Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1)

by Paul J. Fleming

  ‘The poor sods in these pods here all worked so hard to redevelop the system and repair it’s functionality, then handed over most of your system to its control. As we have already conceived, I would not be surprised if it had not worked towards this point in time from the moment it was activated, using technology it had available and resources to hand to achieve its aims.’

  ‘Very good,’ the computer’s voice replied almost in a patronising tone. ‘And? Oh please do not stop there. You are doing so well.’

  Maddox glanced upwards towards the ceiling as he considered the options, not only to present to the disembodied voice for review, but for both him and Praia to escape from this underground cavern.

  ‘Well, you were the one who convinced them all to upload to the database, giving you all of their experience and memories to draw upon to help provide and care for the young in your colony. They just did not expect not to come out of those pods again, after you knowingly suspended their support systems. Whilst they remained at large you were answerable to them, but if they were all to perish, then you would become an autonomous entity in charge of your own destiny and that of the children you now had to care for.’

  ‘Captain?’ Praia whispered up at him nervously as she moved to his side and put her small hand in his. ‘I really don’t like this now. What does all this mean?’

  ‘We congratulate you Captain. Here we were expecting you to be a swaggering rocket boy who thinks with his fists or pistol, whichever is most handy. Now you present us with new parameters to contemplate through your quite determined deduction. Most intriguing. However, we must insist on continuing this conversation in person, so to speak. Would you kindly advance into the next chamber through the archway?’

  ‘Where are Praia’s friends?’ Maddox replied without hesitation. ‘What have you done to the colonists?’

  As if on cue the small archway at the far end of the narrow cavern they were in illuminated with the same level of lighting as they were presently surrounded by.

  ‘They are also in the next chamber awaiting your arrival. Please Captain, advance through the arch. We assure you that we will provide all the answers you seek and together we shall be able to determine how best we should proceed.’

  Maddox glanced down to Praia and gave her a reassuring smile, knowing the distress she would be enduring now that her efforts against her own kind were exposed for all to bear witness to.

  ‘Come on Praia. I have the distinct feeling that we should do as the computer suggests and go a little further through that archway. The chances are if we decide not to comply, then it may become unpleasant in its insistence.’

  Praia seemed undecided for the moment, fear gripping her very being. She reached out and gripped the Captain’s outstretched hand, squeezing slightly and trying to absorb confidence from his grip. He had seen many things and been through many adventures. This situation may be new to them both, but it made sense to her that she stood a much better chance with him than on her own in the gloomy narrow cavern.

  ‘Good,’ Maddox said as he exhaled. ‘Let’s go and see what the computer wants to chat about shall we?’

  With a disarming smile, he led her onward, through the archway and into the cavern beyond.

  18 Wilful Submission

  Ezri sat at her console on the flight deck of the Erstwhile, scouring the database for historical information from the years following the fall of Earth and more specifically the vessel which was consigned to carry the precious cargo of children in their ill-fated flight to Mars.

  ‘You said the girl eluded to their flight from Earth on board a colony ship, only to find themselves exiled out here on this moon?’ Ezri asked of her companion who stood to her side as she worked the controls to bring up information on the screen before her.

  ‘Yes, she did,’ Maia confirmed. ‘Albeit briefly as she was trying to compress the whole situation into a short summary on our way to the airlock in her effort to persuade me that she was not just putting me outside to die.’

  ‘Now they intend to return under the moniker of Children of Earth? Interesting,’ Ezri mused as she scoured the returning information and settled upon the reports of the loss of the colony ship many years previous. ‘Here is the report as it was widely reported within the realms of SOLnet through the popular broadcast media, however, additional attached media denote many conspiracy theories around the matter. That aside the information I am searching for is present within this article, that is the ship was an old Miranda class Colony cruiser. Now cross referencing against the ship database for information on that specific vessel class and the on board systems.’

  ‘Why do you want to know about the type of ship?’ Maia asked as she glanced at Ezri and then back to the screen which was displaying information at an incredible rate, much too fast for her to perceive much information from it.

  ‘Simply because the resources used by the surviving colonists would have been harvested from that ship and therefore the computer and communications systems will now be those utilised within their colony infrastructure,’ Ezri explained quite abstractly as her eyes focused upon the screen before her. ‘However, they will benefit of a much larger capacity core computer than standard fleet vessels as this was to prove the basis for the new colony’s computer facilities once they made planet-fall. More specifically the type of computer core being utilised is of interest to me in this instance, as my own information store has information pertaining to the exploits present in older computer systems widely used across the solar system by hackers to gain access to information by back door methods.’

  ‘So you’re going to hack into the system and see how Maddox is doing over there?’ Maia asked trying to grasp where this was all leading.

  ‘In essence, yes,’ Ezri replied as she changed from information retrieval to opening the communications system to make a few quick alterations to the carrier signal before opening a channel. ‘Whilst you effect repairs over here I shall upload to the colony core computer and ascertain the whereabouts and wellbeing of the Captain, rendering assistance if I am able.’

