Chapter Eight
Chapter
Nine
Encounter with a Titan
As they climbed down
an access ladder, because there were no lifts in evidence, it
occurred to Tamita that the darkened corridor also had a higher
ceiling than the rest of the ship she had seen. It was like they had
simply welded another ship to the front of the Salutem Novis.
She meant to bring this up to Jay Johnson but they were both climbing
silently.
Finally they reached
the next lower deck. Here she was certain the ceiling was higher.
Much higher.
“Jay, the
ceiling.” she said. He looked up and nodded “Yeah, I noticed that
too.”
The main computer
spoke to them “I had registered larger spaces through a radar scan
but it was not nearly detailed enough to see how large it was
exactly.”
They began walking
but stopped. There was no corridor here. Instead there was a huge
door hatch, and Jay did not see any device that would open it. “I
don't know what is going on here, but something is definitely going
on.”
Tamita nodded. “I'm
not sure I really want to meet what uses this door.”
“Good point.”
Jay agreed. “Computer, maybe it would safer to get back to where we
belong.”
The main computer
answered “I leave this up to you, as the human crew. If you feel it
is too dangerous to continue, then by all means return. A hatch that
measures 3 meters wide and 8 meters tall is quite a mystery.”
“Everything here
looks like part of a different ship.” Jay said “This hatch looks
like it might not even be a human one.”
“It's cold here
too.” Tamita said “Quite a bit colder, actually.”
Jay nodded, it
hadn't registered yet with him but she was right. “What could be
the purpose of all this? You don't think it's some kind of protective
buffer?”
The main computer
“Negative. That possibility is quite remote.”
Tamita was shivering
and tapping a foot “I don't want to stay here any more. Can we just
leave?”
Jay put an arm
around her and started back toward the access ladder. “After we
reprogram the Rovers I could come back with a few of them and I can
be armed. Then maybe we could find a way to see what is on the other
side of that.”
Jay Johnson took off
the wrist device and laid it on the floor, facing the hatch. Then he
and Tamita climbed back up the ladder past where the ceiling was.
“Why did you do
that?” she asked him looking down at him, noticing that he stopped
climbing.
“Just a hunch.”
he answered “Okay, lets go.”
So they climbed back
the way they came and walked back to where they had left Gopher.
“If we go down a
couple of decks we should be where that chamber is but on the other
side.” he told her as they moved “I have a feeling there is a
wall and not a hatch. There are probably not many routes into the
dark part of the ship.”
“Okay, so why
would they attach another vessel to the front of this one?” Tamita
stopped and asked “That doesn't make any sense”.
Jay walked back to
her and put an arm around her shoulder, again and walked again. Keep
moving, he was trying to say without words. “Maybe the project
chiefs didn't know about it. The world was falling into chaos, after
all, maybe someone chose that time to make a secret addition.”
“You think there
are stowaways?” she asked stopping again.
“Could be!” he
said “Just keep walking.”
She looked back into
the darker corridor. “There may be other people on this ship with
us?”
“Come on” Jay
said, this time holding her hand “Gopher is waiting for us.”
The little robot was
watching them as they approached. “Gopher, I'm not going down there
again without a plasma laser rifle and an army of droids.”
“Droids? Isn't
that a fictional designation for robots?” Gopher asked
Tamita said “Don't
listen to him. He missed you.”
Gopher moved in
front of them and faced him as he walked. “You have formed an
emotional attachment to Gopher, shall we hug?” It asked holding its
arms wide and stopping. Jay walked right into it “Stop it, this
isn't funny.” he said pushing Gophers closing arms away.
Tamita was laughing
though.
“Listen, this is
serious. I want to find out what is on this ship with us.” he told
them “Then I want to know what we can do about it.”
With incomplete
information there was no answer to these questions, the computer
knew. If indeed there was a presence of other persons or things
aboard, then it needed to be assessed whether they might be hostile
or non-violent. They seemed to be hiding, this would suggest they did
not want to be found and possibly not be offensively hostile. The
best course of action in that instance would be to leave them alone.
