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  She drew a fingertip idly down his chest. “Not even me?”

  “Hey, that’s not fair. I have to maintain some mystery, so I can keep you interested.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “No, I don’t.” He nuzzled her nose, then pulled away a fraction. “Wait. Is that something we can do?”

  She laughed. “Hell if I know.”

  14

  RUDAN

  * * *

  CALEB STARED AT THE GLISTENING silver-blue leaf in fascination. Fragile and delicate, it clung to its meager stalk in a desperate bid for life.

  Dewdrops and flower petals. Here in the depths of this dark, unforgiving place. He didn’t doubt a lesson waited in there somewhere.

  The toll from stressing his cybernetic enhancements so extensively in the melee with the mechs had come crashing down on him not long after they’d returned to the ship; he’d slept for six hours and arguably could benefit from six more. But the offer to see what Three had been forging in the realm of organics had been too morbidly intriguing to pass up.

  “This doesn’t look like any flora I’ve ever seen.” Alex peered at the base of another of the plants, clasping her hands behind her back to avoid brushing against it. They had been ‘warned’ about not touching the plant life.

  ‘Carbon does not occur naturally on the planet. The Ruda have synthesized a form of it, but the compounds they create remain high in silica content.’

  “Explains the color. Is this supposed to be soil they’re growing it in? Because it’s…not.”

  He joined her in scrutinizing the small plant, an ashen fern with spindly shoots. The dull bronze-hued sludge the plant lived in resembled a mucous goop. “I’m guessing it’s more synthesized pseudo-organic material.”

  When a pang of longing for the feel of real dirt hit him, he stepped back and surveyed the arboretum. Artificial sunlight flooded the room in a sterile white glow. Rows of planting beds lined the walls, host to a reasonable variety of plant strains. In the center of the room was Three’s pride and joy: a strange, twisted tree struggling to reach two meters in height.

  Two mechs followed them around, ready to leap into action should they touch something.

  He didn’t remotely trust Three or the mechs it acted through. Anyone or thing that tried to kill him faced a steep uphill climb—roughly equivalent to a sheer cliff—to win his trust. Valkyrie said the misunderstanding had been due to Three's lack of comprehension of the peculiarities of organic life. He could have figured that out for himself, but more importantly it didn’t change his perspective. Understanding an attacker’s reasons for attacking didn’t make the attacker any less of a threat.

  “You said ‘they,’ Valkyrie. Did Three tell you the other inhabitants of the planet were also attempting to create organic life?”

  ‘The Ruda value two things: energy and geographic space. Their coveting of organic life follows logically from these values. Organic life represents all they are not: it is flexible, mobile and capable of functioning without an active power source.

  ‘As we observed, they saturated the sun-facing side of the planet with power collectors and have now maximized their ability to draw energy from the system’s sun. Further, they’ve exhausted the planet’s available physical land on which to expand.

  ‘Three asserts there were once many Ruda, but the struggle to control power generation and transfer led the stronger to absorb the weaker as they grew in size and processing capability.

  ‘At this point they have reached a stalemate. The twelve remaining Ruda ‘Supremes’ are approximately equal in computing power and physical size, such that none are able to take out or incorporate a neighbor. The relationship among the Ruda which has evolved as a result of this state is not an adversarial one. They recognize the nature of their reality and work together to discover ways in which they might break out of their stagnation.’

  Alex relaxed in her chair. “They want to leave the planet. I’d come into this assuming it was a human trait, but we keep seeing it. It seems it’s what all sentient beings want—to travel the stars.”

  Caleb brought dinner over to the table and sat down across from her. Taking the time to cook a nice meal—penzine paella in this case—had served as meditation for him, helping to calm his lingering unease and generalized apprehension. “True, but the motives can be different. Ekos-3 wanted to conquer and consume. The Ruda…actually, maybe it is the same. Valkyrie, how do you think the Ruda would react if they encountered intelligent life on a planet they wanted to expand onto?”

  ‘Their reaction to our presence suggests the answer depends on whether they believed the new species could teach them something useful.’

  “So they’re narcissistic and selfish, but not as overtly antagonistic as Ekos-3.”

  ‘A reasonable assumption.’

  Alex paused with her fork halfway to her mouth. “Why didn’t they simply live on the sunny side, instead of building all those power cells?”

  “Conductivity.”

  She gave him a questioning look.

  He did enjoy impressing her whenever the opportunity arose. “Remember, once upon a time I was going to build orbital satellites. Conduction of non-quantum information degrades at higher temperatures—like those one would see in a place subject to unending sunlight. Now, we’ve mostly overcome those difficulties through advances in technology, but I imagine when the Ruda were wee little silicon crystals they weren’t able to do so. Perhaps they still can’t.”

  She smiled at him in that way she had, the way that filled his chest with a kind of free, serene joy. He buried his disproportionate reaction to a mere smile in a bite of food. It was good; the meditation had improved more than just his mental state.

  “I wonder if they began on the other side and migrated here to improve their efficiency. I mean, they require energy to function—to do anything other than sit there like rocks. If there’s no power source on the dark side, they must have started on the sun-facing side.”

