Galactica: Book 1 - Via Lactea

 

After taking several minutes to think things out, the Guardian began asking questions about the rescue.

«First, how would you effect that rescue? I understand the use of tessaracts for this, but the array of ships is rather complex and would need to be dismantled to be brought into one. The other issue is that I am a cybernetic entity that is closer to the Cyborgs in nature than to either the Founders or yourselves. As such, the interface between the Founders, as you call my charges, and myself was the Dominus Spiritus Sanctus and he, and only he, could order such a change.»

«Ah, another artificial intelligence. We have quite a few of those on Thebes, and they occupy a prominent role in managing the environment and keeping the data organised,» said Colibri.

«Actually, no. I am organic in nature. I used to have a body. I sleep most of the time, and wake up when someone sits on the chair now occupied by the one called Paschal. Most of my tasks are done automatically in the background. I dream most of the higher order tasks, and the rest is handled by autonomous routines.»

«It is our turn to take a few minutes to think out what to do. I took the liberty to contact Ian and he is adamant that we must include your charges and yourself in the rescue. Even as powerful as we are, we would never consider disobeying a direct order from the Heir of Atlantis,» noted Greywolf.

«Ah, so that was the one that almost overwhelmed me!»

«That was him, yes. And he was not really trying. His presence is such in the magical dimension that he overwhelms everyone without even thinking. Luckily, I trained him to reduce this side-effect or we would be blinded magically every time he uses his power,» replied Harp. «There must be some type of override that would free you from the Dominus Spiritus Sanctus and allow you to transfer the control to someone else?»

«Probably, but I have no knowledge of such a fail-safe.»

«That is not unexpected. Our own Artificial Intelligences had such fail-safes and did not know of them. We were these fail-safes,» Paschal informed the Guardian. «Since the Dominus Spiritus Sanctus was not eternal, there must exist a transfer protocol?»

«Yes.»

«Activate it.»

«To whom should I transfer the control? The next Dominus Spiritus Sanctus is unknown, at best untrained, and at worse, dead!»

«You must have a way to assess the validity of the next Dominus Spiritus Sanctus? After all, not everyone can hold such a high station in life.»

«Yes, but this was done during the training.»

«And what happened if the next Dominus Spiritus Sanctus proved to be, err, improper for office?»

«A failed Dominus Spiritus Sanctus does not wake up. It has happened several times over the aeons. The body is recycled.»

«This sounds so much like Ian’s reaction to those that misuse his trust that it is uncanny,» noted Kalseru.

«Unfortunately, the last one passed between the cracks and gained power he was unwilling to relinquish when his time came,» Harp commented.

«Must the Dominus Spiritus Sanctus be of Founder origin?»

«Colibri has a valid question here. Must it?» asked Harp.

«It never occurred to those that designed the power transfer protocol that it might one day be otherwise, so, no, there is no a priori prohibition,» replied the Guardian.

«Can you compare the genetic map of the original Dominus Spiritus Sanctus with the last to occupy this station?»

«I can try, but may I ask why, entity Colibri?»

«There is a good chance that the current Founders have drifted genetically so far away from the original Founders they no longer constitute the same species. In fact, from what we have observed, the Founders of today are magically less powerful than their ancestors and probably have lost most of what made them Founders in the first place.»

«The hypothesis is interesting if appalling. Can you justify the hypothesis?»

«Natural laws are the same everywhere. Once the pressure that drives evolution diminishes, the sustenance of the result is compromised. The current population of Founders has been living in a cocoon, without much pressure to maintain its assets. The evolutionary result is inevitable: the assets are gradually eroded because they no longer contribute to the species’ evolutionary success. This was noted in the Ancients as well. The diminution of environmental pressure produced by advances in civilisation led to an erosion of intellectual prowess. Gradually, the average level of intellect diminished, as civilisation took over the role of protector until reproduction of individuals. Your civilisation definitely went high, but has fallen down since, as can attest the fact that the two Founders in the room with us are unable to join in a Collective Conscience, something they should be able to do easily.»

The Guardian kept quiet, thinking over Colibri’s analysis and triggering genetic mappings of the successive Dominus Spiritus Sanctus that had taken the seat occupied by the one named Paschal. At first, nothing stood out, but after several thousand genetic maps, minor drifts began to appear, essentially in higher functions. The genetic drifts gradually accumulated, and, much to the Guardian’s dismay, confirmed Colibri’s analysis.

«What do you suggest?» finally asked the Guardian.

«Do a full genetic mapping of the Founders that are still alive and see which one is closest to the original template.»

«I did that already. It is the main reason it took so long to come back on the link. Can the one you name the Heir come? And can you give me samples of your own genome?»

«Ian, the Heir, certainly can come here. It would be easy for him to port in here. As for our genome, you might find it shocking. It is far more complex than what you would expect from a simple natural selection or even an artificial one,» tried to explain Colibri.

«Still, I am interested in comparing yours to the my reference genome.»

«Colibri, do what it asks. I say it because we never talked about your reproduction cycle and have as yet to establish that parameter,» Harp said. «Ian and Typhoon are coming, as well as Thorsten. They are getting to the FSS deck presently.»

«That is one question I have,» said the Guardian. «Why is it I detect some form of container for you?»

«The FSS is a space suit. It has many roles, including insuring biological survivability in the worse possible conditions. It protects us from biohazards but also protects those we visit from contamination by our own biological contaminants. This is one thing we need to discuss with you, Guardian. Why was the entire system so sterilised that the population has probably lost the capacity to develop immunity to microbial infections? This is highly dangerous and has led in our world to the destruction of entire cultures or ecosystems.»

The Guardian again became silent and considered the last bit of information imparted by Colibri. This time, it had to search a lot deeper to find information about what the visitor meant, and it shivered at what it found. It was thankful that the visitors had considered the impact of introducing biohazards in the environment and had settled for a FSS, as they called the container. That presented additional problems for the possibility of displacing its charges to within the visitors’ ship.

