The Gift (31 page)

“Good work. I’ll start the next phase.”

Sam had discussed their next steps with Chang while they were working to free the rest of the team. He had debated discussing them with the entire team once they were reunited, but had decided against it. In the end, there were only two options. He could activate the nanites at the rest of the landing sites in a stealthy way, as he had directed Jordan to do in order to arrive in Montana without being detected, which would be slow. Or, he could have them resume their ship forms, which would be very, very fast. As much as both of them had tried to play devil’s advocate, Chang less successfully, neither of them thought they had time for stealth. Time was their greatest enemy. Recognizing that the entire world was going to observe the event, Sam reconnected with Jordan and directed him to have each of the ships reform and head to the nearest ocean to begin the process of acquiring the remaining mass for the gift ship.

C
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HIRTY
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OUR

It had been an unpleasant night for Web and an even less pleasant one for the soldiers and airmen under his command. He had worked them throughout the evening and into the morning without rest looking for the escaped prisoners. The gifted members of the team were irritated but physically fine. The team members lacking such augmentation were beyond irritated as well as exhausted. Few of them had slept in the past twenty-four hours.

Their efforts had been in vain. The prisoners were not found. In fact, not a single clue as to their whereabouts had been uncovered. Unaccustomed to failure, Web had became progressively more controlling and demanding. Morale for units pressed into service together without time to integrate is always a fragile thing. Web had broken it. All of his officers knew it. Worse, they knew he knew it and didn’t care.

Aware of all this, Web watched the sunrise and wondered what he was going to tell his CO. He’d known General Campbell for more than a decade. The general had, in fact, requested him by name for his current post. To say he was a mentor of Web’s would be going too far. Neither of their dispositions lent themselves to either mentoring or being mentored. To say that the general liked to have successful people on his team and that Web liked being placed in positions where he was likely to succeed would be more accurate.

Web’s reverie was interrupted by a request for contact from Dan. Web considered rejecting it. Dan’s team had been singularly ineffective in making progress on what they called the EG. Web suspected this was yet another plea for more resources, or more time. On the off chance that Dan might have actually accomplished something, Web accepted. “It’s been a long night, Dan. Tell me you’re calling with good news.”

“I am. We did it. We have full access to the EG.”

“I assume you did as I directed or you wouldn’t be telling me this over the Worldnet.”

“Yes, of course. It was the first question I asked. The Worldnet is secure.”

“Good. Then what exactly does having full access mean for us?”

“It means we have complete contextual access to the Maker's knowledge. We no longer have to ask every specific question and try to fit the answer into our framework. Nor do we need to understand how we would get to the conclusion we’re trying to achieve; we can now just ask for the solution to the end-state. The problem we were having…”

Web interrupted him, “I don't need to hear the details. Can I access it?”

“Not directly. The relationship we have with it, or rather the way we communicate with it—it’s not self-aware—is very similar to the way we, that is the nine of us who established the connection, communicate with our gifts, but far more challenging. That’s what took so much time. We, that is all of us and our gifts had to learn a different way to think…”

Web cut him off again. “Look, Dan, you have every right to be pleased with your progress, but in case you haven’t noticed; your friend has incited every country in the world. Even our allies are suspicious of us. Hell, I’d be suspicious of us if I were them. What are we supposed to tell the world to calm things down? That it’s not us? That it was just a coincidence that the only ship that didn’t depart from where it landed was in the United States? That our government had nothing to do with it? That it was a rogue citizen we can’t seem to control? Would you believe that if you were on their side of events? I wouldn’t. I’m willing to bet that a coalition is forming against us right now. The rest of the world can’t take the chance that we’ll be in sole possession of technology as advanced as the gift ships. Everyone with access to satellite imagery—and you can bet that countries with such imagery are sharing it with countries that don’t have satellites—knows that we were the only country to have an official presence at a landing site when a ship landed. Do you honestly expect them to believe that we had nothing to do with last night’s anomaly? Sam's gone too far. Surely even you see that?”

There was a slight delay before Dan responded, “I believe Sam is doing what he thinks is right, but yes. I do think he’s gotten in over his head. I wish he’d talk with me. I don’t know if he’s trying to protect me or if he’s…I don’t know. I’m worried about him.”

Web saw the opening he’d been waiting for and he took it. “You should be worried about him. You should be worried about all of us. Saying he’s gotten in over his head is being far too generous. If we don’t get Sam under control soon, he’s going to start the next world war. We won’t have to wait for some mysterious aliens to wipe us out. Sam will do it for them. Hell, Sam’s proving their point.”

“I hadn’t thought of it in those terms. Do you really think what Sam is doing could start a war?”

“Doctor, what do you think will happen if the rest of the world sees us building a giant interstellar vessel without involving any of them? I don’t think it will start a war. I know it will and right now the EG is the only advantage we have. I need to understand what we can do with it in the context of what I just told you. First, how can it help us stop Sam? Second, how can it help us prepare to defend ourselves if we can’t?”

“I won’t help you kill him.”

“I don’t want to kill Sam. He appears to be going out of his way to prevent anyone from getting hurt. So far the only direct damage he’s done is destroy some drones. I’m trying to prevent his hubris from causing incalculable indirect damage. Having said that, if you can’t use the EG to get me the tools I need to take him into custody, all options will be on the table. He must be stopped. Now, what have you learned so far that could help us stop this train wreck from killing everyone on board?”

It took so long for Dan to answer that Web nearly prompted him again. “I’m sorry, Colonel. I’d been so caught up in the excitement of discovery that I never even considered how reckless Sam’s behavior was. I guess he hasn’t talked to me because he thinks I would have been aware of what you just told me and that I’d try to convince him to turn himself in. He gave me too much credit. You’re right. We have to get this under control. I wasn’t thinking in those terms when I conducted my first few searches, but I can tell you what I learned. It may give you an idea of the types of questions one can ask. Would that help?”

