Emergence Page 19

  Willis nodded amiably.

  Ashley stood for a few moments in contemplation. ‘No problem. Unfortunately, I felt normal today, not the state of mind I would need to do something unusual. I’d love the chance to go again.’

  They shook hands and Louise went back inside. Mike was staring at the laptop. ‘I will run some additional analysis overnight, there may be something hidden amongst the data, like runs of good luck, etcetera.’

  Louise let out a sigh. ‘I had higher hopes for Ashley,—he felt positive about influencing coin tossing.’

  Mike shrugged. ‘He probably just has an excellent self-image, so he focuses on the 50:50 chances that fall his way. He simply forgets the ones which go against him.’

  Jeff returned from a cigarette. ‘I assume I will just tell Bob the truth, unless something comes up in Mike’s overnight data crunching. Mike?’

  ‘We could invite him for Saturday?’

  Louise kicked out half-heartedly at a table leg. ‘If we even bother running it. We’ve no new information.’ She took a few deep breaths. ‘Okay, reconvene tomorrow lunchtime and make a decision.’

  Mike passed Jeff a zip drive. ‘You take a look at the data as well. You may find something I miss.’

  Chapter 38

  Justio walked slowly down the corridor towards the QET room. He’d waited a few hours for the opportunity, and now that Aytch had returned to his own cabin, Justio could get to work.

  Although he’d been resting in his cabin, he was emotionally tired; he flexed his hands nervously as he walked. Recent conversations had underlined a couple of things: Aytch was getting more proactive, and there was genuine momentum within the Gadium hierarchy to take the fight to the GF. Time was running out.

  Once inside, Justio overrode the control panels and examined the message logs. There was no record of his own recent communications, which was good, he’d taken great pains to delete them.

  Unusual. There were two recent QET messages from Sharnia to Aytch. The one he knew about, referring to GEC issues, GF concerns, AI, and Sharnia’s concerns about himself. But there was a second message, time stamped from only a few hours previously.

  Justio started to decode it. Aytch had security controls and strong encryption, but given he was alone, it was straightforward for Justio to open it. I’ll find a path, one in the many. He concentrated on the secure decryption password—a 20-character alphanumeric. As usual he felt a fuzzy detachment as the possibilities opened up before him.

  Visualising himself typing the code into the decryption screen, Justio tried to hold all the possible future states in his mind. The code didn’t matter though. One code would lead to a green light, for success, and the other billions and billions of codes would lead to a red light, indicating a lock out.

  Justio moved his consciousness past the point of entering the code, and visualised himself a step further into the future. He focused on the path in which the code would be accepted and would return a green light. He followed it. A matter of seconds later, a green light, and the decoded message was enriched and displayed.

  Recent Zeta Prime message a total ‘decision by committee’ disaster. Most recent communications from Vantch Mission estimate they are only three years away and now passively receiving communications from Vantch indicating a religious movement is active based on Parallels doctrine. GF are there. The GEC is in turmoil. My investigations into Jenkins have uncovered significant evidence, but not quite enough yet to challenge him directly.

  After cleaning away traces of his intrusion, Justio walked back to the crew room. He’d received a QET earlier in the day, affirming some of the Vantch information, and also demanding he finalise the Earth activity. But the fact that Sharnia could pounce on Jenkins at any moment gave him cause for concern. His own links to Jenkins were so deep his past would soon be under immense scrutiny. And if Aytch received a direct order to subdue him…

  Justio settled himself back in the crew room and considered his position on Earth. If he couldn’t manage to kill Jack Bullage then he would engineer a full blown Despot-based conflict. There were probably 10 or so million Alphas on Earth, plenty to cause issues if the Earth governments were to discover how to identify Alphas (very difficult) and convert them (quite easy). Obviously, Justio would then have to hack the Gadium logs to show that, with the best intentions, the Gadium Mission had accidently let the Emergence knowledge proliferate. The crux of the issue was there could be no sign of aliens to the humans, as it would unite them against the alien force—the power of the tribe. But a Despot solution was still only the back-up plan.