«I understand that moving my charges to within your ship would be a death sentence for them.»

«Under current circumstances,» replied Colibri, «I would say yes. However, since the displacement would in effect keep them within the current structures, the situation is not as desperate as one might expect. There is no reason prohibiting us from restarting the immune system of your charges if it is only halted from lack of competition. If the immune system genes have been compromised to the point of dysfunction, we can repair and even rebuild from scrap the genes so your charges can develop immunity.»

«You can do that?»

«And a lot more.»

As Colibri finished the last exchange, Ian, Typhoon, and Thorsten materialised in the room, shocking the Guardian further.

«You called?» asked a smirking Ian as he eyed Colibri.

«Yes, my Lord. As the Spiritual Lord of Atlantis...»

«Hold it! Hold it!» exclaimed the Guardian. «This young one is the Dominus Spiritus Sanctus of your kind?»

«Err, I do not know about the sainthood part, but yes, overall, that is the Spiritual Lord of our people,» replied Colibri. «If his temper is an indication of sainthood, I do not want to meet an individual that fits the ‘evil-hood’ definition!»

«Colibri, you are skating on thin ice...» replied Typhoon, as Ian looked at Colibri with hard eyes.

«Typhoon, I can roast Colibri myself!» said Ian. «Just wait until we return to Thebes, prat! Anyway, why the jump on the gun, Guardian?»

The feeling of misunderstanding was almost overwhelming, and made the Atlanteans laugh.

«What is that strange ‘feeling’?»

«What we just did?» Thorsten asked. «It is feeling good and having pleasure, expressed by laughter.»

«It seems we have lost more than I thought.»

Colibri wanted to get back on track as quickly as possible, in the vain hope of getting his faux pas forgotten so he asked the next logical question.

«Ian, the Guardian wants a genetic sample. We have yet to accept. Should we?»

«Merge with me, guys. I need to sense the time threads and this one is rather complex. Guardian, you can stay with us, but I expressly ask that you do not interact with us while we do this bit of foretelling. This type of action requires an inordinate amount of concentration, and we must not be disturbed.»

«I see. I shall observe. It is the first time I shall partake in such an event. The Founders, as you refer to my contemporaries, had this capacity, but when I was inserted in the matrix to become a Cyborg, they specifically choose me for my lack of such a power. Understand, they were afraid the potential Guardian would be guided by the visions of the future to the point of immobilism, so they choose this way of resolving the risk.»

«We are aware of the risk as well,» said Paschal. «We rarely use it except under critical conditions. This, apparently, is considered critical by Ian, and since he has proven repeatedly to have an innate sense of what must be done, we follow his guidance in this matter. I must now join the Collective Mind.»

The Atlanteans merged and the Guardian piggy-backed on the Magic to get its first glimpse of the future and its infinite variety. It had no point of reference and could not even associate what it saw with a Spider’s web. However curious it may have been, the Guardian kept quiet and watched as the Atlanteans studied the different threads offered by including or excluding the Founders and what each option leading to inclusion implied. The Guardian could not even begin to interpret the nodes, much less the time span covered by the Atlanteans keening the future. After several hours, Ian signalled he had made a decision and to fall back to current time.

«Guardian, I made my decision. We shall give you our samples, and explain what they mean. Furthermore, your charges will be included in Thebes, as I had already decided earlier, We shall also include the space ships and its array. However, they will be linked to Thebes’ power grid rather than be left autonomous. This is because, as we move the components into Tessaract eight, level six, sub-segment nine, the current power sources used to supply the stasis pods will be decommissioned. Harp, go back to Thebes and set the compression level to 5.5, but maintain time to its current rate. Paschal, get a team of Dwarves and Elves to begin the dismantling process. Guardian, you are the most difficult to handle, therefore you will be handled last. You will be transferred into an autonomous Cybernetic body which will give you full sensory and motor autonomy. Paschal, do we have some positronic arrays available? If so, I would prefer the Guardian’s mental map be transferred to one, since the biological brain is showing signs of fatigue and would eventually collapse in about 50,000 years.»

«What about the samples I asked for? When shall I get them?»

«Oh yes. Where do we put the samples?»

«There are biosensors located on the seats. However your suits prohibit their use. Therefore, I must call upon an older procedure. Look behind the big seat occupied by the one named Paschal. There, you should find containers where you can transfer biological samples.»

After looking around, Colibri found the samplers but made a disconcerting discovery.

«The samplers are so dirty they are useless, Guardian. Paschal, do you have nanobots in your field pack?»

«I always do. Guardian, I shall insert molecular-sized robots in the sensors to clean them up. Ignore all readings until told otherwise.»

«I am curious about these nanobots as well. That is a very old technology.»

«Your curiosity will be satisfied in time. Please refrain from trying to analyse them while they do their work, since it could possibly interfere with their programming, with unexpected results.»

«I agree to these terms. Once the cleanup is done, could the Dominus Spiritus Sanctus be the first to give a sample?»

«I have no objection. In fact, I expected this demand, Guardian. I know where this goes, and I tell you I accept your upcoming request.»

The Founders that had been observing the Atlanteans without understanding much of what was going on around them were surprised to see the one sitting on the central seat stand up and move behind, open a hidden compartment, and inject a reddish broth into the container that had been revealed. The reaction to this liquid was immediate: bubbles filled the container, and, in a few minutes, the deposit that had been accumulating on the side of the container detached and was dissolved in the liquid. The individual that had injected the liquid placed a fine, very pointy object into the container and extracted the contents, replacing it with fresh liquid until it was completely transparent.

«It is clean, Guardian. I have inserted 20 cubic centimetres of a 5% per volume saline solution so you can calibrate your sensors.»

«Thank you. I am absorbing the solution now. It reports the Mono-Chloride Sodium and Dihydro-Oxide. I also detect traces of Iron Oxide.»

