by Hylton Smith
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When the meeting started Carvalho recognised most of the Council members but none of the big five government representatives. Logan did the obligatory welcoming stuff and made everyone aware of the prioritisation of the item on trading red crystal. The Chinese government delegate assumed centre-stage and commenced with a diatribe of wholesome reasons for the benefit of humans, which in reality disguised intentions to exploit Symbiants. Carvalho cut in, “I would first like to hear why this has so suddenly become urgent when it has always been shunned, and indeed outlawed.”
There was a brief hiatus while a small group of delegates conferred. The Chinese spokesman started again. “We have now had two decades of observation and increasing trust in the altruistic nature of the Symbiants. We want....”
“Why then have you not asked for any to come from Mars and cooperate with you on important projects?”
The South African Council member, Andre de Visser echoed this sentiment. The Russian government delegate followed this up by voicing concern over private abuse of the crystals by the super-rich – they had not forgotten the embarrassment they narrowly avoided over oligarch involvement. After quite some discussion it seemed to indicate that China, USA and three Council members were the drivers of the proposal.
Alex 2 rose to his feet and gained attention and silence. “Ladies and Gentlemen, you may have overlooked one small point. This ‘trade’ you are requesting is indirectly one of offering infrastructure for ‘people’. Is that ethical? I am so concerned by such a precedent that I can state I will not be returning to your planet after this meeting and I will do everything in my power to prevent such a covert advance to ‘slavery’. This decision, in all honesty, has been brewing for some time. This current proposal is one more serious indictment of Earth society’s lack of promise. You will note that I did not say human, as the humans on Mars do not suffer from these multiple personality disorders.”
Carvalho effectively finished the meeting by asking what the Council and the government delegates expected their new friends (pointing to Fav) to make of all this. The parting shot was delivered as though he was amazed that nobody had bothered to ask if there was any crystal left on Mars. “We’ve consumed all but a few reference samples on the various forestation and dome projects.” The lie was intended to flush out any challenge to this. The bluff continued. “You may send an audit team to check this for yourselves, but the answer would still be negative if we had tons of it. If and when you definitely decide to pursue this strategy – and I have studied the detector you asked De Santos to outline for me – you need to think of how any success you may have on Earth will create temptation on both planets. Temptation can flourish because of perceived opportunity; it doesn’t have to exist. Please think hard on this.” The meeting purpose was completely shredded and the participants quietly prepared to disperse.
One last thing the trio wanted to achieve was a genuine registration of the intent for the Axis to put a geothermal orbiter in place. Carvalho asked for order and gave the floor to Fav. “Thank you. I had hoped this would be a project in which we would leverage mutual benefit. Our ability to determine sub-surface deposits and potential problem areas was in existence on our first colonisation of Mars. It was essential in our choice of underground locations. Re-establishing the facility will help mining and related searches. I do hope that the results from the devices will attract interest from Earth. We would be happy to share this technology and assist in any way.”
Carvalho congratulated Fav on a brilliant double bluff to justify putting the crystal in orbit. Alex 2 said it had given him a temporary pain in the registry.
Chapter 6
Red disclosed Nielsen’s analysis to the group. Jet, as expected, gave the same explanation as Fav had done. Dan grasped the significance. Yamamoto and Sevicek wondered what all the fuss was about. Red resumed, addressing Jet, “Does the oxy-chloride occur naturally on Nexus?”
“Yes, the oxy-chloride does, sorry, did exist, Nexus may be gone. I don’t know of other halogens.”
Red probed further. “Fav said it was a tri-chloride. Was the separated element stable or did you have to find a way of doing that?”
Jet said that he had no knowledge of any need for stabilisation and suggested Fav had erred - he was sure it was oxy-chloride but he would check this in the archive. Nielsen was next. “I think you are correct, my tests showed only two chlorine atoms, not three. However, I’m still puzzled. We’ve known for some time that there is a decay process of certain elements above atomic number 110, to Seaborgium 106. Even though this is a more stable trans-uranium element, it still decays in minutes. Red has reminded us that although we have no such naturally occurring isotopes, stable or otherwise, your binary system may have produced them during its creation. There has been fascination on Earth about element 115 and its potential access to gravity A waves, but it has to be created synthetically. The same is true for Element 118, which decays in rapid steps to Element 106 – Seaborgium. It has been further theorised that stable versions of some of these elements are possible via ‘islands of stability’. Do you know whether this is a feasible explanation for this discovery?”
Jet seemed to be trawling his memory for an age. “I cannot think of any particular research on this. We just accepted it was there, like iron is on your planet, and we exploited its property in electronics. Islands of stability is new to me.”
Nielsen prevented Sevicek from interrupting. “We have synthesised element 118 on Earth by bombarding Lead 208 with Krypton 86 in a particle accelerator. The first point in the decay chain with an extended half-life is element 106. The observation suggests that there may be some way to synthesise it to achieve the predicted islands of stability.”
