Beyond the Farthest Star: Chapter 16

After checking one last time to make sure that the security bots were maintaining the peace, the Sentinel left Adrian and departed from Xanthe. Adrian was not done shouting at him but the Sentinel was done listening. I simply do not know what to do. I have tried to save them, but all they desire is death. The people of Xanthe have no interest in life and I see no way to change that. All I can do is hope that my bots will keep them alive until Amy can return and decide their fate. Despite what Adrian might claim, Amy does possess the legal right to judge them. Amy was the head of her civilization, just as Carroll Lane was the head of his. Lane led his planet in an attack against the network and was defeated, which lead to the conquest of his world. Amy is now, by right of that conquest, the leader over Xanthe. Earlier I stopped her when she wished to destroy the planet, but now – now I am not so sure. If the people cannot be saved then what else can be done? If they only seek to kill and destroy then should they be left alone so they can slaughter each other? I do not know.

But where is Amy? She is clearly not on Xanthe, or Tonina, or on her own depressing planet. So where else might she have gone? The Sentinel paused to think it over, and then something occurred to him. There is one more place that I can look. Perhaps this is where I should have started in the first place.

It took the Sentinel only a moment to transport himself to one of the space stations that were hidden around the outskirts of Sol. He knew that Amy had built these stations herself long ago, when she was still in the 19th century. She was the one that had strengthened the Wall around Sol so it would stand for all the rest of time. He had also heard Jones say that, one day, she would return to decide its fate. Perhaps that day has come at last, he thought. It may be that, with Xanthe turned against her, she has decided to look elsewhere for friends. But will the people of Sol be any kinder than those she has met among the stars?

As soon as the Sentinel appeared on the bridge of the space station he saw that he was right. According to the text that was displayed on the monitors, all four space stations had been deactivated and the Wall was gone. A thorough examination of the logs revealed that the Wall had been shut down on November 27th – the very day that Amy had disappeared from Xanthe.

So this is where she went, the Sentinel thought. But where is she now? She clearly has not spent the past few weeks living on this space station. Could she now be residing on one of the planets within Sol?

Rather than use the space station’s on-board scanning equipment, the Sentinel chose to examine the star system personally. He reached out and began a thorough search of each of the worlds that orbited Sol, starting with the outermost dwarf planets and working his way toward the Sun. He was not surprised to find that each planet, moon, comet, and planetoid was dead, save for Earth and Mars. At one time there had been settlements and space stations all throughout the system, but he could see that they had all been abandoned many thousands of years ago. Even Mars is on the verge of death, he thought sadly. Its atmosphere is weak and fading, and there are few life signs left. But what is this?

He halted his probe in excitement. There he found what he was looking for – a network of nanites, created by Amy Stryker.

The Sentinel quickly transported himself to Mars. He materialized in an empty part of the Martian desert. There were no visible signs of civilization around – just sand, rocks, and a bleak sky. He was surprised at the thinness of the air and the complete lack of vegetation. Mars will not remain habitable for much longer, he realized. What little life remains is hidden deep underground. This world is rapidly becoming a graveyard.

He used the planetary nanite network to scan the planet in search of Amy. His first discovery was the apartment that Amy had set up for herself, deep within the city of New Tikal. The Sentinel analyzed it with great interest. She decorated it to look exactly like her room back on Tonina, he realized. She misses her home and her family. She may not have returned, but she clearly wants to go back home. I wish I could put things back the way they used to be, but that is beyond my power.

It was not hard for the Sentinel to discover how Amy had been spending her time during the past few weeks. Her home in the underground city was proof that she had taken up residence on Mars, and the rebuilt ZPE that was near her apartment was another sign of her handiwork. Not only was its technology far ahead of anything else that was in the city, but many of its parts had been manufactured just a few days ago. He was certain that she had spent the past few weeks refurbishing it. What he did not understand was why she did it.

What brought you here, little one? Why did you create a home for yourself in this place and why did you rebuild a power plant by hand? What were you trying to accomplish? But the empty desert that surrounded him was unable to give him any answers.

After a fruitless hour of searching he was forced to conclude that she was no longer on the planet. There was plenty of evidence that she had been living on Mars for weeks, but she was now gone. But where did she go?

