Solar System Space Opera

Prologue Fifty years ago: It was a warm, very slow evening on raw Venus. After 365 earth-years, the mountain-sized atmospheric converters and countless breeding nanomachines had reduced the runaway greenhouse climate to a level where the next stage of terraforming could begin. Visibility was poor and the hovering robot craft relied on sonar and infrared. Its cabin was empty, but from the speakerphone next to the joy-stick control two voices could be heard. First voice (tenor): Lah lah dee dah loh lah lah! Second voice (soprano): Da dee dee doh dee da da! First voice: Loh lah lee lee loh lah lee! Second voice: Dee dee dee doh dee doh? The robot craft, impatient with tunetalk, decided to have it translated into speech, replaying the conversation while continuing to monitor and analyze its surroundings. First voice: Surely it is not wise to strike a bargain with the Ferris wheel! Second voice: Long-range projections indicate a success factor of 80% plus! First voice: Long- range projections are unreliable, from now till then too many unknowns can intervene! Second voice: We are standing on Venus are we not? First voice: Huh? Second voice: (Not singing). First voice: Yes, I get your point. Venus is a long-range project if ever there was one. Third voice (robot): Danger! Barometric readings indicate potential electrical discharge in the area. Second voice: Let us return to orbit. First voice: Bong!

Chapter 1 The Present : SY 203 (AD 2491) She ran. Faster than that creature called the cheetah, she ran. Out from the shadows of a crater wall on earth’s moon she sped like the wind, though there was no wind. Looking up, she took in the view of the ancient cradle, blue and white and brown. On that old jewel set in black there would be winds. Gentle winds. Strong winds. Mad winds. My name is Amberdune, she thought, and I…. Her leaping pace slowed. Abruptly she came to a halt. Her vacuum smartsuit, tight as a leotard on her skin, vented a little steam at the weighted heels where heat had built up from friction. She rose up on tiptoe and stared. A dolphin shape was lying on the regolith. Weakly it raised an arm.

***High above the moon’s surface, unaware of the tiny rescue drama that was unfolding below, the interplanet Robotic liner named the LocusQueen began its approach to the docking station in geostationary orbit above equatorial South-east Asia. An artificial gravity providing rotating cube joined to a cylinder that housed the fusion engines, the LocusQueen extruded reversed thrusters that eased it into deceleration mode. On board, ensconced in a plushy chair which cushioned him from any unpleasant g-forces that was occurring, a fat man munched on an ice-cream cone. Opposite him, nestled in an equally comfortable chair was The Eldritch Ermeiyan, Nowchairwoman of Pathers Mobile Habitat, floating at present among the rings of Saturn. The fat man addressed her. “ Nowchairwoman, do you think the LordHimself will spearhead the welcoming committee?” The Eldritch pondered this query for 2 minutes, collating many pieces of data on the party they had journeyed so far to meet. “Thenchairman Jimjue, I believe he will.”

***Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Lugging an unconscious mandolphin across the lunar crater at 1/6th earth gravity was hard work. Amberdune paused, coughed. Red, curvilinear charts appeared at the upper front section of her helmet bubble. She was getting more exercise than her daily allotment allowed. Energy expenditure was eating into her body’s reserves. She looked back the way they had traveled. A dusty track went straight back to a vanishing point. She turned her gaze onto the mandolphin. Its hard vacuum cuticle gave it a silvery sheen. A bubble emerged seamlessly from the neck to enclose its head. Two muscular arms substituted for flippers. The eyes were closed. Amberdune studied the head while her body recuperated. It resembled a beluga more than a dolphin. I will learn its story. That will compensate me for my effort. Amberdune was lonely and by design a young woman who enjoyed trouble. She resumed her march. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Underground, elsewhere on the moon : A robot and a cyborg confronted each other in a narrow corridor. The cyborg had two extra upper arms that were entirely mechanical. It had a torso that was human masculine and a head with a raised crest, not unlike that of the Sulphur-crested cockatoo. The robot resembled a kettle on caterpillar tracks. Its “spout” ended in a round sensor cluster that could be mistaken for its head. The tiny central processor, which could easily have been located in the sensor cluster, was in fact buried in the belly near its center-of-gravity. This, of course, gave it better protection. The cyborg lumbered 2 steps forward. The robot began to tremble and hum. The cyborg took hold of the robot's “head” with its mechanical hands and squeezed. Under pressure the ceramic housing cracked. The robot vibrated furiously and started to rattle. The cyborg’s 4 hands gripped and began to bend the “spout”. A lid popped open on robot’s back and an antenna slowly emerged. The “spout”, by now, was bent almost horizontal. The antenna moved sluggishly until its tip was only centimeters from the cyborg’s forehead, where it stopped. Fifteen seconds passed. Another robot, twin to the first, trundled from a side passage into the corridor. It positioned itself behind the straining cyborg. An antenna emerged from its back to place its tip near the cyborg’s posterior. Sensing this development the cyborg freed one hand and tried to turn around. Too late. An electrical discharge between the tips of the 2 antennae ripped through the cyborg. It froze, smoke rising from both ears. Slowly it tipped sideways and fell.

Chapter 1 cont’d While the chairpersons of Pathers Habitat stepped into the large airlock connecting the LocusQueen to the docking station at Earthside, Amberdune and the mandolphin were in an elevator built into the lunar crater wall. Amberdune touched a button. Air hissed into the elevator car and it began to descend. Without an atmosphere to burn off meteors and absorb hard radiation, it was safer to live in chambers and tunnels underground, especially as there were no plate tectonics in the moon, hence little geologic activity. When air pressure equalized, green numerals appeared at the lower front section of Amberdune's transparent helmet. She nodded. The helmet divided into slices, softened and retracted into her smartsuit. “You are very good to look at,” said a voice. Amberdune bent to face the mandolphin. The bubble covering its head had disappeared and it regarded her solemnly. “What does a dolphin know about human visual cues?” “ I am also a man but I meant that you appeared like an angel to save me.” “Do you have a name?” “Please call me MB, acronym for Message Bottle. I have an urgent communication for Holo Omsnark.” “First I have to take you to the emergency ward.” The elevator stopped. Its doors slid open. Amberdune dragged Message into a well-lit corridor. It was empty. “Wait here a moment,” she said and walked off. Message sighed through his blowhole. He has had a very trying time in the past few days. Presently, a trundling noise approached. “Here, let me lift you onto this cart,” said Amberdune.

***The old cow, thought the LordHimself Qondi, as he followed the broad back of The Eldritch Ermeiyan floating into the shuttle. As if sensing his attention, Ermeiyan spun around and smiled at him. Qondi smiled in response.

“Please take a seat in the bubble canopy, Nowchairlady,” he suggested, “the view is inspiring.” “Please address me as Eldritch.” “Eldritch. As you can see, on one side our shuttle is connected to the docking station, which is linked to the LocusQueen. On the other…” “Mother Earth.” “I wonder why not ‘ Father ’?” “Many traditional religions from the far past assigned the mother’s role to the earth and the father’s role to the sky.” “Interesting. So now we are actually in the father’s hands looking towards the mother.” The Thenchairman joined them. “Ahah! The sight of earth is deeply moving.” “Perhaps not quite as moving as when you return to Pathers Habitat?” “Earth is the common home of humankind. Even the chimerics must feel special about Earth. Even the cyborgs.” “There I disagree. The cyborgs have no feelings, while the chimerics have gone too far. They are no longer human.” The Eldritch and Jimjue exchanged glances. Qondi noticed. He was very sharp. “Yes. Humanity has fractured into many subspecies. Homo sapiens cyborgus, Homo sapiens delphinus, Homo sapiens chimericus and…” The Pathers regarded him thoughtfully. The Eldritch added, “ Homo sapiens patherus.” They stared at each other, then burst into laughter.

***Message Bottle reclined comfortably in a bathtub. He had been sleeping for 24 hours. A thin tube ran from a vein in his right arm to a drip-feed bag hung up on a metallic stand. The bag contained mandolphin plasma and the medical nanomachines that were repairing his internal systems.

Amberdune appeared, carrying a tray of sushi. “Here try some of this,” she said and deftly fed him a tuna piece with a pair of chopsticks. “Now,” she said, “you promised to tell me what happened to you.” “First, let me ask you a question. Why were you alone in this enormous facility?” “How do you know I was alone?” “I have not encountered anyone else since you brought me here.” “That only means that you have not seen them.” “Let me rephrase. Where are the other people?” Amberdune picked up a crab meat sushi and put it into Message Bottle’s mouth. “I see we both have stories to tell. Tell me yours first.” “Ooosh. You are host and I am in your debt. Just so. Well, it began about 5 days ago,” said Message Bottle, “when our offshore colony near Jinjali Island in the Pacific Ocean was viciously attacked by robot submarines….” Mandolphins were not native to the Earth, which was called "Tellus" by most extraterrestrial inhabitants of the Solar System. The first mandolphins were genetically engineered about 100 earthyears ago in an early Pathers habitat just outside the disintegrated moon that comprised Saturn’s ring. Mandolphins returned to earth and set up colonies only 3 decades ago. This action provoked resentment and fear among many Tellusian groups; few humans were allies. The Grand Peace, which bound humanity - in its widest sense - prevented violent incidents and confined interspecies enmity to accusations and debates in the Pan-Human Assembly. The attack on Jinjali was a small shock to the system. All Tellusians had the right to settle in any unoccupied place beyond the Earth. Reciprocally, any space-borne individual or group was allowed by right to negotiate or purchase living space on Earth where every piece of real estate, land sea or air, has already been claimed. So far, of all the extraterrestrial groups, only mandolphins had returned to establish colonies. It was probably due to the oceans…. Amberdune fed Message another piece of tuna sushi. He thrashed his tail and continued. “The robot submarines were destroyed. One of them was captured. Although we came back to swim in the open ocean we are not brutes. We are, after all, a very technologically advanced people…. Now, this is where it becomes strange. Nobody, legal or criminal, claimed responsibility for the attack. The captured submarine revealed a very weird design…. Technologies bear the stamp of their cultures and we traffic with all the various peoples, yet….” Message Bottle churned the water in his bathtub. Amberdune was splashed. “We concluded that the attack was not setup by any human group on Earth. It had to be linked to some affair, some interaction among the habitats in space. Two agents and I were assigned to investigate the matter. We first journeyed to YomThang, the chimeric stronghold in high polar orbit….”

***LordHimself Qondi, his entourage and his two guests arrived at his mountaintop palace at noon. Big helicopters disgorged the passengers onto the courtyard and left. Jimjue noticed while en route that there appeared to be no roads leading to the palace. He and the Eldritch were shown to their sumptuous rooms and invited to the central balcony to share a meal with Qondi. When they were finished, cutlery, plates and dining table were removed and they settled back to admire the mountain range. Qondi was fond of magnificent views.

