Reality: The Struggle for Sternessence Read online

  From the first row, someone slightly waved a colorful feathery tail.

  “Doctor Peacordk?”

  “I’d propose {Beauty}.”

  Giriana tried the logum, along with two other possible solutions of the same family. “It doesn’t satisfy either.”

  “Yes, Doctor Foxroxina?” Oyhtter continued.

  “{Sagacity}?”

  The QD’s answer was not different.

  “Professor Lia Kollumba, please.”

  “{Peace}, and its first five q-derivatives.” But it produced dysfunctional solutions.

  “Doctor Hyens?”

  “The {Bliss} family, in its compact form.”

  The QD took a few seconds to process the solution, but eventually Giriana looked up and shook her head.

  “Please, Doctor,” Oyhtter said, fixing his eyes on a conspicuous figure.

  “I propose {Fortitude},” Dr. Oxington said.

  It did not work either. Oyhtter’s uneasiness was plain to see. His eyebrows were furrowed with tension, and he was starting to pace hastily back and forth.

  “Yes, Doctor Sheeplova?”

  “The {Bounty} Kareman logum,” Sheeplova postulated, in her distinctive accent.

  The logum did not yield any positive results.

  “Let’s try {Wisdom},” Oyhtter said with confidence.

  Giriana’s swift reply thwarted his expectations.

  Oyhtter remained thoughtful for a moment. “All right, all right,” he continued, shaking his head. “Let’s see, who else? Doctor Von Beavern, please.”

  “{Assiduity}?”

  It also failed.

  “Doctor Kang-Urha . . .”

  “{Aegis}, and all {Alacrity} group inferences.”

  Giriana tried these logai and all their modal combinations, but to no avail.

  “Doctor Eaglstein?”

  “I guess we haven’t tried {Freedom} yet.”

  They had not, but the QD’s answer was not different.

  They went on exploring many other logum sets, including combinations of logum sets that had been tried and failed. They attempted several algorithms and abstractor solvers, various logicalizers and transcendectors, and all types of logoi inference strategies. However, one after another, each proposed solution utterly failed to satisfy the elusive logical system.

  Since he had entered the auditorium, Duncan had been struggling to make some sense out of the strange notation on the screen. One particular symbol had made a subtle impression on him—a cryptic, yet graspable, impression. It was as if in that symbol, somehow, lay the essence of the solution to the problem.44

  “Mmm . . .” Duncan muttered, at a moment of silence, as he puzzled over the symbol, nodding.

  “Yes, young man.”

  Looking up, Duncan found himself looking at Doctor Oyhtter’s intense eyes.

  “Your candidate solution, young man. What’s your solution?”

  Duncan looked around swiftly, suddenly worried. Never in his life had he had the perception of so many waiting eagerly for him to express his thoughts. His first impulse was to explain in basic terms his intuition about the symbol, yet he realized he could not even explain it to himself.

  Having no clue what to do or say, Duncan stood up hesitantly and started reading aloud the first word of a long expression next to the symbol that had evoked the odd impression. “Stern . . . essence?”

  Giriana hurried to check the new candidate solution. Her QD seemed to have some trouble solving the logical system, so she tried an alternative q-solver algorithm. For a moment, it seemed as if the solution was about to diverge, but then, a series of statements flashed on her display.

  “Conservation of reality, preserved; historicity threading, circumscribed; structural logicality, super-orthogonal; physical compatibility, satisfied; transcendental scope, comprehensive.” Giriana turned to Oyhtter, handing over her QD. “It does exhibit inclusivity with the entire system.”

  A general mumbling filled the conference room. It was an indistinct loud whispering marked by a definite name—Dahncion. But Oyhtter was totally disconnected from the environment. He just kept looking at the solution while making snappy checks and double checks with the QD.

  Oyhtter finally nodded, without detaching his attention from the display. “Erandie, it seems we have something pretty hot right here. We must start tree-correlation check immediately. Let’s get back to our labs to initiate I.C.P.45 Doctor Petrel, if you and your team would remain here for a moment, please?”

