Habilitation

by Ken O'Steen

  Chapter 5: Of A90

  I gazed in wonder all around me and stepped into the circular room. There were multiple levels working their way upwards open to the air with balconies looking down, four lifts on opposite sides of the room. The two lights on my helmet reflected all the dust floating in protest of our sudden trespassing. It was dark, only the dull blue glow of the key pads and emergency lighting on the floors, more floors than I could count that disappeared upwards into darkness. Consoles were everywhere, rectangular grey panels with flat dark screens. Some mounted on table tops that sat six feet off the ground; others flush to the brown wall.

  I was the first to step forwards, my curiosity outweighing every other emotion. Metal stairs clanked beneath my boots as I entered the center. Consoles were all around with large, deep chairs eaten away by time. A layer of dust covered everything, a grey clingy material. Strange symbols covered the key pads but I knew all of them.

  Behind me the soldiers were unfolding step ladders and handing them off to each of us. I was overwhelmed with the choices, confused of what was expected but I took a ladder and stepped up to see the table top, Angela climbed her own ladder beside me. I brushed the dust off a screen and hit the power button. The screen came to life and began running diagnostics. Around me the others were turning their own computers on. A few seconds later the diagnostics were complete. Blue symbols filled the black screen.

  "A log file." I pressed the screen lightly and the log opened. Dates and times filled the screen. I opened the last one.

  "What does it mean?" Angela was staring in wonder, her pale skin made paler by the blue light.

  "Communication with…"

  "Professor?"

  "I'm sorry. I can't pronounce this. But communication with a ship was lost. This," I pointed to the particular symbol that represented the ship's call sign, "is the name of the ship. These are the co-ordinates of its last known location and destination." I pulled out my datapad and accessed a star map. Translating the alien language I input the co-ordinates.

  "The ship's destination was a solar system three hundred light years from here. Expected time of arrival was four hundred and fifty rotations from this date here." The dates meant nothing to me since we did not know how their society chose to calculate time. It could have been fifty earth years ago or two hundred.

  I went back and opened another. It was the same thing repeated, only a different ship. One by one I went through all of them, "There's hundreds of entries. This one here is the same. The lead ship again, only this is a report from one day earlier with their co-ordinates and a green status."

  "Green status?"

  "All good. The ship is still functioning fine. This one here has a repair update," I scrolled quickly down to the first entry, "It looks like the ships left Kepler approximately thirty rotations before contact was lost."     

  "Can you download it? We should bring this back to the biodome to analyze later. For now we need to keep exploring." I furrowed my brows together. There was an excitement in her voice and I knew why. The species that lived here had propulsion technology advanced enough to travel three hundred light years in a short amount of time. Not only were they sentient but their technology was beyond the scope originally conceived.

  "I think I can." I left the logs behind and accessed the system. A few minutes later I had found the alien's equivalent to a server and router. The trouble was getting their computer to talk to mine without understanding their computer language. I made the assumption they used ASCII like we did and started from there. As my fingers moved across the touch screen I found the answers coming to my mind without effort. It felt strange, perhaps the cloning process kept left over memories from the original. Whoever my original was he had been very deft with computers.

  Opening a command prompt and a text file I wrote a quick batch file to translate the alien’s computer language into ASCII so that files were now transferrable. It took a couple of hours but was still faster than I had anticipated. Running the batch file I pasted all the files over to my datapad using their wireless technology. Thirty seconds later the logs were in my datapad and I moved on to the console beside me.

  "I'd be interested in locating their energy source."

  "Later Professor. One chamber at a time."

  The next console was a monitoring station for the software of a single ship. The next was for hardware. One by one I went around the circle. Thirty ships in all, sixty consoles devoted to monitoring the software and hardware systems. Then there were the consoles for communication, for telemetry, environmental, it went on and on but all the information provided was of little use in actually understanding the technology the ships had contained. I downloaded everything to bring back to the biodome and our three hours were up. We filed back into the ATVs, returned and watched Kepler's equivalent of a sunset through the glass of the biodome's roof. The same as the sunrise had been only on the opposite edge of the world. A streak of phosphorescent purple smeared through the thick clouds, becoming dark blue as it got closer to the mountain range before finally disappearing. An impenetrable blackness set in all around, I felt cold even though I knew the biodome’s temperature was strictly regulated and I hugged myself as I left the central room.

  My datapad was uploaded to the ship’s servers, the biodome’s as well, and wiped to allow more room for the next day. On my own I sought out Captain Anderson.

  "Yes Professor?"

  It felt strange that he knew my name, "Are we only to go to the chambers once every rotation?"

  "By rotation you mean day I'm assuming. Yes. That is the plan. There is a lot of analyzing to do. You should be working on that now actually."

  "Yes, sir. I know. But it seems like there are so many chambers to explore, wouldn't it be better to gather the data and analyze it later, as opposed to wasting our time and oxygen on analyzing something that could be done from earth. Their energy supply has lasted hundreds of years and that technology would be a huge asset to Earth."

