by Marti Ward
They were also now quite used to the motley collection of cold ones that attended – they kept Jerome clean, and it seemed almost as if they were feeding him through those tubes because he was starting to get his color back, and he wasn’t losing weight. Their cold one still sat in the corridor, staring mindlessly up towards the big starry screens at the other end of the passageway.
Normally she liked being up there with Jerome, looking out at the stars and the moons and the world below. But now it seemed dark and dangerous – she seemed to sense a lurking threat – it was almost like a waking nightmare. She’d been following a routine of heading up to the star windows each morning to check if anything had changed, then coming back to food and water, and to spend time with the captain.
It was time! She jumped down from Jerome’s bed and returned to her solitary guard. Samba didn’t join her – he sensed the same evil, and preferred to stay close to Jerome and the kits.
She was the silent hunter, the camouflaged predator. She would track down and deal with the lurking danger. She systematically sniffed each window, intuiting what was behind. When she knew – it was almost like she’d always known and just had to remember – she’d move on to the next.
Al
1 August 2077 12:00
Al was still confused, but as he watched the cat explore the bridge, trace her paw along the orbits of planets that were scarcely visible on the viewscreens, various associations triggered. He and the Captain had been tracing those orbits, but not just the planets, asteroids and ships and probes.
Al didn’t seem to be operating correctly but he could still communicate with ship subsystems. Automated Navigation System, overlay viewscreens with planets and their orbits in standard coding.
Now Al could see that the cat was tracing something that was still invisible but met the New Eden orbit – the PTL3 asteroid group. Automated Navigation System, highlight PTL3 asteroid group and show their next orbit of Paradisi.
This time a thick magenta band traced around the sun and grazed the cyan New Eden orbit as it completed its orbit. That was what the cat was scratching and pawing at. That was what the Captain had been scratching away at. Automated Navigation System, hide real-time view and show Captain Sideris’s strategy for shifting the asteroids.
Now some specific asteroids were highlighted – a broken yellow one and five red ones shown as whole circles. One triangular ship icon left New Eden and another left PTL4 just in time to converge as the asteroid cluster approached New Eden. Al associated the Captain’s strategy and terminology as he and the cat watched them approach the yellow ‘Pacman’ from behind, pushing it slowly faster towards both New Eden and the cluster barycenter. The deviation was slight, and the deviation of the red ‘rogues’, as they were drawn in, was even less. But by the time the yellow Pacman got to New Eden’s orbit, New Eden itself was long gone, and the Pacman’s inertia was too great to successfully follow. The lagging rogues were mostly safely by now too, but two were still dangerous ripping inside the orbits of New Eden’s two moons. Automated Navigation System, freeze display showing the position of the two asteroids nearest New Eden, and show the location of its moons at this point. Designate these two rogue asteroids as Rogue One and Rogue Two, in order of approach.
The cat was however batting at the asteroid trajectory where it emerged from behind Paradisi. Automated Navigation System, overlay separate trajectories for Rogue One and Rogue Two.
Two erratic traces appeared colored blue and purple on top of the broad magenta sweep of the cluster. That is what the cat was pushing at. It was as if her paws were creating the bumps in the trajectories, pushing the asteroids towards the sun.
Simba
1 August 2077 12:30
Simba felt she could almost see the hidden monsters. More than that she could sense where they had come from and where they were going to. She looked for places where she could lie in wait and pounce. There! Behind the sun!
As she’d explored, batting at the window as she imagined herself pouncing, suddenly the invisible paths started to appear. She glanced back at the cold one in the doorway – he gave no sign of acknowledgement, but she suspected it was his doing.
As more and more detail appeared, she recollected that she’d seen this before. This was the captain’s plan – a plan for two captains in fact. They lay in wait at different points: one far away, starting a stealthy curving approach; her captain waiting much nearer in the shadow of their world, waiting behind it as it approached the packman and its pack where they had set their trap.
But the pack was too big. The two captains fought the packman pushing it away from their world, drawing in some of the pack. But they’d left it too late – two of the biggest pack members raced for their world, along with many other smaller ones of their kind.
She and Samba needed to take the two big rogues out before they even got to the ambush. She would set her own ambush. There! As they came out from behind the sun. Where one of the Captain’s wingless birds had so recently passed by. There were still two birds who flew out there – one still out there beyond the sun, the other having come home to nest and rest. Perhaps they could help!
She moved up to the windows and started to expound her strategy.
Al
1 August 2077 13:00
Al was less confused, but still not himself. He had managed to draw information from the language and astronomical databases, as well as getting ANS to display the trajectories and plans the Captain was looking at. The Captain’s plan wasn’t perfect. It depended on having two LETOs and they only had one. It still let two asteroids into New Eden’s exosphere.
The cat’s plan might be an improvement. Automated Navigation System, compute fast but efficient trajectories for EMP-A and EMP-T to meet Rogue One and Rogue Two respectively. Then compute two scenarios. One where half thrust is applied sunward throughout the entire trajectory to New Eden, and one where full thrust is applied but only in the parts of the trajectory that deviate towards Paradisi.
