We were almost at the end of the beach when Mira stopped so suddenly, I walked a few feet beyond her before I realized she wasn’t keeping up. She pointed to the path along the cliff to Hadestown. Ansun was walking toward it, followed by the boy who worked with him. I was shocked to see an MI holobot in its basic icosahedron form hovering behind them.
“What is that strange red ball floating after Ansun?” Mira asked.
I held up my hand to shade my eyes, still not believing what I was seeing. “It’s the whole reason we are here. That’s what the scientists are working on up on the station, but it’s not supposed to be down here. They only have a few prototypes so far and those are too valuable.” I didn’t voice the thought, but after what Decker had said, I wondered if the Fosaanians stealing it.
The holobot came to a halt and let out a high-pitched “stop” command that could be heard even from the beach. A hologram of a woman in field gear formed around the icosahedron and Mira gasped. I nearly did too. My mother had told me the holobot could generate thousands of different forms, but I hadn’t imagined it would produce such a solid-looking image. The holowoman gestured toward a spot in front of Ansun. It must have spoken again, though we couldn’t hear it, because Ansun picked up a nearby rock and slammed it down on the ground near a clump of seathread.
“What is he doing?” I asked.
“How did that woman appear out of the machine?” Mira sounded interested rather than frightened.
“It’s just an image the MI projects. It’s not real. Why did Ansun throw that rock?” I asked again.
“I think he just killed an anguist,” Mira said. “It’s best to kill them with a large enough rock so the poison doesn’t spatter, but I don’t understand how the machine knew it was there. It was behind Ansun.”
“It really does work!” After so many setbacks, I never believed the MI project would meet all its goals. “The MIs are the first robots that have something like all the five senses of humans, but even more powerful. The sensors can detect odors and can analyze what something would feel like as if it could touch it. It maps the surface of everything with spectroscopy. There must have been something about the anguist the robot sensed. I wish I had one of those to take with me when I get out into the jungle.”
“I thought Earthers had many machines like that.”
“Not like the MIs. They can make decisions like humans, not just decisions based on the specific data from limited sensor input. That’s why they are MIs-multiple intelligences. But I still can’t figure out why it is down here.”
Mira shrugged. “My uncle is very good with operises. Perhaps your mother is having him test it.”
“No, she wouldn’t do that. She says there’s something not quite right yet but she knew how to fix it.” I hadn’t been paying much attention when my mother had left for her shift, but I did remember her talking about a glitch in the design of the bots. I tried to remember what she had said. She’d mentioned Gregor. That was it. “Your friend Gregor may seem like he spends all his time trying to get out of his work, but he’s actually a mechanical genius. He adapted and recalibrated the plasma nanoslicer for me to cut the iridium in a new way. I don’t know exactly how he did it, but that piece of equipment may solve all our problems.”
I had been happy Gregor had done something right for once, though even if the problem was solved I couldn’t imagine my mother letting one of the bots out onto the planet without her right there to watch over it. “She’s been worried about what would happen to them once they are exposed to the atmosphere here. It’s so different than the clean air on the space station and she thinks it’s too hot here. Wait, what’s an operise? You mean bots?”
Mira hesitated and then said, “We called intelligent machines operises before the Earthers came.”
“I thought Fosaanians didn’t have technology like bots.” I knew from the briefings we’d had to attend before we arrived that the Fosaanians had been extremely advanced before the Apocalypse, but now the only remaining village just had mechanical devices that ran on wind, water or human power. There was no way they could have real bots. “Did the Fosaanians buy some?” I couldn’t see how they could. Even Mick’s ancient ones were too expensive. The Fosaanians didn’t have anything of value to earn currency to buy bots, because the Earthers didn’t pay them much for collecting the sulfur iridium compound.
“I meant when we first learned about them from the Earthers. Is that your friend?” she asked, pointing to the group of Earthers.
