by Gary Starta
“Imagine the engineering awards I could have amassed if I was still in charge of starship design,” Petrovsky reflected. Mikola fantasized the awards would be engraved with such accolades as: for the enrichment of human culture and taking humanity to the next level. For now, all Petrovsky could grasp onto was a reflection of his own face staring back at him bearing a five o’clock shadow and a will for revenge.
“Yes, I will promise to stay away from the boy,”Petrovsky told himself. When Nadia used the words regretful and apologetic in her speech to McElroy—one could say she was writing fiction. No words were ever spoken by Mikola that equated guilt with his treatment of James Starkman. It didn’t take long for Mikola to lose total sight of his reflection as his mind proposed another kind of vision: “The number one concern for meis to have this mission be a success if my name if attached to it. So I will consent to this heinous procedure of McElroy’s. If I don’t agree to participate then what will stop him from taking my engrams anyway? I need to be around to expose McElroy and take him down because no one else will. So give me this afterlife and one day when Ceres is fit for civilian occupation, I will find a way to bring McElroy’s supporters and the association to their knees…”
Everybody believes in something. Some people believe in politics. Others embrace religion. And still others adhere to the theologies of science. Mikola Petrovsky only believes in Mikola Petrovsky.
Chapter 4: For Your Own Good
The latest news reports of the Ceres space mission focused on the design of the Terran Ark. The craft which carried the four mothers vying to give birth to the first off world child was going to be the next public compulsion, according to the article published in National News Network’s Hard Copy tele-zine. Once the background stories of the Ceres scientists were depleted, the news media needed a new focus to praise the space program. Media giants like NNN invested huge amounts of money to fund the colonization effort. Those efforts needed to be accepted by the public since the next batch of civilians were currently being recruited. One could argue that corporate support elevated the space program to its highest level of success.
The article pointed out that the Terran Ark was the first ship to be totally designed and built by robots. “The civilians need not worry about piloting the craft because the artificial intelligence unit can handle all course changes as well as landing maneuvers. The AI draws upon the experience of former astronauts as well as technical manuals to achieve this feat,” the article explained.
Robots also designed the ship’s replication units to automatically dispense clean clothing as well as meals. “No civilian needs to be concerned with setting an alarm clock or remembering to take a vitamin supplement as the AI schedules meals, exercise regimens and bathing.” The article went on to assure its readers that every conceivable precaution has been taken to ensure the safety of the crew. However, one could read between the lines and deduct that the article was also heaping a lot of praise on the technical achievements of the aeronautics program. The space association and its supporters needed to sell the public on the benefits of cybernetic employment. The average citizen must believe that the technology used to accomplish the Ceres mission was due in large part to artificial intelligence. The article justified the replacement of humans with machines in star ship design citing some of history’s most tragic missions such as Challenger. “Now we can be rest assured that no one will lose their life again due to technical error. The advent of the hybrid engineering system also makes it unlikely that a ship will ever be stranded in the far reaches of space. Rocket fuel is not necessary to power the ship for a deep space journey as certain types of space debris are converted into energy by the ship. To date, the sensors installed aboard the Terran Ark have not been able to confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life. This failure to find intelligent life makes it imperative that federation ships sent on deep space missions continue to be technically capable of fixing the most complex problems by themselves since no distress signal will be heard. Robots are now responsible for paving the safest and quickest road to the new frontier,” concluded the article that read strangely similar to a W.A.A. press release…
Marisa Perez proudly displayed a frozen concoction topped with syrup in front of her husband, Mario. “Look, honey, I have created the first sundae aboard the Terran Ark.”
“Yuck!” exclaimed Mario while swirling a spoonful of the substance in his mouth. “This is not ice cream; this is that low-fat, no carb, taste deficient mix that you forced me to eat back on Earth.”
“Okay, okay. I manipulated the ship’s replication unit a little to take out the fat. I don’t want to be the fattest mother on Ceres, just the first.”
“You did what?” Mario asked in reference to her technical manipulation. “Don’t you know the manual explicitly prohibits us from tampering with any equipment under AI control?”
“Which question did you want me to address first?” Marisa retorted with a smirk. “It will be all right, honey. If you can recall, I used to use a food processor back home.”
“Well I hope you enjoy your frozen drivel,” Mario said after exhaling a sigh.
“I will,” Marisa continued in her quest to prolong the torment.
“Did you know that only three percent of the land on Ceresis currently being utilized by the scientists. The computer projects that a total of 55% of the land mass can be used accommodate population growth,” Mario noted in an attempt to change the subject.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get started on the first baby…since there’s plenty of room,” Marisa responded.
“Wait a minute,” Mario contested. “Don’t you remember our political science course? A Cerean law will most likely be imposed to limit our family to two children by the time we reach the planet. The goal is to populate our new world in a gradual manner, not to over flood it like we did in the 21st century.”
“Listen to you speaking in the first person. You were not there to overpopulate Earth during that time frame. You buy into anything a professor tells you,” Marisa teased.
