Watching the Experiment

Watching the Experiment

The universal translator was working overtime at this meeting of the
General Council of Worlds. Councillor Molten from Crocus was the first
to call for a halt in the debate. His reptilian features appeared to
soften a little as he addressed the other members.
"We are still no nearer a solution than we were at the start of the
meeting," he sighed. "Does anyone have a suggestion on how we take this
forward?"
The other members of the council looked around at each other. Finally
the councillor from Hedra spoke.
"Everyone is afraid to speak the unspeakable," he said. They all knew
what he meant. The chairman of the council ran a hand over his hairless
domed head, his large black oval eyes appeared soulless, but inside
everyone knew that he was anything but. The decision he was about to
take was going to be the most difficult decision he had ever
taken.
"I do not think we have any option other than termination. If the
Commissioner's calculations are correct&;#8230;" At this point he
looked across at another of the delegates who nodded ever so slightly.
"&;#8230;Then we have to take action now. The Commissioner
calculates that humans will have the capacity for interstellar travel
by 2085. If we do not act now then they, together with their unlimited
capacity for violence, will be unleashed on solar systems other than
their own. As guardians of The Experiment we have a responsibility to
the peoples of The Nine Known Worlds. We have to protect them. The last
time a situation like this arose on Earth it was in the period known as
their twentieth century. Einstein and Oppenheimer were allowed to
freely develop their ideas and we all know what happened." There was a
murmur of voices as all the delegates all considered his last
statement. The Chairman continued: "In the absence of dissenting voices
I will assume that we are all in agreement." Around the table heads
nodded wearily. The Chairman could tell this was not a decision at
which they had arrived lightly.
"In that case," he said. "It is agreed. The boy must die. I will get
the Commissioner for Security to make the necessary arrangements. The
meeting is closed."

* * *

Ian Wheeler's teachers at The Northern Institute were little men with
little minds. How could they not agree with his calculations? They were
correct. More than that they had been proved to be correct. Professor
Franklin of MIT, the esteemed Nobel prize-winning physicist had proved
his findings, in theory at least. Still, the men that ran The Northern
Institute's Natural Philosophy department had decided to ignore his
work. "Stop working on theoretical physics Citizen Wheeler," they had
told him at the last meeting of the Institute's Senate. "And start
solving the problems we have been set by the government."
But Ian Wheeler wasn't interested in solving the problems of nuclear
fusion. Research into that area was old hat. Ever since he had been a
small child he had been fascinated by space travel. He had read
voraciously on the topic, starting with the early theories of
Relativity as propounded by Albert Einstein right up to the latest work
by men such as Shorofsky and Franklin. Living in a "utopian state", as
Scotland liked to call itself, had its drawbacks. "Everything," he was
told. "Had to be done for the benefit of all in society not the
glorification of the individual." An article had appeared under his
name in the Scottish Journal of Scientific Theory in which he had first
propounded the theory that man could indeed leave his solar system for
the first time. Within days of its publication he had been inundated
with calls from scientists in the United States and Russia who wanted
to work with him. All of these requests had been politely refused by
the Scottish Parliament's Minister of Science on the grounds "that he
was too busy with his studies at the present moment to devote time to
globetrotting." The truth was they didn't want him to leave. They
believed he was capable of delivering safe nuclear power - which of
course he was, but then again, so were a few other people currently
working at The Northern Institute. It was such an easy task.
Interstellar travel, however, that was something completely different.
Imagine being able to leave this planet with its decaying Eco-system
and its depleted supplies of natural resources. That was something
worthy of mankind's efforts.

He folded the latest letter refusing him funding for his research into
interstellar travel and added it to the growing pile on his desk.
Lifting his head he peered out the window of his study. Below him,
students lazed on the grass in the early afternoon sunshine. They were
probably philosophy students, thought Ian Wheeler and could afford the
time to contemplate the world and its ways. It was much harder being a
theoretical physicist; especially when you were only twelve years
old.