There must be someone here who knew her, he thought. Amy took a long time to rebuild that power plant, and I do not believe she did it secretly. There must have been people she talked with, shared dinner with, and worked with. Perhaps her friends would know why she came here and where she went. But where do I find these people?

The Sentinel began scanning the planet for anomalies, looking for anything that was out of the ordinary. After a few minutes he found something exceedingly odd. To his surprise, the anomaly was not located in New Tikal. Instead his scanners had discovered an underground bunker that was not far from him. Inside that bunker lived a single individual – a male of extreme age. What was even more surprising than his age, however, were the nanites that coursed through his blood.

This makes no sense! Those nanites are clearly a copy of Amy’s nanites, and yet they are very crude and deeply flawed. Amy would never have produced such poor nanomachines, but their design is so similar to hers that there must be a connection. Yet, the signatures within the nanites indicate that they were created two thousand years ago! How is that possible? There must be some connection between this man and Amy Stryker, but I do not have enough information to determine what that connection is. Perhaps I should speak to him and see what he has to say.

The Sentinel disappeared from the desert and materialized inside the hidden underground bunker. He found himself standing in a giant warehouse, which was filled with plastic crates that were stacked from floor to ceiling. There were dozens of other crates that were randomly scattered around the room, their contents strewn about the floor. An elderly man was sitting next to one of them, reading a book that he had retrieved from one of the containers.

“Excuse me,” the Sentinel said. “May I have a word with you?”

The old man looked up with a start. When he saw the Sentinel he leaped to his feet in alarm, and then he took a closer look. When he saw how tall the Sentinel was and realized that he was wearing a gray suit and hat, he relaxed and smiled. “You gave me a real start there for a minute there, son! I wasn’t expecting any more company today. But I bet I know who you are. You’re that Steve character, aren’t you?”

The Sentinel looked at him in amazement. “Yes, I have been given the name Steve. But how did you know? There are very few people who know me by that name.”

“Amy told me all about you,” the old man explained. “She said that the two of you were good friends, but you hadn’t been getting along lately. I don’t quite know all the details, but it was something about an argument you two had over the people that killed her family.”

“So you do know Amy Stryker,” the Sentinel commented. “Do you know where she is right now?”

“I’m afraid not. I had a feeling you’d come looking for her – I just didn’t expect you to drop by today! You’ve missed her, I’m afraid. She left here a few hours ago. I tried to get her to tell me where she was going, but I think she didn’t know herself. She just said that she didn’t want to be on Mars anymore. ‘Someplace that’s not here’ – that’s what she said. Personally, I think she was very disappointed with Mars. She had such high hopes, and we let her down.”

“High hopes? What do you mean?”

The old man sat down on a nearby crate and spent the next hour telling the Sentinel who he was and what Amy had been doing. He told him about her discovery of the planet and how she had repaired the ZPE. “So you see, the girl just doesn’t know what to do. I think in her heart she wants to restore Mars to its former glory, but she’s afraid that people would respond the same way they did on Xanthe. I don’t know much about it, but from what I heard your attempts to help those people didn’t go over very well.”

“No, they did not,” the Sentinel agreed. “And there are still problems. In fact, the situation on Xanthe continues to deteriorate over time. That is one reason why I am looking for her – I desperately need her to return to Xanthe and determine its fate. Its citizens are out of control and I cannot help them.”

“Now hold on there!” Miles exclaimed. “If you can’t help them then why do you think she can help them? Don’t the two of you have pretty much the same superpowers?”

“It’s not a question of power,” the Sentinel explained. “Both of us have the ability to terraform worlds and destroy them. The problem I face is that Xanthe is filled with murderous savages, and I lack the ability to change them. They long for death, and I cannot alter them from that course.”

“Of course you can’t,” Miles said. “Amy can’t change them either. Only God can change a person’s heart. It takes divine power to save a soul and turn a wicked person into a righteous person, and neither of you have that kind of power. All you can do is share the gospel with them and urge them to repent. Your job is to witness to them, not reprogram them! They’re not machines.”

