The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 81
Theta Four responded. “Using all available means, I find limited and incomplete information about Habitat Two: Savannah. I can make a referral to Achieves for you if you desire information. Current status is as follows: and this is not full nor completely reliable information as the status is in flux. There is a major malfunction of the Habitat two bio-sphere. Unknown details on that malfunction. The habitat is not in vacuum. Life forms, both floral and faunal are detected, but in precarious states. Gravity manipulation is detected at marginally acceptable levels. I have found no functioning artificial intelligences. No primary, secondary, or tertiary intelligences respond to inquiries. This may mean blockages between my system and those AIs, or the AI may be non-functional. It is impossible to determine which from this location. Checking historic records, I find mention of extensive human civil disobedience in this habitat. Level of damage from that is undetermined. Security has not responded to requests for updates.”
“So can you take us to Savannah?” Michael asked.
“No. The safety laws about opening sealed portals are immutable. That is a safety measure which I cannot over-ride......processing....processing.... I have been instructed to make a plan for stopping a transport vehicle prior to the end of the transport system, near portals of Habitat Two: Savannah. This will not violate my safety parameters. I am not taking you to Habitat Two: Savannah. I will stop transport en-route. Passengers are not generally allowed to exit vehicle except at designated destinations....processing...processing...processing. This party has now been designated as a repair and maintenance crew and vehicle will be stopped at desired location, and door will be opened. You may enter this newly designated repair and maintenance vehicle when you are ready.”
The cable came out of the wall jack and retracted into the blue automacube. Then Roxanne stated, “Theta Four will cooperate with this journey. But it was a complex procedure to circumvent the safety inhibitions.”
“Thanks Roxanne,” Jamie replied. “What would we do without you?”
“You would not be going to Savannah.” The blue automacube rolled into the transport vehicle.
Michael and Jamie walked in as well. They sat down and instructed Theta Four to take them to the desired location.
“Habitat Two: Savannah is not accessible. Please state alternative destination,” Theta Four responded.
“Over-ride code RoxanneA123. Please acknowledge,” Jamie said with a bit of frustration.
“Over-ride accepted. Destination accepted. Which portal in Habitat Two: Savannah do you wish to enter?” Theta Four asked.
“Just take us to the portal area, and we will see which hatch is easiest to open,” Jamie replied.
“Which portal area of Habitat Two: Savannah?”
Michael and Jamie looked at each other. They had been under the impression that each habitat had only a single transport station. Michael turned to Roxanne, “Roxanne, does each habitat have only a single transport station? Antioch is the only one in our home, right?”
“Yes, Michael that was my understanding. I have seen nothing to indicate otherwise, but the transport system, controlled by Theta Four is not fully functional. My over-rides seem to have opened up new information. I have difficulty with the incongruities of the original plans and the actual Eschaton. Only 41% of the time do the original plans reflect what we are seeing in reality. This makes projections and conjectures much less likely to be accurate. I apologize for these discrepancies.” Roxanne’s tones did convey sympathy and compassion, even though Roxanne was an artificial intelligence.
“Theta Four, please tell me the options for Habitat One: Coastal Plains for accessing a transport vehicle,” Jamie interjected.
“Habitat One” Coastal Plains has one functional transport access. The one this vehicle had been in prior to this transport. The second transport access point is for Habitat One is off-line.” Theta Four then displayed a graphic which showed a map of the habitat. The portal room in Antioch was on the right hand side of the graphic and was illuminated in green. On the far other side of the graphic was an area illuminated in red.
“Please increase detail of this area,” Jamie said and pointed to the illuminated red area. The graphic altered, and Jamie could tell where the central river was, and the cataract at the far end of the habitat. “So there was a portal room here? Is this where Media is located?”
“I have not seen such a detailed map of the habitat,” Michael stated. “Roxanne have you recorded this? I think you are right Jamie. That would be about where that town Media is located. At least from what Willie and those traders he works with have told me, and from what Tamar claimed.”
“Theta Four, does each habitat....let me phrase this differently...how many access points to the transport system does each habitat have? Count the hatches in the same basic location as one point of egress,” Jamie inquired.
“Using your definition, each habitat has two separate points of egress which, when functional, can allow transport vehicles to interlock onto the habitat. Those are also population centers for the human crew. Currently, not all those points of egress are functional. I have made numerous requests to Machine Maintenance, Transport Repair, and to Central Processing reporting the damaged areas. To date, no responses have been received from Machine Maintenance, Transport Repair or Central Processing. There are also only two non-habitat destinations which are functional, Engineering and Medical Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy 12. Would you like to see the latest information on access to habitats?”
“Yes.”
The graphic changed to an overview of the transport system. It was in greater detail than Theta Four had showed them before, but the majority of it was marked in red.
