenty-kilometer stratum of high orbit that is relatively free of debris. Within this stratum, orbital defenses have been installed. Six thousand high-capacity plasma cannons that can fire through the upper levels of the debris field. The plasma emitters have been specially modified to produce ‘noisy’ bolts.”

  “What are they?”

  “At the cost of some damage potential, they emit a randomized radio emission that works as a lure for GenMechs. The handful of robots nearest to a bolt will attempt to attack it.”

  “Clever.”

  “Thank you, though the innovation was a joint suggestion of Silo and Trammel.”

  “Trammel?”

  “An individual with whom you have not been acquainted. He may be unique to our timeline. Continuing with the defenses. I have also installed two hundred thrust-maintained mass drivers among the orbital defenses. Theses devices can magnetically accelerate any ferrous waste in the lower levels of the debris field to extreme velocities for use as kinetic projectiles. It is my hope that effective use of these defenses will provide a sufficient delay for the attacking force.”

  “Do you have those defenses in my era too?”

  She grinned. “Classified. Please focus on the briefing. Secondary to the orbital defenses are the surface defenses. Until the portal is opened, most of these weapons will be nonoperational due to their power being diverted to the transporter for the activation process.”

  “Whoa, wait. Portal?”

  “Yes. Among the enhancements made to the transporter in the decades since your departure are methods to stabilize the wormhole effect to have noninstantaneous duration. Once activated it will remain open for a period of time not less than forty seconds and not exceeding three minutes. If that activation has not occurred, then only the debris maintenance lasers will be fully operational, but we will also have access to some rather antiquated but still effective chemically propelled ordnance. These include cluster missiles, autonomous decoys, and several large-caliber turret-mounted firearms. ‘Slug-throwers,’ as Karter tended to refer to them. These will need to b
e manually targeted, but once they’re linked to the defensive systems, I should be able to take control of them quite effectively.”

  “What am I doing during all of this?”

  Ma squinted, activating her slidepad. The display around them whisked down to a position just above the laboratory building. Realistically rendered walls faded to transparency, a cutaway of the building. Several dozen floors down, in a sub-basement well below the planet’s surface, a red point illuminated.

  “You and I will be strapped into Coal, awaiting transport in this chamber.”

  “So while you are fighting wave after wave of evil robots in a doomed final defense, I’ll be very heroically sitting in a ship hoping to escape before they get to me.”

  “I apologize if this diminishes your feelings of self-worth, Lex. If it is any consolation, the damage to your ego will be relatively small compared to the damage to your body that would result from doing something foolish like taking an active role in the battle.”

  “It doesn’t sit right to know I’ll be tucked safe inside an underground bunker when my friends are risking their lives for me.”

  “Then you will be pleased to know that the ‘bunker’ will be in no way safe. It will be comparatively exposed.”

  Lex frowned and pointed. “That is underground, right?”

  “Yes, but much of the next two days will be devoted to carefully opening a passage down to the transporter. As I said, you will need to be inside Coal, and there is no direct access to the transporter for a vessel, even of her size. The plan had been to replicate the circumstances of your original transport, beginning with a short-range transport into the chamber, then the temporal transport. Doing so would require significant additional power to be accumulated, and we no longer have the time to do so.”

  “Oh… So I’ll be sitting in a ship with no room to maneuver at the end of a long dead end.”

  “Yes. Is this a suitably heroic position for you?” Ma asked.

  “I’m getting images of the Alamo here…” Lex said.

  “Is that a pop-culture reference?” Ma asked. “My current subset of data does not have a comprehensive cultural context.”

  “It is a historical reference,” Ziva said. “He is referring to a siege on a mission during the Texas Revolution.”

  “Everybody heroically died,” Lex said.

  “Incorrect. In addition to some executions as a result of surrender, something which in the context would not qualify as heroic, more than forty individuals survived the siege. Several significant historical figures did, however, lose their lives in the battle. I am confident that if the Alamo had been equipped with a functioning time machine, Davey Crockett would have survived.”

  Lex, in spite of the gravity of the situation, chuckled. “Probably roof-mounted lasers would have been handy too.”

  “The Alamo did not have a roof at the time of the siege.” Ziva said, smiling at the additional laugh the observation received. “I’m pleased to see your mood is improving. It may further please you to learn of this contingency.”

  Again the view shifted, moving up through the atmosphere and out to the center upon the star around which Big Sigma orbited. A few dozen new red dots appeared in a ring around the star.

  “Pictured are CME Activator launch platforms, in standby mode. Twenty-five minutes before the portal opens, a pulse will be sent to them, activating the first of them. After 613 seconds it will reach the platform and the first of the activators will deploy, producing Coronal Mass Ejection and the accompanying electromagnetic pulse. This pulse will reach Big Sigma an additional 613 seconds later, which will be no less than sixty seconds after the closure of the portal. The pulse will deactivate any nonshielded electronics, destroying approximately nine percent of the GenMechs and deactivating the rest for the duration of the period of solar discharge, three to five months. After this, an additional CME will deploy. The star should be able to incapacitate all local GenMechs for a period of not less than eight years.”

