Beyond Evil

By Barry Lee Jones

Men are sent into space to explore the universe. During their expedition, they encounter nothing but evil. It seems that theirs is the only planet in the now known universe where there is any good. So they build powerful robots and send them out to tame some of the surrounding worlds. The robots tame the worlds, but they also get caught up in the evil and return to their home planet several generations later. The men on the home planet dig up the old codes and use them to order their robots to leave the universe. The robots ascend to the fifth dimension and then return. But before they return to their home world, they create more robots with the same abilities as theirs, plus the ability to multiply and reproduce. Home World is overrun with the evil robots.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387375950

Book preview

Beyond Evil

Prologue

In an alternate reality, there exists a world very much like our own, in a planetary system that would be recognized by any astronomy student.

But there are minor differences, such as the fact that the inhabitants of this world adopted democracy a thousand years earlier.

They banded together to form one nation and named their planet, Home World.

For as long as mankind has been on Home World, he has looked up in wonder at the night sky. He saw stars and planets appearing in different sizes, colors, and brightness. He looked up with nothing but questions. Little did he realize that the more he learned, the more questions he would have?

He wondered if any of those stars were very much like his own sun. Did they have planets circling them? There was much speculation, theories, and myths about what those lights were and what they meant.

His myths varied from stories of intrigue, to mystery, action, romance, etc. His stories about the lights in the sky varied as much as the people who told them.

There were some men who knew that someday, man would have access to all that he could see. To these people, it seemed impossible that these stars would be dangled before their eyes and they would be denied them.

The people of Home World got organized in an early age. They formed groups to show their support for technology.  They wanted scientist to know that they were behind them all the way.

Mankind knew that someday he would travel to other stars and perhaps other galaxies and beyond.  It was his destiny.  And not only his destiny, but the destiny of other sapient beings, both in and out of their realm.

Man got organized. They got together and made simple tools. They added to these and made more complicated tools. With each improvement, they made their jobs easier. And when they made their jobs easier, that opened up spare time for someone to make even more improvements. So technology became a huge snowball rolling downhill, gaining in size and speed.  Then the doomsayers came along.

Man only had a few years of life to add to existing technology. And those capable of adding to it were few and far between. Plus there were the doomsayers. So technology always seemed to be such a precarious thing.

Some people feared technology. They didn’t belong to any specific group. Each group had their own to help balance things out. Whenever one of their doomsayers came into power, it caused damage to technological advancement. They would outlaw any new technology as being dangerous.  But this only slowed down technological advancement.

The more technology improved, the more Mankind wanted. There were always those who had to have the newer, better models, the rich-minded people. Then there were those who would use the not-yet-worn-out models the rich discarded, the poor-minded people.

Mankind’s lust for continually-improving technology separated him from other animals. The other members of the animal kingdom were relatively content with their lot in life. They humbly went through their life, knowing only one way of living.

Some thought opposing thumbs was what separated mankind from the beasts. But other animals had opposing digits, and though it made tool use easier for those animals, it also made those animals complacent in those areas.

Some people thought mankind’s use of tools separated him from the animals. But tools were fairly common in the animal kingdom.  Animals in every class, not to mention certain plants, used tools of one kind or another.

Some people thought that man’s ability to adapt and build his own shelter separated him from other animals. But that was one of the most common instincts in the animal kingdom. Certain aquatic mammals constructed dams, birds made nests, and different animals from insects up through mammals burrowed.

What it amounted to was that mankind just had more ambition than other animals. He never had what he envisioned himself as having.  It was the image of God.  Mankind didn’t know exactly what that image was, but he knew he fell short.

Mankind developed machines that could travel through the air and over the highest mountains. These machines were slow and clumsy at first, but later became fast and highly maneuverable. They got to the point where they could travel higher and higher in Home World’s atmosphere.

Man had machines that could travel on ground, over any kind of terrain. He had high speed vehicles that could travel over smooth, constructed surfaces. He had much slower vehicles that could go up almost vertical surfaces.  He had vehicles designed to go over sand, mud, or rocky ground.

The humans built boats to travel on the water and submarines to go under the surface. Mankind built sphere shaped vehicles to travel in the valleys of the deepest oceans.

They could explore their entire planet with minimal effort, and still they were not satisfied. Still, mankind was not all he should be.  Still, man was not God.

Mankind kept looking upward at the beckoning sky. It seemed that no matter how far he came, he still had up to go.  So he went up and looked up and saw still more to go. Even after he went to the limits of his helicopters and airplanes, there was still up to go.