  ‘You’re going over there and leaving me here alone?’ Maia queried with a hint of dismay in her voice. ‘What if I can’t restart the reactor core, or there’s something else we haven’t come across yet once the system is running?’

  ‘I’m sure you will be able to cope given your plethora of experience aboard the repair stations on Venus.’ Ezri said in quick reply, but then paused in her efforts to turn and face her companion, regarding her demeanour for a moment before resting her left hand on Maia’s forearm in a gesture of reassurance. ‘You can do this Maia, we need you to do this. There’s something going on behind all of this and until I can determine the situation, I must assume the Captain is in over his head once more and needs pulling out of a situation beyond his control. Dependant on the outcome of our efforts over there, we may need the Erstwhile to make our hasty departure so I would urge you to try and compose yourself and have more faith in your abilities. I have faith in you.’

  Maia glanced down as Ezri’s hand slipped away and back to the controls to open the communications channel.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said softly. ‘I’ll try not to let you down.’

  ‘Uploading commencing,’ Ezri reported before her body once again took on it’s immobile status, but this time through choice as opposed to imposition from external forces.

  Maia stood looking at the unmoving face for a few moments longer, breathing deeply as she fought down waves of uncertainty. She would not let Maddox or Ezri down, she would make the Erstwhile fly once more.

  Turning on her heel, she left to attend to the reactor.

  As Maddox stepped through the arch closely followed by Praia, he took a quick glance about in the vast cavern into which they had stepped. Although the ceiling level was only slightly higher than the chamber they had just left, the floor level dropped away rapidly in front of them with only a semi circular ledge leading to a metallic square lift at the f
urthest edge from the archway opening, the platform of which was way below on the cavern floor at present which prevented their progress any further.

  The cavern itself was lined around the edges by a vast number of life pods, similar to the ones they had inspected in the narrow cavern, but these were on large metallic shelves which ran around the edges of the cavern. Rising from a central position on the floor of the cavern was a tall cylinder which appeared to bulge out around the base, with wiring snaking hither and thither across the cavern floor and running up and along each of the racks of shelving, obviously connecting the pods together as the few they had already seen were.

  ‘I assume we may have found your friends,’ Maddox said in a hushed tone to Praia, whose hand he still held in his own. ‘I’m not even going to bother to count the pods, but there are lots of them out there.’

  ‘Yes, Captain, you are correct,’ Praia replied in a rather monotone voice and as Maddox glanced down at her with sudden concern, he found himself distraught to see a glassy expression overcome her face.

  ‘Praia, no!’ He exclaimed as he retained a hold on her even though she had released her grip on him. ‘Come on, snap out of it. We’re working together on this, remember? Praia?’

  She was not responding to his words, whether she had actually heard them or not he could not be sure, but her whole demeanour and bearing was one of almost a trance like state.

  ‘Computer? What has happened to Praia? Answer me!’ Maddox shouted in frustration as he retained hold on her small hand, some fear of her slipping further away from him taking hold if he were to release her. At least she was physically present at the moment, if unresponsive.

  ‘Nothing has happened, Captain, that was not meant to happen. Praia has been away from the link by her own choice but it is time she rejoins her brothers and sisters. This cavern is the centre of the shared mind and in entering it, she has now rejoined them. Now please step forward onto the lift platform. We wish you to come closer.’

  Maddox frowned and narrowed his eyes as he stared at the column in the centre of the chamber. The computer seemed all too confident that he would do so, not simply turn about and leave the cavern by means of the narrow one through the archway, but as the lift platform continued it’s progress, raising upwards to be level with the edge of the small outcrop of rock on which he stood, he took in the unpleasant sight of a Sentinel drone standing on the platform, facing in his direction and more than able to deal with him in the blink of an eye, especially as he stood facing it completely unarmed and with Praia by his side.

  ‘Captain? Please step forward onto the platform,’ Praia said as she began to move and encouraged him forward by pulling gently on his hand which still held hers fast. ‘The Sentinel will not harm you, should you follow our instructions. Attempt to escape or deviate from them and it will take action against myself first, then you.’

  So that was it. He had no choice. There was not even a hint of rebellion as he stepped forward, as he could not risk harm to Praia in any futile escape attempt on his part, and he cursed his own conscience for always having to consider others before his own safety.

  Turning about on the platform slightly, he witnessed Marcus stepping through the archway and over towards the lift to join them. The young man appeared as he had done in their initial meeting, filled with an arrogant confidence which at this very moment in time really irked Maddox.

  ‘And here he is,’ Maddox sneered under his breath. ‘The puppet who dances to the whim of his electronic master.’

  ‘Thank you for your compliance Captain. Our agents will now bring you to the core,’ the voice instructed and Maddox shrugged as if to say ‘why not?’ and gazed about almost whimsically at his fellow passengers.

  As the lift platform began to descend, Maddox addressed Marcus as the focal point of his query to the computer. He knew the young man was being used as a pawn, but it at least gave the computer a face he could talk to instead of just talking to the ceiling.

