Charles Gannon - Raising Caine

Moments after he had seated himself, Mriif’vaal smelled a change in the pheromones; Disparity’s newly reactivated satellite grid had linked this chamber of the Third Silver Tower to that one which housed the OverWatchling beneath the First Silver Tower. The room’s audio converter and playback systems activated, but they were rarely significant in communicating with the OverWatchling. Having no mouth, no real body, it could communicate quantitatively through data streams or, when qualitative comparisons or discussions were required, through remote manipulation of the organic emissions within the Inner Chamber. Given the nature of this particular contact, the latter would predominate, or possibly be the sole vector of exchange.

“I am aware of your situation, Senior Ratiocinator Mriif’vaal,” was the verbal equivalent of what the OverWatchling conveyed, albeit over the period of half a minute: it took considerable time for the Inner Sphere’s changed spores to perfuse Mriif’vaal’s receptors, then stimulate electrochemical changes the same way that sights and sounds produced meaning in one’s brain. And in referring to “this situation,” the OverWatchling transmitted meaning that went far beyond that simple word, but invoked a signification-matrix that encompassed all the relevant reports, data, lists, and analyses that were resident in its awareness. Resident, but mostly inert, since its prior experience had not prepared it for such a complicated and nuanced situation as the one it now faced.

“I requested this communing to alert you to the significance of the impending demise of the human named Caine Riordan.”

“Your reason for contact is included in my awareness of the situation. But I do not perceive why a single being’s impending demise warrants this concern.”

“You are aware of the role of the human, of the tacit assurances we provided him and his group for their safety on Disparity, and of his possible further significance to Yiithrii’ah’aash’s mission?”

“The ratiocinatorae have relayed these data points, but I do not understand the implicit connection between a single being and these greater significances.”

Mriif’vaal breathed deeply: it had already been five minutes, and the OverWatchling’s inability to perceive the social and cultural ramifications of the matter promised that it would take much, much longer. “I shall explain. Firstly, you may recall that we counseled you regarding the importance of individual human lives when they first crashed upon this world.”

“I am aware of the content of our prior contact.”

Aware of it in the sense of being an immense but uncomprehending recording device. “What we were not aware of at that time was that this particular being, Caine Riordan, was already Affined to us by an old mark — an unthinkably old mark. We are uncertain of the origin of this mark, but believe it may be connected to the profound sense of importance and urgency that Yiithrii’ah’aash imparted to us about this mission.”

“I have much data that was initially relayed from Yiithrii’ah’aash’s ship, the Tidal-Drift-Instaurator-to-Shore-of-Stars . There is no record of any human passenger bearing such a mark.”

“I cannot account for that discrepancy,” Mriif’vaal sent wearily. “It may be that Yiithrii’ah’aash did not wish to call attention to this factor in our communications. It may be that he was unaware of just how old, or just how powerful, this marking was upon Caine Riordan. Conceivably, it did not fully express itself until the human was fully in our environment. That would not be uncommon; many marks sleep until touched by microbiota they recognize and only demonstrate their full intensity when fully awakened thereby. It could have been so here on Disparity.”

The OverWatchling did not respond for a long time; Mriif’vaal estimated it to be a delay of ten minutes. “What may be done? Given this new data, I would have agreed to many of your initial suggestions for action, or for release of assets, which I refused. But the past is past and may not be changed.”

“True.” Mriif’vaal took his time, allowed his body to replenish its pheromones and spore sacs to make his next message particularly clear and forceful. “But you may still change the future, may change the unfortunate course of events that has resulted from the recent past you now regret.”

“I do not understand.”

Mriif’vaal felt the OverWatchling’s growing willingness to alter protocols and precedents, and so, proceeded carefully, like a tracker attempting not to startle skittish game. “There are other old marks, spores, and antidotes. They are resident in your awareness. You may summon the Emitters to produce them. And they are precisely what Caine Riordan needs to survive, for he is dying not from the wounds inflicted by his own kind, but from our own defensive spores. Which, as we communicated to you before, could have been suspended. But that was not done.”

“To do so would have deviated from protocol.” This time, the OverWatching’s reply was evasive, less resolute.

“Clearly,” Mriif’vaal agreed. “But we must weigh that deviation against other concerns. I shall enumerate these concerns. If we allow this human to die when it is known that we may preserve his life, how will this particular group of humans Affine with us? Indeed, given their nonpolytaxic origins and perceptions of life and death, why should they? These beings fought to survive and indirectly defend the sovereignty of our planet. How will we explain to them and the rest of their species that Caine Riordan, an ancient-marked envoy, must be allowed to die — and not from wounds inflicted in the battle, but because of our unwillingness to correct an ailment caused by our own spores? If you would salvage this situation, if you would preserve the chance of an alliance between our races, then you must cure him.” Mriif’vaal realized as he released the last fervent wash of pheromones that he might have pushed too hard.

The OverWatchling’s reply was not brusque, but it was more firm than the prior ones. “What you ask is without precedent. The antidote to which you refer, the prime theriac, has not been used in millennia and there are many injunctions against doing so.”

Carefully now. “Those injunctions arose from vastly different exigencies than the ones which face us now. They pertain to wars fought in the distant past, wars in which our antagonists were not true humans, but, rather, a malign subspecies derived from them. But these humans, the ones who were invited to Disparity, are the originals of their breed. Their genecode predates that of the self-warped subspecies that tormented us, and which recent intelligence suggests is one and the same as the exosapients who have masqueraded as the Ktor.” Mriif’vaal paused, let the OverWatchling process these concepts. Then he circled back to the key assertion. “If the Slaasriithi polytaxon would be Affined to these natural humans of Earth, we must preserve the life of this being whom we ourselves have unwittingly brought to the edge of death. If we do not bear the responsibility of action to undo such a mistake, why would his kind believe or trust us in any other particular?”

The OverWatchling was slow in responding. Clearly, the arguments were wearing upon its inclination to remain in compliance with normative protocols. “I still do not perceive the urgency you presume to reside in the life of this single being. Is it not his fate, even desire, to devote his existence — including the surrender of it — to the welfare of his taxon?”

“No. That is not how humans have evolved, either biologically or socially. Because they are not polytaxic, their priorities are radically different. The importance we put upon the collective, they put upon the individual.”