Chapter 13: Team Member Down

After a long drink and a toilet break to take a piss, (my urine was very yellow; I needed to hydrate more) I got busy with the machete and the folding shovel. Ohmu stood still on overwatch as we needed to limit her activities to conserve her limited power reserves. She did have her weapon drawn and ready. The bio-drones had nourished themselves from the nutrient fluid we had brought and had gone back on patrol. I could see them occasionally through the undergrowth as they circled our location about a hundred meters away.

An hour later I had removed most of the plant growth and soil to expose a mound of masonry debris. I started moving the rubble starting at the mounds highest point which was about two meters taller than the surrounding jungle. The rubble looked like a combination of broken roofing tiles and bricks. I remembered from the old Google data of the area that a roadside shrine of some sort had been located here and that it had had a domed roof. This must have been the remains of that roof.

I stopped for a break. “What should I be looking for Ohmu?”

“Based upon the old data of the area and the rubble we have found thus far it is highly likely that this was a Buddhist roadside shrine of some sort. One face of the small dome would likely have contained a statue of one of the four primary Sri Lankan deities: Vishnu, Saman, Kataragama, or Vibhishana. If we can find the remains of such a statue, we will focus our efforts there.” Ohmu explained.

Half an hour later I uncovered bits of a broken statue. Of course, it was located in the last quadrant of the dome which I had been removing rubble. Whatever god the statue had once depicted was probably laughing at me. Ohmu approached and knelt by the pottery shards, scanning the area with what looked like a high-tech metal detector.

“I am detecting trace amounts of various alloys, metals and compounds normally used in advanced electronic modules, Joan. Also, I can visually see the remains of glass fiber optic filaments.” Ohmu said.

I watched as the unit dug through the earth with a small pick and hand shovel. It gently pulled a bundled strand of glass fibers from the rubble. The outer protective casing of the strands was deteriorated and fell off in brittle hunks. Over the next half hour, I helped Ohmu dig out the strands. They went down a half meter deep and led away from the mound.

To follow them I first had to expose the surface paving stones a dozen centimeters below the organic soil with the shovel. Then, I pried the pavers loose with the small titanium pry bar we had brought. After prying the pavers free, I used the shovel to dig into the gravel and soil below to expose the fiber data line.

The sheathing on this section of fibers was in better condition and we could clearly follow the route of the line without as much fear of breaking the strands. Once we had exposed enough of the buried fiber to determine a bearing, Ohmu set off slowing in that direction with her sensitive scanner. A few dozen meters away the hominoid unit stopped walking away and started moving in a circle before stopping.

“Joan, I am detecting a large mass of buried metal below this location. Its location is on the same bearing as the buried fiber with only a point four percent deviation. I suggest we excavate at this location.”

I caught the ‘we’ which actually meant ‘you’ as Ohmu still needed to conserve its power reserves. I was the designated heavy labor muscle for this expedition, so I got busy. I had just finished removing the topsoil layer and prying up a few square meters of paving stones when the quiet of the jungle was interrupted by a loud shriek and a clatter in the undergrowth sixty meters away. After I finished jumping out of my boots, I ducked down. Thankfully Ohmu did not hesitate and reacted quickly, firing its weapon at the undergrowth where the noises were coming from. Boom!

There was a loud snarl followed by more thrashing around, much louder this time.

“Stay here, Joan. Retrieve your weapon and guard yourself.”

Shit! My flechette gun! It was still in my pack. I crab-walked over to the pack as Ohmu covered me. When I had reached the pack and retrieved the weapon, Ohmu started stalking towards the continuing threshing noises off in the undergrowth, its weapon up and ready. I about jumped out of my shoes a second time when Jake came from out of nowhere behind me and ran off after Ohmu. The jackal never realized how close it had come to eating a load of flechettes.

Thirty seconds after I lost sight of Ohmu due to the undergrowth, I heard its weapon fire again twice more quickly. The threshing noises ceased, and all became quiet.

“Ohmu?” I asked quietly.