«That is a contaminant. Flush the sample. I will inject a fresh solution. Flush until you only get the two chemicals mentioned as dominant.»

The cycle repeated several times before the Guardian’s sensors reported a clean solution. Meanwhile, Colibri had extracted from Ian’s saliva a concentrate of genetic material and stabilised it into a physiological solution identical to the cleaning solution used by Paschal.

«We are ready to inject a biological sample,» Colibri informed the Guardian.

«Proceed.»

The injection went without a glitch, and the Guardian began the genetic analysis. The Cyborg entity was totally baffled by what it found. The complexity of the genetic material left it voiceless: Although the genetic material was enormous, it was the amount of control switches that were present in the sample that left it at a loss as to how to interpret the results. Unable to make sense of what the sensors reported, it began comparing the data with what it had in storage for the Founders. There, things were even more shocking. These visitors had a number of markers specific to Founders, but these tracers were located at unexpected places, indicating a genetic drift that had lasted for millions of years. Also, deep within static genes were markers that dated from the very beginning of the Founders’ work at Elevating life to intelligence and star travel. If what these markers indicated was true, the visitors were amongst the first, if not the first to be prodded into intelligence and star exploration.

After pondering the issue some more, the Guardian began assessing the potential of Ian at what it had been considering ever since it had felt the power of the visitor. There, again, the markers were not where it expected them to be, but they were all there, in an almost pure form. Proceeding with the utmost care, the Guardian began projecting the impact of the changes he saw in the genetic material compared to the original template. As it did the analysis, it became frantic. The one named Ian was even more appropriate for the role of Dominus Spiritus Sanctus than the one on which the template was based! Its decision made, the Guardian accepted the unavoidable. Ian would be the next Dominus Spiritus Sanctus of the Founders.

«Ian of the people that call themselves Atlanteans, I humbly request that you take the mantle of Dominus Spiritus Sanctus for my charge.»

«I accept. Inform your people of this.»

«Please sit on the Seat of Power so I can officialise this. Your suit should not hinder this process. You will receive the knowledge of our people from our inception to this day.»

«This is fine with me. I shall include my team during the transfer. We are all of same model apart from minor variations and all contribute to the Collective Conscience.»

«It is your prerogative.»

«Paschal, move to sit on one of the seats there. I shall take your place. Sitar, Thorsten, Lord Agramon, merge with us. Paschal, explain to the two Founders sitting there that seem to be as lost as Jehovah’s Witnesses in a Brothel what has happened so far and what was asked of us, then join us.»

Paschal quickly outlined the past few hours’ events and told them the process was just in its infancy, so they needed to stay quiet for some more hours. One of them mentioned food and Harp obliged, creating some simple fare that could be easily assimilated by their rather inefficient digestive system. Then the real transfer began and the Founders were almost stunned out of their appetite by the actinic glow emitted by Ian as he assimilated the data sent his way via the Seat of Power and transferred the result to his immediate team. Paschal almost caused a de-coupling when he mentioned that Ian was well-known to govern by the seat of his pants but it was the first time he saw him learning by the same method. To add to the situation, Harp commented that he had yet to see Ian wear any form of pants whatsoever. If time stood still for those not within the bond, it flew for those partaking in its flow. After almost eight hours of download that covered every aspect of the culture and history of the Founders, the Atlanteans finally emerged from the deep trance that had allowed them to assimilate the data without getting overwhelmed. The Atlanteans stretched and walked around, making the Founders jump.

«What is happening?» asked one of the Founders, whom had regrouped in the Inner Sanctum over time as they awaited the conclusion of the shocking events unfolding between the visitors and their God.

«You will be moved into our space ship in stages. We shall disassemble the ship array in reverse order it was constructed. The Architect Prince is in charge of the process,» Ian informed them as he pointed to Paschal.

«The process is both simple and complex. Phase one is a full inspection of a ship before it is readied for transfer. That is done by nanobots, who will proceed with any repairs. The second phase is the disconnection of the tubes binding a ship to the array. That is done by the Spiders. The next stage is connecting the ship to a local power source, probably one of our thousands of atoms of Ianium we have been collecting as we travel the Galaxy. Each one is able to supply energy for one of your ships for millions of years. Once the Ianium atom is supplying the energy for a ship, the old energy sources will be disconnected. They are unstable and dangerous as you already know from our clean-up crew. The next phase requires a number of Mages, which will be supplied by the contingent found on Thebes. We have two Colleges of Magic producing Mages by the bucketful and entire legions of Mages doing next to nothing so this will not be a resource we should be short of. Anyway, Harp and probably the entire Imperial family will be supervising the process. Once a ship is moved directly in its new position in the selected tessaract, the tubes are reconnected, the ship is checked and we proceed with the next one. The before-last step is transferring the core memory of the entity that governs this system into a cybernetic body, allowing it to move around and experience what it used to be before some individuals moved its organic brain into a Silicon casing. We plan to maintain two copies: one positronic brain in the ceramic casing that is going to replace the Silicon one in use, and another copy within the artificial body. It is my belief that they will function as one individual with two bodies, and each will experience what the other experiences, much like twins issued from a single egg do. The final stage of the transfer is the disposal of the old power sources. There, I plan to have them ported right where we are currently, since the ships will by then be within the tessaract. Once they are ported simultaneously, they will be made to go critical. It will not affect the sphere that encloses this area, but it will blow the reactors to the point they will collide massively with the interior of the sphere. As I explained earlier, any metal that hits the sort of fungus that seems to have partially digested the ships attacks any energy source with unabashed ferocity. I expect that the power sources, heated to melting and disintegration point, will be a bonanza of food for this fungus. The side-benefits of this are multiple: it deprives potential scavengers from resources; it gives the impression you self-destroyed; it removes a potential threat by dissolving the radioactive material and finally, it feeds enough energy to the fungus that it will resume digesting the Borg ships.»

