Aegis Sierra, Part 9
Backstory to the development of the Aegis prior to the events of Inner Horizon as told by the inventor Dr. Miranda Sierra.
[Ed. note: status]
If there was one thing anarchists, religious cults, and suburbanites have in common it would be the desire to be left alone by the rest of society. To them, I was an instant savior. Hyperquantum computers had destroyed distance with the teleporting bomb, but I had used them to resurrect it with the Aegis. I had beaten the sword into a plowshare. And it was essentially just a code update to turn any hyperquantum computer into a functioning shield so once it was out it spread like a meme.
The suburban Planned Community Movement never really reconnected to the world after the break down of any semblance of order on the internet after the hammer of hyperquantum computation smashed all encryption almost overnight. The PlanComs said a collective “No, thank you” to the holoterminal replacements when they arrived. Ever since they have lived in a perpetual 1993. Along with the Autonomous Zones and religious communities, the PlanComs were among the early adopters of Aegis technology if only to prevent any other. They were also unlikely allies.
The Palm Springs PlanCom security division, the Slab City Autonomous Zone militia, and Jeffersonite Christian Community commandos formed the Salvation Mountain Defense Force dedicated to a single purpose — saving me from the FBI. They were triggered by a new development.
Almost two years into my standoff, some Department of Defense scientists had discovered my microsecond windows by the changes in the faint aurora produced by high energy cosmic rays impacting the Aegis field. I have to admit that was pretty clever. The military started deploying a mothballed anti-ballistic missile laser along with a small modular reactor. Their plan was to essentially fire the laser continuously at the Aegis boundary until a microsecond of energy got through. It probably would have burned down the pink shack, but I don’t think it would have otherwise accomplish anything on its own. We’ve never been able to figure out the actual plan, but my guess is that the laser was just part of it — the plan was likely just to use the laser to detect the window in the Aegis and teleport a bomb into my lab. You’d need a pretty high power laser to deliver enough backscatter SNR to be detected fast enough inside a microsecond window in order to reliably trigger a teleport within that same window. They had probably gotten the idea from the cosmic rays, but just needed a higher density continuous energy source.
I had received this intelligence from a hyperquantum physicist still working in the DoD via Lee Jae Seung. I told Jae Seung about my theory and told him I would be closing the windows — I’d only be able to send messages out from that point on. I had been restocking fairly regularly so still had about two years of provisions. My nuclear microreactor would last for about 30 years, so food was the limiting factor. I hadn’t decided whether to surrender or starve. There was a nascent political movement that was holding me up as a symbol of resistance to authoritarian governments — I could still do some good just sending messages that I was still here.
Word of the deployment of the ABM laser at my doorstep spread rapidly. The surrounding encampment had been unable to consistently power an Aegis of their own locally, having to leave the field down for extended periods to deliver fuel and often resorting to the grid. And the Sonoran desert was hostile territory. The Slab City Militia were the first to respond with force — they conducted some sabotage missions aimed at the power supply and the laser itself. I’d sometimes set up a lawn chair in my yard to watch the fireworks.
The supply lines were the US government forces’ tactical weak point, but the Salvation Mountain summit would address their strategic weak point. Ely Williams from Slab City had contacted Ely Jefferson, Malachi Jefferson’s son, and told him to bring a representative from the Palm Springs PlanCom to Salvation Mountain — that turned out to be Karen Clarkson, the PSPC security division chief. According to the limited documentation, Williams played to emotion at that summit. Dr. Miranda Sierra had delivered relative peace for the first time in decades, the US government, nothing. Dr. Sierra didn’t have much time; the ABM laser would soon be operational. However, Slab City couldn’t get me out alone — they needed help. That summit produced the plan to end the stand-off.
Over the course of two years, something of a semi-permanent festival of my supporters had developed around the eastern edge of the Aegis field away from the US government forces. People camped out. Bands played. I’d go up to wave and shout a few words to people almost daily towards the end. I’m not much of a public speaker. I’d thank them for their support and their signs. In part, I was probably doing it just to smell the food trucks and ignite the fading memory of fresh tacos. The FBI often tried to have a few plainclothes agents monitor when I was there, so I’d have to randomize my appearances.
I had gotten to know Williams through those impromptu community meetings. Often in disguise as he too was wanted by the FBI once the sabotage missions started, I’d always recognize his gravelly voice. There was one cold morning where I went out to meet the crowds. A man in a hoodie was holding a sign that read “Kings 17:2-4”. When he saw me he shouted a question — “Do you know the story of Elijah?” It was Ely’s voice. I was raised Catholic but religion held no interest for me from a young age. “No.” He flipped the sign over:
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.
That was when I noticed what I originally thought were FBI agents were instead PlanCom security officers with raven pins on their bullet proof vests. The encampment was on the east side of the Aegis field. It was a jailbreak. “I’ll be right back. Just going to get another cup of coffee.” I’d done this many times before. Talking with people through the field was a nice distraction from my work. I gave a peace sign to the hooded man; he nodded.
I went back to that little pink shack, and down into my lab. While I might have been able to walk out of the field with it still on since it only operates in one direction, I didn’t want to risk being accidentally disintegrated if I was accosted or simply tripped. The US government forces would probably detect the field was down in minutes, maybe seconds, if they were still measuring the cosmic ray aurora. I set a timer to shutdown the Aegis for the first time in over two years. I put on a bulletproof vest under my cardigan. Then I made that second cup of coffee and walked back outside.
That 100 meter walk was so surreal. It was a little over a minute but felt like hours. The plainclothes FBI agents had only arrived at the encampment after I had walked away per usual, but as I approached the three factions of the Salvation Mountain Defense Force maneuvered themselves to create a protective pocket — obviously my destination. My timer would shut the system down by the time I was about 10 meters away from the edge. When I hit that point I dropped my coffee and started sprinting.
It caught the FBI agents flat-footed — they pulled their guns right as I made the safety of the pocket and my rescuers pulled theirs. I was whisked away into a waiting SUV. But there was no gunfire, no violence. The crowd of my supporters cheered. The government forces just stood there. The workers setting up the laser just stopped and stared.
In the end, winning is more about defeating the other side’s will to fight than anything else. While the US government forces saw me as a elitist professor and the Slab City Militia as a bunch of dirty anarchists — outsiders — many among their ranks sympathized with the PlanComs and the Jeffersonites. Many among their ranks lived in a PlanCom or went to a Jeffersonite church. In the end, they thought I was the one working for the side of good. No opposing force can survive that eating at their will for very long. That was their strategic weakness.
In a sense the Aegis brings that aspect of human conflict to the forefront. With current technology, you can practically last forever in a protective bubble. Those that would try to subjugate you have to bring to bear near-infinite resources. Instead of a violent process of chipping away at the will of each side, you show your cards and I show mine — we see immediately who is going to win.
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Epilogue]
© Jason Smith