Vast Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  As he saw them, Ximon’s nightmare came back to him and he felt the same, sad feeling. They went back to Mantis feeling very somber, scrubbed their suits for radiation, and took off.

  They did some other fruitless passes over other areas but found no sign of life and heard no more messages. Finally, Ximon could take it no more and pulled out of orbit. He headed directly for a jump point, depressed and dejected.

  As they flew, Mantis noted, “Captain, I received a delayed message from the Representative.”

  Ximon was angry at the Representative for the intrusion and for putting him in this situation. “Read it!”

  Mantis readily complied, reading the message with a hint of the Representative’s tone, “Great Filter. More often than not, they kill themselves if nothing else does.”

  Ximon pounded uselessly on the console, enraged by the arrogance and indifference of the Representative. As he calmed, Ximon noted that he was partly angry at the fact that the Representative was right in a way – many races do kill themselves if nothing else does. It was galling that the Representative’s people just sat there and watched, doing nothing except, perhaps, laughing as younger races died.

  Ximon couldn’t get out of the system fast enough and jumped as soon as they possibly could, headed for the Kirob System in the Qurusetia Sector. It was several days before the cloud of depression left him.

  To get to Kirob, Mantis would cut up and across the Qurusetia Sector and cross into the Aluderus Sector, much as they had done about a year before. On their way, Ximon couldn’t resist setting course to see a few of interest, so the route took them to systems, or parts of systems, that weren’t really necessary.

  The jumps were generally quiet. The Canids were clearly somewhat impatient to get home and get back to their homes, families, or the rest of their crew. However, having little else to do, they seemed to go into something resembling hibernation. While still sociable when up and around, they spent a lot of time in their cabins. The crew might not see a particular Canid for a couple of days. They were no trouble, though they did tend to eat quite a bit when up. Elsbeth and Silas, in particular, seemed to enjoy their company, chatting at length at meals.

  The couple, Tristan and Zarinae Donager, were around sixty, very nice, and helpful. It appeared that they were ready to be about done with the wandering life. However, they seemed like ‘old hands’ in space, so Ximon wasn’t sure that ‘the wanderlust’ wouldn’t take them if they tried to settle down. They told a lot of good stories of doing long-haul cargo runs, she as a navigator and co-pilot, he as a cargo handler and mechanic. Ximon momentarily wondered if that’s what he and Raiza would be like in a few years, but then remembered that Raiza would never age – only Ximon would get old.

  The woman, Riona O’Mara, was a medic from the Arapahoe. She was mousy and somewhat overweight, around thirty, and attractive. She seemed depressed and anxious. Her long, sandy hair hung limply and often partly covered her face. She seemed shell-shocked and started at any substantial noise. Raiza tried to work with her and made sure she ate, but Riona just wanted to sleep, be left alone, and get on solid ground.

  Ximon spent some time writing reports and updating expense vouchers, with a lot of help from Mantis and Raiza. Ximon also worked with Silas on reports. Ximon was still anxiously awaiting word from Robatham on exactly what he’d be able to discuss with the KSF or otherwise. Silas had sent messages ahead, but they wouldn’t likely get word until they were close to home. Ximon composed his reports to the KSF on the assumption he’d be able to submit them but wasn’t sure.

  Between jumps, Elsbeth and Shao spent a lot of time playing with the tractor/repulsor beam. They couldn’t do much with it in jump because it couldn’t latch on to anything, but they worked with it when they were in regular space. They tried to establish its limits and worked out various techniques with it. They tested it at various ranges, against targets of various sizes, and with different numbers of targets.

  After trying it for a while, they reported their findings to Ximon.

  Shao pulled up some charts on the screen in the bridge, showing some applications they had put it to. “It’s an interesting device. It definitely has a maximum energy it can handle, but it can pull, push, or hold objects. Its power is limited by range, by the mass you’re trying to effect, and by the number of objects. With some time for testing, one could probably derive some theories on the exact relationship between those. We haven’t been able to snag more than three small things, but it may be possible to go as high as five or six, provided they’re close and relatively small, or their velocity is close to yours. We’d definitely need to work on being able to affect things more quickly, but it has a lot of applications.”

