‘Not get stuck on the can?’ Allen asked.
Nathan burst out laughing, loud enough that many of the nearby senators glared across at him with stern expressions. Nathan cut his laughter short, and as he did so he heard the massed conversations die down as CSS Director Arianna Coburn walked gracefully to the central dais and moved to the speaker’s platform. A series of holoscreens hovered into life around the senate, allowing those sitting further away to see and hear the director clearly as she spoke.
‘Senators, members of the CSS and police force,’ she began, glancing briefly at Foxx and Nathan where they sat near the dais, ‘we gather here today to hear about a momentous and potentially catastrophic encounter near Polaris Station, and of what it means for our future. I can think of no greater intellect to impart this data than Doctor Hans Schmidt.’
With no further elaboration, Coburn stepped back from the dais and in her place materialized Doctor Schmidt. The Holosap moved to stand before the speaking platform, his voice carrying clearly to the gathered senators.
‘We have waited many centuries for this day,’ he began, ‘and now that it has come it has been, as so often has been the case between races on our own planet, a time of conflict and misunderstanding. Two days ago the flagship of the fleet, CSS Titan and her crew, encountered for the first time a species born not of this Earth. We could not have hoped to understand in such a short space of time what its motivations were, what its origins were, where it came from or where it intended to go to, but we did know that it was a predator.’
A ripple of nervous whispers fluttered around the senate like dark thoughts in a gigantic mind as Schmidt went on.
‘Although we know that this species preyed upon an Ayleean warship, completely outclassing her and ultimately killing her entire crew, I do not at this time believe that it was an act of overt aggression. The species we encountered was acting in the same way that any natural predator would do: it was trying to survive, to live, to replicate itself. The data that I have managed to extract from the scans and studies I was able to conduct before we were forced to return the samples we had collected yielded results that many of you may find disturbing.’
Another ripple of concerned whispers as Schmidt took an entirely unnecessary breath, a habit that no Holosap could break, and then continued.
‘The species we encountered was essentially a machine, a super intelligence consisting of synthetic cells no larger than those that constitute the human body.’
A rush of alarm washed like a wave over the senators, but Schmidt raised his hand to silence them and they obeyed, hanging on his every word.
‘In isolation those synthetic cells would have been almost unnoticeable, but in the concentrations we found them in aboard the alien vessel they had become a lethally dangerous foe, driven by impulses little different from the wild animals we see on the plains and in the jungles of Earth today. The very fact that they had commandeered an alien vessel far more powerful than Titan points to a simple fact that, in the heat of battle, was somewhat overlooked.’ Schmidt made the senate wait, and they waited until it seemed to Nathan that the atmosphere in the building was weighing them down, and then he spoke a single sentence. ‘We are not alone.’
The silence deepened, the senate knowing somehow that Schmidt had not yet finished.
‘Although we faced a synthetic being, that being must have been conceived and constructed by some other civilization, hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago. The vessel that they occupied, itself built perhaps by the being’s creators or by some other unknown species, was evidence in itself that there are other entities out there perhaps not so different from our own. Now that this, one of the greatest questions in history, has finally been answered, it is our time to make a choice.’
The silence in the amphitheater was heavy and expectant as Nathan waited with hundreds of other people for Schmidt to continue.
‘Do we make our way out into the cosmos in pursuit of knowledge of these species, or do we remain here and hope that they do not find us?’
Whispers fluttered across the senate as Schmidt continued.
‘It is likely that in the next few centuries our own species will make the adaption to a fully synthetic existence – I stand here as evidence now that death is no longer the end for human beings, that our existence could continue forever. Our encounter with the synthetic alien however shows us that altering ourselves too far could ironically take us back to a hunter–gatherer existence, a predator with no awareness of the human spirit, of life, of what made us who we became. There are likely civilizations out there that have advanced to a degree so technologically astute that anything they do would appear to us as purely magic, the impossible. I can only think that our only defense against an aggressor with such technology is to break the bonds we hold to our Earth, to our solar system, and follow the colony ships of old to make a journey out into the stars in search of new life.’
This time the rush of whispering and conjecture within the senators was intense and Foxx leaned in toward Nathan.
‘Is he saying what I think he’s saying?’
Nathan nodded, enraptured himself. ‘He wants us to leave Earth.’
Schmidt’s voice carried above the whispers, silencing them as he spoke.
‘There has always been the fear among mankind, that to venture among the stars will invite terror from beyond, based on the way in which mankind behaved toward each other in the past as he invaded countries, killing millions throughout history. That view has likewise always been countered by the speculation that any species capable of travel between the stars would likely have left internal conflict far behind. We all know that not to be true of humanity. We still wage war, we still fight crime, we still suffer disease and we still do not understand the universe around us. And now a predatory alien species has found us, and I do not believe it will be the last time, for a super intelligent synthetic being is precisely how I would predict a highly advanced species would investigate the universe around it.’
More whispers, Nathan on the edge of his seat now.
‘It would not seek to put itself in harm’s way, much in the same manner as Holosaps and automated vehicles are sent into extremely dangerous combat situations to act as scouts for Marines: they cannot truly be destroyed by enemy fire, and thus human lives are protected. Any radio–hot civilization would likely be far more advanced than our own, and I believe based on my studies of the species we encountered that a scouting party is precisely what it represented.’
This time, Admiral Marshall stood from his seat as the senators whispered and gabbled in alarm.
‘You’re saying that we let the scout go to report back to its masters?’
Schmidt nodded, his expression somber.
‘I don’t believe that it was simply wandering out here without purpose,’ he replied. ‘I believe that it was created to seek out life elsewhere in the universe and to gather intelligence about that life. Its ability to alter its appearance and shape to mimic anything it encountered belies a programming of some kind.’
