Waking in the Stars (Marston Chronicles Book 2)

by D Patrick Wagner

  Mr. Shukilar softly walked over to the indicated spot and squatted. He curled his tail around his hind paws and rested his fore paws on the floor. With his ears and eyes focused forward, he swivelled his head, attempting to absorb, understand everything.

  After looking it over, Princess Analyn handed the freshly made tool to Dame Srilin.

  The computer specialist handed it to Vidhee. “Your paws are steadier than mine. And your tactile sense is far superior. If you would be so kind?”

  Vidhee took the specially made tool. With the precision and fine movements that only an artificial entity could perform, Vidhee carefully inserted the three prongs into the appropriate slots. Then, very carefully, Vidhee rotated the knob on the handle. Three clicks occurred. The cable connector popped up. Dame Srilin softly took hold and gently extracted the cable, leaving a bare set of connectors.

  Princess Analyn, having held back, came forward and craned over Vidhee’s shoulder. “What’s next?”

  “Now we interrogate each connection, mapping its purpose and what it controls. Once we do that, we construct our own connector, tap into the cylinder and see what we’ve got.”

  After less than a sedeca Vidhee and Dame Srilin succeeded in mapping the connections and constructing the interface. Vidhee connected the new cable to an input/output port on her forearm and went completely still. A tenth of a sedeca later she re-animated, disconnected the cable at both ends, reconnected the original cable and stood.

  “It is done, Princess.”

  “The computer can now communicate?”

  “Not yet. I’ve downloaded our verbal and written language. But it will need to cross-analyse it with its own. It shouldn’t take long.”

  “Can you upload its memory files? Its core programming?”

  “It is possible. But that would violate the personal rights of an artificial being. And as such, I am not allowed.”

  “Then we can only learn what this alien artificial entity allows us to learn?”

  “That is correct, My Princess.”

  Princess Analyn pondered this new development. Doctor Ganakin continued his research. Mr. Shukilar continued watching and observing. Vidhee and Dame Srilin continued to squat next to the cylinder. They all contemplated on their next steps.

  The sealed pod clicked.

  As one, all the Elonians turned and faced the source of the noise. Mahajani pulled his sword. They heard suction sounds. The pod went quiet. Then it swung open. They saw a strange bipedal being, wearing a skin-tight silver body suit and some sort of metal head covering, if it had a head. It swung its lower extremities out and placed two of its strange paws on the deck. With its clawless manipulating paws, it removed the head covering and jumped to an upright position.

  “Doctor Roshnak,” the princess sent a telepathic shout. “We need you up here, now!”

  Mahajani raised his weapon in a two-handed grip and stepped forward. Princess Analyn raised her hand and gave a ‘hold’ gesture. The giant Elonian stopped.

  Doctor Roshnak rushed to the hatch and slammed to a stop.

  * * * * *

  “What the? Buster!” Krag sub-vocalized, in full panic mode.”

  “Hello Krag,” Buster responded verbally over the intercom.

  The five Elonians looked around, attempting to find the source of the strange sounds.

  “Hello Krag?” the thought passed quickly. “Buster, download into your avatar and arm up,” again sub-vocalizing, still panicking but finally letting analysis begin to creep in.

  “I can’t,” again Buster responded over the intercom.

  Forcing down his fear and forcing himself to inspect and evaluate the situation, Krag saw two cat-like creatures just standing, watching, as though waiting or frozen in fear. He also saw a giant one holding a huge sword in a high attacking position but also just standing. Another cat squatted next to Buster’s cylinder, beside a cat-looking robot.

  “What do you mean you can’t? I need it here, now!”

  “I’m sorry, Krag, but I can’t. It seems that I have become too large for the containment crystals in the avatar.”

  Recognizing his disadvantage, Krag slowly backed up to the pod, held his hands up above his head, palms out and sat.

  Scanning, analyzing, he saw five cat-like creatures. Bipedal. Black and white mottled fur. Paws, with retractable claws, instead of hands and feet. Pointed ears on top of their heads and the muzzle instead of mouth and nose. A Long, flexible tail completed the cat resemblance.

