“Human, I sense your confusion in my mot...”
“Stop! Just Stop, I don’t need any more of your logic or excuses or screwing with me! LET ME THINK FOR MY SELF!”
I quit sensing the machine’s presence; while I found this somewhat disturbing, I had no problem blundering on with my own thought processes. The machine did save my life but by its own admissions, it was only to further its own agenda. That agenda is to get off this planet with someone who could help recover its systems. The paradox of that thought was would it have let me die if it did not need me. I decided I really did not want to know the answer. Then I wondered if the modifications to my body were necessary at all? I held my arm out and flexed the muscles. If I get back to the real world phone books would tear themselves in half when I walk into the room. The simple stupidity of the notion made me smile. The smile was wiped from my face by the grim reality of the need to let Bill know what happened to Wisener. There was nothing the machine could say to stop me from doing just that. The heartache my family was feeling because I was missing made me frown. I knew the machine, and me were going to have an honest to goodness heart to heart.
“Machine!”
“Human?”
“I need you to tell me some things, but first my name is Nathan Myers and even to people that didn’t care for me I was still Mr. Myers. I don’t want to be addressed as human anymore. Since you’ve already seen me naked, I don’t think Mr. Myers is going to work either. I want you to call me Nathan from now on because I have the feeling we will be working together very soon. I know in the time you have been here you would have intercepted broadcasted television signals allowing you to master my language. I would really appreciate it if you at least talked like a human. This will make understanding you a lot easier.”
“I concur Nathan.”
“No! I want you to dumb it up a little more than that. You know something like sure Nathan or yes Nathan or just OK.”
“Yes Nathan, I have taken note of your language preferences and will set parameters to American English with a mixture of American English slang that should adequately dumb up your interpretation of my speech pattern.”
“What?”
“OK.”
“What did Sora call you? I don’t like addressing you as machine.”
“Sora addressed me as ship or attempted interaction by manually overriding my systems with an input device installed on my bridge.”
“I believe you have conveyed to me your sense of honor and your distaste for the illegal activities you have been subjected to. After giving it some thought I would like to address you as; Justice. You know the meaning and the implications that are implied by this title. I was raised respecting the word and what it stands for. I just want you to know where I’m coming from if you decide to go evil robot on me.”
“I comprehend all word references and implications that pertain to the noun justice and accept the title as my human name. But reserve the right to go evil robot on you.”
I did not take into consideration humor would be a machine trait and wondered if I just threw my hat into a questionable arena. Nevertheless, I admittedly just told it to dumb it up for me and our first contact may not have been exactly the right first impression.
“Justice, I would like to address the modifications to my body. The so-called weaponizing has me wondering if it was necessary. You said you accessed the internet so I’m pretty sure you could have got by without doing a complete makeover on me without a damn good reason. I want to hear exactly what would make you do such a thing.”
“Nathan you are correct in your theory that I had choices I regretfully did not share with you. The outcome of my manipulations had a high probability of death considering the fact Sora had failed to return. After your encounter with predators and the damage you sustained I was determined to increase your probability of survival. The extent of the modifications did come with certain risks but all outcomes have proven to be positive. I have effectively made you impervious to disease and significantly arrested your natural aging processes. Your strength will require further testing to acquire a proper benchmark but there is a very good probability you are currently the strongest human on this planet.”
Wow if I just heard correctly and I am sure I did, the machine made me the biggest kid on the block. All of them!
“OK, I understand the reasoning behind the whole Oolaran guinea pig treatment but in order for me to help you reach your goals you have to help me achieve mine. I’m sure you know of my desire to talk with my family but I need to know first if it will put them in danger by doing so.”
“Any communications from this vessel other than the synthesized voice projections used to communicate with you, would lead search drones to this location. Anyone who responds to communications from this vessel would be subjected to the same sanctions you are currently under if this ship is commandeered.”
I accessed my implants and Seratook came up with a flag marker and compass overlay giving me a course of 192 degrees and above it 221.4 miles.
“Justice what is it going to take to get me to my family in Seratook? You already told me Sora took off with keys to the car and has not come back. So where is he?”
“Your use of slang and sarcasm is duly noted along with your attempts at levity while under duress. I have been logging all of our interactions and will integrate accumulated data into our future collaborations.”
Oh lord, now I know what doctor Frankenstein felt like! A projected course, distance and elevation map appeared like a holograph in front of my eyes.
“Professor Sora with the aid of his artifact went to investigate an artificial cavern at the projected location. All attempts to scan the cavern have failed, suggesting a sophisticated cloaking field designed to defeat higher technological scanning and search methods. We must recover the professor or the encryption key he wore on his wrist. It would be considered very prudent to recover the artifact he used to identify the excavation.”
“OK Justice, this doesn’t sound like that big of a deal. I’ll go on up there and see what happened to Sora and then give you a shout letting you know what’s going on and what I find.”
“Nathan, shouting or verbalization will not be required. It will be necessary to exit the excavation in order to communicate with me.”
