Cosmic Computer Legacy: The Tides of Chaos, page 1
The Cosmic Computer Legacy: The Tides of Chaos
By Dietmar Arthur Wehr
Copyright 2013 Dietmar Arthur Wehr
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Dedication: This book is dedicated to Jill Linkert, without whose encouragement and support, this book would never have been finished.
Introduction:
Tides of Chaos is the kind of sequel that I wish H. Beam Piper would have written had he not committed suicide just when his writing career was about to take off. His works are now in the public domain and most of them are available online for free. The link below will take you to his book, Cosmic Computer, which leads up to the events in Tides of Chaos. I recommend that you read Cosmic Computer first and if you like it, then purchase Tides of Chaos. You can also find many of Piper’s other works on the same website. Many readers consider them to be “rousing good yarns” that are highly entertaining. His stories have a grand sweep of history as well as interesting and believable characters. I hope my sequel has met that same standard.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20727
Synopsis of Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper:
It is the tenth century after the development of atomic power. Mankind has spread to thousands of worlds under the enforced peace of the Federation. After almost 800 years of peace, the Federation is rocked by the attempted breakaway of 130 planets, which have formed the System States Alliance. The resulting war has devastated dozens of planets and depopulated three but the SSA was eventually defeated and re-integrated into the Federation. Rumor has it that the Federation’s brilliant military strategist, General Foxx Travis, used a super computer, code named Merlin to keep track of and plan the huge logistical and tactical effort of the Federation Navy and Army from their main staging ground on the planet Poictesme in the Gartner Trisystem.
With the war over, the nearly bankrupt Federation makes the decision to bring only the soldiers home and abandon everything that a soldier can’t carry, behind on Poictesme. Years later with the economy of the whole Federation still suffering from the aftermath of the war, a small group of locals on the planet Poictesme, decide to try to save their own planet from the decivilizing effects of the economic slump by searching for the mythical Merlin computer. No one knows where it is or even if it really exists at all. And if they do find it, maybe there’s a reason why it wasn’t used to rebuild the Federation’s crippled economy after the war. Maybe some things should be left undiscovered
Chapter I
Ten Years After The Events In Cosmic Computer:
Conn Maxwell nodded to the guard at the cave-like entrance to Duplicate Force Command Headquarters. He had spent the last 4 hours inside reviewing Merlin’s latest projections with increasing anxiety. He quickly walked over to the salvaged Third Fleet-Army Force reconnaissance vehicle and climbed in. With the flight to the planet Poictesme’s Capital of Storisende programmed into the autopilot, Conn waited until the sleek little vehicle had gone supersonic before calling his father. It took a few seconds for his father’s image to appear on the consol viewscreen.
“Ah, Conn. You’re on your way?” Conn nodded. “Good. If you push it to the max, you should get here just in time for the M12 meeting.”
“Yes, I know I cut it close but I wanted to finish reviewing the latest projections.” He paused for a few seconds. “The news isn’t good.” Rod Maxwell raised his eyebrow.
“How so?” Conn sighed.
“Well…apparently the loss of our hypership Pathfinder to piracy is a major new development. Merlin’s baseline projection of a slow, gradual collapse of the Federation didn’t project any piracy for another 50 years or so. The fact that its happened this quickly is interpreted by Merlin to indicate that we’re veering towards the worst case scenario of a much quicker and violent collapse. The Civilization Index has dropped another 1% from our last projection of just a month ago!” His Father was shocked.
“Great Ghu! 1% in just one month? That IS terrible news. Our Planetary President isn’t going to like that.” In spite of the serious nature of the conversation, Conn couldn’t help but chuckle. President Kurt Fawzi was Merlin’s biggest fan. His belief was unshakable, that the supercomputer, used by the great general Foxx Travis to win the war against the Systems States Alliance half a century ago, would reveal the path to glorious prosperity for all the citizens of Poictesme. Therefore bad news from Merlin caused the President no end of conflicting emotions. It was like God telling its most faithful followers that HE wasn’t going to help them.
“Our Beloved Leader will just have to deal with it. The trouble is that I’m having trouble dealing with it too. Lately I’ve been having serious doubts that the Maxwell/Merlin Plan is the right thing to be doing.” Now Conn’s father looked really shocked.
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing, Son. You’re the one who proposed the Maxwell Plan in the first place. Yes, the rest of the Federation seems to be going to Niffheim in a handbasket faster than we expected but things on Poictesme are improving and that can’t be a bad thing, right?”
“You’re right and that’s the problem. Are we making things worse for everyone else in the Federation in order to make things better for a few million Poictesme citizens? Remember what the cause of the worst case scenario was?” Rod nodded.
