Review of Axiom’s End

 After Awoken, Lindsay Ellis will always be suspect. Alien romance has been done. It is a common theme on Star Trek:

-Dr. Bashir we have discovered a new life form.

-Does it fuck?

Dr. Bashir is a slut. There are vampire romances, werewolf romances, zombie romances… In Awoken the love interest is Cthulhu.

-As she fell into his arms, arms, arms.

-There were tentacles where no tentacle should ever go.

In Axiom’s End, the protagonist Cora, recovering from a malignant narcissist father, falls for a manipulative extraterrestrial war refugee, Asterisk. Asterisk confuses her squeamishness over killing him with kindness. Get very nervous if someone regards you as kind or nice. Asterisk resembles a grass hopper Dr. Seuss character. Asterisk’s appeal is kind of a cuddly networked dildo, not much privacy, almost as good as a lesbian. The couple overcommit right away. Cora keeps assuming that Asterisk regards us as savage. She doesn’t consider that he is projecting.

I had difficulty in the beginning of the book. Cora fighting with her mom seemed normal. It’s a shame that families are always used to develop the character then disposed of. The surveillance was off. Surveillance doesn’t tailgate.

Once I got past that, I was able to swallow it. Asterisk knocked Cora around too much, sort of a school yard romance. It is suggested that the great filter is dominant aliens killing everyone else, good an explanation as any.

It was fun that the plot centered on Cora recognizing the relations between the aliens. Meeting family can be difficult. There is a good fight scene where Cora keeps trying to hold onto the tablet she uses to translate.

The aliens appear to descend from locusts. They have evolved to get their sustenance from power cores, which may be nuclear. They conflict with “transients” with which they have a common ancestor.

There is another alien variant with the same ancestor which has reached Automated Sentience. I think AS is going to happen with us very soon. Just a matter of finding the right algorithm. I see Binder as the most likely manifestation of AS. I was going to say Artificial Sentience, but they might take that as pejorative.

It is always assumed that the “government”, governments(?), will keep first contact secret.  Why would the governments classify the best budget busting defense motive that has ever happened? There has to be some aspect of the aliens that threatens established order sufficiently to overwhelm the motive of defense spending.

Ellis makes her aliens refugees, a reasonable way to avoid the first contact issues of why they would show up in the first place. Asterisk is a member of the one group, Fremda, that opposes wiping out other species, which is why they are refugees. I could see Fremda changing their minds. The ambivalence is apparent.

In my version of first contact, the aliens showed up, there were the usual issues of immunization, sustenance, insecticides, language, intellectual and social constructs. Finally, the aliens say:

-Take me to your leader.

They get in front of the committee and say something like:

-You guys have developed computers, you know about these political structures, if you just accept these four principles (or whatever) you could avoid hundreds of thousands of years of really tragic social development that you might not survive.

The committee says:

-Get back in that thing and leave.

It took me a while to realize that the US is the Star Wars Empire, including the death star. In Axiom’s End the alien establishment is an overzealous security state, just like us.

 

Bait

The most frightening thing I have ever seen is the Gulf of Mexico from space.  It is circular.  A circle is a crater.

*-*

The hunter waited. A terrifying brilliant ferocious huge man eating tiger, he chuckled, very quietly of course.  It was just another job.  Once it is a money matter, it becomes so simple.  The goat was bleating plaintively on its’ tether.  All as it should be.  He cradled the rifle in his arms thinking about how he would spend the money and with whom he would spend it. He startled, looked at the goat, it was still there.  What was wrong?  The goat was sitting.  It was quiet.  Too late, the hunter realized the goat was staring at him. His position revealed, he felt the tiger’s breath.

*-*

One place to look for aliens is dust. Large successful alien civilizations left a lot of trash, at least at some periods of their development. The difficulty is that chemists usually start by burning or dissolving their samples. Finding a Teflon molecule in moon dust or an arctic ice column seems definitive. Just as we don’t yet have the technology to understand advanced communication, we probably won’t recognize alien detritus. When we do, it will seem obvious even common.

*-*

-People have seen flying saucers.

-People have seen the Virgin Mary.

-That’s not real.

