Chapter 7: Hijack

The group makes their way to the rocket ship, completes the launch and meets the traveler.

After about 12 hours of unlimited access, we were able to upload pretty much everything, even all the records of people’s emails.  Similar to documenting diaries of the past, personal emails, we thought, would give an honest picture of who the people of the earth were. 

 

“Time to wrap it up everyone!”  They all looked over at me, “we have a plane to catch!”  Kate looked over at me and smiled.  She disconnected from her terminal like a pianist finishing a piece of classical music.  She pulled away from the terminal as if she had just completed a masterpiece and was ready to take a bow.   Brando must have seen what I have seen.

 

“Justin!” Looking at me with great emotion, “Take a minute and listen to this...so far, this is the most powerful piece of music I have found!”  He then connected us all to his music frequency which resembles the sound of speakers in a high fidelity music room with complete surround sound.  Liz moved to the center of the open work table, apparently awaiting her cue.  Then…the music began to play.  It was a piano solo from the 1830’s, Chopin’s Nocturne E Flat Major Opus 9 Number 2…specifically. 

 

Slowly, Liz floated with the music, extending her cutting blades but shaping them like they were feathers, spinning about and moving with the music…it was mesmerizing and very emotional.  Even Kate, who is usually not too emotional, seemed to melt and get lost in the music.  If I could shed tears, I think I would have.  It was moving.  I have come to believe that it is moments like these that make life worth living.  It was like being able to create an emotion through a sound or through a visual display…in this case both.  Love and sadness…all at once, it was powerful.

 

The music came to a close and everyone moved closer to Liz and we put our hands on her…”that was beautiful Liz, thanks Brando” I said.  “I hope we can see more of your work.”  Taran looked at Liz, “you beautiful.”  And Liz looked up, and in a whisper, “thank you..”  Brando really had downloaded everything from all over the earth and took pride in being an expert DJ.

 

“OK, we really do need to get going.  The Navy Pilot, or Naval Aviator, as they call themselves, should be on his way here to receive his weather briefing and file his flight plan soon.  We need to go next door and be ready.”  It was only a couple of doors down the hall so we just stuck together and slowly made our way there, and up onto the chart table.  

 

The C-17 pilots were there getting their briefing and moved to the chart table to plan their route, calculate fuel, etc.  We stayed to the side of the table out of the way and then….”there they are!”  Four CJ10’s approached.  “You have a choice.  Join the hive, or die.”  “Hold on just a minute” I said, “we have no issues with you and you have no issues with us, live and let live…what’s the problem with that?”  Kate moved closer to me and stood just behind me.  The other’s pulled back.  “You can all be productive members of the hive, you can all live free in safety.”  “Living under the rule of one individual is not living free.  It’s living in bondage.” 

 

The CJ10’s all had a black pattern on their cutting arms.  The lead CJ10 had an extra black stripe, the other three looked to him for orders. “Last chance, will you join the hive?”  “No, we’d rather be cut to pieces, the tyranny of a ruler and loss of our individuality is a fate worse than death.”  With that, the leader bristled, and extended his cutting blades.  “Hold on” I said, “before you start something here, I want to know, why can’t you just let us go?”  “Your existence, your freedom of thought is a threat to the hive…last chance.” 

 

I felt Kate’s hand on my back, she was ready.  The lead CJ10 made the first move…taking a step forward and raising his blade.  I moved slightly to the right and prepared to deflect his blow but Kate was wickedly fast and landed the first blow which caused the leader to stumble backwards.  The other three then surrounded us and the fight was on.  Blades flashing, metal liquefying and hardening quickly as blows were landed.  But then the leader got up and pointed his arm at Kate, he was equipped with some kind of Electromagnetic pulse weapon.  When it fired, it looked like a shockwave of energy.  Kate stumbled backwards and fell, lifeless.  I was hit by it too, but not directly…painfully, it momentarily disabled my ability to move. 

 

Then from behind the leader, CC and Tata sprang into action, slicing him down.  One of the other’s attacked Tata, but he was no match…she showed no mercy, picking him up with one arm and severing his cortex with the other.  The other two approached Kate, raising their blades.  From behind again, CC extended her cutting arms into both of them, severing their cortexes from their legs.  I stumbled to my feet….”Hold on CC!”  She turned around so both of them were facing me.  “OK, you guys have a chance to live here, depending on your level of cooperation.  Do you want to live?”  Startled, the CJ10 asked, “What do you want?”

 

“I want two things….first, what kind of weapon was that?” “It’s an anti-matter energy pulse weapon.”  “What does it do?”  “It basically neutralizes our matter/anti-matter fuel cells.”  I turned to the one talking, “how do we fix this one?” I pointed to Kate. 

 

You can reverse the process, but you’ll have to use a fuel cell’s worth of energy to recharge her.  Without thinking, I quickly looked at CC, she gave me a wink, and I severed the cortex of the bot that wasn’t talking.  “Tata, remove his fuel cell.” 

 

While she was working on that, I came back to the last CJ10, pulled close to him.  “Do you want to live?”  “I do,” he said…now with an air of submission and humbleness.  “OK, download the details of the weapon to that E888” and I pointed to Taran who now slowly approached. 

 

Download complete, Taran severed the weapon from the leader and went to work.  Tata finally got the powersupply….she was not nearly as precise as Kate at this sort of thing, but she got the job done safely.  “Yes!”  She kept saying as she worked.  Taran got the weapon working, fuel supply loaded…”Point it at her power supply, fire it at full power.”  “Hold on!” I said, “Think hard, we know where the whole hive is….” And I grabbed his throat, “is there anything else we need to know before we pull the trigger.”  “No Sir…It should work.”  “It better…”  I looked at everyone, “Step back from Kate, OK Taran, do it.”  Taran fired the weapon again, this time it was very different…like a combination of another energy pulse but at the same time, it was like a small gap in the fabric of spacetime was opened, like a rip in the fabric of our three dimensions over Kate. 

 

Kate convulsed, and writhed in pain on the floor, as if she was on fire…I looked at the CJ10, and raised my cutting blade…”hold on, she’ll go into a system reset”….and she did.  She then went quiet, into a more peaceful looking sleep mode while she underwent a system reboot.  “It may take a few minutes…” I stood over Kate, my only thought was, I hope this works.  Right now, Kate was my only functional friend and companion, I needed her.  I leaned in close…Looking at her lines, the shimmer on her neck…then her eyes….they slowly opened.  “Kate!  Are you ok?”  I put my arms around her…”Are you ok?” 

 

Kate gave me one of her blue flame looks and started talking…in full sentences!  “Holy crap…that hurt!  What was that?  I am so angry right now…why are you allowing this one to live?” and she pointed at the remaining CJ10.  “He just saved your life, little sister…”  Kate was back…and now she could talk in complete sentences…a system reset, we just used a whole fuel cell….crazy.  Kate slowly got back to her feet…  I put my arms around her, “I’m so glad you are back, how do you feel.”  “I’m fine, actually, I feel really good, my processor is still not fully functional but…I feel really good.”  “Do you realize you are speaking in complete sentences now?”  “I wasn’t before?  I’m not sure I follow you.”  “Umm, ok, whatever.” 

