The Yanthus Prime Job: A Pepper Melange Novella (Starship Grifters) by Robert Kroese

Author:Robert Kroese [Kroese, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Culain Press
Published: 2016-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“Pepper!” Dr. Harmigen cried as she walked up the sidewalk. “You’re just in time! I’ve finished calibrating the transmitter. We’re ready to summon the metaswarm!” Dr. Harmigen was standing outside of his house, next to a device that looked like a large antenna set on cinder blocks.

“All right,” Pepper said. “Let’s do this.”

Dr. Harmigen took a step toward the transmitter and then hesitated. “Pepper,” he said. “I want you to know that whatever happens, I don’t regret this. Thank you for retrieving my equipment and giving me the chance to redeem myself.”

“Of course,” Pepper replied. “I’m glad you… wait a minute, what do you mean, ‘whatever happens’? What are you worried about happening?”

“Well,” said Dr. Harmigen, “you have to realize what you are asking. You are talking about bringing into existence an alien intelligence whose motivations we cannot possibly understand. So you can pull off a jewelry heist.”

“Well, it sounds a little foolhardy when you put it like that,” Pepper said, rubbing her jaw. “But in my defense, I’m about fifty-eight percent certain the heist was the metaswarm’s idea.”

“Hmm,” said Dr. Harmigen. “Possibly. But even if the metaswarm really was attempting to communicate with you, it’s possible you’ve misunderstood what it was after. Or, worse, what if the metaswarm is just using you? What if it’s seized on your greed to manipulate us into bringing it into being for its own nefarious purposes?”

“Like what?” Pepper asked.

“I don’t know!” Harmigen cried. “That’s the point. Imagine a swarm of millions of insects, directed by a powerful intelligence. What if the metaswarm isn’t content with a few square kilometers? What if they decide to take back Yanthus Prime for themselves?”

“Could they do that?”

“Probably,” Harmigen. “I just need you to understand what we’re doing. We’ll be letting the genie out of the bottle.”

Pepper thought for a moment. “If the flies could kick us off the planet, why haven’t they done it yet?”

“Because at this point the metaswarm’s hold over the flies is too tenuous. The flies’ behavior is being directed at the swarm level, and the swarms are in competition with each other for territory. Once I activate the transmitter, I’ll be sending out a signal that summons the flies individually, overriding the swarm commands. Once the flies are all assembled in one place, the metaswarm will theoretically manifest itself. But once that happens, I’ll lose control over the individual flies. The metaswarm will take over. There’s no telling what it will do. If it were me, I’d sabotage the water treatment plant and turn the whole city into a swamp.”

“That’s… a little disturbing,” Pepper said.

“Well, yes,” Harmigen replied. “Oh, and there’s one other thing.”

“Fantastic,” Pepper said, without enthusiasm.

“There’s a reason the swarms are so dispersed right now. Their habitat has been reduced to a few marshy areas scattered all over the city. If I summon all the flies here, most of them will never get back home. Something like half of the fly population will die off.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning that if the metaswarm doesn’t like your plan, it’s going to be pissed.

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