Of course discovering that there had been an alien presence on Earth for several hundred years was going to be a shock in its own right – this was the only part we’d left out of our reports we were sending to Earth. I felt that everything would go a lot smoother if we were there when this became known.
The best I could figure, this left Earth with three challenges.
First, how would the Noridian Dynasty respond to us removing Jaki and her people from the equation? Would they attack? Would they forget about us? Not likely. If they were inclined to retaliate and press their demands on Earth we didn’t have the technology to resist them - so we’d have to figure out a way to discourage them from being aggressive with us. Taking out the Noridian ship would buy us some time but it didn’t remove the problem.
Dr. Spencer and Dr. Spelini were off to try and solve that very challenge but Mark himself didn’t give it much chance of success and I knew we couldn’t just sit back and hope it worked – we needed to come up with our own solution.
Secondly, how do we prevent Silva and the Coridians from simply replacing the Noridians with themselves – going around us and offering Coridian protection and technology to all the Earther world leaders? Silva was acting respectful to our wishes but these were high stakes and I had no idea how much pressure he might be under to make this happen.
Finally, what about all the Earth politicians and governments that would see an advantage for themselves by siding with the Coridians? Assuming we could keep the Coridians from going around us straight to Earthers, what’s to keep Earthers from going straight to the Coridians? Hell, I wasn’t even confident that my own government wouldn’t disregard our warnings.
Human psychology is a funny thing. If any other Earther government wanted to take away our sovereignty we would fight tooth and nail but I had a certainty in my gut that many politicians would see this differently. Especially since the benefits of getting great technology and a much improved standard of living would be immediate and the negative repercussions of losing our independence to a bunch of galactic aliens that nobody ever had, and most people probably never would meet, could take generations to unfold; and most importantly, if those same politicians could keep their jobs and power and practice business as usual… well, I didn’t have any confidence at all that they couldn’t justify selling out the (Earther) human race.
Three pressing challenges that I didn’t have a solution for.
Three challenges that I needed a contingency plan for.
Or did I?
Was this really my responsibility? I had promised Mike I was prepared to take out the Noridian ship even if my superiors ordered me not to. I still felt this was my duty and we would accomplish it, but we would almost certainly be ordered to stand down after we did. Mike and I are both soldiers. We would defend our planet from an imminent threat no matter what but there could be no justification for disregarding orders once that imminent threat was removed. We would have to turn over the future of our planet to the politicians. As hard as the pressure of command had been to bear in this ordeal, was I willing to set back on the sidelines just watching; or worse, being kept in the dark? I know I need to take my selfish emotions out of it – of course I want to be a part of everything but do I have that right if the powers that be say differently? If by chance I didn’t have to break orders to take out the Noridian ship there was still a chance I would be in the mix because of my experience with the situation, but I and my team would no longer be making decisions or calling any shots. The government would take the burden from our shoulders and handle it from there. Why then wasn’t I relieved at that thought? Why did it only leave me with a sense of dread?
I didn’t sleep well that night. I had nightmares about petty politicians making petty and selfish decisions that traded away our future. Try as I might, I couldn’t visualize any scenario where a majority of our leaders didn’t sell out; and even if the United States refused the trap of Coridian or Noridian Protectionism it would only take one country to accept to change the balance of power on Earth.
War. Global war. Dr. Spencer had said that one world government would be the only possible outcome and I was now realizing how he and his colleagues had arrived at that conclusion. Even if the Coridians wanted to be benevolent to Earth they were under the time pressure of the Noridian threat. Earth would have to unify to accept a protectorship but the only way that would happen quickly was through military might.
What was it that Dr. Mark Spencer had said one night… something about great men in history seizing opportunity and not waiting for permission? Who was going to step up and how could anyone possibly lead us out of this mess? As sleep finally overcame me I couldn’t help but hope that Julie was right – I hope there really is a God.
Chapter 34
Dr. Mark Spencer
Anzio and I left early on the morning after our sendoff party. It would be some time before I saw Major Reagan or Julie again.
In addition to the holo-recorder he’d given me Silva and the major had had a number of packages delivered to our ship, some of which we were only now learning about.
The package we’d been directed to open first contained a miniature smartpad that could be worn on the belt or wrist (or virtually anywhere) and projected a holographic keyboard and display. I knew this because immediately upon opening the package a holographic image of Silva from the shoulders up had appeared with instructions about the equipment we were being given.
He’d wanted us to open this first because it had the potential to control all of the other technology we now had access to. As incredibly advanced as it all was it was humbling to realize that the Coridian’s had greatly ‘dumbed down’ the tech so we could use it. For example, Coridians routinely managed considerably more technology but didn’t need a holopad or holodisplay to do it; they managed everything directly with their mind.
