Also nearby, hovering in the air above the funeral scene, were microscopic cameras observing everything that had been happening. Back at the research facility Prospero watched them bury the Captain while ordering Beatariel to go there, and capture or kill those that would sabotage his will.
* * *
The Beyonder had reached the mid-point of its hyper-acceleration through space between the stars Ea and Holdus. The reactor propulsion system had now been relocated to the front of the ship, and Strek fussed to get the angle of the ship just right. The acceleration fusion plume had been expelled at this point in the journey to become a briefly existing star that quickly exhausted its fusion fuel far away from the still moving ship.
Ulusu had still been by himself in the engine reactor section while the ship physician examined Adma. The centrifuges were humming away to activate the nuclear fuel that would re-create a fusion plume.
Ulusu looked at the controls and monitors, and they indicated that the centrifuges were working correctly. He had no reason to think that a quanta-nanocode virus had already sabotaged the centrifuges and that the monitor readings he looked at were actually a hoax. Ulusu would soon transfer the activated nuclear fuel to the reactor core. The fuel would be used to create a controlled nuclear explosion in the front of the ship that would generate enough pressure on the virtual particle driven electromagnetic containment fields to start a fusion reaction that would merge the hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. The compressed fusion plume would then have its energy diverted out the hyper-acceleration propulsion system. As far as Ulusu could tell, everything hummed along as it should. One thing that did start to bother Ulusu however, had been the humming sound he noticed the centrifuges making.
He had already refined nuclear fuel on dozens of journeys in his space traveling career and he could tell that two of the centrifuges were making an unfamiliar sound that had been different than the rest of them. Ulusu approached one of the centrifuges making the funny noise. He returned to the monitor that reported that there had been no problem. There had been no doubt that he detected a distant variation in the sounds of the two different centrifuges, yet the monitors reported that no variation whatsoever existed between them. Ulusu became sure about what he had heard, and became suspicious of the data presented by the monitoring equipment. That just cannot be, he thought. Then he approached the strange sounding centrifuge again to get some separate equipment readings just as the centrifuge exploded near his face. Fires started to fill the reactor section of the ship while Ulusu lay on the floor, badly burned and unconscious under the poisonous fumes now filling that section of the ship. Fire began to consume Ulusu’s protective clothing slow but sure.
Chapter 6
Just before the centrifuge on The Beyonder exploded Fluisudal had been at an observation section looking at the stars with his quanta-nanocoded telescope. Jaden quietly trotted up behind him, only to stop to just observe her brilliant Pripican partner in this spying operation. She knew if he noticed her he would feel compelled to explain the physics of quanta-nanocoded telescopes, and she enjoyed the silence. Jaden watched as Fluisudal placed the telescope over his eyes like a pair of goggles. He controlled the magnification and targeting with controls on the side of the telescopic goggles. His other hand held a tablet shaped monitor that displayed some stars swimming in a nebula of the brilliant galactic bar of Magphoreus.
The first age of Magphoreus hosted a quasar age when the super-massive black hole feasted on millions of extra large first age stars. That turned the whole galaxy into a quasar for over a billion years. When all that first age quasar dust finally settled, the mighty Magphoreus displayed a concentrated line of stars that were arranged in a galactic bar that, from afar, appeared to stab the entire galaxy through the center like a shining spear. If not for all the dust between the galactic core and the Carina arm of the galaxy where Fluisudal observed, there would be no night at all in the 2nd Age of Magphoreus.
Fluisudal became immersed within his goggles. He zoomed in on a field of about a hundred stars in the galactic bar that were poking off the edge of a darkness made of dust. Then he became aware of Jaden standing in silence behind him. “Hi there Jaden, just observing the galaxy with this amazing quanta-nanocoded technology. I just move about the telescopic nano-digital imagery that I see in these goggles by using this control on the side. When the desired area appears on this tablet monitor I can digitize it with a quanta nanocoded digital recorder and concentrate on amazing details from the recorded photon information. This quanta-nanocode is revolutionizing our future right before our eyes.”
“I am very much impressed with the implications of the current rush to quanta-nanocode our entire reality, but I also sometimes like to just enjoy the view.”
“Indeed this view is amazing. It spells out for my mind, imagery that testifies of a very different galaxy four billion years ago. ...”
Just then a minor nuclear explosion shattered the centrifuge in the reactor section of the ship at the moment when Ulusu began to manually monitor it. Fluisudal tore off his telescopic goggles as the sound from the explosion had been heard throughout all of the ship.
Jaden shouted. “A centrifuge that was refining the nuclear material must have exploded!” It rocked the ship in ways that kept Strek the Navigator struggling with navigation adjustments to avoid missing the ship’s destination by more than a light year.
Fluisudal saw Jaden reach for the coin-shaped object in her pocket where the quanta-nanocode being named Begalius existed. “Good thinking Jaden. It can get to the reactor section and report to us what has happened in seconds.”
Jaden shouted for Begalius to report its presence to her. “Begalius. … Begalius! … Where is that quanta-nanocode device? Begalius!!!”