“Habitat One: Coastal Plains has one of two functioning access point. Habitat Two: Savannah has no functional access points of two. Habitat Three: Asiatic has no functioning access points of two. Habitat Four: Desert has no functional access points of two. Habitat Five: Tropical has one partially functional access point of two. This access point has been showing marginal capacity and may or may not be functional for specific transport needs. Reports of civil unrest have been made from that location. Habitat Six: Mixed Farming has no functioning access points of two. Habitat Seven: Primary Aquatic has no functioning access points of two. Habitat Eight: Secondary Aquatic has one functional access point, and a second which is partially and intermittently functional. This access point may or may not be functional for specific transport needs,” Theta Four reported.
“Okay, we just found out a lot more about this ship than we expected. But the transport system is in bad shape. Theta Four, please take us to the nearest assess point for Habitat Two: Savannah.
“Complying. This party has been designated as a repair and maintenance crew and vehicle will be stopped at desired location, and door will be opened. I am not responsible for injuries or loss of life or machinery due to this transport. I have lodged a complaint with Arbitration over this action. I am not responsible for injury or loss of life of humans who disembark at non-designated nor approved locations. Please affirm for the record, and for said complaint, that I have informed you I am not responsible for injury or harm to humans or machinery for this action. Do you concur?”
“Yes,” Michael said immediately.
Jamie waited a bit without responding.
“Does the other human on this designated repair crew concur?” Theta Four asked.
“Yes, just take us there.” Jamie barked.
“Does the alien artificial intelligence concur? I will not be held responsible for actions which are done by coercion, manipulation, or over-riding safety and security protocols. Does the alien artificial intelligence concur?” Theta Four insisted. It almost sounded mean or desperate. It was the most emotional sounding they had ever heard it.
Roxanne replied, “Yes, I concur. Please proceed.”
The door shut and the vehicle departed from Engineering.
“Theta Four has more layers and deeper programming than I suspected. I am meeting resistance at every level and on almost every interaction,” Roxanne stated. “This latest tactic by Theta Four is quite fascinating.”
17 dumped off somewhere
The vehicle made a sudden stop. There was a slight backing up sensation, and then the whole vehicle lurched sideways and they could feel it rise a bit. It was not a gentle ride.
“This is the nearest repair alcove to Habitat Two: Savannah access point Able. If you still want to disembark from the vehicle, against my recommendations, and against established protocol, I will open the door. May I remind you, I am not endorsing this behavior, nor do I bear any responsibility for this course of action,” Theta Four said. “Do you still wish to continue?”
“Just open the door and keep the vehicle here so we can depart when we are finished,” Michael said. “No exceptions, keep this vehicle at this location until we command otherwise.”
“Please confirm command over-ride code,” Theta Four said.
“Code Roxanne A123,” Jamie said.
“Over-ride code accepted. This section of the transport system is now shut down to other traffic until further notice,” Theta Four sounded almost hostile in making that announcement.
The door which was in the rear of the vehicle opened. There was a dimly lit area beyond. The air was stale and foul smelling. Jamie peered out of the back of the vehicle. The vehicle was off to the side of a nearly perfectly circular tube constructed from permalloy. The alcove where the vehicle had been raised was off the main tube which went down in either direction from where they were located. Looking down they saw that the bottom of the tube had an elevated beam or flat surface. That flat space was about two paces wide, and looked very smooth and almost reflective. The floor of the vehicle’s cabin was about a meter off the bottom of the tube. Directly opposite the door was a ladder molded into the permalloy. They could step out the back and onto the ladder then descend to the floor of the tube. Looking down the tubes they could see that at great intervals apart there were lights in wide bands around the tube but between those the tube system was poorly illuminated. It was a bit disorienting to look down the tube in either direction for it seemed to go on forever, and the bands of light caused optical vertigo. Except for the space outside the door, the vehicle fit very snuggly into the alcove.
Jamie climbed down first, then Michael, who had taken out a fusion pack and turned on its light. Roxanne, in the blue automacube, followed and came to the edge of the door, grasped the side of the door with its appendage, then rolled outward and was lowered down as the appendage telescoped and articulated at its joints to reach the proper length and position. Releasing its grip on the door, the automacube was set on the flat bottom of the tube. Michael and Jamie kept being impressed by the dexterous and proficient manner by which the automacube was able to maneuver about the ship.
“The magnetics here show almost zero wear, even after over one hundred years of operation,” Roxanne stated. “The portal hatches should be only a short distance in this direction,” Roxanne rolled ahead and Michael and Jamie followed.
It was not slippery walking on the bottom of the transport tube, even though it looked like it might be, due to the surface reflection and glossy features. They came to another alcove, this one much larger, and turned and saw why the habitat had been marked as red, and inaccessible.
