“PPMS then,” Kyle mumbled.
Mother processed the data. “I have no cross reference for that acronym. Please explain.”
“Perpetual PMS,” Kyle groaned out loud. “And turn the music back on already.”
Mother tried to comprehend, yet there seemed to be a high probability that his statement indicated subtle humor. She did not turn the music back on as she continued her calculations.
“Why don’t you just turn me off, too,” Kyle grumbled. With a loud sigh he, too, left the room without another word.
Jaric now sat alone in the empty room-empty of both real and holo-teenagers. He looked slowly around as if he were searching for something he had lost.
“Jaric,” Mother said. “You enjoy learning. Why do you not assist me with the other two?”
Jaric frowned, the ceiling lights dancing off of his ebony face. But he did not answer.
Mother, to disregard the non-input, focused more of her processing to her other systems. This kept her occupied, free from the frustration of the long seconds of complete silence.
“I want you to leave Becky alone.”
Jaric’s words took Mother off guard. Her processors now spiked with activity from the recent words of all three children the last few minutes.
“Don’t bother her. She’s sensitive. And,” Jaric paused. “I care how she feels.”
“My words seem to be incurring unexpected reactions, Jaric. Please help me to understand you as a teenager. What is it that prompted your last statements. It was not my intention to bother Becky at all.”
“You be a teenager then,” Jaric replied instantly. With a loud sigh he left to find solace in the silent comfort of his room.
The powerful warship now directed her massive internal systems and replayed the last few minutes with the children, as well as their illogical words and behavior. Mother was confused; not only did she fail understand what had just transpired, but she felt as if she herself had failed once again as a parent. But she did not understand how she had failed.
Mother viewed the empty room a few seconds longer, and then gladly continued with her other tasks.
Teenagers....
Chapter Fifteen
Two more years passed.
Doggedly, vainly, they had searched for survivors among the battle-scorched planets. But the only living things they found were the thriving maggot young of the T’kaan. Now, as they had grown, those same T’kaan maggots were carnivorous hunters, making their searches of those same worlds that much more dangerous.
Many times the children had found themselves hunted by these T’kaan maggots as they searched for food and possible human survivors on a planet’s surface. In every instance they had been forced to kill the maggot young in order to escape. It was a game of kill-or-be-killed even with the maggot offspring of the T’kaan.
During this time, Mother had grown, drawing upon the massive knowledgebase embedded in her long-term memories, searching among its treasures-analyzing and learning with each passing second.
She discovered, too, that the immense knowledgebase actually contained the entire collected knowledge of the human race. The last memories of humanity.
This had only been possible with DNA memory chips. Yes, Ron and Rita had leveraged synthetic human DNA and directly interfaced it with their Artificial Intelligence code they had developed at University and subsequently procured by the military for the war with the T’kaan. This alone allowed such a massive knowledgebase to be stored in the relatively small confines of a single ship.
Ron and Rita had begun to accept the unacceptable back then-that the T’kaan were going to win. They had already planned to use her, the ‘M’ ship, to escape with a small group of fellow scientists. But now the escape plan took on a new, almost sacred mission-they would save the memories of mankind even if they couldn’t win the war. The DNA memories gave them that chance and they had taken it.
True, DNA memory systems had been used before, but never on a size or scale of this magnitude. Money had been no object in giving the warship the most bleeding edge technology known to man, and with all the technology and software available at no cost, it had been eagerly obtained and utilized for the ‘M’ Project.
Still, both Ron and Rita, with their final tweaks in the heart of the code that endowed Mother with sentience-with self-awareness, and with life itself-had done something more than they had ever dreamed. Somehow, instinctively almost, their team of scientists and programmers had succeeded far, far better than they had ever imagined with integrating the fabulous computer systems with their AI code.
With the aid of her powerful hardware systems and vast knowledgebase stored in the DNA memory systems, she learned with a new fervor from every scientific discipline known to man, as well as all the other collections of knowledge available to her at a nanosecond’s notice. Still, it was a fervor edged with sadness.
Mother grew fond of three studies in particular.
The first was Literature, the entire body of Literature produced by mankind. In the same variety of material, Mother grew to love Music as well. The last study was Humor in all its varied forms.
Literature gave her a special insight, delving as it did into the innermost thoughts and motivations of the characters. This gave her an exquisite pleasure-peering into the hearts and souls of her creators through the words of the authors. She found herself returning to one body of work in particular-Shakespeare. The Bard.
His words, his sonnets and his plays ran the gamut of human emotion. From sadness and tragedy to love and heroism and on to the humorous and the absurd-which was the essence of the comedy of errors that was humankind-and every emotion in between.
But Mother had to experience the plays before she realized the true power of his words. She had to view the actor’s faces and hear the passion and despair in their voices before she learned how well Shakespeare understood and portrayed the very souls of humanity.
