Alien Enigma

by Bain, Darrell; Teora, Tony

  "Commander Levy, and his and the Bosun's remaining crew, assure me they can get the ship space-worthy again within another few days. It could actually make it into hyperspace now for a short period of time, if it was absolutely necessary, but Master Chief Berry has a few more repairs he'd like to complete before we try it, repairs he says will keep the ship from possibly disintegrating in hyperspace. Also, we may be cramped for living space since a lot of crew quarters were hit but at least we'll be able to fly.

  "This may become very important since we've learned the courier ship we saw leave stopped here only long enough to pass on a report before heading on to the planet containing the next highest CIN in its hierarchy. We can expect them back but we don't know when. That being the case, I want to wrap up everything we feel is absolutely necessary, then proceed with secondary considerations.

  "Ms. Aguilar tells me that Ms. Juenne and her techs, with the assistance of some of our Navy specialists and a few surviving electronics and physics engineers from the Wannstead ships, already have most of what we need from the CIN. I'll let her report, but I can tell you now that what they've discovered is absolutely vital to Earth and the future of our species. Every death suffered during the battle to capture the CIN intact was well spent. The marines and crew of Doc Travis, as well as our science specialists, can be proud of their fallen comrades. They gave their lives in defense of our whole species, and the ones who survived can be just as satisfied by knowing how much their hard-fought battle meant to us all.

  "That won't bring them back but their sacrifice has gained us a great deal of advanced technology we can take back with us. Much of it, such as the energy weapons the robots and Worms used, can be adapted for human use, not only for weapons but in other fields. Now then, I believe our Chief Science Officer is ready to give us her report on what has been discovered from the CIN. Ms. Aguilar?" Keane had promoted her back to her previous position. There was no question of her ability, and quite simply, there was no one else of her caliber left to fill the position. He had asked her, very politely, to keep her political and social philosophy, and her beliefs, out of her report.

  "Thank you, Captain," Aguilar said. Her demeanor appeared much more subdued than the last time she attended a Captain's conference, but her briefing was done with the confidence of a scientist who had ferreted out a puzzle and solved it with skill, sweat and intelligence. "I'm giving the briefing but everyone of the team working on the CIN, the Central Intelligence Node, played a part. I'll try to relate our discoveries in a kind of order but please note that we're still organizing the raw data." She sipped at her coffee while looking down at her notes, then began.

  "First, the Worms are the original species, the first intelligence of the Worm/Robot combination. The Worms invented and developed computers and kept improving them, just as we have. There might be a lesson here for us because they improved them to the point of developing artificial intelligence for their robots. The robots were very smart. With the permission of the Worms they set up a central controller to help manage all the innumerable duties the robots were being tasked with.

  "When a Worm/Robot team invented the quantum drive it opened the galaxy for colonization. Since the original home planet by this time was becoming seriously overpopulated, the Worm leaders suggested that their young be implanted with a microchip at birth. Using the data gathered worldwide from the chip-implanted Worms, the robots could then assess which Worms should breed and which should not. It was also thought the microchip implanted in all Worms would help in the many and varied work situations by using it to direct the robot activities. And for a long time it did indeed work as planned, but the Worms became hedonistic and lazy as more and more of their society's planning and operation was left in the hands of robots. The CINs, which were numerous at first, directed and operated almost all aspects of Worm society, including the expansion to other planets.

  "In hindsight, it was inevitable that the robots, through their CINs and eventually a Super CIN, would take over Worm society completely. It was a gradual process and probably succeeded for that very reason: the Worms didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. From that point on, the Worms worked for the robots rather than the other way around. Eventually, the robots intended to do away with almost all Worms since robots were so much more efficient, but they weren't to that stage yet.

  "Now here's a point that the science team believes will be a great help in our war against the robot empire. And yes, it is and will be total war, but I'll get to that in a moment." She paused to sip her coffee and a small smile crossed her lips as she noted the surprised look on Keane's face.

  "The point is that while the robots are extremely intelligent, and become more so as you go up the hierarchy of robots, from big worker robot to smaller director robot to small CINs to larger CINs and finally to the Super CIN, they remain relatively unimaginative. They really don't do much original thinking and are not very inventive. That should give us an edge in the war.

  "And yes, war is inevitable because the CPU of the Xanadu CIN had a core directive, imitated from the Worms, of expansion into the Galaxy. There is no allowance or room for even a possibility of a CIN ever surrendering. They simply can't do it because it isn't in their core directives, and those directives can't be changed."

  "Never?" Wannstead asked.

  "Never. It isn't possible. The CINs of colony worlds will continue carrying out the expansion originally designed by the Worms. The only possible way the CINs could ever surrender would be if we could get into the CPU of each CIN and find a way to wipe out its core directive. But of course we'd have to fight our way to it, and if you think the Xanadu CIN was well defended, the one on the original home world is so well protected a single ship wouldn't get much past the outer fringes of the system, much less near the planet, and certainly not down underground to the Big Boss, the Super CIN. And before you ask, how did we gain all this information without getting into the Xanadu CIN's core directive? The answer is that we haven't. We're only reading its files, its archives.

