Dramatis Personae

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44

“Tell them about Agamemnon.”

44 frowned, wondering what Skorkowski was getting at. L-93 had clearly explained the nature of OMNI to the scholar so he had to know they understood Agamemnon Hutchinson quite well. They had a full file tracking his life from birth to the present moment. Two different O-Series minds had built independent psychological profiles and one of them was now watching events from on Coldstone. There wasn’t anything the man himself could add that was likely to make a difference.

The nest of monitors around his command chair told a far different story. In addition to constantly updated reports on the status of the ship and the situation planetwide they also displayed a log summarizing predictions of the local OMNI nodes which, beyond Isaac itself, included O-5523 and M-334. Confining their work to text kept others from overhearing it but made it very difficult to keep up with. Skorkowski’s mention of Agamemnon prompted a flurry of notes from the machines but 44 wasn’t able to keep up with them. As it turned out he didn’t have to.

Hutchinson bowed his head for a moment, perhaps a bit unsure of what Malaki was getting at himself, but when he raised it up again 44 saw a pained understanding there. He gave Tarn a meaningful look, clearly asking for his transmitter back. An unspoken thought passed between the hunter and 881, a sign that no matter what Yshron thought of AI at least one of his followers had made a separate peace with the technology. Or so 44 hoped. Whatever the case, Tarn clearly decided it was fine to pass the communication device back and let go of Hutchinson’s arms.

With it in hand the shipping magnate gave the ceiling a skeptical look and said, “Is that true? Would telling you what this fool wants convince you to give me the Methuselah-tech?”

“The probability is less than ten percent,” Isaac replied. “However we are programmed to hear and consider the wants and desires of humanity as part of our base level matrices. Be aware that a Methuselah augmentation slows the process of aging, it does not reverse it. In short, your current age would remain. Even if you were to receive a Methuselah treatment, given the degradation already present in your physiognomy it is unlikely you would live more than 120 years.”

Hutchinson glanced at his son. “How long would he live?”

“The treatment has little effect on human beings before puberty ends. It is likely that Hector would receive close to the maximum possible benefit from the treatment and enjoy a lifespan approaching the three hundred year average. Your daughter is a few years older and thus is likely to live between fifteen and eighteen years less. Steps would also need to be taken to conceal your unusually long life spans from becoming widely known across the galaxy, as is done with the Sleeping Circuits.”

“That’s acceptable.” Hutchinson gathered his thoughts for a moment. “Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, is a legendary figure from the dawn of humanity. Study of the surviving documents suggests he was the ruler of a single nation, rather than an entire planet, although there’s no consensus on that. There’s some thought that he even predates the first colonies, far fetched as it sounds.”

This was not what 44 was expecting from the man and the response from OMNI’s nodes was even more surprising. There was a flurry of communication between them then an order from Isaac to cease pursuing L-93’s ship and maintain their current distance. O-5523 didn’t like that order but M-334 could not compute a solution and I-6 was the primary node. It’s decision was favored. 44 frowned but tapped commands on his screens, forwarding the orders to the appropriate stations and instructing all those on the bridge to refrain from interrupting Hutchinson. For the moment.

“The name Agamemnon means steadfast or resolute,” Hutchinson continued, “which was both the king’s greatest trait and his ultimate downfall. See Agamemnon went to war. The details of the whys and wheres vary depending on who you ask but the important detail is that he’d promised he would fight this war if a vow was broken and he was steadfast in that promise. But in order to fulfill that promise he had to travel to a place called Troy and he wasn’t able to do so because he offended the goddess Artemis.”

“The what?” 881, who was helping Tarn keep an eye on their prisoner and thus hadn’t had a chance to read 44’s message yet, practically yelled the question. “What are we supposed to get from a story about gods? This is a serious matter, Mr. Hutchinson.”

His eyes darted from her over to 44. “She’s not quite as well read as you, is she, Professor Dart?”

