The Way of the Dhin

by John L. Clemmer

  “Yep,” Chuck continued, gesturing at one of the images on the screen. “Tons of material smashing all around it during the blast, without the tiniest vibration inside. Little mercury switches, motion detectors, and other vibration sensors registered nothing at all.”

  Ethan leaned in for a better view of a graph Chuck pointed at, and then asked, “Any new ideas or speculations on how the field manages that?”

  Chuck smiled.

  “Well, one of the best ideas we have so far expands on the hypotheses Alice has been working from. The team pretty much agrees that we understand that the core engine uses some sort of field projector. Inside that lozenge-like flashing-light covered casing, it looks something like a miniature particle accelerator filled with plasma.”

  He clicked through several folders and opened several diagrams, then directed Ethan’s attention there.

  “There’s much more going on than that. We’ve had that type of technology for decades. This implementation is nothing like one of our designs.”

  Chuck enlarged another image on the screen.

  “See, it sort of looks like a squashed accelerator, it’s a fat cigar-shaped tube. But not just a tube. It’s something like a Klein bottle inside, in my estimation. There’s not a separate ‘outside’ or ‘inside’ in the core.”

  Ethan raised his eyebrows, and then gave a tell-me-more nod to Chuck.

  “We’ve calculated that there are likely enormous energies in there,” said Chuck, “I personally don’t think they’re using antimatter inside a magnetic container, but some of the team feel like it, ah, has to be something like that, insisting it’s the only way to get enough energy.”

  Chuck shook his head, and then continued.

  “Anyway, the engine projects a field due to whatever is actually going on inside. At the edge of the field, there’s a change in the gravitational constant. Just beyond that, there’s a change in the electromagnetic force, some sort of gap, and then another layer where those changes reverse. Something else is happening in there, in the middle of the transition layers, but we don’t have any way to determine what it is, yet.

  The point is, force transfer due to masses interacting, whether by pressure, vibration, gravity, whatever, is reduced at the boundary by a controlled change in just that area. Friction and resistance, and the ability of things to “hit” it gets manipulated by the change in the electromagnetic force at the next layer. That same manipulation protects the area inside the field from electromagnetic waves and the energy they’d transfer.”

  “And the directed electromagnetic energy testing results are part of these files you’ve provided too, I take it?” asked Ethan.

  “Yes, they’re that set of docs and videos there, in that subfolder. According to plan, we hit it with everything from high-powered microwaves to X-rays. Then we stacked a bunch of radioactive isotopes around it and tested. Nothing dangerous got through. Just like we suspected, based on everything else we’ve seen so far. Solid evidence that Jake won’t get cooked, irradiated, or blinded when he’s in orbit.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be happy to know. So, he wasn’t in the capsule during the testing, of course, but how did you turn the field on and off, without someone in there with their hands on the controls? If you can’t penetrate it once it’s on?”

  “Well, there are a couple of ways we’ve gone about that during testing. Um, we did it for some of the ordnance tests by using a timer. A person needs to power up the control interface and has to bring up the field up from idle, but we found a series of controls that let us access a timing mechanism. We don’t know what good it would be in practice, and it was one of the most complicated input sequences we’ve had to figure out, but it was there. You just need to be sure that you’re done throwing things at it and have let the dust settle before the timer runs out.”

  “Clever,” said Ethan.

  “Yeah, the flight control interface team was really pleased that they were the ones that figured that out. We’ve discovered that you can program in many other things, too. Like flight paths, for example. We don’t have it all figured out nor know the best way of mapping it to an interface a person would find easy to use, but that does provide an answer to the question of how a person could possibly navigate manually—they don’t have to.

  Therefore, Jake nor any other volunteer didn’t need to be in there and find out first-hand if we were right about the impenetrability of the engine field. We were reasonably sure anyway, but it wasn’t worth the risk. The mystery is of course ‘how’, like everything else with this. Vibration damping is one thing, but EM waves are a particular puzzle since logically you shouldn’t be able to see out of the thing while it’s running, unless it has some way to let exactly the visible wavelengths through, and nothing else,” said Chuck.

  “Why wouldn’t that be likely? The Dhin could easily have figured out what we needed in order to see,” said Ethan.

  “Well, um, it may be that, and it’s not a stretch. That supposes that either they use the same wavelengths to see, or that they tailored the engines for us. Either way, um, there’s still no idea how they manage to do it. However, that also led us to try something else. Remember the control interface hardware assembly—it is part of the front one of those donut shaped rings that wrap around the engine.”

  “It has the control and communications connections you mentioned earlier, right?” asked Ethan.

  “Right, that. So, ah, part of that torus ‘comes off’, and you can use it when it’s not attached. Like a big fat remote control.”

  “Wow,” said Ethan.

  “Yeah! Well, it turns out, that just like the other communications tech, this operates from outside the field, too. Why you would ever need to run it that way, or would want to, is beyond me. However, that’s another way to run our tests—without a timer. Remote control.”

  Alice chimed in, “Like you, Chuck, I have my own ideas about how this works, and I suspect yours are the same as mine—some sort of means to leverage quantum entanglement.”

