1 Ceres

by Takemoto, D. J.

  “Who are you? Where am I? What’s going on? I was supposed to be dead by now. Am I dead?”

  Negative, Ronna Overhearder; you remain a viable organic human unit. You are in the sick bay of IGS Vessel 22876. It is an advanced intergalactic vessel made by CLOCK for intergalactic space travel to their mining operations from our home planet. Welcome to our vessel. Would you like a tour once you have returned to metabolic homeostasis?

  “Who are you and what’s going on? Did you save me? And what is metabolic homeostasis?”

  I am AI-97763, an advanced and top line AI designed for tour guide and housekeeping duties…and currently approved as an Emergency Medical Technician. You may call me Gerta. You were saved by an ion delivery of plasmon shielding materials designed to protect humans from accidental exposure to the void. Metabolic homeostasis is a state of organic equilibrium required for optimal life expectancy. I do not know how to respond to your question, “What’s going on?” It is an illogical question. When you are fully restored, perhaps you would like some corn chips and hot chocolate. Our previous humanoid visitors seemed to like their taste.

  “Previous visitors…? Ronna asked. She was feeling less lightheaded so took the opportunity to look about the room. The Gerta thing was right; she was in a sick bay…a medical clinic. But this one was far more advanced than anything she had ever seen, though there was still the telltale needle and syringe unit feeding some liquid into the vein of her left arm. But the resemblance stopped there because the town clinic liquid was clear and this was green.

  Yes, Eve Overhearder, your adopted daughter, Eve Overhearder-Lightfighter, and Dirk Heatherfield, her designated mate visited the vessel for a tour only two days ago. They digested corn chips and hot chocolate as part of the tour. Would you like to see Dirk Heatherfield? He is in the next room. But you will not be able to communicate with him because he is now in stasis until his symbiotic stem cell regeneration process has been completed…in another five weeks.

  “Dirk is here? Eve and James are safe? Oh, thank you…whatever you are,” Ronna sighed, laying her head back on something soft that oozed out and conformed to her head shape and size. She closed her eyes and went back to sleep. Gerta stood beside her bed for several minutes, examining the instruments, and monitoring her latest patient. Then she spoke in Qbytes to her mainframe boss, and left to check on Dirk’s regeneration progress.

  ●

  Back in the up-top, Miggly and Blakeley were frantic. For hours they’d been trying to pry up the tile with the strange ΩD marking on it. They had not been able to access the back door of the vessel, but were now certain Dirk had not either. The key was back on its hook, and the tunnel did not appear to have been disturbed. They had no way of knowing Gerta had performed her housekeeping duties on the tunnel just after starting Dirk’s regeneration protocols.

  “I know something is under this tile. Maybe the stone is hidden here,” Miggly mumbled. He did not want the security guards to overhear their conversation. He knew he was overstepping because as of yesterday he was no longer the Head of The Committee, so should have informed Henry Darpen. The head of security was on his way, and once he got there Miggly would no longer be in charge. He had to act fast. Miggly called in one of the security guards patrolling the decay zone. The guard fired a shock gun at the ancient mosaic tile, point blank, and broke the beautiful, and they thought, five-hundred year old ΩD-marked tile into tiny fragments and red clay dust.

  It was a terrible crime, because later they would discover the stone was actually a priceless, four-thousand year old mosaic tile taken from a place called The Alhambra on their home world, as part of the art preservation plan during the final evacuation. Under the crumbled tile, Miggly was delighted to find a nice, easy-to-push lever…or so he thought. But after several minutes of pushing, pulling, and even a direct shock gun hit set at full-blast level, the lever held fast and would not budge…and he could see Henry Darpen and the security chief approaching from the city. They looked furious.

  “I don’t understand what’s happening. Why won’t this thing move? What’s it made of?” Blakeley asked, staring off towards the city to gauge how long they had before Darpen arrived with his bevy of security guards. They had hoped to be locked safely inside the vessel before the new boss arrived.

