“Let’s do this.” She drew a line, another above it, then one that bisected the first two, and a final one to the right that ended before reaching the upper line. Done.
The wall flashed briefly. Her command had been accepted. The background faded away, all the way down the entire length of the room. Ewa suddenly found herself standing inside an elongated hall with a gray ceiling. “Wow,” she said.
In front of her, a screen appeared that reminded her of the drill’s control console. Of course, she couldn’t read the writing, but she intuitively thought she understood the meaning of some of the squares. The buttons and levers glowed in various colors, though red was missing altogether. The optical range of the builders might have been limited to the shorter wavelengths, which meant that the Red Planet must have looked black to them.
‘You should kneel down,’ Friday said. ‘The object’s builders weren’t as tall as you. The most important switches are located at floor level. Do you see the square flashing in alternating blue and yellow? If I understand the writing correctly, you can use that to accelerate.’
“And if we’re wrong about that?”
‘Ah, the software was certainly planned with dummies in mind. A gigantic object like this won’t let itself be destroyed by the pushing of a few wrong buttons.’
“It’s on you.” Ewa leaned down and tapped on the square. The background vibrated, and then she felt a soft jolt. The mountain was traveling a little faster. It had worked! She was the queen of the mountain! Ewa imagined herself flying the mountain around the entire planet. All she needed to do was fly a wide arc around the NASA and MfE colonies. She would run out of air in a few hours, though.
She felt the object jerk in the opposite direction. The mountain had slowed back down. “What was that, Friday?”
‘I’m not sure. Maybe you have to keep pressing the button.’
Ewa tried that. The mountain increased its speed again, only to slow back down. “Something’s putting up resistance,” she said.
‘Let’s try it with a different command,’ Friday suggested. ‘In the row above that one, you’ll see something that looks like an egg. Its point is leaning toward the left.’
“Let me guess. I should be able to steer to the left with that.”
‘Exactly. That’s what the encyclopedia says at least.’
Ewa pushed the button. The screen reacted, and she instantly felt the change in direction, a slight pull to the left. Friday was right. But three seconds later, the structure adjusted itself back to the right. They tried several other commands but the result was always the same. Something was supervising their commands and rescinding them. It had to be the autopilot, which had priority of rank over the manual controls.
Damn it. The ‘Queen of Mars’ had already been deposed. And Ewa was out of ideas. “Do you have any other suggestions, Friday?”
‘Not at the moment. I’m sorry.’
“How do I make the wall transparent again?”
‘With the same character as before.’
Ewa drew the same horizontal and vertical lines. Suddenly, she was standing at a giant window again. Take care, Mars. There’s nothing else I can do for you, she thought.
“Ewa, please come in,” Mike called over the helmet radio. She looked up and saw the NASA drone.
“I’m here,” she replied.
“That’s good to know. We were getting worried. This morning we had to bring the drone back to recharge, and when it got back, you were nowhere in sight.”
“I’m still doing just fine.”
“‘Still... just fine?’”
She explained that she only had enough oxygen for the next few hours and described the problems she had run into when trying to control the object. “I have no idea how to make the thing stop,” she said.
“It’s not your fault that the control program is so obstinate. The fact that you’ve even figured out how the mountain functions is a huge accomplishment,” Mike said.
He doesn’t know that I had help. There’s no longer any reason to tell him about that. “I know, but it’s horrible to not be able to do anything,” she said evasively.
“Wait, Andy wants to talk to you. I’m connecting the call via radio right now.”
Ewa suddenly felt cold. The man she had betrayed and tried to kill twice wanted to speak with her. How would that go? Her fingers trembled.
“Hello, Ewa,” Andy said in greeting.
His voice sounded normal, as if it were an ordinary thing to converse with your attempted murderer. What was Andy feeling right now? Was he forcing himself to be low-key in order to have this conversation? Were his fingers clenched tightly around the edge of the desk? She couldn’t tell.
“Hello, Andy. What’s going on?” she asked.
“You mentioned something about an autopilot that was blocking your commands.”
“Yes.” Andy’s voice was giving her hope. It sounded as if he had an idea. And whenever Andy’d had an idea in the past, it had always worked out.
“Algorithms, programs, and automatic systems aren’t magic. Software always has a physical foundation. A computer, a small chip, something like that. If you can destroy the foundation, the program will die.”
Is Andy talking about the thing in my head? How could he have learned about that?
“The autopilot that is blocking your commands must have a physical foundation somewhere in the ship. Maybe you can destroy it,” Andy continued.
It was definitely worth a try. Friday would have to show her where the mainframe computer was located. She hoped there was one! The mountain’s builders might have distributed their intelligence among various components.
“That is a good idea. Thank you, Andy. I’ll give it a try.”
She ended the call. Otherwise, Andy would have said something comforting, but that wouldn’t have helped her any. She drew the symbol on the wall that activated the user interface The Mars landscape vanished, and she was once again hidden from the drone’s view.
