The Horicon Experience

by Laughter, Jim

  “Understood,” George replied over the intercom from inside where he monitored ship systems. Out of deference to the inspection, even the interior gravity had shut down, leaving George held down by the restraining straps of the chair he sat in. Like Akir, if he needed to move about, George would depend on the magnetic boots he wore. Activation only took the flip of a switch on the front of his pressure suit.

  Akir thumbed the thruster control on the extra-vehicular excursion pack, EVEP. He held the joystick controls in both hands, steering himself by forced thrust toward the rear of the ship. The port tank was located under the ship, just forward of the aft port panels.

  Before Akir even reached the tank, he could see the problem – a rupture in the port tank. Water and sewage that was stored as heat sinks spilled from the tank into open space. Fortunately, the cosmic drift directed the spill way from Akir. He certainly did not want the waste material to immerse him.

  Akir drew as close as he could to the rupture. The closer he got, the more damage became apparent to him. He noticed right away a four-inch split running the length of the tank. Worse were several cracks that started at the leading edge of the tank and ran up into the mainframe and superstructure of the ship. This is bad, he thought.

  The headset in Akir’s helmet crackled with static for a moment, and then George’s voice filled his head. “Akir? You copy?”

  Akir keyed the remote mic button on the EVEP control handle. “We’ve got a problem, George.”

  “Give it to me straight.”

  “Yes sir,” Akir answered. “The port tank has suffered a serious rupture that runs the entire length of the tank. We’re spilling water and sewage into space.”

  “That it?” George asked.

  “No sir. I can also see stress fractures that extend up into the mainframe and superstructure, but I can’t tell how deep they run.”

  “So you’re telling me we’re flying either a quick fix or a total loss. Is that right?” George asked his copilot.

  “Yes sir. We’re going to need that retrieval ship. I’d be afraid to power back up and run at even marginal speed.”

  “Alright, Akir. Come on back inside,” George ordered. “We’ll turn the green box back on so we can have internal systems and the repulsion field to protect us from space debris. Then we’ll wait for the retrieval ship.”

  “Yes sir,” Akir answered. “I’m on my way.” Akir keyed the thruster control on the joystick and headed back toward the airlock.

  George turned back to the communications console. “Shalimar control,” he said, speaking into the comm mic. “This is Captain George Citti of the Axia Scout Starduster requesting deep space retrieval. Please respond.”

  This is going to be a long day, George thought, leaning back in the comm chair. A very long day indeed.

  Chapter Six

  “Connect the X431 to the radical overplay port. Secure with the captive screws,” Delmar read aloud for the fifth time from the instruction sheet. Looking up, he craned his neck to watch Stan’s efforts.

  “It won’t work,” Stan said disgustedly. “First, the X431 has the wrong type of plug, and second, there are no captive screws.”

  “Well, we have to get this thing assembled and log on to the lab computer before eight,” Delmar complained.

  Shaking his head, Stan looked at the spread-out equipment and components they were supposed to assemble into two computers. Cables laid across Delmar’s bed. Different components decorated Stan’s bed. Both desks had been shoved together to create a large work area. Confusing the matter were extra parts, wires, and other fittings not listed in the instructions. Delmar piled these in one of the packing boxes in the corner. He briefly considered tying these excess cables together to make an escape rope so he could flee this madness out the second story window.

  “Let me see those instructions again,” Stan said, reaching for the papers. He was soon oblivious to Delmar while he studied the diagrams and written instructions. Delmar got up, went into the bathroom, and splashed cold water on his face. They had been at this for five hours and had made almost no progress.

  “Delmar,” Stan called out. “Bring me some note paper and a pen.”

  Stan immediately started to make his own sketches of the equipment and scribbled notes on the side.

  “Get a screwdriver and remove the cover on the main unit.”

  “But the instructions don’t say we can do that,” Delmar protested.