  "You may be right Professor. I will neither confirm nor deny it. But I have my orders, and so do you. A great discovery by the way."

  "What's that sir?"

  "Those ships. I'm sending a team in to explore the passageways and radius around the mountain. If those ships were launched from Kepler 84C perhaps we can find their launch bay. Maybe there's one or two left we can get our hands on."

  I only nodded in response, aware that I would get no further in my quest to discover their energy source. I left for my desk and sat down to begin reading through the data I had gathered. There were no new discoveries, nothing to learn. Just scheduled updates from the various systems of thirty different ships. The only peculiarity I found was that the destinations of the ships were spread out, and they had all left on the same day. I shared this with Angela who said she would pass it along but it meant very little in and of itself.

  The night passed by as I made my way through the logs. All of them were system normal until eventually communication was lost. I left with only a hundred or so to go through and went to sleep.     

  I opened the sketch application on my datapad and began to make my way through the wiring and components of the consoles. I had spent an hour searching through the database and had downloaded some schematics but decided that seeing for myself with the real thing would be better while I had the opportunity. I made my way through the computer, piece by piece. Nichols had allowed me to disassemble a single computer after we had downloaded a copy of the entire hard-drive. I photo documented the components as I pieced them apart. Scans indicated their atomic make up as I compared it to the modern day earth technology that I had studied. As I pulled the motherboard out of its compartment I eyed the sphere of components, chips and wires, completely unlike our own two dimensional square CPUs. I smiled at the first technological discovery made thus far, for me at least, I was unsure of the others progress as they worked at their own sections farther up.

  Our time was almo
st up but I still wanted to see the energy source that had been powering this facility for over one hundred and thirty cycles around Abraxus. I pulled the layout of the chambers up onto my datapad and went through the scans. Far into the depths was a large cavern still only half the size of the main one. Directly beside it was a smaller room with high electromagnetic readings. The lifts would take me down as far as I needed. I could be there and back in less than an hour and didn’t see any reason why I should be denied.

  "Staff Sergeant Nichols." I found him on the third level.

  "Yes Professor?"

  "I think I've found the power station. I would like permission to find it. The fact that it's been running unattended for so long, it could be the breakthrough that I believe Captain Anderson is looking for."

  "Show me,” I pulled it up on the map and showed him, "Not today, Professor. We need to clear it with the Captain first."

  I was frustrated. A feeling I was unused to. I sought Angela out, "I am done for the day. I want to return to the biodome." She looked at her wrist pad.

  "We still have twenty minutes left." Her brows furrowed in confusion.

  "I am upset."

  "I can see that but we are here to do a job."

  "That's what I'm trying to do. The discoveries here are mediocre. I have discovered the assembly and make of their computer systems. I am confident I can create documents for their recreation on earth. What I need now is their power source."

  I was getting more upset and Angela grabbed my arm. That made me angry but I held back and stepped away from her. She let me go.

  I opened my mouth and hesitated, "I need to talk to you. Later, in private." I had almost broken a promise to her in that moment. The words I wanted to say I had promised I would not so instead I walked away and stared at my datapad for twenty minutes until the rendezvous was called and I found myself back in the red ATV.

   

  "What did you want to tell me?" Angela was treading lightly now that we were alone. My frustration had left me now and I was unsure if I wanted to tell her or not. I was sitting at my desk translating the computer console schematics when she approached me.

  "Maybe later. I have a lot of work to do. We are here to do a job after all."

  That stopped her. She paused a moment and thought.

  "You are getting much better at this whole human interaction thing Professor. I believe that was your first insult."

  "I did not mean it that way. I am sorry."

  "It's fine. You're right. We have a lot to do."

  I was unsure exactly what Angela had to do that took up so much of her time but did not remark upon it. Staff Sergeant Nichols was approaching and I quickly looked back to my computer screen as Angela returned to her desk.

  "Congratulations Professor."

  "I am confused?"

  "I talked with Captain Anderson. He says if you believe you have far more to gain by finding the power station then you are free to break off from the main group tomorrow."

  I smiled, "Thank you."

  The lift jittered downwards through the lower levels. Angela stood beside me, Staff Sergeant Nichols beside her. On the lowest level we came to a rough halt. Nichols shifted his gun to his other hand and pulled the doors open. Even standing at six feet tall plus the height of his biosuit’s helmet he cleared the doors in the facility with several feet to spare above him. The hallway was short with two doors on opposite sides. One led to the massive room that was unexplored as of yet and the other held the smaller room that I believed to be the power station.

  The door swished open and I smiled in triumph. It was the power room; I held a multi-meter out in my hand and followed the thick black cords strung around the walls leading into shafts. In the center was a large shaft of metal. Thick grey tubes ran in one side and out the opposite, disappearing into the mountain.

