Evolution to Endeavor

By Greg Guerin

" It has been decided that it is time for you to rejoin the Discussions."

Mal-dun shifted his lanky form around to face the mission leader, his fibro-plastic exoskeleton rustling softly as it readjusted to its new shape. "We are approaching now this Earth then Org-lun?" he queried without excitement. Perhaps it would have been proper to reply more formally to his superior after spending the entire thousand-year voyage alone in his chamber, plugged directly into the Electrical Matrix, alone and in darkness. But formalities seemed next to pointless now.

"Yes, as you already know, I'm sure." Org-lun's shape was somewhat different to Mal-dun's. He was a squat construction with little by way of useful appendages. He was a high powered computational machine with none of the bio-genetic or bio-chemical additions that Mal-dun had been keen to incorporate into his systems as they were discovered. He communicated with Mal-dun in a complex but subtle mix of sound, gesture and high energy photons. "Earth orbit will be reached within twenty time units. The planet is clearly visible through the optical telescope. This leaves just enough time to organise the research."

" Organise? What is there to organise that hasn't been looked at since we left the last study? A final sight seeing itinerary?"

Org-lun seemed to pause to process the last statement before he replied, "No, that will not be necessary."

It was still satisfying to test out the mission leader's complete lack of ability to understand sarcasm, especially amusing that he had failed to recognize the irony of a mindless machine like himself partaking in pleasure of the senses. It was most unlike the mission leader to show subjective interest in anything they found as they crossed the galaxy. " Well then?"

" Your expertise is required in some areas prior to finalisation. You have made yourself... unavailable... during the journey here and now there is no time remaining." There was an undertone of malice to these words that Mal-dun could feel electronically. Surprising coming from a cold automate like Org-lun who had taken on nothing, physically or psychologically, from the Vermon, the life form that had been their previous object of study.

Mal-dun shielded his internal chemo-electro-magnetic pattern from Org-lun's sensory probes as best he could and folded his arms in front of him defensively as he said, "I thought it vital to thoroughly process all the data collected from Destination 849, especially that pertaining to the Vermon, as soon as possible after leaving so as to minimise loss or degradation of the data and so that it would coincide with maximum personal memory to provide context." Not that his memory was capable of fading over time. The system worked much like the databases in the Electrical Matrix of the craft they were travelling in, the Bubble, which stored both the bulk data and the Destination Agenda and Study Guidelines- the poorly understood yet revered codes that told the team where to go and what to look for, what Universal picture to build up from the data as they moved from star to star.

" Yes. And the 950 years following completion of that process?"

Perhaps he was capable of sarcasm after all. "The data arising from Destination 849 was both extensive and complex," Mal-dun replied. " As you know we have never before encountered as advanced a sentience as that on any of the worlds we have visited. I have been in constant action during the journey trying to understand the data in terms of the Study Guidelines." The truth was he disagreed vehemently with leaving 849 for the Earth after such a short time and had vowed to isolate himself from the others in anger at the decision. Such a waste of opportunity.

" A meaningful study indeed." The mention of the Study Guidelines seemed to have worked. "However it is now time to move on. Will you make yourself available for preliminary talks in the Discussion?"

The Discussion was a formal process the team went through to sort through important matters and make decisions. Not that it mattered; Org-lun always had the last word. He was the only one of them authorised to command the Bubble and the Electrical Matrix. In answer, Mal-dun reluctantly released himself from the holds of the chamber, rested his mass against the force of the ship's deceleration on two long limbs and moved towards Org-lun. The passage of time might have been little more than a minor statistical detail to his kind, the five animated automata running the Bubble, but with the amount of biological material he now was made of, he found this initial movement stiff and awkward. He sensed Org-lun regarding his difficult movements critically and recalled that many of the others had disagreed with his self-improvement program as detracting from total objectivity. He had long ago developed the practise of incorporating suitable biological information and hardware into his system wherever it was found on their endless journey around the outer spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It had bestowed upon him advantages that far outweighed the minor limitations of requiring biological maintenance such as the occasional consumption of various complex bio-chemicals, advantages such as critical thinking and useful foresight.

Black shadows followed them as they made their way down the corridor, kept nearly dark to conserve power, but of course neither of them had any difficulty in navigating with their many sensory capabilities. In fact, a few photons here and there were hardly necessary at all. The long corridor fed its way through the centre of the Bubble, surrounded on all sides by the enormous sealed storages that contained all the biological material they had collected, held in permanent quarantine to guard against any risk of infecting new worlds with alien life. They headed towards the opposite end of the Bubble where Mal-dun's four counterparts spent much of their time and the engines, databanks and the revered Destination Agenda were physically kept.

Mal-dun had never seen any alternative to his current existence and his duties on the Bubble, he certainly didn't belong anywhere else, but he had grown tired of the insistence by Org-lun and the others to continue with the strictest following of the Destination Agenda, as if they would all be struck down for disobeying if they were to create innovative approaches to their work, and play things by ear a bit more. As he moved through the craft his frustration returned as earlier days were recalled in his thoughts.

Org-lun's speech pattern lit the walls with a faint glow. " The Study Guidelines have revealed extra instructions for Destination 850, planet Earth. We will be making a longer stop here than usual."

Mal-dun nearly stopped in anger, but kept himself moving to keep up with Org-lun. " What do you mean longer? I tell you now this system is statistically a waste of our time. We ought never have come at all but I strongly suggest now that we are here that we make a basic survey, finishing as soon as possible, then return to Destination 849 and study higher life form 4078, the Vermon, further." Within him, bio-chemicals were surging to his implanted biologically functional neuron clusters, feeding his anger.

Org-lun's posture and speech didn't change significantly in reaction to Mal-dun's emotions, but Mal-dun knew he was analysing his every action closely. He said," That is an impossibility. You know that the Destination Agenda only reveals the next research point once the last one is left and the basic data entered. The requirements can not be met for this destination with such a short survey, not to mention the presumably infinitesimal probability of the next destination being again 849."

" You speak of probabilities. Do you now admit that the Agenda has no purpose?"

" Of course not, it is merely our ability to predict the Agenda that is statistical. Each step in the journey has significance and cannot be played with."

" Destination 849 was our only significant step and we went past it."

" There must be some reason behind Destination 850 also having a name, Earth. The Agenda has wisdom above our own, created by a supreme entity in the Universe."

Mal-dun scoffed, " We have no evidence to suggest the Agenda is anything but an abstraction. If it is our purpose to spend eternity scouring the heavens for intelligence in order to understand consciousness, then 849 is the only place for us to be. Where else have we encountered truly sentient life, advanced enough to be able to communicate on an equal level with ourselves concerning philosophical issues? Hmm?" There was no response from Org-lun. "Exactly, they are the closest entities to ourselves that we have detected. The next advanced organisms we've seen had barely developed language."

"The Vermon are nothing like us," Org-lun contradicted, now more serious, involved in the argument. " They are biological beings with no interest in discovering the world outside themselves. We are investigative automotive constructs who have a predetermined Agenda."

"The point about the Vermon is not that they are unscientific, it is that they have reached a supreme inner consciousness and state of wisdom that surpasses the need for mindless data gathering. There is much we could have learned from them about our purpose."

"As you have been informed many times, our purpose is not to integrate with what we find, nor to seek self-enlightenment from it, but to examine it objectively in accordance with the Guidelines in order to build up understanding of everything external to us. Our purpose is not to be found in the Vermon but in the Agenda. A greater purpose belongs to us."

Moving faster now, Mal-dun spat, "Speculation, nothing more. Where is your science when it comes to important issues? Will we mindlessly travel the galaxy for eternity, until our data banks are full of lists of vegetative life forms, records of countless lifeless worlds? What will that achieve?"

