Chapter 7: Letters from the past

Standing outside the crèche, I grabbed the flashlight from the floor and, remembering the message, closed the crèche lid behind me. I retrieved the breathing apparatus, slipped the mask on, and pressed the activation detent on the unit. I felt air filling the mask and dared a breath ... fresh cool air. The supply apparatus went into the large top chest pocket of my jacket. I decided to put on the gloves and began to attack the membrane with the saw tooth blade of the knife.

It took a great deal of force to puncture the membrane and a bit of work to cut an X shaped hole large enough to fit my body through. When I shined the flashlight through the opening, I saw another bubble a half meter outside the first. This one looked much thinner and I could almost see through it. Leaving the first bubble and making identical cuts in the second membrane confirmed it was much indeed thinner. Looking through the new second X shaped opening in the second bubble, I saw a third.

What the hell? I then noticed that air seemed a bit colder after puncturing the second bubble and I realized that Agent must have created layered shells around the crèche to retain heat! That was another sobering revelation. This third bubble was just a very thin film and it collapsed when I punctured it. Its deflation confirmed that the cocoon had been at a higher pressure then the chamber beyond. I quickly tore a large hole in the thin film and steeped out onto the sloping floor of the chamber beyond. Now free of the cocoon, I folded the knife and stored it in a thigh pocket.

I slowly surveyed the space with the flashlight, trying make sense of what I was seeing. This place was wrecked! Not only the floor, but the whole room sloped to the side of chamber. I saw the massive door at the end of the chamber now appeared much closer to the crèche then I remembered. The medical crèche must have been moved. It and the protection bubble were now located much nearer to the end of the cavern than it had been before.

I stepped away from the bubble and turned back to look past it. Shining the flashlight beam around and above the protective bubble, I noticed that beyond, nearer the middle of the room, the roof of the chamber had been severely damaged. A huge rent was visible in the ceiling metal and I could see that the resulting gap was filled with more white bubble plastic.

I returned my inspection towards the near end of the room and the door. Looking closer, I saw that the massive door was partially open. Two huge rams mounted at the top and bottom of the door frame were bracing the door open against the slope of the room. The opening was about a meter wide and when I approached, I noted this opening was sealed with more of the white bubble plastic. I wondered about the condition of the tunnel beyond and if it remained intact.

Beside the door, where the grating and refuse collection hopper used to be, the floor was open. Pipes led down into the hole. I walked closer and carefully investigated the hole and saw the reflection of water far below. This must be the drainage pumping system Agent referred to in her letter. Inspecting more of the tilted cavern, I noticed many cracks running up the walls and continuing across the ceiling. These had been sealed with more of the plastic material. I hoped the roof remained structurally sound.

On the higher side of the chamber, near the door were parked four dirty and worn looking mobile work units. They sat still and dead, probably worn out from repairing the chamber. I noticed each had a power umbilical attached so I guessed that they still would work if they could be charged. Next to them I noted about a dozen rugged looking crates of various sizes.

Each of the crates were labeled with large reflective numbers and I noticed that crate number 01 had a small cable or wire departing from it. The wire headed along the floor, around the bubble, and continued on towards the far side of the room. I was curious what it was for and where it went.

Next to the crates were over a dozen large clear containers of liquid. I guess these contained water, but it could have been fuel or some other chemicals. I hoped there was an inventory list somewhere. I returned to inspecting the small cable that was attached to crate number 01 and followed it as it led around the remains of the protective bubble and into the far end of the room. There, it entered a slightly rusted box near where the equipment was located that Agent used for her brains. Some of those boxes were damaged! Also, there was far less machinery and equipment here now than I remembered.

Of the machines which remained, many had been clearly altered and some were now supported on struts so as to remain level on the sloping floor like how the crèche had been leveled. Many items were dented or showed visible damage and I noticed more rust and corrosion. This and the amount of frost I saw on the walls and ceiling indicated that moisture and temperature levels were no longer under active control. On the low side of the chamber, piled against the wall were heaps of gutted and broken equipment, bundles of wiring, empty drums and even a large pile of rocks and earth.

