“Stand,” agreed the machine.
Jason shook his head. “I have to get back to helping the guys. I was just checking on you.” He bent over and kissed her. Brianna responded to his kiss and felt her body quickening. “Later,” Jason teased as he went out the door. He blew her a kiss as the door shut.
Brianna turned back to the screen. It showed the man figure and woman figure touch their faces. “Kiss,” said Brianna.
“Kiss,” the machine agreed.
…
Kristy, Sarah, and Albert drove back into the base camp. They had been ranging out further from base picking up rock and soil samples for analysis. Beatrice waved from the greenhouse where she was looking at something under a microscope. The rest of the men were sitting propped up against the excavator soaked with sweat. The scraper blade was attached to the front of the machine.
As Kristy walked up to them she said, “Why are you guys sitting down on the job?”
“It just so happens that the scraper blade on this thing is heavy as hell,” Master Chief said. “It took just about every chain fall we had to wiggle it into place. I have no idea how the aliens did it.”
“Why didn’t you just pick it up with the machines graspers and hold it in place while you fastened the bolts?” asked Sarah.
The men looked at the machine and then at Sarah. Master Chief cursed, stood, and walked off while Frederick started laughing so hard he fell off the box he was sitting on. David and Donald shook their heads in disgust while Jason got up and looked at the graspers closely and then shrugged.
Kristy patted Sarah on the shoulder. “Braun over brains is the norm for men, my dear.”
They went to the back of the jeep and unloaded all the samples and piled them up near the ‘A’ Dome.
After getting something to eat, Kristy went and found Jason. “How come nobody’s on communications watch?”
“I spoke to Admiral Ellis at Alpha Control and we agreed there wasn’t much point in keeping someone up on the hill all day and night. We’re supposed to call in and check for messages every twelve hours. If there’s an emergency, we can contact them anytime,” Jason said. “That frees up another person for projects.”
Kristy nodded. “That makes sense. I wonder if we can move our communication array down here and attach it on top of the big dome on one of those scaffoldings. That way it’s right here where we need it.”
“Good idea,” agreed Jason.
“Where’s Brianna?” Kristy asked.
Jason shrugged. “In the big building doing lessons, I guess.”
“You guess?” asked Kristy. “I would have thought you knew exactly where she was.”
“The last time I saw her she was talking to the computer in the main building,” Jason said
“Talking to it?” Kristy asked.
“Yea, I think it’s perverted or something. Go see for yourself,” said Jason.
The Master Chief waved from the top of the excavator. “We’re going to try out the excavator with the blade. Beatrice asked us to flatten out two test patches for the corn and wheat seed we brought. This machine could do it in a quarter of the time as the little blade on our transport could.”
Jason went over to direct the Master Chief as he backed the excavator up. “We want to try out our little pedal operator rig also. Hopefully, if it works it will allow one person to operate this thing by themselves.”
Kristy nodded and stepped back. It pleased her that everyone was taking initiative and doing all the little things that needed to be done. Instead of standing around and waiting for orders, everyone was coming up with little ideas that helped get everything done faster. Jason trotted by with the excavator following him. Master Chief was driving and David was sitting on the back edge of the control pod lip watching. She let them pass, then she went into the main building and entered the “classroom” as they had nicknamed it.
The door opened for her.
“No, that’s red, not orange,” Brianna was saying.
Brianna turned to see who had come in as Kristy moved up beside her.
“Woman?” the machine asked.
“Kristy,” Brianna said slowly
“Kristy,” the machine agreed.
Kristy looked at Brianna in amazement. “You’ve got it talking?”
“Yes, talking Kristy,” the machine said.
Brianna nodded. “Right now it still has the vocabulary of a three year old but it’s learning by leaps and bounds. This isn’t just some teaching machine. It’s intelligent. I think we’re communicating with an artificial intelligence. It’s reasoning and making assumptions based on what it knows. There’s no way we could learn a language this fast. Three hours ago, it was repeating single words.”
Kristy looked at the display. There were different colored circles. “You were teaching it colors?”
Brianna shook her head. “Oh no, it already knows the colors and much more. It is just learning our words for things and how we use the words in syntax.”
Kristy bit her lip. “It hasn’t been asking…uh technical questions about us and Earth has it?”
Brianna shook her head.
“Keep teaching it Brianna, but don’t tell it too much yet, if you get my meaning. We still don’t know why it was put here. I’m going to go let Earth know of this new development.”
When she left the dome, Kristy warned all the others not to disturb Brianna. Brianna seemed to have developed a relationship with the alien computer and she stayed glued to the learning pedestal giving it her full concentration. They took her in supper and water when it was meal time. Once, she came running out and hurried out to the latrine. When she was finished, she went running back into the large dome. Later that night, Kristy woke up as Brianna finally came in about three AM and collapsed onto her cot. The next morning they let her sleep until she got up on her own.
Chapter 39
May 12th, 2047
Elpis
Kristy, Jason, and Albert accompanied Brianna into the classroom. When they entered the display lit up.
“Brianna come,” the machine said.
