The Great Symmetry (32 page)

“As you consider this, I urge you to consider the larger picture. If the secret escapes this system, what then? Today we will be preventing a series of very serious consequences, threats to our entire civilization.

“Let us start with the realities of the exodus. It will be possible for literally anyone to find a planet of their own, beyond any law or decency. We have seen from history that when this is possible, the worst abuses follow. Slavery, cruelty. Practices that have been abolished under our governance.

“New nations or kingdoms will follow. With them, war. We take for granted how much we have gained from the Pax Commercia over the past forty years. Only a few of us have seen true war and its horrors. After the exodus, war will return.

“At a lower level, we easily forget how much benefit that we all get from the many services available in the civilized worlds. Safety, law, sanitation. Every person who is tempted by the frontier will drag along their domestic families and their children, subjecting them to suffering that nobody experiences in this day. I have seen this myself. I have seen children die from disease or even starvation on a frontier planet.

“Further, we already know that criminals on this planet practice uncontrolled cultivation of live seeds. Wherever these people go, planets will be destroyed by invasive species, allowed to grow wild without regard to the consequences. This fact by itself is more than enough justification to entirely clean this planet and start again.

“It is easy to place the blame on those who act, where you can see harm as the result of their actions. But when we do not act, are we not just as worthy of the blame?

“Again from our history, here is another example.
At the end of the Combustapalooza, in the middle of the twenty first century, billions of people died in the crisis. And the histories from shortly after that time placed blame. Certain families, certain governments, placing their greed ahead of the needs of humanity. It is always an easy narrative if you have a villain.

“What did they fail to mention
? Those very same families, those same governments, also took the actions that allowed our civilization to emerge and recover. Fossil fuels were instrumental in powering the change to renewable energy sources. And many of those people who died, they would never even have been born, were it not for the earlier benefits of those energy sources, and the companies that provided them.

“Only in the last few decades have we been able to improve the balance, in the history that is taught to our children
. Now we tell of the difficult decisions made by the leaders of that time, looking to the future while keeping the lights on in the present moment.

“So as we proceed with this operation, I urge everyone to do the math. We will sacrifice people on this one planet, unjustly for many, it is true. But we will keep the fabric of our civilization intact. For a hundred billion other human beings, we will keep the lights on as we must.”

They heard another voice. The display identified it as Dr. Sonia West, Economic Analyst.

“But Mister Lobeck, I have very bad news considering the course of action you propose. Destroying Kelter will not save Affirmatix, nor any of the Seven Sisters. There is a social effect that we will not be able to overcome, which is based on headline risk. When the story of Kelter comes out, as it must, then the revulsion of the populace over that act will unravel our system.”

“I have considered that, Dr. West,” Lobeck replied. “That is why I am prepared to take full public responsibility, in the unlikely event that it is needed.
A rogue actor, betraying my employer.”

The caption again told them that Dr. West was speaking. “But you won’t be able to disassociate yourself from Affirmatix, or the Majors more generally. There are many outcomes in front of us that are very poor.”

“I call bullshit!” A new voice, that the screen identified as Krishnan Ravi, Economic Analyst. “Sonia, it is total crap what you say.
You are lying about the very results that are in front of you, there on your screen.”

“Ravi, please−” Sonia implored.

“Don’t you try to shut me up. We must do the job that they are asking us to do. It has been decided, and we must not question. Perhaps we will be spared, or even granted a wish.”

“But those outcomes are there!
”

“Every outcome is in every model. Sonia, you know that best of anyone in the universe. Tweak the knobs to see what you wish, or what you most fear. Those risks are easily controlled. With costs perhaps, as Mister Lobeck has said, but they can be controlled.
We must report what we see.”

Lobeck interrupted. “The time for models is past. Now we act. Captain Roe, move the ships into their final position.”

On the ship that was picketed out near the glome to Goodhope, Sanzite muted the display and spoke to the assembled quorum. “
We have heard his logic. Clearly he believes that the operation will have a beneficial effect.”

Lu from ProSolutiana asked the first question. “This Lobeck, are you sure he will complete the job?”

“Yes, madam. He will be thorough.”

“And the crews that are involved in the operation?”

“For the rentals, he has made disposal
plans, which I have reviewed,” Sanzite answered. “Key personnel, we will retain, and redeploy to Alcyone.”

Lu again. “What’s the True Story to explain why Kelter was destroyed?”

Sanzite consulted one of the screens that was arrayed along the side of his travel tank. “Here it is: McElroy
and his infoterrorist allies, not content with carrying the recipe for the TDX virus, loosed the pathogen itself upon Kelter. In the panic, refugees were attempting to leave the planet and flee to other systems. We had to make the difficult decision to sacrifice the people of Kelter in order to protect the billions of citizens on Goodhope and other nearby planets.”

