by Karl Morgan
He desperately wanted to sleep and forgot about these things. As one of the most advanced Friends, parts of his mind would always be active to maintain the planetoid and fleets of smaller robots. The cognitive parts of his brain were fortunate to be able to rest when needed. The preparations for the invasion had kept him awake for a long time.
His mind now reached out to a golden robot that looked exactly like a man. It sat on a throne in a large crystal hall, deep in the belly of the planetoid. Twenty chairs were set out before him, and his senior advisors, all Nan, sat waiting for his arrival. Several small robots scurried about, providing drinks and snacks to the assembled leaders. “Good day, my friends,” the robot said.
“Master, we have reviewed our stores against our needs for the voyage,” said an older Nan wearing a white tunic lined with gold ribbon. “We will need another ten thousand men and women along with as many cattle, sheep, and goats as we can acquire.”
“Pardu, is there a planet nearby where we can fill these needs?” the robot answered.
“We have negotiated with Opala of The Accord for most of the goods. His team has more time to prepare for their longer voyage, and he is eager to help your team launch as quickly as possible,” Pardu replied.
“I will thank my Friend personally,” the robot smiled. “What about the remaining needs?”
“Master, do you recall the original planet Stit?” Pardu asked.
“Of course, what about it?”
“When the planet was cleansed, large herds of livestock remained. With the other Friends of The Accord rummaging for goods, we thought it would be simpler to go there. So far, only Master Vanda has moved toward the Smaller Cloud,” Pardu said.
“That is an excellent plan, my friends,” Mantarcus said. “I will need to get approval from Master Vanda first. You should expedite the other materials from Opala and let me know when we can leave for Stit. Now, if there is nothing else, I need some rest.”
“I think we know what to do, Master,” Pardu replied. “Please sleep well.” The robot smiled and looked up and to the left. Pardu stood and turned to the others. “Well, we all know what we have to do. Let’s get back to work.” They filed out of the room quietly.
§
Mantarcus was stunned to be dreaming of himself back on Skee Lotho. It had been millions of spans since he felt the sensation of a body. He felt raindrops falling on his head and rushed toward a small gazebo for cover. By the time he arrived, he was soaked to the skin. A few streaks of lightning lit up the sky. The air was very warm, so being wet did not make him uncomfortable. He looked around as the rain fell harder and harder. The gazebo was in the center of a park in the middle of a small town. The streets seemed to be empty and all the storefronts were closed. What an odd place, he thought. He sensed something and looked to his right, where he saw two cloaked figures walking into the park and moving toward him. Mantarcus felt no apprehension since it was only a dream. He sat on a bench and watched them approach. The first figure came under the gazebo and stopped, pulling of the hood of the cloak. It was Eon, who smiled at him and sat on the bench next to his friend. He clapped Mantarcus on the knee and said, “My dear old friend, how are you?”
“Eon, this is a wonderful dream!” Mantarcus exclaimed. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot recently. How are you? You look just like I remember you, when you were young and first entering politics.” The other person stepped under the gazebo and pulled off the hood, revealing a beautiful young woman with amazing red hair. She smiled and sat on a bench on the opposite wall of the gazebo.
“I am well, although still uncertain about what I am, actually,” Eon continued. “This is my friend, Lini. She is helping me find my place in the universe.”
“But this is just my dream, Eon,” Mantarcus laughed. “None of this is real.”
“Who is to say what is real, old friend?” Eon replied. “If you remember every detail of this dream later, perhaps you will understand.”
“Eon, what happened when you left The Accord? We all thought you died.”
“I wish I had a better answer for that,” Eon said. “Lini is convinced I am alive, although I may be some other form of existence.”
“Okay, Lini, what is Eon? Is he dead or a god?” Mantarcus asked.
“I think we’re still trying to figure that out, Mantarcus of The Accord,” she began. “I am certain he is not a god though. Eon seems to have the ability to exist in the Source, which is the endless stream of energy that connects the physical and spiritual realms. Or, as now, he can be a simple man in a deserted town on Stit.”
