by Kal Spriggs
“Don't hold it against them,” Star Commandant Athena said, noting my discomfort, her own expression serene. “Our society has certain... expectations of outsiders.”
“What might those be?” I asked.
“We view certain behaviors as more typical than people from other nations... and vastly different from regions like Guard Space,” she answered. “Due to that, our society is quite a bit different from other places. It is part of the reason for our secrecy.”
“Oh?” I asked. Even training aboard Defense Station Zulu, I hadn't seen much of the crew or day to day lives of even my fellow midshipmen. Everyone kept to themselves. Chatter and friendly conversation was limited. And even though I'd worked with many of the Erewhon midshipmen quite a bit, I hadn't really gotten to know any of them beyond purely in the professional sense. The chance to learn more about them wasn't something I wanted to miss out on.
Star Commandant Athena shot me a look. “What I want to share with you has value, but it's not something I think you would use against us... though it could be used against us as a weapon, in the right circumstances.”
I considered that. “You want me to keep your secrets?”
“I assume that you'll be debriefed when you return to your nation. Some of your senior policy-makers are already aware, so the 'secret' as you might put it, is already out. But if you are willing, we'll show you more than anyone else has seen... well, you and your companion.” As she finished saying that, an exact copy of Star Commandant Athena came down a side passage, leading Alexander Karmazin. Alexander and I stared at each other, and then at the duplicates of the lead instructor and commander of the station. “But you're not a hologram...” I trailed off as I realized that maybe one of them was. But then how had the real one controlled both at once? Alexander or I could have managed with our implants, but...
The two Star Commandant Athena's moved to stand next to one another and they spoke with one voice, “These bodies are not holographic projections.” Both of them reached out to Alexander and I, and we felt their hands. It was weird. The flesh was warm, but it felt slightly off. It didn't feel like skin, I realized. Some kind of robot? I knew that it was possible to do very lifelike robots and prosthetic limbs, but this seemed bizarre... what was the point of having a robotic extension of a person?
I hadn't realized I'd spoken aloud until she answered. “This, too, I will show you,” Star Commandant Athena said calmly.
The two of them led the way down the corridor and then through a set of secure hatches. She spoke as she led the way, her voice calm, “You are aware of the genetic and environmental screenings that most civilized worlds perform upon children?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “They look for genetic diseases, mutations, that sort of thing, right?” Century did that. As far as I knew, every world did so, it was tech that had been available since before the warp drive had gone from idea to reality.
“They screen for a variety of triggers, and they 'correct' genetic and environmental issues in the womb, or in the incubator on worlds where natural births are uncommon,” Star Commandant Athena went on. “Many of the settings of those screenings haven't changed in hundreds of Earth years. They screen out, as you said, diseases and undesired mutations... and they also screen for what they term abnormal neurological function.”
“What, like mental retardation and that sort of thing?” Alexander asked.
“Among other things,” she nodded. “Most often the screening process tweaks the genes and corrects for it. It's not a perfect method, but on most worlds, people like Jenkins, Hem, and Mateo would be a tiny majority.”
Alexander frowned, “You're saying they're...”
Star Commandant Athena went on as we went through an armored hatch. There were three more beyond it and each of them slid open on our approach and slid closed behind us, “They are on what was once termed to be the autism spectrum. Their neurological patterns, the way their brains think, are different from what your society, what most of human space, has termed normal.”
“Everywhere but here?” I asked.
“Nowhere but here,” Star Commandant Athena answered. “Erewhon.”
My eyes crossed a bit as I caught the reference. I thought about the reclusive nature of the colony, about the distance they'd put between themselves and almost anyone else. “Your world... it's a refuge.”
We walked down a plain, unadorned section of corridor and then came to another set of armored hatches. This time, I saw weapons mounts. Wherever we were going, it was very well defended. This time as we passed through the hatches, I caught looks at the armored bulkheads, they were thick enough to be the exterior of battleships.
“Indeed. For those who argued that their children should not be forced into external definitions of 'normal.' The last hatch opened and we stepped into what had to be the command center for the entire Defense Station.
There were about a dozen people, most of them seated at terminals. Most of them rocked back and forth, some of them bounced in their seats. It looked at first glance, more like an insane asylum than a command center. Looking up, I saw that there was a large tank of some kind of clear liquid, and a woman, half naked, her body atrophied, floated in the liquid, a variety of cables and conduits grafted into her flesh.
“This is the heart of Defense Station Zulu,” Star Commandant Athena noted. “This is where I run the ship.”
I looked around. Glancing over the shoulder of one woman, I saw that she had dozens of displays opened and she was flipping through them faster than I could follow without referring to my implant. Glancing at Star Commandant Athena, I looked up at the floating woman above us. “You?” I asked.
Her two robots gave a nod. “I'm rather high along the spectrum. Physical touch is... overwhelming. Pain and pleasure and stimuli. But I have mental capacity to process many things at once, to manage dozens of tasks and conversations. This sensory tank and my implants allow me to make use of that. I also make use of a variety of software systems to translate emotion, words, and concepts between how I view the world and how others view it.”
