Still, the children came to her time and again and asked her to take them home.
Kyle was the one who asked the most.
He was bigger than the other two. She could discern not only from the heavier sound of his footsteps, but by his firm and steady gait, that Kyle was the one now approaching one of her optics located at the various junctures of her internal corridors. The mop of blonde hair that framed the hearty cheeks and handsome face appeared and came into focus. But there was no smile today, and he instantly averted his green eyes from her optic once he knew he had her attention.
“Why can’t we go home now?” Kyle looked down as he shuffled his feet.
“I have told you before, young Kyle. We are searching for home.” Mother’s voice answered with electronic precision.
“Why is it taking so long? I want to go home now.” Kyle’s face froze into a stern, glaring visage as he crossed his small arms, demanding the right answer.
“We must evade the T’kaan ships, young Kyle. We are still at war. You know that.”
Kyle’s faced dropped. “Oh, I forgot.” He sighed deeply and began shuffling back down the corridor to find Jaric and Becky. He had almost left the range of Mother’s optic and entered the range of the next when he stopped. He turned. “When we defeat the T’kaan, then can we go home?”
“I will contemplate that scenario, young Kyle.”
Again his countenance fell into the image of deepest despair.
“My first analysis suggests that going home is a high probability after the T’kaan are destroyed,” Mother said after six milliseconds.
“Cool!” Kyle shouted gleefully as he turned and ran toward the library to find his playmates and to share this great news.
Mother pondered her answer a moment, as well as the activity of the children.
The children were either in the library or in their bedrooms these days with one or more of the Fixers.
The Fixers were small robots designed to repair Mother internally, working as her independent and autonomous hands in case her own internal repair capabilities were damaged. There were seven Fixers in all, but Mother specifically assigned Fixer3 to Becky, Fixer4 to Jaric and Fixer5 to Kyle during their sleep periods which seemed to comfort the children and aided them to sleep better. Otherwise, the children interacted with all seven robots.
Each Fixer was painted a different primary color, but each had the same tube-like frame equipped with four robotic arms and a small head. Two arms were located high on their small metallic shoulders and could telescope out far enough to open the maintenance panels on the ceilings. One telescoping arm had been designed with a human-size hand equipped with telescoping fingers that could bend around tight spaces so as to be able to grip and perform work. In contrast, the other arm had been designed with plug-ins at its extremity that allowed various tools to be connected to it. These upper arms were designed for delicate repairs.
The lower pair of arms were thicker and stronger, located midway on the body, and were equipped to perform heavier work with larger tools. These arms could also telescope outward, though only half the distance of the upper arms. Once again, the left one had human-like fingers with the exception that these were not extensible and were over three times the size of a normal man’s fingers. The other hand, like its upper counterpart, had plug-ins to allow connection with heavy-duty power tools.
All of the Fixers had two large optics attached to the top of their tiny heads via supple cables that stretched as far as their upper arms and enabled them to monitor up-close the work of their fully extended appendages. Below the lower pair of arms, each metallic body spread out into four flexible legs tipped with twin motorized wheels that enabled the Fixers to travel quickly and efficiently in any direction.
With their tube bodies being only four feet tall, the children seemed drawn to the robots almost as if they viewed the Fixers themselves as other children. The Fixer’s simplistic speech programming and brightly colored metallic bodies added to this impression, reinforcing the seeming child-like persona.
Many times, Mother would find the children playing hide-and-seek and other childish games with one or more of the Fixers. One of their favorites was a game that Becky had named ‘The Silly Dance.’
In this pretend game, the children would gather all the Fixers together in the library. Becky would order them to form a circle in the center of the room and then ask Mother for music. Sometimes Mother would play a graceful waltz, at other times it might be raucous Fifty’s Rock and Roll, or other times some mystical, dream-like electronic music-but whatever the music Mother played, the Fixers performed a dance synchronized with the music.
With all four arms extended, as well as their twin optics-all waving in rhythm-the Fixers would roll, or dance, around the room. Soon afterward, the giggling children would join their comical dance. Mother observed these events with extreme fascination and tried to discern what satisfaction this odd game seemed to provide for them.
But there seemed to be no precise answer.
In addition to ordering the Fixers to spend time with the children, Mother had instructed them to renovate each child’s bedroom. They first added more computer terminals-three to each bedroom-so the children could more easily access her knowledgebase and learn from its extensive subject matter. She allocated periods of study for history, science and literature, which the children promptly ignored as much as possible, much to her consternation.
She had also instructed the Fixers to install additional audio speakers so they would be surrounded by music, as this seemed to please them. But their personal choices of music seemed to fixate on single songs or single musical groups for extremely long periods, which again caused Mother puzzlement.
She soon discovered with the installation of these speakers, inadvertently, that the children could not multi-task as she could.
