by Grey Lanter
“Yes, but be cautious. Let’s go slow.”
The shuttle moved toward the light. Slowly, a steel wall flowed from the ‘door.’ Looked like a cavern as it moved slowly out into space. Great technology. The pilot stared at it.
“Sir, I think the station must be robotic. This is a welcome sign. I think it wants to hook the passageway to our door.”
“Considering our experience on this planet with inanimate objects I’m not sure that’s a wise idea.”
“I don’t think this station has much to do with the planet. There are two very different things. Whoever built this was very sophisticated and as technologically advanced as we are. Frankly, even more advanced than we are. If they wanted to shoot us out of the sky I’m guessing they could.”
I nodded. “OK, hookup. Let’s see what happens.”
The shuttle eased closer to the passageway. It bumped us and the metal became liquid, swirling around the door until it solidified again.
“Mr. Upton. Should we open the door?”
Upton looked down at his hand computer. “The air in the corridor is fine. It’s breathable and the corridor leads into the station. The air in the station is fresh too.”
“OK, Astrid, Ed, Mr. Upton and Mr. Wilson. You too, Carmen. The rest of you stay and give the best to relatives and friends if something goes wrong. Open the door.”
When it opened we walked the corridor of space and into the station. We were greeted by a long line of computers, a few flashing lights and screens galore. A voice came over a speaker but I couldn’t understand the language. Astrid and I just looked at one another. She’s an expert linguist and I thought she might have a clue. She didn’t.
The computer, or whatever it was, switched to another language. Then a third flow of syllables came our way. The fifth try brought a grin from Astrid.
“Ok, I think I know what’s she’s doing.”
“Care to share?” I said.
“She’s trying to find a language to talk to her in.” Astrid took two steps. “We are an expeditionary team of humans from the planet Earth. We come in peace and will do you no harm. We are explorers but we seek peace. We were on the planet we call Jardoval to try to help others of our species. The details do not matter. We were attacked and are now in danger.”
Soft red and orange lines sprang from somewhere and moved across Astrid’s face and body. She merely smiled. They reminded me of our most sophisticated lie detectors. The voice was gentle if firm.
“You speak honestly and your heart is pure. I am Lynneorn, the AI built by the Bellicons who, alas, are no longer alive. Welcome. I will help you in whatever way I can.”
“Were they the ones who built this station?”
“Yes, they manned it for five hundred years before they died.”
“What were they doing, just observing?”
“At first. They were explorers like yourselves. They kept the station for centuries, at first never bothering the natives on the planet. But, as sometimes happened, the race become corrupted and they experimented on the planet.”
Astrid frowned. “Excuse me. You said experimented on the planet, the planet itself?”
“Yes.”
“Lynneorn, that’s interesting. You will have to tell me about that.”
“Does she mind if we look around?” I said.
“This is Major Logan Ryvenbark. I’m Astrid Lundstorm.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you. By all means, walk around Major Ryvenbark. The station is open to you. If you have any questions, just ask. I may be able to answer them.”
“We’ll appreciate that. By the way, how long has the station been abandoned, so to speak?”
“No sentient species has been here for more than one hundred years. I keep the station running.”
“And you do a good job.”
I pointed to the squad and members began walking down the corridors. Astrid eased down behind a desk.
“You said the race that built this died. Was it disease that killed them? If so, are the germs still around?” Astrid said.
“No. It was not a disease. But the Bellicons were morally sickened long before they physically died.”
“Let’s discuss that, girl to girl,” Astrid said. “I think I will find that story extremely interesting.”
After a few seconds of touring the station I decided Lynneorn was a phobic about dust. In a hundred years a facility can accumulate a lot of dust, even in space. But the station was spotless and even sparkling. Our computer host didn’t appear to have arms so she couldn’t use a dustrag, but the counters and the computers sparkled. Well, I suppose she didn’t have much else to do, so she polished. The two scientist-engineers hunkered over a computer screen. I considered that a good sign. The equipment was working and they knew how to use it. Maybe they could find a solution to our problem.
Carmen walked up and gave a smart salute. She got a sloppy one in reply.
“No one is here, sir. The computer told us the truth,” she said.
“Sure, if you can’t trust computers, who can you trust?”
