Space Scout - The Makers

by S A Pavli

  “Paul, I think I would like to leave now.”

  “Yeah love, me too. I have heard all I want to hear from this lot.”

  “I am sorry if we have offended you,” said Jana, but I could see from her expression that it was as if she was talking to children. “Perhaps we can converse with others from your expedition?”

  “Yes,” said Manera shortly. “I am sure they would want to come and talk to their gods.” Her sarcasm was not lost on the Cypraeans who glanced at each other briefly.

  “Then, it’s goodbye,” said Jana.

  The spectacular Cypraean city faded and we were back on the asteroid, the metal hoods humming as they lifted up over our heads. Our first meeting with our Makers had not ended quite how we had expected.

  Chapter 22

  After our safe, if somewhat subdued return from our virtual journey, it was deemed safe for our colleagues to make the same trip. There was twelve of the transfer stations and only ten customers so they all went together. Only Cora was left with us. Lanatra was nervous as she took her place under the metallic hood and Manera went to reassure her. Cora turned to me.

  “Was it a realistic experience?” she asked.

  “Mmm, very realistic,” I said.

  “I would like to experience their virtual world,” she said. Was there a wistful tone to her voice or was that my imagination? “In order to compare it with my own.”

  “Tell me, how do you experience reality Cora,” I asked. I knew that the original Peacekeeper AI had not been a conscious entity, in the way that I was.. But Cora’s substrate had an additional high level integrating function to the AI module, one that was designed to emulate a biological brain. Her bodily senses were also enhanced. “I mean, do you have a single stream of consciousness? Do you have emotions?”

  I remembered talking to a Hianja starship AI who told me categorically that it did not have a single stream of consciousness because it was fundamentally a time sharing computer, attending to dozens of tasks at the same time.

  “Yes, I believe so,” she replied. “I can relegate all unnecessary tasks into the background and allow only consciousness of myself and my sensory inputs to come into the fore. In that way I can achieve that single stream of consciousness and self awareness. But I believe it is not as powerful or concentrated as what you would experience. I cannot tell, without being able to compare.”

  “Of course. But is it a pleasurable experience for you?”

  “I want to continue doing it, which I suppose means that it is pleasurable?”

  I chuckled in agreement.

  “That is as good a definition of pleasure as any.” It would have been interesting to talk to Cora further about how she perceived reality, but Manera had finished with Lanatra and came over to us. I promised myself that I would make the opportunity to converse further with Cora. She was after all, a unique individual and perhaps, the first of a new kind of life.

  The hoods had descended on all the subjects. Covering the top part of their heads. I could not see their eyes, but their jaws looked slack and unnatural.

  “How was Lanatra?” I asked Manera.

  “She was nervous. I think she may suffer a little from claustrophobia. Fortunately, the hood only covers part of the face. How long are they going to be under do you think?”

  “We could ask Prime.” I looked around but Prime was nowhere to be seen.

  “We have been disconnected from the habitat’s database,” said Cora. “The habitat is no longer communicating with us.”

  “Are we still on line to the ships? Hamo, are you there?”

  “Yes Paul, no problem at this end. What is happening?”

  “The other members of the expedition are sampling the Cypraean virtual reality world. Myself, Manera and Cora are here, but we seem to have lost Prime.”

  “I’m sure he will return. Stay where you are and….” Hamolatonen never got to finish his sentence.

  “We have lost contact with the ships,” announced Cora.

  “All ships?”

  “Yes.”

  “What the hell, …” I was lost for adequate swear words. The familiar sinking feeling in my nether regions informed me that I had fucked up, yet again. “I think we’ve been had.” No sooner had I said that than Prime himself marched into the room, followed by a troupe of chunky looking robots.

  “I am sorry, but the situation has changed,” said Prime. “Paul and Manera, please go to the two remaining stations.” It indicated the last two empty chairs.

  I looked at Manera and she shook her head. I turned back to Prime.