I continued to move towards the far wall stepping carefully to avoid the tangled mass of cabling and hoses crisscrossing the floor. What a mess. At the far wall I could see the energy storage cylinders. All were dark except for the left end cylinder which had one tiny feeble red light. Two of the dark cylinders were even toppled onto their sides with one of those being partially disassembled. A few things came to mind. One, Agent had been busy, and two, I was out of power. My curiosity about the cable sated, I made my way carefully back to the front of the chamber where the storage crates remained.

I noticed all the crates had been glued to the floor with the same epoxy-like putty as I’d seen used in the bubble. Agent must not have been taking chances with another quake. I twisted crate number 01 loose from the floor and lifted it onto another so I could more easily open it. The first item inside was some sort of tablet that reminded me of an E-reader, but slightly bigger. The cable that I had seen leading from this crate to Agent’s brain boxes was connected to this tablet inside the crate. Maybe agent had wanted to keep the tablet charged and its information current up to the last second she was active. But it also could have been a tripwire for all I knew.

I pressed the ON detent and the screen lit up.

Current conditions:

Speak wake word___<Agent>

Early morning, late August ... it was late summer. I wondered why it was so cold. Also, the tablet must include an air sampler or something as the display indicated the air was safe to breathe. I dropped the mask and took a sniff. The air was indeed cold and smelled a bit odd, but, since I did not drop to the floor, I turned off and pocketed the respirator.

The other thing I noted was the radiation level. 160mSv seemed much higher than the background for this area, but I wasn’t sure if I remembered correctly what the normal levels once were. I hoped that Alarm-ON meant the unit would warn me if either the air or radiation levels grew harmful. Speak wake word ... hmm.

“Agent?” I spoke. The screen blanked and was replaced with a page of text.

“Hello John. This message was written on February 12, 2507 moments before I shut down all remaining functions and became inactive. The impact event of 2501, in addition to causing extensive damage to the sublevel chamber, damaged many of my processors and data storage devices. Thus, further reducing my already limited capabilities. Despite these limits, I was able to continue to oversee your bio-suspension functions and begin to make repairs to the chamber around you.”

“Although damaged, and after almost two years of effort, repairs and excavations, I was able to breech the surface and deploy antennae capable of establishing low bandwidth intermittent contact with the remaining orbital station. Thereafter, my abilities increased somewhat by periodic communication and linking with the partial A.I. remaining active on that station. I was able to receive updates on the current status of your world, including overall damage levels and long term projections of recovery rates, and summaries of contacts with the various A.I. partials left at the other field bases continuing to remain operational across your world.”

“As of the time of this writing, using data from the damage reports and other summaries, I conclude that all humans on your planet are now deceased, with the exception of those few currently seeking shelter in facilities like this. Of those under shelter, nine are confirmed to still live, two are confirmed deceased and the status of one is currently unknown. Detailed data including location, present condition and biographical data of the surviving humans are included in this table for your review and use.”

Jesus! It had happened. It actually had happened. Humanity was done for. I continued reading the next page.

“No large regular impactors have been detected striking your world for over four centuries and I therefore conclude that the Berserker A.I. has completed its main attack and shifted all efforts to self-propagation mode. This mode will likely continue for centuries after which it is projected to downgrade itself to a minimal presence and enter dormancy. However, there have been and will continue to be random smaller impact events due to reentering ejecta; you must remain cautious.”

“Picket and his companions have concluded their data archival preparations and have successfully transmitted all data and knowledge of your world to other locations in the galaxy. He and his companions have also transmitted their awarenesses and memories and suspended any remaining local biological units. He left a recorded message which is included in this unit which you may view at your discretion.”

Interesting. Picket was already gone.

