Framandi Alliance- Galaxy Accretion Conflicts
Framandi Alliance
Galaxy Accretion Conflicts
Rashid Ahmed
Framandi Alliance
Galaxy Accretion Conflicts
Copyright © 2019 Rashid Ahmed
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction and except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual places, entities or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
First Edition November 2019
ISBN 13 (Paperback): 9781707737642
Author: Rashid Ahmed
Imprint: Independently published
Contact: info@rashidahmed.com
Visit: www.rashidahmed.com
Dedicated to my Mum and Dad.
For always encouraging me to explore.
Contents
Preface
Prologue: Lýsi Beginnings
Álfhól Platform
Interception
Infiltrator
Wormhole
Unknown System
Evacuation
Regroup
Recovery
Alliance
Hijack
Initiative
Discoveries
Salvage
Deployment
Takeover
Pursuit
Confrontation
Feint
Skirmish
Resolution
Epilogue
Preface
As a voracious reader for most of my life, my mind has always bubbled with the occasional plot idea, imagined worlds and character personas. Many of you might relate to this.
Having gravitated towards science fiction in the last decade and having spent a corresponding amount of time devouring adventure, I began outlining the plot for a compelling space adventure story.
Told from a third-generation, quantum processing, independent AI’s perspective, the novel skips along at a brisk pace. From the moment a crew, which includes a pair of transhuman twins, is tasked to explore an anomalous space object above the solar system’s ecliptic plane; the plot winds a relentless quest, of deep-space adventures.
While researching our galaxy, I came across references to the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy or CMa Dwarf, which has been in the process of being pulled apart and absorbed into the Milky Way. This process has been going on for eons, evidenced by the trail of stars comprising CMa Dwarf, wrapping itself around our galaxy three times.
What happens when galaxies merge? From the brief timeline of humans, not much really. But what about older civilizations? Those which may have evolved millions or perhaps billions of years ago? If they haven’t been wiped out, it’s entirely possible that they have taken to colonizing star systems and perhaps entire sections of galaxies.
Back in 1950, when Enrico Fermi is known to have exclaimed to his fellow physicists, “But where is everybody?” referring to extra-terrestrials, he was indicating that intelligent life might have widely risen. For a suitably advanced civilization, travelling across space using known/feasible means of propulsion, getting across our galaxy would take but a few million years.
This implies that there could be extensive colonisation across the Milky Way and CMa Dwarf (a much older galaxy). Consequently, accretion of CMa Dwarf into the Milky Way, could be a cause of conflict between established galaxy spanning civilizations. This premise is the pivotal theme of this novel, and others to follow in this series.
Another interesting thematic consideration is that the plot unfolds in our present time. Slightly in the past in fact. Extrapolating upon currently established science and unfolding research, while dipping into extra-terrestrial hypothesis and shimmying up to controversial conspiracy theories; the science fiction in this novel is meant to be highly believable.
Additional content like main character outlines and world descriptions are available on my website RashidAhmed.com.
Do read the prologue. The background information it provides, though technical, is vital. You’re sure to better enjoy the chapters that follow.
I really do hope you enjoy the book.
Rashid Ahmed
@Kaputnik77
Prologue
Lýsi Beginnings
What started off as an attempt to solve a few of the world’s most pressing ‘wicked problems’, rapidly and secretly veered off course. The first transhumans were developed, deep-space resource exploration picked up and separately, the first independent digital artificial intelligence aided in accelerated progress. These were seen to be solutions, to pressing Earth-wide wicked problems. No one knew that the stepping-stones these advances provided, would lead to fresh problems being uncovered. Ancient, inter-galactic problems.
History of Lýsi
During the Second World War, global governments as well as international bodies recognized the threats of annihilation through war brought on by political stress, extinction level events such as a massive meteor impact, viruses gone wild or natural phenomenon including rapid climate change. The first think tank (a concept which became popular during WWII) to solve these problems, was considered on the sidelines when various world governments came together at Allied conferences in Moscow and Tehran in 1943. An independent body funded separately by various government departments, businesses and individuals, was formed to look at immediate as well as future problems affecting the world. Amongst the problems, mitigating global war (proposed by a body of underdeveloped and pacifist countries), steering towards an ideal techno-utopian society (proposed by a few communist and socialist countries) and strategies to deal with global catastrophic risk (proposed by a section of rich countries) were the first to be accepted and funded.
