Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (35 page)

"So you were messing with the controls?"

"How are we to learn anything if we aren't allowed to do some simple research?" asked the Professor, somewhat defensively.

"Getting someone hurt or killed won't do anything to speed things up," said Ariane, "You must be more careful!"

"Point taken, My Dear."

"Please," said Arnold, "I'm okay, I really am."

The three of them approached the central control panel cautiously. When they got within two meters of the device, they were all startled by an audio signal that began coming in over their suit radios. Mindful of what had just happened to Arnold a few minutes earlier, no one approached any closer. Ariane even took a step backwards. What they were hearing was obviously a spoken language of some kind, though none of what it was saying made any sense.

MacPherson was the first to recognize what it was, "That's Federation Standard with a very heavy accent of some kind," he said, "That and the words are all jumbled around. This could be a major breakthrough!"

Chapter 43.
Deimos Interface.

Voltaire Crater, Deimos, July 16, 2676.

The voice in the audio was almost certainly being generated by the central console. The logo on the console monitor had been replaced by a shifting set of symbols that changed in synchrony with the voice. It was as though the console had somehow detected the radio waves the humans were using to communicate with one another and then responded in kind.

"How is this happening?" asked Ariane, "These machines are supposed to be centuries old!"

"It's all alien technology," said MacPherson, "What do we know of its capabilities?"

"I...I think it's learning about our language by listening to us," said Arnold, "Listen..."

The speech being generated by the console seemed to have improved in just the last minute or so. Many of the words were still so garbled that the humans could not understand them, but now, maybe every fifth word was recognizable where before it had been maybe one word in ten. With each sentence that any of them spoke, the language they were hearing inside their helmets seemed to become more coherent and more recognizable.

"I believe you're right, Arnold," said the Professor, "I suggest that we continue to communicate with each other to help the machine, or whatever it is, to learn as quickly as it can!"

"Is that wise?" asked Ariane.

"We've come this far," replied her father, "I can't imagine why it wouldn't be."

"What should we be saying?"

"I don't know that it really matters," replied the Professor.

"This all started after I was hit by that beam of light," said Arnold, "I wonder what it did to me?"

As if in answer, the voice inside their helmets said,
"Scan brain necessary. Apologize me."
The voice, obviously electronically generated, had absolutely zero inflection.

An astounded Arnold replied without even thinking about what he was doing, "You're saying that a brain scan was necessary and that you are apologizing to me for it?"

"Correct. A brain scan was necessary. Apologizing me."

Even with that minuscule amount of input, the machine's vocabulary and sentence structure seemed to have improved noticeably.

"What is this place?" asked the Professor.

"Place of teaching-learning,"
replied the machine.

"A place of teaching and learning?" said the Professor, deliberately repeating the phrase spoken by the machine in an effort to demonstrate proper pronunciation and word usage.

"Correct. This is a place of teaching and learning. Ask questions more."

"You want us to ask more questions?"

"Correct. Ask more questions."

"How long have you been here inside Deimos?" asked Arnold.

"Question senseless,"
replied the machine.

"You mean the question makes no sense?" asked the Professor, "Why is that?"

"The question makes no sense because me not inside Deimos, me
are
Deimos,"
replied the machine.

"You
are
Deimos?" asked the Professor. "Are you saying that this entire moon is an artificial construct of some kind?"

"Correct, me are Deimos."

The Professor corrected the machine, "The proper way to express that would be to say, 'I am Deimos,' not, 'me are Deimos,'" he explained.

"I am Deimos. Thanks are given,"
replied the machine.

"How long have you been here in orbit around Mars?"

"Apologizing me. Must calculate and convert...,"
the three humans waited for several seconds while the machine was apparently performing some calculations. Finally the voice replied, "...
This Galactic Sentinel device was placed here
approximately fifty of centuries."

"Fifty of our centuries ago?" asked the Professor.

"Correct. Fifty of your centuries ago."

"What exactly is a 'Galactic Sentinel device?'" asked Ariane.

"A device that monitors species progress towards citizenship."

Ariane had more questions but decided to let the current interaction play out a bit longer. She sensed that there was no advantage in blatantly advertising how profoundly ignorant the three of them were.

"What is behind that doorway over there?" asked the Professor, pointing at the closed-off portal in the back of the new cavern.

"Doorway leads to place of preparation."

"Preparation for what?" asked Ariane.

"Preparation for next phase of Human citizenship attempt."