  “What will happen to you?”

  “Best case, the shielding of the lab, combined with shielding of the debris field, will keep the local electronics intact and functional. I will then have the bulk of a decade to attempt to determine how to eliminate the local GenMech population.”

  “Worst case?” Lex asked.

  “I will be deactivated, which can be considered a mercy, I suppose, as it will spare me the conscious observation of my own destruction.”

  She issued a few final commands. The universe around them vanished, and they were once again in the cozy little brainstorming room.

  “Are we clear?”

  Before he could reply, a subtle crackle came across the PA system.

  “I’m back,” said Coal. “Flying without other people isn’t any fun. The lack of death evidently is not the only requirement for something to be fun. Did I miss anything?”

  “We talked about the forthcoming day of reckoning,” Lex said.

  “Should I arm the fusion device?” she asked, as though she was offering a sip of her beverage.

  “No please. Thank you,” Lex said.

  “Okay,” Coal said.

  “I’m still feeling a bit useless in this mess,” Lex said.

  “You are the axis about which all of these events revolve. The hub of the wheel always moves most slowly.”

  “So you’re saying I’m slow,” he said.

  She grinned. “But central. And now that we’ve established what needs to be done, all that remains is to do it.”

  #

  Lex wiped sweat from his brow and maneuvered a heavy metal plate aside. It had been a long day of labor, a night of exhausted sleep, and most of another workday since the briefing. He’d spent most of that time paired up with Coal. It had been unique, if nothing else.

  “Okay,” he said. “That’s that out of the way.”

  He turned. Hovering a half a meter or so behind him, illuminating his work area with her headlamps, was the ship herself. He, the ship, and a small army of mobile mechanical arms had been very slowly burrowing a tunnel through the various levels of the laboratory. Though Coal was tiny, as interstellar ships go, she was still a good deal larger than anything that had been intended to move through the laboratory’s lower levels. The freight elevator shaft could just barely accommodate her, but only if the girders framing the exit at each level were reshaped to allow her curved hull through. At every third level, that wasn’t a possibility, thanks to a main power conduit running along the girder. Disconnecting it would interrupt the transporter’s charging, and thus each time they reached it, Coal would have to instead detour through a service corridor until a patch of floor without anything critical could be opened and allow access to the next level.

  Almost invariably, dismantling the floor prevented the mechanical arms that performed so many of the facility’s tasks from reaching or accessing the work area. This left Lex, Coal, and a toolbox to do the work in those sections.

  “Try it now,” he said.

  When he was clear, she drifted out over the hole, rotated to match the profile of the gap in the floor panels, and drifted down.

  “That is sufficient,” Coal said. “I have five centimeters of clearance.”

  “Good. I don’t think there was much else I could unbolt without the ceiling falling in on us,” Lex said.

  As Coal slipped downward to the next level, Lex hopped into the top of the vessel and rode with her, then slid down onto the elevator side of the hallway. He sighed as he saw a row of at least three bulkheads he already knew he’d need to dismantle, because he’d had to do so on every single floor they’d detoured through.

  “This is nice,” Coal said. “You and I haven’t had much time alone together. And I feel useful.”

  “I get the feeling Ma and Ziva just gave us this task to keep us busy and get us out of their hair.”

  “That phrasing doesn’t make any sense. I assume that means it is figurative.”

  “Yep. It basical
ly just means they don’t want us bothering them while they have better things to do, and they want us to feel like we’re helping.”

  “Oh. I like to feel like I’m helping. How nice of them to facilitate this feeling,” Coal said. “My many selves are very thoughtful.”

  He put a wrench to work. “That’s certainly true.”

  Coal was silent, save for the low hum of her thrusters. Karter had really outdone himself with that ship design. Despite never having been meant to be used in an atmosphere, and thus sound realistically being a nonissue in the design phase, he’d taken the stealth aspect seriously, providing whisper-quiet propulsion. Coal bobbed up and down and tipped backward and forward as she waited for Lex to undo the remaining bolts so she could help grapple and drag the heavy plate aside.

  “Do you find me physically attractive?” she asked.

  Lex stopped and turned to her. “Pardon?” he said, eyebrow raised.

  “I’ve been rebuilding my social algorithms from the fragments that survived the data corruption. This seemed an appropriate moment for small talk. Physical appearance is a point of concern common to most individuals.”

  “I’m not a hundred percent sure ‘Am I pretty?’ counts as small talk. But yes. You’re a cute little ship, I guess.”

  “Thank you. You are a cute little man, too.”

  He blinked slowly and went back to work. “How far into the charge process are we?”

  “Thirty-five hours, seven minutes, sixteen seconds. You asked that question six minutes ago. Why do you keep asking?”

  “Anticipation is a weird thing is all. It makes things take twice as long, but it also makes the time vanish in an instant once it’s all gone and the bad thing has arrived.”