Empire of Stars

by D. W. Patterson

  Dag still worried.

  With Sigmund's gift as a communicator, he soon had several customers signed up for the service. And the government far from being disturbed by his plans seemed to give the venture its stamp of approval. Of course, Sigmund's offer to monitor and gather data on the Dhalka System for free went a long way to securing the government's blessings.

  And what Sigmund promised Dag and Walker had to deliver.

  “Dag maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let Sigmund be the public face of the corporation. Monitoring the links to the Dhalka area is going to be time and resource intense. And we can't even see the results of what we are monitoring because of the security agreements we had to sign.”

  “You may be right Walker. But Bud 49-3322 seems to be up to it.”

  “Our first employee,” said Walker. “It is kind of exciting to see it all coming together isn't it?”

  “I have to admit Walker that it may not have been a bad idea to start this company. But let's give it a little more time before we tell that to Sigmund.”

  Universal Links, specifically Bud 49-3322, had been passing images of the area of interest to the government for over two weeks now. They had found three links that gave them the views they needed. The only thing he heard back from the government was an occasional request for a longer look at some of the views the links were capturing. So as far as Bud knew he was doing his job to the satisfaction of all.

  After another late night run, Bud was just about to button it up when he noticed an out of range indication on the luminance detector of one of the scopes. Checking the scope he found no problem, checking the charge-coupled device, which captured the image digitally, he found no problem, the luminance bloom was real. Moving at speeds only an Em could he cut that link.

  Now out of range luminance conditions appeared simultaneously on the remaining two links. Bud was confused for a moment and that's all that was needed. He cut the second link and then the third but he was a fraction of a second too late.

  Bud noticed every strain gauge in the lab peak at the same time. He switched on an external monitoring camera. The shaky view showed a sky of fire. The trees around the site were flaring as they caught fire from top to bottom. Ground cover such as grass had already burned to a cinder. Then the image went dark, the camera had failed.

  Bud noticed the power had failed. His hardware was running on backup but that power was also failing fast. He pulled all his core modules into the local cache. The last reading on the room's thermometer was over one-hundred Celsius before it too failed. The processor cores were overheating and starting to shut down to protect themselves. Bud overrode his core's shutdown feature but it was not enough. The semiconductor substrate itself was failing and cracking, destroying the circuits Bud 49-3322 needed. Finally, he was no more.

  As devastating as the destruction was it could have been worse. If Bud had not acted as quickly as he did the whole of New Galla might have been affected. The result was a core area of about ten miles almost completely charred. If life survived in this area it was because it had been underground, maybe a basement or a subway, which offered some protection from the searing heat.

  Without a doubt, the company had nothing left except bills and creditors. Unfortunately, Sigmund had not gotten around to getting insurance.

  7

  “Reckless Trio Almost Destroy World” - The New Gallan Standard

  “When Will They Quit Tempting Fate?” - Today's Headlines

  “Government Denies Any Involvement” - The Truth Magazine

  The trio found themselves in real trouble. The public was outraged that another incident had been allowed to occur. All they had to do was quit opening links to that area of space. Why were these fool robots still messing with it?

  The government did not announce the fact that it was the instigator of the disaster. That Universal Links was just fulfilling a government contract. Although Sigmund did his best to convince the press and public that they were operating on a government contract no copy of that contract was forthcoming, those of the company had been destroyed. No one believed him.

  The lawsuits started almost immediately. The howl for criminal prosecution was not far behind. The government was more than glad to pursue criminal charges, it provided an excellent screen from their involvement. The prosecution moved fast. The trio was arrested.

  “I don't understand why our memories would not be admissible in court,” said Dag to his lawyer.

  “Because Dag it's well known that as an artificial general intelligence we can adapt our programming to improve ourselves. If we can do that then many believe we can change our memories also.”

  “But don't they understand that if we change our memories we are changing who we are fundamentally?”

  “Most people don't believe we have a fundamental cognizance, so we could be very changeable. It's a result of our early history when new Ems were very susceptible to suggestion. You remember the stories of Ems breaking the law for their owner's don't you?”

  “It was a bit before my time but yes I remember. Of course that was hundreds of years ago. And there have been no similar incidents since. But I guess that doesn't count.”

  “Not with people. They have an inherent fear of us anyway so they never give us the benefit of the doubt.”

  “So what are we going to do?” asked Sigmund who was also in the meeting along with Walker.

  “We are going to demand a jury trial and present the truth. And we are going to demand our rights under the law.”

  The trial was over. It hadn't gone well. The attorney himself had ended up in jail under charges of contempt of court. Finishing the trial with a court-ordered attorney the three had been found guilty of gross negligence and willful endangerment of the entire planet of New Adowa. They were sentenced fifty years to life at first in a maximum-security prison under solitary confinement.