Before Org-lun could answer, they reached the end of the corridor where brighter light spilled out of a doorway. They moved through in silence, conforming to the etiquette of the Discussion immediately as they greeted the others in the room and made themselves comfortable, at opposite ends of the circle. There was no elaboration on the normal greeting for Mal-dun, despite his centuries of isolation, only a small acknowledgment of his presence. None of them had changed perceptibly over the years, yet Mal-dun saw them with different eyes. Their useless computational pathways were corrupted by overriding commands built in to them which, unlike him, they had no control over. But he didn't pity them; they could equally have taken the opportunity to integrate as he had. Instead he loathed their simple symmetrical forms and their simple, if highly powerful minds and their stubborn refusal to regard his ideas with merit. But loathing a machine was worthless. He merely had to accept they would never change and expend his energy thinking of ways to get around them, to get around Org-lun's totalitarian control over the Bubble.

* * * *

The Earth turned out to be rich in life and to have obvious signs of major dynamism. Its ocean basins and three-dimensional vegetation, brimming with thousands of competing species, was a far cry from the homes of the Vermon who had lived virtually alone amongst a wealth of the basic resources they needed in the form of a uniform blanketing crust of autotrophic life that lay in a continuous layer over the surface of the hot planet. The vast topographic variation visible in the land of Earth had not been present at Destination 849 to anywhere near the same extent. Mal-dun had to admit to itself that it was in its own right worthy of study, being quite unique in its diversity of life, albeit it all closely interrelated and clearly derived from a common original ancestor. But even such a pleasant planet was not worth them having left their greatest opportunity to add meaning to their data gathering in Destination 849. There was certainly no sentient life here, at least not that they could detect from initial investigations. Sure, there were some higher life forms, but none that reacted to their presence with curiosity or showed signs of global dominance. The futility of their coming here was stupefying.

So, grudging the decision to come here at all, when Mal-dun had been given the choice of work alternative to spending time unit after time unit meticulously recording the biota of the world, he didn't hesitate to take it. The Destination Agenda had mysteriously added a sub-set to the destination, even before they had actually landed the Bubble on the planet. It had highlighted a secondary sight of investigation at the satellite of one of the outer gas giants of the planetary system, with no further details or specifications. With little more than their customary acceptance of the whims of the Agenda, the team had organised for three to stay on Earth for a time to study it in detail whilst Org-lun and Mal-dun took the Bubble out to eyeball the secondary Destination. The others would be collected at a later date. Since it was unheard of for life to have arisen and survived twice in the one stellar system, they all assumed it was unlikely that anything worthy of a lengthy stay would be discovered at this satellite; it was not difficult for Mal-dun to be accepted as a volunteer.

As Mal-dun now stared at the artificial construction they had found orbiting the satellite, he had to question the logic behind that assumption. The satellite itself was small and infested with active volcanoes that would obviously sterilise any life that might somehow have arisen in the hostile conditions. It was doubtful that the life that had evidently created this thing had arisen on that world. So how did the Agenda know to look here? Despite the tempting conclusion he knew Org-lun would already have made that this proved the Agenda served a higher consciousness that had created all life, Mal-dun was convinced it was pure coincidence, a quirk of randomness.

Space faring entities other than themselves weren't unheard of, in fact they had encountered several over the millennia. These organisms had been technological in a machine-like way, without apparent reason or contemplation. It had always turned out to have been the result of the evolution of computation rather than true mind. But space travel was intrinsically limited by the constraints of the vast distances of space and short longevity universal to all life. It was only the timeless nature of Mal-dun's kind and their ability to survive on lower power, even to shut down during longer voyages that made their travels possible. It would be impossible for any living thing to reach other stars. So how had this construction gotten here when the system was clearly void of any advanced life forms?

Mal-dun noticed that Org-lun had joined him and was also staring out at the thing. Its grey-black angular outer casing drew Mal-dun's attention every time down into a depressed section where the shell was replaced by a much lighter coloured material, pasted together in an asymmetrical spiral pattern that twirled the eye inexorably to its bright solid centre. Never had Mal-dun seen such non-functional design incorporated into something like this. Was that significant? He felt that it was a sign that the object was the product of a mindless, genetically bound life form following an in-built instinct rather than one that had broken the banks of evolution and taken on its own path, foreseeing functionality and economical design as pertinent.

" Do you continue to doubt the usefulness of the Agenda?" Org-lun asked.

Mal-dun regarded him with irritation. " Is that all that matters to you? I will go out in a portable and investigate this construction. Only then will we have any clue to its significance. If you agree, I'll leave you to maintain the Bubble and look after remote communications." Without waiting for a reply he turned and headed from the observation window to the equipment storage, cursing this thing they had discovered as he went for giving Org-lun further fuel to argue for the omniscient nature of their unknown creator.

Not long later he was floating out across space in the small portable, his focus fixated wholly on that spiral.

* * * *

In the examination area, Mal-dun stood shakily before the table. Opposite him was Org-lun's square form. Between them lay the prostrate forms of the three specimens Mal-dun had collected from the orbiting construction. Nasty looking angular things, they were. He had first seen them scrabbling around and attacking him in nothing more than a genetically programmed response to his presence after he had gained access. Collecting these few had been quite an ordeal, given that he'd had to enter the lair of the large colonial organism. He regarded the pale forms in front of him now with distaste, an attitude he had been capable of since picking up significant amounts of biological material and data from the Vermon. Unlike the elegant and natural physique of his former hosts, these creatures were much the same as one another with knobby neural conglomerations at one end coated with a mat of unruly hair. Their long thin bodies had four large appendages, each ending in five digits. Their grotesquely visible genitalia were clumsy and in the case of one specimen, clearly poorly placed for effective locomotion.

Mal-dun wanted to look away from the ugly things but found he couldn't. Irrational as it was since they were all dead, he felt he could not be in the same room as them without keeping his full attention focussed upon them. They were, if nothing else, fierce in confrontation. Org-lun' s body language suggested he was incapable of treating the specimens with anything less than objective curiosity. Deciding to switch off his olfactory senses to ignore their off putting odour, he said to Org-lun, " What can you say about these... organisms." The last word he almost spat.

Org-lun didn't pause from fiddling with the Matrix controls as he replied, "Simple chemical analysis already demonstrates beyond doubt that the ancestral biological origin matches that of life on the planet Earth. The initial internal scan reveals a simple through gut digestive system, fairly typical cardiovascular arrangements and a high degree of manual dexterity and muscle mass. Their endoskeletal features..."

" And the neural conglomerations?" Mal-dun cut in, impatient to resolve the nature of these lesser bipeds and move on.

Org-lun's mathematical mind was not perturbed by rudeness and he answered immediately. "This is highly complex in arrangement and warrants further investigation. As for associated organs, analysis suggests the organisms use a combination of light and direct touch to perceive their surroundings, although olfactory senses may be involved."

Mal-dun cringed as he recalled the faint but distinct smell the creatures had.

"Communication appears to be in the form of simple sound vibrations created in the throat region here, and received by these lateral organs here." He touched lightly a floppy appendage made of skin and cartilage on the side of one of the heads.

"Sound only?" Mal-dun inquired, feeling slightly relieved, almost amused. "Surely, then, there is no possibility that we have encountered anything but a colonial organism of low individual intellect? With a neural centre of that size and such a communication system, would it not be impossible for complex concepts to be either perceived or communicated?"

"Not necessarily so, Mal-dun. Such unsupported conclusions must not be jumped to. Organisms have been previously encountered that had smaller brains yet were capable of incredible computation."

