“A clearing and--”
“And?”
“several pairs of eyes staring at us,” Novia whispered. “How did Li communicate with the Howl...nightsingers?” Damus kept his voice low.
“She had told me it was similar to communicating with those of the Other Realm--with her mind,” Novia answered.
“What are you going to do?”
“I'm going to ask you to trust me, and stay here.” Novia waited for his answer.
“I don't know that I can let you go alone,” he said, shaking his head.
“Please--trust me,” Novia pleaded. She waited again for his reply, but all Damus could muster was a shaky nod of his head.
Watching her walk toward that clearing alone was the hardest thing Damus had ever done in his life, but he respected and trusted her enough to keep his word. Novia stepped to the edge of the clearing and watched several pairs of glowing-eyes staring straight back from a very small grouping. She cleared her mind and attempted to communicate. One of the night-singers stood and limped toward her.
Not food. Not threat.Novia hoped the mental message was sent.
Not food, not threat...seemed to be replied back to her mind. She noticed the limp and felt pain coming from her own leg. Help? she asked, feeling certain she was communicating.
Protecting young two legs, she felt coming from the one limping toward her.
Young two legs?Novia thought, unsure what she was hearing in her mind.
The night-singer was unsure if the tall two legs understood, and tried again. Little two legs...protected. He turned back toward the group of follow night-singers. Two of the night-singers stood and exposed two little humans, huddled in tight to keep warm.
Realizing they were safe, she once again felt the pain in her own leg and noticed the pack leader licking at a wound on his hind quarters. “May I help you?” she couldn't help ask. The night-singer rolled over and exposed his hind quarter with a deep cut. Novia took the action as a yes, and opened her Pe'Atchdi pouch. She always carried an ointment that could help stop infections. The night-singer gave a little yelp, and licked at her hand, but did not try to bite, as Novia applied ointment on his wound with extreme care.
No lick for as long as you can stand, Novia tried to explain. The two 'little two legs' were startled by the yelp. One of the night-singers nuzzled them towards Novia and they got up and walked over.
“Are you from the clans?” Reed asked in his best practiced Elvonian dialect. Novia could tell the little Elvonian was having trouble speaking the language and simply nodded and pointed toward the tree line, and the light of the fire torches.
Novia turned back to the pack leader of the group of night-singers. Thank you and may Shola Rai bless all your--little four legs...
The night-singer licked at her hand and returned to the group, where they all sniffed and licked at his return, checking his wound before huddling together into the packed snow for the night.
*** Kutch was beginning to think his insistence of 'pushing on' in the storm was not such a good idea. They could barely see through the heavy snowflakes and with the late hour of the day, it was simply dark and cold, and getting colder. He was also certain Alex wasn't saying anything, just so she didn't make him feel any worse. Although, the thought of Alex trying not to make him feel bad--made him feel very bad.
Instead of trying to make Kutch feel bad for their current predicament, Alex turned her attention to a flicker of light below the ridge. First one, then several, all in a row.
“See that?” Alex asked Kutch, pointing below. “Lights--”
“Lights,” Alex agreed.
“See? I told you we should keep going,” Kutch
affirmed. Alex rolled her eyes. “Come on, lets head straight down this snowfield before we lose track of those lights and it gets too dark to see at all.”
“I'll bet Li is down there looking for us! I just know it--” Kutch continued.
*** Once he returned from Makemake, Keja sent off his latest analysis reports to Huir. After not receiving any further requests from the Director, he felt he was free to engage further progress into the Mother II file. He placed the fire-damaged communications processing module, including the two fused additional modules, onto an analysis bench and readied them for scanning.
Xria calibrated the material and set the heavy equipment scanner to appropriate levels. ::Beginning scans,::Xria announced.
“Thank you.” ::File fragments have been located in all three modules,::
“All three? Were these additional file fragments cataloged?”
::No.::
“Okay, so we've discovered new material already,” Keja surmised. “Any distinguishable AI file fragments?”
::The additional file fragments appear to be AI programming components,:: Xria affirmed.
“Xria, please load the broken Mother II AI program file and additional files into my closed circuit containment environment sphere for detailed analysis.”
::Loading files and fragments.::
Keja positioned the files in the data sphere projection for observation and analysis. Having worked with decompiled and various broken AI files, Keja knew that once an AI was terminated, restarting the program was often not even possible, or at best, not useful. A functional AI was a sum of all calculations. Once terminated, the AI would have to start all over again, and would take realtime recalculation of all experiences to regain its last calculation of self. If the AI was several hundred years old, restarting was impractical.
Keja gave the files a closer look. One exception to the basic operational model of AIs, was in the case of a backup. This Mother II file was indeed a “backup.”
“Xria, please start a recompile. This AI file is a backup and I want to see if I can put the pieces back together enough to make it operational again,” Keja requested.
::Beginning recompilation,:: Xria reported.
*** Traveling in deep snow was always arduous, but at least downhill had a few advantages. On occasion Alex and Kutch were able to simply slide a few meters in the general intended direction. After a while, they were close enough to hear voices through the trees, as well as see the clear, distinct glow of torches.
