Last of the Treasure Hunters

by Warren Dean

  Although he spent a lot of time working on the restoration, he made sure that he didn't neglect the Nerds' brainstorming sessions, bringing his Gordian knot-cutting abilities to bear on a number of thorny tangles that would otherwise have distracted the Nerds unnecessarily.

  And, if she was honest with herself, she was glad that he hadn't left the Repository. Despite the annoying 'headmistress' thing, he was the closest thing to a friend she had among the Nerds. The rest of them deferred to her in one way or another, and most of them weren't capable of holding an ordinary conversation anyway. Ant was different. He was a loner at heart, capable of breaking free from the collective, and she had come to value their one-on-ones in the refectory.

  Without Ant restored to something like his old self, she wasn't sure how she would have been able to keep everything together.

  How much of this the Journeyman had intended when he gave Ant permission to restore the drone she wasn't sure, but part of her suspected that he had thought it through rather well.

  Less successful, at least in her opinion, had been the Constructor's decision to bring Connor and Christina to the Repository. It was contrary to her sense of order that they had been given no defined role – almost certainly a deliberate decision by the Journeyman – and she often found herself wondering what contribution they were meant to be making. They were unable to interact meaningfully with the Nerds – who was? – and their forays into the 'hive were sporadic and superficial. The Journeyman was too busy to spend any time with them and Azee herself had little in common with them. The only person they really connected with was Ant and it was hardly surprising that they quickly became his lieutenants in the Seeker restoral project.

  She sighed as she suddenly realised something – something that the Journeyman had obviously worked out long ago. The glue holding the disparate elements of the little research team together was Ant, not her. He was considered by the Nerds to be one of them, yet he was independent enough to operate outside of their micro-society. His phlegmatic manner, which had infuriated her while they were at NASA, made him easy to talk to, as she herself had found when she had eventually made the effort to do so.

  She would have thought that she was too tired to feel something as petty as resentment, but she felt a pang of it all the same. Far from being the lynchpin of the team, and the focus of the Journeyman's attention, she was really just a cog in the wheel.

  Her reaction was immature and she let go of it almost immediately. She had much bigger problems and it was probably a good thing for her to relinquish some of the responsibility, real or imagined, that she had gathered to herself. Perhaps it would help her to think more clearly through the exhaustion.

  Today, for some reason, she felt like she couldn't absorb any more information. It was an odd sensation, one she couldn't remember ever having had before. Whatever the reason for it might be, it forced her swim over to the side of her cell and let herself out through the membrane. The Journeyman and the rest of the Nerds were still engaged in the 'hive and there was no sign of Connor and Christina.

  They were probably down in the City of Shapes working on the Seeker with the giant neon butterfly.

  She shook her head and allowed herself a wry grin. Was it only a few weeks ago that a random thought like that would have had her booking a session on the psychologist's couch?

  Having gone to the trouble of bringing the old survey drone out of the artefact store, Ant, Connor, and Christina had immediately run into their first difficulty. It was easy enough to source the relevant schematics and diagnostic information available for the drone, but the three of them did not have the technical skills necessary to make head or tail of it, let alone to carry out the actual mechanics required. And there was no-one at the Repository they could turn to for help either.

  Being strangers in the Galactic neighbourhood, the best idea Ant and Connor could come up with was to perhaps ask Jim Carney to send someone from NASA. Christina told them not to bother; she knew an expert. The following night, a flyer from the City of the Bay on Aquasolis stepped through the roof portal.

  When Christina brought Xzaroth into the refectory to meet everyone, even the usually cynical Nerds were dumbstruck. A head taller than the average human, the shining creature still managed to look somehow insubstantial, the effect perhaps of his diaphanous wings vibrating so quickly that their edges were blurred. There was nothing insubstantial about the brilliance of his colouring, though, nor his ice-blue eyes which exuded an ageless serenity, nor the razor sharp claws which tipped his beautifully slender hands. When it was Azee's turn to greet him she could do nothing but gaze up at him in awe.

  She didn't see much of him after that; he seemed uncomfortable in the relatively confined spaces around the 'hive and spent most of his time down in the City of Shapes.

  After some scouting, Connor and Christina had found an open area not too far from the 'hive which had enough space for the work they needed to do. There they brought the battered Seeker, making use of a transit drone to bring it up from the artefact store.

  Xzaroth constructed a scaffold which served the purpose of raising the Seeker to (his) eye level and giving him easy access to it from all angles. Then he pored over the schematics Ant had sourced from the 'hive. Once he had familiarised himself with the drone's technical specifications, he began the process of restoration itself.

  Despite her avowed disinterest, Azee found herself wandering down into the city on occasion, mainly to speak to Ant, but also to satisfy her growing curiosity. Initially, the visits were worth it just to watch the graceful flyer at work, but as time went by she found herself captivated by the transformation which came over the little drone.

  When she first saw it, she had her doubts about whether it was salvageable at all. It looked completely fried.

