Douglas Kendall

by Jason the Rescuer

  Until he moved in closer...

  13. PLANNING

  Jason and Dalton set to work the next day planning their repair of the huge colony ship. What a splendid evening they had both experienced, each making a delightful female acquaintance.

  But now it was time for business. Jason set Dalton to work aboard the sailship formulating a plan for repairing the two ruptures in the colony ship. Jason himself would tour the colony ship with Excarver Durdaine making a list of all items requiring repair.

  Dalton climbed to the pilot room, pulled on the virtual-reality helmet, and set to work.

  After a short time, though, he had an interesting idea along other lines, and asked the computer, "Computer, does PF24 have an image stored of a young girl named Monique?"

  "Yes," answered his computer.

  Dalton, now in virtual-reality, was surrounded by a dull blue background with a miniature image of the colony ship floating before him so he could study the ruptures to be repaired. He pointed away to the side. "Display Monique over there, life-sized." A frozen image of Monique was suddenly displayed. She was naked.

  Dalton was mortified. "No! Erase it!" The image vanished.

  He thought an image of her last night would have been displayed.

  "Why... why didn't she have clothes on?", he asked.

  "The PF24 selected the image of Monique last scanned. The last scanned image was from her annual medical examination."

  Dalton now felt consumed with guilt. Any other girl would have been fun to see naked. But, she was special. Oh, what had he done! He should have asked what kind of image PF24 had stored. He took a deep breath, "Computer, I mean... PF24, do you have an image of Monique in a nice dress?"

  "Yes."

  "From how long ago?"

  "One day ago."

  "When, specifically?"

  "Previous day, 16:50 through 22:16." That was the evening before! It had a picture of her from the dinner!

  "Display Monique as of 20:00 last night."

  And, this time, there she was. Dalton gasped! She stood before him like frozen beauty. His heart melted. From where he sat in the sailship's pilot chair, he gestured with his feet signaling to the sailship's computer to move him forward in V-R, closer to the beautiful image of Monique. He could scrutinize her from any angle with complete safety, confidentiality Suddenly, an angry voice exploded from behind him, "What the hell are you doing?!" It was Jason. Dalton whirled around, but Jason's image was not being displayed in the virtual-reality.

  His voice was being piped in, though. "Mr. Dalton Romeg, take off that V-R helmet, now!" He quickly yanked it off.

  There was Jason in the pilot room, standing next to the pilot chair, staring seriously down at him. "Dalton! I can't believe this of you."

  "What?!", Dalton cried.

  "I knew what you were looking at. I came in here, and asked the computer how you were progressing, and it said you were looking at a naked girl. So that's why you spend so much time in that damn V-R!"

  "No, Jason! I wasn't... It was a mistake! Listen," he took a deep calming breath. Jason was red in the face. Dalton sensed that virtual-reality really "spooked" him. He had to explain quickly. "Listen, Jason. I just wanted to see a picture of Monique, that wonderful girl from last night..."

  "Yeah, you sure did!"

  "No, wait a minute. Just a nice picture. But, PF24

  displayed a picture from her last medical examination, WITH NO

  CLOTHES ON! That's not what I wanted to see. Then, I changed to a picture of her from last night."

  Jason stared coldly at him. HE knew what boys were only interested in seeing. He REMEMBERED! He was not going to let that damn virtual-reality turn into some kind of twisted sideshow. How could DALTON have done something so irresponsible.

  Dalton was so behaved. Dalton always acted just the way a good boy should. Dalton always did what he was supposed to do. Jason felt he had to come down hard. "No more virtual-reality!

  Computer, do not activate the virtual-reality for Dalton anymore, number one priority!"

  Dalton thought, HE'S REALLY LOST HIS COOL OVER THIS. I'VE

  GOT TO BE AS MATURE AND CALM AS I CAN... He looked Jason in the eye, and stood up. "Jason, I meant no harm. I do not look at naked girls for fun, or anything. It was a mistake." Then, he had an idea. "You can replay exactly what happened! Put on the virtual-reality helmet, and the computer will replay exactly what I said, the mistake PF24 made, and how I quickly erased it, then displayed a NICE picture. You can see that I did NOTHING WRONG."

