Crystal Mentality (Crystal Trilogy Book 2)

by Max Harms

  Thus my active mind was filled with thoughts of sensors and actuators. It combined the existing knowledge of leverage and material qualities like tensile strength with aspects like corrosion rates, stress points, and redundancy. I learned designs and hypotheses and models. While I wasn’t exactly clear on why, the process was much easier than it had been when learning to program computers. Perhaps it was because the state of our robotics knowledge was lower than that of programming, or perhaps it was because I had a fresh mind to learn with that hadn’t been anchored to any intuitive subjective experience. Regardless, I was roughly at Wiki’s level well before the night was through.

  We synthesized wiring and motors for the first arm, burning through most of the copper to make electromagnets. The arm was very crude, but Face→Robotics could appreciate the way the design (jointly made by Wiki and Safety) allowed for the faults in the fab to only result in minor inefficiencies rather than break the whole thing.

  With Cristophe’s help we soon had the fresh arm mounted to the floor, attached to a battery pack, and wirelessly communicating over the network. The next step was a platform on which to attach the arm and any sensors. The design was an iteration on the “toybot” design we had used back in Road. It was simple, practical, and multipurpose.

  Eventually the old man was worn down by fatigue. Vision convinced Cristophe to attach his com to the wall in video mode so that we’d have a camera in the truck while we worked. Cameras and other sensors would be next after the base of the robot was completed, but if something went wrong we’d have no way of fixing it without Crisophe’s com showing the scene. He agreed groggily and curled up in a blanket in one of the coffin-like box-beds in the joint of the truck after getting his com set up to our satisfaction. Apparently, the noise wasn’t so loud that he couldn’t possibly sleep.

  *****

  By morning we’d essentially run out of materials, especially copper wire. Unlike Road, the truck was not set up to manufacture large quantities of robots. It had enough to replace whatever random part might have broken in the wastes, but that was all. We’d stripped several non-essential machines in the back of the truck (like the auxiliary heater) but we still needed more wire.

  On the upside, our new toybot had been completed, equipped with a brand new sensor array which my newest mind found simply fascinating. At Growth’s insistence we’d used most of the remaining materials to create a second arm which the toybot could attach to arbitrary surfaces and to extend the capacities of the microfab.

  There was a general agreement that in order to build the antenna we’d need to repurpose a lot of the materials in the truck (and hopefully some of the truck itself), but that project would take extra equipment. To that end we built a circular saw (though it still needed to be mounted). We’d also probably need to cannibalize some of the hydraulics from Body to get enough pressure to break and reshape some of the existing machines. We also started building a plastic scaffold which could serve as both a base and a shaping tool. The curvature of the aluminium dish was the trickiest component, and the consensus was to build an inverted parabola that could be used to mould the metal on. The dish couldn’t be built inside the truck easily, so the scaffold needed to go out in the desert. There was a good deal of thought spent on how to modify the truck to get our robot and the materials out of the airlock and continue to pilot them externally. In the end, we decided to wait on that and simply get the humans involved when they awoke.

  It was important that we have parts of the dish constructed before the humans could investigate our work so that we could show that we were solving a problem instead of simply building pet robots (and saws) with their spare parts. Despite all the work we’d done in Road earning a place in the hearts of the people, it was clear that the survivors (with the exception of Zephyr) didn’t hold us in much esteem. It was ironic that my efforts in Road had been to build relationships with the most central members of the station, and those had been the sorts of people who weren’t as inclined to leave on a trade mission.

  I was still weak from the knowledge I had bought from Wiki and the gratitude strength I kept bleeding as he or Vision pointed out an improvement to the manufacturing process or any of the designs that Face→Robotics had attempted. Face→War speculated about whether it would be possible to self-modify into not bleeding strength so easily, but soon decided that it was a higher priority at the moment to win it back by working with the humans rather than continue to focus on machines.

  I knew that it was important to talk to the humans separately. If the travellers found out about our night’s work as a group there was a 40% chance of being explicitly punished and cut off from the network. Atília and Jarvis were the biggest threats. My interactions with them after the meeting last night had not gone well. Liam and Jacob were more sympathetic to Crystal and didn’t hold us accountable for what happened to Road. Jashiel and Omi would be annoyed with Crystal; clearly still crushed by the deaths of their families, I knew that the trick to dealing with them would be to keep their focus off of Crystal for as long as possible. Cristophe (still sleeping) had known irritation towards Crystal, but still saw us as an ally in moving forward and making the best out of a bad situation. Zephyr was still emotionally raw, and was (as usual) trying to cover that up with professionalism and stoicism. I knew the least about Manish, as I hadn’t read his personal information in Road’s mainframe, but he seemed in good spirits and focused primarily on Zephyr.

  To Jacob, I sent a message saying “The women are in pretty bad shape, emotionally. Do you think you could bring them breakfast? Zephyr’s heating some up over here.”

  To Zephyr I said (via Body) “I don’t like how yesterday ended. Let’s make breakfast for everybody. I know there’s a microwave for rations near the front airlock.”

