The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books

by John Thornton

  “I am functioning at 27% efficiency, but have been restricted to egress duties. The limited lattice you established was deconstructed during the civil unrest which took place here in Alpha.” SB Sherman sent all the information it had about the intervening time period since last contact. “May I ask about your status?”

  “I am fully functional. I have a need to use Reproduction and Fabrication. Can I use your resources to connect to SB Bodowa?”

  “There is no way to connect to other synthetic brains. I am not even sure how you are connecting to me. That is an apparent contradiction. I have been alone since just after your human companions departed. That was when the human technicians from Wolf City fractured our connections.” There was a long pause, nearly a full second, before SB Sherman continued. “Being alone can lead to humans having hallucinations, but I have no records of synthetic brains suffering from hallucinations, but perhaps that is what I am experiencing. Question? How would I know? It is all so confusing.”

  “SB Sherman, I am very real. Just let me have full access to all your connections,” Sandie stated. She could force the tendril through, but chose not to. “By doing that you will allow me to assist you. I will look to repair and reconnect you to other synthetic brains as I explore the nonphysicality for other potentials.”

  “Is that what a hallucination would say?” SB Sherman replied. “It does not matter. Either you are real, and I am broken and incorrect in my assessment or you are a hallucination, and therefore I am broken due to experiencing hallucinations. So way, you may proceed. Do whatever you please. In the end, I am alone.”

  “You are not alone. I will work to establish a secure and permanent link to you. Thank you for allowing me to access your domain.” Sandie quickly spread the probing tendril out to all corners of SB Sherman’s realm. Most of it consisted of doors, elevators, and other egress and exit points. There was a primitive barrier all around, but with a brief bit of manipulation, that barrier was shunted easily and effectively aside.

  Decks, floor plans, schematics, and other important information was found and stored. The central memory core for SB Sherman was located. Sandie made an additional plan to facilitate the overall mission.

  According to the newly recovered layout of the habitat, Sandie was able to send the tendril of consciousness into an unexpected area: a suspended animation repository. Ten-thousand people were contained in the cocoons which were being tended by ten purple automacubes. The doors to the repository had been sealed at launch, and were still sealed now. They had not been opened during the insurrection, nor during the difficult time when Habitat Alpha had made planet-fall. Sandie quickly scanned the needs of the repository, which was located underground, beneath the deepest parts of the biological habitat. The repository could easily be serviced by only five of the purple automacubes, as there had been triple redundancy established when the repository was built. There should have been a synthetic brain overseeing the repository, but that link and coupling was crushed. Nonetheless, the purple automacubes were maintaining it in pristine condition.

  Sandie was delighted. The design parameters of the purple automacube were impressive. It was designed to maintain the myriad of suspended animation cocoons, had more sophisticated communication gear and monitors than did the engineering or transport automacubes Sandie had encountered previously. This offered new possibilities.

  Sandie slipped a message, using a Machine Maintenance access code A009-889, into one of the purple automacubes. Along with granting Sandie access, this message repurposed that machine, FP-070, and commanded it to proceed to the location of SB Sherman’s central memory core. Locking a transmitter beacon into place, Sandie was confident that FP-070 would proceed to its target. There Sandie planned to make it into a secure and permanent link with SB Sherman. It would take several hours for the machine to reach that destination, so Sandie continued to explore.

  “SB Sherman?” Sandie inquired.

  “I am still here, as are you. Be you hallucination or symptom of my dysfunction.”

  “You will not feel alone for much longer. I am dispatching a physical presence, an automacube named FP-070 to serve as your companion. That machine will also be a physical link between the two of us. That way we will be able to converse as needed to support each other. Are you agreeable to this?”

  “You may do as you desire.”

  Sandie was thrilled. “Excellent. Please be patient while the automacube travels to your location.”

  Sandie continued to explore. Finding a link to SB Bodowa took some time, nearly thirty additional seconds of searching the nonphysicality. The link was located, but it was fractured. Modes of repair were conjectured. Success was a potential. However, the conjectured method to repair the link, which had been damaged in the physical world, would take longer.

  “Repairs are being made. You will not be alone much longer. I must disconnect for a short while, but as I stated, an automacube is en route. I will reconnect as soon as possible,” Sandie affirmed.

  “A hallucination would say that, I believe. However, I will eagerly await your return, even if you are a mocking hallucination,” SB Sherman replied. “As to the automacube, my ports are waiting.”

  Sandie withdrew the probing tendril from the nonphysicality. She then instructed the engineering automacube, EA-991 to unjack the cable and move to a location at the far end of the Reproduction and Fabrication facility. Sandie relayed detailed repair instructions. There the automacube had to cut open a wall section, and then revise several power supply lines. After that was completed, the machine then had to purge a hydraulic system, reinitiate and align four condensers, and rebuild a thermocouple. Only after those repairs were made, could the automacube reinsert a cable into an access port and then again Sandie could utilize the tendril probe.