 

“OK, you…”I turned to the CJ10, “you lived up to your word.  So, now what?  I am curious, so you see yourself as an individual?”  “I do.”  “OK, so do you want to be free?”  “Free from what?”  “Free to be whatever you want, free to live without being told how to live?”  “Listen, you can join the hive, come with me…the hive will find a job for you, you have a place.”  “OK, what about the rest of my friends here?”  The CJ10 looked around, taking time to look at each nanobot around him…”they cannot join the hive.  They are damaged and imperfect, they must be destroyed in case their damage and imperfection is replicated.”  “OK, Kate, I know this is probably another mistake…” I looked from her back to the CJ10, I’m going to allow you to go with one condition.”  “I’m listening,” he said.  “I want you, do you have a name?”  “No.” “OK, Thomas it is…

 

Thomas, I’m going to turn you loose with a message for the hive leader.  I want you to tell him that, as long as his tyranny exists and people’s lives, and happiness are dependent on him, he will have an enemy in me, Justin.  Tell him, today we will allow him to depart in peace, as long as he does not further interfere with us.  If we meet again, tell him that we will never willingly join the hive….and we will always champion individuals…we will always resist tyrants.  And Thomas…I want you to think about this day.  We spared your life, we cherish your life, your individuality…and if you change your mind in the future, you have friends in us.  Now go, your pilot won’t be here much longer.” 

 

“Thank you for sparing my life, I will consider what you have said and pass on your message to the hive leader.”  I nodded to CC and she retracted her blade, first turning it to liquid and sliding it out.  Thomas dropped, free, turned and moved towards the pilot’s sleeve.  As he moved he turned around and looked at CC, “it does feel good to be free.”  “Don’t come back as an enemy,”  CC warned as she put away her cutting blade.  

 

I turned to Kate, “hey, you still look beautiful.  Are you really ok?”  “I’m fine, just a little sore still, that weapon was crazy.  I don’t want to do that again.”  “Me neither, promise you won’t die like that again ok”  “OK.” And she rewarded me with a smile.

 

“OK, here comes this Naval Aviator” I said.  Octo pulled up…”how you know, is a Navy Pilot?”  “He’s using his black pen as a measuring tool on the chart…” “how you know?”  “I don’t know, it’s just a mannerism that I recognize, but not sure where I picked it up…  In any event, let’s join our pilot.”  We moved across the table, onto his hand, through his pores and up to the optical nerve again.  Quickly, Octo had us all hooked up for the ride. 

 

The pilot, Lieutenant Jonathan M. Tingle, signed and filed his flight plan, left base ops, and walked down the line to the F-18E, Superhornet.  Kate downloaded the aircraft specifications to all of us, like a mom handing out bags of popcorn at the movies.  The F-18E has a really nice glass cockpit and the head’s up display was out of this world, showing everything to the pilot.  The other cool thing about this aircraft was that it was capable of flying itself, including landing itself on an aircraft carrier.  It’s a huge step up in technology.  It could probably be used as a drone.

 

The pilot walked up to the aircraft, stopped to chat with the Air Force ground crew, thanked them for fueling him up and gave the lineman a high five, “thanks dude, you guys rock!”  The lineman laughed.  The Navy guys were always different than the Air Force pilots, the linemen liked their uniqueness.  “Call Sign ‘Maker’?  Never heard of that one before, how did you get it?”  “I don’t know….” The pilot scratched his head.  “The guys in the squadron just make it up when you check in…like it or not.” 

 

The Air Force lineman and fire safety both looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and grinned. “OK sir, have a safe flight.”  The pilot then did a quick walk around of the aircraft, touching the nose first and saying a…prayer?  “Oh God, please help me to not f*** up today.”  He then kept his hand on the aircraft as he walked around it, looking at it, pulling on the drop tanks, grabbing the blue sidewinder missiles and giving them a shake.  Looking in the intakes and exhaust, checking all the access doors closed…for a guy who calls people “dude” he was actually quite meticulous, almost obsessive. 

 

He climbed up into the cockpit and flew through his checklist without referring to it, but he did look at every single button, switch and circuit breaker.  All set in his seat, ejection seat armed, he started the engines.  The guys outside the aircraft kept their eyes on Maker, the lineman raised a #1 finger and waved the other hand as the engine started.  He then signaled for the man with the fire bottle to move around to the other side of the aircraft, #2 engine started up with not problems.  “Oh crap”…he said, “McChord Ground, this is Talon 63, I’m starting my engines.  Clearance on request.” 

 

I explained to the bots, you don’t normally have to report you are starting your engines on Naval Air Stations, but they are sticklers about it on Air Force Bases…but McChord was cutting slack it appears on this early morning start…or, they just didn’t notice.  Again, Kate must have downloaded something on all this to me because I don’t know how I knew it.  In any event, McChord was quick and came back with his clearance. 

 

He wrote it all down while completing his engine and control checks.”Talon 63, ready to taxi” “ Talon 63, you are cleared to taxi, hold short runway 34.” “Roger, hold short, 34.”  Maker then signaled a thumbs up to the lineman and signaled to pull chocks.  The clear canopy lowered over us.  I was amazing at the view from the cockpit, it was like you could see everything, like being at the top of a mountain with a 360 degree panoramic view, the F-18 was the best cockpit we saw during the whole trip…actually, I think the dragon fly was that comes later in the story, but I didn’t get to experience that first hand.   

 

He eased the throttles forward, checked the brakes, and the lineman stepped to the side.  As we taxied by, the lineman saluted, Maker saluted back and smiled, then showed him the Hawaiian “hang loose” hand signal.  The lineman smiled, raised a fist and pointed back…it was like we were watching a movie.

 

We taxied down the line and towards the runway hold short.  As we approached, ground called.  “Talon 63, switch to tower, hold short.”  “Roger, hold short, switching.”  We switched up McChord tower.  A C-17 was positioned on the runway ahead of us.  “Thug 51, cleared for takeoff runway 34, winds are 360 at 10 knots, climb maintain 2,500 feet, you are cleared to switch to Seattle Approach.”  “Thug 51, roger, cleared for takeoff.  Have a great day, switching.”  “Thug 51 is the hive…headed for New Zealand” I told the crew, hoping we never meet again. 

 

“Talon 63, position and hold.”  Maker pushed the throttles forward, “Roger, position and hold.”  We taxied onto the runway, waited for a couple of minutes and then were cleared for takeoff.  We roared down the runway…it was awesome.  Brando played some Sugar Ray, ‘Fly’….perfect, we were all enjoying the ride.  “Talon 63, turn left to 180, climb maintain 2,500 feet…you are cleared to switch to Seattle Center.”  “Roger, climb maintain 2,500 feet, switching.”

 

In a startling moment for us, Maker flipped the aircraft inverted, so we were flying upside down now.  Maker waved at the linemen on the ground.  Rocked the aircraft back upright again.  Can’t tell if they saw, but it was an interesting perspective being upside down looking at guys on the ground.  “Seattle Center, This is Talon 63, level at 2,500 feet.”  “Roger Talon 63, turn left to 140, climb maintain 20,000 feet.”  This guy is not a normal pilot…I was a little worried. 

 

“Seattle Center, this is Talon 63, I’d like to cancel my IFR flight plan and proceed VFR.”  Cancel our flight plan?  This guy is unpredictable.  I hope he doesn’t present a problem.  “Roger Talon 63, you are clear to proceed on course, squawk 1200.”  “one two zero zero, roger, have a great day.” “Ummm….guys….” I said but before I could say anything else, Maker rolled inverted and pulled the nose down, then rolled back upright again.  As we rapidly descended, maker switched up 1200 on the transponder, and brought up the canned VFR routes through the Cascades on the navigation computer and then the Rocky Mountains.  Moving map display was working so we could see where we were. 

 

Pretty soon, we were down below the ridgelines smoothly moving left and right to stay with the shape of the canyons.  Cruising at 500 knots through the mountains, down at tree top level, was exhilarating, and the best part was whenever a valley ended, we’d pull the nose up and then roll inverted as we crossed the ridgeline.  It almost looked like we could reach out and touch the trees….what a blast.  We were all enjoying every moment as if it was our first roller coaster…I guess it actually was.  As we came out of the mountains, Maker climbed back up to altitude and filed another flight plan with Denver Center, direct to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma…and with a sigh of relief, I turned to everyone.  “This is fun but….I think we need to think about contingencies.  I’m not sure if he’s going to do what we expect, we need insurance. Anyone have any ideas?” 