“Tell me Jimjue, are you aware of the assault on the mandolphin colony at Jinjali?” Thus the negotiations begin, thought Jimjue. “I know of it now, I was certainly not aware of it when it was happening. Were you?” Qondi smiled. “Past tense. Makes a difference in meaning.” “ I think it best to stop fencing. What are your terms?” asked Ermeiyan. “You want to establish a permanent residence on old Earth. I know why you approached me. I am a dictator of a small nation. I have no need for long consultations to persuade others. If I sell you a piece of my country it is yours. This can be done quickly. What I do not understand is why return? The whole solar system is out there. You are biostrategists. Could it be for the genetic diversity? You can always buy tissue samples, freeze them and have them transported to you. Far less expensive. I wonder.” “There is no need for you to comprehend our motives. I can assure you that as neighbors we bring many benefits. Medicine, agriculture. Your population will always be healthy and will become as well fed as yourself.” Qondi sipped from a glass of blue liquid. He said, “500 billion MUs per square kilometer. Maximum area, 50 square kilometers. Only mountains. No lowlands.” Jimjue smiled. “Done,” he said. Qondi raised an eyebrow. “Not done,” he said, “ I also want 10 billion MUs per year of carte blanche biotech for the rest of my life.” The Eldritch shook her head, “ 3 billion per year in perpetuity, discounted at 1% and deducted from the original price. And not whatever you want, only what we put out commercially.” Qondi considered this. It was much more than he expected, or needed. “Agreed.” The deal was done. They smiled and toasted each other.

***Message Bottle was saying, “My colleagues and I obtained several clues from the chimerics. We intended to pursue the next phase of our investigations here, on Moonbase Alpha, but we were ambushed.....” He pointed to a piece of sushi thick with salmon. Amberdune fed it to him.

Message Bottle continued, "On the way out from YomThang, a stealth craft with some kind of cloaking shield disabled our engines, sent cyborg and robot troopers aboard while we drifted helplessly. We were taken prisoner and rendered unconscious.”

The next thing Message Bottle knew, he was lying on the surface of the moon. “Why are you looking for this 'Holo Omsnark' ?” asked Amberdune. She suspected he was not telling her the whole truth. He was after all an operative, an investigator if not a secret agent. “Did I mention such a name? I must have been delirious.” This was a lie. They both knew it, but Amberdune let it pass. She fed him more sushi. “Now tell me why I have met no one here except you ,” said Message Bottle.

Chapter 2 “You are the Empty-East-Gate, what do you do?” “I am the Empty-East-Gate, I position myself as danger and opportunity.” “You are the Open-West-Gate, what can you do?” “I am the Open-West-Gate, I can become perfection of technique.” The chimeric guidemaster NakataTen took a deep breath. What followed would be crucial. Calmly, he said, “You are the Closing-North-Gate, how can you see?” The morphing acolyte, JomoSix, opened his wings to their full extent and replied, “I am the Closing-North-Gate, the semantic of sight.” NakataTen lowered his arms and shifted his center-of–gravity. “You are the Final-South-Gate, what can you be?” JomoSix folded his wings. “I am the Final-South-Gate, the paradox of flight.” It was accomplished. The metamorphic cells will interpret the Kata of Opening and Closing Gates to enter their pathways of change. In about 90 earth cycles JomoSix will have shed his feathers and grown a tail. A gong sounded. Two robot attendants entered the dojo. They bowed to NakataTen. “The SaitoSeven requires your presence at the 4th hour.” “Inform the SaitoSeven that I shall be there.” The attendants bowed and departed. NakataTen said, “JomoSix you have done well. We will meet again when you have completed your prospective attribute.” “My tail you mean.” “Yes, your tail. Now go and join your playgroup. I have serious business to conduct.”

Meanwhile on the moon, underground : Thirteen robotic tentacles worked with frenetic speed but great precision. Above and to the side, sensor arrays monitored the activity and the object of their ministrations: the carcass of a cyborg with 4 arms and a crested head, terminally broiled by a couple of robots resembling kettles on caterpillar tracks. The operation took place in hard vacuum at a temperature of minus 30 below, so the biodegradable parts of the cyborg were frozen solid. Bins of electromechanical components sat within easy reach of the dancing tentacles which were restructuring the mechanical parts of the cyborg. Its upper left hand was fused to a piezoelectric block; its upper right arm was being reworked into a power-laser.

Chapter 2 cont’d It was a stream. A stream which ran down a series of short waterfalls, seven in all, to generate a sense of gently controlled energy, in the sound of its trickling and its view seen from any angle.

NakataTen entered through a doorway and followed the stream down its course until it went under a stone-wall. He turned right and walked beside the wall until he came to a pair of stunted pine trees. Between them, set neatly on the ground, was a square piece of white cloth with black borders. A small object rested in its center. NakataTen sat cross-legged before the cloth and studied the object. It was a netsuke figure of a sitting fox. He lifted the figure and held it up to eye level. The fox blinked and opened its mouth to speak. “NakataTen.” “SaitoSeven, is that you?” “Indeed. It is I.” “So…. You have finally done it. May I ask why?” “After 700 aspect transforms I reached my personal limit. Life exhausted its possibilities.” “You could have chosen rejuvenation.” “Bah! Prolonging the moribund. It lacks grace.” “Who will be continuity?” “SaitoEight has been prepared.” “And SaitoSix?” “He has become a garden artist. Notice the stream he built? He has lost all taste for important affairs.” “Well then. Farewell.” “Wait, I am receiving a transmission.” The fox tilted its head as if listening. “SaitoEight requests a meeting with you. He is at the Sunshine Arrival Hall. Well… drink sake for my sake old friend.” The eyes of the fox became as lifeless as pebbles. NakataTen carefully replaced the fox figure in the center of the cloth. He got to his feet, took two steps backwards and bowed deeply. Then he departed, never looking back. SaitoEight greeted NakataTen warmly at the reception lounge of the Sunshine Arrival Hall. Except for the ears of a horse and the right paw of a leopard, he resembled the unchanged SaitoSeven of 50 years ago. NakataTen himself, as befitted a guidemaster, was almost always in pure human form. He hoped SaitoEight was at least the equal of his predecessor in competence and in subtlety. Clones were never exact replicates of one another. “Who are we meeting?” inquired NakataTen. “The chairpersons Ermeiyan and Jimjue of Pathers Habitat.” NakataTen was surprised but did not show it. Pathers often traded goods and information with chimerics but rarely visited in person. Robot ships, cyborgs and other third parties transported the goods while communications were beamed and relayed. “Here they are now,” said SaitoEight and moved forwards in greeting. NakataTen followed one step behind. “Welcome to YomThang,” said SaitoEight, bowing.

The four of them sat around a gleaming oval conference table in a room on one of the outer levels of the rotating donut a kilometer in diameter that was Yom Thang, polar orbiting chimeric habitat. Apparently, unlike the LordHimself Qondi, the chimerics were not in the habit of feeding their guests before getting down to business. Thenchairman Jimjue was hungry. He decided on boldness and addressed SaitoEight. “Can I have some food while we discuss matters?” SaitoEight looked startled. “I apologize! It is such a rare privilege to have Pathers in our habitat that I have forgotten your dietary requirements. I will order….” NakataTen interrupted, “Let us adjourn to the poolside restaurant and enjoy a meal. Business can wait.” This is a petty charade, thought Jimjue, they position themselves as genial hosts by granting me a meal!

The meal was over. Instead of returning to the conference room, the four of them lolled on sofas placed around a kidney shaped pool. The water was pleasantly blue. Ermeiyan and the chimerics were conversing with the use of wireless earphones. Ambient sensors filtered sound waves and sent the right signal to each ear. They look as though each is talking to himself, Jimjue thought and closed his eyes. He will let Ermeiyan do the talking. After all, she was the Nowchairlady. When I return to Habitat Nine, thought Jimjue, I must shed this fat and indolent persona. They were effective disguises, the bodies and personalities that he and the Eldritch developed to deal with outsiders. So at odds with the popular image of Pathers that they tended to be disarming. They were genuine, of course, not acts. Acting could not be maintained indefinitely and would be discovered once the mask slipped. But first we must collaborate with the chimerics over the issue of the Jinjali incident. The culprits have to be found. When we start constructing our enclave it would not do to have Earth still agitated over a conflict involving extraterrestrials. That would not do at all. Not for the first time Jimjue wondered if the attack on the mandolphins was aimed at forestalling the Pathers’ return to Earth. Perhaps the attack was directed at all extraterrestrials. There may be more attacks. Yes, the issue has to be settled quickly.

Ermeiyan was saying, “The mandolphin liaison on Earth informed us that their investigators last reported from YomThang. Then they vanished.” SaitoEight replied, “They vanished? That is intriguing. They were here for less than a day before departing.” “May I inquire as to the nature of their visit?” “Yes. It was related to the Jinjali incident, naturally.” “Can you be more specific?” “I’m afraid not. The mandolphins requested confidentiality.” “I have the full permission of the mandolphin council to look into this matter. You may check with them if you wish.” “I will take your word for it. In that case…I am informed that the mandolphins discovered something very strange about the robot submarine which they captured.” “ ‘Informed’? You were not there? I prefer to speak with the principal contact whose knowledge is not intermediate.” “My predecessor, SaitoSeven, was the principal contact, I have the… relevant memories.” “I see…” NakataTen broke in, “SaitoSeven involved me in the case because, according to the mandolphins, the robot submarine had chimeric properties, it had biological components.” “Yes,”confirmed Ermeiyan, “our mandolphin contact said as much. The submarines appeared as a school of basking sharks and this fooled the guardians. Once within the habitat perimeter the sharks fired torpedoes from their mouths.” “In effect,” said SaitoEight, ” they were shark cyborgs partly controlled by a stealth assault subroutine which over-rode the shark brain once within target range. This can be made with ordinary cybernetic procedures…” “What was unusual,”said NakataTen, “occurred when the lone survivor of the habitat defenses tried to escape into the ocean depths…” “It changed,” Ermeiyan said, “right before the astounded mandolphins streaking in pursuit, it changed from a shark into that deep-sea diver, the sperm whale.”

