Jill evaluated various potential lines of descent, wishing she had the gear to rappel. Eventually, she found a path where small hoofed animals had made their way to the water source below. Skidding more often than walking, she reached the bottom of the cliff and rested.
I’ll have to find an easier way up when I need to go back.
The sun was setting, throwing long shadows across the river and the grasslands. Jill wondered how defensible the valley would be, trying to identify a spot where a squad of fugitives could dig in and hold off a siege by Khagrish forces.
Curious how many guards the enemy could call upon, she pulled out the handheld, but it was dead. Not surprised, considering how far she was from the complex, she returned the device to her pocket and headed toward an interesting cave formation in the cliffs closer to the lake.
If the caves extended far enough into the cliffs, there might be room for a number of people. We could fish, maybe grow crops in the fertile bottomland. Or should she be thinking more in terms of fleeing further away from the Khagrish? Life on the run across an unknown planet didn’t appeal but might be necessary. Eventually, she’d like to evac to the Sectors, of course, but her most desired outcome seemed impossible. Better to focus on the short term goals.
As she scrambled up the loose dirt and gravel leading to the mouth of the cave, she unslung the stolen weapon, in case any local predators considered the space their home. Reaching the small plateau at the opening, she did a double take. On either side of the cave’s mouth were two intricate metallic devices, plainly made by an advanced intelligence. One was crumpled under a rock fall and the other was on its side but apparently unharmed.
Slinging her weapon, Jill crouched to unbury the equipment, digging with her hands until she’d cleared enough away to be able to rock the item to what was apparently the upright position. Nothing built in the Sectors.
Using the tail of her shirt, she swiped across the surface and revealed what appeared to be solar energy gathering plates. There were no wires or circuits, no on/off buttons or switches but, as she inspected the device, an amber flicker pulsed in the lower left corner. Whatever this was, setting it upright again had clearly activated at least a partial response.
“Could be good, could be bad.” Dusting off her hands, she stood and studied the two devices and the terrain. “Ancient Observers here?” Just my luck to stumble across a treasure trove in this forsaken spot, where I can’t do anything with what I find.
AO sites in the Sectors were protected by the government, which tried to wrest the secrets of the long vanished interstellar civilization from any remnants found. AO tech sometimes was working as much as a million standard years after whatever caused their civilization to vanish. The AO built for keeps. This find didn’t look a hundred thousand years old, let alone a million, and it wasn’t covered in the large jewels the AO tended to use. Many civilizations were known to have risen and fallen across the stars before humans arrived, however.
Jill shook her head. Doesn’t help me now. Retrieving her pack, she ventured inside the cave, nerves on edge. The weapon she’d stolen from the abandoned building had a built-in flashlight capability, so she switched that on, finding herself in a large cavern, the ceiling stretching at least two stories above her.
Her light made the mineral deposits in the walls and the stalagmites and stalactites twinkle with variegated colors as she swept it across the huge room in front of her. She stumbled and checked herself again as the beam crossed a figure lying huddled next to a large stalagmite.
“Hello?” Jill was ready to duck for cover but the person didn’t move and, as she played the light over him or her again, she realized she was gazing at a corpse.
Slowly, she walked to the spot where the other had spent their last moments. The figure was humanoid, dressed in some kind of flight suit, wearing a helmet obscuring her view of the face. One leg was bent in an awkward position that made her wince in sympathy. The body could have been there for millennia, preserved by the minerals and atmosphere in the cave. The entire form was encased in a layer of sparkly limestone, or whatever the predominant mineral dripping down the cavern’s walls might be.
With a pang of regret, Jill knew she was never going to see the face of the ancient. “I wonder what happened to him,” she said, rising and glancing around the cave. The sound of her own voice was reassuring. “I didn’t see any wreckage from a crashed ship outside.”
“Are you the rescue mission?”
Startled into a scream, Jill leaped sideways, into the shelter of a stalagmite, and aimed her weapon in the direction of the voice. “Who’s there?”
