| |
We set off the next ‘day’, about two hours after Noah had woken us. We had gone back to the control room and found Noah had put together travelling kits for us. There were clever bags that sat in the middle of the back, with straps across both shoulders, and to put inside each of them were torches, food, water, spare clothes, and small medical kits. My bag also had a selection of flavour tubes and cubes. We even had a pair of sturdy shoes each
Noah had two other things to give each of us, which were kept on a separate table to the bags. Both were on lanyards, one being a thin, translucent red square about 2cm on a side and the other something that looked like a green pencil stuck into a small ball. At the end of the pencil, away from the ball, there was a transparent tip, like a lens.
‘It is probably safest if each of you carry these devices about your person. The red squares are command chips, and hold the correct engine firing commands. One at least must be handed to someone in a position of authority, or placed into the appropriate reader on the primary engine management console. These should be concealed.
‘The green devices are intelligent maps that will be able to give you guidance as you travel. These must be worn outside your garments to function, but should be concealed if not required. They have both neural and verbal interfaces.’
‘Can we talk to you with them?’ Pitr asked.
‘No,’ Noah replied. ‘The damage caused by the explosion prevents me from communicating with the rest of the environment. The high metallic content of the asteroid interferes with the function of local wireless communication
‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’ I asked.’ About where we have to go, I mean.’
‘There is much I could tell you,’ Noah replied. ‘But I chose not to. I have no visibility of any area outside of this immediate locale, and the few maintenance ‘bots I still have for repair work are for delicate work. The damage is too extensive for them. If I were to tell you of what I remember beyond this section, I may prejudice your assessment of a situation.’
‘So why didn’t you send a ‘bot to do this?’ asked Pitr.
‘Autonomous units were sent, but none succeeded. Too few remain to send on further missions, and I now lack sufficient resources to build more.’
‘So we are more expendable?’ said Pitr, sounding like he thought he had scored a point. I wondered what he thought he was achieving by annoying Noah.
‘No,’ Noah replied. ‘Repeated failure indicates that autonomous units are in some way lack and unable to fulfil the task. Only when this had been established were humans considered. Humans have superior problem solving and situational awareness skills to any autonomous unit.’
‘OK, not expendable, but we are just tools instead.’
‘You may consider yourselves as the best available tool for the job.’
‘And the four who already tried?’
There was a pause. ‘I have no information on the previous missions.’
Pitr turned and looked at me. ‘See?’
‘See what?’ I replied. ‘The job still has to be done.’
‘But we’re being sent out there on our own.’
‘Not quite,’ Noah corrected. ‘You have the mapping drones. They will be able to advise you. And I will offer you one suggestion. There is a transport line that ran through the axis of this body, and which should take you straight to the engineering section. I have already instructed the drones to take you to the nearest station on the transport line and their preference will be to follow that route.’
‘Well that’s helpful,’ said Pitr. I spoke privately to Noah.
‘Don’t mind him. He’ll be OK.’
‘I am concerned that your friend does not appear to be very stable. Would you like me to arrange for him to remain here while you carry out your mission?’
I’m ashamed to say I actually thought about that for a few seconds. ‘No,’ I answered slowly. ‘He’s my friend, even if he is acting like a jerk this morning. I still need him.’
‘Very well. One last thing, which I have chosen not to share with your friend in his current mood.’
‘What’s that?’
‘It should take you no more than nine or ten days to reach the engineering section. You must, however, take no longer than eighteen days. The burn window closes in twenty days, ten hours and fifty minutes.’
‘So, no pressure then.’
‘You have ample time provided you do not dally.’
‘Anything else?’
‘Nothing.’
I picked up my pack, slid my arms through the straps and shrugged it up onto my shoulders. Pitr tried to copy me, and jerked away when I tried to help him.
‘Guess this is goodbye, then,’ I said.
‘And good luck, to both of you,’ Noah replied. ‘To activate the drones, simply say – or think – ‘show me’.’
I looked to see if Pitr wanted to try it, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. I sighed, and almost thought the words. At the last moment, I changed my mind and spoke them.
‘Show me.’
A needle thin beam of light that somehow seemed more solid than light ought to shone out from the base of the drone pendant and pointed at the glass door we had first come in through. The panel slid aside and I saw the huge metal door beyond start to move upwards. I waved a vague farewell to Noah and set off. I didn’t bother to check that Pitr was following. As soon as I was out in the main corridor, the beam of light swung around to the right. I followed the drone’s instructions and after an hour or so I came to a sign on the wall that said ‘Transport Lobby’. I stopped and looked back. Seeing Pitr still some distance away, I waited for him to catch up. He walked straight past me and into the lobby.
I stood there for a moment, counting to ten as slowly as I could. This was starting to get annoying. It wasn’t like I had done anything wrong; all I had tried to do was surprise him with the flavour tubes. I thought he would be as excited as me. At ‘ten’ I turned and followed him in.
Inside, the lobby looked like a letter ‘E’, with two channels cut a metre deep into the floor. At the end of each of the channels large holes opened into the walls and the drone was shining its beam into the closest of them. I walked up to the edge of the closest channel and looked down. It looked like any other floor I had seen – maybe a little rougher – with a narrow black line down the middle and a small ridge on either side. I jumped down into the channel and looked towards the large hole. It was a tunnel, and the black line and the ridges ran straight into it and vanished into the distance. Small lights set into the wall made a dotted line that disappeared into the vanishing point an infinity away.
‘What are you doing?’
Pitr made me jump. He was standing right above me, and it seemed he had spoken very loudly.
‘Looks like this is the way to go?’ I said, giving him a small smile.
‘So you just jumped down there?’
‘Why not?’ I knew I was frowning now.
‘It could have been dangerous.’
I waved my hands in a circle, level with the floor, indicating everything. ‘How?’
‘You didn’t know that. You were just being reckless again. Or did your friend in your head give you a load more information?’
‘What? No.’
Pitr just made a noise between a grunt and a ‘hah’, then walked off down the tunnel. I shook my head and let him get a short distance in front of me before I set off after him. He didn’t seem like he was in any mood for company or conversation, and frankly neither was I if he was just going to snarl at me like this. While I waited, I fiddled with the drone. It didn’t look like we were going to need it for a while, and I wondered how I switched it off. As soon as I thought the word, the beam of light disappeared, and I groaned inwardly. Something else Pitr was probably going to grumble about.