Note
^ Using w.bat and wc.com to do 1500words/day
CHAPTER 20
Note
!Someplace should explain why "Beyond" is appropriate even for
! the people living there. (Could be in conversation with Pham Nuwen, or
! even in another story.)
!V You should make implausible that they are being chased
Pham Nuwen remembered almost nothing of the first days after dying, after the pain of the Old One's ending. Ghostly figures, anonymous words. Someone said he'd been kept alive in the ship's surgeon. He remembered none of it. Why they kept the body breathing was a mystery and an affront. Eventually the animal reflexes had revived. The body began breathing of its own accord. The eyes opened. No brain damage, Greenstalk(?) said, a full recovery. The husk that had been a living being spoke no contradiction.
What was left of Pham Nuwen spent a lot of time on the OOB's bridge. From before, the ship reminded him of a fat sowbug. The bugs had been common in the straw laid across the floor of the Great Hall of this father's castle on Canberra. The little kids had played with them. The critters didn't have real legs, just a dozen feathery spines sticking out from a chitinous thorax. No matter how you tumbled them, those spines/antennas would twitch the bug around and it would scuttle on its way, unmindful that it might be upside down from before. Yes, the OOB's ultradrive spines looked a lot like a sowbug's, though not as articulate. And the body itself was fat and sleek, slightly narrowed in the middle.
So Pham Nuwen had ended inside of a sowbug. How fitting for a dead man.
And now he sat on the bridge. The woman brought him here often; she seemed to know it should fascinate him. The walls were displays, better than he had ever seen in merchantman days. When the windows looked out the ship's exterior cameras, the view was as good as from any crystal-canopy bridge in the Qeng Ho fleet.
Note
!V CHK numbers with previous
!V also check how this fits with the speed of the attack approach
!V at Relay
!V June 13, 1991 I estimate this is at 26Dec15988, so they've been
!V going for 18d (and are about 3d from disk plane). So by now they
!V should be going slower than 1Kly/d ( = 41.67 ly/hr = 0.0116 ly/sec)
!V so here I say > 30 ly/hr
^ V CHK at 0.3c what relativistic effects would Pham have seen in
^ V the Qeng Ho?
It was like something out of the crudest fantasy -- or a graphics simulation. If he sat long enough, he could actually see the stars move in the sky. The ship was doing about ten hyperjumps per second: jump, recompute and jump again. In this part of The Beyond they could go a thousandth of a light-year on each jump -- farther, but then the recompute time would be substantially worse. At ten per second that added up to more than thirty light-years per hour. The jumps themselves were imperceptible to human senses, and between the jumps the were in free fall, carrying the same intrinsic velocity they'd had on departing Relay. So there was none of the doppler shifting of relativistic flight; the stars were as pure as seen from some desert sky, or in low-speed transit. Without any fuss, they simply slid across the sky, the closer ones the faster. In half an hour he went farther than he had in half a century with the Qeng Ho.
Note
!V Usual sapience problem here:
!V INCON these speeds may not be all that frustrating to the Riders
!V since they do a lot of trade with Middle Beyond and Low. You may
!V just want to zap this paragraph
!
Yet the skroderider, Blueshell, spent much of his time
! grumbling about their slow progress, and the ship's idiocy. This deep
! in the Beyond OOB had no intrinsic intellect, nor the computer
! power needed for the super high speeds that were possible near the
! Transcend. Sure. Down here, the Out of Band II was only slightly
! beyond the wildest dreams of Pham's Qeng Ho.
Greenstalk drifted onto the bridge one day, began changing the windows. As usual she spoke to Pham as she did so, chatting almost as if there were a real person here to listen:
"See. The center window is an ultrawave map of the region directly behind us." Greenstalk waved a tendril over the controls. The multicolored pictures appeared on the other walls. "Similarly for the other five points of direction."
The words were noise in Pham's ears, understood but of no interest. The Rider paused, then continued with something like the futile persistence of the Ravna woman.
"When ships make a jump ... when they reenter, there's a kind of an ultrawave splash. I'm checking if we're being followed."
