The Navigator, page 39
Petal took a step closer to Cynax and used her boot tip to swirl a little of the viscous, blue liquid that was constantly dripping off its tentacles. When she'd first arrived in the mainframe, Sentry lapped up the excess fluid like a mindless vacuum, but he'd left a few minutes ago, leaving it to pool on the floor. The constant noise of the fluid weeping through Cynax's skin and dripping onto the dark floor reminded her of the cold, dark place she'd seen in her visions since childhood.
Slowly, Petal turned her gaze up from the puddle. She followed Cynax's wriggling arms up to the spider web of cables that hung down from the ceiling.
"Wha? What are you?"
"I am Cynax-8172, Colonial Scientific Monitoring Station OTSM-5's A.I.. I have been waiting to speak with you."
"Why me?"
"Because you are Khoi."
"What does that mean?"
Cynax disconnected several of its tentacles from the monitors above. Camera lenses and little feelers popped out from their tips. It lowered the tentacles down to Petal and studied her with their eyes, while using their feelers to taste and smell the air around her.
"It means your species originated on the Khoi homeworld - Khoiano."
"I'm . . .I'm an. . .alien?"
"Affirmative."
"Then why do I look human?"
Cynax's large body made a loud hiss like an air break. It pivoted in its seat and then turned around, training its single, ghastly eye on Petal.
"Both this planet and Khoiano are within the Rorshot Radius. The humanoid form is widespread inside of that radius. Both you and humans share a common ancestor and a similar physical form."
Petal looked down at her body. She studied her hands for a moment as if they didn't belong to her.
"Do I have any powers?"
Two of Cynax's tentacles snaked their way closer to Petal, waving up and down in front of her face like the eye stalks of a snail.
"What do you mean by 'powers'?"
"Can I do things humans can't do?"
"You are notably stronger and more agile than a human of comparable size. Your skin, lungs, and body structure are more adapted to living in a waterlogged environment. You physically and psychologically mature more rapidly than a human."
Petal locked eyes with the tentacles writhing in front of her. "Am I the only one? Are there other Khoi besides me?"
"There are other Khoi, but not on this planet."
"Where are they?"
Cynax's whole body buzzed from some frenetic activity deep inside of its oozing, mechanical interior.
"The Khoi are spread throughout Colonial Space. They went through a great diaspora after their homeworld was flooded by a catastrophic melt of clathrate methane."
"Flooded?" Quill looked up from her belly, finally breaking out of her trance. "Like Ea?"
"Correct." Cynax's giant eye wept more blue goo. "However, the flooding on Khoiano was much more extreme than on this planet. Khoiano was completely submerged."
"How did I get from there to Ea?"
"You were born to two Khoi who came to this planet with the Consortium. You have always been here."
"Are my parents alive?" Petal's body tensed with sudden excitement. "Are they here?"
"No. They are dead. All Consortium personnel on this planet are dead. You are the only Khoi left on this planet."
Petal was an orphan once again. She sadly nodded.
"Why did my parents come to Ea? What were they doing here?"
"Your mother and father, and hundreds of other Khoi, came to this planet to mine it for natural resources. Their employer - the Consortium - constructed three installations on this planet, including the installation you are standing in now. You were born inside of a Consortium installation that lies on the seabed - designation Amanahora."
"The city in the sea? I was born on the seafloor?"
With a disgusting, sucking noise, Cynax disconnected nearly every one of its tentacles from the upper walls. It then rearranged them and plugged them back into the monitor ports like an old-time telephone operator. When it finished, it said nothing.
"Do you know where I can find Junk?"
"The word – Junk – has no meaning to me."
"What happened to my parents? How did they die?"
"Your mother and father were killed by an infestation of Aii - along with all other Consortium personnel on this planet. You are the only crewman who survived the infestation."
"What are Aii?"
"Aii are a virulent species of interstellar vermin. They are exceedingly difficult to describe. Aii have a protean form that can range from single celled organisms to organisms larger than the size of this dome. Aii exist neither as individuals nor as a collective. They have no definite, definable form."
"Why did they murder my parents?"
"To consume them," Cynax crackled, devoid of emotion. "Aii are driven by primal motivations. They will consume any and all organic matter."
"Are there any Aii in here?"
"Negative. The infestation only spread to Consortium installations. This installation is neither owned nor manned by the Consortium. There were no Khoi here when the outbreak began, and no avenue available to the Aii for them to spread here."
Petal stared up at the ceiling. She studied the spider web of metallic cables that crisscrossed its zenith. Their alien pattern seemed eerily familiar. The sense of déjà-vu made her shudder.
"Do you know why I remember this place? I – I remember the snow, and the domes, and – and those wires up there. I've seen them before - I think. I remember seeing them. Have I been here before? Everything is so familiar."