As he completed the narrative, Sanzite sensed that something was going very wrong with the travel tank. Some painful and foreign material must be coming through the nutrition delivery system, which had taken the place where his stomach had once been. It was the worst possible time for such an occurrence.

“Our images will suffer when that story comes out,” Lu pointed out.

The symptoms were worsening. Sanzite struggled to focus on Lu’s concern.

“If that’s the worst that occurs, then we will have succeeded,” Alsatie took up the answer. “We may see a small increase in the Wastage Factor due to the image issue, perhaps as high as twelve or thirteen percent, but I predict we will recover back to single digits over just a few years, especially with our control of the Versari discovery.”

The Wastage Factor, a key measure of economic health, was the percent of the economy that did not pass through at least one of the Sisters. Lower was better, of course. Currently it stood at
nine percent, near an all-time low.

“I am convinced,” Lu said. She turned to the rest of the room. “I move that we allow the operation to proceed.”

Sanzite forced in a breath of air. The others turned at the sound of the ragged gasp. “Benar, are you all right?” Lu asked.

The President of Affirmatix tried to nod. “Okay,” Sanzite wheezed. “But – certain. We need to be certain. If we are not sure, we should hold off. We can always do it an hour from now, or a day.”

“There is risk in all things,” Alsatie agreed. “But I know the greatest hazard that faces us – that we might lose resolve. The more we dither, the more likely we will
fail. You chose well with this man Lobeck. He knows what must be done.”

The delegates and presidents were nodding.

“We have a consensus,” Alsatie declared. “I do not believe we have to witness any more of the events that occur in this system. Let it remain a mystery to us.
President Sanzite, if you would be so good, please direct the ship to leave the Kelter system immediately.”

All eyes were upon President Sanzite, their host.

As President of Affirmatix, this was his project. His decision. Lobeck answered only to him. Sanzite prepared to speak, but then felt his arm, or what had once been his arm, flopping into the wall of the tank. Why was the travel tank so confining?

Three Presidents and three Delegates regarded him silently.

“Ship, head for Goodhope,” he managed at last.

Sanzite promised himself that he would never again leave his home tank.

Part 8: The Great Symmetry

Disintegration

Everyone in the Situation Room watched, stunned, as the large screen showed the San Miguel disintegrate. A few boats scattered into space, the survivors clearly a fraction of what the crew had been. Then even those boats were gone, hunted down and destroyed by the swarm of missiles, rather than being recovered by the victorious force as they easily could have been.

Both capital ships were gone, as were the smaller ships. Of substantial forces in space, nothing remained to them. There was no hope of sending any ship, and the key information, out of the Kelter system.

“Tomas, at the end, could not leave his brother,” Incento was saying.
“An honorable man, who chose the wrong time to demonstrate it.”

“He had his orders,” Rezar fumed. “Why could he not follow them?”

“He saw that the San Angelo was taking damage, and would be destroyed. The two ships, and the two brothers, served together for decades. All of the orders in the world would not shake the loyalty of one to the other.”

“But we had a plan! It was going to work! Until he defied orders, and destroyed us all.”

Mira entered the picture and focused herself directly at the governor. “You
. You need to take responsibility. He did not follow orders because you did not tell him why.”

“We conveyed the orders to each ship. The orders were clear.”

“But you didn’t tell him why! How can you expect people to do the right thing if they don’t know the reason?” It didn’t seem at all anomalous to Kate that Mira was challenging the governor so directly. It was in her nature.

“Need to know,” the governor said. “We had the plan. They simply had to escort and protect the ships as we directed.
To the glome.”

“And I thought you had learned something. But no! You think you can just order people around, and they’ll always do what they’re told. Sometimes that doesn’t wor
k out so well. Like when it matters the most. Governor.” Mira waved her good arm at the devastation shown on the large display. Somehow she managed to be totally in the governor’s face, from a sitting position in her wheelchair.

“Next time, Ms. Adastra, I will leave it to you, if you think you can do better. How’s that
? You can explain it all to the troops. Fill them with motivation. I’m sure it will be wonderful.”

“If we had any left, I would take you up on it.”

“That’s enough,” the governor declared. “If I hear one more word from any of you infoterrorists, you’re all out of here.”

Mira silently wheeled slowly back, giving the governor some distance.

“Um, Governor,” Incento put in. “Orders?”

