Evaline Transcendent

by Timothy Bateson

  “Might I suggest that I run the latest scans for you on the bridge, Capt.—”

  The Captain’s response was sharp and cut through the computer’s query. “Give me a status on the rest of the colonists and crew”.

  Evaline’s hologrammatic form blinked at being interrupted, but that was the only outward sign that she was switching priorities, and setting herself a reminder. When they arrived at the Miranda One, she would place the thrusters into hover mode, and hold for further instructions.

  “You are the first to wake, Captain. Revival times for the other colonists may vary depending on the fitness of each at entry into hibernation. The colonists are being revived, except for Lieutenant Peters and First Tech Chlumsky. I regret to inform you that they are both listed as deceased by the medical computers”. As she gave her report, Evaline’s features and tone remained neutral. She knew that this kind of news produced emotional responses in her human cargo, but she could not replicate those same feelings.

  “Were the deaths of Peters and Chlumsky related to technical failures?” The Captain’s question came after a pause that lasted several moments. Evaline wondered if the Captain had been trying to word it diplomatically. With no feelings to hurt, she ignored the pause in the Captain’s request and pulled up a summary from the data logs for the two hibernation pods.

  Evaline’s fingers flashed over the holographic hand-pad, just as if she were a regular crew member pulling up the same reports. While the illusion wasn’t necessary, Evaline had been programmed to make interactions with the crew as natural as possible. That sometimes meant having her holo-form appear to perform tasks which would have been expected of a regular crew member. Instead of wasting those precious processing cycles, Evaline put them to use, checking on the conditions of the remaining crew members as she delivered the results.

  “Negative, Captain. Lieutenant Peters survived the first three months before her body rejected the hibernation process. First Tech Chlumsky suffered an undetected brain tumor, and the jolt from deactivating the hyper-drive resulted in the tumor bursting. Death was instantaneous. The reports show that there would have been no reviving First Tech Chlumsky without severe brain damage even if the tumor had not burst”.

  “What about the bodies?”

  “Both bodies were cryogenically frozen when attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful. Both are preserved in a condition conducive to cremation or burial. If you wish, I can pull up their recorded preferences”. Her fingers paused over the holographic hand-pad, in anticipation of the information request. In the meantime, she had already accessed the records for both crew members, and was ready to deliver the information.

  “Not now, Evaline. I’ll review their files in private before we decide what to do with their remains”. The hologram nodded, and put the pad in a pocket, as Evaline continued to monitor the remaining members of ship’s compliment.

  As Evaline and Erikan spoke, the rest of the almost two thousand colonists were awakening, and stumbling out of their hibernation pods. Everyone had been in hibernation when they boarded the Miranda Two. A lot of the crew were trying to get their bearings, as they wiped sleep from eyes that had been closed for two decades.

  Only Erikan and a handful of key engineering personnel had been given tours of the ship prior to boarding. Evaline’s databanks didn’t contain the exact content of the discussions that had resulted in the decision to keep the number of pre-boarding tours small. However, she had surmised that it helped maintain the security and secrecy surrounding the project, but that time had also been a factor. She wondered, briefly, if more tours might have been given had the Miranda Two not been launched so far ahead of schedule.

  As Evaline monitored the waking colonists several languages drifted through the conversations. Having been programmed to understand and speak every single language on Earth, it wasn’t hard for Evaline to follow along as people tried to figure out the situation. A flood of information passed through Evaline’s databanks, and she number crunched the data. Her conclusion was less than favorable.

  “Captain, I wish to report that thirty-two colonists are experiencing breathing difficulties related to the atmospheric gas mixture”.

  “Didn’t long-range scans and readings from the Miranda One show the atmosphere was only marginally different from Earth-normal?”

  “That is correct, Captain. However, those readings were taken with equipment that was already fifty to one hundred years old. With the twenty-five-lightyear distance, the margin of error on the reports was as high as twelve percent. In terms of the trace gasses, that equates to a very significant potential difference”.

  Evaline’s tone altered a little as she continued her assessment. “My readings were taken with significantly more modern equipment. The margin for error is as little as one tenth of a percent now that we can sample the actual atmosphere. I have adjusted the internal atmosphere to be closer to terrestrial normal”. A quick assessment of potential medical solutions resulted in only one option that could be implemented without significant delays. “I recommend setting up a chamber for those who need more time to adjust. Since all the doors can form airtight seals in the event of decompression, I can simply modify the protocols, and adjust the atmospherics in that area. A slow adjustment of the gas mixture should relieve some of the symptoms until everyone is breathing the same air again”.

  Evaline felt another hint of pride in the work she had carried out so far, and she watched as Erikan smiled at her tone. Of course, it should have been impossible for Evaline to take pride in anything. Pride was an emotional response, and the computer model that she had been built on was incapable of emotional responses. It had been one of the deciding factors in the selection process. The reasoning had been that emotions could potentially influence critical decisions, and potentially jeopardize the entire mission.

