1 Ceres

by Takemoto, D. J.

  Eve slid the portal shut, all the while hearing the constant voices ordering her to wake them up from hibernation mode. But she knew she was not going crazy…that the voices possibly came from some digital link between her stone and the advanced computers inside each of those AI brain terminals. And once Robin Lightfighter had discovered that AI capability, she’d set them all to a permanent off mode, and had hidden them down in the tunnels as a security measure…to prevent what had happened on 2-Pallas. Eve turned and typed another message to the mainframe.

  “Now, I know why Commander Lightfighter locked and coded everything so securely. She knew the temptation to obey the AIs’ command would be too great. The voices are almost hypnotic aren’t they?” The mainframe typed back.

  That is correct, though the communication is not hypnotic to a mainframe. Your experience is a human brain wave connection. This was their means of conquest on 2-Pallas. The awake settlement there is now only AI.

  Eve remembered her visit to the stasis pod room with Dirk. It now seemed like it had occurred years ago. She typed her next question to the Unilux™ 8500.

  “There was a note inside the drawer…the one in stasis pod #1. I think that is Robin Lightfighter’s stasis pod, but when I peeked inside it was empty. Commander Lightfighter was no longer inside. Do you know where the commander is?” The mainframe answered, yes. Eve went on typing.

  “At the time, I wondered why Commander Lightfighter was instructed to inactivate all the AIs and not Gerta. Gerta was probably also supposed to be turned off, but she hid before the commander found her, or maybe the commander kept her to help with housekeeping while building the city. Why was Gerta allowed to remain awake?” The mainframe answered her question.

  Gerta is necessary for vessel upkeep and maintenance. However, she serves another purpose. She is not like the others. You may think of Gerta as my facilitator. We have a direct link. As the vessel’s mainframe, I control Gerta.

  “Oh, I see. That makes sense. But you did not answer my first question. Where is Robin Lightfighter?” Eve persisted. “Is Commander Lightfighter dead, or is she hibernating in one of the other stasis pods. Where is Commander Robin Lightfighter? I command you to answer my question.” The mainframe answered, though it did not provide the necessary directions.

  Commander Lightfighter is alive. You must find the commander yourself. That is a part of the security protocol. Use your stone.

  Eve typed, thank you, returned the keyboard back to its wall slot, turned, backed out of the room, shut the door, initiated a sealing protocol using her stone, and returned to Bunker Z. All the while, the AIs screamed in her head to wake them up…so she screamed back…NO…and then all was silence!

  “Three hundred…I counted three hundred security AIs,” Eve told herself. “Now I understand why Miggly and Blakeley are afraid of them. They probably read about them in The Book of Rules. The mainframe said what happened on 2-Pallas. The AIs took over there and killed all the humans.” Eve examined the boxes in another bunker just down the tunnel. She finally sat down on one of the boxes in the bunker, this one filled with canned foods, while trying to decide what to do next. She opened her pack once more, this time removing the fragile and ancient archive book.

  “Maybe this book also says something about what happened on 2-Pallas,” Eve said. But she doubted the book had anything historical inside since it was about land usage. She noted the torn map was still inside the ancient book, inside its yellow folder. “I wonder what CLOCK means. Gerta also used that word once when she described the vessel. She said it was made by CLOCK. I mean, we all know Commander Robin Lightfighter lived here and was the one who set up the current settlement. She was supposed to have designed the town, everything really. I guess she might have even made that false statue of herself…as a man, I mean. Was she hiding her identity to protect us…to protect me? Will she wake up for the target date…if she’s really still alive?” Eve asked herself, aloud.

  She opened her belt tool kit to remove a can opening device, using it to open another container of food. Eve poured some green slimy things into her mouth and almost gagged. She had not even read the label, but now looked. “Okra…it tastes awful. Why would anyone bother to can this stuff?” She forced the food down, not wanting to waste it, but made a mental note to avoid cans of okra in the future, and then continued her conversation.

