Exolegacy, page 18
“I don’t have all the answers I’m afraid you’ll want right now, but I assure you that I will make it my purpose to work toward common ground between our peoples should we choose to walk that path together,” Als said.
“Ah, now you not only look like your father but sound like him as well. I suppose it was inevitable though, given the plan that he set in motion.”
“Plan?” Als inquired.
“Well yes, you don’t suppose that his gift to the three of you was not calculated? It was set in motion years before his death. Upon the advent of your mother’s in fact. He recognized the potential of the artifact that she found in the reliquary and used Balanta to gently push numerous variables into place to allow for the development of the technology that became Sentite. Do you think that it was a coincidence that your sister was so integral in its development?
“Your father confided in me before the incident that you dreamed of. We worked on the plan together, all four of us.” They turned to look at Xikse. “I don’t suppose that he informed you of that, did he?”
“I was sworn to secrecy until they were ready to learn of my full involvement,” said Xikse. “I suppose they will have to be ready now though. The four of us, your father and mother, and Nasah and I worked side by side in more than our official capacities. Nasah and I formed the Manaiar, and your parents together with their friend on Earth formed Balanta. When your mother found the reliquary, it seemed as though it was a gift that would push our plan forward, but then she got sick from experimenting with it. I informed the Arkeota of the existence of the reliquary and suggested that they use the discovery as a gift to Humanity. The Arkeota did not know about the artifact that your mother kept, nor did they know of our ulterior motives as Manaiar to give the technology to Humanity. However, they decided to mislead you as to the origin of the technology for fear that it would prompt too many humans to want to come and study the remains.
“That decision ultimately is what caused the rift between Nasah and I, and when they decided to divulge the knowledge of the Arkeota to your father, they were banished here. The remaining members of the Manaiar fell into disarray and control of Balanta was relinquished to Sekretärin Chawla. Any progress that has been made in the subsequent years has been slow and shallow. That is, until your father passed and handed you and your siblings the proverbial torch through his gift of Sentite.
That said, the effects that the gift of Sentite has had on you and your sister are not completely expected. I would advise close attention to the changes that you are experiencing.”
40 Development
The tension in the lab’s atmosphere had been palpable for the past week. The sudden inclusion of Som to the team had thrown Atla’s balance off and he felt that he needed to focus on getting Som up to speed on the very foundations of what he and Gin had been working on. Thankfully, Som was a quick study, and eager to contribute. He held his comments patiently until he was sure that they would be welcomed and of value, and tried to not ask questions that he could deduce himself apart from Atla’s guidance.
Atla had resolved to give more creedence to Som’s comments and questions. He was beginning to see why Gin had suggested him for the team; his insight was fresh and from a different perspective than his own.
Ilona was a different case. She felt as if her authority had been lost by Gin’s absentee decision to include Som in the team. She still checked in on them every other shift, but her attitude was much more terse when addressing Som.
It wasn’t until he asked the question that changed the gears of the whole project that either Atla or Ili accepted him as a fully contributing member of the team. Because of his background in geology, which was a much broader specialization than either Atla or Gin practiced, he was able to make observations that wouldn’t have naturally occurred to Atla.
“I’ve been thinking about the way you produce Sentite,” Som started one shift. “It seems that you’re trying to print the individual crystals layer by layer as if you were building a book filled with pages to store the information. While the ‘pages’ are very thin, I can’t help but feel as if you’re not creating a true crystal, no matter what you call it.”
Atla stopped what he had been focused on and turned with a sigh. “That’s the only way that we can create the capacity that is needed for the amount of information that needs to be stored in the crystals.”
“But what about all of the space between the ‘pages’? It’s wasted and provides no clear connection to the adjacent layers. You’ve created a book when what you need is a hard drive. It’s two dimensional, though stacked, what we need is a three dimensional matrix. I have an idea though.”
“Go on…” Atla said, entertaining him with the enthusiasm of a tired parent.
“Well, I have a colleague who asked me to help him on a project a while ago where he was growing industrial diamonds in a high-density soup of compounds. This sample that Gin sent to us of noachite is a high enough Ohm hardness to have been developed in a natural high-pressure environment. One that we can simulate here in the lab with minimal equipment; in fact, my colleague may not have use for his chamber anymore. I can see if we can borrow it for an experiment.”
“But how do we control the shape of the final crystal if we can’t assemble it artificially?” Atla asked.
“We don’t need to assemble it! That’s the beauty of crystals, they assemble themselves in the most efficient arrangement possible, and each has its own natural shape. Though it hasn’t been possible to allow for accelerated growth of such dense materials until the development of larger pressure chambers like the one I’m thinking of.”
“How big is this chamber? And how much can it actually accelerate the growth of a fabricated noachite crystal?” Atla was starting to follow Som’s logic and the ideas were beginning to form in his own head.
