Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology
by Michael P Calligaro
"Warning. Elite fighters heading in this direction at high velocity."
"Damn! Evasive maneuvers!" The ship immediately thrusted to port at high
g's, and Justin struggled to reattach his restraining lines. "Raise
shields--ninety percent in front and one ten in the rear. Maybe we can
outrun them."
"Negative. The fighters are traveling one point two grids per second above
our maximum velocity."
"Elites can't go that fast! What are these, a new model?" After long
association with Justin, the computer had learned to decipher which of his
questions were rhetorical. It remained silent.
Justin scanned his instruments in a desperate attempt to find something that
would help him escape. His little one 'noid ship used to be the fastest
thing around. It didn't waste mass on armor or living quarters but instead
used most of its space for the engines. He should have been able to just
outrun the Magistrate's fighters. Apparently they'd made advancements in
engine design and never bothered to tell him about it.
"Computer, can you get any info on their firepower? Have they improved their
guns too?"
As if to answer his question, the ship jerked forward, snapping Justin's
head against his acceleration couch. "What the hell was that?!"
"Direct hit. Rear shields at fifty-three point four percent. Answer to
question, 'are weapons improved' appears to be affirmative."
Sweat began to bead on Justin's forehead. They obviously knew his evasive
maneuvers program as well. "Give me manual control and try to equalize the
shield strength." He grabbed the stick and jammed it hard to the left while
stomping on the pedal. The acceleration compensators eventually responded,
allowing him to breath again. The second his vision cleared, Justin let off
on the acceleration pedal and thrust the stick forward and to the left. The
ship lurched radically and once again the high acceleration almost made him
black out.
"Give me all lasers pointed forward to a fixed point." A crosshair appeared
on his front screen. He punched the "braking maneuver" button on the stick
and stomped on the pedal with both feet. Side attitude rockets fired and the
ship quickly spun around 180 degrees. Then the main engines fired and the
ship began to slow its now rearward velocity.
Justin's intent was not to stop but to use the braking maneuver to swing
himself around to face his enemies. His dive had put him below them, and he
found himself with a perfect shot at the leader's belly. As the ship began
to move forward again, he eased off on the accelerator and clamped his thumb
on the red button atop the navstick. A torrent of red fire blasted into the
nearest ship. It shook noticeably, and a shimmer went across its shields,
but other than that, there was no effect. Justin slammed on the pedal and
aimed himself right at the ship, firing again and again and again.
The lead pilot panicked. He fired once or twice, but each shot went wide.
Mostly he just made haste to get out of Justin's way. The other two ships
got in each other's way as they tried to follow their leader. Justin
rocketed right between the leader and one of the other ships, getting one
last shot in as he passed.
"I think we breached his undershields with that last hit. That should make
him stop to think for a minute. Us poor little smugglers have teeth! Now
transfer full power to the rear shields."
"Affirmative. Rear shields now at full strength. All other shields at ten
point zero percent."
Justin pointed the ship at the nearby star and gunned it all out.
He had come so close! He was running a new encryption algorithm to the
renegades in this sector. This algorithm was supposed to masquerade as an
official Magistrate code but would not be traceable to the renegades. His
employers had assured him that it was necessary to their future efforts.
Justin was not one for politics, but he sort of liked the renegades and
didn't want to let them down. The damn new fighters might have put an end to
this run though. As if to punctuate that thought, the ship shook from
another hit.
"Computer, report."
"Glancing blow. Rear shields at seventy-five point three percent."
"Time till impact with star?"
"Ship will be destroyed in approximately ninety-five seconds."
"Good, report every 10 seconds." He glanced up at the rear screen and
watched the lead ship's weapons system glow as it charged up. He tried to
judge their charge level and, when he thought they would fire, threw the
ship to port. The blast narrowly missed him.
"Eighty seconds."
The second fighter had already compensated for his last maneuver and began
to charge its weapons. Justin held his breath and threw the ship to
starboard. The blast went wide.
"Seventy seconds."
"Computer, fire a single missile rearward and detonate on my mark."
"Affirmative, sixty seconds."
