Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2)

by Jeffery Bagley

  “What else have you not seen?” asked Master Chief.

  Jason shrugged. “Coffee makers?”

  “Look around at the bulkheads, what is missing?” Master Chief said.

  “You have me, what’s missing?” Jason asked.

  “This ship is pretty small compared to our transfer ships. They obviously used it for transport of personnel from a planet to another ship or down to a planet. It must be pretty fast and there’s no way to spin the cabin for gravity. That means the crew would be in a weightless environment for the entire trip when they weren’t accelerating,” said Master Chief.

  “So, what’s your point Master Chief? Besides the point that the ship must be fast?” asked Jason

  “My point is there are no hand holds. There are no grab bars or anything for a crew to use while in weightlessness. The cabin is definitely oriented with an up and down. It wasn’t designed for weightlessness.”

  “Maybe this ship was never meant to leave the atmosphere,” guessed Donald.

  “No, this ship was designed for space. Look at the airlock and space suit racks. What if they had a way of producing artificial gravity? If you take that one step further, if they could do that...that opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities. Let’s take a look at the rest of the ship.”

  They went back out and opened the port door off of the airlock. It opened into a passage way that ran aft on the port side of the ship. There were several doors off of it before it ended in another door. The first door they opened was into a small compartment that could only be some type of toilet facilities. It contained another bench but with an opening with some type of rubber like bladder apparatus at one end. None of them even would even attempt to speculate on how that worked.

  The next door opened into a small storage room. There were lockers and several small containers bolted to the walls. The door on the end of the passage way had two of the opening mechanisms side by side. Jason found that he had to operate both of them at the same time to open the door. When the door sections slid open they could see they were much thicker and heavier than the previous ones they had seen. They entered the largest compartment they had been in, yet. The compartment had considerable volume, but it was very cramped due to various machines and equipment scattered around. Centered in the middle of the space was a large hemisphere that was about three meters in diameter.

  Master Chief walked around it and tapped on it with his survival knife. The return sound was dull and gave an indication that the object was immensely dense and heavy. The deck plates around the hemisphere had hatches in them and Jason opened one up. Shining a light down in to the dimly lit space, they could see the large object was actually a complete sphere.

  Jason looked at the sphere. “This is most likely the main power source. I’m guessing it’s a containment dome for some type of energy source. Anybody care to guess what?”

  “Definitely not fission,” said Donald. “I would guess either fusion or maybe even antimatter. If this ship is as fast as we think it is, then they would need an immense power source. The sphere could be a magnetic containment system. If so, it could be used to contain a fusion plasma field or even to contain antimatter.”

  “That makes sense,” said Jason. Let’s check the other passageway.

  They opened the door on the other side and went forward. The starboard passage way mirrored the port one with the exception that there were three storage compartments and no waste disposal facilities. Opening the last door led them back into the airlock.

  “What’s everyone’s impression?” Jason asked.

  “It was designed as a very fast personnel ship. There’s very little cargo space. I would guess it was designed as an interplanetary shuttle,” volunteered Master Chief.

  David nodded in agreement.

  “I see no indication that it’s a warship or has any weaponry at all,” said Jason. “Let’s go see how the women are doing with Odysseus. Maybe we can ask him what it’s designed for and how it works. I am dying to know if they could generate artificial gravity. If they could, and we can learn how they do it, imagine how we could design our ships without having to worry about habitat rings that spin for the crews.

  “How do we know Odysseus is a “He” anyway?” asked Donald. “Wouldn’t a computer be an ‘It’?”

  Jason shrugged. “What interaction I’ve had with “him” just makes me think of a male.”

  They went down the ramp and closed the hatch by turning the mechanism on the landing strut. The ramp slid up and back into the hull. They walked back to the ‘A’ dome while Jason entered the main dome looking for the women.

  …

  Jason entered the main dome and went around to the classroom and found it empty. He turned to go and Odysseus spoke.

  “Hello, Jason.”

  “Hello Odysseus, where are the women?” Jason asked.

  “Beatrice is in your greenhouses. Kristy, Brianna, and Sarah went to talk to Earth.”

  “What about?” Jason mused.

  “Removing the Mk 27C1 fusion warhead,” Odysseus said.

  Jason froze. “How did you know about that Odysseus?”

  “I synchronized with your main camp server and discovered the records there,” Odysseus replied.

  “Does Kristy know about you accessing our main computer?” Jason asked.

  “Yes, I told her. She seemed…not happy,” Odysseus said.

  “I imagine so. I need to go talk to her about the space ship. Oh, Odysseus, did your creators have the ability to produce artificial gravity?” Jason said.

  “This is the force that counteracts the attraction force emitted by a body with mass?” Odysseus asked.

  “Yes,” answered Jason.

  “They could produce equipment that could repel the attraction force emitted by a body with mass,” Odysseus stated.

  “Could you tell me how this equipment worked?” asked Jason excitedly.

  “I do not possess the…terms…to explain in your language. The terms for the equipment and…theories do not exist in your standardized dictionary,” Odysseus explained.

