by S. H. Jucha
While Herrick’s support structure was disassembled and taken piece by piece down the steps by SADEs, including the grav pallet, Mickey, Miriam, and Claude approached the rotunda at the end of the corridor.
The group stared at twin console operations that were set to the left and right of a cylindrical hatch. It revolved to access the other side of the corridor. A group could enter, it would turn, and they could exit the other side. Of course, a group could enter and be trapped in there too.
Mickey checked his access to the traveler’s sister. The signal strength was attenuated, and he posted a SADE at the bottom of the steps, as a relay.
A tech leaned over and swiped a layer of dust off the input panel on the left position. A monitor came to life, and a digital voice in Toralian said, “I’m Artifice’s keeper. Enter your access code for the information level you desire.”
When nothing was entered into the operator panel, the monitor blanked out.
A tech happened to look at his suit’s readout. The temperature had risen considerably compared to the surface. He removed a glove and touched the wall.
“Swipe the second operator’s position,” Mickey ordered. With his helmet open, he spoke out loud, but he kept his link to the traveler’s sister.
“Nothing,” an engineer said, after a few attempts at activating the position.
Mickey eyed the revolving cylinder. Its opening was enticingly displayed on the team’s side.
“That is inadvisable, Mickey,” Miriam warned.
“What she said,” Claude added, staring sternly at Mickey.
“Then who has an idea?” Mickey asked, holding out his arms and turning in a slow circle.
“If I may,” Tittra piped up, and Miriam translated. He and a few other Chistorlans rested comfortably in the crooks of SADEs’ arms and were wrapped in warming blankets. “Herrick’s case is still operational. The programmers have confirmed that neither Artifice nor our entity resides in there. However, the case retains its basic operational capabilities. I would suggest we remove one or both of these consoles and use Herrick’s case in their stead.”
“That wouldn’t bypass the code requirements,” a tech objected.
“No,” Tittra allowed, when Miriam translated, “but our entity wasn’t programmed to meet Artifice head-on, sentient to sentient. Our entities were designed to strike at Artifice’s core operating programs.”
“It’s better to risk Herrick’s case than a SADE in the connection, Mickey,” Miriam advised. “We have nothing to lose.”
“Try it,” Mickey said. “Let’s start with the keeper’s position.”
Techs cleared away the console, being careful to preserve the cabling that entered the floor. After some testing, they discovered which lines were without power and decided those were the data lines. While that was being done, SADEs reassembled Herrick’s structure. When they were ready, a SADE knelt in front of the Chistorlan console to allow the little programmer to stay warm, while he accessed his operator’s position.
The techs tried various line connections until the Chistorlan programmer croaked excitedly.
“I believe that means we’ve been successful,” one tech quipped to another.
The Chistorlan monitor had merely registered a line signal, nothing more. Then the programmer began furiously running programs from Herrick’s case. The male’s small fingers flew over his panel, as he tried one technique after another. Finally, he sounded a second croak and pointed to the monitor, which was displaying a running scroll. Unfortunately, it was in the Toralian language.
Miriam queried the traveler’s sister, who linked to Miriamal, who linked to Miriamelle aboard Sargut’s ship. Miriamelle displayed the scrolling imagery for the bridge crew.
“The scroll is repeating,” the senior officer said, after examining the text. “You’ll see two characters in the middle of the screen, separated by a space above and below the nearby text. Interrupt the flow, however you can.”
When the programmer heard the translation, he tapped his panel at the appropriate moment and the scrolling stopped.
Thereafter, the bridge officer was able to study the information screen by screen. “It’s a list of options,” he said and began translating each subject for the team.
“Wait; what was that one?” Mickey asked. When he heard an explanation, he still didn’t understand the subject’s meaning.
“Mickey,” Miriamelle interjected, “the Toralians use that term to indicate any visual reconstruction of an engineered structure.”
“I want that,” Mickey ordered. “Select it.”
When the programmer managed to activate the subject item, a visual of the underground labyrinth that led from the surface to Artifice sprang up on the monitor.
“Yes,” Mickey exclaimed in triumph, and the team briefly celebrated.
The programmer was able to rotate the 3-D model’s view.
“This is a nightmare,” Claude exclaimed. “Look at all these levels and passageways.”
“What’s that?” Miriam asked, pointing to a soft gray portion of the model. It was in stark contrast to the clean, hard lines of the rest of the display.
“Interesting,” Mickey mused. “It emanates from the next level down and descends all the way to the lowest passageway. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that the majority of this labyrinth is meant to fool interlopers. They’d spend a lifetime exploring the passageways and encountering traps.”
“Then you’re thinking it’s a lift,” Claude offered.
“Precisely, and a hidden one at that,” Mickey replied.
“But we must access the next level first,” Miriam pointed out.
“Miriam, instruct the Chistorlan programmer to try two things,” Mickey ordered. “First, see if he can control this circular hatch. Second, see if he can access an opening to that hidden lift.”