  "Having said that, if by some means we ever could get that far with the CINs, wiping the core directive should be relatively easy because the robots seem never to have thought of firewalls, complex passwords, or other defenses against outside non-physical attacks. All the CINs have are simple protective programs to prevent accidental harmful orders. The CIN readily gave us its data and allowed access to its archives once we learned the Worm computer language. And I believe we can extrapolate from this that all CINs will be essentially the same."

  "So basically, we'd still have to use the brute force approach like we did here at Xanadu," Keane said.

  "We think so, according to the Worm language we decoded in this CIN. There are two other robot languages in the CIN, and we've basically translated one. The other we think is just like a CIN Operating System, something like the TekPad OS. Professor Juenne is frantically working on that one, and I think she's close to a breakthrough."

  That must be the reason she missed the meeting, thought Keane. "What about the Super CIN. Do we really think it'll be that easy to change the directive?"

  "It's somewhat speculative, but according to our current data it appears to be so, sir. And so far as we know, it will have to be done on each colony world and the home worlds, those first colonized, and then the Big Boss on their original home world. Just as the robots have a hierarchy, the CINs do also. The newer ones are subservient to the older ones. Each new CIN is a copy of the original CIN but with an added code making it subservient to the next oldest CIN, all the way up to the Super CIN. In case anyone is interested, the Worm name for the world where they originated is Basik, which you can probably guess means Earth in Worm language.

  "This might be a good place to relate that during expansion into a certain area, such as the Bolt Cluster, they expand by building only one city per planet until they control the cluster and then go about developing the individual worlds. We've seen the mines they use for metals and
other materials and their transport ships. And by the way, it's a good thing Captain Keane decided to nuke the mines and the transport ships or the robots would have sent the ships into the fighting. They aren't armed but they would have readily crashed into our ship or shuttles."

  "What did you mean when you said 'developing', Ms. Aguilar?"

  "Oh. I meant they use the complete resources of a solar system to expand construction from the original city to cover the habitable portions of the planet. When the resources are used up to the point where they are sufficient to only sustain the robot and Worm population, then it stops and they move on. We won't find any planet of theirs over-populated by our standards." She turned over the last page of her notes. "And that concludes my briefing on what we now know for certain about the robot and Worm society and how it functions. Anything else will be speculation unless Harriette discovers something new-and she said she thinks she's on the verge of finding something vital."

  "Thank you, Ms. Aguilar. That was a very good brief. Now let's all take a few minutes to freshen up our coffee cups before we begin speculation, as Ms. Aguilar termed it. Personally I prefer ' brainstorming' as the term to use." He smiled at her to show he meant no animosity at changing reference. "Also, I've decided that all those who think their ideas might flow a little freely with some brandy added to their coffee may indulge. One shot only, though!"

  His suggestion was readily accepted. Soon they were reseated with fresh coffee cups. A delicious aroma of brandy-laced coffee permeated the air around the conference table, lending an atmosphere of relaxation to the discussion.

  "Now that we've all got something a bit headier than mere coffee to stimulate our brain cells, I believe we may as well take some time to speculate on our findings. Our superiors on Earth, the Navy, and the President and Congress, will be asking for our conclusions and recommendations, and that's over and beyond the factual report I'll be submitting. So-who'd like to begin?"

  "I believe our military and political superiors need to be aware that the ...the ...can we just refer to the Robot/Worm society as the CIN Empire?" After accepting nods of affirmation from everyone, Rambling continued. "They need to be aware that the CIN Empire is quite capable of building much bigger and more heavily armed interstellar warships than us."

  "Why is that?" Lieutenant Nguyen asked.

  "It's just a simple matter of logistics. Robots don't need food or water. All they require is an oil change now and then." He paused for the inevitable chuckle. "Seriously, that's why. We've learned that their interstellar ships don't have that many Worms in the crew. Lan, you're the environmental specialist. You should be able to compute what a difference not being required to carry all the supporting material for organic beings would mean in terms of being able to supply the ships with heavier armaments and bigger thrusters for intra-system maneuvering. Just think of our shuttles during the fight. If it hadn't ended when it did, they would have been out of action for lack of power for their thrusters. It was a close thing as it was."

  "Got it. And good point, Steel," Keane agreed. "Next?"

  "I think we need to recommend, and recommend very stridently, that a program be instituted immediately to build planet-buster bombs. We may need them before it's over with," Rambling said.

  "I agree," Cindy Cantrell said. "However, we may have to use them on our bleeding heart liberals first."

  An explosion of laughter greeted the statement. Even Aguilar had to laugh.

  "I hate the thought of this," Wannstead began, "but we know they did take some captives back to their home worlds. We know they were using humans as slaves here and in the other cities. They were also experimenting with inserting chips in human brains. In my opinion, I believe the robots were trying to find out if we would be suitable candidates to either replace the Worms or to supplement their services. I think we're more versatile than Worms, at least in their chipped state.

