The Horicon Experience

by Laughter, Jim

  ∞∞∞

  The young woman looked up from the records and stared into space, a frown on her face. “What’s wrong?” a coworker asked.

  “Oh, I’ve just been going over the power consumption records and something just doesn’t add up.”

  “How so?” the other clerk asked. He came around to view the graphs spread out on the table.

  “I’ve noticed that the power consumption at the research labs have shown a 13-percent increase since early in the term,” she answered. She pointed at the graph. Her coworker noted the circuit number and went to check the master files. He returned after a moment with several charts in hand and thumbed through the contents.

  “Here we go,” he said. “It’s for Professor Angle’s lab.”

  “I should’ve guessed,” the first clerk said with relief. “He’s always pushing his students.” The second clerk chuckle and gathered the files back together and returned them to the master files. Meanwhile, the first clerk tore up the work order she had begun to have someone in maintenance check out the unusual increase in the lab’s power consumption.

  Chapter Eleven

  The clock on the wall chimed eight just as Professor Angle strode into the classroom. A glance at the assembled students clued him to which had spent time poring over assignments and which had not. In spite of the varying levels of fatigue represented, all of the students showed their anticipation about working on the Horicon computer. The professor pulled a file out of his old leather briefcase, laid it on the lectern, opened it, and then addressed his students.

  “Good morning class,” he said as he thumbed through the contents of the folder. A murmur of response returned the greeting. Professor Angle looked up. “Don’t be so suspicious,” he chided the students. “We’re going to start on the Horicon today.”

  Their suspicions were well founded. He noted smiles on several faces. He had already postponed the anticipated event for two weeks.

  “I just picked up the reports from maintenance and they are finally satisfied that we can proceed,” he announced. A quiet cheer ran through the room.

  One student raised his hand. “Yes, Mr. Wed?”

  “Did they ever determine the cause of the power fluctuations we were having last week?”

  “No, they haven’t,” the professor answered.

  Several students groaned.

  “Believe me, I don’t like not knowing any more than you do,” he said. “But current and voltage levels have stabilized, so we should be ready to do the final systems check on the lab computer this morning.”

  Another hand near the back of the room caught Angle’s attention.

  “Yes, Miss Chock?”

  “Do you still want us to install the extra surge protectors we built?”

  “By all means,” the professor answered. “We can never be too careful.” He saw that the students seemed satisfied.

  “Are there any more questions before we hit the lab?” he asked. “None? Good.” He snapped his briefcase shut and headed toward the lab door.

  “Let’s get on with it!”

  With more eagerness than they would have thought possible at the beginning of the term, the students grabbed their supplies and followed the professor. Their enthusiasm was infectious. Professor Angle even found himself filled with excitement.

  ∞∞∞

  The unit finally established a stable inductive loop to draw power regularly from the power conduits buried in the floor beneath it. A short subroutine monitored the arrangement and freed the main processor of the chore to keep the resultant power stable and consistent, something it never had to worry about with its original native installation. More and more the unit was finding that it had to operate outside the parameters of its original design and programming.

  Checking the memory storage cells, it found it still had ample room for thousands of time-cycles yet to come if it continued recording at the present rate. If it were able to crack the interpretation codes on the recorded data, it would be able to compress the files to a million billionth their current size.

  The unit consulted its internal chronometer and noted that a new time-cycle had begun for the bipedal creatures. It ran tabulations to determine the probability of the creatures reappearing and the approximate time of their arrival, and was satisfied with the increasing accuracy with which it could determine their appearance. That had proven to be the most difficult task it had set for itself.

  Early on, the unit had noticed that the creatures attending it always left at about the same time. Their arrival was far less predictable, with many variations and lapses. Such a challenge was a welcome diversion from the mundane task of recording data.

  ∞∞∞

  The computer lab was electric with tension as everyone took their assigned places around the room. Each console, routing board, drive, or processor had one of the students watching it as they prepared for the final checkout of the lab’s main computer. At a nod from Professor Angle, Zorina, the young Thetan woman at the main console, began the operating sequence.

  “Source voltage and current stable and established,” announced Cornelius Wed monitoring the power gauges on the new surge protectors. Miss Chock at the networking unit began the process of activating the peripheral equipment while Zorina monitored overall progress.

  “Memory drive up and stable,” Stan Shane added.

  “Core processor on line.”

  “Printer up and ready,” Delmar announced when the machine he was watching completed its self-diagnosis.

  “External signal buffer up and stable,” someone else offered. As each piece of equipment or subassembly came on-line, a different voice called out. Zorina carefully checked off each entry on the master checklist.

  “Bridge and buffer circuits running smoothly,” Stan announced. A cheer ran through the room. Professor Angle shared his student’s jubilation. It had been a trying time for all of them, getting the last of the glitches out.

  Their oversight duties completed, the rest of the students gathered around Zorina at the main console. Normally, it took only one operator to run the lab computer. But with all of the trouble they’d experienced before solving the power problems, Professor Angle had assigned each to monitor a critical function in case the problems were the result of feedback between components.

