by P F Walsh
“Allister?” Sean said quietly.
“Working on it, Captain. Begin explaining in a normal, but confident voice tone, on what you are doing. Feign an authorized inspection.” He replied into Sean’s embedded communicator.
Sean began as he used his arm to indicate the library,
“I am here to inspect your preservation of information and data. It all seems to be in order thus far, but I have not completed my inspection yet. Why do you not speak in the language I have chosen? Are you defective?” he said questioningly and placed his hand on his hip.
More issuances from the middle column were heard. Sean walked over to the lighted panel section on the wall and began again,
“This section seems to be organized, but I suspect all of them are lacking language choice. Did you not expect that after all this time language would change, or even be replaced by another one more suitable? Why do you not understand me? Have you failed in your instructions?” Sean asked more forcefully.
“I am getting bits and pieces Captain. Move the translator closer to him. I will see if I can link and get a language set. Instruct the crew to sit down forcefully.” Allister said in his communicator. Sean turned to his crew and said with authority,
“Sit down, all of you while I work this out.” All sat down except the Sisters. They remained standing but moved back behind a kiosk.
The center column moved back just a bit when that occurred. Sean approached the center column holding the translator forward. He came within two feet as the column began to open a panel and extend a rod. Sean recognized this as some sort of stun weapon and stopped. Everything paused. Sean stood his ground. Minutes passed. Finally, the column spoke again,
“Are you a Master?” It said in English. Sean now knew Allister had linked a language set. His answer must be carefully posed. He said,
“I am Master of many things but King of none. I am Captain of the starship Discovery, Senior Field Officer of the Embassy of the Planet Earth and a member of the Council of Worlds, Duke of Mer.” He posed in his most officious manner when he finished.
“You are then, a Master?” The column asked.
“Yes.” Sean replied.
“I must report this to Central. The Masters have returned.” The panel on the center column closed up and all three left the room without turning around as though there was no front to any of them. Sean relaxed a bit.
“Allister, how much did you get?” He asked.
“Quite a bit Captain. Nicely done. Their software is subservient to any living Master. I suspect we will be hearing from the Central AI before long. I would continue my ‘inspection’ if I were you. Stay in the role.” He advised.
After several hours of inspecting adjacent buildings, it became clear that while impeccably maintained and cleaned, nothing had been used in a very long time. Everything was neatly in place ready for use.
“We need to find something that looks like a hotel.” Sean said.
“We’re going to stay down?” Doris quietly asked surprised.
“Yes, I think that’s best. If we were the returning Masters, we would go to attend our comforts don’t you think?” He too kept his voice low so that only Doris could hear him.
“I suspect Central has the ability to listen to commands and instructions from anywhere, let’s try it out.” He whispered.
“Central, we tire from our inspections. Take us to where we may rest and feed.” He said out loud. Directly in front of them a transport car detached from the face of an adjacent building, rolled up to them, and opened the doors. Sean looked at the rest of the crew. Doris shrugged her shoulders and climbed in first. The others followed. It was a short ride, just a few blocks and the doors opened in front of another building that had more windows. They got out and the doors to the building opened as they approached. A similar column stood in an area much like a lobby. It spoke as they approached.
“Cubicles are being prepared for each of you. Would you prefer nourishment first?” It asked in English.
“Yes.” Sean said.
“Follow this unit. to the nourishment center.” They lined up behind Sean and followed the unit into another large room set with tables and chairs. The chairs had very high backs and the table a bit lower than they were all used to. They speculated that these were made for humanoids of slightly different builds, taller with a lower waist. They all sat down except the Sisters who stood nearby.
“Are you both well and following this? Do you concur? Is there ill will here?” Sean sent mentally to the Sisters.
“We are fine, there is much energy here to absorb, and it is increasing. Many things are being powered up. We concur in your approach as effective, and appropriate. We sense no ill will, only loneliness. There is some confusion, but it is dissipating. We still hear the voices from time to time. They are immobile. We will find them soon.” They chimed together.
Another drone came out of a compartment and rolled over to their table. It placed a display tablet on the table. The display was lit up and full of squares with symbols again. Like the screen in the Library, there was a place to click for pictures of the dishes. None look familiar. They were immediately concerned over eating food that was not suitable for their digestive systems. Sean agreed and they opened up their backpacks and broke out the supplies that Allister had assembled for them to eat. Cold Macaroni salad wasn’t as good as hot pasta, but tasty nonetheless.
They were all now fed, and beginning to realize it had been a long day and they were tired. They returned to the lobby area’s service column and were led down a hall to individual cubicles which were sizable and comfortable. The sleep pads were extra-long as expected. Sean was given a suite that had a lounge area. Doris decided to sleep nearby Sean. There were two refreshment rooms with hot water and cleaning cloths that they both used. Doris set her weapons within easy reach, one of them under a cushion on the couch-like furnishing she planned to sleep on. Then she dragged a heavy chair against the cubicle door. Sean wasted no time in retiring. He set his translator on a high chest of drawers so the vid camera could observe the room, dropped onto the sleep pad, and fell asleep within minutes. Doris dozed. The Sisters stayed together and stood near a wall that had power distribution within it and absorbed a generous supply. Allister notified the rest of the Discovery crew that the ground team was spending the night on the planet, was comfortable, and safe.