Chapter 3 This was the story Amberdune told Message Bottle as he floated in the bath. “Eight earth standard months ago I was a freshly graduated space cadet of the Arcadian OutSpace Corp. I was assigned to ground flight control, handling takeoff and landing of shuttle craft at Port-Of-Call Dalmatia. One night, about 5 days ago, two colleagues and I went to a bar for drinks after duty…..” The bar was crowded, which was unusual for a Wednesday evening. Amberdune surveyed the crowd and noticed something odd. Nobody was smiling or laughing. There was the usual hubbub of conversation and couples on the dance-floor, but no smiles on any face, no instance of laughter. Not one. Amberdune and her two colleagues made a place for themselves at the counter. The bartender approached them. “What will you ladies have?” “Bliss.” “Jupiter Punch.” “Rocket.” When the bartender, a middle-aged guy with a tattoo on his left cheek, came back with their drinks, Amberdune signaled for him to come closer and asked softly, “Who are these people?” “Don’t you know? Why don’t you make a guess?” “I’ve no time for games. Tell me.” “I think you have all the time in the world.” The bartender winked and turned to take orders from a man who had come up next to her. Later, when the man reached for his glass, Amberdune noticed that his forefinger was encased in metal. No, it was metal. That was when she knew. She swiveled in her barstool and studied the crowd. Little details became apparent. The eyes which could gaze in different directions, the hands in gloves which were out of proportion, the legs which were too long or too short, the enlarged torsos, …. The cyborgs had made an effort to disguise themselves, but now that she knew, it was obvious. She turned to her colleague, Violetmist. “Did you log an inbound from ScarRock City this morning?” “What? No, I don’t think so.” Amberdune reached across and tapped her other colleague on the arm. “Rubycream did you log any cyborg in-bounds today?” Rubycream looked at her with bleary eyes. She was drunk and tried to formulate a verbal reply. Finally, she shook her head. Amberdune reached into her purse and brought out her mobile phone. “Yeah?” “Phone, put me through to Flight Control.” A series of beeps sounded. “ Flight Control. Dalmatia Port-Of-Call.” “Lavenderfern? This is Amberdune. Can you check the logs to see if any cyborg group landed here in say…. the past 2 days?” “Let me see…. No, none.” “Thanks.” Amberdune turned to Violetmist. “ Why would a large number of cyborgs gather here tonight?” Violetmist looked at her. “What cyborgs?” Amberdune gestured at the crowd. “These are cyborgs? Well, yes, now that you have pointed it out…” “So why are they here? How did they get here?” Violetmist made a face. “They drove in to have some fun, so what? Stop looking for trouble, Amberdune.” “You call this fun? Look, they’re not even smiling!” “Are you suggesting they have some sinister purpose? Wake up!” As if on cue, all the cyborgs in the bar stopped whatever they were doing and headed for the exit. “They’re leaving. I’m going to follow them,” said Amberdune. “Wait,”said Violetmist, “Rubycream…” But Rubycream was on the floor with her back against the counter, asleep. Violetmist stooped to try to rouse her colleague. When she looked up, Amberdune was out of sight.

Amberdune trailed the cyborgs at a discreet distance. Once they left the bar the cyborgs dispersed, those she could still see seemed to be walking in the general direction of the warehousing district. Amberdune’s phone chimed. “Hello?” “It’s me, Violetmist. How’s it going?” “I’m heading towards the warehouses. Don’t call me again. I’ll tell you about it later.” “OK. Good luck.”

The cyborgs entered a large building. Amberdune walked into an alley across the street and crouched behind a dumpster. She rummaged in her purse and brought out a round object, which sat on her palm. When she blew upon it, it uncurled, elongated and unfurled a pair of wings. She brought out her phone. “Yeah?” “Phone, outscreen and linkup dragonfly.” Her phone extruded an antenna, which fanned open into a paper-thin screen. An image of her fingers in close-up appeared. “Linkup complete. Point-of-view, dragonfly.” “Good, send it towards the building opposite.” The micro aircraft beat its wings, tickling her palm, then darted up into the night. The screen showed indistinct shapes, which quickly sharpened as the dragonfly focused. “It’s approaching the doorway. It’s going in. It’s in,” commented the phone and positioned the dragonfly on the ceiling of the commodious space in the warehouse like a real insect. Amberdune hoped it would escape detection. Cyborgs were notorious for extra electromagnetic sensitivity. Half an hour crept pass. Amberdune began to feel impatient. Her surveillance had so far been disappointing. The cyborgs stood listlessly among coffin-sized ceramic crates. “Phone, hover the dragonfly above the tall one over there. The four-arm one with the crest on its head.” “The battery will run down.” “Just do it.” The dragonfly dropped from the ceiling, twisting in mid-air to right itself and drifted towards the target. Suddenly the lights went out. “Damn, switch to false color infrared and get back on the ceiling.” Amberdune stared intently at the screen on her phone. Vaguely humanoid-shaped orange blobs were disappearing into crate-shaped blackness. She surmised that the cyborgs were climbing into their coffin beds. A few of the orange blobs did not seem to have beds and were lying on the floor. Soon orange color became tinted by green, indication of cooling mechanical parts. The cyborgs were going to sleep. Amberdune felt let down. She had been hoping for adventure. She got to her feet and gave the dumpster a kick of frustration. “Phone, recall dragonfly.” She was about to leave when the cover of the dumpster was heaved open. A very large cyborg sat up in it. Glowing eyes took note of Amberdune. “What have we here?” inquired the cyborg. Amberdune stood with mouth open, gawking at the great shape looming over her. The dragonfly returned to rest on her shoulder. The cyborg noticed. “Ahaha! A spy!” Amberdune turned to flee. A great metallic hand clamped onto her head. An electric shock made her rigid and she lost consciousness.

She was running. She was being chased. She was running as fast as she could, but it was no use. The giant flying insect was rapidly gaining. She stopped and turned. Large as a whale the looming dragonfly opened its maw.…Amberdune woke with a start and blinked her eyes. She expelled her breath in relief. It had only been a bad dream. She tried to sit up but something was pressing her down. It was completely dark and she had a throbbing headache. Gradually, memory returned. She tried to move her arms and failed. She was immobilized. Where was she? Why was she being held in this way? She started to panic. Calm, calm, she told herself. She was an OutSpace officer, a graduate of one of the finest academies. She dealt with flight missions daily. Training took over. Amberdune analyzed her situation. First, where was her smartphone?

“Phone? Phone?” she called. No answer. She must have dropped it when the cyborg attacked. What time was it now? Surely Violetmist would miss her and call out the proper authorities. A rescue mission was probably underway. Amberdune felt hopeful. All she had to do was wait. It would not be long now. She suddenly felt weightless.

Amberdune woke again with a start. This time she could not remember dreaming. She took a deep breath. Several hours must have gone by, the air was getting stale. She could be in one of those cyborg caskets! She flexed her fingers and tried to raise her arms but they were bound to her sides. She was dizzy, a little nauseous, but the throbbing pain in her head was gone. Her body felt light. She listened. Was that a humming noise? Suddenly, a thin line of brightness appeared which grew into a rectangle. Amberdune shut her eyes against the glare but gratefully drew in a deep breath. A voice spoke to her from above. “Well, well, spacegirl and how are you?” “Where…where am I?” Amberdune managed to ask. “You’re on the moon.”

Chapter 4 The Eldritch Ermeiyan peered at some cells through a microscope. She looked up and nodded.

NakataTen said, “We tested the robot submarine tissue samples the mandolphins brought us. They all possess the metaclause genes present in every chimeric cell.” He gestured at the sample under the microscope. “Without a unifying whole the cells are inert. However…” NakataTen took a pair of forceps and removed a flap of tissue from a tray. SaitoEight bared his right arm. NakataTen carefully laid the tissue on the wrist, above the leopard paw. SaitoEight grimaced, sweat breaking out on his forehead. Perceptibly, the tissue patch began to morph, tightening its grip on the skin, growing a hairy layer, black spots surrounded by orange. SaitoEight gasped, lowered his arm, relaxed. “The tissue is very potent,” said NakataTen, “normally even an adept would take much longer to succeed in a transform.” Ermeiyan considered this. The Pathers were, of course, biowizards of the first order. Yet chimeric tissue of such potency was something she had never come across before. Neither, it seemed, had the chimerics of YomThang. “I presume you have found out the cause of this potency?” “Protein synthesis in the cells have been supplemented by alien molecular complexes….” NakataTen hesitated. “Please go on.” “Some of them function like enzymes, others remain mysterious, all are turbocharged, with a very high energy uptake from ATP.” “What is their source? Are the templates within the cells?” “We found no templates, no unusual sequences of DNA or RNA.” Ermeiyan frowned. “How are they replaced when they degrade?” “Degradation is very slow, perhaps non-existent.” “That should not be possible.” NakataTen shrugged. “Perhaps they repair each other, but so far I have been unable to detect such activity. They are very strange. Take a look at one configuration.” Ermeiyan studied the image projected onto the wall screen. The model polymer was fiendishly complicated with enfolded buckminsterfullerenes and odd side chains. “This is not a protein molecule!” exclaimed Ermeiyan. “Just so, though it can perform like one. Most of the time the aliens do not interfere with the cell’s ordinary routines. They float about in the cytoplasm, staying out of the way. Once activated the alien molecules align their behaviors. Some suppress the cell’s native enzymes, others interpret the metaclause genes…all extremely fast.” Suddenly Ermeiyan understood what this meant. “Complex organization one associates with the cellular level and above has been scaled down to that of single molecules!” “Exactly.” “Who has such capability?” wondered Ermeiyan. “We conjectured that you did,” said SaitoEight. Ermeiyan shook her head. This is turning out to be much more mysterious than I anticipated. I must confer with the BioStrategy Group. Ermeiyan spoke to SaitoEight, “Can you arrange a tight beam to Path Habitat Nine? I must discuss this with my fellows.” “Immediately.”

Elsewhere, beneath the moon surface : Eyes dark, it stood in an elevator. One hand, of metal, gripped a piezoelectric block, another was a power-laser. One hand, of flesh, held a scimitar, another a shield. On its head rose a comb of feathers, not unlike that of the Sulphur-crested cockatoo. Its chest, broad and deep, its midriff, ridged with muscle, its back stiff and straight, were all coated with a light-weight armor that could stop rifle bullets, flying shrapnel, small arms fire, hand-held lasers, thrown projectiles, kicks and punches. It was a fighting machine, a redesigned cyborg. Once known as ‘Kwacky’, it now had no name. As the elevator ascended through the levels of the lunar habitat, it had one purpose, and one purpose only.

Chapter 4 cont’d One by one the youthful faces in the windows on the wide, slightly concave screen winked out. Consultation with Group Four (BioStrategy) was over. The distance of Path Habitat Nine, presently in orbit around Titan, made the conference a speak-and-wait affair. Ermeiyan had used the interval time to reflect and weigh the words of each of her fellows. Simulation! That was it. The degree of complexity of the alien macromolecules and the unerring way they behaved suggested that at least one of them was able to simulate and direct the rest of the cell. In effect, each cell had acquired a little brain. That would account for the speed. All things being equal, a complex system with a brain could change and adapt much faster than one which was brainless. Hmmm, more than one brain per cell? Unlikely, that may lead to conflict. Next step: we must identify that little brain! Ermeiyan blinked and surveyed her surroundings. She was in a space curtained off by a head-high wall of white fabric in the middle of a bamboo grove. Her hosts had responded to her request for open-air privacy by installing her here with the commscreen and wireless earphones. They had known she would want time for quiet contemplation. She appreciated their style. A chime in her ear broke the reverie. “Yes?” “The chimerics have located the missing mandolphin vessel. It was parked among space debris orbiting the moon, badly damaged.” “Survivors?” “The bodies of two of the mandolphins were found in the vessel. They evidently perished in battle defending against a boarding party. The third is missing, probably captured.” “Can the assailants be identified?” “The chimerics are towing the ship back here, they are combing it for clues.” “Thank you Jimjue. Keep me posted.” The situation was starting to reveal its hidden parts.

