Parker Interstellar Travels 4: The Trilisk Hunt (6 page)

“Look. This is Trilisk
technology, and they understood so much more than we do. Maybe there are whole
other dimensions involved we don’t understand. Still, if you believe the
Trilisks messed up here, or had a different way of looking at copies of
themselves than we do, there’s still an out. I mean, if it’s not some kind of
‘true essence’ of yourself that gets transferred, we might still safely use it.
Suppose the original you really is you, consciousness-wise. Suppose your new
one is just a copy. Here’s what you do: copy yourself, send the copy on the
expedition with us. The ‘real you’ is just in stasis. When you get back, you
download your new experiences into the original you, wake up, and there you
are. It happened to me: when I transferred back into my original self, I could
remember everything that happened in the other body.”

“But then what about the copy?”
asked Caden. “It’s not me. But he thinks he is, and he’s alive just like me. I
can’t very well justify stuffing him into stasis indefinitely. And if he knows
that’s what’s waiting for him, he might not come back.”

Good point,
Imanol
thought.

“Then flip-flop,” Cilreth
suggested. “Both of the copies get to live. Just not at the same time. Spend a
month or two as one of you, then switch on a schedule. Always sync yourself at
switch time—or more often, for that matter. Use your fast copy for dangerous
missions and keep your slow and stupid self back here where it’s safe.”

“Stupid? This affects
intelligence?”

“We don’t know exactly, but if
the body is improved overall, cognitive function might improve as well,” Telisa
said. “Certainly reaction speeds might improve.”

“Is this illegal? We’re not
supposed to grow clones of ourselves,” Caden said.

“We’re finding new technologies
faster than we can develop ethics on using them,” Telisa said. “Are you happy
to let the government dictate your life rules?”

Imanol noticed Telisa had posed
the question to Caden. For all his virtual world skills, he remained naive and
sheltered.

She’s poking at his loyalties
, he
thought.
And she knows I’m anti-government. In fact, this whole outfit must
be. She wants to know if Caden is too! What the hell have I gotten into here?

In that moment, Imanol felt he
may have discovered an undercurrent of motive he had completely missed before.
But the others seemed not to notice.

By the Five. Have I just joined
the UED and didn’t even know it?

Maxsym jumped in before Caden
replied.

“Ethics should arise from trial
and error,” Maxsym said. “At first, you do whatever you want. You learn some
harsh lessons. Then you form a framework of best practices. That’s just an
accelerated version of how societies construct their mores.”

“You really think that?” Caden
said.

“The reason we view killing
each other as wrong is because it is a suboptimal way for a society to work, at
least in past stages of development,” Maxsym said. “If it were better, a
society in history where the members routinely killed each other would have
arisen as dominant, and they would have rules that encouraged it. Murder
wouldn’t be considered wrong. After all, war is murder, and that was required
for primitive societies to survive, so it was allowed. People tend to be… unable
to handle the complexities, so they distill this wisdom down into static
rules.”

Well, Maxsym is in line with
their sentiment, I think. I don’t know about Siobhan…

“We’re off subject,” Cilreth
said.

“We’d be stupid not to take
advantage of such possibilities,” Imanol said. “Faster? Maybe even smarter?
Long life? You can’t measure how important those are. I say we use it.”

“I have a solution, but it will
take more work,” Siobhan said. “Look, if these things can copy our minds and
copy our bodies with various improvements, then they could be made to just
replace our bodies and leave our brains alone.”

“Sadly, we don’t understand the
Trilisk devices we have well enough to modify them,” Telisa said. “We’re just
users of the technology, not engineers of it. Also, apparently some aspects of
these improvements we’re talking about are global. All the way down to the
subatomic level. So they might not play well with ordinary human parts.”

“This technology is going to
change so much back home,” Caden said.

Telisa made a pained face.
Imanol caught it immediately.

How will she handle that one?

“We don’t know yet,” Telisa
said. “Another reason to test it out. Maybe it’s not safe to use at all.”

“So you haven’t turned it in to
the government yet,” Caden said. “Aren’t there strict laws about using alien
technology?”

“This is the frontier, Caden,”
Cilreth said. “The UN doesn’t rule every step of your life here. It’s up to you
to decide whether you like it that way or want to head back home.”

Caden looked thoughtful.