Mankind seldom looked back and always looked ahead. Sometimes this was good and sometimes it was not. Because mankind did not look back often enough, he made a lot of mistakes a second time that he should not have.  That is what history was supposed to be for.  But man was never an historical animal.

Being able to go anywhere on the planet within a day was not enough. The planet was not enough. Mankind found himself a prisoner with Home World as his jail cell.  But he had plans to break free.

Mankind was ready to take the next step. He always had been, spiritually, since the first humans looked up in wonder at the night sky.  But now, he was technologically ready to take the next step.

Mankind was ready to leave the planet’s atmosphere to see what he could see. He had airplanes that could travel at the speed of sound.  All he had to do was take all that thrust and use it to go straight up, instead of across.

So mankind developed rockets that could go into space.  He could orbit Home World and land on Home World’s moon.  This was a phenomenal accomplishment.  When mankind saw what he could do, he no longer thought of himself as a prisoner.

But mankind was content for only a season. Soon, he became restless again. He was bored with his accomplishments. It was yesterday’s news.  He wanted more and was soon testing rockets with faster drives.

Soon, the doomsayers came back in force with their apprehensions and superstitions.  They went around spreading the word that God didn’t want man in outer space. There was an accident where a few people died. The doomsayers milked it for all it was worth. But they didn’t mention the thousands of lives that were already saved because of the new technology. Nor did they stop to think of the millions of people who died, just exploring this planet.

The doomsayers passed a bunch of laws that slowed technological advancement down to a snail’s pace. Those laws were in the guise of protecting the environment, saving our resources, doing what God wants, and other lies. But it all came down to control.  The greater the technology, the less control the doomsayers had.

Mankind receded from his planets, from his moon, and once more became a prisoner of Home World. And this time, his jailer was the doomsayers. They were taking natural phenomena, calling it disaster, and saying it was caused by technology.

But such people can retain power for only a season. Mankind soon got over it and reclaimed the space around Home World.  And technology once more proceeded apace.

Now mankind was looking ahead to the next frontier, the beckoning stars. The stars were the dreams of mankind from the earliest.  Man now had drives that could go faster than ever before.  He was ready to start tackling the stars.

The closest stars were the other planets in the Home World System. Man had already visited them in his slower rockets. But now he had drives that were fast enough to carry him the vast distances from planet to planet within a few days. Before, it took months. He called this new drive, planetary drive.  It was the fastest thing so far developed.  But as he was taking it out for the first time, faster drives were already on the drawing board.

But this didn’t happen overnight. At first the outer planets seemed impossibly far out. So they began by sending out probes that would send back information on the various planets. The first of those probes took over fifty years to complete a circuit of the Home World System. By that time, they were already testing the planetary drives.

On their circuit of the Home World System, the probes landed on the planets and asteroids wherever possible. They sent back pictures and other data by way of radio beam. Some of the outer solid planets had crystalline structures that radiated various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation; possibly life, but no way of telling for sure.

One of the inner planets had some semi-solid, shifting structures on it. The planet was mostly molten, so there was no way to land on it.  The probe just flew around, taking pictures and readings and sending them back for interpretation.

The probes dove into the gas giants. They did this by matching their speed and course with the wind patterns before diving in. This way, they didn’t get knocked around quite so violently. They took their pictures, measured the wind speed, direction, temperature, etc, and then eased out and flew around to try another spot.

But as usual, mankind was dissatisfied with studying the data. Mankind had to go there and see for himself. Otherwise, he was still just a prisoner on his planet.

Soon mankind had ships that could visit any of the worlds within the Home World System inside of a week. The tests were all good.  Adjustments were made for greater efficiency.  When all was said and done, the ships were launched.

The ships were based on a new technology. The Unified Field Theory claimed to explain the workings of the universe through the interactions of four forces; gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force. Because gravity and electromagnetism opposed each other and were not quite in balance, there was always energy lost, either in the form of electromagnetism or in the form of gravity, depending on the location. Of course where these forces were in balance, very little energy could be siphoned, and where the balance was perfect, no energy, and the ship would have to run on its power reserves.

The early ships were built on the ground and then launched. Later, ships were built in orbit, in huge space docks.  The ships built in space were much larger, holding hundreds of people.  They had ship to ground boats that could do all the landing.

Mankind found various vantage points around the Home World System to place huge telescope satellites. These were designed like the later probes, except that they remained stationary, and only had photo sensors and huge telescopes to see distant stars and galaxies.

The vantage point of these huge satellites were selected on the basis of the least amount of interference by objects of the planetary system and the greatest distance of visibility. Naturally, they were placed on the edges of the planetary system, looking out in various directions.

