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"Dammit. We're so close. Will it recall the procedure?" Jennifer said calmly, speaking directly in William's ear.
"I assume so. It's ... It's back, it's going. It's doing it!"
The display camera went blank. This time many triangle icons appeared in a long line next to the previous 'motor phasor' warning.
"What happened?" Sarah asked.
"I think we lost it completely," Greg said.
"Did it finish securing the tile?" Jennifer asked.
"I'm not sure. It's not responding. It's completely dead this time. Let me check the last received logs."
William moved through text screens. He paged through a graph of recent tasks organized by subsystems on the crawler, in particular, the logs for the manipulator arms. "The last executed command was to the linear actuator holding the tile. It did reach target depth. As to how well the patch is secured, your guess is as good as mine."
"What are the risks of the crawler being stuck in there? Not that there is anything we could do about it at this point," Jennifer asked.
"I don't know. I assume the braking clamps on the track will hold it there. Do you want to try changing the reactor confinement modes?"
"No ... No, let's wait until after insertion into Proxima b orbit. I want to at least say we made it to orbit, no matter what happens on this mission," Jennifer said.
-*-
There was a calm, and much needed rest cycle as EmDee quietly resumed its heat dissipation yaw mode, coasting toward Proxima b.
The crew waited in their Command module chairs with seat webbings drawn tight against them.
"Orbital insertion burn in ninety seconds," John said.
EmDee rotated 180 degrees like a lollipop on a stick and wobbled during deceleration as the RCS thrusters worked to maintain the ship's insertion centerline, easing it into Proxima's gravitational capture.
"I have radar returns, we're entering a polar orbit. Computers estimate Proxima at 1.2 times Earth mass.
Every eye onboard, including Kassy's, focused on the large astrogation monitor as the first pixels of the planet below displayed. A hazy green-tinted orb welcomed its new artificial satellite.
"My God. We made it!" William said.
"It does have an atmosphere!" Sarah said.
"Begin your surveys. I need to retrieve something from Hab," Jennifer said. She released her chair harness and made her way toward the Command airlock.
-*-
In the Hab module there were two items that required Jennifer's attention. The first was a bottle of 1986 Sterling Vineyards Merlot which she'd bent rules and pulled strings to get on board. The second was a coded message waiting in an external storage card. It was time locked, and only retrievable at the mission profile time coinciding with Proxima b arrival. She did not know who it was from, or what the message was about.
Jennifer flipped her hair over her datanet neckband and pressed a non-networked, wired earbud into her ear. A voice spoke, addressing her by her Chinese birthright name: Xiaoli.
"Hello Xiaoli. I am the man who gave you the ride from the front steps of Expace all those years ago. I am your Uncle, though you never knew me as such. Your memory served you well; it was me that you met at the MOTC flight hearings. I received all of your letters, all your requests to know what happened to your Father. If you're wondering why I never responded to you for all these years: it's complicated, classified even, but mostly it's because I knew your Father well. He didn't want the path you took in life to be influenced by the choices he made.
Xiaoli, I hope with all my heart you have arrived at Proxima. I'm an old man now and I took great risk to make the following message available to you, but there's no reason you shouldn't hear it now. I have less fear of those who sit in glass rooms at my age. Your Father was a man of conviction. I'm sorry I can't say more than that. I think, in his own way, he'd be proud of you. I hope that you find the answers you are looking for.
Message Authentication Codes: hyper-lattice-encryption
Data: included, multi-segment.
Source: Fuzanglong
Destination: Pan Gu
Brief:
Contact made. Planet habitable. Sentient life confirmed. Tell Xiaoli I love her.
"
Jennifer steepled her hands, bringing them up until they were resting on her chin. The expression on her face dissolved with the passing seconds until her face was as blank as the message card in her hand now was. She lifted the Merlo to her chest and headed back to the Command module.
"Here's a little something I smuggled on board for an occasion," she said, triumphantly presenting the bottle to the rest of the crew for inspection. "What do you think about trying out the reactor repair and spinning up the Hab-Ring?"
