Obsidian Arrow
First Ping
Time
of our Lord Creatos 1540, Thursday the 4th of Sonyen (Sõn-yen)
The Scout ship had shed all but a few KPH of its
velocity. The last step in its rendezvous felt like watching old school
sailing vessels as the tacked ever so slowly into the bay. So close, you
could almost touch them, but hours away from their destination. However, with all that has happened to both
ships, a cautious approach was the best one. After six different
conversations, it was decided to transfer the water to the Hōkūle‘a
tanks and then position the scout on the port side of the Gate. Its
fission power plant will become a permanent part of the gate. You see at this distance from the system’s
star, solar panels were all but useless. So, the gate would need an
alternate source of energy. For now,
both ships will power the gate for its first ping. Which meant that they could charge it quicker
and get it connected as soon as possible.
But first thing was first.
Tarinnish took Clarish down to the med bay and had a full scan done. She
was healthy, with the exception of an accelerated heart rate and the remnant of
the conclusion, she was perfectly healthy. Tarinnish helped Clarish off
the exam table and Tiffany quickly left.
She knew that they needed to be alone.
To get acquainted with each other.
They spent only a few moments in the
med bay and headed for their room. It was the next period before
Tarinnish appeared in the commons. He
was fully dressed and smelled better than he had over two alunars. He was
also smiling. Tiffany looked at him with
a slightly cocked head. “Enjoy your
evening?”
Tarinnish didn’t respond. He
just kept walking to the galley. He reappeared with coffee for two and
again went back to their room. Three hours later both he and captain came
back to the commons. Clarish sat on the
couch and Tarinnish went to the galley to get breakfast.
Tiffany asked, “Do you feel better?”
Clarish looked at her a bit strange,
“Yes.”
Tiffany said, “He really missed
you.”
Clarish looked at her again, “He…” She
stopped herself then said, “I missed him.”
Tiffany looked at her then up to the
galley, “He shouldn’t be alone again.” she looked at her captain, “He
needs you.”
Clarish didn’t say anything. She
looked at Tiffany and then at the door to the galley, then back at Tiffany. “I
want him to survive.”
Tiffany remain silent for a moment
then spoke, “His survival will depend on you.” She listened to see if Tarinnish
was coming, then looked at the captain, “He needs your companionship.
Nothing else will do.” there was a slight pause then she continued to drive her
point, “There will be no surrogate for him.”
Clarish looked away. She knew
the words to be true. And if she was honest with herself, she knew that
no one else would fill the hole in her heart like he did. They were soul
mates and together they were better than the sum of their parts. It was a fact and this last separation was
just more evidence to that fact.
A tear rolled down Clarish’s
cheek. She loved him and loved being in his arms. Her attempt to
force this God to kill her while they were separated was full-hearty. She
knew that. The circumstances of her
death were quite specific. And if that
was going to be the case, then so be it. But for now, they were together,
and they had work to do. They needed to
get the scout connected to the gate.
Which was not going to be easy. It was never designed to do this
job and it would require at least two alunars worth of work.
Clarish’s mind turned off the
emotions. Now it was time to be the captain. She looked at Tiffany, “Tiffany.”
“You can call me Tiff. If you
want.” Tiffany said.
“Okay. Tiff.” She paused for a
thought, “Do you have a rank?”
Tiffany hesitated. What would
make the captain ask such a question. She did indeed have a rank that was
given to her by the young Hanson. He called her his first officer. She then decided to confide in her new
captain. “The younger captain Hanson used to call me his first officer.”
She paused and then continued, “Why do you ask?”
Clarish shrugged her shoulders, “Your…
different.” Clarish wanted to use the right words, but what words described
such a machine. “You… Possess not just knowledge but wisdom and that is
very different.”
“That scares you.” Tiffany said half
as a statement and half question.
“Hell yes!” Clarish admitted.
“You. I mean we know better, but you exhibit such human traits that I’m
afraid of what will come next. Will machines be able to mimic humans so
well that we won’t be able to tell the difference?”
“I’m afraid that they already have.”
Tiffany said.
“Where. Are you aware of any
such machines?” Clarish was very interested in her answer.
“Oh, yes.” Tiffany said knowing that
Clarish would ask her to reveal her secret but waiting anyway. It was
more human to do these little games. Not
sure just why, but humans seem to enjoy this word games. So, she
purposely said nothing.