“Okay, well how about this,”
Caden said. “Make the copies but leave them as backups. We go ahead and live
our lives as ourselves. If I come to a nasty end on some alien planet, then
just warm up Caden number two. I’ll still be dead, but I can rest easier
knowing there’s a backup of me lying around somewhere to try again.”

“That’s a great idea with one
flaw: Caden2 is stronger, faster, maybe even smarter than you. He’ll have a
better chance of initial success than Caden1,” Magnus said.

“Well, the Trilisks made it,”
Siobhan said. “Maybe it really does transfer the true essence of a being into
the new body. Not just a copy. Maybe they understood what consciousness really
is and how to move the original. They were supposed to be so amazing.”

“That’s my first thought on it
too,” Telisa said “But what if it is a copy? What if the Trilisks were just so
different from us they didn’t care? Maybe they were like a hive creature that
had no sense of self worth. Maybe they were like ants that would sacrifice
themselves without question. Then they would use this technology and happily
allow their original selves to die. It could be a philosophical issue, and their
perception of it was just radically different than ours.”

“Well, think about it and
discuss it. We won’t be making the decision today,” Magnus said. “Keep
training. Decide whether you want to accept our offers and work with us. Just
know, this is another taste of what’s in store here. We have more surprises for
you, but that’s all for now.”

Imanol was impressed.

Wow. If this is what they tell
us now, what incredible things do they have in store for someone who’s a full
member of their outfit? I need to make sure I don’t screw this up.

***

Magnus and Telisa lay in a
rumpled bed with the lights low. After their playful relaxation, they had
started talking about the same thing everyone else in PIT was talking about.

“I’m thinking of it as a copy.
Not the real me. And I still want to go ahead with it,” Magnus said.

“Really? Even knowing you’re
going to be put in stasis at his mercy?”

“It’s a form of immortality,”
he said. “I can create a better version of myself. I face my own mortality. He
may not have to. Yes, I’ll be jealous of him. But I also know he’ll let me out
of stasis when he get’s back because like me, he’ll feel sorry for the crappier
me. Let him live out his life. The new me has forever to look forward to. Why
be petty about it?”

“This makes my head hurt,”
Telisa said. She thought for a while longer. “But ten years from now, when your
selves have diverged…”

“We could prevent moving apart
by regular transfer. We’ll merge regularly, and the two mes will always agree
on whatever action has to be taken.”

“As your original self gets old
and gray, you’re going to always merge?”

“Actually, I was thinking I may
not spend much time as my original self until we figure out how to make the
original Magnus immortal like my copy. Problem solved.”

“Damn,” Telisa said. “That’s a
nice thought. I just hope we’re not making a mess we can’t undo.”

“If you had a twin sister, and
an alien kidnapped the two of you and merged you and your sister, averaging
between you but leaving both bodies, we would let both of you live. It would be
weird, but we’d be used to it by the end of the week.”

“Really? Which one would you
sleep with?”

Magnus frowned. “Yes, there may
be some new problems.”

“You see where we’re headed?”
Telisa said. “Shall we agree now: Magnus2 can only sleep with Telisa2, and
original Magnus can only sleep with original Telisa? We forbid any cross-pollination?”

“Ha. Cross-pollination. I don’t
know. You’re going to be jealous of yourself if that happens?”

“Yes. They’re going to be
better than us, remember?” Telisa said.

“Well, Telisa2 and Magnus2 will
have more in common. We could always switch back and forth together.”

“It’s too weird. But yes, I’ll
try it out with you.”

Chapter
8

Cilreth shook her head in the
small, dark room she had prayed up for her work. It felt like the cockpit of a
small spacecraft. Dozens of viewpane anchor points surrounded her. To her
vision, they were filled with screens and screens full of multicolored status
readouts, lists, and code. She had just found an entire new subsystem allowing
remote control of Vovokan hardware of which she had been unaware.

Damn. Yet another way into the
Clacker
for Shiny.

Her designs on the
Clacker
had been modest at first. She had simply wanted to be able to control basic
functions to help out the team, and she had assumed they could always rely on
Shiny. But as she delved further into the mysterious world of Vovokan
cybernetics and programming, she had been drawn in. Cilreth started to spend
more and more time learning about the
Clacker
until she had accidentally
become obsessed with learning all there was to know about it. Magnus had
encouraged her obsession in modest ways and implied a need for independence
from the Vovokan. Slowly, Cilreth had picked up that Magnus did not fully trust
the alien.

