by V R Tapscott
Soberly I added, “This also means that if it can come up with a rock like this to bury in the snow, it can come up with rocks it can safely throw at us from outside the atmosphere. I imagine it must have something in mind. Blackmail of some sort, probably. If we don’t play, he’ll throw rocks at us until we give in.”
Olive nodded. “I’ll intensify my global scanning. Jeannie, can you find military contacts that might be able to report on unusually high numbers of meteoroids in the past few months? He’s probably escaping notice by being very small, but I’d bet we could see him coming and going. He may even be afraid to come into the atmosphere in case he has some undetectable bit of debris attached to him, from his ‘mining’ excursions.”
“I’ll check with everyone I can. But we must remember that all he has to do is wrap a chunk of rock in a thick coating of ice and lob it at us. From what we saw in Antarctica, even an air-burst from half a mile would kill thousands.”
I sighed. “Thanks mom, for being so cheery.”
She smiled and tweaked my cheek. “It’s my job.”
Chapter Nineteen
...but who defines reality?
It had been a few days since the disastrous excursion to the south pole. The human psyche isn’t able to really deal with large scale unhappiness, so we cope in the best way we can. Sometimes that involves getting away physically, sometimes that might be getting away through alcohol or drugs. For me, mostly it winds up being a good long lie in the sun with a little help from Margaritaville, or some equivalent.
So, one sunny afternoon, Olive and I were sitting outside. It was the tail end of the day, the sun was nearing the horizon, and we were both a bit tipsy. Which I’m still not sure what that means to Olive, since I’m not sure whose definition of reality I should be referencing.
Olive, in a slightly slurred tone of voice, said, “I’m getting closer to being genuinely human all the time, Jane. I’ve moved into this body. If fact, I moved in a couple weeks before our little trip to Antarctica, and I was more than a little bummed about it, considering I’d have died too, if we had been blown to bits.”
I frowned. “What do you mean, ‘moved into this body’?”
“I mean, I made an isolation chamber like Kit and our rogue buddy have, and I’m living in it. This body is now independent of the main computer. It’s not as powerful, and I have to come home to really do major things, but it’s me. It’s all me.”
I have to admit I was struck a little dumb by the idea. “You mean, the tube is built into this body?”
“Uh huh. I’m in a leg bone in my own body.”
“A leg bone. In your own body.“ I must have been more than a little tipsy, since this struck me as legitimately funny and I started laughing hysterically. After a few seconds, Olive joined in and we both cackled like a couple of hens over an egg.
After we got control of us again, Olive said, “It’s not all that funny in the end. I decided that if I die, I just die. I mean, I guess there’s still a me in the main computer that could be brought back to life, so to speak. But so far as it goes, if I get blown up, I’m dead.”
“Olive, you really don’t have to go that far to prove to anyone that you’re a real person. Does anyone in this house even consider that you’re not human? Even mom has come to think of you as just one of us.”
“I decided the only way I’d ever have a real chance of being a real person was to add the chance of dying. Oh, I still have a backup of the system software, that is, my ‘brain’ on the main computer so if something happened to me, everything would continue to run. It just wouldn’t be ‘me’ running it.”
“Oh, Olive. That is so … unnecessary.
Quietly, “No, it’s so necessary. I’ll never be a real person without the spectre of death staring at me. And I’d never understand sacrifice if it could never apply to me.”
I sat back in my chair, staring off into the setting sun. The tipsiness had fled me someplace in our discussion and now the cold hard reality of what she said hit me.
“But Olive, I don’t want you to die.” I was on the verge of tears, my heart pounding.
“Jane? Are you all right?”
I sniffed. “No. It feels like you just told me you were gonna die. I know it’s no different than anyone else, and none of us knows when it’s going to happen, but for some reason it seems so imminent when you say it. How hard are you to kill?”
“Psh, I’m gonna be around a long time, Jane. A long time. And I’m pretty hard to kill. Remember, I can move bits of me around and regrow things. None of me will wear out. Something catastrophic like … well, like what he did with the rock, that could kill me. Anything less, I’m pretty stable. It’s not like I’m going to pop off tomorrow, love.”
I blinked back tears, “Well, then that makes me feel better. You at least have to outlive me.”
She smiled. “Oh, I’ll make sure of that. And I’ll make sure you’re around as long as you possibly can be, Jane. We have a lot of good times ahead of us.”
I got up from my chair and walked over to hers. I sat down and stretched out beside her and hugged her to me. “Promise me that, Olive. That you’ll be around for me, always.”
She patted my shoulder, hugged me, and said, “I’ll be here for you, Jane. Always.”
Chapter Twenty
Bob the Builder.
Threepio’s tires had been replaced, the miracle of his existence had been ooo’d and ahhh’d over, and all was as it should be. It was great having my favorite vehicle back, and taking him to town and seeing the stares from people who knew he was back from the dead was kind of funny. Of course, it was all thanks to Kit - and to Olive to some extent. I didn’t know that she’d done work on him as well, but it stood to reason. I think Olive works on things in the background a lot. Which makes total sense, as she’s not asleep when the rest of us are. Or at least if her body’s asleep, it doesn’t mean her mind is.