  The professor pulled a single sheet of equations out of his folder and handed it to Zorina at the console. She deftly entered the test problems into the machine. Professor Angle had written each problem to test the computer and the joint function of its sub-programs fully. The computer hummed while it ingested each bit of data. When Zorina finished, everyone turned and watched the output monitor.

  One by one, the screen displayed the answer to each problem. There were eighteen equations and the computer had to answer all of them correctly for certification as fully operational. By problem fifteen, there had been no glitches and excitement built among the students. They had never made it this far before.

  The answer to the sixteenth equation appeared, closely followed by the correct answer to problem seventeen. Everyone held their breath while they waited for the last answer. The cursor on the screen blinked for several seconds and then displayed the answer. When the final correct digit displayed, everyone broke into loud cheering. Professor Angle was very pleased with their teamwork.

  “All right, switch it to standby and let’s break for lunch,” the professor announced shortly before the actual lunch hour. It only took Zorina moments to have the computer stand down from its active mode.

  The big test successfully complete, the class headed for the exit. Sharing in their accomplishment, Professor Angle waited a moment before following his happy students out of the lab.

  ∞∞∞

  The trooper operating the monitoring equipment on the mothership watched the signal traces make an erratic jump. This was the second such incident so he picked up the comm and called his supervisor. A trooper-first appeared at the door a minute later and walk
ed over to stand behind the trooper on duty.

  “What have you got?”

  “Twice in the last hour there have been irregular signal fluctuations picked up by the relay,” the trooper answered.

  “Were they just changes in their carrier wave or what?” the trooper-first asked as he studied the monitor.

  “I don’t think so, sir” the trooper answered. “I’ve documented several of their changes before and it’s always been a clean changeover. These fluctuations look more like the erratic discharges of an overtaxed transmitter.”

  Before the trooper-first could say anything else, another fluctuation moved across the screen. The scope clearly showed the random nature of the change and the distortions of the carrier as the signal destabilized.

  “I agree with you,” the trooper-first said after the trace had finally settled down. “I’ll mention it to the operations officer. This may change our plans.”

  “Thank you, sir,” the trooper said. He reached over and tore off a printout from the recorder. “Here, take this,” he said. “I printed it out in case you needed it.”

  “Good job,” said the supervisor. “I’ll let you know how it turns out.”

  ∞∞∞

  After lunch, Professor Angle had his students gather again in the lab.

  “Now that we have the lab computer up and running, I want us to interface it with the test consoles in the Horicon lab.”

  He handed an instruction sheet to Cornelius Wed, the student nearest the console. Wed took the page and entered the data into the lab computer. A moment later, the monitor displayed that the connection was complete.

  “Let’s get suited up and go in there.”

  The students followed Angle to the locker room. Within a few minutes, they were on their way down the hall and beginning the process of cycling themselves through the decontamination airlock.

  After they all entered the room and had gathered their notepads, Professor Angle addressed them. “Today I want you to completely the exterior of the Horicon,” he said. “I want each of you to make complete individual inspections, and I want you to make sketches of all controls and their labels. Be sure to include the translations as well.”

  He paused for a moment and then added, “I know that we’re all flush with the success of this morning. However, I want you to resist the temptation to operate any controls. Am I understood?”

  The students murmured their agreement.

  “All right, get with it,” he said with a clap of his gloved hands.

  The students spread out and soon surrounded the ancient machine. They said very little while they performed their individual exterior inspections and sketched their diagrams and made notes. Sometime later, just as Delmar was finishing his sketch of the main console, Stan came up to him. “How’s it going?”

  “Pretty good,” Delmar said. “But I’m having trouble getting the translations correct.”

  “Let me see.” He reached for Delmar’s notepad and set both his notes and Delmar’s on a nearby console top, examining them both, comparing pages.

  “Here’s your problem,” he said, pointing out a transposition of characters on the key Delmar had copied in class. “If you switch these two vaiables, the rest should fall into place.” Delmar examined the mistake.

  “Thanks,” he said as he corrected his errors. “Mind if I borrow your copy to double-check mine?”

  “Not at all,” Stan said.

  While Delmar worked on his corrections, Stan stepped back where he could take in the sight of the ancient computer. Professor Angle joined him.

  “Quite a sight, isn’t it?” he commented to the young trooper.

  “Sure is,” Stan agreed with a smile. The professor glanced down at his wrist chronometer.

  “Let’s wrap it up!” Professor Angle shouted. “I want to get home at a decent hour so I can enjoy a hot dinner with my wife.”

  The students chuckled and started gathering their notes and sketches. They weren’t even aware the professor was married. Stan returned to the console where Delmar showed him his reworking of the key and the translations. Stan nodded his approval and was about to comment when the professor interrupted him.

  “Mr. Shane? I’d like for you to take the first group through.”

  “No problem,” Stan replied as he went over to the airlock to begin the cycling sequence. Several students put their materials into the small airlock and pressed the cycle buttons. While it was running, they joined Stan in the chamber. A few minutes later the lights over the door in the Horicon lab signaled that the lock was clear.

