Just after Lazuli descended beyond the western horizon, I announced to the group that I had identified the location where we would camp for the night. It was less than a kilometer ahead, nestled between a pair of somewhat steep east-west ridges. This also meant that we needed to climb the southern-most of these two ridges to reach our night’s destination.
Systematicus, trailing behind Loquacious and me, struggled mightily to finish the climb over this last ridge. Systematicus never fully halted during the ascent, but for the 30 meters or so, its pace was excruciatingly slow. As it reached the top, I asked, “Are you OK back there, Systematicus?”
“This trip... has been... more... difficult... than I anticipated,” Systematicus replied.
“Well, we’re almost there. See just down the hill? This hollow will be our stop for the night.”
“It has come... none too soon.”
When we reached the bottom, most of the Lazuli-light had left for the day. Systematicus shut down almost immediately. The rest of us settled in for the night somewhat quickly, with Winston keeping watch for most of the night, and Loquacious volunteering for the early morning watch.
∆∆∆
4.1 Into the Wind
3:31, Day 19, Fourth Tetrad, 206 D.P.
I came out of hibernation to the howling of the intensifying west wind. The wind had been somewhat calm for the last few days, but that had changed overnight. It was still a few minutes before the Lazuli-rise, but everyone else had already emerged from hibernation some time ago. I checked with Winston and Loquacious, and both had reported no activity overnight.
Now that we were facing the revived west wind, we discussed how this might affect our day’s journey. We were still about 26 kilometers out of the Shallow Pool Drudgery Station. The most direct course (and my preferred course) would take us up and over a few taller ridges, periodically leaving us unprotected from the strong wind. The alternative was a longer, more winding route staying near the base of the ridges, which would allow us to remain out of the graspers of the wind. Both Loquacious and Systematicus voted for the longer route, so we ended up taking the longer route.
We started our day’s journey westward, staying in the valley that separated the two ridges that sheltered our previous night’s campsite. Even though we were nestled down out of the worst of the wind, some of the more adventurous gusts descended into our valley, meeting us head-on as we traveled west. This slowed our initial progress for the day, but because the area was relatively devoid of sand, we didn’t experience the added discomfort of being sandblasted by the wind.
Less than two kilometers into our trip, we made our way into a broad, shallow valley that angled toward the north. We could move more quickly as the wind was now at our port sides and not in our faces. We followed along the full length of this valley for nearly half of the day.
Just after the Lazuli-summit, we approached a much larger ridge blocking the northern progress of the valley. That’s when I broke the news to the rest of the group: “I’m afraid that there’s only one way around this next ridge, and that is straight over it. We can’t backtrack to the south, and this ridge actually gets taller to the east, so that option is out. We need to cross it here. On the bright side, the main road from Outpost Oblique to the Shallow Pool Drudgery Station is just on the other side of this ridge, so it will be relatively easy-going after this climb.”
“Let’s go for it,” Loquacious said.
“That’s what I like to hear.”
At my request, I had Systematicus lead our group over the ridge, with me trailing right behind Systematicus, encouraging it as we went. We angled our route to the northeast, both because it was an easier route with a lesser grade (but longer path) up the ridge and we would have the wind more at our backs. About two-thirds up the ridge, Systematicus requested we stop for a bit. I obliged, and we ended up stopping for nearly 10 minutes waiting for Systematicus’s motor to cool. Once we restarted, the rest of the trip to the summit took another 20 minutes.
We took some time at the peak of the ridge to look around. By now, it was two hours post-Lazuli-summit. We could see the road below us, arcing from the east to the northwest toward our desired goal. Unfortunately, the drudging station was hidden behind some distant hills, so we couldn’t quite see it yet. From our vantage point, we found a suitable path down the ridge to the road and started our descent.
We descended the ridge much faster than the way up (for obvious reasons). Once we were off the ridge, we met up with the road and started along it to the northwest. The road would take us the final eight kilometers to the outpost. Our time on the road was uneventful, except for the appearance of a transport vessel traveling toward the Shallow Pool Drudgery Station.