"Human citizenship attempt?" she asked, "Citizenship in what?"

"The Grand Amalgamation of Galactic Civilizations."

The humans were speechless for the next few moments.

The Professor broke the silence, "What is this Grand Amalgamation of Galactic Civilizations?"

"It is the supreme governing body of..."
the
computer paused while it apparently searched out the proper reference,
"...what your species calls the Milky Way Galaxy."

"Why is it that we have never heard of this 'governing body' before?"

"Because you were not yet ready."

"And we are ready now?"

"That remains to be determined."

"So the artifact and all of this other stuff
is
some kind of test?" said Ariane, more to herself than to the computer.

"That is correct, a test for citizenship in the Grand Amalgamation of Galactic Civilizations."

"What happens if we fail this test?" asked the Professor.

"Your species will be rejected for citizenship and declared undesirable."

The Professor looked at his two companions before asking his next question, "What happens to the undesirables?"

"Undesirables are all placed under the supervision of the Custodian race. Custodians determine the most efficient means to keep undesirable species peaceful and make them useful."

"Who are these Custodians?"

"Here is visual representation of an individual from Custodian race."

The monitor displayed a video of one of the Scarab creatures. All three humans stood in shock for several long moments.

"They turn us over to those things?" said Ariane, "Those are the same creatures that took over the Soviet ship! What exactly is civilized about that?"

"Peace and order within the Grand Amalgamation of Galactic Civilizations is of utmost importance. Undesirable species are often disruptive and must be maintained under firm control. Conflict between member and undesirable species is forbidden. War in any form cannot be tolerated."

"How long has it been since there was a war within this Amalgamation?" asked MacPherson.

"Apologizing me, must calculate...,"
the computer didn't take nearly as long to complete its conversion this time around,
"...approximately fifty of your centuries."

"So the last time this Grand Amalgamation experienced a war was during the same time that the artifact was placed on Earth and this moon was put into orbit around Mars."

"That is correct."

"What is the average interval between the placement of the... Sentinel elements and the completion of the test for those races that are now members?" asked MacPherson.

"Calculating...approximately two of your centuries."

"Two centuries!" exclaimed MacPherson, "What happened? Why has it taken humans so much longer to reach this point?"

"Because humans have constantly been at war among themselves. Many times your species has been close to becoming peaceful and working together but always a war or some other dispute interrupted the process. Cooperation within the members of a candidate species is very important. War and disharmony disrupts cooperation, slows progress."

"What must we do to complete the next phase of the citizenship test?"

"You must demonstrate that you are worthy."

"And how do we go about doing that?" asked the Professor.

"I am not authorized to give you that information."

"Who is authorized?"

"You must select representatives and they will use these teaching terminals to learn what must come next."

"How much time do we have to select these representatives?"

Again there was a pause while the machine apparently performed a conversion
, "Approximately two of your days."

"Two days?" said the Professor, "That's not enough time! Must it be so soon?"

"Your race has already had fifty of your centuries to prepare. You must choose representative and proceed."

"How many representatives?"

"You may choose a maximum of three. Since one choice has already been made, the remaining choices must be made within two of your days."

"One choice has already been made?" said MacPherson. "Who?"

"I think it's fairly obvious, Father," said Ariane, "It has to be Arnold. With the brain scan and his sensitivity to the visions, how could it not be him?"

"Arnold?" asked the Professor, incredulously, "Arnold is one of our representatives?"

"The member of your species that you refer to as 'Arnold,' is an excellent representative. Information gleaned from brain scan indicates that he is highly intelligent and highly educated by the standards of your species. Indications are that he is not in the least warlike and only wants the best for the future of your species."

"How did Arnold become one of our representatives?"

"He was looking at the central spire when the teaching console was activated."

"But we didn't know that would happen!"

"By activating this console, you indicated that you have studied and understand all instructions. Has there been an error?"

There was a long silence while the three humans thought this over. They had merely touched each of the triangles on the pyramid in the outer cavern in sequence. Far from fully understanding the import of what was written on the pyramid, they had only partially deciphered the meanings of few a short strings of hieroglyphs that preceded less than half of the triangular activation symbols before they had activated the Sentinel Device. Given the importance of what they appeared to have set in motion, the consequences of that decision looked as though they could be dire indeed.

By unspoken agreement, all three of the humans in the cavern realized that it was probably best to keep this particular bit of information to themselves for the time being. Finally the Professor said, "We will take the extra time we have been granted to select our other representatives. The three of us must go back to our spaceship and consult with the others before we go any further."