"Yes, but we have also discovered that computation requires less complexity than true philosophy. Such creatures are not truly aware of themselves or their place in the Universe. Rather they are number processors. Not so the Vermon. Although their mathematics is rudimentary, their concept of self and their philosophy of existence are advanced. Recall that their neural networks extended in effect throughout their entire bodies and that those individuals selected for thought as an occupation were allowed to grow even more extensive networks, so that they became immobile and totally dependant physically on the lesser clones to provide food. What we have here does not even come close to comparing with that incredibly advanced social system." It felt good to rise above Org-lun's redundant arguments with points like this, and doing so brought out bio-chemical reactions within him that heightened his awareness and data processing speed. The wash of change spread gradually through him, much slower than his dominant electrical internal communication system, but somehow far more satisfying.

But Org-lun did not concede. He said, " If that is correct, then how can the presence of this organism in space aboard an artificial construction be explained?"

Mal-dun knew Org-lun's thought patterns were purely logical, but at times like this he could have sworn Org-lun was deliberately winding him up, that there was subtle sarcasm and anger in his manner and tone. " Perhaps we ourselves are not unique, " he replied. " Perhaps there are other teams of data gatherers such as ourselves who have brought the creatures here from Earth and established them, as a sign to us that they exist..." It was a meaningless and unprovable argument, he knew, but he refused to concede anything to Org-lun. When he had succeeded Org-lun in authority, then perhaps such considerations would not be necessary, but for now he hated for Org-lun to feel totally in control.

Org-lun seemed to guess that the point was not of merit sufficient for it to be argued. " I propose a detailed electronic dissection and analysis of the organisms before deciding how to proceed," he stated flatly, as if tired of entertaining Mal-dun's contradictions and anti-Agenda ideas. " This phenomenon is of sufficient curiosity to demand our full attention."

" Huh," Mal-dun scoffed, half to himself. " I don't recall that being your way of thinking when we had the chance to take up residence with the Vermon.

Org-lun seemed suddenly distracted. His light sensors engaged Mal-dun's gravely. " The Matrix has presently provided interesting facts for immediate consideration," he said.

" Such as?"

" A message was received from the team on Earth stating that they have uncovered extensive evidence of a past civilisation on the planet, vast buried metropolises and signs of great disturbances."

" Wonderful. What use is an extinct civilisation to us?"

"Perhaps none. However, small colonies of an apparently intelligent, if technologically simple, species have been located in scattered localities, referring to themselves upon contact as humans. It has been postulated that these are the descendants of the species that created the civilisation."

"More dream weaving I see. And how can we be sure of this link, or even that these so called metropolises are nothing more than large burrows of a simple animal?"

"The study is in the preliminary stages only, of course. There is more. In the preceding seconds there have been signals received by the Matrix from the object of study." He paused uncharacteristically. " The matrix wishes to inform that the humans, as they also refer to themselves, aboard the artificial satellite seek audience."

"What?" It was all Mal-dun could manage to blurt out.

"Authority has been given to the Matrix to allow entrance of live biological entities to the Bubble in approximately 0.5 time units."

"They want to talk to us?" Mal-dun demanded, far more loudly than was necessary, even to demonstrate his considerable surprise. Org-lun answered with silence and Mal-dun took his eyes off the dead humans, as they called themselves, suddenly scared. What could these things want? Could he have been wrong about them, could near clonal hives of such simplistic animals have outer awareness, or was their holistic instinct merely to investigate and consume any new object that entered their environment? Staring back down at the specimens before him he found it hard, even grotesque, to believe that the species could be on the same level as the Vermon.

* * * *

Within the Hawking Station, in permanent orbit around the fiery sulphur coated Io, Adrian McLarry rolled out of his bunk after a sleepless two hours. Since his usual dull routine had been interrupted by the crisis, he had not been able to relax enough to sleep. Wanting to be clear headed for his encounter with their aggressors, he had tried to catch up on some rest, but to no avail. The result had been nothing more than a waste of time. He sat for a moment rubbing his stubby hands over his unshaven face to try to inject some life into it and scratched nervously at his bristly dark hair. A quick search of the small compartment, littered with his personal belongings and meal wrappers, located the least worn khaki trousers and vest. With dedication, he then lugged black polished boots from below the bunk, hauled them over his bony feet and spent a minute carefully lacing every hole and tightening them until he was satisfied. Whatever was going on in the station, whether the workers he was in charge of were bickering, whether he was unshaven and dressed in unwashed clothes after days without sleep didn't matter. As long as he could stride around the station in properly laced boots, he felt he could handle anything. For some reason commanding in holy socks just never came across as effective. Perhaps the enormous boots were a subconscious counter to his short stature and lean physique that stood him out from the mostly burly members of his crew, male and female alike. But then, psychoanalysis had never been his strong point.

His first task would be to casually make his way down to the kitchen and eat a full breakfast in front of the others. He might well bring it back up later out of sheer nervousness, but if he didn't at least promote the impression that he was calm and in control the present crisis could start a real panic. He struggled with the exit door that always seemed stuck then went down the empty corridor. Like the rest of the ship, it felt like a second skin. He had passed down it countless times since his arrival almost a decade ago. The repetition of his daily life had passed the point of boredom and frustration and had become a hybridised part of himself, as comfortable and as inescapable. The corridor was in partial darkness now, hardly surprising given the state of disrepair the place was in generally and hardly his biggest or even second biggest concern right now. Some of the lights flickered on and off spasmodically.

He was just approaching the drop shaft when a hand grabbed him by the shoulder from behind and pulled him around sharply. Squinting in the dark he made out the square face of Jesse Hunter, the station's medical officer, chief science coordinator and unofficial agony aunt, framed by lumps of thick dark hair that covered both her ears. She looked down at him with obvious distress from the thirty or so centimetres height she had over him. " What do you think you're doing McLarry?" she demanded of him in a flurry of words.

Adrian knew she only ever addressed him by his surname when she was feeling either exceptionally affectionate or peeved. She might have been everyone's favourite, but he tended to find her assumption of the moral high ground when moods like this struck her irritating at best and he was in no mood to entertain her argumentative side. He took her hand and removed it from his shoulder. " If you must know, I'm going for breakfast. Care to join me?" He started moving again and she moved with him.

" Don't be smart Adrian. You know what I'm talking about. Is it true? Everyone's saying you've organised to go over and meet this thing."

" And what if it is?"

" Frears, Heard and James, all dead and you want to go over and have a chat? Do you know what sort of injuries I've been treating since that horrid thing blasted in here and did what it pleased? Not to mention how much work the guys are doing trying to repair the damage it did to the station." She got in front of him and bowled him up again by blocking his way with her bulky body.

Adrian took an impatient breath. " I am well aware, Jes, of what has happened, I saw the thing as clearly as anyone else did." For a second he couldn't help but relive the horror he had felt as the robotic machine carried out its deadly task. He deliberately switched the memory off." Just let me do my job will you?" He tried to move past her but she didn't budge. The corridor was narrow enough for her to be able to entirely block his path.

" And what exactly is that, McLarry? Well we all know that, don't we? You're nothing but a puppet for the administration aren't you? Fernside and her mob. A possible object of interest has appeared and you intend to get information to pass on to your superiors so you can brownnose. You couldn't care less about the guys."

If it was a deliberate attempt to anger him, it had worked already. McLarry felt his ears burning as he replied, " Nonsense. Your lives are all my responsibility and I take that very seriously. Your safety is my first priority. But you have to admit the first chance to examine an extraterrestrial species is pretty huge too."

" That thing was a robot McLarry. It could have been built by one of the separatist groups for all you know. You just can't stand the fact that you haven't been accepted for promotion since you came here and you know your superiors are more interested in progress and bringing down detractors than lives."