Colors on the windows all around, even in front of Pham's eyes. There were smooth gradations, no bright spots, no linear features.
"I know, I know," she said, making up both sides of the conversation. "The ship's analyzers are still massaging the data. But if anyone's pacing us closer than one hundred light-years, we'll see them. And if they're farther than that -- well, then they probably can't detect us."
Note
!V CHK number and directions with similar statement
!V earlier INCON
It doesn't matter. Pham almost shut the question out of his mind. But there were no stars to look at; he stared at the glowing colors and actually thought about the problem. Thought. A joke: no one Down Here ever really thought about anything. Perhaps ten thousand starships had escaped the Fall of Relay. Most likely, the Enemy had not cataloged those departures. The attack on Relay had been a minor adjunct to the murder of Old One. Most likely, the OOB had escaped unnoticed. Why should the Enemy care where the last of Old One's memories might be hiding? Why should it care about where their little ship might be bound?
A tremor passed through his body; animal reflex, surely.
Note
!V June 8, 1991 FRAG, which pretty much points the reader in the
!V wrong direction:
!V FRAG
^
Pham stared at the ultrawave map. The weave and tone weren't
^ quite fixed. There were little ripples as the ship's processors played
^ signal processing games with the input; still no sign of blips or
^ dashes that might be a ship's trail. But if the Enemy even suspected
^ ... then the OOB was surely being shadowed. It wouldn't be by the
^ full intellect of the Enemy; they were far too deep in the Beyond for
^ that. No, the Enemy would be using its thralls, on ships not much
^ better than this one. Even so, he doubted that they'd be detected. If
^ the others had more than a couple of ships, they could post them along
^ the OOB's path, not move them except when they were out of range.
^
Ravna and the Skroderiders were likely on a fool's errand ... and
^ if not, then a suicide mission. Being already dead, it scarcely
^ mattered to Pham Nuwen.
Note
!V I had an Eye in the U reference in this paragraph
Panic was slowly rising in Ravna Bergsndot, every day a little stronger. It was not any particular disaster, just the slow dying of hope. She tried to be near Pham Nuwen part of every day, to talk to him, to hold his hand. He never responded, not even -- except perhaps by accident -- to look at her. Greenstalk tried too. Alien though Greenstalk was, the Pham of before had seemed truly attracted to the Riders. He was off all medical support now, but he might as well have been a vegetable.
And all the while their descent was slowing, always a little worse than what Blueshell had predicted.
Note
!V March 23, 1991 IDEA solitons. SEQ about Pilgrim
And when she turned to the News ... in some ways that was the most horrifying of all. The "death race" theory was getting popular. More and more, there were folk who seemed to think that the human race was spreading the Blight:
Note
!V March 23, 1991 generic notion of Foundling races: ones that have had
!V members moved long distances. One reason for making it generic is so
!V that not everything in this story is of maximum cosmic proportions.
Note
^ [Light gloss]
Crypto: 0
Note
^ Syntax: 43
As received by: OOB shipboard ad hoc
Note
^ (full-gloss channel)
Language path: Baeloresk->Triskweline, SjK units
From: Alliance for the Defense [Claimed cooperative of five polyspecific empires in the Beyond below Straumli Realm. No record of existence before the Fall of the Realm.]
Note
^ V IMPER gotta get these three-dimensional relationships
^ V worked out INCON Here the position is okay, as long as you
^ V mean "below" in the Zone sense
Subject: Blighter Video thread
Distribution: Threat of the Blight, War Trackers Interest Group, Homo Sapiens Interest Group
Note
!V Should go through and change this to War Trackers
!V (two words). ( "Wartrackers" --> "Wart Rackers" not good :-)
Date: 17.95 days since Fall of Relay
Note
^ CHRON" Date: 1.551 Msec since Fall of Relay
! 1.590 Msec since Fall of Relay
! (Clock Slop < 2500 seconds)
Text of message:
Note
!V CHK INCON number of messages; also compare with the claim for
!V how long it took to get the video message, and other problems of
!V transceiver bandwidth
!V June 13, 1991 There's been 13d to receive these messages about
!V the Helper video. I think 0.5e6 messages in that time is
!V roughly consistent with c15 message from Arbitration Arts
!V (it comes out to 1600msg/h at 10KB/msg)
!V (Actually, the long time needed to pick up the message on OOB
!V may be a function of its receivers)
So far we've processed half a million messages about this creature's video, and read a goodly fraction of them. Most of you are missing the point. The principle of the "Helper's" operation is clear. This is a Transcendent Power using ultralight communication to operate through a race in the Beyond. It would be fairly easy to do in the Transcend -- there are a number of stories about thralls of Powers there. But for such communication to be effective within the Beyond, truly extensive design changes must be made in the minds of the controlled race. It could not have happened naturally, and it can not be quickly done to new races -- no matter what the Blight says.