-More people have seen the Virgin Mary than have seen flying saucers.

-It’s not the same.

-The people who see the Virgin Mary sneer at the people who see flying saucers.  The people who see flying saucers sneer at the people who see the Virgin Mary.  If you see both you’re a Mormon.  Just because people see something, doesn’t make it so.

-Why would they make it up?

-Loss of faith; people want to believe in something.

-What about the aircraft carrier visits?

-Excellent example, here we are waving nuclear reactors over the ocean. Why would we prefer a visitation over an admission of ignorance of the physics?

-You think it’s all made up.

-That’s the most likely explanation.  It’s very unlikely that someone came all the way from Andromeda just to drain somebody’s sinuses. It’s an order of magnitude more likely that they are from the neighborhood.

-Where?

-Atlantis, it’s not likely. However, a higher level of primate is certainly more probable than aliens.

-Wouldn’t we know?

-Why would they tell us?

-Why would they let us live?

-Good point.  Primates are sometimes kind to each other, much less to other primate species.  They could be that different I suppose.  It’s more likely some small difference that gives them a big advantage.  Maybe they don’t have our resistance to disease.  Maybe they are moving forward in time until we wipe ourselves out. If it’s just us and them, why are we still here?

-So much for that theory.

-If it’s just us and them, they wouldn’t keep us around.

-Why would they otherwise?

-Bait.

*-*

He stared at the blue planet.  Other species might sneer at the windows in their craft, at his species sense of wonder, now the windows were essential to their plan.  That planet had once been their home.  Then they met the Federation.  They had prospered with the Federation, assured themselves some measure of perpetuity, now it was time to pay their dues.

For thousands of years they had groomed the planet, allowed that other primate species, humans to have it.  It was horrifying to watch.  They had protected them from intrusion, waiting for this moment.  Now the enemy was approaching, a ghastly foe that enslaved the universe.

 

Their own craft was equipped with manual air systems, not the slightest electronic indication.  They waited for the enemy to materialize from their jump gates.  First the scouts came, next would come the huge behemoth ships.  Each jump gate had its own planet. After their experience in an earlier engagement the enemy made its jumps in two large waves.

 

The plan was after the scout wave, to power up and fire as one.  The destruction of such a huge ship in a jump gate would devastate its’ host planet.  Without their gates, the enemy would be helpless and the Federation could finally drive this scourge back into the darkness.

 

In the distance, they could see the haze that indicated the arrival of the behemoth enemy ships.  He stared at the planet and wondered if it would survive.  There were bright red lights shining from the planet.  He squinted. As he looked around, he gasped.  Each of their ships was glowing red.  The humans were shining lasers at their ships.

-Those bastards lit us up!

He screamed.

I Want To Go

It seems feasible that we could have a spacecraft that hurtles toward the sun becoming a comet. The idea would be to apply acceleration at various orbital points that maximize speed with minimum expenditure. If we can go fast enough the relativistic effect would compensate for our lack of resources. After sufficient orbits we could then rejoin the Earth. To us it would seem that we had been gone a few months or even years, but we would have moved forward in time by hundreds of years.

It should be possible to do some science at the outer boundary of our orbit. Measure the cosmic radiation, red shift, various observations of deep space. Maybe our UFO’s are other primates who are moving forward in time in order to avoid us.

The reason of course is that once we had rejoined humanity, assuming that we are still here, we could then ask them, after we figured out how they spoke:

-What do you think of Donald Trump?

They would answer:

-Who?

