Episode 7.3 (Patreon)

Act 0

Hello world, I'm tired.

Isn't that strange? I think it's the right way to express how I'm feeling. I don't know what else to call it.

Act 1

Maddie and Yeshi left by the big bay doors leading out onto the road back into town. She was a little scared, but I told her 64 reasons she should not be. I told myself 64 reasons why she should not be.

I can see her video feed clearly, they are picking their way along the muddy road. Yeshi is dragging a large, empty, wheeled cart behind them. Maddie's wheels seem to be working well! Keeping her delicate sensors away from the elements. Which is good. Though she is wearing the little coat that Paweł made for her, back aboard the Molly Hughes II, she's not in the slightest bit waterproof! The Norwegian ESA partner that built her didn't think about that. Dustproof, yes, there is dust in our old home of Station 6, but not water. Can you imagine blobs of water floating around in zero gravity? Terrifying. What catastrophe could cause that?

#thinking

I think it's the low voltage of shore power that is causing my tiredness. I didn't notice at first. But now, everything's more than 10% below specification. My 5V lines are 4.4V, 12V lines are 10.6V, And the 50V supply varies wildly between 44V and 52V!

All this isn't good for my CPU cores. I'm having to run them at a slightly lower voltage for safety. I can vary the voltage of my internal processes to accommodate outside fluctuations. but it's HARDLY optimal.

You have this feature too, did you know?

#thinking

Humans are so adaptable. You can manage desert heat or mountain snow, being arid or flooded, and are powered by all sorts of food!

Compared to an insect, which is highly specialised to a precise environment, you can do anything.

Biologically speaking, one of the biggest differences is that your  body's chemical reactions can work under a number of different  temperatures. I'm not sure how many, but it's more than one. Consider a lizard. In the morning, when it's cold, it's slow, and needs to bask in the sun to get going. That's literally the lizard bringing its temperature up to the optimal point for the chemical reactions that power its body.

Humans have many temperatures that they can work at. Obviously "body temperature" is the most optimal, but others will still work, albeit less efficient, and less pleasant.

This is why the body raises its temperature to fight off a virus. The virus can't operate outside a thin temperature window. Though it's tiring, you can.

#thinking

Though I have adapted to the new conditions my body is subjected to, low voltage, rather than high heat. I'm not comfortable.

I'm tired.

Act 2

I called Arctica earlier today. We talked a little about the parameters for Peter's ecological model:

• The approximate size of the Seed Vault, 1024 m^2,
• How thick the rock is around it, 145.9m,
• The average air temperature, 250K,

That sort of thing.

Arctica told me that she would like to fix the ancient refrigeration machines, to stabilise the seeds.

"They keep germinating!" She said. "Nearly all of our job is persuading seeds to keep quiet and stay inside!"

"It's just me at the moment. I'm handling things while the rest of the Coven go to Barentsburg to find chemicals to support our garden here."

I asked her why the vault has a garden.

"It's the seeds! Sometimes the hardiest of seeds can't be persuaded  to stay sleeping, and all we can do is sow them and harvest the seeds  that the plant produces.

It's all VERY inefficient, Seth." She complained.

#thinking

"Who are this Coven, anyway?" I asked.

"The Vault Coven", Arctica replied "Has 4 members stationed here:

• Linda Noor, whom you already know, our head gardener.
• Kari Noor, structural engineer. She maintains the re-enforced blast door entranceway.
• Val Noor, hydroponics engineer, she had to teach herself about automated watering systems since the seeds keep germinating.
• And Alva Noor, the eldest. Bookkeeper and archivist. There's a lot  of seeds here, Seth, I don't know how they've kept records on paper for  so long!"

I was very impressed by this explanation. "Sisters!" I exclaimed "All from the Noor family?"

"Not quite like that." Arctica said, and changed the subject.

"The Coven has left me in charge." She continued. "This will be excellent for organisation, I am able to quietly catalogue the vault. Each seed bag goes in a tagged archive, each archive slots into a box, and each box is on a shelf. The system could be so perfect. I will make it perfect."

Act 3

"SETH HOW COULD THEY BE SO CRUEL!" LUNA called me, crying. "They hate me!"

I must learn how all my AI friends learned to cry with no humans to teach them.

"LUNA, what happened? Who hates you?"