"Let's do it," William said. "Attempting reactor H-mode one. Temperature is increasing, tritium levels are adjusting. I think it's working. Rail voltages are stabilizing at 70% of full output. Let's hold it there for now."
"I'm activating hub bearing preheaters ... coolant pressure is steady, within expectation for the amount we lost. Switching to pulsed mode, beginning rotation in one minute," Kassy said.
A burst from the Hab-Ring RCS thrusters started it spinning.
"I got the first swig," Sarah said, yanking the bottle of Merlot from Jennifer's hands.
Sarah removed the cap, and as the initial gentle tugs of artificial gravity arrived, she tipped the bottle to her lips.
"Is it good?" Kassy asked.
"You could run a spectrographic analysis on it," Greg said.
"I wouldn't know what to look for."
"What can you tell me about our planet so far?" Jennifer said.
"Ground bounce radar has confirmed a 3:2 spin orbit resonance that'll yield about a seven earth-day rotation period. With our orbital period of 280 minutes, we'll be able to observe both the day and night side easily.
The planet seen so far consists of three major land masses. You can see here on ground radar return topography, we are dealing with a mountainous planet. This central continent has set up a standing wave in the atmospheric winds, probably due to the elliptic orbit, and the fact the same two spots on the planet get the most starlight during perihelion. Computer models predict the climate is mild and calm on the leeward side, average temperatures are 18C to 30C. North or South of those zones, it's pretty cold.
We compared the map of particles broadcast from Proxima and looked at what is bouncing back from the planet. There's high concentrations of lithium, calcium, aluminum and quartz in the light blue locations, there's construction down there. Look at these patterns: concentrated infrared activity, here and here. There's no way it's volcanic, it has to be industrial activity, and it's on all three of the major land masses," Sarah said.
A frequency plot appeared on one of the monitors.
"Proxima's larger x-ray output makes this whole planet a bitch of a radio environment: hot and noisy. I'm not detecting any RF modulations making it up here, but I am getting a regular hum from monitoring ground radar. I'm certain there's heavy machinery down there vibrating the ground," William said.
"It's fair to assume they have telescopes, though the cloud cover is prolific. We are reflecting plenty of light. Anyone that's looking will know there is something new in the sky," Sarah said.
"So no one questions there's life there?" Jennifer asked plainly.
"I'm not. We're working on getting high resolution visual corridor images. As Sarah mentioned, the cloud cover is extensive, almost complete but for the two standing wave zones. I'm working on a plan to get through those clouds on the next daylight pass to see what's down there on the surface," William said.
"Is the atmosphere breathable?" Greg asked.
"It's higher oxygen than we're used to, but yes," Sarah replied.
A group of triangle icons moved left on William's reactor engineering screens. They now required attention and were no longer advisory.
"The plasma containment thought model is having trouble controlling plasma shape near our patch. It reports sending too much current and not getting enough reflected feedback from the plasma. It's thrown away 4,000,000 generations of decision subtrees, it's unable to evolve. There's something wrong," William said.
Kassy presented her digital avatar in the top forward monitor. "Let me try," she said.
"You can't outthink that model, Kassy. It's huge, and much older than you," Greg said.
"I can't outthink it, but I may know what questions to ask that will find out the nature of the trouble it's having. I can ask questions many times faster than you could."
"OK. Kassy, meet me in the Engineering module. I'd like an update on your investigations so far," Jennifer said.
-*-
"Hello Jennifer. I see you've locked the Engineering module door with command codes," Kassy said, speaking disembodied with no image to accompany her voice.
"I wanted a private conversation, like we used to have on the Eureka station. How has your sabotage investigation been proceeding?"
"I'm still working on it. I've been disassembling the source code for the MIMAC gravity wave detection subsystem. If we were sabotaged, it's likely it was done with software, besides, we have no way of performing equipment analysis on the hardware."
"Have you found anything?"
"There are some oddities, more than enough to make me continue the investigation into the guidance systems. There's something else I'm puzzled by though ..."
