Attunga

by Peter Wood

  The convoy was now much reduced in size with only seven pods and their attendants remaining of the original twenty. Sonic and Calen kept on the move all the time, travelling with one pod for a period then changing to another in a continuous cycle, while Wirrin and Thom stayed with Akama and his little companion.

  The last interconnect loomed and after a pause, the race was on again – well, not really a race, more like an expression of exuberance.

  Leading the skimmers, Wirrin stayed with Akama, Calen, and Thom through nearly 200 metres of access way, watching the dolphins ahead porpoise at speed till their home reach came into view. Sonic led the 116 dolphins to where Gulara, Burilda and three other rangers were waiting.

  Once again there was shared excitement, with the dolphins cavorting and leaping, and humans laughing and cheering. After several minutes everything quietened and the seven pod leaders, with Sonic, approached. Next to Akama, Turaku and Yajala shimmered into view to oversee the pods in their new home.

  ***

  ‘We’ve missed two lots of activity days and we’ll be away for the next two as well, so what are we going to do for this lot?’

  ‘I could take you to have a look at K74. That would be exciting.’

  ‘Are you crazy, Thom? What would we want to go there for?’

  ‘To have a look at the biggest space habitat in existence. And it would be exciting to see how close we could get.’

  Wirrin and Calen stared in disbelief, no doubt the reaction Thom had been looking for. ‘What’s the problem? If we take the Comet they won’t have a clue we’re there.’

  ‘Take the Comet, Thom? Now we know you’re crazy.’

  Wirrin agreed with Calen, but the idea of blithely waltzing off to K74 with the Comet for an activity day adventure was so ridiculous there had to be something going on. ‘What haven’t you told us?’

  ‘You’re too smart, Wirrin. They’ve given me a set of special navigation exercises to work through sometime and that’s one of them.’

  ‘It’s too dangerous. You should be doing it on a simulator like you always do.’

  ‘I’ve already done that three times, and it’s not dangerous in the Comet. They couldn’t hurt it even if they wanted to.’

  ‘And the Comet’s ready to go tomorrow?’

  ‘I haven’t arranged anything, but the Comet’s always ready.’

  It did sound rather exciting but Wirrin had another thought. ‘How long will it take?’

  ‘Both days. There’s quite a lot to do.’

  ‘Well let’s put it on hold, because in a couple of days we’ll be on the Comet for nearly three weeks with our two trips, so we don’t want to get sick of it.’

  Thom’s expression said that getting sick of the Comet was an alien thought, but he accepted a postponement with equanimity. ‘What will we do instead?’

  ‘Explore Warrakan,’ Calen said firmly. ‘It’s about time we got to know it better. We’ll be living there in another five weeks and we hardly know anything about it.’

  ‘Of course we do. We’re over there all the time.’

  ‘Only in the reaches with the dolphins and when you ferry me with Sonic. We’ve never travelled from one end to the other.’

  ‘Hey, you’re right. Life’s been too busy … What sort of exploring, Calen?’

  ‘Like we always do. Just get on TransCom and see where it takes us.’

  Wirrin thought back to the last time they’d done that and was shocked to realise how long ago it had been.

  The decision made, their ideas started to flow.

  ‘We can check for animal parks. I heard there’s a special Australian mammal centre with gliding possums.’

  ‘Yajala might take us into the AI levels. That would be special.’

  ‘There’s a control place for when Warrakan starts travelling.’

  This anticipation was part of the enjoyment, and three holo screens sprang to life to check out various possibilities.

  ***

  ‘When are we going again?’

  ‘Probably not for several months.’

  ‘Well, it’s your job to make sure we do. You came up with the idea the other day and it was a real eye-opener.’

  The trio was relaxing at home after their second day of exploring Warrakan.

  ‘We’ll have to make sure Sonic comes next time. I want him to see that whale museum.’

  ‘And the Alpha Centauri Planetarium. He’d love that.’