Artificial night in YomThang found Jimjue pacing around a real-time, holographic projection of the moon. It was 1 meter across, composed by a program that had access to satellite sources. Jimjue halted before the hemisphere that was dark. He waved the wand he was holding once. The holograph turned red. He waved the wand again. The image became a multi-colored ball. Dissatisfied, he spoke. “Computer, reprogram wand interface. When I wave it once - like this - form the relief map with temperature differences superimposed in false color. When I wave it up and down - like this - turn the image into its negative. When I wave it clockwise - like this – magnify image by ten percent. When I wave counterclockwise, decrease magnification by the same amount.” “Reprogramming wand interface complete.” Jimjue waved the wand about, experimenting with various combinations of color and magnification. “Enjoying yourself? Do you need music?” Jimjue turned to see SaitoEight standing in the doorway with a grin on his face. “Ah, SaitoEight, you have happy news?” “As a matter of fact, I do. We have found a vessel drifting above here.” SaitoEight pointed at a spot on the projection. He continued, “Our hailing transmissions have elicited no response. We have reasons to believe that it is the attacker of the mandolphin ship.” “How so?” “It has an adapt-deceptive reflecting surface, which makes it blend into the background from any angle.” “A stealth vessel. How was it discovered?” “The adaptive layer has malfunctioned, it could be seen as a distortion against the moon and was detected by one of our patrols sweeping the area.” “Fortunate. Could it be damaged?” “Most likely. Three of our ships are approaching it now. Computer, decrypt transmission 1. Display.” An image appeared on the wallscreen. Jimjue and SaitoEight positioned themselves in front of it. “We are viewing the scene from one of the six robot cameras accompanying the salvage crew.” The screen displayed the moon, dominating in the center, and before it, the barely discernible outline of an ovoid shape. Two chimeric combat vessels stood guard above and to the right of it. “Indeed,” commented Jimjue, “it has camouflaged itself with the color and texture of the moon’s surface below. Hmm, there is a little blurring which does not fit the background.” The view of the target gradually expanded as the salvage crew moved towards it. Closer, the surface of the stealth vessel appeared to be covered with glacially varying fractal patterns. This changed, as the robots approached, into something bumpy and organic. Even as they watched, the skin changed yet again, into a multi-colored patchwork. "The shipboard AI has malfunctioned or gone mad," said SaitoEight. "Or maybe it no longer sees any reason to hide," said Jimjue. Probes were placed on the hull. A robot with a laser cut off the lock securing the outer hatch. The view moved forward as the crew, weapons ready, entered the vessel. Inside, it was dark.

Chapter 5 While the Pathers Ermeiyan and Jimjue were discussing matters with the chimerics NakataTen and SaitoEight, Amberdune continued to tell her story to Message Bottle the mandolphin.

Amberdune was aghast. She had been taken without her knowledge, against her will, to the moon. Standing in the cargo bay of the spaceship she could see cyborgs emerging from caskets like the one that had brought her here. She counted. There were 5 in all. The very big cyborg, whose name was Monorkk, marched her down the ramp. They were not on the lunar surface, but in an enormous chamber. Looking up, she could see a vertical passage over the ship, which ended at door-seals. The ship itself was a kind of stealth vehicle, with a rough, chameleon skin. There was a similar ship parked nearby. Monorkk beckoned to a four-armed cyborg with a crest on his head and said to Amberdune, “This is Kwacky. He will be your guard. Do not try to escape, there is no where to go.” Kwacky took Amberdune by the wrist and all of them entered an elevator. It seemed a long time before they stopped descending. When the doors slid open, a bizarre robot constructed from disparate parts stood before them. “Master Monorkk you are late,” said the robot. “I have brought along a guest,” replied Monorkk indicating Amberdune. The robot’s globular eyes popped from its head on springs to examine her. Amberdune did not flinch. The robot’s eyes returned to their sockets, its head began to bob about. “Follow me,” said the robot and led them to a hall. “Master Monorkk we must confer. The rest of you, wait here.” The waiting lasted an earth-day. The cyborgs sat or slept on the floor. As did Amberdune. Robots brought food and they had the use of a toilet, but when cyborgs walked into the passages leading away from the hall, kettle shaped robots blocked their way. On the second day Monorkk reappeared and took Kwacky aside. Amberdune watched them closely. They seemed to be arguing. At last, Kwacky threw up all four hands in disgust and stalked off. Monorkk watched him go then summoned the other cyborgs. They went down one of the passageways leaving Kwacky and Amberdune behind. With Monorkk gone something came loose in Kwacky and he became garrulous, confiding in Amberdune. “Me and Monorkk,” said Kwacky, “are smugglers of contraband from the outworld habitats into the Earth …...” Many earth nations put high tariffs, even embargoes, on sophisticated products from the non-tellusian habitats. This created an economic opportunity for cyborgs with connections to those earth humans willing to risk bypass of the barriers. One night, a week ago at most, in a cislunar habitat at L1 serving mainly as a transit station, Monorkk and Kwacky were approached by a droid. Now, unlike cyborgs who were humans heavily augmented by machine grafts, droids were robots which were made to look human. This droid, calling itself Yuuli-fontfeather, made the cyborg partners a proposition which they could not refuse. They were to use a stealth vessel to transport a cargo and dump it into the Pacific Ocean 300 km east of Jinjali Island. Their payment would be the stealth vessel itself. Monorkk and Kwacky jetted to the ship, which was parked nearby, and took off for the Earth. On entering the atmosphere the ovoid vessel used the heat of braking friction to soften its outer layers as it flattened, stretched and restructured itself into a flying wing of low radar profile. It was one of the semi-intelligent stealth vehicles made in the refrigerated techymen habitats stationed between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. Banned from being used on Earth, it was a great prize for a smuggler. Once the cargo, a bundle of tubes almost as long as the stealth vessel, was released into the ocean and sank, the two cyborgs flew to the Atlantic coast and landed in an abandoned field not too far from Dalmatia Port-Of-Call. Monorkk had spent 4 days trying to recruit cyborgs for a second mission, finding 3 and it was at the end of this period that Amberdune got caught and came into their story.

“Noticed something odd about Monorkk when he came back,” whispered Kwacky, “ those robots may have tampered with his brain.” “What is Monorkk up to?” asked Amberdune. Kwacky shook his head said, “The weird robot has returned. We must be careful.” The robot of disparate parts came up to them. “Follow me.” The robot moved off, Kwacky and Amberdune were herded by 2 kettle shaped robots, each 2 m across with “spouts” that ended in round sensor clusters. They moved through a labyrinth of corridors and finally arrived at a door marked “Surgery”. “This is where you will be reprogrammed,” said the robot. “Run!” said Kwacky. Amberdune vaulted over a kettle shape and sped down a corridor. She turned a corner only to be confronted by another kettle shape moving towards her. She looked back, another kettle shape. She was trapped! No! She ran towards the coming robot and 3 m away from it she jumped. Up and over, almost touching the ceiling with her head, on towards the other side. She landed on her feet and kept running. There! An elevator. She ran in, the doors slid shut. She touched the button marked “180”, the largest number. The elevator ascended. Time passed, probably several minutes, though it seemed longer. At last the elevator came to a halt, but the doors did not open. “Warning,”said a voice, “vacuum beyond. Please don smartsuit before proceeding to lunar surface.” A cabinet swung open, several garments were hung limply on a rack. Amberdune touched the button numbered “169”. The elevator descended and stopped. The doors slid open, revealing darkness. Cautiously Amberdune stepped out. Lights came on in the corridor. No one was in sight. Amberdune stopped her story here and fed herself a piece of salmon sushi. Message Bottle the mandolphin squinted at Amberdune. “What happened next?” “The upper floors were unoccupied, although equipment functioned, every piece that could receive or transmit a signal was missing, and so were all the personnel.” "Is that plausible?" mused the mandolphin. "The robots may have something to do with it," guessed Amberdune.

***The Eldritch, Jimjue, SaitoEight and NakataTen floated in a zero-g cubicle at the axis of the donut that was Yom Thang. It was suffused with low level sodium light which gave the walls a soft, orange glow. Communicating via earphones they did not have to face each other and were oriented in random directions. Upside down and with her back to him, Ermeiyan addressed SaitoEight, “ Has your bioteam identified the cellular brain?” “ We have narrowed it down to 3 of the 34 alien biomolecular species that have only 1 copy per cell.” “Which is the most likely candidate?” “ We suspect all 3.” “ What? How?”

“The “thinking” is probably distributed among the 3 by a type of co-ordination without contact which we partially understand as quantum entanglement. Collectively they seem to possess a subjectivity that can become a fractal-like microcosm; at first emulating its environment, then altering to the target configuration with its environment of molecules following suit. Reverse causality. It is a manifestation not encompassed by any theory presently known to us. Conjecture states this is how these "t-brains" in all the cells merge them into a single morphing entity.”

“Reversed causality?” questioned Jimjue, “Not a good term, it means the present going into the past.....Mental phenomena is characterized by both top-down causation- thought and volition acting on nerves acting on muscle molecules- and bottom-up causation…..”

“Yes,” interjected NakataTen, “an example of bottom-up causation would be molecues emitted by intestinal microbes which eventually make one feel ill. On the other hand, the rest of the material universe is fully reducible to a single level of forward going interactions among elementary particles where the higher levels of description can be completely dispensed with, at least in principle”.

SaitoEight continues, “Let's amend it to ‘inverse causality’. A distributed molecular microcosm that, with a kind of all-round seeing, initially mirrors the “macrocosm” identified as the integrated organism, both its body and mind, then causes cellular processes to morph together into the target configuration, one that is envisioned in the mind of the organism itself. This gives the alien system a two order magnitude speed advantage over the metaclause genes which have no subjective microcosm and only respond to signals that ultimately come from the organism’s brain.”

The Eldritch nods, “My fellow Pathers conjectured as much. What about the remaining 31 alien biomolecular species?” “Various functions. Some are either duds or replacements activated only when the primary agents have become damaged. A few are meant to be misleading. In fact there is one other molecular complex of 3 which could be the actual brain, while the 3 we have identified may be fake.” The Eldritch made no comment. She was cogitating. Jimjue spoke, “As you know, the stealth craft that ambushed the mandolphin vessel after it left YomThang was found disabled in lunar orbit. The findings in the stealth vessel suggest that the captured mandolphin somehow escaped his bonds, killed the 2 cyborg guards and then propelled his way to the pilot cabin.” NakataTen said, “Indeed. He must have surprised the giant cyborg there, but a struggle followed.” “ From the evidence of damage, it seems that the mandolphin was able to overpower and kill the giant cyborg after a fierce close combat session, immobilize and interrogate the cyborg pilot who was plugged into shipsystems, then discovering that the controls were inaccessible, left the ship in an escape pod.” “Given the position of the stealth vessel the mandolphin is most likely somewhere on the moon.” Ermeiyan spoke in a musing voice, “ What puzzles me about this second problem is how the cyborgs knew where and when to intercept the mandolphin ship? Further, who were they acting for?” Three minutes of silence followed Ermeiyan’s questions, then NakataTen spoke. “ Are you suggesting that someone in YomThang informed the cyborgs?” “In a word, yes.” Another 3 minutes of silence occurred while post-human brains worked out the implications. Finally SaitoEight said, “ The only persons privy to all the relevant information to make an accurate estimation of the mandolphin departure trajectory would have been NakataTen here and my predecessor…..” SaitoSeven. The netsuke fox. Now deceased and merged into the AI core.

***Amberdune regarded Message Bottle. “Surely there is more you can tell me,” she started to say when the lights dimmed briefly. “Someone is coming up the elevator. I rigged circuits to dim the lights if it passed the 150th floor,” said Amberdune. In reaction Message began to stuff his mouth with sushi while Amberdune stared in open-mouthed astonishment. Message swallowed. “Don’t just sit there, get me more sushi, I’m going to need it.”