She went on after a moment, “Most of us,” the robots gestured at the rest of the room's occupants, “find personal interaction to be exhausting. Particularly one on one and face to face. We do our business remotely. We live in isolation, work remotely, make heavy use of automation and robots, such as these.”
“So your society makes use of people like you?” I asked. I shook my head, “I'm sorry if this seems rude, but it almost seems like they're taking advantage of you.”
Star Commandant Athena's two robots laughed. It was eerie how they did it in synch. “You might view it that way... but tell me, do you feel your world is taking advantage of your capabilities? Pressing you into military service?”
I thought briefly of my implant, but even then, I shook my head, “No, I volunteered.”
“As did I. As have all of us who serve. There are those like me who run our planetary network, our banking systems. My mother is the head of a corporation that helped to modernize our system,” Star Commandant Athena answered.
“So some of your society is like you,” Alexander mused, “and the rest is like,” he shrugged, “well, like Jiden and I, I suppose. Why the secrecy?”
“You misunderstand,” Star Commandant Athena answered. “The trading enclaves and stations, those are run and manned by the elements of our society on the lower end of the spectrum, more towards what you might term normal. But they aren't anything near the majority.”
“Wait, you mean the reason you don't let visitors roam your planets or stations is...” I trailed off as I realized I really didn't even know how to say it.
“The vast majority of our population are neither comfortable with how the rest of humanity interact, nor really capable of it. For that matter, we have come to fear it. On any other world, I would not have been born as... me. They would have changed me, before I was more than a few cells, made me a copy of what they feel is normal, what is r
ight. While the rest of humanity has screened for the abnormal, we've embraced it, selected for it.”
“How can you, I mean, if you don't interact, if physical touch is...” I found myself flushing, unable to finish the question.
Star Commandant Athena laughed, “There are methods of reproduction that don't require two people to be in the same room. My mother and father's courtship was... unique, even among our people. I gather there were numerous shared simulations. And deliveries of digital flowers. I gather the flowers thing is fairly universal.”
That was more than I wanted to know.
“How do you man your entire fleet, then?” Alexander asked. “You have massive forces. Thousands of fighters, hundreds of corvettes. Dozens of larger ships...”
“We make use of heavy automation, namely. Those like me can operate many of a ship's systems, especially with being merged into numerous programs as we are,” Star Commandant Athena answered. “And we start out small. Jenkins, Hem, and Mateo, for instance, are going to fighter squadrons.”
“They don't need the interpersonal skills because they're not commanding other pilots,” I realized. “They're running the entire squadron.”
“Exactly. In that case, we don't care how well they can interact, only that they can run multiple vessels and systems at once.”
“That seems rather cold,” I noted. “I mean, do they, do any of them... even you, understand the risk?”
The two robots went still. “We do not process things the same way as you. We do not feel emotions the same way. But we still feel loyalty to our friends, to our families, to our star system. We still welcome friendship. I understand the risk I faced, serving for forty years, now. Jenkins lost her family to a pirate raid sponsored by Drakkus. Hem's older brother was killed fighting raiders out of the system. They understand the risks and they have volunteered.”
It just seemed strange to see the way they moved, the way that several of them repeated the same words, over and over, and to think that they were capable of understanding this. Yet Star Commandant Athena, by her own statement, was in charge of not just our training, but the entire station. The others in this room must be capable to do their duties, right?
“We know that Century and to a lesser extent, the Mason Corvale Alliance, have both been friends to us, been trade partners.” Star Commandant Athena went on. “We show both of you this, in the spirit of that friendship... and we ask that you take a message back to your government on Century.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“At the present, we face the Drakkus Empire, who would not understand our society, who would probably kill and... enslave us all,” Star Commandant Athena's two robots stumbled over those words, as if the mind behind it had a problem even considering that. Or maybe, she'd already seen some of what she was talking about. “But there are other threats... and one of those is the genetic screening process that Century uses. You change people like us into people like you. You change who and what they are, without ever giving them the chance to be who they were born to be.”
I bit my lip, I wasn't sure I could argue, I hadn't had time to think about this, to process it.
“If you want a full alliance, want our full support, you will change your pregnancy screenings. You will allow for neurological diversity,” Star Commandant Athena told us.
“What if we don't?” Alexander asked.
“Then one day, after there is no threat from Drakkus, we may have a war over the millions of children who are changed without ever being able to stop it,” Star Commandant Athena's voice was hard as iron.
Somehow, I knew she wasn't just talking about Century. These people had managed to build a massive defense force in only a few decades. If they continued that growth, they might well be a threat to all of Guard Space. The worst part was, from their perspective, they had every right to go to war over this... after all, they were fighting the extinction of their way of life.
I just hoped it didn't come to that.
***
Chapter 10: I Sort Of Panic And Run
“Welcome back, Cadet Armstrong, please, take a seat,” the Century Planetary Militia officer gestured at the chair opposite his desk.