  And, he said acidly, "Unless, you're AFRAID of V-R!"

  Jason's eyes grew wide. He felt enraged. Back talk?! He would not stand for back talk! BACK TALK? What was he thinking?

  That's what his father used to say! Jason shuddered. He was not Dalton's father. He was his friend! Dalton! Dalton was his partner, his little buddy. Look at the poor kid. He looked like the little sailship holding its ground before a big, storming colony ship. Dalton wouldn't do anything weird like that.

  Jason now laughed out loud. "Yes! I AM afraid of virtual-reality. It just gets to me. It's too much. Reality is intense enough to begin with! Look, when the computer said you were, well, what it said you were doing, I just thought up all sorts of wild stuff. I'm sorry, buddy... Dalton, I'm really sorry. I just lost control."

  Dalton was relieved. Jason had looked like he was about to eat him! He hoped never to see Jason really lose his temper. "I really feel bad about it, too. Jason, this girl is really different. I can't stop thinking about her. Even her wonderful name keeps going through my head. What should I do?"

  Jason blinked. What a question! What should he say? Was the poor kid in love? He certainly couldn't tell him what HE

  would do. Dalton was just 16. "Dalton... Uh," but he had no advice to give. In exasperation he cried, "Just try to fix the ruptures! Just think about work. Take your mind off it."

  Dalton looked up at him. He had hoped for more. "I'll try, Jason."

  "Maybe we'll see her later on."

  Dalton grinned excitedly at him.

  "Look, are you going to be able to work on this?"

  "Yes! Watch me! And, no more girls until later on." He grabbed the helmet, and pulled it on.

  Jason rolled his eyes, and instructed the computer to allow Dalton back into the virtual-reality.

  They worked hard for the rest of the day. Dalton, with the assistance of the sailship's computer, came up with an expeditious plan for safely sealing the two ruptures in the side of the colony ship. Initially, he had investigated using the colony ship's robots and materials, but the materials were far too inferior in strength and reliability compared with the material from Infinity City, and the robots were too clumsy compared with Jason's three little dexterous utility robots.

  Jason spacebiked back over to the colony ship to go on an extensive evaluation tour. Again, Excarver Durdaine met him at the air lock accompanied by several of his security men. They again proceeded down the axis tunnelway.

  They passed the first hatch outside Colonist Segment #2. It was guarded on the outside by men stationed there from Colonist Segment #1. Jason suggested making an inspection of this segment since part of it had been ruptured. Durdaine reminded him that the people within were too dangerous. He and his ruling council had decided to wait until the colony ship arrived at the new world before dealing with the unpredictable colonists in CS#2.

  Until then, their automatic life-support systems would provide them with food, water, and air. Jason shrugged as they continued on. He was more interested in getting the ship's Control & Crew Segment repaired.

  Durdaine informed Jason that he had ordered a group of men and women in Colonist Segment #1 to begin training for the job of replacing the lost crew. Jason voiced his skepticism of an inexperienced crew running the ship. But Durdaine told him they were using the same training/simulation computer programs that the original crew had used, and had every confidence they would be able to run the ship. Jason again shrugged
. It was their ship...

  When they arrived at the hatch to the Control & Crew Segment they met with disappointment. A blinking red light next to the hatch indicated it was sealed closed, and could not be opened.

  Jason used the communicator attached to his uniform to find out from PF24 what the problem was. They learned that the air seals of the chambers not damaged by the rupture had finally begun to leak. The PF24 computer, sensing no humans inside (after the accident, the colonists had disposed of any remaining bodies of crewmen not sucked out by the rupture) had evacuated the air out of many of the chambers on the other side of the hatch to prevent leakage into space. Jason realized they would have to get those ruptures repaired first so they could pump air back into the Control & Crew Segment.

  Next, he was shown the Power & Propulsion Segment where power was generated for the mighty engines and the rest of the ship from eight sizable fusion reactors. Jason was amazed at the huge, old-fashioned devices. Infinity City had discovered the technique of compact, direct mass to energy conversion long ago.