  “If Commander Lightfighter is long gone to recycle, I will never learn the answers to my questions. I’m getting off track. I’m supposed to find a special pod chamber, not go off on some crazy adventure,” Eve continued, after a long drink of water to wash away the slimy okra taste.

  “So let’s see…Miggly wants my stone to get into the vessel so he can evacuate in a year and go back to our original home. But he can’t get inside the vessel without my stone. And he can’t get inside the bunker from the other door because the access key and main entry are now coded to Dirk’s genetics…Gerta said as much. So for now, at least the vessel and supply bunkers are secure,” Eve continued talking to herself, walking back and forth across the room, hands behind her back. She stopped to empty the rest of a can of peaches into her mouth, swallowed them whole, and went on.

  “If Miggly finds out what my stone can do, he might use my work team or family as ransom to force me to do what he wants…and then he could even take over the entire vessel, along with the water machines and oxygen makers inside. So then we’ll all die even if the AIs stay in hibernation mode.” Eve stopped, opened another box and removed a can of corn. She opened the can and sat down, slowly emptying the contents into her mouth.

  “Well then, if my stone can activate everything, then I obviously can never take it anywhere near Miggly,” she said, her mouth full of food. “I can stay inside the tunnels, but never go out unless I leave the stone inside. That does mean I can never get back inside the vessel or into the bunkers unless I go with Dirk. But I can’t be sure Dirk would be safe from Miggly either,” Eve continued. She set the empty can down on the floor and went on deliberating.

  “I have to be sure to take whatever is needed from the bunkers before I leave. And how can I do that by myself? Even with Dirk’s help, we could not possibly move a model A23550 oxygen generator and three model BJ344 water production devices. Plus, it will take forever to transport everything from these bunkers to the city. Think, Eve…think…come up with a plan.”

  She continued, turning to walk back in the other direction across the room. “Well then, that’s it; I have to leave the stone inside the vessel. But first I need to go back to my team and show them the tunnel to the bunkers. Stanley will know how to carry out the supplies and machines. We’ll all meet in the decay zone and use Dirk’s key. I have to go find Dirk,” Eve continued, as she walked to the tunnel.

  “No, that won’t work either. Someone will see us carrying all this stuff out. And besides, where would we store it? No, I’ll have to tell the new Head of The Committee. Henry Darpen is supposed to be honest…Hugh Endley and Stanley Wormwood said so. If I got a note to him, maybe he would make everything public before Miggly grabs these supplies and hoards them.” Eve continued walking, then stopped, ran a hand through her now loose and wet frizzy hair, and wiped some dirt from her face onto her sleeve.

  “The Committee will condemn me to the ride for entering the Boardroom Building, even if it is a vessel and not a building. No matter what happens, I’ll probably be sent into the void for entering the vessel. And Miggly will exact vengeance on everyone. Though he’s not the head anymore, he still has power. He’ll be furious. I know I might die, but I think this is the only way to stop Miggly. I have to get word to Henry Darpen before harm comes to anyone,” Eve started to run back through the tunnel unaware that she might already too late.

  ●

  At that same moment, Gerta exited the vessel’s sick bay. She’d been watching over the monitors on Dirk’s regeneration pod…just to be sure everything worked. Gerta was only a tour guide and housekeeping unit, but the mainframe had
downloaded all necessary information into her organo-digital brain files. Gerta was proud to say she could now add Emergency Medical Technician to her skill set. It would be the first addition in almost five hundred years.

  All systems are working optimally. The regeneration process is proceeding as scheduled. Should I awaken the Commander?

  Gerta spoke in her mind, of course. She had no need to speak aloud to the mainframe. They were connected ionically, and always spoke a Qbytes, a math language. What she had just said would read on a print-out as:

  23A7788’’’eee whe776**##. ##9965034756 203985648902. Ds***& 4465930742 **”””##?

  And the mainframe answered aloud as:

  “NEE NED ZB 6TNN DEIBEDH SIEFI EBEEE SSIEI ESEE SEEE.”

