Shades of Learning (The Athena Lee Universe Book 1)

by T S Paul

  “Where’s your friend?”

  “With Dad. Lina’s an engineer, and she dove right into the repair. She found three things wrong right away. When I left Dad was helping her!” Mom started laughing.

  “That is just like your father. He really wants that thing to work. It would help a great deal if it did. Have a seat, don’t just loom over me.” I sat at the table and talked to my mother. We discussed my classes and were just getting into the secret project we were working on when the kitchen equipment made a loud dinging noise. Mom hit a button on her console and pressed a series of different buttons. Several doors whooshed open and RAM robots appeared. The trash can like robots began assembling the prepared food and getting the tables ready.

  “Tisiphone, would you sound the alarm please?” Over by the door was a bright red handle with a sign on it that read ‘Do not pull.’ I gave it a good yank. Out on the farm loud sirens began to sound. They could be heard for at least a half mile. Dinner was ready, and the army needed to be fed.

  “Mom, when did you get the robots?”

  “Your father bought those. We got a really good deal of them. Your brother Ryan is one of the company's major stockholders. They are really handy. We have some out in the fields too.”

  “I wondered when I saw them. Our friend Artemis might like to see them.”

  “Dear, you have mentioned this friend more than once. Why didn’t you bring her with you? We have plenty of room now that your cousin’s family have gone to live with their mother’s family on the Lost Peninsula.”

  “We did bring her. Artemis is the cat that came with us. She is a robotic cat that was developed for the military.”

  “Is she really? You must show us later. Is it a secret?”

  “Sort of. She is in our care for the moment. She acts just like a real cat but is very much like those RAM robots.”

  “That sounds interesting dear. We need to hurry, the ravaging hordes will be descending upon us at any moment and we need to find our seats.”

  She was right too. When the siren went off most every farm worker and many of the family in residence, all came in to eat. The family dining room was more like the cafeteria at school. It boggled my mind that when the house was built, the cooks did this all by hand! A large crowd entered the room and grabbed seats. In this family you learned really quick to get a seat as close to the kitchen as possible if you wanted to eat. I stared out at the beady eyes of around a hundred members of my family. My father and Lina must still be outside since I did not see them. Mom stood to make a quick announcement.

  “As you can see, my daughter Tisiphone is back with us for the week of the holiday. She has brought a friend back with her. Anyone who causes them trouble will answer to me. Understand?” There was a pause. “OK dig in.”

  With a clatter of dishes and bowls the members of my family tore into the food. Calling them savages would be shaming savages. Needless to say many of my family did not get out much. They looked down of my choice of joining the military. The family had its own Militia unit but did not see a reason to join the actual military forces. I served myself from the large bowls and chatted with my mother. I suggested that she send food out to Dad and Lina. Knowing my roommate she would forget to eat again. Mom pressed a button on her tablet and a pair of the RAM robots took food out to the barn.

  Chapter 14

  Reynold Tisiphone was in awe of his daughter’s roommate. She had charged right in and within minutes he was helping her, not the other way around. Tisiphone did say that Lina was an engineer. She appeared to know what she was doing though. He had no idea that the parts she pointed out were in wrong. His father Ryan was a tinkerer not a mechanic. Getting this old thing working was a dream that had plagued the family for years. Many of the cousins and even his own sons suggested scrapping or selling it to the Landing museum. His son Ryan, Tisiphones brother even went to the museum himself and teased the white coats there with a vid of the beast in the barn as they liked to call it. He still got calls from them. It was hard for people to understand that this was a legacy, not a burden to the family. It should be treasured.

  “Reynold, so you have any of the older parts for this engine?” The grease covered slip of a girl was speaking to him again.

  “Great-grandfather built a complete machine shop for this combine. Let me show you.” He motioned for her to follow him. The shop was behind a steel door that he kept locked. Too many family members over the years had been tempted to sell off the tools and spares hidden in here. He unlocked the door and hit the lights.

  “Do you need another daughter? Because I might move in.” The shop really was impressive. The family legend that the machine cost a fortune to transport was only half correct. The real treasure he brought with him was in this room. Century old spares and fine tuning machines. Trouble was no one knew how to use them anymore. Seeing the reaction of Lina he thought maybe he was looking in the wrong place for help.

  There was a loud beep. Both of them turned and found two RAM robots with covered dishes waiting for them.

  “Oh, you have RAMs! Artemis will like that.” Lina dug into her food. She forgot to eat and was sure that Tisiphone sent this for her.

  “Yes, my son Ryan got them for us. We have six. Two help in the house and the rest out in the fields. You mentioned Artemis before. Who is she?”

  “Artemis is our cat.” She smiled at Reynold and pointed at the cat that was now standing on top of one of the RAM units. As they watched Artemis inserted her tail into the computer port and appeared to talk to the robots. Lina’s tablet made a noise.