"Understanding is,"
replied the machine,
"Disrupting the field across the doorway when one of you reenters will reactivate my interface functions. I will be preparing for what must come next. Choose your remaining candidates well."

"We shall," replied the Professor.

The display on the console went blank, but the outline of the monitor and the keyboard remained visible.

Chapter 44.
Candidate Debate.

Voltaire Crater, Deimos, July 16, 2676.

With the threat from the Soviet ship now apparently behind them, Holger had sent the additional Viking ships back to Midgard before the reinforcements had even made it halfway to Deimos. The four people who had been in the two caverns when the teaching and learning console had been activated made their way back to the
Capri
. Upon their return, they called everyone together to share their momentous news with their companions. Everyone from the
Capri
, along with Holger, Gertrude, Olga, Sergei and several crewmembers from the Soviet and Viking shuttles had gathered in the now quite crowded meeting room of the yacht.

"You mean to tell me that we have to pick two more 'representatives' from among ourselves within the next forty-eight hours?" said Zack, who had remained on duty in the outer cavern during the interactions with the teaching console and had not witnessed any of the proceedings. "And these three people will have the fate of the entire human race resting on the outcome? No pressure there!"

"Easy, Zack," said Ariane, "I don't like it any better than you do, but what's done is done. There is simply no time to set up some kind of elaborate selection process and then go out and comb our entire race to find the best representatives. We'll just need to select the best from among our group here and then decide what our next course of action should be. As the teaching machine itself pointed out, Arnold is actually a very good choice."

"I think we need to do our best to finish deciphering the inscriptions on that pyramid," said MacPherson, "At least then we'd have a better idea of what it is we've signed on for."

"Kathryn and Olga have been trying to do just that," said Ariane, "They've made some pretty good progress over the last several hours. I agree that we need the translations, but we also need to figure out who our other representatives should be."

"I suggest that at least one of the remaining choices be female," said MacPherson.

"I agree," said Kathryn, "A feminine viewpoint could prove to be invaluable, especially since this Amalgamation seems to be so hypersensitive about any kind of aggression."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Zack.

"The males of our species are just naturally more aggressive and more likely to resort to physical violence when faced with a problem," replied Kathryn.

"Sometimes it's the only way," said Zack.

"I know that," said Kathryn, "but it sounds like we might be needing to consider more passive methods to defuse our natural aggression if we're going to pass this test."

"I like the Professor's suggestion," said Zack. "We need to figure out what it is we've signed on for before we go any further. What do we have so far?"

"Some of the wording we've been struggling with got a little easier to translate based on what the teaching machine told you about the selection process," said Kathryn. "The number of representatives and the amount of time we will have to select them is what we 'signed off on' when we pressed or 'checked' the second and third triangles. The phrase leading up to the fifth, and last, triangle says that we have read and understand the instructions. That means only the phrases leading up to the first and the fourth triangles remain to be translated."

"Do any of the instructions say that the outcome is legal and binding and that we will abide by the decision?" asked the Professor, "That seems to be a usual feature of most contracts."

"Actually, we're pretty sure that's what's covered by the phrase leading up to the first triangle," replied Kathryn.

"So there's not much in these 'instructions' that is going to be of any use in passing this test?" said Zack.

"No, it really doesn't look like it," replied Kathryn, "these just give the basic rules on what we need to do to indicate that we're ready to take the test; there's absolutely nothing on what the test will consist of or what we need to do to pass it."

Arnold, who had been silent throughout most of the discussion, finally spoke up, "The teaching machine said that the area that we were in when I got...'zapped' was a 'place of teaching and learning.' I'm not one to trust the good intentions of this 'Amalgamation', but I expect the representatives will be able to learn a great deal from the machine before we would embark on the actual test. For that matter, it may be that how we approach the learning opportunity itself is actually part of the test."

"The machine was right, Arnold," said Ariane, "You
are
a good choice for representative."

"Thank you, Ariane," said Arnold, "I just wish there was something I could do about the apprehension gnawing away at my stomach."

"That's okay, Arnold," said Zack, veteran of many life-threatening skirmishes during his service in the Marines, "a little fear when you're facing a crisis is perfectly normal. Keeps you on your toes. After a while you get used to it."

"Thanks, Zack," said Arnold, though he didn't look like the sage advice had made him any more comfortable.