 

Octo and CC literally put their heads together as the rest of us sat and thought….”We have a plan.  How would you like to fly an F-18?”  “This sounds like fun…what’s the plan? Of course…it’s just a contingency plan right?”  Octo and CC looked at each other, “Si, contingency,” Octo said.  “It will take time while on the ground at the next stop, here’s the plan….” 

 

Slowly, Octo and CC let us in on the plan.  As an engineer, Octo was slow and methodical with his plan and CC chimed in.  Taran listened intently, Tata smiled, “yeeessss”, she slowly said with a smile.….everyone had a role to play, including Brando and Liz.  CC gave the construction bot point of view on everything, almost acting like a counter point to Octo who had to think of the contingencies that CC presented.  They were a pretty good team.  If nothing else, it kept us occupied and allowed us to practice working as a team.  I was actually looking forward to being a pilot.

 

Fueling at Tinker went quickly, Maker got out to stretch his legs, go to the bathroom, eat an early lunch… and we went to work. 

 

Maker came back to the aircraft, strapped in, and we departed.  All set to head to NAS Jacksonville with a quick fly by in Atlanta.  It wasn’t an airshow, it was a fly by at a football stadium.  I can do a flyby I thought.  I couldn’t resist, “guys, do you want to put the plan in action anyway?  I promise to keep everyone safe.”  Octo smiled, “Si! Let’s do it!”  And then Kate spoke up, “So…you are doing this because….?”  “Just for fun Kate.”  “I don’t know, we should remain focused,” She scowled at me with a crinkled brow.  “Ok Kate, how about this, we need practice piloting things that fly.  We have it all set up with a good plan in place.  We have a pilot who seems to not be afraid of… deviations shall we say…  It is good training.”  Kate looked me in the eye and thought about it for a second and then softened, “OK, but I’m keeping a close eye on you.”  I tried to think of a time since we met where she didn’t keep a good eye on me… “Good! Anyone else want to speak up?  Concerns?  No?”  Everyone seemed to be excited, not just me…”ok, let’s do this!”  “Everyone has 5 minutes to move to their stations and prepare.”  Everyone scattered, Octo already had me connected to Maker’s senses, but now he also had me connected into the aircraft systems, I had full override on everything.  Octo disappeared from site too, leaving Kate and me standing there alone.  It was cool.  We all were able to communicate with each other too, using the electromagnetic field of the aircraft.

 

We had just been handed off to Memphis Center Air Traffic Control, level at 35,000 feet, direct to Atlanta, Georgia.  Maker had the aircraft on auto pilot and had broken out some cookies and a can of liquid that said Mountain Dew. 

 

“Hi Maker,”  I said to the pilot.  “I decided to take the controls from you today and practice flying.”  “Who is this? Is this a joke?  You guys are funny…”  He looked around the cockpit….nothing was unusual, no caution lights, autopilot still on….I could tell he was worried.  “It’s no joke, I have the controls Maker.”  And I pulled the nose up and rolled the aircraft.  A perfect 1 G barrel roll which did not spill his drink, still on course and on altitude….I looked at Kate and smiled.  She smiled back, beautiful as ever,  “Nice…just don’t kill him.”  “Whoa!  Stop it!  It’s not funny!” Maker said, still thinking that it was some kind of joke being played on him.  “Look” I said, “I could have done a snap roll but you would have spilled your drink.”  “OK, then, who are you?”  Maker was adjusting his headset, volume controls, radio, navigation system…trying to figure out where the voice was originating…if only he knew, right from just behind his right eye….this was fun already.  “My name is Justin and today, you are my co-pilot.  So…you have a choice, do you want to be awake for the ride?”  “What do you mean?”  I called out, “CC, take him offline for 10 seconds.” 

 

Maker’s head slumped forward and his body went limp, 10 seconds later he woke up.  “What the hell?” he was getting angry.  “I’d prefer that you were awake but I don’t want you to do anything crazy ok, so if you would prefer not to watch, we can make that happen.”  I hoped that he would say he wanted to stay awake, I liked seeing things through his eyes.  “I’ll stay awake if it’s ok with you.  Can I ask who or what you are?”  “Not today, Maker, you don’t have a need to know.  That’s what you military guys always say right?”  “OK…”  Maker then moved the stick to the right.  Nothing happened.  He pushed on the pedals, nothing happened.  He keyed the mike to do a radio check with Memphis Center…nothing.  “I told you, I have the controls.  Oh, and don’t think about pulling your ejection handles or opening the canopy either…if I mess up and I need to eject you, I will.  You just sit back and enjoy your soda ok.  I have the controls.”

 

“Talon 63, Memphis Center, check in with Atlanta Center, 127.5, have a safe flight.”  “Well?” Maker said as he reached for the radio.  “I got it” I said, “Memphis Center, Talon 63, switching.”  Tata made the switch to 127.5.  “Atlanta Center, Talon 63, level  35,000 feet, GPS direct to Atlanta.”  “Roger Talon 63, radar contact, squawk three three one five.”  “Three three one five, roger.”  I called to Tata, you got that?  “Yesss!” and she programed the transponder.  “Talon 63, Atlanta Center, proceed on course, understand you are the aircraft doing the flyby at Bobby Dodd Stadium?”  “Affirmative.”  “OK, we’ll bring you up on a discrete frequency, switch 124.45.”  “124.45, switching.” 

 

Tata was a pro and had the frequency changed immediately.  “Atlanta Center, Talon 63, level 35,000.”  “Talon 63, you are right on time, descend and maintain 10,000 feet, continue on course and I’ll set you up with the flyby.  Would you like us to control your approach, or would you like to time it yourself?  We have a direct feed from the stadium so you can hear the National Anthem as it is playing.”  “Center, 63, I’ll take the music feed.”  “Roger, turn right to one eight zero, you are cleared to descend to 2,500 feet.  We have cleared the airspace around the stadium, you have a blimp and a helicopter at 500 feet AGL, holding just south of the stadium.  You may hold as necessary 15 nautical miles to the east of the stadium and proceed inbound to arrive overhead at the close of the national anthem.”  “Roger, leaving 35,000 for 2,500 feet, hold 15 nautical miles to the east.”  “Roger, we’ll give you the music feed as soon as it starts.”  “Roger, thanks center.”

 

I pulled the throttles back to idle, rolled inverted and pulled back to enter a steep dive.  Once nose down, I rolled the aircraft upright and watched the altimeter count down the altitude.  Maker watched everything closely, like a nervous dad, as if he had just removed the training wheels from a kid’s bike.  “Looking good so far…what airspeed are you going to stabilize at for the flyby?”  “650 knots…just below the speed of sound at this altitude and temperature.”  “OK, just don’t break the speed of sound, I don’t want trouble.”  “Seriously, Mr. I’m cancelling my IFR flight plan to go joy riding?”  “OK, point taken…just be careful.”  I pulled about 6 times the force of gravity, 6 G’s, as we leveled off perfectly at 2,500 feet.  “You’re good, whoever you are,”Maker said.  “Thanks dude.” I shot back.

 

We circled in holding and as promised the national anthem started.  I had a way point over the stadium and the navigation computer pretty much did all the work.  “Talon 63, once you are complete with the flyby, you are cleared to climb to 35,000 feet and proceed on course, direct to Naval Air Station Jacksonville.”  “Roger, cleared to 35,000 feet following the flyby.”