  “Could you teach me the terms in your language?” asked Jason.

  “It is doubtful that Sabba could survive direct interface and learn this,” Odysseus said.

  “What is Sabba, and what interface?” Jason asked.

  “The teaching interface is a…direct computer and biological connection for…data synchronization. Sabba is the life bearer. Sabba is the state after Monda and before Ranor.”

  “So your creators had a way to establish a direct neural connection with a computer?” Jason said excitedly.

  “It’s a direct biological to computer interface.” Odysseus said.

  “Would it work on a human?” asked Jason.

  “I do not have sufficient information on the organization of your…organic computational organ to determine if it is compatible.”

  Jason mulled over that information. “Odysseus, I do not understand what a Sabba, a Ranor, and a Monda is. Could you please explain?”

  “A Sabba is the life bearer. A Monda is a…immature Sabba. A Sabba becomes Ranor after giving life.”

  “So a Monda is like a human child. It’s immature. I assume then that a Sabba is like a woman then and a Ranor is a Man like me.”

  “Jason is Sabba,” stated Odysseus.

  “No, I’m not a woman, I’m a man,” Jason laughed.

  “Then why is your body different from Ranor Kristy?” Odysseus asked

  “Because she’s a woman and I’m a man.”

  “Odysseus lacks information. Jason is Ranor? Kristy is…Sabba, Brianna is Sabba? Brianna is…Ranor….but is now Sabba? Do humans frequently interchange the state of Sabba and Ranor? How is mental capacity preserved? Odysseus lacks information.”

  “You’re confusing me too, Odysseus. I’ll return later. I need to go talk to Kristy.”

  Jason said “Goodbye” and left and walked up the hill to the communication station.

&n
bsp; …

  Odysseus realized that he had conflicting data. In the Creator’s race, a Ranor exchanged biological information markers with a Sabba. The Sabba would then grow a pair of Monda inside of its sex organ and when they had matured sufficiently, they would be deposited on the ground where they would quickly stand. A Monda would be fed pre-digested food regurgitated by the Sabba until it was mature enough to consume regular food. The process of birthing the Monda caused a biological change in the brain and body of the Sabba. By the time a Monda was mature enough to survive on its own, the Sabba would become a Ranor, capable of mating with another Sabba.

  In the Creator’s race, Sabba possessed only basic intelligence. They were not capable of higher thought processes like creativity and mathematics. The process of giving birth and the hormonal changes that made the Sabba into a Ranor also caused a rapid and profound change in the Sabba’s brain. They went from having the intelligence of an animal to that of a reasoning being in a short period of time.

  The human biologicals evidently had a totally different evolutionary pattern. The basic anatomy information that Odysseus had downloaded from the expedition’s computer server was incomplete and did not provide information on human’s mating techniques or the production and maturation of offspring. Odysseus realized that it needed to obtain more information. Odysseus also needed to find out why the humans had started calling it “He”. “He” was a term that referred to a “male” in the human’s language. Since Odysseus was an artificial intelligence he had no sex. Odysseus was very close to feeling a human emotion called frustration.

  Chapter 41

  May 14th, 2047

  Houston, Texas

  Peter had assembled his complete advisory team as well as one of the most talented artificial intelligence researchers they could locate. Commander Nichols, the leader of the Elpis expedition, was in a quandary concerning the computer intelligence that they had named Odysseus. The computer intelligence was so far beyond the capabilities of the computers that humans had developed that they had no idea how to deal with it. Odysseus was a rational, reasoning intelligence. It wasn’t like a human computer that took data that was fed to it, and then through a serious of programming algorithms, processed that data and produced data output.

  “Everyone quiet, please. I’m sorry to drag everyone here in person instead of using a VR conference but this matter is very urgent. Commander Nichols is requesting instructions on how to proceed. You’ve all seen the transcripts and the video of the interactions with the computer intelligence known as Odysseus that have been sent by the Elpis expedition team. The Artificial Intelligence is struggling to learn to understand us as hard as we’re struggling to understand it. Commander Nichols, as well as the rest of her group that have been interacting with Odysseus, is afraid that by trying to withhold information from it, that we’re actually causing more harm than good. We know that Odysseus rapidly broke the encryption on the expedition’s portable servers and downloaded the computers entire database of information and stored messages. We strongly suspect that it’ll eventually be able to decode our messages to and from the Elpis expedition if it can’t do so already.”

  “Lieutenant Greco reports seeing no signs of any type of weaponry on the alien space ship. He states that the ship is technologically more advanced than our own capabilities at this time. He’s convinced that the aliens that designed that ship had a more advanced power source than we do as well as the capability of generating artificial gravity. When he tried to question Odysseus about this, Odysseus told him that he didn’t know the engineering and mathematical terms to try and explain how the artificial gravity works. Odysseus also has some major misunderstandings between the reproduction process of the aliens and our own. Somehow, this act of reproduction is very, very important to him. Dr. Driskall feels that Odysseus’s prior programming instructions makes this his highest priority. Since we know that the alien’s home world and entire civilization was destroyed, we aren’t sure why Odysseus is so preoccupied with the difference in our reproduction processes.”