I couldn’t see Lainie, but everyone else had their backs to us, cheering at something. “From the sounds of it, they’re playing splitball,” I said, “And Lainie’s probably winning.”
“Splitball? I don’t know that word.”
“It’s a game.” I was still puzzling over the bot. There had to be a good reason my mother allowed it to be brought down to the planet surface.
“It must be an exciting game from the way everyone is yelling.” Mira sounded interested. That was good. Anything to keep her around was good.
“Come on, it’s interesting to watch.” When we reached the group, I saw there were two left playing, Lainie, and her brother Saunder. I wasn’t surprised. The two were determined competitors, never wanting to let the other win. I had to admit splitball was one of Decker’s better ideas. “We get the pods off those plants with the giant fronds.” I pointed to one growing on the edge of the depot platform. “The trick is to get a pod to one of the four goals as many times as possible before it split opens. Do you know that plant? When it splits, it explodes and in the game if you get any of the fruit pulp on you, you’re out.” It was easy to tell who was out in this round. The sticky yellow stuff spattered all over, staining clothes and skin.
Mick, the depot manager, was nowhere in sight. He usually tried to chase everyone as far to the edge of the grounds as possible, claiming the fruit goo made such a mess. Everyone always came back anyway, because the depot had the only flat cleared area.
“Quinn!” Lainie yelled. “I need you on my team. I’m down to just me.”
She stopped, noticing Mira, but when I yelled, “Later!” Lainie whirled around, back at the game. Her foot shot out and caught an incoming pod, blasting it right back at Saunder. It hit him on the arm, bursting open and showering him with pulp, scenting the air with the odor reminiscent of wet dog, not the sweet fruity smell you’d expect.
“Yes!” Lainie was yelling and running around. She launched into a couple of back flips and then danced around, pumping her hands in the air. Saunder came up behind her and shook off some of the goo on her head. Both of them chased each other around in circles laughing until Saunder noticed Mira too. He said something to Lainie and his attention drew the attention of all the other Earthers. Some came closer, including Piper, who dragged one of her friends up to them.
“This is Mira,” I said, hoping all the interest wouldn’t faze the girl. I should have realized she would attract a lot of attention.
“Hi,” Saunder held out his hand and then drew it back, grinning. “Sorry, I’m kind of sticky right now.” He introduced everyone else so fast I knew Mira would never keep them all straight, but the Fosaanian girl nodded her head like she was taking it all in.
“We need some new people for our games,” Lainie said, examining Mira. “You look quick on your feet. I call Mira for my team!”
“Wait a minute!” Saunder held up his hands in protest. “Give the rest of us a chance. Mira, you should be on my team. My sister is very uncoordinated and doesn’t often win. That last game was just a fluke.”
“Hah!” Lainie said, doing a series of handsprings in a circle, her long legs flashing through the air. Her black hair, which she wore in a crazy curly ponytail on top of her head, flew around in swirls, like it had a life of its own. “Top that, brother. Who’s uncoordinated?”
“You know I can’t resist a challenge,” Saunder said, and took off on his own exhibition of handsprings. He didn’t ma
nage quite as many handsprings as his sister, but when he was finished, he gave a bow anyway. I was always struck by how Saunder and Lainie moved in exactly the same way, though the twins didn’t look alike at all. Saunder’s skin was much darker than Lainie’s, and he was stocky compared to Lainie’s wiry build. They had very different personalities too, though they always seemed to know what the other was thinking. Lainie’s brain worked with incredible efficiency when it came to anything technical, while Saunder did much better with people. He wanted to be a doctor, and we all knew he’d make a good one.
Mira hadn’t said a word. She seemed bemused by all of them. We were kind of a motley group, with everyone adopting their own versions of an offEarth look. None of the younger ones wore anything that matched, and most had taken up Piper’s idea of bells tied into their hair. Lainie had introduced a new fad of cutting geometric holes in clothes, because the cooling fibers wouldn’t work in the Fosaanian atmosphere, but while hers looked good, the rest hadn’t been as precise, so their clothes just looked holey.