  “Sorry mate, but the answer is no.” Two of the robots moved toward us. As they closed I dropped to the floor and grabbed a metal leg and pulled with all my strength. The robot toppled heavily and I rolled and sprang upright. Meanwhile Cora had moved with lightning speed and had grabbed Prime and with a powerful twist of her arms she wrenched its head off and threw it against the wall.

  “Run for it,” I cried. The three of us legged it out of the room and down the corridor. Cora’s attack on Prime seemed to have paralysed the robots for the time being because they did not follow us. We hurtled into the room where our ship’s tender was still sitting on the floor and operated the door mechanism.

  “Come on baby get us out of here.” We dived in and the doors hissed shut. Cora operated the controls with calm efficiency and the tender lifted and headed for the still open airlock door.

  “Maximum acceleration Cora,” I shouted. I did not need to tell her. We just cleared the airlock doors when they started to close. The tender zoomed out into the starry void, the sheer metallic exterior of the asteroid looming like an infinite cliff face behind us. Manera gasped with relief and I grabbed her in a bear hug.

  After our relief in getting away, I suddenly had this uncomfortable thought.

  “Um, the ships Cora. Why are they not talking to us? Are they still there?” The tender had a rudimentary guidance and control system that used both radar and visual to navigate between ships. I held my breath while Cora fiddled with the instruments.

  “The ships are still there Paul,” she pronounced.

  “Phew,” I muttered. Otherwise it would have been out of the proverbial frying pan …well, you know the rest. “Why are they not talking to us?”

  We all had the same thought. Manera voiced it first.

  “The Cypraeans have killed the fusion power on all the ships.”

  “Shouldn’t emergency power have kicked in by now/” I asked.

  “It takes a few minutes,” said Cora.

  In the meantime, we, or rather Cora, navigated the tender towards the Settang. As the ship grew larger we began to relax. Sure enough, as the ship loomed large and we approached the bay doors, Hamolatonen’s voice burst out of the speakers with a hiss of static.

  “Hello expedition, Paul, Manera. Cora, is there anyone there?”

  “Captain, this is Cora. Myself, Paul and Manera are on the tender. Please operate bay doors.”

  “We see you Cora. Thank God you are safe. What’s happened? Where is everybody else?”

  “Bad news Hamo. I’m not sure what the Cypraeans are up to. They tried to take us prisoner with the others but we got away. How is it with you?”

  “We are on emergency power. Fusion generators are down.”

  “The Cypraeans?”

  “Yes.”

  “Any communication from them?”

  “Not yet. Get yourselves up to the bridge.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The tender manoeuvred itself into the bay and we waited for the air pressure to build up.

  “Cora, you were magnificent. Thanks, you saved our bacon.”

  “Bacon? You had food with you?”

  I could not help laughing, mostly with relief I think.

  “Sorry Cora, it’s an expression. You saved our lives. Don’t ask me to explain what bacon has to do with it. The meaning is lost in antiquity. You reacted with admirable speed of thought. Well done.”


  “I am a military machine Paul. That is what I am designed to do,” she replied.

  “You are more than a machine to us Cora.” I smiled warmly at her and she smiled back. Manera gave her a sisterly hug. The air pressure came to normal and we exited the tender. One of Hamo’s crewmen was waiting for us when the bay doors opened.

  “Glad you made it,” he said. “The Captain is waiting for you.”

  We followed him as he almost ran towards the Bridge. Hamolatonen wasted no time on niceties when he saw us.

  “What has happened?” he asked. “We lost contact with you, and then out power systems went down.” He looked around and realised Lanatra was missing. “Where is …?” He looked so shocked he could not continue.

  “I’m sorry Hamo, she is a prisoner of the Cypraeans,” I said quickly. “But they were all still alive when we left them.”