The governor slowly looked up at the bank of screens that showed the devastation in multiple formats. “Admiral, I am at a loss. I do not know who I would order, or what I would instruct them to do.”

Rezar had invited the infoterrorist delegation to witness the success or failure of the plan they had suggested. After an hour of getting exactly nowhere on the next sets of Versari data,
Kate and Evan had set aside their efforts and headed in to join the others in the situation room.

Without an assignment, Kate had found a place to watch the proceedings. A perfect seat to see the end of all their hopes.

As the
people around her argued, she considered leaving. Nobody would notice. They were busy fighting over the bones of a lost cause.

Kate pulled out her canvas and began to paint, mixing images from the sprawling room into her composition. Expertly wielding the controls on the canvas, she added fire, that unaccountably burned in space. The purpose behind it, the opposite of fire
. Cold calculation, blind to the meaning of lives to be ended too soon.

Fear, rippling through a room. People stuck in their learned patterns, assigning blame as if that still mattered, or ever had.

A secret, screaming to be free, that had enjoyed a joyful moment and then found itself crushed once again. A secret that would destroy those who possessed it as surely as it was about to end every life on Kelter.
That would claw its way out of whatever attempted to confine it, never resting, never accepting any limitation. For all anyone in the Kelter system knew, the secret was already out there, somewhere.

It took time for ships, and thus information, to travel from system to system. She remembered learning in history class about the battle of Goodhope VI in the year 2219. The peace had been signed a full day before the fleets tore into each other.
Word arrived at the height of the battle. Incredulous commanders bristled, having to draw on what remained of their humanity in order to stop the killing. Robots, damaged beyond the ability to receive updates or instructions, kept destroying until they were themselves destroyed.

Some of the most important routes now had emergency communication relays, robot ships stationed near outgoing
glomes for the purpose of listening for very urgent messages, and able to duck quickly into their glome and deliver the message to the next system. A twenty fourth century line of signal fires.

The Kelter fleet had failed to get any ships, and thus any hint of the information, out of the star system. Thus it was confined.

There was still something missing from the picture. It was only half.
They could only see from the inside, going forward in time.

For all anyone in the Kelter system knew, the secret was already out, somewhere.

Kate suddenly knew how to save the world.

But would anyone listen? She looked around. Mira. Fat chance. Admirals, a governor, people in all kinds of very well appointed uniforms, each one different. All very serious and important people, who were very serious about being important.

She saw Evan and ran toward
him. “I know the answer!” she told him. “I know how to get the secret into the Kelter system. From outside.”

The governor had overheard. “Stop this nonsense,” Rezar told Kate.
“We’ve got a situation here. Out! All of you!”

Kate found herself being walked out of the situation room, firmly and with only a veneer of politeness.

“But I know the answer! I know what to do!” People with blank faces moved her on. She saw Evan, Mira, Kestrel, and Axiom receiving the same treatment. In a few moments Kate found herself through a check point and into a large hall. She recognized the place, part of the regular zone allowed by their Stewart monitors.

Colonel Ellis addressed the group of infoterrorists. “Just stay out of trouble, okay? Don’t leave your allowed perimeter, and don’t come back here.”

“But I’ve figured it out! I have to tell the governor! I know how to save us!”

“Just let us handle it,” Ellis said. “And don’t try anything. Bad things, you know the drill.” And with that, Ellis turned and headed back through the checkpoint to the situation room.

Battle Armor

Sonia was getting ready. She was due in the resource room shortly, to provide the latest results to Lobeck, although she knew her findings would be ignored. Then she planned to stay there and on the bridge, until the D6 was deployed, or not.

On Sonia’s request, her dark suit jacket had been pressed. The creases were perfectly straight, the fabric unblemished by a wrinkle or even a single spot of lint. Her white shirt and charcoal slacks, similarly pressed and in prefect presentation.

She checked her nails once again. Buffed evenly and coated with a coat of clear polish. Short, in the style of people who sometimes still use a keyboard.

Now for her hair. She expertly applied the stylant until each and every strand was in place. Then just a little makeup.

Sonia regarded herself in the mirror. When in her accustomed habitat, she was a powerful force, and her appearance summed this up. She could and did go toe to toe with anyone in her field. She was incisive, she was intolerant of foolishness or lack of rigor.

She needed one more item. The talisman.

Sonia turned the gun in her hands. For a toy, it was amazingly realistic. She might never know how her daughter Simone had come to possess it. The scanners at the entrance to the bridge were no problem, Sonia knew from a prior experiment. She put the toy in her pouch.