Mother had been listening to over one thousand different pieces of music simultaneously, analyzing their different structures and melodies. To introduce the children to their new omni-surround speakers, she had directed this magnificent output to their speakers in mid-play.
The resulting noise, as the children later described it to her, had frightened them out of their wits. Now Mother directed only one source of music at a time to their rooms, and only directed softer music for the evening hours so they would become restful and sleep.
For the finishing touch, she had the Fixers de-install three large wall screens from her Command Deck and had them reinstalled across a wall in each child’s bedroom. In this way, they could access entertainment videos, each according to their individual tastes, if they could not agree on a specific title that night. Of course, if they agreed on a video, they usually enjoyed it together sitting around the library’s massive dome-holovision projectors as a Fixer served them food and drink.
But Mother censored what video titles they could access. She remembered that Rita had acted similarly, and her research into child psychology via her knowledgebase reaffirmed this approach. The children had to be protected at this impressionable age from certain subject matter.
Mother had to protect them.
Her optics focused on Kyle’s racing figuring as it now reached the library, and then her near-term memories buzzed with consternation once again. Her battle with the facts and having to withhold some of them-balancing this strange dilemma in the name of protecting the children-burned through her circuits and spiked her processors with activity.
Kyle reached the library and began relaying Mother’s message.
But there was no home in which to take them , Mother reflected once again.
Later that night, after she had dimmed the lights for sleep, Mother watched the children and studied their sleeping faces. Once again she wondered- Had she been a good mother that day?
Chapter Five
It was the second T’kaan attack that week. Two frigates along with nine Hunter class fighters had jumped her at Sector Five Twenty-two.
Mother’s
weapons had dealt with them with her usual deadly precision. But for the first time since the final human defeat, Mother had sustained damage, not only to her shields, but also to several of her internal systems. It took her and the Fixers several hours to complete repairs and clean up the resulting mess. Fortunately, none had been severe.
Still, this led her to a new train of thought: the fact that neither Jaric nor Kyle had taken a bath in two weeks, as well as the fact that Becky no longer brushed her hair. However, Mother observed that Becky did regularly bathe the accumulated dirt from off of her organism.
“Jaric. Kyle. Why do you no longer bathe your bodies?” Mother asked as repairs finished.
“I don’t know,” Jaric continued his play without giving it a second thought.
Mother pondered this quite common answer from the children in her near-term memories. “Kyle, is this your answer as well?”
“Naw, I just don’t want to,” he said.
“Well, you should.” Becky said as she stood above the two boys who were still intent on the computer game they were playing.
“Why?” Both said together.
“Well,” Becky said knowingly. “You both stink.” She pinched her nose hard to press her point home.
“Who cares,” Kyle said without looking up from the screen.
“I care,” Mother said. But even as she said it, though she understood perfectly the import of the words, she did not really understand if the words applied to her. That is, she wondered if she actually felt that she cared. Her processors burned with activity for a few milliseconds, but she brought her internal question to a halt as she discerned the fact that the children needed to be clean in order to remain in a state of good health. She did not want the children to deteriorate due to uncleanness, thus she realized that she did care. Mother felt her processors smooth out as this small dilemma was resolved.
“I must teach you now,” Mother said.
The three children turned with shocked looks on their faces toward the nearest optic.
“This is another primary task required of a parent. I have, unfortunately, not been fully aware of this. I apologize.”
The children glanced at each other with puzzled looks.
“I am now allocating a large portion of my processing to ensure I am not overlooking any other parental responsibilities. I will continue to search the data in my long-term memories. For now, I have programmed several of my consoles to begin a progressive program of study in the fields of mathematics, various sciences, and human history that you will download into your minds,” Mother paused a moment in order to allow the children to absorb her words.
During this moment, as Mother’s processors continued to digest the vast amounts of data in the knowledgebase, she again turned to the enigma of music. Music was so different than the other stored data. It was abstract and yet it was whole.
In contrast, the vast volumes of data in the knowledgebase that contained the accumulated works of visual art of humanity seemed... well, seemed not to make complete sense. But music made sense in a mathematical kind of way. And yet, there was something else-something more. From the first time in her existence that Mother had discovered music she always kept some playing in her near-term memories, always enjoying and analyzing the melodies and rhythms.
Only in battle was that practice interrupted.
“We will begin these studies in one hour. They will become part of your daily routine of tasks.”
“ Aww ,” all three children groaned together.
“There will also be time allocated for periods of play.”
Three faces breathed a sigh of relief.
“In addition, I have awakened the Guardian robot. The Fixers are designed primarily for my repairs. I have discerned that this robot will be of more practical use in physical interactions with yourselves.”
“What do you mean?” Jaric asked.
“Because of his appendages.” Mother noted the looks of puzzlement from all three children. “He is constructed exactly as a human in all respects. He will use his human-like appendages as a model for you to follow as I direct Guardian to train you in some special games.” Mother paused for effect. “He will also ensure your full cooperation.”