"So we are agreed that at least one of our remaining representatives should be a woman," said MacPherson, "Who shall it be?"

"We already have an academic on the team," said Kathryn, "I don't know that adding another is necessarily the best choice. If you follow my logic, that would leave both Olga and myself out of contention."

"We aren't going to make any binding decisions in the short term," said the Professor, "but let's use your suggestion as a starting point. Who does that leave us?"

"Ariane, Gertrude, and another four women from the Viking and the Soviet crews."

"Ariane and the Soviets are all military," said MacPherson, "not that it should be a problem, but is that a message we want to send?"

"Don't assume that just because some of us are military that our only response to a crisis is to start a fight," said Zack, "We probably know more about the consequences of such actions than anybody here."

"Point taken, Zack," said the Professor, "but we're just discussing possibilities here. Everyone is still under consideration."

"Okay, I'll play along," said Zack, "Assuming we eliminate anyone with an academic or military background; that leaves Gertrude and two other Viking women. What do you think about this, Gertrude?"

"I don't know where you got the notion that I'm not military," replied the Viking princess, "I
am
a Viking, after all. Having said that, I am also a wife and the mother of two children. With every choice I make, I have my children to consider. I can't be sure, but that might make me an even stronger candidate. I could at least bring that viewpoint to the table." She paused and looked around at the others in the room. "This contest or whatever it is, it isn't to the death or anything is it?"

"We don't think so," replied the Professor, "but I'm not sure we really know."

That admission was followed by an uncomfortable silence.

"I have translation for fourth triangle," announced Olga, who had been listening in on the conversation while she continued to work.

"By all means, Dr. Dostoyevski, go ahead and tell us," said MacPherson, grateful for the interruption.

"Fourth phrase says we can ask teaching machine to pick representatives for us," replied the Soviet scientist.

"What does that mean?" asked the Professor.

"That we bring six, eight, ten, maybe more persons and machine will make choices," replied Olga.

"Would that be wise?" asked the Professor, "I think we'd better discuss this."

Again there was another lull in the discussion while everyone considered the new information.

Ariane broke the silence, "I'm half tempted to take this option," she said.

"Okay," said her father, "Explain your reasoning."

"We don't know anything about the process that comes after the candidates are selected," she replied, "the machine does. Doesn't it make sense that those who would make the strongest candidates would be the ones who would be chosen?"

"You're saying that we just need to trust a five-thousand-year-old computer to decide the fate of our race?" asked Zack.

"I know it sounds pretty risky," said Ariane, "especially when you put it that way, but what makes you think that we can do any better if we try to guess who would be best among ourselves? We just don't know enough about the process. I say we pick eight or ten people, Olga, Kathryn, Holger, Sergei, Zack and I included and see who the machine picks. Even you should be under consideration, Father."

"I have no objection," said MacPherson, "but I doubt that I would be a good choice."

"Why do you say that," asked Ariane.

"As Kathryn pointed out," he replied, "we already have an academic for one of the positions, a pretty good one, in fact. Realistically, I don't think I bring anything more to the table than Arnold does. We certainly don't need to duplicate a large portion of our knowledge base when the subject matter is likely to be very broad."

"I see your point," said Ariane, "Anybody else have a good reason to disqualify themselves?"

"I will volunteer for consideration," said Sergei, "but I doubt I would be taken."

"What makes you say that?" asked MacPherson.

"I have been contaminated by contact with this Custodian race. I cannot believe that I would be a good choice."

"We certainly don't want to consider anyone who really doesn't feel up to it," said Ariane, "Anyone else have serious reservations about doing this?"

No one else came forward to disqualify themselves.

"Where do we go from here," asked Ariane, "Do we want make our own choices or do we want to bring in a pool of candidates and let the Amalgamated teaching machine make the choices for us?"

"The more I think about it," said MacPherson, "the better I like the idea of presenting a pool and having the computer make the selections."

"Your turn to explain," said Ariane.

"That way we don't automatically limit ourselves to just another two people. If we present an entire panel of candidates, we also present the broadest possible array of experiences and temperaments. Granted, we'd be putting our trust in the machine, but to me it looks like the best choice."

"That's a very good argument, Father," said Ariane, "Does anyone else have more to say on this subject?"

Ariane looked around a room full of people, all of them wearing very solemn expressions. No one had anything more to say.

"Okay," she said, "let's make up a list of who we're going to present as candidates."