«What about health considerations?» asked the Founder that had first met the away team.

«That comes later. Colibri and Enron are already analysing your genome to figure out how damaged your immune system is. From our telepathic exchange, you guys are worse than bubble Babies, a situation that indicates a total absence of immunity. Fortunately, the Guardian has kept a genetic map of all the Dominus Spiritus Sanctus that passed on that chair since the beginning of the migration, so we have a starting point. Each Founder, starting with you, shall pass into one of our own stasis pods and receive in-cell immunisation restructuring done by nanobots. But, as I said earlier, this is only a starting point. The reactivation of your immune system will be followed by a general immunisation sequence, again done by nanobots at a cellular level. We cannot afford for you to develop immunity the old-fashioned way using CD4, CD8 and white cells. Once the CD4, CD8 and other cells part of the immune system have been produced by your organism after its genome has been retrofitted with the proper information, another army of nanobots will enter them and set their structures so they not only recognise an invader, but act appropriately. Have I answered all your questions?»

«I am lost as to the meaning of all this medical jargon, but if our God trusts you, I would have bad grace not to do likewise. How long will it take?»

«If I understand your question, the time from entering one of our stasis pod to the release into general population is less than 24 hours. Once released, the Founders will be integrated into the general population and assigned living quarters spread all over the ship. We shall not repeat the mistake of letting a population form ghettos. As to when we start doing the transfer, it has started. The contaminated ship our away team repaired earlier is now ready for transfer. We must inform you that you lost 2,000 pods due to that failure in the power supply.»

«How long will it take to move the entire fleet?» asked another Founder.

«Depending on how much trouble we have, from three to six months. We expect to move around 1,000 ships a day. Some are small scout ships and, strangely, will present the biggest challenge. Once everything is moved and secured, we resume our course,» said Ian. «I still feel the call to move closer to the galactic edge.»

***

Ian had underestimated the time required to move the Founder fleet into the tessaract by 50 %, but finally, it had been completed. The power sources had been replaced with Ianium and were now ready for porting. Enron slowly moved Thebes from the inner sphere to free space, navigating the gaps in the different spheres slowly. Once outside the last gap, he accelerated the ship and put it at half a light-year’s distance from the outer sphere.

«Ready and holding position!» he reported to Ian.

«All Mages ready and focussed on the ports!» added Harp.

«Synchronise! Port on my mark. Five, four, three, two, one, port! Report!»

«All clear in the Founder Fleet!» Paschal reported as the Legates completed their reports to him.

«Ready for meltdown! On my mark! Five, four, three, two, one, mark!» ordered Ian.

«Sensors indicate meltdown in progress! First runaway fission reaction in three seconds!» Sitar noted. «Here it blows!»

«It is not a whale!» Samson said, smirking.

«The reactor is on the move and accelerating! Collision with the nearest reactor in 0.5 seconds. Collision! Chain reaction triggered! All inner sensors are dead except those hugging the inner sphere’s surface. The next major event should be in five minutes. Take a breather!»

The sensors revealed pandemonium within the area defined by the inner sphere. Reactors blew up, moved around in the absence of gravity, propelled by jets of melting control rods and fuel, colliding at high speed with each other. What totally took the Atlanteans by surprise was the reaction of the fungus that carpeted the inner sphere. At first, it was a slight haze, but as the level of radiation and free energy rose, thick ropes of fungus stretched from the huge collection of ruined Cyborg ships and began ‘capturing’ pieces of flying metal. Most of the metal pieces were small but speedy and made their way to the surface of the sphere before being fully digested, creating holes in the structure and speeding the digestion process of the Cyborg ships still in progress. The molten reactor rods were also snagged as they flew by, but those produced an explosion of fungus that blossomed like red algae in a toxic sea dump. Finally, the fungus made contact with core reactors and began feeding on the energy, expanding so quickly it foamed and filled the inner volume completely, digesting everything on contact. The last sensor showed an advancing wall of fungus bubbling at a very menacing rate.

«We are done here,» said Sitar.

«Not yet. We are not in a rush. Did you leave sensors between the inner sphere and sphere two as I asked?»

«Yes, Ian. I left six. What are we waiting for?»

«Wait and see.»

An hour had barely passed when the sensors left behind in the inter-space between the inner sphere and sphere two revealed an impressive phenomenon. The inner sphere exploded violently outward as the fungus exerted immense pressure and completed the digestion of the Cyborg ships. It continued to expand rapidly, filling in the space between what once was the inner sphere and sphere two, and digesting the sensors left behind by the Atlanteans.

«That is what I expected. The Cyborg ships also had fuel, and most of these reactors were still intact if cold. At the rate this progresses, in 36 hours the last layer will be digested. We have advantage to be out of the area by then. Enron, warp nine, heading toward that brown dwarf we detect 329 light-years away. Sitar, continue monitoring the sensors we left behind. Drop a couple more at our current position, with proximity detonators attached.»

«ETA: 1,902 hours,» reported Enron as he activated the warp engines.

***

Thirty-six hours into their new leg, the current crew called on Ian.

"Sir, we have lost contact with the sensors in near proximity to the outer ring of ships. We have images."

"Send them to the Imperial Den, Captain Fox-Trot."

The Imperial family had been taking a well-deserved break after all the insane work required by the recovery of the Founders, not that everything was done, by far. Upon getting called by Ian to the living room, the Royals sat in an arc around a huge projector and waited for Ian to start displaying the images relayed from the Bridge. The display showed an impressive bubbling of activity occurring within the outer sphere of ships, with a frothing mass of fungus expanding rapidly into the gap Thebes had enlarged to make its way in the first inter-layer. Big fountains of froth exploded through holes and progressed outward at an alarming speed before falling back on whatever debris had been expelled by the pressure generated by the fungus’ rapid expansion. Gradually, the froth diminished, and a more placid surface gelled into place. The overall contents of the new-born structure became apparent as the froth vanished and the fungus clarified. At the centre of the mass was a darker sphere containing complex shapes. Between the nucleus and the outer wall were packets of greenish-looking capsules, long filaments and tubules, some drapes whose silky surface folded on themselves, holes that seemed to contain some product or other, arrays of rigid spindles that seemed to be changing position and pushing on the outer, flexible surface of the monumental assembly. Enron whistled in surprise.