‘That’s a big leap of thinking and a dangerous one,’ Marshall warned.
‘Does its presence here mean that the search for life was conducted with the intention of destroying that life?’ Schmidt asked rhetorically. ‘I don’t know, but it would seem unlikely given the need for curiosity to drive such a search. One of the Marines who fought at close quarters with the creature reported that he believed he saw some evidence of emotion, a sense of regret at loss of life which is at odds with how the creature otherwise behaved toward both ourselves and the Ayleeans. I believe that this is because it sought genetic diversity: as the result of a heavily cloned species it may view such diversity as a prize, valuable to its own evolutionary future, essential perhaps. The death of species denies it that diversity, renders it unable to advance in evolutionary terms.’
Marshall sighed heavily.
‘That’s all fascinating, doctor, but it doesn’t bring us any closer to a defense against such a species, and any others that might be wandering out there among the stars.’
Schmidt nodded in understanding.
‘My point admiral, senators, is that as long as we sit here and wait for whatever might be out there to come to us, we are ill prepared to deal with the eventuality when it inevitably occurs. I do not mean this in simply defensive terms: we do not know how to communicate with or identify an alien species, or if we even would be able to do so should one arrive. Despite the fact that human colony ships have travelled out into the cosmos, many of them never to be heard from again, our knowledge of what’s out there is utterly incomplete, and now we know for sure that we’re not alone. It is my proposal that we should send probes and perhaps ships of our own, further and faster than ever before, and see what’s out there before it comes calling. The question is, who will go? That, ladies and gentlemen, I will leave to you with a single final note: whatever is out there may now know where we are, what we are, and how advanced we are. They know where to find us, and we don’t know what they might do next.’
Schmidt stood back from the dais and his projection flickered out.
Director General Coburn looked expectantly at Admiral Marshall, who reluctantly took to the stage. He took a deep breath before he spoke, his hands behind his back.
‘I don’t know much about what species may lie in wait for us out there in the cosmos, but I do know about the life that resides here in this Solar System. Having witnessed at first the kind of dangers that may await us out there in the great unknown, I feel that a time of great change has come upon us.’ Marshall took another deep breath. ‘I think that the time has come to reach out to our Ayleean brothers, and unite with them against that great unknown before it destroys us all.’
‘Wow,’ Foxx said.
‘Yeah, that must have pinched his ass to say that,’ Vasquez offered as the admiral continued.
‘Our time as humans may be limited, our future determined only by how quickly we embrace technology over biology. If Doctor Schmidt is right, what resides out there in the universe may consist largely of sentient machines with no understanding of who or what we are. We must unite, play to our strengths as a species and prepare for whatever may come our way, for we are no longer an isolated ape on a tiny speck of a planet in an infinitely immense void. We are a member of a galactic community, and as Doctor Schmidt said, they know now that we are here. Do we risk meeting them again on their terms, or do we ensure that we are ready for anything?’
The senate burst into conversation, a thousand voices clamoring to be heard at once, and Foxx looked at Nathan.
‘Looks like we’re entering a new era,’ she said, not without some enthusiasm.
‘Or a new arms race,’ Nathan replied.
***
XLIII
New Washington
Nathan sat in silence on his couch and stared at the Lucidity Lens sitting on a hard–light table before him, the rims of which glowed a faint electric blue to remind him that it was there. More than once since moving into the apartment he had bashed a leg against the transparent but entirely solid object.
The lights of the city surrounded him, the walls of the apartment set to panoramic and thus transparent, giving Nathan the impression that he was sitting on a rooftop in the open air. To his left and right, the station’s giant city–filled wheel rose up like a metallic wave to soar overhead, the giddying backdrop of Earth’s vast blue, green and white surface turning slowly as the station rotated, brilliant sunlight casting moving shadows over the endlessly changing city scape. He could see showers falling to drench North Four’s shadowy streets far above and to the right, shafts of sunlight casting rainbow hues through the downpours, while closer by beams of slow–moving sunlight bathed the streets of Constitution Avenue and the Capitol Building.
Nathan could see all of that, but his focus instead remained on the lens before him. Nathan had heard the early adopters of the technology had died while using the lens, so enthralled by their virtual world and convinced of their own health and vitality within it that their real bodies had succumbed to dehydration, starvation and sickness. Laws enacted as a result allowed only two hour stretches inside the lens before it automatically cut off, although it was believed that “hacks” for the device allowed longer sessions. Many missing persons reports back at the precinct suggested heavy use of the lenses before the users vanished, and that had ultimately resulted in their demise in some squalid den somewhere beyond the reach of law enforcement, like digital drug addicts.
Nathan was addicted, he knew. Just by putting on the lens he could for a short while escape the pain of knowing that his beloved wife and daughter had died many centuries before. The knowledge that they had lived happy, fulfilling lives did not detract from the agony of missing them. Life inside the lens was happier for him and yet somehow more painful still, knowing that no matter how real it felt, it was all an illusion. Nathan’s pain at not using the lens was far more bearable than taking if off again and knowing that none of it really existed any more, that they were long gone.
Nathan’s eyes stung painfully as he stared at the lens, and he reached out for it just the same for he knew that he couldn’t be without them any longer.
A soft bell alerted him and he turned to see Kaylin Foxx outside his door. He knew that she could not see inside, the walls of the apartment as solid as could be. He stared at the lens for a moment longer, then set it down and spoke.
‘Access granted.’
The apartment door opened and Foxx walked in. Nathan stood up to greet her, saw a smile on her flawless features.
‘I like the way you do that,’ she said.
‘Do what?’
‘Stand up, whenever I show up. Nobody else does that. It’s kinda cute.’
Nathan shrugged. ‘Force of habit. I’m getting a bit cuter these days, right? More than kittens?’