We've watched the Homo Sapiens interest group since the first appearance of the Blight. Where is this "Earth" the humans claim to be from? "Half way around the galaxy," they say, and deep in the Slow Zone. Even their proximate origin, Nyjora, is conveniently in the Slowness. We see an alternative theory: Sometime, maybe further back than the last consistent archives, there was a battle between Powers. The blueprint for this "human race" was written, complete with communication interfaces. Long after the original contestants and their stories had vanished, this race happened to get in position where it could Transcend. And that Transcending was tailor-made, too, re-establishing the Power that had set the trap to begin with.
We're not sure of the details, but a scenario such as this is inevitable. What we must do is also clear. Straumli Realm is at the heart of the Blight, obviously beyond all attack. But there are other human colonies. We ask the Net to help in identifying all of them. We ourselves are not a large civilization, but we would be happy to coordinate the information gathering, and the military action that is required to prevent the Blight's spread in the Middle Beyond.
Note
!V CHRON CHKd April 20, 1991
For nearly seventeen weeks, we've been calling for action. Had you listened in the beginning, a concerted strike might have been sufficient to destroy the Straumli Realm. Isn't the Fall of Relay enough to wake you up? Friends, if we act together we still have a chance.
Death to vermin.
Note
^ V April 20, 1991 should be at least one other place in the story
^ V where the foundling nature of humanity is specifically mentioned.
^ V Also need some echo[es] of the "Miracle of Nyjora" (and SEQ)
^ Occasionally
^ circumstance conspires to throw small settlements to a great remove.
^
The bastards even played on humanity's foundling nature. Foundling races were rare, but scarcely unknown. Now these Death-to-Vermin creatures were turning the Miracle of Nyjora into something deadly evil.
Death to Vermin were the only ones to call for pogroms, but even respected posters were saying things that indirectly might support such action:
Note
!jrf Too many messages in a row!!
^ [Light gloss]
Crypto: 0
Note
^ Syntax: 43
As received by: OOB shipboard ad hoc
Note
^ (full-gloss channel)
Language path: Triskweline, SjK units
From: Sandor Arbitration Intelligence at the Zoo [A known military corporation of the High Beyond. If this is a masquerade, somebody is living dangerously.]
Subject: Blighter Video thread, Hanse subthread
Key phrases: limits on the Blight; the Blight is searching something
Distribution: Threat of the Blight, Close-coupled Automation Interest Group, War Trackers Interest Group
Date: 11.94 days since Fall of Relay
Note
^ CHRON" Date: 1.032 Msec since Fall of Relay
! 1.590 Msec since Fall of Relay
! (Clock Slop < 500 seconds)
Text of message:
Note
!V IMP This message actually addresses the question of why the
!V Known Net has many of the limitations of our Internet (circa 1988)
!V Perhaps here a discussion of Blight's
!V possible permanence? NO June 13, 1991
The Blight admits that it is a Power that tele-operates sophonts in the Beyond. But consider how difficult it is to have a close- coupled automation with time lags of more than a few milliseconds. The Known Net is a perfect illustration of this: Lags range between five milliseconds for systems that are a couple of light-years apart -- to (at least) several hundred seconds when messages must pass through intermediate nodes. This, combined with the low bandwidth available across interstellar distances, makes the Known Net a loose forum for the exchange of information and lies. And these restrictions are inherent in the nature of the Beyond, part of the same restrictions that make it impossible for the Powers to exist down here.