“Yes. If news of Merlin’s projection of a long term decline and collapse of the Federation became common knowledge, then people and planets all over the Federation would scramble to protect themselves economically and militarily as much as possible at the expense of other planets, resulting in trade dislocations and eventually wars.”
“That’s right. And do you remember what question we asked Merlin ten years ago about Poictesme?”
“We asked Merlin what the best course of action was for the planet of Poictesme. What was wrong with that?”
“Don’t you see, father? That approach, is exactly what Merlin predicted other planets would do. We’ve been assuming that what’s good for Poictesme is also good or at least neutral for the Federation but what if it isn’t? What if we ourselves are the catalyst that’s causing the worst case scenario to happen?” Rod looked puzzled.
“I don’t see how. The only property we’ve taken control of is Federation facilities here in the Gartner Trisystem that they abandoned decades ago. We’re paying fair prices for goods that our ships import from other systems. No other planetary government is angry with us as far as I know.” Conn interjected.
“TBMS isn’t happy with us.”
“Okay, so they’re not making as much money from having their large hyperfreighters stop here on their way to Marduk as they used to. They’re a privately owned company, not a planetary government. What could they possibly do that would speed up the collapse of the Federation?” Conn sighed.
“I don’t know exactly. I just have this nagging suspicion that we’ve put things in motion that we aren’t even aware of, which will have unintended consequences.” His father looked thoughtful for a minute or so then said.
“ Let’s hope that’s not the case. Is that something that we could ask Merlin?” Now it was Conn’s turn to be surprised.
“You mean ask Merlin if the Maxwell Plan is causing the Civ Index to plunge faster than expected?” Rod nodded. Conn had to think about that before answering. His father waited patiently.
“That’s something that I’ve never considered before. We would have to ask the question in a way that Merlin can understand and even then, it may not be able to make the necessary computations. Its too bad General Shanlee died last year. He might have been able to shed some light on this question.” Conn remembered how the General had almost succeeded in destroying Merlin before Conn and the other members of the ‘Old Fawzi Gang’ had realized that the supercomputer was within their grasp. It had been General Shanlee who first revealed the awful news that the Federation was doomed but when Merlin had justified its own continued existence, the General became a willing supporter of the Maxwell/Merlin Plan.
“Yes, his input would have been useful to have. Well, you don’t have time now to formulate the question for Merlin so don’t say anything to the others at this meeting. Let’s wait until we have an answer to that question, if its even possible to get an answer, before we raise the issue at M12, okay?”
“Okay. Has Trailblazer arrived yet?” Trailblazer was another medium sized hypership freighter like Pathfinder, that was used exclusively on runs to nearby inhabited planets that TBMS(Terra-Baldur-Markuk Spacelines) didn’t bother about. Conn’s father’s expression became somber.
“No and they’re now six days overdue. Are you thinking that they’re another victim of pirates?”
“Aren’t you?” Rod Maxwell sighed.
“It’s certainly starting to look that way.” Rod Maxwell paused again. Conn waited certain that his father had something else on his mind. He was right.
“Trisystems Investment stock traded again yesterday at 144 Sols per share, up 21 Sols from the previous trade a week ago. The bid price has gone up too to 175 Sols per share. Considering that company profits have been trending lower for the last two years, this persistent rise in
“Someone is trying to buy control of our company?” Conn asked.
“Yes.”
“Any idea who’s buying?” Rod Maxwell shook his head emphatically.
“That’s the scary part to this. All of the share purchases over the last six months have been by different buyers. Individuals for the most part but also companies that suddenly popped into existence with cash in their pockets. I haven’t been able to find out who’s bankrolling any of them. None of the individuals are known within the Storisende or Litchfield business community and no one seems to know where they got the money from to buy the shares. We’re talking over 10 million Sols worth over six months. It’s obvious to me that someone with very deep pockets, maybe even someone off-planet, has gone to a lot of trouble to buy a major stake in T.I. without revealing themselves. If this were just an ordinary investment, why all the secrecy?”
“Well…maybe it’s the same people who wanted to buy Merlin from us a few years ago. Weren’t they a large corporation from Terra that had set up a local company to hold their commercial interests on Poictesme? They were pretty upfront about who they were and what they wanted, weren’t they?”
“Yes but if it is the same bunch, why be secretive about it now. There’s no law or company prohibition against selling shares of T.I. to off-planet investors. We decided not to try that because having company bylaws restricting who can own shares would have opened the door to lawsuits that might have resulted in Merlin’s gloomy predictions becoming public knowledge in courtroom testimony.” Rod Maxwell paused then said. “No. This secret takeover smells like someone is doing something they know we wouldn’t like or is downright illegal and they don’t want to get caught at it. As long as the M12 group keeps their combined controlling interest in T. I. intact, we’re okay but I’m worried that these sky high prices will entice someone to cash in their shares in spite of our oaths to each other not to do that.” Conn pondered that comment for a while then said.