  “Someone has given them contrary orders and they’re confused. They were instructed to bring you food but also to remove parts from the combine and place them in the recycler. They have been programmed to help on the farm and they are confused by this. I have erased the contrary orders and instructed them to check with the Masters of the house before following any new orders. You may tell the older one about me. If you like, I will check out the computer module on the combine. The progenitor has has experience with Old Earth technology.”

  Lina handed the tablet to Reynold. He read what it said and his mouth dropped open. “That is not a cat! What is it?”

  “It is an experimental robot built for the Military. The same company that makes the RAM units makes them. It is an anti-terrorism model. We are helping it with a project.” She looked over at the cat.

  “Artemis go ahead and see if you can connect with it, please.” She turned back to Reynold.

  “Maybe she can run a diagnostic on the machine. It may help us to find what is wrong.”

  “Who is the progenitor?”

  “We don’t know. Artemis refuses to tell us. What worries me is those conflicting orders. Who has the ability to do that here?”

  Reynold thought for a moment. “We control the robots from a central computer room. Anyone in the family can use the room. Can the cat tell us who sent the order?”

  “I can ask when she is done. Now let’s get back to the engine. I see a parts section over there, let me look for a new fusion control module and a vibratory complex gasifier.” She dug into the parts cabinet and found the parts she needed along with a few to check just in case. Walking past the tool area she grabbed a tune up kit and a set of ultra fine electronic sensor picks. This room was like candy land for an engineer or mechanic.

  The engine was in pieces but it was beginning to slowly make sense to Reynold. “How did you learn how to do this?”

  Lina was bolting a drive shaft back into place with the help of Reynold and one of the RAM units. Artemis co-opted them to help. “As you can tell from my accent I’m from New Texas. I grew up in the city not on a farm. Back home they would call me a slicker or city slicker. I was always interested in machinery and construction. One of my Uncles owned a machine shop that did repairs on construction and building machines. I tagged along a lot. So much that I had an unofficial job with them since I was around twelve. By sixteen I was doing the repair
s myself. This particular machine is new to me, but I have seen one like it before. We did some repairs for the army once. They had some really old tractors and one was similar to this.”

  “Artemis, what did the computer say was wrong?”

  “The computer recorded that there was a crack in the drive shaft that caused the blow back mechanism to malfunction causing a small fire in the central core processing unit. The cascade shut the unit down sixty four point seven solar units ago.”

  “See Reynold? There is your problem right there.” She held up the original drive shaft. A crack could be seen running the length of the shaft. “This right here is the cause. Everything else was extra. It looks like your Grandfather tried to fix it and was on the right track before someone else screwed it all up. The rest of these other ‘improvements’ just made it worse. It’s no wonder you couldn't make heads-or-tails of it.”

  Reynold was amazed. A computer diagnostic was all that was needed? Maybe he was wrong about not allowing his family to venture out into the world. If one of his children was like this young girl they could accomplish so much more. “Do you think it will still start after so long sitting?”

  “It looks sound. We need to put the tires back on it but they are a standard size and you have some back there.” She pointed to the back of the barn. “I can have Artemis program the RAMs to help if you like. We can do this together and surprise everyone!”

  Reynold smiled at that. Just having use of this machine would be awesome. “Let’s do it!”

  Lina dove back into the engine compartment and finished bolting on the new parts. She did a diagnostic of the main system and traced the power conduits just in case. The fusion engine was a very early model but a near match to many of the colonial standard fusion cores in use today. Fuel was not an issue. The newer combine used a fusion core similar to this one and bleeding off some of the start up power was fairly easy.

  Half the night was over when Lina finally came up for air. Reynold was asleep in his chair by the shop door. Artemis was keeping watch from a perch on top of the combine itself. As far as she could tell it should start. The RAMs had completed their task and the tires were back on. All that was left was to check out the cockpit area and make sure the controls were still viable. She was sitting behind the wheel when she heard a voice not belonging to anyone she had met so far.

  “I’m telling you Marshall this machine is the one that you need. It is early Old Earth tech and is just sitting here taking up needed space. What was that? The old man? Eh, he’s old and useless! He thinks he can fix this old thing. I keep sabotaging it whenever I can. Between what is in it and the treasure trove of parts and machines in here I can … I mean we can be set for life!”

  Lina peered over the edge and saw a young looking man peering into the engine compartment holding a large hammer. Not her work he won’t! She opened the cockpit door and yelled. “Hey! What the hell are you doing!”

  At that moment Reynold woke from his nap just in time to witness the robotic cat land on his youngest son Freddy and send him flying across the room. Lina was up in the cockpit climbing down.

  “What’s happening?”

  “Reynold, he was going to hit the engine with that hammer over there. Artemis stopped him.” She triggered her link and activated her tablet. A vid began to play, the entire event was recorded. “I started doing that at night so I could see what I worked on. I forget.”