“Not true. Nowadays, computers can lie as well as human liars. They’ve become quite good at it. I was just checking.”
“I appreciate your diligence, Carmen. I’m glad to hear Lynneorn was straight with us. She had a nice, gentle melodic voice. I trusted her. This restores my faith in… computers.”
Carmen showed a sarcastic smile.
“Actually it’s a sad day when we can’t trust computers or humans,” I said. “What is the universe coming to?”
“Heck, nowadays we can’t even trust planets. Never had one try to kill me before.”
“How true. I, for one, am ready to go back to the good old days when planets were only planets. By the way, are you thinking of moving the squad up here?” she said.
“I am.”
“Great minds think alike.”
“Yes, Lynneorn has been very hospitable. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind having a few more humans use the facility as a hotel. If all goes well, we should be able to transport everyone up and then just wait for the ship. We don’t have freezing temperatures here.”
“Should we call and tell them to board the shuttles and come up?”
“Not yet. Let’s see what else we can find out. With our fuel, we can make about one trip so let’s make sure we don’t make any mistakes. One shot is all we have.”
I offered her a cigar. She refused. So I lit one.
“I hope Lynneorn allows smoking,” I said. “By the way, what would you say if I told you I’m going to retire after this mission?”
Carmen gave me a skeptical glance. “Does Astrid know about this?”
“Not yet, but I don’t think she will complain.”
“Probably not. If I had a guy I wouldn’t want him running all over space risking his life. Not when I have money in the bank. Which after our last mission I assume you have.”
I nodded. “I can take early retirement. I’m going to pick a nice little planet where there’s no strife, no problems and no income tax.”
“Good luck with that 'no income tax' thing. That’s gonna be hard to find.”
“Ed tells me I’m not fit for retirement. I thought I’d get a second opinion. What do you think?”
She smiled and slung her laser rifer over her shoulder. “I think you and Astrid will be very happy,” she said as she walked away. She stopped and turned back. “And by the way, Major, I’ll miss you.”
“Thank you, Carmen.”
I headed where I had left Astrid but she met me halfway. She had an odd, almost anguished look on her face.
“Would you like to hear the sad tale of the Bellicons?”
“If it doesn’t drag in the middle. I hate plots that lose their suspense.”
Astrid gave a harsh laugh. “Apparently they were something of a scientific race. Which is why they spent so much time simply observing Jardoval. They were very patient, very thorough, very detailed. Gaining knowledge was a source
of joy to them.”
“But from previous conversations I’m guessing the joy faded.”
“To a degree. Well, more than to a degree. You ever notice how many races tend to decline and have their civilizations decayed?”
“Yes, it happened a great deal on Earth. There are countless civilizations who dried up and disappeared. Others decayed into corruption and debauchery. It’s an age-old tale that has been told since men first walked on planets. As our last mission reminded us, men are flawed.”
“So were the Bellicons. But they had a high civilization for a long time, but for whatever reason, they gradually decayed and became less interested in science and… They strayed from the path of science. Well, what they did was corrupt science. As Lynneorn tells it, they began experimenting on the planet, the planet itself by techniques that our race can only imagine. The Bellicons were that advanced.
You remember back in the early to mid-21st century, when men began experimenting with robots and artificial intelligence? Some scientists said AIs were impossible and other said they were inevitable.”
I nodded.
“Perhaps they were not inevitable but there was, almost by chance, a quantum leap in research and AIs became real. We had a new breed of robots on our hands and decided that if we should continue the research we should do it very carefully and under very strict guidelines.”
“The Bellicons did such research with the planet itself. I’m not sure what the techniques were. Possibly some mutation of nanobots and nanotechnology. The little things could think. They were somehow infused in the planet for whatever reason. But something went wrong. The result was…”
“A vicious little planet that thinks?” I asked.
“More or less. About that time the Bellicon civilization speeded up its rate of decay. Riots, attacks, violence, a great civilization went down and never reappeared. So nobody remembered about their little experimentations on Jardoval or, if they remembered, no one cared. Unfortunately, I have searched but nothing of their research remains. I don’t know exactly what they did to produce this hideous result we are dealing with.”
“I see.”
“But what we do know is the planet, for all practical purposes, does think and plan and scheme, although what she is going to do now that she has basically exterminated the natives is anyone’s guess.”
