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Bill floated down the Hera Station’s main concourse. He shepherded the med-creches of his clones with their privacy shields down. The zero-g environment made the mall setting a confusing cluster of shops, “foot traffic”, courier bots, and holographic advertising. The dense public access foglets helped Bill to traverse the area without the need to expend much thought or energy to power his navigations.
The mouthwatering aroma of the nearby food courts made Bill’s stomach rumble. His non-stop merge cycling hadn’t enabled much time to engage in his favorite hobby of cooking and eating. Augmentation-derived recycling of necessary biological chemistry was safe and effective, but far from satisfying.
Bill shook his head subconsciously as he urged the foglets to pull him and his cargo further into the cluster. If Hera’s fractured and tumultuous collection of networks and indexes was correct, his destination wasn’t far. Bill took the travel time to make subtle alterations to his body design.
Vestigial conduits and capillaries expanded to enable condensed gas discharge ion thrusters at key points on his body. The public foglets enabled easy travel, but Bill knew any public works could be suspended or even corrupted. Bill always desired to prepare personal backups in case an emergency happened.
Bill arrested his rapid pace as a gaggle of laughing kids crossed in front of his flight path…followed by a large squid. Bill’s HEKIA ports opened and his rail gun capacitors ramped. He almost shot before he realized the squid was actually part of the scrum of kids and all were being chased by a larger, adult-sized, android. The squid had multiple armbands holding some tools and bangles and one of its tentacles had a pinwheel.
Bill calmed himself. Dr. Vivek’s work to uplift Max must have branched into other species. Bill thought briefly about paying a visit with him to discuss the massive changes back on Earth, but he quickly shut down the impulse. The doomsday clock was still ticking. He needed to resolve his clones’ issues and his ongoing strain to keep his promise to merge with his copies quickly. Until he found how to deal with the denizens of the Shadowverse, he had no time for social visits!
Bill cruised through the chaos of the open mall until he came to the science labs and the flavor of traffic changed. Now the corridors were much less crowded, only occupied with augmented humans, drone couriers, and the occasional android. He found the entrance to Luca’s labs. The sign on the portals said.
[Jovian MindBridge Commune - Dr. Singe Luca ]
Bill entered the portal and stopped immediately, the space inside was cavernous. The zero-g room had creches lining the spherical walls. Thick cables strung along the perimeter joined together around a massive cluster of neural cores in the center of the room. A machine with many long and articulating limbs hovered over the nexus.
Bill corrected himself silently seeing that there was a brain encased in the robot's glassine central torso. This person’s body design choice was extreme. Bill couldn't criticize as most of his body was constructed of configurable smart matter. However, he didn't rub people's noses in it; preferring to establish a close to baseline form for casual interactions.
Bill sighed. The Jovian cluster was by far the more extreme fringe of humanity. The lack of gravity on Hera was a prime example that normal out here did not mean Earth-like. The strange form jerked about and floated closer.
“Hello! We see you. Bill Mitchell, Samaritan leader Titan, Sebastian York. Perhaps you have yet more identities not yet in our memory indices out here in the Jovians. This is a grand day for a visit from such an interesting fellow.” The brainy mech twittered.
“Ah yes. Excuse me. My augs don't seem able to pull a name. I have an appointment to see Dr. Luca. Is he here?” Bill asked.
“Oh, my yes. We are here, Bill. So many of us are here. Some even have a history with you, dear Sebastian. Norman Corbel worked for you as a comptroller for your first company BCI Worldwide. Mina Forvilae was a logistical liaison to the Samaritan for the RUSA mech infantry support crews. And I, Singe Luca, met you briefly in consultations with Dr. Vivek regarding the uplift procedure for your wonderful pet, Max. We are all pleased to see you again and for the first time, Bill.”
“Wow. Sorry, I didn't realize the full extent of your work here. Your advertising mentioned your work with neural systems and communal mental collaborations. This is a heck of a lot more than I thought. Ah…how many people are…ah, speaking with me right now?”