In the alcove were about a half dozen obviously wrecked transport vehicles. The beam of light from the fusion pack played over the wreckage. There were deep shadows and dark crevices between the wrecks. The vehicles, which when not smashed up and broken, were cylindrical shaped on the outside with a rounded nose. The rear, where the door was located was flat. The undercarriage, where the magnetic generators were located was about the only thing that protruded from the capsule shapes. None of the wrecks located here were ever going to work again. Some were not even complete capsules, but just severed sections. Several were smashed into crumbled junk up against where the portal hatches must be located. Another seemed to be completely upside down. One was sideways and at an angle. Most had burn marks scorched into their permalloy sides. Some looked broken open, a feat which was extremely difficult to do to permalloy, but others looked like they had been sliced open.
“I do have a molecular torch if we need to cut our way through. I did not want to be without a way in,” Michael said with a grin. He was trying to use humor to overcome the sight of the wreckage, for he was wondered many things about these vehicles, not the least of which was what had caused such a pile of wreckage.
“I brought a v-saw as well. So we are good. But that looks like we might be able to squeeze thought over there,” Jamie said. She pointed to where the sideways transport vehicle was up ended. “Roxanne, can you fit in that way?”
“This automacube can enter nearly anywhere a human can enter,” Roxanne replied. “These vehicles are in a curious configuration.”
“Yea, they are all busted up,” Michael said with mock seriousness. He had been thinking the same thing.
“How so?” Jamie asked.
“The alcove is effectively blocked, but the transport system itself is not impaired. So only entry and exit from this habitat is affected,” Roxanne explained. “That leads me to conclude that this was not a series of random acts, but deliberately set. Consider how the travel of passing vehicles would not be interfered with in any way.”
“Okay Roxanne, but to what end?” Jamie pondered. “And some of this has been cut. Could there have been some disaster here, and rescue workers cut open the vehicles, perhaps to get at injured people?”
“That is a possibility, but I detect no traces of blood or other factors to indicate humans were injured here.”
“Barricade. We have seen other examples of people setting up some kind of obstruction. So someone came out and made a barricade of destroyed vehicles to seal off the habitat,” Michael stated. “But did they do that to stop people from coming in or to stop people from leaving? Can you tell by the way these were placed?”
“From the looks of the wreckage, I cannot conjecture with any accuracy the manner by which the vehicles were placed here. Beyond the fact that this was not random, and was done with a purpose.” Roxanne had the light on the automacube turn on and the area was flooded with brightness. “On the nose of each vehicle is a serial number. I have recorded those in hopes that I will find a data base to learn more about what happened here. Theta Four may also have records for vehicles with these numbers, but Theta Four’s records are incomplete.” The three dimensional display Roxanne projected showed a long series of numbers and then an animated reconstruction of how the vehicles would have looked prior to them be broken and segmented.
“Again the mystery of what happened in the Eschaton,” Michael muttered. “It just seems like the more we discover, the more it looks like some really bad stuff happened here. Reminds me of some of the dead domes where we determined it was mass fighting and civil war. Ugly stuff.”
“Well we will not know anything more just waiting here. So in we go,” Jamie said and ducked down to squeeze through the space under the one vehicle. It was not as tight as she had anticipated. After snaking about, she was able to get to the back wall of the alcove. Michael joined her, but there was no room for them both to be against the back wall. He had a bit more difficulty due to his size, but he squatted down and made due. The automacube carrying Roxanne rolled easily around and through the maze of broken vehicles. In one place, three of the wheels had to be retracted, but that was easily done and the appendage on its top was able to push and pull and maneuver it through.
The back wall of the alcove had the outline of a hatch, the bottom of which was about waist high. There was the bottom third of the hatch visible, but the top two thirds of it were covered by the side section of a wrecked transport vehicle. Jamie could not quite stand under that wrecked capsule. The space was narrow with only room for one person to stand against that back wall. Jamie took that place and removed the vibration saw she had in her backpack. Connecting that to the fusion pack, she began to cut open a space in what had been the hatch. The vibration saw made a low whirring sound and the permalloy parted under its tip. Jamie made several passes over the same outline, but soon the lower part of the hatch was cut apart. She then went down the seals on either side to and the v-saw made short work of the seals which had held the hatch closed.
Jamie pushed onto the cut section and it dropped into Habitat Two, Savannah. As she did so she said with a wide smile. “Michael, you and I seem to always be cutting into places.”
He returned her smile but he was still wondering what was in store for them as they prepared to enter the mysterious habitat.
When Jamie had cut an opening, flashing light poured out of that newly opened space. Along with the flashing light was a rush of air and a damp mist.
18 Wind, water, coruscation and beasts.
The space they had cut out from the door was big enough to enter into Habitat Two: Savannah, but not comfortably.
