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The Epsilon Wish
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No, I’m not certain, she thought. But neither can I afford to wait. I have only a few more moments to make my choice, and convey my desire to this Entity. I can’t miss this opportunity. If I do, it may never come again. A lot can happen in nine hundred and forty-nine days. A lot can go wrong in a span of time that long. For all I know, Epsilon-413's next orbital resonance may not produce the precise conditions necessary to conjure this Entity. There are no guarantees. I’ve got to make the wish. Now! Diggz paused ceremoniously, as if half-expecting a drum roll.
“Tell the Entity that I wish for World Peace. Peace on Earth. Express my desire that conflict of any kind on the planet Earth come to an immediate, complete, and total halt.”
“Affirmative, Professor. I will attempt to translate,” said the syntell, as the deepsuit’s monitors again swirled with the incomprehensible colors of alien conversation.
“Professor, a clarification is requested,” said Buzz. “Please define ‘peace’ in the context in which you are using it. I am not certain that the Entity clearly understands the intent of your proposal.”
“Well, explain that peace is considered to be the absence of conflict, a lack of competition and discord. Peace means balance, equilibrium, and peace by its very nature yields stability and order. That should satisfy the Entity’s desire to further its goal of non-random outcomes in a big way, don’t you think?”
“I do not know,” said Buzz, his synthetic voice this time sounding more human, but more genuinely uncertain. “However, I will again convey your desire to the Entity.”
The telemetric exchange this time between Diggz’s synthetic intelligence module and the transdimensional being they had referred to as the Entity was uncharacteristically long. As the minutes ticked by, not only did the brilliance from the energy beam at the center of the void begin to fade, dozens of indicator lights on Buzz’s status panels within the deepsuit returned to amber or red. Diggz’s gut started to twist and tighten.
“Professor, the stability for which you ask can be granted. However, the Entity wishes to caution you. The peace you seek will require fundamental changes in the nature of the planet. Many things will be different.”
Undoubtedly. There would have to be remarkable changes in order for there to be genuine peace, thought Diggz. “Tell the Entity,” she said, “that I understand that changes will occur, but that I know it is necessary in order to bring about the result I seek. Tell the Entity that the planet is immensely encumbered by its present state of conflict and would be better if a greater state of order and stability were imposed. Say that we are weary, so very weary of all the killing and dying, of the pain, suffering and hopelessness, and that we want all of that to come to an end at last.”
“I will attempt to transmit your intent,” said the SIM. Again the monitors danced in polychromatic chaos.
“Professor, your wish has been granted,” stated Buzz, its vocal patterns barely discernible against an unexpected torrent of background static, the syntell’s speech again diminished to the level of a cybernetic growl like that it experienced after the original RDR download. “However, I am uncertain that this reality dynamic has manifested itself as you intended. Despite our best efforts at clarity, the Entity seems to have misinterpreted your desire. This line should not go forward.”
“What do you mean, Buzz?” wailed Diggz, her voice awash with the sounds of adrenalized panic.
For another agonizingly long moment there was only silence from the syntell. Finally, a burst of color exploded from the deepsuit’s monitors.
“I am sorry, Professor Dorin. An irrevocably prescribed reality dynamic for the planet Earth is now in place. A higher level of order and stability has been achieved through a series of equilibrium-seeking alterations to the planet’s biosphere and geochemosphere. Competitive evolutionary and random biodynamic interactions have ceased.”
“Buzz, I don’t understand! I didn’t ask for anything like that!” yelled Diggz, as the SIM’s status panels continued to redden by the moment. The unit was rapidly bypassing its primary systems and was switching to one backup after another. Buzz looked to be on the verge of some sort of cascade circuit collapse.
Again signals flashed between the Entity and Buzz, and again the failing syntell tried to communicate to Diggz.
“The alterations in the new reality dynamic are now essentially irreversible. A new equilibrium has been reached. Stability has been established. A new order has been initiated. Nevertheless, this line should not go forward.”