“HEY!” Kutch yelled out, hoping to get their attention. “What are you doing?” Alex hissed under her breath. “I'm trying to get their attention.” Kutch was a little
confused about the question. He thought the action was quite self-evident.
“What if they're not who we think they are?”
“Then I hope I'm right, because they're heading our way.” Kutch pointed.
“Kutch? Is that you?” A familiar voice rang out through the trees, in a long-missed NorWes dialect.
“Novia?” Kutch answered.
“NOVIA?” Alex called out too.
“Alex? Kutch!” Novia answered.
“Where's Li?” Kutch asked without hesitation.
“She's not--KUTCH! ALEX! I can't believe we've found you!” Novia attempted to change the subject. “Come on this way--the entrance to the caverns is not far.”
“Have you seen any of the others?” Kutch stepped up closer, although he wasn't too sure if his NorWes dialect was clear. He could see two large Guardians carrying bundles well ahead.
Novia came closer and attempted to hug both Alex and Kutch at once, but their PPDs pushed her arms away from the aggressive speed of her actions. Alex and Kutch stepped close and gave Novia a hug, with the appropriate speed to not trigger the PPDs. Damus watched in awe, from a short distance.
“We found them all now,” Novia finally answered. “They're cold, but doing well. We have so much to talk about.”
“Li?” Kutch asked again.
“Come on now, let's get out of the cold and snowstorm,” Novia pressed. “We have--so, so much--to talk about.”
Alex wasn't sure if Kutch was picking up on Novia's tone of voice, and wasn't sure she wanted to force the issue. Something was wrong, and Alex could tell Novia didn't want to tell K
utch about it.
*** With the help of the artificial entity, Jenai, Grafter was able to get communications started between all one hundred and six detention centers. And with the additional help of Zed's ability to speak several different Earth dialects, they were able to establish functional communications between the various groups of Earth humans at each location. Getting communications between the different groups helped gain trust as well as help the sick and dying. Grafter gained leadership trust by helping each of the centers understand the appropriate portions of the nutritional tubes, to prevent people from getting sick.
The next priority was to begin migrating everyone to a singular location. Again, with the help of Jenai, Grafter was able to determine that Detention Center TwentyThree, was indeed the largest of the facilities, with a vast maintenance hangar bay. The facility also had the greatest supply of fresh water, support equipment and supplies.
Moving such a large number of people was going to be a logistical problem. Many of the detention centers were connected via a transport system called a maglev. Grafter understood the basic principle but the main problem dealt with the unpressurized tunnel systems. The pressurized maglev cars were not very large, so only a few could travel at a time. That's better than nothing, Grafter thought.
Then there was the problem of twenty-three detention centers that were isolated in the far northern 10A quadrant. Each was connected to the other via a maglev system, but the only way to reach the set of twenty-three centers was by landing a craft at Detention Center FiftySix at the only small hangar bay in that area.
“One problem at a time,” Grafter mumbled to himself at the thought.
“I have inbound message traffic from Detention Center, One Hundred-One,” Jenai announced in her best Elvonian dialect to echo Grafter.
“I guess, connect me,” Grafter replied, still not sure how this all worked. Jenai complied and started the holographic projection of a man in tattered clothing, standing in front of a communications console.
“I am told I should contact one named Grafter,” the man said.
“I am Grafter. Your name?”
“I am Kent.”
“Kent--you have questions?”
“Jenai, here, keeps informing me that there are people outside the facility who want entry,” Kent explained.
“People outside?” Grafter asked.
“Yes. I can't open any entries to let them in,” Kent answered.
“Hold on a moment, Jenai, can you explain?” Grafter asked.
Both Jenai AIs began to speak at once. “Wait! Jenai Detention Center Twenty-Three--go,” Grafter requested.
“Question, unspecified,” Detention Center TwentyThree, Jenai answered.
“Who is outside, trying to get in?”
“There are ships at Detention Centers, One Hundred and One, Sixty-Two and Fifteen, piloted by Elvonians who have been attempting to gain entry to the facilities,” Detention Center, Jenai replied.
“Corporate?”
“Elvonian.”
“Not Corporate?”
“Technically, no.”
“Earth human?”
“No.”
“Kent, can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Don't worry, Kent. Do NOT let them in,” Grafter stated. “Detention Center, One Hundred and One Jenai, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
“I understand, and will comply.”
“Jenai, make sure all Detention Center artificial entities are in compliance with that order,” Grafter stated. “If they are not Earth human, they are not to be trusted!”
“I will comply.”
*** Of all the AI programmers known within Corporate, Anaua's programming skills were the most beautiful. The layout of modules and notations within the programming was always so clean and uncluttered. Keja enjoyed searching through the logs, and sub-routines for what felt like little hidden shares, tucked away in a long-lost, and forgotten investment.
“How much longer?” Keja asked Xria. ::Compilation routines should be completed in only a few more minutes,:: Xria replied.
“Ah, how the time flies when analyzing Anaua's work,” Keja mused.
::Do you want to contact Director Huir and report your findings?::Xria asked.
“Not yet. We really don't have any findings to report. I'm not even certain this AI backup file will even function,” Keja offered.
