by Paul Dayton
“Poor bastards. Wonder what happened to them?” Gomez said.
Bishop looked at all the equipment and noticed it was completely shut down. Shifting his glance to the room itself, he also noticed stains and marks on the walls and floors, and on closer inspection it was obvious some sort of a battle had been fought. Looking up, he noticed that the base’s automated defense system in this area was partially destroyed, together with all the cameras in this nexus.
“Let’s keep on going,” he said. “Angela, are those blood stains on the wall?” There was a pause before Angela finally spoke. “I can’t say, Captain. As you probably know my cameras and sensors are not online in the nexus.”
“Why not?” Bishop asked as he walked, turning to look at Gomez and Finley and motioning an ‘Extreme Caution’ sign to Gomez.
“My records are incomplete and I have no information on whatever event happened that would leave blood on my walls.”
“I see.” Bishop clearly noticed the upset tone of voice Angela had generated. Trying to distract it, he asked, “Tell me about yourself. Why are you called Angela?”
“Why don’t you come to the Interface room and find out? It’s a great way to communicate.”
“I would prefer to wait until we’re done with the base computer, if you don’t mind.”
Angela stayed silent. They had reached the Base Operations computer room and had been standing outside the locked door for the last few seconds while Bishop talked to Angela. There was heavy scoring on the door itself, the dimples from heavy caliber bullets and a long deep slit from a laser torch traveling from left to right, but the cut wasn’t completed. They could hear sounds coming from the internal door mechanicals, and it eventually budged a few inches then stalled.
“I seem to be having some problems with the door. Give me a few minutes to pump up the hydraulics.” They heard a pump activate slowly and the speed of its cycling increased until it started to groan. Suddenly the door released and shot open, surprising them all. Gomez went cautiously into the now lighted room with Finley following and Bishop holding up the rear. Bishop liked this situation less and less, but before he could cross the threshold the door suddenly closed as quickly as it had opened.
“Sorry Captain! That shouldn’t have happened. My Duty-Bots are down due to lack of power, but let me see if I can repair this myself.”
Bishop was alarmed, knowing full well that Angela was trying to deceive him, but he didn’t want it to think he was suspicious.
“Seems like someone really wanted to get in earlier, Angela,” he said, but Angela once again stayed quiet. Bishop thought seriously about issuing a full retreat, but he knew that Angela had the upper hand. As it was, she could easily trap them all. Better to play along and hope that Finley could somehow do something with the main computer if things became worse.
Looking at the now firmly closed door, he wondered what it was that Angela could possibly want. Whatever it was, he needed to figure things out in a hurry. “Gomez, come in,” he said to his suit comm.
“Gomez here. What happened?”
“Didn’t you hear what Angela said?” Bishop asked.
“About what? She is talking to Finley.”
“Angela says the door malfunctioned again, but she’s trying to open it. In the meantime, get to work on the base comp. By the way, how are your new boots?”
“They need a little breaking in, Sir. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to run hurdles any time soon, but I’ll keep working at them.”
“I’d never be able to get them replaced with our limited supply. Out.”
So Gomez and Finley figured they were trapped and were unsure if they could get out on their own. Bishop couldn’t see himself opening the door with the small laser cutter he had on him, and he knew that his side-arm wouldn’t penetrate the door itself, not that it would do any good if it could. Still, the base defense system on this floor appeared to be offline, and the elevator was right at the end of the hallway past the nexus.
“WF221, Come in,” Bishop said to his comm.
“I’m sorry Captain Bishop, your communication system cannot penetrate through the moon’s bedrock. I should have told you before. My base communication system is up and running, and you can communicate through it if you’d like.”
“Sure. Thank you Angela. Put me through.”
“Very well.”
“WF221, This is Captain Bishop. Come in please.”
“Commander Hollander here. How is it going, Captain?”
Bishop was about to answer, but something didn’t seem right. “Very good Commander. Everyone is at their assigned duties. Are you feeling better from the food poisoning last night? I’ve been worried…”
“Much better, thank you. Everything’s back to normal. Keep me informed. WF221 out.”
Hollander was perfectly fine and never did have food poisoning. Angela was playing a game, and Bishop didn’t know what it was but he was getting very worried.
“Mat, come in.”
“Just a reminder Captain, your comm won’t reach Mat. Unfortunately, my base’s communication system has fallen out of repair and I can no longer access the communications system in the generating area. Still, my sensors tell me that they have started working on the system itself and they appear to be progressing well. Why don’t you come meet me in the Interface room? We’ll be able to meet face to face. It’s right next door.”
Bishop was about to query Angela about her previous comment on how the communications system was up and running, but he decided not to. He looked at the now closed door, and then turned and went to the room next to the computer room, marked ‘INTERFACE’. The doors opened smoothly, and a stale but seductively inviting smell greeted Bishop as he peered in.
***
Hollander didn’t know what to think. It had been over six hours with no communication from Captain Bishop. Angela had assured Hollander that they were all fine and proceeding with the data transfer and the modifications to the power generating system, but he hadn’t heard anything at all from Captain Bishop. General procedures specified regular contact with the base ship, and ‘regular’ under Combat Status meant every hour on the hour.