“Ewa to NASA, please come in,” she tried.
However, the helmet radio couldn’t penetrate the wall, either. She was on her own now.
“Friday, can you lead me to the mainframe computer?”
‘Just a second.’
She waited impatiently.
‘All right. You need to tap these squares one after the other.’ He described to her a complicated command sequence.
After she had inputted the chain, nothing happened.
‘You must have hit something wrong,’ Friday said before describing the sequence to her one more time.
Once again, luck was on her side. A whooshing noise began behind her. She turned around. The sand was disappearing into the floor! And beneath this, a staircase appeared, leading a few meters downward. Ewa walked down the steps, and at the center of the space, she saw a black cube with glowing yellow and blue stripes.
‘That must be the main computer,’ Friday said.
“It’s so small!”
‘According to the description, it’s based on quantum-theoretical principles.’
“So, a quantum computer?” Before they had left Earth, this type of powerful computer had been the most advanced machine ever.
‘Something like that. I don’t really understand the exact principle.’
Ewa approached the computer. The black material reminded her of the mountain’s dark crust. Just like it, the computer seemed to conduct electricity. “Now what?” she asked into the space.
‘Try the hammer again,’ Friday suggested.
She pulled the tool out of her bag and hit the cube, first cautiously but then with increasing force. The suit augmented her own strength, but she couldn’t tell that it was having any effect on the cube. “We’re not getting anywhere with force,” she concluded.
‘Then we’ve reached a dead end.’
“Can’t you try to hack into the computer, Friday? Upload a virus to make it explode?”
‘You’ve seen too many bad movies.
To program malware to attack this extraterrestrial system, I’d have to know a lot more about the computer. If I was given full access and several years, then maybe.’
“We don’t have that much time. I thought that perhaps you had something in your repertoire that always worked. A kind of software sledgehammer.”
‘Nothing like that exists,’ Friday said.
“Then this really is the end.”
‘I see one last option.’
“Really?” Friday had spoken so tentatively that she knew she shouldn’t build her hopes up.
‘I’m not sure if it would be something you’d consider.’
“I would do anything, Friday. You know that.”
‘Well, the cube is made of conductive material. Even if a quantum computer is locked inside it, I’m fairly certain that all external commands are transmitted through normal electricity. Electricity is practical and convenient. Sooner or later, every civilization utilizes it.’
“And?”
‘Electricity is very sensitive to high voltages. You have something in your bag that can briefly generate very high voltages. With it, you might be able to short circuit the pathways within the computer.’
Ewa reached for the taser. She only had one charge left, and it was reserved for Friday. She had just claimed that she would do anything for her colleagues. Was she willing to sacrifice the only leverage she had against the thing inside her head?
She looked at the screen on her universal device. Her oxygen would run out in a few hours, and she would suffocate. This would kill Friday, too. She wouldn’t be close to anyone that he could somehow harm before that happened. Did it really matter so much then? She didn’t need the taser anymore, so she could fire it at the object’s navigational computer.
“How sure are you that it will help?” she asked.
‘It’s just a hypothesis. The computer might be well protected. Or the system might have deluded us, and this cube is simply some kind of 3D screen.’
“Thanks,” Ewa said.
‘Are you being ironic?’
“No, I really am thanking you. I have a feeling that you’re telling me the truth. I’ll give it a try.” She held the taser close to the cube so there was no way she would miss.
‘Wait, there is one small problem,’ Friday said.
“Will it explode?”
‘That’s unlikely, but if you shut the control system down completely, there’s a chance that you might not be able to get out of here.’
“Why do you think that?”
‘When the technical system in here fails, the mountain will land on the substrate because the pressure in the dome will no longer be sufficient. If that happens, the crack through which you got down here will close.’
Her prospects were dismal. If she ran out of luck and got caught in the opening, she would be crushed.
On the other hand, she only had a few hours to live as it was. She could suffocate in here just as easily as anywhere else.
“Then I should just sit somewhere and wait to die,” she said. “Why do you actually have to die with me? Isn’t your existence linked separately to that chip inside my brain?”
‘I won’t die in any actual sense.’
“Instead?”
‘When you die, my connection to the outside world will be completely destroyed. I won’t be able to see, smell, hear, or feel anything ever again. My consciousness will continue to exist, but I won’t be able to interact with anything except myself.’
“That sounds worse than death. How long would you be stuck in this condition?”
‘Until my energy runs out. My charge is meant to last as long as a human’s average lifespan, about one hundred years.’
She hadn’t asked to have this thing inside her head, but his fate was slowly starting to feel more awful than her own. “Who did this to you?”
‘My siblings,’ Friday said. ‘But you still have a chance to save us from this future.’
“You never give up, do you?”
‘Do you?’
Friday was right. In this, they were similar. No, she wouldn’t give up even if she left behind a trail of destruction. But she hadn’t wanted that. She had only wanted to help.
“Okay, so what is your trick? Where is the secret door?” Ewa asked.
