Colony worlds, p.6
Colony Worlds, page 6
“For the six hundred years between the war and waking me she was alone,” he said, “arguing with herself about the merits of revival after discovering Typhon would hit.”
At Jorgena's quizzical expression, he added, “She didn’t start revivals until a near miss gave her enough data to predict the eventual collision. To answer your question about her not wanting us to leave, I think you’re right. Until she woke me, I think she was lonely. I don’t think she wants to be again.”
Jorgena nearly choked, [Struth, will you listen to yourself, ‘she’, ‘lonely’, there is no she to be lonely. It’s an artificial brain, it doesn’t feel anything, you’re projecting your own loneliness on to it.]
His implant dampened her shouted thoughts. He had anticipated her reaction. He remained calm and replied in a quiet voice. “I disagree; Severne’s synthetic DNA is still DNA and I’ve lived with her for over fifty years, I’m starting to know her.”
Jorgena gave a wry smile and Hedley was encouraged to think she might be re-evaluating her position.
“Think of your interactions with her in terms of the Turing test. Would you have known you were dealing with an Artilect, if she hadn’t told you? You probably had the same question I did when you woke, ‘Who are you?’, and then dismissed her as soon she said something like ‘I am Artilect-7’.” Jorgena looked unsettled indicating he was close to the mark.
“I still think you’re attributing human characteristics to a machine but really, I don’t care how you view your friend,” she said investing ‘friend’ with derision.
Stalemate thought Hedley.
7 Jorgena
As they sped along the travelator, Jorgena felt glad that Hedley had decided to come but uneasy about what his reaction would be to her finishing off his artificial friend. She wasn’t about to risk Klinton to the possibility of an attempted revival before she returned with the CPR backup. She had an outrageous idea that if successful would permanently disable the Artilect's core unlike her failure when she went into it. She had expected to find banks of bio-circuitry, perhaps nutrient feeds, something she could turn off or cut. Instead, she found a solid plasteel capsule like a bloated cryopod, in the otherwise empty module. There was mothing she could break or break into. Paranoid security had made Seven's vitals tamper proof.
She treated Hedley to a long speculative look. He looked teary eyed. His reaction might be extreme if he was that unstable. She projected a discrete thought to Seven.
[How stable is Hedley?]
[His last suicide attempt was five years, eight periods, thirty-two ...]
Jorgena cut her off. [Spare me the detail. It’s not what I asked.]
[He is stable, how stable I cannot say. Your presence has changed him. He displays an eagerness never previously shown.]
Eagerness for what, Jorgena wondered privately. I hope he's not looking to jump me.
She attracted his attention. “You do know I’m coming back unless something prevents me.”
Hedley’s reaction reinforced a fear she didn’t want to acknowledge. They would be lucky to make it down let alone back. Her next thought grudgingly admitted to the possibility.
[We should take as much essential supplies as Kestrel can carry – just in case.] She voiced the rest, “Think about what you can't do without.”
“Human contact,” he replied instantly
“Ah, so you admit Seven isn’t human.”
“Not at all, I was speculating on how much I would miss you if I left you here.”
“Don’t play the fool Hedley. I’m not in the mood.” She found the comment hurtful.
“Severne said I don’t really need you; she could pilot Kestrel for me.”
“It could but it won’t, or it would’ve offered to do so long ago. It’s playing with you, Hedley. I was asking what special items you might regret not having down there.
“Like what?”
The question threw her for a second. Had he become so reliant on Seven he no longer thought for himself? “I suggest you start with a few boxes of nanite injectors and take it from there. Keep me informed. “
“Yes commander,” he said sardonically before he saluted then propelled himself headfirst down the habitation ring spoke.
Jorgena followed but not before turning over and hooking onto the platform so that she would arrive in gravity feet first. Hedley would have to turn over along the way.
Uppermost in her private thoughts as she descended were two items: what would be the result of disabling Seven's core and did she really need to? Asking Seven why it had started had been the wrong question.
[Who authorised revivals,] she asked.
[Security Administrator, Yedda F. Abbot as her last act before committing suicide. I did not use the authority until a subroutine calculated that asteroid 315 Ge4 would collide with New Earth.]
[Why keep going when you know it will kill us.]
[I balance the probability that I can wake the necessary colonists in sufficient time to help divert the asteroid, against the probability that I will run out of colonists before that time. Your resuscitation, with fewer attempts than Hedley's, has raised the probability of success.]
[To what?]
[Forty two percent.]
[You gave us a better chance of surviving the landing.]
[True, but the probability of you returning is eleven percent. Leaving without reinstating authority to resuscitate will prevent any further successes. In addition, your pilot-navigator skills could be useful in deflecting 315 Ge4. Make no mistake Jorgena its impact will extinguish the remnant population below and condemn Klinton and your fellow colonists to death without ever leaving their cryopods.]
Jorgena didn’t answer, knowing it would involve her in an argument she couldn’t win. Seven’s knowledge base and debating algorithm was better than anything she could muster, the Artilect's only problem was it had no empathy.