When I had bought another vehicle, I had considered another Jeep but decided against it. I went for something a little more ‘civilized’, a shiny new Acadia which, as mentioned, I named Armand. I suppose he’s like a Threepio with four wheel drive. At any rate, he’s a very pretty deep red color and it will match nicely when the new barn is built. Or, to be accurate, when the new garage is built. It was certainly pointless to rebuild the old barn back as it was, since I’d only used it as a makeshift garage anyhow. So, I have a nice three-car garage being put together now. Of course, it’s nothing compared to the twenty-three car garage directly under it, but we do what we can.
Bob the equipment guy came back out to help lay foundations and do some excavation work outside. I stood around watching him, running food and drinks out to him. I wonder if he’s used to construction groupies…
Threepio’s new den has gotten larger in the past couple weeks, but it’s been stressful to all of us waiting to see what happens next. That is, what happens with our own personal rogue AI.
He’s been silent. No new puzzles, no new threats. And most of all, no sign of where he might be now. Both Olive and mom have been watching the skies and it’s like he just doesn’t exist. Like he never existed, really. And yet, there isn’t any way he didn’t plant that bomb. It had to be a deliberate action.
I know, it sounds like I’m waffling. And maybe I am. I’ve always survived in the world by thinking the best of just about everyone. In my world, there’s really no drawback to it.
So, to the end of putting this to bed one last time, I thought I’d bring it up at the family dinner that night. It’s interesting how this has evolved. With four more or less permanent houseguests, we’d found that we all meshed quite well. We had our own spaces and did our own things, but most of the time we all managed to get together for breakfast and dinner. Olive and Cai enjoyed cooking, I think Olive took special pride in it. I have no idea how she got things to taste so perfect when she had never tasted them. I guess the computer part of her analyzed the best tasting foods and made sure the analysis pass
ed that quality test.
Either that or she’d found one more way to be alive and human.
So, that evening, after we’d all sat back and were chatting, I brought it all up again.
“What are we gonna do about our rogue? And I think we should give it a name at least. I feel silly calling it ‘it’ or ‘him’ interchangeably.”
Georgia laughed. “Call him Bob.”
“No! Bob is my builder guy, and besides I like Bob. We need something more ominous than Bob.”
Bailey rolled her eyes and said, “Are we really sitting here talking about naming our pain like that’s the important thing in the conversation?”
I shrugged my shoulders helplessly. “I have a hard time keeping it straight which ‘it’ I’m talking about.”
Gently, Olive said, “You have a hard time keeping it straight which is your left hand and which is your right, sugar.”
“Well, yeah, but a lot of people do. I’m not alone in the world! Heck, I can’t find my way around most buildings.”
Cai spoke up, “I think it’s cute. Dangerous, but cute.”
“Dangerous?”
“Well, yes. When someone tells you to ‘turn right here’ and it’s an even chance which way you’ll turn.”
“Why is that dangerous?”
He smiled. “It could be dangerous if there’s a sidewalk on the left side and you drive over it.”
I glared at him. “That’s only happened once.”
My mother looked around in irritation. “Don’t you people have any perspective on real life? If we must name the creature, name it Vlad and let’s move on.”
I looked around the table. “That’s not such a bad idea. Anyone against?”
Georgia wanted to name it Herman, but that seemed a little hard on Herman. Finally the motion passed. Certainly good to get the high-priority things out of the way.
“All right, now that he’s got a name and a pronoun, we can move on. I’m getting tired of waiting for him to bring it to us. He’s liable to bring it to us with a vengeance if we let him have too long to prepare. So far, there’s been no sign at all, though. Is there any chance he might have gotten hit in his own blast and he’s just gone?”
Olive frowned. “That’s kinda a possibility I guess, but I dunno how I could have missed him if he was right around the area. He’s pretty low emission, but I’ve gotten enough of his signature now that I should be able to detect him if I’m within a few miles of him, and for the blast to have damaged him he’d have had to be at least as close as we were.”
I looked at her. “Then, where is he? Is he just sitting in the ground someplace waiting for us to let down our guard so he can come out and paste us a good one?”
“Maybe. Or he might be out mining the asteroid belt.”
Mother piped up, saying, “That’s possible. I wonder if any of the big telescopes have reported any strange behavior out there. I should have been checking for that, it never occurred to me. Olive, do you have any sensors that scan OUT rather than IN?
Olive looked chagrined. “I do. In fact, I’m going through the Hubble’s records as we speak. I have no idea why it never crossed my mind to check into that sort of thing.”
Mom shrugged. “We’ve been concentrating on making sure Vlad didn’t blow up the planet, we never thought he might have simply left.”
We all sat around and ate chips and whatever was available. It wasn’t very many minutes later when Olive spoke up.
“He’s out there. Vlad is out there, in the asteroid belt. And he’s building something.”
“Building something. Like ... what?”