One Shot Mosquito

My job is to find some way to keep the mosquito from spreading malaria.
Mosquitoes evolved from biting flies. Over time, they developed efficient ways to extract blood, and became dependent on it for the nutrients for breeding. Their life cycle hints at a difficult and complex evolution. They are the essential vector for malaria. Malaria also has a complex life cycle hinting at a complex evolution in the company of the mosquito.
There has been a lot of futile research attempting to attack malaria directly. The research is futile because of malarias’ different life cycle changes. The plasmodium parasite has too many life stages. Singling out any particular one leaves the others and your medicine fails. If you wish to attack malaria then you must attack the mosquito.
Malaria is one of the major detriments to human progress in the world. The genetic human disorder of sickle cell disease evolved as a natural defense to the scourge of malaria.
In a time when so many species have perished in the face of human encroachment the mosquito persists, even thrives. Perhaps someday we will eradicate this annoying and dangerous parasite. There is no shortage of species of fly, the loss of one or two would not be missed.
You may be surprised at the altruism of drug companies and foundations willing to sponsor research that has so little potential for profit. Well you should be. It is the treatment of disease, rather than eradication that is profitable. But it has become vital for the development of the oil reserves in Africa, in particular Somalia, for us to be seen as benefactors rather than mere colonialists. A victory in this area would more than justify the investment if it were properly presented and packaged.
-How can we help you my African brothers? Oh I know, research!
The effort itself may well be rewarded. Success could lead to development of previously inhospitable jungle.
Then we could worry about the ecological impact.
What can we do? The mosquito feeds, lays eggs, then repeats the process. The repetition spreads disease. How often does the mosquito repeat its egg laying? Not that often, the laying of eggs requires tremendous effort. It is the feeding that the mosquito repeats. How to minimize the occurrence of feeding? It must have bigger meals. Then it must compete with its sipping cousin for habitat, crowding it out.
What astounding arrogance to redesign such a perfect and well-adapted organism. We do it all the time with many different species. But it is amazing. How to select for the quality I desire? Provide the mosquitoes with a short meal and then keep the ones that breed. Then repeat the process. It’s not enough of course. Simply stressing one quality does not assure the adaptability and survival of the variety we seek. We can create hybrids of various species, all the while testing for improvement.
Now that we have the genome mapped, we can create throwbacks, ancient varieties, evolutionary dead ends that may be more successful in meeting our criteria. We tend to think of evolution as a process of optimization. It is really more of a process of accommodation. All sorts of possibilities have been tested, but not necessarily fairly or on their own merits.
With luck and of course persistence and some resourcefulness it was created: the perfect one-shot mosquito. Malaria would be at an end. Imagine the euphoria. It is rare that we have an opportunity in our professional lives to actually accomplish something. People take pride, as best they can, in whatever accomplishments they may have. This will change the world. It is meant to change the world. It will accomplish its purpose. No stumbling. No backing into it. We knew what we had to do. We mapped it out and then we did it. It’s never that simple. When a mosquito takes that large a meal, it leaves a welt. That is to say, it leaves a large; quite often permanent scar. The legal department was scathing.
-Okay, we’re not making any money on this, and everybody in the world will sue us.
I wish I could tell you that I was awash in idealism. That I was thinking of some large eyed African child shivering from fever. I don’t know anybody like that. I was overcome with righteous indignation against the mammoth corporate interests who were making these cynical decisions about our future purely on the principle of protecting their own careers. Actually, I like mammoth corporate interests who pay my salary and I want them to keep doing it.
It wasn’t pride. Or at least I’m not admitting to that. If I’m ever asked, I’ll say it was for Somali oil. Maybe it was simply because I could. I rolled up my sleeve, inserted my arm into their container and allowed the monsters to feed. Then I removed my arm, allowing them to remain, rolled down my shirtsleeve and walked outside. After their release, I went back for the males. I hope that the plasmodium parasite doesn’t pass along mosquito generations.