“Yes, I came back,” Brianna said.
“Daytime outside,” the machine said.
“Yes, it’s daytime outside,” Brianna agreed.
“Kristy,” said machine.
“Hello,” said Kristy
“Hello?” asked the machine
“Hello?” it repeated.
Brianna thought for a moment.
She went out the door and waved her hand. “Goodbye” she said. The door shut automatically. She stepped up and the door opened. She waved and said “hello.”
The machine was silent. Then it said, “Come, hello. Go, goodbye.”
“Yes,” said Brianna.
“I’ll be damned, it’s reasoning,” said Albert.
Brianna nodded. “I told you guys, it’s very intelligent.”
“Man name?” it asked.
“Albert,” Brianna said
“Man name?” it asked again
“Jason,” Jason said.
“Jason, Albert, Man. Brianna, Kristy, Woman,” the machine stated.
“Yes,” said Brianna.
The machine flashed a picture of the large dome on the display. “Name.”
Brianna shook head. “I don’t understand.”
The display showed a picture of Brianna.
“Brianna,” it said. Then, it again showed a picture of the dome again. “Name”
“It wants you to name it,” stated Albert.
Brianna looked at Kristy who shrugged. Brianna thought for a moment.
“Odysseus,” she said.
“Odysseus,” it said.
“Your name is Odysseus. It means traveler. Odysseus was a famous traveler in Greek mythology.”
“Name is Odysseus,” it said.
“Hello, Odysseus,” said Albert.
“Hello, Albert,” Odysseus said.
“This is amazing,” said Albert. “At this rate, it’
ll be talking in complete sentences in just a couple of days. Think of the things it can tell us about the race that created it.”
“You’re assuming that the four legged people created it,” Jason said
“The hardest thing is teaching it verbs,” said Brianna. I can show and name pictures on my computer pad and it remembers them immediately. Teaching it concepts with verbs is much slower. You should try to explain the difference between walking, jogging and running to an intelligence that cannot do any of them.”
“The artificial intelligence and computer engineers back on Earth have a whole list of questions to ask it when we can work the kinks out of our communication,” said Kristy. “Albert, you are the archeologist amongst us and you have the most experience dealing with different cultures. I want you to stay here and help Brianna teach it. Jason, you come with me. Earth has something else they want us to do.”
As they turned to go, the machine spoke to them. “Goodbye, Kristy, Goodbye, Jason,” the machine said.
“Goodbye, Odysseus,” they replied.
…
Kristy motioned for Jason to follow her. When they were outside she went up the hill to the communication array and Jason followed her.
“What do you think of Odysseus?” she asked.
“Its capabilities are way beyond our computers on Earth,” he said. “Odysseus is leading the teaching, not Brianna. It’s using her to provide input and information but it’s steering the topics.”
“That’s the same impression that I got. Brianna says it hasn’t asked anything about our technology or where we are from. She said it was very interested in human anatomy. Specifically, it wanted to see the difference between her body and yours.”
Jason laughed uncomfortably. “Well, I’m sure that it can recognize we are different. You saw how it made sure to designate us as man or woman. Somehow, the difference between us is very important to it. I’m not sure why, since it’s a machine and has no sex.”
“I agree,” said Kristy. “From the short glimpse we had of that alien city, we could see that there were smaller versions of the creature that wore the space suits we found. I wonder if those were the young, or the other sex. Perhaps the females are smaller than the males or vice versa.”
“The machine is learning fast,” Jason said. “Hopefully, we can ask it more specific questions.”
“I want to know why the other doors in the complex won’t open for us,” Kristy said. “It’s like the machine is hiding something from us.”
“Or maybe it doesn’t feel that we’re ready to see what’s in those areas,” mused Jason. “Also, we keep talking as if it’s the machine in that room that’s intelligent. I think that the computer or artificial intelligence isn’t just in the learning machine. I believe that the four pedestal displays in there are merely tools for communication. I believe that Odysseus is the whole complex and the complex is Odysseus. It’s shown that it has sensors outside the building. It can see and probably hear what we’re doing anywhere in the entire complex.”
“We probably need to be careful what we say then,” said Kristy.
“I don’t think that it’s dangerous, or means us harm,” disagreed Jason. “It wanted us to find the complex and that beacon guided us there. We just have to figure out why it wanted to be found.”
“Even so, I want us to limit what information we share with it. No technological or specifics about Earth should be shared,” Kristy warned.
“Let’s go and see how the planting is going,” said Kristy.
As they started down the hill Kristy paused. “Jason,” she said.
He turned around to look at her.
“I, uh, want to apologize about the way I came off about you and Brianna. If you guys are hitting it off, then that’s ok. I’m not sure if I was jealous or what. I was concerned that it could cause problems if you guys became serious and then broke up and fought. It could really disrupt things,” Kristy said.
“Kristy, I know about how things were with you and Hank. I had some long talks with him on some of the missions we did together. He really did, and probably still does, love you. You guys just couldn’t be together. You were both too competitive to be with each other. I know I really don’t know crap about relationships, but I think the best thing the two of you could do is just agree to be best friends and leave it at that.”