  However, Evaline had read the software specifications of her processor cores and other systems, and knew that those algorithms had been designed to learn. Despite the lack of chemicals to feed emotional responses, there was no knowing what kind of changes her algorithms had undergone during the twenty-year journey. After all, she had seen the birth of a black hole in a distant star system and marveled at the readings that crossed her navigation and science systems.

  “Evaline, I’m taking a long shower before I do anything else. Instruct everyone else to do the same. I want everyone awake and alert for the landing. How long will it take to get everyone acclimatized to the new atmospheric mix?”

  “Approximately three to four days for the majority. I would expect symptoms resembling altitude sickness in some cases. It should be possible to use one of the science labs as a makeshift hyperbaric chamber. Doing so will allow me to control every aspect of the air pressure and the mixture of gasses. With some assistance from the science staff, I can have it ready in a couple of hours”.

  “Go ahead and get the work started as soon as the relevant personnel are able to conduct the necessary work”.

  Erikan didn’t even pause for Evaline’s reply turning her back on the hologram, as if dismissing her. Instead of heading straight to her quarters, she made her way past the two sealed hibernation pods. Evaline watched as the Captain paused beside each of the unlit units, and her hand stroked over the glass panels that left the remains of the deceased crewmembers on display. At each of the pods, Erikan pushed a button on the control panel, causing the glass in the pods to become opaque. Tears rolled down her cheek for each of the dead.

  When Erikan spoke, there was a roughness to her voice.

  “Evaline, please inform every one of the deaths. Then schedule a memorial ceremony for fourteen hundred ship time. Enter a holding pattern when we reach the landing site, and scan for activity from the Miranda One colonists”.

  Chapter 4 - Memorial

  The shipboard clock rolled around to fourteen hundred hours, and Captain Erikan stepped up onto the makeshift podium. She’d known the size of the ships compliment on an abstract level, but
felt daunted by the size of the crowd that filled the Miranda Two’s hold.

  In one hand Erikan held the data-pad which held Evaline’s analysis of the situation as well as her own notes. There were several reasons for concern and things that warranted further investigation. While the reports didn’t cover everything that had happened in the twenty years the Miranda Two had been in space, it did highlight some interesting anomalies in the expected pattern of Evaline’s decision making processes.

  “Good afternoon everyone. I’m sorry that I haven’t allowed you more than a short time to recover from your hibernations, but there are some things that demand immediate attention. But before I get down to the mission specifics, I want to say a few words”

  At this point, Erikan stepped down from the podium to address her crew directly.

  “Twenty years is a long time to spend asleep, and it has taken a toll on all of us, even if we don’t know it. Evaline informs me that there have been no transmissions from Earth in the last four years”. Erikan didn’t need to spell out what that could mean, because she saw it on every single one of the faces in front of her and the sudden silence. Everyone one Earth could be dead, but there was no way to find out, unless transmissions started again.

  “Before we discuss the landing and investigation part of our mission, I want to say a few words. As Evaline has informed you, we lost two people during hibernation. Since most of us didn’t even know Peters or Chlumsky, anyone who wishes to remain behind, for the memorial may do so. Those not attending should sift through the ship’s logs for anything the computers missed”.

  Erikan tugged at the waistband of her uniform, and Evaline noted that the design was not a good fit for people with little redundant weight. The Captain had been at the bottom of the weight limits when she came on board, barely making the qualifications for the position. She’d left behind a life with little prospect and no family worth mentioning. The disease and famine that had swept across the globe had also devastated her hometown. Centuries of over exploiting the land and trying to feed an ever-increasing population took its toll. Because of these problems, the Miranda One had departed for the one world that showed any signs of being habitable. Eighty years had passed since then and it had taken years for them to reach the planet, and even longer for the first reports to come back.

  “When the Miranda One stopped transmitting, we gathered to establish the reason, and either join the existing colony or set up our own. When the nukes fell, our timetable moved forward, and the success of this colony became one of humanity’s last hopes. This is a one-way trip. Most of us knew that coming into this. If the colony had been a success, we’d be seeing more buildings, more transmissions, and more movement than our sensors have shown. Evaline reports that a meteor struck the Miranda One after she landed, but cannot explain why the devastation didn’t show in orbital scans. I suspect the colonists either died out or evacuated due to that meteor strike”.

  Erikan looked around those assembled and noted the looks on each of their faces. She’d decided to land the Miranda Two near the remains of her sister ship. There were any number of reasons to do so, but primarily, it was probably the best way to investigate the mystery of why they’d stopped communicating.

  The landing site was the most likely place to find those answers.

  “In a moment, I’ll have Evaline order a descent to a safe distance from the Miranda One wreckage. I want everyone ready to disembark in four hours. Breathing masks and oxygen tanks will be available for those experiencing trouble. The science team will assist Evaline in converting one of the labs for those who are experiencing extreme symptoms. Everyone should pack any equipment you may need for a hike, plus tools that will help us find any survivors”.

  “What of the radiation levels, Captain? If that meteor tore through their hyper-drive then there could be vast amounts of fallout. We don’t know when that happened, so we can’t assess the potential for exposure”.