"There are currently 27 individuals connected to this shared neural network, Bill. We are a collective consciousness, each contributing our unique perspectives and skills to the greater whole. Dr. Luca is the primary interface, but we all participate in this communal mind. Additionally, we enjoy no less than three Turing-level AI participating in the mind bridge. How may we assist you today? We are eager to hear your thoughts and discuss any matters you wish to explore."
In answer, Bill stepped aside and the med crèches floated into the space. He commanded the units to retract the privacy shields. The brainy mech gently drifted closer, several of its limbs splitting into a fractal mesh of sensing filaments. Bill saw that the whole room's lighting shifted slowly up and down the visual spectrum band as the Luca collective analyzed his clones.
"Oh, dear. It looks like our larger-than-life Samaritan is pushing boundaries, much like ourselves. Clones? Why are they sedated?” Luca asked.
“Necessity. I am facing a crisis requiring an army of scientists…or a strike force of my selves. We are embarking on a difficult endeavor, yes…pushing the boundaries of science. I'm not sure why or how but my selves were…damaged.” Bill answered tiredly.
“We aren't complete yokels here, Bill. Mars Terraform has been broadcasting your invention and its impact upon their efforts to make Mars more habitable. I'm afraid your invention of portal technology is gathering quite a bit of attention.” Luca smirked.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Please don't mistake me, Bill. I am enthusiastic about this. Even in the fringes of the Jovian habitats, we Mind Sharers are looked upon as taboo and strange. This is a welcome discovery. We are glad and look forward to your efforts to bring the worlds closer. Now! Let's wake these poor men up, assess them, and get some readings. Tell me everything and I will do my best to help you.”
Bill took a nervous breath; he had been concerned about the reaction Luca would have. As the large scanners drifted over to the medical creches, he composed his thoughts about exactly how much to reveal.
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Back on the Freedom, Casa dealt with the masses of incoming communications. Bo had begun distributing portal gates down to trusted governments on Earth. Questions regarding the portals' safety had spiked despite their eagerness to explore the potential. Legal questions regarding the preliminary patents were being discussed.
Casa fumed, frustrated with the legal discussions going in circles. She quickly purchased a daemon, some archaic entrepreneur legal maven called Steve Jobs, to field the issues and send the appropriate responses and addendums to the preliminary filings Bill had done.
Casa reeled back. Andrei Petrov from the Mars Terraform had filled her V-Mail with requests. He was looking for her to quote her price for additional Mass Transfer gates. Casa delegated the details to Edison. She had a plan in place with Tom and Rams already to expand the Mass Transfer project to expand the Venus-Mar gates by an order of magnitude.
Rams was already shepherding another round of probe ships, diving into the depths of Jupiter, to set up mass transfer gates at the largest concentrated source for hydrogen. Once Mars had the coverage and warmth associated with a blanket of CO2, then New Dimensions would unveil the addition of hydrogen from the Jupiter gates.
Some chemistry, mixing the two gases, would provide a ready supply of water for Mars’s maturing ecosystem and Casa would be sure to gather some good contracts before she revealed the expanding potential market. She needed more daemons, for marketing, business, and more. Or perhaps, she should discuss adding some more employees to the company. She couldn’t do it all. She pushed the nonsense out of her peripheral awareness and focused back on the science.
The small fleet of Space Strider probes had accelerated out of the Oort cloud faster than any previous terrestrial ship. Casa had probe ships burning at full thrust, tracking along the known travel routes of all the ark ships. The Alpha Centauri ships were ready for their leapfrog to occur.
Casa had designed an improved portal ship and all she needed was a moment and a configuration change to reconfigure the probe ship's portal to pass another probe through. The second-generation probe was even more powerful, thrusting through the gate provided by its predecessor.
Casa grinned. This latest round really pushed the boundaries of the Ion fusion jets. The second-gen space strider’s portal had scant millimeters of clearance to the enlarged thrusters. Casa was determined to catch up to the Ark ships and with decades of a head start, she was pushing the limits of safety.
The new probe ships passed through the needle of the first round ships and ignited their full power. The second stringers took the lead for all the routes tracing the routes of the Ark ships to Alpha and Proxima Centauri, Bernard’s Star, and Wolf 359. Casa would keep the other probe ships going but shifted her focus to the next generation.
