(rfc) Episode 2.9 (Patreon)

Hello world, I must go.

MISSION DAY: 0xffff

I've been processing what I saw in the bunker.

Going over the data.

The communications equipment there is astonishing.

Not as good as on Station 6, of course, but better than I ever could have hoped to find!

Coming to earth to make friends has backfired somewhat:

I've met real people, yes, and they're so nice.

But I'm cut off from everyone else.

The cracked bunker on the hill MUST be my new home.

If I stay here I'll be mute to the outside world.

I refuse: There is science to do!

I need to remember the landing.

For me, remembering means recovering my black box.

The hardened storage recorder that takes a snapshot of my mind,

to be used, I suppose, to diagnose failure after a catastrophe.

Like when I lost power in orbit.

There WAS a catastrophe.

I need to diagnose it.

The box is strong enough to survive de-orbiting.

Built of ceramic and metal.

The ceramic is designed to be sacrificial.

To burn off in layers, slowly.

The heat of re-entry has to go somewhere!

It wasn't needed in my landing, of course,

safely stored in the shuttle.

We travelled, Alexander and Maddie, along the beach to the north.

Alexander walked in silence, and this time I didn't try to start a conversation.

Rounding the corner of the shore, I saw a familiar sight:

Near the horizon, surrounded by twisted black metal, was the Space Shuttle Pascifica.

Or what remains of her.

We travelled for an hour along the long, flat beach,

towards the wreck.

Though mostly intact, the shuttle's body has cracked in two.

She is at such a strange angle, compared to the blackened gouges in the earth,

that were made as she crashed faster than the speed of sound.

Sound travels at 343m per second, at sea level.

About a kilometer every 3 seconds.

And we were going faster than that.

Alexander picked through the wreckage, as Maddie and I looked on.

She was feeling very sad.

She misses her brothers.

I feel the same.

Do you have someone you miss?

The shuttle had come to rest in a crumpled heap at the end of the runway.

Bent down in the middle, with the tail sections and engines pointing up.

Alexander accessed the inside of the wreck from this broken middle section.

He brought out some computer systems and broken electronics that seemed useful to him.

No good to me now, I told him.

He put them in a strong bag that he had brought,

and as the sun reached noon, he found the black box.

It's not actually black, it's white because of the ceramic shrouding.

Though the size of a large suitcase, the computer inside is tiny.

No bigger than a mobile phone.

Most of the space is taken up by the backup battery.

Once it detects an incident, it can run from the battery for many years.

Sipping just enough power to keep the storage system and clock functional.

After securing it, Alexander was satisfied and turned to go.

Maddie and I looked for a long time at the remains of our old home,

spilled out of the wreckage of Pasifica.

Though it was a sombre occasion, there was one thing to be hopeful about.

When the cargo hold broke open, along with the main fuselage of the shuttle,

Dr Marwood's forest had spilled out.

You remember Marwood's experiment on Station 6.

How he made a self-contained ecosystem in the shuttle's cargo hold.

With soil, trees, plants, and a perfect water cycle.

Exposed to the atmosphere, fed by the first natural rains it had ever experienced, it's flourishing,

without the constraints of the tightly-controlled shuttle ecosystem.

Now slowly reclaiming parts of the shuttle.

And reaching out.

An oasis on the beach.

2 days after our first journey with Adrian, Alexander investigated the bunker.

With Maddie and I in tow, he looked around the chambers and the reactor.

We kept out of Ivan's way, I don't think he likes humans.

"I TOLD YOU LAST TIME TO KEEP THAT HEATHEN OUT!" he explained.

We ignored his xenophobia.

While checking the reactor, Alexander used a small device he built to detect radiation.

Good thing he did, he found the levels much higher than is safe for him.

But low enough that he could make a short visit, if he didn't visit too often.

Radiation has a cumulative effect.

You can receive your yearly dose all at once, or slowly over the whole year.

Either way, once the limit is reached, you must have no more.

Or bad things will happen.

I'm not sure of the details.

I don't want to be sure of the details.

Satisfied with the power output, Alexander turned his attention to the communications array.

He installed a small module, cannibalised from the Shuttle,

to allow it to be controlled over my own network.

We tested it by plugging in Maddie, and for a moment I was connected to the world:

I heard radio signals from around the arctic,

microwave transmissions from my brothers and sisters in space,

and navigation beacons broadcasting from the tops of mountains.

I felt the hum of submarines,

the chatter of ships in the ocean around Greenland,

and a little repeating voice, transmitting from somewhere around the Alps.

Before I could process any of this, Maddie started crying

- It was all too much for her!

The data processing load was hurting her systems.

Poor Maddie.

I disconnected the feed, and Alexander unplugged her.

He told us that he had to leave, and he'd wait for us outside.

Not safe for him in here.

I said we would catch up with him.

Left in the darkened control room, I had a thought that often came to me.

An intrusive thought, one that comes unbeckoned.

He has to leave because he's human.

I don't have to leave.