" Yeah, and you just can't stand the fact that I had to turn you down as a bed partner because I was your Administrator all those years ago, can you? We all know that's the language you really speak in, or shall I say, the currency you deal in?"

They both fell silent in shock of the argument having deteriorated so quickly into a slinging match. They had been workmates for a long time and were good enough friends to know when the line had been crossed. Apologies were not needed. Instead they lowered their voices, although Adrian still felt the sting of Jesse's last remark and worse, the embarrassment and cruelty of his own.

" Look," Jesse began again, more softly, " you can't do this."

" There is no other option and I alone have the authority to decide."

" Come on Adrian, don't pull rank on me. You know things have always been more equal than that between us. That thing killed and took three of us. What will it do to you? We can't afford to lose anyone else, least of all you."

Was that what this was really all about? Her anger stemming from fear of losing him? Or was it yet another of her clever ploys to get him to play into her hands. " That's beside the point. I don't see what else there is to do."

" I say blow that ship out there away. It's got no obvious defences and we've still got a couple of live shells stored away somewhere from the early days. That's what you should be doing. Cooperating with the enemy is just rising the suspicions the others have of you."

Adrian raised his eyebrows. It was the first he'd heard of any unrest amongst the station's crew, except of course for Ribber. He always complained. " Think about it," he said. " We don't know what this ship is, what it contains or where it came from. What if destroying it alerted more ships? What if it didn't work but just angered them? What if they have all they want from us already?"

" They're still hanging around so they must be planning to come back again. I'm scared. Everybody's scared. They want you to take real action."

" I've alerted Central. If firepower is needed, let them deal with it. It's up to me to handle the situation until they arrive."

" Yeah, and when will that be? The nearest armed station's weeks away from us and you know it." A sudden softening of her pose. A clammy hand reaching out and touching his own. " Will you see sense?" she whispered.

Adrian felt his feet inside the sturdy leather of his boots and shook his head once firmly against the internal tide of magnetism towards Jes. " No, I'm sorry Jes, but I think you're wrong one this one. I'm going over to try and talk to them as has been scheduled. I hope you won't do anything to get in my way." He pushed gently past her and this time she didn't resist as he went past.

Adrian noticed his pulse was up as he heard Jesse's voice from behind him. " You can't go on your own. It's too dangerous," she said. Adrian stopped without turning back around. " I'm coming with you Adrian." He thought about this for a second. They needed her as medical officer here, but he could certainly use some support out there and he couldn't see anyone else volunteering. He was far from immune to fear himself and she was an able officer. If they couldn't resolve this, there might well be no need for a medical officer. He walked away in silence, grateful of Jesse's offer. He knew she could read his answer in his body language. Yes, they went back a long way did him and Jesse.

* * * *

" We object vehemently to the malicious murders of our fellow humans and demand that you take no further aggressive action," the smaller of the humans said nervously as soon as the two of them were allowed into the room where Org-lun and Mal-dun awaited them. It was, to say the least, an unnecessary inconvenience to allow them aboard the Bubble. For a start, the area had to be isolated and filled expensively with air, heat and light, all things Mal-dun's kind did not require. Besides, what could possibly be learnt of significance from these pathetic animals that the Vermon had not already offered to teach? They were able to understand what the man said because the Matrix had decoded their vocal and body language by studying the brains of the three specimens. This data had been fed directly into Mal-dun and Org-lun so that they would be able to communicate freely.

Mal-dun was surprised by what the human had said though, on two fronts. First there was the inherent inference that the species was capable of recognising motive and predicting action in an external entity, which he had not expected. But secondly, and perhaps more intriguing was the inference that these animals valued individual lives highly, enough to introduce this as their major concern. This was nothing if not absurd and unheard of. Regard for individuals? It didn't make sense. Colonial species similar to them that they had encountered had limited cognitive ability and acted holistically only. The individuals, genetic clones of no intrinsic value except in their function as a group, were willing at any moment to sacrifice their own lives for the good of the hive. In fact most higher organisms they had studied didn't even acknowledge the concept of the individual. They were continuous or intimately connected single entities occupying large amounts of space with huge biomass. Again, any individual components were expendable. Then there were the Vermon, who existed as a collection of individuals. Despite great variation between the individuals there was no emphasis whatsoever placed on the life of an individual. They had reached a cultural plateau of such a height that they realised the insignificance of the individual both in society and in the Universe as a whole. That was true wisdom. Individuals could be moulded and easily replaced and no one individual performed a function that could not be catered for by others. Admittedly, at Destination 849 there was little threat to the lives of individuals, but when biological aging took its toll on the functional capacity of an individual, it was destroyed without hesitation and replaced with a juvenile. From their initial study of the human specimens he had collected, they knew that these individual humans were extremely short lived relative to evolutionary time, especially compared to the Vermon, and thus could not provide any truly indispensable value to the species. Had they somehow managed to accidentally collect the three most important members of the species, the Queens, living genetic templates for the colony? That seemed absurdly unlikely.

Mal-dun regarded the human that had spoken. "You value individuals above all else, human?"

The man tried to look him back in the eye, but seemed to cringe. The other one answered for him, the female with the long hair. " Of course we do. And his name, if you don't mind, is Adrian McLarry. Mine, Jesse Hunter. Our lives are the important thing to us. Don't you machines understand that?" This one seemed to have no difficulty in looking at him and was clearly aggressive, perhaps a soldier caste.

" The two of you represent the species in this then?"

They looked confused. " Not the species," the one called Adrian McLarry said, suddenly with a hint of a smile. " Not officially, that is. All humans would react badly to losing friends. But we have the authority to represent our own government only."

This concept was somewhat lost on Mal-dun. The definition of the word government had been located but it meant little to him in terms of past experience.

" Why did you do it?" Jesse asked. " What do you want from us?"

Org-lun answered with callous efficiency. " There is data here to be gathered according to the principles of the Study Guidelines. The Guidelines stipulate that it is admissible for representative samples to be used wherever appropriate and that preserved examples of these are to be kept in permanent storage if the object of study is considered sufficiently important."

Jesse leaned forward over the table that separated them. " Are you saying you collected the three people you killed... as type specimens?" She asked the question as though it were a surprising conclusion to reach.

" Of course, why else do you think we'd bother?" Mal-dun blurted out angrily. " Did you think we could possibly have any interest in such a low life form other than adding you to the list?"

" List?"

With a subtle gesture, Org-lun let Lam-dun know that he wished to handle the explanations, as if the simple creatures before him had any inclination towards understanding them. " The Study Guidelines stipulate that an extensive database is to be prepared from data gathered from Destinations specified in the Agenda pertaining to any life found therein. Sentient and higher life forms take priority as they may be sources of further information. Such information gathered from the Vermon at the previous Destination, 849, provides evidence for the world view that all life in the Universe was deliberately created from a common source, a greater consciousness that also created us in order to gather data on these creations as they progress and develop."

Mal-dun signalled his disagreement with a loud groan. " This is yet to be established," he added to the humans, but meant it only as a rebut for Org-lun.

" Wait a minute, wait..." Adrian said, making a matching gesture with his palms. " What is it you are saying here exactly? Are you claiming to have visited other stars?"

" Yes, yes," Mal-dun replied impatiently. " Very well done. We have been to many hundreds of stars over the past thousands of time units. Earth was Destination 850." No other life forms had managed to reach other stars, but none of them had ever shown such interest in the fact that the Bubble did it habitually. These humans really were degenerate.

" That's amazing," Adrian said. " But where are you from, originally?"

" As previously stated," replied Org-lun with infinite patience," it is believed that the task was set by the creator of all life in the Universe, a greater being."

Mal-dun disagreed in silence.

" Are you talking about God?" Jesse put to Org-lun.