She moved on to her next priority, she and Klint’s stored embryos, her just in case scenario, should something prevent her from returning. If she were still down there at the end of two hundred years, she would have and bring up, her and Klint’s children by herself. At least with Hedley along to ensure they were properly stored she would worry less.
The rest: Geckos, med-bots, animal embryos, seeds and even the nanite injectors to keep them healthy really didn’t matter. According to Seven, the war hadn't destroyed everything on planet. In fact, she was counting on there being ample resources in the training facility, a full-size working duplicate of Peregrine’s habitation and hibernation rings and the short section of connecting axis, spared like the colony.
8 Hedley
Jorgena was studying his smudged writings on the cafeteria wall when Hedley ran into her on his last trip. She looked up at his approach.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Hedley could only nod. She must have guessed. The textured black marks were too old to retain any smell.
“You have lived an interesting life.”
“I was often bored. Planetside is where it will be interesting. I've added a couple of DEWs for personal protection.”
Jorgena frowned, “Why?”
“Unless you intend to live alone, have a look the communities we might have to join?”
“I have, they looked fine to me.”
“You haven't had time for a proper study. They kill even slightly mutated babies at birth. How will that sit with you? I only ask because they summarily behead anyone who interferes. Are you sure you want to go.”
Jorgena gave him what he now recognised as one of her speculative looks with no inkling of what she was thinking.
“You have to stop listening to Seven. It told me it might need my help to divert the asteroid, piloting Peregrine. What a joke. The shuttle doesn't have the power to deflect a speeding rock big enough to kill a planet. Get real, Hedley. It doesn’t want you it needs you, to authorise its revival program. It’s trying to talk us out of going.”
She is probably right, he thought and certainly stronger than he had been. His years alone here with only Severne to talk to and no physical contact had sapped any strength he may have had to resist her arguments. It was way past time to leave.
“I’m done, then. There’s nothing else I can think of we might need.”
Assembling the few items took the rest of the day, multiple tedious trips up and down the spokes between the rim of hibernation ring and Kestrel. The constantly changing gravity had made him sick as well as tired.
“I only came down for a last look round.” He actually came to take a photo of his wall. If they survived, he did not intend to come back. “Are you here for anything?”
“Something to read, there and back,” she said, walking to the nearest dining table. She tapped the screens of several live-book readers.
She’s kidding herself if she thinks she’ll come back, he thought privately.
“What’s your preference, fiction, non-fiction or a combination? There’s about a million titles on each, want one?” she asked looking back at him.
“I packed two of each already,” Hedley said quietly.
Jorgena almost smiled but before Hedley could be sure, the lights flickered and went out.
“What the fuck are you doing, Seven,” Jorgena shouted into the dark silence as the air scrubbers wound down to a stop.
“It isn’t Severne,” Hedley shouted over her.
“Pig’s arse, I’ve been expecting your mad Artilect to take extreme measures to stop us leaving.”
[Debris strike, repairs are underway,] Severne said calmly from the walls.
“It isn’t Severne,” Hedley shouted again. “We are still in the debris belt of the destroyed stations.”
He lowered his voice when she didn’t shout back. “We occasionally get hit by chunks too large to deflect. Where did it hit?” he asked Severne.
“Axial Segment-85,” the walls replied as an orange glow softly illuminated the cafeteria and Jorgena’s angry face.
“That’s three away from the core,” he told Jorgena.
“Pity it wasn’t a direct ... how often do you get king hits?” she asked in more measured tones.
“I can't remember, nine or ten.”
“Sixteen since I resuscitated you Hedley.” Severne corrected.
“The war that keeps on giving,” Jorgena said pointing in the direction of the hibernation ring. “What happens when a large chunk hits them? The only way we can save them is to return with the CPR backups.” She put the live books in her pocket, walked into the spoke and turned back to look at him, her face under control. [Well,] she sent as she grabbed a handhold, her expression neutral.
The handhold moved lifting her up toward the axis. As her face disappeared, Hedley shrugged, stepped into the alcove and grabbed the next handhold. He had until they arrived at the Kestrel to think it through.
Despite his heartfelt, “I’m in” when he saw New Earth rise over the command console, his decision had wavered. All options were bleak. Did he stay and permit Severne to restart attempts until the deaths sent him mad, or go with the hope the damn asteroid missed. If they both left, Severne couldn’t wake more colonists. The odds of returning were so negligible that barring accident, he and Jorgena would still be alive when and if the asteroid wiped out New Earth.
[It will and if you survive landing, you will have several years to contemplate your negligence, leaving me without the ability to resuscitate your colleagues. You will die, they will die and I will ... I will cease to function.] Her persistence that Typhon would hit did not convince him. He had seen the damaged multiple debris hits had done to her data collecting arrays. Her projections were out of date. Typhon's trajectory may have changed.
He looked up, saw Jorgena looking down and knew from her determined expression she was still planning to stop Severne before she left. He couldn't let that happen. He believed in Severne. She was still evolving, she might well find a solution if allowed to continue, with or without us, with or without further revivals.