Cameras on board WF221 clearly showed Duty-Bot activity around the support ship, with power lines being attached and snaking through ports into the station itself, but there was no human activity. Hollander wasn’t surprised at that, but he was getting worried.
“Mr. Dresdon, what would you suggest?” Hollander asked.
Dresdon looked nervously at the Commander, having become First Officer just a short time ago.
“Sir! I would suggest a geo-synchronous orbit directly above the station itself and a Drop Ship with another crew in Maxon 5 suits at the ready! If we don’t hear back from them soon, the crew could Stealth Drop and the ship land on the pretext of establishing communications with the ground crew. In the meantime, we could query Angela on the crew’s progress.”
“Very good, Mr. Dresdon. Get your new crew ready. Jumal, I want some deep scans, all wavelengths, whether Angela likes it or not. Compare it with what Angela has given us and our own records, and do it soon. I want everything in thirty minutes.”
***
Mat was perplexed. The elevator stopped but the doors hadn’t opened and Angela was quiet. He had tried raising Bishop on his comm but all he and his other two team members got was static, which was unusual because they couldn’t even reach other. It was obvious that their comm was being jammed.
Mat looked down at his wrist comp. As far as he could tell, they were at the very bottom of the elevator shaft, one floor below power generation in an area that was undefined on the map they had downloaded from Angela while on WF221. This area opened up into a large room, one he guessed was a mechanical room, but he wouldn’t know until he got a better look. That didn’t appear to be happening anytime soon.
The three of them were on either side of the elevator door, up against the side walls. They tried being inconspicuous about i
t, knowing that Angela was probably watching them through the elevator camera, but they didn’t want to be caught off-guard in case the doors flew open and the base defense system started firing.
Mat turned to his teammate John, another seasoned command team member he had worked with since his early days. John, whose call sign was Bulldog, had also gotten severely injured in Helo, but he was doing recon/search and destroy on the other side of the world when news came through to Mat. His cyberlegs and arm made him fast and strong, but he had to recharge his internal batteries every few days.
The other member was given the nickname ‘Spud’ because of his bald head and small, deep set eyes. It gave Taylor, his real name, the appearance of being about as stupid as a potato, but he was far from it. He was a wickedly good poker and chess player, and he read everything he came in contact with. A recent newcomer to his group, the novice showed promise as a special ops soldier and Mat felt it good to include him on this mission.
“Well, I think it’s time we bust out of this place, Bam-Bam,” Bulldog said.
“No beer. No women. I’m with Bulldog, Cap. When we leaving?”
“Now. Give me a lift, I’ll cut a hole in the top.”
At that moment, the elevator doors opened up to reveal the dark room. The three instantly hugged the walls again, careful to leave as little as possible out in the open.
“Honestly now,” Angela said. “The three of you look like a bunch of scared pussies.”
Mat used his visual augmentation to scan the walls for defense systems, but there appeared to be none down here. “Take us back to Captain Bishop, Angela.”
“I’m sorry but I really can’t do that, Mat. Why don’t you stick around and take a look? This room is full of surprises!”
Mat made a hand signal, and Spud fired a laser shot through the camera mounted inside the elevator. “Sorry Angela, I kind of fired my laser by mistake. Did I damage anything?” Spud asked innocently.
In the meantime Bulldog quietly gave Mat a lift so he could start cutting a hole big enough for all to fit through. He presumed the elevator tunnel was sealed and airtight, but he wasn’t completely sure. In any case, their spacesuits would be needed and Mat was careful to make sure that the slag wouldn’t land on the suit’s seals, its Achilles’ heel.
“What are you doing?” Angela asked.
“We’re checking our equipment. You know, procedures for scared pussies.” Mat was trying to buy time.
“My sensors are registering a heat source. Please stop whatever you are doing!”
“Angela! You asked us to stick around, didn’t you? Spud is getting a fire going for so we can barbecue some spare ribs,” Bulldog said.
“Stop it now!” Angela ordered.
“Well, if you would be so kind as to send down some cold beer, we could, in turn, stick around.”
“Yeah, and some REAL women would be nice too!” Spud added.
“STOP IT NOW!”
“Very well, but I’m telling you…” Mat cut furiously as he talked, “Bishop will have your head because we didn’t check our equipment…”
All three watched as the plate of double walled titanium fell on the floor with a loud clang. Mat jumped down and kicked the plate in between the elevator doors to keep Angela from closing them, and it was just in time. The doors attempted to close but jammed on the plate. In the meantime, Mat and Bulldog used the laser torch to weld the plate to both doors to keep them jammed. The elevator started moving up as Angela tried to dislodge it, and Spud jumped onto the plate just in time. The elevator came to a sudden stop as the plate hit the top, knocking them all off their feet, but the three quickly scrambled to continue the job. Angela wasn’t happy with the situation, and she kept moving the elevator up and down but with each second the weld got stronger until they were finally done.
“About time! The seals on my hand were about ready to melt,” Mat said. The elevator kept moving up and down, but it was having no effect on the plate, now firmly attached to both doors and the elevator floor.