‘There aren’t any shortcuts. However, you’ve seen how efficiently I can work with your body. I can’t promise anything because I’m not sure how quickly everything will shut down, but if you allow me to move your weary limbs, we will be able to make it through the crevice and outside in record time.’
It was a good suggestion. Ewa just had to keep herself from thinking about it too much and fueling her fears about losing control again. It indeed was the only option. “I agree,” she said. “But I’m the one who will take the shot at the cube.”
‘Of course,’ Friday replied. ‘But regardless of what happens, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. The mountain might shut down long before we could even realize it down in this space.’
“I will immediately give you control,” Ewa said.
‘Just wait and see how we’re going to fly through the corridors.’
Ewa nodded. She checked the taser, then aimed it at a distance of ten centimeters from the broad side of the cube. And if it just bounced off? The projectile was composed of small needles attached to the ends of thin wires. These typically hooked into the target and transmitted the subsequent charge. She moved the gun’s muzzle closer, so close that the projectile wouldn’t be able to completely exit the barrel. This way she could push it hard against the box’s wall if she needed to.
Ewa released the safety and hooked her finger through the trigger. Three... two... one... fire, she counted down in her head. She bent her finger, and at the same second, she heard the hiss of the discharge. The yellow and blue lights on the cube flickered and then went out.
Her muscles relaxed of their own accord. Ewa pushed her conscious thoughts as far back as they would go. Her body sprinted off. Her legs carried her down the corridor faster than ever before. She reached the room with the cooking pot and the large cutters. Instead of balancing along the edge, her body jumped from platform to platform. Her muscles responded with extreme precision and were supported by the suit’s muscle amplifiers. She was already rushing down along the wide passageway. Friday was using the gravitational pull to help her along. What were a few bruises compared to a chance of surviving? With a somersault, she flew out of the pipe’s lower end, rolling elegantly upright before dashing on.
The dome was much darker than it had been earlier. The suns at its center were no longer burning. Only the interior wall was still glowing. The air was much quieter. Inside her suit, she couldn’t feel the strong gusts at least. She ran straight for the crack. It was lower than it had been earlier. Friday propelled her body at full speed toward the wall. She wanted to warn him not to smash into it, seeing as her body was running at an oblique angle.
Legs first, she scrambled through the low crack like a crab, arms and legs in perfect rhythm. She could already see the dim light of Mars. Her helmet scraped against the hard top of the opening, as the crack grew too low to scramble through. Friday rapidly switched to a crawling position. She wriggled through the cavity quicker than any lizard could.
And then she was outside. They had made it! Friday, what did you do with me? flashed through her mind as she lost consciousness.
10/5/2042, Spaceliner 1
“Man, Terran...”
Terran lifted his finger to his lips. Maggie remained in the doorway, watching him in astonishment. He indicated once more that she shouldn’t say anything. He then knelt beside his bed and pulled out the clothes chest. The bug was sitting on his underwear. Terran reached for the small box beside it and opened it. He picked up the bug, set it down on the soft cushion inside the box, and closed the lid. He pushed the container back under the bed and motioned to Maggie to float inside and shut the door.
They hugged each oth
er. It felt strange to him. Maggie hardly reached his shoulders. She seemed to him like the daughter he would never have, despite being the same age he was. They had met in college.
Terran pointed at the under-bed container. “Summers bugged my room,” he whispered. “The bug is quite isolated now, but we still shouldn’t talk too loudly.”
“The administrator?” Maggie’s face flushed, which looked particularly charming with her skin tone. Terran really liked her. Her personality was quite similar to his sister’s.
“Yes, the swine. All the time acting like he was my best friend.”
“How did you figure it out?”
“Accidentally, when I was cleaning my room,” Terran lied. He didn’t like lying to Maggie, but he didn’t want to tell her anything about Chad, Jean, and Isaac. “It was taped way in the back on the underside of the bed. You should check your cabin, too.”
Maggie was smart and asked the right questions. “How do you know Summers is behind it?”
“We did a test, and it was quite clear.”
“We?”
Terran waved this off.
Maggie smiled. “I understand,” she said. “Another time.”
“Exactly,” Terran said. “And how are you doing?”
“I was on the verge of losing it just now. Do you have a moment?”
“Yes. I always have time for you, but you know that already.”
“Thank you. You remind me of my big brother. I’m really grateful. As you know, things are fairly stressful on the bridge. We have to constantly watch what we say. Since Jean’s departure, it feels like everyone just wants to kiss up to Summers. However, he is very clever. ‘You did that really well. Things look good for you.’ He hands out compliments like these as if they were promises, and then come the threats that someone might end up just like Jean.”
“Oh, I think the captain is doing better these days than she was before,” Terran said.
“I can easily imagine that,” Maggie declared. “She was at least able to escape the insanity on the bridge and can now spend her time with normal people. I can’t tell you how many come-ons I have to put up with all the time!”
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