Koban: When Empires Collide Read online

  “In extreme cases from the past, before monitoring was established by the early elevated species, the stars of competing Type twos were suddenly eaten by a massive black hole, or a core manipulation of a nearby giant star triggered a supernova, which would wipe out a neighboring competitor. We do not permit that level of misuse of powerful technology.

  “The curiosity of my controllers is sufficient to risk watching your continued development. The loss of your Type one opponents by your less destructive technology is not our concern, since that happens in every galaxy frequently, nor would your elimination by them be any of our concern. Should the Olt’kitapi move to eliminate you, or of any neighboring species via large scale use of their Type two gravity control, they would have their technology curtailed. We believe you have nothing to fear from them. They may have, from you.”

  That stance obviously annoyed Maggi. “You take a very long term view, and one of disinterest in species extinction even if they’re a higher level, such as the Olt’kitapi were to the Krall.”

  Surprisingly, the avatar agreed. “Not if they are destroyed by a Type zero or Type one species. The Olt’kitapi were not going to be protected from their Type zero client race, the Krall, even had we known the revolt would succeed. The Jing|!| was more distressed at the Olt’kitapi for using a Dismantler to destroy the Krall home world. Had that caused the Krall’s extinction, gravitational technology for the Olt’kitapi would likely have been disabled until their monitor believed they had evolved beyond youthful bad behavior. Over all, survival selects those best suited for advancement, even though some seemingly deserving species are lost. Others will appear. We cannot, and will not involve ourselves with choosing favorites among the myriad of Type zero and one species that continuously appear in every galaxy.”

  Mirikami matched his wife’s annoyance. “You appear to have allowed the Krall to use Type two technology to wipe out their neighbors. They did that seventeen times, and tried to do that with us.”

  “They were a Type zero species, with stolen Type one and limited Type two technology, and had no ability to understand or the means to replicate those weapons. They would inevitably encounter a stronger species. Which, on a galactic time scale happened quickly, because they found another low-level species that could stop them. Humanity.

  “They were on the verge of losing their access to the stolen gravity control technology, as the Dismantlers ceased to respond. You earned respect for your standing as a more desirable species for possible advancement, should you survive long term. You deliberately elected not to eliminate the Krall, which was within your power to do with the Type one technology you had. We only know this because of what we obtained from your mind, when you were experienced.”

  Mirikami was startled. “That was what that was? My being experienced?” Mirikami had assumed that test was yet to come.

  “Yes. If you were not available, your mate would have served the purpose, or one of the two Kobani with you today, to evaluate your species probable philosophical disposition. We learned that you are not, in general, predisposed to destroy an opponent by every means possible.”

  It didn’t seem advisable to argue the point, that a different Kobani may have held a different position. He had let go the other’s hand, but overlooked the avatar’s capability, which clearly extended beyond the need for direct physical contact. It knew his thoughts.

  “Another Kobani would not have had a different genetic predisposition, which I detected when I sampled your DNA by our contact. A personal bias of one of your people, based on an emotional reaction from some tragic loss, would not override the entire evolutionary imperatives of your species. You are certainly not the most benevolent people we’ve experienced, but neither are the gentle Olt’kitapi.

  “We know that many humans, even those without your Koban gene enhancements, would be predisposed to support the role you personally have played in protecting weaker species. It is a slimmer factor in non Kobani humans, but it is present, and we anticipate it will increase if your genetic modifications spread what you term Mind Tap, to more of your species, which is currently underway.”

  Maggi returned to their lengthy view of things. “How long have you been The Silha monitor? Are there many?”

  “There is only one required at a time. This construct has been reproduced three times, always a result of a Type two species wishing to avoid being monitored or regulated, or by their acting before the experiencing could take place. Avatar replacement has only resulted from widespread and massively destructive events, which exceeded my design’s ability to avoid, or to survive it when it occurred. For a limited region of destruction, which you would describe as a very local scale, much smaller than a star system, such as an explosion. A reverse time reflected tachyon wave is sufficient warning for an avatar to evade the event if it is not of a widespread nature. That is a matter of convenience to my controllers, to not need to replace an avatar.

  Mirikami laughed, and remarked, “You look just as alive as I suspect the Silha you are modeled after once appeared. Didn’t imminent destruction frighten you? How long have you existed?”

  He placed a sympathetic hand on the small creature’s shoulder, and added, “An Olt’kitapi Dismantler described using a time reversed tachyon wave to avoid a fatal collision with my ship once. How does that work?”

  Very life like, it directed its large black eyes his way. Knowing they were complex sensors and not eyes, didn’t alter their gentle appearance to Mirikami.

  “An elevated species will not furnish details of higher dimensional realms to younger species that have not learned of these by their own advancement. You have the advantage of knowing that other dimensional realms exist, so your people will now seek the answers.