“Okay,” Kyle said with questioning suspense.
“You enjoy playing simulation games,” Mother began. If she had been programmed for humor, she would have chuckled at his attempt to hide his thought processes. “Even Becky will play them for a limited time. We must leverage those skills you have learned and utilize them for a new Game .”
Mother felt a jump in her processing. She was not sure what it indicated. Perhaps it was the data she had just reviewed on the emotional makeup of human children and the terrible effect war and death might have upon them.
Some of these negative effects would devastate the children. It could damage them permanently.
So, Mother had taken another approach. The young children would not actually see any T’kaan die. They would only destroy the ships. That is all they would see for now in the simulations. Only later would she explain fully the art of war and all that it entailed.
In addition, if she called it a game, the young children would more likely direct more of their energies into learning the skills required for it. Therefore, they would progress rapidly. After they had developed these necessary skills, they would have a greater probability of survival.
A single millisecond had passed.
Kyle and Jaric stepped forward excitedly. Becky frowned.
“I will program Guardian, and he will assign each of you to one of my primary gun batteries. My consoles will instruct you on the nuances of targeting and destroying T’kaan fighters.”
“What about the frigates?” Jaric and Kyle shouted excitedly.
“That will come later. All of you must develop basic skills before you play TheGame . First you will learn from battle simulations I will display on the weapon consoles. Once you have acquired sufficient eye-hand coordination using them, then I will provide actual moving targets in space that you will destroy using live weapons. After each step I will increase the sophistication of these simulations until you have developed the necessary skills to play The Game .”
“Cool,” Kyle said.
“Guardian will now assist you in his first assignment”
“What assignment is that?” Jaric asked with sudden apprehension.
At that moment the robot entered the room.
Guardian had been designed to repel any invaders that had managed to enter Mother’s interior sections. Up until this moment Guardian had been in hibernation mode and unseen in his hidden enclave.
The first thing the children noticed was the pure white body-armor that served as his skin. The large robot bent his massive body forward as he passed under the doorway and then straightened. Guardian’s seven-foot frame towered over the children who now slowly backed away from the new creature with frightened expressions.
The robot’s eyes began to glow and the children became transfixed by their piercing gaze. The twin orbs became startling, fiery rubies that gleamed against the smooth whiteness of his frozen countenance.
Guardian was as strong as he was big. He reached out to the two boys while they stared up at him in total shock and then effortlessly picked one up in each hand and began marching back the way he had come.
“Where’s he taking them?” Becky shouted with fear.
“Guardian’s first assignment is to bathe the boys. I anticipated their continued resistance to this task, so I programmed Guardian to simply take them and place them each in a ready bath. He will repeat this task daily until they decide to do it themselves.”
Becky giggled.
“Do not laugh. His next assignment is to brush your hair.”
Becky rushed out of the room with a flash of movement. She had finished brushing her disheveled hair long before Guardian completed his first assignment.
Several weeks passed in relative peace. Mother noted tha
t the children now seemed happier. She had structured their day, giving them assigned times for each of the subjects and providing them with daily and weekly goals. They dove into their studies with surprising energy, especially with Guardian’s assignment and Mother’s weapons for the new game.
The boys learned easily and soon became proficient in their newly acquired skills. Even Becky, mostly due to the competitiveness she had developed with the boys, learned this new skill with surprising quickness.
Soon Mother had Guardian teaching the boys hand-to-hand combat, in case the T’kaan ever boarded her. During this time, Mother downloaded Guardian’s entire operating system and began enhancing it so he could now complete his new functions with more skill.
But now Mother found herself in a new situation and a new series of problems had developed, all due to the delicate nature of the children.
She had promised them.
Mother knew the implications of this word, but it had seemed the only answer to her problem at the time. The children had started to become frantic, even extreme, in their actions whenever they sensed they might not find or return home. Mother had become afraid they might physically harm themselves.
Under the burden of this fear she revealed additional facts to the children. She started with the fact that the human race had lost the war with the T’kaan. The fact that each and every one of the seventy-seven planets and moons that had been colonized by humanity had been attacked and captured by the T’kaan.
Months had gone by, and Jaric was quickly showing himself to be the thinker of the three. He had confided with both Becky and Kyle before they had approached her together.
The ship had been forced to acknowledge that there was a high possibility that the children were the only humans that had survived the war.
Their reaction had been quick and explosive. Instantly Mother remembered her mistake in telling them the fate of Rita and how they had been damaged internally.
Mother quickly enhanced her answer, explaining to the children that she did not have complete access to all of the facts. She was not sure at this time if every human had been destroyed on every planet. Until she had searched every planet and scanned for humans, the answer could not be determined with absolute accuracy or certainty.
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