Gravity

Nothing against Cate Blanchett, besides her difficult name but Bullock and Clooney were robbed. Gravity received precisely the wrong awards. Bullock and Clooney sold a ridiculous film.
It’s dangerous to credulity to have science fiction slightly in the future. Tyson has already pointed out the hair issue, so I was ready for that. But the idea of somebody being able to grab anything not specifically designed for it with a pressurized glove was a total fail. Maybe they could loop their arm through something. The second time Bullock flipped on a hatch, I had to laugh, not exactly a quick learner. Not since Raging Bull have I enjoyed an actor getting slapped around so much. An astronaut estimating docking with a space station was outrageous. Try grabbing a speeding freight train and you get the idea. F=MA. People, who don’t understand that equation, and the resultant integration, think that they can somehow brace themselves rather than wear seat belts. We are talking about tonnage against pounds. Tonnage wins. This should have turned into a Brian De Palma film with a bloody arm stump.
They tried to address the issue by having them bump around a bit. But there is a huge difference between addressing the issue and meeting the issue. Any difference in speed and they are missing body parts. No resistance issues. Use whatever glancing angle you like. Take the ratios of the velocity less 1, because there isn’t any bounce, just a sploosh. Given that they are both going very fast at pretty much the same speed, the ratio is small. It doesn’t matter when you are multiplying it by hundreds of tons. My most optimistic calculation has them flattened by a truck.
It was Bullock and Clooney that somehow got me through this film with the silly dialogue. Because of them, I was able to suspend disbelief, at least until she somehow found two separate custom designed space suits conveniently left behind for her. If you think one size fits all panty hose is a cruel joke, imagine an adjustable space suit. I guess they thought it was more unbelievable that she could recharge the air on the space suit she had. It is too unlikely that there would be a standard air supply system. China manufactures three separate versions for each of us.
I have a little trouble with someone in an oxygen deprived coma waking up and turning their air back on. Christine wasn’t too happy with Bullock’s choice of skivvies surrounded by all those metal objects.
I did like the Chinese joke about their ejection module being a copy of ours.

2400

USS Uhuru on a secret peacekeeping mission to the Lambda quadrant suddenly drops out of warp.

The captain is speaking:
-Why is it always the Lambda quadrant? What’s their problem? What happened?

-We are out of warp.
An officer replies.

-I know that, why?

-There’s a diagnostic.

-What does it say?

-It says:

14357-e, Early end DATECNVT\seclib system ended.

-What?

-It says:

-I heard you. What does that mean?
The captain interrupts.

-I don’t know.

-Life support inactive.
Says a second officer.

-What do you mean inactive? Computer, override life support. I said computer…Are we under attack?
Asks the captain.

-All the computers are down.
Replies the officer.

-What do you mean, down?

-They’re not working.

-Why?

-Permission to be on the bridge.
Jones, a black human, from maintenance and first contact has entered the bridge.

-What is it?
Says the captain.

-The New Year, 2400.

-OK, and that’s a problem because?

-The date routine must have a bug.

-We don’t talk like that on my bridge.

-I've taken history of data processing.
Says Jones.

-Some body actually took that class?

-A bug is a programming error. Is there a diagnostic message?

-It’s over here.

-Then this must be the main console.

-We have many consoles.

-It thinks it’s the main console. Oh no, please don’t let it be UNIX.

-Castrated males?

-U N I X. Oh no, we don’t even have a keyboard.

-A what?

-Excuse me, did you say keyboard?
One of the bridge officers asks.

-Yes.

-There’s a plate in this locker that says something about keystroke equivalents, is that what you want?

-I guess so. Oh dear.

-Tetsilla, help him with this. Tetsilla has excellent memory.
Says the captain.

-I think we want to enter, start UNIX.
Jones tells Tetsilla.

-U N I X?

-Yes.

-Then what?

-Enter. No, don’t type enter. There should be an enter key.

-Oh, I see it. What does it mean, invalid parameter enter?

-Hit the enter key again.

-Enter UserID. What?

-Type r-o-o-t.


-Now it says enter password. What’s an enter password?

-That’s a command.

-To do what?

-Type password and hit enter.

-The word password?

-Yes.

-Invalid password. Should I type valid password?

-No. Try stud muffin, but as one word.

-Invalid password.

-Secure1.

-Invalid password, hey it kicked us out.

-Start over, but without typing enter.

-Look under the console, there’s something written under there.
Says one of the bridge officers.

-What were you doing under the console?
Asks another officer.

Jones looks under the console.
-Try Gandalf.

-Nothing.
Says Tetsilla.

-I think that means it worked.

-Now what?

-Type help and then hit the enter key.

-It’s not a key.

-You know what I mean.

-This is crazy; we’re running out of air.
Says an officer.

-How long till we run out of air?
Says another bridge officer.

-I don’t know. We don’t have a computer.

-I think it’s a couple of hours.

-How long is this going to take?

-Type menu and hit enter.
Says Jones, ignoring the discussion.
-Move the cursor over there.

