Koban: When Empires Collide Read online

  “The Silha, or rather their avatar was what I meant. It told me that it had been reproduced three times, because previous avatars were destroyed by large scale events that had exceeded its ability to escape. It travels alone, and if it has the means to escape smaller local scaled destruction, such as a bomb, then it can detect the time reversed tachyon wave that signals the event seconds before it happens. It Jumps away, and I don’t know if it qualifies as alive, but it seems highly intelligent, and it can avoid those localized sorts of destruction.

  “We want to know how intelligent an AI needs to be, or if it needs to be very smart at all. The monitor avatars of elevated species exceed Olt’kitapi intelligence, but I don’t think Dismantlers do. Besides, Remela, the Dismantler that described time reversed tachyon waves to us said we had the capability to detect them, and that our most advanced AIs have the speed and computational ability to act automatically, if we allow them the freedom.

  “We’ll test with our own ships, and step up through smarter AIs to see which of them have what it takes.”

  “Couldn’t you have told us that at the outset?” Asked Blue.

  “Sure, but where’s the fun in that?”

  “Very funny,” Born complained.

  “I rest my case.” Tet replied, irritatingly cheerful.

  ****

  Watching the brilliant blast as the patrol boat vanished in a glowing sphere of atomized plasma and particles, Mirikami remarked dryly, “That AI was too dumb, or too slow. The Nova bomb was obviously destructive enough and on target. Next test target!”

  Blue was studying the speed of light data that had just arrived with the visible light of the blast. “Not yet, Tet. The patrol boat was a half-light minute away. Only two of the continuous transmissions from the three different tachyon sensors indicated any signal at all, and neither of them was exactly what we were expecting. Each of the detecting sensors reported a small tachon wave, consisting of two polarization types, both arriving together, and they were sensed nearly two seconds before we launched the Nova, which of course arrived instantly after it entered Tachyon Space.

  “The dual detection, coming that far in advance, matches the timing Remela said was about the expected warning time, and reduces the possibility of coincidence. We’ve been detecting random weak tachyon signals in Tachyon Space for days of monitoring these three sensors, and all three designs have reported signals, some polarized and some not. This is the first time we had a simultaneous detection by a pair of sensors. We only want those tachyon waves that are focused on the target, and arrive at the proper advance time before we launch. We know we need three of them to be simultaneous, with different polarizations for confirmation.”

  Coldar chimed in with an assessment. “It isn’t certain that the simple AI’s programing considered either of them the type of signal it was expected to use, and then to compute and execute a Jump. A half second is all that’s required for that level AI to detect the signals and then activate the boat’s Jump drive, to execute a preprogramed Jump. An unplanned micro Jump, which also avoids other nearby ships, would take longer to compute and execute for such a low-level AI.”

  “Hmm. OK.” Mirikami accepted that. “Assuming both signals were part of a time reversed tachyon wave, is that AI capable of calculating a safe micro Jump? Is under two seconds enough time?”

  Coldar had a partial answer. “It isn’t easy to say yet. A shuttle AI has more capability than one in a patrol boat, and if a double signal is adequate for prediction, it can compute a safe micro Jump in just under a second. However, we don’t want to micro Jump because of just any coincidental tachyon waves received, which might occur often in a region with frequent micro Jumps triggering tachyon waves in Tachyon Space.”

  Mirikami understood what they wanted. More tests. “Fine, you decide which sensors work best, and when you can put three of them on a ship where all agree on a simultaneous signal of the right type, matching what you determine is a time reversed tachyon wave. Then let me know. I’ll ask Jake and other high level AIs to analyze what minimal level AI can handle the micro Jump computation in under a second and a half, and has sensors to keep track of friendly ship locations. We don’t want to micro Jump into intersects with our own people, or the enemy.”

  He didn’t need to stay and watch any more patrol boats explode. They weren’t free, but the PU was now selling them to the Federation at cost, and this project was vital to the fight against the Empire.

  If the Thandol can’t hit us with Decoherence bombs, that’s step one, he thought. And his hints from the Silha controller had furnished the clues to what a time reflected tachyon wave would look like. This was a purely defensive measure, using Type two technology, and this was certainly allowed.

  He knew the next step would involve more difficult and innovative physics. Max was the best mind they had, and he was at work with his own team of human technicians and fellow scientists, who would explore more radical avenues than their cautious allies would attempt.

  Mirikami knew that what he intended to do, which was employ Type two gravity technology for attacks, but not do it in a fashion that violated the rules against mass destruction, and wouldn’t directly lead to extinctions.

  ****

  Max sounded optimistic. “Tet, we went back over what Remela told us about the process of generating a stasis field. At the time she told us this, she was unaware we had one of Huwayla’s huge projectors to study. She may have been more forthcoming than would be the case if she knew we would soon be able to form black holes at a distance.”

  “Can you form a larger one around an inner one, as she described?”

  “Yes, but we haven’t managed to halt, or even greatly slow the time of a clock that’s inside the inner horizon. We checked sample clocks carefully after we let both horizons evaporate, and the enclosed clocks never lost more than a few minutes in a full hour of testing.