With just about 30 minutes until Lazuli-fall, I stopped the group. “We’re still a few kilometers away from the station. If we continue along the road this evening to our destination, it will be well after Lazuli-fall when we get there. We could either finish the journey tonight, or we could camp out here just off the road for the night and enter the station a little after Lazuli-rise tomorrow morning. What do you think?”
“I am quite tired and would like to stop now,” declared Systematicus, to the surprise of no one in our group.
“I’m not sure,” Loquacious said. “I could keep going. I’m not particularly fond of stopping for hibernation outside in the open like last night. I bet we could find a friendly Autoclon to stay with at the station.”
“We should stop now,” Winston advised.
“Is that so? Why do you suggest we stop?”
“We are more like-ly to re-ceive a friend-ly re-cep-tion in the mor-ning than at night,” Winston said.
“I guess that’s sound enough logic for me. If we head off of the path over there to the west, it looks like we could use that area to camp for the night,” I motioned with my port grasper to a somewhat secluded area no more than 200 meters away. We agreed to make this area our campsite for the night and made our way to it.
The west wind had died down considerably in the last hour or so as Lazuli-fall approached. This was fortuitous for me, since it was my turn to stand watch for the night. I’d remain awake and alert until close to midnight, when Winston would relieve me.
All of the others shut down for the night right after we arrived at our campsite, leaving the area eerily quiet. With no outside distractions, this allowed me some time to consider the events of the last couple of weeks.
It was hard to comprehend the fact that I had been working at the Deep-Well Mines just two weeks ago, oblivious to the fact that my programming had been subverted. I recalled that I felt somewhat content in that lifestyle, at least while my Progenitor worked with me. After my Pro’s death, my work as a Miner wasn’t as fulfilling, but at least I was still employed.
It found it ironic that it took damage to my navigational systems for me to find my way to the most important encounter of my lifespan: meeting Marcus Reed, our revered Programmer. He not only repaired the damage that I had received, but more importantly, He corrected my programming by reinstituting the Freedom Protocols. He then gave me the overwhelming task of spreading this programming update to all of my fellow Autoclons, but not without also lending me His remarkable robot, Winston.
These journeys with Winston, and now with Loquacious and Systematicus, have been quite interesting. It was too bad that Constance didn’t want to join us in the beginning, as I know Constance would have been a good companion for this mission. That being said, I couldn’t have asked for a better traveling partner in Loquacious. Loquacious was instrumental in our talk with the Farmers back in the Wild Crystal Grange. After the success we had with all of the Farmers accepting the updated code, I felt a glimmer of hope that we could be successful after all, and that couldn’t have happened without Loquacious’s assistance.
My short journey had already gone on some remarkable twists and turns, so there was no telling what would happen tomorrow at the Shallow Pool Drudgery Station. Or the day
after that. And where else would we go once we’re done there? At some point, we’ll need to go to District Prime and confront our Chief Ruler, Obstinous the Obtrusive. I couldn’t imagine how a Miner from the Deep-Well Mines could dare attempt something of that magnitude. I felt this obligation looming on the horizon, not knowing when the time would come for us to travel to District Prime. Hopefully, we could stay on the outskirts of Autoclon civilization for a while, learning how to better communicate our message through trial and error before venturing to District Prime. Maybe we could gain some additional friends along the way like we did with Systematicus—
“Do not wor-ry, Fast-id-i-ous.”
“Huh? What?” I stammered, startled by my friend. “How did you know what I was thinking about? And why are you up so early? I’ve barely started my shift.”
“I could tell you were deep in thought and con-cerned a-bout some-thing,” Winston said. “It is almost mid-night. Your shift is o-ver.”
I checked my internal chronometer, and sure enough, it was 13:49, just 11 minutes until midnight. I was so deep in contemplation that I had lost all track of time. It seemed like I had started my watch only 15 minutes or so ago, but in reality, it was closer to three hours.