"Guys, this is a cell! What we viewed as a fungus was in fact a transitory stage while it digested the Cyborg ships and waited for the requisite energy to recover its migratory form! The form we met was a spore stage!"

"What is the size of that thing?" asked Amethyst.

"The sensor data places the nearest surface at less than a light-minute from our sensors, so, if it expanded in all directions equally, it is one light-year across. It is ready to start moving, as you can see from the pseudopod that is extending to the left. The flow of plasma within the cell can be tracked by the displacement of the organelles. It is not interested in our sensors, but is photosensitive. It has begun moving toward the closest and brightest source of light in the vicinity, that red giant on the verge of going nova. This fits with the behaviour of the spore phase, that reacted violently to our laser light when we took a sample. Remember: it tried to target the source of the light to feed on it."

"Okay. AI-5, monitor the sensors and report any sudden change of behaviour of that cell. Keep the sensor array around it, matching speed and displacement.»

"I am on it, Ian."

"I wonder what will happen when this thing meets the red giant?" asked Harold.

"Oh, like any life-form, it will reproduce, divide and use the energy available to multiply. By the time this happens, we will have left the local galactic cluster," replied Enron.

"I wish we could be around for the division."

"No you do not, Dad, unless you want us to be the dessert! It has no knowledge of Ianium and of the Crystals or we would have it on our tail. We are not interesting because we appear a weak source of energy compared to a star, but we know otherwise."

"That thought is sobering, Paschal. What happens when we engage transwarp, or, and I shiver about the outpouring of energy this requires, the slip-stream or the quantum jump engines?"

"You assume we leave a high-power trail. We do not. Slip-stream inserts us between time-space layers; quantum jump folds us from one location to the other. Nothing can track a quantum jump, Dad. The transwarp drive uses a system akin to slip-stream but between the space layers instead. Warp is, by far, the most polluting of the drives because it leaves a wide swath of unstable space similar to drag vortexes found in a gas that widen as time passes. It is also the reason why warp drive has a speed ceiling akin to the sound barrier for objects moving in a gas. Yes, warp drives can get us above warp nine, but the energy required becomes prohibitive, as more is spent pushing against the resistance of space than is gained in speed. That is also the reason I wanted us out of the area before this thing came out of the last shell. By now, the vortexes we left behind have dissipated and the residual energy left by our displacement is diffuse and non-directional. It would have to explore a wide sphere to try and guess where we went, and there is no apparent gain of energy it can sense from doing that."

"Ian, the more I see you at work, the more I feel inadequate!"

"Dad, if you try to do to me what Samson and Diamondcutter did to their Sons, I am dumping you in the nearest black hole! Be warned!"

Samson and Diamondcutter exploded in laughter and slapped Harold on the back.

"You have one Hell of a bright Son there. I suggest you remove the word abdication from your dictionary, my friend!" said Samson.

"And other words like retirement, vacation, and retreat to name a few more!" added Diamondcutter.

***

"We are three minutes off target!" reported Helm, currently under Felicia’s paws.

"Go on Red Alert! Man all battle stations!" ordered Ian from the Admiral’s seat, surprising Timor.

"Battle stations manned! Bulwarks closed! All weapons on standby!" reported Sitar.

"Sensor array at maximum sensitivity!" replied Harp. "The star system is composed of the expected failed star, a Brown Dwarf, and a single Planet, currently at the opposite of our location, right across the system. It should be occluded by the Brown Dwarf in fifteen minutes. Currently, the star is making long-distance sensing unstable."

"Maintain course!"

"That should bring us to within the corona of the Brown Dwarf, Ian," Thorsten said.

"So? I want to get to that Planet as quickly as possible. By the way, what is the size of that Brown Dwarf?"

"Sensors report it is about 80 times the size of Jupiter. It almost made it to star status. It is still hot, but the process is nuclear fission, not nuclear fusion, which drives the stars’ output."

"We are entering the upper atmosphere of the Dwarf. We are out and dragging several billion tons of gases behind us. The path ahead is clear for some distance. The Planet is dead ahead, a few minutes off."

"Drop to impulse at one minute off," ordered Timor. "Harp, sensor report?"

"I am verifying the results. It just does not make sense."

"What do you get?"

"According to this, the albedo is null, not zero, but null. It is totally transparent, even more than space itself. And the only known type of matter that has this level of transparency is Orichalque. Density is also congruent with absolutely pure Orichalque in its neutral state. Strangely, it orbits the Dwarf whereas it should be free-roaming."

"Put us in controlled orbit around that Planet when we drop to impulse, Felicia. Paschal, map the surface of the Planet."

"That is easier said than done, Timor. How do you map a surface you can not see?"

"Paschal can use Magic. Orichalque will respond to Magic sensing. Paschal, the idea behind my suggestion is to use your Magic to sense the pull of Orichalque, much like a satellite senses the pull of gravity and thus reacts to mass variations such as low plains and mountains."

"I can design a Magic sensor, yes. Felicia, you will need to keep the orbit perfectly circular to the best of your ability. I shall do several hundred measurements and estimate the quantity of Orichalque below our orbit by interferometry. Harp, I need two perfect spheres of pure Orichalque and of identical dimension, bound to each other by a tension-meter and tied at one end to a crossbar, all made of Orichalque. The principle here is that Orichalque attracts Orichalque but repels other matter. By joining two identical spheres of Orichalque with a spring that can be stretched by the sphere closer to the surface of the Planet than the one located further away, we get a differential that allows us to map the fluctuation in the quantity of Orichalque below. Now, the stretch is proportional to the inverse of the distance so the orbit must be as circular as possible. To prevent false readings, we will pass over each point six times and average the stretching for each measurement point, thus smoothing out local differences due to orbital variations."

