“A superb observation Jerome,” Sandie was perky again. “Followed by a quality inquiry. Here is what I have learned.”
The three dimensional image of the central memory core was replaced by another image, this one of the planet. A small white arrow indicated the Conestoga. “I was just getting to the dynamics of the orbital flight status. There are no systems controlling the flight of the Conestoga. It is in an eccentric orbit, and I apologize for not computing the future trajectory of that orbit when we were docking. I assumed a flight crew or at minimum an artificial intelligence was monitoring it from onboard the Conestoga and would be making course corrections as needed. That assumption on my part was a failing, and I apologize. I have used the scout’s equipment to project the orbit of the Conestoga. Looking back in time, the eccentric orbit was once significantly larger than it is now. Over time the elliptic has gotten smaller and the flight path has brought it closer to the planet. It will begin brushing the upper atmosphere of the planet in two more revolutions. Those contacts with the atmosphere will cause directional changes which will make the orbit even more unsettled and more dangerous. Without intervention, the Conestoga will do an uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere of the planet in seventeen days.”
The projected image showed the Conestoga following a dotted line around the planet until it smacked into the atmosphere.
“So the ship will crash in seventeen days?” Cammarry asked.
“Not necessarily,” Sandie replied. “While the primary artificial intelligences have been destroyed, there are secondary systems which could alter that flight pattern, and regain control of the Conestoga. Prior to visiting the nonphysicality at this location, I assumed those were in place and functional. As I said, that assumption was an error on my part. However, to avoid the catastrophe, the secondary systems will need to be integrated and made functional again. The main drive, and the orbital adjustment rockets should be able to be controlled and directed by the secondary systems. We will just need to repair them. Oh, also I discovered in the nonphysicality that this section of the Conestoga is called the needle ship, and that there were eight ecological habitats which were jettisoned just prior to the destruction of the primary AIs.”
“Please my wizard friends, can we leave now? I will take you to my people as you asked. All this wizard talk is too much for me,” Khin said. “The Old One can tell you stories and we can sit safely without spirit-ghost guides. Please may we leave?”
Jerome turned to Khin. “We are still on the quest, and we will need your help more than ever. Will you still help us, even though it means a change of mission?”
“Yes, but I do not understand all that your spirit-ghost says. The visions that the spirit-ghost Sandie shows are troubling to my soul,” Khin said. “I have heard of other talking spirit-ghosts, but these visions are frightful. I can see through them, and yet see them at the same time.”
“So you will come with us and help us?” Jerome pressed.
“Yes, I will.” Khin laughed but it was forced and without much mirth. “Wizards are strange people. No offense intended, forgive me.”
“I am pleased you are helping us. We need you,” Jerome said and patted Khin on the shoulder.
“So we did come here to save people. Maybe not the Dome 17 people, but everyone on the Conestoga. Sandie how do we find these secondary systems?” Cammarry asked. “Can you access schematics or deck plans or that sort of information?”
“Because the primary AIs were truncated in such a violent manner in this location, there are splinters of old log records here, most of which are mere shadows of what they were. I can determine that the secondary and tertiary systems once existed, and I can extrapolate, to a limited degree, on which ones are still functional. However, the nonphysicality is very rudimentary as well as fragmented and uneven. What once was a smooth and connected realm, is now just pockets of existence. I can probe only for a certain distance, from each access port, but no further. The distance varies depending on the access port. I am only able to ascertain still images of some locations, others are completely cut off from this locale.”
“That sounds rather hopeless,” Cammarry said. “But I have faith in you Sandie, what is the plan?”
“Thank you Cammarry!” the AI replied. “I believe the best place to begin would be the needle ship’s command bridge. That is located not far from here physically, just within my ability to probe. There are doors at the far end of this gallery and beyond those will be the command bridge. I may be able to uncover where the secondary systems are located from an access port there. Please unjack the com-link and we can proceed.”
The other doors leading from the gallery of dead memory cores were also heavily damaged, but on one was a plaque. It was brass with an imprinting, ‘Machines are our greatest allies, and thinking machines our most loyal friends.’ All around the doors and frames were the marks of violence that had burst the doors open: charred scars of explosions, cutting, and melting.
“I have not read that quote,” Jerome said. “Sandie? Who is that quote attributed to?”
“I am sorry Jerome, but I have no record of that quote in the database,” the AI replied. “It reminds me of something Alan Turing, circa 1940 might have said, but I have no record of anyone coining that exact phrase. I do like it very much however.”
They proceeded along and the hallway. At the end of it, several goats were standing. They turned their heads in unison as the people approached.
“Maaaaeee!” the goats bleated.
“So this is where the goats went,” Cammarry said. “We saw them a few days ago, but not since.”