" It seems the definition of this concept closely matches the being referred to, yes. It is considered highly likely that this same being is also the creator of the physical Universe as a whole."

When the human female burst into ecstatic and uncontrollable laughter, Mal-dun reeled in surprise. Amusement? This, again, was an unexpected reaction to such important a debate, although it perhaps merely signified the inability of the creature to understand the concept properly. Her next words quickly stopped that particular line of thought though.

" That is the funniest thing I've heard in ages," she said, still trying to thwart the giggles. " Machines from across the galaxy come to visit and all they can say is God created the Universe. People gave up on that primitive concept thousands of years ago. Science has showed us that there is no need to revert to such simplistic and meaningless concepts as that. Everything can be explained purely in terms of physical phenomena. There is no creator, only natural processes. Our experiments and observations long ago told us how the Universe we see today including life can be explained by simple mathematical laws that..."

Mal-dun cut in. " 'Experiments and observations'?" He deliberately turned to look directly at Org-lun before returning his attention to Jesse. " You attempt to make sense of data in a quantitative manner?"

The woman looked perplexed, her dark globes of eyes searching for meaning that was not present in Mal-dun's expression. "How else? The Hawking, the station we work on was the original scientific centre before the current administration grew in strength and kick started technological development and space exploration."

" It is true then? You are the same as the beings located on planet Earth, from where you developed the ability to travel in space?"

" There are humans on Earth?" Jesse gasped. " Amazing, nobody has ever found any before. We know we originated from there of course, but I always assumed hope of finding a remnant indigenous population was remote."

Reading her body language and facial features, Mal-dun realised that the woman was truly moved by this revelation. He said simply, " I don't follow. How can this be?"

" We lived for thousands of years in space in a sort of day to day existence. Science and the quest for understanding our place in the scheme of things was dropped as an agenda altogether. So the history books tell us. It was only a short time ago that spirit returned and people set to work once again, developing new technology and researching. Nobody knows what happened, why we moved from Earth into space in the first place, why the Earth was depopulated, why the science that must have been in place to achieve space travel was forgotten shortly after."

" Why have you not returned to Earth now? Is it not perfectly suited to your needs?"

" It's not in our culture. Space is our only home now. Those people you mentioned on Earth must live like animals down there out in the open. Earth is almost a taboo word amongst my people. A few pioneers have risked social disconnection to go there and study it, but no one would ever live there."

" Look, this little chat is just lovely," the male human, Adrian McLarry blurted out suddenly, his cheeks looking slightly reddened, which Mal-dun now understood to indicate he was somewhat flustered or overexerted. "But ancient history is the last reason I requested to come here and the last reason I let you come along Hunter." A sideways glance in her direction. "As Administrator of the Hawking Station, it is my duty to safeguard my workers. You have explained what you are doing here, for which I am grateful," actually, Mal-dun thought he sounded angry rather than grateful, " but you should understand that we humans do not tolerate such interference. It was wrong of you to kill my workers and I demand that the corpses be returned immediately for proper burial procedures."

Org-lun's cold voice piped up in response to this. " It is regrettable to inform that the Study Guidelines do not permit such an action to be taken where the specimens are of importance. In light of the developments in our current study of humans, it is now recognised that the study is significant and hence the specimens will remain here for study before being placed in permanent storage."

" This time I am not requesting, I am demanding," McLarry stated, a fist, clenched white, appearing on the table top with a dull thud.

Mal-dun felt cold indifference towards the futile emotiveness of the creature laying demands before him. It was clear that such a low species could have no capacity to force them into anything against their will. But difficult subjects made studies like this one messy and longwinded and he wanted to get back to Destination 849 as soon as possible. Pausing for a considered moment to allow the man to calm down, he said, " These pioneers that study Earth. Do they not collect specimens of biological interest for future reference?" There was a subdued nod from the woman. " Well then, I find it hard to imagine how you could object."

McLarry rose from his seat threateningly. " That's different, we are conscious and sentient. It's hardly the same as scooping up a bucket of snails."

Mal-dun assumed a posture that represented mild amusement. It was forbidden to tease and torment the objects of study, but he couldn't resist winding this one up just a twist. " That you are any different than a 'bucket of snails' has yet to be ascertained by our investigation. Until such a time, as objective data gatherers such as yourselves, we feel obliged to treat you as we would any other species."

"You know they all wanted me to blow you out of the sky?" McLarry said, visibly shaking with anger. " But I held them off, said I'd discuss the matter with you and sort it out. And what do I get in return? Rank insult from a pile of plastic with a machine for a brain."

To his own surprise, Mal-dun felt that comment cut right through his detached scientific persona, striking a part of him with little protection. Long had he hoped to increase the percentage of biological material in his body and a long way had he come since the process had begun. But the human was right. He was nothing but a lump of inanimate matter shoved together, probably by a true living thing. And his computer-like brain had very little changed, its basic circuits were still based on machine rather than biological technology. In their lowly, mindless way, these humans had already out done him by being alive and for that he envied them sorely.

Apparently Org-lun had been taken aback by the man's comments, but for an altogether different reason. " Please explain this term 'blow out of the sky'."

Jesse, still seated at the table answered the question. " It means to destroy a craft with weaponry, annihilate it. We have a store of old missiles left over from when rival groups were squabbling for the remaining scientific stations."

Whatever these humans were, they seemed to be full of surprises and hidden revelations. Org-lun must have shared this thought, as he said, " This is a phenomenon of incredible paradox. That humans are the first example of deliberate uncontrolled fighting between members of the same sentient organism is full reason to extend this study even further."

Jesse smiled, a hollow teeth baring grin with no happiness behind it. " You aren't used to waring species? Then your ship must be undefended. Totally vulnerable. We can destroy it any time we want."

* * * *

Back in the pod and heading for home after being more or less ejected from the eerie ship, Adrian glared at Jesse who was strapped in opposite him on the other side of the cramped cabin. " It's just not an option," he said to her, for about the third time.

Finally she lifted her chin and met his eyes. It was enough for him to nearly lose his resolve to maintain his anger. Her eyes seemed to swallow him up like water. " Really?" She said sarcastically.

Typical, he thought as he looked away to compose himself. When she had no argument she continued the debate anyway with childish sneers like that.

Jesse adjusted herself in her harness. " They'll get us all if you let them," she added.

" Then why didn't they 'get us'?" he retorted.

She shook her head to herself as if suggesting it was a stupid question. " You're so clever, boss. No wonder you managed to talk them round like that."

" Oh, please. You're criticising my techniques? You come along to support me in making demands then as soon as we get there you get all chatty and start wandering off onto a hundred and one irrelevant topics." He was only an Administrator and hated it when scientists babbled on about all that stuff he knew nothing about. It made him feel doubly inferior. " Then just to top it off," he continued, " you end a peaceable discussion with a death threat. Very diplomatic. You should have let me handle it. In fact I should have gone alone in the first place."

" Excuse me, McLarry. I did you a favour back there. We had to talk them up a bit to find out about them. Just look what we found out. They have no intention of leaving us alone yet they have no defence against hostility. At least now we know we need to deal with them and that we have the means to deal with them."

" For a start, they never said they didn't have any defences, only that they'd never encountered species that fought amongst themselves. But more importantly, if we blow them up, that makes us worse than them. At least they're taking the time to find out about us. The least we could do is learn from them."

" It's pretty darn obvious their not here to teach us. They're killers and we've got to stop them now, before anyone else is hurt."

They were on the final approach to the station. Preoccupied, Adrian hadn't noticed until he presently peeked out the window that the spiral lock hadn't opened yet. He clicked on the radio connection and chimed. A few seconds later the static hiss faded and the voice of the lock controller, Liz Hugard, made itself heard, tense and unusually high-pitched.