  “It doesn’t say we can’t either,” Stan replied with a mischievous grin. Reluctantly, Delmar removed the cover. Stan leaned over and began to explore the innards, making notes as he went.

  “We’re trained to adapt, improvise, and overcome,” Stan continued. “Let’s use some of that training to get this thing assembled.”

  “Is there a C32 plug anywhere?” Stan asked. Delmar dug through the surplus material not required by the original instructions.

  “Here’s one,” said Delmar as he pulled a plug out of the box. “The other end of the cable has an N47 plug on it.” Delmar handed the cable to Stan.

  “I can work with it,” Stan replied, plugging it into the interior of the unit.

  “But that’s a test port,” Delmar said, looking at Stan’s handiwork.

  “I know. But by using the test port, I’ll be able to connect the main processor board to the video amplifier.”

  He leaned back over and poked around inside the main unit. “Now bring me the memory drive.”

  “But we never figured out how to hook it up,” Delmar protested again, but brought the drive over to the desk all the same.

  “I have!” countered Stan. He looked up at Delmar, a mischievous grin spreading again across his lips. “Now find an R986 plug.”

  “Why do I have the feeling I’m going to hate this?” asked Delmar, returning to the box of miscellaneous supplies.

  Stan returned to his work. “If it has an FD17 plug on the other end, all the better.” Delmar resigned himself to the search.

  “I found the R986,” Delmar called after a minute. “But I had to adapt the other end with another cord to give you an FD17.”

  “Great!” replied Stan. “Now you’re starting to catch on.”

  “Let me get this straight,” Delmar said as he stared at his friend. “You are assuming the instructions are only a starting point. That you can do anything the instructions don’t specifically forbid?”

  “That’s right!” Stan answered enthusiastically. He set the memory drive beside the main unit. Placing the video display on top of the main unit, Stan then hooked up the keyboard.

  “Okay, hook up the interactive link and the power bus,” he instructed Delmar. Delmar crawled under the desk, plugged the computer into the link with the lab computer, and plugged in the power. Crawling back out, he looked dubiously at the tangled mess of wires and components.

  “Ready?” asked Stan as he put his finger on the power switch. Delmar backed away from the desk, making sure the fire extinguisher was nearby, just in case.

  “I can see the news flash now. ‘Two students burn down centuries-old institute,’” Delmar answered. “I don’t think my pay is enough to build a new school, but I guess I’m as ready as I’m going to get.” He crossed the fingers on both of his hands.

  Stan threw the switch. To Delmar’s surprise, the computer did not blow up or smoke. The video screen lit up and reported that it was going through the self-diagnosis. When it finished, it asked if it should log on to the lab computer. Stan typed in YES.

  Immediately, the screen went dark and the drive purred, then stopped altogether. Stan looked puzzled for a minute until the screen came back on.

  WELCOME TO THE COMPUTER LAB, MR. SHANE. YOU ARE THE THIRD PERSON TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE TEST AND LOG-ON.

  “Wow!” both men said together.

  The screen continued. I EXPECT MR. EAGLEMAN ASSISTED YOU, SO I’LL CREDIT BOTH OF YOU UNLESS YOU SPECIFY OTHERWISE. Stan typed in that they had worked on it together.

&nb
sp; GOOD. NOW ASSEMBLE HIS COMPUTER SO HE CAN LOG ON. Stan typed his reply and the machine acknowledged.

  “We better get busy so we can get some sleep,” Stan said as he picked up Delmar’s main unit. Delmar did not say a thing, but instead dove back into the box of unneeded materials.

  ∞∞∞

  The meeting at the observation office on Shalimar was going hot and heavy. The division supervisor, deeply disturbed by the implications of the report said, “So you suspect this closed planet has somehow acquired Red-tail technology?”

  “Yes, sir,” answered Captain George Citti. “The level of technology necessary to produce the signals and rays that we documented is many centuries beyond even this quickly advancing race.” The supervisor read the report for a second time about the signal signatures from the mothership.