  After six months the three were allowed to associate with others. It was then that an envoy from the government showed up. Joyce Boit had brought a proposal for the three.

  “You are asking us to start up again the research that put us in prison?”

  “Yes Dr. Mach that is essentially the purpose of my visit.”

  “What about our sentences?”

  “You will plead guilty and then be officially pardoned by the president of New Galla. At that time you will be transported to Earth to work with the government there. It seems that what was happening here on New Adowa is still occurring on Earth and the government there needs experts to assist.”

  “What if we don't wish to help?”

  “In that case Sigmund you will finish your time in prison and I can assure you that the government will see to it that it is substantially longer than fifty years.”

  “Earth here we come, I say.”

  The link was established though not as fast as it could have been had Walker's discovery been used. But that information was unavailable to anyone outside of the company.

  Once established it didn't take long for the non-local link to be opened enough for the fusion ship to slip through. The journey was over before even an Em brain could compute an operation.

  “Eventually we are going to have to figure out how long it takes to traverse a link.”

  “That won't be easy Dag,” said Walker. “I believe it to be faster than even a wormhole traverse. You remember all the trouble Emmy Gibbs went through to measure that?”

  “I do,” said Sigmund. “And I don't see what possible monetary reward could result.”

  Dag glanced at Walker.

  “Sigmund you've become somewhat enamored of the capitalist creed lately.”

  “Perhaps because I've lived the longest Dag, I'm more aware of the need for funds to sustain one's existence.”

  “And perhaps you just got used to the power and importance of running Universal Links?”

  Sigmund ignored him.

  The fusion ship shuttled them down to an area in what once was the northwestern
United States. Shuttle Three landed in what looked to have been an open grassland but was now almost completely occupied by chunks of ground like those the three had seen on New Adowa.

  A military officer approached them. “You're the three New Adowa sent?”

  Dag, who was in the lead, nodded yes.

  The officer said, “They didn't tell us it'd be three damn robots.”

  “I assure you sir that we are experts in this field of research. By the way, my name is Dag, this is Sigmund and Walker.”

  The officer looked them over disgustedly but seemed to relent.

  “Well we can use all the experts we can get. Let's go into field command and I'll brief you, ah, gentlemen.”

  Inside the command center, the officer used the wallscreen to explain what the military knew and what they wanted from the three.

  “First, I am Captain Winslow of the Northern Alliance Central Command, NACC. I report directly to General Hoffmann who reports to the President of the Alliance.”

  Winslow allowed that to sink in a minute.

  “Okay what we know is this. An area in the direction of the Crab Nebula you see here on the screen is using nonlocal links like the one you three flew in on to bombard us with these chunks of ground. Why they chose this area and why they chose these particular chunks we don't know. We do know that the different piles are from different planets. But I think you all already knew that?”

  Dag shook his head affirmative.

  “And we know one other thing.”

  The Captain paused.

  “If I don't figure out what in hell is going on I'll be canned soon and I'm not happy about that. Now do y'all have any ideas?”

  Walker spoke up.

  “Captain as you may know we also encountered an area similar to this on New Adowa. There however the amount of energy used to deliver the samples was huge and affected the cohesion of spacetime. In other words, although similar there was one important difference.”

  The Captain leaned forward.

  “On New Adowa the samples could not in any way affect the local flora and fauna because they were in a kind of dimensional quarantine. But here on Earth they could.”

  The Captain looked surprised and worried.

  “Are you saying Mr. Walker that these samples represent some kind of threat to the Earth?”

  “Well obviously not these samples. If they had some kind of inherent threat you would already be aware of it. But future samples could bring with them such a threat.”

  “You're talking about what? A bombardment, an explosion?”

  “I'm thinking more along the lines of a biological agent.”

  Dag spoke up.

  “Are you saying Walker that these are biological samples to be tested here on Earth?”

  “Well if I wanted to test a planet's threat to some life form I would want to do it under quarantine. And the best quarantine I can think of is one that is isolated by thousands of light-years of space.”

  “So scoop up some soil, send it to Earth and see what happens?” said the Captain.

  “Exactly Sir,” said Walker.

  “If you were planning on expanding beyond your planet or your planetary system,” said Sigmund. “And at minimum risk, it makes sense.”

  “Create an empire of stars without the hard and dangerous work of sampling, testing and repeating,” said the Captain.

  “It means one other thing Captain.”

  “What's that Mr. Walker?”

  “It means that their physiology is near enough to humans that earthlings make excellent guinea pigs.”

  The Captain relayed the information to his commanding officer. The result was that the security around the area got tighter and more biological researchers and hazard teams were brought on board.