They didn’t need an external display because images were generated directly on the optic nerve or in the Cerebral Cortex (I wasn’t clear which) and could totally replace the images from one or both eyes or could overlay data onto their vision much like a pair of range-finding binoculars or thermal imaging sights. Want to share an image or what you were witnessing with a friend? No problem. As long as both parties were in range of a Coridian paired quantum communications device any number of people could see the same thing you were seeing – even across interstellar distances.
The smartpads we were being given could (as long as we were in range) access communications for what he claimed was the entire Coridian galactic network and our only restrictions were on which databases we could access. Silva had apparently anticipated our skepticism because he went on to explain that because of the extreme circumstances with the Noridian Dynasty they were making an exception for us and that this access was temporarily being given just to a select few of us. The consensus was that it was in their best interest for Earthers to learn as much as possible about the Coridian way of life (without of course actually taking our side and arming us against the Noridians).
We did have a very limited and rudimentary thought control of the smartpad facilitated by an earpiece that fit smoothly and almost invisibly behind one ear; but the holographic keyboard was required for anything extremely detailed. For everything in-between there were voice commands.
Silva (or his hologram) went on to describe several other pieces of equipment that, among other things, included boxes of medical nano-pills. With instructions to immediately swallow one this tech was preprogramed to run a diagnostic evaluation of our health which we could access on our smartpad. Then, assuming we were basically healthy, taking one nano-pill a day would maintain our health at its current level for as long as the pills lasted – which looked to be quite a while.
Another piece of tech that was at first puzzling was the Atmospheric Frequency Modulator. In essence this allowed us to control the vibration of molecules in the air around us.
Much more intuitive was what I called a Personal Force F
ield Generator. Apparently very common amongst the dynasties, this created an invisible field that extended outward from the body just far enough to encompass most items of clothing (and may explain the propensity for dynasty members to wear tight-fitting apparel). Although it wasn’t designed to stop anything massive (like a bullet), the force field could protect and redirect radiation (including Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, or LASER) and it could maintain temperature and emergency atmospheric pressure when the wearer was exposed to a vacuum or hostile environment.
Silva went on to describe several other items but Anzio pointed out that we also had a recorded message from Major Reagan and I was anxious to hear it.
“Dr. Spencer, Dr. Spelini,” he began. “I want you both to know how much I, how much we all, appreciate what you’re doing. We all have our respective missions to accomplish but yours might very well be the hardest. You’re literally heading into the unknown and there is no intelligent advice that I can possibly give you so I’ll just say this; we believe in you.
“We also need you; Earth needs you. If… when you find a solution for us come home quickly.
“In the meantime we’ve put together a technological care package of sorts that will hopefully come in handy. Silva has been very helpful and I know he’s recording some basic instructions for you but I wanted to add a few thoughts…
“I advise you to use the medical nano. Dr. Schein and I have both thought this through carefully and believe we can trust the Coridians to limit this nano to only function as advertised. The ultimate decision is of course totally up to the both of you but I don’t need to remind you how important it will be to stay healthy for your mission. Apparently we’ve already been exposed to similar nano by the Noridians – they automatically included it in our food before our expected planetfalls to protect us against foreign antigens and pathogens – apparently it’d be pretty risky to just go from planet to planet without some kind of immune system enhancement.
“On the same token however we would encourage you not to accept any nano-enhancement to grow any type of bioware. Silva has offered to give a few of us bioware enhancements very similar to what all non-Earthers already have from birth. This would eliminate the need for the earpiece and miniature smartpad as all the ‘equipment’ would be in your head. There are obvious advantages but Dr. Schein and I both agree that the risks of secret and silent observation, perhaps even some type of subtle mind-control, are too great. I would rather be paranoid than compromised so we have declined the offer and hope you will too.
“Anyway, we wish you good luck and Godspeed. Reagan out.”
ΔΔΔ
I think Ashima had sensed that I was somewhat melancholy about leaving the others behind. I don’t know if she thought it was just the entire situation or if she knew I had feelings for Julie but she was sensitive to it and gave me some space; it was a full week before she started sharing my bed.
She wasn’t pushy about it and she made it clear it was more for fun than romance but since it was just the four of us on the ship and we spent all our time together it was pretty much inevitable – and did I mention that she was fun?
Because of her area of interest and expertise we were able to have incredible conversations about how the greater galactic society worked and I was starting to get a better picture of the hoops Earth was going to have to jump through if we wanted to fit in.