::The repair appeared to be successful,:: Xria assured.
“Sure, I got the fragments back together--I hope in the correct placement,” Keja said. “But that is still no assurance of success.”
::Your programming skills are formidable,:: Xria complimented. ::Success is inevitable.::
“Thank you, Xria. I'll still wait to see.”
::Compilation completed. Shall I run the program?::
“I can't think of anything else we need to do. Please run,” Keja requested.
::Running.::
Keja waited and watched on his data analysis sphere as processes began throughout the program. After a few more moments the audio output crackled. “Ma, ma, ma, moth--”
Silence.
Keja checked the processes in the program. All had stopped. “Did the compilation fail?”
::Checking,:: Xria stated. ::Compilation is confirmed completed. The program stopped. Shall I restart?::
Keja checked his data sphere for any further indications of a problem. “Everything looks good here, try it again.”
::Restarting.::
Again, Keja could see on his data sphere, various processes working through the program, and the audio output crackled.
“Ma-m-m-ma, Moth--her, is-is--is...h, h-he, he, he-here!”
*** Although he was waking up, Kutch refused to open his eyes, the sensation he was experiencing was of complete and utter comfort. The soft, thick, fur on his face and surrounding his entire body, had brought blissful warmth and one of the most restful sleep periods in recent memory.
::You understand, this material is made from dead animal skin,:: Sid reminded Kutch.
::I don't care! This feels too good,:: Kutch argued, as he changed his position and bumped into another body under the animal skins. Alex, he assured himself. He could feel some serious heat radiating from her body, just before she shifted and pushed him away with a sleepy grunt.
Then came the smell. That wonderfully magnificent odor. What was that called? Kutch tried to remember.
::Burned whitetail,:: Sid replied. ::More dead animal products.::
::If I remember correctly, the actual term is 'cooked,':: Kutch corrected Sid.
::I am unable to discern any difference between the two terms,:: Sid argued.
Kutch poked his head out from the fur covers to see Novia's little cave cutout, full of guests, including Reed, and Toolkit talking with the two other Elvonians-Presley5689 and Presley6334, and with a turn of his head, Novia was cooking with a rather large Earth human, introduced the night before as Damus. Then there were the very tall and odd-looking humans, he understood to be the four Elvonians that were left behind--but they did not look as he had remembered.
Kutch pulled his jumper beneath the covers to warm it up. Looking around as he dressed under the covers, he was still unable to find Li. Novia had promised more information this morning, and now seemed as good as any other time to press the issue.
“Glorious Shola Rai, and gracious morning,” Novia turned to see Kutch crawling out from under the covers.
“Glorious--uh, Shul...” Kutch attempted again in his best, Earth-NorWes dialect. He had been practicing the language for the last six years, but with Elvonians--a slightly different format.
“Glorious Shola Rai,” Novia said slower.
“Glorious Shola Rai,” Kutch repeated.
“And gracious morning,” Novia continued, slow and articulate.
“Grassy--grash...gracious, morning...” Kutch stumbled through.
“Hungry?” Novia asked. Kutch thought it safer to just nod and smile. She handed him a coo
led strip of cooked meat.
::Animal flesh, burnt to a crisp,:: Sid analyzed.
: :Enough,:: Kutch scolded. “Thank you,” Kutch replied and took a bite. And there it was--that wonderful, richflavored, sensation on the tongue he remembered from so long ago. Novia handed him a small platter with several more pieces, as well as some of the plant loaf he remembered too.
“It is so good to see you again.” Novia talked a little slower to help Kutch with the language differences.
Kutch could think of nothing else. “Li?”
Novia turned away in an attempt to hide her concerns.
Damus could see she needed some time with Kutch. “I can finish here,” Damus offered, and continued cooking for the rest of her guests.
Novia took Kutch by the hand and led him outside of her cave cutout and sat on a rocky outcrop. “Li is missing.”
“Missing?”
“Not here.”
“Where did she go?”
“We don't know, but we think--” Novia paused, trying to think of an easy way to continue.
“Think what?”
“I think Cain took her,” Novia explained.
Kutch shook his head in disbelief.
“I know this is hard to understand,” Novia continued.
“Not only hard to understand, but impossible,” Kutch explained.
Novia shook her head. “She felt his presence.”
“Again, not really possible,” Kutch stated.
“The Other Realms can be difficult to explain.”
“There’s no way Cain arrived before us. At last communications check, he was to be arriving shortly, through the Mars solar system, Interstellar Gate, giving us at least a seventy-plus hour lead time.”
Novia took her time to understand Kutch's broken NorWes dialect. He was improving, but there were still issues. “Cain is not in our solar system?” Novia asked.
Kutch understood that question. “JUST arrived, if at all yet--but still a LONG way away.” Kutch could see that Novia was trying to understand. “I remember the Other Realm. You took me there, but my physical body never left--here,” Kutch pointed to the ground. “Correct?”
Novia nodded. “Correct. The physical 'being' does not cross over,” Novia explained.
“Is there some way Cain would be able to take Li's physical 'being' to the Other Realm?”
Birth Of A Goddess Page 26
