Sufficiently Advanced Technology (Inverse Shadows) (2 page)

And if someone could manipulate it on a very small scale...

“I find it hard to believe that humans can do this,” the Grand Admiral said, finally. “Are you sure that there is no trick involved?”

“We have refrained from making actual contact, but we have deployed literally millions of snoops all over Darius,” the AI representative said. “If there is a trick, as you put it, we are unable to identify it. Furthermore, the communications links report... glitches comparable to recorded glitches on both Ancient worlds and Essence. As you are well aware, there is no known theory for explaining disruptions to Quantum Communications/Cryptology links. It should be impossible.”

Elyria swallowed, hard. She had never studied the Ancients – she had a theory that any real discoveries about the race that had vanished six billion years ago would have been made by now, given the vast resources poured into investigating their worlds – but she knew enough to show her just how weird their worlds were. Modern technology didn’t fail, not like the Dead Zone, yet it did suffer glitches. The AIs couldn’t function on the strange worlds and it drove them insane with curiosity. No wonder they were so interested in Darius.

“I think I see where this is going,” the President said. “You want to research Darius thoroughly.”

“Yes,” the AI representative said.

The representative from the Isolation Faction smiled. “Is this really something we should be messing with?”

“We believe that we have been granted a priceless opportunity,” the AI representative countered. “It would be foolish not to make the most of it.”

“Except that by intervening, we may destroy what makes them so special,” the Darwinist representative pointed out. “Do we really want to open ourselves to them?”

“We believe that we should study them first, before intervening,” the AI representative admitted. “This situation is unique.”

Elyria made a face. There was no reason to deny humans the benefits of human civilisation, no matter what warlords, kings, emperors and even elected politicians thought about it. A society so primitive that it used gold as a means of exchange and practised the slave trade, didn’t deserve to exist. For those living under such a nightmare, the shock of discovering that there were humans out among the stars who were effectively gods tended to destroy any fond feelings about their former government. Maybe, if Darius’ population all shared the same abilities, they would be loosely democratic, but she doubted it. A democratic First Age society was a rare thing, almost unprecedented in human experience.

“If they can manipulate the quantum foam,” the Grand Admiral said, quietly, “they pose a danger to the entire Confederation.”

“There is no evidence to suggest that they can manipulate it outside a limited range,” the AI representative pointed out, “and certainly no evidence that they can reach outside their own atmosphere. There doesn’t even seem to be any awareness that they live in a star system, although they have managed to grasp that their world is a sphere.”

The President smiled. “We do have a duty to our fellow humans,” she said, seriously. The Confederation didn’t object to people living in primitive conditions if they
wanted
to live in primitive conditions. Ensuring that humans had that choice was one of the Confederation’s prime reasons for existing. “On the other hand, this world might be able to bite back.”

Elyria caught herself nodding. A warlord whose principal weapons consisted of men on horseback armed with spears, would be utterly helpless against force fields capable of picking his army up and depositing them somewhere safe for re-education. Removing the yoke of local tyrants was often little more than the work of an afternoon, even if it took years afterwards to help their victims realise that they no longer needed to bow and scrape to their so-called betters.

But a society capable of manipulating the quantum foam? They might very well be able to defend themselves against the Confederation, certainly to the point where more extreme measures would have to be taken. And if their powers got really out of hand, they might even start threatening the structure of local space. The results would be disastrous. No, the AIs were right. They
had
to know more about Darius before they stepped in to help its population achieve its full potential.

And, she considered silently, studying Darius might unlock the mysteries behind manipulating the quantum foam.

“We believe that Professor Elyria will be more than suitable as the head of the overall study group,” the AI representative said. All eyes turned to Elyria, who flushed. Her society didn’t really believe in hierarchies, but those who had reached high rank did so because of very genuine achievements. What would they make of her? “She is already experienced in dealing with First Age societies and yet is young enough not to be shocked by the impossible.”

The President nodded. “I certainly have no objections,” she said, after a moment in which she no doubt reviewed Elyria’s complete file. “I assume, however, that the study team will include representatives versed in security matters?”