“Ah, so this is Stit,” Mantarcus replied. “It does look familiar, although that was so long ago. How did you come to be here, Lini?”
“My best friend and commander, Supreme Fleet Admiral Dave Brewster and I came to Skee Lotho to learn more about The Accord. Now we have learned that you are planning to invade and enslave our galaxy. We will stop you,” she said.
“I have spoken with your friend. He is currently on a ship headed to Master Vanda. I know you probably won’t believe me, but I hope you do stop us. Ever since Eon left The Accord, my doubts have been rising. The Accord was created to protect people like you, and now we’ve come to consume them. Vanda, Eon, and I were all simple humans too. All of our good intentions have turned to evil.”
“Friend, I want you to know I’ve seen your vessel and know that you treat your humans well,” Eon said. “I have personally visited every Friend and know there are a few others who feel the same way, but they are a small minority, maybe twenty out of your fleet of vessels.”
“With all of my power, I am just one Friend,” Mantarcus cried. “There is nothing I can do to stop this invasion. If I refuse to help, my only choices are death or exile.”
“You could join me, Mantarcus,” Eon offered. “Lini seems convinced that I am much more powerful than The Accord. If you joined me, we might be able to stop them.”
“But this is just a dream, Eon. When I awaken, I will have forgotten all of this and be alone again,” he argued.
“That may well be true, old friend. However, there is a chance you will remember every detail. We will discuss this at length when you arrive with us on Stit. Until then, just do your job and try not to worry about us or the invasion. All will be well,” Eon said as he and Lini vanished into the rain. Mantarcus sat quietly, enjoying the feeling of being a human being again. The clouds broke and rays of sunlight poured down, illuminating the small town around him.
§
“Let’s take this from the top, Admiral Brewster,” the Vanda robot said. “Tell me about your fleets, their weaponry, and primary locations.”
Dave was chained to a wall, with only a small loincloth covering his genitals. His body was covered with bruises and lashes where whips had been used to wear him down. His head hung down and he was gasping for breath. He raised his head slowly and spat out some blood onto the floor. He smiled wryly and replied, “You asked me to join your precious Accord and be like you? This is what you call the highest form of intelligence, is it?”
The Vanda robot strode forward and slapped Dave across the face with his metal hand. “Answer my questions!”
“I think I did that some time ago, Vanda. I told you I am not a soldier, just an explorer. My fleet is primarily colony ships with a few cruisers for defensive purposes. I am not involved in the military of the Free Society,” Dave replied.
Nostu came up next to Vanda and asked, “Master, since our intelligence and might is so superior, is this really necessary?”
Vanda turned to his protégé and replied, “Nostu, my son, you are so young in The Accord. There is much left for you to learn. Although this man is just a sack of meat, he and his friends have fairly advanced weapons of war. You remember the story of Zeet of Bandabar? This scum killed our Friend!”
“I’m sorry, Master,” Nostu apologized. “I am not accustomed to the use of brute force. In my former life, I was a pacifist. I thought we could reason w
ith this man.”
Vanda laughed and turned to face Dave again. “Dave, please tell my Friend that we have tried to reason with you. You have shunned The Accord and have haughtily declared that your forces will defeat us. Isn’t that true?”
“Nostu, my dear little brain in a jar, what Vanda says is true,” Dave laughed. “But put yourself in my position. If I had a hammer and was about to smash your little jar, wouldn’t you shun and threaten me with the full force of The Accord?”
“The man has a point, Master,” Nostu said. “Perhaps it is true that he knows nothing about the fleets in the spiral.”
The Vanda robot slugged Dave in the stomach with his fist. Dave coughed and vomited what was left of his breakfast onto the floor. He then turned back to Nostu. “You will learn over time, Nostu. When Dave threatened you earlier, he was trying to instill fear into you. He was hoping that, by giving us doubts about our superiority, we might back off our attack or make foolish mistakes.” He turned and patted Dave on the head. “Let’s call this a little payback. I think the great admiral now has a healthy fear of us too. Do you understand?”