  "What is it?" Nichols circled the room.

  "I have no idea." I went for the nearest console and began to search through it, "Angela. Come look at this." Much to my dismay Nichols joined me as well at the console.

  "Is it the power source?"

  "Yes. It's... it's amazing. It holds antimatter."

  "Impossible."

  "No. Theoretically it's completely probable. And they've done it. But this is going to take some time for me to figure out exactly how. If a single atom of antimatter touches an atom of matter the explosion would be enough to wipe out this entire facility."

  "Then be careful."

  Nichols and Angela left me to study the antimatter container and the sound of laughter almost an hour later brought me out of my concentration. Angela was standing beside Nichols, laughing at something he had said. That was my first twinge of jealousy. I went back to work but secretly listened in on the comm system.

  The large container in the center of the room was holding the antimatter in place by use of magnetic forces and gravitational manipulation. A facility wrapping around the entire mountain was how the antimatter was generated but it appeared to have been inactive for many rotations. Still, the amount of antimatter I was reading in the container was enough to allow the facility to operate at full power for another hundred and thirty cycles.

  Examining the mapping of power throughout the facility I could see every station that was turned on. I found that while the rest of the facility was in sleep mode, excluding the current consoles being access by the research team, the large chamber across the hall was still drawing full power. Taking my datapad of calculations with me I headed for the door.

  "Where are you going Professor? Are we done here?"

  "No. Not yet." I crossed the hallway to the other door but Nichols grabbed my arm and swung me around before I could open the door.

  “What do you think you’re doing?"

  "This is the only room in the whole facility that has been drawing power all these years. I want to know what it's powering."

  "I understand your curiosity but we follow our orders. You'll have to clear it with Captain Anderson first."

  "He doesn't have to know." I don't know why I was being rebellious. It wasn't part of my usual nature and I couldn't believe that it was to impress Angela. Perhaps I was a far more curious creature than I had originally conceived.

  The grumbles of the others could be heard all across the cafeteria that night. I kept my head down at dinner, avoiding any conversation. Our exploration had been cut two hours short. Captain Anderson had given me a lecture upon my return and I was eager to avoid being yelled at by anyone else. Not that Anderson had yelled but he had such a cold glance and demeanor that I had no wish to ever be spoken to in private by him again.

  I finished before the others and returned to my desk in the main room. I decided to finish going through the logs and get it off my ever growing to do list. Simply more reports but I did find an interesting one of a red status ship that had lost engine power and was drifting helplessly through space. It was the one and only report from this particular ship after its launch and was received only five hours into the voyage. I punched in the co-ordinates. It was a one week travel with our current propulsion systems but the possibility of actually studying a ship capable of such speeds gave me a small thrill. The question was whether or not Captain Anderson would sign off on the use of such resources. I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to bring it to his attention just yet.

  "How are you doing Professor. You've been very quiet?" Angela was standing in my room, watching me brush my teeth in the washroom mirror.

  "I'm fine. There is a lot of work to be done, many things to contemplate."

  "I agree. Are you feeling overwhelmed by it at all?"

  "No. I think I am doing ok."

  "How was your physical?"

  "I’m healthy."

  I poured my nighttime pills onto the counter and took them with a large drink of water.

  “That's good." She turned to head for her own room but a question came into my mind suddenly.

  "Angela?"
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  "Yes Professor?"

  "How did the other clones die?"

  The question caught her off guard and she lowered herself onto my bed. I joined her but kept a respectful amount of space between us.

  "Their minds...rejected their bodies."

  "Is that what all these drugs are for?"

  "Yes. But I'm afraid I'm the wrong person to ask about what they all do exactly."

  "How long did the other clones live for?"

  "The first fifty four never made it to consciousness. The last thirty five made it into different phases of the learning stage. You are the first to make it through without rejecting."

  "And A90?" Angela's body stiffened, "You said fifty four and thirty five. That is only eighty nine correct?"

  "I think I should go to bed."

  "I wish you would stay. I am sorry if I upset you. It's just that I miss my room on earth. I miss spending my evenings with you. Now I have to spend my time with these strangers who talk about things I do not understand and forbid me to go places while ordering me to explore."

  “I miss our quiet time as well."

  "Do you love me Angela?"

  "I am your aide Professor."

  "Did you love A90?" I could see tears forming the corners of Angela's eyes, "I am sorry. I did not think that would upset you."

  "It's all right Professor. But please, promise me. No more talk of love."

  "I wanted to say it to you the other day. That is what I wanted to talk to you about."

  "Love is not permissible here."

  "I will promise not to say it. But I will not promise not to feel it. I know that love cannot be defined but I have realized that it can be felt."

  Angela blinked and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Instinctually I wiped it away. I overstepped my bounds. Angela rose and left the room. I sat there for a moment, realizing that she loved me. But only because I reminded her of someone she used to know. Of A90.