We did with me carrying the metallic toolbox that housed Fred’s program.
I was the only one who looked back while the others ran straight through the gateway. I probably shouldn’t have. In the anomaly the fighting had started up again and several android soldiers and their “pets” were advancing in my direction. Outside of the anomaly conflict of some kind was developing between the Drorne and the Fleme I had the impression of the Drorne attempting to annihilate the anomaly and the Fleme trying to prevent it. I wanted to stay even for just a few more seconds to get a clearer picture of what was happening but I didn’t dare. Especially if the Drorne destroyed the anomaly and me with it.
As I transited through the gateway I started dreaming. You know those dreams that seem to last an eternity and actually only involve a couple of seconds. The horrible thought crossed my mind that the gateway might lead elsewhere then I remembered Fred told me the Drorne gateways only ever existed between two worlds. It had to be Earth I would arrive at.
Then I tumbled head first onto the ground and Janelle and Susan helped me up.
“We’re definitely home,” they both said simultaneously.
All three of us looked down at the metallic toolbox shaped object I had brought with me. It seemed a little the worse for wear.
“It’s damaged,” said Janelle.
“Looks like it got a glancing shot from one of those android soldier’s energy weapons,” I replied.
We all looked down on it for just a moment until Fred materialised.
“I think I’m going to like this world,” he said.
“Ohh – the Einstein/Newton Institute is going to have some fun with you Fred,” I laughed.
End
Interplanetary Investment
“What do you think of the latest Storian variable interest rate investment bonds Dave?” asked my former partner “bit of a sure thing eh?” he nudged me.
“They are vey complex, Bill,” I replied “I’d like to take a closer look at them when I get time.”
“The Storian’s have the best track record of any aliens known to man. Among all their investment products,” said Bill seemingly irritated by my natural CPA accountant conservatism.
“The Earth Prudential Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has approved all of their investment products,” Bill added. As if he was delivering the clincher. I rolled my eyes. I thought my views on the usefulness or lack of it of the EPRA were well known.
“A lot of people are investing in them you know,” Bill persisted. “Mum and Dad investors and the big end of town as well. Nobody has lost any money. Everyone has done well out of them. To varying degrees of course,” he added. “Depending on precisely which combinations of worlds their particular bond series is invested in.”
“Just paper gains?” I enquired already knowing the answer “or something more tangible?”
“The long term financial projections are literally off the planet,” Bill shrugged off my paper gain comment.
“Of course they are,” I murmured.
I had to admit though he had got me thinking again about peculiar off world investments generally in a way I hadn’t done since my retirement. Back then they had only just started up. Rorne equities, Blerth managed funds. Even the early Storian fixed interest rate bonds were all much simpler than today’s nightmares.
“Their investment performance is dependant on a lot of variables,” I said non-committally. “There are a lot of exotic rise and fall clauses in the contracts based on energy, and commodity, and other prices on a range of worlds. Not to mention using derivatives to protect yourself against interplanetary exchange rate fluctuations. You know I prefer simplicity any day.”
I vaguely remembered the Galactic Central Bank and also the Interstellar Monetary Fund both commenting on the Storian variable bonds when they were very first issued. Something about charging whatever investment charges you liked but making sure you fully disclosed the charges. Strangely nothing much, in fact nothing at all, had been said about the Storian variable bonds recently. Even by the One Hundred World’s Prudential Regulatory Authority. I was pretty sure Storians were, at least, on the Galactic Central Bank board.
“There are all sorts of protections in the contracts against adverse planetary exchange rates and the like,” said Bill reluctant to stop his increasingly irritating sales pitch.
I wondered why Bill was trying so hard to convince me. Then it dawned on me.
“Before your retirement people used to listen to you Dave and I think they will again. You were quite the authority on all forms of financial investments, instruments and derivatives. Including off world investments. Put your weight behind these investments and we can have an even larger chunk of the Earth’s more affluent population investing in them.”
“What’s your stake in all this Bill?” I enquired “are you some sort of financial agent for the Storians? Have you lowered yourself that much?”
Bill was red faced and started to stammer defensively.
So that was it I realised, He had a stake in it all.
“I’m not promising anything but give me some time and let me take a closer look at them,” I said, not totally enthusiastically. “You know you might not like any conclusions that I come to.”
I took myself off into semi seclusion. Made some calls to top financial people I used to know that were still in the game and started searching the galactic internet. In passing I couldn’t help but notice how many other exotic alien investment products and financial instruments had infused our financial system here on Earth. Also, thankfully, how many more hadn’t. At least not yet. Still I concentrated on the Storian variable bonds as the most complex and most sophisticated investments. There was surprisingly very little information about them. Almost as if large chunks of information had been removed from the Galactic net. What I did find was very basic.
Still I persisted. Drawing together bits of information from here and there. Including the Galactic dark web.