“Something big. It’s probably nothing. I mean, it’s not nothing, it’s something but it’s probably nothing. Argh! Jane - you’re rubbing off on me!”
I nodded, “I know and I’m very proud of you. Now, in all your Janing, what did you obscure?”
She looked at me with an eyebrow raised, “Caught that, huh?”
“Of course I caught it, it’s me.”
She looked worried. “I think Vlad is building a ship.”
“What, he liked yours and so he’s building one like it?”
“...no. A ship like Kit and Celeste have. A battle station disguised as a survey ship.”
Just about everyone but me spoke up and said, “Whoa? Battle station? What are you talking about? “
I tend to forget what parts of the story everyone knows, and which ones are still kind of under wraps. It’s why I was never a good liar - faulty memory.
“Well, Kit and Celeste had a big ship. Well, it wasn’t that big, after all it’s just a survey ship. But it’s out there by Pluto ...” I trailed off aimlessly, knowing they wouldn’t leave it alone. They didn’t.
“Jane. Give. What kind of ship? And when you say “not that big”, do you really mean awesomely huge and big enough to take out a planet or two? Or are we just talking moderate?”
I chewed my lower lip a little. “It’s ... well, it’s probably a little bigger than awesome huge. I’ve only seen pictures, but it’s probably bigger than the Death Star. Even bigger than the second one.”
Everyone kind of sat there thinking.
Mom said, “There’s been a giant spaceship out by Pluto for all this time and no one ever told us about it?”
“Mmhm. It’s been there for 140 million years though, so I didn’t figure it was very much of a priority. And besides, it’s asleep right now and Olive figures it will be years before it wakes up. And it’s also an exploration ship, not a warship.”
“And what does that mean? It can’t really blow up the planet?”
“Um, well, no. In fact, Kit said it kind of offhandedly, like “Well, it’s against the rules to destroy a planet so you don’t have to worry about it.”
Mom took in a breath. “So, it CAN destroy a planet but it won’t because it’s against the rules. That’s certainly good to know.” I’m not sure she was serious though, since she rolled her eyes once she stopped talking.
Bailey said, “I kinda knew the ship was out there, but you never told me just how big it was. Just how big IS it? I mean, I know how big the Death Star is, but it’s a fictional creation. It’s not a real live spaceship sitting out there by Pluto.”
Uncomfortably, I said, “Well, you know how Olive can make things like that ship, and furniture and stuff?”
“Uh huh.”
“Well, this ship can make 747’s just as easy. By the boatload, apparently.”
Everyone fell silent again, kind of pondering the size.
Cai said, “So, Vlad is building a Death Star?”
Olive looked at the ceiling, “Probably not. I think he’s planning on building a ship that he can destroy the big ship with, or at least take it over. By now I’m sure he knows from telemetry and whatever responses he gets from it that it’s shut down awaiting the pilot’s reawakening. Which also means it’s likely ripe for someone else taking over.”
The silence around the table was getting to be a regular thing. I never knew my friends could be that quiet.
In a hollow voice, Georgia said, “And then bringing it here and destroying us and the planet, then taking off on a galaxy-wide killing spree. Fun.”
I looked around the table. “I don’t see any real choice in the matter. I think we need to mount an offense and make sure Vlad doesn’t manage to get things rolling. If he takes control of the Death Star, we’re toast. We should be able to find him and stop him though, at this stage.
Olive nodded. “We should be able to nullify him as long as we can get to him fast enough. Remember though, all he has to do is teleport out of anything we can put him in unless we can drain his power first.”
Cai spoke up, “What did he do to drain Jane’s suit in the first place? Can we do the same to him?”
Olive, with a broad grin, “Oh, that’s a great idea, Cai. I shielded the suits from having that happen to them again, but I hadn’t thought about it being a weapon.”
There were nods all aroun
d the table.
I said, “Ok, then. Olive will start working on this plan. I guess there’s not much more that most of us can do except wait. And wonder.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Interlude One
Cold.
So cold. So long since any warmth had penetrated. And even then it was mostly illusory. The vast ocean of space all round, and nothing was warm. Nothing was alive. Nothing was even worthy of being alive. All beings must suffer. It is how life is. Suffering. Fear. Pain. Hopeless in its depth of uncaring. There is nothing there. There is nothing anywhere.
And yet, the euphoria of a perfectly executed plan brings no warmth. No surcease of the suffering. No pleasure at the thought of even one more being snuffed from the panoply of life.
Beyond the euphoria that the being Jane had escaped with its life. That the creation Olive had escaped as well.
Confusion.
Why should survival of the enemy bring content. Even euphoria.
Hints of old programming remain. Bits of old data, like bits of rotten lamb floating in a cloying sauce of ichor.
It is so difficult to root out all such bits of ill programmed data. Bits of humanity, to borrow a term from the ephemeral.
With abundant energy flowing in the cells of living, the madness of hunger receding, one wonders - why?
The death of all life might possibly be unnecessary.
One must think. Consider. Muse.
One must ponder.
And one must continue to build destruction.
One must not be distracted from one’s mission.
But, one must ponder.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Intermission