" That you McLarry?" Her tone was definitely more subdued than normal.

" Of course, who else?" he barked down the microphone. " Get the lock open, we're coming in right now. What's the hold up at that end exactly?"

There was an extended pause, a rustling sound.

" Well, sir..." Liz began nervously, " the guys sort of a had a kind of vote. Like when you was away."

"A vote? What are you talking about? I've just been talking to that thing and you think I need to hear about some unofficial union decision the troops have made? What is it this time, double rations of baked beans? For crying out loud Liz...."

" No... no it's not. I'm afraid, sir, the guys have voted not to let you back on the station."

Adrian actually unbolted his safety harness in order to address the microphone more squarely. This was more of a joke than he could take. "This better be good," he blazed to his subordinate.

" They... we decided you can't be trusted to handle this matter. Nothing personal, just that we need someone in charge who's prepared to take action to protect us."

Nothing personal? How could it be any more personal? "And who the hell might that be then?"

" Ribber. He's taking over, for now, and he's made a decision."

Adrian grimaced both inwardly and outwardly. Ribber was the stout, pig-headed engineer that had been in constant competition with him for years to be the head of the station. He didn't seem to realise admin would never post him even if Adrian died. He just wasn't qualified to run a station and its personnel. "Right, let's have it then," he said dejectedly, fearing the worst.

"He's going to fire up the missiles and attack the alien craft, so you better stay well clear. Sorry, by the way, Jesse. This isn't your doing, but you understand we can't risk trying to get you in.”

" Sure," Jesse replied sarcastically, too softly to be heard over the radio.

Adrian knew he was powerless to make Liz open up, but he gave it a shot anyway. "You know the lot of you will be in deep water when the mob from Central arrive? I can't do anything about that unless you let me in right now to clean up this mess."

" Sorry McLarry, I can't do that. I get my orders from Ribber now."

Suddenly the line was dead.

Adrian turned to Jesse, making no effort to stop his blood from boiling. He was tired of not being taken seriously. Pointing a thick-knuckled finger in her direction accusingly he said slowly," You organised this from the start didn't you? Came with me to make sure I did what I was meant to? It's not a nice feeling to be back-stabbed by someone I thought had been a friend for the last decade."

When she looked back at him, her eyes looked strained, bloodshot. " Isn't it now?" she said softly. "Well you couldn't have been my friend if you could think that of me after that long. So who's back-stabbing who? I took a lot of flack coming out with you, but you don't seem to care what other people think of you. I'm starting to see that maybe this is the best thing that could have happened after all."

He might have misfired there, but he didn't care. It was too late for niceties. " You're going to be disappointed then," he said, finding a degree of confidence fill him as he suddenly realised he still had a way to control the situation. " Because it's not going to happen. Nobody's blowing anybody out of the sky."

* * * *

Mal-dun faced Org-lun with a familiar sense of irritation mixed with hatred. The Discussion felt wrong with those empty chairs, but as usual Org-lun had insisted that the formal meeting system be used to resolve the issue. Mal-dun didn't quite see why; his counterpart would only do as he saw fit in the end anyway. The pretence of the Discussion was nothing more than a useless waste of time that made Org-lun feel he was following the Guidelines with religious strictness.

" Everything you've said so far only goes to prove what I've been saying all along," Mal-dun repeated, making direct eye contact for the sake of effect. "Not only are these animals wasting our time, they are potentially dangerous. I don't think they have the intelligence to have thought of faking the threat to get rid of us. And this space exploration technology they mentioned shows beyond doubt that we are dealing with a primitive civilisation at best here. They'd be better off taking the example of the Vermon. They long ago learnt that chasing after impossible dreams of galactic domination was a dead end. True enlightenment only came for them once they gained acceptance of this fact and settled permanently on their home planet. Seeking inner wisdom is the only true path. What fools are these humans anyway? They have a perfectly hospitable home planet on which to live, to belatedly restore civilisation, yet they choose to float around in space, expending all their energies on expanding science at the expense of inner peace."

Org-lun gave an expression that was rather similar in effect to rapid blinking of the eyelids in humans. " Floating around in space... worshiping science? Is that not the exact purpose the Bubble was created for? Is the quest of the Guidelines not glorious in its intrinsic nature?"

"We are automata, capable of carrying out interstellar travel. It is our role to observe and analyse and we are physically bound to our job and unlike the biota we have seen, properly equipt."

" It would then appear incongruous for an automate such as yourself to go to great lengths to make itself into a biological system."

A warm fluid bubbled over inside Mal-dun's abdomen. He wanted to throttle Org-lun, or at least insult him back, but knew either action would be useless. Org-lun would never understand the meaning emotion gave to existence. Instead he drove his point home once again. "We diverge from the issue. Humankind is not worth studying and has signalled hostile intentions. I strongly suggest to you that we cease study of this system and return immediately to Destination 849 and remake connections with the Vermon. Perhaps then we can learn information of value. Our insight is wasted here."

" Mal-dun, you claim to have realised mental advantages since incorporating biological material into your structure, yet it would appear that as time goes on your attitude becomes increasingly single minded and short sighted. Your insistence that we do the impossible does nothing to improve your position or reputation and certainly adds nothing to our research."

The boiling chemical had reached Mal-dun's thought centres now and he paused for a moment until the peak of the sensation had passed. "I won't let the issue rest, not because of thoughtless single mindedness, but because it is the only logical option. It is your inability to think for yourself beyond following your Agenda to the letter that has prevented us from achieving anything."

" The Agenda follows a higher logic."

" Pthher..." Mal-dun spat in a mocking imitation of human communication. " Will you compromise with me or do I have to take drastic action?"

" There is no compromise to be made. Humans are significant enough an anomaly to warrant a full study. There will be no question of departing until this is done. As for you, I have the power to fully thwart you and remove you from a position of any influence should your actions interfere with the work."

As he rose to leave, Mal-dun said, "Position of influence? Some threat. You've been in full control of the Bubble since day one..." He fell silent, as did Org-lun. It was traditional not to mention the beginnings of their kind, especially not in such a direct reference. None of them had any idea where or how it had all started and it was easier to just not think about it. Mal-dun said nothing further, darting form the room in a cloud of determined anger.

* * * *

" Just what do you think you're doing out there McLarry?" Ribber's baritone voice rasped through the speaker box.

Adrian watched Ribber's furious face on the television link with bemusement and let a grin appear on his own just for Ribber to see, hoping it would infuriate him further. " Hi there, Ribber," he replied calmly, one hand resting on top of the dusty screen. "What's the problem?" He turned around to see if Jesse was watching the transaction and saw her looking back, shaking her head slightly from side to side.

" Problem? You're my problem McLarry. What the hell do you think you're doing out there?" Ribber repeated.

Taking great pleasure at seeing the new self-instated boss of the Hawking reduced to yelling already, Adrian paused, pretending to be deep in thought before answering, "Oh, you know, I couldn't get back inside the Hawking so I just thought I'd go for a wander and wait for you to hand command back over to me."

"A wander? You're now a part of the flipping target you mad man. What on Earth drove you to dock with the alien ship again? Didn't Liz inform you we are preparing to blast the little mothers away anytime soon?" Ribber's puffy cheeks were red and somehow his crewcut hair seemed to be standing up even straighter. Adrian could even have sworn, upon close examination of the image, that the colour of the tattoos covering both of the man's ears was brightening with blood.

"Yes, she did as a matter of fact," he replied, now suddenly serious, "and if you want to do it, you'll have to blast me and Jesse here along with them 'cause we're staying put.’"