"And pray tell how I can establish a circular orbit around an object I can not see, oh genius of design?"

"There, I have a solution, Felicia. Thebes itself is made of Orichalque. We can use it to determine the centre of gravity of the Planet below and characterise its orbit. Once this is done, we can calculate its displacement and use that to plot an orbit at an approximate altitude. If that Planet is orbiting that Brown Dwarf, it can only mean one thing: there must be a mass of Orichalque buried within the star itself, below the crust, therefore held prisoner of it, much like the bits and pieces we recovered on the Earth," replied Harp.

"And why not use Thebes itself to map the Planet’s surface?"

"Felicia, that idea has crossed my mind too. However, there is such a thing as sensitivity. Thebes is much less sensitive to small fluctuations than the instrument I ask Harp to help me build. We need fine measurements, and Thebes will help determine bulk but certainly not mountains and abyssal holes," Paschal informed the crew.

"By the way, Harp, how could you determine the presence of the Planet if it is invisible?" asked Timor.

"The Brown Dwarf wobbled. The closer we came, the more precise the wobble measurements. The position of the Planet is determined by the Dwarf moving slightly toward it, with a certain lag. The tidal effect of the Orichalque as it pulls on the inner core of the stuff held prisoner in the Dwarf’s crust leaves a distinct energy trail. Our passage within the atmosphere of the Dwarf also allowed me to measure the mass of Orichalque sequestered below the surface. It modified our trajectory by several degrees closer to the surface. Come with me, Paschal, let us go to your laboratory so we can build that sensor. Felicia, I have set a gravimeter and it feeds its data to the Helm. Maintain a constant value as close as possible to its current measurements while trying to determine the centre of gravity from the fluctuations. AI-2, give her a hand with that task. We should be back in an hour with the more sensitive gravimeter to measure surface fluctuations. Sitar, I am transferring sensor data to your station. Destroy anything that might come in our path. If we can see it, it is worthless."

"I do not have hands!"

"Maybe you do not, but I can make sure to find your butt to kick it if you continue in that vein!"

The other Artificial Intelligences snickered at AI-2’s expense.

"Are you aware we are getting Artificial Intelligences with a sense of humour?" asked Typhoon as he accompanied them out of the Bridge.

"Yes, and that promises! They have as much humour as Tom and Jerry, and that freaks me out!" replied Harp. "I dare not think what these hot circuits can conjure up as pranks!"

"Talking about hot circuits, what is up with the mobile Cyborg?"

"The body is completed. I need only transfer the memory map into the positronic brain and wake it up. I have been working my arse off giving the body top of the line sensors so it would feel as alive as possible. Unfortunately, it will never be able to shift shape," replied Paschal. "Harp, we never did give the Guardian a demonstration of what we meant, did we?"

"No. We shall do it as soon as it has been integrated into the Cyborg body. For now, it has no knowledge of elapsed time, because it is asleep. Where are you going, Typhoon?"

"I am off to pay a visit to Dad, and I am picking up Tarik on the way. The little Orc shall always impress me with his ability to talk to Dad even when my Father is still deep in stasis sleep. Then we go hunting."

"Okay. Have fun."

***

Harp returned to the Bridge 15 minutes early, surprising the crew.

"Hey! Where is Paschal?" asked Timor.

"He stayed in the laboratory to measure the fluctuations. Felicia, do you need to be relieved?"

"Yes. I have not eaten and I need the sand box."

"Alexander, report to the Bridge!" ordered Timor.

As soon as the young Atlantean sat into the Helm, Harp explained what was expected and the Prince took over the controls. Alexander configured the Helm to send its command stream to the laboratory while Harp did the same with the inertial arrays.

"I have the two data streams. The instrument is doing its job. All data streams are synchronised and being recorded. AI-1 and AI-3 are analysing the data in real-time. Let us begin," said Paschal.

***

A week passed before the map of the Planet was finally completed. Paschal called the Imperial family into a conference room located just below the Bridge to explain his discoveries.

"I found out that the surface of the Planet is as spiky as Thebes’, I had immense difficulty interpreting the data at first, since it gave results that showed arrays of dots but no continuous surfaces. It just did not make sense. It was after looking at Thebes’ Crystal Form in Phase Seven structure that I finally caught up to the issue. So, with the help of Harp, we studied how the phases change the final form of a sphere of Orichalque. Phase Zero is the least energy form, and cubic or hexahedron. I sort of expected the sphere to remain but, upon reaching the zero-point energy level, the form switched to cubic. The Orichalque also siphoned Magic energy at a high rate, thus making the zero-point energy form unstable."

Paschal displayed a drawing of the cubic form, explaining that the form was detected by diffraction and thus could not be photographed.

"The next form, phase one, is dodecahedron or 12-faced crystal, and nearest to a sphere. That was what I expected to be the least energy form, but as you can see, Orichalque had already dashed that hope. Phase two is a octahedron, or 8-faced crystal. Phase three and four are pyramidal, with phase three a rhombic pyramid and phase four being a rhombic dipyramid. That last phase is the shape of AI-1 to AI-6, the pyramid Artificial Intelligences. Phase five and six are respectively tetra-hexahedron and hex-octahedron. That shape is the one found in the Atlantean Crystals that are our main power source. Finally, phase seven is tetrahedron, or the shape of Thebes... and of the Planet below."

"And what gives?" asked Harold.

"Dad, we could actually ‘land’ on that Planet and merge its surface with Thebes. In fact, there are several ‘docking’ areas where Thebes could be inserted and become indistinguishable from the surrounding areas."