Something had
reprogrammed the rovers and the service modules though and left no
real sign of how or why they had done it. That, the computer thought,
had been a very hostile act.
“Options,
computer, let's hear them.” Jay Johnson said as they entered the
room that had become their main room. The two humans sat at the small
round table and Gopher hovered nearby.
“If there are
indeed others aboard they might possibly be non-violent, preferring
to stay hidden. If these persons were responsible for the
programming faults of the rovers and service modules, then I would
have to classify them as malevolent.” the computer said “The
options are, assuming again that they exist and that they are
hostile, to completely blockade the few access corridors available.
Or, your suggestion, send you in with arms and rovers programmed to
defend you. Or I could place you both back into cryogenic suspension
to protect you from harm.”
The humans looked a
bit stunned by the last suggestion.
“If those things
are hostile and responsible for damaging the ship, you can't afford
not to have humans around.” Jay Johnson said.
“Affirmative.”
“It would feel
kind of strange to wall the area off without knowing for sure what is
there.” Tamita said looking at the table top. “Not that I would
mind feeling weird.”
Jay nodded “Have
you manufactured the new rover computer cores?”
The main computer
answered “Yes, Jay. They are available whenever you are prepared to
install them.”
“If something in
that part of the ship tampered with them before, they could do it
again.” Tamita said “Going down there with an army of rovers that
might turn against you seems really stupid.”
After some silence,
during which the computer noted that Tamita took Jay Johnson's hands
into her own as they stared into each others eyes. “I can design
and produce what is called an interrupt function, or as you might
say, a dead-mans' switch. One that would allow you to shut down the
rovers with the touch of a button.”
“I guess I have to
do it.” Jay said quietly to Tamita before adding loudly and looking
at the terminal on the wall “But I'm going to be armed, okay?”
The switch would be
on his belt. He would wear a multi-functional wristband this time as
well as carry a plasma pulse laser rifle slung over his shoulder.
Before this, though, he would make a space walk outside of the bridge
dome and put new cores into 6 of the tiger-like rovers. While there
were more rovers locked into a storage shelter, it was decided that
these rovers would be the ones to use.
Jay Johnson wasn't
exactly sure how they were picked but it happened. Each of them,
after being reprogrammed, would have certain attachments to make them
into his army. One of them would carry a scanner and jamming system,
while another would carry a grenade launcher. Just as a for instance.
“Okay, recruits,
fall into line.” he ordered them and they complied. They followed
him into the airlock and then out into the corridor. Tamita backed
up, she was still afraid of them. Jay smiled and took off his helmet.
“I'll get the suit off and then I'll be right back.”
Soon enough they
were back into their main room. The computer had something to report
to them using the holographic monitor there. The six rovers were
waiting patiently outside in the corridor.
“Using the
scanning device that Jay Johnson left outside of the hatch in the
dark area of the ship I was able to determine that something was
moving inside.” the computer said “It is very sketchy but there
is most certainly movement.”
An ink blot would
have more detail than the images they were being shown.
“I see you do not
understand. Let me superimpose the hatch.”
Then the same
static-type movement was shown overlaying an image of the enormous
hatch, whatever was moving in there was very large.
“That is not a
human.” Tamita said “That thing must be at least eighteen feet
tall.”
Jay Johnson suddenly
felt like his gun was not big enough. “Computer do you have
emergency hatch doors if this thing suddenly pulled free from the
rest of the ship?”
After a second it
answered “Assuming it did so without causing structural damage,
yes. I do not understand how the question is germane. Do you have
reason to believe that this entity has the ability to separate from
the rest of the ship?”
“No.” he
admitted “It's just a feeling.”
Then after another
moment he asked. “Do you have a way to check how that section is
actually physically connected? If you do, check to see if it was
added with explosive bolts. If not, I would feel better about all
this.”
The computer
answered “Yes. I can send nanites into the ship to find out the
answer to this query.”
“Nanites?”
Tamita asked “You mean you have some of those microscopic robots on
board?”
The computer
answered “Affirmative. They are invaluable for any number of roles.
They repair micro-circuitry, they clean the interior of the ship and
other things.”