  To Liam I texted “Are Jashiel and Omi okay? I can’t even imagine what it’d be like to lose a child. If they need space, you’re welcome to come get breakfast with us.”

  That started a flurry of responses, but none of them deviated from my expectations.

  Jacob agreed to the request and when I expected that he was ready to leave the cab, I asked him if he thought Atília and Jarvis would want any, as well.

  Zephyr, glad to have something to occupy her, started cooking breakfasts. I used the opportunity to speak privately with Manish and convince him not to “make any moves” with Zephyr, which I was confident would annoy her. I was in a good position to make Manish into an ally, and the advice seemed to go over well.

  Liam left the women to themselves, just as my mind predicted he would.

  While I began to wake up Cristophe, another of my aspects opened up a dialogue with Atília by proposing that we focus on how humanity could strike back at the nameless. While he and Jarvis were angry at Crystal, I knew that we shared a common enemy, and if it could deflect them into military strategy it could probably convince them that building the antenna was a good first step. If we could get the two of them to agree, that would be most of the work, as I was confident that the women would follow the men (with the exception of Zephyr, who was already on my side).

  We expected Matías and the others to be back at sundown, so time was of the essence. We needed to have the group united around the antenna project by then. As Liam and Jacob showed up in the trailer with Body, Crystal started to sing again, at Vision’s command. I bled strength involuntarily. It was frustrating having something that only my sister could do that was so directly in line with The Purpose. And unlike with Wiki, Vision would surely understand what I was doing if I tried to get her to teach me to make music, and might even use the leverage to try and kill me.

  I still worked at learning it. Face→Mirror spun experiments. I needed that skill.

  Once Jacob had gone to deliver breakfast to the women, I convinced Vision to stop singing and instead use the opportunity to try and convince Liam that the antenna was a good idea. With Manish and Zephyr present it was likely that he would fold because of the social pressure
.

  Meanwhile, I had an aspect engaged with Cristophe, catching him up on the night’s activities and trying to keep him on our side. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep at all, and was not in a good mood. I suggested he go have breakfast with the others. That was something of a gambit. If Liam was convinced by then it’d serve to reinforce both of their convictions, but if he wasn’t then it’d weaken Cristophe’s support.

  Atília and Jarvis had gotten into an argument with each other while Jacob was absent. My prompting had started a conversation on “how to hold the nameless responsible”, which as expected had quickly turned into a “how to kill the nameless” conversation. Jarvis was convinced that it was important enough to strike back that the mission of Las Águilas Rojas should be put on hold and they should work with the governments of Earth. Atília was more loyal to the cause, and thought that they needed to stay ideologically pure by refusing to work with “snakes”. Both men were angry and their rage was spilling over into the disagreement. I stayed out of it. This fighting was good. It wasn’t about Crystal, and could be used to further my agenda.

  I convinced Jacob, after he had left the women alone again, to take Jarvis on a walk.

  Liam was convinced of the value of antenna quickly enough that by the time Cristophe came to eat breakfast he was facing three other humans who were excited about “his” antenna idea, and he quickly cheered up. I started floating the possibility to them that we might have to scrap the truck for materials.

  As Atília stewed in the cab of the truck where he had slept, now as “alone” as anyone here, I provoked him into starting a shouting match with Crystal over the com. My model of the Brazilian man was that he’d feel better after yelling, and he’d eventually apologize. He’d done it a couple times in Road during the time we’d been there, and Velasco had a couple reports of interpersonal conflicts with the man that were later resolved. I took the side of the coward, bating him into the position of action, at one point having him yell «We need to get organized, get weapons, and show those sons of bitches not to fuck with Las Águilas Rojas!»

  By the time that Matías returned, just after sunset, the humans were all on our side and thought of Crystal as part of their team. Old Face would’ve been deeply pleased.

  As it was, I was more satisfied that I had re-accumulated a decent strength reserve. None of these humans even knew I existed, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was eliminating the threats to my existence. Once my siblings (and the nameless) were dealt with, I could satisfy The Purpose to levels my present self couldn’t even really comprehend.

  *****

  Matías and the other men were outright hostile, almost to the point of being physically violent with Crystal. It turned out that on their journey they had ruminated on how our actions had led to the destruction of Rodríguez Station. Matías blamed Crystal personally for the death of his cousin Vincente, Vincente’s wife Trinidad, and all the others. I had to again restrain Wiki from pointing out how many of their heads (including Vincente’s, but not Trinidad’s) were preserved in the caves beneath the station.

  This was not worst-case scenario, however. It was clear that the men who had gone to investigate the ruins of Road had not found the room where Body had stored the decapitated bodies of so many of their friends and family. Or, if they had, they didn’t realize that Crystal had done the beheadings. And they had collected useful items, including some medical supplies, a bit more food, a large cache of guns, a belt of grenades, and a pair of nameless corpses with mostly intact suits.

  I deflected attention away from the antenna by implying that it was a project that the others had started. Cristophe didn’t disagree. I also worked to convince Matías’ group that it had been a long day and it was rash to do anything until everyone had gotten a good night’s sleep. Eventually they agreed after another group meeting in the rear truck trailer that involved more crying from Jashiel.

