The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 66
Shammai, not getting any answer to his ranting, finally decided he needed to obey the demon’s demands. ‘What had it said? Something about finding some stone?’ He quickly walked to the displayed rainbow stone and looked at it. He was fearful of the object, since the demon wanted him to find more like it. But he also did not want to suffer the horrible pain the demon had inflicted on him before. And his rage at Tamar still burned in his heart. So he started to wander about looking for the parts of the rainbow stone. He hunted for it in a haphazard manner with no rhythm or reason. “This is a child’s game! I curse you demon for this disgrace on my person!” he yelled out. But again, there was no response.
Jamie heard the bellowing from Shammai, and was glad she was not near to where he was located. She continued to follow the faint wheel marks in the dust and again by careful observation was able to recover another quarter section of the rainbow stone. This one was also white in color. It had been hidden under a small box which was sitting on the top of a crate. She could tell the box had been moved, since there was not much dust on top of that box. ‘So I have the white part of both stones. Now Shammai cannot win.’ She was very pleased with herself and she resumed following the wheel marks. Carrying both quarters of the stone was somewhat clumsy, not because they were heavy, but because they were very slick and somewhat difficult to grasp. The wheel marks from the automacube abruptly ended as they went straight into a wall. 'There must be a door here,’ Jamie thought, but was unable to find anything resembling a door, or the controls for a door. Jamie turned around and started to retrace her steps. ‘This must have been either where the automacube began or ended its little mission of hiding the pieces of the rainbow stone.’
There was a sudden crashing sound. Shammai had knocked over a crate and was rummaging through its contents. He was grumbling and complaining, but not having any luck in finding a part of the rainbow stone.
Jamie had retraced her steps, and was at the point where she had originally intercepted the wheel marks of the automacube. So she followed them the other direction. They wound between and around crates and objects in a twisting pattern, but once again, she saw the telltale marks of where the wheels had spun in a circle as the automacube moved to hide a part of the rainbow stone. This time it looked like the sides of a crate had been opened. Jamie placed her fingers into the edge of the crate and pulled, and it popped open with a loud noise. She quickly squatted down to see if Shammai had heard the popping. There was no other sound present. No bellowing from Shammai and no other crashing sounds as he rummaged through the garage.
Jamie felt around inside of the crate, as it was nearly completely dark inside of it. Her fingers discovered it was filled with many long rectangles of some sort, fairly heavy in weight. She had no idea what they were, so pulled one out. By the dim light she could see written on the side of the rectangle 'Deciduous Tree Saplings-stasis-Sugar Maple-X5’ whatever that meant. She knew what trees were, and had heard the boys describe some called maple. 'So are these baby trees?’ She replaced the rectangular container back into the stack of many other identical containers. She felt around more. On top of them was another quarter of the rainbow stone. Her fingers could tell the difference between the rougher rectangles, and the smoothness of the quarter stone. She pulled it out of the crate and looked at it in the somewhat brighter light. It too was white in color. 'What?’ Jamie asked herself. The Voice claimed the quarter sections were different colors.
Jamie connected the three parts together and held it in one arm. She continued to follow the wheel marks in the dust. As she did she got to a point where she was out in an open part of the garage. She was beginning to think of it as the game arena. The wheel marks, made a circle, and then continued. There was no box or crate, or covered over item. But for some reason the automacube had circled this spot. Jamie set the three quarter complete rainbow stone down and carefully felt the permalloy of the floor. Finding a crack with her fingers, she pulled upward and there was another popping sound. A small door had opened, and inside was another quarter of the rainbow stone. She pulled it out, and inserted it into the other three sections.
The rainbow stone she was holding began to glow. As she looked she saw that the sections were beginning to take on the colors: one red, one blue, one yellow, and one white. 'Now I just get this to the platform,’ Jamie thought and started to walk quickly. The glow from the newly reassembled rainbow stone in her hands was casting light on everything she passed. She watched the aisles carefully for the spotlight which lit up the platform. When she saw it, she turned down that aisle and jogged toward her goal.
“No!” Shammai yelled and charged at her from behind some large object covered over by thick sheets of some kind of polymer. “Give that to me!” In Shammai’s hands he held a single quarter section. He had actually found one of the other set.
Jamie sprinted away as fast as she could run. Shammai gave chase. Jamie reached the platform just prior to Shammai and set the rainbow stone down next to the displayed one.
“Test subject B completed this section of the game. Test subject A did not. Ruling for this section of the game is that test subject B has won. Let us play final phase of game,” The Voice said.
Shammai swung the quarter section he had been holding directly at Jamie. She ducked, and landed a punch to Shammai's midsection. They both screamed in agony as the electric pulse struck them.