“It has a ten cubic centimeter pressure chamber, and I know that it doesn’t seem like much compared to the larger Sentite crystals that you’ve been producing, but hear me out. I’ve been analyzing the density and lattice structure of the noachite, and while it’s not consistent throughout the sample, there are regions that are at least ten times as dense as Sentite. Combine that higher density with the lack of spaces between the ‘pages’ and controlled growth to optimize the consistency of the lattice, and we can create a crystal that has a capacity approaching a hundred times that of Sentite.”
Atla’s head was swimming with the possibilities. “Show me your math.”
Som had the figures already preloaded into his terminal and linked them across the lab to Atla’s. Atla was silent for a solid ten minutes as he pored over the math that Som had done, only occasionally pausing to ask a question, or clarify a figure. He sat back, folded his hands on top of his head, and let out a hard sigh. “This checks out. I applaud you on your math. It’s not the approach I would have taken, but it’s elegant in its own right.”
Som smiled, “I’ve already reached out to my colleague. He said that we only need to arrange for the delivery of the machine to our lab. It’s ready when we are.”
Three hours later, Atla had an artificial carbon-silicate seed of noachite to begin the growth process, and Som had a solution that it could draw from. The pressure chamber had been delivered to the lab, and now took the lion’s share of the floor space for such a small capacity. Atla and Som had to alternate who stood on any one side as they had to shuffle sideways to get around it. As soon as the settings and samples had been inserted into the machine, Atla turned to Som, “How long did you figure this would take?”
“I worked out that we should have a workable sample to test in thirty-six hours, we can dial up the process to take a shorter time, but the margin of error for the final lattice grows beyond what I think we should risk.”
“Agreed. Let’s proceed then,” said Atla, then he tapped the indicator to start. “I say we celebrate. Shall we invite Ili to join us at The Hole? I think we need to fill her in on our potential progress.”
Som thought for a moment, but before he could respond, Atla continued, “If you can change my mind about your value to this team through this idea, you can change hers. I know her much better than you do.”
Som nodded and they locked up the lab, then headed to the Old Town and Desmond’s Hole. Atla shot a notification to Ili as they walked.
They didn’t have to wait long at the popular bar for Ili to show up. Apparently, Atla’s invitation hinted at progress, and that had been sparse in the last few weeks, so her demeanor was more relaxed and anticipatory than usual. She stopped at their table and looked at Atla, prompting him to begin his update. But Atla only indicated that Som should fill her in, and then turned to order a round of mahua for the three of them.
He returned a moment later to find Som already in the excitable throes and gesticulations of explaining the science behind his idea to someone who didn’t share their foundational knowledge of the subject. Atla watched with a tinge of jealousy. Som would make a good teacher, he was good at explaining complex concepts and was much more comfortable with other people than he was. That is, when those other people we more welcoming of his presence as well, as Ili was apparently becoming more so. Her face was fixed on Som’s gestures and her attention was rapt.
When Som concluded, he relaxed his shoulders and lifted his glass of mahua in salute, then shot the whole thing down in one gulp. Atla and Ili for their part, sipped slowly, observing and processing respectfully.
“So if this is the solution that you’ve both been working on, when will it be ready for shipment?” Ili asked.
“We will only have a testable sample in three shifts,’ Atla interjected, “There’s not much we can do until then but check and recheck the math. I anticipate that we’ll need at least three rounds of testable samples before we’re ready for a first run. That gives us six to eight shifts, including the actual testing, to settle on a production solution. But the more important question is regarding stepping up the capacity of the pressure chamber. Right now, we can only produce one sample at a time. Depending on how many of these, what, Sentite 2.0, we need, we’ll need to increase the number of production chambers.”
“I’ve been thinking about that actually, the name,” said Som. “This is really a very different thing than Sentite, not to diminish your work, groundbreaking as it is, but branding is highly sensitive to the application of the product.”
“I didn’t know that branding was a specialization of yours,” Atla said, only slightly sarcastically.
“I’ve dabbled in marketing, before deciding on a major at the University, but ultimately found that it wasn’t for me. I’m happy to dust off those old synapses though if the need arises. But what will these be used for?” Som directed the last question to Ili, who seemed conflicted.
“I’m not privy to the entirety of the project, and I think I’ll need to connect with my superiors about letting you know more. Can we pick up this conversation next shift? I can come to the lab,” she said.
“It’ll be tight, but sure,” Atla said.
They all ordered another round of mahua to cement their progress, and chatted about more inconsequential things for another hour until Ili excused herself to go and ‘make that connection’. Atla and Som agreed that they should rest before the next shift so each went their own way.
They all arrived at the lab within five minutes of each other on the next shift. Ili started by informing them of the conversation that she had with her new handler, Vizeminister Hernandez, who coincidentally or not, was Gin’s older brother. He had both educated her on the more broad picture of the project and updated her as to the progress that the other elements, meaning his other siblings on Tiras, had made. The pieces all fit together, he gave Ili his blessing to update Atla and Som as to the fuller picture as well, which she proceeded to do over the faint hum and knocking of the pressure chamber in the lab.
When she had finished, the tension had eased considerably between the three of them, as was the effect of all being on the same page. Som had a concentrated expression though.
