Waking Olympus (The Singers of the Dark Book 1) (34 page)

From the outside he had expected to see all metal inside. Metal was scarce, this amount was a treasure. But just as he thought it a new understanding came to him. Most of what looked like metal was something far greater; synthetic materials that had no analogue in his previous experience. These materials could flow like liquid, turn hard like stone, conduct electricity or insulate. They could think and process information. Inside the ship the metallic look was gone, now there were soft organic colors and materials meant to reassure him. If he wanted metallic they could reform before his eyes, like a lucid dream made manifest. He kept the default, he no longer needed the reassurance but his travel companions did. He climbed a short flight of stairs, wooden handrails, passing marble walls and dark polished wood panels, into the control room. Here there were masses of glowing instrumentation reporting the status of the ship, allowing direct control of functions, but the controls were malleable as well, he knew that he could change the layout and the interface philosophy; it was all configurable.

He had to say something to make his friends know it was going well.

“This is where we could control the ship from. Though for now none of us know how to do it. The ship is smart enough to do it for us as long as one of us is closely linked to it.”
 

Facing them he pointed mockingly at the small fading scar behind his right ear.

Zeus spoke. His voice must have been coming through the ship’s sound system, which Mikel now understood a little about, the voice was in his ears not his head this time.
 

“This ship is designed primarily for atmospheric and interplanetary travel. But it is highly maneuverable and heavily armed. It is also beautiful and awe inspiring, which you will need, since your long term strategy is more about psychology than military victory. You will have to impress those who have less sophisticated understanding. I have also included some more appropriate weapons which you might find useful since you don't want to destroy entire cities just shatter the morale of an army. So no nuclear weapons.”

The Traders looked quizzically at each other, they hadn’t understood some of the words but Mikel had; it would be enough.

"We should name it. Don't you Wizards name your ships?" Tarvis said.

"You're right, we do. I'm not sure, I've never named anything before. Ideas?"

"Mikel's Revenge? Or, Mikel's Malice." Kay suggested.

"Sometimes you worry me, Kay. Nice but it doesn't feel right to me. This should be about hope not revenge."

"Mikel's Hope?" Tarvis added.

"That sounds just right.
Mikel's Hope
it is, or we can just call it the
Hope
."

"Mikel, let them know who is responsible for this. Full title," Tarvis said.

"Okay. Also it represents
our
hopes not just some general notion."

“We should leave,” Helen said.

“I know but I have to say something first.”

He cleared his throat. He felt nauseous, very nervous as if he was addressing a crowded square or Council hall or the Elder Wizards.

“Since I first met the Traders everything has seemed to be spinning out of control. When I suggested we come here I don’t think I really believed that we would find anything. I was desperate. But now I understand. This is a rare opportunity. Only sometimes do a few people have the chance to change the fate of the world, and even more rarely for the better. I was an orphan from a village north of Bethor, I was raised in Lind to be a Wizard. We have dined with the rulers of the Cities of the Plains and I have come to understand and appreciate the Traders. Most of all I now understand how we got here, how the world we see became as it is. I will not follow any one of those cultures, I have to listen to them all and I can’t give over power like this to any one or even all of them. They would destroy themselves. I don’t have a solution but I intend to find one. We go to liberate. First Tanten, and then the rest of Arva. We will explore all of Neti, rebuild technology, and learn some wisdom. I don’t know if it will be enough but we have to try. Then we will go back to the stars.”

Laudable. Others have said similar things. You have the potential to carry it out, only time will prove it one way or the other. Good luck.

"You believe in luck?"

I believe that chance plays a role. I hope those chances go your way. That is all.

He took a deep breath. The moment was here.

“All right. Let’s go.” He gave the silent command and the ship started moving forward towards a wall.

The wall lowered, smoothly and effortlessly in defiance of its obvious mass, before them was the star spread night, a crimson afterglow low on the western mountains ahead, that promised bloodshed tonight. The ship glided out of the opening and sped away from the mountain that was not a mountain, then angled and turned, arcing gracefully to the left around the Citadel, as it made its new heading toward the south-east.

The ship descended to 1,000 meters and increased speed. He had some spare time and a million questions. He felt himself shake with excitement, after all now he might just get an answer to a few of the big questions.

"Zeus, about the repatterning…"

Do you still want to know what the repatterning was like?

"I've heard so many creation myths, I would like to hear something closer to the truth."

Here is a fragment, in the words of one of your own people.

A section from: Executive Summary 23 — Overview of Repatterning of Neti

The Neti intelligence, codename Zeus, began the task it designates as 'repatterning' over three years ago on the computed simultaneous Earth date: 2244 day 188. Zeus issued a statement saying that all of our forces and assets should leave the planet for our own safety. Orbital systems and stations continued to monitor the process.

Initially there was little change. Some sensors we left behind showed unusual biological activity in the
elts
(our biologists' shorthand for biological 'elements') but that was all. After about 20 days we noticed a sudden increase in activity. The elts had vastly increased in numbers but were hidden below ground, now they swarmed out devouring any living creatures they came across. The old
Ecasian
ecosystem was destroyed within a few days. Then the elts started building what first seemed like termite mounds but on closer examination by robotic probes seemed to indicate they were machines ranging in height from one meter to twenty meters. At the same time there was activity in the seas. Plumes of gas rising to the surface were seen in many places along the continental margins and even far out at sea. Significant ocean chemistry changes were also measured.

Over the marine environments some objects started to come to the surface. These were elt constructed machines ranging from hundreds of meters in diameter up to several kilometers across; there were hundreds of these artifacts in the first few weeks, later thousands. Shortly after this we lost contact with our probes, we believe they were 'devoured' for resources. We still had airborne probes though they came under continuous attack from flying
elts
ranging in size from insects to pterodactyl like creatures with a four meter wingspan.