  It was a delicate balance. Keeping Louise Harding warm, while also being ready to close her down, and also killing Jack Bullage.

  Justio was snapped out of his contemplation by Aytch marching into the crew room looking troubled. He walked over to his flight chair and started browsing data feeds. He did not appear to be settling.

  Justio broke the silence. ‘What’s up, Aytch?’

  ‘I received another QET from Sharnia. She’s pushing me to investigate aspects of Emergence doctrine.’ Aytch looked around room nervously. ‘The Parallels.’

  Justio put a suitably shocked expression on his face. Aytch would expect it. The Parallels were mostly forbidden from even being discussed. Sharnia must be feeling the pressure.

  Aytch nodded, and returned to his screens.

  Justio considered his position. ‘I know we shouldn’t but I’m happy to discuss it, if you’d think it would help you.’

  ‘I’m not sure; the mission recorder…’

  ‘Isn’t networked into the QET. Just local storage, and eminently hackable. I’ve been around, Aytch, I may have some views that would help your understanding.’

  ‘There’s nothing of substance in the manual.’

  ‘Let me start you off, after which it’s mostly down to your own thinking.’ Justio reflected on his own experience of the Parallels. Might as well start with truth. ‘The received wisdom is that a Parallels-based doctrine always leads to disaster. I suspect someone as old as Sharnia will have come across situations contrary to the received wisdom.’

  ‘Her log file references Sarkol.’

  ‘The case-study of Sarkol was removed from the manual a few hundred thousand years ago. They’d assimilated a Parallels-based philosophy, integrated with extreme stoic acceptance.’

  ‘How did the Emergence go?’

  ‘It went on without us…‌we arrived well after their successful Emergence. They’d already come up with equivalent interpretations to Parallels v SISR. Their scientists had chosen Parallels based on aesthetics.’

  ‘Did they accept our stewardship?’

  Justio smiled. ‘Stoically.’ After a few months of orbital bombardment. ‘Our actual technology was far in advance of theirs.’

  Aytch stood up and started to pace. ‘What about within our own culture?’

  The silence stretched as Justio put on a show of thinking, but inside he was churning. ‘Some have been known to choose Parallels as a comforter.’

  Stopping in front of Justio’s chair, Aytch looked intently. ‘But what about the truth? You’ve mentioned a few times that people choose to believe.’

  Justio snorted and stood up, forcing Aytch, from the standpoint of politeness, to step backwards. ‘The truth is unfortunately not experimentally provable. Incomplete. Unknowable.’ He walked towards the door. ‘No, Aytch, what we freely choose to believe is all we have.’

  Aytch did not follow Justio, but returned to his chair. ‘There was a postulation that the Parallels interpretation was better at explaining Triple Alpha suppression of transitions.’

  This was safer ground. Justio stopped and turned. ‘I haven’t heard of that one.’

  Aytch’s face brightened. ‘Well, it stated that for a specific Triple Alpha…‌discounting a third-person supreme being…‌basically SISR demands some type of subconscious awareness and the active suppression of the states of all
other individuals. Whereas the Parallels just requires subconscious awareness of the states of all other individuals with an accompanying future-path selection.’

  Justio made a show of internalising this. ‘That hangs together logically, but the end game is the same. A choice of belief is made.’ He paused. ‘But let’s back up. I suspect Sharnia is not interested in choice or belief, and actually she just wants to understand operationally how a Parallels-based doctrine can be controlled.’

  Aytch appeared to twitch, but Justio could not be sure. What else does he know? His family line has a history with the Parallels. But has he been told?

  Sitting back down, Aytch brought up the screens they’d been using to plan the Jack extraction. ‘Well, we’d better get to the Jack question.’

  Jack Bullage? Justio had been struggling to set up a surreptitious kill of Jack Bullage. Could it go a different way? Ultimately, to protect Aytch from an audit, Justio was going to erase this morning’s conversations from the logs anyway, so he may as well be brazen. ‘Given the GEC tensions, and your own ambitions. I think we should reconsider pushing for a Full Emergence.’