Note
!V June 13, 1991 seems slightly in conflict with Pham at Relay
We conclude that even the Blight can't attain close-coupled control except in the High Beyond. At the Top, the Blight's sophont agents are literally its limbs. In the Middle Beyond, we believe mental "possession" is possible but that considerable preprocessing must be done in the controlled mind. Furthermore, considerable external equipment (the bulky items characteristic of those depths) is needed to support the communication. Direct, millisecond-by-millisecond, control is normally impractical in the Middle Beyond. Combat at this level would involve hierarchical control. Long-term operations would also use intimidation, fraud, and traitors.
These are the threats that you of the Middle and Low Beyond should recognize.
Note
^ V June 13, 1991 My attempt to explain the Fall of
^ V Relay and de-fuse what would otherwise be reasonable reader suspicions.
These are the Blight's tools in the Middle and Low Beyond, and what you should guard against for the immediate future. We don't see imperial takeovers; there's no profit [sustenance] in it. Even the destruction of Relay was probably just a byplay to the murder it was simultaneously committing in the Transcend. The greatest tragedies will continue to be at the Top and in the Low Transcend. But we know that the Blight is searching for something; it has attacked at great distances where major archives were the target. Beware of traitors and spies.
Note
!V Interpolations like the following sentence point up need for some
!V special use of fonts and/or whitespace to keep messages and
!V narrative distinct:
Even some of humanity's supporters sent a chill through Ravna:
Note
^ [Light gloss]
Crypto: 0
Note
^ Syntax: 43
As received by: OOB shipboard ad hoc
Note
^ (full-gloss channel)
Language path: Triskweline, SjK units
From: Hanse
Note
!V ID You may want to change the subject thread, since this is now
!V spread across a couple of chapters
^ V April 20, 1991 may want to formalize and rationalize subthread
^ V notation
Subject: Blighter Video thread, Alliance for the Defense subthread
Key phrases: Death Race Theory
Distribution: Threat of the Blight, War Trackers Interest Group, Homo Sapiens Interest Group
Date: 18.29 days since Fall of Relay
Note
^ CHRON" Date: 1.580 Msec since Fall of Relay
! 1.590 Msec since Fall of Relay
! (Clock Slop < 2500 seconds)
Text of message:
Note
!V CHK CHRON 2000y
!V note that this impacts lots of stuff including SEQ's
!V June 13, 1991 Fortunately for me, it's reasonable that drift rate
!V timing would be somewhat (or very) unreliable
I have obtained specimens from the human worlds in our volume. Detailed analysis is available in the Homo sapiens interest group archive. My conclusions: previous (but less intensive) analysis of human phys/psych is correct. The race has no built-in structures to support remote control. Experiments with living subjects showed no special inclination toward submission. I found little or no evidence of artificial optimization. (There was evidence of DNA surgery to improve disease resistance: drift timing dated the hackwork at two thousand years Before Present. The blood of Straumli Realm subjects carried an optigens, Thirault [a cheap medical recipe that can be tailored across a wide mammalian range].) This race -- as represented by our specimens -- looks like something that arrived from the Slow Zone quite recently, probably from a single origin world.
Has anyone done such retesting on more distant human worlds?
Note
^ [Light gloss]
Crypto: 0
Note
^ Syntax: 43
As received by: OOB shipboard ad hoc
Note
^ (full-gloss channel)
Language path: Baeloresk->Triskweline, SjK units
From: Alliance for the Defense [Claimed cooperative of five polyspecific empires in the Beyond below Straumli Realm. No record of existence before the Fall of the Realm.]
Subject: Blighter Video thread, Hanse 1
Distribution: Threat of the Blight, War Trackers Interest Group, Homo Sapiens Interest Group
Date: 19.43 days since Fall of Relay
Note
^ CHRON" Date: 1.679 Msec since Fall of Relay
! 1.595 Msec since Fall of Relay
! (Clock Slop < 2500 seconds)
Text of message:
Who is this "Hanse?" It makes objective, tough-sounding noises about testing human specimens, but it keeps its own nature secret. Don't be fooled by humans telling you about themselves! In fact, we have no way of testing the creatures that dwell in Straumli Realm; their protector will see to that.