The problem was, there was
so
very much
to learn.

At first, she had learned just
enough to feel a comfort that had turned out to be unjustified. Vovokan tools
had evolved to a point where it was in fact very easy to set up any system she
wished by specifying the behavior she wanted. The Vovokan systems could even
learn quickly to perform complex tasks and tall orders with staggering
efficiency. Cilreth thought she had made good progress. True mastery, though,
required her to lift the veneer on the higher tools and look into their base
components. Once there, she had fallen down a rabbit hole and had never found
her way out.

“Cilreth. Got a few minutes?”
someone asked.

“Hrm,” Cilreth mumbled.

She went back to work. The
interruption had not really been enough to knock her out of the zone. After a
while, various bodily interrupts stacked up until she finally had to move. Her
twitch dose was wearing off, her stomach rumbled, and her bladder groaned at
capacity.

I ought to get a full V-pod in
here for this.

The virtual pods were used for
extended stints in virtual worlds. They accommodated various bodily needs so
the user could remain immersed in alternate realities for long periods of time.
Such a pod could prove useful for extreme programming…

Nah. Even on twitch, I’d crash
in twelve hours anyway.

She sent for a sandwich
from the Terran mess using a Vovokan delivery system. It refused to
bring her the food, since there was no transport sand on the floor between her and
the Terranized mess hall. She had just wired through the delivery using one of
Magnus’s scout robots when she saw Telisa had left her a message asking for a
meeting.

Shit.

“Telisa, I’m free now. Sorry
about that.”

“That’s okay. Were you working
or playing?”

“Working on
Clacker
.”

“Wow, you’re dedicated,” she
said.

She’s probing.

“I can report to you guys now
if you want,” Cilreth offered.

“Report what?” Magnus said,
joining the channel. He had a video feed, so Cilreth turned on her own. Telisa
followed suit. Her companions looked the same as they always did: sickeningly
strong, fit, and in love.

At least they aren’t rolling at
the moment.

Current Terran vernacular
allowed for the term to cover wrestling or lovemaking. With Telisa and Magnus,
either applied with equal validity. They were either training, planning, or
loving at any given moment of the day, and half of it was incarnate instead of
virtual.

“We have no short-term hope of
securing
Clacker
against interference from Shiny, despite my best
efforts. I’m still a child at this. I’ve come a long ways, I feel comfortable
handling the
Clacker
for us, but Vovokan sciences are just… this is
going to take a couple of
years
.”

And about a ton of twitch,
she
added internally.

“I’m glad you’re so interested
in it,” Telisa said. “We need someone we can trust in charge of the ship. You
might want to keep the data on your findings for a virtual trainer, in case we
get you an apprentice someday.”

“Sure,” Cilreth said.

“Don’t work too hard,” Magnus
said. “I don’t know when your next break will be. We don’t know how long it
will be before we see action, either.”

“Hrm, I’m playing Shiny next
time. I got your back. From way, way behind you.”

Telisa smiled. “Then it’s just us
and the new team for the next one…” Telisa said, leaving a fat pause.

“I know you’re waiting for me
to mention the robots so you can laugh at me,” Magnus said.

“The noobs still don’t know
about Shiny,” Cilreth pointed out.

“Maybe they don’t need to know.
Whatever he does, we can just say it’s you back on the ship,” Telisa said.

“They have to know eventually,”
Cilreth said. “But the real question is, are they ready? As I found out last
time, this stuff is dangerous. And now we know we’re after something nasty.”

“I think they’re ready, but
Arakaki and Magnus aren’t so sure,” Telisa said.

“I think they’re young and all
hot to go, but yeah, not really ready for this,” Cilreth said. “Neither was I,
really, when I went out with you nut balls the last time.”

“We can solve both these
problems at once,” Magnus said.

“Really? We’re listening,”
Cilreth said.

Magnus leaned forward. “Suppose
we create a simulation of the Trilisk ruins on Thespera and put them in that
trap. They get to meet Shiny, and it’s all a test. If they make it out of there
like we did, then we know they’re ready.”

“Wow, Magnus, that’s a great
idea!” Telisa said.