  Elsbeth cut in. “Yeah, Ximon, imagine you wound up in a dangerous asteroid belt. You could use it to either push away some asteroids or could grab some big ones and use it to adjust your velocity. Or, imagine that someone is shooting missiles at us — something that’s happened once or twice. You could grab a couple of them as they got close and maybe just hold them off until they ran out of fuel.”

  Shao then said excitedly, “All of that, plus it could be really handy for pulling those decoys alongside us. It’s a very nice device.”

  “Ximon, those guys were real assholes, but this was a nice little gift.”

  Ximon smirked. “It certainly seems nice, but I think it’s a pat on the head for obedient, little puppies.”

  “Yeah, sure, but a pat on the head is better than a kick in the teeth. Anyway, we’ll want to work some more with this and make sure we know how to use it. Mantis is working on it too. I think she can control it somewhat.”

  “It is pretty cool. Thanks for figuring it out. If you find out more, let me know.”

  As they were in jump from Iriren to Onzarhat, Mantis asked if Ximon could come to the bridge at his convenience. Ximon headed there after a shower and a light lunch. Ximon felt like he was having more of a ‘person-to-person’ conversation with Mantis if it took place on the bridge. The bridge also allowed for the best displays if Mantis wanted to show him something. Finally, the bridge tended to be one of the more private areas on the ship, especially in jump when it was rare for anyone else to go there. It was Ximon’s ‘quiet place’ when he needed one.

  “Greetings, Mantis. What’s up?”

  “Captain, thank you for coming. I have two issues I would like to discuss with you if your time allows.”

  “I’ve got nothing but time at present. Shoot.”

  “Captain, it has been some weeks since Euclidia volunteered to stay behind with the people of the Representative. I believe the crew has felt the loss and I have regretted not having his input and insight on multiple projects. As I said when he agreed to stay, I have a full backup of him, as well as Peter and Raiza. Since I felt his input was valuable, I have taken the liberty of creating a virtual instantiation of him. This representation is on a logically separate virtual machine within me, considerably more separate than the subprocess instantiations we implemented previously. This, of course, doesn’t recreate him perfectly since his personality was, perforce, impacted by the structure of his physical brain and impacted by his physical body. However, this representation is of assistance to me and may, I believe, be of some assistance to you.”

  “I would certainly welcome an instantiation of Euclidia if you think it’s a reasonable approximation. I assume this diversion of processing won’t impact your operation. If so, please go ahead.”

  “Not in any meaningful way. It is a streamlined application and can, if necessary, be given reduced resources or even halted. I undertook this as a non-intrusive experiment, so I didn’t feel I needed to get your pre-approval. I hope I did not err in that assumption. In any case, please meet Euclidia.”

  A voice that sounded almost precisely like Euclidia came out of a speaker to Ximon’s left. “Greetings, Captain. I must again thank you for allowing the use of Mantis’ resources to save me. That makes several times by my count.�
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  Ximon spoke excitedly to the speaker as if there was someone there. “Euclidia, it’s great to hear you. You are most welcome and I, again, thank you for your sacrifice at Ozu. How are you, uhhh, feeling?”

  “Thank you for asking. I am used to more direct interaction with the world but am pleased to be functional and find it even easier now to work with Mantis, which is always a pleasure. I hope I can still be of some use to you and to the ship. If I am not, please, feel free to reallocate the resources I would otherwise consume.”

  “I’m sure you’ll still be great.” He then turned unconsciously toward the front screen that he often looked at when communicating with Mantis. “Mantis, great work on this. I appreciate it.”

  Mantis replied, making vague visual representations of sound on the screen, as she occasionally did. “You are most welcome. I thank you for the freedom to conduct such experiments and am glad of a renewed association with Euclidia.”