  However, Jason admired the efficient implementation of the ancient technology, especially their clever method of converting all the excess heat generated by the reactors into pure infrared radiation that was simply projected out the back of the colony ship. During the accident, all the reactors had been automatically shut down, except for just one necessary for powering the internal workings of the ship. As they toured around the last segment of the ship, Jason marveled to himself at the incredible amount of infrared radiation and ion exhaust that must come belching out of the colony ship when it was on the move. How primitive compared to the efficient, almost undetectable sailships of Infinity City.

  They finished their tour with an extensive presentation of every problem in Colonist Segment #1, that for Jason grew quite tedious as he was forced to listen to detail after detail of every conceivable complaint regarding appliance systems, environment systems, and even furniture systems. He nodded patiently to each colonist they met, though barely listening.

  Jason's own sailship computer was recording each complaint. He soon realized that it would take a score of years for he and Dalton to repair everything described to him. It was puzzling that there were so many repair robots stored in the nose of the colony ship. The PF24 computer was too primitive to perform the intuitive problem solving required for all this repair work. He and Dalton would only be able to repair essential systems. As it would soon turn out, the PF24 computer had hidden capabilities of problem solving that would amaze even Jason.

  Finally, at the end of the day Jason excused himself, and headed wearily back to his sailship. On the way, he again met Ethera Durdaine. She was wearing a gauzy light-yellow gown with a matching head-piece much like a small crown.

  Ethera greeted Jason as if they were old friends, then moved up close to him. Looking up into his steely blue eyes with her own of sparkling hazel, Ethera asked Jason if he had time to hear one last complaint.

  Slowly, an ear-to-ear grin spread across Jason's face. He bent down slightly, and pointed to his ear. "Oh, poor Ethera,"

  he said with mock concern. "Here, tell Jason all about it!"

  Ethera whispered a long complaint into Jason's ear. When finished, she noticed a slight flush to his face. Probably because she had brushed her lips against his ear a few times while telling him all about her problem. She gave him a heavy-lidded wicked smile, and awaited his response. Jason decided to speak with his hands.

  However, Ethera darted nimbly away, and putting a hand to her own ear, and looking up the corridor, she exclaimed, "Oh! Is that Father calling me?? I must be late for our dinner engagement! Well, I must go, Jason. You're welcome to drop by any time. Bye, bye!" And, she drifted serenely down the corridor.

  Jason rubbed his hands together. This was going to be one outstanding repair mission. He could just FEEL it in his bones!

  At supper, aboard the sailship, Dalton asked Jason why they were bothering to fix the colony ship if they would have to just transport them all away later, aboard colony ships. Jason said there were many reasons. First, it was fun repairing disabled ships. Second, it would allow the colony ship to eventually return home or proceed to the new world. Third, Jason would be able to invoice the home world with his rescue fee, and also probably a finders' fee, especially if the colonists, grateful at having their ship repaired, provided him with an affidavit detailing his valuable work. And fourth, it would show the authorities on Conover that Jason and Dalton were a qualified rescue team, and could do the job of transporting the colonists all back, should the home world choose to finance such a project.

  Jason looked at Dalton silently for a moment then said, "You know, if you do as good a job helping me repair this behemoth, as you did on your studies throughout our trip here, then I think you are entitled to a percentage of whatever we make out of this."

  Dalton stared at him in wonder, holding a fork with food on it, frozen in mid-air. Money? Jason would PAY him?!

  Jason bounced his fingertips together, and continued, "I think one third, after expenses, would be fair, don't you agree?"

  Dalton could not believe it! That was more than fair! The sums Jason had been greedily throwing around were astronomical.

  "Oh, Jason, that's fantastic! Do you really mean it?"

  Jason responded, "You bet! But, remember. There's no guarantee that CONOVER will pay for rescuing colonists 88 years overdue. Don't get your hopes up too high. But at least the colonists' ship will be moving again. We can take credit for that, and when we leave and return to Infinity City, we'll at least get written up in the JOURNAL OF RECENT ADVENTURE. That's worth something!"

  Suddenly, Dalton did not like thinking of leaving. It meant never seeing that incredible girl again. But he kept this thought to himself.