*
Within the coin-like device where the universe of relativistic physics borders the universe of quantum physics, Begalius liked to assume forms and project holographic realities on its surroundings with something it recently invented called quanta-optic-nanocode. With this new development in the evolution of quanta-nanocode and artificial intelligence, Begalius had been able to play out stories that it had always enjoyed reading. Quanta-optic-nanocode allowed Begalius to project the fiction stories it liked to read onto objective reality like a waking dream.
Here Begalius reigned supreme within a city designed in intricate details to specifications that were outlined by ancient Pripican writings. Begalius had also been able to utilize video documentation from the fossil fuel age that happened over 5,000 Earth years in the past. Here Begalius employed its quanta-optic-nanocode technology to assume the Pripican form of its favorite Law Enforcement character of ancient fiction stories named Windock.
Windock drove down ancient Pripican streets of stone in a fancy vehicle similar to Earth sports cars only longer to accommodate the four-legged Pripican anatomy. Windock’s Pripican form sat on the floor on his hind legs while the front hooves worked pedals to break and accelerate. Windock’s hands turned a steering wheel that looked identical to current Earth designs. Windock drove to its latest love interest named Companion74. The ancient stars of Pripica shined romantically above to the exact astrological specifications as they would have been above the planet Pripica 5000 Earth years in the past. On the horizon the lightening flashes of a storm flickered violently, and were followed by a loud thunder indicating that a quiet night at home would make for a better date.
The quanta-nanocoded Windock character that Begalius had been pretending to be arrived at the apartment of its girlfriend. She opened the door to embrace her big strong law enforcer boyfriend. Companion74 knew just how to please her lover. She let him in to close the door on the more intimate embrace that had only been the beginning of the quiet night at home that Begalius had programmed her to decide on.
Windock started to peal away the clothing that covered the well-endowed furry Pripican breasts between her furry arms when a voice seemed to interrupt from nowhere and everywhere.
&nbs
p; “Begalius. … Begalius! … Where is that quanta-nanocode device? Begalius!!!”
Windock/Begalius turned one last time to Companion74 to say goodbye. “I’m sorry my love, but my law enforcement duties have once again called me away.”
She put up some clingy resistance before letting her boyfriend go. She became transparently frustrated by the interruption as she said, “Be careful my love.”
*
The coin-shaped object that represented the physical form of Begalius in the dimension of Relativity took off into the air from Jaden’s hand. “Sorry that took me so long. What has happened?”
Jaden couldn’t believe she had to explain the recent explosion heard throughout the ship to this inattentive quanta-nanocode being. What had it been doing all the time inside there? “You didn’t notice the explosion from the reactor section of the ship that just happened? Go to the reactor section to report back on what has happened so that we may assist.”
“I am sorry Jaden, I had been distracted a universe away. I’ll contact you on your communicator from that part of the ship.”
The physical form of Begalius parked itself upon the table as the microscopic Begalius flew out to be in the reactor section a split second later. Fortunately the nuclear material had not been refined enough to produce a very bad explosion, but radioactive nuclear material fires filled the section while the other centrifuges still hummed away, still activating enough nuclear material to create a small star. Ulusu had been in flames on the floor badly burned, and Begalius had been able to put out some flame and stop some bleeding that would have ended his life within seconds. Particles of nuclear material were rapidly tearing apart the molecular structure of Ulusu’s flesh. Begalius then used its quanta-nanocode powers to deflect much of the radiation material that ripped apart Ulusu’s molecules. That also averted his immediate death.
*
The malicious quanta-nanocode virus became caught off guard by the sudden centrifuge explosion when it occurred. The virus had inundated the centrifuge programming with its own self-replicating quanta-nanocode that programmed the centrifuges to explode when the material became fully refined. When Ulusu began to manually scan a centrifuge in a way that would have revealed the sabotage it had been programmed to self-destruct, and immediately explode. That however, would be a premature release of radioactive material, and now the quanta-nanocode virus calculated that it had a limited amount of time to destabilize the remaining nuclear material enough to blow up the whole ship.
*
Jaden impatiently waited with her communicator in hand for Begalius to report. She actually started the impatient appearance about twenty seconds after Begalius left. Then an image of the reactor section on fire appeared on her communicator. The voice of Begalius narrated. “The centrifuge refinement section is on fire and there has been an explosion. An engineer of Eagolim form has been critically injured, but I think I have stopped the worse of the bleeding and radiation damage, but he will need medical attention immediately.”
Fluisudal interjected. “What is the state of the remaining centrifuges? We must find out why this has happened.”
“The monitors are still operating and they report the centrifuges are refining and working as they should. Unfortunately the monitors also say that the centrifuge that just exploded is also still refining and working as it should. I calculate that sabotage is the most probable suspect.”
Jaden gave an order. “Find out how the monitors were sabotaged. That may provide a valuable clue.”
There had been a few seconds of silence. Jaden began to become impatient again. Then the coin-shaped physical form of the quanta-nanocode being still on the observation deck table next to Jaden took off from the desk. “I think I may need some tools for this mission. I have found quanta-nanocode programming inundating all circuitry in order to sabotage this ship. I will need to attack the virus code with some self-replicating quanta-nanocode of my own.”