He watched the missile in the rear view screen and waited until it was
almost upon the fighters before he yelled "detonate!" The fighters scattered
to avoid the blast, but were undamaged. Justin had expected that. He was
just trying to buy himself some time.
"Fifty seconds."
He looked back at the forward screen all he could see was the sun's fire. It
began to feel warm in the cockpit. "I saw this maneuver on an ancient
mediashow. Think it'll work?"
"Insufficient data to answer. Please describe maneuver. Forty seconds."
Justin glanced back at the rear screen and found the fighters closing.
Crossing his fingers he said, "No time for explanations. Prepare five
missiles to be fired forward."
"Affirmative. Thirty seconds."
The crosshair on his forward screen became thicker, and Justin pointed it at
the edge of the star.
"Twenty seconds."
"Ten seconds."
"FIRE!" * * *
Taern Rivaan brooded as his horse walked leisurely through the mountain
pass. Imperial rogues frequented these parts, and it worried him that he had
not seen any signs of them yet. He could easily deal with a solitary rogue
here and there, but he would be in serious trouble if he stumbled across a
group of them. Unease nagged at the back of his neck as time progressed and
he still saw no sign of them. They must be in a group. Perhaps they were
waiting for him around the next bend.
He considered turning back and forgoing the extra fifty gold he'd receive at
the other end of his journey. But the desperate little man seemed to believe
it was vital to get the message through. Taern didn't understand how that
could be. The message made no sense at all. But his employer's gold was
good, as was his credit. Taern checked before embarking on the trip. Maybe
the crazy message was a secret code or something.
The horse ambled around the bend and immediately leapt into a gallop. "Good,
Firemare!" he yelled as he drew his sword. The horse had come around the
bend to see five rogues mounted on Basha Lizards waiting for him. Taern had
spent a considerable number of seasons training Firemare and she, on seeing
the rogues, correctly surmised what he would want her to do.
The rogues had been waiting for him, their toothy grins stretching from ear
to pointed ear. But their grins turned to confused frowns when the horse
charged them. They must have been expecting Taern to beat a heavy retreat.
No one was foolish enough to attack an Imperial rogue, much less five of
them. Taern prided himself on being a first rate fool.
On racing by, he slashed out and severed the closest one's ugly, bat-like
head. Then he sheathed his sword and settled in for the breakneck chase that
would follow. "One down, four to go. I just wish I had a plan to kill the
others." Firemare whinnied assent and picked up the pace.
The remaining rogues recovered quickly and were soon hot on Taern's tail.
The Bashas, with their six legs, had little trouble keeping up and would not
tire until long after Firemare dropped dead from exhaustion. What's worse,
the rogues had brought along Imperial weaponry. A lightning bolt arced over
Taern's head and exploded into the side of the mountain.
"Holy Raargh! I'm glad those morons can't shoot while riding!"
Firemare whinnied again.
"Well, let's see if I can do any better." He pulled his rock crusher wand
out of a saddle bag and pointed it at the base of an overhanging rock ahead.
Moving his hands along the wand in exactly the complicated pattern he had
been taught, Taern intoned, "Oh great god Raargh, please grant your humble
disciple the power to free the rock ahead and crush mine enemies."
The wand began to shake, and Taern heard the familiar buzzing sound that
always came with the wand's spell. A sharp cracking sound replaced the
buzzing as the huge rock's base crumbled and the boulder began to fall.
Firemare found it in herself to push that smidgen harder and insure they
were past the boulder when it hit. The stupid Imperial Basha Lizards did not
recognize the danger, and the boulder crushed the first of the pursuers.
Firemare skidded to a stop and Taern turned around to survey the blocked
passage. "Good job, Firemare!" Taern cooed. "That's two down and three more
blocked. Though the Emperor possesses more powerful magic than we do, I will
rely on our greater intelligence any day."
That was when three Basha Lizards leapt high over the boulder and landed
running. * * *
As soon as the missiles were away Justin pulled the stick back hard and
raced out, away from the sun. The fighters, with their superior shields, had
been in less danger of burning up and had pulled in very close. They were
destroyed by the eruption of plasma caused by the detonation of the
missiles.