“Rams…Edison…Are you watching? It's time to ramp up the new engines!” Casa yelled over virtual spaces. Both scientists appeared quickly in her dedicated virtual lab. Sensor data, telemetry, power flows, and more all filled virtual wall screens as she prepared to push her latest design. The Space Striders were set up in pairs, so they could watch each other and record external visuals.
Rams and Edison leaned in, their eyes fixed on the data streaming across the virtual displays. With bated breath, they watched as the second-generation Space Strider ships ignited their powerful fusion drives, surging forward with unprecedented acceleration. Casa grinned, slowly tweaking the fusion jet's power and focal parameters to increase its prodigious output.
“Oh my! Please go slowly, Miss Casa. I informed you earlier that the SS-Nexus G2 fusion jets might produce a jet exceeding the diameter of the portal. Backwashing flow could damage the Tesseract pair’s structure.” Rams urged.
Casa nodded, slowing the throttle incrementally. The fusion jets stabilized; their immense power contained within the portal's confines. She was preparing to lock the settings in when the jet stuttered.
“Damn! What the hell is that?” Casa yelled.
“Son of a bitch! Those Bills on Venus! They keep expanding the feed lines into the network. Jupiter’s hydrogen mix is much richer than Venus’s trickle. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but the filters haven’t been configured to screen for deuterium yet. It's thrown off the fusion jet.”
“Backing down now!” Casa said. They all had amped their cognition, so the corrections were managed before the dreaded backflush event. It was a close call. The ionized jet had interacted with the event horizon around the portal. Not enough to destabilize it, but she could see the portal deforming before she managed to curtail the jet’s output.
As the chaotic virtual settled down, daemon Captain Picard appeared, his stern expression announced it wasn’t just curiosity to interrupt the test. He flashed over to the team and created another window display.
“Admiral, what just happened?! Strider AC 2-2 has disappeared from Strider AC 2-1’s field of view. Did it explode?” Picard reported.
“What? No. Not at all. It had a flux glitch, but we adjusted before any backwash.” Casa explained. Unbidden, she assumed control of the new video screen. She froze the display and reversed the recording.
The probe ship reappeared! No explosion. She resumed play and slowed it down. The jet visibly flared in extremely slow motion. The portal glowed as it picked up and circulated the ionization around its edges. The portal puckered ever so slightly; and in a blur, it was gone.
“Damnation! Where did it go?” Edison asked.
“The image… blurred a bit to the left before it disappeared. Did it veer off course? Captain Picard. Do you have visuals from AC 2-2? Can you display them?” Casa asked.
“Certainly, Admiral. Here…I’ll rewind both to just before the incident and proceed with a paired display in slow motion.” Picard answered and adjusted the video feeds.
AC 2-2 disappeared from AC 2-1’s feed, while its own display’s starry background jumped noticeably before its jet settled down. The captain spoke.
“Incredible… its velocity must have been extreme to change its parallax on Sol and the surrounding stars so much. I need to recalibrate its position based upon the visuals.” Picard quickly ran through his expert systems to chart the probe's location. He displayed the positions of all the probes, and Casa whistled.
“Probe AC 2-2 veered off course by almost 2 light hours on declination vector 20 degrees off Sol north. My word! I don’t understand. Its velocity must have exceeded lightspeed constraints. This doesn’t make sense.” Picard stated. Casa’s smile expanded to Cheshire cat proportions.
“It didn’t thrust through space at all. It cut through or under it. It translated along the plane of the portal’s distortion. The unbalanced portal zippered. Oh, I can’t wait to tell Bill! This changes everything.” Casa beamed.
"This is incredible!" Casa exclaimed. "We need to analyze the data immediately and see if we can replicate this effect." Rams and Edison nodded eagerly, already immersed in the sensor readings. "Bill’s impossible task is looking much more feasible," Casa continued, her mind racing with the possibilities. "We may have unlocked the key to interstellar travel beyond our wildest dreams."
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