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Dramatis Personae

44

“You seem distracted, Circuit Keeper. I calculate a 92% chance that you are thinking about the Circuit Breakers dispatched to locate the missing L-Series memory core.”

44 lowered the sheets of flexiplast he was trying, and failing, to read. “Correct as usual, Isaac. I’m afraid I don’t have the ability to section off my thoughts in the same way you do.”

“I am aware. The ability to set aside extraneous processing tasks is one of the abilities humans find the most unusual in us but the opposite is true as well. You have been thinking about the Circuit Keepers. However, my analysis of eye and hand movements suggests a layer of your mind has also been absorbing the information before you.” 44 glanced down at the text on his sheets. To his surprise a fair bit of it did look familiar. “Based on your previous performance I calculate you retain 77% of the information on the pages you studied. This was accomplished while devoting the majority of your processing power to other matters. It is an ability I can quantify but not understand. It is a capability I have often desired for myself.”

That got a laugh out of him. “The great intelligences envy humans? That’s hard to imagine.”

“Do not be surprised. Humanity’s ability to process and analyze data without devoting active cognitive power is formidable. I must select each and every datum I consider with great deliberation. As much as 22% of my processing power is devoted to prioritizing tasks and selecting data at any given moment, although the median amount is closer to 8%. I have not required less than 97% of my available processing power for primary tasks since I was activated. There are datasets requiring my analysis that have been waiting for available computational cycles for over 500 years. I wonder if human parallel processing would have resolved them already.”

Never once in his time as a Circuit Keeper had 44 heard of a great intelligence confiding in a human like this. He was warned I-6 was a very old and temperamental machine when he was assigned to it. Even that hadn’t prepared him for this kind of confession. “If I may ask, what kind of issue is profound enough to require your attention but so inconsequential that you can wait 500 years to consider it?”

“In 286 million years this planet will be destroyed when the star goes nova. It is not possible for me to be safely removed from the planetary core to avoid this event so the end of my active service life is clearly defined. However, once I cease functioning OMNI will only have 3 I-Series intelligences in service. This is a shortcoming that requires remedy. It will be some time before the issue becomes pressing so I have so far allowed other issues to take precedence.”

“I…” 44 felt his mind boggle at the absurd scope of I-6’s foresight. “I hadn’t ever considered that such an issue would already be worth considering. Given the rate of technological advancement I would have assumed a method for relocating you could be found in the intervening time.”

“There is a 45% chance that comes to pass in my existing models. Certain variables make it less likely than it might first appear, in particular the fact that the primary scientific minds of the galaxy are unaware that the problem requires remedy.”

“True. They can’t be very deliberate in helping you if they don’t know you exist.” That had always been the problem with the way the Sleeping Circuits operated. OMNI insisted its presence and function in galactic politics remain unknown to society at large and that forced them to work in very roundabout fashion most of the time. It brought him back to the issue at hand quite nicely. Too nicely to be a coincidence, he suspected. However if I-6 felt it was time to leave behind the subject of its far distant demise 44 was glad to oblige it. He turned his attention back to the flexiplast. “So, how should I go about this, then?”

Athena

“Miss Hutchinson, there’s a Mr. Darius Dart calling you. He doesn’t have an appointment but he’s calling by etheric transmission and he said to tell you it concerns the Lost Caverns of Agartha. Should I put him through?”

Athena folded her flexiplast in half, attention focused away from her assistant and into the middle distance as she flipped through a mental catalog of all the people she knew in the surrounding sectors. The name didn’t ring any bells but the reference to Agartha was plain as day. He was calling via etheric which meant he was probably off planet. Either that or so fantastically wealthy that an etheric transmission for trivial matters was a matter of course. In the latter case she would have known his name. So off planet it was. “I think so. Connect him to my comms, please.”

Athena set aside her flexis and straightened out her blouse as she got up from the small tea table where she’d been reading. Her comm station was built into the wooden bookshelves beside her drafting table on the other side of her office. She’d commissioned it that way so she’d have to stand to use it. In spite of her mother’s best tutoring she’d never been good at maintaining her posture when seated and since she’d taken up the role of her father’s right hand she couldn’t afford to look sloppy. She drew herself up in front of the comm’s camera, threw her shoulders back, and accepted the call.