In 1945, the thinktank, by then called Lýsi (meaning ‘solution/s’ in Greek) began operating out of a small building, a block away from the townhall in Delft, The Netherlands. It was close enough to the local university so that visiting intellectuals would fit in. The headquarters were also close to the port, transportation and essential infrastructure. The low-key Lýsi H.Q. also maintained a fleet of six vehicles, three motorized boats (moored just outside the building) and seven residential buildings adjacent to the museum next door. Lýsi organized itself in a distributed manner with a global, corporate-style leadership team. The cross-border organization drew upon highly qualified staff from universities, government departments involved in practical research and leading technical professionals from across industries. All members were vetted by a board comprising a mix of government appointees (those with active projects) and of qualified representatives from the academic arena. There were also three independent members, who nominated a group of individuals to participate in active projects (to act as the ethical overseers for each of the project groups).
Extraterrestrials: A wicked problem
Smack in the middle of the cold war, between 1965 and 1972, actual traction began on the then much thrown about term, wicked problems. Various frameworks began to be drawn into policy at the global and national levels. By this time the problem of how to deal with extraterrestrials as conceptualized in extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), was also introduced as a fully funded project after numerous unidentified flying object sightings were recorded between 1945 and 1960. Specifically, following a 1953 military and intelligence examination of ETH material (publicly explained away as innocuous), Lýsi’s ETH researchers uncovered material hidden from the reviewers. It was also the period (1964-1967) when Lýsi became a l
ot more secretive. This was after an attending member extrapolated and published some thinking on ‘entropy’, suggesting that every advanced social group would succumb to chaos, which would ultimately lead to disorganization. One scientist published material on self-teaching ultra-intelligent machines. A rebellious researcher published material on transgenic life extension through use of recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), while yet another released information on experiments related to detection and manipulation of gravity waves. Given the rapid exchange of information between participants of various projects (to hasten solution findings), the ability of Lýsi to prevent hemorrhaging of secrets was brought into question. Especially given the nature of research, and the possibility of undesirable usage of specialist technology developed by project groups.
Mitigating global catastrophic risk
After 1972, up to which time it was already deeply involved with space travel technology and solutions, the thinktank became more operationalized (a think-and-do tank). Following a publication in a scientific journal in 1974 which recognized the overload of the planet’s heat balance and the consequences of it, Lýsi began to focus primarily on global catastrophic risk (GCR) under which all other wicked problems were placed as subsets. Lýsi’s solutions settled on and involved, directed human evolution, the development of artificial machine intelligence and actively pursuing space colonization, through public and private means.
There were initial breakthroughs in ETH based research in nanomaterials, manipulation of electromagnetic radiation, micro-computing and space observation. Simultaneously, there were advances in recombinant DNA technology (with its applications in agriculture being released for use globally); which interestingly, prompted early transhuman applied research. Clandestinely, the group set up shop near the University Hospital in Havana, Cuba; to utilize gene transfer technology and to use retroviruses with selective markers to identify successful DNA modification. This technology was immediately used to treat people with genetic disorders and immunodeficiency. Lýsi privately ran genome editing trials, to completely modify a few human participants’ DNA. Early successes led to some information on gene therapy for cancer being shared with prominent researchers, to tackle the rising incidences of cancer.
To maintain a higher level of secrecy and increase the speed of development; in 1975, all non-key participating members were released with binding non-disclosure agreements. Now called The Lýsi Group and wholly privately funded, directed human evolution tasks became paramount to ensure species and information survival. Tiny amounts of technical knowhow were periodically released in a controlled manner to specific corporate entities, to kickstart widespread use of resultant products by consumers. While this policy gradually brought large portions of the global population closer to technology and prepared people for geometric leaps in technology progress; it came with significant drawbacks like unconstrained resource and energy use which amplified environmental degradation, global warming and the rich-poor divide.
Following a 1976 extra-terrestrial (ET) unidentified flying object (UFO) incident in the middle east, ETH research moved up in rank directly under Global Catastrophic Risk. Most research including directed human evolution through gene manipulation, AI through linked neural net machines, space technologies and robotics were brought under the ambit of GCR solutions. Publicly without identifying Lýsi, a recombinant DNA advisory committee was formed to regulate use of the technology in agriculture, ecosystem modification, animal husbandry, and genetic treatment.
Reverse engineering ET artifacts
UFO probe material was gathered following a 1980 incident in Britain which catapulted space technologies development, after The Lýsi Group covertly acquired a ‘live’ artefact. Progress then leapfrogged in the fields of shielded microelectronics, composite materials and self-replicating machines which utilized the already well-developed AI to modify its own code-set and suggest hardware improvements. For public release, the AI developed a freely distributable operating system which it could access via hidden encrypted backdoors. The operating system was adopted for use by distributed networking specialists, and extensively utilized on commercial servers.