“I think so, Master,” Nostu said. “What now?”
“After I leave, I will send two robots to unchain the admiral and take him back to his bunk. You should accompany them and make certain he gets any medical attention he needs. Perhaps later you can visit me and we will discuss the future.”
“Yes Master, it would be my honor,” Nostu said.
Vanda walked up close to Dave and lifted his face to look at him eye to eye. “Dave, this will be the last time you see this robot. In a few hours, this ship will join with me. You and the rest of the feedstock here will be moved onto me, where you will be assigned duties and quarters. Do as you’re told and stay out of trouble and you will live a long life. Otherwise you will be dead in seconds, okay?” Dave did not say anything, but just stared back. Vanda turned and left the room.
“I regret your injuries, Admiral Dave,” Nostu said. “I think this entire incident was unnecessary.”
“Thank you, Nostu, and I apologize for frightening you earlier. As Vanda said, it is a tactic to make an enemy doubt its next move, as was this beating. I hope you have now seen the truth of The Accord?” Dave asked.
“There are those who are not so violent, Dave,” Nostu replied. “I am told several Friends treat their slaves well and only consume their bodies after their natural deaths. While that sort of thing is not recommended, Friends of The Accord may make their own decisions.”
“If The Accord wins, I hope you can convince more to be humane,” Dave said. “Unfortunately, in the history of the universe, that is rarely the case. The more power a culture achieves the less regard it has for others.”
“Dave, I know this is an unusual request, but I am also being transferred into Vanda when he arrives. I am to learn more skills from him and help manage his ecosystem. I would like to keep in touch with you, if I may?”
“You want to be my friend?” Dave asked.
“Well, I don’t know about that for sure, but I would like to know more about the universe and those people who inhabit it. I think I might learn more from you than from my Master,” Nostu replied.
“It would be an honor to be your friend, Nostu,” Dave smiled.
“Thank you, Dave,” the brain in a jar replied. Two large robots entered the room. They unchained Dave from the wall. He immediately collapsed into a pool of his own blood and vomit. The robots dragged him to his feet and carried him away. Nostu followed right behind them.
§
“I don’t believe it! Are you sure about what the agents saw?” Obu Neela said. He was sitting inside the home of Elder Paranaxis Incatum Fodo with Fodo and Odo Pak. The faces of Zee Gongaleg and Loni Arrak were on the viewscreen.
“Yes, I saw it myself!” Zee exclaimed. “The fog around that planet shrank until it became a dot that was as bright as a star. Our agents raced toward the planet as fast as they could. The bright dot disappeared completely for several minutes. In the center of a small, deserted town, they found three Nan sitting together in a park. One of them was definitely Dar Lini, although we did not recognize either of the other two men.”
“Could you understand what they said to one another?” Odo asked.
“No. I believe that bright star was pure Universal Power. It created too much interference for us to hear anything. We used our technology to make a recording of the meeting, but when we reviewed it, we only saw pure white and heard nothing but static,” Zee reported.
“Amazing!” Odo said. “Did you try to recover Lini?”
“Yes, but without success,” Zee said. “It was like we were watching a movie and not real life. We could see but not hear or touch, almost as though they were phantoms. What do you think that means?”
“I have no idea,” Obu said. “What do you think, Odo?”
“I don’t know either,” the elder said. “That power level of the Source in that one point of light is impossible to imagine. When Dave and I moved his son from Earth to Nan, billions of light strings joined with us to help. I remember the moment when they merged with us. It was like the light of a billion suns enveloping us. You know, if those same strings had formed a sphere around Earth, it might have looked like a fog.”
“But Lini was not in Universal Power at that point,” Zee argued. “We saw three humans sitting together in a park. There were no strings there. We just couldn’t touch or hear them.”
“The Transcendent Man!” Elder Fodo gasped.