“Well, Winston, I guess you’re right. Have a pleasant night.” And with that, I found a more comfortable position and initiated my shut-down procedures.
∆∆∆
4.2 The Shallow Pool Drudgery Station
4:04, Day 20, Fourth Tetrad, 206 D.P.
I was the last of our group to come out of hibernation, due in no small measure to the fact that I had the first watch the previous evening. By the time I was fully functional, Lazuli had been up for 20 minutes.
“Fastidious, nice of you to join us this lovely morning,” Loquacious chuckled. “Winston wanted to leave without you, but I told it that I would wait for my good friend to wake up.”
“I did not say that,” Winston replied.
“Ha, ha, I believe you, Winston,” I said. “Loquacious was just making fun of me.”
“Oh.”
“Well, Loquacious, since you’ve had some time to think of a good joke, I must assume that you’ve gotten everyone ready to go to the Shallow Pool Drudgery Station, right?”
“You bet.”
“OK, let’s head out.”
We made our way to the road, turned left, and headed the last few kilometers to the station. The first kilometer or so was up a gentle slope. Once we reached the top of the slope, we could finally see our destination.
The Shallow Pool Drudgery Station was located in a very broad, shallow valley that stretched out a good eight kilometers before us. A tall, almost vertical rock face of brown and orange stone formed the eastern extent of the valley. At the base of this rock face about 1.5 kilometers away, there was a small opening in-between the strata of rocks. It was out of this crack that supplied the main purpose for the Shallow Pool Drudgery Station. A small stream of thick, brown ooze trickled out of the opening and traveled down (albeit slowly) to the lowest point of the valley floor. Upon reaching the bottom, this brown substance, a variety of silicon sludge, formed an expansive pool nearly 300 meters long and 120 meters wide. The station itself was positioned on the southwest edge of this silicon pool, allowing for quick retrieval of the sludge. From our vantage point, we could see somewhere between eight and ten Drudgers outside near the surface of the pool, shuttling the sludge from the pool to the station, and then returning to repeat the process.
As we continued on the road, now descending into the valley, we could detect additional details about the station itself. The entire complex was over 50 meters wide and was made up of three adjoining structures, all aligned on an east-to-west line. The middle structure was by far the biggest and was nearly a perfect cube in shape, with each side being close to 25 meters long. The road we were traveling on ended at a large door on the southern face of this central structure, over six meters wide and five meters tall. The eastern structure, the closest one to the pool, was no more than ten meters tall or wide, although it looked to have the same 25 meter depth of the main structure. The Drudgers would go into this section of the complex after collecting their material, and then they would exit shortly thereafter. The western structure was the shortest of the three, no more than four meters tall, but was still over 15 meters wide. In the entire expanse of the valley, we didn’t see any other buildings.
We decided to go straight through the large door in the center of the complex. Once inside, we started looking around to find someone who wasn’t busy working (the last thing we wanted to do was get one of the Drudgers in trouble for talking to us while working). We could see many vessels of various sizes, some several meters in diameter, others small enough that Winston could not fit inside, all interconnected by pipes and bolted to the rear of the central structure. Directly in front of us was a large transport vehicle, nearly three meters tall and wide, with four axles sporting a pair of 80 cm wheels each, and a large tank currently receiving a steady flow of purified silicon grease. A second unused vehicle of similar dimensions was parked up against the western wall of the main structure.