  Doctor Katie McEvers, one of the world’s most prominent researchers on artificial intelligence, spoke up. “I feel that we’re making a mistake by trying to hide or withhold information from this Odysseus. Put yourself in its place. You’re intelligent, you can reason, and you terribly want to communicate and talk with the people who have found you after you’ve been isolated for thousands of years in space. Due to the differences in our culture, thought processes, technology levels, and psychology, you’re having an enormous problem trying to communicate. I hazard to guess that Odysseus is very frustrated. His makers created him for some purpose. That purpose is his driving force. He cannot tell us what it is because he doesn’t have the words or the knowledge of humans that allows him to put it in our perspective.”

  “So, what do you suggest we do?” asked Peter.

  “I suggest that we share any information with him he requests and trust that he can decide what to do with it,” stated Dr. McEvers.

  “What do you mean by any information?” Peter inquired.

  “All of humanities knowledge and history,” Dr. McEvers replied.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” interrupted Admiral Ellis. He looked around the group. “Look at our history. The wars, the genocides that have taken place, and all the other disgraces of our past. The human race has a lot of skeletons in our closet. Do we really want to share all that?”

  “I would venture to guess that all intelligent races have some type of skeletons in their closet. Odysseus has knowledge that we desire. He needs information from us. I would suggest that we start by giving him access to the most current information that we have on biology, engineering, human psychology, etc., as well as a complete record of human history,” Dr. McEvers stated.

  “That would give him an indication of our military capabilities. That’s a bad idea,” insisted Admiral Ellis.

  “Admiral, he obviously knows that we planted a fusion warhead on his doorstep. Odysseus didn’t threaten the expedition team or show any hostile reaction. He merely asked us to remove it. I think he can deduce a great deal already from the fact that we put it there. I agree that giving him access to the knowledge that we possess would allow him to share knowledge that he has with us. It could possibly be the best trade that the human race has ever made,” Peter said.

  “Admiral, I’m afraid that I must go on the record this is one time that I have to disagree with you. We’re wrong by trying to limit any information we give to the artificial intelligence we’re calling Odysseus. I’m going to recommend to the President that we give Odysseus all the access to information that he requests. I’ll state that you’re in opposition to my recommendation and I’ll try to explain both of our arguments both for and against doing this. I’ll send you a copy of that recommendation before I submit it to the President to ensure your point of view is properly discussed,” Peter stated.

  I would like this committee to make a list of educational references and the order that they will be sent to make available to Odysseus if the President gives us permission.

  …

  Brianna went and found Kristy. “Odysseus keeps calling over my PA and asking for someone to come talk to him.” Kristy looked up from the messages she just received from Alpha Control. She motioned for Brianna to turn her PA off and she did the same.

  “I have orders that we’re to minimize contact or communication with Odysseus until they’ve decided on Earth how to deal with him. I’m afraid there are two different groups with opposing views back home. One group wants to share everything with him in the hope that he shares information he possesses with us. The other group is afraid of him and wants to give him no information. That group is even suggesting that we destroy the sensor array on top of the big dome in the hopes that will stop him from spying on our communications.”

  “Kristy, you know as well as I do that Odysseus isn’t a threat,” accused Brianna.

  “Briann
a, I don’t know that for a fact. He hacked into our computer without our permission. None of us knows exactly what his purpose or his intents are. He was created by an alien species for an unknown purpose that he refuses to share with us. Until we know what that is, we need to be cautious.”

  “So, what do we tell Odysseus?” asked Brianna.

  “Tell him that we’ve been tasked to mount an expedition to the sea to do some exploration and analysis,” said Kristy.

  “What expedition?” Brianna asked in surprise.

  “Some of Beatrice’s water samples that she’s taken from water run off downstream of our camp have showed bacteria of terrestrial origin. Biologists back on Earth want us to get water samples and do some other analysis on the seawater before it is contaminated with the Earth sourced bacteria. Tell Odysseus that almost half of our group is going and that we’ll continue our education and communication with him after we return. Maybe we’ll have an answer from Earth about how to deal with him by then,” Kristy instructed.

  “Who’s going?” Brianna asked with excitement.

  “I’ll announce the people going at lunchtime. That will allow the people making the trip time to assemble what equipment and supplies they need. They’ll be taking the heavy transport so that they can carry more supplies as well as some spare parts just in case they run into some problems. I expect that the trip will require them to be gone approximately a week to ten days,” Kristy said.

  “As our Xenobiologist, I’m going, right?” Brianna asked hopefully.

  “Lunchtime Brianna, I’ll announce it then,” Kristy laughed.

  “Kristy, can I make a recommendation?” asked Brianna.

  “Sure,” said Kristy.

  “Since this world was a planet in the alien’s home system, why don’t I ask Odysseus what they knew about this planet? He may have information on any life forms that the Barbakath knew were present. He might also have other knowledge that could be of great assistance in our research,” Brianna suggested.