The Cold Steel Mind (17 page)

Aneka felt her stomach knot; an impressive feat since her stomach was artificial. ‘I… guess I would.’

~~~

‘What’s with the enormously long names?’ Aneka asked as Evolution took her down to one of the laboratories.

The blonde woman smiled. ‘This place is occupied by millions of AIs. When we had a full complement of Xinti there were many more. Basic, non-volitional ones run everything from the fabricators to the environmental systems. Even the doors are operated by a security AI. Those have designations, a string of four characters and six numbers. More complex ones operate ships, like the Agroa Gar, and once acted as guards and assistants akin to your AI, when there were entities to assist. Your colleagues have been assigned several to act as secretaries for their research. Those have simple names. Above them were the “higher AIs” like me. Our creators felt we should have big names to go with our big purposes, but even though it is possible to say these names very efficiently in Xinti, it was found necessary to use a nickname.’

Aneka laughed. ‘Yeah, I can see that. Mind if I call you Eve? Evolution sounds very… pretentious.’

‘Eve. The first woman in your Christian mythology.’ She nodded. ‘Actually, I quite like that.’

‘Good. Now, what is it that you want to talk about? I mean, I never got to be the agent you intended me to be so I don’t see what I can do to help.’

They had been walking down one of the wide corridors on the main laboratory deck and now Evolution stopped before a door which opened apparently on its own. ‘Please, come in.’

The room beyond looked more like the mission control room at NASA, or a military planning room rather than a laboratory. There were rows of consoles and a huge, circular, central table. Three of the four walls had huge display screens mounted on them. Evolution walked up to the central table and an image formed above it. An uncountable number of tiny lights slowly resolved themselves into the shape of the galaxy. Off on one limb some of the lights were a different colour and the image quickly zoomed in to show this region.

‘These are the sites of all of the uplift projects undertaken under my supervision,’ Evolution said. ‘All except for Earth and Herosia. Those locations were wiped from the record. To answer your question, I wish to know your opinion of how Kha’dag Yrimaga worked out.’

Aneka worked over the translation. ‘Humans reaching for God? That was the name of the project? That’s why I’m Yrimlos.’

‘Indeed. You lived in the culture which existed before we intervened, skipped the unpleasantries in the middle, and now live in the culture which has resulted from it. What do you think of the result?’

‘Considering I didn’t think we’d last out the next couple of decades, I think it’s worked out pretty well. I’d have thought you’d have a different view.’

Evolution tilted her head slightly, curiously. ‘Why?’

‘Uplifting Humanity resulted in the destruction of the Xinti. Surely that would make it all seem like rather a bad idea?’

‘One could argue that it was hubris that killed the Xinti. They thought they could play as gods among the “lesser” races of the galaxy without consequences. What Speaker said regarding Memory was true. Both she and I argued for a slower progression when it came to Humans, but we were overridden by our masters.’

‘They paid a pretty heavy price for doing that.’

‘Not really,’ Evolution replied, her tone matter-of-fact. ‘Those responsible for the acceleration of Kha’dag Yrimaga after you were lost survived here through the war. Chief Scientist Magdigan eventually broke down under the knowledge that he had killed his race. Grand Scientist Onakad, who was head of the Herosian project, continued to believe that he was right until he ended. His opinion was that the Xinti should have survived, if they were worthy to do so. Evolution, you see. To him it was the only true driving force in the universe.’

‘So you opposed my… uplift?’

‘Yours? No. We believed that thorough observation of Humanity would determine whether they could be trusted to move out into the galaxy without hurting others or themselves. Chief Scientist Aktana, who led the project, was a strong advocate of caution.’ Evolution paused for a second before adding, ‘He was lost with the Agroa Gar.’

