Beyond the Farthest Star: Chapter 23

Amy Stryker looked up at the sky and frowned. “Miles, I think I’ve spent quite enough time standing outside in the rain, like some kind of idiot. Are you ready to get started on the next part of the plan?”

“I suppose,” Miles said reluctantly. “I just kind of like it out here. This water from the sky is such a rare gift.”

Amy sighed. “It’s just rain, you know. I know that Mars needs rain, but I still don’t like it. Rain gets you wet and makes life inconvenient. Besides, standing outside in the rain is a great way to catch pneumonia and die. This isn’t a good thing for you to be doing, you know – especially not at your age!”

“Oh, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me! This is just – well, I think the problem is that you’re used to rain. Rain has been a part of your life for as long as you can remember, and you see it as little more than a useful nuisance. But to us rain is something entirely new. It might as well be raining gold! In fact, raining water is much better than raining gold. Water is so scarce here.”

“You know, that’s great and everything, and I’m glad you appreciate it. We both agree this storm is a good thing for the future of humanity. But can we please get going?”

“I suppose,” Miles said reluctantly. “My vehicle is in the hangar at the bottom of the canyon. We can just hike down there and be on our way.”

Amy shook her head. “Nope – I don’t think so! That would take far too long, and I would end up wet and muddy. I think we should take a slightly different approach.”

A moment later Amy and Miles disappeared. The two of them reappeared in Miles’ underground bunker. Miles blinked in surprise, stepped back, and looked around. He saw that they were now standing in his giant warehouse.

“Oh my!” he gasped. “Is that how you travel everywhere?”

“Absolutely. In fact, it’s really the only way to travel. Look at how much time we saved! Plus, we’re dry now. I was not enjoying being soaking wet.”

“Why so we are,” Miles said, looking down at his blue overalls. “You know, that’s too bad! I kind of enjoyed being wet. It’s a rare luxury.”

“Well, the next time it rains, feel free to go stand outside! I won’t try to stop you – but don’t expect me to join you.”

“Fair enough,” Miles agreed. “I do see one problem with your transportation system, though. How am I going to get back to New Tikal? I’m afraid that the Raptor is still parked there, and I don’t share your marvelous powers. I don’t mean to complain or anything, but the city is really quite a walk from here, and I’m just not as young as I used to be.”

“Oh, I moved your tank too,” Amy said casually. “There wasn’t anyone standing inside the hangar so it was easy to do without anyone noticing. Your contraption is in the upstairs hangar, where you usually keep it parked.”

“Ah,” Miles said. “I see. But – really? Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Amy replied.

“Well that’s remarkable! I guess you really did think of everything.” Miles sat down on top of a crate and relaxed. “There – that’s better! So what do we do now?”

“Build a city, of course. We just went over this, remember?”

“True,” Miles replied slowly. “But I still don’t quite understand. How are you planning on building a city?”

“The same way I always build cities! My nanites have an entire library of information that covers all sorts of subjects, and one of those subjects just happens to be city construction. I don’t have to start from scratch because I already have a lot of designs – the same designs that the Artilect used to build cities all over the galaxy! All we have to do is customize one of those plans for Mars. Once the pattern is complete it’s just a matter of uploading it to the nanites. They will then turn portions of the planet’s surface into programmable matter, and will use that matter to construct the city. In fact, once we’ve designed the pattern it shouldn’t take more than a few hours for the nanites to build the city itself.”

Miles nodded. “That should work out very well. I watched the Nehemiah probes built a great many cites over the centuries, and that was the same technique they used. I actually tried that technique myself, back in the day, but I could never get it to work. The nanites I built never worked right. I could only get them to fabricate a few crude devices, and even those were deeply flawed. It was a disaster every single time.”

“You just didn’t have the right fabricators,” Amy explained. “You were trying to make modern devices with ancient, half-broken technology. The gap between what you could make and what the Artilect was designing was just too great.”

“That’s what I figured too, which is why I eventually gave up. But I still don’t see how I can help you! I couldn’t turn Martian sand into cities two thousand years ago, and I’m afraid I still can’t do it today. What kind of help do you want me to provide?”

“Oh, I’ve already got that worked out! You see, anyone who lives in the network gets connected to it. Basically, the Stewards give their citizens nanites so that they can function within the cities and manipulate the environment around them. Now, I know you don’t want me messing with the nanites in your bloodstream, so I won’t do that. But I can give you something that will grant you the same kind of abilities that a network citizen would have.”

