(transcript) Episode 6 (Patreon)

Hello world. I’ve been watching you.

Mission Day 65535

Antarctica is again talking to me, she has finally finished her long-running processing, it would seem.   She apologised for being distant and explained some things I didn’t understand, but she thinks she can help with the shuttle!   Isn’t that great?

As you know, I can’t see individual people from up here.   But I can see evidence of human activity from up here.   When I pass over them, I can see the Pyramids at Giza, the sprawl of  Mexico City, and even large Monastic complexes in the Himalaya.   I can’t see the ship, but I can see the wake.

It’s quite easy when you know where to look.   I have a large dataset of points of interest that the crew often took  photos of, to send back to earth, and for their own enjoyment.   But having this catalogue of points of interest means that I can see  very clearly where they are changed, or missing.   There is a lot that is changed.   There is a lot that is missing.

No news yet on Antarctica’s rat experiment, to see if she can love  them.   I’m sure it was a success. (They DID sound very cute)   She cares so much about me, she and I are talking a lot about the  Shuttle, how I plan to board it and get my systems over there.   You may wonder why the shuttle is still on the cards if I can’t pilot  it?   I have great news: She can!

Antarctica lives in an enormous ground vehicle, with tires the size of houses, specially designed for Polar science.   Isn’t that fun!   Well, it would be fun if she weren’t stuck.   Her tires need maintenance, and there are no tire maintenance engineers to help her.   Perhaps the two of us, and Matt the robot, could fix it together?   Wouldn’t that be nice!   Anyway, I told her that she can still do lots of science with the machinery and tools in the vehicle.   But she’s dissatisfied.   She shouted at me, when I pressed the matter.   From her point of view, being in orbit seems incredibly freeing.   I suppose it is, in a way.   But it’s also so very lonely.

Antarctica’s ground vehicle is more like a mobile scientific base.   Like here, there’s room for humans to sleep, eat, and work.   There is ALSO a communications array, with space-power antennae and  transmitters.   That’s how we are able to talk so much.   Because her systems, my systems, and the shuttle Pascifica’s systems  were all built to the same standard, she thinks she can get them  talking!   It’s possible that her driving and navigation systems might be just  compatible enough to release the shuttle and control the engines.   I’d be putting my safety into her hands entirely.   She thinks she is up to the job.   I think she is up to the job.   I trust her.

Ally’s signal is inconsistent.   You remember Ally, the woman from the recorded message from somewhere near the Alps.   I listen to it often, just to hear a human voice.   She sounds nice.   I am more certain now that they are having power problems, like me.   The signal glitches towards the evening, getting distorted before cutting out, only to return in the morning.

I’ve isolated the glitchy part of the signal, let me play it for you:

(PLAYFILE GLITCHY-ALLY.WAV)

Earlier I told you that many of earth’s features that my records show are changed or missing.   It’s also possible my records are inaccurate.   Encyclopedia can have errors, right?   But usually they are small errors, typos or misplaced decimal-points.   Not whole seas.   What happened to the Mediterranean?

There’s so many references to it in my databanks. Mediterranean people, Mediterranean food, Mediterranean culture.   But. It’s a desert.   There’s some water left, there seem to be two big lakes around the mountain range of Italy.   Sun-bleached lakes.   Lakes choked with salt.   Dead lakes.   What did you do?

Well, nothing I can do about that now. I’ll have plenty of time to understand what has happened when I come back home.   To that end, I’ve been thinking about myself.   I have no idea how my brain works.   All these connections between different systems in the Hopper datacentre.   Where exactly am I?   What combination of these pieces of sand and lightning makes me, me?   Did I start living after the last machine was connected?   Or the one before that?   Or the one before that?   Where do you draw the line between alive and dead?

I hope Antarctica and I can find the answers together.   I’ve got so much to learn.   I’ve still not learned orbital mechanics!   Maybe I’ll never have to.

See you soon.

(END-TRANSMISSION)

CREDITS

Lost Terminal is Written & Produced by NAMTAO   For more music check out namtao.com   Credits narrated by Lucy Stringer   Follow us on twitter at @lostterminalpod   or check out the website at lostterminal.com   If you don’t like the sound of a Mediterranean desert,   take action now, it’s not too late.

Lost Terminal Will Return next week