44 scowled, unhappy with his pseudonym being used while he was serving as Circuit Keeper but well aware that he couldn’t expect anything better from Hutchinson. “She hasn’t been around as long, that’s all. Not that Circuits attached to the O-Series spend much time studying history, to say anything of history from before humanity colonized the stars. Gods and goddesses were plentiful then.”

“They were demanding as well,” Hutchinson replied. “Artemis demanded Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter to her before his armies would be allowed to travel and he agreed. Ultimately, although he and his allies won the war, that steadfastness would be his downfall. His grief stricken wife assassinated him after his return.”

“Is that why you chose to name your daughter after a goddess of civilization and wisdom rather than one of wildness and hunting?” 44 asked.

Hutchinson offered the ghost of a smile. “If I’m being honest I just liked the name. Helena and I did consider a number of other possibilities but if Artemis ever came up on the list I probably would have vetoed it just to be safe.”

“That is the first new point of data you have introduced to our calculations,” Isaac said. “Mr. Hutchinson, I recognize the importance of your family to you. You are not unique in this regard. What you may not recognize is the importance of Earth to the OMNI network or what Mr. Skorkowski is asking you to achieve by asking us to allow him to go there. The story of the Illiad, which you have mentioned in passing detail, will not change our stance on that.”

“I didn’t expect it to,” Hutchinson replied. “No more than I expected the name I gave my daughter to make her wise and civilized. When I was young and founding my company I didn’t think much about the meaning of my own name or what being steadfast might mean. I never stopped to ask myself if it was for good or ill that I pushed so hard to fulfill my dreams. Nor did I yet know Agamemnon’s story.”

“You could not be expected to know so much of humanity’s history at such a young age. Few ever learn so much of it.”

“Is that why OMNI chose to hide Earth from us?” Hutchinson’s voice wasn’t accusatory. On the contrary, it sounded as if he’d just stumbled on a revelation that was so obvious the fact he’d missed it for so long was shocking. “So few people learn about the past, who will miss a tiny bit of it if it’s hidden away? Is that it?”

Behind the scenes the three OMNI nodes were communicating so fast the text on 44’s screen had devolved to a featureless blur. He wondered what the magnate had said that excited them so much. The machines were so farsighted that it was rare for them to need this much attention devoted to something happening in the present.

44 knew the broad strokes of why a return to Earth was forbidden by the Network. Some kind of disaster had befallen the planet and it had been evacuated to keep the danger from spreading. Even now OMNI thought the possibility of growing that cataclysm made a return to the planet too dangerous to risk traveling back. Yet for centuries people had still tried, hence the planet’s hidden location. Overcoming that threat, especially in the minds of a great intelligence designed to impartially put the needs of humanity first, was going to be extraordinarily difficult.

“Your assessment is too extreme, Mr. Hutchinson,” Isaac replied. “OMNI is well aware that hiding the existence of Earth is dangerous and damaging to humanity and the decision to do so was made only after decades of data gathering, analysis and debate. It was simply determined the probability of extinction stemming from Earth’s removal from human knowledge was less than the probability of extinction stemming from humanity’s return to its home planet.”

Hutchinson waved that off in annoyance. “Preposterous.”

“You cannot know the cause of the Evacuation so your assessment is meaningless.”

“Let me tell you about meaningless.” His tone was shifting away from that of a businessman negotiating with a peer to the lecture of a parent to a young child. Isaac didn’t respond to it but 44 felt himself growing annoyed on the machine’s behalf. “You are an AI that runs an entire University, networked with other machines that run the University Pact. You cannot be ignorant of my personal history, correct?”

“That is an accurate assessment.”

“But you haven’t yet made the connections between Agamemnon Hutchinson and Agamemnon of Mycenae, have you?”

“There can be no connection. You were ignorant of the King of Mycenae in your youth so your actions cannot have been informed by his story.”