  “To answer your question, and misplaced concern for my physical existence, I am continuously in contact with multiple elevated Silha controllers. If this construct were lost, an existing avatar replacement is immediately activated, receiving the most recent data from the monitoring Silha as a final update to the store of its continuously maintained history. The Silha replacement is sent to a time shortly after, and at a place safely away from where the previous device was lost. Paradox limits prohibit the prevention of such large-scale events, but the experiencing will proceed with a different sample of the involved species.

  “A Silha avatar has been in service for nearly two billion of your years, from shortly after the Silha were elevated. Because any Silha can act as a controller, to experience new species, I can represent one, or the entire population on my missions if they chose to participate. With periodic self-refurbishment and infrequent replacement, the exact extent of a specific construct’s existence is subject to reconstruction of complex timelines. How long a single avatar exists is irrelevant when they are each functionally identical, with no gaps in their record.”

  “Can you tell us…” it spoke before Maggi finished, sensing her thoughts.

  “There are many millions of other avatars, of various types, representing other elevated species. Most are far older than The Silha, and there are later ones that represent even younger elevated species. I will not answer your unfinished question about the path to elevation, or where it leads. The Olt’kitapi think they have hints from their mathematics, and that is helpful, but misleading.

  “I will only tell you that if your species struggles and manages to survive, waits, and learns what you need to know, and need to do, you may become a full Type two species. Nonetheless, achieving Type two advanced technology is not adequate in and of itself, and as your discussions noted before I arrived, nearly a trillion galaxies still shine brightly. The only Type three species that ever evolved and advanced to their elevation, developed within the first hundred million years of this Universe. They conferred with one another then, and altered the progression of future advancements. By then, the predicted accelerating universal expansion and the reducing number of galaxies, as small ones merged to form fewer large ones, made the fate of a lonel
y future for elevated species clear. If only one elevated species per galaxy emerged a single time, few new species could advance naturally, after the first Type three to develop had occupied every star in their galaxy.

  It pulled away from Mirikami’s touch. “I will now return to M32, where there is a problem to resolve between competing and antagonistic Type two species. I will leave monitoring devices here, where your progress and that of the Olt’kitapi will be observed.”

  It looked up at the two humans, and for the first time, it’s large synthetic eyes blinked.

  “You were an interesting experience. We will be watching you. Goodbye.”

  The soft pop ruffled their hair, and Maggi and Tet looked at one another and shrugged, as if that hadn’t gone as badly as they had feared.

  Mirikami repeated, with an odd smirk on his face, “It really was an interesting experience. Let’s go share some thoughts with Prola and Frithda, and then say our own goodbyes. We need to return home quickly.”

  She smiled, noting his cat-ate-the-canary smirk. “I wish we could impress them by just popping away.”

  “Like the avatar said. Survive, wait, and learn. Or perhaps we can place learning first, and the rest will follow.”

  Chapter 10: A Great Defense

  On the journey home, Mirikami shared his “experiencing” with his companions, after he and Maggi described The Silha’s sudden appearance, and what took place in the short but eventful meeting, describing it in general terms.

  “The intellect of the Silha species, and the technology they had achieved before, or after they were elevated, is undeniably far ahead of the Olt’kitapi. That small avatar downloaded the library of what was apparently the accumulated history of every human written record and document, possibly using the recently updated abridged copy in Jake, but they could have obtained it directly from the Library of Parliament on Earth. I don’t know if that download was done after it arrived on Egg, or if it already had that.

  “However, it did tell us that it did not access the smaller database that Maggi and I have, that all of us Kobani have on our Comtaps, until it joined us. Mine is richer in data that a Spacer would be interested in having, hers in the biological sciences, but both are still huge by our personal standards, and we need over an hour to replicate them in our backups on larger computers.

  “Remarkably, it transferred all that data, without our concurrence, in practically an instant. More impressively, it, and the Silha beings that were linked with it, rapidly filtered through that trove to focus on and comprehend relevant details they needed to understand about when, where, and how we Kobani humans advanced to the verge of what they term a Type two species. When it shook hands with me, it analyzed my entire genome in a split second, and deduced what our genetic changes implied about our abilities, and evidently our level of species maturity. They don’t appear to make morality judgements concerning the actions of Type one or lower species. How the Krall and the Thandol behave, is no better or worse than how the Olt’kitapi behaved, at least until a species develops Type Two technology.

  “If grabbing our Comtap data, and breaking down and understanding our unknown genetics in seconds doesn’t blow your mind, that little avatar also Jumped itself there, like a small spacecraft with Trap fields and a Jump drive built-in. It claims to have moved instantly from near Andromeda, to a spot midway between the two Olt’kitapi and Maggi and I on Egg, with no appreciable time interval involved. That has staggering implications.

  “The avatar admitted the Silha controllers initiated what I think is their advanced equivalent of a Mind Tap, before grasping that my genome told them I had a superconducting nervous system. Things did not proceed exactly as they or I expected. Because of my innocent seeming question, I received an avalanche of their powerful minds entering mine. I’m still sorting through my memory matrix to see if I received and retained any meaningful information. But whatever that might be, it isn’t likely to be as valuable as what my last question produced, when the avatar prevented numerous other Silha minds from swamping my thoughts.”