***The Eldritch, Jimjue, SaitoEight and NakataTen stood before a square table. It was white in color, with black borders. The mask of a fox was laid flat at the center. Its clear glass eyes projected the hologram head of man which bore a strong resemblance to SaitoEight, but without the horse’s ears. Instead, it had the ears of a fox. SaitoEight : Honourable Predecessor, we have many questions to put to you. SaitoSeven : One will do. SaitoEight : Why? SaitoSeven seemed to cast a glance at the Eldritch. SaitoSeven: Have you heard of the entity called the Ferris Wheel? It is a very potent AI domiciled with the techymen at the L4 of Venus with our sun. The Pathers have made a pact with it. A greedy and dangerous one. NakataTen: What pact? The Eldritch : I am Nowchairwoman of All the Pathers. I am aware of no such pact. Jimjue: You are trying to put us on the defensive, a tactic of the guilty.

SaitoSeven : It was made before your ascension, Nowchairlady. Although his appearance is not what I have been led to expect, nor is yours, the guilty party stands beside you.

At this point, dear reader, let us transfer our attention to the moon, where exciting events are about to happen… The elevator doors opened on the 169th floor. A cyborg, once known to himself and his associates as Kwacky, but now a killing machine, emerged into the foyer. Crouched behind a crate containing medical supplies, Amberdune wondered if she should have turned off the lights. But no, she thought, the cyborg could probably see better in the dark than I. Suddenly, she stood up and hurled the bottle of reprogrammed medichines at the cyborg. Hey, its Kwacky. Too late. The bottle arced through the air. The arm holding the shield came up. Crash. Splash. The cyborg was unharmed. Amberdune turned and bounded up the passageway. With one mechanical hand squeezing and relaxing, squeezing and relaxing the piezoelectric block to pump up the laser which was its other hand, the cyborg followed.

Back to YomThang…. SaitoEight: I will summarize our discussion so far. SaitoSeven claims that in order to counter a pact Jimjue made with the SuperAI codenamed Ferris Wheel in an earlier excursion to Venus 50 years ago, in the company of the Pather known as The SongMistress, he cut a deal with the AndroidicCombine to disrupt the return of the Pathers and their creatures, the mandolphins to Earth….. Jimjue: You have failed to specify the nature of the pact I have allegedly made. SaitoSeven: That is your secret. I only know that it is an agreement to monopolize the terraformed Venus. Jimjue: There is no such pact. The terraforming of Venus is a Pan-human project shared by all. No monopoly of the outcome is feasible, as you well know, you old fox. NakataTen: Ermeiyan, I would like to hear your opinion. The Eldritch: This new biotech we are having difficulty with; suppose that Venus became populated with organisms that possessed this extreme morphing ability, would that not constitute a monopoly of the living environment? Few other species would be able to compete. Perhaps none.

Now, the moon….. Amberdune turned left at the T-junction with the killer cyborg only a few meters behind.

Simple but this must work. The robots below cannot know about Message Bottle and Kwacky should be programmed to seek and destroy only one target. Me. Amberdune. Kwacky turned left in pursuit without once checking the passageway on the right. Smartsuited, the mandolphin propelled himself like a ram into the cyborg’s back. While the cyborg sprawled on its face, Amberdune skidded to a stop, picked up the scalpel and bonesaw placed on the floor in preparation and started bounding back. Without scimitar or shield, Kwacky rose to his feet. He levelled his laser hand at the charging Amberdune. He fired. Amberdune’s smartsuit deflected the shot but she felt as though she had been hit by a bullet and was jerked back. Forward momentum carried her and she banged against the cyborg and came to rest at his feet. The cyborg picked up the scimitar and raised it above his head. Well, here it comes, thought Amberdune. From the corner of her right eye she glimpsed Message Bottle doing push-ups a few metres behind the cyborg. Push-ups??? But something was happening to the mandolphin. Before the blade could reach Amberdune, the cyborg was no longer standing above her. She turned her head left. Mandolphin and cyborg were in a frenzy of punching and wrestling. Amberdune blinked. Mandolphin? Beluga? Message Bottle looked more and more like a small orca, the killer whale, with each passing second. His arms were becoming thicker, more muscular. But Kwacky’s armor was built to withstand the heavy impact of mini-explosions and small arms fire, and he had 4 arms to the mandolphin’s 2, one of which ended in a powerful laser. I must help. Amberdune tried to get to her feet.

Now,YomThang….. NakataTen: It comes down to this: whoever is using the alien biotech is the real threat behind this crisis, not just to chimerics and pathers, but to pan-humanity. The Eldritch: As you know we were as surprised as you were. SaitoEight: Honourable Elder, we must have the information on the Android faction that you were dealing with. Jimjue : Be assured SaitoSeven, we shall report your involvement to the mandolphin council. The hologram head disappeared, but in its place there was an image of a paper file, an ancient device no longer in use. Slowly the pages turned. After 8 pages the file vanished. The embodied participants of the recent debate were left staring at the mask of a fox. Jimjue : We must descend to Moonbase Alpha. NakataTen: Yes. Let us proceed at once. They departed. The lights dimmed, eventually turning themselves off. The room with the table became empty and silent. A gleam, however, could be detected in the eyes of the mask.

Chapter 6 Lying underneath Message Bottle, the cyborg’s more deadly mechanical arms were pinned to the floor by the mandolphin’s grip even as its 2 human ones continued to punch the mandolpin in the face and sides. At first the cyborg had tried to strangle the mandolphin, but this proved futile as Message Bottle could breathe through his blowhole, and did not really have a neck.

Even reprogrammed, Amberdune noted, Kwacky was not bright. Amberdune got painfully to her feet. She walked several paces and bent to retrieve the scimitar. Slowly she made her way to stand in front of the straining combatants. Sorry Kwacky, she thought and brought the scimitar chopping down.

***In the sleek-looking robot troopship IshiDishi two Pathers and two Chimerics were in transit from YomThang to the Earth's moon. Each was encased in a padded armor pod, connected with the outside only through speakerphones and the subdued blue-green glow of the holographic icons of the virtual interface deck. It was a dark and cosy place, designed to feel like the cockpit of an earthbound vehicle as it sped through the night. And why were they situated thus? Because they were being trailed. By someone, or something that was attacking! Now!

Periscope (Jimjue): Two Triox torpedoes. Incoming at 30-45-1500. Impact in 5 seconds.

Command (NakataTen) : Evasive manuever. TigerCodeTwo.

FlightNav(SaitoEight) : Executing.....5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds...

Periscope : Evasion successful. Torpedoes in self-destruct. Blast radius... avoided. Another flight incoming. Six Dio8 torpedoes at 120-60-2000. Impact in 4 seconds...

Command : 180 degrees duckdown.

FlightNav: Executing....4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds... Periscope: Duckdown successful. Dio8 torpedoes in self-destruct. Blast radius...avoided.

Command : Detect and locate source.

Periscope: Source still undetectable.

Command : Analysis?

Computing (The Eldritch & AI): Twenty-star stealthed vessel. Probability 85%.

Command : DeCloaking Ghostrons. Level-7 sensitivity. Omnidirectional. Fire in 5 seconds.

FireControl (The Eldritch): 5...4...3...2...1...Fire!

Periscope: Tracking...Burst....Tracking....Burst...Yes! There she is! Command : Lockdown target.

Pericope: Arrowing...Arrowing...Target locked.

Command : Three Mobob torpedoes. Fire on my call.

FireControl: Mobob torpedoes armed and loaded.

Command: Wait...wait...Now!

FireControl: One...away! Two...away! Three...away!

Periscope: Tracking...on course...one missed! Two...missed! Three...on course...target hit!

Command : Status?

Periscope: Enemy severely damaged...righting itself...aiming to fire!

Command : SharkCodeTwelve.

FireControl: Single shark... away. Point O-O-C.

Periscope: Tracking...on course...on course...enemy.....destroyed. Command : Global sweep.

Periscope: Neutral satellites. Space junk. Ordinary traffic. Enemies negative.

Command : Analysis?

Computing (The Eldritch & AI): Second enemy vessel improbable.

Command (NakataTen): Standown battle stations.

FlightNav(SaitoEight) : Standing down. Returning control to shipboard AI.

Periscope (Jimjue) : Standing down. I'm getting out of this pod! The pod-covers swivelled open, the four of them emerged. NakataTen faced The Eldritch, bowed and straighetened. NakataTen: If you had not anticipated that SaitoSeven and the androids would have a stealthed ship tailing us, we may be dead. SaitoEight: To think that he would kill me, a clone and NakataTen, an old friend.... NakataTen: Sadly, he is not the original SaitoSeven and what's left is not really human. The Eldritch : He did not intend to kill, only to delay. He must have known that 2 pathers and 2 chimerics in unison would be able to overcome any ordinary opposition. SaitoEight: Delay? Combat lasted less than 15 minutes. Surely you are not serious! The Eldritch: I'm afraid that was just the beginning...

*** Amberdune listened : "Hic, hac, hoc, hark! Ahem. Jing, jang, jong, jung! Gobbledegook! Oboyo felix saltus. Good morning human beans, homo sapiens sapiens! This is the Voice of the Universal Temple-church of neoHuman Harmony. As usual we begin with our daily uptake of uplift mantra. Intone after me. Spirit and brain are one and the same. Spiribrain we combine, in a single name..." Is this some kind of 21st century new age religion?

Amberdune looked again at the jacket of the record.

This is made of paper, processed cellulose from trees, and that is an optical disk, called a CD-ROM! Thanks for paying attention in history class as a space-cadet! Seated on the floor Amberdune looked around her. It was as though someone had emptied several museums' worth of 20th and 21st century consumer products onto the 99th floor of Moonbase Alpha, where they were. Message Bottle had growled something and crawled off; was somewhere among the piles of "junk", hidden from her view, recovering from his fight with the cyborg, and likely turning back into his mandolphin self. Amberdune glanced at the leak-proof bodybag which contained the beheaded cyborg and looked away. Better not to think about that. The two, or rather three, of them had descended 70 floors intending to go to the 50th, where, according to Amberdune, dredging up knowldge she had absorbed as a cadet, there was a communications room. The elevator had stopped on this floor and would not descend further. Amberdune picked up another record. The jacket was decorated with an intricate stylized figure composed of short lines and curves. She inserted the disk into the primitive player. Words appeared on the liquid crystal display. This is what they said.