Cynax's body hummed with millions of soft clicks.
"Khoi mothers are able to imprint memories into their unborn children in utero - a useful adaptation to compensate for their short lifespans. Your mother helped retrofit this installation. It is likely that she passed on some memories of that work - and of other events in her life - to you, before you were born."
"Short lifespan? How long will I live?"
"The average Khoi lifespan ranges from thirty to thirty five years – occasionally as long as forty for a healthy female. The memories Khoi mothers pass down to their children help them mature more rapidly, as they can access a substantial bank of pre-acquired knowledge. As you are now, you are a fully mature, Khoi female."
"Petal is middle aged?" Quill blurted.
"Approximately. Her psychological development may have been retarded due to the unusually isolated conditions under which she socially matured - but she is a fully mature, Khoi female."
Cynax's words hit Petal like a freight train. She began to cry.
Quill watched Petal ball up on the cold mainframe floor, weeping. She rushed over to her, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her.
Petal continued to sob. She couldn't believe her life was half over.
Quill glared at Cynax, livid.
"Why would you tell her that! What is wrong with you? What do you want from her? Tell us. Let us out of here!"
"Only Consortium personnel have access to Consortium-owned installations. I do not work for the Consortium – hence I lack access. The Khoi has access because her genetic profile was added to the Consortium's personnel logs shortly after her birth. I need her to enter those installations and link me up to them."
Petal peered up at Cynax through a blurry veil of tears. "Why?"
"You must destroy those installations. They are still contaminated with Aii. Their continued presence endangers all life on this planet. I cannot access those installations remotely. My links to those facilities were severed during the Aii infestation. You will need to go inside of each installation to grant me access, so I can overload their reactors, and ensure that they are safely destroyed."
Quill continued to stroke Petal's back and hair. "Won't those Aii kill Petal if she goes inside those places? You said they killed everyone else."
"The Aii are dormant. They have consumed all organic matter inside of those installations and have now entered a state of indefinite hibernation."
"Then how are they still dangerous?"
"Aii are protean. They evolve to match their environment. When they arrive in an area, they will mutate until they take a form that allows them to become an apex predator. Once all competition has been eradicated, they devolve into lower organisms, ensuring that all organic matter is consumed. Once all food sources have been exhausted, Aii will become dormant. However, if dormant Aii come into contact with organic matter, they will reanimate. Thus far, the dormant Aii on this planet have remained confined to the Consortium installations Tear Drop and Amanahora. However, if any were to escape from those installations, they would spread across this planet, consuming every life form."
Petal wept while Cynax spoke, still balled up on the floor. She'd had a family for only a second before they were taken from her. She'd had a whole life ahead of her, and now it had been halved without thought. The truth of her life seemed much worse than the nagging unknown she'd long ago grown accustomed to.
The truth didn't seem to be worth knowing, anymore.
"I need the Khoi to follow my instructions and gain entry to the Tear Drop and Amanahora. She is the only being on this planet capable of eradicating the Aii."
"No." Petal shook her head slowly. "This - this isn't true. This isn't real. I'm a girl - not Khoi. I'm not from another planet. I'm a normal person. I'm human."
"You are Khoi. And thus you have a responsibility to your species and to this planet to ensure that the Aii your forerunners brought here are destroyed."
"Petal isn't responsible to you or anyone else." Quill stepped between Petal and Cynax, trying to shield her. "She and I will do what we want. I don't care if you saved our lives. You can't order us around!"
"You are correct. I cannot compel the Khoi to undertake this task. However, if she refuses, the Aii will eventuality escape from the Tear Drop and Amanahora as the stations degrade. They will consume all life on this planet. The Khoi is the only being who can prevent this eventuality. But, since I lack the ability to compel her to do what needs to be done, she must choose to do so of her own free will."
"Well, we aren't about to trust you. Whatever you are. And I'm not going to let you scare her into working for you."
"Quill, stop." Petal stood up. "Both of you please stop, okay? I need time to take this in. This is way too much for me to deal with all at once. I feel like I'm going to pass out."
"It's okay." Quill put her hand out, for Petal to take. "Let's get out of this place. Come back with me to the other dome and rest. Let's let our heads clear before we decide anything."
"No. I know you're trying to look out for me, but like he said." Petal looked up at Cynax. "This is my decision, not yours."
"I'm not saying it's not. Let's go and then I'll leave you alone if you want. Give you time to think about what you want to do."
"That's not what I need time for. I need time to figure out what I am, before I can even think about what I'm going to do. . ."