Mickey checked his internal chronometer and ordered the team to take a break and get some sleep, while the Chistorlans worked on gaining access to the keeper’s operating programs.
-38-
Labyrinth
After the break, Mickey and his human team members left the travelers and descended below. In their absence, the SADEs had rigged a shelter over the casement opening, which blocked the wind and kept the warmed air in the tunnels.
When Mickey checked the temperature in the shelter, he shucked his environment suit, as did the others, and placed it on a makeshift rack.
“Any success?” asked Mickey, when he reached the Chistorlans.
“A little,” Miriam replied. “The programmer can spin the circular hatch, which will get us access to the next level. He found a toggle for a trap, within the cylinder. A Toralian bridge officer confirmed which menu selection turned it off. We’re ready to go. The shadows have been charged.”
The shadow rose up on command. It could squeeze through the cylinder’s opening by drawing its legs closer. Once inside, the Chistorlan programmer spun the cylinder.
Mickey stared in frustration at the hatch. “I thought the trap was disarmed,” he exclaimed.
On hearing the translation, the little Chistorlan at the console croaked a rebuke.
“The programmer believes that the trap setting was correct,” Miriam explained.
“Spin th
e cylinder one more time,” Mickey requested.
The Chistorlan tapped on his panel, and the hatch rotated around. The cylinder was empty.
“Claude, program the little shadow,” Mickey requested. “I want it to enter the hatch. We’ll spin it around. Have it record what it sees, and then we’ll turn the cylinder opening to us.”
Claude was busy for a while. When he was done, the little shadow scurried into the hatch, and the Chistorlan spun it. Mickey waited a few minutes. Then he looked toward the programmer and turned a finger in a circle.
When the hatch opened on the team’s side, the little shadow hurried out.
Claude connected with his shadow and reported, “The first shadow through the hatch is waiting on the other side for instructions. The trap is off.”
Mickey apologized to the Chistorlan, who croaked amiably upon hearing the translation.
“Cut this cylinder out,” Mickey ordered.
The team hesitated, but Mickey’s face was set. He wasn’t prepared to hear arguments.
An engineer called out loudly, “Get the torches,” and the techs jumped into action.
It didn’t take long for the techs to slice through sections of the cylinder and the SADEs to haul the pieces out of the tunnel. Warmer air flowed out the opening and bathed the team.
“To be honest,” Claude whispered to Mickey, “I thought your action was a mistake, and I was waiting for something horrible to happen.”
“That was my thought too, Mickey,” Miriam added, although the SADE wasn’t close to the humans.
“It’s the first trap that gave me the idea,” Mickey said. “The Toralians, who were Artifice’s creators, seemed intent on not hurting anyone. And the diagram of the labyrinth confirmed it. They want to confuse, lead individuals astray, but not set traps that could injure them.”
An engineer stood in the open hatchway. His expression questioned Mickey as to the next step.
“We need to locate the hidden lift,” Mickey announced.
The traveler’s sister sent Mickey a message. She still couldn’t contact the first shadow. Mickey stepped into the cylinder’s deck and stared ahead. He could make out a long set of steps leading down. As expected, it was dark. A small pool of light indicated that the shadow had navigated the steps.
“Black space,” Mickey swore. “There’s too much interference for the sister to communicate with the shadows, when they’re on the next level.”
“There’s been no detection of Artifice’s signal, Mickey,” Miriam stated. “If we follow your thought pattern, the creators built this construct to give them unfettered access to Artifice. In most cases, that would have been for maintenance issues, but perhaps, they wanted to be able to shut Artifice down without interference. If we follow that thought, they would have resisted setting up comms for Artifice inside the labyrinth. I believe Artifice’s keeper was the common method of reviewing Artifice’s condition, without descending to the final level. And you’ll note that the keeper had a hardline connection.
“Your remarks lead me to believe you’re about ready to suggest you take control of the bots,” Mickey challenged.
“I am,” Miriam replied.
The engineers and techs looked askance at one another and the SADEs.
“I’m uncomfortable with that,” Mickey replied quietly.
“Are you concerned that Artifice will overtake me and turn me into a weapon?” Miriam asked.
“I’m concerned Artifice will overtake you,” Mickey replied.
“Your concern for my well-being is most flattering,” Miriam replied. “Have confidence in my calculations and those of the other SADEs.”
Mickey nodded briefly, and Miriam stepped through the cylinder to stand at the top of the stairs. She connected to the little shadow and paused. When she sensed no interference from an alternate signal, she sent the little one along the wall. Its light played over the surface, and she searched for panels that might trigger the lights or the hidden hatch to the lift.
The first shadow had made it down the stairs without incident. So, she judged it safe to do the same. As she made her way down to the bottom of the steps, she could hear Mickey and the rest of the team behind her. Her emotional algorithms rose in hierarchy. Mickey’s worry for her safety had affected her deeply. Now, the team followed her closely, sharing her risk.