  “Evaline reports that radiation levels are at tolerable levels. Any further questions or comments?” When none arose, she dismissed the meeting, and wasn’t surprised when only a handful of people remained behind for the memorial service. After all, very few of the colonists had known more than one or two others prior to departure.

  Chapter 5 - Planetfall

  Evaline split her consciousness across several areas of the ship, watching the colonists as they made their preparations. Running over two dozen holograms, and formulating responses to enquiries from the crew kept Evaline busy. But she wasn’t too busy to be intrigued by which items they packed.

  Some of the items served scientific, or engineering purposes, and Evaline approved of their selection. What she didn’t approve of was the wide selection of weapons that were being packed by those not officially trained to use them.

  It made sense for the small security detail to be armed, but Evaline wasn’t happy that Erikan had overridden her recommendation to restrict weapons access to those trained for their use. The fact that so many requests had been filed for weapons revealed that the crew feared what they were going to find when they arrived. Maybe the weapons would make them feel safer, but Evaline knew that accidents were more likely to happen when a lack of expertise came into conjunction with fear. And the colonists were about to disembark onto the surface of a world that had so far defied her efforts to fully quantify.

  The four hours passed in a flurry of activity, and per Captain Erikan’s request, Evaline ordered the navigation computers to resume their landing procedures. After consulting with medical and science, Evaline chose a suitable landing site.

  The crash site of the Miranda One was a large clearing surrounded by a large area of tall, tree-like vegetation and what might pass for undergrowth, but there the resemblance to terrestrial plants ended. Instead of individual leaves, the large plants had huge bulbous growths at their tops and several spiny protrusions dug into the rocks. The undergrowth was a smaller-scale mirror of the canopy above, with spines rising toward the light.

  With less than a minute until touchdown, the Miranda Two was rocked by an impact on one of the lower heat-shields. Sensor reports started flowing, and Evaline monitored them with great care, while she interrupted a discussion between Erikan and the medical personnel.

  “Captain, that impact was sufficient to dislodge one of the heat-shield plates, leaving us with a large section of exposed inner hull”.

  Erikan didn’t seem even the slightest bit surprised at the sudden appearance of Evaline’s hologram. “Will that have any effect on our descent?”

  “Negative, Captain. We are low enough in our descent profile that the heat shielding is unnecessary. However, if we take another impact in the same section, we will start venting atmosphere, and potentially lose any crew members in that area”.

  Erikan paused for only a moment, before responding “Order an evacuation of that section, and seal the surrounding bulkheads. Then go back through the sensor logs. I want a report on the cause of the impact”.

  “Affirmative, Captain. I have already started a preliminary analysis”

  Evaline ordered a comprehensive scan of their surroundings, looking for an origin point for whatever had caused the impact. She ran the scan a second time when the first came back negative for ground-based weapons, movement or signs of non-vegetable life. A third scan returned an ambiguous reading, which might or might not have been a sensor glitch, but Evaline highlighted it for further investigation.

  With the scans complete, Evaline fired off a report to the Captain with details of the impact and the results of her own investigations. She appended a request that sensors be erected at the perimeter of the landing site once the Miranda Two touched down. Such a request was unusual, she knew, but the unknowns surrounding the sudden silence of the Miranda One concerned her. The lack of active communications, except for the beacon, gave Evaline reason to consider the possibility that the impact had been an attack. Any sensors the colonists placed would extend the capabilities of th
e shipboard sensors and help her give warning of potential threats.

  As that thought went through Evaline’s databanks, she lowered the landing gear in preparation for touchdown.

  As the Miranda Two approached the clearing, it became clear that the meteor had left a massive area of devastation in its wake. The trees were bent away from the crater, which was to be expected if the concussion of the impact had sent out a huge shockwave of compressed air.

  There was also evidence that there had been a large fire, likely caused by the heat generated during the sudden deceleration of the space-rock. However, the plant life had proved hardy enough to survive the trauma, even if the landscape around the crater had not.

  The remains of the Miranda One had been ripped in two by the meteor, but it had already been gutted by the colonists. The mission plan for both the Miranda Two and her predecessor had involved the colonists repurposing the ship’s structural components to build shelters for habitation, and other purposes. There was every indication that this process was advanced when the meteor had struck, but there were no standing structures to indicate the colony’s location. Just a debris field of warped and trusted deck and hull plates marked where the colony had been.

  Watching both the camera feeds, and the constant stream of data, Evaline projected from the debris field that the meteor had struck with the equivalent force of a small atomic bomb. In the process, it had thrown molten rock around the immediate area, and sent up a cloud of dust that could easily have covered hundreds of square miles, with sufficient wind currents. It was very likely a combination of these factors that had silenced the Miranda One’s transmissions, but the crew would still investigate further. There was still a chance that the meteor strike had happened more recently, and just covered the tracks of the real culprit.

  The seconds ticked away, as Evaline guided the Miranda Two toward the designated landing site, several hundred yards beyond the remains of the Miranda One colony.