- 65-
Petal peered up at the lattice of blank monitors, silver cables, and dripping tentacles that crisscrossed the interior of the mainframe. The dome still looked dark to her, even though her eyes had grown accustomed to its dull, metallic-green lighting. The network of interlaced machinery and the giant mechanical creature inspired an unwavering sense of dread. Yet, on a different level, it felt somewhat comforting to Petal to know that she was standing next to another alien.
Quill had left Petal's side hours ago to lie down and sleep. Sentry followed her out of the mainframe so she'd be able to access the rest of the station. Petal chose to stay with Cynax, silently studying its giant, brooding body.
In all the time Petal had been alone with Cynax, she barely moved an inch. Her eyes remained locked on Cynax's wriggling tentacles and its ever shifting trunk. She watched every one of its movements as if she was trying to piece together what made it work. She couldn't comprehend how something as visceral and animal-like as Cynax appeared could, underneath it all, really be a machine.
"What – what are you exactly?" Petal finally spoke, staring at Cynax's glistening trunk. Its pulsating, bulbous torso made a series of rhythmic, peristaltic movements that reminded her of the legs on a millipede.
"I am a platformed synthetic sentience."
"What does that mean?"
"That my intelligence is confined to this platform. Some artificial intelligences are networked. They can move electronically from system to system. They exist as a set of programs - only in digital form. My sentience only exists inside of this single shell - just like your consciousness only exists inside of your body."
"Who made you? The Khoi?"
"Negative. My creators are known as Nephri. My anatomical structure was modeled to mimic their natural form. I appear to you as they do."
"Can – can you think?"
"At this time I am carrying out over six thousand distinct thought processes that range from analyzing polar weather data to measuring the current temperature of your sun's inner core. I 'think' all of the time. That is what I was programmed to do."
"Can you feel?"
Cynax thrust one of its tentacles up to Petal's face. It extruded a camera eye and a ganglion of feelers out from the tentacle's tip so they dangled just in front of her.
"My body is equipped with millions of tactile sensors. I can detect heat, touch, light, sound, and smell. In all cases, I can detect these phenomena more quickly and accurately than you are able to."
"Can. . ." Petal hesitated, staring deeply into the tentacle eye. "Can I touch you?"
"If you wish."
Petal poked the side of Cynax's quivering tentacle. It was covered in a slimy film of blue fluid. The tentacle felt cold and hard, like a segmented piece of pipe, made of molded plastic. She ran her fingers down the side of the tentacle, toward the camera eye and the little feelers that lay at its tip. She brushed her fingers against the feeler stalks. They felt smooth and rubbery - like the tentacles on a sea anemone.
Petal pulled her hand away. It was now covered in bluish goo. She wiped it off on her pants.
"So you could feel that?"
"Correct."
"Can you feel emotions too? Like pain? Or fear?"
"That is a difficult question to answer. I have been programmed to experience certain sensations when my body is damaged. I would describe those sensations as unpleasant. They are meant to deter me from injuring myself. They are a likely equivalent to your experience of pain. "
"What about fear? Or love?"
"I have drives. There are events I wish to happen and events that I wish not to occur. These drives are part of my original programming. When I accomplish a task in furtherance of my assigned mission it is pleasing to me. When I fail to do so, it is disappointing. I feel unfulfilled. I would consider these sensations emotions – although emotions are unquantifiable. The experience of them is subjective – dependent on the personal prejudices of the beholder."
Petal nodded, only half comprehending Cynax's answer. She watched it without saying anything for a few minutes, but couldn't keep herself from asking more. She felt like Junk - curious, naïve, and enamored by everything around her.
"How old are you? How long have you lived here?"
"I have existed in my current form for one hundred and sixty solar orbits. I was assigned to this installation concurrent with its construction, one hundred and forty solar orbits ago."
Petal's jaw dropped. Cynax was ancient. She tried to imagine what it would be like to be that old.
"Don't you get lonely in here? Do you keep the big guard dog for company?"
"I have no need for companionship. I was constructed to survive in a completely isolated state for several centuries. Sentry's function is merely to guard the perimeter of this station. Due to my size and shape, I am unable to leave this mainframe. In this environment, I am immobile."
"Did you know my parents? Did you meet them? You said they worked here too."
"I spoke with your mother once. Her name was Enerri. I never came into contact with your father - Yeuro."
"What were they like? What did they do?"
"Enerri was a structural engineer. Yeuro was a Consortium geologist."
"Did they abandon me? How did I wind up in the Dead Ocean – alone?"
"I have no data regarding what happened to you following the Aii outbreak. The area you refer to as 'the Dead Ocean' was the site of several active, remotely-operated, Consortium, undersea mines. The mines were located far away from all human and Khoi settlements due to the use of heavy demolitions. It is likely that your mother or father took you to one of the mines during the Aii outbreak. They would have left you there because it was safe from Aii contamination."