  Aytch looked up, directly into Justio’s eyes. ‘I can’t deny that I’ve been thinking about it. My heart says yes, but my head says no.’ He paused. ‘We do the right thing, each time, and in the long term we’re stronger…‌so my formal answer is no. We progress with Emergence suppression.’

  ‘Agreed.’ Justio nodded and left the room. Decision made…‌again.

  Chapter 39

  For Gadium citizens, there were places where you knew for certain your conversations were being monitored (e.g. government buildings and mission ships). There were also places on Gadium where you suspected your conversations would be monitored; this set of places included everywhere other than the places where you knew for certain it was happening. However, within the highest echelons of government, there was a tacit understanding that there must be a few places which were explicitly not monitored.

  And against this backdrop of realpolitik, Commander Jenkins waited patiently for the Deputy Chairman. The restaurant was designated quiet. All of the rooms were shielded against electromagnetic radiation and there were no electronic machines either used in the restaurant or allowed inside it. It was a haven of privacy, albeit you had to trust your immediate dining companions. Theoretically, the restaurant was not shielded from QET, but the apparatus was so large it couldn’t be concealed. Of course, if a small QET machine were available, who’d know?

  Jenkins looked around the restaurant; he wasn’t exactly a regular there, but the staff knew he was a dining companion of the Deputy Chairman, so service was attentive, and obsequious. Jenkins growled quietly at the waiter who’d come to refill his drink for the third time in as many minutes, irrespective that it hadn’t been touched.

  He wasn’t nervous, Jenkins had been dealing with the Deputy for many years. He was well able to defend himself. But…‌there was always a risk with the Deputy. It should be fine. Except Katrina. The Deputy knew he had leverage there. It didn’t seem to matter to the Deputy that Jenkins truly believed in the mission; if he slipped, he would fall…‌be pushed.

  The Deputy was late. Jenkins re-read the menu for a fourth time and looked around the room again. There was no-one here he recognised. Then the entourage appeared; three executive assistants led the Deputy over to the private alcove. Once he was seated, they quietly disappeared leaving Jenkins and the Deputy alone.

  The waiter brought some nutrient tubes, which they inhaled. Jenkins opened the conversation. ‘That’s the nutrients covered, now we get to enjoy the tastes.’

  The waiter took their orders. ‘Sirs, today our special tasting menu is thirty tiny slices of animal heart-flesh. Mostly they’re simply marinated in their own blood, but some are sweetened and some are spiced.’

  The Deputy Chairman signalled for two specials.

  Once the waiter had disappeared, Jenkins checked there was no-one in ear shot and then started the discussions. ‘The incoming Vantch mission is still unaware of the GF team. Evidence has been planted on Vantch to suggest failed interventions with messages implying the late-arrival was faked.’

  Time stretched for a few moments as the Deputy focussed. ‘So it’s time for our operative to hijack the ship and go dark.’ He paused. ‘Triggering a few selected people in the GEC to raise questions about animustosis and failed stewardship.’

  Jenkins nodded; this was a standard tactic, and this time the mere implication of failure may be enough for the GF to gain legitimate political ascendancy. ‘The misinformation is working as planned.’

  Unblinking, the Deputy held Jenkins’ gaze. ‘We are at an inflection point; we can’t afford for the deception to unfold when the next team arrives. We have many hundreds of years, but it must still look like a genuine failure under close forensic investigation.’

  Jenkins nodded. This made sense. The likes of the Chairwoman and Commander Sharnia could not be underestimated. If they could hold on to power for a few hundred years more, they could check Vantch and Earth.

  The Deputy had not broken eye contact. His green irises, and vertical black pupil slits bored through Jenkins’ sense of calm. ‘Additionally, order the ground-based team to up the tempo significantly. I need more atrocities on Vantch.’

  ‘Is it necessary?’

  ‘It’s an order, Commander. The doctrines used on Vantch should allow for religious fervour to boil over. Relay it via your other cell members.’ He paused. ‘Yes, the Parallels-based revolt seems to work very well.’ The Deputy rolled his eye dismissively. ‘Greedy and needy.’