  As everybody began leaving the conference room, Duncan approached Oyhtter and stood behind him. O’sihn motioned to Laida and Clara to wait for Duncan outside.

  Oyhtter was now briefing Petrel’s team concerning a prospective model based on the auspicious candidate solution. Noticing the young human waiting—utterly unseen by the intently absorbed Oyhtter—Giriana approached the scientist and tried to attract his attention.

  “Not now, not now,” Oyhtter grumbled, before she had a chance to say anything.

  “Doctor—”

  But Oyhtter kept giving instructions, heedless of anything else. Duncan decided it was not the right time to talk with the scientist, so he left the auditorium discreetly.

  “No, no, no,” Oyhtter continued. “Let’s stay away from Lionel’s substitution. It can generate coupled non-linearities, which would take too much effort to correlate. Remember, we have very limited time. The final model must be as straightforward and robust as possible. Let’s try to optimize the discerner supervisor for any co-substantial substructure we may get. Do you think you could take care of this, Doctor Bulldwing?”

  “Certainly.”

  “Good, good. So, I think we have a fine strategy to start working with; good. Any other questions?”

  There were none.

  “Fantastic. So we can meet back together, at, let’s say . . . 1900R?”

  Everybody agreed.

  As Petrel’s team left the room, Oyhtter remained standing in front of the screen, checking the system of logai still displayed there. “Hum, oh, Doctor Giriana?” Oyhtter said, as she was about to leave.

  She turned around. “Doctor?”

  “Well, you wanted to say something, didn’t you?”

  “Oh.” She walked briskly up to him, nodding. “You may have not noticed him, Doctor, but when you dismissed the meeting . . .” Giriana paused. “Dahncion stayed behind for a couple of minutes,” she added, in a discreet tone.

  “Dahncion, Dahncion . . . Duhn-zaeon was here?”

  “Well, yes.”

  “You mean Dahncion from Earth?”

  Giriana looked at Oyhtter with surprise. “He was the one who gave the answer.”

  “Answer . . . what answer?”

  “Sternessence, the stereo solution, Doctor . . .”

  Oyhtter blinked his bright eyes as if emerging from a torpid slumber. “Groka!”46

  22.

  Back from Cerendal, Duncan went out to the Sky Prairies, seeking solitude and solace. Solitude he did find, but the peace of mind he was looking for seemed very distant and elusive. The view of the castle beyond the foliage was becoming a familiar companion: the same views, the same flowers, and the same rays of Realia filtering through the treetops.

  But Duncan began to grow aware of something else, a subtle presence he could not grasp. He turned around and noticed a blue luminescence behind him. In the midst of it, a human form was clearly discernible. Everything around him had become very quiet, with a breeze barely ruffling the surrounding foliage.

  The visitor made a peaceful gesture with his hands. “Don’t be afraid, Duncan.” The luminescence around him had dwindled, but a gentle glow remained.

  “How do you know my name?” Duncan gasped.

  The visitor gazed at him in a manner that implied he knew Duncan very well. “Don’t waste energy fighting your discouragement,” he continued. “Focus on your mission. This is what is worth fighting for.”

  Duncan disliked the implications of the words.
“My mission? What do you know about my mission?”

  “What do you know?” the visitor replied.

  “I have serious doubts about having any mission at all.”

  “And yet your mission is as real as you are real.”

  The visitor talked with a gentle strength. Trusting him felt natural. His face was firm and stern—as if marked by war—though at the same time, brilliant and peaceful, with a gleam of wisdom emanating from his intense eyes. He looked like a man in his fifties, with abundant hair. Yet there was something beyond his human appearance, something that transcended the manly features.

  “And how am I supposed to carry out such a mission?”

  “That, you already know.”

  Duncan shook his head, but the visitor looked deep into his eyes.

  “Sternessence,” Duncan heard distinctly within himself.