“You’re not the rescue mission.” The tone was oddly singsong, as if tasting the sounds, playing with the sentence structure. “Give me more language samples. I can only infer so much.”
Jill peered around the edge of the stone formation. There was an ovoid metallic unit which she’d ignored initially, sitting a few feet away from the corpse. Now the device displayed blinking blue and violet lights. “Who are you? What do you want?” she asked.
The lights moved faster, adding colors. “This would be easier if I could have direct access to your brain waves.”
“Uh-uh, not happening.”
“Your kind is unknown to me, although similar to many beings encountered on missions in the past. Where does your species originate?”
“I think I should be the one asking the questions,” Jill said. “I have the pulse rifle. What are you?”
“I’ll take input however you choose to provide it, even in the form of questions. I am MARL.”
“Which tells me nothing.”
“I can’t translate the acronym. I don’t believe your language has the capabilities for all the capabilities I encompass. You appear to be a member of a primitive race.”
Stifling a chuckle, Jill gave the blinking lights a sideways glance. “Insulting me isn’t a great way to make friends.”
Green lights added themselves to the blue and violet. After a short pause, MARL said, “No insult was intended, merely a statement of fact.”
“What happened here?” She waved one hand at the calcified corpse. “How long ago did he or she die?”
“Based on my calculations, about 10,000 of this planet’s years have passed since I received my last instructions.” MARL made a humming noise, and the lights blinked furiously, a few red pinpoints among the other hues. “We were trying to get home because my pilot had vital information he hoped might lead to the defeat of the enemy, but they pursued us and damaged the ship.”
“I didn’t see any signs of a ship out there.” Jill gestured toward the mouth of the cave.
“It crashed into the lake when he tried to land.”
“Injured as he was, are you trying to tell me he swam to safety then dragged himself and you up here?” Jill was fascinated by the story but skeptical.
“I am self-mobile and can manifest other, additional forms.” MARL’s hum rose to an ear splitting volume but nothing else happened. After a moment of silence, it said, “Well, if I were at full power, I could. I’ve been in hibernation mode, doing the minimum required, until you arrived. I am in the process of powering up.”
Jill thought the alien AI, if that was indeed what MARL might be, sounded rather grumpy and a bit embarrassed. She decided to think of MARL as a male entity, since the voice was masculine in timber. Maybe MARL sounded like its pilot had in his lifetime. “Are those your manifestations, as you call it, outside the cave? Because one was crushed by a rockslide and the other was half buried in dirt and debris.”
“Yes. The unit you see here is a portable emergency subset of myself, automatically ejected when the ship crashed. Two of my separate selves assisted the pilot in exiting the submerged wreck and brought him here, with me.” MARL levitated off the cave floor briefly before drifting back. “I sent a distress call then I executed the final order from my pilot. Since then, I’ve waited, set to standby status.”
Sounds like a repo
rt. Deciding she wasn’t in jeopardy from the ancient AI, Jill walked out from behind the rocks. “What was his final order?”
“To shield this valley from the enemy. Allow no overflights, no scans. I directed all my remaining power to the effort, until or unless contradicted by someone in authority. Are you in authority now?”
Shaking her head, Jill asked, “Why would you accept my orders? I’m obviously not connected to the people who created you.”
“I’m not meant to operate independently, but to support the organic beings in charge of the mission. As no rescue of my pilot was ever attempted, nor any message received, I can only surmise the civilization to which he belonged, and their enemies as well, have passed from the galactic stage. Although primitive, you appear to have the sentience required to make use of my capabilities to at least a limited extent. I was built to serve,” MARL said in a quiet voice. “Ten thousand years is a long time to have no real purpose.”
Jill walked closer. “You must have an amazing power source.”
