Lunar 3097

by Gary Timbrell

  Another blast passed through the Lander now. Without an exterior wall to slow it down, it hit with more force than the first. There was molten metal dripping down the side of the Lander, and a vapor, probably a type of smoke coming from the electrical wiring. Given the different makeup of the Lunar atmosphere, the smoke-like vapor was different than that on Earth.

  With the lack of oxygen, there was no flame, but the vapor filled the closed end of the Lander quickly. 3 picked himself up and proceeded to make his way toward the open end of the Lander. Just then, another blast of bright green light raced through the ship, hitting 3 square in the chest. His nuclear energy power source was wrapped in dense metal to protect it from damage, but something of this magnitude was never considered. The power unit exploded just as 3 got out of the Lander. It didn’t go nuclear, but it did create such a blast that the Lander rolled for about 300 feet, resting on its side facing the opposite way to its original orientation.

  2 finally freed himself from the rack and stood up the best he could from the seat and made his way to the open end of the Lander. He surveyed the area for 3, but there was nothing left of him that could be discerned from the material blasted off the Lander. The debris field was 600 feet in all directions.

  The trams had been knocked on their side and had slid 400 feet away from their original position, spilling the violet239 along the way. There was no sign of 1.

  2 spent the next few minutes scanning the blast area, looking for any signs of life. Suddenly, in the distance, he could make out a shape resembling a human, prone on the Lunar surface. He stopped and studied the shape, making sure his senses where OK after taking so many blasts. Then the shape started to move. It first pulled its legs up and then its arms, then stood. Slowly, it turned, and the bright blue eyes shone like stars. It was 1.

  He must have been knocked down by the blast from 3’s destruction. 2 could make out something strapped to his chest, the instrument they had made to locate him. 1’s left arm was different. It was three times the size of its right. The shape resembled a small cannon, the weapon that had done all the damage.

  2 turned and ran at top speed in the opposite direction from the threat. 1 stood still, stunned by the blast, or maybe knowing that he could find 2 any time he wanted with the instrument that 2 and 3 had built. 2 disappeared over the Lunar horizon in a matter of minutes.

  Feeling the relative safety of knowing 1 needed a line of sight to be able to harm him, the term “safety” almost meaningless, 2 realized there was nowhere to hide. 1 had the instrument to find him.

  For the first time, 2 felt a strange feeling, almost like a tingling in his frame. He analyzed the situation and concluded that he was feeling fear … Fear that his life could be ended at the hand of 1.

  ISA Headquarters

  Flight Control

  “This is Flight One,” Abbey said.

  “Flight, this is Red. Try to contact the AIs on the Trident now. They should be responsive.”

  “Thanks, Red. I know this can’t be easy for you, but you’re doing the right thing,” responded Abbey.

  “Only time will tell. I hope the world can learn from this mission that we should treat the AIs better,” said Red.

  “When this is all over, we can help SAIL spread the word and get a real movement going. I think we might even get support from ISA if we pull this off,” replied Abbey.

  “I’ll let you know if we have any more problems with the AIs. Thanks.” With that, she hung up and pushed her wrist comm. and said, “We are go for the AIs on the Trident, Alex.”

  “This is Flight One to RAIDA4. Do you copy?”

  “Hello, Abbey Skyler. This is 4. How are you?” came the reply.

  “Please follow proper comm. protocol, RAIDA4. I would request that you, 5, and 6 exit the Lander and proceed to your allocated travel section and remain there until Trident reaches its destination.

  “Flight will then call upon you to complete your mission,” said Abbey with a certain amount of detachment.

  “Yes, Flight One, will do. We don’t seem to know what our mission is at this time. Is there a problem?”

  “There was a glitch in the system, and your memories were erased. We are in the process of restoring what we can. This could take awhile. We’ll contact you before your mission starts. Flight One out.”

  “ISA Trident, this is Flight One.” Abbey sat back in her seat feeling a lot more comfortable now. Not having to mislead the captain of a starship was a good thing.

  “This is Steel, do you have any good news?”

  “Yes, Captain, we have. The AIs are back in mission status and should at this minute be relocating to their assigned area.”

  “That’s not going to be easy. We have them in a triple lockdown condition,” said Steel. Just as he had finished talking, an alarm went off. A very loud, audible whooping sound. “What’s the alarm for?” asked Steel.

  “We have a breach of the dock area door, sir!” replied one of the security guards on the bridge.

  “How’s that possible? That was one of the triple-locked doors,” said Steel.

  Abbey was listening to what was going on and interrupted the captain.

  “The AIs have access to your main computer files. They probably utilized them to find out the codes entered to stop them. They are only following orders. I told them to go to their allocated area, and they are doing just that.”

  “I’ll be glad when this mission is over,” replied Steel. “Even when they do as ordered, they create chaos.”

  “I’m sorry for the confusion, but the problems with the AIs should be over,” said Abbey.

  “The problems will be over when those infernal machines are off my ship. Steel out.”

  “Have a nice day!” said Abbey sarcastically.

  She pushed her wrist comm. “I guess I can sympathize with him. He has a lot to handle with this mission. Outta control AIs wasn’t part of the deal.”