ComicStrip Frame the first: Night. Stars. A desert. Darker blot on the sand. There is a structure of some sort. Zoom-in. Frame the second : A broken platform. A hologram stutters. Flickers into life. Frame the third: The image is that of an eagle-masked old woman. She peers around as if at a throng. She speaks. “I will tell the story of not so long ago, when space colonization was young. When it was only a hundred years old, in fact.” “When the laws of matter were newly discovered, and the less binding laws of life were being mapped; when as yet the principles that bound mind to matter were unknown and only guessed at.” “When humanity was still confined to the mother planet, sending early probes throughout the FirstSystem…..” “It was after a terrible century of war that a time of general peace descended - though there were still rich and poor and the perennial political tensions endemic to the race. It was a time when computing machinery was becoming miniaturized and ubiquitous, and a great net of communications began to link the peoples of the Earth….” Frame the 4th: the hologram flickers, becomes unfocused. A minute, more or less, passes. The hologram sharpens, steadies. The image resumes as if there was no interruption. “It was the first and only time when mankind from all skillwalks of life, consciously and un-, directly and in-, miraculously it seemed, worked together as one, in the attempt to spread ability and intelligence to everyone, to end the ancient cycles of conflict, with, as a by-product, though some claimed that this was the real intention, sufficient intelligence on a broad front to make the leap towards the stars. It was a period of unprecedented idealism which affected even the cynical and tough-minded. It was premature and failed, of course, but it is a heartening story nonetheless, and a valuable lesson was learned.” Frame the 5th: The old woman looks sharply to her right, but there was no one there in the desert. “Pay attention. You can ask questions later. This is the story of how the Transhominin GuildGardens, intrepid and diversified, were started, laying the foundations for the gengineered circumpsychore mindscape. Listen.” “It began, not unusual for that bygone age, with a message on a screen. It was a kind of poetry, and that was unusual. It went like this: To bind the influence of the Pleiades and loose the bands of Orion, To walk forever on the wings of the wind, Seek then at the Seven Stars and Orion, At the turning of the shadow of the Earth into morning… The young woman who received this message did not fully understand what it was trying to tell her, for she was trained as a biotechnician; but she had a friend who was an aspiring musician, who wrote lyrics for singing in the local band......

A dramatized account of the beginnings of the transhuman project about 200 years ago, Amberdune thought. Once activated, her memory for information obtained as a student was kicking-in, hard. The GuildGardens had eventually produced the biowizards Soto Indra Osprey, Thatch Malachai and ChiBlong Fulhouse who, as a team, designed and constructed the metaclause genes that began the whole neohuman adventure of individuals modifying their flesh at will. Amberdune heard a cough and turned her head left to cast a glance at a much slimmer Message Bottle crawling towards her. At 1/6th earth gravity it was not so hard. Yes, if not for the Transhominin GuildGardens, the mandolphins would be no more than a fictional invention in someone's narrative. Amberdune was about to reach out for another optical disk when a shadow loomed over her. Startled, she looked up. The mandolphin was standing unsteadily beside her. He had grown a pair of legs.

Chapter 7 Message Bottle handed Amberdune an optical disk he found among the piles of 20th and 21st century junk. She inserted into the player and the following text appeared onscreen:

The Calling : Rough Notes for a Sci-Fi WeBlog A new phase of humanity is unfolding! Once again evolution is playing the force of life and we are one of its component vectors! We are people of the pattern. We are Chimerics. We eschew all traditional hierarchy, not because they are ineffective, but because we seek to clear the mind for a new way. Sci-fi-fantasy, Science-technology, Philosophy-religion, Art and architecture in all media are the information environment with which we seek to synthesize a new path into the future. We call these the Core-4, a basis for the emergence of neohumanity. What has been tried and built in the fields of art and tech and thought since the dawn of mankind makes possible for us in the 21st century a variety of next steps, and these together may make the difference between salvation and destruction when the great cycle of history turns! This is an amateur semi-serious play endeavor. All are free to join us and all are welcome. Each of us appreciates food and music, feels individualistic or sociable, think rationally, look to the past for wisdom and wonder about the future. These are categories which our minds possess. The differences are only in choice, in content and degree. An appreciation of science-fiction-fantasy, science-technology, philosophy-religion, art & architecture has to be activated in the mind in order to become a chimeric (not, of course, all at once). Find a favorite example (perhaps no more than a paragraph) from each of these broad fields, put them side by side in a file. Become familiar with them all, if you are not so already. Once you have familiarity and can experience your mind changing when going from one to another you would have attained the 1st Level Chimeric. It is a beginning. As you may have noticed, these very distinct fields of information are easy to associate but impossible to integrate logically. That is why they are distinct categories or domains of experience. At bottom qualitative difference is like red & green, apples & oranges, cars and shirts, words and numbers or all of them together in an arbitrary set. Experiences in distinct domains, however, are not equally random when associated, as you will see. Greater or lesser harmony can be found among them, although to some extent this harmony is in the eye or ear of the beholder. Information or meaning in distinct domains can be harmonized and in their consonance is culture, for culture consists in society at large of differing fields of thought and feeling and behavior. We chimerics are trying to find a new kind of harmony of disparate elements and this, if and when it is achieved, opens the possibility for…for what? We do not yet know. What we do know is that the emergence of experiential domains is unplanned by human beings who are born with various talents and can only choose to exercise them under the circumstances of a particular time. We do not choose the talents we have. And should even genomic science advances to the point where genes can be selected to produce ability, why this ability (an experience) is associated with a certain neural-genomic structure is a chimeric given by Nature. Each experiential domain can be regarded as a partial manifestation of the total potential of the human genome, which given the combinatorial possibilities of DNA, is far from exhausted. To continue. A random choice of Sci-fi, Sci-tech, PhiRel and Artech would appear disjoint, but notice that once you become very familiar with them together, they lose, at least a little, some of the awkwardness of association. As they become habituated in your mind, and familiar in memory, they come into extrinsic accord. The mind itself is the source of accord - or discord. The harmony is of course stronger if an abstract commonality can be perceived among the disparate objects. ("Accord" and "harmony" are not equal but they agree). Sounds, colors, shapes and symbols can be found in greater and lesser accord, but this is very much dependent on the subject. The words of a foreign language may seem strange until they become familiar with usage. Familiarity thus increases one’s sense of harmony but not perfectly. Become familiar with a random selection from Core-4, then find, according to your taste, a set of examples that seem to you to be more in harmony than the random one. Can you find a set or sets that 1) appeal to you in a personal way and 2) that seem most ‘together’? If you can you may have found the fragments of a world culture (possibly fantastic) that you may wish to live in. It would be nice if the world evolved in such a way that you can go to live in this, the country of your dreams….. If you have managed to come this far, you have attained the 2nd Level Chimeric. Congratulations. Before going further, allow me to extol the virtues of our creed. Appreciation for distinct domains, mental flexibility and the ability to harmonize different styles of experience - basic requirements for a mind of the future - can be found in the Chimeric Discipline. Sci-fi to explore dreams of what may come, Sci-tech to enable using the material world, PhiRel to discipline one’s animal and spiritual dimensions and Artech to design an experiential environment comprise the Core-4. And what of myself and the society I represent? Call me Mun61, CounterClockwise Pathfinder, 5th Level Chimeric, your guide in this series of web-based exercises and insights. [Basically, I’m a Sci-Fi guy with New Age ideals}. Title levels after one’s name in our community are not indications of rank, of command over others, they are measures of effort and skill, like a person’s handicap in golf. The org I represent is the Pattern of Chimerics. The pattern is a stylized expression of the total structure of human knowledge which began when homo sapiens emerged at the dawn of history. It is only partially expressed. A small part of it is symbolically represented in any comprehensive library on the planet. Its actual expression is in the living minds of persons. In a sense the pattern is a manifestation of the total potential of the homo sapiens genome. Many parts of it have been forgotten and more parts have yet to emerge. It defines the possibilities of human existence in this universe of stars and is ultimately mysterious. Any human being is really a partial expression of this pattern of our species. We chimerics consciously place ourselves in certain relationships to it. We see ourselves primarily as dynamic components of the pattern transforming in time. (But of course we are, each of us, personalities). What has gone before up till here can be likened to a web-based role playing game. Those who do not like what follows are free to stop. The key step on the way to the 3rd Level is suspension of the tribal instinct, which we all possess to some degree, and replace it with an identity in the larger pattern of human experience. This is the idea that is basic to all the ancient spiritual and philosophical schools and which we adopt for the purpose of establishing a Community Chimericus. In this, as in anything human beings can do, you are placed somewhere along the bell-curve – which can be improved upon by constant practice. It is difficult to suspend the instinct to be part of, better yet, an important part of a society of people. Our competitive urge is strongly tied to our sense of society - as can be seen when you realize that it is meaningless to feel competitive when living on an island, alone. Some of the ancient schools believe that human beings should completely suppress their competition and become entirely altruistic. We chimerics do not advocate this. We only suggest that you learn to turn it off and on voluntarily, practicing for short periods of time. This is not easy by any means. For advice, read up the respective thought, feelings and efforts of the ancient religious or philosophical schools. Find those that are suitable. Their advice cannot be bettered. When you can feel that you are part of the ongoing history of human experience, a unique viewpoint within it, you would have attained the 3rd Level Chimeric.... Amberdune giggled, then laughed outloud. Is this more fiction, or did it occur in an alternate universe? 

Chapter 8 Shirtless, Jimjue chased a robot bird. It flew. Jimjue was by design slightly obese, but in the gravity of the moon he weighed no more than a large swan and he flew in pursuit. Beating at 200 times a second, his short, membranous wings sprouted from a pack strapped to his back, its tips constantly tracing out a figure-8, like a hummingbird’s. A placental interface connecting the muscular wing-pack to blood vessels in the subdermal layer between his shoulder blades also had nerve linkages to his spinal cord through the cervical and thoracic vertebrae. Pituitary hormone activated lipase in his adipose cells, his flight was powered by the breakdown of fat and he was gradually losing weight. Pathers carried their own versions of the metaclause genes and it had taken no more than an hour to grow these connections.

In front, the golden avian robot turned left at an intersection of corridors, went out of sight. Jimjue followed, regained visual contact…

3 hours ago the IshiDishi had landed on the flat floor of an empty cavern after passing through 2 gates one after the other, each gate irising open and shut behind them in response to the standard protocols. Emerging from their craft they found breathable air with a faint smell of burnt hydrocarbons – ships had lifted-off not too long ago. Ermeiyan suspected that the 2 stealth vessels they had encountered were from this location. Prying open the elevator doors revealed a huge descending shaft but no elevator. The cables were cut and had fallen with the counterweight to the bottom. NakataTen sent a surveillance robot parachuting down with a microwave radar transceiver directing pulses into each floor as it passed the elevator doors, relaying the echoes to the IshiDishi. After processing, the signals had revealed the absence of living inhabitants. The 4 of them were at the southern end of MoonBase Alpha, a 180-levels underground complex that could house a few thousand. Monitoring of comms channels on the approach vector had displayed normal traffic, so where were the people?