“Justice, its human nature to verbally communicate, everybody on this world does it so please forgive my lapses of normal behavior. I’m pretty sure you’re not on this world to make us all conform to your standards of communication so please just go with the flow.”
“OK.”
“Nathan, the smart cloth uniform will protect you from the frigid temperatures. I recommend that you are armed against the possibility of large predator attack. Large mammals known as grizzly bears have frequented the excavation since my presence here. I would also like to mention that one of the undesirable side effects of my system degradation is high frequency emanations from my cloaking field that have had a noted adverse effect on the local wild life.”
“Justice, if you’re trying to tell me you’re pissing off the locals all I can say to that is I can’t really blame them. I vividly recall waking up several times feeling exactly the same way because it took you sixty eight days to get all that alien shit you jammed inside me to work.”
“OK.”
“Justice, since you have told me this is a warship I want you to bust out the biggest baddest ray gun you got! I’m talking something that will fry grizz into crispy little critters!”
“Hello? Helloooo! I know you’re listening, what’s a matter, afraid to share your death ray with the crazy Earth cyborg?”
“Nathan, I find the profanity laden sarcasm that you pass off as levity alarming, but also sense you are making light of a difficult situation. I am currently altering my learning parameters to meet with your expectations. As for weapons, this craft was stripped of armament when it was discovered. There are integrated anti boarding systems throughout the ship which are m
ostly nonlethal in nature but cannot be removed for personnel use. Since my awareness was brought back online I have been to several unsanctioned Grawl outposts and the probability of weapon system availability was a near certainty. This vessel was used for exploratory covert insertions only and at no time was lethal weapons brought aboard. The light stunner the professor brought with him is somewhere at his current location.”
I vaguely remembered the bright blue flash when I crawled aboard but let the thought pass.
“Justice, I don’t mind going up to see if I can find Sora, but whipping a bear’s ass is a pretty tall order. I had a pistol with me when I came here what did you do with it?”
“Your parasite infested, bacteria laden garments along with your projectile weapon are secured in a biohazard crate stored in the cargo bay.”
“We can throw the clothes away but Bill’s pistol is going back to him after I find out what happened to your Grawl buddy.”
I made my way to the drop tube and was greeted to a quick graceful descent that let me out on the cargo deck. I went aft down a huge hallway that opened into the cargo bay. I noticed several platforms with small seats and upright T handles my implants identified as Grawl cargo lifts. I headed towards a large set of double doors that made up the inner and outer security airlock. The first set opened and inside sat a single crate. As I walked up to the crate, the top melted away. I saw my bear skin vest and ragged hunting clothes. Lying underneath the rancid pile was Bill’s pistol and holster.
I slipped the shoulder holster over my uniform and drew the pistol to check to see that it was still loaded. I extracted the two empty cases making sure the hammer would fall on one of my remaining four rounds of ammunition. The odor coming from the open crate bordered on horrific. I stepped away from the crate and it re-sealed itself. Apparently, my olfactory senses received an upgrade as well.
9
The outer airlock quietly opened to an outside world I had not occupied for more than two months. Spring would be coming in another month or so. My twentieth birthday had come and gone. I grimaced at the thought Justice was the only one to give me any gifts. It would be tough deciding if any of them were a blessing or not.
I took off on the heading my implants were indicating and climbed quickly up hill in at a pace that would have winded even the most physically fit hiker. It had snowed several times since my forced recuperation and the fresh cold air was invigorating. I had the feeling I could probably run the distance to Seratook and barely break a sweat. My new optical array zeroed in on a low snow covered cave set into the side of the steep embankment.
I could see why a bear would like this spot it would be the perfect place to hibernate for the winter. My sense of smell was giving me mixed reviews about the stench coming from the opening and dispersing on the breeze. It definitely had animal overtones but also other things unidentifiable by my implants or my memories. I leaned in low and ducked inside the opening as my optics adjusted to the darkness. My ears immediately picked up the sound of heavy breathing. I locked my eyes onto the large figure of a grizzly bear curled up against the back wall. I turned and quickly went back outside. The misinformed Texan that was quoted as saying everything is bigger in Texas obviously never spent a second in a bear cave in Alaska.
“Justice, There’s a big ass grizzly bear hibernating in the cave and I’m going to have to tell you, I’ve never heard a good story about waking one up! I’m not the kind of guy to go back in there and shoot it while it’s sleeping. I could really use some smart alien ideas.”
“Was there any sign of Professor Sora?”
“No, I saw the bear and backed out. The cave looked like it went around a corner and could go anywhere. There’s enough bear crap stacked up in there your little buddy could be hiding right in front of me and I wouldn’t know it. What are we going to do about the bear?”
“I suggest you wake it gently and lead it outside so it will be possible to do a thorough search of the excavation.
I was shocked and amazed at the same time. The machine was capable of having a sense of humor. I just wish I could find some comedy in what it said.