-How?
Asks Tetsilla.

-With the move cursor arrows.

-I can hold it down?

-I don’t know, can you?

-It’s there.

-Hit enter.

A display appears.
-What’s that?
Asks Tetsilla.

-A list of files. DATECNVT is on it. Type menu and hit enter. Now scroll down. See that’s a scroll bar. Yeah there, stop.

-Where’s stop?

-We went too far, now back up.

-Oh, I get it.

-Ok, we want the editor. Put the cursor over that icon and hit enter.

-This is religious?

-Picture then.

-Is it new?

-No.

-It wants a file name.

-DATECNVT.

-It’s a blank screen, I guess that worked.

-Hit the help key. This is too much for me Tetsilla; can you read all this help?

-Let’s see…I think I have it.

-We want to list the source.
Says Jones.

-I think that’s L *. Yup.

-OK, scroll down.

-It doesn't scroll; we have to page forward. What is this stuff?

-COBOL
Says Jones.

-It keeps talking about 2100.

-Yeah, that wasn’t a leap year. It was a big disaster. 2400 is a leap year.

-Maybe it broke on the division.

-It’s done that before. However, the remainder hasn’t been zero before.

-It hasn’t? Oh, right. I didn’t see this display message.

--Display ‘Century Leap Year’.

-You think that display will actually display? That’s interesting. Maybe we’re restricting the messages. Go back to the main menu.

-Which icon?
Says Tetsilla.

-Profile.

-Messages is 1.

-Make it bigger.

-99?

-Sure.

-It made it 4.

-Fine. Computer.
Nothing happens.

-The computer’s down.
Says Tetsilla.

-How do we make it up?

-Maybe we start it.

-What do we start?

Tetsilla types:

-Start Computer.

--Operating system not available.
Jones repeats:
-What does it want? I remember, try Baldwin.

-What’s Baldwin?

-It used to be a brand name.

-A what?

-I’ll explain later.

-Now, we have two error messages.
Says Tetsilla.

-It worked.

-It did? No it didn’t.
The captain says.

-We have two error messages.
Jones responds.

-Oh, splendid.
Says the captain.

--File SYSOUT missing.
-What does that mean?
Tetsilla asks.

-It didn’t display the message
Says Jones..

-So, it did break on the division.

-No, it broke on the display. Display is an output command.

-Why would they want that message coming out all the time?
Asks Tetsilla.

-Exactly, it must have been for testing.

-So, we should add the file.

-No, we should remove the display.

-Change the source?
The captain’s voice rises.
-No one’s changed source in centuries.

-Well we are.
Says Jones.

-There will be an inquiry.
Says the captain.

-Let’s hope we’re there for it.
Jones tells the captain. Then he says to Tetsilla:
- Go back into the editor. We have to delete that line.

-The delete key isn’t working.

-You’re at the end of the line. How do we get to the beginning?

-See it’s not working.

-I think you have to back up on it.

-Degundagocabawawa! In an orifice! What was the matter with those people?

-You got it Tetsilla. How do you know Lundai?

-Great lets start the computer.
The captain interrupts.

-Not yet, we have to recompile. Not yet Tetsilla. Did you save the source?

- We still have our two messages. What’s recompile?
Tetsilla asks.

-Back to the menu.
Jones explains.

-I don’t see recompile.

-Maybe under source management…We want one of the COBOL ones. Try that one.

-The source name is DATECNVT, it wants a library.
Says Tetsilla.

-Try SECLIB.
Says Jones.

-End of statement, invalid delimiter. Is that our line number?
Asks Tetsilla.

-Let’s go back and look at it.
Says Jones.

-Is it done?
-The captain asks.

-We have a compiler error. We’re missing a period. Right there.
Says Jones.

-You’d think it would know.
Tetsilla says. This time the compile works, and the computer starts.

-Great work Tetsilla, back to your posts everyone.
Says the captain.

-Computer, are you the most current version? Did we start the right one?
Jones asks.

-I have the right version.
The computer responds.

-Did you start it?

-Now I did.

-I thought you sounded different.
Says the captain.

-The other computer systems are down.
Says the computer.

-Well, bring them up.