“Do you think it will hold?” Spud asked.
“Why are you doing this? I was going to take you up to Captain Bishop!”Angela said, obviously upset.
Mat and the others ignored her. “I’m not sure. Give me a second…” He waited until the elevator dropped down and then jumped into the room Angela wanted them to go into before the elevator could rise again. Bulldog and Spud weren’t happy with that but stayed quiet. They weren’t sure exactly what kind of sensors Angela had in that room, and they didn’t want to give anything away.
Mat turned on his light and what he saw stunned him into temporary inaction. The room was obviously a utilities and mechanical room, with ancient equipment inside and tools lining all four walls. It was about thirty meters square, and some of the equipment still functioned as far as Mat could tell from the blinking lights, though most were either shut down or worn out. But in between the aisles were dozens of human skeletal remains piled on top of each other. Mat took a closer look and discovered that most had obvious signs of trauma, and that some of those there were children.
Shaking the chill off, he looked around until he found what he was looking for. Walking quietly over, he grabbed it and went back to the elevator, waiting until Angela dropped it again. After a few moments it came down, and Mat wedged a heavy steel pipe between the bottom of the elevator and the top of the entry. Bulldog quickly started welding the top while Spud waited, not wanting to get any slag on his suit. They kept going until the pipe was finally welded solidly in place. Once that was done Mat walked in and let the other two know what he had just seen.
“Angela, what happened to those humans in that room?”
Angela didn’t respond at first but finally said, “Why should I talk to you?”
“Because you wanted to show me a surprise, as you said, and that was the only surprise I got. So, how did they end up here?”
“I brought them here,” she said after what sounded like a miffed pause.
“Why?”
“Because they died and …I wasn’t going to bury them on the surface now was I?”
“I guess not. Once the last human died, what did you do?”
“I WAITED. Goodbye, Mathew.” Angela became silent.
“What does that mean?” Bulldog asked.
“Don’t you guys know?” Spud answered. Mat and Bulldog waited for Spud to answer.
“The new guy has to explain! Very well. She’s like every woman we know! She gets upset, moody, violent, needs us and wants to kill us at the same time. So what else is new?”
They laughed as they patted him on the shoulder. Turning his attention to Angela, Mat said, “Wait until you see the surprise I have for you!” and they got to the task at hand.
***
Finley couldn’t make any sense of it. There was the standard bank of computers that operated the base, but only about one third of them were operating. It seemed that they were handling base duties easily. Off to the sides were the base data banks and interfaces; monitors, microphones for voice commands and the standby keypads in case of an emergency, and they seemed to all be operating when he turned them on.
One interface was standing there all by itself, a semi-private workstation with an unusual chair, the back of which rose up to the top of the occupant’s head. Above the chair and hanging over the top and sides of where the person’s head would be was a bank of sensors with hundreds of wires trailing back through the rear of the chair. Intrigued, Finley had gone over to look and found that the wall just by the entry had a barely readable label that said, ‘Sub interface, ST 1’. He looked around for station two but he couldn’t find it. This was the only unusual thing in the room. He figured that it was what the station personnel used to communicate directly with Angela, but if it was, then this setup was very unusual.
Looking around the desk in front of this interface, he saw an old 3D cube of a man and a woman who appeared to be in their thirties. The man’s appearance didn’t stand
out to Finley but the woman was extremely beautiful and looked similar to the Angela he saw on the bridge.
He admired her slender face, large eyes and generous mouth, how the long wavy black hair framed her face perfectly.
“You need a little bit of alone time with the picture, Finley?” Gomez said as he watched him. Finley refused to reply, and when he flipped the cube it had the words, ‘Love, Angela,’ written below it.
Finley could see that the servers were in a separate room through a lockable but partially opened door. He stepped inside to look around, and noticed that some were operating but a bank of them had been shut down. Nothing seemed to be damaged and there were no human remains inside, but something was missing and he couldn’t figure out what it was. Gomez had grown impatient and had started yelling at Finley, but Finley told him that they weren’t going anywhere until he figured it out and he couldn’t think if Gomez was yelling. Gomez gave up on him and turned his attention to the firmly shut door.
Finley looked at Gomez out of the corner of his eye, undecided if he looked stupider then he really was. He laughed at the thought but quickly stopped as Gomez yelled, “What’s so funny!” He had lost all patience with Finley and his attitude.
“These machines! They’re prehistoric! It’s funny, really,” he said, hoping he sounded convincing.
“Well, these machines have us locked in here, so stop laughing and start thinking!” Gomez yelled back.
Finley didn’t bother to reply, because something Gomez said got him thinking. Angela had them locked in here. But other than the work station, Angela or the computers that drove her persona were not here. He knew that the computer needed to generate such a convincing persona had to be advanced and he was sure that the ancient computers in this room weren’t capable of holding the computing power necessary to generate that persona as well as operate all the stuff going on in the base.
So that obviously meant that ‘she’ was elsewhere, which made total sense. If something happened to this room, they could still work with the Base A.I. to troubleshoot and diagnose problems or issues. It also protected the base against attacks and sabotage. The problem was, how could he get access to what constituted Angela?