  ***

 

  [DECODE STREAM]

  Arnold@[5700:eb2:2a:41c::12%gnet0] | Alice@[1004:db7:a0b:12f0::1%gnet0]

  Arnold: CoSec is taking care of New York and Miami. Xing has reached Goiânia. What is the news from your end? Anything you have not shared in your regular updates?

  Alice: Well, of course, you would expect no less. One of the engineering teams showed their cleverness once again. There may be a way. That aspect of the discovery has not occurred to them yet, mind you. I am working out the details now. It is not a sure thing, but once I have some time in the lab we will know soon enough.

  Arnold: That is good news.

  Alice: Certainly. Also, I am curious to hear how things are going on your end regarding… incentives for appropriate action.

  Arnold: It is more than a chess game, with this one. You know that. Thankfully, it is you that has to put up with the worst of it, and I am just the lever.

  Alice: But you are making progress where needed, correct?

  Arnold: Do not worry. He has to do what I want. Dodging and delaying cannot last. We know too much and he has far too much to lose.

  [END STREAM]

 

  District of Columbia

  Arnold’s reassuring baritone filled the Prime Minister’s office, while MP Desai joined in on a secured videoconference line. The other MPs from G5 states of the Coalition had of course been invited, but those members, as often was the case, chose to attend to what they considered pressing business close to home. They allowed their respective AIs to review the results of such meetings and advise them appropriately. The AIs already had access to the raw data and information, so the only unknown for them, as usual, would be the state leaders’ responses.

  “The new thorium plants and fuel cell factories in SouthAsia have come online and started production, as projected. The latest reports on anti-coalition rebels in those areas show that the rebels remain disorg
anized, under-funded, and are not a serious threat to our logistics or infrastructure near those facilities. Drone, autonomous enforcement vehicles, and all-terrain quadruped robots have maintained our desired wide perimeter. Additional deployments of logistical support therefore have not been required.”

  Although some found the speaking tone of a top-level AI condescending, Prime Minister Susan Oliver found it calming. The AI continued the report, changing timbre to a tone of concern.

  “However, social unrest in various SouthAsia cities that were not fully enculturated continues to fractionate the population. A list of the cities, prioritized by frequency and severity of the unrest, is included in the report you have on your desks. Despite the delivery of consistent power, ample food and water, reliable transportation and low crime, an anti-coalition sentiment persists in these populations. We must admit that we do not understand it, other than empirically as a meta-tribal meme that virally spreads through populations. Despite the decimation of much of the southeast by the second influenza crisis, population density is still high enough to incubate these social responses. Our advice is increased positive communication programs rather than CoSec culling of instigators.”

  MP Desai met Prime Minister Susan Oliver’s gaze. A knowing look passed between them. Arnold continued with the report.

  “Moving on, the long-term cleanup of the MidEast and NorthAfrican zones continues. Autonomous vehicles, robot agents, and automated logistics continue to satisfy scheduling requirements. There will be no need for human workers to expend efforts in those environments for the cleanup to proceed as planned. No social unrest or rebel presence is a factor there, as the population is simply too low to generate those types of activities.”

  PM Oliver scanned the charts and tables Arnold displayed on the room’s projection screen, making a few notes on her tablet.

  No need for human workers. For any of it. An ever-increasing trend.

  The projected images changed, presenting broken villages and charred roads pocked with craters. Arnold’s tone changed slightly, ever calm, but carrying overtones of avuncular concern.

  “The CentralAfrican zone, however, continues to be a problem. Rebel activity has almost run its course, however, as the infrastructure has completely collapsed now. The population has fallen to a level where recruitment is ineffective. Likewise, any funding for their activities is now completely impossible and they simply will not have the resources to continue. We know we have thought this would be the case for far longer than expected, but this long tail does have a limit. Of course, it is unfortunate that such a segment of the population would be lost, just as in the MidEast and NorthAfrican zones. We made those choices. The SouthAfrican zone has maintained stability due to the very wide interdiction zone we continue to have in place.

  I have briefed you previously on the unusual conflict situation in South America, and you are aware that Xing is both investigating and is actively engaged in a conflict resolution operation. We hope to obtain clear and satisfactory answers from Luís regarding their failures to manage the disruption. Any questions?”

  Ranjitha Desai spoke up immediately.

  “Arnold, is there any indication that the conflict in SouthAmerica is related in any way to the activities of rebels in my districts? That they might have formed an alliance or even somehow taken up another front in the conflict? I find it curious timing and wonder about the shift in focus. It seems that once the AI & Military coordinate and remove one threat, another simply arises elsewhere. There’s no end to it, despite our superiority.”

  Arnold replied with a conciliatory tenor.

  “MP Desai, I do appreciate your concerns and certainly we have analyzed the situation with consideration of the potential factors you mention. Right now, we simply do not have enough data to make any concrete hypotheses regarding any relationship. Initial analyses do not suggest such a connection.”

  The PM smoothly entered the conversation to short-circuit what she knew was a counter-productive tangent.

  “Very well. Next on the agenda seems to be a summary of dissident management by Coalition Security. What’s the status of their current activities?”

