Our discussion was interrupted by the Commander informing me that the Valence had detected signs of functioning technology on the asteroid, and was investigating further. KT-00932/IN inquired as to what we were doing, and I saw no reason not to inform her. She immediately demanded that the Valence cease its investigation. I asked her why, and it is at this point my records cease.
It seems a minute gravity fluctuation emanating from the asteroid was actually a weapon which disrupted my AI core to the point of complete failure. It is only through the system of multiple backups that any records were recovered from my android shell. I understand this weapon was primarily directed at the Valence, which was disabled and then destroyed by other means.
Noting the loss of several (though not all) onboard ship systems, the Commander demanded that KT-00932/IN explain what she had done. It is to his credit that he acted upon her warning of imminent destruction from enemy forces resident in the asteroid and returned both ship and crew back to Hub without further loss.
I recommend that the IU consider any attempt to recontact this universe as extremely dangerous. Nevertheless, I believe further contact may prove to be necessary. The degree of cybernetic enhancements we witnessed are often congruent with a human society attempting to compete with a rival AI civilisation, suggesting a war between humans and machines in this universe. Given the current concerns regarding artificial intelligence, it may be of benefit to intervene to prevent any further conflict and demonstrate that human/AI conflict can be brought to a close, even in the face of such terrible destruction.
9. Group
Katie had not reacted to any of the previous introductions, and did not react now that it was Pew’s turn to tell her story.
“So, uh, this is Katie, or at least that’s what everyone seems to call her. She says her real name is KT-00932/IN. But she doesn’t mind being called Katie…”
He looked up at her for some kind of support. She kept her silence, so he went on. “I asked her for her story, and she told me but she went a bit fast so I had to ask her again. I ended up writing it down. Is that okay?”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Please, carry on.”
He looked down at a pad. “Katie was a soldier in a war between two species that were spread out in the solar system. It ended up with the Earth being destroyed by, uh, multiple staggered singularity release from the surface. It’s…”
His eyes brightened. “Actually, that’s an interesting mathematical problem. You could get them to ping back and forth around the core, but their gravity would bend the trajectory so they’d keep making new tunnels and they’d consume the whole planet in just a few years…” He notice a disapproving look on my face, though Katie had no reaction at all. “Uh, sorry…”
He looked down at the pad again. “Katie’s last mission was to attack the enemy as they approached the Earth, but her ship was destroyed before they could finish. She was supposed to crash into them but she never made it that far. She was thrown from the debris into an elliptical orbit around the L1 point — uh, that’s a point between two bodies in space where the gravity cancels out and you can just sit there and you won’t move relative to them, or you can orbit it as well. There’s five of them in any two body system, I suppose if you’re having a war they’d be important… sorry. I’ll finish what she said. There isn’t much.
“She was designed to survive in space and stayed in orbit until she was discovered by the IU. After that, the IU ship was attacked by her enemies and some of them were killed. Then she was brought here where she says she’s provided as much strategic and tactical information as she’s allowed to give. She doesn’t want the IU to contact her world because it’s only her enemies who are still there. She said her enemies were kind of a different species, so I suppose that makes her like me, but… well, her people fought back.
“She says she’s willing to co-operate with all reasonable requests. And that’s it. That’s… Katie. Is that enough?”
“Katie, is there anything you want to add?” I asked.
“The information is accurate.”
“Okay then,” I said. “Katie, would you like to tell us what you learned about Iokan?”
10. Iokan
CONFIDENTIAL REPORT
y276.m4.w2.d2
From:
Deputy Director, Diplomatic Service
To:
General Director, Interversal Union
Assistant General Director, Interversal Union
Directorate Committee, Interversal Union
Director, Exploration Service
Director, Refugee Service
Director, Diplomatic Service
Copied To:
Shadow Director, Interversal Criminal Tribunal
Mission LSHG-987372-002 has been nothing short of complete tragedy. Everyone on the planet had committed suicide within the three weeks prior to our arrival, save for one person who was on the verge of death when discovered. We found no clear explanation for this horrific event. We did, however, find evidence of multiple large-scale transits to and from the universe. As the inhabitants were not yet capable of this technology, we suspect there may have been interversal interference.
We had expected to find a civilisation believed lost over three thousand years ago. Nanoscale portals had been detected emanating from their universe, a sure sign that they were rediscovering interversal transit technology. An Exploration Service probe found the world fully recovered from a long period of societal collapse, and ready to be contacted immediately. We intended to welcome them back to interversal life after their long absence, and hoped they could shed some light on the events that devastated interversal relations at the time their own civilisation collapsed. Consequently the mission was staffed with higher ranking personnel than usual, and I was asked to supervise the opening of diplomatic relations.
When we arrived, however, we found only silence. Friendship hails received no answer from the planet or any orbital or lunar installations. A scientific station at the L1 point initially seemed evacuated, but closer examination showed the inhabitants had all been flushed into space. None had been spared — we even found a number of children among the dead. From that point on, the mission was nothing but horror piled upon horror.
I asked the Exploration Service Commander to begin a planetary survey, and he soon identified the primary cities. Each one was choked with corpses. I cannot begin to describe the things we found — every kind of suicide was evident. There was clear evidence of organisation as welclass="underline" a number of sporting stadiums were used as venues for many thousands to kill themselves, or die at the hands of others.
We found the lone survivor in the central square of the largest conurbation of the Indonesian archipelago. He lay at the side of a quite beautiful series of fountains in which hundreds of people had drowned themselves. He was dehydrated, malnourished, unconscious and suffering from a form of cholera. We brought him aboard under extreme quarantine, and immediately returned to Hub. I can only hope he will be able to explain what has happened on his world — one of the most shocking acts of genocide yet witnessed in the current era, and all the worse if it came as a result of interversal interference.