28 Digging for treasure
Josiah and about a dozen other people, both citizens of Antioch and Domers, were busy digging over the top of where the ramp had descended into the ground. Joel and Jacob were bringing cups of water to the diggers. Sweat was running down Michael’s back as he threw another shovelful of dirt off to the side.
“Roxanne, can you assess anything under here yet?” Michael asked as he plunged the shovel down again.
“No Michael, the dirt is too thick. I have tried various spectrums of frequencies, but this automacube has limited sensing abilities. From how it appeared, Tamar activated the mechanisms though some non-direct access but there are a myriad of ways for that to have taken place, only a fraction of which I can even attempt to analyze using this automacube’s abilities.” The AI’s mechanical voice actually sounded a bit worried. That surprised Michael.
“Roxanne, do you think Jamie is okay?” He blurted out before he could stop himself.
“Michael, I was designed to protect you and Jamie and assist you in our mission. Jamie is a very capable and intelligent person. But this situation is unknown. Until we can open this passage it is unwise to speculate,” Roxanne replied.
“Michael!” Regina called as she walked up to where the digging was happening. “Brink is still trying, but Theta Four is not going to be any help. It claims no knowledge of any such ramp or doorway in the town square. Theta Four consulted Kurat, and it suggested I was hallucinating. When Brink confirmed what we saw, we got a lecture on mass hallucinations, and even were asked about consumption of some food called psilocybe?” Regina spread her arms wide in frustration and confusion. “Well whatever that is. Brink was not sure, and it is too far to run out and ask John. So talking to those AIs was about worthless. Brink is still trying, but I don’t have much hope. They both asked repeatedly about Tamar, and when I told them she was the one who opened this thing, neither replied.”
“Thanks for trying. This may never have been part of the transport system anyway, so Theta Four probably would not know about it. We have Roxanne, who can get us in, when we get this dirt moved,” Michael replied.
“Well give me a shovel. That I can help with,” Regina said. She walked over to one person who gave up the shovel to take a break. Regina started digging with enthusiasm.
“Michael!” Josiah yelled out. “I have found hard metal here! Should I just use the cutters to open it up?” The big blacksmith had been moving more dirt than any two of the other diggers. He had exposed an area of permalloy. He had hardly worked up a sweat and his bulging arm muscles easily threw dirt.
Michael jumped over to where the permalloy was exposed. Roxanne rolled over and into the depression.
“Cut me a way in!” Michael said, as he saw Josiah pulling out a vibration saw.
“Right away,” Josiah said as he connected the parts of the v-saw together and set it against the permalloy. Ever since Michael and Jamie had recovered some of the cutting torches and vibration saws, Josiah had become very proficient in using the 'tools to cut hard metal’ as he called them. He set the blade of the v-saw into motion and slowly placed it against the permalloy.
“Yarguus!" Josiah screamed out as he was thrown backward onto the dirt. He dropped the v-saw as he fell. The v-saw was smoking and the blade appeared to be melted. People rushed around Josiah who was shaking his head and rubbing his eyes.
“Oh my, that made everything foggy,” he mumbled. “Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?”
A young woman named Dessie, who was newly working as Hulda’s apprentice rushed to Josiah’s side. “Yes, I can hear you. Just take some deep breaths while I look you over.” Dessie’s black hair was shoulder length, and she carefully looked at Josiah. He had no burns, or broken bones, but was still a bit groggy. She felt his pulse and looked into his nose and ears. “I think you are okay, but we should take you to see Hulda. She will know more. Can you stand up?” The concern in her blue eyes was obvious.
“Lorna, are you here?” Josiah said as he opened up his eyes. “What happened?”
“Yes, I am here." Lorna was holding his hand and comforting him. “I think there was some kind of electrical shock, is that right?” Lorna looked around.
“I registered an electrical discharge from inside the permalloy as Josiah attempted to cut it open,” Roxanne stated. “I agree with Dessie, that Josiah needs to seek medical attention for possible electro-shock injuries,” Roxanne stated. “The risk is of serious injury is minimal, but real.”
“Okay, you are going to see Hulda,” Lorna said as she helped Josiah get to his feet. Dessie held him from the other side and together they walked him away from the digging area.
“Sorry Michael,” Josiah said in a somewhat weakened voice.
“Josiah, you be well!” Michael said, but kept his attention on the exposed permalloy.
“There appears to be a force shield of rudimentary configuration running through this permalloy. It is similar to the Rutherford-MacGreggor prototype force shields of the late twenty first century. The mechanism of the vibration saw triggered its response. Human contact is insufficient to trigger response. Michael, I can easily circumvent that force shield to take readings. May I attempt to do so?” Roxanne said. Michael nodded. The arm on the automacube extended outward, pulling a thin cable with a gelled pad on the end. The appendage then swiveled, and connected the cable to the permalloy. The cable lit up. “I have made connection and can run a limited number of scans. There is a pneumatic lift system which operates this ramp.”