“So basically,” I asked. “Planet bound cultures defer to the dynasties without exception?”
“Well yes,” Ashima responded. “But it is not as if we really need anything from most of them. They are not slaves; they just give us a level of respect higher than what they give each other.”
She said it as if it explained everything but I still didn’t get it.
“Why do they respect you?” I probed.
“Because we are a dynasty,” she responded with a strange look on her face. “Look Mark, most planet bound societies are by your standards very advanced, totally self-contained, and have more natural resources than they could probably ever consume. They have no reason to develop interstellar relationships. We call the people Kikos after a well-known animal, Kikosolentis, which marks out a small territory and then never travels outside it. They make great pets,” she said with a grin.
“Most Kiko societies have a space presence so that they can harvest the resources of their own planetary systems but on the rare occasion that individuals might want to travel to another star they can probably hitch a ride with a dynasty ship. Although it can be kind of hit and miss because most planets don’t see a dynasty ship but once every few hundred years or so as you would measure it.
“When a dynasty ship does make planetfall, we bring news and information that can be invaluable to that society. The last thing the Kikos would want to do would be to alienate a dynasty.”
Judging from the look on Ashima’s face I think it must have been obvious that I was still missing something. After some thought I asked, “Why don’t the Kikos just build their own starships or tap into the galactic networks and databases for their information? Why are they so dependent upon the dynasties?”
“Oh Mark,” she said. “I thought you knew. Faster than light travel and communications are restricted technologies – just like gene modification and temporal physics. The Accord would never condone Kikos using those technologies let alone transferring it to them.”
No I hadn’t known, and I was very surprised.
“Ashima, how does The Accord prevent Kikos from discovering this technology on their own?” I asked.
“They don’t. No one has independently made discoveries in those areas in hundreds of millions of years.”
“Then how did the dynasties get them? Surely they didn’t all independently come up with the same discoveries?”
“No Mark, that is one of the advantages of being a dynasty. Under The Accord all accredited technology is shared amongst the dynasties – including travel, communications, etc.
“Those advantages come with a price however; The Accord also gives us guidelines and responsibilities. Let me give you an example: even though certain technologies are restricted from the Kikos we may drop bits of other knowledge and technology to them as we travel across the galaxy, but we have to be careful about even that. We have learned the hard way that too much advancement too fast can be harmful – and The Accord would take a very dim view on any dynasty that was damaging Kiko societies. ”
I tilted my head and gave her my ‘Oh really?” look…
Ashima laughed and said, ‘We told you Mark, in the case of Earth the Noridians are desperate.”
“Ok, at any rate that’s why the Kikos all look up to the dynasties; you’re literally on a different technological level than they are,” I summarized.
“That and the fact that we act as a safety net for them. If there were a natural disaster or a pandemic that threatened the planet we would be their best hope.”
“So, the bottom line is that the Kikos need the dynasties more than the dynasties need the Kikos,” I concluded.
“They need us more than we need any one of them,” she agreed. “Collectively it is a very symbiotic relationship. We all evolved on the surface of a planet and even though we are not planet bound most dynasty members find it better, both physically and emotionally, to spend time there. We would suffer if there were not any friendly Kiko civilizations to holiday with.
“And of course there are certain Kiko planets,” she continued. “A very small percentage which various dynasty members might befriend or frequent for a while – Stiger hosting Semi and her protégés are a good example of this – and then there are those rare instances of a dynasty placing a Protectorship over a planet.”
“How does that work?” I asked. “Everyone’s been quick to tell me the advantages for the planet but what are the advantages and obligations for the dynasty?”
“That is very insightful of you Mark to realize that a protectorship does carry an immense
obligation for a dynasty.”
Her eyes were sparkling and I think she actually was feeling proud of me.
“When a dynasty places a protectorship over a planet they are declaring to The Accord that they have full responsibility for that society’s development and safety,” she continued. “Protectorates can access and use all of the technologies that the dynasty uses; so it is imperative that there be a close relationship that allows the dynasty to steer the protected civilization away from danger. Left to their own devices many civilizations would tear themselves apart with unrestricted access to those advanced technologies.”
“And what’s in it for you?” I asked. “Why would a dynasty want to take on that responsibility?”
“We usually will not,” she sighed. “That’s why protectorships are so rare – it takes an overwhelming consensus of dynasty members to approve it.
“Typically, Protectorships serve as a base of operations for dynasties. There are obvious advantages to having a centralized base of operations for communications, repair, and certain types of manufacturing. We are also a social species and having established gathering points spread throughout the galaxy eases the isolation a spacefaring culture can sometimes feel.
Here Comes Earth: Emergence Page 27