War. Global war. Dr. Spencer had said that one world government would be the only possible outcome and I was now realizing how he and his colleagues had arrived at that conclusion. Even if the Coridians wanted to be benevolent to Earth they were under the time pressure of the Noridian threat. Earth would have to unify to accept a protectorship but the only way that would happen quickly was through military might.
What was it that Dr. Mark Spencer had said one night… something about great men in history seizing opportunity and not waiting for permission? Who was going to step up and how could anyone possibly lead us out of this mess? As sleep finally overcame me I couldn’t help but hope that Julie was right—I hope there really is a God.
Chapter 34
Dr. Mark Spencer
Anzio and I left early on the morning after our sendoff party. It would be some time before I saw Major Reagan or Julie again.
In addition to the holo-recorder he’d given me Silva and the major had had a number of packages delivered to our ship, some of which we were only now learning about.
The package we’d been directed to open first contained a miniature smartpad that could be worn on the belt or wrist (or virtually anywhere) and projected a holographic keyboard and display. I knew this because immediately upon opening the package a holographic image of Silva from the shoulders up had appeared with instructions about the equipment we were being given.
He’d wanted us to open this first because it had the potential to control all of the other technology we now had access to. As incredibly advanced as it all was it was humbling to realize that the Coridian’s had greatly ‘dumbed down’ the tech so we could use it. For example, Coridians routinely managed considerably more technology but didn’t need a holopad or holodisplay to do it; they managed everything directly with their mind.
They didn’t need an external display because images were generated directly on the optic nerve or in the Cerebral Cortex (I wasn’t clear which) and could totally replace the images from one or both eyes or could overlay data onto their vision much like a pair of range-finding binoculars or thermal imaging sights. Want to share an image or what you were witnessing with a friend? No problem. As long as both parties were in range of a Coridian paired quantum communications device any number of people could see the same thing you were seeing—even across interstellar distances.
The smartpads we were being given could (as long as we were in range) access communications for what he claimed was the entire Coridian galactic network and our only restrictions were on which databases we could access. Silva had apparently anticipated our skepticism because he went on to explain that because of the extreme circumstances with the Noridian Dynasty they were making an exception for us and that this access was temporarily being given just to a select few of us. The consensus was that it was in their best interest for Earthers to learn as much as possible about the Coridian way of life (without of course actually taking our side and arming us against the Noridians).
We did have a very limited and rudimentary thought control of the smartpad facilitated by an earpiece that fit smoothly and almost invisibly behind one ear; but the holographic keyboard was required for anything extremely detailed. For everything in-between there were voice commands.
Silva (or his hologram) went on to describe several other pieces of equipment that, among other things, included boxes of medical nano-pills. With instructions to immediately swallow one this tech was preprogramed to run a diagnostic evaluation of our health which we could access on our smartpad. Then, assuming we were basically healthy, taking one nano-pill a day would maintain our health at its current level for as long as the pills lasted—which looked to be quite a while.
Another piece of tech that was at first puzzling was the Atmospheric Frequency Modulator. In essence this allowed us to control the vibration of molecules in the air around us.
Much more intuitive was what I called a Personal Force Field Generator. Apparently very common amongst the dynasties, this created an invisible field that extended outward from the body just far enough to encompass most items of clothing (and may explain the propensity for dynasty members to wear tight-fitting apparel). Although it wasn’t designed to stop anything massive (like a bullet), the force field could protect and redirect radiation (including Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, or LASER) and it could maintain temperature and emergency atmospheric pressure when the wearer was exposed to a vacuum or hostile environment.
Silva went on to describe several other items but Anzio pointed out that we also had a recorded message from Major Reagan and I was anxious to hear it.
“Dr. Spencer, Dr. Spelini,” he began. “I want you both to know how much I, how much we all, appreciate what you’re doing. We all have our respective missions to accomplish but yours might very well be the hardest. You’re literally heading into the unknown and there is no intelligent advice that I can possibly give you so I’ll just say this; we believe in you.
“We also need you; Earth needs you. If… when you find a solution for us come home quickly.
“In the meantime we’ve put together a technological care package of sorts that will hopefully come in handy. Silva has been very helpful and I know he’s recording some basic instructions for you but I wanted to add a few thoughts…
“I advise you to use the medical nano. Dr. Schein and I have both thought this through carefully and believe we can trust the Coridians to limit this nano to only function as advertised. The ultimate decision is of course totally up to the both of you but I don’t need to remind you how important it will be to stay healthy for your mission. Apparently we’ve already been exposed to similar nano by the Noridians—they automatically included it in our food before our expected planetfalls to protect us against foreign antigens and pathogens—apparently it’d be pretty risky to just go from planet to planet without some kind of immune system enhancement.
“On the same token however we would encourage you not to accept any nano-enhancement to grow any type of bioware. Silva has offered to give a few of us bioware enhancements very similar to what all non-Earthers already have from birth. This would eliminate the need for the earpiece and miniature smartpad as all the ‘equipment’ would be in your head. There are obvious advantages but Dr. Schein and I both agree that the risks of secret and silent observation, perhaps even some type of subtle mind-control, are too great. I would rather be paranoid than compromised so we have declined the offer and hope you will too.
“Anyway, we wish you good luck and Godspeed. Reagan out.”
I think Ashima had sensed that I was somewhat melancholy about leaving the others behind. I don’t know if she thought it was just the entire situation or if she knew I had feelings for Julie but she was sensitive to it and gave me some space; it was a full week before she started sharing my bed.
She wasn’t pushy about it and she made it clear it was more for fun than romance but since it was just the four of us on the ship and we spent all our time together it was pretty much inevitable—and did I mention that she was fun?
Because of her area of interest and expertise we were able to have incredible conversations about how the greater galactic society worked and I was starting to get a better picture of the hoops Earth was going to have to jump through if we wanted to fit in.
“So basically,” I asked. “Planet bound cultures defer to the dynasties without exception?”