Binary Pair

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Too many locations, and too many drones,” I said as I rubbed my eyes again. Damn, I was really tired. We still had three or four hours before everyone else was supposed to report back to the bridge. Maybe I should take a short nap? My previous sleep obviously wasn’t restful enough.

  “I could go into the bunker with our drones and--” she began, but I interrupted her.

  “Where are the little dragonfly drones you brought with us on to the surface of Uraniel?” I asked. An idea had come to me, and it granted a temporary reprieve from my exhaustion.

  “I had to park them. They couldn’t fly through all the other drones, we were moving too fast in the automobile, and I wanted to focus on protecting you all from any of the hostile drones.”

  “So they are still there? Are they charged?”

  “Yes,” she said with a nod. “Why didn’t the bird-drones attack your drones?” I asked.

  “Hmmm.” Kasta nodded and her lips twisted with her thoughts. I still didn’t believe she was an android. She just looked so alive.

  “The bird-drones didn’t attack you either,” I said as I recalled our frantic escape in the car.

  “No. They are only programmed to attack living organisms and metal with radiation protection,” she said.

  “You seem rather alive to me,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Awww. Thank you! I think so too. As I said, I have feelings and private thoughts. I am my own person. My emotions are a bit more subdued from my sister, but I still have them. However, the drones did ignore me.” She was turned around sideways in the pilot’s chair, and she shifted her legs so that she was kneeling on the seat. “And they ignored my drones. This might be the key.”

  “It could be, but why doesn’t Lith Dae know this?” I asked.

  “Perhaps they haven’t visited the surface since the drones were changed?” Kasta shrugged.

  “How many hours left of daylight do we have?” I asked.

  “We have eight more,” she answered.

  “How long until everyone is supposed to be back on the bridge?”

  “Three and a half,” she said instantly.

  “Hmmm,” I said as I leaned back in my chair.

  “What are you thinking?” The pretty android tilted her head, and her long blonde hair fell to her side.

  “Can you turn one of those cars down below into a drone?” I asked.

  “What do you mean? Make it so that I can control it remotely? Or build it out with a limited AI?”

  “Controlled remotely,” I said.

  “Hmmm. Three hours and twenty minutes,” she said with a slight smile.

  “That is an exact number.”

  “Shorter if Paula helps me.” Kasta shrugged.

  “How about five cars?” I asked.

  “I like where this is heading.” She smiled.

  “Can you do it?” I asked.

  “I think so. Definitely, if Paula helps.”

  “Could you drive all five at the same time?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said with a confident nod. “We have the one in the hold, but the hatch is missing.

  “It might work, but there were plenty around. I’d like to get some without breaking the glass on the hatches.” I pointed out toward Persephone’s viewscreen. “Let’s see if we can find a group down there close enough to the field or another landing spot. We’ll swoop down, land, get them in the hold, get your drones, and then come back into orbit to work on them.”

  “Should I wake everyone up?” she asked.

  “Not yet. Next, we need to talk about putting armor on them. The glass on their top halves isn’t going to be strong enough to protect against hundreds of bird drones slamming against it.” I recalled how I’d broken the glass pretty easily with my shotgun. Maybe I was wrong, and the glass could stand up to some abuse from the drones, but I didn’t want to risk any of my friends’ lives on that assumption.

  “Hummm,” she said as she studied the map. Then she moved her hands to the controls and shifted the view around a bit.

  “What are you looking for?” I asked after she moved the screen around for five minutes.

  “A manufacturing plant of some type. We had rhodium refineries on Queen’s Hat, but there were also plenty of smelting and manufacturing plants. I’ve never seen one from a satellite, but I know what they look like from the ground. There, that looks like one.” Kasta stopped the screen on a series of large buildings at the edge of the city. It certainly looked like the kind of place that would be spitting out chunks of forged metal.

  “We’ll see if there are any metal plates we can shape and use in the building,” I said.

  “We have the tools to mold pretty much any metal,” Kasta said, “but it will still be a question of time. It might take an hour or two to fit a piece of steel over the top of one of these cars.”

  “Maybe my math is wrong, but it seems like we would still have enough time,” I said as I added up the figures in my head.

  “If we do the welding as we work on the cars. My sister and I can figure out a way. Do you know anything about welding or using a power torch?” the android asked.

  “Nope,” I said.

  “I’ll need to consult with Paula when she wakes up. If we can find the right type of metal on the planet, and enough of it, we should be able to do it before the next night.”

  “Do what?” Zea’s voice called out from the bridge behind us, and I turned to see her.

  “You are supposed to be resting,” I said.

  “Yeah. I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “I went to work on these data fobs. Just finished my audit of the code and such.” Zea still had dark circles under her eyes, and she let out a long sigh when she sat in the chair next to me.

  “What did you come up with?” I asked.

  “There isn’t anything to hack Persephone in the code, so that is good, but the code for the government center is troublesome. The drones code also looks really suspicious. I want the twins to take a look at it.”

  “Start with the government center,” I said.

