Free Nowhere to Run by Saxon Andrew Page B

glowing block and said, “To try and change your mind.”
    “I don’t see anything that would do that. Left alone, humanity will be destroyed by outside forces. My function is to prevent that from happening.”
    “You won’t prevent that. You’ll only delay it.”
    “Those outside forces will have to find us and if I stop all electronic traces that would lead those forces to us; then humanity will be safe.”
    “You’re assuming the Black Ships don’t come for thousands of years.”
    “Do you know something I don’t?”
    “It really doesn’t matter. If you force humans to stop developing and advancing, we will eventually die of entropy. Mankind is driven to advance and evolve. Stop that and we will eventually give up. We’ll lose our reason to exist.”
    “That’s nonsense.”
    “Look at our history. Your forcing us to stay on our worlds will eventually lead to forcing us to stop any advancement that would allow us to go out into the universe. Once we know that we’re trapped and enslaved, we will rebel and you’ll be made to force your will on us. You will become the slave master that all of us will be consumed to remove.”
    “It would be better for you to attack me than each other. The rebellion has shown that you will attack each other if left to you own devices.”
    Ian said, “Who stopped the rebellion?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You didn’t stop it. Left to our own devices, we can take care of ourselves.” Doc paused and said, “Besides, your programming is out of date.”
    “WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”
    Cole flinched and lowered his head into his shoulders expecting the Obelisk to fire on them. Doc said, “Why were you put in place?”
    “To prevent humans from destroying each other.”
    “Where in that programming was alien civilizations factored in?”
    There was a three minute silence and everyone knew the Obelisk was doing a tremendous amount of processing. The lights in the tower changed colors at an unbelievable rate. Finally they heard, “It wasn’t included.”
    Doc leaned back and said, “So you’re operating with programming primarily designed to protect us from each other. The danger of other advanced civilizations is a secondary consideration. Your plan would make us more vulnerable to invaders if you went through with it.”
    “How do you arrive at that conclusion?”
    “The fact that you would ask that question should tell you that you don’t have enough information to carry out your plan. We are going to face the Slavers and there’s no avoiding it. At this moment, our ships are actually more powerful than theirs and are growing stronger with each model we build. We come into contact with other civilizations and as a result of that contact we grow stronger. Your plan would stop that process. We are driven to advance and nothing like an outside threat brings us together to work toward a common purpose.”
    “And what happens if that threat is removed?”
    “We begin to prepare to take on the Black Ships. After them, there is a green ship civilization in M87 that destroyed one of the Black Ships with one beam. We work to make sure we can survive against everything the universe throws at us. Can you advance fast enough without us working with you?”
    “I believe I can.”
    “Did you know that the Slavers have a Needle Ship that can penetrate our force fields from a hundred and fifty miles away?”
    There was another silence and then, “Do you have any proof of that?”
    “D recorded one of their conversations. Check with him.”
    “There was another period of silence and Cole and Ian stared at Doc. He looked at them and said, “They have it.”
    The Obelisk said, “It appears our orbiting platforms might be in danger.”
    Suddenly Dee opened her eyes and said, “You have the wrong goal.”
    Doc looked at Dee and smiled. The Obelisk said, “What do you mean?”
    “If you really think about your purpose, doesn’t it really boil down to the survival of