  She checked Freddy. He was out cold. Artemis had used that stun beam of hers and zapped him really good.

  “I wondered why some of my tools and parts had moved or disappeared! Dammit Rerun!”

  “Rerun?”

  “It’s what he likes to be called. He was not the greatest student so every summer he had to relearn everything that he learned that winter. He will pay for this.” He looked at Artemis. She was cleaning her claws and ignoring both of us, like a cat. “This is the final straw. Did he damage the machine at all?”

  “No. I was up in the cockpit checking it out. I think we can try to give it a start.”

  “Really? No one alive on this farm has ever seen it move before this would be great!”

  “We need to jump start it using the fusion fuel tank from the newer machine, but it should work. I have everything ready I was just waiting for you.” Lina could tell he was really excited.

  Checking the time, Reynold saw that the first shift would be starting along with the breakfast rush in an hour or so. “Can we get the parts and things put away first? I want to surprise everyone.”

  The two of them spent almost an hour putting away the parts. Lina kept everything, even the broken parts. The shop had a mini-forge and she might be able to either repair them or cast new ones. This was going to be fun.

  Jumping the machine off was extremely easy and textbook military in procedure. Lina had forgotten that Reynold was also a Militia Captain for the family group. He was familiar with military procedure.

  “Do you want to start it or should I?” Lina could tell he was torn.

  “How about you drive it first? Without your help I would still be struggling. You can teach me what to do later.” Lina smiled and hit the startup button. The fusion engine was already at a low idle as the rest of the machine roared to life!

  Verooom! Put. Put. Put. Veroom! Lina gave it some gas and the Blast master saw the light of dawn for the first time in half a decade. Reynold opened the door wider and the huge combine rolled slowly forward. Lina rolled the machine forward into the light. Veroom! She stepped on the fusion control pedal and it roared forward gaining speed fast. She did a quick turn and came roaring back. Leaving it in idle, she opened the cockpit and climbed down. Up on the porch she could see Tisiphone and her mother they both had huge smile on their faces.

  Chapter 15

  I got up early to eat breakfast and check up on Lina. She never came in the house last night. Mom was in the kitchen supervising the robots when we both heard a loud noise from outside. Veroom! Veroom! We rushed outside just in time to see the beast in the barn emerge for the first time in decades. Dad was holding the doors open and had the biggest smile on his face that I had ever seen. Lina drove the ancient combine out into the courtyard then circled around and parked it in the front. She left it running as she climbed down; she was a mess. The borrowed coverall she wore was caked in grease, dirt, and oil. Regardless of any of that I gave her a big hug. My father looked so happy. Many of the other early workers ran out of the house and gawked at the big machine.

  “Reynold, do you want to take it for a spin?” Sometimes I forget that Dad has a name other than Dad.

  “Is it hard to drive?”

  Lina shook her head. “No. There are basic driving instructions on board. Go check it out.” She pressed a button on the side and automated stairs folded down. That was different.

  Before he climbed on board Dad looked me in the eye. “Tisiphone your friend can visit anytime she likes. Do me a favor, round up a couple of the boys and go get Freddie out of the barn. Leave him tied up and stick him in one of the holding cells. When I get back, we will have a banishing ceremony. I need to see what this thing can do.”

  As Dad roared off in the combine, I turned to Lina. “Explain, please.” Lina filled me in on the events in the barn and the conversation she recorded. I nodded my head at her. “I will take care of it. Rerun always has been a little shit. It’s about time he starts paying for crap like this.” Rounding up help was not an issue. Freddie was not well liked.

  “Let me go! Damn you get this damn tape off of me!” Freddie was awake and yelling at the top of his lungs. Artemis was sitting on top of a toolbox staring at him when we walked into the barn.

  I took one look at my baby brother and burst out laughing. My two cousins were laughing too. Lina must not have wanted to use rope or chains. She taped him up in so much riggers’ tape he looked like an accident victim. Still laughing, we cut him loose and hauled him into the house. He was cursing us the whole way.

  “Tisiphone
let me out of here! I didn’t do anything to deserve this!”

  “Freddie, I saw the vid before you were knocked out. Sabotaging Dad? You know he loves that machine.”

  “That thing is a piece of junk but the engine and the spare parts are worth a fortune! Just the tools alone are worth big credits. I need that money! What knocked me out anyway?”

  “None of that stuff belongs to you. It is either the family’s or Dad’s. You get only what he gives you and after this little stunt that will be very little. You are busted this time.” I ignored his other question. “You will stay in there until Dad lets you out.”

  I found Lina in the kitchen with Mom. She had found a fresh coverall and from appearances managed to get a shower in too. With a sandwich in one hand and a screwdriver in the other she was talking to my mother and taking one of the kitchen machines apart. “You know I didn’t bring you here to fix everything. This was supposed to be a vacation.”