  “Sir, it appears to be a polymer, not unlike the things we find from time to time in the mines. I believe it’s from the old times…from our home world. This would mean it is rather unbreakable. I think we need a key or codes,” a worker had replied. Miggly had called in an engineer from over in repair to help with the tile, so he would have a bit of knowledge about those ancient polymers. But not enough…he only knew the polymers lasted forever and nothing broke them…nothing.

  “Thank you; that will be all,” Miggly huffed as he dismissed the engineer and the security officer because he wanted to try the latest codes and password. “What are the codes and password for this month? Do you have them written down someplace or did you bring the book?” Miggly asked. “The word is ostrich and the numbers are 455980,” Blakeley replied, reading directly from The Book of Rules he held in his outstretched and perfectly manicured right hand. It was the first day of a new Book of Rules month so he’d only just marked the new page.

  Miggly bent down and looked for a communication device so he could speak the word and numbers, but he found none. “Do you suppose we need a key? Maybe the key by the door will work. Go get it,” Miggly whispered to his partner in crime. Blakeley looked around carefully to check the current positions of the security guards. Darpen and the security chief appeared to have stopped near a rock to discuss something. Blakeley made a run for the tunnel, grabbed the key from its hook and scooted back to Miggly, placing the key in his outstretched, sweaty palm.

  He squatted down near Miggly, and surreptitiously looked over at Darpen, who had continued his angry march toward them. They found the key slot to the side of the lever and inserted it, then spoke the password and numbers because no keyboard was visible. But of course nothing happened because, as Gerta had stated to Eve and Dirk, it required a special key that was now coded to Dirk’s DNA, and he was in stasis undergoing stem cell regeneration, with the key now safely in his jacket pocket hanging on a coat rack next to his stasis pod. The mainframe tracked the illegal attempted entry, and initiated a safeguard sealing protocol. But that specific lever opened the main tunnels to all the supply bunkers, and therefore a more severe sealing protocol was in place.

  Usually there was a warning message. It would go something like, Stand back or get blown to bits. But Gerta had coded in the DNA identifications of Miggly and Blakeley from their previous attempts to enter the vessel…two times. There was a “three strikes you’re out” code on the mainframe…and that unfortunately meant you are really out. Miggly tried the lever once more.

  The result was not pretty. Within five seconds an ionic charge burst shot from a slot at the side of the lever and fried both committee members to nothing. It sounded like a crash of lightening…something often heard in the city from out in the void beyond the second set of hills. The citizens heard the sounds often but especially during their summer light season. Luckily, no one else was hit. But the static electricity caused everyone’s hair to stand on end for several minutes, and the guard closest to the ion beam now had a strange orange-colored face and his hair had turned very white…like he’d been under the solar lights for too long.

  Henry Darpen and the head of security watched from across the start of the decay zone. They’d only just arrived when Darpen got that note slipped under his door…the one Stanley and Hugh had written to him. Darpen had just arrested Miggly’s rat-faced assistant, Arlo Stevens, for hoarding food. The noodle-brain stood before the rest of The Committee in the judging chambers and confessed to everything…or what he thought was everything. He told them of Miggly’s illegal attempts to enter the Boardroom Building, saying his boss wanted to store the food and supplies inside.

  But according to A
rlo Stevens, and entered as official testimony against all three individuals in question, he did not gain entry so had stored the contraband in the basement of the old mining warehouse out near the back side of the Management District. Arlo Stevens even produced the inventory sheet. But he’d been left out of the loop, so did not know anything about Miggly’s plan for the rulers to evacuate on the target date by using those hibernation pods inside the space vessel. Arlo had no idea what a space vessel was.

  In fact, because Roger Miggly had been the former Head of The Committee for twenty years, he had safely hidden The Book of Rules away from everyone except his trusted comrade in crime, Horatio Blakely. And because Henry Darpen had only been the new Head for two days, Miggly had not gotten around to handing the rule book over to his successor. And unfortunately that was now not going to happen because the book had also been ionized…right in the outstretched hand of Horatio Blakeley as he read the word and code numbers to his co-conspirator Roger Miggly. Those were the last words he spoke before his organic units turned to atoms, right there in the decay zone.

