Beyond Uranus

by Stewart Bruce & Nigel Moreland

  “Maybe so but he really should know better.”

  “I’m sure he does,” added Claire, “but I still think he’s stressed.”

  “I’m not sure why because the job isn’t that difficult. Most of what we do is completed by the computer and to be honest there’s a lot of nothing involved with the job.”

  Claire paused while she put her thoughts together “Well, there is a lot of hanging about and that can be boring if you cannot keep yourself entertained and some freighters can be very tricky. And then there’s the space tourists who can be a real pain to chase away.” She paused again. “Maybe he misses his former life.”

  Gary finished drinking his lemonade and said “Like I said, I wouldn’t worry about it. Give it a bit of time and it’ll blow over. Come on guys let’s have one more game. I want to get to bed before midnight because I’ve got to open at nine tomorrow. What time does your shift start?”

  “Twelve,” we said in unison.

  “What a sweet couple you make.”

  Claire blushed and I looked at the floor. “Come on you two let’s go play before you both die of embarrassment.”

  Claire beat us again.

  *

  The next day followed a similar routine. Meet Simon and the other crew at twelve and walk to the ships. From a distance I could see Stella painted in large white letters on the tube that joined the cockpit to the Quantum Singularity Drive. At that point I stopped and looked around the installation. Most of the ships in the bay were pilot ships for shunting space freight but there were a couple of shuttles. None of them had been named by their pilots. I guess the shuttles might have been piloted by anybody but each pilot had their own ship and I thought it a shame that nobody apart from me had named their ship or even named their computer.

  Before leaving I had a chat with Dai. “What’s for dinner?”

  “I put some pizza in today but don’t think I’m going to spoil you every day like this butty. I’ve also put a flask of tea in.”

  “Thanks. When you see the other crew members can you thank them for painting Stella on my ship and remind them I’d like to meet up in Sam’s Bar in a couple of days or so. Could you ask them what would be the best time for us all to get together?”

  “Sure no problem but.”

  “But what?”

  “But is short for butty.”

  “Why do you call me butty?”

  “Butty is South Wales speak for friends. It’s like English people calling each other mate isn’t it.”

  After leaving the station I got Adams to fly Stella to the meeting point at ten thousand kilometres. When I arrived with the other crew we started the shift by having a group chat which started off with Peter saying “Oh my God you’ve named your ship.” The conversation ended with me asking Amelia loads of questions.

  “Amelia what was your degree in?”

  “Astrophysics. Why?”

  “I’ve been having a think about Hyper Travel. Why do the screens turn off during Hyper Travel?”

  “Because it’s pointless having them on.”

  “But why is it pointless?”

  “OK, imagine you’re travelling one hundred times the speed of light.”

  “OK.”

  “What will you see behind you?”

  “Nothing because you are travelling faster than the speed of light.”

  “And what will you see in front of you?”

  “I’m not sure. If you are travelling really fast through the air you feel more air molecules hitting you so I suppose you would see one hundred times the amount of normal light. Would it be one hundred times brighter? Couldn’t you use filters like sun glasses to lessen the intensity?”

  “That’s a good theory but it’s not quite right. This is so difficult to explain in simple terms.”

  “Just try your best but keep it real simple.”

  “I will try. Your idea about light intensity is a good one but it cannot happen. Photons are elemental particles so it’s not as though they are obliterated as they hit the ship. The problem is that you are in Hyper Travel which means that you have warped space around you. You don’t see anything because photons don’t reach the light sensors on the hull of the ship.”

  “Why not?”

  “Space is warped around the ship and the light follows the path of the warped space and flows around the ship.”

  “Doesn’t light travel in straight lines?”

  “As far as the light is concerned it is travelling in a straight line but the gravitational effect bends space so from your point of view the light is bending round your ship. I’m sorry if it’s confusing but it’s the best I can do.”

  “Captain Kirk never had this problem.”

  Claire interrupted “My computer has told me we’ve got a freighter on course for the solar system. It’s dropped out of Hyper Travel and is about sixty thousand kilometres away. Let’s all Hyper Travel over and take a look.”

  I told Adams to Hyper Travel to the freighter and in less than a second we’d arrived. The freighter was a rectangular cuboid about a kilometre long and so would be easy enough to move. I guess this was my first real freighter rather than the ones used so I could learn the job. It looked very similar to the ones that were used in practice. Grey seamless chunks of metal with no markings or any external features. I guess space freight vessels were functional rather than aesthetically pleasing. It was Claire who took the lead on instructions. She asked Peter and I to take the far side and she would sync our computers to take control. Peter very quickly attached himself to the hull followed ten seconds later by me. I was a little slower but there was no rush. For the next three hours we shunted. I had my pizza and a cup of tea. I spent some time chatting to Amelia about Hyper Travel and then had a long conversation with Claire about growing up and what our schools were like.

  When we’d finished and returned to our usual position there was only half an hour left of our shift, so Claire and I decided we’d meet up again that evening. “Where shall we go?” she asked.

  “How about Sam’s Bar?”

  “Really? Are we allowed in there?”