“Lainie, you promised you’d referee the bot race,” Piper held up Teeny in front of Lainie to get her attention.
“I did, didn’t I,” Lainie said. “But you’ll be on my team later, right?” she asked Mira.
“If I can,” Mira said. I was astounded. I thought Mira would try to get out of it. Even in the short time since we met, it was hard to imagine her playing a game.
“Terrific!” Lainie punched Saunder in the arm. “Don’t try to change her mind. Come on, bot racers! Who’s playing?” There was a babble of voices.
“I’ll help too.” Decker said, not even acknowledging Mira’s presence. At least with Lainie around, Decker tended to tone down his obnoxiousness. She was the only one he didn’t try to boss around.
“Saunder, wait,” I said, as most of the rest of the group gathered around Lainie. “What’s happening? Piper said the shuttle came back without anyone one it. Our comm link won’t work. Do you know if the one at the depot is up?”
“It’s still down,” Saunder said. “Mick came outside a while ago and said not to worry.”
I didn’t trust Mick’s assessment of the situation. The dangers of Fosaan had been drummed into all of us, and while I wasn’t intending on doing something stupid, I didn’t like the idea of being out of contact with the station. “I guess we just wait awhile and see what happens,” I said. “Mira, do you want to watch the bot race?”
“Do you play games all day?” Mira asked. She motioned toward the Earthers setting up the obstacle course for the race.
“No,” I said. “Well, some of the younger ones do except when one of the scientists gives them a lesson. The rest of us study on our own and with each other, and I help Piper with her reading and math. The teacher who came with us hated the place and left right after she saw the first ash cloud and that latest volcanic eruption. She was sure another supervolcano was going to wipe us all out. There’s a new teacher coming with the next supply ship, my father’s ship.” I felt defensive all the sudden. I didn’t just hang around wasting time all day. “And we have our jobs we’re supposed to do,” I added, and then realized that part didn’t sound very impressive, considering I’d blown off doing my own job.
The race started and the racket drowned out my last sentence.
“Is this really a game?” Mira asked. “Everyone is just running in circles and yelling.”
“Racing isn’t in the house bots’ programming, but they do listen to commands, so each participant is trying to give theirs the right command to avoid an obstacle or to go through the hoops. The bots end up bumping into each other a lot, and that throws them way off. Most never make it to the finish line, but nobody seems to really care.” Piper had added bells and fastened ribbons to the little bot and the ribbons streamed out behind it as it zipped along. I guessed all of the bots would soon have ribbons the way Teeny was drawing admiring glances from the younger ones.
“What is that one doing?” Mira asked, pointed at one which was leaning over and trying to pick up another bot that had tipped over.
Lainie joined us. “It’s been programmed to clean so it’s trying to get hold of the one that fell over to put it away somewhere. Only problem is that once it gets it, it won’t know where to put it. It will just try to carry it around.” I was gratified to hear a small laugh from Mira.
I noticed one of the bots had become more colorful since the last bot race. “When did the duster acquire Liger fighter stripes?” I asked Lainie. The Ligers were Earth’s most advanced two-person fighter ships, known for their distinctive orange stripes on either side.
“Decker did that for Pauli,” Lainie said, motioning to the small boy who ran alongside the bot shouting encouragement. “Pauli was embarrassed his bot is so old compared to the rest.”
Teeny had almost reached the finish line when a larger bot moved in front of it. Piper yelled, “Now!” A small door opened in Teeny’s main compartment and a ball flew out, hitting the bigger bot, which stopped and turned around. I was surprised. I didn’t know who had adapted Teeny to do that.
“No fair!” one of Piper’s friends shouted.
“You parasites are making too much noise!” Mick came out of one of the supply buildings with his main helper, an old Labor5 model. Another one of the new MIs hovered after it. I couldn’t believe another prototype was down onplanet, especially since it was with Mick, who didn’t need such a specialized bot.
