Stryker #5, At the End of Eternity – Chapter 9

“It’s raining in Tikal today – absolutely pouring rain. I love it! It’s astounding to once again live on a planet that has weather patterns. Not only that, there are seasons as well! I have seen rain, and snow, and fog. I have seen beautiful days and overcast days. The variety is simply delightful! Now if we can only learn to predict the weather. Sadly, that art was lost long ago. After all, who needs to predict the weather when everyone lives underground?”
–Noel Lawson
June 21, 7243
 

Two days later, Amy and the Sentinel once again met at the base of Falcon Ridge. When the Sentinel arrived he saw that Amy had been there for some time. She was standing there, looking out over the horizon, deep in thought. Alex was curled up at her feet, sound asleep.

“I did not know that you were waiting on me,” the Sentinel said. “Had I known I could have come earlier. There was no reason to keep you waiting.”

Amy shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I wasn’t in a hurry. It’s kind of nice to just stand here and take in Earth’s beauty. I can see why so many people used to want to live here. This world has got such magnificent diversity – forests, jungles, deserts, mountains, and huge oceans.”

“Mars is quite a beautiful place as well,” the Sentinel pointed out. “It has undergone dramatic changes since the day you set foot on it three years ago.”

“Oh, I know. And I do like Mars and everything. It’s just – I don’t know. Earth just seems kind of sad to me. This planet used to be home to billions of civilized men, and now all that’s left are tribes of completely insane people – and Adrasta, which is home to even more insane people. This planet ought to have cities, and people, and art, and culture, and everything, and it doesn’t. Why do people waste their future, Steve? I don’t understand.”

“People do tend to make poor choices. That has always been the case. I take it that your monitoring of the stone fortress has not gone well.”

“Well, yes and no. I mean, Evan Maldonado is still working on building more neutron bombs, but so far he hasn’t been able to kill anyone else. At some point I’m going to have to intervene and slow that project down. I would have done that already but I’m trying to find an opportunity that won’t raise his suspicions. What really bothers me is that the Adrastans don’t seem to have a conscience. With the exception of Monroe and his friends, everyone there is a psychopath. The people there just don’t have a problem with killing other people to get what they want. It doesn’t bother them.”

“The people on Xanthe were the same,” the Sentinel pointed out.

“I know, but it just feels like this should be different. Those people had been in pods for five thousand years, so I’m really not surprised that they lost their minds. The pods were designed to fulfill every dark and horrifying desire they had, which only drove them to even darker desires. Besides, the people we found on Mars weren’t like this. They were lazy and unmotivated and maybe a bit apathetic, but they weren’t murderous lunatics. What makes all this worse is the history of Adrasta. The people there actually call themselves the Children of Light, and the city’s founders specifically charged their descendents with the task of spreading the gospel. They started out as a missions organization, Steve! You can read all about it in the Stone Hall. They were supposed to preserve the light of spiritual truth for future generations.”

“Yes, I noticed. The Hall is a remarkable place, and the Founders were clearly wise men. It would seem that Adrasta has strayed from its roots.”

“If by strayed you mean completely lost it, then I would agree. I just don’t understand, Steve, I really don’t. I’m not asking them for very much, you know. My list of demands is pretty short: I just want them to not massacre every other human being on the planet. That’s it. We would get along fine if they weren’t homicidal maniacs.”

The Sentinel nodded. “You know, Amy, you don’t have to deal with them if you don’t want to. You could always transport Adrasta to some distant planet. If they were removed from Earth they would no longer be a threat to the tribes, and their genetic problems would ensure that they died out before they could develop interstellar capabilities and threaten anyone else.”

“I know. And you’re right – that is a very tempting thought. After what they’ve done they certainly deserve it. I just – I mean, what you’re suggesting is that I condemn an entire city to death. That’s a pretty big step, and I’d rather not do that until I absolutely positively have to. Maybe they will change if we can cure the savages. It’s possible that when they’re faced with the reality of massacring sane people they’ll realize the horror of their ways and will repent. I don’t know. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking, but I think it’s worth a try.”

“Perhaps you are right. However, there is no guarantee that we will find a cure. I have spent the past two days working on the problem and I am not appreciably closer to a solution. My computational abilities are simply not as great as my father’s. Given the complexity of the problem, I do not see how I can arrive at a solution in a reasonable amount of time. At my current rate of progress it could take more than a millennia to find a cure.”

“Oh my goodness! I had no idea. Wow, that’s really bad. Is it really that hard?”

