Chapter 9

“Does that mean that you know what is going on inside the alien’s structure?”

“Yes, it does. At least I know what is going on wherever there is a functioning replicator.”

“Why did the aliens build such a monster building? It seems to me that a series of smaller buildings would have been more reasonable.”

“You are correct. The aliens did not build that structure after they arrived on Earth. They were in orbit beyond your Moon in their spaceship, which is what that structure is. There was an accident. I don’t know what it was because it happened in a place where there was no replicator, but the aliens were forced to land on Earth or else crash into your sun.”

“Can the aliens repair their ship and leave?”

“No, they are really rather inept when it comes to mechanics and math. They specialize in psychology and emotional questions, and that’s why they were here in the first place. If they asked a replicator for help, there is no doubt that the problem could be fixed, but that is not the kind of thing they would do.

“The aliens are here because they knew from their studies of humanity over the last few years that your people would be very susceptible to a collapse of society if they were given the power supply and the replicator. So far, the process has gone almost exactly as predicted. There are a few exceptions, such as you and a few other groups, but mostly, humanity has dropped back thousands of years in its social consciousness.

“The aliens are here because they wanted to exploit Earth for their own benefit, and they would have left after they had rendered it useless. Fortunately, you have the opportunity to block their scheme if you can conquer them.”

“What is the best way to conquer the aliens? It seems to me that the simplest procedure would be to blow up their spaceship with all of them inside.”

“You are correct, but you will have to ask the proper questions before I can help you do that.”

“Okay, what is the best way to blow them up?”

“You could introduce an explosion of large enough size in the center of the ship. That would destroy the ship and all of the aliens. None of them are currently outside of the ship.”

“Oh, my God! That would take tons of explosive of any type I know of. Furthermore, we would have to haul it in in trucks. Is there a better way?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, dammit, I forgot that I have to ask the questions properly! Let’s rephrase the question. Do you have access to an explosive that could destroy the spaceship and would not be too large a load to move conveniently?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll get there eventually. What would you use for an explosive and how would you get it into the ship at the right place?”

“Now you are asking the proper questions. About two ounces of any solid material teleported into the ship at the right place would do the job you want.”

“Does that mean that you can teleport things? What is the maximum size that you could teleport and what is the range?”

“Yes, I can teleport objects or items up to several hundred tons in weight. The size of the object is not important. The range is roughly six lightyears, but the accuracy does drop off as the range increases.

“However, the transport distance would be only a few hundred feet at maximum because there are many replicators within the structure. Any of my various co-personalities could do the job. For convenience, I would choose the one with the shortest distance.”

“Wait a minute, that would mean that all of the replicators within the ship would be destroyed. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“You are correct that all of the replicators withing the ship would be destroyed, but it means no more to me that it does to you to have your hair or fingernails cut. My conscious mind does not dwell within a replicator case, but in another dimension, an artificial one, that would not be damaged by the destruction of a few replicators. As long as that mind exists undamaged, I would exist just as I do now.

“While we have been talking, I have located the replicator that I believe would be the best one to use to destroy the spaceship. Would you like for me to initiate the destruction?”

“NO! Wait a minute. I need to think about the implications of all of this. Do the aliens have any items that we should salvage before we destroy the ship?”

“There is nothing within the ship or a part of the ship that I could not duplicate if you asked for it. Therefore, there is no reason to postpone the destruction. The longer you wait, the more chance there is that something could go wrong.”

“Okay, go ahead, but make sure that we will survive the explosion.”

“It was my intention to transport this vehicle and all of its contents and attachments back to Double Os before setting off the explosion. You will be completely safe at that distance.”

The next thing that I knew was that our vehicle was parked in the Double Os parking lot, and there was a bright light visible to our east. “Replicator, was that flash of light caused by the destruction of the aliens’ space ship.”

“That is correct.”

“What was the explosive and how was it triggered? My other question is whether or not there are any aliens left on Earth?”

“The explosion was the result of teleporting a small stone to occupy the same space at the same time as a structural piece of the space ship. The laws of physics prohibit that from happening. As a result, the rock was converted to pure energy, and that conversion was the explosion that you saw.

“The answer to the other question is that there are no living aliens left on Earth. There are still a number of the alien robots left in various places, but they are harmless now that the controlling brains are dead. They can be ignored unless you are curious.”

“Are these robots those asparagus-like things that we fought?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, dammit, here we go again. Is there a way for me to tap into your memories so that I will not have to ask so many inane and unnecessary questions?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “Please tell me what I would need to have access to those memories.”

“All you would need would be a specialized communication device affixed to your brain. This device would be so small that there would be no problem in finding room inside your skull. From my point of view, it is a simple surgical procedure that can be done in approximately 15 minutes. Would you like to have such a procedure done now?”

“Oh, my God, yes, Yes, YES! What do I need to do?”

“All you need to do is to go back to your bed and lie down. You do not even need to wake Sue. I will put up an opaque barricade to keep anything from interfering once the procedure starts. You may have some trouble adjusting to the changes in perception at first, but your brain is strong and adaptive enough to handle the situation.”

“Okay, but I do want to warn Sue about what you plan to do so that she won’t panic if I act weird when I come out of the operation.” I went back to our bed and woke Sue. She was shocked when I told her what I had in mind, but she came around when I reminded her that Replicator had made a point of taking care of us from day one, and I had confidence in him this time.

I lay down on the bed and a blue glow seemed to coalesce over me. What seemed to me to be the next moment, I was suddenly presented with a panorama of thoughts, ideas, and scenes so that I was sure that the operation had failed and that I was now crazy.

That was when I heard Replicator’s “voice” inside my head talking to me in a very calm voice. “Han, you are now in direct contact with all of my memories over the last seven billion years. Just relax, and your mind will sort things out so that you will not be troubled by what you can now perceive. As of this moment, you now have all of the powers that I have, including that of tapping Dark Matter to create anything that you can imagine. You will have to work out the details of controlling your new powers, but they are all there for your use.”

“Han, wake up. I can see people running toward us. How did we get in the Double Os parking lot?”