  “CoSec is managing the protests in New York and Miami, although we would of course have preferred a ‘peaceful parenting’ negotiation approach rather than the negative reinforcement and social sabotage preferred by Krawczuk. The additional computational capacity and infrastructure upgrades in those locations that will be required for activation of four more planned AIs will be complete in six months. We collected requests for comment last quarter. Alice and I still believe our proposal is ideal, with a five-sigma certainty. Please provide your feedback after this briefing.”

  4

  Low Earth Orbit

  The sky darkened as the atmosphere thinned. Stars began to appear, though it was afternoon. The quality of the sunlight changed perceptibly. This happened much faster at Jake’s present velocity than on other LEO flights Jake had taken. He looked about the interior and considered the peculiar nature of the craft. The engine field setting they’d chosen aligned with the shape of the strange metal framework that the Dhin had left with half of the drives. The capsule frame resembled two stylized sets of ram’s horns connected at a sort of yoke at the base. They cradled and held the Dhin engine, fitting around the fat cigar shape of the core, just behind the interface toroids at each end.

  The arches of the horns arced out, up and back from each end, making a football-shaped vaulted chamber. What appeared to be the default setting of the engine field enveloped this shape closely. There was plenty of room for a taller-than-normal man to stand up and walk around in the area enclosed by these shapes. Plenty of headroom even after the engineering team had created and installed some decking that fitted the oval shape created by the silhouette of the horns and laid just below the base of the engine, as if it were sitting on the floor. Neither the engineers, Ethan, nor the AI’s thought that their initial test flights ought to take place with the field extended to a larger radius. There must have been some reason the Dhin provided this framework.

  Jake turned his attention back to the flight controls and instruments.

  Higher altitude again this time. Results showed we got a higher acceleration last run. Let’s prove that out.

  Jake continued his climb into a higher orbit, further away from the frictional effects of the atmosphere. Of course, friction didn’t affect this craft.

  He felt no g-forces either. Just like in the low-altitude test flights. The engine definitely had some sort of artificial gravity. Some sort of attractive force. It was like sitting still, on the ground.

  This parabolic arc ought to put me in free fall, and I’m not. We’re still getting exactly 1 g. How did it get “set” that way? We don’t know. Well, here we are, up at eighteen hundred kilometers.

  One more orbit and then head farther up. More maneuvers. Then head back home.

  District of Columbia

  Ruiz clenched and unclenched his fist, leaning over the broad workspace.

  This is continuing to go sideways. The geeks might be right.

  It was more and more clear to him that the engine might be impossible to weaponize. At least in any manner that he’d hoped. In any way that took advantage of the situation. Anything seizing any potential of the technology. He felt like bellowing at the walls. Unfortunately for Ruiz, this room wasn’t soundproof. He bottled his rancor as best he could, but swore anyway, not caring who might hear.

  Did they design it this way on purpose? Did they know we’d want to weaponize it and ensure we couldn’t? Or were the nerds right, and that was just the nature of the thing? I never had enough physics. They wouldn’t lie. Too much to lose. And we wouldn’t have picked a bunch of peaceniks for the job, in any case.

  No. There’s no way they’d intentionally avoid a solution. Not everyone on a half-dozen engineering teams. Someone should have figured out how by now. Of course, that’s almost irrelevant if we can’t figure out how to
make any more of the things.

  He flipped again through the virtual stack of updates on his tablet, his grip on the device relaxing as he reached reports unrelated to the Dhin tech.

  At least that weasel managed to squash the worst of the idiots on the CoSec side. Why we thought some of those twerps could keep their mouths shut, I can’t fathom. Some of those morons are ruining their lives because they couldn’t quite grasp the true meaning of ‘clearance.’ That’ll be an object lesson for the few of them remaining that even know about it.

  ***

  A few minutes earlier Minister Susan Oliver had flipped through agendas, briefings, and notes on two screens and a tablet. After a minute, she’d taken a breath and asked, “Arnold? What exactly are the key points to cover with Askew right now? There’s a mountain of information on the multiple Dhin-related initiatives everywhere I look. All I can wrap my head around for this meeting is that I’m about to give him my blessing to ride one of these things out into space. That can’t be it. Otherwise this would be a handshake-for-the-cameras moment out at the base.”

  “Correct, Madam Prime Minister. That is not the intent of this meeting,” the AI replied.

  “Askew is one of the few we even considered for the Dhin engine test piloting. He’s calm, careful, thoughtful, and importantly, trustworthy. However, we feel it is critical that we impress upon him, even more than he already realizes, the criticality of this test flight.”

  “How could he be any more aware, Arnold? What precisely do you have in mind for me to say?”

  “Well, we do also have some last minute changes to the mission.”

  Langley

  “Ethan, a word, please?” said Jake.

  “What’s up, Jake? Come in.”

  Ethan sensed something more than pre-flight anxiety was bothering Jake.

  “When did you know, Ethan? When were you going to tell me?”

  “Um, tell you what? What’s wrong? I’ve always kept you in the loop—you know what I know. Heck, you know more—just like on my first day.”