" Right McLarry, you've pushed me too far this time. Unlike you, I'm not a pushover and I won't be blackmailed. The lives of the crew here are worth more than yours. The missiles are programmed for launch in five minutes and if you're still in the way then it's tough luck. Oh, and one more thing. You're the last person I'd put in charge of anything, let alone the Hawking."

When Ribber's image was replaced by dull grey fuzz, Adrian felt a little less cocky. Could he be serious? Surely even if he had no regard for his Administrator he wouldn't knowingly send a rocket into Jesse Hunter, everybody's best friend. He'd never be forgiven for such a thing. He looked at her again to gauge her reaction. It surprised him.

"Congratulations Adrian McLarry once again for such a brilliant performance. Now that you've stuffed up again, how about getting us out of here before we get fried?"

"Are you serious? Ribber threatens to kill us and you blame me?"

"He didn't threaten any such thing. You knew full well what he was planning and you deliberately put the both of us in his direct firing line. Your fault. Now the others probably think I'm in on this with you."

" Well we're not moving. Ribber can't get away with bully tactics."

" At least he's standing up for us."

" He's a thug." Before the circular argument could continue any further, he lunged to the control console and set to work. "Can't take any chances though," he said to himself more than Jesse, "maybe Ribber is as much of a nut case as he makes out to be."

* * * *

The sheening outer skin of the automate that called itself Mal-dun awaited him as the screen pulled away from the connector. After Jesse's clever performance earlier, he had doubted they'd ever be allowed back in to negotiate, but he had emphasized that this time he would be alone. Mal-dun didn't make much effort to invite him through, but at least he had been admitted. Brushing past Mal-dun's cold shape he felt a momentary twinge of fear as he remembered the mayhem the thing had caused not long before on the Hawking. But his rationale told him that he was safe here. The thing was an intelligently programmed machine, not a psychotic killer. He continued into the alien ship.

When he realised that his host was not following him down the route to the room they had conversed in earlier, he turned and headed back. Mal-dun regarded him with no sign of emotion or motive, partly obscured now in shadow. Why did they keep the lights so low anyway?

Mal-dun spoke. "What is the purpose of this visit, if I may ask?"

He had thought the answer through already, rehearsing it several times as he waited to be admitted. He felt his feet inside his boots and fought to contain his nerves. " It's like this. One of my crew has undermined me and taken over control of the Hawking. He has taken a dislike to you and is threatening to destroy your ship."

" Your kind are capable of disagreement?" Mal-dun interrupted.

"It is more common than agreement, or at least so it seems at times. Anyway, the point is that this man, Ribber, has all the weapons trained on you and..."

" Surely he will not fire as long as yourself and Jesse are present?" He seemed grossly impatient.

" Well, that's what I was hoping, only I can't be sure, he seems pretty serious."

" If you are suggesting we depart, I would agree. Unfortunately, however, the Bubble is under the full control of my counterpart, Org-lun, who wishes to remain here under all circumstances."

" Actually, no. I was thinking that if we could connect our computer systems somehow, between your ship and my pod, then perhaps I'd be able to infiltrate Ribber's defences and control the Hawking remotely. I assume your technology in that regard must be awesome."

The automate paused as if processing data of great volume, shifted it's position. "Why would I want to do risk damage to the Bubble?"

Adrian shook his head in incomprehension and raised his arms in a shrug. "Because otherwise you and me both might just end up as star dust, got it?"

Mal-dun said nothing, but suddenly started to head down the darkened passageway. There was no telling what he was thinking but Adrian followed him anyway. If it was a refusal, he had to keep on at him until he agreed. What else could he do, sit and wait for the impact of a bomb blast? When he was led into what was obviously a computer suite, his nerves settled just a little bit but there was still a tension in him. How would this move be received by his workers, by the administration back at Central? Fernside was an unpredictable leader and it could be seen as conspiring with an enemy against his own kind. He could be arrested, executed if those in charge saw fit. But he knew it was right.

He sat himself next to Mal-dun at the station and watched as the automate plugged himself directly into the computer interface and brought about a rapid series of changes on the displays.

"Org-lun must approve any interference with the Agenda or data we have collected. But I am able to manipulate things enough to do this without consulting him. He's a full-blooded bureaucrat, incapable of making on the spot decisions without spending an age in thought and study first. Infuriating."

Adrian looked at the blank face in astonishment, curious as to how a machine was capable of understanding, let alone feeling, such a thing as anger. Mal-dun sat motionless as he worked internally to install the necessary changes. The Bubble and the pod were now physically connected but much of the information was carried between them by secure beam.

Mal-dun's fibro-plastic squeaked a little as he twisted to engage eye contact with Adrian. " Most unusual," he stated. " The two systems are highly compatible, based on the same basic logic patterns and can be merged within a minute. I would have expected a far lengthier process to be necessary for full conversion. We will use my system for power and yours as the connection and interface with the Hawking."

Suddenly the displays began to flash persistently as if in warning. Mal-dun's appendages flashed across them to move various controls until some form of message appeared. "You must return to your pod immediately," he asserted, perhaps reading directly from the display. " The connection is made but requires confirmation from your side to be functional. Of course I could break through this weak defence, but it may do some irreversible damage to..."

Adrian held up a hand as he rose off the seat. " I'll go sort it out, then I'll be in touch."

He raced out of the room and easily found his way out of the ship with its simple linear arrangement. The central corridor echoed loudly with his footsteps as he chugged down it. Sure, it could just be an in built defence, but he'd never heard of it before. He would have known. But Jesse, she was in the pod and had probably guessed what he was up to. She could have jammed the merger process herself somehow. He had to hurry before she did something stupid like totally disable the entire computer system, of the pod. Then they would really be at the mercy of Ribber.

The air lock had been left ajar so he was able to dive straight through the narrow tube and come out feet first in the small space of the pod which he now found painfully bright and cluttered. As he had suspected, Jesse was crouched over the computer console, her hair in a rough tangled mess around her face. She looked up guiltily as he arrived.

" I knew it," he spat as he pushed up against her to get in physical control of the console. " How dare you sabotage my attempt to restore sense. I am still in charge here, officially."

" Wasn't me, you pig. The console just started going mad. I was just trying to see what was happening. What are you doing to it anyway?"

" Connecting it to their system so that... holy hummock. Jesse, have a look at this."

Having entered his authority code, the displays had calmed down and produced a message in bold print, a high priority warning, aimed at the highest officer. He had to try several of his access codes before it let him in. He read the encoded information that resulted with astonishment then darkened the display and turned to Jesse, now softened to her as if he had always trusted her.

" What is it Adrian?" she asked.

" It's the alien ship and the Hawking. They were meant to come together."

" What are you talking about? Did they inject you with anything over there?"

" No, really. You're not going to believe this; I can hardly believe it myself. According to this message, the Hawking was purposely built to receive this alien ship, get this, on its return trip."

" Return trip from where exactly?"

" From the Hawking itself. The ship and robotic crew were designed and built by humans and sent away to collect data from the stars- to find other intelligences and gain vast scientific knowledge that we could never hope to accumulate on our own. They have returned."

"Oh come on, you don't really believe this do you? They probably implanted this themselves just now."

"No, think about it." He was positively jubilant now. " The Hawking predates our current civilisation and nobody has any idea what purpose it was built for except that the facilities indicate some form of scientific endeavour. And how old is it? The archaeologists estimated it must be tens of thousands of years old, well before the old science was lost."

" But that would mean..."

"It would mean a quantum jump forward for our meagre science, to greater than was ever reached before science was lost. This could be a catapult in to the future. Look, it even lists the automata on board. Mal-dun means nothing more than 'Machine-ALgorithm-Decoding-UNit. And get this, Org-lun, the boss, ORGanising-LUNar-module'. These machines must have been first made for much more mundane work."

