The Senthien (Descendants of Earth Book 1)

by Tara Jade Brown

  “What was that?” Rick asked.

  “Gesture commands.” I turned to him. “It’s unusual that they used it for the start of the system, though. I would assume the start would use touch controls—or voice.”

  I was almost talking to myself when I realized I had the attention of everybody.

  “Do you use voice control at Uni?” asked Rick.

  “Yes, in a majority of the cases. In private quarters, AI systems are voice-printed; they only respond to the voice of the owner. But there are many public places where the computer reacts to anybody’s voice.

  “SYSTEM READY.”

  My E-band sounded a signal. I lifted my arm to check. The surge of power to the mainframe computer had accelerated the wireless charging of my E-band. At this rate my E-band would be full already within a few passes.

  That was my original plan: to fully charge my E-band so that it had enough power to generate a hyperspace resonance field and potentially tap into the porting channel. However, now that Stevanion was gone, and I was where I wanted to be, I didn’t need it anymore. I didn’t want it anymore.

  “Whoa, look at that,” I heard Patrick saying.

  I looked up.

  The three transparent screens dissolved into large images. Everyone turned to stare at them, their faces showing awe at the sight. The screens were so large that we were surrounded by them.

  “This is so cool,” said Rick.

  Each screen showed a beautiful image of Old Earth: large mountains with white on their peaks and blue lakes at the bottom mirroring the rocks. A forest of tall pine trees, thick with layers of fresh snow. The blue depths of the ocean, with sun rays fanning through and a humpback whale emerging in the distance.

  I gazed at all of them, more amazed than any of my companions, because I was seeing these kinds of images for the very first time.

  No one talked for a long while.

  On the bottom and the sides of each screens were little cover-flow icons, each showing a different program, file, or folder.

  I checked my E-band to confirm and said, “These are touchscreens.”

  I walked forward to the middle screen and touched one of the icons to move it to the center.

  Nothing happened. I looked back at my E-band to check. It was definitely touch-sensitive.

  Why isn’t it working?

  “J, can you try? Perhaps I have the wrong temperature.”

  J came close and mimicked the movement.

  Still nothing.

  “Perhaps it would react to gesture commands?” asked Rick.

  “If this were the case, it would still have reacted to the movement I did. It has to be something else.”

  I scrolled through more information and halted on an image. I moved my hand to J so he could have a look at my E-band screen and asked, “J, what does this look like to you?”

  J looked at it and pressed his lips together. “It looks like… like some kind of a… a glove.”

  “Ah, of course! It makes sense!”

  “I don’t understand,” said Simon.

  “The signal for the computer—it cannot come from just anyone in the room who touches the screens. It has to be from one particular person who is currently in control of the system. And that person needs to wear a tracking glove.”

  I lifted up my wrist to show them the image on my E-band. “We need to find that glove.”

  The group spread around, searching. Most of the room was empty except the back wall, which had several metal cupboards. All of them were locked.

  “Keys, anyone?” asked Rick.

  “No, but let’s try brute strength,” said Frank, and he kicked the first cupboard with his foot. The door shook and there was a cracking sound, but it stayed closed.

  “It’s not going to work.”

  “I can tell you’ve never tried breaking through a door, Rick.” Frank grinned and kicked the door again.

  Another breaking sound, and the door swung open.

  “Wow!” Rick jumped backward as Frank kicked the other two cupboards open.

  We all gathered around the first cupboard. On the top shelf there was a single plastic box. Neatly arranged chip-disk racks lined the rest of the cupboard.

  The second cupboard held ten large metal boxes, one on each shelf, each with a series of blinking green and red lights.

  “These must be the servers,” said Patrick.

  The third cupboard contained one metal box, cube-shaped, one quarter IP in length. It was fastened to the back wall.

  “What is that?” asked Simon.

  I crouched down. I was fairly certain what it was, but I checked my E-band nevertheless.

  Of course! The extra power surge for the computer, which also accelerated the charging of my E-band, had to be generated by something other than just solar cells. The power source had to be something stronger. “I know what this is.”

  They gathered around me. “Yes?”

  “It’s what you’re looking for.” I smiled at them.

  “What are we looking for?” asked Peter.

  “Power. This is a fission battery. A nuclear microgenerator.”

  “Holy shit!” shouted Simon.

  “Oh, no!” several others said and moved backward.

  “Dora, is it radioactive? Can you tell?” asked J.

  I turned away from the container and looked at them, seeing alarm on their faces. “You do not need to worry. These types of batteries are completely safe. They were safe even in the pre-Ev time.”

  “But what about the uranium?”

  “There is radioactive material there, yes, but first of all, there is only a minimal amount: this battery was not made to power a whole city, only one building, perhaps. And also, the casing is radiation-proof,” I said, turned back to the container and put my hand on the top surface.

  “No, Dora,” J said and pulled me back.

  “J, there is no danger. Look!” I said, showing him my E-band.

  J looked at the band and then at me. “This doesn’t tell me anything. Why don’t you move away from that thing?”