* * *

Hansom Karma was ushered into the outer office of the Chairman of the
Council of Worlds. Standing in his dress uniform he felt like he had
all those years ago when he was required for parades at the Space
Academy. The pomp and pageantry had not impressed him then and it
didn't impress him now. The man on the other side of the door, however,
did. Wildor Volt was the most powerful person in the Nine Known Worlds
and he could make or break a soldier's career.
"The Chairman will see you now," said the secretary opening the door.
Karma put on his hat and walked through the door and into the giant
office, from where Wildor Volt controlled the destinies of billions.
The Chairman was sitting behind a desk that was so clean and white that
it reflected the lights from the ceiling above. On hearing Karma's
footfalls on the floor behind him he spun round in his seat. Behind
him, through the picture window, Karma could see the busy plaza of the
capital city. Karma stopped a few paces from Volt's desk, clicked his
heels and saluted.
"Major Karma reporting as requested, sir."
Volt acknowledged the salute and gestured for the soldier to sit down.
Karma removed his hat and sat down in the chair opposite Volt.
"Do you know why you are here, Major?"
"No sir."
"You have been chosen for a very special assignment. One in which the
utmost secrecy is paramount. What you are about to be told cannot be
relayed to anyone else, do you understand?"
"Yes sir."
"What do you know about The Experiment?"
"The Experiment sir? I don't understand. What experiment?"
"A long time ago our forefathers conducted what became known as The
Experiment. It was in the early days of space travel and they wanted to
make a grand gesture. Well, anyway, they planted a life form on a
distant planet at the edge of the universe and allowed it to develop
unhindered. The planet was called Earth. It was not dissimilar to your
planet and over the next few millennia we made frequent visits to
inspect our project to see how it was developing. Occasionally we would
abduct inhabitants to study them more closely. I use the word "abduct"
because that is how they were reported in their media broadcasts. We
did not like what we found. Indeed we did not much like what we had
created. You see Major, the human race - as they call themselves - is a
violent, greedy and consuming life form. They have developed weapons of
mass destruction, that they have incidentally used on their own people,
participated in genocide on an industrial scale and destroyed countless
other animal and plant life forms. Not to mention depleting the natural
resources designed to sustain their life. The Experiment, I'm afraid,
has not worked."
"Why not just destroy them?" asked Karma.
"Ah," said Volt smiling. "The soldier's solution. If only it were that
simple. You see Major, the inhabitants of the Nine Known Worlds are
civilised - granted we were not always so and we have had our own,
shall we call them "difficulties". Nevertheless, we cannot just destroy
these people. As a life form that has developed, albeit from an
experiment run by us, they have fundamental rights. One of those is the
right to exist. It is enshrined in our law. So you see, we cannot just
destroy them."
"Where do I come in sir?"
"You have a very special task ahead of you Major."
"Which is?"
"An assassination."
"Who?"
"A human called Ian Wheeler. Our Commissioner for Developing Worlds has
recently discovered that this human has been conducting research into
theoretical physics. By our calculations he will have solved the
problems associated with interstellar travel by Earth year 2075. Within
ten more of their years the metal alloys and technology will exist to
allow them to leave their solar system. This cannot be allowed to
happen. With their capacity for violence it would mean disaster. You
must therefore kill this human before they can develop the theory and
craft to support such space travel. Do you have any questions
Major?"
"Just one sir. Why have I been chosen?"
"You Major?" asked Volt smiling. "Why, because you Major, are
human."

* * *

The newscast that night was full of eyewitness accounts of the latest
UFO sighting. Ian Wheeler couldn't believe the lengths the government
would go to in order to debunk the claims of those that believed Earth
was being visited by beings from another planet. The government
response, as always, was that it had been either a meteorological
phenomenon or weather balloon that had been spotted in the skies over
Scotland. Wheeler was unsure whether or not alien life forms existed
but if he could prove that interstellar travel was possible what was to
stop others on distant planets from coming to the same conclusion?
Perhaps they already had the technology to perfect what he had only
theorised about? Even Ian knew that a practical application of his
theories were some years distant. The men who would discover the alloys
capable of withstanding the pressure or invent the propulsion systems
capable of the speeds he talked about had probably not yet been born.
But what if they already existed on other worlds and had visited Earth?
The thought was a delicious one. Perhaps he would be lucky enough to
meet them one of these days and to study their craft. Enough of this
daydreaming, he told himself and he returned to reading the paper he
was to present the next day on nuclear fusion and its application to
power. For all he knew the government might be right. Maybe they were
just cloud formations or weather balloons that people had seen.
Whatever they were they weren't going to help him finish this
paper.

* * *

They were bizarre these Earth people, thought Hansom Karma. He had been
on the planet only a couple of days and he found their customs odd.
Anyone who could stand to sit in their own dirty water and call it
bathing had to be mad. Still, life on Earth did have its bonuses. The
women were as beautiful as back on his own planet and although
considerably hairier than he was used to were definitely preferable to
the lizard-like Crocussians. He also enjoyed watching television and
drinking beer. The latter activity, pleasurable as it was, had a
tendency to leave him feeling ill a few hours later and this had led
him to stop experimenting with the variety of types of beer that were
on offer. Perhaps he would come back at a later date and investigate
this further, he thought. The matter in hand still had to be taken care
of. That morning he had opened a newspaper and read that the brilliant
young physicist Ian Wheeler would be presenting a paper later that day
on nuclear fusion and energy at a place called The Northern Institute.
Karma consulted his databank and discovered that it was less than a few
earth minutes flight from where he was. Here was his opportunity, he
thought to complete his mission. Packing his things, he made his way to
the disused industrial complex where he had hidden his spacecraft. As
he approached the place where he had left it he pressed a switch on his
wrist controller and deactivated the cloaking device. His one-man
fighter craft appeared. Ensuring nobody was around he opened the
cockpit and climbed in. After checking all his systems were functioning
correctly he fired the engines, activated the in-flight cloaking device
and rose quietly up into the sky. The sensors in his helmet picked up
his thought patterns and within moments the craft was speeding its way
towards its destination and his meeting with Wheeler.