“The main reason Earth appeared overpopulated was due to the installation of the weather net system. The system—as you may recall from our meteorology course—prevented many deaths caused by hurricanes and tsunamis. I don’t believe the overcrowding was due to the propagation of larger families,” Marisa continued.
“Okay. If it ever does get too crowded, I may take a jump in one of the Ceres oceans. I hear there may be aquatic life in them,” Mario joked.
“Don’t look to hard to find a mermaid,” Marisa cautioned. “They are still considered to be a myth on any planet.”
“All right, let’s call a truce. Wait a minute…do you smell smoke?” Mario asked.
Just then the AI unit signaled an alarm followed by a verbal warning: “Do not move Mr.& Mrs. Perez…I have the situation under control.” The AI slid fireproof panels around the couple while oxygen masks were lowered from the ceiling. A vent then opened sucking the smoke out of the room. In two minutes, the smoke was contained to the replication unit. The walls and masks were then removed by the AI as fresh air was pumped into their room. A readout on the replication unit cited misuse as the cause for a circuit overload.
“I promise. No more ice cream,” Marisa declared before her husband could get a word in edge wise.
“This AI was certainly programmed to solve all our of problems,” Mario marveled. “Even the ones caused by an indulgence in ice cream.”
Chapter 5: Out of Mind
After Chuck Paterson closed his call with Bob Schmitt, he realized he needed to contact Phil Jackson’s ex-wife, Dana. He dreaded the imminent conversation as he accessed her number from the data net. However, he needed to make sure Phil was definitely missing before contacting the media. Chuck pondered if he would soon be referring to Dana as Phil’s widow. Phil tried to suppress his worries with a small smile as Dana’s face came onto the view screen. Before Chuck could complete his greeting, Dana interrupted hi
m by voluntarily informing him that she had not received an alimony payment from Phil in nearly two weeks. Chuck was mildly appalled at Dana’s lack of concern for Phil.
Most of Chuck’s friends had divorced amicably as a marriage with a space engineer was never expected to last. Chuck and his colleagues fell into the stereotype of space “tech-ie”—a term that often accurately described the afflicted engineer with an incurable love for the creation of space vessels. Most of these ‘tech-ies’ soon found themselves divorced after a few years of ‘marrying’ their jobs. Dana had hung in with Phil for five years and raised two children all by herself before calling it quits. Phil’s penchant for working double and triple shifts was the main reason for the split. When Phil took his IT position, Dana briefly thought the marriage had a chance of survival. However, Phil’s disposition had turned sour from the job re-assignment and consequently poisoned much of the free time he had gained with his family. Dana, who took the house in the divorce, learned only to depend upon Phil for monetary support thereafter. The bitter taste of Phil’s emotional shortcomings still lingered on Dana’s tongue as she failed to show any sympathy for her missing ex-husband.
Chuck informed Dana that Phil decided to take action against his employer over his job-reassignment. The news of Mikola Petrovsky’s success as a Ceres scientist seemed to be the straw that broke Phil Jackson’s back, Chuck explained. Paterson sensed a hint of suspicion in Dana’s facial expressions when he told her of Phil’s revenge tactic. Dana was skeptical that Phil would be capable of such a plan and probably had taken up with another woman. Phil had been bitter for years over his IT re-assignment but never took any action, Dana pointed out. She then accused her ex-husband of shirking his financial responsibilities and planting an elaborate story with his friends to disguise the deception. Dana ended the conversation by assuring Chuck that Phil was “just fine” and that she would hire a private detective to track him down.
Chuck was strangely relieved that Dana did not take the news too hard. However, it confirmed his theory that the space association had something to do with his disappearance. Chuck did not buy into Dana’s accusation that Phil had taken off with a woman. Phil’s passion was his job and he simply would not have abandoned it, despite his twisted motives. Chuck also felt he owed himself and his other re-assigned colleagues vindication. The public did not know how callous the W.A.A. had been when they abruptly replaced nearly fifty dedicated human beings overnight. The association did not provide proper monetary compensation for those affected and therefore saved money in what workers claimed was a “down sizing” effort. The dozen robots utilized to take over ship design provided free labor as the association benefited from their non-citizen status. Even though these two measures had saved the W.A.A. millions of dollars, management contended that they had suffered a huge financial setback to pay private companies for manufacturing the automatons. However, if one conducted research they would find those same manufacturing companies were also sponsoring the mission to Ceres as they had a vested interest in the mining potential of the planet once it was fully colonized.
Whichever way you sliced it, Chuck and colleagues ended up feeling shortchanged. Space association officials knew the workers would probably vent their rage against the machines and not management. However, they underestimated how far Phil Jackson could take a grudge.
After chugging down a cup of coffee, Chuck contacted the National News Network as he now believed Phil’s absence was crime-related. After several transfers, Paterson’s call was directed to the investigative bureau where journalist Kay Jennings worked. Chuck requested that Jennings meet him at the Emerald Street Cafe’ in Reston in one hour as he could not afford to have his call traced over the data net. He promised the 30-something-year-old blonde reporter that she would probably break the story of her career.