  ‘I’ll tell him everything in the morning.’ After two days without seeing Sonic, Calen was obviously disappointed that Sonic couldn’t turn up for his usual nightly visit.

  ‘Let’s find him now. Give him a surprise.’

  ‘In the dark? It’s rest-cycle time, Thom.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. We know he’s not resting. He’s with Burilda and Turaku, and it’s fun travelling the reach with our own lights.’

  ***

  ‘When did you discover this?’

  ‘Two days ago. I wasn’t going to interrupt your activity time.’

  ‘I don’t like it. What are they going to do with them?’ Wirrin had just found out that a group of thirty-seven dolphins would be arriving on K74. He was at his InfoStation and talking with Pirramar, the composite AI, before one of their search sessions.

  ‘Search it out for yourself, though I suggest back-dooring through the infrastructure control system. The normal way is compromised at the moment.’

  ‘How come? That’s never happened before.’

  ‘That information scientist has been building firewalls and physical lockouts round their surveillance processors, and there are places we can’t access anymore without setting off alarms.’

  Wirrin was shocked to hear this. With Pirramar and the K74 AI, he’d been watching with concern the activities of the ‘rogue scientist’, a name assigned by Thom one time when the trio had been talking about him.

  ‘He can block AIs?’

  ‘If there are no electronic pathways to a specific area we would have to send in mobile devices to access information and then recover them, and he’s very adept at setting up systems that can prevent that. The dolphin information is available, though, so have a try at that.’

  Pirramar had the same approach as Turaku, getting Wirrin to search things for himself, and though it was a nuisance, it almost invariably led to some new technique or understanding, and when it was specifically suggested like this there was always something they wanted him to learn.

  Today it involved linking directly to the K74 AI and accessing the infrastructure system with his assistance. This was a new and very interesting experience and after a concentrated session of over an hour he was confident he’d found all the relevant information.

  The dolphins were due to arrive in several weeks and would be housed at a number of aquariums while a reach was being built. Not a big reach, but the person in charge seemed to understand their basic needs. According to Pirramar they’d incorporated principles from the information stolen from Freedom and the design was a good one.

  The worrying part was the enhancement program which would start when the reach and an associated medical centre were finished and attempts would be made to bio-engineer any new baby dolphins. It was going to be a real problem, as the K74 level of understanding was comparatively weak, and information might have to be planted in their medical facility as a safeguard against any bad outcomes.

  ‘We’ll have to keep a close eye on this.’

  ‘We have it flagged, Wirrin. Turaku already has a priority on it. His other task for you today is a search of all the people at the K74 embassy, as well as looking for any wider effects the embassy might be generating. The Cadre is very annoyed that it’s not getting the results they were expecting, and even more angry that some of the staff have been making suggestions about introducing Attunga methods to K74.’

  The search session followed and at the end Wirrin was smiling because the embassy, which the Cadre had wanted, was backfiring. Akama would be pl
eased with that report.

  ‘What’s next?’

  ‘An overview of links and the influence K74 has with habitats throughout the solar system. After their setback on Earth they’re concentrating their efforts elsewhere, and particularly with one of the Mars polar habitats.’

  By the end of the day Wirrin had also made a study of possible ways to infiltrate the security on the surface of K74, designed a search task to work with the K74 AI in identifying areas of population unrest, and tried unsuccessfully to get into one of the rogue scientist’s protected areas.

  ***

  ‘My brain’s gone dizzy. I had to think harder today with Pirramar than any time I can remember.’

  ‘Is that all? I spent half a day practising the guidance controls on Comet Two and the next half flying it to Freedom and back.’

  ‘No you didn’t, Thom. It’s too far.’

  ‘I did. On the simulator. It leaves out all the nothing parts and make you practise the action bits.’

  Calen was shaking his head. ‘You’re a pair of wimps. All you did was sit and think. I had to do that while I swam about 20 kilometres with Sonic, working with all the dolphins who are going to Freedom.’