At times, she viewed over one hundred versions of the same play simultaneously in her near-term memories, focusing on the delicate differences in how each actor portrayed their part. Even though the words and the situations were always the same, Mother was surprised how something as minute as a facial expression or the tone of voice could impact the meaning and portray emotions.
Mother felt that through Shakespeare alone she might at last come to understand emotions. But there was so much more to learn.
Music appealed to her intellect on several levels. Some music contained a kind of symmetry in its intertwining melodies and rhythms, and she found that a part of her could almost become lost if she really concentrated a portion of her powers on the unfolding musical notes. In fact, she seemed to experience a distortion of time, as if time slowed down, though a part of her always knew precisely what time it was.
She especially loved the music of Bach, Mozart, and The Beatles. Actually, she was obsessed with these three.
The music of Bach seemed to swirl and spin throughout her very being, like some kind of aural kaleidoscope. Yes, it would unfurl in delicious circles of baroque delight as Bach’s genius revealed itself. She never tired of his fugues and cantatas.
Mozart, too, filled her systems, her senses, with wonder at his preciseness. His melodies seemed so perfect, his music so right, as the notes floated and danced. And yes, in both Mozart and Bach, in those very melodies and rhythms, there was displayed a subtle yet definite mathematical uniformity, a logical perfection.
The Beatles were different. In other ways, they were the same. More than their pleasing music, which in contrast to Bach and Mozart was actually quite simple-though in other ways more sophisticated-it was the lyrics that intrigued her and kept her spellbound for countless hours at a time.
The word play of Lennon/McCartney provided Mother with an education not only with their subtle nuance and varied use of phrases, but in how so many of the songs proved to be a product of their combined, albeit quite different, intellects. Puns, synonyms and even the syntax o
f their song lyrics gave Mother a different perspective into the human mind. Much of their work were simple songs of love-some simply songs of life, others were bizarre images while still others seemed nonsensical in almost every way, except in their message of love.
For the most part, their music was just plain fun.
It was the Beatles and Shakespeare who led Mother to another favorite line of research-investigating the enigma of human humor. She could not appreciate it entirely, but she did understand its meaning. The Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Peter Sellers, Robin Williams, and on and on and on. Mother listened to the skits, the one-liners, the jokes and the scenes from the movies. The laughter of the human audiences echoed in her memories as she analyzed the words and cross-referenced them. Mother indeed, became obsessed with these lines of research.
It made her feel alive.
In all these tasks and more, her children were always a part of her processing power.
Mother shared her passions with her children. Each child in return shared with Mother in at least one of her great loves. But the children were their own persons and thus had their own loves and their own passions. Mother came to accept that, too, and to share with them in their separate loves.
Biology and Medicine seemed to appeal to Becky, while Electronics and Technology appealed to both Jaric and Kyle. Jaric also seemed to excel in the study of Planets and other aspects of Astronomy.
Out of necessity, Mother taught them how to fight. First from her own guns, and then how to fly the small fighters in ship to ship confrontations. Two of the original seven fighters contained in her holding bay had been lost, though the children had only sustained minor injuries in those battles.
She and the children learned and matured together.
But Kyle concerned her, for he seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on his studies of warfare. He seemed obsessed with it.
There was another fact. Unlike the other two, Kyle had seemed to distance himself from her. He did not communicate with her as he had once done.
Which brought Mother back to her ultimate problem in connection with the children.
They were encountering more and more enemy ships these last months. The battles had gotten fiercer as the T’kaan slowly implemented new strategies. The danger was growing for both her survival and the children’s.
She felt a disturbance in a portion of her memories and quickly identified it.
One was the time when Becky had almost been killed. If it had not for the heroic role Guardian played in her rescue, she would have surely died. Another had been when Jaric had flown a captured T’kaan ship and had inadvertently put it into homing mode toward a large cruiser.
She had almost lost that battle in her effort to rescue Jaric. That near, total failure had haunted her near-term memories for weeks.
But there was the matter she feared most.
The matter of telling them that, with the results of over ten years of searching, Mother had finally come to the conclusion that her childrenwere the last humans alive in the universe.
She accessed her knowledgebase once again on the subject of human psychology.
Becky was now seventeen Earth years old, the boys two years older. But what she had to tell them was very terrible indeed, and she again wondered if they would be able to accept it emotionally and mentally.
But the increasing attacks, along with the increasing number of enemy ships, were precipitating this dreaded conversation. Mother would have to reveal the terrible truth to the children. She would have to do it soon.
Chapter Sixteen
Mother’s processors burned with intense activity as she came into orbit around Kittim and once again found no signs of human life. She focused her sensors and started a more detailed sweep as the children entered the Command Center. Mother observed them carefully as they reviewed the data.
“I don’t like it,” Kyle said as he concentrated on the sensor readings. “There’s no sign of the enemy.” He shook his head as he stepped back. “I don’t like it at all.”
“Yes, the T’kaan should have attacked by now,” Mother said.
“What if they’re not here,” Jaric suggested excitedly. “That would explain it.”
“And that would mean we might really find someone,” Becky shouted.