“You know…back in the beginning, when there were five operating companies, it made sense to put them all under one corporate holding company for administrative purposes and so that cash resources could be moved around to where it was needed the most. But think about the situation now. Both Mainland Medical Materials and Litchfield Exploration and Salvage have squeezed as much revenue from the sale of salvaged materials as possible. There’s nothing left to salvage anymore. L.E.&S. is now really just a holding company for the Merlin site and the spaceport over on the Barathrum continent. Koshchei Exploration and Development is still making money as long as we need more ships but there’s a limit to how many interplanetary and interstellar ships we’ll be able to use. That just leaves the two main sources of income right now which are Alpha-Interplanetary and Trisystem & Interstellar Spacelines. Maybe the time has come when the whole is worth less than the sum of its parts. What if Trisystems Investments just spun off all of its holdings in the other companies? That would make it harder to someone to buy control of everything and if that someone then concentrates on one particular company, we’ll know exactly what they’re after. Maybe whoever is buying T.I. stock isn’t interested in Merlin but rather K.E.&D. or T.&I.S. instead.”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing. I was planning on sounding out the other members of M12 about it privately. Let’s you and I talk about it some more after I’ve done that.” Another pause. “Was there anything else you’re going to report to the M12 group?”
“Well…yes. I’ve been working on how Merlin could figure out what strategies could be implemented that would speed up the recovery of Civilization after the Collapse has hit rock bottom. That was something that the group decided should be looked into two meetings ago.” Rod Maxwell nodded.
“Yes, I remember. What’s the latest on that?”
“The basic problem was that further computations were impossible after the Collapse reached a certain point because there was no way to estimate how bad things would get and how people on different planets coped with the complete breakdown of both order and technology. So I had to approach the question to be put to Merlin from a completely different angle. Rather than try to figure out what will happen, I set up a hypothetical simulation of the Federation after a general collapse and made some assumptions. Based on those assumptions, which is a BIG caveat, Merlin was able to identify three strategies, which if implemented before the Collapse, would contribute to a faster recovery after the Collapse. Here’s what it come up with.”
“The first strategy is to establish a Brain Trust on certain key planets. This Brain Trust would be a collaboration between Universities and industrial companies that would set up a remote site, away from cities that could be targets for attack, which would store technical data and key technological components, in a way that would stand the test of time, so that hundreds of years from now, the survivors would be able to access the site, and bootstrap their way back up to a interstellar civilization. The next strategy is to establish a secret society, with a religious front, that would engage in interstellar trade and therefore not be tied down to any one particular planet. This society would have as its goal, the preservation of interstellar communication and trade to enable technology transfer even during the lowest point of the Collapse. Merlin has already identified a religious group on a planet called Gilgamesh, that could be infiltrated. The last strategy is the most difficult to execute but has the best chance of success. That would involve exploration beyond current Federation borders for a habitable planet, that would be colonized in secret and kept isolated from the rest of the Federation during the Collapse. By being self reliant, it would not be subject to the forces that are causing the Collapse and at the right time, it would send ships back into the Federation to begin reconstruction.” Conn waited for his father’s reply.
“Hmm. It seems to me that setting up Brain Trusts and exploring for and then setting up a new colony would both be pretty expensive. Not sure how difficult the second idea would be.” He paused long enough to light up a cigar. Took a few puffs from it and then said. “I wonder if it would really be necessary to find a new habitable planet outside of Federation territory. You know there are literally thousands of planets in star systems that are in between Federation planet systems, which have never been colonized or exploited.”
“You mean planets that would require domed cities?” Rod nodded.
“Yes but if I remember correctly…and Merlin would have this in its databanks, there are also a few planets that have breathable atmospheres but have something else that makes them less than ideal such as too hot, too cold, no water, etc. If we could identify one that wasn’t too bad but hadn’t yet been colonized, it would be a lot less costly to set up a colony there because we wouldn’t have to send ships out for months or years on exploration trips that would prevent those ships from carrying cargo and earning revenues. Did Merlin estimate the cost of these strategies?”
“Yes. The cheapest one is the secret society and even that one would cost almost 500 million Sols to do properly.” Rod snorted.
“If all of Trisystem Investments’ subsidiary companies sold every asset they have, we MIGHT be able to raise that kind of capital…maybe!”
“Yes. Its frustrating. The replacement cost of those industrial facilities on Koshchei alone are in the billions of Sols but no one would pay even a fraction of that for them because of the depressed local markets and the cost of shipping goods by hypership.”