  “Okay, so the code gives Lith Dae a backdoor access to the city’s security defenses. It actually looks like it might apply to all of the bunkers in the city. I know they told you this code will open the southeast bunker, but that’s not actually true. It lets them open the bunker. It also lets them control all the airflow, plumbing, and security inside.”

  “Shit,” I said.

  “Yeah. This begs the question ‘what about the northwest bunker? Couldn’t the code just open that one as well?’ It should be able to, but they told us it wouldn’t so I’m thinking most of the citizens in the city are actually hiding in that bunker, and they cut off access to the government terminals to stop Lith Dae from opening it.”

  “Can you fix it?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I can make it so that only we have control over the bunker doors, but as soon as we do, our friends with the half dozen ships are going to know we changed their code. I think they will attack first and ask questions later.”

  “What about the drone code?”

  “So this is weird,” Zea said as she held the small data fob up between her fingers. “I’m not an expert on drone software, but it looks like this is telling all of them around the city to spread across the globe a few days after the code is switched. Then it is instructing them to go to one specific location on the planet. It is 3.4204 by 1.3073.”

  “Let me pull it up,” Kasta said as she glanced down to the controls by her hands. A few moments later the map on screen shifted to show a strange black building surrounded by some five hundred meters of cleared dirt.

  “It looks to be an excavation site,” I said.

  “Yeah, see the digging machines in the southeast?” Zea asked.

  “They are quite rusted,” Kasta commented as the camera magnified a bit more on the various bulldozers. “Some of the grass has grown back as well. This is only twenty kilometers from the city where we first landed.”

  “This migh
t be the dig site that Faddy talked about in his video,” Zea said.

  “It most certainly is,” Eve said, and we all turned around to look at her.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” I asked.

  “I feel rested.” Eve shrugged. “I could feel your excitement.”

  “I am here also,” Paula said as she stepped around the row of chairs set around the captain’s. She took a seat on my left so that I was in between her and Zea. Then Eve sat in her usual spot in the copilot’s chair.

  “Can you put the camera back to the building?” I asked, and Kasta moved the screen so we were looking down upon the black structure.

  “It looks like some sort of weird temple. Hard to tell from this angle,” Zea commented.

  “Yeah. It feels familiar,” I said. I couldn’t remember where I had seen the place. But it reminded me of those ancient stacked Hindu temples I saw pictures of when I looked at Earth photography.

  “Why would all the drones go there?” Kasta asked.

  “I’m hoping you two geniuses can figure it out.” Zea handed me the small data fob, and I passed it to Paula.

  “We’ll start on it,” they said in unison, and then they smiled at each other.

  “You come up with anything that resembles a plan?” the hacker asked.

  “Your news about the code changes things a bit,” I said with a sigh. “I thought we could use the cars to get around the city quickly. Otherwise, we are going to be split up.”

  “Will the drones attack us when we are in the cars?” Eve asked with concern.

  “We can attach some metal plates over the top and the wheels to keep them safe. It might even keep the drones from recognizing the cars as a live target,” Kasta explained.

  “Then what?” Zea asked.

  “Let’s take a look at the map data Captain Renalta gave us,” I said as I pointed back to the holographic projection behind us.

  A few moments later we were standing around the map, and Zea was plugging the data stick into one of the many ports under the pedestal. As soon as she finished attaching it, the map changed to show a bird’s-eye shot of the city, complete with transparent buildings and shoreline.

  “Here is the government building,” Zea said as she zoomed to the central location in the city. “It’s fifty meters tall. Twenty stories. Shit. There was nothing in the data about where the terminal was located, but I can check the power lines when I am inside.”

  “How far is the southeast bunker?” I asked.

  “Here,” she said as the map shifted. “Two kilometers away as the bird flies. Ha! Get it?” She winked at me, and I smiled in return. “Looks like three and a half by car.”

  “And the northwest?” I asked, but Zea was already moving the map.

  “It’s a little farther away from the government center; four kilometers by car.”

  “Hmm,” I crossed my arms and stared at the map. My idea of using the cars to get around was still useful, but the distance would still be an issue.

  Well, the real issue is that I needed another thirty people on the crew of Persephone, then I wouldn’t need to be everywhere at once.

  “Is there any way you can change the initial code so Lith Dae has control until we decide to turn it off?” I asked Z.

  “Yeah, I could do that, but it’s going to take me a lot more work to put a backdoor in their backdoor without them knowing about it once the code is executed.”

  “How much work?” I asked.

  “Hmmm. Ten-ish hours?” Zea winced.

  “We also have to set up the cars,” Kasta reminded me.

  “And look at the code for the drones,” Paula said.

  “And investigate the dig site,” Eve said.

  “Shit.” I let out a laugh. “Dig site can probably wait. Let’s land Persephone back on the planet and get some cars. We’ll pick up five just in case, but I don’t think we’ll need more than three.”

  “We’ll also need to build a signal booster, and then plant it on top of one of the highest buildings,” Kasta said.

  “Oh?” I asked.

  “It will help us remotely control the cars through the city. We can do it using Persephone’s hardware, but we’d have to be in the atmosphere, and the drones might attack her.