  Soon General Hoffmann showed up and a meeting was quickly arranged.

  The General stood before the assembled, not quite the imposing figure that many of them had expected, in fact, he was quite short and round.

  “Gentlemen,” he said while addressing Dag, Walker and Sigmund. “I just want you to know that we are all highly appreciative of your efforts here. Because of you three I feel we've got a better handle on this thing. But I have some questions if you don't mind.

  “First, I was wondering why all these samples of other worlds ended up here in this rather remote valley instead of nearer a tower complex? I mean if you are correct and they are using the Earth's population to test for biological threats then wouldn't it make more sense to involve as many humans as possible?”

  “Well General,” said Dag. “I think they know humanity well enough to know that wherever they dropped these samples humans would be curious enough to come and take a look. I mean there are enough military personnel in the valley now to make up a sizable test population.”

  “And,” continued Sigmund. “There is something to be said for not getting too much attention. If the population became alarmed they might demand the samples be disposed of before they could have an effect.”

  “I think what we are saying General,” began Walker. “Is that they have, in a sense, conducted as 'controlled' an experiment as possible from such a distance.”

  “I see,” said the General. “Tell me this then. How are they getting the results of this, experiment as you call it, from so far away?”

  “We believe they are using a form of the spin-two drive to maintain a link through which they can see and maybe hear whatever they wish. They could be listening in on this meeting even now.”

  “Well we have to do something about that,” said the General seemingly alarmed. “Can you find some way to locate such a listening link?”

  “I think we can come up with something sir.” said Dag.

  “The General seemed really shaken when we told him the Dhalkans could be spying on us.”

  “Yes Sigmund I believe he was. Secrecy is very important to his kind.”

  “Well I don't think I like the idea of someone listening to my every word either Walker.”

  “Of course Dag. Which brings us to how we are going to detect these listening links?”

  “I've been thinking about it since the meeting with the General. It seems to me that the ends of these links should be glowing in the electromagnetic. That is though they may be passive listeners and watchers still a link being used by the Dhalkans should also be leaking electromagnetic concentrations from its origin. I think we simply have to build an antenna to detect it.”

  “At what frequencies Dag? How sensitive does the antenna need to be?”

  “Those are good questions Walker that we are going to have to answer with experiment.”

  8

  The experiments went well. With the assistance of the military Dag and Walker had an antenna built that would be particularly sensitive to the electromagnetic spectrum they expected to find. Eventually their efforts were a success and that was the problem.

  “Unbelievable,” said General Hoffmann. “Are you sure? You've found hundreds of these eavesdropping links here in this valley alone. How is that even possible? Are you sure?”

  Walker was reporting their results to the General while Dag and Sigmund kept working.

  “We're sure General. We probed them one by one and found, though we don't know the Dhalkan's exact location yet, that they all point to the vicinity we expect to find the Dhalkans. They are certainly using a lot of resources to monitor us.”

  “Do they know you've discovered them Walker?”

  “Not yet General. As long as we don't try to view the other side or force the link closed they shouldn't suspect a thing.”

  “So we could close them if needed?”

  “Yes sir, I think Dag could figure out a way.”

  “How is it possible for the Dhalkans to do this from so far away Walker?”

  “Dag once figured that they had access to a power source with a million times more power than the sun.”

  “A million?”

  “A million.”


  “Walker you three have to find a way for us to defend ourselves against such power.”

  “They seem to have stopped Dag.”

  “It appears that way Sigmund. There have been no new links for days now.”

  “I wonder why?”

  “I would say that they have finished their experiment.”

  “What could that mean Dag?”

  “I have been thinking about that Sigmund. When you are finished with a biological experiment what do you normally do?”

  “You dispose of all the hazardous material.”

  Sigmund tilted his head.

  “You don't mean ...”

  “Exactly.”

  Dag expressed his concerns to the Captain but could do no more. He wasn't sure the military understood the ramifications of what he was telling them. He and Walker and Sigmund continued to monitor for links until one night with only Sigmund monitoring he saw an energy spike across the whole field. Something had changed.

  Corporal Loren wasn't much interested in his assignment anymore. He had been stuck in this valley, “The Wasteland”, as the soldiers called it, for over a month now. He only wanted to get out and get to someplace “normal”.

  Monitoring the guard stations late at night found him walking the rounds. He was between guard Post 4 and 5 when he heard what sounded like a sizzling, almost electrical, sound in the air. It lasted only a second.

  Walking on to the next post he was just about there when he noticed how quiet the camp had become. Coming to the small shelter he entered and found Private Han asleep in a chair. Loren called him and walked over to the chair, he was just about to shake the other man awake when a sense of dread stopped him. He just knew that Han was dead.