What was it like to experience a blaster? The fire spread quickly to cover all of your skin, finding its way under any clothes. Your hair vanished in a flash, your eyes cooked, ineffectual hands melting into your face. She had seen it portrayed in plenty of movie scenes. It was a favorite shot for the creators of action stories. Were the portrayals exaggerated?

Sonia was going to find out.

She was Essential. On the list, of people considered critical to the fortunes of Affirmatix. A free pass, to let it happen and walk away, to go home to her domestic family.

“Please forgive me,” she asked her domestic family across the light-years
.

It was not just that she would be gone. If only that was all. Yvette would pull up her big girl pants and carry on. She was such a great mother to their children. The kids would grieve, but luckily they were young enough that the memory of one missing parent would fade from their lives.

The problem was the consequence. Sonia was planning to take down Affirmatix with her. A terrorist attack. And Sonia’s domestic family would pay dearly.

She could face the fire. Just like she could face any truth. It was what she needed to do. The worst possible death was not what came from a blaster. It was knowing that she would doom her wife and children at the same time.

It was time. Sonia took a last look at the mirror. Was that a hair out of place? No. She was seeing things. Casting about for something else that needed to be done before she left her cabin.

When she arrived at the bridge, she would have to carefully check the angles once again. Last time, she could easily see the spot. The right place, so that when she appeared to draw a gun, and was herself immolated, the blasts would take out the control console. The one place where Lobeck had concentrated all of the authority to initiate the D6.

After the console was destroyed, would Lobeck be able to reset command to another location? Sonia would not be there to see it. With enough time, he surely could do so, which was why she needed to choose the exactly right moment. The window of time when all twenty ships had started their energy buildup, and the weapon would need to be discharged within a minute or less
.

It wasn’t likely to work. She was probably sacrificing herself and those she loved for nothing. Turning away from the free pass. But there was no other path.

Sonia headed for the bridge.

The Great Symmetry

The five former guests had been unceremoniously dumped outside the Situation Room and left to their own devices.

The Situation Room was only a few hundred meters away, but it might as well be in another universe. “So close,” Kate told herself.

Evan came to Kate’s side. “What have you got?” he asked.

“What does it matter now? We’ll never get back in, and we needed to be there.”

“Let’s hear it. T
hen we’ll decide what we can do. Walk this way.” He indicated the hallway in front of them, away from the guard station.

Kate gathered herself. “Here’s my idea. Paul Ricken’s ship is coming, and it’s bringing a big, big story,” she told him. “About a Versari discovery, from the site on Green.”

Evan had the look that she knew so well. Lips pressed slightly together, eyes focused on empty space a half meter in front of him. The look that conveyed to her that every neuron in his brain was on the problem.

“The glomes!” he exclaimed. “The same chart that I decoded on Aurora! But how−
?” Kate could see the wheels turning for him. “We need to look at this from every angle – it calls for a true skeptic. And I’ve got just the person.” Evan motioned Mira to join them. “Mira, please come here a moment,” he said.

Mira wheeled over. “Can’t think of anything else useful to do,” she allowed. “Make it good.”

“There is a ship that is likely to arrive in Kelter, from Green, within the hour,” Kate said. “An independent, trading in music, movies, books, news. Taking a courier fee for any of it which has not yet arrived at each destination.”

Mira took the role of cross examiner. “So, they will be doomed too, the moment they arrive. There will be no escape for them.”

“Except for one circumstance,” Kate replied. “If they bring into the system a blockbuster news story, of a Versari discovery on Green. A chart listing the destinations of thousands of hyperspace glomes. The moment they arrive insystem, we must have instructions waiting for them, to relay that story.”

Mira nodded slightly. “That’s almost plausible. The cat would be out of the bag, all over civilization by now, so Kelter wouldn’t matter anymore. But how will we get the story to them, in a manner that Affirmatix won’t be able to read?”

Tough questioning, but fair. Kate was fine with that. “Rod Denison has a tearoff code, that can be read on that ship.”

“This ship is a partner?”

“No, a rival,” Kate told Mira. “Still, they will be able to read it.”

“Affirmatix will have blockaded incoming glomes by now, so that ships will not be able to come to Kelter.” Mira still looked deeply skeptical.

Evan looked like he could barely contain himself. He started to speak, but then held himself back, signaling for Kate to continue.

“Not from Green, not yet. It takes too long to get there. Straight shot from Green to here, but six hops to get there from Aurora. Three days or more, and such a low traffic system that it would be a low priority.”

Mira pondered for a moment. “Well, even a blind chicken finds a grain of corn every so often,” she said. She took a quick look around, then continued, “Kestrel, I’ve got a job for you. We’re going to need to take over the government transmission network. Easy, right?”