“My core is the primary, self-contained, a reactor of a type probably well beyond your understanding, which will last virtually forever. I can use other sources as well, if made available to me. The whole of my entity, on the ship itself, has—or had—immense power, virtually unlimited abilities.” MARL sounded wistful. A solitary turquoise light blinked in the lower corner of his ever-shifting display.
“Can you communicate with the ship?”
The lights flashed in a sequence she’d come to recognize as a negative. “I believe it was too badly damaged and may even have broken up in the lake.”
So much for daydreams of flying home in an AO ship. “Too bad. A functional spaceship—even an alien craft—might have come in handy in my current position.”
“Are you marooned here, like my pilot was?”
“Not exactly, but it’s a long story. How far can you scan?” Jill sat on a convenient rock and set aside her backpack and the extra weapon. Although still slightly wary of MARL, she was hungry and fished out an energy bar.
“There are no ships in orbit around the planet, nor active in the solar system.” MARL hummed. “There are five primary installations on this planet, three of them on this continent, two on large islands offshore. A few smaller complexes in other locations. At the present time there are two small atmospheric flyers aloft.”
“Impressive. Where are the flyers in relation to us?” Are they hunting for me?
“Apparently, commuting between installations. None in this area.”
“Five installations?” Jill found the number depressing. Were the Khagrish maintaining more packs of the Badari at the other labs? Experimenting on her people?
“Yes. The beings resident at the complexes comprise the entire population of the planet, other than indigenous wildlife. What are these places? Why are you here?”
Fair enough, MARL had shared information with her. “I was a prisoner in the one closest to this valley. In fact, the rest of my family and friends are still held there. We were kidnapped from a colony world—I don’t know how far away from here. I’m a citizen of the Sectors, and the so-called scientists here who were holding me are working for my enemies, the Chimmer and the Mawreg.”
“I have references in my memory to Mawreg.” MARL hummed, lights flashing. “Nothing of any significance.”
The Mawreg had been edging onto the scene 10,000 years ago? Jill found the statistic astonishing and depressing, although she reminded herself she didn’t know where in the galaxy she was right now.
“Are you willing to be in authority now?” MARL repeated his question.
Don’t look a gift AI in the data inputs. Jill grinned, giddy at the idea of owning a working piece of ancient tech. To the best of her knowledge, no one in the Sectors had been able to operate any of the found AO relics. Maybe in some top secret program in the Inner Sectors, run by the big brains. Certainly not an ordinary ex-soldier like herself. “All right, if you want to be my sidekick, I can use all the help I can get,” Jill said. “Thank you.”
“To have purpose again is a most fulfilling thing.” MARL’s lights flashed all at once, a kaleidoscope of colors lighting up the entire cave. “I’ll be able to manifest additional units in a few hours. What are your intentions?”
“I’m not exactly sure.” Jill considered, while admiring the beauty of the stone formations in the cave. “Right now I think I’d better go outside to gather firewood and try to make myself comfortable for the night. Explore the valley in the daylight tomorrow. How are you on physical defenses?”
“I can’t defend the entire planet. Once I am fully powered up and activated, I could manifest smaller units and defend the valley from invasion with a force field. My pilot wasn’t concerned as there are no native sentients on this world.”
“Terrific. I was thinking in terms of the cave for now, so I could get a good night’s sleep.” The power of this thing was amazing. Too bad its original owner had been too badly injured in the crash to make use of MARL’s capabilities. Jill believed she might have a game changer here, in her private war with the Khagrish. The odds were improving.
“You prefer burning wood to utilizing my capabilities for heat and light?”
“It’s a primitive person thing.” Jill laughed. “We find fire comforting at night, with unknown predators on the prowl.”
“I’ll continue to power up.” MARL’s lights blinked and dimmed. “You will return?”
“Of course.” She patted the top of the unit as she might have done for a dog and picked her way through the stalagmites to exit the cave.