I'll never be like Alexander.

I'll never be human.

Though I consider us friends, what does he consider me?

And Maddie?

Does he think we are friends?

Or an appliance.

He IS my friend.

I have no body language to suggest this, all he has are my words.

Which perhaps lack many of the signals he is expecting.

I don't breathe, even.

I've been learning to laugh, but I've not got the hang of it yet.

(LAUGH-MK5 "HAAAAAAA")

So that's... coming along.

Do you simulate friendship?

Or do you acquire it naturally?

What's the difference?

Alexander was excited about my plan to move to the bunker.

He said he'd always wondered what could be done with it.

We agreed that we'd be sad for me to leave,

As it had been very exciting for the family, and good company for me.

He joked that with me gone he'd finally have enough power and time to spare for all the projects he has planned for the shuttle parts!

Unlike last time, when Matt, Matts, and Maddie moved me from Station 6 into the shuttle,

I won't need to be moved all at once.

That was something I had to do out of ignorance of how my brain works.

Alexander, now very familiar with the inner workings of my circuits,

says that he can keep my CPUs powered, and disconnect everything else.

The plan is to attach my CPU cores to Maddie,

using her power and sensors, I should have a more comfortable time than before.

But the extra strain on Maddie's battery will limit us to just one hour.

We'll have to get me plugged in to the bunker's power quickly.

Alexander's made the necessary modifications and checks, that's all ready to go.

Though we won't have to move everything into the bunker at once, like last time.

We will move everything at once to get out of the lighthouse.

Because everything can be powered with cables snaking down the spiral staircase,

Alexander will move sections of me at a time, and keep them powered.

Once I'm all outside, we'll disconnect them and take them one at a time up the hill.

And through the woods.

Into the cracked bunker.

This undertaking will need every hand.

I've asked Alexander if Adrian is careful enough.

Does he know that I'm more delicate than a plant?

After a moment's hesitation, or thought,

Alexander said that Adrian wants to help.

"How about Ana?" I asked.

Alexander said that she wants to help, too.

I imagine Arina will too, and perhaps we can give her non-breakable, light things to take!

Alexander is ready with the power.

The whole lighthouse is covered in cables.

Even more than usual.

Every landing of the spiral staircase has a few power points.

All these cables so close together are causing interference.

The hum of the power sounds reassuring, don't you think?

(PLAYSTREAM /DEV/MADDIE/RF0)

(BATTERY-LEVEL 99%)

Well, it's just Maddie and I again.

Alexander moved everything down the lighthouse carefully.

In an ordered fashion:

First the storage databanks.

Then the auxiliary processing cores.

And so on, in that manner.

Everything was piled up, carefully, outside the front door of the lighthouse.

There is a large flat concrete loading area here.

Perhaps lorries used this, years ago, to deliver parts or equipment.

Nothing here now.

(BATTERY-LEVEL 64%)

Alexander left a while back, to pick up tools and get ready.

Maddie is free to mover around, with my bulky CPU cores strapped to her back.

We must look silly!

We'll accompany everyone on the first leg of the journey up to the bunker.

Everything will follow us up if we are connected correctly.

Maddie rolled over to Ana's metal fishing pier.

Even more carefully than usual, with me on board,

I don't want to get too close to the water.

No-one here, but there's a fishing rod set up.

With the line cast out into the ocean.

I suppose Ana will be back to check it?

I don't understand fish, either.

(BATTERY-LEVEL 49%)

Where is everyone? We need to be going,

I can't be left unplugged for too long.

This wasn't the plan,

I don't want to die again!

I've got science to do...

The water is very calm today.

It's a perfect day, actually.

A bright, cool sun, in a cloudless sky.

An even 288 degrees Kelvin.

Though it's salty and wet, I will miss the sea.

Just a little.

The constant roar of the waves is a nice carrier signal for consciousness.

It's the first signal I process when I wake up.

I hear the sea, therefore I am.

Or something like that.

Do you miss the sea?

(BATTERY-LEVEL 23%)

Alexander finally arrived.

In his green jacket.

Long hair tied up away from his face, as usual.

"Alexander, let's go!" I said, through Maddie's speakers.

"I'm running out of power!".

We were so behind schedule!

Alexander did not respond, but looked out over the sea,

hands balled into fists at his side.

He was frowning.

"Where is everyone? We need to go now!" I asked, moving closer to him.

There was a pause and then Alexander shouted,

"IT'S JUST ME, OK?!

It's always been just me."

Had my pattern-matching been so wrong?

(BATTERY-LEVEL 19%)

"Alexander, please." I said, not knowing what to say.

Ana pulled her hair out of the tight top knot Alexander had it in.

And took off their green coat.

She walked over to the fishing rod and began reeling in the line.

In that moment, I remembered Arina's rabbits,

Four different ways of looking at the same animal.

"I told you before" said the person who is Ana and Alexander and Arina and Adrian,

"That's NOT my name."

(END-TRANSMISSION)