9 Jorgena
Spare me all philosophers thought Jorgena looking down the spoke at Hedley’s upturned face, remembering the plaque on his pod. She would like to drop something on him. It wouldn’t work of course; they were almost out of the gravity well. She twisted her body around and pushed off to land feet first on the axial travelator. It wasn’t necessary just personal preference. Hedley turned into the axis without altering his orientation, grabbed a handhold and floated horizontally beside her.
They travelled in silence, she vertical and Hedley horizontal facing her. She could feel him watching but could not penetrate his thinking. He’s been quick to relearn how to hide his thoughts.
“I’m not sorry,” she said as she sealed Kestrel’s outer airlock hatch.
“For what?” he asked.
“For stopping the resuscitations, which practically guarantees we are leaving it to fate. I'm aware that returning is unlikely but I have to try, for my sake as well as Klint's. No offense but I don’t want to end up like you,” she said as she opened the inner hatch and propelled herself down the corridor toward the command module.
Hedley following said, “None taken but I disagree. We being the only successes, shows Severne’s revivals were never going to be enough. Our fate and that of New Earth was beyond anyone’s control as soon as the war started.
Peregrine’s speakers came to life, [When Typhon hits, it will destroy the last remnants of human civilization.]
“That isn’t true,” Hedley cut in before Jorgena had time to think about it. “On this planet perhaps but Medora told me New Earth was only the first of many colonial worlds settled from Old Earth before it collapsed,”
[That’s reassuring,] Jorgena thought publicly. The sudden private thought that she might be the cause of human extinction had made her shudder. Then again, fate intervening to wipe them out might be a good thing. It might allow evolution to develop a species saner than ours proved to be.
They drifted into the command module, comprised of four interdependent couches arranged in in ellipse around the curve of the windshield. Each was able to serve as a pilot, co-pilot, navigator or engineer's couch. Jorgena floated over the top of the left central couch, traditionally the pilot's seat, using the headrest to change direction and manoeuvre into the seat.
Hedley pushed against the wall, turned in mid-air and deftly landed without bounce next to her in what was usually the co-pilot’s couch.
“Impressive” Jorgena said starting Kestrel's engines.
“Years of practice.”
“You’ve done this before.” It was a shock to find he had obviously thought of leaving many times and when she looked across at him, his eyes were moist again. She suddenly saw that for Hedley, leaving would be an entirely different emotion. She’d been up for two weeks, twelve days of emotional turmoil, the massive wrench in deciding to leave Klint with only a faint hope of ever seeing him again.
As Hedley’s wall of death wall showed, he’d had nearly sixty years of failed resuscitations and failed attempts to leave. If he hadn’t been willing to come, she would have forced him or ...
A shudder ran the long unused shuttle. Surprisingly the bay doors opened on command. Perhaps Hedley was right, perhaps persuasion is all Seven has to get us to do its bidding she thought, glancing across to find him watching her.
“Do it,” he said.
Jorgena concentrated. This would be tricky. The Kestrel detached from Peregrine and with a small push of the attitude drifted through the bay doors out in space. Peripherally aware of Hedley, she tapped icons to change direction. Minutes later Kestrel came to rest above the clearly labelled axial segment-88.
[What is the intent of Kestrel’s thrusters pointed at my core?] Severne interrupted.
[You know why Seven, give me a reason not to put an end to your killings.]
“I’ll give you one.” Hedley said
She glanced across at him and saw the co-pilot’s console was live, his fingers dancing over the console's black glass like a pro.
What the ... her fingers lifted up from the firing icon, distracted buy a flashing icon in the top corner of her console.
“I've sent a couple of patches to your console,” Hedley said, “If you fire your couch will eject. It will be interesting to see if fate can get you safely down.”
Jorgena looked down at the tiny script under the icon ‘patch successfully applied’
“You mad bastard, all this to protect a bloody machine,” She shook with the thought that he was prepared to sacrifice her to the Artilect.
“I’m sorry, but you refuse to accept that Severne is an entity evolved from Seven. She is now much more than the sum of her parts.”
“Is that your own opinion or did she give it to you.” Shit, did I just say ‘she’,
[Please stop Jorgena; you will kill ... any chance of saving the colony.]
“Have you noticed that occasional hesitation?” Hedley asked.
That pulled her up. She had but had taken no real notice. Now that he'd highlighted it, it had seemed that sometimes Seven had tried to say something and couldn’t get it out.
“Too many debris hits,” she answered. He has me overthinking it now.
“It began right after you said you would shut her down.”
Jorgena already angry was outraged “Typical, blame me. Seven is the one killing us and you blame me for giving it a stutter. If we don’t take out the core before we leave, it will find a way to start to kill again.”
She can't. I've had time to view all the manuals. Without input from a live colonist, resuscitations are impossible. You told her to stop, she stopped.”
10 Hedley
Hedley watched her face. Jorgena stared back at him with a look that might prove fatal, her finger trembling over the firing icon. Hedley was past the point of caring. Going would probably kill them but neither could he stay. It led to madness, a route he’d taken many times, Severne always managing to nurse him back but there was always the possibly she would fail.