“The natives never progressed higher than a very pastoral existence?” I said.
She frowned again and sighed. “They may have. There are few notes in the digital archives. They’re not about the scientific research but more general notations about the history of the planet. There are indications that, for whatever reason, the Bellicons did not want the natives to progress and they, one way or another, prevented such progress. At least before they died. After that, I think the planet didn’t want any progress made. Scientific advancement was a danger to it. Any intelligent young native who tried, quickly disappeared.”
“Boy, when you lose a battle you can retreat. But what do you do when a planet is after you? There is nowhere to hide. Except maybe, I suppose, on the highest mountain. Or on the ice pack where you freeze.”
“So we have to put up the 'no trespassing' sign on this place and make sure no one ignores it.”
I nodded. “So did Lynneorn say anything else?”
“Nothing except she is very happy to have us here. She enjoys company and had bemoaned she had only been left with an empty station. She would like to say hello to the entire crew.”
“We can do that,” I said.
CHAPTER 13
Astrid touched my chest. Her fingers tapped my heart. But this wasn’t an act of affection. Long ago, some military strategist thought it might be useful to revise primitive methods of communication. At times, he reasoned, they might come in handy even during the space ages of faster-than-light communication. Astrid tapped out the old-fashioned Morse code. I winked I had received the message and we kept walking. In several minutes we were near the passageway. I flicked the mic.
“Ladies, gentleman, I need to check a few things on the shuttle. I will be back in a couple of minutes. Carry on.”
We walked into the passageway and exited into the shuttle. We stepped into the pilot’s small chamber. I turned to Astrid.
“So why did you request a private meeting?”
“I wanted to get away from Lynneorn. She can hear everything that goes on in the space station. I doubt her audio range reaches the shuttle.”
“What did you want to say that you didn’t want her to hear? Tell me we don’t have yet another problem. We have one on the planet. I don’t want one in the air too.”
“I don’t think so, but I wanted to bring something to your attention.”
“OK, what’s going on?”
“For one thing, I don’t think Lynneorn was totally truthful with us, at least about one aspect of the Jardoval past. But I understand why she, shall we say, fudged the truth a bit. You must understand she is imbued with a moral sense. Not telling the truth would be difficult for her.”
I scratched my jaw. I was beginning to think man and the other races made a great mistake in manipulating machines and planets. Let them be. Too late now…
“OK, what exactly did she ‘fudge’?”
Astrid eased back against the wall. She set her laser rifle down.
“I have to say first my conclusion is based on guesses, assumptions and some conclusions that may or not be correct. The records of the Bellicons and their experiments are almost non-existent. I don’t know if they destroyed the files or if Lynneorn did. Maybe both of them. There are certain parts of this story where, when I made inquiries, Lynneorn was polite and provided answers but only to the direct questions. She didn’t expand any, which she sometimes did in other areas, as if this was a very sensitive subject that she didn’t want to talk about.”
“AIs, like humans, can be evasive when they want to be,” I said.
“Yes, anyway at one time the Bellicons were a very moral race. When they created Lynneorn they installed those moral precepts in her. She is still living by them. The Bellicons may have forgotten them but she hasn’t.”
“Fine. As AIs go, she’s a rock. So what did she lie about?”
“My conclusion after talking to Lynneorn and reading all the available records – admittedly very quickly, so I could only glance over many of them – is that Bellicons here didn’t die by natural causes. She killed them.”
I groaned. “Oh, great. We were dealing with a killer planet and now we’re dealing with a killer robot.”
“No, Logan. It’s not that simple!”
Astrid’s voice was a furnace blast. I looked at my uniform to make sure smoke wasn’t rising.
“The Bellicons had violated the basic ethical principles of their race and their culture. They had become corrupt and evil. When they experimented on the planet, they changed it into the place of death it is now. That meant they basically committed genocide on the Jardoval races. And they were still experimenting. But they didn’t try to undo their mistake, if it was a mistake. Lynneorn felt she had to put a stop to them or they would do even more evil. So she killed them. It was not easy for her and she has lived with the guilt, even when believing there was nothing else she could have done. That’s why she didn’t want to admit it. Haven’t you ever done things you’re ashamed of?”