  I had to laugh at that.

  “Is it working?” asked Rick pointing to the generator.

  I nodded. “Yes. I think it activated when we first opened up the door. These types of batteries shut down when they are not used. Once the power is needed again, they turn on automatically. And because they contain uranium, they last for a very long time.

  “Now, what we need is a specific interactive system which works with these screens.” I walked back to the cupboard and pulled out the plastic box. Inside was a glove made out of rubber finger cups connected to a textile wristband.

  I pulled it over my right hand and turned around to face the computer walls. With my gloved hand, I tapped on the folder. The folder then rolled out from a thumbnail to the size of the whole screen.

  It was a map. Of course. The map I saw in my Vision in Mike’s cottage.

  Everyone came close to the screen walls, forgetting their fears of the microgenerator behind them.

  “Okay, what are we seeing here?” Peter crossed his arms over his chest.

  “This looks like a map of some sort. Do you recognize it?” I asked.

  “Isn’t this… this is here! Look!” Frank touched a spot on the map where the green and blue areas met. Everybody leaned forward, but for a few moments no one said anything.

  “You’re right, Frank. This is a map of this area, and we must be right… here.” J touched the screen lightly, pointing to a small red square with a white dot in the middle.

  “What is that there?” asked Frank, pointing to a section of the map north of our position.

  Everyone looked at the little white square, which was slowly blinking from white to a shade of gray.

  “It looks like… it’s the location of our village, isn’t it?” said Simon, tipping his head to one side.

  “Yes, you’re right.”

  “This map was created before the Evacuation. It cannot possibly sh
ow our tree village—it wouldn’t know where it is, right?” Frank said, still looking at the screen. “Right?”

  “So what is it, then?” asked Peter to my left.

  “Perhaps it’s your underground installation,” I said and looked at them.

  They all looked at me, obvious surprise on their faces, and then back to the screen.

  “Hmm, I think you’re right. This must be it,” Peter said.

  “And what is that?” asked Patrick, pointing to a small yellow icon between the underground installation and the ruined city.

  They all shook their heads. I came closer. “This looks like a classic symbol for energy or power.”

  “Really?” said Simon. “It’s different from any of our symbols.”

  “We label power plants like this,” I said, pointing with my finger to the yellow icon.

  “Well, if that’s the case, this is getting really interesting. Dora, can you tell what kind of power plant it is, by any chance?” asked Peter.

  “I can’t.” I shook my head slightly and looked back at the screen. “And I’m not familiar enough with the system to find out. You will probably need to go there and check.”

  Everybody was quiet again.

  Patrick, looking at the map, leaned his head first one way and then the other.

  “You know, J, I can’t seem to escape the feeling that the path we took two days ago is the path to this place.” Patrick looked at J and arched his eyebrow.

  “You actually might be right,” said J.

  “That means we need to go back there again. And this time, with some tools,” said Simon.

  “This is good,” said Peter. “At least we know where to look now. The problem is that we’ll need to wait a few months.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s too late to make another expedition, Rick. By the time we’re back to the tree village and get ready again, the river will be overflowing. We wouldn’t manage to cross it. We’ll need to wait.”

  “I have an idea,” I said as I checked the power level of my E-band.

  “What is it?” asked J.

  “I’m not sure if it will work.”

  “If what will work?”

  “Let me try something. I’m not completely sure yet if it is possible,” I said, paging through the information on my E-Band, “but my E-band should be able to project the power of the microgenerator to other computer systems within a certain distance.”

  “I don’t understand. What does that mean?” asked Peter.

  Before answering, I confirmed with a few more swipes of my E-band that rerouting power was indeed possible. I set the radius to the maximum: all computer-linked electronic equipment within this range would be charged.

  I turned to Peter. “It means that my E-band can initiate a power surge to your underground installation and its computers.”

  “Really? You can do that?” asked Rick.

  I looked at Rick. “It’s not me doing it. It’s just standard Descendant technology.”

  Then I looked back at my E-band and tapped for execution.

  Within moments, we heard a low beeping sound coming from the computer wall screen. We looked to the map again. The underground installation icon now shone a brighter white, and very close to it another white blinking square had appeared.

  Momentarily, the sides of my vision blurred, the sounds dimmed, and I could tell another Vision was coming.

  Cheering. Loud voices. Happiness.

  But also – sadness. Deep, deep sadness.

  I closed my eyes tight and pushed it away.

  I am not a Senthien.

  I am not.

  I am not a Senthien anymore.

  I shouted it in my head and kept pressing my eyelids shut till it hurt.

  Not anymore.

  I am—Human.

  I am Human now.

  “Dora, are you okay?” I heard J right next to me.

  I opened my eyes slowly. I saw clearly again.

  I exhaled. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”

  He kissed my forehead and whispered, “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

  “What do you think, Dora? It looks like it worked, aye?” said Peter.

  “Yes, Peter. I do think so,” I said.

  “Good work!” He patted me on the shoulder, but then pulled his hand back. “Oh, sorry, Dora, I wasn’t thinking!”

