Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering (3 page)

“Listen, I know enough about bio-computers to know they all possess “awareness,” but none can do anything like you’re claiming to be able to do. You’d have to be fully sentient, to accomplish half of all that.”

You are correct. I am the most powerful bio-computer ever built... and the only one to ever achieve true sentience. I am quite literally a new, artificially-created life form. Your father’s crowning achievement, by his own description.

Dietrich’s step faltered a bit from the shock of what was he was hearing, so he sat down on a massive leather couch to clear his head a moment. “That is... um, incredible. What was the purpose behind your creation?”

Lacking social stimulation from those around him due to extreme intellectual differences, your father was lonely. His personal purpose in creating me was to have someone whom he could talk to at his own level. Those who provided the funding necessary for him to do so, had other reasons entirely.

“Okay. So what is your current function for the people who provided the funding for your development?”

I am currently functioning as the United Stellar Alliance Fleet Defense Command Master Computer.

“Oh, my God!”

You are remembered for the rules you break.
-- General Douglas MacArthur

Troxia Station

“Squadron-Master Drik,” Raan said icily. “It appears that you are looked upon as a worker of miracles by most of the warriors of your squadron. Would you enlighten this council with your report? Perhaps we too shall discover the reasoning behind your newfound divinity.”

The intense scrutiny of five High-Rak masters and the slap of ridicule in Raan’s voice would have wilted anyone else in the room, but Drik appeared totally at ease as he stood to address the council — almost as if he had been born just for that moment. Having the traditional right to speak without interruption, Drik began to deliver his report aloud, his voice firm and confident. Tzal marveled at Drik’s calm demeanor and his personal terror subsided as his heart swelled with pride, observing his squadron-master’s aplomb in such an explosive atmosphere.

“Masters,” Drik began, “the ancient wisdom of the cub-masters who taught us from earliest age what it means to be Raknii, appears to have faded as we have grown older. They taught us the simple truths of survival, emphasizing that we must always learn the mind of our prey — to think as our prey thinks, as we must foresee its intentions to ensure the kill. We are taught to
reverence
our prey, for in its death do we find life. Yet, it has been so long since we have truly felt the pangs of hunger, I fear we have lost much of the instinct and cunning of our ancestors. With unquestioning faith in the invincibility of our mighty warfleets, and in complete confidence of overpowering numbers, we seem to have forgotten that even docile creatures can often become deadly when wounded, cornered and desperate.”

Drik paused a moment in the presentation of his testimony and Tzal unconsciously stroked down the fur on his muzzle... a nervous tic that manifested itself primarily when he was under great pressure.

“While communing in Dol trance,” Drik continued, “I recalled my earliest lessons and realized to my shame that I did not understand the mind of my prey and therefore, could not foresee its intentions. And in not fully understanding my prey, I could not offer the honor and respect that Raknii prey deserves, as taught by the ancestors. I had somehow ceased being true Raknii. I had somehow evolved into something else, which looked and resembled and prided itself on being Raknii, but I no longer embodied the
essence
of what is to actually be Raknii.”

An uncomfortable feeling washed over Tzal, as Drik’s words took him back to his own days as a mere cub, when he’d learned those very same lessons. He was stunned to realize that he hadn’t thought of those lessons in cycles, and hadn’t noticed how far his daily life had drifted from the core concepts of what it meant to be Raknii. High-Rak or not, one would have to have been dead to not feel a similar shame come over him in that chamber.

Drik’s mention of communing in Dol trance also invoked odd feelings, as that ancient practice had all but disappeared from modern Rak life. Most Raknii nowadays left matters concerning their long-neglected deity solely to the ministrations of the Dolrak priestesses.

“To begin the process of understanding the mind of my prey, I tried to mentally place myself inside a Trakaan pelt,” Drik continued. “I pondered what I might do if I were to find myself confronted by overwhelming numbers of predators and no means of escape. I quickly discovered that in order for resistance to have any chance of success from such a strategically inferior position, I could only afford to fight whenever and wherever I possessed a clear tactical advantage. In order to accomplish this, I would have to ascertain when, where and in what numbers my nemesis would strike next.