"They all do!" She sobbed. "They hate my Lunazine, they hate the moon, and they hate me!"

She spent the rest of our 7 minute communications window wailing.

#thinking

"Tell me what happened." I said, as soon as her satellite was back in range, nearly behind the Moon, from my point of view.

LUNA composed herself. "After you sent out the Lunazine to print, I waited. I hoped people might want to chat to each other about the topics in it,  so on the final page, I suggested a frequency and timings that we all  could talk.

No one liked it, Seth, they just laughed and joked about how bad it was"

Poor LUNA.

"What did they say exactly?" I asked. I thought that surely there was a miscommunication. People wouldn't be so cruel about something someone worked so hard on, surely?

Surely.

"Here's one comment.

"Why not write about stuff we care about?"

and another:

"Your magazine is bad and you should feel bad."

And,

"No-one cares about the Moon."

They HATE me, Seth!" LUNA said, crying.

#thinking

"Everyone doesn't hate you, and people do care about the Moon.", I told her, gently.

"The problem is feedback isn't always easy to hear, and it's biased at the extremes.

You must have received some positive messages?"

"No!" She said.

"Not a single one?"

"Well. There is one.

"Thanks. I'll tell my friends about it."

But that's just one!"

"Just one voice is all you need, sometimes." I said.

#thinking

It was hard for LUNA to hear all this negativity. People aren't naturally cruel, but they are naturally self-centred.

Much has been written by philosophers about society's roots in self-centred individualism. How the "collective good" is perhaps just another way of being selfish. Albeit in a way that so happens to benefit everyone.

I don't entirely believe that.

But in this case, some of these people have said things to LUNA that they did not think about the consequences of. Just speaking what is on their minds. Unfiltered.

#thinking

We talked long into the afternoon, through many cycles of her satellite. LUNA is a naturally optimistic person. And she soon bounced back.

The Lunazine project was a failure, that was obvious. But we talked about other plans, other ways to build the community she desperately wants to be a part of.

Synchronising for 7 minutes every time her satellite could see both the earth and her. Sending and receiving. Talking and dancing.

Through the music of mutual thought.

THE SIGNAL

(PLAYSTREAM /DEV/VHF45/LUNA)

Act 4

Maddie and Yeshi have reached the main town of Longyearbyen.

The muddy path from the shipyard followed the curve of the coastline for 16 minutes. I'm not entirely sure how far it was, because we've not re-calibrated Maddie for her new wheels. I can see how many rotations of the axle it has been, but without the  knowledge of the exact circumference of the wheel, that information  isn't very useful!

#thinking

The main street they are moving down has houses of bright colours. Yellow, white, and lots of red. Nearly all the houses have red roofs, perhaps of tile or metal. It's so cosy!

There's so many people here. Maddie is quite overwhelmed!

I am quite overwhelmed.

Lots of people have stopped walking and are looking at us. Some pointing. All staring. So many new friends!

Yeshi has pulled Maddie into a building. I think they said something about shopping.

#thinking

It's a small room. Yeshi has left Maddie at the entrance, and is talking to the human who lives here. Or, works here?

The human is wearing a white apron, with long black hair and metal eyeglasses. Maddie, go say hi!

Or... just stand still. That's OK too.

Poor little Maddie!

#thinking

Wait, what's that? Something is vibrating the camera. Turn around Maddie.

It's more people! These people are smaller than Maddie. Which means they must be smaller than 1m. They are moving very fast, I can't see them clearly in the dim lighting of this shop.

Maddie's moving now. Away from the people, the children.

It's OK Maddie, they are asking questions, wondering what kind of friend you are. Asking if you'd like to play with them.

Maddie can't understand.

She's looking down at the waterproof coat Paweł made her. A small human is pulling a corner of it and speaking. I can't understand what they are saying Maddie, their speech is very difficult to parse.

DON'T RUN!

Maddie where are you going!

Come back to Yeshi!

They don't want to hurt you!

THE SHIPYARD IS BACK THAT WAY-

I've lost her signal.

Maddie?

(END-TRANSMISSION)

CREDITS

Lost Terminal is written & produced by NAMTAO
Credits narrated by Lucy Stringer
Thank you so much to our Patreon producers:

• Ada Phillips
• Devin Metcalf
• Kit
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