"Again, Paschal, what gives?"

"Dad, do you have an idea of the power this form represents? We have a space ship that measures around 120 miles in diameter, but with this added mass, the ship would measure 7,900 miles, or slightly smaller than our second home world! And we could occupy the entire volume and a lot more since, as you know, we have the capacity to reshape the Orichalque crystal at will to create the inner structure of a space ship. Can you imagine a space ship say of the size of 20 times the Earth but with a mass equivalent to the Earth’s? If we ever decide to merge the two, I plan to move Thebes directly at the core of the Planet below, making us even safer than we are now. Just imagine how safe we would be with a crust of 3,500 miles of Orichalque separating us from the outside world!"

"What my Brother refuses to envision is the recovery of the mass of Orichalque held under the surface of the Brown Dwarf. We have been fighting like Dog and Cat on the issue," revealed Harp.

"How much?"

"How much what?"

"How much Orichalque are you talking about?"

"Oh, a tiny amount compared to the Brown Dwarf, somewhere around the mass of Jupiter or so..."

Paschal exploded!

"Or so? Or so! Are you aware we are talking about a mass 317 times the mass of the Earth? Are you nuts?"

"Yes, I got two."

"Dad, he just does not get the idea, and it scares me! Just so you know, the volume of that mass of Orichalque is 1,322 times that of the Earth! Look at him smirking, like this was one of his pranks! I just feel like we are biting something bigger than we can chew!"

Harp’s smirk was something to put the fear of Hades into everyone present. Ian, for his part, kept looking at Harp with an enigmatic smile that added to Paschal’s discomfort.

"Red Alert! Immediate lock down in effect!" rang across the conference room just as Harold was going to say something.

"What now? Thebes?"

"I am sorry sir, this is unexpected. We drifted and are now in an unavoidable collision course with the Planet. All bulwarks are closed. All transport nodes are on hold. Brace!"

"We drifted? How could that happen?"

"Numerical models show we slightly underestimated the interaction between us and that mass of Orichalque on the Brown Dwarf, your Majesty. It is now tearing free of the Brown Dwarf’s surface and getting closer to the Planet, changing its orbit and ours by the same means. We are currently trying to assess the result. The collision will occur in ten seconds. I have activated emergency landing procedures. Prince Paschal, I am manoeuvring to use one of the docking holes we discussed earlier."

"Since nature decided for us, Thebes, activate the primary merge protocol on contact."

"I must inform you that we will barely reach the centre of the Planet before the mass of Orichalque released by the Brown Dwarf absorbs this Planet."

"Damn it! How far are we in the simulation concerning taking control of the Planet’s crystal structure?"

"AI-1 to AI-6 have taken the simulation over as a priority one task. The results should be appearing on the forward monitor now."

"I wonder why we always have these issues? Can we not have something go right for once?" moaned Diamondcutter.

"Ask the writer of the script!" replied Samson, "He has been driving me nuts for years!"

"Contact! We are now immersing into the Orichalque. The penetration rate is 35 miles per hour and steady. The crystal flow is laminated and stable. The propagation of control nodes is optimal. We should reach the centre of the Planet in 112 hours 51 minutes 25 seconds and 71 hundredths."

"Thebes, you and your colleagues AI are making me sick. When will you learn to stop with that excess of precision? It is getting old."

"Oh, come on, Harold, let us have our fun. We can not have any other pleasures except these teasingly too precise numbers."

Harold looked at Paschal, frowning.

"Sorry Dad, they developed in unexpected ways. Humour is one of these ways."

Time flew by as Thebes sank into the Planet. The entire Protectors were busy with setting the Planet’s crystalline structure to resonate with Thebes’ already tamed form. The laminated flow of Orichalque around Thebes helped considerably in assuring the speedy propagation of the control nodes so Thebes would have total access to the Planet before it collided with the other gigantic mass of Orichalque headed their way from the surface of the Brown Dwarf. Millions of engine rooms were hastily moulded in the Planet’s mass, power lines and porting stations set up, and sensors replicated to be placed at strategic points on the surface, especially the area that would be facing the incoming Orichalque object. Control lines were established with the two Bridges and tested by mixed teams of Dwarves and Elves.

"Twelve minutes to centre," Thebes informed the crew. "Damper fields active! Control of the Planet completed at 95 % and rising."

"Where is that blob of Orichalque?" asked Paschal, whom had resigned himself to the unavoidable.

"According to the last gravitation measurements, it is 15 minutes off, and the Planet will collide with it on the side. Estimates are that we should roll on the Orichalque before starting to sink."

"Do we have visual?"

"Yes. Given the temperature of the Orichalque, it is emitting intensely in the deep infrared region. The crystal may be in phase seven, but observations indicate it is a liquid crystal, not a solid one."

"Will we survive?"

"Ian and Harp are in the process of setting up energy dissipation vectors, composed of high-power lasers. The idea is to return to the Orichalque mass the excess energy until it can be used profitably. This his how they managed to restructure the Planet so quickly without getting a magical burnout, and to implement your ideas so quickly. Note that the implantation of the structures has already added 105 miles to the radius of the Planet, reducing its density proportionally."

"You know, I still feel sick in my stomach at the process we are engaged in."

Thebes kept silent. What could it say? That it feared for its own survival? What purpose would that serve? Yet, the inevitable began. At first, nothing seemed to change, but gradually, a low rumble could be more felt than heard.

"What is happening?" asked an alarmed Typhoon, from the Captain’s chair.

"We are entering the Orichalque mass at about Match one. This created a shock wave ahead of the Planet and intense perturbation in the liquid crystal, akin to a Prandtl-Glauert singularity. This should disappear momentarily, as we slow down."

"How come we did not expect this? I am growing tired of surprises."

"We did expect it, Dad. We did not tell you about it because we had enough issues already to deal with, and the events just cascaded too quickly for us to sit down with you and explain the physics of displacement within a liquid crystal."