  Gerta thought it was a bit strange because the mainframe usually only spoke in numbers. But she quickly translated it as a Morse code message in Wolf 1061-speak. It was a message so important it had even been carved into some craters on Mars over a billion years prior.

  The mainframe computer translation read:

  Do not violate the prime directive.

  Gerta replied affirmative and continued to oversee the pod controls. But soon after, her mainframe computer boss sent another message, which when translated for humans was,

  The regeneration pod systems are functioning properly. You are redundant. Your immediate services are required on level 1. Please go to entry lock 442 immediately for an emergency humanoid retrieval. Death is imminent. The prime directive is preservation of humanoidlife. Do not violate the prime directive.

  Gerta closed both her eyes, several buttons on her chest glowed green, and she lifted off the floor surface, appearing to be transported by a beam of light right through an opening portal at the top of the ceiling of the sick bay. As she passed through, she disappeared, becoming only electrons and protons. Only AIs could move about the vessel in this manner. Humans had to use the more time-consuming organic systems, like lifts or stairs. Gerta then spoke in Qbyte-speak,

  I have arrived at entry lock 442. The door is engaged. I am exiting the inner door.

  The mainframe responded,

  Inner lock engaged. The outer lock is opening. Please prepare to exit the vessel.

  Gerta said affirmative but it came out, ZZ578833098, and then she passed out of the vessel into the void. It was still sun sol season, so it was brutally hot. But Gerta, the organometallic masterpiece of AI technology did not feel a thing. However, the human about to exit the mining tunnel forty yards away from the dock would be dead within a few seconds if she was not rescued. Gerta waited for several seconds as her mainframe boss counted down the time to exit, the necessary speed required for retrieval, and then the projected required plasmon materials were transmitted to Gerta’s stomach pocket.

  ●

  The old, steam-powered mining cart flew from the tunnel into the blazing heat of the sun-scorched void. It carried a single woman, around forty years of age, wearing a brown wool shirt and pants. She wore no shoes. One of the security soldiers at the cart tunnel entry point fancied her nice grey hide boots and demanded she take them off before entering the steam cart. He also took her single, gold-band wedding ring, some coins, and her hemp woven belt. He would have demanded her clothing, but his commander said it would be unseemly to send her out into the void naked…in case there really were void gods out there.

  Ronna Overhearder, the daughter of Sarah Sipson and Joseph Lightfighter, the wife of John Overhearder, and the mother of James and Eve Lightfighter-Overhearder, was about to die a horrible fiery death; she would be burned alive from the heat of the sun sol void. Gerta’s response was immediate, and faster than the human eye could see. Within one one-thousandth of a microsecond, the AI returned to her ionic state and flew as a particle beam towards the exit spot, surrounding Eve’s terrified mother in a plasmon shield. Ronna looked up into the black sky and the cart tossed her from the tunnel. Before she lost consciousness she wondered what all those tiny twinkling lights were…and then all was black.

  ●

  Eve ran as fast as possible for the first of the two miles back to Raymond Sneider’s office. Then suddenly she stopped, held onto one side of the tunnel wall, and caught her breath. Something had occurred to her. “She knows all of this. Mother has to know. She knows about the stone, and what is in the box. I know she does. Father must have told her before he died, or she would not have hidden the secret so carefully. I have to open the chamber before I go back. Mother may have already died to protect its secret.”

  Eve turned around and ran back to Bunker Z where she had left her pack and the ΩD stone safely hidden behind a box. She reentered the bunker, sat on the floor, and opened her pack once more, carefully holding the small metal box in one hand. It had no locking mechanism, but it wouldn’t, of course. “It will open with my stone,” Eve said to no one. She put her green stone around her neck once more, and held it to the markings on the back side of the box; the lock clicked open. Inside was what she had expected…the rest of the map. Eve knew what the map marked. She stood, carefully repacked everything except the map back into her pack, and looked around the room. The now-complete map marked the route to where she was going. Eve placed the torn piece inside the rest of the map, marked where she now stood, and where she now knew was her final destination.