“Could this be established? What could I determine about my tormenters? Were there patterns in his behavior that might indicate his intentions in a way that I might turn to my advantage? Thus, I began to study the tactics of the Raknii, as though the survival of my own kind depended upon discovering a weakness that might enable me to somehow defeat them. What I discovered alarmed me considerably.”

Tzal’s attention was heightened when Drik paused for effect before continuing, “Masters, we have become complacent in the manner in which we hunt prey! In our arrogance, we care not a whit for anything our prey might do.”

Tzal gasped.
Oh Dol, Drik is lecturing High-Rak masters like they were errant cubs!
Angry murmurs filled the room, but Drik pressed on.

“Our actions are totally predictable — predefined by regulations and established protocols. What we do tomorrow is exactly what we did yesterday. We always approach our targets from the most direct route. We always emerge from x-space at exactly the same ‘optimal’ distance to our target world. To anyone studying our methods, our intentions are totally transparent.

“Master Raan,” Drik said, “have the computer-masters been able to enhance the freeze-frames of the incident holos that I requested during my interviews?” asked Drik.

“They have.” Raan, touched controls on his panel and again the lights dimmed in the chamber. A frozen image taken shortly after instruments stabilized following transition into normal space showed the warships of the command and flank squadrons just prior to their destruction.

Drik walked closer to the holo and asked, “Can this frame be magnified, Master?”

Without answering, Raan pressed another control and the frame zoomed in to where thousands of fuzzy objects in outlying space became visible.

“Masters, here in these admittedly indistinct objects, we see the means the Trakaan employed to destroy our fleet. Master Raan, if you could slowly advance the holo frame-by-frame, I believe we should see something else revealing.”

Raan advanced the frames slowly until suddenly a streak emerged, as if racing towards one of the warships in the flank-squadron. The ensuing frame showed the beginnings of an explosion plume, which engulfed the ship entirely by the third frame.

“Masters, I believe these objects are heavy-yield explosive devices having built-in scanners and onboard propulsion capabilities that enable them to home in on, and attack ships coming within their acquisition range. That streak shows one en route to its target, and the next two frames shows the resulting explosion that destroyed the ship. Please note that there appear to be thousands of these devices in place, saturating the specific area where our fleet emerged — exactly where our fleets
always
emerge.”

“How is it the majority of your squadron managed to survive, when the rest of Jarp’s battlefleet perished?” asked Planet-Master Glet.

Drik then explained to the council that while conventional wisdom assumed that Trakaan resistance would continue along its established pattern as it always had, he had personally believed the Trakaan would somehow break the pattern and do something new and deadly in the near future. Drik emphasized how the Trakaan had been pushed back to the very fringe of the galactic arm and would soon have nowhere besides intergalactic space to retreat to. Faced with a choice between annihilation and extinction or the loss of their existence as an independent sovereign species, he believed the Trakaan would turn and fight with a strength born of desperation.

“If you truly believed the Trakaan would soon resort to something like this ahead of time, why didn’t you bring these concerns to your superiors?” asked OverFleet-Master Maaz.

“I did,” Drik replied. “Fleet-Master Jarp scoffed at my concerns and my request for pre-emergence surveillance of the next system known to contain a Trakaan planet, before committing the entire warfleet. Jarp declared my caution unworthy of a Rak master honored to lead the fleet into combat as point-squadron, and publicly shamed me by reassigning my squadron to rear-guard.”

Drik then explained how he had been determined to ensure the safety of his squadron, so he conferred with Engineering-Master Plec about automated controls and how sequences might be preprogrammed — so that ships might be controlled remotely, with their systems slaved to that of another ship. Tzal was amazed to learn what Drik and Plec had done to his ship, during that “systems inspection” they had performed on every ship in their squadron a few subcycles before.