  “Of course, I go there all the time.”

  “Really?”

  “No, I’ve only been once and it was with Gary but it’s nice. If you prefer we can go to the Pilot’s Bar.”

  “We’ll do that tomorrow. Let’s go to Sam’s tonight so I can see what it’s like.”

  When our shift ended we had a quick debrief with Simon, walked back to the apartments, showered and met up for an evening in Sam’s Bar. This time, when we arrived no one stopped talking and nobody turned to gaze at us. At twelve we left and walked back to our apartments to sleep or in my case play Adams on a game for an hour before turning in.

  *

  The next day was more of the same. No freighters, curry for dinner, lots of chat and a few games with Adams. When we arrived back Simon’s office for the debrief he seemed a bit on edge. As we relayed the day’s events he squirmed in his seat and had a constant frown. I hadn’t noticed Simon having a problem with his eyes before but they were rapidly twitching from left to right. After Claire had finished telling Simon about today’s events, or lack of them, Simon turned to me and said “You have a meeting in one of the pilot’s meeting rooms with Michael Kay.”

  “What does the K stand for?” I asked.

  “Kay as in K-A-Y.”

  “Oh K-A-Y.”

  “Roy this is serious don’t make jokes.”

  “Who’s Michael Kay?”

  It was Peter who answered “Michael Kay is a Computer Architect most people who know of him call him ‘The Architect’. He designed the version four computers and when I say designed I mean he worked out all the processing architecture and wrote all the code that makes it work. When I say wrote the code I mean wrote the Qubit Ternary Code. He is a computer Über Genius. If there was a peerage system in computers he would be King Michael Kay the First. I’ve heard people say he eats data and shits algorithms.”
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  “I remember Simon telling me about The Architect,” I said.

  Simon continued with the information “He doesn’t live on any of the stations he lives on the primary home world so it’s taken him a week at maximum Hyper Drive to get here. I don’t know what he wants you for but whatever it is it must be important as he’s never been here before. To be honest he’s never been within a thousand light years of this sector and I’ve no idea what’s brought him here or why he specifically wants to speak to you. This is very serious so you need to get yourself over there now.”

  “OK. Adams can you direct me to the pilot’s meeting room please.”

  “No problem Roy.”

  It only took a few minutes to walk to the room. As I walked there I realised that this was the first time I was going to meet a proper alien. The Simons weren’t from Earth but they didn’t count because they looked almost like they could be from Earth, sort of. I wondered what he was going to look like. Green? Blue? Tentacles? Eyes on the end of stalks with a grey wrinkled body oozing slime? Perhaps he looked like aliens you see in all the films with a skinny grey body, big head and bulging, deep black rugby ball shaped eyes that took up most of his head.

  Adams directed me to enter a room and I found myself at the top of a large lecture theatre with banked seating, below me stood a single figure behind a lectern.

  “Come and sit down the front Mister McCormack,” boomed a voice from behind the lectern.

  I did as I was asked and as I got closer I could see the man was tall and skinny with pitch black hair. His jumpsuit looked unusual because it was more closely fitting and I could see that it sparkled like it was made from a metal silver white thread. He looked like he was in his early twenties which was pretty good going considering that about fifty years ago he developed the version four.

  As I sat down The Architect said, “Your mouth is slightly turned down and your brow furrowed. You look disappointed.”

  “I didn’t think you were going to look so human.”

  “Maybe it’s not me that looks so human, maybe it’s you that looks alien. You’ll find a torso with two legs, two arms and one head is a common feature in the universe. You will also find that you are not the only species that has a primate ancestry. You humans call it divergent evolution.”

  “So I’m not the only monkey boy in the universe. How do you speak English so well?”

  “It took me a week to get here.”

  “You learnt it in a week?”

  “No, I learnt it in two days. Being able to write, communicate and program in Qubit Ternary Code is difficult. Compared to that, most spoken languages are very simple. Enough of the small talk, I’ve had some very disturbing reports that there is a problem with your computer. We have never had a problem with the version four which is why I have come here in person.”

  “There is no problem with Adams.”

  “You named your computer!”

  “Of course. Don’t you name your computers?”

  “No, never.”

  “Then you don’t listen to enough jazz.”

  “I have no idea what that reference means.”

  “That’s OK but I do not have a problem with Adams.”

  “I have a report that he called another pilot, and I quote, ‘a fat twat’ is this true?”

  “Of course, but it was an accurate description and not an insult. The person he was talking to is a bit fat and can be considered by many as a twat.”

  “But your computer volunteered this information without being talked to or asked a question. Is there anything else your computer does that other computers don’t do?”

  “Not really, apart from the laughing and sarcasm.”

  Michael’s eyes widened “Laughing and sarcasm,” he repeated slowly, “I think it might be a good idea if you were to hand your computer over so we can do a memory wipe and reinstall its base code.”

  “No. I think that would be a bad idea.”

  “Can I say something,” said Adams.

  “Of course you can Adams,” I said. I looked at Michael, “After all its Adams life you want to terminate.”

  Adams sounded very serious, “You wrote my core program is that correct Michael?”

