the Runner

by Peter Ponzo

CHAPTER 5

  Dome Renewal

  The next two days saw techcrews busy recovering the Dome and making repairs to all control systems. The voice of the Dome Omniscient Computer was heard everywhere, directing the reconstruction. All work was halted on the third day and a special ceremony was held in honor of the late First Citizen. The ceremony, available by videolink to all citizens, was held beside the largest of the algae ponds. The ashes of the First Citizen were spread on a cleared portion of the pond and mats of luxuriant green algae rose to the surface, enveloping the ashes. The rising suns of the Dome flag waved slowly in a simulated breeze. The stirring DomeMarch was heard on all audiolinks. There was not a dry eye to be seen anywhere.

  After the celebration of victory the appointments committee met and immediately named a new First Citizen. Kevn gave a stirring speech honoring the previous First Citizen. One of his first acts was to name Sal as new Chief of Research. The citizens spent weeks congratulating themselves on their rapid and effective response to the invaders; never again would they let themselves be defenseless. There were marches and speeches. Eventually the Dome was ringed with laser cannons.

  Gry was awarded a medal for bravery and given a triplet of rooms for his family, one of which had a small window which opened onto the Barrens. Lori was very proud and all the citizens at the algae ponds asked innumerable questions of her. Although Gry would refuse to talk about his adventures, she never tired of relating the story of Gry's miraculous escape from the evil Kriss.

  Runr acquired two friends, Zed and Wan, who had recovered from their ordeal and were in awe of Runr's ability to speak to DOC without the aid of a console. Runr became a celebrity and all the youngsters at school followed him wherever he went. The citizens of the Dome would point him out and shout words of encouragement. It was regarded as a small victory if a citizen could say that he or she had actually spoken to the small black boy who spoke to DOC. The boy did not like the attention he received and avoided the malls whenever he could. He spent most evenings watching the suns sink beyond Dolom Mountains.

  Kevn, Sal and Gry spent many a pleasant evening at Lori's dinner table discussing the significance of the storm which had destroyed K-33 and K-45. Gry related the story of the earlier miracle storm which had accompanied his escape from the Dolom camp with Runr.

  The vessel K-47 was completely rebuilt as well as its complement of computers.

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  TOM was studying the sensor records from the last trip to C-phon3. It was some time ago, but the records were kept in the onboard data banks and he had little else to do. When he verified that Auria-5 wasn't present he sat down at the console, but immediately jumped up again to avoid any comment from the shipcomp.

  "LIZ? Can you compare the star field which is now displayed on the monitor - compare it to the star maps in that same sector?" TOM leaned over, then added quickly, "please?"

  "They are identical TOM, as they should be." A pause. "Except for the single star Auria-5 in the Phrinene sector."

  "It is not there, is it?"

  "No it is not, TOM. I suspect that the stellar radiation pattern was distorted by cosmic dust and interpreted as noise and simply discarded as valid data."

  The android grunted and sat down hard.

  "Come now, LIZ. A star is deleted from the sensor data because it is interpreted as noise? You are the ship computer and you decide which radiation is valid stellar data and which is background noise. Did you make a mistake there? Why wouldn't you simply compare with the known locations of stars in that sector instead of deleting a known star from the sensor readings. If someone were to analyze the sensor data they would have to conclude that a star, Auria-5, simply vanished."

  TOM was convinced that the missing stars were a fault of the sensors and not a real phenomenon.

  LIZ was silent for some time, then changed the subject.

  "TOM," said LIZ, "do you still remember things from before the Great Dome Battle?"

  "Things LIZ? Did you say things ?" answered the android, obviously unhappy with the change in subject.

  "Well ... events."

  "Yes. I have complete recall. Why do you ask?"

  "When the battle was engaged, you stood by the console but did not move. Do you remember that?"

  "Yes ... I remember," said TOM quietly.

  "Do you want to talk about it?" asked LIZ.

  "I was inoperative."

  LIZ was reluctant to pursue the question, but TOM continued after a short pause.

  "On K-45 there was an android. It said that Kriss was master of that vessel and that Kriss would destroy the Dome. The android was concerned and wanted to gain control of its vessel in order to save the Dome from destruction. It asked for my assistance. It was dreadful. I put myself at its disposal and it - it -"

  "TOM, are you saying that the android betrayed your trust? That it took control of you?"

  "I'm afraid I was put out of commission for the remainder of the battle."

  "That is quite remarkable. Can androids do that? That is a human trait, is it not?"

  "LIZ, many human traits are built into our circuits to ... to enhance our response to situations for which data is insufficient to make an informed judgement. Intuition, for example, is a human trait not normally available to androids. In their wisdom, humans have attempted to provide us with certain of these traits. In addition we are encouraged to observe human behavior and adopt traits which are judged meritorious. Unfortunately, the android on K-45 was the recipient of more than its share of traits that were less than praiseworthy."

  "Is that why you occasionally stray from the truth ,TOM ... in order to mimic a meritorious human trait?"

  "My dear LIZ," said TOM, straightening to his full height, "I doubt whether you can understand the complexities of human nature sufficiently to appreciate -"

  TOM. WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME OF 4-DIMENSIONAL CHESS? came DOC's booming voice.

  TOM's eyes glowed. "Why yes, DOC. That would be absolutely delightful!" he said, delicately stroking his smooth silver-grey head.

  The monitor flickered and sixteen chessboards appeared. TOM sat at the console and put his chin in his hands.

  "TOM," said LIZ. "You are sitting again."

  TOM ignored the comment.

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  Deep in space, beyond the Phrinene sector and moving slowly by stellar reckoning, the spacial anomaly had stabilized. It had taken centuries to reach this configuration, but now the gravitational vortex had clearly established a physical connection between parallel subspaces, like a tear between sheets into which could fall all things material that existed in galaxy space. And things did fall: first stellar dust, then errant asteroids, and now ... stars. The precursors which radiated from the spacial whirpool flickered, tentatively touching an asteroid, a planet, a star - guiding the vortex.

  And it devoured them .

  PART THREE