Seeker

by Douglas E. Richards

He’d have to grow the fire very big, very quickly, as the sprinkler system would make short work of it otherwise. Even if it were extinguished, rain from

this expunged from the Web, Agent Morris.” “We were too late,” she replied miserably, “It’s already metastasized. It’s destined to go viral in a big way.” “Goddammit!” snapped Carter. “Do you have any idea the shit-storm this is going to create? The panic?” “I have every idea,”

unconscious.” “Yeah?” said Kagan. “Well, I did have some help with that.” The

alone,

hope was

systems would be arranged like your own, with small, rocky planets closest to the sun and massive gas giants farther away. But this is not the case at all. You imagined that planets in solar systems would be comfortably spaced apart like yours, and would trace relatively clean, relatively circular orbits. Again, this is far from the truth. You imagined that all solar systems would have a single star at their centers. Yet you have learned that eighty-five percent of them are part of binary star systems, in which two stars orbit closely around each other. “The truth is that the actual arrangement of planets in most solar systems is inimical to the emergence of sentient life. Their orbits are erratic. They don’t have gas giants in the right places, to attract and deflect asteroids that

“Still,” she replied in amusement, “it was fun to hear you say it. Especially since you thought I was anything but.” “So tell me about your various enhancements,” said Kagan. “Are you able to reverse aging,

course.” “But

believe we’re on the level of a cancer cell trying to grasp the wonder of a human being, we’re lost anyway. Seeker has to be able to give us some idea of why it can’t spare our people. Even if we can’t understand the explanation in its entirety, even if we disagree with it, we should at least be able to get the gist of it.” “Regardless,” said Kagan, “whether it’s able to give us a rationale for its actions, or not, it’s decided it won’t. So the why of it is destined to remain a mystery.” He frowned. “By the way, I’m going to pretend that our conversation is now private. Who knows if it really is.” Ella shrugged. “Might as well at this point.” “In my view,” continued Kagan, “here’s

system

communicate instantly across all of space.” “Has it also solved faster-than-light travel?” asked Kagan. “Not to my knowledge.”

opponent. And one who isn’t too much of a pushover.” She blew out a long breath.

eager for me to land here and carry out my duties. Because it wants a quality

popped open, releasing the tension from the nylon netting. The Israelis had been true to their word. The Americans began to extricate themselves as Seeker continued, the AI seemingly oblivious to their sudden change in status. “It turns out that evolution is the most potent force in the cosmos for shaping consciousness, even

matter, could make

little girl, and now that

out Kagan

Still, it somehow felt right to him to try. “I’m here,” said Seeker.

about to reach

you.” “The gap is the same, but my level of sophistication makes this impossible. Unlike Ory,

require a violation in the laws of physics.” “You already know

taunted Ella. “Unable

to create glaring blind spots in Seeker’s ability to reason, whenever such reasoning would

to the

that she saw it, it was painfully obvious. “Seeker!” she said excitedly.