Kay arrived on time at the cafe’ in a yellow suit which symbolized her cautious attitude towards Paterson’s claims. She had been promised the story of her career several times in the past, but unfortunately for Jennings, the investigation of numerous federation conspiracies had turned out to be in fact stories.
As soon as Kay found out that the story involved the World Aeronautics Association, Chuck sensed that Jennings was hesitant to believe him. “Would he really go so far as to endanger lives in his quest?” Kay asked. Paterson went on to detail Phil’s plan and how he suspected that his colleagues Bob Schmitt had been given a message that the plan had been implemented. “A colleague of mine suspects the association of tampering with the employee data base to show that Jackson falsely logged out from his shift. I suspect an incident occurred during Jackson’s last day at work that relates to his disappearance. His ex-wife does not know of Phil’s whereabouts nor has he been sent at the apartment he rents by himself. This makes me believe he never left the association’s headquarters that day.”
“If he was caught tampering with the robots, Jackson would have been detained by security and put in a federation prison,” Jennings countered. “I don’t see the logic as to why the association would make Jackson disappear.”
“I believe this is a sensitive situation for all parties involved and things could have gotten out of hand. I need you to investigate as to how this happened. I do not know if law enforcement will bother to thoroughly examine an issue which could be just as easily swept underneath a rug with a payoff. The association fought to keep the story of our job re-assignments from the public for years. They only publicized the fact when our automaton replacements were found to be successful.”
“You will have to give me another 24 hours to verify that Jackson is missing according to the police definition of the word. I will then contact you to meet me at another public place to discuss my findings. Please remember that the media’s credibility is seriously damaged each time we jump to report a story without proper verification. The public is also quite in love with the idea of Ceres right now and may not be so quick to rally around a story based upon conspiracy theories,” Jennings stated as she nervously picked up recording equipment and exited the cafe’.
“I am just asking for the facts to be presented in a well-research story—not some unsubstantiated tabloid account,” Paterson muttered underneath his breath.
Chuck then went home and found himself once again staring at his ceiling as his body restlessly sought the comfort of sleep. He dared not risk another data net transmission to Bob or Dana. Paterson reasoned that he would have to trust Jennings to uncover the truth. However, that concept would not allow Paterson’s conscious to rest. Why did this ambitious journalist seem so reluctant to believe his accusations? Chuck recorded a verbal recount of his meeting with Jennings and copied the file from his main computer onto a small notepad Vis-aDisc unit which he hid in a bookshelf. He then requested his personal computer attendant to delete the transmission from his apartment’s data log so no file could be accessed from a data net. In the next half hour, Chuck’s mind started to relax allowing the rebel tech-ie to get his first full night’s sleep in a week.
On her way back to the office, Kay commanded her auto coach to contact the W.A.A.’s administration office. “Please connect me with security,” Jennings told the AI operator.
“Why, hello Kay. Is there anything I can help you with?” answered security executive Renee Mercer.
“We may have a huge public relations problem on our hands, Renee. I just had one of your employees accuse the association of covering up a scandal involving an IT tech named Phil Jackson. I know I don’t have to ask about whether this gets published or not. My company has invested too much money in the Ceres project to report bad publicity. So please remember me come Christmas time for giving you the heads up. The whistle blower is named Chuck Paterson and apparently he has a colleague who knows too much as well. Off the record, can you tell me just what the hell you guys did to evoke a human to attack a robot?”
“I don’t know what you could be alluding to, Kay. But I will answer your questions on a secure channel,” M
ercer mocked in a sing song tone.
Mercer then disconnected the call and pondered how he would clean up the latest association scandal.
Chapter 6: Chemistry
Who can explain why they like something? Or why they used to like so something or someone? Those were some of the questions Peter Ciprelli struggled with as he lay on his bed in a half-conscious state. His body was too tired to analyze any more data, yet his mind remained in an active state preventing him from getting some much needed sleep. Would he divulge the information he had uploaded from the Mayflower’s computer records? And how would a revelation about the space association help the scientists complete their tasks in the present? The news of a genetically created virus attacking the crew of a ship more than a century ago did not seem to provide the positive motivation needed to prepare Ceres for the civilians.
A few decades ago, Peter recalled how his wife Anna provided the positive inspiration he required to complete his degree. However, that was over 20 years ago when the pair had met at the Stephen Hawking’s Academy of Science. Anna and Peter had become fast friends after taking several physics courses together. Peter still considered Anna his best friend—yet was that reason enough to tell his wife about the murder of the Tempest crew? The initial fire of Anna and Peter’s romance started to wane during the first few years of marriage when the couple realized that although they shared a lot in common, there was never really any unbridled passion between the two. However, Peter remained loyal to his wife as he reasoned she was a very kind person who upheld the highest moral standards.