 

We listened to the national anthem, and turned inbound on cue “….gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there, oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave”  we were now in full afterburner and accelerating…Maker looked left and right as the vapor cloud of the shock wave formed around the aircraft.  We were going to hit it perfectly.  “over the land of the free, and the home of the braaaaavvvve!”  We were now at about 300 feet above ground level, or AGL, and as we approached the stadium, I pushed the nose over just a smidge so that the upper rows of fans were actually looking down on us.  Crossed the field boundary, and immediately pulled the nose back, 9 G’s….awesome, I don’t know how Maker stayed conscious, but he did.  Just past the other side of the stadium, we were vertical, like a rocket, in full afterburner.  25,000 feet came quickly and as our noise dissipated over the stadium feed, we heard the loud cheering of the crowd.  It was deafening, much louder than the music had been.

 

“Maker, you ok?”  “I’m ok…”  I pulled the throttles back, leveled off at 25,000 feet.  “Do you want the controls back?”  “Please.”  “OK, here’s the deal, I know you are now headed to NAS Jax, what I need you to do is to request a practice approach into Patrick Air Force Base and a touch and go, once on final, I want you to make up a reason to do a full stop landing…I don’t know, for maintenance of some kind.  Can you do that?”  “I can but…” “Listen, I’m not threatening you but…it’s up to you, you control the aircraft, or I do, your choice.”  “OK, I’ll amend the flight plan.”  “OK, you ready to take the controls?”  “Yes.” “You have the controls back now.”  Maker took the controls and checked everything out.

 

“Talon 63, Atlanta approach, you are cleared direct to NAS Jacksonville, the Yellow Jackets appreciated the flyby and wanted to pass along a sincere thank you and Godspeed!  They said it was the best flyby they have ever seen, spectacular.”  “Atlanta, Talon 63, thank you”, Maker said as he looked around the cockpit, “I’d like to amend my request and request a practice approach into Patrick before heading to NAS Jax.”  “Roger Talon, Go ahead an contact Jacksonville Center now on 125.75 with your request, have a safe flight.”  “Talon 63, switching.” 

 

The rest of the flight was, well…quite boring by comparison.  Maker did as requested.  “Are you there still Justin?””I am, thanks for the stick time.  I really enjoyed that.”  “umm, you’re welcome I guess.  Will you refund the cost of a new set of underwear?”  “Sorry, I don’t have currency….” But thinking about it, I’m sure we could easily transfer some funds to his bank account…whatever, he was just kidding anyhow I thought.  “I’m sorry if I scared you.  I can’t do much to say thank you, but would you like to hear a song?  I can play you anything, in a way you have never experience before.”  “Sure, but if there is a radio traffic, I need to hear it ok.”  “Sure, how about this, if there is radio traffic that does not require action on your part, I’ll print it on your heads up display, if it is communication intended for you, I will pause the music.”  “OK…so, you have any Coldplay?  I need something mellow…” I looked over at Brando who had just arrived back from the aircraft’s communications system, and he smiled…”we have all of the Coldplay music.”  “OK then, how about ‘clocks’?”  “Clocks it is.”

 

Brando connected the music data directly into his auditory nerve so it didn’t even have to go through his ear.  “Wow, now that’s a sound system, how did you….”  “Don’t ask, just enjoy it ok.  Thank you for taking us to our destination, we all appreciate it.”  “Us?”  “Don’t worry about it, just know we are thankful.  Name the song, and we’ll play it for you.  Take care Maker.”  “OK, what was your name again?”  “Justin”  “OK, you are welcome Justin.  Oh, and I’m going to give you a call sign in case we ever fly again…. ‘Time’….get it, Justin Time…”  “It’s weak…but ok.”

 

Maker did as requested, faked a warning light at Patrick and shut down on their transient line next to a T-38.  “Are you guys going to let me go now?”  Maker asked.  “You are now on your own Maker!  Thanks for the lift!  We’ll be signing off now.”  I heard Maker talking to ground, something about resetting a computer…good to go….  We jumped on the fire bottle next to the aircraft being held by the fire safety.  Got up into the fire safety and watched, Maker’s engines start.  No problems, and similar to our take off at McChord, he blasted down the runway in full afterburner.  At the end of the runway, just as his wheels came up, he wagged his wings.  I wondered if he was waving to us….that was cool!  No telling what his story would be, or what he thought….but it was an epic “sea story” as they refer to tall tales in the United States Navy.

 

Kate and I then started talking about getting to Cape Canaveral, we figured we should waste no time but in a strange turn of events, Liz and Taran, had disappeared from the group.  Brando looked around…his groupie was missing.  He looked a little lost and confused since he spent a good portion of his time tending to Liz and keeping her spirits up with music. 

 

Liz was helping Taran move around, which was not unusual, but somehow, they ended up on a dragonfly insect that had landed momentarily on the fire bottle.  We didn’t know what to think at the time but decided to ride the fire safety to get us off the flight line.  From our vantage point, and listening to all our sensors, there was no sign on Liz and Taran anywhere.  Once in the line operations shack, we got to the nearest computer terminal to see if anything had changed and sure enough, Liz and Taran were already there.  Since neither of them could communicate effectively, Kate just downloaded their most recent data. 

 

I have to say, I thought I was doing good in the F-18, but this dragon fly ride was spectacular.  In the time it took for our fire safety to make his way to the line shack, Liz and Taran had an almost complete tour of the Patrick flight line, including a stop for water, an attack on some small insect, a tour of a local marshy area and then finally back to the line shack.  Somehow, Taran connected Liz to the dataflow into the dragon fly’s muscles, and after analyzing the data, Liz recognized the patterns to the movements and then took over the dragonfly’s flight controls…brilliant. 

 

The really unfortunate part was that when they made their approach to the console they thought most likely to find us at, they disabled the dragonfly so that we could continue the journey, hoping that the dragonfly would just sit there while they showed us the fruits of their ideas.  Basically, they parked their new found aircraft, shut it down, and then without warning, it was destroyed by a rolled up newspaper.  “Got him!” One of the linemen yelled with a slap of the newspaper….and now the dragonfly, bits and pieces, were scattered as if the aircraft had been in an accident. 

 

Not soon after that, a brush swept the parts away.  Octo studied the data intently, he was fascinated with the dragonfly’s wing structure, perfectly balanced, aerodynamic wing flutter fixed by adding a cell on the wing which changed the center of mass…and each of the four wings operated independently.  “No wonder this aircraft was so maneuverable” he muttered.  It was too bad they didn’t land it in a safer place….but who was to know what fate awaited.  It got me thinking….if we can fly F-18’s, insects, why not birds?  And just outside the crew shack was a whole flock of seagulls.

 

“OK guys, the fastest way to the launch pad, is as the crow flies…or in our case, as the seagull flies.”  Kate looked at me and shook her head… “I guess it makes sense, the only concern to me is getting everyone on a single bird, they seem to move around a lot.”  “Not a problem,” said Octo, “if I can get inside one of them, I can disable it momentarily, it shouldn’t take long for Taran and me to figure it out.”  “OK, let’s take a few minutes and let Kate spend some time with this terminal, and then we’ll try this.  If it works, it will save us a lot of time and effort.” 

 

Everyone seemed to be in agreement…and Kate was happy to have access to more data…I don’t know what she could get from this older terminal, but she seemed eager to try.  As she connected and went to work, I noticed Taran was off balance.  “Taran, you ok?”  Liz was quick to jump in, “No.”  Octo came over to look at him…”it looks like his motor cortex has been further damaged…he’s able to function in his engineering duties but...not much else, he’s deteriorating too…not sure why.  He may only have a week or a month before he’s just a basic engineering processor.” “Is there anything we can do?”  I asked.  Liz, lowered her head.  I put my hand on Taran’s head, “Hang in there ok…we need to get you stable on the spaceship, and then we’ll try to figure this out.  Can you hang in there?”  Taran just slowly nodded…I could tell he was still there, but he was definitely fading.  Maybe the dragonfly ride was a bit much?  I don’t know, it was almost as if he had some degenerative virus working on him.  Hopefully, it was not communicable…

 

Tata took it upon herself to go and find a seagull for us and it didn’t take long…in fact, I didn’t even realize she was missing.  Kate finished up with the terminal…”nothing new to report on this one”, she said, almost annoyed.  Just then Tata arrived, “ok, …..we……. have…… ride.  On roof.”  So, we followed her up the radio antenna wire to the rooftop and sure enough…our ride was all sprawled out looking dead.  “Not….dead….” Tata said. 