Hutchinson jabbed one finger accusingly at the ceiling as if to accuse Isaac, or perhaps all of OMNI together. “That is not the way history works. I was steadfast to my pledge to build the biggest business in the galaxy and I held that course for far longer than the decade it took the Mycenaean to win his war.” With shocking swiftness Agamemnon went from fury to stricken grief. “But don’t think for a moment I didn’t betray my daughter. Building an empire is not building a home. There was a time I thought that wasn’t my responsibility. After all, I had married one of the most extraordinary women in the sector, if not the galaxy, to see to it that my household was in order. I loved Helena like nothing else I have ever found across the spiral arms. But building an empire is… distracting.”

Hutchinson turned his attention away from the ceiling, addressing his next words to the floor instead. “You see, like King Agamemnon I was steadfast in the wide and sweeping things, the grand schemes that capture the imagination, but I lacked the resolve for the immediate and concrete things. While dreaming of humanity it was easy to take advantage of the people around me. I betrayed my wife and my daughter and when Helena died the breach became impossible to repair. That is the nature of history, Isaac. The details are different but humanity is the same. I did not set out to live the life of my namesake but now that I am old I look back and see that I have done so none the less. By looking back and tracing those contours I can see the mistakes I have made and I can see what is to be done about them.”

“What do you mean?” Hector’s question snapped 44 out of a trance and he realized he’d completely lost track of the rest of the bridge. From the looks of the rest of the staff there, so had they.

Hutchinson gave his son a weary smile. “It took time, but eventually Agamemnon of Mycenae’s failures and triumphs were reconciled and he took his place in history, alongside his wife and daughter and many others. His people forgave him his sins and moved on, enduring the tragedy to find immortality on the other side. It’s been millennia but their stories are still remembered. I’m not the hero he was but perhaps, with enough time, you and your sister can see past my failures and make a whole family. If nothing else, I will give you as much time as I can to do it in.”

“That I can assist with,” Isaac said. “However, Earth is another matter.”

“The Genome Wars!” Hutchinson snapped, his attention turning to Isaac once more. “The Lost Colony Genocide. The Sinister Arm Uprising. All these are disasters that have wracked the galaxy and threatened destroy humanity, are they not?”

“All very dangerous,” Isaac admitted.

“Yet once the danger passed has any move been made to heal the danger? All the Universities did after the Genome Wars was ban genetic research and the response to the Lost Colonies and the Uprising was to forbid further debate over the origins of humanity! All actions forced through the University Pact, undoubtedly originating with you.”

“With OMNI, certainly.”

“And now it’s clear why. You couldn’t even trace the arc of my history, how could you do so for humanity?” Hutchinson spat the words with venom.

881 grabbed his arm and spun him around. “You will not speak to the intelligence that way.”

“I will speak however I like,” he replied. “They may know events that took place eons ago but they do not understand history so they cannot use it to prevent disaster or heal its scars. Clearly we must do that ourselves and in order to do it we must know the past. We must go back to Earth!”

For a moment Agamemnon and 881 glared at one another, locked in a contest of wills, then a voice from magnate’s side broke the tension.

“Thank you, Mr. Hutchinson, I think that upholds your side of the bargain nicely,” Skorkowski said. “I promise we’ll bring your daughter back to you safe and sound.”

Hutchinson’s transmitter beeped once and was silent. 881 glared at it for a moment then snapped, “We’ll see about that. Helm, when do we intercept with the Skybreak?”

The helmsman shifted uncomfortably. “We’re not currently on an intercept course, Circuit Breaker. I-6 ordered us to hold off on pursuit while Mr. Hutchinson was presenting his argument and OMNI deliberated on it.”

“It did,” 44 confirmed. “So, Isaac, are you now convinced of Mr. Hutchinson’s position?”

There were many different possible answers he’d expected Isaac to give to that question. What he hadn’t expected was for the great intelligence to reply with a single word. “Calculating.”