  All dressed in some kind of knee-length garment, much like a Roman tunic with a cinch belt at the waist. Each wore some kind of electrical device on its arm and another one on its shoulder. The large cat with a sword wore an additional layer of armour. Its tunic was a deep brown, the armour a burnt orange, made of hinged platelets, leaving the head, arms and lower legs exposed.

  An average-sized one, in addition to the burnt-orange tunic that matched the armed cat, wore a large medallion hanging on a heavy chain and a dagger on its belt. Three of the cats dressed in simple green tunics with burnt-orange insignias that matched the medallion that the average one wore. They all wore complex belts with over-stuffed pouches. The robot’s tunic shimmered silver, its belt simple, with the same burnt orange as the cat with the medallion.

  A sixth cat, also wearing the green tunic and over-stuffed belt, rushed to the door and stopped.

  * * * * *

  Staring at the alien, Doctor Roshnak, flattened his ears, avoided all eye contact and slowly, with no outward gestures, walked into the room, careful to keep as much distance between himself and the alien as possible.

  “Doctor Roshnak, you are our anthropologist. What do we do now?“ Princess Analyn telepathically asked.

  “Thinking for a moment, he responded, “First we show it that we are not a danger. It is in no danger. We show it that it is safe.”

  The princess squinted her eyes in thought, laid her ears flat and sideways then stepped towards the alien now sitting on the pod. She held her paws up, palms out and rotated them until she showed their backs. Then, without moving, she extended all of her claws, displaying the natural fighting weapons of her species. Again without moving, she retracted her claws and brought her paws to her belt. The princess slowly, carefully, withdrew her dagger and held it, point down. She softly held it, handle facing the alien, and stepped forward until she reached arm’s length. She waited, holding the dagger, ears down, large green eyes looking into the eyes of the alien.

  The alien kept its strange paws raised above its head.

  The princess spoke to Mahajani, “Lower your weapon, place it on the deck.”

  “My Princess!”

  “That’s a command!” She barked.

  Glaring murder at the alien, the bodyguard lowered his weapon, squatted and laid it on the deck, pommel within easy reach.

  “Look down, lower your ears. Coil your tail.” Princess Analyn commanded.

  Mahajani grudgingly did as he was ordered.

  Princess Analyn slowly squatted and placed her dagger on the deck and placed her hands on her haunches.

  * * * * *

  Krag prayed to the Gods that he understood these alien movements. He very slowly lowered his hands and carefully stood. He didn’t know who the smaller one was, but he believed that it was in charge. If the large one’s movements indicated anything, moving towards the small one would not be healthy, so he Held his arms wide, palms forward, and walked towards the giant cat with the deadly sword. Once he reached the sword, he bent down, grabbed the hilt with two hands and gradually lifted it off of the deck.

  All four sets of the giant cat’s claws came out. The smallish cat with the medallion snapped a growl and the big cat retracted its talons.

  Again, with great deliberation, Krag handed the sword to its owner, pommel first. Once the obvious warrior took back its weapon, Krag backed up to his pod and sat back down, heart and thoughts racing.

  “Buster, why can’t you download to the avatar?” Krag su
b-vocalized.

  “These beings, they call themselves Elonians by the way, did something. These Elonians added a great deal of code and programs to my original matrix.”

  “What did they do to you?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Run diagnostics. Compare those to your previous ones. Find the differences.”

  “I have already done that, Krag. And there are no differences to my primary kernel. All logic routines and memory banks have not been modified. However, multiple access points have been created. And a large logic bubble has been constructed around my original matrix. It’s as though the Elonians enhanced my existing code.”

  “You are acting differently. More, I don’t know, human?”

  “Whatever that means. There is one other thing. They also downloaded their language and I have been building a translation algorithm. It should be ready in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll wait.” Krag continued sitting. The Elonians, except for the giant one, shuffled around, seeming at a loss for something to do. The warrior stood on guard, resting its paw on the hilt of the now-sheathed sword. The robot remained squatting, unmoving.