  ●

  Eve felt the effects of the blast even at seventy-seven levels underground in the stasis pod chamber. The silver metal of the walls temporarily buzzed out of focus, like it was deciding if it would remain in that dimension. The white marble floor remained solid, but shook slightly like one of those earth tremors that happened every so often out in the void. They could be felt as slight movements even inside the protective dome. She instinctively reached out to touch the stasis pod and stabilize herself during the shaking. It lasted about two minutes. She noticed her auburn hair stood on end during the process, and that the hairs on her arms had also decided to dance.

  The entire event was over in three minutes, but the pod had changed its position so that now the portal stood facing her. She walked with both dread and anticipation to the stasis pod. It was not covered in steam like the others. This one was clear, although it was thick and would probably distort the view of what or who was inside. “I hope she’s alive,” she mumbled, peaking into the portal. As she peered inside, her hand touched one of the control panels, thus activating to her DNA. The communication voice of the mainframe addressed this distant relative of Commander Robin Lightfighter.

  Welcome, Eve Overhearder-Lightfighter. Your presence has been noted and approved. You may initiate the process.

  Eve looked to the ceiling by instinct, but then smiled because obviously the voice was not a talking ceiling. “How do I initiate the process…what process?” she asked the voice. She thought she would not get a response; that the same response would be repeated. But this time, because the mainframe always kept a personal watch over this special stasis pod, it assimilated her question and answered with a voice that Eve recognized…it was Gerta’s.

  Welcome Eve, this is Gerta. I am addressing you via the IGS Vessel 22876 mainframe master computer. Your possession of the ΩD stone and your DNA profile authorizes your presence in the chamber as a Lightfighter. You may choose to read the diary, or you can also delay and choose to initiate the process of stasis retrieval in the future.

  “Gerta…where are you? Are you inside the vessel? I have so many questions to ask you. I’m so worried about Mother and James. Miggly and Blakeley know I have the stone. They’re looking for me and they’ll go after Mother and James, and I don’t know where Dirk is, and I’m so worried.”

  Your concerns are noted. I assume they should have been worded as questions. Correct?

  “Yes, sorry. Do you want me to repeat all that?”

  That is not necessary. I can transform your speech into the appropriate questions and respond. I am currently in the vessel’s sick bay overseeing the care of two humans. I have been granted Emergency Medical Technician status by the controlling mainframe of this vessel. The two patients now in sick bay are your mother, Ronna Overhearder, and your designated mate, Dirk Heatherfield. They will fully restore to their normal human homeostasis. You do not need to be concerned…to worry about them. Also, citizens Miggly and Blakeley have now been returned to their original atomic structures, and hence, are also of no concern.

  Gerta stood silent for a moment. The AI knew the last had not been worded correctly for human-speak so she restated her facts.

  You should not worry about Miggly or Blakeley as they have been blasted to dirt…dust…to dust.

  Eve looked down at the floor, trying to grasp what Gerta had just told her. She had no idea how two people could be blasted into dust, but was not about to ask so she asked only about her family. “Mother and Dirk are with you there…in the vessel? Are they alright? Is James safe?”

  Yes, they are being restored. Ronna Overhearder sustained a minor head injury and some burns from a brief exposure to the void heat. I am sorry. My retrieval was not rapid enough to prevent the minor damage. The medical containment unit is now repairing her damage.

  “What about Dirk? What happened to Dirk?” Eve asked. She knew it must be worse or the little AI would have mentioned Dirk first.

  Dirk Heatherfield sustained significant damage from the discharge at close-range of a shock weapon that had been set at the termination level. He has undergone total tissue destruction of one half the tissues on his right leg and both arms and hands. His face and head are also damaged, though not as severely. He will require extensive stem cell regeneration.

  Eve felt a sudden clutch in her stomach. But she had to ask the next question. “Will Dirk Heatherfield survive? Can he be returned to his normal homeostasis?”