  Maggi nodded, her suspicion confirmed, and Carson wondered, “What did you ask?”

  “How a time reversed tachyon wave worked.”

  “That’s all?”

  Mirikami’s previous smirk returned. “There is an old military adage: the best defense is a good offense.”

  Carson had a brief introspective look that told them he’d done a search. “I found a reference in my Comtap. Why is that significant, considering your question?”

  “The avatar had shown it was able to sense my thoughts, even when we were not in physical contact, but it had isolated my mind from the swarm of inputs from his Silha controllers, he said it was for my mental wellbeing. I was in physical contact again as I asked the second question, so it must have understood what I was doing, and why.

  “The reason I tried that tactic again, was my hoping clearer thoughts would reach me, because I had nothing to lose. Nothing, except for our war with a powerful Type one species. A race that is trying to suppress or destroy what the Silha thinks is our novel and interesting marginal Type two species.

  “I knew the monitors were not going to permit us to use gravity projectors for any large scale aggressive actions, such as using Type two technology to manipulate a star’s output to damage entire Thandol planets, or to break their planets apart to force them to stop attacking us.”

  Alyson looked at him quizzically. “Something did get through, didn’t it? Even if they, or their avatar, knew you were fishing for a useful answer.”

  Carson didn’t see a connection. “Tet, what would that answer have to do with the adage?”

  “Turn the adage around, son, turn it around.”

  “What? What would that mean? A good offense is the best defense?” He looked even more puzzled.

  Maggi gave him a sour look, and shook her head, but refrained from thumping him. “He’s Dillon’s son all right. Both seem so promising, then…” She trailed off.

  Mirikami was no help either when he said, “Wrong turnaround kid, but it’ll become clear if we can convert the answer I received from the Silha into a working technology. Excuse me while I try to set up a group link with Max Born, Coldar, and Blue Flower Eater. I need to transfer information to our physics teams, which I hope they can use. I don’t even want to waste the day and a half to get home.”

  ****

  Coldar’s concern was reflected in his question. “If the detection method is sensitive enough to work, and if the AI can interpret the signal, how do we trigger such a signal without risking loss of the ship and the lives aboard? Its complete destruction must be assured, or the time reversed signal we seek will likely not be generated.”

  Blue offered his own worry. “The detection will not only need to be definitive, but acted upon quickly or it will be too late to save them. It is too risky.”

  Max shrugged. “Tet, without intelligent lives aboard and placed at risk, the wave may not be generated. We have no idea how many lives must be involved to produce a wave detectable by our new sensors, nor exactly what that wave form will resemble. Who will put this idea to the test?”

  Mirikami frowned, but it was only directed towards Max Born. “I understand the reluctance and caution of our two brilliant friends here. They aren’t reckless humans, and assume our only means of testing is how we used to risk test pilots. Put someone in a new craft as pilot, and see if they and the ship survive the stresses placed on them. Calculated risks are something humans have always accepted, when the cause is worth the risk of life.

  “Although, just for your edification I do know an upper bound on how many lives have to be involved to definitely produce a large enough tachyon signal. The near intersection of the Mark of Koban with Huwayla, in the Pittsburg II system, established that. There were twenty-four of us aboard the Mark when we nearly intersected with the Dismantler, and she sensed the coming destruction.”

  “That’s too many to risk on a test.” Max prot
ested.

  Mirikami offered him a lopsided grin. “It gets worse. The upper total of lives at risk was much higher than my ship’s complement, Max. There were five hundred fourteen Krall, and a single Krall’tapi on Huwayla. That means there were five hundred thirty-nine of what we recognize as intelligent living beings aboard the two ships combined, which would have died.”

  “Ye gods, man!” Now, Max was also repelled. “There isn’t any way we could find that many volunteers for the first test, nor would I allow that.”

  Mirikami was fully aware that human behavior didn’t extend to risks of mass suicide for just obtaining a test result. The alien scientists were feeling a sense of horror at what they now thought their friend appeared to have been asking of them.

  “Relax, you worry warts. That’s what I know must be the upper limit, because that was how many were involved in the only example of which I have direct knowledge. I am positive that the actual number of intelligences required is far lower.”

  Relieved, Coldar, with the only hard carapace of the various Federation species, asked, “What is a wart?”

  Blue posed the more useful question. “It is how few intelligent lives required that is the true number we need, isn’t it? My familiarity with your history of humor suggests it may be only one living being.”

  Nodding his approval to Blue, Mirikami modified even that suggestion. “I remind you I said intelligent being, and the definition of living may require some interpretation.”

  Exasperated, Max, a stuffy scientist not known for his jokes or appreciation of low brow humor, demanded, “Stop playing with our emotions, and say what you mean. What intelligence isn’t alive?”