“For EMP-A the most efficient transfer will take 95 days and use less than 1% of fuel reserve. The fastest sun-slingshot trajectory will take 9 days and use 90% of fuel reserve. EMP-T arrived with a damaged SECASM logged as being due to neutron damage: interplanetary missions are not recommended. For EMP-T the most efficient Hohmann transfer will take 305 days and use less than 1% of fuel reserve. The fastest sun-slingshot trajectory will take 11 days and use 78% of fuel reserve.”
ANS, for both EMP-A and EMP-T, please compute most efficient trajectory that will arrive within 110 days, and compute and display alternate scenarios for them from the time of arrival. That will still allow catching PTL3 before it had completed a sixth of its orbit, and left 525 days before the predicted collisions – and plenty of thorium.
“Displaying half-thrust scenarios for EMP-A and EMP-T.”
The cat meowed in disgust at this scenario, swatting at the probes as they futilely pushed against the gravitational flux, but encouraging them on when the flux was in their favor. EMP-A had arrived earlier and managed to make Rogue One miss the lunar orbits, but Rogue Two had still swung through Acerba’s orbit and plunged well into New Eden’s exosphere.
“Displaying scenario with full thrust on Paradisi-directed deviation.”
This time the cat watched happily without trying to interfere, and both Rogue One and Rogue Two bypassed New Eden’s exosphere.
That was an excellent result – except that they had only one LETO. ANS, repeat full thrust on directed deviation scenario with only one LETO thrusting on Pacman.
The scenario repeated the same way till towards the end – this time three asteroids entered the exosphere, two of them sweeping through the thermosphere and grazing the mesosphere. ANS, repeat last scenarios but have EMP-A and EMP-T join the LETO at pushing Pacman, but assume disabling soft temperature cutouts and diverting coolant reserves from life support and cryosystems.
This time the scenario gave a reasonable outcome although two asteroids st
ill grazed the exosphere – a much closer call than the two-LETO version. Just one minor problem… All three vehicles reached critical temperatures, risking cascade failure – and a dead crew on the LETO.
Irrespective of the question of the availability of another LETO, the cat’s solution to Rogue One and Rogue Two remained critical. But the two EmProbes they still had contact with would be sacrificed – and they would have no way of communicating with or returning to Sol until a further LETO or EmProbe was sent.
Al needed a command decision – commit to maintaining regular but slow wormhole capability and leave New Eden’s survival in the hands of Solar Command; or commit to the long-term Rogue One/Two deviation mission and taking their survival into their own hands, or perhaps paws and grapplers.
Simba
1 August 2077 13:30
Simba was convinced that the cold one had deliberately shown her the dumb approach first to test her, or perhaps to annoy her. She’d shown her disapproval, and the cold one would have seen that she was right – the two rogues had still disrupted the blue world.
But then he showed her plan, combined with the two captains plan, and the world was safe. But then he showed the one captain plan, and it was not enough. Then another variant when the two birds swooped down to push the packman, pushing as if their lives were at stake, until they had nothing more to give.
Now cold’n’senseless was speaking – although he didn’t quite sound himself. Is he addressing me? Simba wondered.
There seemed to be a choice – the risky plan to chase away the monsters… or a riskier plan to wait and hope someone else would come do it…
Simba didn’t quite understand how birds came and went from this place, or who they communicated with, but her vote was clear. She batted the viewscreen, the monsters’ trajectory… we need to act!
Al
1 August 2077 14:00
Al had to play by the rules. He announced the two alternatives on the bridge, providing a succinct summary of the pros and cons of each, and waited.
The officer in command of the bridge should now indicate which alternative to take, either verbally or using an appropriate gestural or haptic user interface modality… and did. Al made a note in his log.
“Feline subject Simba, on the bridge in acting command, determined to proceed with deviation plan deploying EmProbes designated EMP-A and EMP-T to apply course correction to asteroids Rogue One and Rogue Two – refer to videos and simulations as linked. Orders for EMP-A and EMP-T programmed and dispatched. EMP-T launching.”
Al continued to monitor the cats as he dispatched EMP-T. Simba was still on the bridge and took note of it, but would normally have returned to her room for a drink and a siesta by this time. Samba had been in the kittens’ room, but was having his siesta in the doorway, keeping the slider open. Neither of them seemed to want to spend much time there. The sensors in Simba’s room and the Captain’s rooms were out, as was waste disposal.
Al started a complete diagnostic of all ship systems and services, and initiated automated repair protocols, giving priority to systems that directly affected the cats or the Captain or his own higher functions.
What about the kittens? They were safe in cryosuspension – Al would revisit the question of resuscitation once all systems were back on line.