“I have no data on bear encounters other than monitored television broadcasts. I have noted that most encounters by your species with large predators of any kind seldom turn out well. I would highly recommend a stealthy approach to the problem.”
Wake it gently my ass, the feelings my stomach was giving me brought back memories of one ear gently waking me. I ducked back into the cave and as quietly as possible started to move through the minefield of manure from many years of bears hibernating in the cave. I gave the bear a wide berth and slowly skirted the wall towards the bend in the cave. So far, so good, I leaned back against the cavern wall, peeked around the bend, and saw a huge tunnel. The tunnel must run under the natural ridge of the mountain. It went in the direction of the much steeper peak to the south. The passage was clean so I could only assume something in this direction was a big enough annoyance the bears did not want anything to do with it. There was the possibility of running into some kind of defensive weapon. I started getting the nervous jitters.
I stepped into the tunnel, took a couple of steps, and almost immediately started feeling a slight vibration run through the cavern. What the heck is that? I froze as a flash of green light came from the far end of the tunnel. My implant said the range was 56.2 feet to the device that projected the light. I felt the vibration increase and wondered if I just activated a trap of some kind. My luck took a turn for the worse because I could now hear the bear emitting a low grumbling growl and he was starting to stir. I decided to head towards the light flash and picked up my pace only to receive another flash of green light. I started getting anxious because the only way out was past the bear that was presently making a kind of mooing grunt sound. I turned around and looked over my shoulder but saw nothing then suddenly tripped over something and fell flat on my face. So much for superman reflexes!
I looked around and my implants were giving me perception lines of something lying on the cavern floor. I reached out with my boot and pushed it over. I got a brief glimpse of a small body in a gray suit with a brown opaque visor covering its face. In seconds, it took on the color of the cavern floor once more making it almost invisible. I looked down the tunnel again wondering if Sora set off a booby trap of some kind. I looked in the direction I had come from. I was relieved I no longer heard any movement from the bear. I reached down and grabbed at the little body and got a hold of what I thought was an arm but it felt limp and squishy. I was not sure about Grawl anatomy but if those were bones I was feeling, they were crushed. I looked back to where the light had flashed at me and what looked like a large black door. I stood up and walked towards it. I came closer and another green flash emanated from the center of the door. I reached out and touched the big door. A band of light appeared around the outer edge of the doorway lighting the whole tunnel.
I looked back to where Sora lay dead and could not see him against the floor. I turned and touched the door again hoping it would open but no luck. I could still feel the constant vibration and wondered how I would get the door open. I ran my hand across the door trying to find the light projector that flashed at me. My hand passed the center of the door and I got a quick flash of gold light. I moved my hand back to the center and the gold light became constant. A circle of gold light pulsed out from around my hand towards the band of light on the outer edge of the door. The light met the outer band and turned green, casting the whole tunnel in sparkling emerald light. I heard a loud droning hum and then the tunnel went dark as the Christmas tree light display ceased. My optics started to adjust to the lower light spectrum when the door started melting away revealing a large domed cavern with walls that looked slick as glass.
In the center of the domed ceiling was an orb giving off light. It was also projecting a beam of gold light onto a much smaller orb in the center of the room. The smaller orb was setting on a small pedestal about three feet off the
floor. There were two large boxes shaped like big semitrailers on each side of the room that were glossy black like the walls and had no obvious doors on them. I walked around the circular room then went over to the large boxes and ran my hands over both finding nothing but the cold temperature of their surfaces. I walked over to the small orb on the pedestal. I reached out and touched it. It felt warm to the touch, and I noticed it was floating very close to the surface of the pedestal but not touching it. I tried to push it down but it would not budge. I decided to pick it up and when I started to feel resistance I was going to let go. It came away in my hand, and the beam from the ceiling struck the pedestal and it melted away like the big entrance door. When the light met the floor where the pedestal stood the gold beam of light disappeared. The softball size globe in my hand started glowing with such intensity my optics dimmed. I held it out, and it shined like a flood light. I walked towards one of the shiny black boxes and saw my reflection on its side.
I was expecting something to happen when I got close to the box but got no reaction. I leaned forward and touched the box with the orb. It melted away to nothing revealing large rolls of black carpet like material standing up on their ends. There were eight across and thirty per row. My implants measured a height of twenty-two feet high by three foot wide. I put my hand on the tall roll of material, it felt oily slick but left no residue on my fingers. I held the orb up to it so I could look closely at the black surface. It looked to be made of fine hairs woven at random with no discernible ends. The orb pulsated when held near the rolls. I moved it closer, and it looked as if the fine black hairs were rolling and writhing until I moved the orb away. "What the hell would you use this crap for?" I said aloud. I wonder what they weighed. I pushed against the roll only to have it topple to the ground. Holy crap, it is light as tissue paper! I went to one end of the roll and took a close look at the rolled material, there had to be a hundred feet or more in the roll. I was hoping for diamonds and rubies, but for all I knew I got alien gag gifts.
First of my Kind Page 10