Kristy thought about that for a moment and said, “You’re probably a lot closer to the truth than you think.”
They started back down the hill. As they walked Kristy glanced over at Jason and said, “Are you aware that the entire supply of birth control injections that we brought with us was destroyed in the supply ship mishap?”
Jason stopped and looked at her.
“Just be careful, Jason. There are consequences to everything. This might not be the time and place to get pregnant and have a baby. Brianna is just as young and healthy as you are. If you guys keep sneaking off, she’s going to end up pregnant. I wouldn’t like explaining that to Alpha Control. If you guys are serious, maybe you could talk to Beatrice about doing a vasectomy on you. That’s a minor procedure and she has the equipment to do it.”
“Ouch,” Jason said. “I’m not sure I want to do something that drastic.”
“Just think about it Jason,” she warned. “Come on, let’s go see the farmers.”
They walked down the hill into the flat field that Master Chief had plowed out with the alien excavator. Everyone else on the team but Brianna was manually raking and picking the larger rocks out of the area. Beatrice was walking behind them and planting rows of a genetically modified corn. The corn had been altered to give it a higher protein and sugar content that was easier to digest by humans. It had also been modified to grow and mature about twenty percent faster than older natural varieties.
As they arrived at the garden spot, Jason started laughing hysterically. Sarah and Donald were putting the finishing touches on a scarecrow. They had used one of the alien spacesuits and stuffed it with old packing materials. Kristy was upset about it at first, but seeing how everyone else was laughing about it, she shook her head and dropped her objections. She picked up a container and joined the others picking up rocks. Beatrice walked behind them planting seeds as they went.
…
Inside the main complex building, Brianna was being bombarded with questions by Odysseus. She had her data pad laying on the pedestal surface. Every now and then, she would pull up pictures or diagrams on the computer and show them to Odysseus. He would repeat the name and store the image. She was slowly making progress with verbs also. Odysseus could now understand such words as talking, walking, running, going, lifting, and other simple action verbs.
Odysseus flashed a picture of Brianna’s left arm with her PA on it. It circled the area around the PA. “What this Brianna?”
“No Odysseus. Say, what is this,” she corrected.
“What is this Brianna?”
“That is my PA. That’s my personal assistant,” said Brianna.
“What is personal assistant?” Odysseus asked.”
Brianna struggled with how to explain. “A PA is a talking machine to other men and women”.
“PA talks like Odysseus?” it asked.
Brianna shook her head. “Brianna talks to PA, PA talks to Kristy, talks to Albert, talks to Jason”.
Brianna noted that Odysseus was chewing on that information a bit longer than usual.
“Odysseus look at PA. Brianna talk to other humans on PA. Show Odysseus.”
Brianna shook her head. “Our PA’s will not work in the domes. They block the signal.”
“Show Odysseus,” it insisted.
She shrugged and tapped her PA. “Jason, can you hear me?” she asked.
“Show Odysseus,” it said again.
“It doesn’t work in here, Odysseus,” she said. She was exasperated with its insistence.
“Show Odysseus.”
“One more time and that’s all,” said Brianna. “I ne
ed to take a break.”
She tapped her PA. “Brianna loves Jason,” she said.
She nearly jumped out of her boots when her PA answered. “Brianna, this is Beatrice, did you know you’re announcing to the whole expedition that you’re in love with Jason. We knew you were infatuated with him but…”
“Odysseus make PA talk now to humans. Odysseus talk to PA.”
“Kristy, this is Brianna, can you guys hear me?”
“We do, Brianna,” Kristy answered. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the classroom. Odysseus did something; our PA’s are now able to penetrate the main dome. I’m coming out, I need a break.”
Brianna stood up. “Goodbye Odysseus, I’ll come back in a little while.”
“Goodbye Brianna, Come back.”
…
After Brianna went outside, Odysseus rapidly reviewed all the new information that he had learned from the biological Brianna. It had been curious about the electronic device that the humans wore on their wrist. It was unsure of its function until Brianna had talked to it. The digital signal it omitted was obviously some type of communication signal. Odysseus knew that the domes were designed to stop all EM radiation from entering and that the signal would be blocked. So, he merely relayed the signal over the sensor array on top of the main building. After analyzing the return signal from Beatrice and Kristy, he rapidly decoded the carrier encryption. He could now monitor all communications over the devices and that would help him learn to communicate with the biologicals much more effectively.
Odysseus watched Brianna go out and speak with Kristy. Kristy appeared to be the dominant Ranor of the group of biologicals. Odysseus was very curious as to how the biologicals had arrived on the planet. It had determined that the planet the outpost was on had been captured away from the destroyer star by the yellow star that it now orbited. Since its sensors were limited to the three domes, it couldn’t “see or hear” beyond the general vicinity of the domes. It deduced that the biological’s ship must be over the hill that contained their communication equipment. It could detect periodic signals to and from the hilltop array but the encryption was much more sophisticated. In time it would decipher that also, but it was consuming quite a bit of processing power to do so.
Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2) Page 24