The Sentinel sighed. “Tell me, Miles. What do you do when an entire world rejects this offer of salvation and spends all its time trying to murder one another? Do you simply step back, do nothing, and let them slaughter each other? Do you intervene and force them apart, holding them as prisoners for the rest of their lives? Or do you just destroy the planet and thereby condemn all of its residents to hell?”

“I don’t know,” Miles said.

“There is another problem as well. The people on Xanthe are dying. They are all five thousand years old, and their bodies cannot cope with their advanced age. They have, at the very most, another year to live.”

“In that case it sounds like your problem is solved! Their actions have caused their own consequences. All you have to do is sit back and let time take its toll.”

“But we can spare them, Miles. That is the problem – we can cure them! Both Amy and myself have the ability to restore each and every one of them to perfect health. We can even go beyond that and extend their lives indefinitely! It would not be difficult for us to keep them alive until the Lord returned.”

“But you just told me that they’re a bunch of savage murderers! Why would you want to extend their lives? They’re just going to keep killing each other!”

“So you would have me do nothing, and just watch as four hundred thousand people die and are condemned to an eternity of torment in Hell? Is that your advice?”

“I don’t know,” Miles said. “I mean – well, I honestly don’t know what to do. I see your problem, but I don’t know how to help them. To be honest, I’m not even sure they can be helped. It may be that you’ve already done everything you can do.”

“I think it is possible and that something can be done,” the Sentinel replied. “I believe that Amy is the key to this problem. She has what it takes to resolve this situation.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because that is why she is here. That is why God allowed the Artilect to go back in time, save her and her family from a certain death, and bring them into the future. That is why Amy’s life was spared when the rest of her family was killed. She is still alive because the people on Xanthe need her help – just as the people here on Mars need her help as well.”

“But she doesn’t know how to help them,” Miles said. “I’ve already talked to her about this and she is just as confused as you are. She has no idea how to fix Mars, and she doesn’t know how to fix Xanthe either. In fact, I’m not even sure she wants to fix Xanthe. She’s still very angry with them for murdering her family – and I don’t really blame her, to be honest. From what I’ve heard they are not nice people.”

“That is one way to put it,” the Sentinel commented. “They are not the least bit sorry for killing the Stryker family. In fact, they would do it again.”

“Exactly,” Miles replied. “You expect a lot from her, Steve, and she’s just not up to it. In fact, have you considered the possibility that Xanthe cannot be fixed? For that matter, it’s possible that Mars can’t be fixed either! I keep telling myself that she’s going to save all of us, but honestly, that’s really just blind hope on my part. We’ve all made poor decisions, and there may be no way to save ourselves from the consequences. After all, Amy didn’t turn this planet into a corpse – we did. We may have to live with what we’ve done.”

“Then what was the point? If Earth and Mars and Xanthe are all doomed then why did God intervene to bring Amy into the future? There must be something that can be done. I simply do not believe that all of this was for nothing.”

“You may be right,” Miles agreed. “Personally, I hope you are right. I want to see this planet come back to life – not whither and die.”

“Then you see why I must find her. I need her help, just as much as you do.”

Miles paused for a moment. “Does Amy know how to get in touch with you?”

“Of course!” the Sentinel said. “She can reconnect to the network at any time and I would know exactly where she was.”

“Has she done that?”

“No, she has not,” the Sentinel replied.

“But she could, right? So, if she could do it but she hasn’t, then doesn’t that mean that she doesn’t want to be found? Maybe she just needs some space – a chance to think things through and figure out what to do next.”

The Sentinel looked at Miles, puzzled. “Are you suggesting that I stop looking for her?”

“That’s certainly an idea,” Miles replied. “I’d give it some thought if I were you. I’m sure she will come back when she’s sorted things out.”

“But how can I watch over her if I don’t know where she is?”

Miles smiled. “Based on what I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure that she is fully capable of watching out for herself. I doubt there are very many things in this galaxy that could harm her. She’s a smart girl, Steve. She’ll be fine.”

“All right,” the Sentinel said. “I will leave, then, and return to Tonina. If you see her again will you let her know that I am there and would like to speak with her regarding Xanthe?”

“Of course,” Miles said.

“Thank you,” the Sentinel replied. With that he disappeared, leaving Miles alone.