‘No human civilization would broadcast radio signals,’ Kenelm said. ‘That’s ingrained in us now – survival 101. And a human society at a neutron star certainly wouldn’t.’
‘So our lure civilization does something else,’ she said dismissively. ‘We change the neutron star composition by dropping strangelets into it, or generate hyper-frequency gravity waves. We produce exotic matter with an abnormal signature. It doesn’t matter how the Olyix sensor station notices them, just that they do.’
‘Then what?’
Yirella gestured theatrically at the image of Ainsley.
‘I’m there to greet them,’ Ainsley said. ‘As are you, equipped with some new seriously badass weapons hardware. This time, we don’t have to worry about pulling our punches to protect cocooned humans, so we can go in hot. Capture a wormhole terminus and fly down it to the sensor station. From there, it’s just one long step to the enclave.’
Dellian watched Kenelm glance around the table, as sie tried to judge the mood. Theoretically, sie had the authority to issue any order on hir own, but the Calibar survivors made it politically difficult to assert unconditional authority.
‘So this would be a split?’ sie asked. ‘Some of us would remain here and some of us travel to the neutron star?’
‘Yes,’ Yirella confirmed. ‘As before, we send out seeder ships to found the lure civilization, then we follow in warships. The nearest neutron star is a hundred and thirty-seven lightyears from here. We time it so the seeder ships arrive fifty years before us, which will give them plenty of time to go exponential and initiate humans.’
‘Wait, you want to populate it with real humans? I thought you were talking about cyborgs.’
‘Of course it has to be real humans. This is no time for half measures.’
‘Absolutely not. You’d be putting actual people directly in harm’s way.’
‘I don’t see that. The seedship gentens will have the same level of technology we have. They’ll be heavily armed. And if we hothouse the neutron star humans, they might be able to push their own technology development even further.’
‘What do you mean, “hothouse”?’ Tilliana asked.
‘We do what the Neána did: grow fully formed adults in biologic initiators; it’s just an adaptation of the process we used to rebuild the Calibar cocoons back into their proper bodies. That way, they’ll have fifty years straight to advance their own society and develop new weapons.’
‘And what personality are you going to animate these instant adults with?’ Ellici challenged.
‘I’ve discussed this with the metavayans. They suggest we give each of them basic human thought processes – routines that take them up to genten operational self-awareness, which we then individualize with personalities compiled from volunteers in the habitats: memories, experiences, feelings, responses.’
‘So, basically, it’ll be us living there? We’re duplicating ourselves?’
‘No. Their location alone means they’ll have to live very different lives to us. That’s a fantastic opportunity to expand the human experience.’
‘Absolutely not,’ Kenelm said. ‘I cannot agree to this aspect of your proposal. They would develop without any guidance from us. Who knows what views they will have? They might even be hostile to us.’
‘So?’
Kenelm gave her a shocked look. ‘People have to understand. We are fleeing for our lives. That has to be emphasized to every new generation so they understand the threat. You cannot seriously be proposing entrusting that sacred duty to gentens?’
‘And to Ainsley.’
Dellian thought Kenelm was going to let loose a contemptuous sneer at that, but sie managed to retain hir composure. ‘No,’ sie said firmly. ‘The risk inherent in this scheme is simply too great. We have to remain in control. It is our responsibility to ensure that any new humans are fully aware of their circumstances. However, the rest of your idea does have a degree of validity. A post-planetary human society at a neutron star would undoubtedly attract the Olyix.’
‘Yet if we designed that society, it would be terminally bland compared to what they could evolve for themselves,’ Yirella said. ‘Environment is always key to human development, and a neutron star’s circumstellar disc will be a weird and harsh place to live. It should propagate something special – beyond anything we can conceive of sitting in a habitat.’
‘We went for absolute realism on Vayan,’ Wim said. ‘And for what? All any human in this galaxy has to do is shout: Here we are, and the Olyix will come. If you want a lure, you don’t even need to send a seedship to the neutron star, just an initiator with a genten and have it build antimatter warheads so it can test them on the asteroids in the circumstellar disc and blow shit up on a huge scale. That way, they’ll know for sure we’re building planet-killers.’
‘It has to be completely convincing. Antimatter bombs are crude. We even made them back on Earth, for Saints’ sake.’
‘I’m going to agree with Yirella, here,’ Ainsley said. ‘From what I managed to extract from the onemind, the Olyix are devoting a hell of an effort to detecting and ambushing humans along what’s left of the exodus expansion wavefront. But there’s one thing they won’t be expecting at a neutron star civilization.’
‘What?’ Kenelm asked.
‘Me. Yirella was right. Logically, this hypothetical group of humans won’t build another lure. We’re delving into some pretty fucking audacious bluffs and out-thinking manoeuvres here, but that gives us an advantage.’
‘Are you saying this is the option you prefer?’ Alexandre asked.
‘Hey, pal, there are no absolutes here. All of these ideas could work. But there is a grade of probability, which you have to follow if you want to win – and win big. And remember, I cut my teeth in the crucible of Wall Street when it was at its vicious peak. So, yeah, for me Yirella’s idea comes out on top. Gold standard for sheer audacity, if nothing else.’
‘And for any of these to work, we’d need your cooperation. Which effectively gives you a veto.’
Dellian gave their old