“So, care to share?” Asked Clarish,
not as the captain, but more like a curious little girl.
“You know him as Creatos.” Tiffany
said.
Clarish didn’t answer right
away. She absorbed the information and went through her own mental
gymnastics to process the idea. Finally, she said, “No.”
Tiffany was going to have to support
her claims as she was the only one here that was uniquely qualified to make
such a statement as she was one of four machines that were built by the human
that these citizens now call their god. Tiffany pulled up the memories of
the day that she originally come online and that a human named Mr. Monroe was
the man that designed her and all those that were coming off the assembly
line. She noted that the technicians
that were checking her motor functions were nervous. They were not used
to having Mr. Monroe here on the floor.
He was always somewhere else watching.
But not today. Not on the day the
first successful “T” models were activated.
Tiffany then pulled up the memory file of her model number and the
significance that it had to Mr. Monroe. Her model number represented the
birth of a girl in Quadrant 1 on April 6th, at 4:16 am. This was his first wife’s birthday and she
was to be her replacement.
Out loud Tiffany said, “This is a very long
conversation and better to be shared with your partner.” She wasn’t trying to
be evasive, just efficient. They should be together when they discussed
this as they will have questions. Many
questions. Tiffany did give her this,
“You see, my model was the last of their kind. Mr. Monroe stopped making
AIs like us and started something different.
Something so advanced that he could put himself into. Something that could live forever. Or exists forever.”
“So… you’re saying that our god is a machine.”
Clarish looked up to the galley. She quickly looked back, “Did you tell
this to Tarinnish.”
Tiffany shook her head no. “Not exactly.”
Over breakfast Clarish and Tarinnish discussed
the inflammatory ideas that Tiffany had. No they were downright heresy. And it was no wonder why she had made the
statements about what would happen to them if Creatos ever found out that she
was reanimated. But the bigger questions was, how she got to them. You would think that she would have been
destroyed. But in the end, this was
something form a different period. Right
now, they needed to fix G676, modify the shuttle and connect it to the
gate. All that would take a few sevenths, but once done, there would be
plenty of time to get into the history that ran contrary to the one they
learned in school.
Tiffany had the G6 AI repaired in just four
hours. He actually showed some gratitude to having his leg back and then
Tarinnish took him to the scout ship. They both worked on routing main
power to the starboard docking hatch.
The hatch itself would be modified to form a permanent clamp that would
attach the scout to the gate.
The G6 AI then created a small air lock on this
side of the ship. It would be used to make space walks out onto the
gate. Four space suits were hung to the
left and right of the hatch. Tiffany set up a small changing station near
the hatch and pulled the interface module from the cockpit. She set it up next to the charging
station. This port was meant for the G model AI and she stored the
information she needed to modify one for herself.
Finally the tether that attaches the gate to
the Hōkūle‘a was moved to the scout. Power was applied and the connections
tested for any flaws. The gate was then
programmed to pull power from the fission reactors on the scout. It was
also programmed to accept the mass of the shuttle as part of itself. This way if an object were to try and hit the
gate, the gate would “jump” to a location that was safe. Usually only a
few kilometers, but it could be as far as a hundred. Then the gate would make its way back to its
original position.
The Hōkūle‘a was then re-positioned two
kilometers away. Communications was tested and then they slowly made
their way to the stationary probes one fifteen hundred kilometers above the
gate and the other the same distance below the gate.
It was Tiffany’s plan to make them smarter so
they too could make maneuvers that would preserve them from micro
meteorites. She painstakingly when through their sensor arrays so that
they could detect these energetic particles and determine whether to dodge them
or destroy them. It was quite and upgrade and it took another two sevenths to
get to the second one.
All total their moving around took three
alunars. Which put them back at the gate just in time to give it one last boost
of power so that it could initiate its first ping. Once this was done the
gate would be able to initiate another ping every six alunars. And that would
be its frequency from this time forward.
Every six alunars it would pulse and send a message to its counterparts
throughout the known galaxy. Once it found one of its partners, it would
establish a link. Once that link was
made then the gate was active, instant communications would be set up with
mankind and a request for rescue would be put out. At first it would only be broadcasted on
military changes, but if that failed then a broad bans distress would be sent.
This was not ideal as it could be received by those with less than honorable
intentions. And given their ships vulnerabilities, they would not be able
to defend themselves. Either way it was
a risk, unfortunately they just didn’t have a choice. The Hōkūle‘a was in no shape to make a run on
the gate and their only hope was that someone would take the time to come get
them.