* * *

Karma stood at the back of the hall and listened intently to what the
speaker was saying. Although he was no scientist he was able to follow
the argument that the human was putting forward against nuclear power.
He believed, quite rightly, that there was no such thing as safe
nuclear power, and that both fission and fusion resulted in nuclear
waste of some kind. Of course, the amounts of waste connected with
fusion were much less than with fission, but waste nonetheless. What he
argued for was electricity produced by harnessing wind and wave power.
From what Karma had seen of this country seemed to suggest that they
had plenty of both. When he finished it was time for Wheeler to give
his address. Nothing prepared Karma for what he was about to see.
Wheeler was a boy. Volt had failed to tell him that. What was he going
to do? As a professional soldier he was paid to follow orders, but at
the same time he considered himself above killing children. He thought
of his own son, not much younger than Wheeler. No, he couldn't kill the
boy. He had to find another way of dealing with the situation. Without
wasting another moment he exited the hall. Major Hansom Karma of the
Space Marines had some thinking to do.

* * *

"I enjoyed your speech very much Mr Wheeler."
Ian Wheeler turned round and found he was looking into the face of a
large, heavy-set man aged about thirty-five. His dark hair was cut
short and cropped very close to the skull at the back and sides. He
spoke English hesitantly and with an accent that was unfamiliar. It
certainly wasn't European - South American possibly but the man's
colouring was almost Nordic, so it was unlikely that was where he was
from. The only thing that wasn't in doubt was the man's bearing. He was
definitely a soldier. For whose army was the only thing Wheeler didn't
know.
"Thank you," said Wheeler. "And who are you?"
"That is not important. What is important is that we need to
talk."
"Are you here to kidnap me?" Wheeler asked feeling vulnerable. Although
he possessed a genius's mind he was still capable of being nothing more
than a frightened boy. The man looked around as if checking to see if
there were any witnesses. There weren't. He had chosen his location for
the ambush very well.
"No," he said calmly. "I have come to kill you."
Wheeler's legs gave way and he stumbled forwards but before he could
hit the ground the man had reached out an arm and grabbed him. As the
sleeve of his jacket rode up Wheeler noticed a strange looking device
strapped to his wrist.
"Why do you want to kill me?" sobbed Wheeler. "I'm just a boy. I've
done nobody any harm."
"You have angered someone very important and he wants you dead."
The stranger released Wheeler's arm. He continued crying. There was no
use trying to persuade this man not to kill him. It was obvious that he
was a professional.
"Go on then, get it over with."
"What?"
"Kill me. That's what you said you were here for."
"I'm not going to kill you," the man said, almost insulted that Wheeler
should think such a thing. "I'm going to tell you something and you're
going to listen. And when I'm finished I'm going to leave and you are
going to do exactly what I tell you. Do you understand?" Wheeler
nodded, his body still racked by sobs. "Good. Then let us go."

* * *

It was a fantastic story and one that Wheeler had had trouble believing
at first. It wasn't until the stranger had revealed his spacecraft that
Wheeler had opened his mind up to what he was being told was true.
Humanity, it turned out, was just a science project. A science project
on a huge scale but one that had been conducted by aliens from the
other side of the galaxy. Now they were growing concerned that the
human race would one day leave its own solar system and enter theirs,
bringing with them all the evils they possessed. Wheeler was well aware
of humanity's shortcomings; at the same time he was aware of its
immeasurable capacity for compassion, love and warmth. He tried to
convince the stranger of this but it was no use. As a soldier he was
also a pragmatist. So was Wheeler. What the man suggested was the only
way forward. As soon as he was gone Wheeler would go back to his study
at the Institute, destroy all his notes, computer simulations and
resign his position in the Department of Natural Philosophy. He would
then disappear into Scottish life under an assumed name and follow a
different path. It would fall to someone else to discover the secrets
of interstellar travel. Perhaps one day the guardians of The Experiment
would change their minds. Until then they would continue to send others
in this man's place to finish his work. The next time they might send
someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill a boy.
"You understand don't you?" the man told him.
"Yes," Wheeler told him.
The man pressed a button on his wrist device and from nowhere a
beautifully shaped spacecraft appeared. The man walked towards the
fuselage touched the side and the cockpit slid open. Wheeler watched as
the man climbed in and put on his helmet. Moments later there was a
terrific noise as the engines ignited. Wheeler was awe-struck. That
craft, he thought, was capable of travelling at the speed of light. He
was witnessing something he had worked his entire short life to prove
was possible. Within seconds the craft had lifted off the ground and
with a final wave of his hand the man and his ship disappeared.

Ian Wheeler then set about fulfilling his part of the bargain.

* * *

As his ship approached his home system, Karma began calculating the
drop from light speed. The boy was right. The human race was capable of
immense good as well as evil. People like Vort and the others who
controlled the Council were just protecting their own vested interests,
and as the Chairman had said himself they hadn't always been civilised.
They had their own dark past that one day would have to be confronted.
Until then Karma would enjoy his new found "humanity". Pressing a
button on his control panel he spoke: "Mr Chairman, this is Major
Karma. The mission has been a success. Wheeler will no longer be a
problem."

Setting a course for home he hoped that what he had said was true. If
not, space could be a cold and lonely place.