“The Seventeen, as you call them,” began Fermi, “have been stagnant, ossified, for tens of thousands of years. Our societies, our science, is little different than it was thirty thousand years ago, when you and the Neanderthals were vying for supremacy on Earth. The early members of the Seventeen recognized an essential paradox hundreds of thousands of years ago. Imagine a species with the required drive, passion, and indomitable will to take the next step toward transcendence. A species refusing to take no from the laws of physics. A species who demands that the galaxy and the universe yield before them. Any such a species would be ultracompetitive and aggressive. Insatiably driven. Reckless. And would self-destruct. With absolute inevitability. The computer simulations show this in every case. Such a species would develop weapons of mass destruction, experience dramatic overpopulation, and its immaturity, aggression, and recklessness would lead to Armageddon. Every time.
“The Seventeen survived self-destruction because they are timid, slow-thinking sheep in the scheme of things, compared to the wolves that are required to tame the galaxy. But we realized long ago that it was only a matter of time before we became extinct as well. Our populations are shrinking every year. We’re old, in decline, tired. It may not happen for millions, or tens of millions of years. But our extinction is equally inevitable.”
The alien paused and raised his eyebrows. “Thus the paradox. Timid species like the Seventeen who can survive their adolescences don’t have the drive to colonize, the drive to blast through seemingly impenetrable scientific barriers through tenacity and force of will alone. Those that have the proper drive, like you, can’t survive their adolescences.”
Erin nodded, transfixed by the strange alien.
“We reasoned that the only chance for life in the long term was if we could find a ruthlessly competitive species and intervene in its natural development. Help it survive its adolescence. Nurture it.”
Erin nodded. “So this species can lead you to the next level,” she whispered. “So it can make advances and provide a shot of vitality into the Seventeen. And however many more intelligences you may encounter over millions of years of scientific growth and colonization.”
“Exactly,” said Fermi. “Being too satisfied, too comfortable, and not ambitious enough was the disease. And such a species would be the cure. This hypothetical species of wolves, if you will, would be like a hydrogen bomb on the cusp of detonation. If the Seventeen could defuse it in time, and then channel its explosive power into constructive pursuits, this enormous power could be harnessed to drive all of us forward.”
The alien held Erin’s gaze. “That’s not to say there was unanimity in this regard. A significant percentage worried that such a species unleashed upon the galaxy would accelerate our demise. That the cure would be worse than the disease. But they were voted down in favor of employing this strategy—if we were ever in a position to do so. But we weren’t sure we would ever be able to find such a species. And even if one did arise, and we were lucky enough to find it, we would have little chance of reaching them in time to intervene.
“So with the last bit of our collective drive, we endeavored to be prepared if the chance ever did arise. To find a way to at least send a few emissaries faster than light to protect such a species. No matter what it took. Our top scientists, from a galactic population of almost a hundred billion, worked on the problem for tens of thousands of years. Finally, a method was found to transport a small number of beings, along with a modest quantum computer, faster than light. The resources required were tremendous. Unthinkable. But if we ever found a species capable of driving the galaxy to a new level, with all the adolescent baggage that inevitably came with this drive, they would be our only chance.”
Incredible, thought Erin. It made a kind of bizarre sense. The yin and yang of human nature. The self-destructive qualities of humanity were the very qualities needed to grab the unconquerable laws of physics, the unconquerable galaxy, by the horns. A soft, unambitious species, kind and caring and gentle—everything humanity strived to be—could not. Only a species who was domineering, and arrogant, and competitive, and relentless, could hope to challenge the galaxy on its own terms.
“So I take it that we’re the species you were looking for,” said Erin.
Fermi sighed. “Yes. You are, indeed,” he said. “But, unfortunately, we found something else first. Something that made things even more complicated. A form of life we hadn’t predicted. One that would shorten the time we had to avoid extinction from millions of years to thousands.” He leaned forward. “A form of life that would make the most malevolent members of your species seem like harmless saints by comparison.”
44
ERIN’S EYEBROWS CAME together in confusion. “Intelligent?”
“Very much so,” replied Fermi. “I won’t explain the physics of it, but we detected strange quantum patterns coming from a region of space fifty-eight thousand light years away. Similar to the quantum pattern we expected to generate on the day we sent our emissaries out to a gifted but destructive civilization, if this day were ever to come. But far stronger. We soon realized what it was we were witnessing. A species was creating wormholes and holding them open as gates; gates allowing instantaneous travel between them. Using technology that we can’t begin to match.”
Fermi paused. “And now that we knew where to look,” he continued, “we discovered this species occupied much of the galaxy behind them and were working their way toward our neck of the galactic woods. And they were annihilating intelligent species along the way. Ruthless wasn’t even the right word. The species had as little regard for other intelligences as a raging wildfire would have for dry twigs in its path.”
“How fast are they coming?” asked Erin.
“Fast,” said Fermi. “They’ll be here in thirty-two thousand years.”
These Wraps were apparently more used to thinking in cosmological time scales than she was, thought Erin.
“And we knew we would have no chance when they arrived. They don’t want to dominate other species, they simply want to annihilate them. Destroy them utterly.”
“You said it was a form of life you hadn’t predicted,” said Erin. “What does that mean?”
“Are you familiar with insects on Earth you call army ants?” asked Fermi.
“Uh-oh,” said Erin worriedly. “That can’t be good.”
“It isn’t,” said Fermi. “Army ants have a genetic need to march. To constantly move and seek out new territory, obliterating everything in their path. Locusts are the only other life form on Earth to come close. Or maybe viruses, which use cells to create more copies of themselves and then destroy the cells and move on. But army ants kill everything they encounter. Everything. To not kill would be an impossible concept to them.”
“I’ve seen documentaries,” said Erin grimly.
“Imagine a planet in which army ants developed a collective intelligence,” said Fuller. “Maybe this conferred a selective advantage against other tribes of army ants.”
“That is not to say that they resemble ants physically,” added Fermi. “We have no idea as to their appearance. Just their behavior.” He paused. “We call this species the Hive. For obvious reasons.”
Erin nodded thoughtfully. “Okay,” she said. “So you’ve got intelligent army ants—who may not look anything like ants, but are just as destructive—who find a way off planet. Pretty horrible to contemplate.”
“Don’t worry,” said Steve Fuller. “It gets much worse.”
“Hard to imagine that.”
“I know,” said Fermi. “That’s why we never did. Imagine ants again for a moment. Each individual ant has some brain capacity, but not enough for sentience. But the colony could gain sentience, if each ant member were able to combine its brain capacity collectively into some sort of neural network. Call it a hive-mind. On a planet rife with individual ant colonies, vying for supremacy, if evolution conferred this adaptation on one of these millions of colonies, it would soon dominate all others. Not just other ant colonies but all other forms of life on the planet. Eventually this winner of the evolutionary lottery would range over its entire globe. Just like humans range over Earth and Wraps over Suran. And now, as I mentioned, this single colony is ranging over thousands of light years.” The alien leaned closer to Erin, his eyes locked on hers. “You’ve studied the human brain. Do you see any problem with that?”