  “Thank you, Captain Citti, for your dispatch in getting this critical news to us,” the supervisor said. “I’ll forward it to the Council of Nine for their recommendation. Now, what’s the condition of your ship?”

  “We had some of the repairs break loose on the way here, which resulted in our overheating,” George reported sadly. “We required the services of a retrieval ship to pick us up only a few hours from Shalimar. The ship is badly damaged by heat and the resultant structural stress.”

  “I received word from the repair depot they’ve already begun the preliminary evaluation of your ship. We’ll see what we can do,” the supervisor said with a smile. George looked relieved.

  “I was afraid when the emergency chief said it might not be able to be repaired that I’d be stranded here,” George said.

  “No, son. We take care of our own,” the supervisor answered. “Now, you and your copilot are released for two weeks leave here on Shalimar. There are rooms reserved for you at the Visiting Pilots Quarters. Get some rest. Your ship should be repaired by then.” The supervisor saluted, his right arm across his chest, palm down. “Dismissed.”

  “Thank you, sir,” George said, returning the salute. In moments, his hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway.

  The supervisor glanced at the reports again. The closed planet’s development was just too fast. He picked up the comm line and called Archives. He requested the summary file regarding this closed planet and then hung up. Minutes later a runner appeared with the requested materials.

  Reading through the centuries of reports on this planet, he could see that they had a proclivity for rapid technical advancement. Unfortunately, they also tended to knock themselves back into barbarism just as rapidly. It was obvious their social structure was highly unstable. He put the reports down with a sigh. Reaching again for the comm line, he made an appointment to see the Council of Nine.

  ∞∞∞

  The field trip to the Science Museum was a rousing success for the class. It ignited new interests and gave them a brief overview of the field. Even though Delmar had seen it before, he still enjoyed the trip. He had fun pointing things out to Stan, and noticed the changes and updates. The display about the Mary Belle showed some of the changes to the ship itself (including a new paint job), and displayed copies of some recent papers written by Mary Ebilizer, its captain.

  After they returned to campus, Professor Angle went over the results of the previous day’s assignment. Of the thirteen students, seven had completed the task and logged on.

  Professor Angle admonished his class, “Remember, the instructions are never all inclusive,” he said. “Only think of them as guidelines or you will confine your thinking to a box. Sometimes you have to go outside of a box to solve the problem inside. Much innovation comes from taking an unusual or unexpected viewpoint of the problem at hand.”

  “Are you saying that it’s all right to cheat if you get the desired results?” a student asked.

  “No,” answered the professor quickly. “Expanding your thinking and the approach you take to solve a problem is not cheating. You still have to understand the problem and do the work of arriving at a solution. Cheating is a matter of unethically letting others do your work and then taking the credit for it.”

  “But what about all of the leftover equipment and cables?” a young woman asked.

  “Those were included to lead you astray,” the professor replied with a grin. “It’s dangerous to assume that you have to use something just because it’s there.” He noticed the puzzled look on the faces of several students.

  “Let me illustrate,” the professor said as he moved around in front of his lectern. “If I gave you a box, a ladder, and a rope and said I want you to climb a tree, what would you do?”

  “I’d use the ladder,” one student offered.

  “Or stand on the box,” another added.

  “Or tie the rope to the tree and pull myself up,” said a third.

  “Do you really need all that stuff?” asked Professor Angle. The students looked perplexed.

  “No one asked anything about the tree,” he said. “You failed to first evaluate the problem. In this case, had you asked, I would have told you that the tree had evenly spaced limbs starting at ground level. The box, ladder, and rope were mere distractions.”

  “And remember this also,” Professor Angle continued, “the solution to a problem is often in the problem itself. In this example, the tree already had easily accessible limbs. In your computer supplies, there was the test plug and the necessary cables to connect it up correctly.”

  He paused for emphasis. “Never be afraid to try new things. If your effort works, great! If not, then you gain experience repairing the mess.”