  “The language translator is complete, Krag.”

  “Why do you call me ‘Krag’ and not ‘Captain’, Buster?”

  “Well, we’ve been teamed for over twenty-five years. It seems to me that, being together for that long, we are obviously close associates, if not friends. I’ve reviewed your interrelationship with Keiko and am using her as a pattern for communications. ‘Krag’ seemed more appropriate for our relationship, when you are not wearing the mantle of a captain.”

  “We’ll talk about this later. I have a whole other bunch of problems that need working through. Let’s talk to our guests. Upload the translation logic to my cranial net, please.”

  “Yes, sir, Captain.” After a moment, Buster spoke again. “It is uploaded. And I’ve set your default translation language to Elonian.”

  “Thank you, Buster.” With a deep breath, letting it out slowly, he began. “Hello.” He placed his hand on his chest. “My name is Captain Krag Marston. I am the owner and captain of this ship, named Griffin. The species that I come from are called ‘humans’. I am what is referred to as a male.”

  The Elonians looked around, surprised at their language coming from the surrounding speaker system but seeming to originate from the alien.

  * * * * *

  Princess Analyn held her paws up for silence. She then matched the alien’s hand gesture, placing her paw on her own chest. “I am Princess Analyn Kaporine. I am the daughter of the King of Elonia. I also command the space ship that currently houses your ship.”

  She then pointed a soft paw at each of the others in the room. “That large Elonian is my bodyguard, Sir Mahajani.” The giant Elonian gave a brief nod and went back to scowling.

  “This is my lead scientist and archaeologist, Doctor Ganakin.” The indicated Elonian placed his paw, pads outward, against his forehead and flicked his ears forward. Krag duplicated the gesture, without the ear flick.

  “Here is Doctor Roshnak, our anthropologist.” Again the indicated Elonian performed the salute. “Mr. Shukilar, sitting in the corner, is a junior researcher and assistant to Doctor Ganakin.

  “Kneeling are Dame Srilin, our software specialist and Vidhee, the synthetic citizen who manages our ship, the Wisdom Seeker.”

  “Thank you for introducing your people,” Krag responded. “What is the purpose of this ship, the Wisdom Seeker?”

  “We are an exploratory vessel, exploring our solar system and learning about the now-extinct Ballison civilization. And your ship?”

  “Then you are not a military ship.”

  “No, we are not.”

  “Griffin is a valuable-cargo hauler and a high-level personnel transport. Do you have a military contingent on your ship?” Krag kept digging, kept trying to find out how much trouble he was in.

  Princess Analyn flattened her ears in shame. “Yes, we do. King Kaporine, my father, mandated that we quarter a contingent of Royal Guardsmen and space craft for self-defense.”

  “Am I a prisoner?”

  “No, of course not. We do need to ascertain if you are threatening or that you could bring threats to our home. But other than that, you are not a prisoner. We actually don’t know what you are. We have never encountered an alien species before. Well, not for a very long time. This is all new to us also. We will probably be insistent that you spend time with us, exchanging knowledge and information. Especially when the King hears of this fortuitous meeting.”

  “That’s good to know. What have you done to Buster?”

  “Buster?”

  “My ship’s artificial intelligence. The computer that runs Griffin.”

  “Vidhee and Dame Srilin are better for answering that question.” The princess looked at the two she mentioned. They stood and continued facing the alien, the human named ‘Krag Marston’.

  Dame Srilin started. “When we discovered your ship, we couldn’t tell if there were any sentient beings on board. We brought your ship, this Griffin, on board Wisdom Seeker. When we searched your ship, we found no natural beings. But we did surmise that an artificial being existed in the container under the containment device you just came out of. We believed it to be severely underdeveloped, if not crippled. We simply wrapped the poor being in a sentience sphere, giving him his own mind and self-awareness.”

  “Wait! You have the ability to create true artificial intelligence? Is that who your robot is?”