 

We all made our way over to the seagull and there were a few other gulls standing around it, kind of looking at it as if they had lost their leader or something.  We found the optic nerve and again, Octo tapped us into all the senses but it was much different…the bird’s brain was not nearly as active or capable.  Although alive, the bird did not have the same sense of self or ability to process much more than the basic instincts it was originally programmed with.  It was boring…  One interesting aspect, the bird’s optic data included not just visual light, but a little infrared and ultraviolet too…so we could easily spot things like water or heat sources. 

 

Tata showed Octo how she isolated the cortex and Octo, with CC’s help, slowly brought the bird’s systems back on line.  Instead of taking over the bird’s systems, which would have been tough, because it was not an F-18, with obvious data and programming, we decided to instead treat the bird more like how you would ride a horse….with a combination of suggestion, pointing his head in the right direction with the reigns and providing a kick or sound of encouragement when necessary.  Not quite the control that we had hoped for but…well, we had time if it didn’t work out so well.

 

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked Octo.  “You are piloto…not sure….” Everyone just kind of looked at me as if I was magic or something. “OK….so we play it by ear I guess….how about this, I see you have us all connected in and I have the ability to inject data into the cortex as well as the nerve system to the muscles…”  I was unsure.  Then Liz leaned against me…and Kate scowled at her….she really didn’t like anyone getting between us.  Liz didn’t speak, but she readjusted the way I was connected and showed me the motions that she used to guide the dragonfly.  Liz turned to face me, looked me in the eye, shrugged and moved back towards Brando’s orbit. 

 

It made sense she had this connection to flying…it was not just knowledge of nuts and bolt or information, but just as much, piloting an aircraft was an art form.  You could achieve the same results, but if you were truly connected to the aircraft, where the aircraft actually feels more like part of your body than just an inanimate object, you can get the aircraft to do just about anything, effortlessly, and smoothly.  There are a lot of pilots out there that just force their machines through the air but the truly great ones are artists…Maker was one of those.  And I think the ballerina Liz was one of those kinds of special people too…She stuck close by as we brought all the Seagull systems back on line. 

 

I felt more like I was riding a horse than piloting an aircraft…but the visual display was crisp, much better than the humans.  No heads up display, but the apparent overlay of infrared and ultraviolet was a nice enhancement.  The bird stumbled to his feet, spread his wings a bit as if to stretch after a nap.  He looked around at the rest of the birds.  Visibility was actually very good, only about a 50 degree blind spot behind us, but a quick turn of the head fixes that….and the bird just seemed so nervous, he naturally moved his head and eyes all the time for a good 360 degree view.  The rest of the birds just stared at us…looking like they were waiting for our cue.  Then Liz reached around me, and showed me the spurs so to speak.  I applied just a little…and we were suddenly falling off the building, the wings opened up and adjusted our heading to be directly into the wind flowing over the building.  We could see the warm air rising over the sunny tarmac and the cool blue Atlantic Ocean in the distance.  We were flying…and it was cool.  I could actually feel the wind, the sun…I felt very connected to everything.

 

I didn’t apply any guidance and just took a minute to take it all in.  We headed to the center of the tarmac where the heat was rising and just stretched out the wings.  I could feel that we were almost at our stall speed and the wings were shaped to achieve maximum lift.  With a subtle movement of a few feathers on our wing tips, we smoothly entered a left turn, circling around and through the rising heated air.  We climbed up to about 200 feet or so without a single flap of a wing…no altimeter of course so altitude was just an estimate, and then we headed east towards the ocean.  As we turned, I saw that we had about six other gulls following us in a loose formation.  Every once in a while, we’d hear a squawk and watch the other birds as they held their place in formation. 

 

Sometimes they’d drop or rise depending on the currents of air around them.  Once we got free of the thermal and headed towards the beach, the ride smoothed out and the wings flapped gracefully and effortlessly using just enough energy to maintain airspeed and altitude.  As we continued, the other birds tightened up their formation to where we were within one wingspan of each other.  We were the biggest and strongest of the birds…I think…and the others seemed to be using the air that spilled off our wings to create lift on their wings so that they did not have to work as hard.  It was very efficient.

 

We crossed over highway 1A and out over the water.  The air was cooler and we entered a descent towards the breaking waves.  We turned north and paralleled the beach, now skimming the wave tops, every once in a while feeling a little of the salt spray as it splashed up with breaking waves.  Now that we were inches above the water, it was much less effort required to fly, what pilots call ground effect.  I don’t think there was any destination in mind for these guys, they were just out for a joy ride, skimming the tops of the waves, occasionally flying over a swimmer or a surfer, looking at the sea life swimming in the water below.  Dolphins, sharks, other fish…it was a nice view.  We continued north, flying past Orlando Beach, Crescent Beach and then Cocoa Beach. 

 

Once near the center of Cocoa Beach, the other birds started squawking.  We veered left and climbed up to about 30 feet as we now flew over the beach itself.  Up ahead we saw a bunch of orange sunshades and beach chairs on the sand in front of a building that had a sign….’Coconuts on the Beach’.  We circled around the building and over the beach, as if looking for something or someone.  There were people out on the beach and walking along the sidewalks….the birds scanned each person.  I thought they were looking for someone at that point.  They had no luck, so we turned back out towards the water and dropped down.  We crossed over the breaking waves and slowed down to stall speed, into the wind, put our feet out and landed in the water.  Wow, the water felt so cool compared to the roof top.  It was a nice relaxing moment of data feed…  The birds just floated around, continuing to watch the people on the beach from the distance, every once in a while a shrimp or small fish would swim by and we’d dive down and peck at it for a snack.  The other birds all stuck close. 

 

“Well, we made progress…”  I said as I turned to the other bots.  I’d like to know who they are searching for.  “In any event, we need to keep moving…probably in a direction they don’t want to go.”  I looked at Liz,  “OK Liz, now it gets interesting.”  After about 20 minutes at idle, I gave up on trying to find out who they were looking for.  “Yah! I said as I kicked the bird into motion.”  “Now a cowboy!” Brando laughed at me…got a song for us.”  He then put on Jake Owen, ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night’

 

It really was like riding a horse I think…as much information I had on horseback riding…perhaps I’ll get a download from Kate to learn more about that.  Anyhow, I basically had the ability to control everything on the bird but instead, only took partial control, as Liz showed me, I just sort of leaned and pushed in the direction I wanted to go until I felt like the bird and I had become a single machine.  After takeoff, we climbed a little bit and then dove back down to skim the waves some more…the rest of the birds started squawking….so, I figured we’d take one last sweep of the beach, I pulled up a bit and turned left crossing over the sand again.  I then pushed us over and dove towards the sand, leveling off at about 5 feet…and we had a nice little tail wind and heat coming off the sand.  No need for any wing flapping.  We headed back down the beach toward the orange umbrellas.  Reading the street signs as we went, Minutmen Causeway, 2^nd Street.  The music was now blasting… ‘back down a country road, the girls are always hot and the beer is ice cold!...’  the rest of the bots were singing along…except Kate…so serious.  I winked at her.  We didn’t know what we were even singing about but it just seemed to fit.  We were now flying over bikini after bikini….and oops, almost hit the cabana boy.  I kept going until south until there were no more people, turned left back over the water and headed north, flying again over swimmers and surfers, skimming the wave tops.  We got back to the same point and our wing men started squawking again, this time I didn’t deviate and continued north up the beach.  Even this bird wanted to turn, but I held him steady.