  Jenkins remained silent. He knew of a few broken individuals who took great comfort from the Parallels interpretation.

  The food arrived and the Deputy took five pieces of heart-flesh while Jenkins waited. He remained silent while the Deputy ate his first portion. The Deputy smiled appreciatively and then indicated to Jenkins to start eating. While Jenkins took some food, the Deputy spoke. ‘We’ve decided the time is right, but is our operative on the incoming ship ready to act?’

  Momentarily lost in savouring the delicious meat, Jenkins replied. ‘Ready and willing. Total crew is three—our guy and two normal Gadiums, both unaware of any danger.’

  The Deputy Chairman looked up sharply, frowned and spoke in a very harsh hiss. ‘What did you say?’

  Jenkins stopped chewing. What did I say? The room started to feel distinctly chilly as the Deputy Chairman became agitated.

  ‘We are the normal Gadiums! This current majority is an abomination to nature; it has no respect for the family unit, no concept of love and a deep-rooted and insidious level of entitlement. The Gadium civilisation—and our Chairwoman worst of all—cannot be allowed to continue this façade of Galactic Keeper.’

  Bowing his head, Jenkins mumbled an apology, the Deputy Chairman accepted it and the mood thawed again. ‘But, as you say, it should be easy for our team on Vantch. So, what of the Earth mission?’

  ‘We’re in good shape.’ Jenkins put his drink down. ‘At this moment he’s trying to trigger an Emergence and then surreptitiously mismanage it, but the fall-back is to trigger a Despot-based war. If he’s uncovered, he’s ready to overrun the other crew member and go dark.’

  There was a standard set of prioritised options. Although not documented, it was clear to all GF operatives.

  ‘Are you sure about his capability?’

  Jenkins took his time before answering; he wanted to ensure the Deputy knew he was taking the question seriously, and not simply rushing out an automated affirmation. ‘He’ll try to find the path of least violence towards his crew mate, but he’s committed. If it comes down to the wire, he has what it takes to make the kill.’

  The Deputy bared his teeth. ‘Do you know how many kills I’ve made in the name of righteousness? We have to make sure Earth is an unmitigated disaster for Gadium.’

  Jenkins nodded solemnly. ‘I completely understand, sir�
�‌and we do have truth on our side. We’re all ready to make sacrifices. It’s just that killing our own does not sit well.’

  ‘Killing Aytch will cause repercussions, he’s one of Sharnia’s.’ The Deputy paused. ‘She’s suspicious of you with regard to Vantch. Not helped by the timing with the Earth mission, given your long time connection with Justio, and her protective instincts of Aytch.’

  Sharnia. ‘She broke one of our cells some years ago and got a few names. Nothing directly led to me, but in conjunction with the other factors it now seems compelling…‌to her. Perhaps we should deal with her.’

  The Deputy waved a hand dismissively. ‘She’s tenacious and has admirable instincts, but she’s a blunt tool and I prefer to keep her around.’ He leant forward. ‘Better the psychotic killer you know, and can steer.’

  Jenkins didn’t really want to ask, but his military background had bred a straightforward nature. ‘But are you steering her towards me?’

  The Deputy appeared mildly amused. ‘I am not trying to dissuade her, you are guilty after all. She trusts me well and I cannot risk two exposures. But do not worry, I will not let her have you.’

  There was nothing to say, save challenging the Deputy’s ability to make good on his commitment. Jenkins returned his attention to his food.

  After a short while the Deputy looked up. ‘All we need is those two big successes, Vantch and Earth. The GEC is fractured, there is discord—our time is near.’ He paused. ‘But it’s not all straightforward. The GF Executive also has an issue to deal with. We need to address the propaganda saying that GF doesn’t want to help other civilisations in order to keep Gadium’s galactic dominance.’

  Jenkins was lost for a moment in his food. ‘I am not surprised; there are some who quite enjoy the status of ruling the galaxy. As more civilisations emerge, we will have more competition. It’s inevitable.’