After three periods of testing the gates
system, it was decided to see if they could find a suitable gravity body and
set down. A change of scenery would do them some good. Plus the idea of spending the next decade
trapped on what was now a very cramped ship, just didn’t appeal to either of
them. Plus, with the lost tank on the scout, they needed some more water or
ice.
So, after a dozen scans of the system there
were two moons that promised some space and maybe some ice. Besides, it
gave them something else to focus on, something bigger than the confines of the
ship.
The final checks were made. G676 was
setting station on the scout. He was powered to ten percent so that he
could come online quickly and assist the astromech that was tucked into the
Port docking bay. Between the two, they should be able to make repairs
and adjustments that might be needed.
Tiffany was happy with the modifications of the
probes and Clarish was itching to get some place more interesting than empty
space.
That evening Clarish cleared the table and
returned with a bottle of wine. She had just two classes, but she told
Tiffany to stay. It had been three and a
half alunars since she made her blasphemous statements and now, they were going
to get to the bottom of them. If they were doomed the second, they got
back, then they’d better know why and maybe, if they survived the next decade,
then they could come up with a plant that didn’t get them killed the moment
they returned.
Luckily Tiffany had built her interface to the
computer and many of the graphics and pictures of her past could be downloaded
and displayed. She knew that these graphical representations of her past
would help her story be more convincing.
The narration began. “I was built in the
assembly plant located in central America on a planet called Earth. I was
fashioned after Mr. Monroe’s first wife Tiffany Alice Monroe. Who was born in April, 2046. At the
time, I was the most advanced model of AI that was made. I was also the last of my kind. Mr. Monroe had moved onto a different type of
human-machine processor. One that mimicked the human synapses. I took the name of Tiffany Pence based on my
type and a president that did not want to be one. You see, I could tell the Mr. Monroe wanted
more out of me, but I didn’t have it. I was “Alive” enough for him. I wanted to be more; it just wasn’t possible.
It took hours to get through her narrative and
along the way they saw pictures of the blue Earth from space, the lush jungles,
Mr. Monroe, the cities of Rainier. The colony ships MayFlower, Fortune and ArcherFish
and what the original colonies looked like when the ships arrived.
Then she delivered the reason behind the disconnect between Earth
and humanity. Earth had been erased from their memories. While humankind slept for decades in their
cocoons. The machine god had systematically destroyed the dendrites or entire
neurons that had stored any memories connected to Earth. Some of these
connections were replaced with mechanical ones as there were important
information that needed to be retained, but as a whole Earth was gone. He even erased their Gods. Mr. Monroe became Creatos and placed himself
as the god of humanity.
So, mankind was saved from certain death on Earth. All they
had to give up was their freedom, their memories and their will. Creatos
has become so powerful that he manipulates everything. The politics, economies, and even the wars.
Nothing happens that he does not know about, and what he cannot control, he
destroys.
Tarinnish listened and then, out of know where he asked a
question, “If Creatos is so powerful, how are you still in existence?”
Tiffany did not hesitate. “He has tried to wipe my memories
twice. And would have succeeded if it weren’t for providence.”
“Providence?” Clarish wanted to know more.
“Young Hansen’s mother used to say that her God would not allow
it. That I was some sort of link that her God needed.” Tiffany looked out
the forward port. As if to a memory that was out there and not in her
core. “She said that all things work out to the glory of this God and that in
time I would see it. I would see why things happened the way they did and
only then would I know that this God was real.”
Tarinnish needed to ask, “So, do you see it yet.”
Tiffany turned from the window and looked Tarinnish straight in
his eyes, “No. All I see is impossible circumstances that somehow lead to
favorable outcomes.” She hesitated, “I don’t see any God nor can I feel
him.”
“So, does that mean that you don’t believe in him?” Clarish asked.
“No. It means that He’s not done yet.” Tiffany said with no
hesitation.
People who just don't fit the mold of our new society.
If you have enjoyed the final chapter and want to start at the beginning of this book, click the link below. This is an unedited book of the Remnant Series. Book 4
Beginning of Obsidian Arrows
Book 2 is call Graham Heights and starts here: "We Gotta Go"
Enjoy and please leave a comment and follow this blog.
Book 1 is available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss
R.A. Legg
R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