"Ian, another comment like this and I turn you on my knees to give you a good spanking. You behave like I am a total ignorant. You just needed to tell me we would be entering in the Orichalque mass at the speed of sound in the material for me to do my own deductions!"

Ian moved to his Dad, quicker than a lightning bolt, and placed himself arse up, smirking.

"Go ahead, old Man, if it makes you feel grown up!"

Harold was shocked and picked up his Son, hugging him tightly. "I shall never hit you for any reason, even if some days you pull on my strings to the breaking point. You have grown fine without any of that crap, and I see no reason to change how I raise you. You are all I ever dreamed in a Son, and a lot more. Come and sit on my lap while the crew continues doing what they are so good at, that is, keeping us and our world safe. It has been too long since you took that Throne."

"My arse is too bony, and I do not want to hurt you, Dad!" replied the Heir.

"I do not agree with this assessment," replied Typhoon. "You feel just right for me!"

"Hey, you are a Dragon, and I am a squishy in my natural form. By definition, I am softer than you except when you bother taking my shape. Dad is not! He is a squishy at heart and rarely takes Dragon form or Dragon Chimera form."

"Chimera?" asked Captain Blight, as he walked into the Bridge from his lunch period. "What is that?"

"A Chimera is a mix of two or more species. We are all able to do that, Blight. For instance, Captain Typhoon is in one of his many Chimera forms, combining Dragon and Primate forms."

Blight looked at the young Prince with wide eyes. Another thing he had learned that he did not expect. What other surprises lay in wait for him? He was beginning to miss his stay in a stasis pod.

"The Planet has slowed down and is now progressing at half the speed of sound through the blob of Orichalque, sir. We have begun dissipating heat using the lasers on the surface. We should reach the core of the blob in four days."

"Thank you, Thebes," noted Typhoon. "What is the surface pressure?"

"Currently, it is at 1,250 mega-bars and rising. We should be well within tolerance for the ship when we reach the centre of the mass and stabilise."

"Do we have any idea of what is happening outside?"

"Outside?"

"What is the path taken by the blob of Orichalque?"

"The collision did not alter significantly its original path. We are still headed toward the galactic edge at a very slow speed, barely above liberation from the grip of the Brown Dwarf. We are accelerating, being pushed away from the Dwarf by the nature of Orichalque itself."

"Where are the other members of the Imperial family?" asked Blight, as he noticed there were few on the Bridge apart from the Emperor, his Heir, and the Captain in office.

"Some are resting, others are hard at work converting the Planet’s insides so it can be occupied like a space-ship should, and others are preparing the occupation of the blob. Paschal is mapping the blob’s surface using ultra-sound produced as we move through the crystal. He says it supplies him with enough energy to do that so I am not about to complain if some good can come from that hiss."

"A hiss? I hear nothing."

"You are one lucky bloke. Being a shape-shifter has its perks, but there are some not so pleasant side-effects, one of which is the acute senses we get from our different forms. Wolves have fine hearing, but Bats are even worse, and we have some mappings for those. I am sure Greywolf regrets the day he changed into one to see how they saw the world. By the way, Blight, wash up! Your last bath dates a day ago and you smell!"

The Captain blushed and made a hasty exit to go to his washroom. It was hard for him to overcome a life-long conditioning to save water and he just could not fathom why the precious liquid was used so liberally, including, oh shock, to spray the ambient air with a mist in what these people called fountains!

***

Meanwhile, Harp, Enron, Colibri and Paschal met in one of the many laboratories under the supervision of Paschal to discuss the next phase of what was now dubbed ‘Project Founders’.

"I have finished calibrating the positronic matrix an hour ago," began Paschal. "What about your parts?"

"I finished the security protocol. It runs at the sub-conscious level and is a triple-key verbal command. That way, the Cyborg Guardian can never go against us. I was worried about that issue ever since we began that project because of the Borgs turning on their Creators."

"Fine work, Harp. And you, Colibri?"

"Sensors are calibrated as well. They are at about what would be expected of a Human-Wolf Chimera. I decided to give the Cyborg some enhancements relative to Humans so it did not feel too left behind, especially since it can not shift shape. Sensors also include continued contact with the Founders’ core processing unit, left to run on autonomous mode until such time it is judged no longer necessary for the Cyborg to monitor activity within the ship array."

"And I just finished a few minutes ago on the motor co-ordination calibration in the cerebellum, so the Cyborg can now move without falling all over his own legs. Strength-wise, it is about as strong as a fit Human, and as quick as a Wolf on the run," Enron informed the others.

"So, we are ready?"

A common nod of the heads informed Paschal of what he needed to know.

"Let us implement the transfer, then. We have a couple of hours of free time, let us put them to profitable use."

The still immobile body of the Cyborg was brought into the Inner Sanctum of the Founders ship array, and a big, 256-wire connector plugged between the Guardian and the newly created body. Paschal activated the sleep cycle on the Guardian, thus preventing any feeling of discomfort for the old Founder.

"The transfer is in progress. The mapping is going on schedule," noted Paschal, as the memory array filled up slowly. Colibri began reporting neural activation.

"Autonomous activity triggering: breathing activated; blood pressure rising, body temperature rising, positronic neural flux progressing from the centre to the extremities. The first motor reflex paths activated. First sensations returning to the positronic brain and triggering the low-level processing. As planned, touch information is first on-line. Hearing is coming on-line. It is opening the eyes and the optical processing just kick-started."

"Arc reflex testing in progress and the results are within expected parameters," added Enron. "All motor actuators are under tension, and muscle tension is optimal."

"Welcome to your new body and your new world, Guardian, I hope it fulfils all your expectations. The memory dump is now complete. Give yourself an hour to let the positronic brain the time to sort the information in manageable chunks. Meanwhile, feel free to move body parts one at a time so you can get a sense of your new container."