  “You mentioned two issues, Mantis. What else?”

  “Yes, Captain. You have obviously been extremely busy with the tasks of the Representative and so forth, so I have waited to bring this topic back up. Euclidia and I continue to believe there would be value to you, the ship, and others in writing a book, or books. We noted the concerns you raised previously and have devised a plan to address them.”

  The voice that was Euclidia then spoke. “Captain, Mantis and I have worked on these book ideas, as time and resources have allowed, over the last several months. When Mantis instantiated me we completed that work and decided it was time to again discuss it with you. We understand it will be necessary to get approval from the KSF and certain individuals to discuss some specific events but have included them for your consideration. We have completed first drafts, for your review, of both books. They are structured such that any material that cannot be discussed can easily be withdrawn or sanitized for publication.”

  Mantis took over the discussion. “Both books are available to you on any media and you can select the level of specificity desired and whether you wish to have certain events included. As you’ll recall, the first book tells the stories of this crew in some detail. We have endeavored to make it both entertaining and enlightening. After composing the book, and comparing it to existing literature of its type, we feel even more strongly that your experiences are valuable and other people could benefit from hearing them. At present it is somewhat lengthy, but it can be scaled down to reflect your decisions on content or any legal limitations.”

  Euclidia then resumed the flow. “Captain, as you’ll recall, the second book is more of a professional book, using select anecdotes from our travels to support leadership or ship’s operation ideas. This book gives less personal detail and is more selective of the stories included. While we feel that both books would be educational, the second book is more focused on learning. Again, you can reduce content as you wish, and we assume you may want to choose which leadership or operations tenets you wish to highlight.”

  Ximon was surprised and a bit pleased. “So, you wrote them both?”

  “First drafts only, for your consideration. Either project can be adjusted as per your specifications or tabled indefinitely.”

  “Hmmm. Well, we do get involved in a bunch of strange stuff. Perhaps it would be interesting or enlightening to someone. Let me peruse them over the next few weeks and I’ll provide you feedback. Thanks for undertaking this. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting to see our stories in print and it can act as our ship history.” He got up and turned to go, then stopped himself. “Euclidia, it’s good to have you back. Mantis, good work on this, uhh, him.”

  Ximon went to their cabin and excitedly told Raiza about Euclidia. She acted excited for his benefit, but clearly already knew. It was hard to stay ahead of near-continuous wireless communication between computers and robots who never slept.

  Even though Euclidia wasn’t truly restored as he was, his instantiation within Mantis helped Ximon overcome some of the guilt he felt at having left Euclidia with the Representative. As it sunk in, he felt considerably better, which demonstrated how much it had been bothering him since they had left. He regretted that they couldn’t do something similar for Io, but he had never been backed up to Mantis.

  When they came out of jump in the Onzarhat System, Shao quickly noted a ship already heading toward the gas giant.

  “Shao, what is it?”

  “It appears to be a 400-ton freighter. Its IFF shows Independent States, the Kapustin.”

  “Greetings Kapustin, this is the KSS Mantis heading to refuel. May we ask how things have been on your travels?”

  A heavily accented voice replied, “‘Allo, Mantis. Ve are Vell. Ve have delivered cargo and are getting fuel before going home. Our trip through the Irapce Sector was uneventful. And you?”

  “We have come from the Verravroge Sector. Very sparse and a bit strange. We are refueling and then heading toward the Aluderus Sector. We wish you a safe voyage.”

  “Thank you, Mantis. You too.”

  The Kapustin headed for the gas giant, with Mantis behind. Out of politeness, Ximon guided Mantis to refuel on the other side of the gas giant. They didn’t see the Kapustin again until Mantis had finished refueling and was heading toward the main planet of Onzarhat-4. Since Kapustin had to use its shuttle to refuel, the process took considerably longer than it did for Mantis, even though Ximon made sure that Mantis’ extra fuel bladder was topped off.