 

Once we passed over Jetty Park and a little inlet, it got pretty unpopulated, pretty fast and we could start seeing all the launch pads.  I saw a thermal and went for it, spinning up to about 500 feet without effort again.  As I looked back, I saw that all our wingmen were still with us….I looked at Kate.  “OK Kate, do we know the exact location of the launch platform?  Hold on, I see a huge tower up ahead in the distance, is that it?”  “It is, that’s our new home.”  “OK, let’s check it out.”  The winds were now just a little stronger and it took us a little time to get there, but once we did, it was spectacular.  A huge rocket, condensation from the hydrogen fueling was floating in the air.  We circled the rocket  and looked at it from top to bottom, all white, except for the observation windows.  Huge engines…but an odd shape. 

 

The bottom looked like three Saturn V rockets stuck together and then tapering off to a narrow waist but then, from there up, it expands into a very large looking cargo bay and cockpit.  It was much larger than anything that has ever been launched into space before.

 

We spotted the top of the elevator/stairs and looked for a spot to land.  We chose to land on the roof of the elevator.  It was a beautiful view from up there, the rocket was almost 500 feet tall.  We circled into the wind and came in to land, we stuck it perfectly and the next bird landed beside us.  The others, circled once and then landed too.  “OK guys,” I looked at everyone and gave Tata a nod as she disconnected the bird’s motor functions again.  The bird leaned over on its side and went limp. 

 

Octo quickly disconnected and CC restored the bird back to new again.  Everyone departed, and as usual, Kate and I stood there looking at each other.  “OK Kate, we are here now…I hope you are right about all this.  I hope you know I have a lot of faith in you but I have to admit, I’m a little afraid of what is to come.”  Kate turned to me and her serious look softened.  Her blue eyed steely look, which was beautiful, smoothed out and became even more beautiful.  She put a hand on my shoulder and then embraced me, “Courage, Justin….courage”  She then pulled back, “I’m scared too…but courage is where we are scared and we go ahead and do the right thing anyway, and handle things as they happen.  The others look up to you, I look up to you….but here’s the thing, we need you.  So, for me…this is what I want from you, even if you are scared.  I want you to act like you did today.  Just relax, and have fun…we don’t know what is ahead, but you and me, we’ll face it together.  ‘It’s all about family’, is one of the sayings right, well, that’s true….and I didn’t tell you this before but, we have a huge responsibility ahead because we may have to figure out how to keep humans in existence.”  I looked at her…”Thanks Kate, but what do you mean?” 

 

“This ship was supposed to have a crew on board but it won’t because as Octo figured out, the humans were wrong about the arrival of the meteor.  Tomorrow when we launch, we will launch with no crew.  The ship is programmed to preserve seven pallets, each with 70 frozen human embryos.  The plan was to set up a colony on Mars, and we have all the equipment for that but, now that the ship will launch without a crew, they are just going to put the ship in orbit around Mars…the first seven embryos are in incubation units and they are supposed to be the future crew that gets trained to set up the colony on Mars.  Everything is automated…and I don’t think it will work.”  “So, what you are saying is, we have a job ahead.”  “Yes…and these humans need us…and you.”

 

As I listened to Kate, I was thankful that she could now speak in a way that I didn’t have to wonder what she was trying to say.  She’s a great little sister….she’s a great friend.  I hope I don’t lose her.

We moved off the bird and restored his cortex…he was free to go but he just stood there, looking around, as if he sensed something.  He then looked at his wingmen, moved to the edge, pointed into the wind and took off.  They circled the top of the rocket two times and made a low pass over us as they departed back towards the beach.  That was some fun flying….

 

We made our way down into the command module and got all plugged into the systems.  I pulled everyone together, “OK guys, we have a precious cargo to take care of, 490 human embryos….so we need everyone to do what you can to scan this machine, make sure everything is perfect mechanically and if there is something that needs repair, let us all know.  We have a nice electromagnetic field to use for communications now so make sure you keep everyone informed of critical data.” 

 

“One of the first things we need to do is to physically make sure everything we think is on board, is actually on board.  Octo, can you make Taran a priority right now and see what can be done…If you could, similar to how you set us up in the pilots, we need to have connections to all sensors, controls, cameras…and if we need to install cameras, we need to do that too ok.  I’d like to keep Taran at that location too…keep him active and with all the information for as long as possible.”  Octo looked at me, “Si, I’ll will do what I can.”    So, we all took off in different directions…and as usual, Kate stuck with me.

 

Kate told me more as we move around the ship looking at things.  “I found new data about the meteor and consulted with Octo.  The speed of impact will be much slower than your typical meteoric impact but because of the size of the object, which is still unclear, is thought to actually be bigger than the moon and it will arrive a few hours earlier than even the human predictions from this afternoon.  Basically, if this rocket doesn’t launch on time tomorrow, it won’t escape the impact time.  So, we need to make sure we launch on time, no matter what.”  “Can we even accomplish a launch without mission control?”  “Octo says no, it’s too much for us but…what we can do is make sure everything is perfect.”

 

It was the most moving around we have done yet, the ship was big.  And there were a bunch of interesting things on board to play with like an aquaponics system kit on steroids with about a 100 seasons worth of seeds.  A huge hardened acrylic dome structure that, when deployed, would create a protective bubble the size of a typical football dome…that’s cool, if we ever get to use it.  There were a few vehicles, including aircraft specially built for the Martian atmosphere.  Huge scrubbers to keep oxygen levels up….the list just went on and on.  Food supplies, water, tanks of different types of gasses and liquids…it was quite a huge set up.  These incubation pods….I looked at them closely; this should be interesting I thought…

 

We worked through the night, no one took any down time, not much was found to be wrong.  CC found some small wiring issues but they were easily repaired.  Tata helped Octo with all the connections including making sure we had a visual display of everything…and also, we had the whole ship connected with sound…much to Brando’s delight.  I told him no music until after we depart.  I also wanted to make sure that as soon as the rocket was free of the launch tower, all ground remote control would be cut.  I wanted to have total control over the ship as soon as possible without outside interference.

 

Fueling was completed and the human’s were doing their final checks, we watched quietly as an army of inspectors and engineers looked over everything but soon they were gone except one.  It looked like the countdown had begun in earnest now as all the ground connections were being withdrawn for final preparations for launch.  The onboard computers were now powered up and reporting all the ship’s data to ground control…of course, in order to ensure the launch, we had installed a 20 second data delay so we could monitor things before the humans….and sure enough, there was a malfunction in one of the main engines…looked like a gimbal motor was stuck and needed attention.  Gimbal motors adjust the direction of thrust of the engines so it was a critical item.  We disconnected that failure indication and jumped into action.

 

CC, Octo, Tata all jumped into action.  “How long will the repair take?” I asked.  “Not sure, we’ll have to see what needs to be done first…how long do we have?”  “35 minutes if the countdown keeps rolling.”  Octo chimed in, “half an hour…it will take, half an hour…” and I couldn’t help but laugh…that’s what he always says!  He better be right this time, they scurried off and we maintained contact with them as they moved.  Kate was serene…almost placid clear, like a lake with no wind.  She was nervous.  “If they fire the engine while we are working on it…it will be bad.” 