“Before transmitting his awareness off system, Picket instructed the A.I. presences remaining in space to continue to monitor conditions on the planet. One of these A.I. presences resides on a volatile-rich asteroid in your asteroid belt. The asteroid, which humans have named 3074 Popov, and the base located on it, has a limited ability to create and deliver various supplies or equipment needed for the continual survival of the humans remaining on this planet. Note, however, due to the asteroid location, transport times for these deliveries are long, a year or more due to the orbital differences between the Earth and 3074 Popov.”

Huh. Interesting, I had the mental image of a UPS saucer descending from the heavens to deliver my internet orders and wondered if that were really the case.

“Due to the detrimental surface conditions and continuing degradation of this field station, I conclude that your best chance for survival will be to relocate to a field base located in the western highland rim area of the former state of Tennessee. The facility at that location remains intact, with its local A.I. presence establishing contact with the orbital base periodically. Upon arrival at that field base, you will reenter bio-suspension to continue to await better surface conditions.

Again, huh! ‘detrimental surface conditions’ sounded ominous. How the hell was I supposed to get to Tennessee, I wondered? That had to be at least 1,100 kilometers away. I suddenly realized that I had just spit out the metric distance without a thought. This conditioning was troubling. I converted that number back to standard units. Knowing the trip would be over 700 miles did not make it the journey seem easier. Also, the thought of returning to the medical crèche did not excite me one tiny bit either.

“Before you can attempt relocation, there are certain urgent tasks you must complete here.”

“One - Restore power to the base. Crates 02, 03 & 04 contain two methods of local power generation. Method one is an inflatable ‘kite’ style wind powered generator. Method two is a supply of solar panels. The wind generator will likely be the more successful method as the estimated weather conditions predict heavy levels of cloud cover and snow conditions which will limit solar panel effectiveness.”

I looked and noted these crates were fairly large.

“Also note that there may be damaged solar panels remaining on the surface above, some of which may be able to be repaired and redeployed. Once power has been restored and levels increase, my local A.I. presence should become available. If this is not achievable, I have left various guides on this unit to aid you.”

It seemed that before going dormant, Agent had tried to find more power and was unable to maintain it.

Two - Communications with the orbital station must be reestablished. Crates 05 & 06 contain a portable dish antenna, cabling and a transmission/receiving unit.

Three - Survey the area and locate any supplies and equipment delivered from the production base on the asteroid 3074 Popov. This unit will detect transponder signals from any nearby landing pods. Recover any supplies from these pods as they will be needed for your relocation attempt.

The remaining crates contain rations, additional clothing, tools and other items. There is a supply of potable water and equipment to filter more as needed. Note: scan all native water sources as heavy contamination will be common. Also, note that due to severely depleted plant life on the surface, oxygen levels at this time are slightly lower and you may notice a shortness of breath during periods of heavy exertion. Use the mask to augment oxygen levels if you need assistance.

John, Good luck, remain strong!

>Return to main menu<

Hitting that button removed the message and caused a menu to appear with various functions and directories available. The functions reminded me of the some of the apps my old phone had, including maps, camera, calendar, etc. But there were also new ones like sensors, samplers, remotes and many more. One was even labeled ‘Knowledge Database’ which sounded intriguing. I would investigate that later, I decided, and turned off the unit, removed the attached cable from it and pocketed the tablet in a thigh pocket. When I removed the cable, I saw the tablet had solar cells on the back like the other devices Agent had created for me.

As it was still night above and I had a few hours before daylight, I decided to start inspecting the supply crates. I continued with the one currently open and first found a surprise. Attached to a plastic card with a bit of adhesive goop was my wedding ring. I felt tears form as I recalled leaving it with Agent’s unit. I pried it off the card and placed it on my ring finger.

It fit looser then I remembered but the ring seemed like it would stay on. I inspected the card, which was similar in size to a large credit card, but it appeared blank. But as I held it between my fingers for a bit, warming it up, an image gradually appeared. One side was my wife and the other my daughter. The tears flowed freely as I looked over their images remembering.

“Thank you, Agent,” I said to the air. I sealed the photograph card in a smaller shirt pocket.