  It took almost 13 hours to get near Onzharhat-4. Ximon intentionally didn’t get too close because he did not plan, nor want to, land. However, he got close enough to have Shao run some updated scans and have Mantis gather radio signals. It was also close enough that Mantis received traffic from a KSF communication buoy that had been deployed near the planet. She reviewed the traffic logs and noted there were dozens from Ambassador Douhat. Ximon knew the guy loved to tout his progress in messages. The Trailblazer had almost certainly received most of those same messages when it passed through, but the KSF communication network sent most messages through multiple available ships to ensure successful delivery. Except for the latest message, sent after Trailblazer had probably passed through, most of the messages would be deleted from Mantis’ message logs as soon as they got to another communication node that confirmed they had already reached their destination. Message relay was almost always a backup responsibility of every KSF vessel, including those in the ARC.

  Ximon pointed the ship toward a jump point and Mantis reported her results of radio signals. She noted that the general type and volume were similar to their last visit, but specifically noted traffic from a couple of the satellites Mantis had deployed on behalf of different nations on the planet. She also noted that some messages indicated an ongoing conflict between two of those nations, though the traffic was sparse enough that the details were unclear. Ximon was sure that Douhat was working it and detailed it in his messages. Ximon was generally unconcerned.

  After Onzarhat, Ximon made another stop, largely for interest’s sake. They jumped to the 729-ADX System near dwarf planet 729-ADZ-2C, where the crew had discovered a strange base set up by small gray aliens. When they came out of jump, Shao quickly noted two vessels orbiting above the base.

  Ximon peered at the screen as if that would give him insight. “What are they?”

  “The larger one shows as a KSF research vessel – the KSRV Johan, uhh, Hjort. The other has no transponder code and is of unknown design, massing approximately 250 tons.”

  Ximon was about to signal them when Mantis was hailed from two sources.

  “KSS Mantis, this the KSRV Hjort. We were not expecting your arrival. What have you got for us?”

  The other was apparently from the station and, after Mantis translated, said, “Recently arrived vessel, this is //untranslated// Station. You are unknown to us and unexpected. Identify yourself and state your business or you will be destroyed.”

  Ximon replied to the Hjort first, “Hjort, this is KSS Mantis. W
e are the ship that discovered this place and just wanted to see what it looked like now because we were passing through. We didn’t expect this much activity – KSF or alien. Can you help calm down the grays for us?”

  He then replied to the Station, having Mantis translate, “Station, this is the Kremniy Scout Ship Mantis. It was we who first made Republic contact with your station. We were passing through this system and wanted to see how you were doing. We will withdraw if you wish so as not to offend.”

  The Hjort replied, “Mantis, I get your interest, but this is sensitive stuff going on here. We’re going to have to ask you to leave.”

  Then the station replied, “Mantis, you stole a friend, but saved friends, and established contact. You are unexpected, but not wholly unwelcome. You may dock if you wish to enter. No weapons will be allowed.”

  “Station, if that will not be an inconvenience, it would be much appreciated.”

  “Land, Mantis, and enter. A tube will meet you.”

  Ximon then flipped back to Hjort. “Sorry, Hjort, but we’ve just been invited to visit. Seems like it would be impolite not to.”

  Ximon could imagine the captain of the Hjort being more than a bit peeved but didn’t care too much.

  Ximon announced to the crew, “The grays just welcomed us to visit. I, for one, am going. No one else has to if they do not wish to. I’ll plan to keep it short.”

  As it turned out, everyone but Silas and Shao wound up going. Silas didn’t feel he was part of the crew that had been invited and he thought it best to leave someone outside, just in case. Shao said the place just ‘gave her the creeps.’

  They suited up and headed for the same station entrance they had used on their previous visit. They went in, with some trepidation, Mantis ready to translate as best he could.

  They were met by three of the short, gray, naked aliens floating in the very near zero-G of the place. One carried a device that translated when either side spoke.

  The gray in the front said, “Welcome to those who stole, saved, and established contact between us and the Kremniy Republic of Worlds.”