  “Unless they had help.”

  Her eyes narrowed at her food. “The Metigens. Valkyrie, ask your buddy if they used to live on the light side.”

  ‘Three has no memory of doing so, but concedes the data could have been lost in early expansions.’

  “Convenient. I bet—”

  ‘It may interest you to know that we have been invited to an assembly.’

  “With the other Ruda?”

  ‘Correct.’

  Alex frowned, again at the food on her plate; luckily the food didn’t know she was taking out her skepticism of the Ruda on it. “Now why is it willingly sharing us with the others?”

  ‘Because I informed Three any dissemination of scientific or technical data must include all the Ruda entities.’

  Caleb laughed. “You really are developing a devious side, Valkyrie.”

  ‘Their current societal structure of cooperation and collaboration is a beneficial one. I do not want to disrupt it by unfairly arming one participant with greater knowledge solely because we happened to land in its territory.’

  Alex shrugged. “I would feel bad if we kicked off a civil war. So how do we go to this meeting?”

  ‘It takes place at a location on the northern pole, along the dark/light border. We will need to fly there.’

  15

  RUDAN

  * * *

  THE SIYANE CRUISED ABOVE A SEA of large, imposing industrial structures. The inner workings were hidden beneath wide swaths of metal exteriors, but warehouse-sized modules fit and stacked against one another like jigsaw pieces, climbing upward into the leaden violet clouds and stair-stepping down into abyssal chasms.

  The polar region was devoted exclusively to power: the capture, management, storage and distribution of it. A low-level but grating buzz began to permeate the cabin as they approached their destination.

  Alex scowled and rubbed at her earlobes. “Valkyrie, what is that noise?”

  ‘It is generated by a rarefied plasma present
in elevated levels here due to the extensive ionization of the air.’

  “Lovely—” She looked around, perplexed. “It went away.”

  Caleb shook his head. “No, it didn’t.”

  ‘Alex, I adjusted the transmission signal in your auditory vestibular nerve to filter out the unpleasant wavelength. Caleb, I wish I could do the same for you.’

  “It’s all right, Valkyrie. I’ve survived far worse.”

  They alighted on the roof of a fan-shaped building situated at the apex of Three’s domain and the literal pole of the planet. Beyond the structure the pervasive darkness rapidly transitioned to shadow then full day.

  With the light so too came the solar cells. They were each two hundred fifty-six meters in diameter, and according to Valkyrie were made of pure nanocrystalline silicon. They lined up end-to-end in rows stretching beyond the horizon.

  Alex darkened the tint on her helmet as she descended the ramp and wandered toward the edge of the roof, day-side. “Valkyrie, how do we get down to go…?”

  “What’s wrong?” Caleb materialized at her side almost instantly, and she pointed down.

  “Oh.”

  Beneath them, lining the entrance to the building and all surely ‘looking’ up at them, stood twelve mechs. All were far more elaborate—and far larger—than any of the mechs they’d previously seen. The only identifying characteristics to distinguish them from one another were differing patterns and colors of crystals adorning their torsos.

  The mech on the left end of the line took up a position in front of the others. Three?

  It is as I reported. Two organic life forms possessing language and fine motor skills. Their Supreme is a highly sentient synthetic. Though minuscule in size, it is capable of flight, and their presence here indicates this includes space flight.

  She grumbled under her breath. “Not our ‘Supreme’….” But they’d figured out it was a pointless argument to make; there was no convincing Three that Valkyrie wasn’t their master.

  Their transmitters squawked in overlapping signals—the attendees were talking over each other. “Valkyrie, are you able to make any sense of this?”

  ‘I am able to separate out the disparate signals, yes. They are mostly asking technical and scientific questions. Like Three, they seem interested in gaining knowledge above all other considerations.’

  Caleb eyed the gathered mechs suspiciously. “We’re not leaving this roof until they settle down and give us some space. A single one of those machines could crush us, on accident or otherwise.”

  ‘I have relayed your concerns to Three. It will attempt to explain the special considerations necessary when interacting with organic life forms.’

  “That we’re fragile and squishy?”

  ‘Essentially.’

  She didn’t care for being on display, particularly to a bunch of hyper-strong metal constructs which, among a variety of flaws, didn’t comprehend the concept of personal space. On the other hand, the view from the roof was rather awe-inspiring. Cold, hard, with dark and light clashing at the cusp. Imposing. Alien. But awe-inspiring.

  Abruptly the mechs began filing into the entrance below. ‘Three has asked the others to return to their positions inside. Three’s mech will remain here to escort you in.’

  “So, we’re back to the question of how we get down.”

  The answer presented itself in the form of a platform rising to their left. ‘A service lift for when work needs to be performed on the upper level.’

  “Convenient.” Caleb nodded a somewhat reluctant assent. He was patently on edge and expecting another attack at any minute.

  She didn’t trust Three either, much less the other Ruda, but she had internalized the fact Valkyrie believed Three at least would not try to harm them again. She and Valkyrie weren’t of one mind, on this topic or at times more broadly…but they did share a little mindspace in the middle.