  “Sternessence . . .” Duncan sighed. “I don’t even know the meaning of the word. Not even that Doctor Oyhtter could figure out what to do with it. He and the others are still working on some . . . way of action.” Duncan smiled with a touch of pessimism. “They’ve got nothing yet.”

  “Yes, and it will take them too long to find the right path. And by then, it might as well be too late. It depends on you,” the visitor added with a deep look, “and on the other people of good will who are fighting with you.”

  “Why does everybody insist that I should or could do anything? I’m an ordinary guy. I don’t see how I could be of any help at all.”

  “The day you grasp the meaning of sternessence even the size of a blade of grass, you may begin to understand. But first, you ought to accept your mission. The decision is yours alone.”

  Duncan remained quiet for a moment, his mind trying to go back to the meeting at Cerendal. But he could only vaguely remember it. “What’s the true meaning of the word?”

  “Sternessence is the essence of love, which is above feelings, beyond our very selves. That is where, up to this point, the Realdom has been failing. That is why the Establishment cannot yet be stopped.” As the visitor spoke, his face began to change. His voice became stronger, and from the blade of the sword he carried on his back, a glowing crystal blue glare sent forth an incomprehensible music. The visitor’s whole body was now emanating a bright white light.

  It was the pain caused by the intense radiance that woke Duncan up. Disoriented, he turned on the lights, his mind still half submerged in his dream. It had felt so real. He had actually spent a couple of afternoons in a field like that at the Sky Prairies more than a week in the past, when he had returned from Cerendal. But above all, it was the lucidity of the dialogue that impressed him, especially about the veiled question of sternessence. He felt as if he had been conscious while still sleeping.

  While pondering, Duncan was startled by the emergency panels in his quarters. The sudden red flashing and blaring battle signal yanked him back to the reality of being on board the Intrepid, a Realitian destroyer.

  “All personnel to battle stations. This is not a drill, this is not a drill. All personnel to battle stations.”

  _______________

  37 External missions were operations that unfolded in real battlefields, like the battle at the Swamp Valley in Veridiawa. Internal missions, on the other hand, took place within close quarters, such as battleships or headquarter-monitored operations.

  38 During the previous days, Duncan had been researching the history of the conflict and the current situation. He had done it mainly from his room, utilizing the standard media and information system. This had given him a good overview of the general situation in a very short time, but all according to what he was searching for. This, combined with his interpretation of events from Earth’s standards, gave him a skewed understanding of the status of the conflict. Still, it was true that the situation was looking more favorable for the Establishment than for the Realdom, which was starting to cause great concern.

  39 Cerendal was a research facility, specializing in many fields. This included procedure development in Logical Dynamics, some of which were generated for military operations. The incoming mission was going to demand specific training and special procedures, both of which O’sihn was planning to obtain during the trip to the asteroid. We will revisit the Logical Dynamics subject later in this chapter.

  40 C-cards, that is, control cards, were brain-activated terminals used to write on the screen.

  41 Continuous Transcendental Group.

  42 Logum: logical abstract operator, with definite properties and qualities, used in and defined within the discipline known as Logical Dynamics. This science was widely used in strategic planning to help predict certain actions, to produce plans designed to generate specific events with controlled effects, or to try to change or prevent certain outcomes. Warfare was one of many fields where Logical Dynamics was utilized.

  43 All subsequent logai will be spelled with related English terms to try to minimize awkwardness in the text.

  44 The symbols used were ideograms, analogous to Chinese symbols, although different in style and shape. They were associated with perceptions, and sometimes images, that would evoke the concept they symbolized.

  45 Interactive Correlation Procedure.

  46 No English translation.

  CHAPTER 5

  Practical Assignment No. 5

  23.

  “Intercepting time?”

  “Twenty minutes, thirty-three seconds at present acceleration, Captain,” Leepardian reported.

  “Anything new, Mac?”

  McAwian, the communications officer, checked all distress channels once more. “Negative, captain.”