  Xzaroth didn't appear to think so, however. He had removed the drone's damaged rear section and solar overlay, leaving its elongated body looking oddly naked. The removal of the overlay revealed more shell underneath, while at the rear was a hatch which allowed access to the drone's systems cavity. The first time she peered into it, from a respectful distance, she was surprised to see that there was a fair amount of open space within. The regeneralloy formed something of a cocoon, within which she could see a central console. At that point the flyer blocked her view as he stuck his arms, head, and shoulders into the confined space.

  He was the only one there and she had turned away, intending to go back to the 'hive, when the flyer spoke to her. "--The one you name Ant is not here. May I perhaps be of assistance instead?--"

  "No, no, I didn't mean to bother you, I'll come back when…" She trailed off as she realised that she was speaking aloud to a creature who couldn't hear her and wouldn't understand her if he could. She resisted her natural urge to creep shyly away without replying, but decided there was no need to be rude. "--I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I'll come back later, if that's okay?--"

  "--Should it be of interest to you I would be pleased to show you a little of our work here.--"

  The thought of being the centre of the charismatic creature's attention made her go weak at the knees but she couldn't think of an excuse to say no. "--That would be nice, thanks.--"

  The butterfly – she had to stop thinking of him like that – flitted towards her and fixed her with a piercing stare.

  "--Would you like me to show you how to levitate, or are you content to climb the scaffold?--"

  Having heard Connor recounting the tale of how the butt… the flyer had taught him to levitate, she quickly assured Xzaroth that she was content with the climbing option.

  Awkwardly clambering up a few struts so that she was level with the back of the drone, she could see that some of its control systems were set into the central console, while others were spread around the inside of the cavity. Xzaroth, hovering effortlessly in the air alongside her, explained that many of them had malfunctioned. A lot of what he said was too technical for her to follow, so she memor
ised it for later study and continued to listen politely.

  "--The simplest solution,--" continued the flyer, "--would be to restore the main power supply and let the regeneralloy repair the damage automatically, but we have decided against that. The extremity of the conditions the drone encountered and the length of time it was inactive both increase the risk that anomalies may have become embedded in the old systems. And diagnostics won't identify anomalies until they manifest themselves.--"

  "--What are you going to do instead?--" she asked, shifting her weight where the narrow slats of the scaffold were digging uncomfortably into her legs.

  "--We have elected to follow a process of diagnosing each system and replacing it, or parts of it, where substantial damage requires. The solar overlay, for example, has been exposed to heat far in excess of its usual limits and it makes sense to replace it with a new one.--"

  "--How will you find the parts you need? I thought this model was discontinued thousands of cycles ago?--"

  "--A perceptive question. One of the significant features of this model is that most of its systems are themselves constructed largely of regeneralloy. It is what made the Seekers so durable compared to their predecessors. This means that most of its systems can easily be reconstructed. Only a few of them require us to source other materials. Fortunately, the Repository is a virtually inexhaustible source of such materials.--"

  "--How does a Seeker usually repair its systems when they get damaged?--"

  "--Most of the time it sources the materials it needs from the planets it surveys. On the rare occasions it requires something not readily available, the regeneralloy itself is sometimes able to convert to the necessary format. If not, its default directive is to return to base for repairs.--"

  While they were talking, Connor and Christina stepped through the floating portal at the far side of the work area. Both were carrying small metallic items which they deposited on tables set up alongside the structure. If they wondered what Azee was doing in conversation with Xzaroth, they didn't ask.

  "--If you will excuse me,--" said the flyer, "--I must inspect the items my companions have obtained.--"

  Over the next few days, Azee watched the little restoration team settle into an efficient routine. Xzaroth would identify which system to regenerate next and would give Ant a list of any hardware requirements. The hacker would source them through the 'hive. Connor and Christina were the 'runners' who would retrieve the required items. Most could be found within the Repository and its cavernous artefact stores, but occasionally the couple would have to travel off-planet to secure what was needed.

  Azee watched the steady progress they made with conflicting emotions. While it was great to see something so damaged being brought back to life, she couldn't help but feel disconsolate at the lack of success of the wider effort taking place in the 'hive. Despite all of the hard work that she and the Nerds were putting in, they seemed no closer to any sort of resolution.

  ----------

  She wandered over to the refectory, thinking that perhaps having something to eat would lift her spirits and give her some energy. Walking in, she looked around, half expecting to see Ant slouched in a corner, but the place was empty. Momentarily disappointed, she decided that she was not really surprised. Since its nadir a few weeks ago, Ant's mood had done an about-turn and he had become the most industrious of them all. Splitting his waking hours between the 'hive and the restoration project, he had been working like a Trojan lately.

  As for her, it felt like she had been going in the opposite direction. Enthusiastic and motivated when she had first stepped through the portal hovering over the Parque de Maria Luisa in Seville, she had become even more so after discovering the hedonistic – at least to her – delights of the Repository, not to mention meeting the intellectual giant that was the Journeyman.