  “I have the Admiral and his officers on line. They are all in the dark.” Hamolatonen waved at the big screen where I could see the bridge of the Kuàisù Niao with the Admiral and his crew waiting with anxious expressions.

  “Gentlemen, you have my apologies. Us three escaped by the skin of our teeth, thanks mostly to the prompt action of Cora. The other ten had just entered the Cypraean’s virtual booths when this all kicked off. I believe they want our people for something that, clearly, they would not have agreed to.”

  “Did they attempt to take you prisoners as well Captain?” asked the Admiral.

  “Yes sir, they did. The android, Prime, came into the room with a squad of nasty looking robots and ordered us to join the others in the booths. We refused and ran for it. Cora disabled the android and that seemed to confuse the robots.”

  “The Captain very bravely took out one of the robots Admiral. That gave me the opportunity to attack Prime and disable him,” said Cora.

  “I’m sorry Cora. Don’t try to give me any credit. I should not have allowed all of my men to go into the booths at the same time. Lieutenant Crossley warned me.”

  “Don’t blame yourself Captain,” said the Admiral. “We were all on line and agreed to it. We were all fooled. And I am sure they could have done the same thing by force. The question now is, what do these Cypraeans want to do with our people?”

  “They waited for everyone to go into the booths before they acted,” I said. “I guess they have plans on using them in some way.”

  “What can they do with them ?” asked Hamolatonen. He was looking at Manera with confusion on his face. She frowned thoughtfully.

  “They did say that the full consciousness can be fully transferred to the virtual world, when the body is about to die. But that is a different process from what Paul and I went through. Our consciousness was not transferred into the world. We were just interfaced to it temporarily.”

  “Can they transfer the consciousness of our colleagues fully?” asked Hamolatonen.

  “I suppose so. But what would be the point?” asked Manera. “It will just leave a dead body behind. Or a body with an empty mind.”

  “A body with an empty mind,” said Hamolatonen. His face was a picture of pain. I knew he was grieving for all of our colleagues, but mostly for one.

  “That still does not answer the question of why,” I pointed out. “Why steal ten minds to leave behind ten bodies. Unless…” It took just a few seconds for all of them to follow my reasoning.

  “Unless they want to put other minds in the bodies.” It was Manera who finished my sentence. “But that makes no sense,” she continued. “The permanent trip into the virtual world is one way. The same consciousness cannot return to the physical world.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked. “How do you know?”

  “I studied their scientific database,” she replied. “They can only transfer the consciousness because a special substrate is grown as part of the living brain. From a young age. When the biological brain dies, the consciousness continues to live in the substrate. It is that which is permanently interfaced to the virtual world. It is a one way process.”

  “Gentlemen, all this speculation is pointless,” said the Admiral firmly. “We have to contact these people and get some answers. Captain Hamolatonen, can you put your technical team on to the task? I will do the same with ours.”

  “Yes Admiral. Although I think they will contact us in their own good time,” said Hamolatonen.

  “Captain, can I also make a suggestion that we put some thought into trying to block their weapon? Perhaps a few of the science team can get together with Alfred and Cora?”

  “Good idea Paul. Can I leave that to you and Manera?”

  “Yes Captain.”

  “Let’s grab a coffee and get together with Alfred,” said Manera.

  “Mmm. And there I was looking forward to a swim, sauna and a few cocktails.” My joke fell totally flat with everyone except Manera who suppressed a titter. If the Hianja had a weakness it seemed to be the lack of a sense of the ridiculous. I mean, who would believe at this point that I actually would go for a swim, sauna and a few cocktails?

  Don’t anybody answer that…

  Chapter 23

  After a break for a quick lunch and a freshen up, I got together with Manera and Cora, as well as one of her team, a chunky fellow by the name of Reemas, who was the groups physicist. Online also was my ships AI, Alfred. I did not think I had much to contribute technically, so I confined myself to being chair person.

  We discussed a number of ideas about how the weapon may work. We knew that it was based on the same artificial gravity technology that was used on the Settang, but how it could be focused at long distance was a complete mystery.