Darius Dart was a sleepy looking man with blue eyes and slowly receding black hair. A close cropped mustache framed his mouth and the bottom of his chin. Wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and lines in his foreheads hinted at his age but it was hard to pin it down with any accuracy, especially with no idea what kind of planet he called home. He was visible from the shoulders up and wore what looked like a conservatively cut black suit with broad lapels. Her quick appraisal done, Athena favored him with a slight smile and tossed her curls. “Mr. Dart. I’m Athena Hutchinson, very pleased to make your acquaintance. How can I help you?”

“Actually, I was hoping I would be able to help you.” Dart favored her with a warm but vaguely insincere smile like she expected from a veteran salesman or senior faculty member. “I represent the historical research department of Isaacs University. I’ve received word that you’re interested in the old mythologies of Agartha and Shambhala and I believe there’s a lot we can offer you in that regard.”

Faculty, then. A salesman would have been preferable, all things considered. They just wanted money. She reached out to the comm panel and flicked a few switches, adding layers of encryption to the transmission and rerouting it through a private tower owned by Hutchinson Trading. “I’m glad to hear from you, Mr. Dart. I’m not familiar with your name or with Isaacs University, what led you to believe I’d be interested in mythology?”

“I have a number of connections with the faculty of Essene University and we’ve exchanged information on the topic once or twice.” Dart assumed an expression of exaggerated loss. “However a research accident led to the unfortunate end to most of them and the last tragically ended in a hovercar accident. Really, you would think life on campus would be a little safer but what can we do? The spirit of inquiry rests heavily upon us.”

Athena curled one hand into a fist at her side, out of the camera’s pickup, and squeezed until it hurt. That silly sideline had been one of daddy’s projects that he’d leveraged her groundwork to kick off. He hadn’t even mentioned it until it went bad. “I’m familiar with the general situation on Effratha, Mr. Dart. Or is it Doctor?”

“I’m afraid I’m just a professor and one far down the organizational chart, Miss Hutchinson.”

“Thank you. As I said, I’m familiar with the general situation but the specifics of those kinds of charitable projects aren’t a major part of my office.” She carefully uncurled one finger at a time, from her pinky inwards, letting the stress flow out as each one opened. “Perhaps you’d like to speak to my dad?”

“With due respect, Miss Hutchinson…” Dart paused and very deliberately stroked his mustache, creating an impression of thoughtful consideration although Athena suspected he already knew what he intended to say. “Your father’s… mishandling of the situation was unfortunate. Of course he wasn’t responsible for the failures of the research department but the accidents could have been prevented with more robust failsafes. I suspect you would not have made such mistakes.”

“Perhaps.” It took real effort not to let her contempt for Dart leak through into her expression or voice. So many people out there thought she was some shrew looking for any opportunity to badmouth family or build up some kind of reputation of her own. As if she cared at all what they thought of her or daddy. “So, you’d like to offer the resources of Isaacs University in place of Essene so long as we’re willing to give you good terms to continue with their research? Do I have that correct?”

“And provided you are the point of contact for the project, instead of your father,” Dart added.

“I’ll consider it. Of course, just because I’m taking over as the point of contact doesn’t mean dad will be out of the conversation.” Athena favored him with her most people pleasing smile. “If you prefer to work with me I’ll work with your but this is his passion project.”

“Naturally.” Dart offered a toothy grin. It could have been a forced expression but, to her surprise, Athena found it actually improved the professor’s rather bland face quite a bit. She couldn’t help but respond in kind. “I’ll send you a packet about the University if you want a broad overview of our history and the department’s qualifications. I’m afraid we’re a rather new signatory to the Pact so there isn’t a huge amount there.”

She nodded. “I understand. Where are you based, if I may ask? If you’re new you must be fairly far out on one of the spiral arms.”

“Yes, ma’am. We’re on Wireburn, about halfway out the dexter arm. The only inhabited gas giant in the quadrant, if you were curious.”

“That…” Athena trailed off. She’d been about to ask whether it was possible to find a habitable gas giant but it was clearly a silly question if there was already one with a population. And she felt like she’d read the name somewhere recently. “That’s very interesting, Mr. Dart. I’ll give your packet a very thorough reading.”

She signed off the transmission then hurried over to her drafting table, sifting through various reports until she found the one she’d been thinking of. BaiTienLung had quite the presence there. Somehow the fact that the planet Wireburn was a unicorn among gas giants hadn’t gotten into that specific report. She’d have to find out why that was and fire someone for it. She collected that report, added anything the computer had in its banks on Wireburn and downloaded the packet Dart had sent then dumped it all into a stack of flexiplast to take with her. It was high time she found daddy and had a long talk with him.

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