“Mick looks sick or something,” Saunder said as he walked over to us.
I thought the depot manager did look pale, and he was rubbing the back of his head as if it hurt. Mick was a big man who liked jewelry, lots of jewelry, especially the silvery Argite stones he wore strung on big chunky necklaces and bracelets, but today he didn’t seem to notice the stones clunking against his face as he rubbed his head.
The MI opened one of its faces. Mick took a program helico from it, then placed it into a slot in the Labor5. He rubbed his head again and started walking into the main building.
“Mick, wait!” Decker yelled.
“Can’t talk now,” Mick said as he went into the depot. The door slid shut after him and I heard it lock down. All the windows darkened as their coverings activated.
The Labor5 went behind the building but the MI stayed in place. No matter how pleased my mother was with the MIs, I thought the bots were ugly in their basic mode, like giant red insect eyes which gleamed with the indium sulfide coating.
“Take form,” I ordered as I walked over to it. Each bot was programmed with its own standard hologram form, and this one took the shape of a blond young woman in a lab suit. The hologram smiled at me, but then the shape flickered, becoming an old man dressed in a bizarre collection of clothes. As the gram solidified, I instinctively took a step back at the thing in front of me. The man didn’t have any eyes and the white ovals where they should have been were unnerving. An instant later, the thing switched back to the smiling woman.
Definitely a programming glitch. “What’s wrong with the station?” I asked it. If Mick wouldn’t answer, I’d get the information another way.
It took the hologram several seconds to respond. “Technical difficulties,” it responded.
“What kind of difficulties?”
“It is too difficult to explain to humans such as yourself.” The bot was supposed to be programmed with a variety of voices to match whatever hologram image it projected, but something was off in this one. It was a woman’s voice but the words were too raspy, the pitch going up and down as if there was a malfunction in the speech programming too. It also wasn’t an answer I had ever heard from a bot before.
“It can’t be that difficult,” I told it. “There’s either something wrong with the station itself or with the communications link. It can’t be the shuttle, because the shuttle took off again.”
“Is that a question?” the bot asked.
I had been around bots long enough to figure out how
to avoid frustration when talking to them. The original artificially intelligent bots, the AIs, were usually fairly good at understanding humanoid speech patterns, and I assumed the MIs would be too, but I decided to make my question as clear as possible. “What part of the station is malfunctioning?”
“Technical difficulties.” The hologram disappeared as the bot stopped projected so that the red floating icosahedron was again visible. It propelled itself backward to where Mick’s Labor5 stood. A small light on one face appeared, and I could tell it was sending signals to the older machine.
“That’s abnormal,” I said to Mira. “The MIbots should be programmed to answer questions.”
“I can’t believe it can talk to you,” Mira said.
“Most bots can communicate, though it takes some practice to talk to them so they understand what you want.”
“There’s probably a fault in it,” Decker said. “My father said he didn’t think it was ever really going to work the way your mother claims.”
I bristled at this. “She knows what she’s doing.”
“Quinn is right,” Lainie said. “My father told me that Quinn’s mom has made a tremendous breakthrough. Maybe it just needs to run a diagnostics.”
“Good idea.” I walked over to it and ordered it to run through its maintenance diagnostics. Instead of responding, it came closer to me, too close. Without thinking, I reached a hand up to stop it. When my fingers were just a few centimeters away, a stream of blue light shot out, running through my hand into my body. For an instant my arm felt like it was on fire and then the jolt hit my chest. I fell to the ground, unable to breathe.
Chapter 4
These Earthers are puzzling. Their societal structure seems quite chaotic. I cannot understand the hierarchy. The Earther called Mick appears to have power, but I see no reason why he is deserving of respect. I do not understand how such a society became so powerful.—Erimik, historian of the Family
Station Fosaan Page 4