Warp Point

by Darrell Bain

  Eventually, Pioneer was launched, though of course it was not given that name. All the hopes of the race to expand beyond their planet were embodied in the effort put into launching the great ship. Certainly, it would be detected, but empty of intelligence, would not be hampered. It was designed to run for an unexplored warp point not discovered by MI yet. It couldn't pause even long enough to try destroying the orbiting robots, and probably wouldn't have succeeded in any case. It took intelligent beings to fight a space war, even when the foe was intelligent robots. The unmanned ship, as powerful as it was, would have been harassed and held in check long enough for reinforcements to come to the robots’ aid.

  Given all those factors, the only hope of breaking free of their confinement to the planet was to have the unmanned ship find another intelligent race to provide a crew and come back to fight MI. It would not be easy. The orbiting MI robots would call for help as quickly as intelligence was detected when the ship returned, if it did.

  Once the first MI ships arrived, this would set into place the second part of their scheme to break the MI hold on space travel. Pioneer was not only designed to be able to resist MI ships, but to destroy them, whereas the core programs of MI allowed for nothing but confinement of ships containing intelligent beings. When the first MI fleet failed, others would follow. It would be Pioneer's job to fight them off, and as they were doing that, to lead them into another warp point they believed had gone undetected until now. Once on the other side, the third part of the plan would go into effect, the proverbial “secret weapon". And here lay the first real uncertainty.

  It had been determined that the new warp point would lead, not to another star in the Milky Way galaxy, but to another universe entirely. It was thought that the physical laws of the other universe would be different enough to cause irremediable failure of the mechanical brains of the MI ships. In fact, since most activity of the Machine Intelligences, so far as was known, was conducted on ships or mobile platforms, it was hoped the entire MI empire would follow Pioneer through the warp point in an implacable drive to capture and confine it to a planet. If that indeed happened, and the MI ships were incapacitated by their inability to operate in a universe of different physical laws, then Pioneer could return, destroy the orbiting confinement satellites around their planet and free them for all time. Their reward would be Pioneer.

  The main point of conjecture was whether they would indeed be able to return. Everything they could do to protect Pioneer's computer system from the effects of variant physical laws had been done. Its core programming was confined within an intangible quantum force field. And there would be their own brains to work with should computers fail. The beings of the planet they were accelerating toward thought that if they didn't remain too long in the other universe, then they could return before great harm was done to the ship, or to themselves, whereas the MI brains would fail almost immediately.

  And finally, Pioneer must begin this program almost immediately. There was very little time before it would impact with the confinement field and be captured and hence grounded for all time. Even if it didn't, other MI ships had been alerted by now and would be on the way from the Oort cloud and the gas giants where they operated.

  * * *

  Chapter Eighteen

  The message ended and began repeating.

  “They don't want much, do they?” Matt said, chuckling nervously into the silence that ensued afterward.

  “Action now, conjecture later,” Dan said sharply. “I think we have to believe them enough to get the ship heading away from this planet and toward the other warp point before the MI ships start arriving. There's nothing that says we have to go through it, but let's play safe and head that way for now."

  “I'm with Dan,” Stacey said. “Let's get moving!"

  “Agreed,” Matt and Hawkins said together.

  Dan gave orders for Pioneer to stop decelerating and begin acceleration in a pattern that would take them in a wide arc part way around the planet in a slingshot maneuver, and then away from the sun at an angle diverging from the warp point where they had arrived and toward the one they might go through. Once the new course was laid out, he breathed a sigh of relief. The immediate problem was taken care of. His clothes felt damp from perspiration and his eyes burned from staring at the screen so long. He wanted nothing so much right then as to take a long hot shower followed by a dousing with cold water and letting Stacey dry him with a big fluffy disposable towel. He was sure she felt much the same way, but there was no avoiding duty at the moment. First things first. The situation had to be at least partially talked out, enough so that they were all on the same page.

  “Everyone, listen up! General Hawkins, you listen as well and interrupt if you feel it necessary, but keep your eye on your screens. Alert us at the first sign of an anomaly."

  “Yes, sir."

  “The rest of you, I want your opinions if you have one. Let's go down the line and see what we're thinking. Matt first."

  He was slow to answer. “Captain, I don't think we have enough data to say anything for certain."

  “Do your best,” Dan said, somewhat shortly.

  “All right. We don't have enough data and we're not likely to get much more.” He emphasized the last few words. “That's my main concern. And given that our friends down there apparently aren't going to tell us anything else, it makes me wonder how much of that yarn we can believe."

  “I suppose the first part of it will become credible if MI ships show up and start using their tractor beams on us. When and if that happens, the rest of it will seem pretty convincing, don't you think? Until then, let's act as if it's all true. Terrell? What about the alternate universe? We've all read about such a thing, but is it really possible?"