“So open it up and let's get after Jamie,” Michael said.
“I cannot directly initiate the opening sequences. I cannot disable the force shield. I have to utilize paced bursts for scanning and control of this system. I can order the ramp to open, but it will do so drastically, and then immediately fall back into place. With the force shield in operation, I cannot keep the opening sequence in place long enough for the automacube carrying me to enter. At top speed, the automacube has a ninety six percent chance of being crushed by the closing ramp, and that is a better chance than you would have of avoiding being crushed,” Roxanne stated.
“Roxanne, we must get in there. Is there no way to do so?” Michael asked.
“There is a way that offers about a fifty percent chance of success. It will mean sacrificing this automacube, and my being removed from the current data stick reader. It is a three step process. First: Program the two phased action of the automacube, to send the opening initiation pulse on a time delay. Second: You must remove the Atomic Level Processor which contains my core essence. Third: when the ramp opens, the second phase of the automacube’s programming will happen. It will directly touch the force shield. The automacube will be destroyed by the discharge of electricity, but the ramp will be slowed enough to allow one human to jump through with a fifty two percent chance of successfully avoiding being crushed by the lowering ramp,” Roxanne replied. “That is the best scenario I can offer.”
“So we do this, and I take your ALP and a data stick reader with me. Inside I reinsert you and you will still be able to help me, right?” Michael asked.
“But I am not going to ask anyone to brave this jump with me. A fifty-fifty chance is not very good odds.”
“I will go,” Regina said. Several others said similar things, both Domers and people originally from Antioch. Jamie was well liked by many people.
“With added humans attempting to enter, it decreases success potential for all by forty one percent. So Michael, the best chance is with only one human attempting the jump. And yes, if the ALP is reinserted in a data stick reader, I will be able to offer limited assistance. That assistance will be less than I can offer working in this automacube."
“Michael, I’ll run and get that data stick reader thing you need,” Joel offered.
“I’ll get it faster," Jacob argued.
Michael checked the backpack he had. Inside was the weapon he affectionately called the Willie Wacker, a fusion pack, and a sword. Those should be enough, but he did need the data stick reader.
“Okay boys, you both race to my cabin, and get one of the data stick readers, and carefully bring it back here. And the cutting torch. Oh, and bring me some dried food. Who knows how long it will take to hunt down Jamie,” Michael said.
The boys ran off as fast as their bare feet could carry them.
“Roxanne, we need to get in there. Can you have the automacube programmed and ready by the time the boys get back?” Michael asked.
“It already is. Let me know when you are ready,” Roxanne replied. “The Atomic Level Processor is prepared and ready to be disengaged from reader.”
.
29 Winner and loser
Jamie awoke on her side on the floor. Drool was pooling around her mouth. It took her a few moments to orientate herself to where she was located. The Voice and ‘underground’ and ‘followed Shammai’ and ‘protecting Tamar’ all were blurred around the edges of her consciousness. She opened her eyes, and then closed them again. There was a very bright light flashing at slightly irregular intervals.
“Test subjects will not do violence to each other," The Voice stated.
Jamie rolled over and tried to cover her eyes. She heard Shammai groaning from not far away. She could tell they were still in the underground chamber, the garage, but at the opposite end from the ramp. The flashing light was quite annoying. But in the flickering light she could see that this far end was free of crates, boxes, or other packed up machinery.
“This last section of the game is testing your reactive recognition while under hyper-stimulation conditions. Stand up and prepare for the game,” The Voice commanded. The flashing light stopped and a dim illumination replaced it. “These are your starting places." Two small squares lit up in the floor.
“Step into the starting places and stand on the illuminated tile. When you are in place more instructions will be given. Move now or aversive stimulus will be applied.”
Jamie got up and she noticed that so did Shammai. They each stepped onto an illuminated square tile. The two were standing right next to each other.
“The game consists of these rules. The goal is to reach this target,” The Voice announced. A rectangle appeared on the distant wall. “You may only step on illuminated tiles which are blue. The tile underneath each of them changed to blue color. You may not step on the red illuminated tiles. The tile then changed to red color. If you step on a red tile, there will be an aversive stimulus applied,” The Voice stated.
The permalloy floor between them and the large rectangle on the far wall suddenly was illuminated with a multitude of red and blue tiles. Each tile was a different size, and there was no discernible pattern to the colors on the floor. A low hum sounded throughout the area. Then the dim lights went out, and the bright irregular flashing lights resumed.
The visual sequence was bizarre. There was bright nearly blinding light, then no lights but the red and blue glowing from the floor. Then it repeated. There was bright nearly blinding light, then no lights but the red and blue glowing from the floor. It was disconcerting.