“What has this thing done to Earth? All I wished for was peace,” said Diggz pleadingly. The energy beam at the center of the void continued to fade, the loops and nodes losing their brilliance as one resonance interaction after another damped out and paled to insignificance.
“All competitive interactions in the planet’s biosphere have ceased. All species which were dependent upon interspecies competition for their survival are now extinct. All organisms whose life processes forced the chemical constituents of the planet’s geochemosphere from a state of static chemical equilibrium are extinct. All atmospheric gases which were previously at dynamic chemical disequilibrium will now return to their most chemically inert state. A new thermodynamic equilibrium for the planet will now rapidly be attained which will preclude the biogenic action of carbon-based molecular systems.”
“My God! What are you telling me? What about the whole ecosystem? What about the plants and animals? The people?”
“All living things on Earth whose metabolic activities produced substances at disequilibrium with the geochemosphere’s ground state are now extinct, or will perish shortly. The planet’s living constituent has been sacrificed so that the bulk planetary mass is at basal stability. The sources of internal heat beneath the planet’s surface which drive crustal movement have ceased. The total dynamic equilibrium of the entire body of the Earth will be reached shortly.”
“Buzz, that’s not what I asked for!” screamed Diggz furiously. “All I wanted was Peace on Earth. I didn’t mean for the thing to turn everything off, shut down the entire planet!”
“I’m sorry, Professor. The Entity has apparently perceived the goal of total dynamic equilibrium for the planet Earth to be an objective superior to the presence of its meager biosphere. Perhaps the Entity’s intent is to ‘reset’ the planet, so that a more highly organized and evolved biosphere could be emplaced upon it. It interpreted my translation of your wish in that light. Perhaps, in retrospect, you should have phrased your desire only as a cessation of human warfare or armed conflict.”
“Well, now you tell me, you stupid pile of organo-silicon chips! What about Earth’s human population? What’s going to happen to the people?”
“No higher-level species will be able to survive under the new conditions of geochemical and atmospheric equilibrium. Indeed it is entirely likely that all living organisms will perish.”
“Buzz, quickly! We’ve got to undo this mistake! Tell the Entity that we want to issue a retraction, a negation, to unwish the previous wish! Fast!”
Buzz’s displays inside the deepsuit flickered again in an effort to regain contact with the Entity. Diggz held her breath.
“I was unable to successfully communicate your requested retraction. The interaction point is closing. The expression of your desire was a grave error. This line should not go forward,” repeated Buzz for the third time. “I will attempt to wish. . . .”
An entire bank of indicators within the deepsuit went abruptly dark, leaving Diggz in a pallid twilight of confused displays and incoherent readings.
“Buzz!” she shouted.
With a mixture of astonished bewilderment, she watched as Buzz popped open an access panel in the side of its transport cask and extended a shear-tipped manipulator arm. The appendage reached unerringly above the syntell’s cylindrical body, and with one effortless snip, sliced through the umbilical cord connecting Buzz to Diggz’s deepsuit equipment bay undercarriage.
Free to fall in Epsilon-413’s feeble gravity, the severed unit tumbled toward what remained of the dying glow at the center of the void. Diggz watched as her SIM vanished from sight, spinning end over end into the enigmatic radiance just as she had observed DeYoung and Shaw disappear during the video playback from their downloaded RDR data.
“Buzz!” she shouted again over the auxiliary radio frequency data link.
There was a burst of static and then, faintly, barely audible, a nonsensical electronic chuckle. “To infinity, and beyond!”
What the . . . ?
Diggz peered down into the cavity below and watched helplessly as the beam grew thinner and more tenuous, just as it had before. Once again, it began to vibrate like an enormous string with loops and nodes undulating in unrecognizable resonances along its length. Then, just as abruptly as it had first materialized, it flashed out of existence, arcing across the void in one final barrage of cascading charge.