Khin began to laugh again. “These are not the same goats you saw. See the horns, and the black feet? This is a different flock from what was at the place you made your camp. These are good for food and leather, but not so much for milking. Brown and white, milk is right. Black on feet, good to eat.”
“Well Jerome, there is an idiom for you.” Cammarry gave him a hug.
The goats continued to make their vocalizations as the people approached. When they got within about five meters, the goats turned and bounded away down the corridor.
The pressure door was labeled, ‘Command Bridge: Authorized Personnel Only’ in faded white lettering.
Jerome and Cammarry were looking at the door. Khin giggled a bit. “Why do you look there? Those kinds of symbols mean nothing. That is a false door. It looks like a door, but it is just a fake.”
“Can you read?” Jerome asked.
Khin chuckled. “The Old One tries to teach us what is called reading, but I am not a wizard. I already know what symbols mean. I know the doors which will open by pulling the lever, and those that do not. The symbols you look at there mean nothing. I know where stairways are, and know the symbols which show where water is, and where the deadly glow is, and how to following the pathways. Is that what you call reading?”
“In a way, yes.” Cammarry took a fusion pack out and connected it to the access port near the pressure door. A nine sectioned control pad lit up where none was visible before. A blue light shined around the perimeter of a door, and a display screen with red and green flashing lights lit up in the permalloy next to the door.
“Wizard work. I have never seen a false door come alive,” Khin said with a start. “You mean those symbols mean something? I thought it was just decoration or artwork. You know, like children who use stains to trace their hands on the walls, or when the people paint pictures of goats.”
“Symbols always mean something,” Jerome answered. “Our job is to figure out what they mean. This place will be the control center for all of the Conestoga. Now we just need the right combination to get inside.”
Cammarry was studying the newly lit display screen. “Beyond this door is the bridge, but we already knew that. This is a default information board and all those red lights appear to indicate that very little is working. I believe these are error messages. The three large ones are from Engineering, Machine Main
tenance, and something called Homeostasis Authority. There are no active controls on this display.”
“Jerome?” Sandie said, “Connect your com-link into an access port, and I will decipher this door. I have been learning much about the security systems of the doors and other mechanisms. I believe I have an override code, but I want to try it internally, through the nonphysicality, before suggesting it to you. There are lock-out features which need to be circumvented.”
“There is only one access port I can see,” Jerome replied.
“The fusion pack should have reenergized this section. It should remain powered long enough for me to attempt the decoding,” Sandie stated.
Jerome took the cable from his com-link and connected it into the access port after Cammarry removed the fusion pack. The lights did not dim, nor did the display screen shut down.
“Entering this section of the nonphysicality,” Sandie stated.
The nine section color pad flashed in a series of colors, and suddenly the pressure doors slid apart with a whoosh. A stale waft of air hit them as the gases in the room rushed out to the hallway.
“That smells very bad,” Khin said. “We should go to another place. It is not wise to open things which have been long unused. Spirit-ghosts may be within, or other things.”
Cammarry turned on the bright beam of light from the fusion pack and shined it inside.
There was a red box with some kind of crane-like appendage sitting right in the way. The red box had three wheels on each side of it, and was about thigh high. The number 213 was stenciled on its front next to several tubes which projected out from the flat permalloy.
“A red cubie! Beware!” Khin yelled. He grabbed Cammarry and pulled her over to the side away from the entrance.
“What are you doing?” Cammarry yelled as she jerked herself away from Khin. “Is there some peril?”
Jerome rapidly looked around. Only darkness was beyond the machine, and he saw no signs of danger. He unjacked the cable from the access port. He studied the machine in front of them, but again he saw no threat. There was no obvious evidence the machine was powered in any way. The multi-jointed appendage lay dormant and folded onto its top. There was a coating of dust over the machine’s flat surfaces, and there were no lights of any kind on it. He touched the machine and felt no vibrations, or warmth. It was the same temperature as the walls and floor. He squatted down next to the three wheels on the side. He moved a step around to the front and peered into one of the tubes on that side of the machine which Khin had called a cubie.
“A cubie? Well, this could be a weapon muzzle, I suppose, or it could be a nozzle for ejecting fluids or other substances.” He placed his nose close to the tube and sniffed. “No smells of any kind here except dust. The machine does not seem to be powered in anyway. Khin, why are you frightened of it?”
“Fear cubie red, they make you dead,” Khin recited. “When cubie green, a good machine. When cubie blue, it knows what to do.”
“Good to know. Thank you.” Jerome recognized that Khin was reciting something he had learned long ago. “The appendage arm on the top has many joints and multiple movement capability. Fairly impressive.”
“So you know about these machines?” Cammarry asked Khin as she stepped toward Jerome. “This one is inert, I doubt it will try to kill you.”