“So this technology will be given back to the Manisae? So that they can what, record their history?”
“Not only. If we can create a crystal with sufficient capacity, and then figure out how to duplicate it once their history has been recorded, we want to provide it and the technology to the Confederation as well. This knowledge should be publicly accessible for it to have the most impact.”
“So now we need to figure out how to duplicate an already recorded crystal? That’s not something that’s been done before, even with Sentite,” said Atla.
“What about splitting the input?” Asked Som. “We wouldn’t have to copy a fully written crystal if you just split the incoming data stream at the buffer so that it was redirected into two different blanks.”
“That would work if we had a buffer that could handle the capacity of the incoming stream of data as well as the doubled output as well.”
“Or, what if we just used a higher capacity interface and split it from the source into the target crystals?” said Som. “That wouldn’t really require reinventing the technology, it just might get bulky and go slower. I expect we’re talking about, what, two or three petabytes of data? Sentite can handle just over one petabyte in its current standard form and density.”
“That’s not how I understand it,” said Ili. “The Vizeminister said that in their advanced form as ejd, the manis brain can contain the entirety of their species’ history. That’s not millions of individual memories, it’s billions.”
“I think we need to make the crystals bigger, by at least an order of magnitude,” said Atla.
“So, then exabytes? That’s theoretically possible, or rather, practically possible if we get this new format to work. Sheesh. That’s a lot of data to copy. And the process would have to be done on Tiras too… I wonder what kind of capacity they have for transferring the data. Maybe we should just send them two blanks as big as we can make them reasonably and hope they figure it out. I mean, we don’t even really know the physiology of the Manis brain, so how are we supposed to create an interface for it?”
“What’s our time frame?” Atla asked Ili.
“As I understand it, this project has been in progress for longer than I’ve been with Balanta. But I get the feeling that it needs to be done as soon as possible.”
“Isn’t that always how it is with clients…” Atla mused. “This is why I went into research.”
39 The Precursors
The relic that Ehrenfeld held in his hands was so unlike the Sentite monolith that contained his father’s childhood memories that he had a hard time believing it was the inspiration for it. It was much more elegant, in its finely carved pedestal and cap and having a much more opaque black color than the cloudy grey of the one on the shelf. Ehrenfeld admired it, cautious to not even brush the surface of the crystal with his bare hands. He had watched the message that Gin had included in the package, explaining its origins and factor in their mother’s death. He understood its danger and importance. The fact that it potentially contained the knowledge and memories of a completely unknown sentient species set his mind spinning, especially since there weren’t currently any human efforts to decipher it. He couldn’t speak for manisae efforts though. According to the reports from his sister, there had been a reliquary or library of sorts containing thousands of such crystals, but when the secret of the discovery had made its way to the Manisae leadership, the entirety of the site had been emptied for sequestration.
As Ehrenfeld had read through Gin’s report though, more of the pieces fell into place. Their mother’s death had been an accident after all but was caused by hasty experimentation with the relic. However, due to the machinations of the Manaiar and Balanta organizations, one such relic had found its way into human hands as a ‘gift’ from the Manisae. If only the Arkeota had been transparent regarding its actual origins, much of the political strife of the last decades between the two peoples could have been avoided. In that same spirit of wishful transparency, Ehrenfeld decided to display the relic front and center on the coffee table in the sitting room. If another visit from the Kalas were to happen, they would likely know exactly what it was, if not any other human other than his aunt.
That had been three days ago. Now there was another large file in the queue on his terminal reserved for Balanta communications. This time from Aryabhata University titled ‘Legatite Development’. He gestured it open and settled in to listen to the report dictated by Ilona Dragan, his operator in charge of the hardware aspect of the project. He had never met her in person, only having been put in charge of the Balanta operation a week prior, but had spoken to her over a link. His first impression of her had been skewed by the fact that he was her superior, and the fact that she apparently did not approve of the new face, despite his personal connection to the project. Overall though, she was professional if not a bit severe in her manner. Ehrenfeld assumed that if they were to work together in person, their personalities would clash.
This report though showed an altogether different side to Ilona’s personality, her voice was a slightly higher pitch and sounded more excited as she related the progress of her small team over the past few days.
“Vizeminister Hernandez, I hope this message finds you well,” she started out of character. “Doctor Thero and Mister Kundi have made a breakthrough in the development of an advanced form of Sentite. Thanks to the sample that was sent to the lab by Doctor Hernandez at Zelmas, and the unique insight of Mister Kundi, they have developed a wholly novel process for ‘growing’ a new form of storage crystal. Doctor Thero assures me that it is too different from Sentite to call it that, so Mister Kundi has offered to dub it Legatite, in honor of the history of the Manisae that we are planning on using it for to store and disseminate. I’ve given my tentative approval of the moniker but wanted to brief you on it first. Either way, that is a small part of the news. They have managed to ‘grow’ the first sample of the Sentite in a small pressure chamber, and have tested it successfully. However, for the purposes that you outlined for me in our last discussion, they will need to build a much larger device to create crystals of the required capacity, and likely more than one.