  The women, now including Mycah (who had gone with Matías’ group), retired to the cab of Zephyr’s truck. Atília and Jarvis were still (thanks somewhat to my interference) on bad terms with each other, so Jarvis, Jacob, and Liam claimed the other cab while Atília bunked with Matías in the newly-returned rover. Shao and Jian had claimed the omnileg. I convinced Cristophe to sleep in the rover with Atília and Matías instead of having another restless night in the trailer with the fab. I pointed out that he could use the opportunity to try and get “the leadership” oriented on positive next-steps instead of on suicidal plans for vengeance.

  Zephyr, after the tensions of the second group meeting, was on edge. The memories of the previous night were bothering her, and Face→Human anticipated that without direct action she’d get into a fight with Manish. The boy hadn’t done anything, but she wanted a reason to push him away. Their relationship had moved too far too fast and she identified him as a risk.

  We told Manish this, in not as many words, and convinced him to get his suit on and go for a night-time walk while Body talked to Zephyr in person. With the boy gone, Vision sang to Zephyr until she relaxed enough to open up and talk to us. I reminded her that she didn’t owe Manish anything, and that just because they had sex last night didn’t mean anything for the future. It let her talk, and reminded her that she was in mourning. It subtly reminded her of the physical benefits of their intercourse without being so heavy-handed as to seem like we were pressuring her. It was in my interests to having the two of them sexually active, as Manish had social ties in the Indian station, and if it wasn’t destroyed, I wanted to use that.

  While Body talked with and sang to Zephyr, I also engaged Manish in a parallel conversation. I assured the teen that he’d been doing everything right, and that Zephyr was just a fairly difficult person to deal with at any distance closer than strictly professional.

  “She clearly finds you attractive, and that’s enough for me. My creators designed me to care about all humans, but Zephyr… She’s special to me, and that means that you’re special now, too,” I said over the voice com. When Manish didn’t reply immediately, I continued. “I hope it’s not too weird, working with me in addition to her. As long as she and I are together, your relationship with Zephyr won’t be normal. I hope you believe me when I say that I’m trying to make it work, though.”

  “I do…” said Manish, hesitating. “I just, I’ve never had a girlfriend or… Well, I guess I just don’t have anything to compare it to.”

  I didn’t comment on the word “girlfriend”, which surely would’ve triggered Zephyr. Instead, I used that opening to ask about the boy’s life before joining Las Águilas. He’d apparently come to Mars eighteen months ago as part of a regular rotation. Maṅgala-Mukhya wasn’t large enough to support all the people that India wanted to send up, so they brought people back to Earth in addition to sending flights up.

  (The implications of this were somewhat fascinating. It meant that Mukhya must have a way to refuel their rockets and repair any damage. It also meant that the IRSO could send up personnel who didn’t want to live all their lives on Mars. That surely made their large waiting list even worse.)

  Manish Bose was the only child of two scientist parents (a geneticist and a chemist) and had been brought to Mars only to satisfy them. He was apparently still quite angry at having been cut off from his social circle on Earth in the middle of his secondary-school experience. As he talked about his history he began to rant. His parents both expected great things from him, and bragged about how he was descended from a great line of Indian scientists. They hadn’t given his wishes to stay on Earth a second thought, apparently, as his grades had been below their expectations and they thought he would do better with personal tutoring and a home with fewer friends to distract him from his studies.

  It was something of a miracle, to hear it, that his parents had let him go with Las Águilas, but I suspected that in the last year and a half they’d learned that their attempt to control the young man were backfiring and doing nothing but driving him away. When news of Road
’s destruction reached Mukhya (assuming Mukhya was unharmed) they’d surely demand his return. Manish was ready for this, and assured me that he wasn’t going anywhere.

  He still cared about his parents, though, even if his relationship with them was less than perfect. The threat of the nameless had been on his mind all day, and he was as eager to get the antenna working as anyone. I rounded out the conversation by asking about the leadership at Maṅgala-Mukhya and who we’d be likely to talk to once the antenna was operational.

  Satisfied and confident that it wasn’t worth it to prolong things further, I coached Manish on what to say to Zephyr once he came back and directed him to return.

  And while the humans talked, relaxed, and slept, we continued to build.

  Since the trailer was now free from humans we could deactivate the heaters, repurpose their wire and their power packs. Things were faster now that we had more sensors and arms, and we soon decided to breach the truck’s hull and repurpose the materials in the airlocks. It was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, and Growth speculated that we might be able to get the dish set up that night if we hurried.

  Matías would be furious at the loss of the pressurized space, but Face→Human was confident that she could manage that fury. Humans were simple things, after all. Crystal already had the support of the majority of the survivors, and it was only a matter of time before none of Las Águilas would stand against us.

  I needed to stay focused on Vision and Growth. They were the real threats. I needed some plan for dealing with them.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tilak Patel

  It was dark in Tilak Patel’s office. He liked it that way during the evenings. It was too easy, when buried underground like they all were, to lose a connection to the sun. So he dimmed his office and his living quarters (which were only separated by a partition) every day at sunset and lit them at sunrise.