LAZARUS CAIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isis and Qblh have reached an agreement.

Qblh, we can trust ,and he is extending her his trust and love.

In return she extends grace for Antiope and Helen and the stage is sent for an Earth rebound.

Isi will most certainly be refreshed to be away from the primitives on Earth and make it back to civilization once again.

So our dear lady can be diplomatic after all at times, or so it seems.

Or does she know something that Jim doesn't?

Yet still Jim does not leave himself open for attack.

He still has a mission to perform, and it hasn't changed.

Qblh has other Amazons stuck in Earth history.  He must retrieve them all, and bring them all home, and perhaps in the process, encounter those that he has already returned.

If nothing else, it would be very difficult to extend one's influence beyond his local time.

 Examine Jim's future. 

His future shall be intricately woven with a recorded past that he already has knowledge.

In addition , the Idiot has innumerable files that it has retrieved during its ongoing history

of information gathering in its adventures with Jm.

It is the twentieth record of history which is the Gene's first information source. 

Its other information banks contain real data that it directly observed.

One must remember that the Idiot has the Box and the Pegasus on  preprogrammed flight patterns

which are governed by the paradox avoidance system. 

The reader must understand that Qblh is really unable to land during this pass over Artemis

when he plans to unload the Pegasus. 

The flight control equation requires him to make a return bounce to about 1450 BC again.

Yet now he finds he as an additional crew member to worry about, his son.

 

 

"I say we must overshoot our arrival point somewhat."  Xuang challenged his father. "Would it be possible for me to review cosmological data while we undergo displacement.  I have a list of requisitions from the Genie concerning experiments I wish to try."

 

Jim smiled at his son. "As a matter of fact, that is what I brought you both here to discuss.  We are going to overshoot slightly to witness the evolution of our local galaxy of stars.  I intend on mapping the galaxy for Genie's navigational system.  Genie can't exactly give you the information in its raw form, but it can present it to you according to a model of your choosing."

 

Isis challenged Jim.  "How is it now your Box is fully repaired whereas last time I saw you it was in a state of disrepair.  Did you lie to me?"

 

"No, I did not lie.  I repaired the Box on Earth not on Artemis."

 

"Where did you repair it?  I have no knowledge of any repair.  Certainly it required a huge expenditure of energy.  Your secret experiments were never cheap when it came to power requirements.  At time you needed to tap all of Venetia's power reserves.  Now how is it possible that you ever tapped that much energy from Earth?  I find that impossible to believe."

 

"I know,"  Jim smiled, "but I believe that is a secret."

 

"Well, I am sure Antiope and  Helen are involved.  What is the name of that industry that Antiope controls under our authority,  Antiope Industries?  Is that it?  Well by intergalactic standards, it would seem that I own Antiope Industries, and Xiang and Xuang stand to inherit it."

 

"That may very well be, but I possess the secrets that have made Antiope Industries what it is, my dear, and Genie contains most of the official records of the corporation which also are secret."

 

"You are intriguing me, beloved, with all these secrets that you claim I can not discover but always do."

 

"Well that would be a first, because you never seemed to show interest to technical details before.  The secrets to Merkabah dynamics never were your favorite topics, and you know full well that partial knowledge can be dangerous without being aware of  the technical details."

 

"What does your Merkabah have to do with Antiope Industries?"

 

"Genie's memory banks."

 

Xiang intereced.  "Genie can transfer those files to your governing control system without violating Merkabah secrets, mother.  We can assume command of Antiope Industries in this manner if you insist on your undeniable right to control Antiope Industries.  Father used the Merkabah unit to produce gold to buy power on Earth."

 

"Oh he did, did he?  In that case the gold is Venetian royal property which means that Antiope Industries is a branch of the royal treasury.  As the chief executive then, Jim, I do have a right to control that industry as I see fit."

 

Jim was not to be taken by surprise.  He had of course anticipated this.  Only he knew that Antiope Industries had promised to deliver free fusion power to all of Earth. Isis did not yet know this.  Only he or Xuang had the ability to lead Antiope Industries successfully and Isis would need them for that.  "I am aware of this, my beloved and so are Antiope and Helen. They have agreed to administrate Antiope Industries under your authority with Qblh acting as an inter-mediator.  This would be in accordance with your law and expressed will, unless you choose to so will otherwise, my lady."  Qblh then got on his knees to Isis and begged he approval in full view of the children.

 

She leaned over in conquest to kiss him on his forehead.  "I find that acceptable, but bring  their children to Artemis because they do not belong on Earth.  They will be honored as your children, and I will not harm the mothers if you agree to do this."

 

"Agreed."  Isis had promised to spare the lives of Antiope, Helen, and the children.  He would be able to fulfill his promises to them.  "Children, would you like me to summon the Genie?"

 

Xiang and Xuang may have been mature by now, but their childhood memories of Genie were still very pleasant and they both were delighted at the prospects of once again seeing their childhood playmate. Genie appeared as a genie.