No response—my implant must be too far away. Ohmu appeared through the undergrowth and gestured towards me to approach. I crept over to where the unit waited with my heart thumping in my chest and my eyes scanning the jungle. Ohmu led me another dozen meters into the heavy undergrowth where I found a scene of carnage. There was blood everywhere. I first saw the remains of George. The poor bio-drone monkey had been almost torn in half. I sure hoped Naomi had been right about the drone not having feelings. I had to look away when I saw the drone’s eyes were still active and tracking me.

Further on we came upon the remains of a large leopard. Ohmu’s rounds had hit it in the head and body. The first shot must have hit it in the spine and the follow-on shots in the head and chest. I looked at the creature’s large fangs and long claws and shuddered. Nature is scary! I had been a hunter in my youth, so the gunplay and blood did not bother me. But, I had not hunted anything capable of hunting me back, so this part was new.

Ohmu returned to George and attempted to link up with what remained of the bio-drones brain.

“Are you able to get anything?” I asked.

“Some. The bio-drones organic processor will operate for almost another minute and I should be able to fully download its most recent data. I do note already that the unit did not detect the predator until it was already in its jaws. We must remain extra cautious Joan. I shall deploy the three small motion trackers around our excavation site to provide more warning in the future.”

Otto finally arrived having been summoned by the noise of the shooting. Ohmu briefly linked with both remaining bio-drones and soon sent them back on patrol.

“I have instructed Jake to patrol closer to the excavation site and its monitored perimeter. Otto will remain in the water more often from now on for its own security,” Ohmu explained.

“Do we have to do anything with the dead bodies?” I asked.

“The feline may remain as is. The bio-drone should be buried.”

I returned to the excavation site to get the shovel and made fast work of burying the poor monkey. Thankfully, its eyes remained closed when I placed the unit’s remains into the small pit I had dug.

“Thank you, George,” I whispered as I covered its body with soil. Ohmu did not comment on my sympathies.

I returned to the excavation site and continued to dig. I hit thick clay at around a meter deep and then struck something hard. I scraped an area a dozen centimeters square and splashed a bit of my canteen on the hard surface. It was a tarnished metal of some sort. The surface was curved like the top of a small dome or pressure hatch. I got out of the pit and let Ohmu take a look.

“Joan, the object is an alloy of bronze and exhibits a very low amount of corrosion or oxidation. I am detecting traces of radiation though. We must proceed cautiously.”

It began to gently rain as I gave the unit a hand as it climbed out of the pit.

“How long until dark, Ohmu?” I asked, looking around the small clearing and dreading the thought of camping here tonight.

“Sunset will occur in two hours, Joan. I would advise that we return to the mini-sub vessel and spend the night in its hull. The air supply unit will supply dry conditioned air and the vessel will be much more secure than a tent. Also, it is likely that the rain may continue much of the night.”

“You’ve convinced me. Let’s cover this hole with the tent ground tarp and get out of here.” I answered.

So, three hours later I was sitting on my ass in the humid and enclosed mini-sub playing solitaire on my tablet. We had made it back to the river, miserable and wet. Ohmu had uploaded our days’ data to Jonathan and sent the poor bird off to fly in the rain back to the waiting submarine offshore. We hoped it would reach the sea locator buoy before full darkness had fallen. Ohmu had gotten Otto and Jake fed and they were also spending the night in their delivery cylinders for safety.

I had given myself a wet soapy towel bath in the rain and entered the mini-sub naked. There I dried myself with my one dry towel and was now somewhat comfortable again. Supper had been a couple ration bars and a tall glass of powdered milk. I made a comment that I was regressing and that I was almost back to the living conditions I endured in the wrecked field base in South Dakota.

Ohmu was sympathetic and offered to navigate the mini-sub back to the comforts of Nautilus if I wanted a break. I thought about it for a bit but decided to just tough it out for at least another day as I would still have to spend over eight hours in the mini-sub getting back to Nautilus either way. We had enough supplies and energy for a few more days here on station ... might as well just deal with the conditions and get the job done.