On passing the 60th floor the surveillance bot had abruptly ceased transmitting. NakataTen sent 30 of their 100 robot troopers floating down the shaft as recon and if necessary, as a beachhead force. When these bottroopers reached the 80th floor, telemetry showed that the elevator car was ascending, fast. “The enemy may have rocket boosters under the car,” commented SaitoEight. He activated the zoom function in the leading, survey-bot. “We have optical contact,” continued SaitoEight, “there is some kind of projectile weapon mounted on the roof. Looks like a Gatling gun. It has opened fire!” NakataTen spoke, “ I’ve sent the command to our bots to return fire. They are targeting the Gatling gun…Damn! The surveillance bot has gone out. Switching telemetry to rearmost bot…..half our force has been destroyed….three-quarters….80%....100%. We’ve lost visuals…..Deploying troop formation on the cavern floor. They will shoot any enemies emerging from the elevator…..” The remaining 70 bottroopers were arrayed in a row 25m before the shaft opening, their bellies flat to the ground, projectile and laser weapons readied and pointing. “Here they come,” said Jimjue. The elevator car braked to a stop. Kettle-shaped robots on caterpillar tracks packing the space from top to bottom came pouring out, those in the front line shooting from gun-mounted turrets attached to their sides. The bottroopers facing them fired in unison, taking out the pack leaders. But those behind pushed the downed bots before them, using their damaged fellows as cover, while they fired and advanced on the bottrooper line. The chimeric robots were being eliminated faster than they were eliminating the enemy. “Looks like they will have at least 5 left when ours are gone,” estimated Ermeiyan. Jimjue sighed and said, “ I will take over ship gun-sight control.” The 4 of them were in the forward cabin of the IshiDishi. Jimjue donned a head-enclosing helmut. Immediately his POV jumped to the nose of the ship, with a small cross-hair superimposed on the center of the scene. The last 2 bottroopers went down. 4 kettle-shaped robots remained, moving towards the ship. Simply by focusing and blinking his eyes Jimjue centered the cross-hair on each one in turn, marking them and said, “Now!” 4 guided mini-missiles, each a half-meter in length, were spat from orifices around the ship's nose and flew towards their targets. The kettle-shaped robots fired at the missiles, to no avail. Every one of them was engulfed in a burst of flame. “They’re down,” said NakataTen. “I will go out to check on the bots,” said Saito8 and left. On the ship's viewscreen, the bottroopers formed a ragged line of damaged bodies on the floor. Like broken battle-tanks, the kettle-shaped robots were spread out before that line, all the way to the elevator opening. The 3 of them in the forward cabin could see Saito8 shake his head as he finished examining the last of the bottroopers. “Think I can put together at most 2 bots by scavenging undamaged parts," said Saito8, his voice emerging from speakers just below the screen. Ermeiyan: Shall we release the brakes on the elevator and let it fall? NakataTen: Without bots, very risky, it may be booby-trapped and remote controlled to explode when we go near it. Jimjue: How long till we have a bot running? Saito8: These are modular, 3 hours at most. Ermeiyan: 2 bots will make little difference. I say we do not wait and lose the initiative. NakataTen: Agreed. Ship, put on display the downloaded schematic holograph of this place. Integrate the recent data we obtained from the scans….See, there are 2 secondary shafts with climbing rungs. Jimjue and I will descend this one, furthest away from the main shaft. Saito8, you and Ermeiyan stay with the ship. Jimjue and Ermeiyan exchanged glances. Jimjue: OK.

Ermeiyan watched the splitscreen: one showed NakataTen from the camera button on the chest of Jimjue’s smartsuit while the other showed Jimjue from NakataTen’s. They were lifting the manhole cover located a few meters to the rear of the ship and depositing it on the floor. She noted with approval the bulges on their backs, covered by the fabric of the suits. So they’ve taken my advice. The enemy will be in for a surprise. More than one, in fact.

NakataTen stooped and epoxied a small parabolic antenna onto the wall of the shaft just below the lip. He peered into the depths. There were 2 sets of rungs, spaced at 1.5-meter intervals, on opposite sides. The shaft had a diameter of around 4 meters. Phosphorescent strips on each side of a rung gave the place an eery, dim lighting. Oval hatches marked with numerals and within easy arm's reach from either set of descending rungs were positioned every 5 meters down. NakataTen motioned Jimjue forward as he crouched on a top rung and pointed his carbine at the nearest hatch. Standing at the lip of the shaft above and behind NakataTen, Jimjue jumped towards the 3rd rung on the opposite side. Slo-Mo or almost, he thought as he caught hold, then aimed his carbine downwards. NakataTen made a slight hop and fell to the 5th rung on his side. Is he challenging me? Well, I too can play. Jimjue released his hold and fell 6 rungs before grabbing hold. NakataTen then made 7…. In this way the 2 men leapfrogged down the shaft, alternately covering each other with their carbines.

Ermeiyan switched to display Saito8 in the robotics bay. “How goes the salvage?” “Progressing. May have them up sooner than initially thought.” “That’s good.” Ermeiyan watched Saito8 busy himself with tools, monitors and bot components for a time then switched back to Jimjue and NakataTen. They had developed a rhythm and were traversing the vertical distance of one level every 10 seconds or so. Ermeiyan spoke: Ship, how far can your radar penetrate? Shipboard AI : As reported to Saito8, the deepest fifty levels are heavily shielded, therefore impenetrable from where we are. Ermeiyan: Display holograph of Moonbase Alpha, finest resolution. Give it a slow rotation, one pi rad per minute. She studied this and thought : the enemy could be anywhere. Still, the lowest levels seem most likely. Like a termite queen the enemy chief would be safest away from the surface where intruders have to first touchdown. And where are all the people? She turned back to the splitscreen. The 2 men were already near the level of the 90th floor and were proceeding cautiously, one rung at a time. From the splitscreen Ermeiyan could see that Jimjue had just made his regulated fall, with NakataTen covering him. Suddenly the view from NakataTen gave a jerk, became confused. He is falling and spinning, quickly deduced Ermeiyan. On Jimjue’s screen she could see that a bot composed of disparate parts was clinging onto NakataTen’s back. How did they miss the bot while climbing down? wondered Ermeiyan. The speaker crackled to life and Ermeiyan heard Jimjue say “I’ll activate…” before becoming filled with static. We are being jammed! The enemy has struck, we are the ones surprised, thought Ermeiyan. She was staring at a screen full of static snow.

For a few seconds Jimjue had the enemy bot’s head within the crosshair’s of his carbine-scope, then it was gone. He calculated, lowered his carbine a fraction and there it was again. And went out, and came in. What goes around, comes around. All he had to do was squeeze the trigger and it would burst apart. Jimjue returned the carbine to a nonfiring position and looked up at the open hatch 3 levels above. Evidently the bot had waited until they had passed before launching itself at NakataTen; together the two of them were now spinning and falling downshaft. This bot does not look like one of those uniform kettle-things, thought Jimjue. NakataTen may have caught a bigger fish. Contact at last! I shall descend rapidly and assist in capturing it. The flight interface should be ready by now. “Suit,” Jimjue subvocalized, “ expose torso.” The smartsuit complied by withdrawing fabric from his upper body into his pants. Jimjue stretched out his wings and flexed them. He watched NakataTen and his burden accelerate and diminish into the gloom. He was about to jump after when a golden object fluttered down and hovered before him for a few seconds, then darted up and into the opened hatch above. This is significant, thought Jimjue as he made a quick decision and flew upwards. NakataTen will have to take care of the first bot himself, while I track this one.

The Eldritch Ermeiyan spoke: “ SaitoEight, we have lost communications with Jimjue and NakataTen!” “ I know.” The voice came from behind. Ermeiyan swivelled her chair to see Saito8, with beads of sweat on his forehead, holding a makeshift device in one hand and a pistol in the other. A bottrooper was standing beside him. It was aiming its laser weapon at her. Saito8 spoke: “Come, time for us to depart. The ship will no longer obey me. Hence this.” Saito8 indicated the device and placed it on the floor. Ermeiyan eyed it. Is it a bomb? No, it’s the jammer! "Where are we going?” she asked. “To meet those you want to meet. Do not try to command the ship or I will be forced to destroy it. This is not just a signal disruptor, it also packs an explosive. Come now, let us go.” Ermeiyan got up from her chair, walked through a doorway, followed by Saito8 and the bottrooper. She went down a ramp and stood on the cavern floor. She turned and looked at Saito8 with raised eyebrows. “The main elevator, if you please.” The 3 of them weaved their way pass robot hulks to enter the elevator opening. While Saito8 held Ermeiyan at gun-pont, the bottrooper jumped up 5m to the corner of the ceiling where a lever jutted. It tugged on this to release the brakes. Under the gravity of the moon the elevator began to fall. Ermeiyan studied Saito8. His hair was matted and beads of sweat still clung to his forehead. His eyes seemed to be staring at a distant object. “Have you been deceiving us all along?” Saito8 turned his gaze on her, smiled. No, Ermeiyan thought, I’m quite certain he was fully on our side until very recently. Something happened to him while he was among the damaged bottroopers. But what?

Message Bottle laid the 2 parts of Kwacky’s carcass onto a refrigerator tray in the morgue on the 87th level and slotted it in. He picked cabinet drawers at random and checked their contents. He turned and adopted a fighter’s crouch when he heard the automatic doors slide open, but it was only Amberdune. “Well?” inquired Message Bottle. " The comms room on the 90th floor, like the one on the 50th has been gutted.” “I must continue with my mission. Since none of the elevators are working I must climb down the access shaft we came down in. You, on the other hand, can climb back up to the nearest dormitory level where you will be safer. I doubt whoever is down below will send another assassin. They’ve removed all the communications equipment, so they will believe that you are isolated. Go and get some food and rest.” “Still met no one?” “Besides you and the cyborg,” said Message Bottle, “ there are not even corpses in the cabinet here.” They moved off, the mandolphin walking jerkily. “You did not tell me how you could grow a pair of legs so quickly.” “We are hybrid, and unlike true dolphins we do have a small pelvis and vestigial leg bones.” “I know that. I mean you behaved like one of those chimerics, yet even they take much longer to do a morph.” “Well, we mandolphins are closely associated with the Pathers who have at least as much expertise in genometech as the chimerics.” “You are dodging the question.” “Yes, I am.” “Hey, look!” They were next to a door with a plaque engraved with the words “Toy Robotics”. The door was ajar and they could see winking multicolored lights from the room within, which was otherwise dark. They entered.

Ermeiyan glanced at Saito8 and thought, I must know more about his present mental makeup. “ I see you could salvage only one bottrooper, ” she said. “There were enough components for two, but I had to make the jammer too.” “If you could have included the bottroopers hit by the Gatling gun, now on the roof of this car, you may have had 3 or 4.” Saito8 smiled and said, “NakataTen opined that the car was booby-trapped.” “But you knew it was’nt. How?” Saito8 did not reply. Ermeiyan tried again, “How could you betray NakataTen? He was attacked by a robot and plummeted down the shaft. Did you know that this would happen?” “I merely follow orders.” “Whose? SaitoSeven’s?” “You will find out soon enough.”

Amberdune was delighted. Bots that looked like dogs and birds and cats and rabbits and frogs and giraffes. Bots that looked like bots, with and without winking lights. Some glowed, others talked or made pleasant animal noises. Bots that ranged from a few centimeters to one meter (but no bigger). For twenty minutes Amberdune forgot her predicament as she played with them while Message Bottle looked on in wry amusement. In the background she could hear a humming sound that gradually grew louder. She supposed it was one of the bots and ignored it, but the mandolphin went to the door and reduced its opening to a slit. The humming sound reached a peak then diminished. “Hey, Amberdune,” said Message Bottle. “Yes?” “I just saw a half-naked flyng fat-man chasing a bird.” Amberdune looked up from the blue and pink striped little dinosaur bot on the palm of her hand. “Say what?” “Someone else is here.” Amberdune got to her feet and poked her head out the door, but no one was in sight. “Who do you think it was? Friend or foe?” she inquired. “ Either someone missed by the robots, which is unlikely, or sent by the robots, or from outside, newly arrived. You wait here, I’ll go and check .” The mandolphin left.

