Alicia Jones 4: Enigma (10 page)

I wanted to know the results as soon as I woke up, but I waited
until I’d gotten a shower, and half of my first cup of coffee down.

“Status of tests Al?”

Al replied, “The tests that were duplicated worked correctly
with the double shielding.  You were also correct about the shields
effects on plasma, even at a low power level the attack simply doesn’t even
reach the ship.  I ramped up the power, and it took fully powered shots
without apparent effort.

“The shield imbalance testing was also successful.  I
was able to create a short wave, several million miles, that was just a mile
wide and high.  On the other end of the scale, it was thousands of miles
wide and high, and reached out twenty light seconds.”

Holy hell, what was I building?

Al continued when I didn’t comment, “The particle testing
was a bust, however I made an error yesterday when I told you there was no
radiation like that present.  During my testing of the shield
weapon?  Subspace wave?”

“I’ll have to think about what to name it, shield weapon
works as a temporary designation.”

He continued, “During my testing of the shield weapon I did
notice the radiation faintly.  The radiation is actually the result of
subspace impacting on our shields.  I was able to test minor variations to
the composition of the field, and hit upon a configuration which yields more of
it.  I also noticed a correlation between the radiation and what was
around us in normal space.”

I frowned, “Explain.”

Al was silent for a moment, “The radiation was strongest
from direction of the milky way, there was also a small, but measurable
difference, from the direction of the lab ship, and even the probes.  I
tested by circling the test ship, with both the lab ship and all the probes to
verify this supposition.”

I drank more of my coffee, “So that radiation, or whatever
hits the shield to cause that radiation, is similar to reflected light off of
objects in normal space, it lets us what, see stuff that correlates to stuff in
normal space?”

Al replied, “A crude metaphor, but yes.  Though I
believe it’s more specific than that.  There is an almost endless amount
of variety and subtlety to the changes in the radiative signatures.  I
believe it will take time, and a lot of testing and verifying, but I believe
from where the test ship is now, we can scan the entire milky way, or more
specifically, the milky way is radiating information about itself, all we need
to do is learn to read it. 

“It also appears that this radiation, unlike light, is up to
date information.  This level of subspace is… for a lack of a better word,
smaller and more compact than normal space.  It’s why we can travel so far
and fast, because in that layer of subspace, everything is much closer
together.”

I thought it would take forever to find a way to scan, but
it turns out we need to learn to read instead. 

“Did you learn anything else?”

Al replied, “No, but I have some ideas on how to learn to
read the data.”

“For example?”

Al explained, “I suggest we move above our solar system, and
then correlate the scan data from the stealth net to the radiation signatures
of the planets, sun, ships, and other objects present in the system, it will
speed the learning up.  After we do that in several solar systems with
several star types, I can work up an algorithm that will display the actual
systems and ship types while in that space.”

“I’m starting to feel superfluous here Al.”

Al replied in an unsure voice, “Does that mean it’s a good
plan?”

I laughed, “Yes Al.  You can do that, but I want a ride
first.  Also, talk to no one about this but me or Kristi, and in no place
we can be overheard.  I’m not sure about revealing this yet.”  Or
maybe ever, not if they decide on eradication.  Once a society dehumanizes
an entire race like that, it’s too easy to do it again.  Sure, human as a description
doesn’t fit the Bugs, but sentient lifeform does.

The new tech seemed to be coming almost too easily now, once
I’d made the initial breakthroughs by running thousands of tests, and all of it
so far was based on just the shield configurations?  Well, subspace was an
extremely hostile environment, and that meant lots of radiation and particles
that didn’t like normal matter, given off by just about everything.  So it
made sense.  I’d just expected it to take years to figure out, it had
barely been a month since I’d started.

Not that there wasn’t much more to learn, but it almost
seemed manageable now that we’d be able to see, move around, and even shoot.

Save for the Drenil, I once again had one of the most
powerful ships in the galaxy, and this time it wasn’t even in the same
neighborhood.  And it was nothing but a cobbled together shuttle.  I
also wondered if the Drenil would take exception if we weren’t good stewards of
the technology and the power involved.  So far they’d just ignored us, but
right now all our fleets weren’t as bothersome as a gnat would be to a human.