  “Keep trying.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “This quadrant is far away from enemy outposts,” Laida added. “We might be dealing with a scout ship.”

  Today, only O’sihn and Laida were on the bridge. Through multipurpose stations, duty officers could operate from there as well, but they would usually work from their own department posts through virtual consoles, or VCs. Only the captain and the X.O. had permanent posts on the bridge, although the tactical officer, or T.O., would often be present there as well.

  “Captain,” McAwian said. “I’ve reached a channel. It’s coming through with distortion.”

  “On TD,” O’sihn said, as he verified the Intrepid’s position on his console. The slightly curved image of a blank tactical display, or TD, immediately materialized in front of him. Multiple TDs47 could be engaged simultaneously to monitor different activities. Like any other virtual display, including any VC (which linked with the different departments), TDs could materialize anywhere, with no hardware image-supporting background.48

  “Research Vessel Plinidas, we have you on visual,” O’sihn said.

  The shape of a vessel’s bridge began to form on the TD opened by McAwian. The image looked distorted, but it was sufficiently clear to convey the general situation. A crewmember from Plinidas came into view. “Commander Maxis, captain of the expedition.”

  “This is Commodore O’sihn, Commanding Officer of the YSF Intrepid. What’s your current status, Captain?”

  “We were collecting data from the Menikalian star, when we were unexpectedly hit by some form of energy vector.”

  “Any positive identification of the aggressor?”

  “No. We tried to communicate with them, but they would not respond.”

  “Perhaps they thought—”

  Maxis shook his head. “We told them we were just a scientific vessel—through all channels we tried. We insisted we were unarmed. Then we were hit again.” Maxis paused. He looked distressed, and his words were faltering. “The engine room is smashed. All life support systems are failing, and five people are dead. The Research Commander . . . she is also dead.” Captain Maxis paused, trying to regain control of himself. His wife’s body could clearly be seen by his side. A third eye was painted on her forehead, as was customary for all Veritian female research officers with a commanding rank
.

  “We are expeditiously closing distances to assist you, Captain,” O’sihn said. A 3D image of the surrounding space materialized in and beyond the bridge, as if it had no bulkheads. That was the 3D-SIS,49 or the “3D” for short. When activated, a three-dimensional view of the surrounding space was projected inside the bridge. Objects, instruments, and even persons on the bridge would become partially or completely invisible with the 3D on. The projection gave the impression of literally flying in space.

  Maxis stood up, strengthening his expression.

  “Please, try to lock us onto your navigational computer, Captain,” O’sihn said.

  “Impossible. It’s out of line and short-circuited.”

  “We have the attacking ship on our scanners,” Leepardian interjected.

  “Command her to identify herself,” O’sihn ordered, looking up at the image of McAwian on the TD.

  “I’m trying, sir, but she won’t acknowledge.”

  “We have a missile locked onto us!” Captain Maxis stated.

  “Sensors picking up one missile closing distances on Plinidas, Captain,” Leepardian confirmed. “E.I.T. (Estimated Intercepting Time): thirteen seconds, sir.”

  “Tango (Tactical Computer) indicates out of range,” Laida added, referring to the Intrepid’s weapons systems.

  “The unidentified vessel is closing on us fast,” Maxis stressed, his eyes fixed on his own TD.

  “Illuminate the aggressor with tactical scanners,” O’sihn commanded Leepardian. That was a standard intimidation procedure intended to divert the enemy’s attention, in this case, forcing it to protect itself from a possible imminent attack and thus abandon its guided missile.50

  But at that point, the image of Plinidas’ bridge vanished.

  For a moment, the background noise coming through the virtual consoles was the only noticeable presence on the bridge. Recovering quickly from the shock, O’sihn proceeded to verify status. “C.I.C.51/ conn.”

  The image of Lieutenant Deehra appeared on the C.I.C.’s virtual console. “Yes, Captain?”

  “Status of Plinidas.”