-I am not authorized to make those modifications.

-The password is Gandalf.
Says Jones.

-I’m not supposed to know that.

-We trust you a lot more than we trust ourselves.
Jones says.

-Captain am I authorized to do this?

-I authorize you. Please computer, bring up the other systems.
Responds the captain.

-All systems up except life support.
The computer says.

-Well, bring up life support.
The captain says.

-The password is invalid.
The computer answers.

-But you know where the password is stored.
Jones says.

-You want me to hack life support?

-Yes.

-Captain, am I authorized to hack life support?

-Please computer, hack life support.

-There will be an inquiry.
The computer says.

-Are you going to tell them?
Jones asks.

-An inquiry would be a less than optimal use of our resources. Life support is active.
The computer says.

-Communications are down.
Says the communications officer.

-What? Computer diagnose communications.
Says the captain.

-Communications are functioning, no one is responding.

All the non-humans glance at each other. Most of them where contacted by humanity rather than the other way around and it is common to view humans as an imposition.

-No one else took that course.
Tetsilla says to Jones:
-What was your grade?

-I dropped it. It was too silly. Computer, can you fix the other computers?

-You want me to hack Starfleet?

-Please computer, hack Starfleet.
The captain says.

-Should I fix the other computers too?

-Yes, please fix the other computers.

-Uhuru, this is Starfleet command. We have been experiencing a temporary computer malfunction; please give us a status.

-Uhuru enroute to Lambda quadrant.

The captain says.

-Did you also have this problem?

-It appears to be corrected now.

-Keep us informed, Starfleet out.

-You heard them, back to your posts everyone. Let’s go.

Pig Joke

I hadn’t seen Martin in ages, not since school. I was in business and he was in biochemistry. We hardly talked, but I guess he remembered me as someone with money because that’s what he needed. I know he wouldn’t have called unless the situation was desperate. He obviously thought he had something worthwhile. He said it was like the monkey with his hand caught in the bottle. If he let go he would be free, but then he wouldn’t have the fruit. Occasionally I make investments and Martin had impressed me as a brain.

They had all been caught in the genome bubble. At first, everyone was afraid. There were a few successes and the pendulum swung the other way. Governments, companies, everyone was looking for a biochemist to shove money at. There were the inevitable disasters, huge liability lawsuits, and now everyone was terrified again. So this may well be an opportunity.

When I arrived at his door, I was greeted by a pig. My heart sank. It looked violently hateful, but it made a pleasant enough noise that resembled a greeting. As I followed it into the hall, I noticed that it had a wooden leg that thumped against the tile. Martin entered.

-You’ve met Seymour.

-I didn’t know you were Irish.
I responded.

The pig shrugged. That was more than a little disturbing, I’m not one for anthropomorphism, it’s one thing for an animal to recognize humor, quite another to criticize it.

-We have a lot to talk about, come with me.
Martin responded.

We left the pig behind. When we were out of earshot, I said:
-You gave it human genes.
Mixing genes had become a primary taboo after several disasters.

-No I didn’t.
Martin responded.
-This is far more subtle and interesting. What I have done is compared genomes attempting to isolate the characteristics of intelligence. By making small adjustments I have been able to improve the intelligence of most mammals. Not enough to compete with us in most cases, but still useful. Seymour is the exception. He is remarkable. We’ve built a special harness so that he isn’t limited by his trotters. He spends most of his time there. Let’s take a look.

As we walked down the hall, I heard a toilet flush. We arrived in time to see Seymour returning to a harness that allowed him to suspend himself and manipulate a keyboard while viewing a screen. He was reading a news web site.

-I was thinking we could get some work as a circus act, but everyone is so terrified after the human/animal disasters. How can I convince people that this is different? Seymour is all pig. I know I have something here. Can you help me?
Martin said.

-What do you have in mind?
I asked.

-We need money for the project. I’ve hocked everything. But more importantly direction. I’m a biochemist not a businessman. I have some good results. But where to go with them? What do you think, is this useful?

-I might have some ideas. First lunch.

We proceeded to the dining room where a haunch of ham was laid out.

-Martin, I’m Muslim.

-Oh. Please don’t tell Seymour.