The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 49
“Something is wrong with Brink,” Regina said with worry in her voice. “Did you see the way his hands were shaking?”
“Okay, so we pack up and head back,” Jamie stood and began assembling her supplies and loading them into her backpack.
“In the morning,” Michael said. “None of us know what kind of animals are out on these hills, especially in the dark. Those white things looked like sheep, but is there something that eats them? Remember the people in Antioch are always talking about some kinds of carnivores. Besides, we need rest to make good time.”
“I am not too keen on walking down that hilly road in the dark either. But we need to get to Brink. I can tell, something is wrong,” Regina was worried.
Jamie struggled with her desire to go and get Roxanne and be a few steps closer to getting a real natural nursery built. But she, too, was tired, and she was rational. She had been an adventurer too many times to take unnecessary risks. That was how you died outside the dome on Earth. And while the habitats here were not the radioactive, toxic wastelands of Earth, they did hold their own dangers. And many of the dangers were new or unknown to all three of them.
“Okay, we sleep here tonight. But we leave right away when the light comes on,” Jamie stated.
They slept in the third room on the Weather Monitor. It was comfortable enough, and the usable toilet system was a relief. They all washed and prepared for sleep. “I will take the first watch,” Michael said. “We do not need any surprises ever again.”
Jamie handed him the Willie Wacker from her pack and said “Wake Regina next, and me last. I probably will be up by then anyway. I get sick every morning, so I might as well pull guard duty.”
Michael sat just outside the doorway to the Weather Monitor and watched the darkness. The sky tube was not completely black, and the dim light it cast, along with the star fields behind it, allowed him to see a bit of what was happening. The night was filled with sounds. Whistles, hums, chirps and all sorts of other noises, none of which he could identify. He thought of the boys, Jacob and Joel, and imagined that they would be telling him stories about what kind of animals made each sound. But then he doubted that. The boys had never been in this place called Secondary Aquatic. Would they know any of the animals here? At one point, a great number of flying things, a kind of bird he had not seen before, emerged from somewhere in a great swarm and flew off. Their wings flapped differently, in more of a fluttering manner. Then they were gone.
Later, he awoke Regina and passed on the Willie Wacker. Regina looked into the night as well, but her thoughts were all a mixture of different things. She worried about Brink and what she had seen of him. She pondered and wondered about the antique computerized system she had been trying to understand. She had read about things like this but really never expected to ever use one or even to see a functional one. She pulled out a data stick and rolled it between her palms. Why did these not work? Brink had focused on that. She had focused on that. Now, she was on another quest to find some way to fix what, from the outside, looked like it should work. Regina also thought about the AI Roxanne. That system would be such a pleasure to work with. But, while rolling the data stick in her hands, she recalled how each data stick was an embryonic artificial intelligence. Once they had the readers and sticks operational, all she had to do was instruct the data stick to evolve, and it would go from an informational retrieval system to a maturing and advancing artificial intelligence. That was why, when they evacuated Dome 17 and came through the teleportation orifice, they had brought so many data sticks and loaded them with so much information. They had brought a myriad of baby AIs with them, and now none of them worked at all. And the thought of developing AIs made Regina’s mind go to Jamie’s pregnancy. That was so barbaric. Jamie only spoke sparingly about it, but Regina pitied her for being forced into such an uncivilized situation.
Jamie awoke shortly before her time of taking watch would have begun. She tried to eat a bit, but her stomach rolled with the attempts. She relieved Regina who quietly went off to the room to sleep. Jamie assumed the watch and contemplated all the potentials. Brink had found Roxanne, but some type of problem was happening, and he needed them to come to him and help. Why was that? Brink had not elaborated. But if Roxanne was recovered, then a proper assessment could be made of the data sticks, and that would lead to a normal nursery. Then I won’t be puking every morning, and this baby can be properly nurtured, developed and protected from radiation, mutations and other pathogens. But that was many steps away, and for now they needed to get back to Antioch.
The sky tube lightened, and there was a beautiful dawn which spread over the entire habitat. As the light was shining down, Jamie saw a woman walking toward her from the direction of the Salt Sea.
“Hail! Are you one of the operators Sihnesto told me about? I thought he had perhaps lost his mind, so I set out early to see for myself. I am Julia of the Fellowship of Maintenance.” The woman was very tall and willowy with fine sandy colored hair in braids hanging down each side of her head.
Jamie stood up and, despite the nausea, walked over to Julia. “Yes, we are here for now, but we need to leave soon. We must return to help our people.”
“You are with child. It is just as Sihnesto said. This is a glorious day for me as well. I must perform the daily maintenance. May I do that now, or will you be doing operator functions with the machines?” Julia asked. She was carrying the orange Procedure Manual under her arm.