“I know about cubies.” Khin was troubled in his expressions. “You are powerful wizards to have stopped a red cubie. I am glad to be with you two.”
“What do these machines do? What is their function?” Cammarry asked. “They obviously are mobile, those wheels have a suspension which looks rugged and quite adjustable. Reminds me of a fusion truck, only smaller. The arm could serve a wide variety of purposes.”
“Cubies do what cubies do,” Khin remarked. “Everyone knows about cubies.”
“Have you ever seen one that was working?” Jerome asked. He had moved around to the back side of the machine and was feeling along the flat sides there.
“I have heard the stories. My brother saw, well actually his friend was who saw it, but he told my brother, about a cubie, a green one, and it was moving some of the tall mushrooms which are so good to eat. He brought back a whole bag of those mushrooms, cubie green, a good machine!”
Jerome pulled a small tool out of his pack and opened the back of the cubie. Flipping a piece open he shined a light inside. “There is a small display panel on its superior surface. Looks like some kind of antique style of battery or power pack used as an energy source.” He carefully examined the interior. “Khin might be right about this machine. It looks like there is a set of containers which hold what is labeled as ‘Incendiary Ordinance’ and another container is marked, ‘12mm Slugs’ so this machine does have some kind of combat abilities. I suggest we not connect a fusion pack to it. It might be part of a guardian system for the bridge. I am not sure from this vintage machinery, but it may have an elementary cognizance.”
“So not a real AI, but some basic awareness and sentience?” Cammarry asked.
“Exactly!” Sandie interrupted. “Jerome, I magnified the images you viewed of the interior of that machine. Two of the component parts have tiny markings identifying it. It is officially designated as an ‘Automacube: Security Model’ and there are matching serial numbers on many of the parts. The serial numbers reference a ‘Fabrication and Reproduction’ facility. I conjecture that this cubie, as Khin calls it, was manufactured as a single unit somewhere on the Conestoga.”
“A security force?” Jerome asked. “Obviously did not succeed in its mission.”
“So we avoid activating this cubie, and see what else is here. We need to find a way to get those secondary systems functional and get the Conestoga, or as you said, the needle ship, into a stable orbit.” Cammarry walked around the cubie and looked at the bridge in the light from the fusion pack. “There is no plant growth in here. Sandie, is there a way to get more lights on? There is not even the dim light we see in other places.”
“The nonphysicality around that door was in worse condition than at previous locations. If you can connect into a different access port, I can again probe and look for some answers,” Sandie replied. “The fragmented nature of the nonphysicality makes exploration tedious, but I see no other way.”
“Light? I know that.” Khin rushed past, and was in the shadows. “I will help the wizards!”
There was a clicking noise, and then ceiling lights flickered on. Khin was standing next to a horizontal counter which was arch shaped and wrapped around the room at roughly waist height. The ceiling lights shined down adequately enough to reveal that he had pulled down on several levers at the end of a control board. There were a multitude of other buttons, dials, switches, and gauges along the wall in front of the counter. “These are levers which bring light to dark places.” Khin smiled and laughed a bit. “Is knowing that, reading?”
“It is very helpful,” Jerome replied.
“How did you know that lever was there?” Cammarry asked.
“I did not know. I saw it.” Khin laughed. “You are testing me again, right?”
“It was so dark, I did not even see that bank of controls and gauges,” Cammarry responded. “You could actually see it?”
“Yes, it was vague but I could see it. You honestly could not?” Khin asked. “I look, I listen, I learn.”
“I did not see it,” Jerome added.
“Neither did I,” Cammarry confirmed. “You have excellent vision in the dark.”
Cammarry looked around more at the ruins of the bridge. Some of the controls had been removed from the wall leaving jagged gaping holes. Doors were hanging open, some with busted hinges, and some doors were lying on the floor or leaning against the wall. Wires, pipes, conduits, and insulation hung out with broken and torn ends. Faces of gauges were smashed, or shattered or melted. There were sections on the countertop where charring was seen. There was also graffiti marring the controls. The paint did not spell out words, but made circles, and
an arrow downward. Few of the controls looked to have escaped the sabotage.
Off to the side, about ten meters away, was a clear permalloy wall which ran parallel to the arching shape of the bridge. Shining the fusion pack light through the clear permalloy showed that the space behind that was empty. She turned back and scanned the countertop, the walls, and the other controls looking for an access point that was not ruined. She could not find one.
Jerome had walked past the countertop and up righted several overturned chairs. “Horrible destruction here. Why would the crew do this to their own ship? It is peculiar that there is no growth medium or plant life in here. We have seen it nearly everywhere else on the Conestoga.” Shining the light about some more he spotted something else. “There is a stairway down on this side of that clear wall.”
Quest for the Conestoga (Colony Ship Conestoga Book 1) Page 20