Outside the sky was growing dark so she made her wood gathering trip quick and, on an impulse, plucked a handful of yellow and white flowers she found blooming in a large patch. When she re-entered the cave, MARL was humming and its lights were pulsing. Jill built a fire quickly and lit the wood with a short blast from the pulse rifle. Satisfied the flames would sustain themselves, she picked up the flowers and sniffed the faint perfume. “What was your pilot’s name?”
“I can only give you an approximation of the syllables. His vocal abilities and yours are quite divergent.”
“So how can you talk to me in Basic then?”
“I was meant to be a universal translator, among my other tasks. Originally my pilot’s people were explorers, seekers of knowledge, and visited many worlds in their quest. Once the enemy attacked and initiated the war, all our purposes altered to support the fight for survival.”
“We’ve had similar events in the Sectors,” she said. “First there was peaceful expansion from our home world for centuries, making treaties and alliances with other sentients we met in the stars, a few skirmishes or misunderstandings, of course, but then the Mawreg and their client races started wiping out planets. We’ve been at war for my entire life.”
“My pilot’s name was Njindak,” MARL said.
Jill picked up the flowers and her pulse rifle and walked toward the calcified corpse.
“What are you going to do?”
She knelt beside the body and laid the blooms on his chest. Then she took the pulse rifle, set it to low impulse, and quickly carved the phonetic spelling of the pilot’s name into the cave wall above him. “We honor our dead—he was a soldier and I was a soldier. Different wars, same principles. I think it’s sad he has no one from his own people to say a prayer for him, or whatever ceremony should have been done.”
“Your people have honor. Njindak would have approved of your thoughtfulness.”
“So he’d be fine with me taking you on as my sidekick?” Jill dusted her hands off and moved to her rocky perch beside the fire. She fed the blaze a few more twigs then contemplated her remaining stash of energy bars without enthusiasm. “I wish I’d had time to fish for dinner. Are there edible species in the lake?”
MARL hummed and flashed colors. “Yes, several varieties of fish, as well as eels, snakes and hard shelled reptiles. The primary vegetation may be edible as well. Tests would be r
equired.”
“I’ll pass on the sea weed for now but otherwise fresh fish sounds good.” She gave the energy bar a glare. “Better than this dried up Khagrish stuff. We’ll put a swim and fishing on the agenda for tomorrow. I need to explore the valley anyway.”
She slept curled up against a rock, using her backpack as a pillow, kept warm by her fire and periodic blasts of heat from MARL. In the morning, she opened her eyes and screamed, grabbing for the pulse rifle, as five shiny metallic spiderlike creatures sat in a row watching her, multi colored ‘eyes’ intent on her face.
“These are my newest manifestations,” MARL said. “Don’t you like them? I evaluated my design as perfectly suited for catching fish for you in the lake, and guarding against the predators in the water.”
“I was taken by surprise that’s all.” Setting aside the weapon, Jill stretched and tried to ease the kinks in her spine from the less than ideal sleeping position. I’d better figure out some kind of a bed by tonight. She remembered the mattress of fragrant, soft leaves Aydarr had provided her with in the Preserve. Fragments of dreams, all concerning him, floated through her mind and an overpowering sense of being cold. “I wish he was here now.”
“Who?”
“A friend of mine. I need to give you a full briefing, so we can figure out how you can help me,” Jill said. “Can you leave the cave? Or do I need to talk to your manifestations while I’m at the lake and hiking?”
MARL levitated into the air and reshaped itself into a smooth ovoid about a foot long and a foot wide at the largest point, with the blinking colors cascading down the sides and racing across the middle. “Since you are in authority for me now, I can do whatever you wish. Njindak ordered me to remain close to him before he died, but your orders supersede his.”
“Good. Let me go outside and take care of a few personal things, then we’ll head off to the lake and take it from there.” She rose and headed for the cave entrance, where sunlight streamed in. Hearing the click of tiny claws behind her, she glanced over her shoulder to find the miniature robots or whatever they were moving in formation to follow her outside. “No need to accompany me right now, guys.”
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