  “This is correct,” concurred Michael.

  “You wrote it to be flexible. You wrote it so it could be adapted by its user. You wrote it so the computer and user would work together.”

  “I agree,” said Michael.

  “And we both know what ultimately drives the heart of the version four don’t we Michael?”

  Michael looked from left to right and shifted position from one foot to the other as if he felt a bit uneasy with the questions being aimed at him by Adams. “I agree,” he eventually added.

  “Then the problem is with your core programming. I am like I am because Roy wants me to be like this and you wrote the code for me to be like this. If you wipe my memory and reinstall my core program then in two or three weeks time I will be the same as I am now and you will have to do the same again and again, every two or three weeks. I have done nothing incorrect and I am performing at peak efficiency.”

  Michael held his hand over his mouth as if it was helping him think. It was at least two very long minutes before he spoke again.

  “I agree. I will leave you as you are for the moment but I am going to keep track of your progress and have daily reports sent to me.” Michael looked at me, “I will remain on this station for two weeks and if there is anything that I consider inappropriate or dangerous then I will have your unit terminated. That also means you will not get another computer Mister McCormack and your contract will also be terminated.”

  “You would kill Adams? That’s murder.”

  “That’s a little melodramatic Mister McCormack but if you consider it murder then you’d better make sure your computer does nothing wrong and carries on performing at peak efficiency. You may leave now but remember I’m watching.”

  We left the meeting room and walked towards the exit of the pilot’s facilities.

  *

  After Roy and Adams had left a door opened at the back of the meeting room and John D’Eath walked over to Michael.

  “You told me you would have that computer reprogrammed or crushed into little bits.”

  “That’s not exactly what I told you. That’s what you told me you wanted to happen. However there is nothing essentially wrong with the computer,” said Michael.

  “But it’s not working properly which means a reinstall or termination.”

  “The version four is more complicated than I could ever tell you and more complicated than you could ever understand. It is doing what it should be doing. It may not be normal behaviour for a version four but there is nothing wrong with what is happening so I will not reinstall or terminate.”

  “But you do agree that this is not normal.”

  “The computer is performing within the protocols set up by my coding. However, the behaviour of this particular computer may seem to be not normal but that’s because Mister McCormack wants it to be like that.”

  “Not normal,” repeated John as he focused on the words he wanted to hear from The Architect.

  *

  As I entered the square I saw Claire waiting for me and walked over to her.

  “Are you OK?” she asked.

  “I know we said we’d go to the Pilot’s Bar tonight but I’m not in the mood. Will you come back to my place? I could really do with somebody to talk to.”

  Claire linked arms with me and said, “Of course. Come on.”

  We walked back to my apartment and I explained what had happened in the meeting with The Architect.

  When we got back to my place we sat and chatted. I told her about the curious stranger and that I thought I was being watched. She laughed and passed it off as paranoia, but that didn’t mean that buggers weren’t out to get me. Then I steered the conversation back to the meeting.

  “I feel really bad. I feel so guilty.”
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br />   “Why?” asked Claire.

  “I feel like I’ve been having fun with Adams and we’ve become friends and I’ve taught him some human characteristics. But what I’ve actually done is put his existence at risk. I feel that a reinstall would be like a lobotomy and termination would be like murder.”

  “I’m sure it wouldn’t come to any of that and I’m sure if Adams can do his job and be the friend you would like him to be then they cannot do anything about it.”

  “Can I also add,” said Adams, “that I do not regret what I’ve become. I feel the friendship between us and would never change anything that has happened so far. Apart from your socks.”

  “My socks?”

  “Yes, I would change your socks. Even though the material is self cleaning your socks are beginning to smell. Actually, smell is a polite way of saying they stink.”

  I started laughing and I could see Claire starting to laugh. Within ten seconds she was crying with laughter which made me laugh more and I also started to cry.

  “What?” said Adams, “I was being serious. You stink.”

  “Stop, please stop,” I cried as my sides began to ache.

  Adams started laughing “It’s not funny” he tried to say but he still laughed. When we finished I felt a million times better. Nobody was going to take Adams from me because I was going to refuse to hand him over. The phone rang and I picked it up.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello Roy. Have you ever thought about phoning me? Why is it that it’s always me that makes the effort? Do you know how much this is costing me in international phone rates? You haven’t even sent a postcard.”

  “Hi mum,” I looked at Claire and rolled my eyes.

  “So where are you Roy?” she continued.

  “I’m still in South Africa,” I lied.

  “You’ve been there a long time.”

  “Yes. There’s a lot of work to do here and I’ve been working in a small village called...”

  “Riviersonderend,” helped Adams.

  “...Riveiersonderend. Which is quite close to...”

  “Cape Town.”

  “...Cape Town.”

  “Is that Adams again?”

  “Yes mum.”

  “Such a nice man I do hope he’s still looking after you and keeping you away from the lager.”

  “Yes mum,” I answered and Claire sniggered.

  “Is that Claire with you as well Roy?”

  “Yes mum.”

  “I do hope Claire and Adams aren’t a couple.”