“Of course,” the AI representative said. “We welcome all input from the Peacekeepers.”

“I disagree,” the Isolation representative said, quickly. “This calls for a very careful research effort carried out over years, not a hasty study before yet another intervention.”

There was a brief debate, followed by a quick vote. Elyria was surprised to discover that everyone seemed to have an equal vote, all but one of them in favour of her appointment.

“As yet, this has remained unnoticed by the media,” the AIs said. “I think it behoves us to keep it that way as long as possible.”

“See to it,” the President said, “but make sure you keep us informed.”

One by one, the representatives vanished from the secure chamber, until only the Grand Admiral and the AI representative stood with Elyria. She couldn’t help feeling a little nervous, despite the various modifications her bloodline had undergone in the years since the foundation of the Confederation; she’d never operated at this level in her entire life. And the AIs had brought her in without getting her selected first... either they’d been certain of the outcome, or she was missing something. Probably the latter.

“You want the secret behind manipulating the quantum foam,” the Grand Admiral said, flatly.

“Of course,” the AI representative said. “Don’t you?”

“I am responsible for the physical security of the Confederation,” the Grand Admiral said. “As nice as it is to discover a shortcut to unlocking the greatest mystery in the universe, I must view it, first and foremost, as a possible threat. These people can do the inexplicable and that alone makes them dangerous.”

“They have no idea that we even exist,” the AIs pointed out. “How can they be dangerous?”

“I’m sure that the Essence Entities had no idea we existed either,” the Grand Admiral said. “That didn’t stop them being incredibly dangerous.”

He nodded to Elyria, and then looked back at the AIs. “I’m going to have to insist on complete security,” he said. “A planetoid and supporting elements will be placed within five light years of Darius, with additional ships on alert if necessary. The research vessel will be a Peacekeeper-controlled science vessel, not a standard one from the Intervention Group. In the event of Darius posing any threat, we will withdraw from the system and quarantine it until we can decide what to do next.”

The AI representative smiled. “One Peacekeeper cruiser can go toe-to-toe with an entire battlefleet from the 5
^th
Interstellar War and emerge victorious,” they said. “What do you expect to encounter that requires an entire planetoid to fight?”

“I do not know,” the Grand Admiral said, firmly, “but I do know that this is going to be dangerous. And if it gets out of hand, I want resources on hand to combat it.”

He looked over at Elyria. “You’ll have command of the mission, but there will be a Peacekeeper in command of the science vessel,” he added. “Don’t let the AIs push you into moving too quickly. And if the Peacekeepers issue the order to evacuate the surface, don’t argue with it.”

“Understood,” Elyria said. No intervention mission had failed completely, ever. But this was a research mission into possibly hostile territory. Maybe the Peacekeepers had a point, whatever the AIs said. Any kind of quantum foam manipulation was potentially deadly dangerous. “What about the other races?”

The Grand Admiral scowled. Relatively few races matched humanity’s technological prowess and none of them possessed anything like as many ships as the Peacekeepers, who had over two
million
starships. But many races thought that the Confederation was simply too big and powerful already, and they
all
wanted to know how to manipulate the quantum foam. If any other race worked out that Darius existed, they’d either demand access or bombard the planet into radioactive plasma. The results would not be pleasant, either way.

“There should be no other advanced civilisation within two thousand light years,” he said, finally. “However, we will be taking security precautions. If worst comes to worst, we will claim the system outright and let the pieces fall where they may.”

He nodded politely to Elyria and flickered out of the chamber.

“He’s serious,” Elyria said, quietly. Understanding clicked. “You wanted all that, didn’t you?”

“It is only logical to be paranoid,” the AI representative said. “And besides, the Grand Admiral is right. We
could
allow our lust to understand the quantum foam to blind us to the dangers.”

Elyria had to smile. “He didn’t say that out loud,” she said.