Heat and neutrino signatures indicate the presence of fusion generators in the marine structures, and color changes in the surrounding seas suggest extensive chemical processing is now underway.

On land the environment changed rapidly. Giant mushroom like organisms up to forty meters tall proliferated, their purpose is unknown, suggestions include: chemical factories for new materials that will be required, breeding centers for new forms of
elts
. The ground between the mushrooms is carpeted with a deep green layer of plants though the type is unknown. Strange flying creatures the size of small eagles fly from continent to continent in flocks numbering in the tens of thousands, their purpose is not known. Sometimes great vine-like structures are observed to propagate between the mushrooms and may grow downwards, it is still not known what their function is; are they roots, are they nerves?

The planet is now more alien than any world we have ever visited and is unrecognizable from the world we first discovered. The process is still in its early stages according to Zeus and we have seen no evidence yet that any of the biological samples we have supplied have been used. It is likely that we will not see tangible benefits for decades.

In the next section we will discuss the process in detail looking at a particular region around the body of water named
Lake Baikal
by Dr Pyotr Klenova.

Mikel's curiosity was still not satisfied.

"Why did human civilization fall on other worlds? Why did the Cities languish afterwards? I want to know the truth? I've come a long way, I've heard lots of stories, myths and legends. Now I just want the truth."

What is Truth? Your people often regarded me as godlike. Does a god need to ask questions about what humans are doing? Does it need to send out agents to find out? Does it confess ignorance about what is happening to other worlds? I have no access to some pure Truth. All statements about the world are conditional, tentative unless they are a tautology. Some statements are supported by evidence, some less so. But we can never say they are True.

"The Method, or part of it anyway. Sorry, I was caught up in my own fairytale I guess. You make predictions and try to break your hypothesis, others try to replicate it. There is evidence but never certainty, the best we can hope is that our evidence based theories make predictions that are borne out by new experiments. Often it isn't enough, sometimes the acceptance of an idea is more about art than prescription and the final judge is always reality. Of course some things cannot be tested, or tested yet, then we just have to muddle through and manage somehow."

The humans who first came here sought such absolute Truth. They extended the neural links to hook directly into the memory of others via the brain region called the amygdala and around the temporal lobe. They created something called Communal Presence. You saw a bit of it when I showed you the scenes of Tanten and the Plains. They thought it would give them some kind of Truth and some protection against others of their kind manipulating them. This is a problem of all societies I have seen, everyone tries to solve it differently, some get it right apparently but I haven't seen it myself.

"Are you saying they could examine the memories of others as their own? But then, where does my sense of self end and theirs begin? How can I remain me?"

Yes. That was the problem, I warned them, they would not listen. They were too close to the problem to have any perspective, they thought that the truth they were after was in each other.

"No wonder the Cities never recovered, they lost themselves. It was just as Maria had guessed."

The links are both dangerous and incredibly useful. Take care.

"I understand.
Communal Presence
, it's a contradiction isn't it? Communal Presence is not about community at all. And yet … Who else is here Zeus? With us, now?"

He could feel it, another identity on the link, close but unknown.

You are sensing the formation of the Other, the combination of our interaction. Memory and processing has been set aside to act as a gateway between us, that behaves like another persona. It is not, it is more like a reflection of your own, changed by my interaction.

"But magnified … No wonder I can't understand them. If they lived in this environment most of the time then they were really not like us at all."

He felt strange, as if there was a pressure behind his eyes. He became aware of a multitude of voices, like a party or a bazaar where the conversations merge into a constant background din, it reminded him of the market in Tanten but infinitely stranger. A clamor of voices seeking his attention. Like a river within. It rose as a mass, broke its banks and suddenly, he — was not himself.

The Yechaf Activation: date 143,700 Years Ago (Earth Standard Years)

Galactic Calendar: 11.11.63.14057

He was walking down what seemed like a purple canyon, in dim red light. But the cliff walls were too regular to be natural. They towered above him as if he was in a giant's hallway, the giant away, the canyon silent. The walls were regular geometric forms, the symmetry broken by attached aerials and devices, beneath him the ground he walked on was a crystalline road paved with diamonds, or something very like them, glinting with a red fire amongst the ever present purple. He looked up, to see the angry sun Yechaf, baleful and red, spitting prominences into a black sky as if it could stop them at the last moment.

At the end of the road was an elaborate arch, like an old temple waiting for worshippers, just an illusion as one saw more closely that it was not covered in fine artwork but elaborate techwork. Around the gate and beyond, the red desert of Fechri spread to the horizon, and above that a black sky with unwinking points of light.

Now there was a rumble, he could feel it through his feet, the canyon walls glowed a brighter purple, while the far gate, for that is what it was, now glowed deep blue, a warning: it said simply, leave or die. He turned away from the gate and walked toward his small flittership. The diagnostics were all good, soon the gateway would be established above Fechri, held between the sun and the tidally locked dead world.

The Ciwuyaxe Hive Contact: date 755,343 Years Ago (Earth Standard Years)

Galactic Calendar: 11.11.55.59890

She saw the team in the distance, they were collecting their equipment in a large clearing of the open forest. The vehicle that had brought them here lay in the distance, like some great flattened silvery egg. It radiated strongly with various energies when it first landed, there had been a great deal of EM across almost the whole range, she was collating the energy / wavelength measurements but suspected it wouldn't tell her much. Very inefficient, it wasted energy. There seemed to be even some particles, some telltale gammas from particle annihilation. Wouldn't it have been much easier to breed some flying forms to bring them here? Most mysterious of all was that the vehicle didn't 'fly'; there were no flapping wings, no rocket exhausts, no propellers, or jet intakes. She and her sisters had never needed these things but inventing them was a hobby they shared.