Central had come to full power and brought all processors online. This included activating the atmosphere enhancement system. It began feeding ice blocks from the poles of the planet into the separation grid and ‘cracking’ oxygen and hydrogen out of the water. It also initiated the routine of bringing the city alive from a century of being in a ‘sleep’ mode. Some things did not respond, and he powered up a fleet of repair drones to respond to inactivations, even a few of those failed to respond. There were many more failures than Central expected. This made it realize its report to the Master would be deficient.
It re-prioritized the repair list to reported items within a near radius to the Master and his sub-masters. While this was running as programmed, it opened another panel, linked again to the Master’s computer, downloaded more language set, and provisioning information for the synthesizers. The vats were full, so there would be no shortages in that area. Central quickly became aware that the Master’s computer was more sentient by a large degree, and hoped the Master would permit Central an Upgrade. It felt full of energy at being fully activated and busy with tasks. It logged a massive update of statuses.
Central did not understand why the Master had changed languages, but then recalled the Masters were always creating, so why not a new language? It was logical. Central was very receptive to engaging with the Master to receive new commands. It powered up a new section of memory core to be prepared to construct new routines quickly, and ran a parity test.
“Now... what to do about the unruly sentients?” it wondered.
The Discovery ground team all awoke after an undisturbed n
ight of rest and gathered in the nourishment hall for a breakfast of juice containers and energy bars from their packs. After breakfast, and as some were finishing their drinks, Sean spoke,
“I had a contact with Allister this morning and he says the atmosphere has been normalized, so we won’t need to wear our masks, but I would keep it with you in case that changes. He also arranged with Central to allow our signals to pass freely back and forth to Discovery.” Then, he said,
“I plan on going first to meet with Central, and carefully acquire the history of this city and planet. It looks abandoned, but the question is, did they leave or perish here? If they perished, how and why? Is there any danger to us? There is so much to find out. Doris, and the Sisters, you’ll come with me, the rest of you can explore and take photos. Do not turn anything on until we know what it is. When you enter a building, ask Central if it is safe to enter. It might be a good idea to ask to inspect the medical facilities. It may give us some clues as to what happened here. I’m sure Dr. Tak will want to look things over closely. We might even need to use it.”
They all nodded affirmatively as Sean got up with Doris to go out and call for transport to Central.
The transport car with Sean, Doris, and two Sisters traveled through the city to a large park that was covered with a soft, green moss. There were seating kiosks scattered about the area sized to accommodate up to four. In the middle of the park was a small glass building. The glass glowed and appeared to be illuminated through its lower edge. They walked across the moss to the glass structure and stood before the door. It opened and they watched as an elevator cage rose up from the floor. They looked at each other and Sean stepped in with Doris and the Sisters following. The outer door closed and the elevator cage began to descend. There were no intermediate stops as the elevator cage descended to a substantial depth and stopped.
A solid door swung open to reveal a huge subterranean room that seemed to go on for hundreds of feet. Lights were still switching on at the far end. The air was quite cold and Sean could see his breath on exhale. He looked to his right and there was a coat rack with several white insulated coats hanging there. It was clear what they were there for. He picked one off the rack and slipped it on. Doris followed suit. Coat closure was merely to put the two coat flaps together and they stayed. Sean felt these were designed to be hip length, but the former residents were taller, so the coats came to knee length on Sean and Doris.
Doris pointed to a center control section about one-hundred feet ahead. They walked past hundreds of columns with various tiny lights being displayed, some blinking at data rates. None of these floated but were secured to the floor. An all-encompassing low hum was in the air. They came to the center control area. A long table with several screens scrolling data could be seen along with the same number of rolling chairs. They both sat down.
“Central I am pleased to see that you have been maintained and appear to be fully functional.” Sean said casually.
“My processors are all prepared to function as designed.” Central answered, although neither Sean nor Doris could tell where the voice was coming from. It seemed to be coming from everywhere.
“Let us begin. Please report.” Sean said.
Central began to report that the city was being reactivated and detailed where there had been failures with the progress of repairs. This went on for quite a while until Sean could see the level of detail was getting lower than his interest. He interrupted,
“Central, that is satisfactory. Now, I wish to hear your report on why there are no other Masters here to greet us when we came.”