  ‘Swimming doesn’t count. It’s easy for you because you’ve turned into a fish.’

  The fish insult, usually directed at Sonic, worked quite effectively with Calen as well, and Thom, quickly restrained on the grav-sofa, was laughing and protesting that he’d just proved his point.

  ‘What point?’

  ‘I’m too exhausted to beat you like I normally would and you’ve got tons of energy because swimming 20 kilometres is easy for a fish.’

  ‘Emu brain! You haven’t beaten me ever since you made the protein structure.’

  ‘I know, I put fish muscle into it and forgot to tell you. Come on, Wirrin, show him how brains can always beat brawn.’

  Thom’s logic mightn’t hold up but acting on it was fun.

  ***

  The trip to Freedom went smoothly and four hundred dolphins were delivered to the brand new reach system, which had been developing ever since the rescue at Monkey Mia. Nothing like the long reaches on Warrakan and the Uranus moons, it consisted of eight shorter reaches that linked into the system catering for the existing three dolphin pods.

  Thom felt pleased to be in sole control of the Comet for both legs of the journey.

  Calen and Sonic worked non-stop on the outward journey then relaxed for the return, while Wirrin devoted most of his time on the InfoSystem to finding out about Freedom.

  ***

  It took three busy days back on Attunga and Warrakan readying over two thousand dolphins for the long journey to the Uranus moons and the trio and Sonic, who, of course, was needed as a steadying influence on the trip, were growing increasingly excited.

  Two and a half days was significantly longer to be confined in the Comet’s travelling pools than the twenty-nine hour journey from Earth, and a lot of preparation and training had been involved in preparing the dolphins. There had been no real concerns because these dolphins knew that they were finally moving to a place with abundant fish and space and were all eager to get moving. They were also so used to responding to Sonic’s games that the new one of using a transport module made the transfer to the Comet effortless.

  Wirrin, in the command centre, watched the outside display as transports and ferries arrived and departed for Warrakan, then grinned when Thom looked over and made a little hand signal. He had just set the Comet in motion and the outer wall of Attunga started receding.

  Wirrin had done a great deal of research on the journey and the five moons but data and imagery were very much a second-class substitute for the real thing, and his sense of mystery and adventure gave him a tingle of anticipation at the moment of departure.

  The sense of rapidly increasing speed only lasted a few minutes while Attunga, and then Warrakan, diminished on the display screens, then, despite the obverse fact that this was the stage where the full acceleration of the powerful engines surged by a factor of nearly five times, everything settled to a deceptive sense of motionlessness.

  Wirrin moved close to Thom but he was concentrating so much there’d be no talking. Where was Calen? A glance at a screen showed him underwater with Sonic and a group of dolphins. Well, he’d be busy for ages, too, probably till the dolphins went into their next sleep state.

  ‘When do you want to start your workouts, Wirrin?’

  ‘What workouts, Turaku?’

  ‘Pirramar and I have designed a set of challenges and we’ve been speculating as to how many you’ll manage to complete by the time we return.’

  So this was the AI’s plan for using his time. Wirrin laughed. ‘You’re the same as Attunga-Turaku, working me like a slave.’

  Comet-Turaku nodded his agreement. ‘Akama has made me your overseer for the duration and it’s the best way to keep you out of mischief. But I’m not the same. I’m currently half of one second ahead of Attunga-Turaku where you’re concerned.’

  He was referring to the time-lag for communications between the Comet and Attunga.

  ‘How many of these challenges am I meant to be doing?’

  ‘I’m expecting between sixty and seventy. Pirramar is more optimistic and estimates something over eighty.’

  ‘Eighty? If they’re like the ones I normally do with Pirramar that’s impossible. On the longest day I ever had with him I could only manage six projects.’