  “We can move the nested pair of black holes together in Normal Space in perfect unison, but the time freeze is what we need to achieve. Neither horizon has been rotated into Tachyon Space yet, since we aren’t ready Jump them anywhere, but that’s something we’ve done often and is familiar. Although, your tactic requires that we promptly Jump the region contained in the stasis field to the return coordinates, rather than move them in Normal Space. This, we can and will do, if we can ever halt the damn flow of time inside that inner event horizon. There isn’t going to be anything to move if we can’t freeze time.”

  “How are you figuring out where to Jump them?”

  “We don’t, at this stage of the process. That’s part of Blue and Coldar’s work. If three of their sensors detect polarized time reversed tachyon waves, and the ship successfully Jumps out of the way, they will already have triangulated the origin of the incoming object. That point of origin is contained in the AI’s data for the event, and becomes the return Jump destination coordinate.

  “Will you be able to project the pair of horizons around the volume the ship just vacated in its micro Jump?”

  “Certainly.” Max seemed to be taking pains to be patient with Mirikami’s questions, a brilliant Spacer and strategist, but a layman in physics.

  “We established we could do that at the very start, by simply doing a micro Jump on command, and with the known coordinates of where we just departed, feed that to the two gravity projectors and create the two event horizons where we just were. That process works with the AI far faster than you or I can think. We’ll have the target area completely enveloped before the stasis field is needed. The challenge is creating stasis.

  “There’s a vast range of mass equivalents we can try for the black holes, and we must be able to tightly regulate the gap between the two horizons. Our calculations tell us we can increase the time dilation effect between the horizons the closer they approach one another. That should slow the passage of time, measured by the clock ticks within the inner horizon, compared to an external clock.

  “We definitely see the start
of the effect we want, but we can’t slow the clock very much, let alone halt the flow of time. When we narrow the gap between the nested event horizons, we always encounter a problem where the two horizons overstrain the space-time between them, and they abruptly merge. Then a single event horizon encloses the combined mass energy of both.”

  “And you said the clock didn’t lose significant time after that?”

  “In the sudden merge scenario? We don’t know. The clock never survives. All we find when the merged hole is permitted to evaporate are fundamental particles. It’s clearly quite stressful.” He added in an understatement.

  Mirikami voiced his support. “I’m confident you and your team will find a way with enough experimentation. We know the Olt’kitapi did it, and they are far more cautious than we would be. They even ordered their Differentiators to use their projectors to do it on themselves.”

  Born nodded. “We’ve considered trying that, and we think we could risk enclosing a Scout in a double horizon. Those AI’s, with two projectors to control, are competent to do that, but we’d not be able to communicate with one by radio while it was within either of the double horizons. Not unless it had a Prada tachyon communicator and a Trap field extended into Tachyon Space, like border monitor boats use.

  “When it’s time to end the experiment, the AI would simply cut power to the projectors and emerge unscathed, just like in the tests we’ve done on clocks, but with no significant time lost. And, of course, the Scout will emerge unscathed only if the two horizons didn’t get too close. We don’t want to waste Scouts for these tests.”

  “Have you tried rotating both horizons, to see what would happen?”

  Max looked at him oddly. “No, but that’s worth a try. I didn’t know you knew we could do that. You always surprise me with your insights, in areas where you claim to have little knowledge.”

  “That isn’t my insight. It was originally Golda Mauss’ tactic when they ghosted their fleet at times, during their second attack on K1. I don’t know if even she came up with the idea. I adapted the tactic for our use.”

  Max looked taken aback. “Oh! You meant where you rotate ships into Tachyon Space but don’t Jump away. You sort of hover your ships, and do a White Out in the same place, after the enemy thinks you departed.”

  “Yes, the ships rotate into Tachyon Space. What did you think I meant?”

  “I thought you meant a bright idea we haven’t tried yet.” He sounded intrigued. “Intended or not, you gave me something new to think about and to try. I need to get back to my team. I’ll keep you apprised if we make any progress.” He hurried out of the conference room for his lab.

  Mirikami thought to himself as he left the room, I wish I was as smart as I keep getting credit for.

  ****

  “President MacDougal, we need to talk, and after that we probably should contact President Strickland.”

  “Oh crap, Tet. You know I tense up every time you call and address me so formally. It’s never about some pleasant subject, like hunting or fishing on Koban, a poker night on Haven, or even a mildly annoying budget item. What now? Does it relate to the spate of research resulting from your meeting with those god-like Silha?”

  “Yes, Sir, it does. Max Born’s team discovered that if he uses gravity projector polarization when forming the two event horizons, he can induce quantum style spins in each, opposite spin values for each black hole, which allows the two nested black hole horizons to get extremely close without suddenly merging. Doing that, they can create the time stopping stasis fields inside the inner event horizon. He keeps thanking me for giving him the idea. All I did was ask the wrong question at the right time, which led him to the solution.”

  MacDougal understood none of this, so asked, “Max can make your catch and release tactic work?”

  “It does, Sir. We have a two-step method to do what I discussed with you when we returned from Egg, and we can apply gravity technology in a Silha and Jing-pop approved manner. Or so I believe.”