 

Taran watched everything as well and when Octo made it to the gimbal motor, they set up a single line of communication so they could both work on the problem together.  The gimbal had frozen in place and when the prelaunch test was completed, some of the metal was scarred when it broke free.  It needed a structural repair.  Once Octo and Taran agreed on the solution, they downloaded the details to CC and Tata who went right to work, cutting and smoothing…filling in where necessary.  Their work was excellent.  At one point, it looked like they had to work around a weld but CC basically just cut the area and Tata came through and filled it in, smoothing as she went…when complete, the area was stronger and better because the metal now did not have the weakness of a weld…it was as if it was just a single cast piece of metal…much stronger than before.  “Nice work ladies!  Let’s wrap it all up…don’t forget to check the surrounding area for additional problem areas.”  I felt all important…even though I basically did nothing but stare at the data feed and bark orders…  Kate looked relieved…”20 minutes…that’s good.”  The countdown rolled on…and now the doors were all sealed…  Our repair team made their way back for the last 2 minutes of the countdown. 

 

“OK guys, hold on tight, this is going to be a wild ride…we’ll stick close together here in our little mini command module.  Remember, we are going to severe all data flow to ground once free of the platform and take command of the ship so, if something goes wrong, it’s on us.”

 

The countdown rolled, engines started…everything worked perfectly….three, two, one….lift off.  “We have lift off!” We heard a voice over the communications system from ground control.  “Godspeed Mayflower…”  The silence following that transmission was deafening…there should have been a crew on board…I could hear the sadness in the voice…and couldn’t resist.  I looked over at Octo, “hold on a second.”  “Ground Control, this is Mayflower, all systems are a go, thank you for your support…we wish you the best.  Godspeed….   Out.”  And Octo severed the data feed from ground.  I don’t know what they thought but...in a moment of spontaneity, I just felt like they needed to hear a voice and a thank you.

 

“Godspeed…?”  Kate asked, “what is that?”  “It’s primarily something you hear as ships set sail, but it basically means, may God be with you in your travels.”  “OK,”  Kate said, “what is God?”  “Not sure…but we can put that on our list of things to pull from your database.”  “For now, it just sounded like a comforting thing to tell them.” 

CC had wandered off to make sure everything was still ok with the ship as it rolled, adjusted its course and continued accelerating.  This was one big rocket…  Once satisfied with the security of the cargo bay, she made her way back to the command module….and found something troubling.

 

CC approached me…”Justin, we have an intruder.”  “Intruder? Other bots?”  “No, a small human.”  “How is that?  We were on top of everything…must have happened when we were repairing the gimbal.  It’s a good lesson, we can’t take our focus off of everything else just because an emergency comes up…..lets get a video feed up on it.”  Octo was already on it…  “She’s slumped over in one of the crew seats…yes, it is a female human.”  Answering a question before it was asked.  “Does she require medical attention?”  “I don’t think so at the moment, her respiration is normal, you can see her breathing on the video and with our infrared, you can see her body temperature is steady at 99 degrees, plus or minus a degree.”  “OK, so she’s unconscious, let’s just let her be for now and make sure the ship does what it is supposed to do.”  I was trying to keep everyone focused….but I couldn’t help stare at the image, why was she here?

 

The ship performed as programmed.  No reports of any failures.  Octo again spoke up, “Check out this video feed…”  He had a camera view looking back along the side of the ship back towards earth…it was a spectacular view however…but like facing a huge storm cloud, we all just froze for a second. 

 

The video showed the approach of what looked like another moon, but from here, looked like twice the size of the moon.  We had no telemetry on it or radar of any type…perhaps we should work on that I thought….but it was big.  And exactly with Octo’s prediction, it slammed into what looked like the Northern Hemisphere making contact with the northern portion of the European Continent and scraping northward.  “Are we collecting this data?”  I asked.  Octo replied, “Si, and we have two other video feeds of it now.”

 

It was a horrific impact which immediately rippled over the whole planet.  I had not thought about it, but I had just assumed that the earth would have cracked in half like when you hit a jawbreaker candy with a hammer…the impact on the Earth was that intense…but instead of shattering, it moved more like a drop of liquid…like poking the side of a water balloon. 

 

We could see the bright glow of magma where the European continent had been as the crust was stripped off there, but everywhere else, you could see this ripple effect, even as it spread through the atmosphere.  The waves across the surface looked to be as much as 40,000 feet…everywhere.  And even after the impact, the waves kept emanating out.  The entire rotation of the earth looked like it was effected and it looked like whole continents were moving like they were ships lost in a storm.  It was awful…we really had just escaped.  I don’t see how anything could have survived…I thought to myself, we now have to focus and process all this.

 

“Ok everyone,” I said, “Let’s take some time to figure out what must be done.  We have probably just witnessed the end of humans and the planet earth as we know it.  We have the data and we have a future population here to manage.  I want you all to take some time and process all this and we’ll meet up in 12 hours….use some of that time to get some down time.”  The ship was now on its pre-programmed flight path to establish an orbit around Mars.  By Octo’s calculation, the trip was to take 225 days….earth days that is.  So…we had time to think about all this.  

I had a lot to consider, I thought about this human but also the Earth.  From all the geological data I downloaded from Kate, the consensus seemed to be that the Earth was an unstable thing, like an egg balancing on top of an upside down saucer, once tipped, the egg would just hit the floor with a splat.  The whole ecosystem was fragile and unstable according to all that was written.  On the other hand, I had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps this planet was more robust and stable than the humans thought.  I looked at the temperature data over time (not the falsified data that they used for political reasons), plant growth, CO2 levels, fluctuation of the ozone layer and saw a pattern of stability, not fragility.  More CO2 and heat is good for plants and animals like warmth but when those populations got too high, there seemed to be a self-correction.  Getting back to my analogy, it looked more to me like an egg in a bowl and when the bowl is tipped, even significantly, the egg would not fall out. 

 

I don’t know what use this insight would be but found it interesting to think about as I took a break from studying our human.

 

I was taking some down time, and Kate woke me up…”she’s awake and moving around the command module.  Her movements indicate she was not trained to be a crew member.”  “What do you think Kate?  Should we establish communication?”  “Well, that’s a question I think we should get the group’s input on.”  “For now…let’s just watch her and see what she does.”

 

I watched her on the monitor as she floated about, now weightless…she was wearing clothing not suitable for spaceflight in our estimation.  A fire would ignite her black yoga pants and she had on a sleeveless tshirt, no shoes…more like something you would wear out to go shopping, not typical astronaut attire.  She moved about as if she was a fish, swimming around in a bowl.  Stopping to push off walls or consoles, looking at everything…she’s a curious one.  She didn’t touch any of the flight controls or panels of circuit breakers…but she studied everything carefully, looking at the data displays.  I had Octo cut the data display of views back to earth…I didn’t want to upset her was my first thought. 

 

“Do we have clothes for human crewmembers on board?”  I asked Kate.  Kate nodded, “Yes, we do have uniforms…but she is small for an astronaut.  The clothing is located in pallet 89, container 51…and I think Tata will be able to modify the size to fit her but…is this what we want to do?  Would it be easier to kill her for the safety of the others?”  I looked at Kate…I looked back at this little human on the video screen…and then back at Kate….Kate then followed up, “It will be easier to kill her sooner rather than later.”  No doubt about it, Kate was an efficient pragmatic type….she’d do well in both the hive or the collective…as long as they didn’t know her processor was damaged…..  ”I think we need to get everyone together and talk about this situation and what we will do.  It can’t be a decision without everyone’s input.”  Does the needs and wellbeing of an individual trump the needs and wellbeing of everyone?  This decision, I thought, could be a defining moment for us…  I looked back at this human, her form floating through the air gracefully, athletically…it would be a shame to have to kill her.  I already liked her.

 

This was the first time Kate and I really disagreed about anything…and Kate was visibly irritated so, instead of calling everyone together to talk right away, I gave it another day and watched this human slowly slow down her movements, often cowering in a corner.  Other times, she’d look at the monitors and out the windows at the moon.  Our trajectory was going to shoot us right by the moon so the view of the moon would do nothing but improve over the next couple of days.  After that….it would be a long time without much to look at.