  “Captain, it's possible. What's held back research into the prospect is lack of a means to test the theory—or hypothesis if you like that term better. I suppose these people, if I can use that term for them, have been confined so long they've done an enormous amount of theoretical research. According to them, their civilization's been stable for many centuries. The proof, of course, is in the pudding. If we go through the new warp point and find a different universe, then they're right."

  “Speaking of warp points, doesn't it seem as if there's an awful lot of them in this system? The one we came through, another you say you've detected and now a warp point that leads to a whole new universe."

  “I can answer that,” Matt said. “When we passed through the warp point to here we got lots of good readings. If our calculations are correct, you can find warp points fairly easily in systems like the one we're in—or like our solar system. And basically near any G type star. The problem lies in knowing where you'll wind up if you try them."

  “Okay, I'll take your word for it. Now suppose there are many of them and some lead to other universes. Can you make any conjectures about their theory that the alternate universe we'll be heading for will have different physical laws?"

  “Good question. There's been lots of speculation about that. Personally, I don't think we'll find that much difference or we'd never be able to survive the passage, and that would end all our problems right there.” He paused for the inevitable mirthless chuckle. “However, it doesn't take much to foul up computers, especially ones under the control of artificial intelligences or which basically are intelligent. No matter how smart they are, they can't have the intuitive powers of a biological brain. The MI intelligence will be based on one set of parameters. It'll go bonkers if it tries to function under another, and subsequently, so will all their regular computers, their non-sapient workhorses, so to speak. The people down below have that right, I think. The question is, can we survive under different physical laws? I think the chances are better than even, at least for a short time, but not much better."

  “Okay. Susan?"

  Susan looked worried. She twisted a strand of silver-streaked hair around a forefinger. “Everything Terrell said makes sense to me.” She smiled a
t him, then continued. “Artificial intelligence is something we were a long way from, despite the Sunday supplement articles. I have no idea how a true A.I. would act, or why they'd become so antagonistic toward biological intelligence. For that matter, we have no way of judging whether these people are telling the truth or not yet.” She shrugged, causing her breasts to move beneath her blouse and drawing an appreciative glance from Terrell. “Derned if I know, so we want to be careful."

  “What makes you even think they might not be truthful?” Dan probed, looking for any information that might help him make up his mind on what to do.

  “Oh, nothing in particular, but it just seems so pat. Do this, do that, and everything will work out fine. But notice the message to us is simply repeating, not giving us a chance to ask questions. Of course that could be the reverse of our problem. They know hardly anything about us—assuming the ship hasn't given them any information—and they're being careful to keep us within the bounds they've worked so long and hard to establish. If questions were allowed, they may think that would cause us to refuse to carry out the mission."

  Stacey, sitting with Hawkins in her usual backup position, inserted herself into the lineup. “Folks, we keep talking about ‘the planet’ and ‘the beings'. Just to make things a bit easier, and since it doesn't look as if they're going to tell us what they're called, could we all agree on a name for the planet and its inhabitants, then post it for everyone to see? And by the way, we need to decide how much of this info is given to the crew. Naturally, we'll have to tell them what we're getting into if we decide to take on the mission, but I don't think there's any need to post all of the message yet. We can supplement it by letting everyone in on descriptions of the planet that we've seen from space and hopefully, as we come closest to them with the slingshot maneuver, we might get some idea of what they look like."

  “With our telescopes? No way,” Terrell said.

  “Pioneer's imaging might do it,” Matt said. “Heck, I'd like to know myself."

  “So would I,” Dan agreed, “but it's not absolutely necessary. Good point, Commander. We'll hash the names out before we leave. In the meantime, Berlin? What's your opinion?"

  “One thing for sure, the MI must either have some helluva backups or care nothing at all about potential immortality."

  “Why do you say that?"

  “I can answer,” Hawkins put in. “If all they're going to do is try to overwhelm us with numbers and use their tractor beams to force us down close enough to the planet so our weapons will no longer work, they're going to suffer a tremendous number of casualties. That's if they don't have much in the way of defensive weaponry. I'm assuming they don't since the situation we've precipitated is a first for them, according to the beings ... oh hell, let's give them a name! And the planet, too!"

  Dan laughed, the first bit of humor he had allowed himself since coming out of the warp point. “Okay, I'm for it. Suggestions?"

  “Stacey—I mean Commander Saddler—named the ship; let her go first.” Terrell's face had a tinge of color to it from forgetting the protocol and calling her by her name rather than rank.

  “Go ahead, Commander,” Berlin said.

  Stacey wasn't caught short; she had been thinking about it. “All right, lady and gentlemen, here's my suggestion. Let the planet be called Termen and its inhabitants, Termenians, Termites for short."

  After a moment of stunned silence, a roar of laughter echoed around the control center, coming from everyone except Matt. Dan saw his frown and his laughter died. “Matt, you seem to have problems with the names."