“They might just shoot Shiny
dead,” Cilreth said.

“Shiny might just shoot them
dead,” Magnus said.

Cilreth nodded. “Let’s do it.
I’d like to learn more about that place. What if they don’t succeed?”

“It’ll be informative for us
and a learning experience for them,” Magnus said. “We should confer with Shiny
on the details. I think he can help you get the simulation going. I don’t mean
the programming aspect of it; I mean the depth of what he knows about the
complex and himself compared to us. He might even use the prayer device. You
could wire him in to control himself if he agrees, since I bet it will be hard
to define the behavior module for his avatar without him.”

“You got that right,” Telisa
said. “In fact, if you do end up with a module for him, let us know so we can
examine it. I’d like to be able to predict his actions.”

“You’re the one who says we can
trust him,” Magnus said.

“We can. I’d just like to know
more about Vovokans, xeno freak that I am,” Telisa said.

“Let’s see what we can learn,”
Cilreth said.

***

“Shiny?”

The connection request came
from Cilreth. She called for him by his Terran name. He had looked it up long
ago and understood its origin completely after a short misunderstanding where
he thought it might describe his intelligence. In fact, his reflective
gold-colored surface had birthed the designation.

“Go,” he responded. It seemed a
very popular and efficient Terran response in use on their network. Cilreth
paused. Kirizzo wondered if he had responded inappropriately.

“Could we ask you a small
favor?”

“Shiny open to negotiation.”

“Oh. Good. Well, we’re setting
up a test for the recruits. We want to simulate the Trilisk installation on
Thespera where you met Telisa and Magnus. Can you help us? And would you be
willing to play your own part?”

Kirizzo immediately realized
such as test could prove to be a valuable source of insight into the new team
and Terrans in general, as well as give him an opportunity to affect the
ranking of the new team members.

“I will accommodate, provide,
assist,” Kirizzo said. There was another pause. Kirizzo believed Cilreth was
waiting for him to state his terms. “No external trade of services to propose. Intrinsic
value sufficient: Shiny wishes to invest, assist, improve training of Terran allies.”

“Excellent. I think you just
said this is a win-win. I’ll send you what I have, and we can move from there.”
Cilreth disconnected.

Unfortunately, Kirizzo had
spent most of his time analyzing the incident with the Trilisk and had been
unable to focus on the changes happening among his Terran allies. He reviewed
the conversations, training sessions, and behavior records of all the Terrans
on the
Clacker
since the last expedition.

The social dynamic was changing
as the number of Terrans increased. Though the Terran society put forward a
precept of gender agnosticism, Shiny noted strong gender-related patterns. He
noted unusual behaviors shaping up between the males in their training. They
worked to establish an unconscious sort of ranking among themselves. Kirizzo
remembered something from his previous studies and investigated it again on the
Terran network. The term was “pecking order”. Strong Terran males competed for
positions in micro societies by testing themselves against each other in both
physical and subtler ways. There were many precedents to this in other species
on their home planet, especially among phylum chordata, class mammalia.

Of the newcomers, Caden
appeared to be the most confident, aggressive. This one had an advanced
skillset for virtual simulations of combat and strategy. At first he merely
challenged Magnus’s dominance in virtual contests of skill. Finding an
advantage there, he would slowly gain confidence and eventually, perhaps over
years, come to replace Magnus as the lead male.

Jamie Arakaki, though female,
behaved and fit into the tiny society as a male: perhaps a requirement as a
warrior in a species where martial traditions had evolved among males before
females had taken roles as fighters. Telisa’s behavior hinted that she placed
herself in a role of more direct competition with Arakaki than with Caden and
the others. Some sort of gender-specific partitioning of competition. Possibly
this occurred at an instinctual level, a subconscious drive, since Terrans’
self-proclaimed directive of equality between their sexes would not support
such behavior as occurred in the rest of the Terran class mammalia.

Siobhan’s behavior had been
shown to be much more like a Vovokan: she was content to follow and watch until
she saw her opportunity. Then she became unpredictable, dangerous. Kirizzo felt
a warm familiarity in the profile defined by all her actions thus far. She was
his favorite.

Shiny concluded the long
planning phase. He decided what he needed to do for an optimal long-term picture.
Kirizzo would secure his position near the top of the pecking order by
decrementing Caden’s self-confidence and perceived rank.