The Diary of Professor Gilbert Rasher
Page 20
that’s frequently how she’s been referred to in the radio communication I’ve been listening to. “Okay, okay, come up to the third floor. I have everything important already packed. I've been planning to move out of here as soon as I realized winters were getting longer but didn't know where to go and how I was going to get there. Where are we going?”
Skip Rogers: “Lake Havasu.”
“I don't know where or what that is but it sounds better than here. I have a power cart over here so let's load it up.”
I noticed that Captain Rogers was loading up the cart much faster that I was. “You're an android also, aren't you?”
Skip Rogers: “Converted into one like you but on Tillian 5?”
I commented on the great technology I was seeing. Skip was amazing and when I met Maggie she was beautiful but all business exhorting us to move faster because a group was quickly advancing toward us. As we were loading the third load on the ship, Maggie was at the loading door. I knew the group must be very close.
The men appeared on a snowbank above us and one said, “Where are you from and what are you doing in our territory?”
Maggie shouted back, “We are from the environmental command and are taking hazardous material to Fort Monmouth to be destroyed.”
Al Strang: “My name is Al Strang and we are unit five of Rayburn's Militia. Fort Monmouth has been overrun by a glacier so you are lying to me.”
Maggie: “You are mostly right about Fort Monmouth but the glacier forks before the incinerator. In a few days it will be overrun so it's urgent we get this stuff there before then,”
Al: “What's actually in the boxes?”
Maggie: “The boxes contain biological materials ranging from smallpox to ebola.”
AL: “We want your ship. Surrender to us now or we will blow you and it up.”
Maggie looked just to the right of them, “Hey! Look a bird!”
In a quarter of a second it was all over. Their handheld RPG was hit by one of her five shots and they were all killed. Maggie got a small piece of shrapnel in her leg.
Maggie explained why she took the action she did and it was clear there was no other choice. The heavy load of 35 metric tons would not have allowed the ship to take off fast enough to put the Rayburn bunch on the floor if we let them board. Her eyes were tear-filled, her expression sad and resigned. I felt and understood the pain of killing someone no matter who they were.
As we were approaching Lake Havasu, Skip asked the question, “How would you like your own university?” I was stunned. I must have died again and gone to heaven. They were going to convert an unused hotel into a University for me. For the first time in my life, biological and android, I had tears of joy. I’m experiencing such a strange kaleidoscope of emotions today.
The first thing that grabbed my attention was a two-kilometers high smokestack of their ozone generator. What technology! I was beginning to feel like an imbecile. This technology was so far ahead of anything I dreamed about. They explained that this technology came from the Keepers, a band of super-intelligent artificial life-forms put on Tillian 5 by another civilization to terraform the planet.
I met Isolde and we hugged for at least five minutes. I was choked up and couldn't speak for a while. This whole colony of people were uprooted from Brazil by Maggie and spoke mostly Portuguese. I knew I would have to learn Portuguese and become an English teacher to start.
Maggie took me into an underground building with seamless walls that seemed made of ebony marble. The walls were lit but I couldn’t discern the source. We went into an elevator without buttons; it was clear Maggie was mentally controlling it just as she did with the shuttle. When we got out we went down a long hall into a large room. Tristan was on an operating table. We had a large cart full of boxes to unload and unpack. I didn't see any outlets and Maggie picked up my puzzlement, left the room and came back with an armload of outlet boxes.
“Where do I put them?” I asked.
Maggie: “Anywhere, they are magnetic and will stick to the floor or wall.”
I put the outlet box on the floor next to the machine I just assembled, plugged it in and it was live. “Where are the wires?”
Maggie: “No wires, just carbon nanotubes embedded in the concrete. It's all discretionary. You won’t get a shock if you put your hand on the wall or spill water on the floor. It has to recognize the circuitry in these boxes to supply power.”
I was overwhelmed in wonder. “This is amazing technology, who built this place?”
Maggie: “I did, but I can't really take credit.”
Maggie then explained the Keeper’s cube technology that makes nearly anything from food to buildings.
8.24.2284
This last two and a half weeks were around-the-clock intensive work removing Tristan's skull enclosure without doing further damage, reconstructing the contents and dumping it to a computer. Maggie had created a new android body for Tristan, more sleek than the old one and far more intelligent. I was a little jealous and happy at the same time. The finished product was a wonder to behold. Isolde was thrilled.
8.26.2284:
The Rayburn Militia have broadcast the video of the encounter in Pittsburgh widely calling Maggie the Antichrist. They have spotted the ozone tower from Kingman, Arizona. It now appears that a war has begun. A convoy of three vehicles is on its way here from Kingman with a nuke. We are all in the bull’s eye.
I will be too busy to make further diary entries. Skip’s diary [Tillian 5 trilogy] is far more detailed and interesting.
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About the Author:
Kalifer Deil’s day job is as a computer hardware designer, programmer and engineering manager in Silicon Valley. He writes true stories, poetry, fantasy, science fiction and science fact. His brand of hard science fiction is firmly science based free of senseless technobabble. To learn more about the author visit his website at https://www.kaliferdeil.com and the Speculative Science Publishing website https://www.speculativescience.com. and his blog https://www.kaliferdeil.wordpress.com Also join him on Facebook and Twitter.
Transcendent Epoch - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27028
End Times - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26878
The Possessor - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/24949
Editor’s Notebook - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/28825