“Certainly, go do your stuff. But can you tell me how you knew I was pregnant?” Jamie asked as Julia walked past her into the room with the displays and terminals.
“Sihnesto informed me. But I did not really believe there were any operators here. And as to being with child, it is obvious by looking at you.” Julia said as she began her ritual in front of each display. She seemed less formal and more conversational than was Sihnesto. The displays read ‘Daily maintenance running,' and she walked to the middle of the room after starting that on the last one.
Jamie looked at herself and asked, “What do you mean it is obvious? No one else has seen it, and I am not bulging out anywhere, right?”
“The aura is where it is seen, not in your physical appearance,” Julia replied.
"Aura?" Jamie asked.
"Yes, we all have an aura, and yours shows you to be with child. But there is a troubling shade to the aura. You need to be very cautious and alert," Julia replied.
She was just completing the operations. “Now I wait for error messages. Sihnesto tells me there were none yesterday. But the Procedure Manual is here in case there should be some. Can I help you as the operator in any other way? Your aura suggests not only that you are expecting, but that you are stressed and in a great hurry to accomplish something. Perhaps that is the trouble in your aura?” Julia was hesitant in the last phrase, and her voice caught as she said it.
“Yes, we need to get back to Antioch and into Habitat 1 as quickly as possible,” Jamie replied. She was greatly puzzled by this talk of auras and was reluctant to ask just what an aura actually was or how one could see an aura. She was tempted to pass it off as more superstition, but they had known she was pregnant.
“I do not know those places you name. I have not heard of them being around either the Salt Sea where I have my family or around the Fresh Sea where some others live,” Julia replied. The terminals all displayed the original screen again. “Excellent! No error codes. It is a blessed day!” Julia was very pleased. But when she looked at Jamie her countenance fell.
“Your aura is troubled. There is an urgency which is very strong. The blessed Procedure Manual does have a section called, ‘Emergency Procedures’ which speaks of ways to leave Weather Monitor. Shall I review those verses for you? I cannot let you touch the orange book; Sihnesto warned me of one of you trying to touch it. He was very worried about that, so please let me read to you from the sacred Procedure Manual.”
Jamie nodded her approval. It would not hurt to listen for a bit, and maybe something would be learned.
Julia opened and began her recitation. It was long and technical, but Julia had a very soothing speaking voice. The information just did not seem to apply to what Jamie was concerned about. While Julia was speaking, Michael and Regina walked in.
“...and in case of fire the elevator to the transit station should not be used. But instead an alternative route...” Julia was reciting.
“Elevator to a transit station?” Michael interrupted.
“Why yes, that is the verse,” Julia said.
“Jamie, I bet that is a transport station like back in Antioch. I bet that will get us there very quickly,” Michael seemed excited at the possibility.
“Julia, what can you tell us about the elevator?” Jamie asked. Regina had stepped back a bit.
“I can tell you nothing. But the Procedure Manual does have a section called 'Elevator operation’ which most people in the Fellowship of Maintenance know. It is about the journey downward and is a spiritual allegory about descending to the depths.” Julia replied.
“Please read that to us,” Jamie insisted.
Julia read, and shortly after she started, Regina interrupted. “I think I know what she is referring to. Well maybe?” Regina led them to the second room. Taking out a fusion pack she turned on the light. By shining the light on the walls of the room, Regina found what she was afraid was there: markings that were visible only under the light of the fusion pack. The markings were clearly of a handprint and arrow. Additionally a very weakly lit colorful box appeared under the light’s beam. A nine section square with each square being a different color.
“An elevator. Oh, how I hate the thought of this,” Regina said.
“This is a wondrous event!” Julia just about swooned as she saw the markings. “According to the Procedure Manual the lowest level is where the transit station is located. The Procedure Manual has that marked with this symbol.” Julia held out the orange covered book, and Jamie and Michael looked at the symbols.
The yellow automacube with the scorch marks rolled into the room. It approached the elevator door and jacked into a spot on the wall. The illumination behind the colored touch pad brightened significantly.
Jamie walked up to the colored touch pad and entered the code they had used previously: green, green, white, blue, red, red, yellow, amber. The doors opened. The automacube rolled inside. This elevator was quite a bit larger than the one Regina had discovered in engineering. Nonetheless, she was flooded with anxiety about entering another elevator.
Jamie walked into the elevator and examined the interior controls. There was a series of switches and buttons. “That symbol in the book is here. Let’s go!” Jamie had set her mind on this course of action and was determined to carry it out.
“Michael, should we really try this? We can just go back over the habitat instead, right?” Regina said.
“Yes, but that will take us a long time, and you saw Brink. He needs us now,” Michael replied.
“But what if we cannot get back out? Or this takes is some weird place?” Regina was thinking about her experiences with the Voice.