I was about to change that, at least for me.

Kristi woke, and we had a quick breakfast and took the
sports shuttle up to the ship, which opened a wormhole for us to go
through.  For the first time ever we went out to the void, and we landed
on the lab ship, and then switched to the new shuttle.

Honestly I don’t know what I’d expected, but when we left
the ship and were far enough away to slip into the subspace layer, I didn’t
feel or sense anything.  We were protected, cocooned in a pocket of normal
space that was held within the shield.

It was just five minutes later, which I thought was a long
time to go anywhere, when we dropped back into normal space and there was a
spiral galaxy large on the screen in front of us at an angle.

“Al, where are we?”

Al replied, “Andromeda.  It took us a little over five
minutes to travel the two point five million light years.”

Holy crap, I thought.

Kristi echoed my thought and said, “Holy crap!”

I giggled, “Take us back Al?  We’ll let you start
calibrating the sensors.  Also, upgrade our command and lab ship with the
shielding, but put in fail safes that it can’t be activated at the same time as
the FTL or wormhole drives, or anywhere near a planetary body for that
matter.  No, make that anywhere near a solar system.  Pass any inquiries
about the activity to me.”

I turned to Kristi, “Do you mind if we keep this a secret
for a while?  That means we can’t come out of subspace anywhere there is a
stealth sensor.  Which ironically is about to become obsolete, so much for
needing it for a thousand years.  But yeah, we’ll stick to FTL and
wormholes when in view.”

Kristi pondered that, “It is big isn’t it?  You’re
worried about the Drenil, and if Earth is trustworthy enough?  I can’t
blame you, they’re about to use our tech to commit genocide.”

“Maybe they will?  I still hope not.  But the
argument has gone on a long time, much longer than I’d have expected, and Earth
seems closer to the yes column along with the Seltan.  They’re convinced
the Bugs are merely irredeemable monsters.  It’s really Leira and Omara
that are leading the camp who just wants to fence them in.”

Kristi winked, “Plus, you know, they stole our toys.”

I sniggered, it wasn’t a real valid reason in my thinking,
but it still put a smile on my face.

Kristi asked, “Do you think the others will figure it
out?  They had the same clues you did.”

I wavered my hand back and forth, “Maybe.  The
shielding we create is far more energy efficient than the wormhole, but it
still requires just over ten percent of available power from the DE
reactor.  At the very least, they’ll need to make both of those
breakthroughs first.  Without those stepping stones and the hints from the
radiation I couldn’t have figure it out nearly this fast.”

Dr. Cindy Delouse called and agreed to meet me over coffee
and a snack.  I wasn’t that familiar with Chicago at all, so I had Al
drive and just enjoyed the scenery on the way.  It was a small coffee
house and I recognized Dr. Delouse from the photo attached to her grant request
when I entered the building.  She was in her mid-thirties, had dark curly
brown hair, brown eyes, and had a faint smile on her face.  She looked,
and felt, pleasant.

A short wait had a coffee in my hand and I walked over and
sat down.

“Dr. Delouse, it’s nice to meet you.”

She smiled wider, “It’s nice to meet you too, worth the time
just to say I chatted with Doctor Alicia Jones.”

I smiled back, probably a little uncomfortably from the hero
worship thing, “I was hoping to hear what you’re doing with neuro science?”

She took a sip of her coffee before answering.

“We are working to understand and exploit how memory
functions in regard to retaining and learning.  May I share a video?”

I nodded, “Go ahead, Al, accept a video stream from Dr.
Delouse.”

A video came up, it showed three rats all at the beginning
of duplicate mazes.  It ran at higher than normal speed to save some time,
as the first rat ran through the maze almost perfectly.  The second rat
made a mistake or two, and the third rat was helplessly lost and still hadn’t
made it through when the video ended.