  Now, she was frustrated and dispirited. For her, challenges were solved in a linear fashion. First came the definition phase; what was the essence of the problem once the inaccuracies of language and perception had been stripped away? This was not usually her area of concern. The technical brains at NASA were good at coming up with the right questions. Next came the data selection phase, preceded by a data collection phase if necessary; what data was needed to address the inquiry at hand? This was where she was in her element. With her prodigious memory, she had always been able to sift through the available information and distil what was relevant without wasting time with much of the research that lesser minds had to undertake. And then there was the solution phase; what does the data tell you? The Nerds were usually able to make short work of that one.

  The current problem, the one that would determine the fate of Planet Earth, was different. She had applied her usual techniques and found them to be inadequate. She wasn't even sure what the question was anymore. In the beginning it had seemed relatively simple. What is the source of the meteors that seeded planets of the Milky Way and its galactic neighbours with gold millions of years ago? Find that source so that the dying Constructors don't need to mine Earth's rich reserves.

  But how realistic was it to expect a bunch of human youngsters to come up with an answer that a race of super beings had failed to come up with in millennia?

  She finished the food she had ordered and fetched a hot drink. One of the wonders of the refectory was that it could be requested to replicate almost any food or beverage and the drink she liked ordering tasted a lot like tea.

  Perhaps a shift in perspective was needed. Perhaps a more insightful way of asking the question was; how is it possible that a race of super beings had failed to find the source in all that time – particularly when one considered the oceans of information at their disposal and the intellectual firepower of the Thousand Systems?

  The simple answer, if there was one, was that they had found the source but that it was not recognisable for what it was. Turning the idea over in her mind, she found it a bit scary. It meant that the source could be almost anything and almost anywhere and, even if they happened to be looking right at it, they wouldn't know.

  She put her face in her hands and felt even more desperate.

  She was sitting like that when Connor and Christina came into the refectory. They collected some food and brought it over to her table.

  "May we join you?" asked Christina.

  She nodded.

  "Is everything alright?" asked Connor.

  She sighed. "If you mean; are we on the brink of solving the puzzle and saving Earth? – the answer is no."

  "I can see how that would trouble you," he conceded.

  As Connor and Christina ate their food, Azee found herself telling them what she had been thinking.

  "If that's true," said Connor, "it could be a good thing. Perhaps it narrows the parameters of the search. Instead of looking for something new, you can concentrate on what's already been found."

  "You can also eliminate anything that has been fully investigated by the Constructors," added Christina.

  Azee hadn't thought about it like that. "That sounds logical," she said, "but in galactic terms there is still a great deal of ground to cover and not enough time for it all. And surely the Constructors must have considered this angle. I can't believe something like this would never have occurred to them."

  "It sounds to me like everyone is overthinking this," said Connor.

  Not familiar with the concept of 'overthinking' anything, Azee stared at the Irishman blankly.

  "What I mean is," he continued, "everyone keeps saying that the source is most likely in the galactic vicinity of the Milky Way. From what I've seen of the work being done by the Nerds, the Milky Way is pretty much in the centre of their target area. Given that time is short, doesn't it make sense to concentrate on one galaxy?"

  Despite the simplicity of his thinking, she had to admit that what he said made sense. It had become a risk/reward game, at least as far as the future of Earth was concerned. Perhaps it was time to focus on the area of highest probability.
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  "You may be right," she said. "I'll speak to the Journeyman and see what he thinks. Still, even if we reduce all efforts to one galaxy, we're still dealing with a vast amount of space and we literally don't know what we're looking for."

  "You should speak to Ant, then," said Connor. "He showed me an interesting graphic of the paths of the survey drones which have been through the Milky Way. He thinks there may be a pattern to them."

  "I know about his mapping project," said Azee, a little defensively, "although he hasn't spoken to me about it recently. He's become so busy; I haven't had a chance to speak to him much." She trailed off, unwilling to let on that she had been missing the hacker's company.

  "I'll call him," said Connor. "He was working with Xzaroth when we left the city." He sent out a telepathic shout and a few minutes later Ant walked into the refectory. He was brimming with excitement.

  "I was about to call you guys," he said. "You need to come and see this. Hello headmistress, Connor said you were here."

  She found that she was pleased to see him and wasn't as irritated by the 'headmistress' appellation as usual.

  He sat down at the table and began eating Connor and Christina's leftovers.

  "Don't you want to get some fresh food?" she asked.

  "No time," he replied, "got to get back to Xzaroth for the big switch-on. Just came up to see what you wanted me for."

  "Big switch-on?" asked Azee.

  "Xzaroth is getting ready to connect Seeker up to a power source so that it can complete its regeneration," said Connor. 'We've been looking forward to this for a while."

  She wondered when the Irishman had taken to personalising the drone. To be fair, though, she had to admit that it suited the enigmatic little machine.

  "He won't start without us," said Ant. "So, what did you guys want to talk about?"