People living in the nearby colonies maintained these satellites.  If the satellites were placed properly, they wouldn’t require much maintenance. Occasional corrections of the telescope placement, lubrication of all the joints, and replacement of the occasional chip was all they required.

Colonies were set up all over the Home World System for various purposes. No matter where you were, there was always one handy. The colonies varied from dome cities, to space stations, to modified buildings where there was free oxygen and not too extreme of a temperature.

Now mankind lived in the Home World System wherever he could find firm ground, and even some places where he couldn’t. It didn’t matter what he had to set up housekeeping in, but where he had to set it up. Whatever the conditions were, mankind would learn to live in them.  He could adapt to any conditions from space stations to the ocean’s floor.

As the field of physics developed, mankind had a new thought. What exists beyond the farthest stars? Are there other realms farther than the farthest stars, and yet closer than the air we breathe? There were theories on the table and mathematical formulae to support them.  But the only definite proof would be to travel to those other realms.

This brought up other questions, such as: Are there other realms out there? What would those realms be like?  Would they be inhabited by fictional characters?  There was a theory that one man’s thoughts were another man’s universe. The novels, short stories, and even comic books written in one realm were based on the events of another realm.

Another question was: How could one visit those other realms? Naturally, man being what he was, if there was a chance of something being out there, he would have to go and see it for himself. That was ambition rearing its head again. It wasn’t enough to know, mankind had to experience it.

And what of time travel? Could mankind travel back in time and change the present? With mankind’s ambition, what would he do with this knowledge? Would he go back to early man and give them present technology, so that he could return to the present and realize his dreams? Or would he just go straight to the future to realize his dreams. One thing was for certain. He wouldn’t just leave this technology alone, once he had it.

It had always been thought that the past was over and the future hadn’t begun yet. That was how it always seemed to mankind. From this point of view, what was done was done. It was gone. You couldn’t go back to it. To think anything else would be absurd.

But what if the past and the future were stationary and man’s soul did all the traveling? What did that do to freedom of choice? What did that do to the stability of the present? What if someone went back to the past and made a different decision? Would that change the present, or make a whole new reality?  Or would it put the man’s soul on a different, but already existing path?

Most people didn’t take kindly to these theories. Some people laughed at them. Some took them seriously and were made extremely uncomfortable by them. The doomsayers, who were in power at the time, had all of these theories declared to be bunk for the sake of man’s sanity.  But some still believed in them.

Book 1 Exploration

Chapter 1 The Briefing

The two hundred–odd members of the Contact’s crew filled the briefing hall bleachers for their pre-flight briefing.

Among these members was the command crew of the Contact. Commander Segal Brooks was the executive officer. Lt Commander Megan Saratoga was the navigator. Lt Erwin Campbell was the engineer. Lt Barbara Jackson was the communications officer. Lt Thomas Gulleckson was the helm officer.  The Captain was absent.

They arrived in the Briefing Hall and sat down in an orderly fashion. People more or less sat where they wanted to, or where their friends wanted to. Commander Brooks and his party, the command crew minus the Captain, sat near the top of the bleachers.

The Briefing Hall was just that, a long, wide hallway with sections that could be opened or closed up. When all the sections were opened up, it could hold thousands of people easily. The bleachers could be opened up for sitting or folded into the wall if extra floor space was needed.  They were presently using only two sections.

Why do we have to attend this thing? Lt Barbara Jackson wondered. Don’t they know we have work to do?

At ease, lieutenant, said Commander Segal Brooks.  You know as well as I do that all the preparations for the mission are complete.  We’ve worked hard the past few months and deserve a rest.

We’ll get plenty of rest over the next year, said Lt Erwin Campbell. That doesn’t excuse this briefing. We’ve had this mission drilled into us over the past seven months. We’ve ate, slept, and drank this mission. What can they tell us that we don’t already know?

That’s right, thought Brooks. Ever since we first accepted this appointment, we’ve worked our minds and bodies toward this day.

Yeah, thought Brooks. They all knew the mission. They were to go out at maximum star drive for one year. This concluded the first leg of their journey, also the most boring leg. Most of the crew would be idle during this time. Fortunately, the Contact had gymnasiums and recreational areas, so at least they could stay relatively fit for that first year.

At the end of this first leg of their mission, they were to re-enter normal space several thousand light years out. Of course nobody knew what existed that far out, because of a huge nebula between Home World and their destination.