NakataTen opened his eyes. He seemd to be lying on rocky ground at the bottom of a long, poorly lit well. He sat up and got to his feet. The “rocky ground” turned out to be the remains of a strange, broken robot. This was the first time he saw his assailant, who had clung to his back all the way down. NakataTen became very still as he willed his body to repair the bruised tissues and minor fractures sustained in falling 90 levels. Even in the moon’s gravity that was equivalent to 15 storeys on Earth, at 5m per storey! Luckily, in spite of the robot’s piggyback hug, he had contrived to expose his upper body and spread his wings. The robot impeded their full movement, but he had managed a rapid vibration that stopped his spinning and slowed his descent. Almost too little too late. At the last few seconds he had twisted his body to land on his back. NakataTen tried to impart a little flutter to his wings. No good. The wing-pack was concussed beyond recovery. NakataTen sent a message to the placental interface to severe all connections to his flesh. He looked at the nearest hatch, marked with a zero. Ground floor, dwell zone of the enemy chief. He limped up to it and started to turn the door wheel. After five revolutions the hatch opened. He pushed it and stepped through. As he crossed the threshold, he unfastened the straps that held the wing-pack to his back and let it fall.

Jimjue was starting to regret following the robot bird. At the time it seemed significant, appearing as it did, like a messenger of some sort. Now it was just flying aimlessly around the 87th level. He passed the morgue a second time. The bird turned right. He followed. I seem to have been here before, he thought. Suddenly a young woman emerged from a doorway ahead of him. The bird alighted on her shoulder. Jimjue halted the beating of his wings and landed in front of her. “Who are you?” they both asked, simultaneously.

Chapter 9 Dear reader, we will pass quickly over the events and obstacles our characters had to overcome in order to reach the crucial confrontation that decided the fate of the Solar System in the year 203:

What JimJue and Amberdune said when they discussed Message Bottle's surprising morphing ability, which worried Jimjue, and perhaps explained the mandolphin's absence. Suffice to say they descended an access shaft, with Jimjue lifting Amberdune part of the way, using his wings, then negotiated a maze of tunnels where Jimjue, thinner and feeling hungry, had to fly ahead in efforts at recce . Near the middle of the maze they encountered a small group of 5 kettle-shaped robots and in demolishing them Jimjue exhausted the charge on his laser carbine . 

How NakataTen came upon Yuuli Fontfeather the CombatDroid waiting for him at an intersection of corridors. How they fought and the Chimeric lost. How MessageBottle happened there soon after and saw Yuuli Fontfeather standing over NakataTen, poised to deliver the killing blow. A second fight ensued. The mandolphin, in orca form, emerged victorious, the CombatDroid destroyed.

We will not detail how Ermeiyan the Pather struck with incredible speed at Saito8 when she saw the bottrooper reach up for the braking lever as the elevator approached the half-way point, yet was still too slow by a fraction of a second. She was rendered unconscious and was carried into the cavern at Ground Zero where the questions that nagged at her mind would be soon be answered. No, we will proceed to the climax of our story in flesh-out and color, thus: In the Cavern at the Heart of the Moon Enter MessageBottle the mandolphin, carrying NakataTen on his back. "What the...? Holy Moly! Holo Omsnark!" whispered MessageBottle. Enter Jimjue and Amberdune, via an adjacent passageway. "Look at that!" exclaimed Amberdune. The four of them gaped at the huge hologram towering above the circular platform in the center of the cavern. Thirteen undulating tentacles emerged from the sides of this dais which was mounted on caterpillar tracks. The hologram depicted a halo of many spokes rotating about the statue head of the Roman god Mercury. It was the only source of illumination with much of the cavern shrouded in darkness. Saito8 entered via a third passageway with the bottrooper depositing the unconscious Ermeiyan on the floor. Welcome! boomed a voice from hidden speakers. I am Holo Omsnark, the Ferris Wheel! If you think you are here on your own initiative, in spite of attempts to stop you, you would be wrong! It was I, all along, who has orchestrated events, to bring you into my presence! Ermeiyan stirred, sat up on the ground. Excellent! The Eldritch is awake! She suspected a trap and would no doubt ask "Why the costly effort?" It is because I have need of the brain, the knowledge of Homo sapiens patherus, so rare, so inaccessible that I have plotted the series of events, beginning with the Jinjali Incident, all designed to lure one here! Behold my success: not one but two, and the chairpersons Ermeiyan and Jimjue, no less! The hologram face smiled at its captive audience. It would be better, for you and for me, if I have your willing co-operation, so I will tell you a tale that began 50 years ago. It was then that The SongMistress, UltraPatherExtraordinaire, dragging an initially reluctant SaitoSeven the Chimeric, approached me, a superstrong AI, to start a secret project combining the knowhow of the 3 most powerful groups in extraterrestrial space. This project would step beyond the slow cellular manipulation enabled by the metaclause genes - already 2 centuries old - to create nanomachinery that would accelerate co-ordinated multicell DNA-protein formation by at least an order of magnitude. It was meant to be a long term project, to parellel the final phase of the Venus terraform. Unexpectedly, 25 years ago, we attained our goal. Once assembled, the bucky-complexes displayed amazing speed and virtuosity - when properly guided by the host mind-brain entity to which it was quatangled. It was I, of course, who developed the main lines of the enabling theoretical framework, backed by the peerless knowhow of Pather and Chimeric. It then occurred to me, and to me alone, since neither of my partners had the infoprocessing capacity, that a subtle extension of theory yielded a further result : the pattern that is virtually copied onto a superconducting matrix when an organic person is uploaded into an AI - destroying the brain in the process - can be reified. Yes, the process can be reversed onto a suitably prepared network of organic bodies, tied together with buckybrains. It was at this critical point in time, 25 years ago, that The SongMistress left our threesome, secretly taking refuge at the newly established mandolphin colony near Jinjali Island on Earth. Her abrupt departure left me bereft of a necessary skill. Somehow she suspected what I only dreamed of achieving and found it monstrous. I have been planning for more than 2 decades. Now behold! The reason for your presence, dear Jimjue and Ermeiyan! The cavern lit up suddenly. Stacked behind the Holo Omsnark were rows and rows of pods containing the original inhabitants of MoonBase Alpha, in hibernation. My fellow robots collected these for me. I need your expertise to link them into a gigantic matrix! Yes, the organic brain network for my twin! Saito8 will assist so that Saito7 when he so wishes can return in the flesh!

"That is a perversion of our discipline," said NakataTen and dropped from MessageBottle's back. "Agreed," said the mandolphin and launched himself at the bottrooper. Saito8 lifted his pistol to shoot but tottered and fell when Ermeiyan entangled his legs with hers. Jimjue pounced and immobilized Saito8's gunhand while NakataTen staggered to where the bottrooper had dropped the laser carbine. "Hah! Forgotten about me?" asked The Holo Omsnark as his dais slid forward on its caterpillar tracks and tentacular arms quickly wrapped themselves around 6 biological bodies. "Hold!" said Saito8, "I am still your willing servant!" "Holding," agreed the AI, " All of you will go into the hibe-pods. Jimjue and the Eldritch will eventually be uploaded into me. I shall then possess their Pather knowhow. As for you, Saito8, your conversion came late. Only after the robot battle when I relayed your original's disclosure of his early involvement. You too will be held in a pod pending a status review." Carrying the 6 of them in its tentacles, the hologram platform moved smoothly towards the hibernation pods. "Like the demons of ancient fable, all AIs possess a secret fatal weakness, built into their specs, known only to a few humans," said the Eldritch Ermeiyan, enunciating the words clearly as a certain precision was requisite in such matters. Holo Omsnark halted, its mercurial face frowning at the Eldritch. "Indeed," said NakataTen, "even when AIs evolve on their own, they can do so only within their base design and are unable to uncover that fatal flaw." He, too, spoke carefully for he knew that the margin for error was slim. "It may only be a phrase," said Jimjue,"such as 'Metamercu..." He could not finish as the tentacles tightened on all of them, squeezing the air from their lungs. "In normal circumstances, when the AI is in a stationary housing, yes, you would have won," spoke The Holo Omsnark. "In this special case," it continued," your mouths are in my hands, so to speak." While it moved on towards the pods the AI increased the pressure in its tentacles until mandolphin and humans fainted away. When the dais neared a row of unoccupied hibe-pods tentacles reached out to unlock five. Pathers, Chimerics and mandolphin were lowered into these and secured. Amberdune was put on the ground. Eventually, when she had  recovered and got to her feet, the AI said "Run, human run! Let's have some fun! I thrill to the chase. Who knows? You may yet get away!" "I'll not be running," replied Amberdune, a new look, a stranger appearing on her face. Holo Omsnark stared. "Athena Selene," he gasped, "the SongMistress!" "Metamercurolabarodamn!" sang Amberdune and she seemed to have two voices. The AI froze. "All is over, your great career! (All is under, the end is here!)  Dash of greyhound slipping thongs, (Hash of poem righting wrongs)  Flight of falcon, bound of deer, (Sack of android, crash of gear)  Mad hoof thunder in your rear, (Sad proof blunder in your ear)  Cold air rushing up your lungs, (Code bare crushing up your rungs)  Din of a million tongues! (Burst to a million chunks!)" Consternation appeared on the hologram visage of the AI, the dais lurched towards Amberdune, tentacles waving wildly, then abruptly halted in its tracks. The hologram of Holo Omsnark the Ferris Wheel broke into scintillating fragments and vanished. Amberdune sighed. The look of profound knowledge and power left her face. Well, she thought, I've got to revive the others. Then we got to revive the citizens of MoonBase Alpha. She stared in dismay at the rows of coffin-like pods. There are a few thousand, it'll take forever. No wait, earlier ones revive later ones. That should be exponential, right?  With more optimism than she had felt in days she walked to the hibe-pod containing MessageBottle the mandolphin....

Epilogue Tellusian Pather Enclave. Mountains of Earth. 2 months later. Night.

First Voice: You were the SongMistress's agent all along. Second Voice: Yup, and I was instructed to seek out Holo Omsnark. First Voice: Hmmm. So you already had those ultrafast buckybrains before arriving on the moon. For a while there, after I met Jimjue, I thought you had been infected. Second Voice: That's right. By the way, how did you know the final words that disassembled the AI? First Voice: I may have heard it from Jimjue, he was next to me. Second Voice: That can't be. If you had heard him the AI would have been stopped then. First Voice: True. I don't know. I can't remember. Second Voice: Well, OK...What are you going to be doing from now on? Returning to the OutSpace Corp? First Voice: The citizens of MoonBase Alpha offered me a cash reward for my part in their rescue. I suspect the Eldritch had something to do with it. I'm only 25. I think I'll travel around the Solar System for a time. I feel an urge. Second Voice: Have'nt had enough adventure? First Voice: Guess not. Something seems to be calling to me. Out there.

Amberdune and Message Bottle the mandolphin turned their gaze upwards. It was a clear night. The stars sparkled.