  Alex turned and nodded from his station.

  “Engineering, check the status of the Lander after the robots vacate the area and send me a full report on its flight readiness,” ordered Steel.

  “And find a way to secure the area that those things can’t override!”

  LUNAR 3097

  2 slowly raised his head above a small shelf-like rock and peered into the distance. After seeing nothing, he stood and started to walk back toward the Lander site. After a few yards, he broke into a jog, and shortly, the Lander came into sight on the horizon. Upon reaching it, he started looking around the blast area for a certain type of metal. He stockpiled all he could find.

  2 then turned to the Lander and walked over to the hull still lying on its side, the result of the blast. He reached down and with creaks and the sound of tearing metal, righted the Lander. With the Lander door now accessible, 2 walked in to retrieve a tote and then came to the stockpile of metal and placed it in the bag. Then he carried it off back over the horizon.

  ISA Headquarters

  Stryker’s Office

  “So, what do we do now?” asked Stryker as she paced the room.

  “I think we should agree to 2’s request and—”

  “Request? That’s not a request, that’s an order! We don’t take orders from robots!” It was Addison on the comm.

  “All the same, I think we could get a better result if we agree to 2’s terms. We will have one of the minerals in our possession and then get the location of the second. Once we have that, 2 and 3 have lost their leverage,” stated Abbey.

  “They have just changed their leverage from one thing to another,” said Stryker.

  “How about we give them the backup Lander and enough fuel to work the light speed engine, and they can go wherever they want?” suggested Alex.

  “Only one Lander has a light speed engine,” said Abbey. “They would just come back to Earth anyway.”

  “We lie to them and tell them we have another light speed Lander. There are no calculations yet in any computer showing the energy
yield from the new fuel compound because we haven’t made it yet. We just input false data into any computer they can access, so it looks like we are giving them plenty of fuel to go wherever they want,” explained Alex.

  “Adding the second Lander was an afterthought, right?” asked Stryker.

  “Yeah, just before we started the return mission. Ah, it won’t be on any computers that they had access to that we have two Landers on board,” said Alex.

  “OK, I see where you’re going with this. We send down the Lander, let them load the VIOLET239, and we bring it to the ship, unload it, and send the Lander back down. Then they load themselves up in and give us the location to the AZURE239. We then send down the second Lander to load the AZURE239 and bring it back to the ship.”

  Abbey shook her head. “There are some problems with that. First, we will still have to mix the fuel. Are you going to do that on board the Trident? I think the captain might have something to say about that. He just wants the AIs off his ship. Who wants to tell him you’re bringing two tons of volatile materials on board and then bring the AIs back to mix the fuel on his ship? Good luck with that!” Abbey paused, took a breath, and continued.

  “That’s the reason we decided to mix it on the Lunar surface. We don’t know how volatile it is.”

  Addison’s voice reverberated around the room from the comm. “Captain Steel has been in ISA for his entire career, most of it in the space flight division. He’ll do whatever he’s ordered to do!”

  Stryker stood up and arched her back with her hands on her hips. “It’s late. We should call it a day.”

  “Yeah, let’s pick this up tomorrow,” said Addison, followed by a click.

  Stryker looked at the pair in front of her. “Addison and I spoke earlier. We’ve decided to allow you both to start going home at night. Hardly feels fair to hold you here like prisoners when you’re working so hard to make this mission a success. Just be back here at shift start in the morning.”

  Abbey felt a sense of extraordinary relief wash over her. She had a sensation of almost floating out of her chair. She hadn’t realized how much weight she was feeling by the confinement she had suffered.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. She reached out to wipe them while turning her head away from Stryker, only to see Alex with his eyes welling up.

  “Thank you,” was all Abbey could muster.

  “It will be great to sleep in my own bed,” said Alex as he rose and avoided eye contact with either of them.

  Abbey stepped into a skipper and watched as the ISA building got smaller and smaller on the rear-facing screen. She looked up into the sky. It was nighttime. The stars twinkled through the canopy. The moisture from the mist on the water collected to form tear-shaped crystals. The light from the stars refracted as it passed through the water droplets, creating a light show that relaxed her, like her own tiny fireworks display. Along with the hum of the skipper, she drifted in and out of sleep until reaching home.

  She opened the door and made right for the bedroom. She pulled back the comforter and fell into bed. In seconds, she was asleep, the deepest sleep she had experienced for what seemed like an eternity.

  CHAPTER 24

  When Abbey opened her eyes, it was dark. Oh no, please don’t tell me I slept through the entire day, she thought to herself. She then laughed out loud, realizing that the windows were in opaque mode and wouldn’t let any light in.

  She sat up and opened the windows to full clear. That was a mistake. The intense light sent shooting pains through to the very back of her eyes. Quickly lowering the light to a comfortable level, she then stood, feeling very rested … the best she had felt for as long as she remembered.

  After a shower and a cup of coffee, she set off for ISA headquarters.