The navigator would then chart a straight-line course back to Home World. They would chart every star system that came within a parsec of that line. They were strongly encouraged to land on any life-supporting planet. By definition, any life- supporting planet should contain some form of life, even if it is simple life.  Commander Brooks looked forward to this part.

This briefing is merely a ceremony to make unimportant people seem important, said Lt Gulleckson.

Now you’re getting the idea, said Brooks.

When will this thing be over with? wondered Gulleckson. There’s nothing in this program about time, just who all is speaking.

There’s no time set for it, said Brooks.

"Say, what?" said Gulleckson.

There’s no time set, said Brooks. It will last as long as it lasts.

What kind of answer is that? asked Gulleckson.

It’s the truth. It could last all day. In fact, it probably will. Brooks checked his watch. It said 09:00 hrs. It would probably be 24:00 hrs by the time it was over.

Who are these people, anyway? Lt Commander Megan Saratoga slapped her copy of the program with the back of her hand.

They’re professional speech givers, said Brooks.

What do you mean, ‘professional speech givers? That doesn’t make any sense. I mean, who would pay for something like that.  What contribution does that make? said Lt Commander Saratoga.

With a skill like that, they ought to run for political office, said Barbara Jackson.

Most of them have, at one time or another, said Brooks.  These guys can talk for hours without saying anything.  That’s a rare talent in any society.

Apparently, not rare enough, said Lt Gulleckson.

Brooks checked his watch. Only twenty minutes so far. The first guy was still going strong. This was going to be a long day.

Brooks sat and listened to speaker after speaker.

There seemed to be an endless procession of speech makers. Not a difficult feat, considering that the speeches were averaging about two hours apiece.

Did I miss anything? said Gulleckson, coming back from the bathroom.  Brooks just looked at him, not replying otherwise.

At first, it wasn’t so bad. They had walked into the hall together. Brooks was with the four people he had grown a close friendship with over the past few months. They had joked around for a while, making fun of the speech makers. They had worked so hard over the past few months, that at first it was nice to just sit, relax, and listened to a few speeches. It sounded nice, anyway.

But the longer they sat, the harder the bleachers got. They were hard to begin with, like bleachers everywhere. Brooks always wondered why bleachers never had padding. Probably because the designers never had to sit on them, he thought.  When I get back, I’ll have to locate the people who designed the bleachers, he thought. For revenge.

Nobody really paid any attention to the speakers from the start. As Brooks looked around in his boredom, he saw a variety of activities going on. Below him, some guys were playing poker. Off to the side, he saw a checkers game going on. A couple of crew mates across the way were playing chess. They had been playing almost from the start. Brooks always admired people who came prepared.

All over the place, Brooks saw people talking among themselves. Here and there, throughout the crowd, people were dozing off.  Some woke up, periodically. When they saw the briefing still going on, they dozed back off, again.

Toward the end of the briefing, it became almost intolerable. Wherever Brooks looked, he saw people fidgeting in their seats.  No doubt about it, the crowd was getting restless.

After the briefing, they adjourned to their assigned boats to go up to the Contact.

At first, Brooks couldn’t believe it was over. He thought it was just a cruel joke, but he proceeded to the boats, along with everyone else, before the speakers changed their minds.

It felt great to get out of the briefing hall and into one of the boats.  At least the seats in the boats were comfortable.  The boats, as they were called, were ship-to-ground vessels. They strapped themselves in and got ready for takeoff.

At last the boats moved. That gave Brooks something to occupy his mind. It’s okay to sit for a while, but for fifteen hours straight is another matter.

When Brooks looked out the window, he saw the whole fleet of boats going up to the mother ship. It was like being in a swarm of insects, but being insect size.  Each individual boat was an oblong box.  They varied only in size.

As they approached space dock, the upper end of the swarm narrowed down to a point. Then Brooks saw a small opening appear in the space dock.  The first ship entered.

The boats slowed down considerably and channeled into a single line. They didn’t stop though; they just slowed down for space dock maneuvering. Soon, they were inside the space dock. Brooks saw a line of boats going to the Contact. It was a huge ship, dwarfing everything around it. From a distance, there seemed to be no room to go around it inside the space dock. But as the boat got closer, Brooks saw that there was plenty of room for maneuvering.

Brooks saw the long line of ships going all the way to the Contact’s docking bay. At first, he could only make out the opening that all the ships were going into. But as he got closer, he could make out more details of the docking bay. Each boat parked next to the one in front of it, unless it started a new row. Brooks watched this through the front portion of his three-part window.

The line moved steadily, and finally they glided into the boat bay. The pilot set the boat down in the section. He let that