"All right computer! We're clear!"
"Negative, there is a problem."
"A problem? Wha . . ." The first shock wave hit the ship and cut Justin off.
A second hit, and he let go of the stick yelling, "Take over!" More shock
waves passed by, and Justin swore he could see the waves on the
forward screen. The stars ahead of him began to blur and distort while light
from nowhere broke pierced the fabric of space.
"What's happening?"
"It appears that a rift is forming."
"Can we pull away from it?"
"Negative. The current into the rift is too powerful to break free."
"Then record all information possible about our coordinates and flight path.
If we end up somewhere else I want to be able to get back."
"Recording."
The black reaches of space seemed to break away, leaving a brightness seen
only inside a ship, or on a planet. In this case, they were not
indoors.
"Holy Ralstron! Manual control!" The ship was deep inside the atmosphere of
a planet and moving at outer space speeds, rocketing straight into the side
of a mountain. Justin hit the brake button and stomped on the accelerator
with both feet, leaning into it with as much weight as he could manage. The
ship spun around and the main engines fired at full burn. Though the forces
tried to throw Justin out of his seat, he held on and continued to stand on
the pedal.
The computer cut the main engines and fired the belly jets to keep them
hovering. Justin looked up at the rear screen to see that they had stopped
scant meters from the side of the mountain. The engines had melted a sizable
chunk of the mountain's face, leaving a burnt, glassy appearance. Justin
collapsed back into his seat, exhausted.
"Did you get enough information to get us back?"
The computer remained silent for a good ten seconds, a tribute to the
difficulty of the problem asked of it. Finally it spoke. "Affirmative. There
is an eighty percent chance that the process can be reexecuted in the
reverse."
"Great! Let's get out of here. I've still got a code to deliver." * * *
Firemare was off and running before Taern could let out an expletive. No
Basha Lizard he had ever seen could jump like that! Was the Emperor breeding
them for running and jumping now?
The horse gave it everything she had, but the rogues quickly surrounded
them--two behind and one up front. Taern drew his sword and slashed out, but
they stayed just out of striking distance. Taern knew he was in trouble. The
Bashas galloped using four of their six legs and alternating which set got
to rest. This gave them a considerably greater range than even the best of
horses, including Firemare.
"I don't think we're going to make it out of this one, old girl." Taern
patted Firemare's neck, alarmed at the hot foam already forming there.
Always the optimist, Firemare gave him a derisive snort and pushed
harder.
They would torture and kill him for sure, but there was no point in running
the horse into the ground. He couldn't imagine his strong-willed companion
making a good pack animal, but at least that was better than the
alternative. He had just decided to pull in the reigns and give himself up
when the loud scream of a flying monster startled all eight of them.
The monster rose up along the face of the wall and just hovered there,
presumably looking down at them. It had no flapping wings nor other normal
means of flight, and its rigid and shiny skin glowed red hot, sending heat
waves pouring out of it.
While both riders and mounts were startled by the arrival of the monster,
the mounts were the more startled of them. All four stopped dead in their
tracks and stared up at it.
Firemare whinnied defiantly.* * *
Justin stared down at a human on a horse surrounded by three ugly looking
bat creatures riding six legged lizard things. Having never seen anything
like them before, his mind had trouble categorizing the creatures. "Halt
ascent," he commanded. It had appeared that the creatures were chasing the
human, but now they all stopped to stare up at him.
"What are those things?"
"Records identify the rider in the middle as a human, and his mount as an
ancient horse. Records have no match for the other creatures."
One of the bat-like creatures pulled out a short pole and pointed it at the
ship. A white light arched out of the pole and hammered into the ship's
belly.
"Warning! Shields not fully recharged from brush with the sun. Belly shields
at three point one percent."
"Route all shield power to the belly and lock lasers on the three
unidentified riders."
The computer took an instant to comply then reported. "Belly shields now at
thirty point six percent. Lasers locked on."
"Do you think you can kill the monsters without hurting the human?"