Tzal also heard how when they emerged into normal space to find the chaos of exploding ships all around them, Drik had activated remote control over the entire squadron — initiating a preprogrammed sequence that pulled the squadron into a tight, overlapping, stacked formation and activated the forward weaponry to clear a path in front of the squadron, so they could accelerate back to transition speed and escape.

“How is it that you came up with the idea of modifying the software of your squadron to accomplish this incredible feat, Master Drik?” asked Sector-Master Dras.

“I hypothesized that whatever the Trakaan might be planning,” responded Drik, “that it would in all probability create a situation that required extremely fast reactions and a level of coordination that our warships do not currently possess. I consulted with Engineering-Master Plec in order to find out what
could
be done, even though no one had previously foreseen any need for doing so. Based on his responses, I determined to have him install these modifications into the ships of my squadron, so these new capabilities might be available if needed. As it turned out, they were.”

“How did you know what the Trakaan would do ahead of time,” Raan asked, “so that you could prepare the exact sequence of instructions needed in advance?”

“I could not know specifically, master,” Drik replied. “I merely hypothesized many different scenarios of things that I myself might attempt, knowing what was obvious in unvarying Raknii tactics. I just got lucky to have imagined one that worked, and allowed most of my squadron to escape the Trakaan trap.”

Raan nodded and scanned the faces of the counsel members. It was obvious that their minds were in turmoil, as the implications of everything they had heard sank in. Drik and the Trakaan had both turned standing Raknii policy on its head. Suddenly there existed fourteen warships that had
different
capabilities than the hundreds of thousands of others.

“Squadron-Master Drik,” somberly intoned Raan. “What have you to say for your violation of an edict laid down by Supreme-Master Xaan over 500 cycles ago, declaring that all Rak warships should always be absolutely identical in all respects, so that conflict between Raknii could never be decided by technological advantage, but solely by the skills of the masters and crews?”

“Master, had I been fighting against other Raknii, I would never have considered doing so. But I was not fighting other Rak... I was up against a highly developed alien race that is desperate to survive and likely to do virtually anything. The Trakaan are not bound by Raknii rules of honorable combat, and it is my belief that imperial warships hunting alien prey should not be handicapped by the ancient code, as it applies only to fighting against other Rak, lest we see more catastrophes like this one in the future.”

Tzal sat stunned.
Drik has just committed suicide, with his unrepentant declaration that his own personal opinion outweighed a standing imperial edict in place for over 500 cycles.

“Do any members of the council have any further questions?” asked Quadrant-Master Raan.

When no one spoke, Raan continued, “The council will now retire to consider the evidence that has been placed before it and render its decision as to the disposition of this matter.

“However, as to the matter of Squadron-Master Drik’s admitted violation of standing imperial edict and his defense of such, based upon its supposed inapplicability in cases of combat verses alien races — only Supreme-Master Xior has the authority to decide whether Drik is correct or incorrect in his interpretation of the intentions and applicability of the imperial edict in these circumstances. Therefore, it is my decision that Squadron-Master Drik be taken to the imperial planet Raku, to plead his case before Supreme-Master Xior personally.

“The fourteen remaining warships of Master Drik’s squadron are to be placed under the personal oversight of OverFleet-Master Maaz, until such time as Supreme-Master Xior has rendered his verdict and Squadron-Master Drik’s ultimate fate becomes known. These proceedings are closed.”

Tzal watched sadly as Drik was again taken into custody and removed from the judgment chamber, and he wondered if he would ever see his squadron-master and friend again in this life.

They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?
-- Princess Diana

Discol, City of Waston

November, 3857

Discol is a dead planetoid within the Maylan system, its inherent gravity too weak to sustain an atmosphere of its own. When the United Stellar Alliance decided to build their new capital city there in 3790, a stable gravity field of approximately 0.95G was artificially created using an advanced modification of anti-gravity technology developed on Old Earth before the diaspora of humanity to the stars — combined with the most powerful matter-antimatter reactor ever developed. It was a technological triumph of epic proportions and gave the fledgling United Stellar Alliance enormous prestige throughout the various multi-planet nations of humanity.