He was looking at Jet and Sevicek said humbly, “Could the conditions of formation of the oxy-chloride not offer this stability and access to Gravity A waves?” At last Red said, “What an intriguing idea.”
Nielsen stuttered, “You mean that this compound, having achieved stability may itself be persuaded to demonstrate controlled periods of instability by subtle encouragement?”
“Something like that,” said Sevicek.
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When the distillate of this reached Alex 2 from Red it created a new urgency. He reminded Carvalho of his mention of Evander de la Cruz. “The content of the recovered lead boxes and the ‘stumbling’ discussion around islands of stability has conspired to make it prudent to meet this young man. You are the expert on double-dealing and decoy tactics. We need to speak to him without any presence of Earth-based humans. What do you suggest?”
“Mmm, I need to speak to a countryman of his before we leave, maybe he can help, I’m sure we can trust him.”
Alex 2 shook his head. “No we can’t. I am talking about developments so significant that we have to keep the subject matter from all humans here and on Mars, except the think-tank members, until we have proved or disproved the theory. If you are worried about the temptation that Scarlet O’Hara will create, then multiply that by a suitably ludicrous number, if this knowledge enters the public domain. If we can’t speak to him in a secure way I would rather leave it for now.”
Carvalho was hooked. “How about I go back to see Logan and suggest that in order to avoid further dichotomy, we try to foster better relations, by offering prize tours to Mars for their most deserving young people. Earth can select them on their criteria and we would give them the red carpet tour. I can tell Logan he’s the first to know but if this does not meet with favour from the rest, I’ll suggest it to the media. I will keep emphasising the need for harmony in the hope that these narcissists believe that this is Mars realising their humble place in the greater scheme of things.”
Alex 2 asked to be excused for a registry clean-up. “I was sure I could count on you. Would that suggest that I am correct in assuming that my appreciation of the art of speculation has just been up-valued?”
Logan wasn’t entirely c
omfortable with the suggestion, and less so with being the messenger. He saw it as a no-win situation. If the Council agreed, they were signing up for the long term, and whatever came with Mars winning the hearts and minds of their best young talent. If they didn’t act it would be distorted through the media to bring pressure on the Council to explain the lack of investment in the youth of the planet. Two sides of the same argument, he thought. He also concluded that this was simply Carvalho’s crude way of tit-for-tat with the Scarlet issue.
The media interest was always intense with Martian news and this was no exception. Carvalho had taken the precaution of transmitting the suggestion simultaneously to the broadcasters and the Council, to give the latter deniability of the first approach. It did nothing to further Logan’s image in the eyes of the Council Executive. The idea caught fire and the Council now had to decide whether to allow Martians to organise the selection or feign enthusiasm to retain that function. They didn’t really have a choice; they would retain the selection control. It was better this way for Mars; they just had to wait long enough to see if Evander was chosen.
Ayrton de Santos agreed to act as the transmission point between Carvalho and Sadat. It was time for the trio to return to Mars.
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One of the Indian government front line dignitaries was going through admission procedures at Echus Chasma General. He had been scheduled for some time for correction of brain cancer. It was declared inoperable by Earth medics and this prognosis had been endorsed by Pascal 2 and Dr. Aragones. However, so much had been learned from Axis databases, the pioneering work of Sophia Scillacci, and Isaakson on Earth, that it was referred to the Indian ethics committee. It would mean that he would become the first Terran resident to become totally and perennially dependent on a completely synthetic brain employing alien technology.
The decision to proceed had been debated to the point that his time was almost up. He decided to resign and used influence to get migrant approval for his family. The implications of the outcome were manifold. This procedure had been successfully conducted on three Mars based humans by Pascal 2, and without attracting much attention on Earth. This was different. Singh’s condition was much worse than the others, and the media were all over it. Carvalho had accepted Mr. Singh’s request on the condition it was performed by the newly-arrived Dr. Aragones, with Pascal 2 in attendance.
Mr. Singh had been introduced to Stella Aragones by Pascal 2 and she explained the various phases of dual connection of the two brains, the extent of this parallel phase for transfer of data, and the eventual disconnection of the malignant one. He would be conscious at this stage and consulted about this last step to ensure he was comfortable with the irreversible decision. If his organic brain had been in normal health, there could have been a possibility of bypassing it without disconnection, before deciding to rely on the ‘implant’. He acknowledged the risk and agreed to proceed. Stella had issued strict instructions that no Martian or Earth media personnel were to be admitted to the hospital, and agreed that there would be a daily update on the progression of the patient’s condition.