 

 "Xiang and Xuang, how pleasant to see you both again.  You certainly have grown."

 

"We definitely could have used you, Genie, it's so nice to talk to a decent artificial intelligence unit again.  We had to perform our administration duties via very primitive record keeping techniques and our memory.  Also could have used your scanning abilities to fight off warring neighboring tribes.  It seems we never had a shortage of rivals.  Xuang did not have the nerve to perform executions, but I didn't have those reservations.  They always died with a smile on their face anyway, but not before I had obtained concessions.  Yet Xuang was useful, very useful.  He actually took the time to teach the natives agricultural and engineering skills. "

 

"My masters need to know these skills, else how could you successfully program Shaltain's successor.  Your father has a routine for each of you which shall be used to reprogram the Venetian governing artificial intelligence system.  I am unplugging Shaltain upon arrival, and I need to interface with you both in order to create new governing equations. .I have devised a game for the both of you.  Would you like to play?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Yes."

 

"I even have a game for you, my lady as well.  Qblh will play in a virtual reality world with you while I obtain critical governing kernels.  Please be aware that you are programming so any decisions that you make in this game will have very lasting consequences, so be aware of this danger.  We can recreate any scene that you encounter, however, so there are save and restore features. We can correct any mistakes that you perceive during the game and keep replaying the scene until it suits your taste.  Are you game?"

 

'I want Qblh by my side physically as well during this game."

 

"We anticipated that.  You will be permitted to play regardless of Jim's ambrosia levels."

 

"Oh, I shall like this game very much.  The children can have separate rooms."

 

"Of course."

 

"And I can watch the stars go by as well."

 

"As you wish, my lady."

 

Xuang queried.  "Can I watch the stars as well."

 

"You're the pilot,  Xuang.  Your father has given you this privilege.  Didn't you say that you thought your solution might work?"

"Yes, but father said I needed to review my theory for more errors.  Apparently I made some mistakes."

 

"Of course you did, he wouldn't want to admit that you had that ability.  I don't know how many times I had to remind him of his simple mistakes before he finally programmed me correctly.  This is part of your game."

 

"And what are you going to teach me. Genie?"  Xiang queried. 

 

"Your routine is similar to your mother's.   In your case, you are assumed as the future ruler of Artemis.  You play  the role of queen of the Venetian empire with all due privileges. In your case, I must perform future simulations."

 

"And who invented these games?"  Isis queried.

 

" 'Creates'  is the proper term, my dear.  Genie reacts to each of us by mimicking a known environmental reality which it has experienced in the past."

 

"Of course, Genie summons images which are contained in our hall of records."

 

"Precisely, and those images react in a real fashion, thus the virtual simulation."

 

"So you can undoubtedly establish thought links with Genie, can't you Jim?"

 

Jim smiled.  "It's not quite that simple, but I suppose you are right."

 

"I knew it!  It's just magick."

 

"It's not magic."

 

"I know perfectly well what it is, Jim.  It's magick, but I am impressed.  You are very good.  Your machine-head intelligence will make it impossible for me to distinguish you from the Genie, but you shall be under my ambrosial influence, so we shall see how smart Genie is with you at a disadvantage."

 

"Where is the problem?  I already told you I am allowing you access to Genie's capabilities."

 

"But not complete access."

 

"You are reprogramming Shaltain, not Genie.  Do not think that you are reprogramming Genie.  So complete access is denied."

The children seemed most eager to start the game, so the family finished the formalities of the reunion quite quickly.  For the remainder of the day, the royal family would stay in touch with each other electronically, yet also live.  Genie would retard and advance messages so that each participant could address and respond in their own time, yet with the illusion of appearing live.  A time travel machine can do this.

 

 And so it was that Jim had the Box navigate the Pegasus back to Artemis.  Genie successfully managed to develop replacement software for the Artemis electronic governing banks.  Jim made some minor corrections to his theoretical database, and the Idiot computer found the entrance to the wormhole.  It seemed that the wormhole opening had occurred about the time of the Great Flood.  A wormhole opening being understood as the entry point for the Pegasus form the Cygnus jump.  The point at which the Pegasus had reentered the Earth continuum could best be understood as the creation of a singularity.  This same singularity would be the reentry point for the way back.  The trick in entering this singularity is that it must be done at light velocity and the entry space required is considerably smaller than the broad side of a barn.  That is the trouble with space travel.  One needs the greatest precision in navigation, far beyond the ability of any human.  Energy must be vectored with microscopic perfection and a split second error could yield tragic circumstances.

 

True to his word, Jim allowed Xuang to pilot the way back to Artemis. To say the ride  was a little bumpy is  putting  it rather mildly.  Xuang simply justified the overshoot by saying he always wanted to see what the universe looked like a few billion years ago.  He also had considerable trouble braking within the galaxy.  Jim was highly amused as he watched his son learn how to drive. 

 

"You must learn to put on the brakes before you even see the target galaxy , Xuang.  You must fly by your knowledge of where the stars are and will be, and not by where they appear to be."