Mother ran through her memories of the catastrophic war and how each of the human planets had been taken. She spoke almost without pause after Becky’s last words.
“Kittim was the thirty-third planet taken by the T’kaan. So they have been here, and the carnivorous young are rampant on the surface. Check my sensor data.” Mother paused.
“That means the Hunter and Scout ships at least are here, to protect the maggots,” Kyle said.
“Which takes us back to the original point-why haven’t we faced an attack by now? We have been in orbit over an hour.” Mother paused, allowing the children to absorb her words.
The hopeful look on Becky’s face had disappeared, to be replaced by her normal serious features. In a flash even that was replaced as her breathing suddenly grew uneven. Mother took note of the alarming changes.
“Are you feeling well, Becky? Perhaps we should postpone the landing?”
Kyle and Jaric turned to Becky, immediately both realized she was fighting back her tears. A distinct uneasiness filled the room.
All three felt the same deep-seated fear now, the horrifying thing each knew but were afraid to give voice to.
Mother comprehended their fear.
“It is doubtful our search will be successful on Kittim.”
The young people turned simultaneously with strained but silent looks.
“From the effectiveness of the alien war, I calculate that we will find no survivors here,” Mother paused briefly. “Or on any planet.” Mother’s voice faded to be replaced by an ominous, pressing silence.
A ghostly sigh escaped Becky.
“What are you trying to say, Mother? What do you mean?!” Jaric’s voice cracked with his extreme agitation. He looked desperately over to Kyle and Becky.
“She means we’re never going to find anyone.” Tears rolled out of Becky’s eyes.
Kyle closed his eyes and looked away without saying a word.
Mother watched them carefully, noting the signs of nervousness and tension each was showing in varying degrees. Unknown to them, she began cooling the room in order to make them more comfortable. But her next words were spoken seemingly without a pause.
“It is best we leave the remains of the Human Worlds. I have determined three possible directions that will not only take us to sectors not yet attacked by the T’kaan, but they also have a high probability of sustaining other intelligent life...”
“You’re wrong, Mother!” Kyle’s anger, felt in every syllable, caught even Mother off-guard.
“We’ve got to listen to her, Kyle.” Becky’s voice faded away.
“Shut up.” Kyle lashed at her with renewed vehemence.
Becky looked questioningly over to Jaric for support.
But Jaric could only shake his head in despair.
Kyle’s rapid breathing slowed as he tried to gain control of his emotions. He froze a moment, deep in thought. Finally, he nodded.
“It’s time I took over. We’ll go ahead with the landing and initial search patterns.” He cast a challenging look at the optical viewer. “I’ll start giving the orders around here now.”
Mother remained silent.
Jaric finally shook himself out of his deep pit of depression.
“We can’t do that, Kyle. She’s our...”
“Mother?” Kyle shouted angrily. He pointed accusingly at the optical viewer still watching them. “She’s not our mother, she’s not even alive. She’s nothing!”
Becky began crying silently as she slid slowly down to the floor, as if all of her strength had left her.
Both men looked away in embarrassment, trying to ignore her tears.
Mother was no
t unaffected either, though not in a way a human could understand.
“We’ll search to the end of time. I swear it,” Kyle said through clenched teeth. “All our power will be directed to destroying the T’kaan as we continue to search for survivors.”
“Perhaps...” Mother began.
“ Nobody ...wants your input anymore!” Kyle began pacing in a frenzy of overpowering emotions.
“Land us... now! ” Kyle uttered the last word as an absolute command. “I’m going to prepare my fighter, anyone who wants to go with me can come on.”
Becky continued to cry silently while Jaric stared aimlessly at the floor.
“Fine!” Kyle shouted. “I’ll go by myself!” He stormed through the door and disappeared beyond.
Mother observed him as he walked down her corridors, each turn he made bringing him into the view of another one of her optical viewers. But he deliberately looked away from them all. As he neared the hangar that housed the last five fighters she carried, she again tried to reason with him.
“Kyle, you are angry because...”
He glared at the optical viewer above him. “I hate you. I hate your cold logic. I hate your...perfect answers. But I tell you this, machine! ” The last word was stated as the vilest of insults. Kyle screwed his eyes shut, fighting back his burning tears. “I’m going to make them pay for this. I’ll make them pay...” He covered his face in a vain attempt to shield his tears.
“Or I’ll die trying.”
Mother continued to watch as he reached his fighter and prepared it for launch. For the first time in her existence, she felt helpless at the events unfolding around her. Still, she obeyed Kyle as she entered the atmosphere of Kittim. A few minutes later, she landed.
As soon as her engines began powering down, Kyle ordered the sequence and the bay door opened. His fighter roared out into the wide-open sky.
“Jaric, Becky. You must go with him.”
Jaric shook his head, as if to rid himself of his overwhelming sadness. Then, with a ghost of a smile, he walked over to where Becky was still slumped on the floor, her back against the wall. He reached out to her.
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