Ohmu stood on shore all night in the rain in order to give me more room in the mini-sub. She was able to tolerate the wet conditions but did have to put the weapon in a waterproof bag after giving it a quick cleaning before leaving me in the mini-sub. Did I feel guilty? Not after I was able to stretch out on the partially inflated air mattress.

Morning came too soon, and I awoke to the noise of Ohmu tapping on the metal hull of the mini-sub. It was still overcast but the rains had stopped for the moment. You have to love the rainy season. I got back into my damp clothing I had worn yesterday knowing I would probably have a rash to end all rashes when this was over. I ate quickly, used the jungle toilet and soon, Ohmu, Jake and I were hiking back to the target area with Otto traveling parallel to us up his small creek.

There was a bit of water in the excavation, but I quickly had that removed. I enlarged the excavation and cleaned off the top of the metal dome. The hole was now about two meters in diameter and over a meter deep. At the bottom, the exposed object was a shallow curved metal dome about a meter across and looked to cover a metal cylinder that extended deeper into the soil below the excavation.

The buried object reminded me of a large, curved manhole cover but was probably much deeper. One side of the round dome had a massive set of hinges and the other a large, rugged metal locking lug. I washed off the mud and clay as much as possible and let Ohmu take a look.

“Try the pry bar under the latch hasp to see if it will move, Joan.” The little unit instructed me.

I had to use all my muscles to get the latch to move. I thought the bar would snap as I pulled but it held, and the heavy bronze latch popped open. As it swung out and down a lug lifted the metal dome a centimeter. I shifted the bar under the open dome and again pried hard causing it to lift further against the resistance of its stiff hinges. Now it was up a few centimeters and I could get my hands under it. I strained but could not budge it. Ohmu moved in to help and together we got the heavy cover into the fully open position.

Under the hatch was ... another hatch! This one was not corroded or metal. It looked like some kind of polymer and it had indicators and detents. It also had a small diamond-shaped data port. Jackpot! I jumped out of the hole and retrieved one of the rogue crystal data modules I had brought from the vault back on board Nautilus. Back down into the hole I carefully inserted the data module into the diamond-shaped recess. After an extremely long five-second wait there was a loud click followed by a grinding vibration. After that, the inner hatch popped up a few centimeters along with a small burst of outrushing gas.

BEEEEP! came from my wristwatch. I glanced at it and saw the radiation warning symbol flashing just as Ohmu spoke up.

“I am detecting higher levels of radiation, Joan. Leave the line-of-sight area of the hatch opening quickly and go put on your respirator mask,” Ohmu said urgently.

I did so as quickly as I could. I had been holding my breath since Ohmu’s warning and was feeling the burn as I dug into the backpack for the respirator mask. Once I had it on and the air supply unit activated, I sucked in a couple deep breathes of fresh cool air.

—I am detecting airborne alpha particles and some gamma radiation, Joan. The escaping air is also at a higher temperature than the surrounding air. It should be safe for you to approach as long as you continue to wear the respirator mask. We will need to wash down ourselves and our gear fully after we leave the area. From the type of radiation and the decay products I am detecting I suspect there is a quantity of Americium 241 below.— I heard in my head.

I subvocalized a question of why there would be that element down there.

—I would surmise that the Americium 241 is being used as a power source. Although it would not provide as much thermal energy as Plutonium 238, Americium’s half-life is over five times longer at 432.2 years. This would provide an extremely long-lasting thermal source which could be converted to electrical energy via thermocouple conversion. The lack of surface solar cells would indicate that such a power source would be required to maintain any active equipment or intelligences at this location. However, because of the high amount of radiation and decay products detected, the power source might be damaged.—

Oh joy. “Can I approach?” I asked.

—Yes, with your respirator you are safe for at least three hours. I will continue to monitor the amount of radiation detected. It may be higher below.—

“Will we have to worry about the radiation released? Will any enemy A.I. units detect it?” I asked.