  She squeezed Caleb’s gloved hand. Together they stepped onto the lift, and it descended to the ground floor.

  The pattern of fuchsia crystals adorning the torso of the mech standing in front of them didn’t resemble the number 3, but she’d hazard a guess it did somehow symbolize the quaternary three. Why would it be anything else? The Ruda were nothing if not literal.

  This way.

  The mech spun on its wheels and rolled inside. They followed at a generous distance.

  The entrance led into a cavernous, open room; fan-shaped to match the building, it appeared to be the majority of the building. Similar to the surface of the planet itself, it was divided into twelve pie slices, eleven of which were occupied by the mechs who had witnessed their arrival. A raised, circular platform dominated the front-center of the room.

  The top half of the long wall behind them was transparent, allowing rays of sunlight to stream in and splay across the floor. The presence of natural, visual light was oddly comforting and made the environment feel marginally less alien.

  Each of the twelve sectionals was equipped with the ports and capsules they’d been informed were used for small-scale data storage and transmission. At the front of each section was a pedestal upon which sat a single plant encased in protective glass. The features of the plants varied among the attendees, suggesting they were likely specimens from the individual nurseries.

  Was it a contest? Were they sharing, or showing off?

  The Three mech led them to the platform. A rack rose from beneath the floor, filled with storage units and several objects they hadn’t seen before, and a large transparent sheet descended from the ceiling. A display screen? Not surprisingly, there were no apparatuses for sitting.

  It was even warmer in here than it had been in Three’s complex. She checked with Caleb and together they collapsed their helmets.

  The transmitters exploded in a cacophony raucous enough to make the earlier scene outside seem like a casual patio chat. Caleb reached out and grasped her hand firmly.

  Be ready to run.

  The mechs didn’t charge the platform, thankfully. She’d earlier observed they were more elaborately constructed than the models they’d seen so far, and now they used finger-style appendages to tap away at their devices while chattering incessantly.

  She blew out a breath through pursed lips, fogging up the breather mask. “This is awkward. I haven’t been ogled this much since Primary Ball.”

  Caleb chuckled quietly and loosened his grip on her hand. “You went to a school dance? Somehow I can’t see that.”

  “I was rebelling against the rebel crowd by not rebelling. It was a thing.”

  “Oh, I’m sure.”

  The Three mech pivoted to face them.

  The others request general questions.

  She indicated understanding. “We’ll answer if we can.”

  Valkyrie informed us organics can cease functioning permanently. When does this occur?

  “If you mean how long do we live? Absent a fatal accident or other sudden cause of death? One hundred ninety years, give or take a few decades.” The planet’s stellar orbit was four hundred fifty-four Galactic days, but as it was tidally locked and they never saw the sun, she doubted the Ruda considered orbits significant. “I don’t have a way to convey how long it is as you perceive time.”

  Caleb smiled a little; forced. “I suspect you would consider it a short span of time to live.”

  How is stored knowledge uploaded to new instances of you?

  His smile relaxed, and she took a subtle step back to cede him the stage. “It’s not as simple as that. We do pass knowledge down from generation to generation, but it’s done in a gradual, organi—natural way over time. We learn facts, but we also learn social skills—how to interact with one another—and find our place in the world. We discover what we enjoy doing and what we’re good at doing. Once we’ve decided on a profession, we’re taught detailed, in-depth information about our chosen topic. So we don’t all know everything. We tend to specialize.”

  How do you replicate?


  Alex covered her mouth to stifle a burst of laughter, but due to the breather mask she mostly failed. He glanced over his shoulder at her wearing a feigned glare. She arched an amused eyebrow and gestured for him to please answer the question.

  “That’s, um…one of the most enjoyable aspects of being human, and also one of the most private. I believe the technical details are in the files, so we’ll just leave it there.”

  Wimp.

  Coward.

  She rolled her eyes and stepped up beside Caleb. “So you asked for data—for knowledge—and we’ve brought it. Valkyrie was able to encode a vast quantity of information into the storage media you provided.”

  She reached into the pouch at her hip and produced a rectangular slab of metal while Caleb did the same. “Information on organic anatomy and functionality—not merely on humans but our animals and plants as well—including neural structure and function. Details about our ship propulsion engines—” not superluminal propulsion, but she didn’t mention this “—and how they operate.”

  She paused for effect. “And data on wireless transmission of power across long distances.”

  The room erupted once again, and she couldn’t help but enjoy what was evident enthusiasm on the part of the Ruda.

  When it subsided to a manageable level, she loudly cleared her throat. “Before we continue, I have a question. Why do all of you gather to meet? Why bring your mech avatars here at all? Can’t your central hubs simply communicate with one another?”

  Silence lingered for several seconds, then several more. Had she offended them somehow?

  So that we can feel less alone.

  ‘The Ruda were so grateful for the data we provided, they offered extensive files on their own makeup in exchange. It is fascinating reading, learning how an inorganic species developed and evolved. The manner in which they’re able to manipulate metals and electronic signals is not only ingenious, it exceeds our own capabilities in several respects.’