What about New Eden and the Volcans? They had been recalled prematurely before all scans and sampling was complete, due to the ion storm – Al had many months before the required LETO intervention at New Eden, and the planned scans of Ardesco were lower priority and would expend fuel that might prove critical in terms of deviation of the asteroid cluster. Fuel use station keeping around the New Eden – Acerba L2 (denoting as NEAL2) would indeed be greater than fuel use maintaining a polar orbit around New Eden, and there was nothing to suggest the risk would continue to be lower here – while it would be appropriate to see how New Eden had been affected by the cosmic rays.
Al displayed simulations of the three possibilities: the Ardesco and New Eden survey missions and the continued hiding behind Acerba – and watched the cat’s reactions. The cat was clearly interested in the two Volcan survey possibilities, and dismissed the NEAL2 lurking with a swipe of her paw. She continued to look around the screen thoughtfully, even once the simulations had stopped and display had reverted to a real-time view of Acerba and its outlook. After a while she swiped at Acerba in a way reminiscent of her first suggestion that she wanted to get past it or behind it.
Al replayed the simulation of the proposed Ardesco mission, but the cat dismissed that too this time. Finally, he replayed the proposed continuation of the New Eden mission. Simba turned to look at his quadlift avatar and nodded with an assertive meow, then settled down into an alert crouch facing New Eden – waiting for him to execute her command.
“Feline subject Simba, on the bridge in acting command, determined to proceed with resumption and updating of the survey of New Eden using Volcans – refer to videos and simulations as linked. Course back to New Eden polar orbit calculated and engaged. Preparations of VC1 to VC6 for solar powered survey are in progress.
Chapter Fifteen
New Eden polar orbit
Al
11 October 2077 09:00
Al had finally pulled himself together, along with the rest of SS Casindra’s systems. He was however running Casindra on solar power only, since returning to polar orbit around New Eden. This had required making some decisions about his own systems as well as the cryosystems – and thus also the Captain, the cats and the rest of the experimental animals.
It was good that he’d backed himself up fully in the ship servers, while maintaining a basic sequential thread of consciousness and shipwide awareness through the connections to the various automated ancillary systems. He’d given a priority to getting his possibilitistic associative quantum memory functioning again. Being a “room temperature” carbon-based technology designed to run at 300K, this was not a huge load on the ship’s electric power, but it was a huge increment in an AI’s mental power – and with the full restoration from backups, Al felt he was himself again.
The navigation computer’s probabilistic silicon-based Kane-Simmons quantum computer was absolutely necessary for wormhole entry/exit calculations, and highly desirable for the chaos-theoretic astrophysics simulations he’d run for the asteroids. But Al’s conclusion was that running further simulations would be unlikely to find a better solution, while the milliKelvin cryogenics required would rob them of the power needed to successfully implement their current solution. This meant that, although the system had been repaired, the power-hungry system would not be rebooted until wormhole calculations were needed – assuming the ship survived to that point.
As he returned to fully conscious operational status, Al reviewed the logs of the critical period when he had allowed Simba to make critical choices about the asteroid missions, as well as have the choice about whether stay at L2, do a follow up survey on New Eden, or continue on to survey Ardesco. He felt they had made the correct choice, and annotated the logs accordingly with a note about his current status and situation review. It was not clear that Solar Command would approve of them though, or of his involvement of a test subject. He wasn’t even sure if Captain Sideris or Director Reach would approve. He wasn’t sure that he liked being captain – it was much better being an advisor to the Captain. All he could do was assess probabilities, and the calculations depended on so many assumptions that a clear quantitative result was seldom available – and even then did not always match his own intuitions or the Captain’s.
In order to reduce power, Al had consulted with Simba and they’d decided to remove all the animals from cryostasis – despite his apparent indifference in his observed play with them, Samba was particularly pleased to have the kittens back. They were now running vetbay and the surrounding cargo areas of the main deck as a biosphere, while turning off life support in the upper and lower decks.
The biggest drain on power left was medbay,
where the Captain was being repaired under an induced cryocoma, exploiting the ability of the medbed to put different parts of a patient into different levels of hypothermia so the bodies resources could be more effectively directed to where they were needed. Al was able to review the state of treatment and noted that all musculoskeletal repairs were complete as well as the blood and marrow transfusions, the immune system was starting to return to normal.
Damage due to radiation had been less than expected, largely due to the protection afforded by the shipsuit, and DNA repair was also complete, although there were still anomalies detectable in messenger RNA and synaptic β-actin synthesis. Intriguingly, this seemed to be an acceleration of a process of change to brain chemistry that could be tracked through all the Captain’s annual checkups but didn’t relate to any known space-based or low-gravity syndrome. He would add tests for this change to his animal subjects too, to explore whether it was endogenous or exogenous or endemic, or even potentially transgenic.
Macrophage and microglial action had cleared away myelin fragments, and stem cell transplantation seemed to be accelerating remyelination. The Captain would almost certainly survive. Whether he would recover sufficiently to resume his duties as captain remained to be seen.