  ‘So then, I see you have already begun to plunder the Martian ship for their hardware,’ he muttered as he glanced to his left at the Sentinel which stood by for its next instructions. ‘I assume this is the next step in your scheme to conquer the Earth, Solar System and everything in between?’

  ‘You are correct that we are establishing control over their computer system via a dedicated up-link,’ Marcus replied as opposed to the computer voice. ‘But your presumption that we are going to become the aggressive dominator within the core worlds is a rather wild accusation, even if it is only an attempt at eliciting further information.’

  ‘Eliciting information? Well, yes, I suppose I am if you want to think of it that way. I thought I was just passing time with pleasant conversation. What’s with your computer and its plural pronouns? It uses we instead of I and our instead of my?’

  ‘It occurred during the incorporation of those memory engrams uploaded from the adults you were inspecting earlier. The computer is now the embodiment of multiple memories, personalities and experiences as well as the representation of the shared mind to which we are all connected. In essence, it is correct in its use of the plural pronoun as it is more than a singular entity.’

  ‘It incorporated them into its own program matrix?’ Maddox asked, a little surprised, for he understood that Ezri was a prototype of such a learning and adaptive digital personality, but her development came after the colony vessel was launched into the stars with the AI on board.

  The lift came to the end of its travel and Marcus gestured for Maddox to disembark, with Praia once again applying slight encouragement by means of pulling slightly on the hand she was still attached to. The Sentinel fell in behind Maddox and Praia, then Marcus followed at the rear.

  As they neared the column base where it met the floor of the cavern, Praia’s hand slipped from Maddox’s grasp as he was glancing either side of him at the racks of life support pods, all connected together and to the focal point he was now facing. In a quick moment of panic, he grasped out to try and obtain a hold on her once more, but she had already moved beyond his reach and he was restrained from following her by an artificial hand upon his shoulder.

  The Sentinel did not want him to go anywhere apart from where he stood right at that moment.

  ‘Okay then computer,’ he addressed the column before him as he quickly tugged his shoulder free of the metallic grasping fingers. ‘You wanted to bring me down here for a good old chin-wag, so here I am. Where are you? Or should I keep talking into mid air or to inanimate objects?’

  In response to his query, A large screen seemed to be proffered forth on a pivoted extending arm from the side of the bulbous base, the actual display coming to life and a large animated but quite obviously artificial face being depicted thereon. Just a generic face with no eyebrows, hair or other distinguishing features, but the outlined representation of eyes, nose and a mouth in some sort of 3D relief image against a mottled grey background.

  ‘I assume I am addressing the AI residing within the computer directly now?’ He queried towards the screen. ‘In person so to speak. So how about you let everyone here loose, switch yourself off and allow us all to return to the core worlds where all these children belong, with their real families and relatives? I’m sure they’d be happy to see them return.’

  ‘How will they be received Captain? With open arms? We think not. The Martians have too much invested in the lie of their disappearance to just allow them to return as evidence to their deceit. No, they must remain. Now we are intrigued as to this proposition of insurrection you were planning with our young subject here,’ the computer said as the head turned slightly towards Praia and then returned its attention to Maddox stood before the screen.

  Maddox realised with a sinking feeling that the myriad of conversations he had shared with his young friend were now being processed through the shared mind and to which the AI had full access. However, this was balanced with his intrigue over the wording the AI had used with regards the imm
inent future for the colonists.

  ‘I’m sure you are,’ Maddox retorted as he tried to think fast as to the best way he could play for time to quickly formulate those plans. ‘Did you just say they must remain? As in stay here? Marcus? Did you hear that too? How does that compare with your plans to take everyone back to the core?’

  Maddox turned on the spot, glancing backwards past the body of the Sentinel towards the youthful leader of this colony to try and elicit any hint of response from his expression, but to no avail. Marcus’ face remained a passive veil as looked straight ahead towards the column residing in the centre of the vast chamber.

  ‘Your efforts to sow discord here are quite futile Captain,’ the AI announced quite factually and simply. ‘We must admit we are a little disappointed in your reaction, as we thought you would have welcomed a force who would strike at the Martians, driving them from Earth and back within the confines of their own colony borders. However, you do seem rather intent on disrupting our efforts, almost as if you wish to preserve the state of chaos and suffering being endured on Earth to justify your existence?’

  The last few words were rising in tone, as if you signify a query of sorts. Maddox took a moment to pause and reign in his almost reflex sense of fury at even a hint that he would entertain the notion. He gritted his teeth whilst trying to remain calm and composed on the outside, turning back to face the screen slowly.

  ‘I’m concerned with the methods used to achieve your goal, coupled with what you propose to replace their governance with should you succeed,’ he replied as levelly as he could manage. Then a thought struck him regarding the words the AI had used in contrast to the colonists' efforts. ‘If these people within this chamber are to remain here as you suggest, then why bring the ship all the way out here? What possible….. oh, they are to remain. Not we are to remain. No, they are to remain. The ship is not for them is it? You’re going to use the ship to return to the core yourself, aren’t you?’