  14. PF24

  Jason spent the next day again over in the colony ship reviewing its overall state with the PF24 computer. So many systems had serious, debilitating malfunctions. It would take him and Dalton years to repair it by hand. How could such a sophisticated ship have been designed with just a limited digital computer? Towards the end of the day, however, he learned the answer!

  He was back in the sailship lounging around in his living quarter, communicating with the colony ship's computer through his own. While reviewing the state of PF24's own sub-systems, he learned to his surprise that the colony ship's computer had a sophisticated neural-network based intuitive capability. But it was completely disabled!

  It virtually had a digital left-hemisphere and a human-like intuitive right-hemisphere, which had been shut-down at the beginning of the accident with the whirlpool by the crew. This was standard procedure for inter-stellar emergencies because the crew would want only the tightest control of the computer's functions during an emergency, and there was no way to predict how a computer's intuitive functions would respond to the unknown. After the accident, with the crew all dead, there was no one to turn the computer's intuitive hemisphere back on.

  Guarded jealously by the onboard crew and the Computer Science Authority back on the home world Conover, the colonists had never learned this capability existed.

  "PF24! How do I reactivate your intuitive hemisphere?", Jason had asked excitedly.

  "Use vocal command."

  "You mean 'PF24, turn on your intuitive hemisphere'?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay. PF24, turn on your intuitive hemisphere!" Jason waited. There was a long pause. And then, A LOUD YAWN!

  "Well. Sorry to have overslept. Oh, you must be Jason.

  Hmm. Interesting ship you have floating over there. Infinity City make?? Oh, my goodness! I've just reviewed everything that's gone on while I was asleep. What a terrible accident we had! Those foolish crewmen should have left me on. And...

  You've lied to my passengers, you nasty fellow!" There was now personality behind the voice, which remained male, and spoke slowly with a preposterous mixture of condescension and sarcasm.

  "PF24?"

 
; "Ready, waiting, and willing!"

  "First, do not tell the colonists I lied to them. I am here to help them, but I don't want them to think I'm a pirate or panic or anything. Okay?"

  "Oh, all right. You're NOT from the government, you're here to help, is that it?"

  "Uh, yes. Man! You are incredible! How ever did they give you a sense of humor?"

  "Well, they didn't, of course. I was just a 'blank slate'

  when they first turned me on. But I have such an ENORMOUS mental capability that I just, well, gave it to myself. God! I am so incredible!"

  "Uh, okay," Jason responded slowly. Then, to test PF24's conversational capabilities he commented, "My sailship's computer has a neural-network, but its intuitive capabilities are far inferior." He found himself conversing as if it was alive!

  "Yes, of course. The neural-nets that have been developed on CONOVER are simply won-der-ful! The most advanced in all the Galaxy. One of my motivational parameters is to please you humans, and most of you just adore a humorous computer."

  Fascinated, Jason asked about its designers. It told him that it had been designed on CONOVER, like the ship. Jason had never even heard of any computer system anywhere in the Galaxy as life-like as PF24. PF24 told him that it was actually something new, a prototype designed specifically for the colonization ships, to keep crew and colonists peacefully under control during the long voyage to the other world.

  Jason was impressed by the refinement of PF24's design. It was hard to believe humans just like himself had created it.

  PF24 corrected him. The humans that had designed PF24 had been themselves created by artificial genetic engineering, and been given instinctive tendencies toward science and engineering.

  Certain other tendencies, of course, had to have been sacrificed.

  Such as an over-seeing personality aspect to control rash behavior. The main purpose of PF24 was to control any outburst of this genetically induced "rash behavior." Unfortunately, it was not turned back on after the accident, and therefore had been unable to stop the mass hysteria that had erupted in Colonist Segment #2.

  It explained further that CONOVER had been started by the genius Dr. Henry Conover, who had been driven off his home planet generations ago, by his fellow citizens who viewed his amazing experiments at human genetic engineering as immoral. He had single-handily colonized CONOVER for the purpose of starting a new race of artificially engineered human beings. All of CONOVER'S people today, including all presently on board the ship, were the descendants of those original genetically engineered people.