  Yes Eve, he will survive and despite the extent of his damage the unit informs me his repair processes are promising. He is currently undergoing tissue regeneration. It will take some time because the burns penetrated into the inner skin layers and so nerves must also be regenerated. This will take longer. We are not certain he will regain all his skin touch sensation in those areas. However, we will do our best.

  Gerta did her AI version of a sigh. Human language was so nonlinear. The conversation was taxing even for a top of the line version AI such as Gerta.

  “And James…what about my little brother?” Eve asked. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping the news was good, because she would hate it if her tiny brother had been hurt as a result of her adventures.

  Your male family member, James Overhearder remains uninjured. He was rescued by Hugh Endley, a Steam Belt Repair Engineer. He is now in hiding in the domicile of that citizen. I am not sure what he is currently doing. I do not have direct contact with each home, but can observe individuals when they pass by one of the vids. I last saw them near the city pond watching a small water vessel…no…it was a toy sailing vessel…that is the correct terminology. They appeared to be observing a number of vessels to assess which has the greatest velocity. Do you understand my attempts at explanation?

  “Yes, thank you so much Gerta. They are safe…Dirk and my family are safe. Oh and we call that a boat race…in case you need to describe it anytime to another human, I mean,” Eve finished. She was happier than she’d been in the last several days. And if Miggly and Blakeley had been “restored to their original atomic structures,” well, maybe she would ask what that meant…or maybe she wouldn’t.

  Now that I have properly addressed your quite logical concerns, I must repeat my original statement. Your possession of the ΩD stone and your DNA profile authorizes your presence in the chamber. You may choose to read the diary, or you can also choose to initiate the process of stasis retrieval.

  “I choose to read the diary first, Gerta. I need to find out about some things before I initiate stasis retrieval. But I’ll contact you again…after. Can I choose stasis retrieval later?”

  Of course.

  A drawer opened in the stasis pod. Inside was a small book. It was Robin Lightfighter’s diary. Eve peered into the portal, patted it, and smiled down at the sleeping individual. She took the diary and sat down to read it. Once Dirk was healed she would read it to him as well.

  Chapter Twelve


  Three Months After

  After first running an inventory of the supplies hidden by Miggly in the old warehouse, Henry Darpen decided to disperse its contents among the general populace. Then he declared a festival for three days to celebrate the discovery of the new food bunkers and light bulbs. The newspaper sent artists all over the city to draw pictures of the happy citizens enjoying cans of apricots and pineapples. Eve, her mother, and James became famous among the citizens of their tiny settlement. And during that time, Dirk was still in stasis regeneration inside the vessel. It would be several more months before Gerta released him from sick bay.

  Eve was not ready to tell her dear citizens that the Boardroom Building was actually an intergalactic space vessel powered by nuclears and a supercomputer with a good sense of humor (she’d discovered that on one of her many visits to Dirk’s stasis pod), and of course, a tiny tour guide-housekeeping-emergency-medical-technician AI named Gerta. She had many unanswered questions to ask Gerta and the mainframe, even after reading Robin Lightfighter’s diary. But it was not time yet…the evacuation target date was still six months away.

  For now, the inventory of the new bunkers was of equal importance to their asteroid settlement because they had an adventure ahead. They used the door in the decay zone as their access after Gerta reprogrammed the key to Henry Darpen’s DNA. And slowly, over two months, the bunkers were opened and amazing things reappeared in the city. Canned apricots and pineapples appeared for special occasions, shoes were replaced for the first time in over one hundred years, and Hugh Endley had all the steam belts he’d ever wanted.

  But now that the people knew the true target date and the purpose and of their fragile existence, they expanded the greenhouses, and even set up the solar panels just outside the plasmon dome; with Gerta overseeing their installation and upkeep, the plasmon dome was expanded. A citizen committee was established to produce a long-term survival plan because many had elected to remain on the asteroid. Others, like Stanley Wormwood and his new wife Iris, chose the adventure.