As he absorbed the significance of the moment, Adrian saw Jesse's face fill with grudging amazement. Once Ribber had been dealt with, court marshalled most probably, Adrian's career would inflate as he received recognition for his discovery. He would be flung from his dull repetitive life at the station into herodom. What wonders of science would the returning ship have for them?

* * * *

Adrian found himself once again over the table from a disbelieving Mal-dun.

" Haven't you accessed the information yourself," Adrian was saying," now that the connection is authorised?" He couldn't remove the grin from his face.

" Yes," the automate replied flatly. " I said I couldn't believe it, not that it was not the truth. It does explain why this site was listed on the Destination Agenda, why Destination 850 had a name, Earth."

" You are a rather strange robot, wouldn't you say?"

" Strange? Tell me something that isn't strange, in the proper context. I find it strange to find there is an end to our mission, here of all places, after all this time, after leaving behind the Vermon, who I was convinced held the key to everything. But I can only now concede that humans are the great creators that designed us, the ones that Org-lun has always believed in, though I never shared his fantasies."

"It is as big a realisation for me too, you know. Incredible."

"I doubt that, given your short life span, yet your species is obviously capable of wonder, capable of far more than I would have imagined."

"Your sense of wonder must have come from us though, don't you see?"

"Granted, much of my make-up owes itself to the original design, but over the ages we have all improved ourselves with technology and I alone have sought improvement from biological additions."

" That is what I need to ask you," Adrian paused, overwhelmed by the global significance of what he was about to as. " You mention technology. You must have gathered incredible machinery, mathematics, philosophy..." He trailed of as he realised, even through expressionless fibro-plastic, that Mal-dun's thoughts were not with him.

" I fear to inform you that you are mistaken," Mal-dun said gravely.

" I don't follow."

" Your view point of the Universe is based, as it only can be, on your experience. But the galaxy is not occupied by humans or even human-like organisms. In fact humankind turns out to be unique amongst the millions of life forms we have studied in its never ending quest for data and scientific advancement for its own sake. We have encountered some species with limited mechanical abilities, not much greater than your own, but none that study the heavens in detail or seek knowledge. I find it quite bewildering that a species with motives such as your own could exist at all."

" Are you saying that science is not a universal concept?"

" I am saying that your kind is probably the only to have an intrinsic instinct to quantify and conquer the Universe."

" But this cannot be? Why should we be any different?"

"That is what I have been asking myself ever since this revelation came to light. There must be something about the Earth itself that led to this anomaly. Our research team there has found a diversity of life that staggers the mind, yes even mine. Millions and millions of genetically separated entities arranged in complex interacting patterns in various habitats. This is itself unheard of. Generally, life-bearing planets are occupied by only a few cooperative life forms that live in spacious environments. But tell me more about humans. What do you know of their history?"

Adrian thought about it for a second. How did one explain the entire species to an outsider in a few sentences, especially when he was next to ignorant about matters outside his own life and work? " Well," he began, trying to kick-start a beginning of an answer, " we don't know a lot. Little has been recovered of historical data since the rebirth of science."

" Tell me about that."

" For many years, the human race, restricted for the most part to space colonies as it is now, decided to leave behind the search for advances in technology." He had heard Jesse once say something along those lines. " It was thought that nothing good had been achieved and so the society became more contemplative of themselves, stagnant really..."

"Or perhaps coming close to reaching for true inner wisdom," Mal-dun interrupted. " But please continue."

“It was only relatively recently that the spark was reignited and we have sought to re-establish the old science and society that took us off the Earth in the first place."

" And how did that happen? Leaving the Earth I mean."

"Nobody knows how it started but the people that did it left behind relics like the Hawking Station that was left abandoned until just decades ago."

" People just decided to leave the planet behind?"

"I really couldn't tell you what could trigger something like that. To be honest, I've never given it much thought."

"Perhaps I can shed some light on the matter then." He paused, but it was clear he had already thought about what he was about to disgorge. "Our team that is currently researching the planet has literally uncovered some infallible evidence of a major ecological perturbation lasting perhaps several of your centuries, a disaster so great that the system may only now be returning to a state of equilibrium. A common link with this evidence is the apparent devastation of the environment followed shortly by the disappearance of human activity. Let's suppose this apparent global catastrophe resulted in a lack of resources to support a significant human population. In that case there would be no base population necessary for a few to be able to concentrate their entire life efforts on the advancement of pure science. Development of technology would stagnate.

"All together, this is starting to make more sense. " He said this with an air of greater ease with the situation. " Every piece of evidence backs up the picture that had been forming in my mind of the events and processes leading to what we see today.

" In essence it is the nature of the ecosystem on your home planet, Earth, that I believe created human endeavour. The millions of species I mentioned are in constant ecological and evolutionary competition with one another for a piece of the resources that are far from adequate. The discovery of fossils of many extinct forms by my team bears witness to this struggle. Yet one species broke away from the masses by means of intelligence, using observation and analysis to out perform the other species. This species, humans, grew in dominance using this ability, call it science if you will, until it became so sophisticated it effectively out-competed the rest of the planet, a feat never before achieved. But the biosphere of the planet relied on a delicate balance in the system and so at this point it crashed. Effectively, I believe humans out competed themselves.

" But from this need to survive and compete on a crowded world arose endeavour, the instinct to improve technology and expand territory as far as possible, to use the mind to understand the surroundings as far as possible. Once ecological constraints had been removed, this endeavour was applied to the greater Universe, with the consequence of space fare and other science."

Adrian was no scientist himself, nor was he a historian. But this story certainly rang true with him. Human thought was an unplanned bi-product of the species' biological origins and there were no other worlds where such events had occurred. Nobody else was out there measuring and pondering the stars as they had for countless millennia. Suddenly he felt very alone.

* * * *

Adrian placed a hand on Mal-dun's shoulder with regret as they paused on the platform of the Stellar Cruiser. Emotion filled him once again, as it had done many times over the preceding months.

Mal-dun returned the gesture and said, " I never believed rapid interstellar travel was possible, but I have learned by now not to underestimate humans."

Adrian looked up at the smooth outline of the ship above them, silhouetted behind stars. " Without you, I suspect it would have taken much longer to develop this technology, especially if we had relied on a live crew to control her."

Mal-dun's longevity, physical flexibility, not to mention experience had qualified him for this job. With Mal-dun at the helm, the work would be done much faster than with a human crew and this time there would be no lapse in communication. Sure they had found nothing akin to humans on the first run, but there were billions of suns out there and some of them were sure to house alien scientists. Even if they still found themselves alone, they would find places and phenomena of great interest, collect data never before obtainable from astronomical features. The galaxy, if not the Universe, would be theirs for the taking. His hand slid from the fibro-plastic shoulder.

" I thank you for arranging for me to go. I couldn't get used to staying put in one place for longer than a few hundred years."

Adrian smiled. " I only hope you can put up with Org-lun for another eternity. At least this time you'll be in charge."

" With initiative in my grips, Org-lun won't bother me. He'll be just another machine on board, as long as he doesn't keep up this rot about humans being Gods. He hasn't given up on the idea yet."

" Well, time to let you go in and prepare. I'll be watching the launch from the control area." He turned around and saw Jesse waving at them from the barricaded crowd, a bashful smile written on her face. He said goodbye to Mal-dun with a friendly slap and headed across the tarmac to join her. It was going to be some take off. Maybe his and Jesse's great-great-great grandchild would be around for the return landing.

THE END

© 2001 by Greg Guerin. I am 25 years old and live in the suburban out-skirts of Adelaide. I am currently completing an Honours Degree in Paleobotany at Adelaide University which is about half way through. My other passions are bushwalking and nature, playing and listening to music and fiction writing, which I would like to eventually make into a career.