In an instant, utter darkness crashed upon her, smothering her in the forever blackness at the heart of the cold, dead moonlet. And then just as suddenly, a trillion megatons of rock popped from around her like the bursting of a gigantic soap bubble, leaving Diggz’s deepsuit bathed in the turquoise glow of the swirling planet above and the silvery twinkle of an all-around sky full of faraway stars.
“Tell the Entity that I wish for World Peace. Peace on Earth. Express my desire that conflict of any kind on the planet Earth come to an immediate, complete, and total halt.”
“Affirmative, Professor. I will attempt to translate,” said the syntell, as the deepsuit’s monitors again swirled with the incomprehensible colors of alien conversation.
“Professor, a clarification is requested,” said Buzz. “Please define ‘peace’ in the context in which you are using it. I am not certain that the Entity clearly understands the intent of your proposal.”
“Well, explain that peace is considered to be the absence of conflict, a lack of competition and discord. Peace means balance, equilibrium, and peace by its very nature yields stability and order. That should satisfy the Entity’s desire to further its goal of non-random outcomes in a big way, don’t you think?”
“I do not know,” said Buzz, his synthetic voice this time sounding more human, but more genuinely uncertain. “However, I will again convey your desire to the Entity.”
The telemetric exchange this time between Diggz’s synthetic intelligence module and the transdimensional being they had referred to as the Entity was uncharacteristically long. As the minutes ticked by, not only did the brilliance from the energy beam at the center of the void begin to fade, dozens of indicator lights on Buzz’s status panels within the deepsuit returned to amber or red. Diggz’s gut started to twist and tighten.
“Professor, the stability for which you ask can be granted. However, the Entity wishes to caution you. The peace you seek will require fundamental changes in the nature of the planet. Many things will be different.”
Undoubtedly. There would have to be remarkable changes in order for there to be genuine peace, thought Diggz. “Tell the Entity,” she said, “that I understand that changes will occur, but that I know it is necessary in order to bring about the result I seek. Tell the Entity that the planet is immensely encumbered by its present state of conflict and would be better if a greater state of order and stability were imposed. Say that we are weary, so very weary of all the killing and dying, of the pain, suffering and hopelessness, and that we want all of that to come to an end at last.”
“I will attempt to transmit your intent,” said the SIM. Again the monitors danced in polychromatic chaos.
“Professor, your wish has been granted,” stated Buzz, its vocal patterns barely discernible against an unexpected torrent of background static, the syntell’s speech again diminished to the level of a cybernetic growl like that it experienced after the original RDR download. “However, I am uncertain that this reality dynamic has manifested itself as you intended. Despite our best efforts at clarity, the Entity seems to have misinterpreted your desire. This line should not go forward.”
“What do you mean, Buzz?” wailed Diggz, her voice awash with the sounds of adrenalized panic.
For another agonizingly long moment there was only silence from the syntell. Finally, a burst of color exploded from the deepsuit’s monitors.
“I am sorry, Professor Dorin. An irrevocably prescribed reality dynamic for the planet Earth is now in place. A higher level of order and stability has been achieved through a series of equilibrium-seeking alterations to the planet’s biosphere and geochemosphere. Competitive evolutionary and random biodynamic interactions have ceased.”
“Buzz, I don’t understand! I didn’t ask for anything like that!” yelled Diggz, as the SIM’s status panels continued to redden by the moment. The unit was rapidly bypassing its primary systems and was switching to one backup after another. Buzz looked to be on the verge of some sort of cascade circuit collapse.
Again signals flashed between the Entity and Buzz, and again the failing syntell tried to communicate to Diggz.
“The alterations in the new reality dynamic are now essentially irreversible. A new equilibrium has been reached. Stability has been established. A new order has been initiated. Nevertheless, this line should not go forward.”
“What has this thing done to Earth? All I wished for was peace,” said Diggz pleadingly. The energy beam at the center of the void continued to fade, the loops and nodes losing their brilliance as one resonance interaction after another damped out and paled to insignificance.