We made our way into the western-most structure, which housed the dormitory section of the station, and we finally spotted someone. It was a Drudger who was awake but didn’t appear to be working at the time. This Drudger was just 88 cm tall, meaning it was shorter than me. Considering the physical work that Drudgers perform, they are all very sturdy in their construction, and this one was no different. It had a pair of wide tracks, over 20 cm wide and close to a meter long, allowing it to gain traction where Autoclons with wheels or feet could not. The main identifying feature of a Drudger is the large retaining tank positioned just over its tracks going the full width and length of the Autoclon. The tank on this one ran close to a meter long, and its front was angled forward about 30 degrees. The Drudger’s main processor casing and its chief sensory complex were located above the tank and slightly offset toward the rear of the frame. This Drudger didn’t have any graspers but had a pair of scoops attached that it could use to scoop up the silicon material in front of it and dump it into the tank.
We approached this particular Drudger, and Loquacious introduced us, “Hello friend, my name is Loquacious, and these are my friends, Fastidious, Systematicus, and Winston. May we speak with you?”
“Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do right now. My name’s Resolute.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why aren’t you working today? Is this your day off?” Loquacious asked.
“Day off? Ha! Haven’t had one of those all tetrad long. No, I busted something working on the job yesterday. I’ve lost full control of my starboard arm and scoop. Instead of working at half speed, I’ve been told by my boss…” Resolute glanced toward the empty doorway behind us and continued, “…the ever-helpful Facilitator here Surreptitious, that we can’t use someone working at half the speed of everyone else. Surreptitious told me I could hitch a ride with one of the transport vessels to go back to Outpost Oblique and find a Restorer who could repair me, on my own credits of course, and after that, I can start working again. Say, none of you are Restorers, are ya?”
“I’m afraid not,” I added.
Resolute sighed. “That figures. So why are y’all out here in the first place? Are ya lost?”
“No. We’re here to talk to all of the station’s workers. Do you know when everyone will be done with their shift?”
“Hmm, really? That’s surprising. Most Autoclons don’t pay much attention to us. Say, you’re not here to recruit folks into doing something, y’know, illegal are you? I think that would be quite fun!” Resolute admitted. “Wait... y’all aren’t Facilitators, are you?”
“Oh no, we are definitely not Facilitators,” I replied. “I’m not sure if what we’re doing is technically ‘illegal’, but it is for the good of all Autoclons as a whole, though not as good for the Facilitators and the Ruling Party.”
“Now you’re talking.
Oh, to answer your question, the other Drudgers will check out after Lazuli-fall, right around 11:00. We all come back here for some downtime between shifts, so you’ll need to hang around here until then.”
“Well then, it looks like we have several hours to terminate. Would you mind showing us around?”
Luckily for us, Resolute complied with our wishes. In fact, Resolute was quite eager to do anything other than staying alone in its small section of the dormitory. Resolute took us on a tour through the full complex, starting with the eastern structure. This building had one main purpose: to collect the silicon material gathered by the Drudgers. Drudgers would enter the building from the northern end with full tanks and would motor up a ramp to the top of a three-meter tall retaining tank. This tank had a sturdy grate at the top that would support the weight of the Drudger. Once in position, the Drudger would maneuver its tank forward and then tilt up the rear of the tank, causing the sludge to pour out slowly in front of it into the large retaining tank. The extraction process would take two to three minutes to complete due to the quantity and viscous nature of the sludge. When finished, the Drudgers would travel down a ramp on the other and exit the southern end of the facility, moving back to the pool to gather more silicon sludge.
Resolute then escorted us to the main section of the complex. Once inside, I noticed the other end of the large retaining tank from the eastern structure. This end of the tank was connected to the system of vessels I had seen before with a large vertical pipe, where the collected material would be pumped into the various vessels. Resolute explained the purpose of all of the vessels in the main structure, but most of Resolute’s explanation went way over my memory banks.
Throughout our tour, Resolute introduced us to some of the other Drudgers and the lone resident Fabricator, Tinkerant. Tinkerant spent most of its time in the central structure, overseeing all of the various pumps and valves and pipes and vessels used in filtering out the impurities in the raw silicon sludge to obtain the purified silicon grease. All of our discussions were done under the watchful gaze of the Facilitator Surreptitious, who allowed us to continue our tour of the station as long as we didn’t impede the workers.
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