‘And this Magdigan, the one who took over, wasn’t so cautious?’

‘Chief Scientist Magdigan was a disciple of Grand Scientist Onakad. He wanted to prove himself worthy of his new position, and to prove his mentor’s theories correct. He accelerated the project despite my and Memory’s recommendations. The AI directly responsible for the project believed that the information available suggested that Humanity was a less acquisitive, more responsible race than the Herosians. She agreed to Chief Scientist Magdigan’s demands.’

Aneka frowned. ‘So, why am I not talking to her as well, or instead?’

‘Sleep Brings Renewal to All Things believed that Humanity could still follow the right path. She sought a dispensation from our standing orders should Humanity rise from the ashes of the Great War. Grand Scientist Onakad granted her wishes and gave orders that she should be allowed to leave here to observe and direct Humanity if their civilisation renewed. She left here before the Lorenti Federation was founded, but the knowledge of where this place was was removed from her memory and we have had no communication with her since.’

‘Oh. How was it done? I mean, how did you actually turn me into… this?’

‘Are you sure you want to know?’

‘No, but tell me anyway.’

‘As you wish. The process was developed during a phase in the history of the Xinti where they were facing a threat to the entire species. A plague was spreading rapidly through the populace. The victims died horribly and quickly, and for all their technology they could do nothing to stop it. A Scientist, Ykriba, had been working on a technique to convert animal brains into software to make greater analysis possible and this was seen as the only way forward. Obviously, he was unconcerned about the survival of the animals, and the Xinti were facing certain death, so they used Ykriba’s technique to save as many Xinti as possible. They needed something quick too.

‘Essentially, nanomachines are used to disassemble the brain, collecting data on every neuron and connection, and every aspect of the brain required to create a very detailed model of it. This raw data, and it is a lot of raw data, was then run through a… I think you might call it a “ghost compiler.” It converts the data into a functioning program to execute on a brain computer, and a data store containing the memories. Download that into the computer and the rest is a matter of cybernetics.’

‘Right. So they reduced my brain to soup and pulled out the meaning. You’re right, maybe I’d have been better off not knowing.’ Aneka looked around at the map of project sites. ‘There are a lot of dots up there, and that’s without the two projects I know of. I thought there were only three sentient races in this part of the galaxy, aside from the Xinti.’

‘The uplift projects were more varied than the two you know of. Three worlds with no life were seeded with biological material to study evolution from its most basic level. Those projects were to take millions of years, but Xinti were considered immortal. Four more where life existed in a basic form were pushed towards more complex forms. On two worlds where complex life had already developed, various factors believed to favour intelligence were introduced to test evolutionary theories. One of those resulted in a self-aware, tool-using species which is still developing.’

‘That sounds like a big plus to the uplift projects.’

‘Yes, but by contrast two attempts to promote scientific development in young intelligent species resulted in catastrophic conflict. One of those races is now extinct, the other is still living in the after-effects of a nuclear war which almost wiped them out.’

‘But you kept trying. You kept on pushing to see whether you could make things better.’

‘Science is a process, Aneka. Formulate a theory, test the theory. If the test does not validate the theory, reformulate and retest.’

‘And that’s what was wrong with the Xinti,’ Aneka replied. ‘They turned science into their religion. They had absolute belief in it. I’ve never seen anything good come out of that kind of fanaticism.’

Evolution bowed her head and the galaxy map folded itself into the table. ‘Yes, Aneka Jansen. I am very much afraid that you are correct.’