She explained, “Okay, the first rat was very familiar with
the maze, and how to get its food reward.  The second and third rat had
never been inside that maze before.  Yet, you noticed the second rat
hardly made any mistakes.”

She sent a second video, and I watched again, but this time
one and two were flawless, and three still didn’t have a clue.

She smiled, “This was the second time through.  As you
can see, rat two made no mistakes, same as the first who’d been through the
maze hundreds of times.”

I nodded, “So what exactly does this mean?  How did rat
two manage that?”

She took a sip of coffee, and a deep breath.

“We installed a small device in rat two’s brain. 
Basically, what I’m trying to create here is a learning system.  Rat two
may have never been in the maze, but the knowledge of the maze was transferred
straight into his mind.  Yet, he made a mistake or two the first time,
there’s a difference between knowledge and understanding, or experience.

“Still, he learned in just one run through the maze, not to
make any mistakes the second time.  Which is quite a lowering of the
learning curve involved.”

That was… impressive, if a little concerning.  I was
trying to keep an open mind though.

“So, what’s the final result you’re pushing for?”

She replied, “A learning device.  Say you want to visit
France, well this could teach you French overnight, or it will be able to when
I’m finished.  Or a doctor could use it to keep up on all the latest
technology and drugs while they’re sleeping.  Schooling itself would
change and greatly accelerate as a result of this, classes could simply be a
review of the information downloaded the night before to increase
retention.  Even everyday life could be enhanced, by waking up in the
mornings knowing all the recent news, or simply increased recall of actual
experiences and memories that have faded.”

“That’s incredible, could it be abused?  Used to
indoctrinate?”

She looked amused, “You mean brainwash people? 
No.  It would place memories but the mind would still have to filter the
reality of them.  Just like the guy on the corner that proclaims the end
of the world is nigh, that won’t make you believe it, even if you have a memory
of it.  It also couldn’t be used for physical tasks, or rather, the
knowledge could be given but it wouldn’t affect muscle memory experience. 
It can’t delete memories either, if you’re curious.”

“Sorry if I insulted you, but I had to ask,” mostly because
I’ve watched too many bad sci-fi movies.

She waved it away.

I offered, “So, I’d like to offer you a deal that isn’t a
typical grant.  If you could accept the package from my A.I. and go over
it.  Maybe get back to me in a day or two?”

It was a standard offer, or standard for my company I should
say, much like I’d made in the past.  To be honest I wasn’t thrilled at
the idea of having something in my brain feeding me information.  But then
I didn’t really need it, I’d already gotten to college in my early teens. 
I imagined it would have been a different experience if everyone around me
learned that fast though.

We talked a few more minutes, and then I headed back to
Colorado Springs, and the office.  Al was busy calibrating the sensors and
upgrading our ships.  I’d also heard back from Jason Matthews on his grant
but he wouldn’t be in until later this afternoon.  I really didn’t have
much to do relating to science, so I wound up getting caught up on all the
company stuff, which though a little boring, was still important.

Al asked, “Got a moment?”

“Sure, what’s happening?”

Al replied in a voice reminiscent of a news caster, “They
decided to uphold the treaty in the case of Naira.  They won’t be
contacted for any reason until they achieve FTL travel.  The Reilan still
haven’t done anything about the probe flying around their system, and there is
some debate as to try to contact them anyway with a group similar to the one
sent to the Drenil.  Some are urging to leave well enough alone however,
and argue curiosity isn’t a good enough reason to stir the pot.

“The big question of the bugs is still on the table.  The
latest vote attempt still doesn’t show a clear majority either way.  Some
worry if we don’t do it, the Seltan may go and do it on their own, and then
have a million ships with nothing to do along with a bunch of worlds that
annoyed them.  Not in those words of course, I am paraphrasing.”

I grinned, “I imagine so.  Anything else?”

Al pointed out, “That implant that Dr. Delouse spoke of would
make these briefings more efficient.”

I almost choked on a laugh, “I see, that all?”

Al paused a moment, “I believe I know how the Drenil
communicate.”

This time I did choke, on my coffee…