"Affirmative. Lasers set to minimum intensity."
Another bolt hit them.
"Belly shields down to twenty-five point two percent."
"What the hell are they shooting at us? Our shields should be able to
sustain unlimited damage from a hand held weapon." He turned on the external
broadcast. "Halt your attack. If you fire again, I will be forced to return
fire."
The creatures either did not understand or chose to ignore him. The other
two pulled out poles and all three launched lightning bolts at the ship.
"Belly shields at nine point four percent. We will not survive another blast
like that."
"Damn it! Fire."
With three short bursts, the creatures were left smoking on the ground.
Their unharmed mounts milled around, unsure what to do. The human dropped
the weapon he had been holding and held two empty hands out. For the first
time Justin noticed that what he had been holding was a sword.
"Where in Hades did we end up that bat-monsters fire high amperage
electricity at you and people carry swords?" The computer chose not to
attempt to answer that. "Computer, distribute remaining shield energy and
set the recharge to maximum. Then land us over there away from the bodies
and open the outer hatch. I'm going to have a talk with our friend on the
horse."* * *
The fire monster lowered feet from its underside and landed a good twenty
horselengths from Taern and Firemare. Even from that distance, Taern could
feel the heat it gave off. Though grateful for being saved from the Imperial
rogues, Taern feared the monster's power. When it opened his mouth, he
thought it would eat him. Then, to his amazement, a man walked out of the
mouth. With some trepidation, Taern dismounted. He considered retrieving his
sword but decided against it. He was sure the monster would protect its
man.
"Stay here Firemare," he patted the horse's neck. "I think I will be okay."
His calmness was nothing more than a show for the horse. Inside Taern's
heart raced.
He met the man halfway between the horse and the monster. The newcomer said
something absolutely unintelligible, to which Taern replied "What did you
say? I do not understand." The man replied with something equally
unintelligible. "Perhaps a communication spell would help," Taern said. He
started scrounging around in his pack and noticed the stranger stiffen. He
slowly removed both hands empty and held them up. "I'm not looking for a
weapon," he said. "I'm just trying to find something to help us
communicate." The man relaxed slightly, and he resumed his searching. When
he found the communications amulet, he pulled it out slowly and held it up.
Then he waved it in the intricate pattern needed for the spell, intoning "Oh
Raamaaraan, god of communications, please grant me the power to understand
this fellow being." He hung the amulet around his neck and said, "Do you
understand me now?"
"Oh good," the man said. "You brought a universal translator. I wasn't
thinking and left mine in the ship."* * *
"What is a 'universal translator?'" the human asked. "I merely cast a
communications spell."
So he thought he could cast a spell. That helped explain the horse and
sword. "What? You mean like magic?"
"Yes. Of course."
Justin frowned. "But there's no such thing as magic!"
"Then explain how we are communicating."
"You're wearing a universal translator, a piece of technology that lets us
communicate."
"No, the amulet is just a vital component of the spell. What is this
'technology' of which you speak?"
"You know, science? Engineering?" All he got was a blank stare. Justin
considered this for a moment, then said, "A few great men from my universe
have said 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic.' I guess they were right."
The human's face grew perplexed. "I fear the communications spell is
failing. I am not understanding what you are saying."
"What I'm saying is that you think you are doing magic, but that's
just because you don't understand what's really happening. Because you don't
fully understand your amulet, you believe it's magic. In reality, it's
technology, like my ship." Justin pointed back to the ship.
The other cowered back. "You aren't going to tell your monster to eat me are
you?"
Justin laughed. "Eat you? No, it's not a monster. It's a technological
flying machine. I suppose you thought it flew by magic."
The human thought for a moment. "Then it is because you understand your . .
. 'flying machine' that you do not believe it is magic."
"Of course I understand it."
"And if it is not magic, then you do not need a wizard to make another
one?"
"Well, no. But I'd need an engineer. I don't actually understand all the
details of how it works. I'm just a smuggler."
"If you do not understand it fully, how are you sure that it is not
run by magic?"
Justin opened his mouth to reply, then shut it. He opened it to say
something else, then shut it again. Finally he said, "because there's no
such thing as magic."