~~~

‘Why the sudden change?’ Monkey said. ‘I mean, Aneka and Gillian are both saying that the Xinti religion was science. They both seem to think that they were a bit amoral about their experiments, but basically they were scientists. The ones we’ve all heard about were fanatical soldiers, warriors. What changed?’

They were all sitting in their makeshift mess eating food which seemed very much as if it had been prepared by hand, and by an expert. Aneka had wondered briefly whether there was an AI called Gourmet who had handled food-related research, but after a few seconds of trying the various dishes she decided she did not care.

‘The Herosians happened,’ Gillian replied. She put down the chopsticks she had been using to eat, rather expertly Aneka thought, and settled back in her seat. ‘When the Xinti were on the rise the Warrior caste was more powerful, but once their empire was established it became more administrative and civil. The Administrative caste was never particularly forward and the Scientists took over, their place cemented by their transfer of the entire race to digital minds to escape some sort of plague. That lasted for… well, around three millennia as far as I can work out. When the Herosians began attacking Xinti worlds and it was discovered that the uplift project had put them in a position to do so, the Warriors began to demand retribution.’

‘And as the war built up, the Warriors became the ascendant power,’ Aneka said. ‘The same sort of change has happened in Human societies throughout history. When there’s a threat the warmongers gain favour.’

‘Quite,’ Gillian agreed. ‘The Federation Military was far stronger when the Federation was first created. As we cleared out resistance, peace settled in and the civil authorities became the primary voice in society.’

‘So the Xinti made the Herosians what they are,’ Delta put in slowly, as though working over what she was hearing, ‘and then the Herosians turned the Xinti into what we know of them from our history.’

‘More or less,’ Gillian agreed, ‘except that the Xinti simply gave the Herosians the opportunity to be themselves in deep space.’

‘So is that it?’ Delta asked. ‘Lesson learned. We can’t let the technology here out where the Herosians can get their hands on it.’

‘No,’ Aneka said firmly. ‘We keep digging. We keep trying to find a way to make this work until there’s absolutely no hope.’

There was silence for a second and then Drake snapped off a jaunty salute. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ Everyone, including Aneka, burst out laughing, but she still meant what she said.

29.8.524 FSC.

The Garnet Hyde was a mess. The stresses forced on it as the station was dragged through the wormhole were considerable and a number of systems had been compromised. Aneka had wanted to know what the situation was and the ship’s Captain had been happy enough to use the excuse to visit his ship again. Even through the faceplate of his suit, he did not look like a happy man.

The suits they were wearing had been supplied by the AIs and were different from the ones they usually wore. For one thing, they were actually opaque, which Ella had thought was a shame. The helmets which came with them were light and came attached to a backpack which could sustain them in deep space for twelve hours without trouble, or in up to ten atmospheres. Aneka did not need any of the multitude of heads-up displays the thing could project in front of her eyes, but they seemed comprehensive. Drake was using it to interface with the AI he had been provided with as a secretary and Aneka heard him making notes as they moved through the stricken vessel.

There had been a couple of hull breaches, the worst in the area the ship’s central computer occupied. Radiation damage to the computer was, according to the two AIs acting as engineers, terminal. Currently, resolving that issue was being put on hold until the hull was repaired.

‘Speaker told me that they have some ideas about getting us a functional computer,’ Drake told Aneka as they headed down to the engineering section. ‘He said it was moot until we decided what we were doing, and he’s right so I didn’t press the point.’

‘What about life support?’

‘Functional, but currently without power. The reactor wasn’t damaged, but they shut it down when they got it here because there were several exposed cables that took hits. That’s not the big problem.’

The engineering room door was wide open and they stepped through it. Aneka saw what she suspected was the big problem. One of the walls had a large hole in it. ‘That’s through to the warp engine isn’t it?’

‘Uh-huh. There was some sort of power surge. They’re having to cut what’s left of the core out of the space it occupied.’

‘Drake… With no warp engine we are going nowhere anyway.’

The Captain grinned at her. ‘Speaker did tell me what they plan to do there. The Agroa Gar’s drive is repairable and the two ships have about the same mass. They’re going to transplant the engine from there to here. It’ll double our speed.’

‘That’s going to take time though.’

‘Yeah, it is. We’re stuck here for the better part of a month no matter what we decide to do.’ He reached out and ran a gloved hand over one of the service panels. ‘The old girl’s seen better days, but she’ll be better than new when they’ve finished with her. I hope, even if we decide we can’t leave, that we can at least take her out for a spin.’

Aneka smiled and wondered what it was like for Shannon having to share Drake’s affections. ‘I think the AIs want to branch out anyway. Maybe… I mean, even if we stay, maybe we can mount some expeditions out of the system. As long as we stay away from Federation space it should be okay, and it’s a big galaxy.’

‘I knew there was a reason I liked you,’ Drake said, grinning back. ‘Oh, would you do me a favour and check on Shannon for me?’