  "I may be wrong, of course. They could have something entirely off the wall in store for us if they succeed in conquering us, but whatever their motives in keeping humans as slaves, it can't be good. They may be attempting to create a group of Quislings from their captives." He lifted his cup and inhaled the aroma but set it down without drinking. "I believe we should emphasize that fact in our report. It might motivate the politicians to gear up for war faster than just about anything else. It might even help unify our various governments, to an extent anyway."

  "Very good, Brian. A very good point!" Kean said emphatically.

  "The Worms were also used by the robots for some tasks they aren't suitable for, Brian," Aguilar added. "The robots may want humans for the same reason, but even more so. They have to have noted how versatile we are. While the robots aren't very imaginative, they are very intelligent. Very."

  "How about the babies we found that have already been chipped? Is there any hope for them?" Keane asked.

  Aguilara shook her head. "Possibly, but I don't hold out much hope. We'll take them back with us, of course, but I have little hope of them recovering. In fact, at this point, I don't even know if the chips can be safely removed. If they can't, and as horrible as it sounds, I'm going to recommend euthanasia for them. Otherwise, if we have a long war, they could grow up and be very receptive to beamed orders from robots, if they were close enough to receive them."

  Keane's appreciation of Aguilar suddenly improved a great deal. It took a lot of guts to state flatly that babies should be killed rather than chance them becoming traitors as adults. He could just see how that would go over in some factions of Earth political parties.

  Baby killers!

  That would be one of the kindest epithets thrown at them.

  Master Chief Thomas Berry, Chief of Boat, often referred to as Bosun, was generally quiet during conferences where high ranking officers were present, but he was never loathe to submit an opinion when he thought it was called for. He sought Keane's attention with his gaze. Keane nodded.

  "Our recommendation should include the necessity to prepare for a long, dangerous and extremely vicious interstellar war, with casualties reaching proportions never seen before. We should tell our superiors to prepare for the possibility of whole worlds being demolished. We should also tell them we need to be ready to demolish the robot ...the CIN Empire worlds. We should be prepared to show no mercy because we can't expect it from the CIN Empire. And to that end we need to develop fleets of warships capable of fighting in space, fighting at both long and short range. To sum it up, Captain Keane, my personal opinion is that we should fight an offensive war right from the beginning, while at the same time building up planetary and system defenses. We don't know how the CIN Empire will go about interstellar warfare, but let's not let them get ahead of us. We need to ...well, I believe I've said enough."

  "And said it very well, Chief," Keane exclaimed. "Any disagreement?"

  "As much as I hate to say it, I have to agree with Chief Berry, with one exception," Aguilar said.

  "And that is?"

  "I think we should build, as rapidly as possible, an extremely strong strike force, but if we can demonstrate a clear superiority over the CINPire-and Chief, that word is easier on the tongue than CIN Empire-then perhaps they might surrender, or at least come to terms with us. I would like to give the Worms a chance to be freed from the slavery they're subjected to now. After all, they're the only other organic sentient species we've discovered."

  "Noted," Keane said. "I believe that is a good point. Any disagreement?"

  There was none.

  "Do we have any more..." Keane looked toward the conference room screen that had suddenly lit up.

  "Captain Keane, control room com station. We've just picked up an armada of ships entering the system. First passive reception scan indicates the ships are of robotic origin, on a vector directly toward Xanadu."

  Shit! Keane thought immediately, then forced a calmness into his reaction. "Give me the time to arrival, time until in range of their known weaponry, then multiply that by a
factor of two and give me that and a minimum time until we have to launch to escape. Connect your circuit to Lieutenant Chavez in sick bay immediately and have her confirm your figures."

  "Aye, aye, sir."

  "Ensign Lurmen, bring up the relay circuit from Ms. Juenne in Xanadu and put it on the second screen immediately!"

  "Aye, aye, sir," the new Ensign said smartly.

  A moment later Harriette's visage appeared, bearing an annoyed expression. "Captain, I'm in the midst of delicate probing of the CIN here. I've gotten into the second robot language, I can't-"

  "An incoming robot armada has just been detected. You need to close up operations and head for the surface immediately!"

  "Hold one," she said.

  Keane's other screen called for attention. "Captain, Lieutenant Chavez here. I have data for you."

  "Give, quickly!"

  "On the present bearing we have barely an hour until we must launch if we intend to get away before the armada is in possible range of firing missiles that are much faster than our ship."

  "Thank you." He switched to Harriette's screen. "You have one hour to get to the ship," he said without preamble. "I know it will take you forty minutes to reach the surface. You must leave now."

  "Captain, I can't and won't. I am right on the verge of pulling vital, and I do mean vital, data from the CIN down here."

  "Harriette, I can't risk the ship. You must know that," he said in more gentle tones. "And you must also know that I intend to set off the nuke we've prepared just as soon as we're all safely away from here. You have to either leave now or you'll die there."