Jay Johnson stood up
and checked the way the gun sling hung from his shoulder “All
right. I guess we should get this show on the road.”
“If it gets too
dangerous...” Tamita told him “Just get out of there.”
He nodded.
“Hopefully it's not hostile. It might not have been it or he or
whatever, that sabotage the robots before. We just do not know.”
Tamita walked up to
him and kissed him “You better come back.”
“Oh, I will! I'm
not that brave.” he told her “The rovers can do the real
fighting.”
“Then hurry up.”
she told him.
She watched him and
the six rovers leave and turn down a corridor. “Okay Gopher, we
have some work to do too.”
…
When Jay and the
rovers reached the access ladder he suddenly wondered if these rovers
could climb, then he remembered how agile they were. They had no
problem climbing the ladder to the deck with the enormous hatch.
“Signals.” he
called number six, the one with the scanner and jammer “Can you
open that hatch? I mean, I order you to open the hatch.”
The robot pointed
itself at the hatch and Jay could hear it send radio frequencies
going from low to high and back again. Then hatch clicked.
“Attention!” he
said and all the robots were suddenly prepared to do combat. The
hatch had unlocked but it did not open automatically “Number One,
open the hatch”. The rover put its back legs against the frame of
pushed the huge hatch open several feet and then walked back to its
position.
Jay Johnson expected
something to burst out of the doors but it was quiet. He took a
sensor ball from his pocket, another device manufactured by the ship
and threw it into the opening in the hatch. He looked at a small
screen on his wrist device.
It was dark inside.
He saw some shadows, that looked like boxes and crates or furniture.
Of course everything he saw was much larger than it should have been.
Whatever that huge thing was it was hiding in the shadows. So instead
of it being the one to charge Jay, he and the rovers would have to do
the charging.
“Okay, go in and
spread out, spotlights on.” he told the rovers and they immediately
jumped to follow his commands and he followed them in, with his
weapon at the ready. He climbed into the hatch and dropped to one
knee once he was inside, he scanned back and forth with the gun. The
spotlights of the rovers were not as bright or as effective as he had
hoped.
“This place really
is huge.” he said, knowing the computer had probably already
started scanning and mapping it. One of the rovers made a noise and
the others all turned in the same direction, so Jay followed them
through the gun sight.
Suddenly something
in the shadows rose up and up. It was probably even taller than they
had first thought, and it was most definitely some type of robot. The
lights showed its legs, its torso, some of the long arms and large
claw-hands.
Finally the lights
of the rovers illuminated the top. Jay fell onto his butt and began
backing up toward the hatch door. Up at the place where some sort of
robot head should be was the body of a man, it was connected to the
huge metal frame through where its arms, legs and the top of his head
should be.
Jay felt like he
would throw up. His legs wouldn't work right, he was trying to stand
up so he could get out of there. He was in the doorway of the hatch
when he heard a cackle.
“Run, frightened
mouse, run” its metallic voice said “I am the titan who shall
inherit the Earth, not you puny pathetic humans!”
“Rovers, attack!”
Jay yelled, but he was a bit behind the times. He hadn't seen that
this titan had his own robotic army closing in on them. The rovers
launched their grenades and fired their guns but the other robots
also attacked. A nearby explosion threw Jay completely out of the
chamber and past the open hatch.
“Don't think I'm
not grateful you've let me out of my prison. I'll reward you with a
quick death!” the voice reverberated. Jay told himself this guy or
thing had seen way too many bad movies, but seems to have forgotten
that the bad guys don't win. Usually.
Another explosion at
the hatch as he was climbing the ladder got his attention. The hatch
swung open from the blast and pieces of rovers littered the floor
between him and the hatch. Finally two rovers backed out of the
hatchway firing laser blasts into the chamber. Jay couldn't see much
but he returned some fire too.
Jay began to climb
frantically. Let the rovers slow them down a bit if they could.
“Computer, if
there is a way to separate this part from the rest of the ship, it
would be a great idea to do it now.” he said as he reached the top
of the ladder and began running up the corridor as fast as he could.
“Not possible.”
the computer answered.