  “All right people, let’s go,” the professor admonished. “You too, Mr. Eagleman,” he added with a slight hint of impatience.

  “Coming, sir!” Delmar replied and hurried to the airlock.

  The professor and the remaining students entered the chamber and the professor cycled them through. As they exited, Delmar suddenly realized he’d left his notes laying on top of the console back in the Horicon clean room. Deciding that causing the professor to wait while he retrieved them would not be a good idea, he went about stripping off his protective clothing instead. They’ll be there tomorrow, he thought, trying to hurry. Besides, there was no assignment tonight where he would need them.

  Their clean suits serviced, the jubilant students quickly headed for the exit and the freedom their hard work had earned them, a smiling professor following in their wake.

  ∞∞∞

  Pushing back from the cafeteria table, Delmar contemplated what to do with his unexpected free time.

  “What are you going to do this evening?” he asked Stan, fishing for ideas of his own.

  “Oh, I thought I might go over to the gym,” Stan answered noncommittally as he finished his meal. “I saw in a bulletin that the Fencing Club is meeting tonight and I thought I might check them out.”

  They had heard about the institute’s fencing club only the previous week. Both troopers had already learned the fundamentals of the sport in basic where it was a mandatory part of their training. Although blasters were effective against the enemy, they also tended to do serious, if not irreparable damage to the hull of the ship behind your target. Swords had proven to be an excellent solution to this problem. All service personnel were required to have at least minimal proficiency with the weapon.

  “You don’t want to come along?” Stan asked as he pushed back from the table. “It’ll get the kinks out.”

  “No thanks,” Delmar answered. He came to a decision. “I’d rather enjoy some quiet time back at the dorm.”

  “Suit yourself.” Stan said, getting up. Ambling toward the door, he stopped to pocket a few mints at the condiment bar and then he was gone. Delmar sat there alone for a moment and then finally got up and headed to the dorm.

  Instead of waiting for the lift, Delmar bounded up the stairs, an unexpected excitement slowly starting to develop. By the time he changed out of his utility uniform and into casual clothes, he was almost euphoric. Their success in class today had lifted a weight off of his shoulders, making him nearly giddy.

  Turning on his computer, Delmar reflected that the last several weeks had been rugged, blotting out virtually everything else. Eagerly opening his starmail account, Delmar found the delightful surprise of a letter from home. A sense of guilt and homesickness swept over him.

  From: HasselFarm>gss.bv.er

  To: Deagle>gss.mcti.mi

  Subject: are you alive?

  Are you still alive? We haven’t heard from you for almost four weeks. We hope everything is going well and that you’re just busy.

  Life here on the farm continues at its usual pace. Dad got the spring planting done with the help of Daren. When they finished the west field, Dad gave Daren a hand with a well problem. It seems that the foot valve malfunctioned and it took them two days to pull the pipe up and correct the problem. RoseMary and the baby came up and filled jugs from our well so they could have drinking water. I suspected that all they wanted was to use our
bathing facilities as well, but she was too embarrassed to ask. I offered to give little Del-Robert a bath in the sink and suggested that RoseMary help herself to the tub before the men got back. I didn’t have to suggest it twice. I’d just finished with the baby when she reappeared looking fresh and clean. About then the men arrived and I shooed them upstairs to clean up while RoseMary and I put on supper.

  Oh, look at me. I’m just blathering on about nothing. It sure got lonesome around here after you boys left for school. It’s just hard to believe that it has already been almost six months!

  Well, take care and write when you can. I know Dad loves your letters just as much as I do. Everyone sends their greetings.

  Love, Mom

  Delmar sat silent for a minute thinking about home. Chagrined that he had been remiss on correspondence, he keyed the reply button on the starmail from home. Making himself comfortable in his desk chair, he set to work writing the long overdue letter.

  ∞∞∞

  The bipedal creatures had been gone for quite a while when the unit powered up its exterior optical sensors. Quickly scanning the room for organic life, it discovered itself to be alone. It had recorded considerable audio data while the large group had been present and surmised that they had been active.

  First, it surveyed the foreign consoles the creatures had brought in several time-cycles ago. None of the controls had been touched, although it did note green indicator lights on one panel.

  Next, it surveyed its own consoles and discovered that one creature had left written material exposed on top. It carefully magnified the image until it was able to make out the crude drawings. A quick check of its own files turned up similar but more precise diagrams.

  Comparing the two images, the unit concluded that the crude sketch was of its own main console. On both images were the original labels for the controls. The crude drawing also had penciled-in translations of the original labels. The unit recorded these images and started to create cross-references between the two languages.

  While it set a sub-routine to complete that task, it continued its survey of the notes. On the adjoining page was a list of words copied from its many controls and panels. Alongside each word was the translation in the written language of the bipedal creatures. The unit quickly assimilated this find into the sub-routine it was already running. Working at millions of functions per second, it began to build a translation glossary.