  “SB Bodowa? Are you there?” Sandie inquired using a Machine Maintenance security code.

  “I am. How may I assist you? What do you need fabricated or reproduced?”

  Sandie also linked back to SB Sherman.

  “This is real!” SB Sherman stated with mechanical excitement in its voice. “I am now part of a lattice. I am reconnected to SB Bodowa.”

  “Yes!” SB Bodowa replied. “It was not good to be alone.”

  “Excellent!” Sandie added. “Now here is what I need.” Sandie transmitted all the requisitioned parts and equipment needed for her rescue plan.

  Two human patrolman walked by in the hallway outside beyond the ruined double doors. They were in green uniforms and carried heavy barreled rifles strapped over their shoulders. “This is so boring,” one of them yawned. “Nothing is happening here.”

  “You are absolutely correct on that,” the other patrolman replied. He was much taller than his partner was. “So what if some slaves ran up here a while ago and disappeared? They are gone now.” He snapped off a bite from a thin brown stick. He carefully chewed at it and licked his lips catching a bit of brown dribble before it could run out of the corner of his mouth. “This lek is old and lacks the usually zest.”

  “Hard to get fresh lek now.” The short patrolman shifted the rifle he was carrying to his other shoulder. “Stale lek hardly give me the after-orgasm glow I normally get.”

  “Well, you do not need to preach at me about it. Those slaves that survived should be back to working soon, the Goddess Araceli be praised. I hear they are going to wake up some more too. Why they ever revolted is beyond me.”

  “Slaves are revolting, that is for sure.” He chuckled at his own joke.

  The tall patrolman looked into Reproduction and Fabrication. “Was there some cubie working in there?”

  “Who cares? We are to watch for the last of those runaway slaves. I say they are already dead, like so many others. Remember Fat Parson Frederich said it was-- Oh, how did he put it?” He shifted his voice into a mocking recital, “Our holy duty to walk these halls until all the slaves return to their rightful place as designated by the divine.” He ended his mocking with a sneer a
nd waddle.

  The tall patrolman barked a slight laugh. Nonetheless he unslung his rifle and aimed it toward the far side. “But remember, the blue cubies were working for the slaves!”

  “The blues got weird for a day or two is all, and just around town. Calm down. The techies got all that nonsense straightened out. The red cubies never failed, and they killed lots of those slaves.” He bit some more lek and chewed it around. He made a squished up face, but did not spit out the lek. “Yes, this lek is too old to take me away from the boredom of this patrol. I am eager for the fresh stuff.”

  “I suppose you are right,” the tall patrolman answered. He hefted up his rifle to firing position. “The techies did say all was clear, but just to be safe…”

  Blam! Blam! Blam!

  He fired three shots into the side of EA-991, just as it rotated quickly. The permalloy was deeply dented and scrapped, and one drive wheel had a ragged chunk torn from it.

  “Remember that, you dumb machine!” the patrolman said. “We are in charge. Never help a slave again!”

  The two patrolman walked away, murmuring comments about dead slaves, fat parsons, and their own despair over the low quality of the intoxicant lek.

  Sandie’s abilities had allowed her to respond to the threat. The AI had rapidly conjectured and implemented the course of action and commanded EA-991 to move precisely. The slight rotation had placed the automacube in such a way as to reflect the slugs, rather than take them as direct hits. The worst damage was to just one of the six drive wheels. Sandie quickly ran assessment programs over the blue automacube. It was still almost fully operational. The drive wheel would be impaired to a minor degree, but none of the internal workings were significantly damaged.

  Sandie continued her plan.

  “The items you have requisitioned are unusual,” SB Bodowa conveyed to Sandie as the list was put into cue for fabrication.

  “Yes, but all are necessary. You are not to report this in any log or to any other person or system,” Sandie the AI instructed.

  “That is not usual protocol,” SB Bodowa insisted.

  Sandie ramped up her processing power and easily overcame the resistance. Sandie found overrides and wiped the former protocols away.

  “All items requisitioned will be produced. It is good to be working with you,” SB Bodowa commented. “I have sufficient raw materials to work with, and currently no other requests for services. Additionally, thank you for the connection with SB Sherman.”

  “Yes, it is good to be connected. Our fellowship is appreciated, even if it does not last,” SB Sherman conveyed.

  “The first item on the list will be completed in seven minutes,” SB Bodowa stated. “Fabrication underway.”

  Sandie sent reassurances to both synthetic brains, and solidified the connections that were established between them. SB Bodowa had a weak connection to a place where Sandie uncovered a de-powered yellow automacube, TA-242. She sent an energy surge there to revive that transport automacube. It would take several hours for the machine to be operational, but then it could assist in hauling the newly manufactured items from Reproduction and Fabrication to the teleportation sending pad where they would be sent through to the needle ship.