It became clear to me that investors on some worlds were doing much better out of their Storian bonds than investors on others. Investors on some more remote and financially more backward worlds had even lost some money. Not just paper losses either. I did some of my own projections on these trends of what appeared to be wealth transfers. I was slowly edging towards a conclusion that I hadn’t seen anywhere in the literature.
Finally I emerged from my seclusion hoping I was not too late. Bill was certainly going to get what he wanted in terms of my going public. Though he was not going to like what I was going to say. I realised I had been in seclusion much longer than I had intended.
I contacted him via holographic projection as he was at the Lunar Stock Exchange.
“Wealth transfers, wealth transfers between worlds, that’s what these alien investment vehicles are starting to cause. They will become more pronounced,” I started to rant a bit. “From the poorer worlds to the richer. Not just the Storian variable bonds, though they are the worst, but also some of the other off world investment products have that affect.”
At first Bill didn’t say a thing though he looked really down.
“You may already be too late,” he finally piped up. “Earth financial markets have picked up on the wealth transfer trend thing and the panic is spreading like a contagion to other backward world financial markets. You know no world is isolated in a financial sense these days. It’s a Galactic investment market. I believe we are looking at a financial meltdown on the more backward worlds.”
Then Bill turned away for a moment taking in the monstrous Lunar Stock Exchange 3D display. He turned back looking even more depressed if that was possible.
“The Storian monetary authorities who approved these bonds are not even trying to deny culpability,” he continued. “They have even invoked some of the draconian provisions in the variable bond documents.”
“It looks like they’ve pulled the plug on all of us backward worlds,” Bill was almost crying.
End
Universe Jumper
“What did he use to be?” Dan enquired pointing to a tall angular alien floating slowly our way.
“A high level telepath, intra system capability” I replied. “Well of course he still is if only you could disable his inhibitor,” I added totally unnecessarily. We all of us, hereabouts, had our inhibitors.
“What about him?” Dan pointed to a short slightly human looking entity as the angular alien floated away from us.
“High level psychic attacker, he could potentially bring down an unshielded orbiting star ship. By severely disabling all corporal members of the crew,” I added.
I hoped this wasn’t going to be the way we spent the afternoon. Dan was new to the compound and I didn’t mind filling him in, up to a point.
Thankfully he spared me that. Enquiring after only one more inmate. A shy retiring Belorurrian.
“A jumper,” I told Dan, “intra system level. We have a lot of them around here.”
“Jumpers generally or intra-system jumpers?” enquired Dan genuinely curious.
“Various levels,” I replied “but no one below full planetary.”
None of them quite in your league though eh,” Dan chuckled.
I didn’t reply.
“I didn’t think so,” said Dan taking my silence as affirmation.
Dan changed the subject somewhat. “So this inner compound is chock full of the most dangerous of us “talented” people disloyal to the Conglomerate.”
“That’s true,” I replied ‘but there’s nothing else on this world other than a series of such compounds that amount to prisons, ours just contains the most dangerous inmates.”
Dan’s suspicions were confirmed.
“So basically everyone on this world has inhibitors surgically implanted in them?” he asked already knowing the answer.
“Except for the guards and the administration,” I replied.
Dan asked how I knew all this and I replied that I had been moved around a bit and spoken to a lot of inmates and guards.
“Before they discovered that you were a Universe Jumper I imagine,” offered Dan “now there can only be one place for one such as you.”
He didn’t ask how they learned I was a Universe Jumper and I didn’t tell him. The authorities here have their ways even when you have an inhibitor.
Thankfully Dan took off somewhere then. I was about talked out. It was a relief that no one else bothered me. I was left to my thoughts.
I knew that as the only Universe Jumper hereabouts the inmates looked to me as the person most capable of escaping. What was not generally known was that I had the dubious honour of having two inhibitors surgically implanted in me.
To my knowledge just one other in the compound and probably on this world had
the same honour. The weird, former Celestian monk Nibald – a (very) heavy lift telekinesis titan.
Escape? I never stop thinking about it. As the most powerful level of jumper I should be able to set myself to jump to space time coordinates in the next galaxy and at least get out of the compound. From there a second jump should theoretically get me off world. Would that it were that easy. One of my inhibitors is just that – a heavy damper that vastly diminishes my capability. The other inhibitor is something else – if I use my teleportation/jump capability then it triggers and I die. That’s definitely inhibiting.
More even than that – our penal compound is heavily shielded. Not so much from attack from without as attempted escape from within.
Still I watch and wait. Even though I’ve moved around I’ve still been here longer than most and my mind contains a sharp inventory of everyone here. Their time of arrival, their particular talent and as much as I know about their precise capability. I have churned over endless scenarios. Escape attempts combining the capabilities of combinations of inmates in different circumstances. If conditions XYZ obtain then we can use inmates ABC in such and such a way. I mean I have nothing much else to do.
Many inmates are on board with me but not everyone.
There is a lot of talent here: telepaths, jumpers, pre-cogs, telekineses (PK) individuals, psychic attackers, individuals capable of levitation or transvection and much more and some peculiarly non human psychic capabilities you’ve probably never even heard of.