Death to vermin.
Note
!IMP INCON How they can hear Navnløs with just shipboard receiver
!V SOLN because they have the antenna swarm
!V CHK number of messages
!V probably should have something about redirected antenna at
!V Tinesworld
!V Instead, back in c03, I imply the the tracking is dynamic
!V suggest reworking format below, to be consistent with the way
!V you presented earlier messages
!V ID Expanding a little on "vagaries" could be used to make it clearer
!V that this stuff is not going through the Net
And there was a little boy trapped at the bottom of the well. Some days, no communication was possible. Other days, when the OOB antenna swarm was tuned in exactly the right direction and when the vagaries of the zone favored it -- then Ravna could hear his ship. Even then the signal was so faint, so distorted, that the effective transmission rate was just a few bits per second.
Note
^ OBS:
^ Some days there was
^ only a single exchange of messages; others, it was almost like a
^ conversation, with turnaround times of just a few minutes.
Jefri and his problems might be only the smallest footnote to the story of the Blight (less than that, since no one knew of him), but to Ravna Bergsndot these conversations were the only bright thing in her life just now.
Note
^ V March 26, 1991 CHK characteristics of mangrove trees
The kid was very lonely, but less so now, she thought. She learned about his friend Amdi, about the stern Tyrathect and the heroic Mr. Steel and the proud Tines. Ravna smiled to herself, at herself. The walls of her cabin displayed a flat mural of jungle. Deep in the drippy murk lay regular shadows -- a castle built in the roots of a giant mangrove tree. The mural was a famous one; the original had been an analog work from three thousand years ago. It showed life at an even further remove, during the Dark Ages on Nyjora. She and Lynne had spent much of their childhood imagining that they were transported to such a time. Little Jefri was trapped in the real thing. Woodcarver's butchers were no interstellar threat, but they were a deadly horror to those around them. Thank goodness Jefri had not seen the killing.
Note
!V June 12, 1991 FRAG:
! his parents' murder. Maybe somehow his sister did live;
! she and he and Amdi all agreed it could be....
!V June 12, 1991 Do you want there to be the hope expressed in the
!V preceding paragraph???
This was a real medieval world. A tough and unforgiving place, even if Jefri had fallen in with fair-minded people. And the Nyjoran comparison was only vaguely appropriate. These Tines were pack minds; even old Grondr 'Kalir had been surprised at that.
All through Jefri's mail, Ravna could see the panic among Steel's people:
Note
!V IDEA 17Jan91 living archives (related to the notion
!V of smart documents)
!
!V following is excerpt from a message.
! Probably should be message font
!V and layout even though there's no header stuff:
!V From: tag
Mister Steel asked me again if theres any way we can make our ship to fly even a little. I dont know. We almost crashed, I think. We need guns. That would save us, at least till you get here. They have bows and arrows just like in Nyjoran days, but no guns. Hes asking me, can you teach us to make guns?
Woodcarver's raiders would return, and this time in enough force to overrun Steel's little kingdom. Back when they thought OOB's flight would be only thirty or forty days, that had not seemed great a risk, but now .... Ravna might arrive to find Woodcarver's murdering complete.
Note
^ V June 8, 1991 CHK for too much repetition of such cris:
Oh Pham, dear Pham. If you ever really were, please come back now. Pham Nuwen of medieval Canberra. Pham Nuwen, trader from the Slowness.... What would someone such as you make of this? Hmm.
Note
!
! Pham Nuwen ... I need you so much.
!V PRB Soliciting better last sentence here.
!
Staring at the accumulated messages, the panic and despair
! crested in her. She sat for a while in the biggest funk of her
! life.
! Then slowly, the way it always seem to happen ... she began to
! think
! through the problem. Maybe they couldn't do much, but by the Powers
! she and Greenstalk and Bluestalk would do something.