His companion smiled. "Sure there is. Let me prove it to you." He walked
back to his horse and drew a short pole out of a saddlebag. Motioning Justin
closer, he pointed the pole at the rock face, and said in a deep voice, "Oh
great god Raargh. Please grant me the power to convince this unbeliever of
your power. Crush the rock ahead." With that the pole began to vibrate and
hum, and the rock shattered into fragments.
Unimpressed, Justin asked to see the pole. The human seemed to consider for
a moment, then handed it over. Justin stared it up and down and found the
trigger button. He pointed the pole at another rock and pressed the button.
The rock burst into dust.
"This is a high frequency sound source. It finds the frequency that shatters
rock and hits it with that. You don't need to cast any weird spell or ask
your god for power. You just need to press this button." He pressed it again
for good measure and crushed another boulder.
Justin handed the pole back to the dumbfounded human and wandered over to
one of the smoking creatures. He bent down to take a closer look at the
laser wound and found something interesting. He called the other over, he
pointed to the hole. "See this? No blood. And look closer. Inside the thing
is made of metal, like your sword. This wasn't a living creature, it was a
machine made to look like a creature. In my universe we would call this a
'robot' or an 'android.'"
Visibly shaken, the human asked, "and this is 'technology?'"
"Yes. I would say that whoever made these androids understands the
technology and is keeping the rest of you in the dark about it."
"These are the Emperor's."
"And seeing as how they were chasing you, I'd guess you work against this
Emperor."
Like a trapped animal, the human glanced at his sword and crouched down, as
if to make a break for it. But Justin held up his hands. "Relax. I don't
work for him. In fact, in my universe we have something similar to an
Emperor, and I work against him."
"Then we seem to be very much the same, you and I." Relieved, he asked,
"would you show me how to operate their lightning wands? We have never tried
to use them because we believed the Emperor's gods would not listen to our
spells."
"Sure." He picked up one of the electricity poles and, being careful to keep
the barrel end pointed away from himself, searched up and down its length.
Finding another trigger button, he pointed the barrel at a boulder and
pressed it. Lightning blasted into the rock.
The local cheered. "May I try?"
Justin shrugged and handed it over. He showed him how to fire it and watched
in amusement as he electrocuted a few things.
His excitement bubbling over, the human said, "These will help us greatly in
our fight against the Emperor. Thank you for saving me from the rogues and
for showing me the truth about magic and technology."
"You're welcome. Could I take one? In my universe we don't have hand
blasters this powerful. I'd like to have our engineers take one of these
apart and figure out how it is done."
The man bowed his head and solemnly held the wand out in his open hands.
"May the gods allow it to serve against your Emperor as well as the others
will serve against mine."
Justin accepted the gift and said, "Thanks." He didn't feel it was necessary
to point out that there were no real gods in his universe, just names to
swear to.
"I must now inform my employers of what you have shown me."
"I have to get back too," Justin replied. "Take care of yourself."
"And you do the same."
Justin smiled smugly as he boarded his ship. It felt good to educate a
primitive. It seemed the Emperor here gave them what little technology they
needed and kept the really powerful stuff for himself. Perhaps now that the
primitive knew how the universe really worked, he and his outlaws would be
able to turn the tables on their Emperor. The battle in his own universe was
going poorly, and it felt good to have at least helped this one. And if his
universe's engineers could make sense of the pole, maybe his cause could
also be helped.
His cause. Maybe he liked the rebels more than he realized.
On the forward screen he watched the human gather the remaining voltage
poles. "Long live the revolution," he thought as he plopped down in his
acceleration couch.
"Okay computer, let's see if you can get us back now. We've got a code and
some new technology to deliver."
Deep in the inner recesses of the computer, well past the area that Justin
understood, a voice moving at five hundred megahertz intoned, "Oh Elzaran,
great god of electricity, give us the power to once again lift this ship and
fly it back home." And the god of electricity looked across the gulf of
universes, down upon her faithful disciple, and granted it the power for
which it asked.
The ship lifted off.