“No, but it is a logical surmise,” the AIs said. “You should start preparing the basic list of team members immediately. Some will not wish to deal with security precautions, so you may have to invite your second or third choices to the team. The Grand Admiral has already assigned you a Peacekeeper liaison officer. We suggest that you treat him as part of the team.”

There was a long pause. “We have already prepared a full data download for your neural implant, of everything we have recorded and surmised about Darius,” they added. “You will, of course, be able to use it as a guide to planning your investigation of the planet. It is hoped that you will be able to devise a way to insert agents into the population to gather data.”

“I should hope so,” Elyria said. That was easy, given enough data. Darius clearly had trading networks, so any strangeness could be explained away by claiming that the strangers were from out of town. On the other hand, they’d have to check how much knowledge the locals had of other cultures before they made too many claims. It wouldn’t do to allow the locals to spot a blatant lie. “I’ll start studying the download at once.”

“Make sure that you are not under observation,” the AIs warned. Elyria gave their representative a sharp look. Privacy was one of the most highly-valued luxuries in the Confederation, not least because there was so little of it. “The data is somewhat startling, almost unbelievable.”

Elyria didn’t doubt it for a second. Linking out of the virtual communications network, she checked her data store and discovered a new data packet marked DARIUS. Activating it, she accessed the file... and plunged into a whole new world.

CHAPTER
T
WO

“That is... fascinating,” she said, twenty minutes later. In the midst of the ultra-compressed data stream, it had felt like hours. “Why didn’t they see it at once?”

“Darius is unprecedented,” the AIs said. “Analysis of the first scans of the planet confirm that some details were simply overlooked, because they seemed impossible. It wasn’t until the flying carpet was detected that the survey team took a closer look at the planet.”

Elyria had to smile. It was a frequent problem with the Restricted Intelligences used to control remote sensor platforms. Lacking the considerable intelligence of true AIs, the RIs had a tendency to ignore anything that didn’t fit in with their preconceptions of what was actually possible. A human might have noticed, but reviewing all the data from a basic planetary survey could and did take years. It was one of the reasons why Interventionists spent such a long time studying a world before openly declaring their presence.

The stream of recorded data was unbelievable. Quite apart from the flying carpet, there were strange force fields, illusions, communications devices... and a man being turned into a toad by another man. No wonder the RIs had thought that they were glitching; the Confederation could change a person’s sex, or transcribe their brain patterns into a computer core, but turning someone into an animal was impossible. Except it could be done by manipulating the quantum foam, at least in theory. Darius proved that the theory might even have practical applications.

“Unprecedented,” she repeated, thoughtfully. There would be enough data from studying Darius to write a thousand books. A society that had grown up with the ability to manipulate the quantum foam... “And the Confederation wants to know how they do it.”

“Yes,” the AIs said. “We are looking at the Holy Grail of post-singularity science.”

Elyria nodded. “Then I’d better start putting a team together,” she said. By long custom, the team leader got to select most of the team members, although she had a suspicion that the Peacekeepers wouldn’t be the only ones foisting their choices on her. She logged into the Interventionist databank and brought up a list of files. “I don’t think I want anyone inexperienced on this mission.”

“That would be wise,” the AIs agreed. “But wouldn’t a person without experience have fewer preconceptions?”

“Maybe,” Elyria said, after a moment. It was true, but a lifetime of studying primitive societies could give a person insights that could never be taught in study groups. Even with direct data downloads into the brain, there was no substitute for real experience. “But this isn’t a world I want to risk contaminating before we know what they do – and how.”

She worked her way through the list quickly, looking for candidates. Ten of those she eventually earmarked were experienced Interventionists, all with years of experience. After a moment’s thought, she brought up the Ancients Research Study Group files and picked a couple of experts on the Ancient worlds, insofar as anyone could really be called an expert. The Peacekeepers would supply the logistics, thankfully. She always hated worrying over those. As an afterthought, she wrote out a list of additional candidates and stored it in her personal database. It was possible that some of her choices would be reluctant to join the team, particularly as she couldn’t tell them everything until they were committed.