“What is that, brother?” Obu asked.
“It is an ancient legend on Fistnan,” Fodo replied. “It was written that an old sage on this world was so intelligent, generous, and loving that he never died. His name was Bandopaz Niderak. He traveled the planet helping others, healing the sick, and counseling the bereft. All of his peers grew old and died. Their children and grandchildren out to a hundred generations were born, lived and died. Yet Bandopaz continued to travel the world. One day, no one could find him. Everyone thought he had finally succumbed after ten thousand years of life.”
“Is there a point to this legend?” Zee complained.
“I will try to be brief, High Consul,” Fodo apologized. “After another several hundred years without him, he began to appear again. He would arrive in a town or city and help some people. Then he would disappear and arrive somewhere else instantly. It went on for many more thousands of years until one day he stopped at the home of a destitute farmer and his family. They took him in and he stayed with them for five months. In that period, the farmer harvested ten full crops, and became quite successful. At dinner one night, Bandopaz said the time had come to leave Fistnan and find other worlds to help. In the morning, he was gone, and never returned.”
“And what is the point of this tale?” Zee asked.
“Bandopaz Niderak had become the Transcendent Man. He lived in the physical world and within the Source at the same time. It was his reward for his goodness and generosity. That reward came with a heavy price however. He had to spend eternity continuing to do good deeds. He had escaped death, and was now a full time, immortal resident of both physical and spiritual reality.”
“So, you think this Bandopaz is now Eon?” Zee scoffed.
“Hardly that, High Consul,” Fodo laughed. “Eon created The Accord, which can hardly be considered a good deed.”
“But on the other hand,” Odo interrupted. “Eon made the decision to give up incredible power in order to preserve the lives of others. He could have ruled the universe, but instead chose to walk away when the cost in pain and suffering for others was more than he could bear. I wonder how many of us would give up control over all creation for the suffering of others.”
“Have we been able to contact Eon?” Obu asked.
“No, it still seems as though he can’t hear us reaching out,” Loni replied. “But we will keep trying.”
Chapter 13
The death ship approached the massive black planetoi
d in the interstellar void. A small set of panels opened and the ship floated down into the massive sphere. The panels closed again, leaving no visible seams. The lights came on in the barracks and sirens wailed. Dozens of robots rushed into the room and began to pull the men from their bunks and put them in a formation to march off the ship to their new home in the belly of the planetoid. Nostu arrived at Dave’s bunk and gently prodded him with a mechanical hand. Dave rolled over and opened his eyes, smiling at his new friend. Nostu noticed Dave’s bruised face and black eyes. At Nostu’s request, Dave’s open wounds had been treated, and most of his arms and torso were bandaged. A large robot came over to pull him from his bunk, but Nostu shooed the machine away. “Dave, please, you have to get up and join the rest of the men.”
“I know, Nostu,” Dave replied as he winced and tried to stand. Zobu and Margas rushed over and helped him to his feet, leading him to the long line of men. A large guard robot told the men to separate and stand in line. Nostu intervened and they were allowed to help Dave leave the ship.
The line of men began to march out of the barracks and through the mess hall. Dozens of small robots began to change the bedding and clean the ship for its next load of feedstock. The men walked onto a long ramp that led to the metallic floor of the hangar bay. A second line of females marched down the ramp just twenty feet from the men. Dave tried to look for Elder Palaba Quifer among the women but could not find her. He wondered if she had survived the trip or whether he had just not seen her. At the bottom of the ramp, the two lines were separated again, and the men marched toward a pair of steel doors several hundred yards away. Their path was lined by massive guard robots. Each was fifteen feet tall with two sets of arms. One set ended in claws that appeared to be razor sharp. The other set were blasters. Their heads were glass spheres and appeared to give them 360-degree vision. As they passed each guard, it would shout at them to keep moving. The landing bay was at least two miles long, and several other starships were lined up waiting for war. Dave wondered how many Friends of The Accord lived within this one gigantic battle station.