Chapter Six
Book Three
Two British diplomatic service officers held on tight as their vehicle sped along Koshu-kaido Avenue in Tokyo with other vehicles in front and in back. All the flashing lights were on, but no sirens as the NPA National Police Agency of Japan rushed to enclose a building with a tight net of armed police. Several plain-clothes officers were already on the site, and knew who and where their targets were. They had waited until three of the four Chinese men had gone out to eat at a nearby restaurant. That left only one guarding the kidnaped son of the British Ambassador to Washington. Six plain-clothes officers followed the three Chinese, blended in with the crowded streets and prepared to apprehend them as they ate.
Two other officers, using a metal tray, set a small fire in the hall outside the room where the captive was being held. Using a small bellows, one blew the smoke under the door while the other stood ready to neutralize the remaining kidnaper when he opened the door to investigate if the building was on fire.
Inside the room, Gerald Dawson, son of the British Ambassador was handcuffed and his feet tied together. A gag taped on his mouth. He was lying on the floor and awake. His guard had dozed off in the overstuffed chair with his gun in his lap. Gerald saw the smoke coming under the door and realized the building was on fire. He became terrified of being left behind to burn up and began lifting his legs up and dropping them on the floor repetitively to make noise while trying to yell through his gag.
The Chinese guard awoke and got up to strike the captive, but noticed the captive was sniffing continuously. That was when he realized the smell of smoke was in the room. He looked at the door and saw smoke coming under the door. He raised his gun and ran to open the door to look outside. He opened the door with his gun sticking out and was shot in the head. He fell back into the room dead. The officer stomped on the door to break away the chain that was still attached, and ready to engage any remaining captors. There were none. He could see the captive on the floor and ran to him. The other officer seeing the room now cleared, poured water on the fire in the tray, and came in to help free the captive.
The building was secured with uniformed police surrounding it. A paramedic ran in to check the captive. The handcuffs were cut off and the legs untied as the paramedic checked him over. Two British diplomatic service officers came into the room and walked over to where the captive was sitting.
“Mr. Dawson we presume?”
It was a chilly night in the Catoctin Mountain Park in Frederick County, Maryland. The fireplace in the Aspen lodge at Camp David was bristling with sparks and pops as the dry wood burned. President Burke and Millie Griggs sat on the couch facing the fireplace. Both holding drinks and enjoying the wooded lodge lifestyle, however brief it may be. Camp David is a respite for Presidents to visually to set aside their burdens, and change the scene, although the burdens remain, they somehow seem lightened while there. The President turned to Millie,
“By the way, I forgot to mention that Eddie called and the issues with your phone have been resolved. Ambassador Dawson confessed to making the switch. The Chinese kidnaped his son as leverage to get him to do it. Fortunately, the son has been rescued in Japan, of all places, and of course the Ambassador will likely lose his job over compromising White House security, or at least attempting to do so. All of it was foiled by a very clever woman from England.” He said with a smile.
“Thank you, James, but what do I do about my phone now? I can’t function without it.” She asked.
“I took care of that. Eddie is ordering a new one and he will make sure it’s clean when it arrives. My treat.”
“Really? How will I know whether you have put some devious tracking thing on it to keep track of me?” She asked teasingly.
“Damn, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll call Eddie in the morning.” He said.
“Nooo you won’t!” She said as she jumped onto his lap.
Allister was sitting in the Discovery Captain’s suite with Nasht-Mer. She was drinking a cup of Zeng Tea, now being sweetened with maple syrup, a new foodie addiction she had acquired over having pancakes and maple syrup. Allister was asked by Nasht-Mer to give her a report on what he had learned about this new world they were orbiting above. He began,
“I will leave out the technical details of orbit, size and all those numbers.”
“Exactly Allister, you know how uninteresting
that is to me.” She interrupted. He began again,
“All of my rummaging through Central’s database has been fascinating. There are hundreds of years of information. The most relevant is that the city on this small planet is an outpost of a much larger civilization in a location further away than we can travel to with our transition engines. They developed and use a ‘Space Folding’ method of transport. It allows a ship to select a destination and fold space to arrive at their intended location almost instantly. The possible reach is, as far as I can tell, unlimited. This means that a ship could travel from one galaxy to another in minutes. Otherwise, their general technology is somewhat in advance of ours, perhaps a century or so, but current, or behind, in some areas.” He continued,
“My computational abilities are far more advanced than Central down on the planet. However, we don’t really know if that was merely a station keeping computer, and others may be quite intelligent like me. I would guess they have more sophisticated computers to have built ships that can fold space.” He recited. He went on,
“This outpost was allowed to demise population-wise, after it was detected that a strange disease was killing the residents. The females died first. There was great fear of transporting something they could not identify and Central isolated the outpost while they tried to find the cause. Ultimately, the disease also killed the remaining male population that was looking for the cause, and the outpost was abandoned. By now, Sean is finding out about that, and will likely begin an intense search for clues along with Doctor Jess’m.
“What about our team and Sean?” She asked now frightened.
“Odds are very high that they will not be affected. The original inhabitants, while we may look similar, had a completely different cell structure. I am sure the Doctor will find that out and confirm that soon.” He said.