  “It is all right, Peter.” I turned to J and smiled. “I am getting used to it.”

  “Uh, guys?” said Rick. “Why is there another blinking square next to our village?”

  “Perhaps it’s just a different part of our underground installation? Who knows…” Peter shrugged his shoulders.

  I felt a Vision building again, slowly, to the edges of my field of view. I closed my eyes and pushed it away.

  I am Human now.

  Human.

  Human.

  Let me be. Human.

  My heartbeat increased for a moment, but the Vision subsided and disappeared. I opened my eyes again.

  “Damn, I’m so curious if it worked!” said Frank.

  “Why do you have doubts?” I asked.

  “If you lived in our time, Dora, you’d learn never to trust a computer system. It always turns its back on you when you least expect it.”

  “You make it sound as if it were alive,” said Patrick, half laughing.

  “Well, you know, sometimes I had a feeling it was and it did stuff just to piss me off.”

  They all laughed.

  “I’m not joking, you guys. I swear, one of my computer’s most important tasks was to quit a program unexpectedly right when I was in the middle of it. And, of course, before I thought to save my work.”

  Patrick smiled and said, “That’s because you were using the wrong system, buddy.”

  “No, it’s because computers don’t like me.” Frank crossed his arms over his chest.

  Peter shook his head and then turned to me. “Dora, do you want to look through the other folders in the system? See what else can we find out before we leave?”

  “Of course, Peter, the Senthien in me is always eager to browse through new data,” I said and turned back to the screen.

  Chapter 23

  We were making good time going back to the village, though our backpacks were now a lot heavier from many items we scavenged in the ruins. Most of the first day, J and I walked behind everyone. He kept holding my hand, and I kept smiling for no particular reason.

  On the afternoon of the second day, J suggested to camp after lunch and continue forward on the third day. Some of the group went hunting, but J declined and said he had something else in mind.

  “Come, Dora. There is something I want to show you,” he said, hiding his excitement by suppressing a smile.

  “Okay. Should I take anything with me?”

  “No, no, I’ve got everything.”

  He called out to Peter and Frank, who were sitting in front of the place prepared for the fire. “We’re off for the falls, guys!”

  Frank, cleaning and preparing some fish, answered without looking at us, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “I guess anything goes then,” J said with a grin as he slung a small backpack over his shoulder. “C’mon!”

  We made our path through a dense part of the forest, watching our steps. Birds singing high up in the trees accompanied our hike. J didn’t talk. He was walking in front, bending hard branches and holding them for me to pass.

  Despite his silence, I felt a strange excitement that I could not explain. My heart was pounding, and it wasn’t due to our strenuous walk. There was something else.

  Is this only about the surprise he had prepared?

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see!” He didn’t turn, but I could tell he was smiling.

  We pressed on.

  As the path turned uphill and some of the vegetation changed, I heard a rumble, first quiet and then louder and louder, though I couldn’t identify
the sound.

  “Do you know what that is?” he said, turning to face me.

  “No.”

  “Good! Now, close your eyes.”

  “Again?”

  “Yes, again. Come!”

  “Okay,” I said and closed my eyes, holding J’s hand a bit tighter.

  We continued walking, my steps careful. The rumbling sound was getting so loud I could hardly hear anything else.

  “Okay, slowly…” he shouted above the noise. “Step up. Now straight a bit more. Okay, now wait here.”

  He let go of my hand. I had to use all my willpower not to open my eyes at that moment.

  “Don’t peek!” he called from somewhere in front of me.

  “I’m not!” I shouted back.

  It was several passes before he returned. He took my hand and led me a few more steps forward.

  “You can open your eyes now!”

  And I did.

  In front of me was the most amazing sight of a river falling down a several IPs high smooth black rock into a small circular lake. The sunshine found its way between the trees and refracted off the cloud of water drops from the falling river into an arch of six brightly colored stripes.

  A waterfall!

  And a rainbow!

  “Whoa… this is…” I turned to him and smiled, because I could not voice my feelings. This was more than beautiful.

  “You like it?” His smile was plastered from one cheek to the other. “There’s more. Follow me.”

  We circled around the lake, my hand in J’s, until we came to the right side of the waterfall.

  He turned to me and mouthed the words without a sound, as it was obvious I couldn’t have heard him even if he was shouting. We’ll walk behind the falls is what I thought he said, but this was so unbelievable, I grimaced a question with my eyes. He smiled and tugged my hand to follow him.

  Behind the curtain of free-falling water, there was a small ledge wide enough for only one person to use at a time, so I walked behind him, holding his hand tightly, mindful of the slippery floor as water splashed our clothes with fine drops.

  Ten IPs in, he stepped through a narrow opening in the rock wall and pulled me in behind him. We entered a small tunnel and I had to rely on him leading me because it was pitch-dark. The deafening sound of the waterfall got quieter, and I could hear our steps again. The passage gently curved to the right, and my impression was that we were walking slightly uphill.