  He watched with amusement while they pondered this bit of cracker-barrel philosophy. Slowly, the light dawned on their faces.

  “All right! Enough of that,” Professor Angle said. “Those that didn’t log on, finish your computers by eight tomorrow. Those already finished, log on for your next assignment. Class dismissed. See you tomorrow.”

  The students began to file out of the room. “Stan, Delmar, come here for a minute, please,” the professor called. They stepped out of the rush.

  “I noticed that your solution was of a different configuration than the norm,” he said. “Hooking up the memory drive that way can cause some interesting results.”

  “How so?” Stan asked.

  “You may find that it operates in a less linear fashion, so be prepared,” the professor answered. “Now go have fun,” he added with a smile. Delmar and Stan excused themselves and walked toward the cafeteria.

  “He’s a strange old bird, isn’t he?” remarked Delmar.

  “Yeah, but I’ll bet he’s forgotten more about computers than we’ll ever know,” answered Stan as he looked back over his shoulder at Professor Angle.

  ∞∞∞

  The variations produced by the food synthesizer were no stranger than usual. Taking their cue from older students, the boys found their lunch edible if they didn’t look at it. Nonetheless, they found they had less appetite for the off-color but nutritional fare.

  After lunch they returned to their dorm room, stopping briefly in the lobby to check the bulletin board. Hanging from a stickpin was a note addressed to Delmar that had come in through the switchboard.

  Temple of the Unseen Blessing

  Rev. Jake and Sherry Sender

  Port Mulvey, Mica

  Dear Delmar,

  We received a letter from Robert and Agnes saying that you and Stan had arrived at the training institute. We look forward to visiting with you this coming weekend, if possible. Please notify us via our comm number to make arrangements. If you have your starmail set up, you may contact us at TempleSender>gss.portmulvey.mi. We would love to hear from you.

  Love, Jake and Sherry Sender

  P.S. Stan is welcome to join us.

  “Wow!” said Delmar as he finished reading the note. “The Senders want to visit this weekend!”

  “That’s great,” Stan said quietly. He stepped by Delmar and headed up to their room. “I hope you have a good time.”

  “Wait a
minute, Stan,” Delmar called after him. “They want you to join us.”

  Stan looked a little stunned. “You mean I’m invited too?” he said, surprised.

  “Of course you are,” Delmar said, grinning. “You’re family!”

  ∞∞∞

  For the fifth time, the unit sensed itself being transported in a moving conveyance of unknown type. All the observations it had been able to make since awakening were those of the inside of various sorts of containment structures. It searched its vast memory for similar artifacts but found nothing that matched.

  On the few occasions that it was free of containment, the unit found itself under examination by some sort of bipedal creatures in what appeared to be primitive laboratories. To prevent detection, it was careful to keep its emanations to a minimum. The unit was unsure why it should do this, but the partial remains of some security memory instructed it to protect itself.

  Lack of a steady power source became a problem some time after it left its home environment. With all of its external connections severed, only an emergency backup power cell was available. Using its self-diagnostic program, the unit determined that the power cell was suffering from the degrading of material normally associated with long periods of inactivity. The unit calculated the necessary interval of time for such a breakdown to occur and found that it corresponded to thousands of generations of its organic attendants. The unit was unable to account for the passage of that great amount of time and was puzzled.

  Using sensors normally reserved to detect threatening electrical interference, the unit adjusted them to their maximum sensitivity in an effort to discover any available external power source. It found a stray electrical flux occasionally, but it was during the third time the unit had been contained after awakening that it detected a steady source of power running through the floor beneath it.

  Carefully re-routing the circuits in its lower half, the unit was able to use the remains of its original power cabling to tap inductively into the new source of energy. Some adjustment was necessary to adapt the resultant power into compatible form, but the unit was successful. It also took the opportunity to recharge its emergency power cell to its maximum capacity in this less-than-optimal condition. The unit settled down again to continue the work of restoring itself to full operational capability.