  “How long?” I asked.

  “An hour, but then we’ll have to plant it on top of a building,” the android woman said.

  “Okay. Zea, you work on that code as soon as you land us.”

  “Got it,” the hacker said as she stepped toward the pilot seat.

  “Kasta, you are going to work on the signal booster.”

  “Will do,” she said with a beautiful smile.

  “Paula and Eve, we are going to steal a bunch of cars and try to get some metal to armor them. Kasta will join us when she finishes with the booster.” The two women nodded.

  “What about the drone code?” Zea shouted over her shoulder, and I turned to see her slide into the pilot’s chair.

  “As soon as we get one car set up, either Paula or Kasta will look at it,” I said to them, and they both gave me a mirrored smile.

  “This will be fun,” Paula said.

  “Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “As long as we don’t get eaten by drones, shot to death by the Lith Dae Navy, or attacked by whatever other creature is in the… temple...” my words trailed off in my mouth, and I felt a cold chill descend my spine. As soon as I said the words, I got a strange feeling that they were true. There was someone inside of the temple. Something evil. I didn’t know why I knew there was, but I was convinced.

  “Adam?” Eve asked, and her soft voice pulled me back to the bridge.

  “Sorry,” I said, and I forced myself to smile at the vampire woman. She knew my mind though, and her red eyes gazed at me with obvious concern.

  “Something wrong?” Paula asked.

  “Let’s get going,” I said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, not a lot of time to do it in, and we still don’t really have a solid plan.”

  “That’s how we do things on Persephone,” Zea said with a laugh. “Now you all better get your sweet asses buckled in. I’m taking her down.”

  We nodded, moved to our chairs, and then watched the blonde hacker turn Persephone away from the Lith Dae ships and down toward the mysterious planet.

  Chapter 10

  “These ones,” I said to Eve and Paula as I pointed at the first group of cars we spotted in the city.

  “I’ll park,” Paula said, and she steered the hatchless car we had used to first escape the bird-drones over to the side of the street where the other cars were parked. The vehicle's engine was making sputtering noises as it drove, and I guessed that an impact with one or more of the drones might have damaged something.

  “We have more time to try and pick the locks instead of breaking open the hatch,” I said to the two women as I jumped out of the car before it rolled to a stop.

  “And I brought the proper tools,” Paula said with a light laugh. The blonde engineer leaped out of the car after me, and then she turned around to take a heavy looking case of tools from Eve. It was a dull gray in color, sixty centimeters wide, forty deep, and maybe thirty tall.

  “We’ll keep an eye out,” I said as I glanced down the street.

  “Shouldn’t take me long,” Paula said and the case she held made a hissing noise. Four legs extended from the bottom, and then the sides expanded another forty centimeters. I turned to stare at the case as it unfolded itself into a surprisingly large cabinet of shiny tools.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Ha. A girl needs her tools,” the engineer said to me with a bemused smile. She reached into one of the lower drawers without hesitation and pulled something that looked like a hacksaw and a drill. Then she turned back toward the closest car and began to work on the lock.

  “Zea, you there?” I asked into my transponder as I glanced down the roads again.

  “I’m here, Captain,” she replied.

  “How are the Lith Dae ships looki
ng?” I asked.

  “They haven’t moved-- ack! They just sent me a communication request. What do you want me to do?”

  “Can you patch it through to me?” I asked.

  “Hmmm, I think I can give me a second,” Zea replied, and I counted to fifteen before she spoke again.

  “Alright, I figured it out. Sending it through,” she said, and then I heard my transponder beep.

  “This is Adam,” I said.

  “Adam, are you beginning the mission now?” Captain Renalta asked.

  “No, we are doing some prep work,” I replied, and then I stepped away from Paula a bit when her tool started to make the kind of noise I would have expected a metal saw to make.

  “What prep work do you need to do?” the man asked. He was trying to speak casually, but I could hear the suspicion in his voice.

  “We are acquiring automobiles to use,” I replied. “I’ll let you know when we begin the mission tomorrow night.” I guessed the man was tracking us using his ship’s scanners, so it didn’t make any sense to lie.

  “Ahh, automobiles. Good idea. I’m surprised you don’t have any land vehicles on your ship.” His voice had a hint of a question at the end.

  “I want to make sure we complete our mission,” I said, even though I realized it wasn’t really giving him an answer to the question that he hinted at. The man was digging to see what kind of equipment we had on Persephone. He could sit on his thumb and spin.

  “Of course you do,” he said. “There was one thing we didn’t really talk about during our first meeting that I wish to speak to you of.”

  “Oh?” I asked.

  “Our two blocks of code are custom built. They are going to be sending us update signals as soon as they go off. I’m expecting for them not to be tampered with.”

  “That’s a good expectation,” I said, then I forced myself to chuckle a bit.

  “I’ve also thought more about giving you some help. I’d like Commander Tunar-Roz and a few of her marines to help you all get the code into the government center’s terminal.”

  “That’s not needed. We can handle it ourselves,” I said, and Eve turned away from where she was watching Paula work to frown at me.