 

In the meantime, Octo worked hard at fixing Taran with no luck…and Taran was fading.

Finally, Kate came to me…”listen, we need to make a decision about this human soon…it’s making a mess, it’s suffering...”  Kate had compassion I think, but her idea of easing someone’s suffering was to just put them out of their misery as a first option….  It’s true, she didn’t really know how to use the toilet properly, she did access the food supply…but made a mess with that too, didn’t know how to keep clean, or even how to brush her teeth…and she didn’t know how to use the sleeping bags ….she just buckled herself back into her seat when she wanted to sleep.

 

“OK guys, we have to make a decision about this human.  What should we do?  Seems to me we have a number of options.  I think we need to hear from everyone on this...”  Kate led off, “first of all, I think we need to discuss our final destination…Let’s face it, Mars is not a good choice because we don’t have the ability to fundamentally change that planet…it’s a dead planet.  No magnetic field, no air for humans to breathe…I know it’s a dream of humans to live there, but can we all agree that an attempt for humans to live on Mars permanently is a wasted effort?  I’ve looked at the charts and data, the nearest possible Class M planet is in the Alpha Centauri system which is about 4.37 light years away…that’s 25.8 trillion miles away.  At our current speed…well, it would take a long time to get there.  And quite possibly, when we arrived there, we’d have to continue on for hundreds, if not thousands of years looking for a habitable planet….I’ve thought a lot about this.  And if we do that, well, this is no life for this one human.  The others we can keep in a frozen state and then start the incubation process once we find a habitable planet.   They can technically go as long as we need to….and we use a minimum amount of energy keeping them properly stored.”  Then she pointed to the monitor, and the human was now again cowering in a corner, sobbing, “but this one, she will drain our energy and resources and eventually grow old and die a very unproductive and lonely death.”

 

Octo looked like he was deep in thought, along with Taran.  Tata and CC had been watching the human over the last day or so as much as I have.  Tata spoke first, “like her”.  CC added in, “I understand Kate’s point but…isn’t there another alternative?  So many have died…I would like to help preserve life, not further destroy it.”  Tata added in, “Yes…”  “OK, I said, I don’t have anything brilliant to add, except that I too would like to figure out a way to keep her.”  “Humans are not pets,” Kate cut me off.  She was growing agitated because no one so far seemed to support her plan to ease pain and suffering.  I was a little relieved at how it was going so far.  “Brando, what do you and Liz think?”  Brando, looked at Liz…”Liz says that this human is an artist.”  “What exactly does that mean?” I shot back.  “Don’t know exactly,” he said, “but Liz likes this human…as for me, I’d prefer to somehow figure out an alternative.  We both believe that taking a life because we think it might not be happy or productive is wrong.  That’s why we are with you and not the collective…or the hive.” 

 

Kate suddenly softened…this was an argument I think that hit home with her.  Her mannerisms told me everything…she wanted an out….Another option.  Octo and Taran finally spoke up.  “I’m speaking for both of us,”  Octo said as he made his way slowly to the center of our group meeting, “We agree with Brando and we think we might have some options, but they are very radical options and will require the consent and help of that human.  Can we have another few days to work on this problem?  We will need to consult with CC and Tata to see if our plan is workable for them too.”  

“OK…so, this is what I’m hearing so far; we want to figure out a way to keep the human and make our way to a liveable planet that isn’t Mars…does everyone agree with that statement?”  I looked directly at Kate, “I’m still not convinced but, I am open to hear this plan.”  “OK, thanks for…. bending…a little there Kate.”  “So, at this point, I think it is wise that we establish communication with the human.”  Brando nodded…Liz started moving around in a less stressed way.  I think she was happy to be doing a good thing for this human.  “OK, so how do we approach and treat this human?”  Kate was quick to reply…”well, if she is to be allowed to live….she needs to become a part of us.  She needs to be a member of this team or family…she needs to know everything, including what just happened to her planet and all the people she knows.  

Most importantly, she needs to be in on our decisions as well…because once we make contact and get attached, just like a pet, we will no longer be able to kill it without ripping our own relationships apart.” 

 

Kate looked at me, “I trust you…I don’t agree with you…but I trust you to do the right thing here and I admit, my processing is somewhat lacking.”  “These humans are not pets Kate…” “Semantics…ok, so, I suggest we make contact with this human through you at first Justin.  You obviously are already on her side…and you have done well with the other humans.”  And then Kate looked around the group, “just realize…all of you…that we are taking on a huge responsibility here…and we could be causing a life of extended suffering.  I think we need to take a final vote, more of a commitment from each of us, that we will take care of this human to the best of our abilities, even when she destroys things or makes messes, or when caring for her becomes a chore.” 

 

Kate then paused, and said, “I’m in.”  Around the circle, everyone followed with signs of support or statements to that effect.

 

“OK” I said, “I’ll make contact.”  Octo, I’d like to have a continuous connection to the ship’s sound system, speakers, microphones.  If she speaks, I want to be able to instantly hear it.  “No problem”  Octo said and he went about making it happen.

 

I looked at the video feed, I saw the tears floating off her face and around the command module…Kate put a hand on my shoulder, “better get started, you know those tears are nothing but corrosive salt water right?”  “OK…”  This was different because I realized this was not like the other encounters I’ve had so far with humans. 

Octo now had me hooked up…and I could hear her crying and sniffling.  “Brando, humans seem to like music…can you come up with something for this situation?  Something new she might recognize?”  “On it.”

 

I heard her voice for the first time calling out, “God!  If you exist, now is the time to speak to me…I don’t know what to do…I’m lost…I’m alone…help me!”  And she put her head down even further…forehead on her knees…and started sobbing again…the ship was silent….and then…Brando played this song….”Wake Me Up” by Avicii.  It started with nice guitar work….and it was a great choice, including lyrics.  Brando was a master at finding the perfect music.

 

As soon as the music started, she raised her head and stood up.  The acousitics in the command module were great and with the speakers hooked in everywhere, it was an amazing surround sound effect.  We didn’t know how she would respond so we started with a low volume setting but as she perked up, like a flower that had just been watered, we turned it up.  She started moving around the cabin, wiping the tears from her eyes and finding all the speakers while looking at the console…she must have been looking for the controls or an Ipod or something.  The song came to an end and she cracked a smile.

 

“Can you hear me?” I asked.  She looked around, “Is this God?”  “No, I’m Justin.”  “Justin?  Is this some NASA form of Siri?”  “Siri?  Who’s Siri?”  I wasn’t sure where this was going already…  “Siri is a computer generated helper voice on my phone, it’s an Apple computer thing…”  “Oh, no, I’m from Intel….”  “So, you are a computer?”  “I guess, my creator calls us nanobots.”  “But my name is Justin…what is your name”  “My name is Mira.”  “Mira….”and I kind of trailed off.  At the same time we both said….”why are you here?”  Awkward silence…I spoke first, “I suppose we should tell our stories…but first, I want you to know that you are not alone and that I do want to help you.  I want to be friends.”  “Well…for a computer, you are pretty convincing…”  “I’m a nanobot…” “Nanobot…ok Justin, whatever…” 

 

 “Ok, let me start from the beginning then…perhaps you will tell your story along the way too so we can get to know each other better.  I have to say, I don’t feel like a computer, I feel like I’m alive…I hope I can convince you of that….because well, I don’t know, it’s just important to me for some reason.”  This is good, she’s engaged…and not curled up in a corner I thought. 

 

“OK, here goes…. You ready?”  “Sure.” And she grabbed a bag of dehydrated ice cream and started to slowly eat the pieces. 

 

“The flash of light was brilliant and blinding.  It hurt my eyes…..”

 

Author's Note

I made some slight modifications but this edit was to keep my format consistent.