“Really?” Miles asked. “Are you telling me that I’ll be able to do everything you can do?”

“No, not exactly. There will be limitations. But you will be able to build things, and that’s what we need for this project.”

“I see,” Miles said thoughtfully. “So how is this going to work?”

Amy reached into her pocket and pulled out a ring. The ring was a translucent purple color, with a fancy latticework of gold etched into it. It had no stone. Deep inside the ring itself were tiny sparkles of light, that appeared for a fraction of a second and then disappeared. There was something about the ring that almost made it look alive. It seemed to give off a faint glow.

“This is what you’ll use,” Amy said. “Wearing this will connect you to the network of nanites that I’ve deployed. As long as you’re connected you’ll be able to interact with them and use them. You should be able to do most of the things that I can, except–”

“Wait a minute,” Miles interrupted. “Are you really offering me a magic ring?”

“Um, I guess. Why? Is there a problem? I mean, it is your size – I made sure of that! It should fit just fine. Do you have some phobia about rings or something?”

“I’m just – I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem very creative! Don’t you think that magic rings are kind of a cliché?”

“What?” Amy asked, surprised. “Are you serious? What did you expect – magic socks? A magic scarf? Tie clips of power?”

“I’m just saying that I think the magic ring thing has been overdone! I’m not trying to complain, but I really think you can do more. For example, what if–”

“I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it. Here I am, offering you an astonishing level of power that has only been extended to a handful of people in all of human history, and your response is to complain that you don’t like rings? Are you out of your mind?”

The ring vanished out of Amy’s outstretched hand. “Fine! If a ring isn’t good enough for you then let’s be a bit more creative, shall we?” The girl paused for a moment, then reached into her pocket and handed Miles a pair of bright pink shoelaces.

Miles took them from her and held them up to the light. He looked at them, astonished. “What am I supposed to do with these?”

“They’re the fabled Shoelaces of Creativity,” Amy said in a deep voice. “If you put them in a pair of shoes and wear them they will unlock the secrets of the universe. Behold the glory of the legendary laces!”

“But they’re pink!” Miles complained.

“You bet they are! Pink is a vibrant, happy color. It stands out.”

“But Amy, I don’t use shoelaces. My shoes aren’t like that! Besides, this wasn’t what I had in mind at all. What I was trying to say was that–”

“Then find a different pair of shoes to wear,” Amy interrupted. “There are 18 pairs of shoelace-supporting shoes in this room. Six of those pairs are in good enough condition to wear. These laces will work with any of them.”

Miles sighed. “You know, the ring was fine. Can’t we just go back to that?”

“Sorry!” Amy said cheerfully. “I’m afraid the ring is gone. What we have now is something new – something creative! Something that will expand your horizons and brighten up your wardrobe. It’s exactly what you wanted.”

“Oh, all right. I guess I did ask for this, and I suppose I should have known better than to open my mouth. But can you at least tell me where I can find one of these pairs of shoes you’re talking about? I’m afraid that I don’t keep very good records, and there are a lot more than six crates in this room. It could take me hours to find them.”

Amy smiled. “It so happens that there’s a pair of shoes in the very crate you’re sitting on. They’re fabulous! They’re a bright orange color, and they’re in perfect condition.”

Miles gasped. “You’ve got to be kidding! Of course they’re in perfect condition – I’ve never worn them. I really meant to throw them out but I guess I just forgot. Those shoes were made back when I was trying to work out the bugs in my replicator. They were an accident! They are the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen. You can’t expect me to wear them.”

Amy shrugged. “You wanted my help, and you got it. Now, you don’t have to wear those shoes if you don’t want to. You’re free to wear any pair that you like – or you can even go to New Tikal and find a pair there, if you want. If you want to search through these crates and try to find a more acceptable pair then be my guest. But I’ve gone as far as I’m going to go. I’ve given you the Creative Shoelaces. How you obtain shoes for them is entirely up to you.”

“But there are thousands of crates here,” Miles protested. “It would take me days to go through them all! Even going to New Tikal would be a major hassle.”

Amy smiled. “You can always just use the orange pair, you know. If not – well, no one said it would be easy!”