“What about getting to Brink?” Michael asked.
Regina stepped into the elevator; her heart beat fast, and she was dripping sweat, but this time she was not alone. Michael followed her into the elevator. Jamie pushed the symbol for the transit station. The doors closed. Slowly the elevator descended.
23 Watching and waiting
The Voice disconnected from the automacube as it descended in the elevator with Regina, Jamie and Michael. The connections to the automacube were weak and fluctuating within the elevator, and the Voice did not want to be trapped somewhere again. Besides, the Voice was confident, sixty-three percent confident, that it would be able to reconnect to the automacube as it left the elevator. If that action was desired again, over options were also available.
The Voice had heard the conversation between Brink and the others and was intrigued by the possibilities of running some tests on these subjects. One test subject in particular interested the Voice. She had the same auditory tracings as the test subject which had been removed by the automacubes in the emergency medical evacuation. So this test subject had been repaired and was back for more games. How much had that test subject learned?
Analysis of the transmissions which these test subjects had received showed they came from outside the current realm of the Voice. So the Voice conjectured that by assisting these test subjects to reach the origin of that transmission, the Voice could expand its territory and assist more test subject in growth and development.
The Voice sought out links and coupling to the various floors within the mountain that the elevator passed. One floor was electronically and physically sealed off and secured against invasion, so the Voice marked that floor for further investigation at another time. Other floors were completely void of any connections, power or signs of life. Remote sensing showed large amounts of physical damage. But most of the floors were very much like the rest of the places the Voice had assessed. They were mostly partially working with some couplings and some connections. There were traces and shadows of a powerful primary AI in some levels, but there appeared to be no current activity. the Voice treaded carefully nonetheless. It could wait and bide its time.
Projecting the schematics of the elevator, the Voice was able to run a program into the transport vehicle which was located at the station at the base of the elevator. The vehicle was barely serviceable, but by sending a power surge into it, the engines of operation became more functional. the Voice set a course into the vehicle, which would take it to a location near the source of the transmissions.
The Voice noticed the life form readings which were also located in and around the transit station. Perhaps the tests could begin sooner than anticipated?
24 A hairy situation.
“This is the symbol for where we were," Jamie said. “It was illuminated when we entered. That illumination went away as we descended, and the symbol I pushed is now illuminated. If there is a problem, we can probably just hit that first symbol and return to the Weather Monitor."
“That is a relief," Regina said. It truly calmed her nerves to know there was a way back. The last elevator did not have that. Additionally, at that time, she had been alone.
“But we want no surprises," Jamie said as she pulled the Willie Wacker from her backpack. Michael also drew out the permalloy knife which Josiah had made for him.
The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. The first thing the three noticed was the smell. A very strong and pungent odor hit them as they stepped from the elevator. They were at the end of a hallway. The walls were rust colored, and the lights overhead gave only marginal light for the hall. The automacube rolled ahead of them and down the hallway.
“Did either of you push 'PROCEED’ on that thing? Because I did not,” Jamie said. She carefully stepped out and looked around. Michael followed.
“The color pad is bright and clear. I think this one is fully functional,” Michael said as he examined the area. Regina stepped out. The door to the elevator stayed open. The automacube came to a spot where it extended its arm and flipped open a small door. It then jacked a cable into the space behind the small door. Jamie, Michael and Regina proceeded slowly down the hallway.
Suddenly, something ran up to the automacube. It was sort of human shaped, but smaller with long arms, stumpy hind legs and small tail. Roughly a third the size of Michael, it was mostly gray and black colored and quite furry. It pulled at the cable on the automacube and yanked it from the wall. The animal made a hacking yip sound. It them loped off not quite walking only on its back legs like a person but not walking at all like any of the four footed animals these people from Dome 17 had ever seen before.
“What is that?” Michael asked. “Were there mutations here?
Another animal ran out and gave the side of the automacube a very hard strike. The automacube rolled around with the force of the animal’s blow but then maneuvered back onto all six wheels. A third animal ran out and slapped at the tires, but this time the automacube was rolling away. The animal did a shoulder somersault as it ran away.
“There’s a lot of them. Look!” Jamie gestured to beyond where the automacube had been.
There were many more of the things ahead. The hallway opened to the transmit station which was better illuminated. Jamie, Michael and Regina could see a portal door. It resembled the doors in the portal room in Antioch. But around that room ran a good number of the animals. They had heavy hair around their heads with medium length hair on their bodies and very thin hair on their calloused butts. They had large black snouts and long sharp looking fangs. There was intelligence in their close-set black eyes, as they bounced and bumped into each other.
“Predators?” Michael said as he held the knife in front of him. “Carnivores?”
“They sure look that way,” Jamie replied. “The teeth seem pretty big for the body.” She was still holding the Willie Wacker.