  We had barely started our meeting when we were interrupted by the Captain.

  “The Cypraeans have contacted us. I will put them on your screen.” Jana and Santol, with their friends appeared on our big wall 3D.

  “Please continue,” said Hamolatonen.

  Jana nodded.

  “Yes, We wish to enlist your help in an important task,” she said.

  “What have you done with our people?” The Admiral interrupted Jana, his voice loud and gruff.

  “Your people are safe, as long as you do what we say.”

  “Why have you detained them? And why are they connected to your machines?” The Admiral spoke forcefully, but Jana face was impassive.

  “Please be patient and I will explain. We have been detached from affairs in the Cluster, and in the wider Galaxy, for too long. It is time we re-asserted our authority and control. There is another way for us to contact our main civilisation but we need the use of your ships to accomplish this.”

  “Why didn’t you just ask?” Hamolatonen glared enquiringly at the screen.

  “We need our own physical presence on board,” she replied.

  “What do you mean? How can you….?” Hamolatonen paused, as if he suddenly understood.

  “Your people will return to your ships. But for now, their minds will remain in our virtual habitat. Copies of our own minds have been downloaded into their brains. Myself, Santol, and eight others will accompany your expedition. The safety of your people back here will be a guarantee of your obedience.”

  Hamloatonen seemed about to explode with rage.

  “This is outrageous. Such arrogance and disregard for civilized values cannot be tolerated.”

  “If you want your people back alive, you will do what we say without question.” She held a hand up as Hamolatonen began to protest. “Spare me your feeble complaints. Four of us will return to the Hianja ship, the Settang Despass. The other six will return to the three Earth ships. The Settang will be the command vessel. I am in the body of the Hianja female. You will obey our orders without question. Our ships are on their way now. Open your bay doors to receive them.” The screen went blank, leaving Hamolatonen gaping at it, open mouthed.

  The Admiral was grim faced and his guttural bark shocked us all.

  “Do not open the bay doors. Gun positions, prepare to defend the ship.”
/>   “No!” shouted Hamolatonen. “They will kill the hostages.”

  “They are military. It is an unavoidable sacrifice,” said the Admiral. “We cannot allow them to take the ships.”

  “Admiral, they are just a few people. We can take them any time,” said Hamolatonen.”

  I could see that he was desperate. I decided that he needed support.

  “Admiral sir, I agree with the Captain. Let’s bide our time. Once they release the ships and we get away, the only hold they have over us are the hostages. If we fight them now, then the ships will remain disabled. We are all dead.”

  The Admiral scowled fiercely, but I could see he was thinking it over.

  “It’s not my style to give in to blackmail,” he growled. “We have the means to blow up their asteroid and kill them all. But you may be right. Stand down the defences and prepare to open the bay doors.”

  We sighed with relief. The Admiral thought that we had the weaponry to cause serious damage, maybe even destroy the asteroid. But he was assuming that they had no other means of defence. I was sure that was highly unlikely. If we could defend against their disabling weapon then maybe, under full power, we could take them on.

  In any case, if all they wanted to do was to explore the cluster and gain strategic knowledge of the Dansai and Saraya, that was of no concern to us. We could help them, and be on our way. Or was that me being optimistic? How do you second guess an alien intelligence which was two million years further up the evolutionary ladder?

  There was a hum and a shudder through the ship.

  “Power has been restored,” announced the ships AI. “Please secure yourselves. Artificial gravity will be restored.”

  The artificial gravity came on gently, building up to the standard one gravity. We all floated gently to the floor as up and down were restored.

  “Captain, go and escort the aliens to the bridge. And take a couple of robot soldiers with you, just to show that we are not powerless,” said Hamolatnen.

  “Yes sir. Cora, are you with me?

  “Yes Captain.”

  “No heroics Captain. Just humour these bastards.”