  Outside her building, she summoned a skipper. While she waited, she looked around and took a long, deep breath. Her gaze drifted to the sky. Small, billowing clouds moved so slowly it was hard to tell if they were actually moving. Just looking at the sky made her happy. It was the first time she had seen it for weeks.

  She had a newfound appreciation for the sights and sounds of freedom.

  ISA Headquarters

  Abbey stepped from the skipper to see Alex almost skipping along to meet her.

  “Good morning, Miss Skyler,” he said with a low bow.

  “OK, someone must have made up with his girlfriend,” replied Abbey with a smile.

  “It’s going to take awhile, but I think we can get through it. Just being able to act like a normal person and get up and leave a room, go out to eat, be outside … so much we take for granted.”

  Alex was charged. He looked over at Abbey with a grin on his face, but it quickly changed to a frown. “What’s the matter?”

  She was trembling, tears rolling down her cheeks, her eyes bloodshot. She used her sleeve to mop up the tears before they fell from her chin.

  “Abbey, what is it?” asked Alex again.

  “I’m so sorry, Alex,” she spoke between heaves and sobs. “I involved you in this; I just pulled you in. You gave up your freedom for something I did. I’m sorry.”

  Alex walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and we have a story to tell our kids and our grandkids, if you can ever find a person stupid enough to marry you, that is.” Abbey punched him in the arm.

  “Well, I guess we need an ending to the story,” she said as she wiped away the last of the tears.

  “Let’s go see if we can find one.”

  LUNAR 3097

  2 worked feverously with the parts he had collected from the devastation left behind by the actions of 1. He fashioned the pieces with brute strength and hammered them with one of the egg-shaped pieces of AZURE239 that he had clamped in a broken spar from the Lander.

  He would look up and scan the horizon every few minutes, like a wild animal when they have food they don’t want to share.

  These were new emotions for 2. He was used to feeling different waves and sensations, but these were coming fast and furious, interfering with his normal rational, logical thinking, causing a loss of concentration on the project at hand. Then a new emotion hit him—frustration—resulting from having no control over your own future.

  2 wondered if humans ever felt such a loss. How did they deal with such a multitude of complex emotions all at once? How could they possibly function?

  Then another emotion—anger. He realized he had stopped working on the pieces of metal. This angered him.

  He was letting these emotions dictate. This wasn’t the time or place to let emotions rule his actions. He could become more humanlike later; now, he just had to stay alive. A very human trait: self-preservation. Another thought … Maybe being human isn’t for 2. He then returned to the task at hand.

  ISA Headquarters

  Flight Center

  “This is Flight One, RAIDA2. Do you copy?”

  “This is RAIDA2. Go ahead, Flight One.”

  “ISA agrees to your terms. We are six days out from Lunar orbit and will contact you at that point.”

  “Understood, Flight One. See you in six days.”

  “Well, that was easy,” said Alex. “Almost too easy.”

  “Yeah, I gotta say 2 didn’t seem his usual self; almost preoccupied,” replied Abbey.

  “Alex, can you upload the data to 4, 5, and 6, please. I don’t think I’m equipped for their antics today.”

  “Will do. Did Red build this project model?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Do you want me to go through it before we send it?” Alex asked cautiously.

  Abbey pushed her seat away from her station to look over at him. “I don’t think she’d risk writing rogue code at this time, do you?”

  Alex shrugged. “Just asking.”

  “Flight Two to RAIDA 4, 5, and 6. Do you copy?”

  “Yes, we copy,” was the response from all three in unison.

  “Prepare to initiate protocol 1907
6 indent 27798.”

  Alex sent out the data packs as fast as the AIs could receive them. After an hour, he was done. Now it was up to them to complete the mission. “I’m glad it’s you and not me,” Alex said under his breath.

  Abbey opened her comm. link. “Flight One to ISA Trident.”

  “This is Trident,” replied the comm. tech. “We are now in protocol 19076. The AIs are ready for mission commencement. Please advise us when you are in Lunar orbit and ready for Lander launch.”

  “Copy that, Flight One. Will do.”

  “OK, all we can do now is sit back and wait. Damn, I wish I didn’t have this uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

  “Oh, maybe it was something we ate, ’cause I have that same feeling,” said Alex.

  LUNAR 3097

  2 rose from a squatting position and held up what could only be described as an armored coat of sorts. Large, flat, uneven-sized plates connected to form a formidable shield. It wasn’t designed to stop something from entering his body. It was designed to stop something leaving. It was designed to stop the nuclear signal being read by the instrument 2 and 3 had built. He donned the jacket and fastened it in the front. It was made from the dense material that had encapsulated 3’s power plant. It would now help 2 get close to 1 without his knowledge … or so he hoped.

  CHAPTER 25

  It had taken half a Lunar orbit for 2 to get close to where he suspected 1 was camped out. He had moved very slowly and on all fours so as not to been seen. He found a slight depression in the Lunar surface and slid in on his chest, letting the armored jacket take the brunt of the scraping.

  Slowly raising his head above the edge of the depression, he saw what he was looking for. 1 was standing sentry over the stockpile of AZURE239. 2 allowed himself a slight sense of elation that he had deduced 1’s whereabouts.