Miriam had sent the little shadow along the left wall. She’d expected to find the panels on the same side of the passageway as the first set of panels. Scanning the walls, she discovered six panels on the right wall.
“Great,” Mickey whispered over Miriam’s shoulder, “a more complicated puzzle.”
“The diagram had shown the hidden lift in the floor,” Claude whispered, peering over Miriam’s other shoulder.
Miriam swiveled the first shadow’s head around and captured a few seconds of the three of them standing in a cluster, SADE and humans. Then she sent it out. She’d annotated the imagery. It read, “Togetherness in the face of adversity is a wonderful thing.”
Miriam switched her visual pickups through a variety of electromagnetic wavelengths. In the infrared spectrum, the walls showed as lengths of cool blues punctuated by parallel lines of hot reds. The Toralians had used the extensive labyrinth as a heat-exchange network. They ran piping in the walls to warm the corridors and rid Artifice of its heat production.
A tall rectangle of cool blue was behind the wall panels, and Miriam shared the imagery with the others.
“Why the clever little aliens,” Mickey whispered in admiration.
Claude chuckled and said, “Their diagram shows the lift in the floor, but they hid it in the wall.”
“Now, we have to figure out how to access it without triggering a trap,” Mickey said.
“You can be sure that whatever the method, it won’t be the same as we discovered for the first set of panels,” Miriam stated with determination.
“Agreed,” Mickey and Claude announced at the same time.
Miriam gripped the small shadow, triggered the release of the nanites adhesive, removed it from the left wall, and reversed the process to adhere it to the right wall. She’d positioned it overtop the wall panels.
“What if it requires touching two panels, but not two that are close together,” an engineer, standing behind Claude, mused.
“Good point,” Mickey allowed.
Miriam signaled a tech, who ran to grab the tool she requested. While she waited, she retrieved the little shadow, stuck it on her back, and ordered the first shadow to return to the open cylinder. The team stepped aside, as the larger shadow scurried up the steps to its new location.
The rod that had braced open the first trap was an extension device. Miriam slipped apart the two halves. Standing on the last step, she could just reach the panels with the tips of the rods.
A tech held a portable light, which allowed humans to observe Miriam’s actions. In fairly quick succession, the SADE touched each panel one at a time. For three of the panels, corresponding trap doors opened along intervals in the floor. Naturally, one was hidden directly in front of the panels.
“Panel number three … top right … bad panel,” an engineer noted quietly, when he saw the trap open and snap closed at the base of the stairs, thinking it resembled a huge mouth.
In a further demonstration of SADE speed and dexterity, Miriam touched two panels in every combination possible. She was relaying her actions to the other SADEs should something happen to her. Unfortunately, nothing came of her efforts.
“It’s a combination,” Mickey exclaimed.
“The Toralians only have two hands,” Claude objected. “Are you saying that it took two of them to open the lift by pressing three or four panels at the same time?”
“No, no,” Mickey objected. “A combination, as in a sequence.”
“I like that idea,” Miriam said. “We’ve eliminated three panels that can’t be touched first.”
In a few ticks of time, Miriam built a visual diagram of the p
anels, copied the image, and tagged the panels in every possible sequence of a triple combination. This time, she touched the panels with a single rod. Nothing happened.
“Now a sequence of four,” Miriam said and repeated her taps with the rod. Again, there was no response.
“I’ve always liked five,” Mickey said encouragingly.
“Agreed, five’s a good number,” Claude added.
Miriam’s lips twisted in a smile. Humans say the most unexpected things, she thought. Amazingly, they were right. A five-sequence combination of the panels turned on the passageway lights. It also recessed a section of the wall containing the panels and slid it aside.
“Nice engineering,” Mickey commented. “I didn’t see the seam.”
Miriam removed the little shadow from her back and sent it along the wall and into the opening.
“It appears to be a substantial lift,” Miriam said, studying the imagery sent by the shadow, “able to carry passengers and cargo.”
“That’s interesting,” Claude commented, reviewing Miriam’s transmissions. “There’s only one panel inside the lift. I would interpret that as only one destination.”
“Miriam, use the little shadow,” Mickey requested. “Program it to touch the panel. Have it wait a while, and then touch the panel again.”
The team watched the lift’s hidden door close and heard a whisper of movement. Miriam supplied the group with a chronometer that counted down the time until the shadow would request the lift to return. When the chronometer hit zero, the team heard the subtle movement of the lift. They waited anxiously for its return, hoping to see the shadow.
The door recessed and slid aside. Miriam signaled the shadow, which leapt off the wall to the lift floor. It bobbed up and down several times and spun around twice in celebration.
“Cute,” Mickey commented to Miriam about her antics with the shadow.
Miriam retrieved the shadow’s vid memory and played it. An empty, gray corridor stretched out in front of the lift. It ended at a solid pair of doors that appeared more like hatches in a ship’s hull.