  “Or so you believe? Did you ask them?”

  “How would I do that, Sir? It isn’t as if they left us their business card with a contact number. They remain aloof and uninvolved until we screw up, from their elevated viewpoint.”

  “You are not easing my concerns when you keep Siring me. When you start out formal, and stay that way, things are about to turn serious and deadly. Do we need to use the new tech to fight off the Thandol? Are they about to use their own fleets to attack us and the PU?”

  “It’s the other way around, Sir.”

  “Wait! What? You want us to attack them?”

  “Well…, it’s better than waiting until they’re headed for some indeterminate world, which has no planetary defenses, and we or the PU navy needs to figure out where they’re going, and rush to defend the target on the fly.”

  “You told us that the Empire would pause to lick its wounds for a time. That we should avoid stirring them into action before they’re ready, and before we improve our own fleets. We’re in early construction phase.”

  “I said improve, not just increase. I’ve learned from Max Born this morning that his team, combined with Coldar and Blue’s work, have managed to implement the technology we needed, using the clues I carried back from meeting The Silha.”

  “Is that enough improvement? It doesn’t break the limits you described, which the most advanced species apply to us?”

  “Not if we aren’t using Type two technology for planetary scale destruction. Not even species extinction, although those higher up Types don’t appear to object to the loss of Type zero and Type one species. Not if it’s done at the same scale of destruction that our opponents use, and I’m confident we’ll be doing that more precisely than even the Silha would expect. Befitting our status as a surprising, novel, and marginal Type two species.” He chuckled.

  “You briefed me at the outset on what you had our physics teams doing, so apparently, the system is now ready for wider deployment. How are you going to use our few dozen Mark IIs and several hundred Scouts, the only ones with gravity projectors that can use the technology. You want to go against a Thandol fleet? Stealth only goes just so far, and they have thousands of Smashers with Decoherence bomb launchers, and mass detectors that can locate the Mark IIs, if not the Scouts.”

  “Sir, it’s true that the stasis part of the system requires paired gravity generators, but that’s only part of the system. Any ship with the triple tachyon sensors that pick up the three-way polarized reflected waves, and has an AI that can act quickly enough, can micro Jump to safety. Our clanships all have AI’s now, and can be given the same tachyon wave detectors. They won’t be able to leave a stasis field behind, but they won’t be sitting ducks either.

  “They have conventional weapons as good as most Smashers have, and they can launch Nova bombs that are more destructive than the Empire’s Decoherence bombs, although not as many or as fast as the specially equipped Smashers can launch.”

  “What will you ask the PU to do? They don’t have any gravity projectors. Can we give them the same tachyon wave detectors for their cruisers?”

  “We’ll give them sample sets of ours, and the technical specifications to make their own, and show them how to use them. They’ll need to manufacture and deploy their own detectors, because the Prada will barely be able to produce enough for our ships in the time I’m allotting. I hope to convince the PU to go with us with at least one task force, if not both.”

  “What’s the rush? If the Thandol haven’t gathered their own fleets for a new attack.”

  “Sir, the Empire hasn’t sat on their asses since the strikes on their bases. Particularly when the PU left some wrecked Scouts behind at Rogue 1. Last week, the Hothor and other household spies reported hearing discussions about upgrades to sensor systems for their fleet.

  “Using samples of our Scout hull coatings, which they can’t reproduce yet for their own ships, they did learn how to detect our ship outlines, just as our sensors
can do. They also discovered that long wave radio waves are another weakness of our stealth, which can detect formations of ships, if unable to track individual units for missile targeting.

  “Remember what thirty Smashers did to the PU Scouts that arrived in a formation at Rogue 1? Even a single Smasher with three launchers can send over a hundred of those small Decoherence bombs through Tachyon Space into a selected area in a minute. The warheads have proximity detectors to activate and vaporize anything within a two hundred forty-two-foot diameter.

  “I estimate we can be ready to attack in a month, or six weeks at the most. In three months, the Thandol might be ready to hit us, and we wouldn’t know where they were headed. I want to hit Wendal first.”

  “With a three-month buffer, why not give us and the PU two full months to prepare?”

  Mirikami sounded a bit exasperated. “That’s an estimate, and I hope you remember how accurate the estimate for the empire attack was on Tanner’s World. Six months was cut to three months.”

  “Point made. Will this only be a fleet battle?”

  “No, Sir, not if the fleet battle goes really well. I think it’s time the flatfooted pachyderms learn what it’s like to be hit by tough assed, fast moving ground forces. Mark IIs and Scouts can land people via directs Jumps to the surface. We certainly won’t try to hold the planet, but Wendal has a bull’s eye painted on it, centered on the Emperor’s ass. Wendal and the Imperial Palace will be our ground target, and afterwards their three Security forces will take notice of the Thandol vulnerability.”

  “I hate to sound so fearful and hesitant, but that reflects how much I know we’re risking. I assume you have a plan of attack for our side. I really don’t think the PU will give you command over Foxworthy or loan you a navy task force if they participate.”