The Sentinel nodded. “Look at it this way. The tribes’ genetic code is damaged in some very serious ways, and that damage has caused all sorts of abnormalities – abnormalities that become quite devastating once the individual goes through puberty. Since I do not wish to experiment on live human subjects, the only way I can look for a cure is to build a mathematical model of the human body, in all its staggering complexity, and then attempt changes to it to see what the ramifications are. It is quite difficult, and I find that my resources are not up to the task. I could simplify the model but then I risk overlooking serious side-effects of any proposed cures.”

“So why not just build more computers to help you?” Amy asked. “I mean, look, we’ve got the resources of millions of stars to work with. Why not turn every planet in the network into a giant supercomputer, and then have them run the simulations for you? Wouldn’t that be a lot faster?”

The Sentinel looked surprised. “Yes, I imagine it would be. The computing power would be staggering – I could run millions of simulations at once and get results back quite quickly. But are you sure that it is wise to turn the network into a giant computer?”

Amy looked confused. “Um, I don’t see why not. Are you afraid that the computer will rise up and attack us, or something?”

“Oh, certainly not! The massively parallel supercomputer you are proposing would not be sentient, nor would it have the capacity for choice, nor could an outside force seize it and use it against us. The reason I am hesitant is because purpose of the network was to transform hostile worlds into habitable paradises so mankind could build colonies on them. Turning those worlds into giant machines seems to be a perversion of that purpose.”

“Couldn’t you put the worlds back when you were done? I mean, it’s not like this is permanent or anything, and the reason we’re doing it is to help cure people so that one day the tribes can actually go to those planets and live there. I don’t see how this does any permanent harm.”

“Yes, it will be reversible. But this effort will take more than a couple hours. There are some complexities involved with converting hundreds of millions of planets into hundreds of millions of giant, planet-sized computers. Even though each Steward can manage the conversion of their own world, there is still the matter of the computer’s design and creating the linkages between them. Given the magnitude of the changes that you are proposing, even converting one planet will take eight or nine days.”

“But you can do them all at the same time, right?” Amy asked.

“Yes, I believe so – after I have formalized a design. Once they are built I will need to network them and build some sort of central hub so I can give them commands and receive results.”

“So how long will this take?”

The Sentinel thought for a moment. “Twelve days, I think, would be sufficient. It may take longer, but as the Stewards will do most of the work and they will be operating in parallel, I think that is a reasonable guess.”

“That’s not bad. It’s a lot better than you spending thousands of years trying to find a cure by yourself. I say let’s do it.”

“Then it shall be done. However, I do not believe that we should convert all of the worlds. There are two that should be spared.”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, I agree. Let’s leave Tonina alone. That just makes sense. Alex really likes it there, and I’m kind of fond of it myself. But what was the other one?”

“Jasmine, of course. Your world. I do not wish to see it turned into a giant calculator.”

Amy smiled. “All right. We can exempt those two planets – but only those two! All the rest get converted.”

“Then we are in agreement. I will begin work the process and will keep you informed.”

Alex yawned, then rolled over and looked up at Amy. The dog then got to his feet, stretched, and started walking around, sniffing the grass.

Amy watched him for a moment then looked back at the Sentinel. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

He shook his head. “I believe I can handle it. This is the sort of task that I was designed to do. It will simply take a lot of effort.”

Amy nodded. “I’m sure it will. While you’re doing that I will keep watch over the murderous fools who live in Adrasta. It’s a terrible job but it’s got to be done.”

“You know, Amy, the Adrastans are not all imbeciles. Monroe Araiza is, as I said earlier, quite perceptive. He has made some very intelligent guesses about your true identity. They are, unfortunately, not correct, but given what he knows they are reasonable hypotheses.”

“Yeah, I noticed. He is pretty sharp. I’m going to have to be careful about what I tell him. At this point I really don’t want him to know that the Rangers are gone and I’m the only one that’s left. That knowledge seems to really freak people out. But, anyway, I’m glad he’s there. At least Adrasta has someone who is passionately fighting for what’s right. I just wish he had more people on his side.”

The Sentinel nodded. “Perhaps one day he will. Is there anything else that you need?”

“Let me see.” Amy looked over at Alex and called to him. “Are you ready to go back to the mountains?”

“No thanks,” Alex barked. “They’re no fun at all. It’s all rocks. There’s no grass and nothing to chase. I’d rather stay here.”

“Suit yourself,” Amy replied. She then looked at the Sentinel, who nodded. “I will keep an eye on him for you.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll see you later, Alex, ok?”

“Ok!” Alex said joyfully. He then ran off, chasing a butterfly. Amy shook her head. She then said goodbye to the Sentinel, and both of them disappeared, leaving Alex on the plain.