The early neural net AI was also able to quickly identify how the computing systems in the acquired extra-terrestrial probe functioned. This offered direction towards redeveloping the AI’s own hardware and software. Advanced computing research was carried out in the US and Japan by the group through its Singularity Research Division (SRD). The probe also contained what was identified as a matter transfer module, which created material in its inner chamber ‘through thin air’. To study this, scans were taken of the matter transfer module and a classified subatomic particle research lab was set up at the local technical university, near the group’s headquarters at Delft.
Separately the group’s SRD members were tasked with reverse engineering quantum computing hardware based on the probe’s designs, and the development of suitable quantum calculation software. Massive technology leaps were accomplished in a short period.
The Lýsi Group’s leadership team had been experimenting with a versatile decentralized command and control structure. They agreed on an adhocratic organization. The adhocracy allowed rapid maneuvering and decision making. AI assisted administration coordinated the group’s activities, facilitating interactions between teams and departments globally.
In 1980, the group’s then appointed and elected leaders, took a crucial decision to release all breakthrough information to the global populace, but deferred by up to twenty years. This was necessary to ensure any released material was adequately vetted, tested for stability and that information did not destabilize global governments or the economy.
Transhuman research
By then, the group’s efforts towards implementing research recommendations for species survival was already sucking up massive amounts of capital and energy. To keep the group funded, some technology was shared with corporations around the world, bringing in liquidity. In November 1983, after two decades of research, learning, understanding and experimentation with about twenty thousand human genes, The Lýsi Group set up a research lab close to a major hospital in Hlíðar, Reykjavík, Iceland; where the first partially genetically edited transhumans were brought to term.
DNA samples taken from unsuspecting healthy individuals from around the world (through a testing service introduced to the public in 1960), were selected for essential bases. Edited genes identified for use, were shortlisted by the group’s neural net AI running clusters of expert systems. The upgraded genes were introduced via a viral vector, into the DNA of an in-vitro fertilized embryo of a research couple, who were confident of an early success using this method.
Unexpectedly, the single embryo transfer resulted in first generation transhuman twins – a boy and a girl. The children were called Jón Gylfason and Ásta Gylfadóttir, children of researchers Gylfi Hallgrímsson and Katrín Magnusdóttir.
Iceland was chosen as the hub for the group’s genetic research because of two very important reasons. The first was that the Icelandic population had a nationally documented genealogy going back over a thousand years. This provided in-depth history into the qualitative nature of genes by studying family history to identify desirable traits. The second was that Iceland was remote enough to provide confidentiality, security and physical isolation, should anything go wrong.
Quantum computing AI
Significant progress had been made on the non-biological technology front as well. By then, ‘massively parallel processing technology’ which utilized intelligent AI agents or autonomous goal-oriented AI, was gradually released for real-world government, commercial and institutional applications, through The Lýsi Group’s Japanese hub. The group’s R&D had far outstripped publicly available technology and was now utilizing a self-learning and modifying AI named Shun (‘fast’ in Japanese). Shun’s hardware operated on nascent quantum computers which liberally drew on conventional networked processors for linear tasks. T
he AI’s core systems were located at Shinkawa, Chuo City, Tokyo; and in a disguised merchant container ship named Kuji Maru docked at Aichi in Japan. The ship was always kept prepared to deploy to sea.
The two key processing nodes (Shinkawa and Kuji Maru) were networked through a dedicated private transponder on a commercial satellite. However, each node could operate independently. The quantum computing cores for both these systems were supported by a set of four enclosed, briefcase sized three-dimensional integrated circuit matrices, comprising beta-production nanoelectronic processing units. The four circuit matrices were linked through a set of fibre optics, with additional laser backup. For rapid data transfer, portions of each of the individual processors used nano-optics between logic, distributed random access nano-caches and control units. These technologies would only be revealed to the world another twenty years later, keeping with The Lýsi Group’s information release schedule.
Molecular manufacturing and robotics
By 1986, the world was just beginning to hear about molecular assembly nano-tech. Given the steep accomplishment curve that space technology and material science was maintaining during this period, an experimental self-replicating manufacturing robot satellite was secretly introduced in the garb of a weather observation platform, into earth orbit. Its goal was to utilize the already voluminous orbiting space junk to manufacture space-based platforms and systems including additional construction/fabrication robot satellites.