Jaden looked over at Fluisudal with a look of worry. Fluisudal could read exactly what she had been thinking and also saying about Begalius with that look. “Have some faith in Begalius. It is a highly advanced artificial intelligence program that is smarter than both of us put together, and its the only thing on this ship that can possibly quarantine and delete a malicious quanta-nanocode virus.”
“Well I can’t help but think of it as an immature child of an intelligence. I know Begalius is even much older than I am, but in my opinion it has a fraction of the maturity of me or you.”
*
In the reactor section of The Beyonder on the microscopic plane of existence there had been a group of carefully arranged molecules quanta-nanocoded into a nanocode virus. It had been linked to self-replicating quanta-nanocode that now had inundated every aspect of the reactor section to sabotage the reactor process.
It had been a simple program that could not exactly be classified as intelligent. It had just been programmed to sabotage and that had been the quanta-nanocode existence that it now became the center of. The centrifuges were almost done activating the nuclear material enough to create an explosion that would evaporate the whole hyper-accelerating ship. The centrifuges were ready for the virus to disrupt the calibration with just a snap of some molecules.
Then its own quanta-nanocode programming rebelled against it. Some other kind of more sophisticated programming now sabotaged the sabotage programming. This new code did this everywhere the virus observed. It had been like nothing the quanta-nanocode virus had ever experienced before or been programmed to understand. This code clearly had been the work of sophisticated Binary Electromagnetic Artificial-intelligence Thought technology, but it also had photon bending holographic aspects that folded the reality the virus knew like a fractal that evolved into an ancient city that once existed a long time ago on the planet Pripica.
The molecules that made up the quanta-nanocode virus itself were also inundated with this strange code to turn it into a four-legged centaur-like Pripican on a sidewalk, which suddenly became populated by pre-programmed hologram centaur-like beings. The pre-programmed quanta-optic-nanocode constructs around it even appeared more intelligent than the confused virus that now staggered around the sidewalk and street on four Pripican legs. A fossil fuel vehicle swerved to avoid hitting the virus, followed by an angry horn sound. The virus still knew it needed to find the centrifuges in this maze of reality illusion, and destroy them before the material would be removed or the process otherwise stopped. The Pripican-looking virus had been forced to obey the rules of the quanta-optic-nanocode game Begalius had now programmed into it. Then the four-legged virus started to shove its way through the crowd to make its way down the street.
Eventually the virus stopped as it trotted past the window of a weapon store. The window obeyed its fist’s command to shatter, allowing it to grab the projectile rifles and pistols that were on display in the weapon store, already loaded and ready to be fired. Hologram image beings of an ancient culture then ran from the virus with melodramatic acts of fear as the virus trotted around the city displaying its newly acquired weaponry. Eventually the virus arrived at an idea as it looked upon the prominent looking bank at the center of this miniature city that had unexpectedly wove itself around its reality. The virus produced output that calculated that the centrifuges were in that bank. The virus figured out this game that it now found itself forced to play. Take over bank equals taking back control of the centrifuges. The virus concluded that it could now come to terms with this new reality that surrounded it.
*
Companion74 suddenly found herself dressed as a bank teller with whole new programming. It had been a familiar drill to her and at first she just calculated that Begalius wanted to play Windock the Law Enforcer again. Then she noticed something bothering her between her ample Pripican breasts. She reached in to see what had been squeezed between them. It had been a small pistol weapon, which presented itself as a new rule in the game that didn’t seem typical to her. She calculated t
hat it had not been like Begalius to blatantly cheat when playing the bank robber game. That had been when the virus trotted into the bank firing loud warning shots out of two potassium nitrate and sulfur propellant projectile rifles, one in each hand.
“Everybody get down on all fours, legs off to the same side, and place arms behind your heads! I am taking over this bank as of right now!”
Companion74 obeyed the robber just like everyone else in the bank. The bank robber construct appeared more complex to her than anything she had seen before. Something had been different about this game and the pistol hid under her shirt told her that this might not be a drill or game. The vault doors in the bank were all wide open with tons of brilliantly shining gold bricks stacked for all in the room to see like beacons that finally had lured this viscous criminal here.
*
Just before the centrifuge explosion on The Beyonder Trunlio sat still tied up to a stool with his tentacle arms tied behind his back. He had been free to talk, but he had nothing to say. There were five Agents of Ea in the same room at another table discussing what to do with this hostage they now had. Trunlio had grown so much in the last day that his tentacles pressed painfully tight against the ropes, and he had constantly been hungry. He regretted the way he got caught up in his own curiosity to this end.
Then the explosion occurred, and rattled the very course of the hyper-accelerating ship. Nobody seemed to notice how the rocking from the explosion detached Trunlio’s stool from the floor and threw him in the corner while still tied up. Trunlio didn’t hesitate to use the impact to shatter the stool legs and then he began trying to untangle his ropes.
Trunlio watched still unnoticed by the other Nephricans who all huddled around monitors that showed surveillance video from microscopic cameras that were now flying to the reactor section to see what had just happened. Trunlio watched the Agents of Ea before him as he wondered what he should now do.