I was still feeling a little dazed by how fast things were moving. I'd wrapped up the rest of the course on Erewhon, received my certificate and then Alexander and I had caught the first ship headed back to Century. Neither of us had really had time to catch our breaths, because we'd still had all the correspondence work we'd been assigned from the Academy, much of which we hadn't had time to do at Erewhon, and the seven-day trip had been just enough time for us to get that done.
When we'd arrived at the system, I'd pinged Kyle to let him know when I'd be getting in to Century Station, then finished off the last bit of my correspondence work, just in time to submit it as we docked to the station, so I could avoid the data transfer fee the merchant ship would have charged.
Before I'd even had a chance to get off the ship, my implant and datapad had both pinged to tell me to report to Commander Leath's office, here on Century Station, immediately, if not sooner.
I took a seat across from him.
“I've started reading through your trip report, yours and Cadet First Class Karmazin's, that is,” Commander Leath smiled, “Obviously I haven't had time to get in depth in them, but I'd like you to give a verbal report, since the written ones sometimes lack emphasis.”
“Yes, sir,” I answered. I took a breath to start, but then paused, “Sir, before I begin, is this an intelligence debrief or is this part of the Academy debrief?”
“It'll serve as both,” he gave me another friendly smile, “Admiral Drien is wearing a couple of hats at the moment. He's both the Academy superintendent and he's heading up Century's defense. So he's asked me to get your impression of our allies capabilities.”
And that's both an answer and a signal in one. Admiral Drien's family and mine had feuded for generations, since the founding of our colony, as far as I'd been able to learn. Commander Leath's interest might be neutral, but I couldn't assume that Admiral Drien's interest didn't come with an agenda.
Still, I had no reason to expect that he didn't value the security of Century. I laid out what I'd seen of the Eerewhon Defense Force, the training I'd attended, and even what I'd been shown of their population make-up.
Commander Leath made a face, “Ah, yes, I'd been briefed by Admiral Drien about their... unique societal pressures. I think they were trying for a shock factor with you, relying on your relative inexperience to overstate the nature of their society and the makeup of their population.”
“Sir?” I asked. “Star Commandant Athena made it pretty clear to me that these 'neurodiverse' are a large part of their society. She stated they were the majority. For that matter, I saw them running the station command center.”
“You saw what looked like a command center,” Commander Leath's voice came clipped and harsh. “Something they could have mocked up for just the occasion. Admiral Drien's analysis is that their society cannot function in such a fashion. You saw how their 'diverse' population looks, a bunch of freaks if you ask me.” He sneered as he said it and I barely bit my tongue. Different, sure, I'd admit. The Erewhonese were different enough to make me feel uncomfortable, even. But to use that kind of word about our allies?
He went on, “Several members of the Charter Council agree that it's got to be a sham, there's no way they can function with throwbacks and offshoots like that. We think the Erewhon have some ulterior agenda for pushing us to do away with prenatal genetic screening. Even if there wasn't, there's the risk of violating the UN Security Council's mandate. We'd be in violation of the Mutant and Telepath Act if we stopped genetic screening. We'd be at risk of serious legal and political issues.” I hadn't really thought about that, all the same, we weren't under UN Star Guard law. We were an independent colony, outside of Guard Space. Maybe they could invade and conquer us and force compliance, but that would be an act of war. I was tempted to sa
y that, but I could see that if I argued with him any further, it was probably going to get me in trouble, so I just gave him a nod in reply.
“Now, then, your effort to embarrass Prince Ladon of Drakkus was brilliant. I'll be sure to suggest some kind of letter of merit be added to your record jacket. Brilliant move to force Erewhon to throw them out. We've already heard that the Drakkus Empire has started targeting Erewhon businesses and exports as a result. That's sure to push them closer to us.”
“I hadn't really meant to do that, sir, I was just trying to protect myself--”
Commander Leath smirked, “Of course you were, of course you were. We'd never manipulate our allies, would we?”
I gave him a sickly smile in reply, feeling dirty as I did so. I hadn't seen much of Commander Leath, but what I had... well, I already distrusted him. I'd deliberately avoided saying anything about my encounter with Princess Kiyu and her cryptic words about my brother. It wasn't the type of ammunition I was going to give to someone like Admiral Drien. I'll tell my grandmother, she'll know what to do about it.
“Now, with the travel time and the length of their course, you're actually running a bit behind. They've already made the announcements for summer assignments,” He pulled out a folder and slid it across the desk, so fast that I barely caught it before it fell on the floor. “You've been assigned as a Cadet Auxiliary to the Centurions. I know it's not an active assignment, but needs of the Militia and all that.”
The Centurions? That was the Militia's mercenary unit, that operated out of Hanet. My grandmother had just taken the unit over. I barely controlled my expression. That was perfect. I could tell her about what I'd seen in person.
For that matter, a summer assignment to the Centurions was awesome. They saw actual combat. They were Militia members on reserve status who worked under the Hanet Mercenary Guild. They did peacekeeping and anti-piracy missions, mostly, and they trained harder and worked harder than even the Active Militia did here on Century.