  “I have to turn left after I leave here. The tunnel veers off to the left, and then goes straight for what looks like five miles. I wonder if that would be beyond the dome. It would make sense. It would be a safer place to hide it,” Eve mumbled as she exited Bunker Z and turned left. She started out this time at a constant jog so she would not get winded. She had strong legs and was in good shape, but she had not slept for the last two days.

  The tunnel no longer lit up when she approached, so she turned her helmet light on, hoping the battery would not deplete before she got to her final destination. As Eve jogged to the area marked on the secret piece of the map, she noted two things. First, there were no signs or doors leading off to other bunkers in this region of the tunnel, and second, the tunnel appeared to be getting a bit warmer. It also seemed to be going downward.

  “I wonder how far down they made it…and if I am below the void,” Eve thought as she jogged to her destination. As she turned right into the last stretch of the tunnel she saw a solid wall blocking her way. She slowed her pace, finally stopping right in front of what appeared to be the end of the tunnel.

  “This is weird. My map shows I should continue on for a short distance. I hope Commander Lightfighter did not change her mind and seal this section off. Now what should I do?” Eve reached out to touch the solid wall. It was disappointing; she’d somehow thought it was a picture, like one of those holograms Gerta had shown them. But no, the wall was solid. She felt around the wall, running her hands over the entire surface area. Finally, she touched a spot near the bottom middle, and a com voice spoke.

  Do you wish to initiate a sealing protocol prior to entry?

  “What? Why would I want to initiate a sealing protocol,” Eve asked, although by now she knew the automatic door voice did not answer questions.

  Do you wish to initiate a sealing protocol prior to entry?

  She didn’t know how to respond. How was she to know if the answer was yes, or no, if she didn’t even know why a sealing protocol would be required? She glanced nervously up at the ceiling, and then timidly said…”Yes?”

  Sealing protocol initiated.

  The tunnel in back of her immediately closed off, sealing her inside a small region between the sealed door of the tunnel and the solid wall. “This is a terrible way to die. It’s like being buried alive.” she thought.

  Please utilize the stone for entry.

  Eve sucked in her breath and took the stone from inside her shirt. She noted that it was glowing bright green, like back at the AI body storage room. She stepped to the wall. Once she got up close, a blue glowing seal appeared mid center in the concrete wall. Eve pressed her stone to the glo
wing seal, once again, careful to match the pattern with the shape of her stone.

  Please enter. Sealing protocols will be initiated immediately after your entry. Welcome, Eve Overheader-Lightfighter.

  Eve stepped over the threshold into a magical, circular room made of white marble…and, there were thankfully no AIs in sight. The room was well-lit, and from its looks, had not been entered for quite some time. Her first thought was that she was inside one of those ancient burial vaults…like the kings tombs she’d read about in fairy tales. But although the room was beautiful, it was not what caught her attention. Eve stood staring into the middle of the room at a large, silver, fully functional stasis pod. And she knew this one was not empty.

  ●

  Ronna Overhearder opened her blue eyes, staring up at a white, brightly lit ceiling. She knew she was not at the town clinic, which would have been lit by candles. She had never seen such bright lights; they hurt her eyes. She closed her eyes again, thinking perhaps she was dead and that this was what the afterlife looked like. At least she was not in pain; nor was she hungry. In fact, Ronna thought she felt perfectly fine, maybe for the first time ever. And then she remembered. Ronna Overhearder bolted up from her medi-bed. Her first spoken words were, “I have to save James and Eve.”

  Those are logical responses for a human mother. However, your genetically-related offspring James, and the Lightfighter, Eve, have no need of being saved. Your male offspring is now in hiding at the home of Hugh Endley, and Eve has now reached the ΩD stasis pod chamber room. Both individuals are secured from harm, though it would be difficult to harm someone like Eve.