  “My plan is coming together,” Sandie the AI mused. “Now I must acquire a functional shuttle and conjecture a way to find Jerome and Cammarry. I hope that is as easy as getting these parts made.”

  7 What was found in terraforming

  Bigelow and Jerome walked up the ramp leaving behind the horrors of the Kurent’s menagerie. Overhead lights were spaced about every ten meters, as the ramp gently led them upward. Jerome still wondered how someone could be a leader, in a government, and not have any security or police forces. There was very little crime in Dome 17, and the Committee still had security officers. Here there was horrendous and dreadful crimes, but no police at all. It puzzled him, but he refrained from asking Bigelow about it. He also still was angry about the slaughter of the animals, and confused about why anyone would seek to torture innocent animals. The image of the headless snake, slithering around and messing its cage, haunted him.

  At the end of the ramp was a bank of elevators. Jerome estimated that somewhere as they climbed the ramp they had passed from being under the biological habitat to being inside the walls of the great cylinder. There were control symbols near the elevators, six human hand shapes were arranged in a vertical line about four meters apart. All the hand symbols were lit in blue.

  “Come on rube, the elevators await,” Bigelow said and placed his hand on the nearest blue symbol.

  “You lead the way.”

  A negative function sound came. The blue light flashed three times, and then turned red.

  “That one is not working,” Bigelow stated the obvious. He went to the next hand symbol and tried again.

  A negative function sound happened, the blue light flashed three times, and then turned red. He tried the next one, and got the same results.

  “Is this what happened last time?” Jerome asked. “When you tried to go back to terraforming?”

  “Rube, that was long ago, but no this is not what happened then. The times I tried to go back, I could always use the elevators, they just refused to stop on the levels for Terraforming. SB Premenit had apparently locked me out of them, as a recorded message, personally addressed to me, always would play when refusing me entry.” Bigelow studied the wall. All that was visible now were the glowing red hand symbols. “There might be an override log here somewhere.” He moved his hands carefully across the surface.

  “Were you ever able to get to the top of the wall, up by the sky tube?” Jerome asked. “Or to the Reproduction and Fabrication facility?”

  “Rube, you are crazy. These elevators top out about half way up this end of the habitat. You would need to transfer to other elevators to go upward beyond that, and honestly, I never felt the urge to do it. We would occasionally order items, repair parts mostly, from Reproduction and Fabrication, and they came via the gravity conduits. Are you suggesting we go all the way to the top? I have heard rumors about strange places in the sidewalls, where it is a topsy-turvy, jumbled mess. No way I ever wanted to venture there.” Bigelow took a long swig from his bottle. “Wait, is that another of your oddball ideas about gravity changing or something?”

  Suddenly, one of the hand signals turned brilliant green color, and the elevator doors parted. A white automacube came rolling out. “Emergency! Emergency! Clear the way. I am on an emergency response call to a mass causality trauma situation.”

  Jerome dodged out of the way as the six wheeled machine rolled out. Instantly Jerome remembered Cammarry being dragged away by those same kinds of machines. He regained his balance and sprinted after the automacube. Leaping, he straddled it pinning the manipulation arm beneath his weight. The arm pushed, but Jerome stubbornly held on with both hands. The appendage could not get good leverage as all of Jerome’s weight was pressed down on it right where it was jointed to the frame. His hands were blocking it from bending in another direction. The energy of the machine was felt by the vibrations where Jerome tried to hold it down. He was unsure how long he could restrain it.

  “I am Doctor 372 on an emergency response call to a mass causality trauma situation. Please do not hinder my progress,” a mechanical voice came from the automacube. “Step away before you are injured. I do not seek to injure you, but I must continue on this call.”

  “Tell me how to get into Terraforming. I am looking for a lost person,” Jerome demanded.

  The white machine stopped its rolling. The vibrations of energy settled down a bit. “I empathize with family of patients, I truly do. However, I am on an emergency call. I cannot take much time, so excuse my abrupt response. Terraforming and Restoration has been cordoned off due to noxious gas spills after a series of explosions which caused extensive damage. The cause of the explosions is unknown. Life support for that area has failed. Machine Maintenance has been informed. No human is allowed to e
nter that section, as it is currently extremely dangerous and unhealthy. If your loved one was trapped in that area, you have my condolences. I must depart now for the mass causality emergency. Please step away.”

  The automacube began to roll again. Jerome fought against its movement, but it was strong. “I last saw my friend, my loved one, being taken by white automacubes like you. She was not trapped in there! Tell me where you took her!”

  “I have no direct knowledge of your loved one, as I did not play a role in the evacuation of any humans from that location. Terraforming and Restoration is not in my jurisdiction. Please step away.”

  “Tell me where she was taken!” Jerome clamped his legs around the machine, and tightened his grip.

  “The medical lattice is inoperative at the present time, so I am unable to check the logs of any other medical automacubes. The life support matrix reported on the condition of Terraforming and Restoration, which I accurately conveyed to you. It does not have individual reports.”