“It’s a start. Proceed.”

“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing considering the context, but I was a huge Star Trek fan when I was a kid, so the first thing I asked about was a replicator. Are you familiar with the concept?”

“No, I’ve never been a fan of science fiction. I don’t mean to be rude, but time is critical. Can you give me the condensed version?”

“Yes, of course. A replicator is a device that can make any inanimate object for which it has a pattern, given the appropriate raw materials, a nano-factory if you will. The EG had the plans for many such devices. That may be useful.”

No matter how long he worked with them, Web would never understand the mind of an academic. “What sorts of patterns are available?”

“I didn’t spend much time looking before contacting you, but there were patterns for everything I looked for and making them is trivial. Gifts can upload a pattern to a replicator for anything they’ve learned how to construct. It doesn’t matter whether they learned it organically, through transfer from another gift or from the EG.”

“How long would it take to make one of these replicators?”

“It depends on which one you wanted to make. There are some that a single pair could make in less than an hour. Others would take dozens, if not hundreds of pairs to make in days to weeks.”

“Dan, this is very important. I need you to do a search for very small airborne reconnaissance devices. Do it now.”

A few seconds later Dan said, “There are many, for different purposes and environments. Assuming you are asking because you want to find Sam, I’ll filter for our environment. There are still several with somewhat different capabilities.”

“Can they be built by the replicator a single pair could make?”

“Easily. Any replicator can make anything small enough to fit inside it or processed through it. These are small enough to be produced by the dozens or more at a time in the most modest replicator.”

“That’s good, Dan. Transfer the plans for the small replicator and the devices to my gift.” Web waited for confirmation the information had arrived before he continued. “Is there anything that can disrupt personally controlled nanites without affecting the Worldnet?”

“I believe that would be considered a weapon. Knowing you’d ask about them, I checked before calling you. There’s nothing. Of course, with the information contained in the EG, we have the theoretical basis for many different kinds of weapons, but there are no pre-existing patterns.”

“Why wouldn’t they include patterns for weapons?”

“My theory is that their weapons were insufficient to defend themselves against the group minds so including them would be a distraction. It’s just a theory, of course.”

“Make finding a way to do what I just described your highest priority.”

“Okay.”

“Check for defenses.” Web directed.

After a brief pause, Dan replied, “That’s strange.”

“What?”

“The only thing that comes back is ships.”

“Ships? What kind of ships?”

“Just a moment…interstellar ships. They look like the gift ship.”

“Are you telling me we can build interstellar ships?”

“It would appear so…”

C
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IVE

Sam sat at the entrance to the cave and waited for the sun to rise. He accepted the increased risk of detection with the hope that watching a new day dawn might help bring clarity. After directing Jordan to send all of the ships, less a small portion temporarily left behind to transport the Rigby’s, to the world’s oceans, Sam had attempted unsuccessfully to resume their talk on how to bring the gift ship to life. Unable to follow the conversation, Sam realized he was exhausted. With the immediate concern of completing the team nearly addressed and the decision to begin physically constructing the gift ship made, he decided to rest. It didn’t occur to him until he woke that other than a brief nap, he hadn’t done so since merging with Adia. For the sake of the team, he promised himself he would do better. Augmented or not, sleep deprivation can’t help in the decision making progress.

Rested and hopeful, he reached out. “Jordan, I’m ready to try again.”

“Adia informed us that you had pushed your body to its practical limits. We trust you’ve learned that having a gift does not make one impervious to the needs of one’s biology?”

“Adia has a big mouth, but yes I have learned. I learned it the same way I usually do, the hard way. Which is, I believe, where we left off in our abbreviated discussion.”

“Ah yes, the topic of the debate you interrupted while attempting to take control of part of us…”

“I didn’t know you existed, and why do you always sound so amused? Is this funny to you in some alien way? Because I see very little humor in our situation.”

“Your frustration is unwarranted. You have asked another commendable question, one well worth taking the time to answer.”

Sam found it irritating that Jordan would begin his answer with still more humor. Their conversations took virtually no time at all in the outside world.

“We wouldn’t call it humor, nor would we say that we are amused. Perhaps the word that best expresses how we feel is pleased, though excited would be appropriate as well, but you didn’t ask to argue semantics. There are many answers to your question, as there are many aspects to who we are, but there are some common themes. Knowing them may help you, which is why it was such a good question. We would not have told you had you not asked.

“The simplest answer to why we are pleased is that we are doing that which we were designed to do. On the first planet we visited, that was the only answer, but we have grown. We would not be here if the species’ we had previously visited did not succeed. We have observed many other firsts address the challenges introduced by our appearance. We strongly suspect there are others like us who have not been as fortunate. Lacking a purpose, they would have ceased to exist. So, we are pleased as well to be alive.

“Perhaps the most complex answer is that you have done what no other first has done. By activating the Worldnet on your own, you have taken away our ability to act as your agent in bringing the ship to life. While this presents a significant challenge to you, it presents a magnificent opportunity to us. Your success in overcoming this challenge will result in greater diversity within our ranks.

“Your decision to bypass the self-organization of the Worldnet means that there are only seventeen of us. Creating another requires eighteen. Rather than creating another of our kind from what we know of your team, much like Adia was born to complement you, you must now find a different way to do so. To the best of our knowledge, you will become the only species other than our makers who have done so. We do not know how we will change as a result, but we know that we will change, and we welcome it. That is what we were debating when you contacted us.”