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Just prior to leaving Earth Carvalho had been asked when he thought the first selected candidates could be accommodated. “We see this as your opportunity; we’re already considering rolling this out for Martian youth. As you may appreciate we do not yet have the same demographic balance as Earth, but we believe it would also have a broadening aspect for the youth of both planets to share perspective. I suppose we are ready when you are. In fact I have asked our TV people to contact you in the media here to collaborate on the issue. We think this should be a blank canvas.” This was well received.
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The discussion group on Mars grappled with the new information for days without further progress. They had accepted that the Axis had nothing further to divulge; their understanding of fundamental physics was nowhere near their flair for practical engineering. Earth physicists were, according to the Symbiants, more creative in this discipline and did not have so much catching up to do. Full realisation of this helped carve out a different approach. Once more it was Yamamoto who postulated looking at the puzzle the other way around. “If we agree, that not only does this Seaborgium exist in stable form, but it interests the Symbiants like nothing else has for years, we must be close. Forget for the moment how we tease Gravity A waves out. Assume we have them – how do we sustain sufficient amplification to create the discrete spatial distortion we are led to believe is necessary to avoid devastation?”
Nielsen’s face brightened but nothing was offered immediately. Then it came. “What if we thought about one action achieving both aims?”
“Go on,” said Sevicek.
“I’m just saying – it’s possible that two separate steps are counter-productive.”
“Great,” laughed Yamamoto, “that’s like saying we need a magic wand without having a clue where to look.”
Nielsen protested. “Just be quiet for a moment. I’m wondering about replacing the bombarding idea with a field generator. It would be more controllable and could encourage asymmetric behaviour of the bonding between the three atomic configurations of Seaborgium, oxygen and chlorine.” Yamamoto was quick to notice the Symbiants were silent; that was a good sign. Nielsen resumed. “Jet, can you confirm your claim that the stuff we have in the lead shielding boxes is definitely Seaborgium Oxy-chloride?”
“Yes, I checked it again yesterday.”
“So you agree we have one atom of Seaborgium, two of Oxygen and two of Chlorine?”
“Yes.”
Nielsen’s voice was a little shaky. “I seem to recall that this was the first trans-uranium element to be named after a person. I’ll check later but I’m pretty sure its discoverer was Glenn T. Seaborg. He felt it was a greater honour than actually receiving the Nobel Prize.”
“Jesus Christ Ari, we are rigid with anticipation; are you going somewhere with this chemistry lesson?” asked Sevicek.
“Oh yes, I’m positive that the existence of this compound was predicted decades ago. Anyway, as we now have the proof, I would like to check my theory out with a prominent expert in the most fundamental laws of physics. I can see that if we could produce this asymmetry in a ‘gentle’ way rather than with cyclotronic savagery, we will have oscillations that may infrequently, infinitesimally and very, very briefly stray outside the atomic perimeter of the Seaborgium. It may be that the molecule Sg-O2-Cl2 is actually the solution and not the puzzle. Of course the odds are more in favour of me being sectioned prior to long term therapy.” The discussion was pretty muted after this crescendo of expectation. Yamamoto looked at Red and merely asked, “Well?”
Red returned the question. “What kind of precision would you need for such a field generator?” Yamamoto was jubilant. “That’s good enough for me guys. Let’s get some sleep.”
Chapter 7
The Council began to consult all nations on how to best organise the scheme Carvalho had dropped in their lap. They gave loose guidelines on age limits and recommended all disciplines should be included as long as the achievement was outstanding. It wasn’t to be a competition, but an ongoing opportunity for young students to further their experience. It was suggested that it may become an integral part of bringing talent to the fore in the education policy. This of course went far beyond Carvalho’s suggestion and he wondered if he had created a millstone around his own neck. The media loved it, as it had the potential for sensationalism, corruption, massive public interest and envy all rolled into one. A deadline for the first batch of twenty-five was set.
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Varanda Singh was ready to undergo phase one. The connection of the artificial brain was a long and critically precise operation. His family was able to observe this part of the procedure from a remote viewing screen. His wife could not summon the nerve to do so, but his two daughters were curious. They took turns to keep their mother up to date. Pascal 2 had decided to acce
pt Dr. Aragones’ invitation to attend in view of the publicity the event would generate. He agreed to be the media focal point to give bulletins, allowing Stella to concentrate on the task without distraction. Although everyone knew Mr. Singh would die without this last hope, the ethical brigade would be baying for a re-think if anything went wrong. The questions would include the wisdom of challenging God’s design by incorporation of alien components, even if they were inorganic materials, which were spread throughout the cosmos.
After fourteen hours the point had arrived at which they could compare the readouts which signified the new device was functioning correctly. Mr. Singh would be stimulated to be brought out of his anaesthetised state. The tension and fatigue were diffused when he smiled, and he was encouraged to wave at the camera to let his family see this surgery had been completed successfully.