“All competitive interactions in the planet’s biosphere have ceased. All species which were dependent upon interspecies competition for their survival are now extinct. All organisms whose life processes forced the chemical constituents of the planet’s geochemosphere from a state of static chemical equilibrium are extinct. All atmospheric gases which were previously at dynamic chemical disequilibrium will now return to their most chemically inert state. A new thermodynamic equilibrium for the planet will now rapidly be attained which will preclude the biogenic action of carbon-based molecular systems.”
“My God! What are you telling me? What about the whole ecosystem? What about the plants and animals? The people?”
“All living things on Earth whose metabolic activities produced substances at disequilibrium with the geochemosphere’s ground state are now extinct, or will perish shortly. The planet’s living constituent has been sacrificed so that the bulk planetary mass is at basal stability. The sources of internal heat beneath the planet’s surface which drive crustal movement have ceased. The total dynamic equilibrium of the entire body of the Earth will be reached shortly.”
“Buzz, that’s not what I asked for!” screamed Diggz furiously. “All I wanted was Peace on Earth. I didn’t mean for the thing to turn everything off, shut down the entire planet!”
“I’m sorry, Professor. The Entity has apparently perceived the goal of total dynamic equilibrium for the planet Earth to be an objective superior to the presence of its meager biosphere. Perhaps the Entity’s intent is to ‘reset’ the planet, so that a more highly organized and evolved biosphere could be emplaced upon it. It interpreted my translation of your wish in that light. Perhaps, in retrospect, you should have phrased your desire only as a cessation of human warfare or armed conflict.”
“Well, now you tell me, you stupid pile of organo-silicon chips! What about Earth’s human population? What’s going to happen to the people?”
“No higher-level species will be able to survive under the new conditions of geochemical and atmospheric equilibrium. Indeed it is entirely likely that all living organisms will perish.”
“Buzz, quickly! We’ve got to undo this mistake! Tell the Entity that we want to issue a retraction, a negation, to unwish the previous wish! Fast!”
Buzz’s displays inside the deepsuit flickered again in an effort to regain contact with the Entity. Diggz held her breath.
“I was unable to successfully communicate your requested retraction. The interaction point is closing. The expression of your desire was a grave error. This line should not go forward,” repeated Buzz for the third time. “I will attempt to wish. . . .”
An entire bank of indicators within the deepsuit went abruptly dark, leaving Diggz in a pallid twilight of confused displays and incoherent readings.
“Buzz!” she shouted.
With a mixture of astonished bewilderment, she watched as Buzz popped open an access panel in the side of its transport cask and extended a shear-tipped manipulator arm. The appendage reached unerringly above the syntell’s cylindrical body, and with one effortless snip, sliced through the umbilical cord connecting Buzz to Diggz’s deepsuit equipment bay undercarriage.
Free to fall in Epsilon-413’s feeble gravity, the severed unit tumbled toward what remained of the dying glow at the center of the void. Diggz watched as her SIM vanished from sight, spinning end over end into the enigmatic radiance just as she had observed DeYoung and Shaw disappear during the video playback from their downloaded RDR data.
“Buzz!” she shouted again over the auxiliary radio frequency data link.
There was a burst of static and then, faintly, barely audible, a nonsensical electronic chuckle. “To infinity, and beyond!”
What the . . . ?
Diggz peered down into the cavity below and watched helplessly as the beam grew thinner and more tenuous, just as it had before. Once again, it began to vibrate like an enormous string with loops and nodes undulating in unrecognizable resonances along its length. Then, just as abruptly as it had first materialized, it flashed out of existence, arcing across the void in one final barrage of cascading charge.
In an instant, utter darkness crashed upon her, smothering her in the forever blackness at the heart of the cold, dead moonlet. And then just as suddenly, a trillion megatons of rock popped from around her like the bursting of a gigantic soap bubble, leaving Diggz’s deepsuit bathed in the turquoise glow of the swirling planet above and the silvery twinkle of an all-around sky full of faraway stars.
Excerpt from The Epsilon Wish and accompanying art copyright © 2011 by Joe T. Coxwell. All rights reserved.