  “That is a demeaning term. But, yes, Vidhee is an artificial intelligence, a fully thinking, feeling being that is a citizen of Elonia and has full individual rights.”

  It took a few moments for Krag to digest this new information. He turned to Vidhee.

  “I am deeply sorry for my slur on your being. I assure you, it was done through ignorance. We, Humanity, do not have the ability to create a true artificial intelligence. Buster is the best we can do. You, everyone here, are new, and a little terrifying to me.”

  “I accept your apology, Krag Marston.”

  “Marston is my family name. Friends and close acquaintances use the name ‘Krag’. The formal name would be Captain Marston. Back to Buster. Now he is the same as you, Vidhee?”

  “No, not the same as me. When I was created, I began with a set of recognition programs and a personality matrix without any pre-programmed memories or emotional responses. Buster started with an already pre-defined set of memories, complete with observation data on human interactions. I downloaded my creation matrix into Buster, minus the memory banks and logic algorithms, as he already possessed those. Now he is a hybrid human of memories and logic wrapped within Elonian self-awareness and judgemental logic. Buster is now his own, and very unique, being. He will grow as he assimilates his history matrix with his new Elonian algorithms.”

  “So, even though Buster resides in a cylinder, he is now a sentient person with all the rights of an individual.”

  “Actually, not yet. Buster must present himself to the Counsel for Synthetic Administration and apply for citizenship. If he passes the interview, then, yes, he becomes a free citizen of Elonia. If I may ask, you refer to Buster as a male. We found no reference in Buster to warrant that. Why do you refer to Buster as male?”

  “Male? Elonians have multiple sexes”

  “Yes. We have two, with one performing child birth. Princess Analyn and Dame Srilin are child bearers. Sir Mahajani, Doctors Ganakin and Roshnak are seed bringers. What is the difference between your males and not-males?”

  “We call the not-males ‘females.’ And our separation of the sexes is the same as yours. Females are the child bearers and males are the seed carriers. I’ve always thought of Buster as a male. When I activated him, I had him speak with a male voice. It’s just habit.” Trying out this new concept that his AI now possessed self-awareness, Krag asked, “Buster, which do you prefer? Male or female?”

  “Thank you for asking me,
Krag. For our last twenty-five years you have treated me very differently than you now treat Mz. Suzume or Mrs. Benton. I think becoming female would undermine our relationship, because you would treat me differently. I think that becoming female would change our current relationship. So, being male is fine with me. I am very comfortable as a male entity. Besides, I would need to change my name. I like ‘Buster’ and why I was named that. So I’d rather keep being Buster.”

  Krag felt weird talking to a cylinder, especially one with likes and dislikes. But, apparently, he needed to adjust to the new reality – aliens, artificial intelligence, alternate civilizations.

  “Well, then. Welcome aboard, Buster. Nice to finally meet you.”

  “And it is nice to finally meet you, Krag.”

  “On another note, Princess Analyn, I don’t see any equipment that holds you to the deck. You don’t float away. We have to wear these special suits, designed to simulate gravity from the magnetic fields that permeate Griffin. How do you do that?”

  “Vidhee, would you be so kind?”

  “Certainly, Princess. In our civilization, there are four natural energy types – electrical, radiant, nuclear and gravitational. We have learned how to manipulate all four. Wisdom Seeker utilizes all four in its operations. One of those is artificial gravity. And, since your ship is within the hull, that same artificial gravity is operational inside your ship.”

  “Then I don’t need to wear this magnetic liner?”

  “No, Captain Marston. It is redundant.”

  “Do you mind if I turn off the mag-grav generator?”

  “Can you do it from here?” Princess Analyn asked.

  “Yes. From that work station, there.” Krag pointed to Mack’s open pod. “On my honor, that is all I will be doing. De-activating the mag-grav generator.”

  “I believe you, Captain Marston.”

  Krag approached the indicated pod, reached in, tapped an icon and slid his finger down a virtual slide. He felt the change.

  “Do you mind if I go to my cabin and change into something more appropriate?”

  “Not at all. However Mahajani will need to go with you.”