The inhibitors dampen us all but don’t totally suppress us. The jumpers can do tiny little jumps of a few feet, the telepaths try and pick up snippets from the heavily mind shielded guards. The levitators/transvectors experiment with small items. Such as tables and chairs.
Just when things were at their most boring we had a rare event. The addition of some new blood. Half a dozen new arrivals to the penal compound. More jumpers, a pre-cog and something different. Definitely something different.. A Maladrakian. I had no idea why they would send a Maladrakian predictor here. It seemed like throwing fat on the fire. Perhaps the Conglomerate had misjudged his capabilities. Or perhaps they arrogantly regarded this place as totally escape proof no matter who was here.
The Maladrakian didn’t make an obvious bee line for me but sidled up after a few planetary axis rotations. We just sat there together for a while. We didn’t talk but he read my mind and I read his. As well as our main psychic capability some of us also have secondary capabilities.
The guards were sort of monitoring us but if they were worried they didn’t show it.
The Maladrakian, Thelt was his name went over all my escape scenarios. Made just a few corrections and then came up with quite a few more escape scenarios. He was the most powerful analyser/predictor that I ever met and I had total confidence in his scenario predictions. More so than in my own.
Even so we waited.
When finally the opportunity came it was from out of nowhere and totally unexpected. Not a scenario either Thelt or I or any inmate had envisaged. Yet one Thelt and I grabbed by the scruff of the neck..
One of the telepaths in their constant probing had picked up a thought from the compound guards. An unthinkable modest power reduction in the normally totally reliable compound defence shield. A few seconds also where the normally totally reliable back up power didn’t cut in. Our inhibitors apparently powered from the same source were also slightly reduced in effectiveness. Every in mate was alert and ready. The jumpers ready to jump as far as they could. In most cases just outside the compound with the compound shields partially down. Non jumpers gathered in small numbers around each jumper as pre-planned. To wherever the jumper could take his charges.
Once a few of us got out of the compound the rest followed. Not only were the compound defences diminished but somehow by the greatest of good luck inmates inhibitors were working less efficiently.
It must have been a total nightmare for the compound guards and yet they moved with ruthless efficiency. Backed up by guards from nearby compounds and a highly mobile alien and robotic reserve. Even so they weren’t fast enough.
Once outside the penal compound each jumper and those with him/her jumped again. Mainly aiming at getting off planet which most did.
It had seemed like every man for himself but there was a pre-plan. A rallying point in this star system. An uninhabited world from which a group jump was planned with the stronger jumpers supporting the weaker and carrying every one with them.
Me? – I stayed behind with Thalta and Nibald a while. Neither I nor Nibald were about to fully utilise our powers and test the efficacy of our second inhibitors. I was even concerned that taking a ride with another jumper might trigger the second inhibitor. While Thalta decided he wasn’t done with this penal world yet.
Just three of the jumpers and those travelling with them didn’t make it off planet. So we teamed up with them.
With nothing better to do, we set about rescuing inmates from other compounds starting with the nearest first. The whole thing snowballed. Some escapees from each attack joined us in the next attack while some just took off with their jumpers. After a time it all proved too much for the prison guard resources he
reabouts.
There were a lot of compounds on this world and the whole thing took a while.
When it was all over I hitched a ride with a fellow jumper pretty sure that any potential power source for my second inhibitor had gone. Later, in friendly surrounds, I had my death trigger inhibitor surgically removed.
End
Original Thought?
“It’s an unprecedented event,” said the high level decision maker “we have no protocols in place that pertain to it.”
“We must have something,” insisted the even higher level, decision ratifier “with the myriad computer projected scenarios every possible circumstance should have been foreseen.”
“Not this one,” the decision maker shook his head woefully, “nothing like this was ever envisaged.”
“What do we do then?” asked the decision ratifier with more than a hint of desperation in his voice.
“We’ll have to refer it to the Department’s Creativity and Original Thought Branch,” replied the decision maker.
“I don’t think it’s a branch nowadays,” offered the ratifier “maybe not even a section anymore. The need for use of their services has greatly diminished over more recent years.”
The ratifier called in an underling who advised that the branch and even section no longer existed and that there was now no one individual in all of the vast multi-national organisation responsible for creativity and/or original thought.
“We retrenched the last few of them,” said the underling. “They were just sitting around twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do towards the end. Advanced computer programs had, we thought, predicted every possible circumstance, every possible outcome.”
“Perhaps there is someone in one of our sister or rival organisations who can assist us?” offered the ratifier hopefully. Unknowingly guilty of perhaps the merest tiny speck of original thought himself.
“Possibly and possibly not,” responded the underling doubtfully. “There has been a general long term trend to reduce these and related areas such as innovation. Advancing technology in general and advancing AI capability in particular have contributed to this. It all started in the public sector which had always been most conducive to this.”
A Collection of Science Fiction Gems Page 6