  ‘Those projects were all major. Many of these new challenges won’t involve nearly as much time. For example, your first is to develop three alternate courses for taking the Comet to Titania. You should be able to do that in less than half an hour.’

  Wirrin didn’t start straight away. First of all he spent some time with Calen and Sonic, then Thom, but when he did get going he was pleased to finish his first task in nineteen minutes.

  ***

  The trio entered the Titania TransCom portal and Calen fussed at Wirrin.

  ‘Wirrin, don’t you dare go near that InfoSystem till the Comet heads back to Attunga. We hardly saw you the whole way here.’

  ‘Look who’s talking. You were either in the travelling pools with Sonic or you were sound asleep.’

  ‘I didn’t have any choice. The dolphins got too excited.’

  Calen was right. Wirrin had become completely absorbed with the challenges, and, having managed thirty-nine successfully and been stumped by three, he was aiming to get through at least another forty on the return trip.

  ‘I promise, except for collecting all the pico-techniques that relate to dolphin health and building an optimisation task that inserts the best ones into the dolphin healthbots.’

  Thom and Calen both gawked at him.

  ‘You can do something like that? You’re not a health scientist or a pico-engineer.’

  ‘I don’t have to be. I just search for programs that know what to do, then make comparisons to see which ones give the best results then organise them into a task.’

  Thom started tapping his head to indicate Wirrin’s brain must be weird and Calen nodded vigorously.

  ‘I love the way you said “just”, as if upgrading every dolphin healthbot on five moons is easy.’

  ‘It’s not exactly easy, Thom. The searching part is, but putting it all together takes a lot of thinking.’

  ‘Sounds like something the AIs do. Is this what all these challenges have taught you?’

  Wirrin cast his mind over the different types of challenges and the processes he’d had to develop and practise to solve them.

  ‘Wombats! You’re right, Calen. I couldn’t have done this before we left. They’ve pushed a whole stack of new ideas and techniques into me.’

  ‘They? You mean Turaku don’t you?’

  ‘Turaku and Pirramar. Turaku says Pirramar worked it out with Akama before we left.’

  ‘Are you going to disappear on us for hours when you do this healthbot thing? Seeing things is better when we’re all
together, and Sonic will want you there too.’

  ‘I’m not going to miss out on anything. The task will take … um … maybe two or three hours. I’ll fit it in, Calen.’

  ‘As long as it’s not now. Sonic’s waiting.’

  It was interesting travelling on the Titania version of TransCom and in a very short time Sonic was out of his transport module and bumping against their legs as they dangled in the water from a landing stage while the trio stared out across the great stretch of water.

  Way off in the distance a solitary skimmer was just visible, but otherwise it was a bare expanse with the usual structural girders reaching from the water to the ceiling at regular intervals.

  ‘Where are the dolphins? I can’t see a single one.’

  ‘They are all feeding and exploring, Thom. The closest pod is with the skimmer.’

  Wirrin had another look at the skimmer and it took him a moment to figure out what was going on.

  ‘What’s he doing? His skimmer base has gone under the water.’

  It certainly looked that way.

  ‘No it hasn’t. It’s the curvature of Titania. They built the reach to match instead of keeping it flat like at home, and he’s far enough away to be round the curve.’

  ‘Wow! He is too. That’s really interesting. I always think of water as being flat.’

  ‘No you don’t. What about the zero-G swimming pools?’

  Thom realised that grav-fields were the controlling agent here too and shook his head at Wirrin.

  ‘Stop being a brainiac. Let’s go. We’ve only got three days to do everything.’

  And go they did, for several hours, sometimes zooming at high speed, with Sonic in his special support cradle at the rear of Calen’s skimmer, sometimes cruising with Sonic swimming and chasing schools of fish across seagrass fields, and sometimes joining Sonic underwater to explore a reef or some other marine feature.

  Three times Sonic changed direction for an excited exchange with dolphin pods, and all the while Wirrin’s sense of the size of this reach was growing.