  “I do. I'm sort of looking toward the future. Suppose everything works out all right and we establish relations with them. Once they learn our language, they're apt to feel like we gave them a derogatory name."

  Stacey let a tiny, elfish smile play across her face. “The correct terminology will be Termenians. And you're perfectly right, Matt; they'll be dubbed Termites about two seconds after we release the name. However, we can start right off by letting the crew know Termite is sort of derogatory and that Termenian is the correct designation. But just think; it could be much worse. A quick easy name like Gook, Spic, Nigger, Honky and the like will inevitably come into play regardless of what any of us do or say or what we name the planet and its inhabitants. It's just human nature. Why not let it be one that's really not all that bad?"

  Dan ran his fingers through his short strands of hair, as always feeling his impending bald spot. Despite the laughter that first greeted Stacey's suggested names, he found himself liking it. “I take it that Termen is a shortened form of Term End, the end of our journey?"

  “Right. It seemed appropriate, even if it wasn't really the end."

  “All right, any further objections?"

  “I concede,” Matt said. “I hadn't thought it all the way through.” He grinned despite an effort not to. “And I have to admit, Termite isn't that bad. It's much better than some others might have been."

  “Then I hereby name the planet Termen and its inhabitants are Termenians.” He said while pressing the spot on the console that made it an official log entry. “Okay, now that we have that item out of the way, where were we?"

  “I was just saying that the MI ships are going to run into a very sharp buzz saw when they try to capture us. The weapons we command are extremely lethal. I wonder how the Termites know they'll keep coming rather than backing off and trying something different?"

  “If the MI have programmed themselves to absolutely forbid biological intelligences to go into space, they'll stay with the program,” Susan predicted. “It's not something that can be changed with a snap of the fingers. Besides, they're under the sway of their core programming. Not much they can do about that. All this is assuming the Termites have given us accurate information, of course."

  “All right, let me sum it up,” Dan said. “We can expect swarms of MI ships to try forcing us down on Termen very soon. Our job will be to keep them from doing it while we sucker them into following us into a warp point the Termites think they've been unaware of. That warp point will lead to an alternate universe, one which they think has physical laws different from our own. Once in the other universe, we think we can survive long enough to be sure all the MI ships self-destruct from an inability to operate in a universe of different physical laws. We then come back to Termen and take out the orbiting robots that support the force field, thereby letting them loose. From there we either go home or explore the other warp point Matt's discovered.” He paused. “Does that cover it?"

  Hawkins rubbed his chin in the familiar pattern which Dan knew meant he had reservations. “That covers it, but I think we need to take our time about letting the Termites loose. They've been cooped up hundreds of years; a while longer won't hurt them. Better to go cautiously rather than make a mistake we can't correct."

  “I'm inclined to agree with General Hawkins,” Dan announced. “Anyone disagree?"

  There were no nays.

  “All right then, let's think of the alternative. Matt, have you detected any MI ships yet?"

  He took the time to query his astronomy department before answering. An alertness more than he had been showing appeared on his face as he listened to one end of a conversation. When it was finished he reported. “My crew thinks they've just detected the first MI ships heading this way from the gas giants. Nothing from the Oort yet."

  “Do we still have time to run for the warp point we came through and head back to Earth before the MI gets in the way?"

  “Negative, Captain. The vectors aren't favorable once we committed to the slingshot maneuver. And even if they were, we'd be taking a chance on the MI following us to Earth."

  “How about the other one?"

  “It's still possible,” he said, “but you know we don't have a clue what's on the other side—and we'd still have to come back through this system to get home."

  “I don't think anyone is in favor of that course of action, is there?"

  T
here wasn't.

  “Then I hereby declare the official conference is ended. We'll do it the way the Termites suggested.” He caught Matt's eye and winked, the private signal to tell him to fetch Tara and bring her back for an informal meeting of the inner circle, one where they could have something with more bite to it than coffee or cold drinks.

  * * * *

  “Tara has really been good for Matt, hasn't she?” Dan asked after the gathering had broken up and he and Stacey were alone in their stateroom.

  “Uh huh, and vice versa,” she agreed, her voice coming from beyond the half open door of her bathroom. “Tara had a bad break, too."

  “From a useless war at that. Sometimes I think politicians ought to all be locked up and given forced ethics instruction the minute they finish their first term. That's the break point. First term they learn how to steal and screw the taxpayers and mess up everything in creation. After that, all their time is spent putting what they learned into action."

  A tinkle of laughter came from behind the door. Stacey had imbibed more than Dan. They coordinated any drinking they did so that neither of them was ever truly incapacitated at the same time.

  Dan still remembered the lengthy period when only he and Stacey had been able to give definitive orders to Pioneer. If it should happen again, he wanted at least one of them able to function without impairment.

  Stacey stepped out into the bedroom clad in a pale blue translucent negligee. She slid into bed beside him and leaned back against the softly padded headboard.