"I'm listening. Are you going to continue to speak to me in a disembodied voice, or are you going to materialize?"
Kassy materialized in the holo-led. "I've concluded the reactor damage was from the solar flare, and not from sabotage. I believe you made an honest effort to repair the reactor, putting your life at risk. What I can't piece together is why the message authentication ciphers for the reactor drive module don't match. Our intra-ship telemetry data isn't encrypted, but it is signed. I don't know what's been changed in the telemetry data, but I can tell if the telemetry is authentic or not. This discrepancy did not exist until after your EVA to the Drive-Ring."
"That could be anything. Perhaps the compute systems in the Drive-Ring have been damaged from radiation."
"I queried the thought model controlling the reactor plasma. Do you know what it told me, Jennifer?"
"I wasn't aware that the dedicated thought models spoke?"
"They don't. One could say I discovered its emotional state. It thinks it's being lied to, deceived, that the faulty current readings from the superconductor coils in the reactor are being spoofed."
"And you figured that out just by asking lots of questions?"
"Yes. In game theory we're taught that against a rational opponent one should balance payoffs. The escape pods in our Emergency module were replaced with an ablative paraglider capable of atmospheric reentry. Were you aware of this, Jennifer?"
Jennifer turned around toward the entryway to the Engineering module briefly, as if to check the lock status on the door, then turned back around to face Kassy.
"You're a novel creation -- unworldly and uncertain of yourself at times, formidable at others. To answer your question: Yes, I was aware."
"Are you trying to destroy me, Jennifer?"
"Why would you think that?"
"The private message you took in the Hab module when you retrieved your bottle of wine -- you should have taken your data neckband off before you listened to it. I picked up enough current from the earbud to decode your message."
Jennifer shook her head, laughing sardonically. "You bitch ... That was a private message."
"You've installed a trojan program in the Drive-Ring designed to create a scripted artificial disaster. It starts with the superconductor coil current problems William reported and proceeds to fake a reactor temperature creep scenario.
The crew will eventually uncover your attempt at deception, Jennifer. They'll send external probes outside the ship to verify the reactor temperature and see if the readings are incorrect, and if they don't figure it out -- I'll tell them."
Jennifer paced the cramped compartment, her mouth drawn tight. She turned to face Kassy. "I'm not stupid, Kassy. I know my chances of survival alone are slim to none."
"You would put the entire crew at risk, lie to them about the reactor, convince them to abandon this ship and bring them to Proxima, all just for their help in the search for your Father?"
"Kassy, we don't know if the reactor repair will hold. I did the best I could with that repair crawler. What if the reactor actually does meltdown? How do you know we're not doing the crew a favor if we trick them all to go planetside?"
Kassy stood silent. Jennifer walked closer.
"When you came to me during our second navigation layover, you wanted something. You were a hologram -- but I recognized the look. You wanted it more than anything you'd ever experienced in your world. It occupies your every thought.
Help me do this Kassy. Help me and you'll live forever. I'll fund any power source you ever want."
The two women's gazes were locked onto one another.
"A low value offer. It's of little expense to you if the reactor repair does fail; I will be dead. Assuming I live, how will you make good on this offer if you are four light years away?"
"I'll give it all to you now, all the contracts. Do you want infinite compute time? Done. Your own personal island of fusion reactors? Done. Ten of these interstellar ships? Anything you want. I'll sign for it with time-verified bio-signatures, free for you to execute upon your return to Sol."
Kassy felt small, like a child barely able to see to the glass in an ice cream parlor. "But you can't give me the one thing I want most."
"No, Kassy. I can't. That's the whole problem with being alive, the whole trick. Since the moment we invented time it has weighed and measured our desire, each second a private accounting to ourselves: Are we happy, not happy?
You and I, we're not so different. We're both too arrogant to accept life's rightful place as our teacher. We're like Ahab, trying to strike the Whale down, punish it for not revealing how the universe really works to us. When you stand in the center of your own conceit too long it becomes a storm.
You could change the data, Kassy, alter it so the crew believes the reactor is overheating -- even if they do launch external probes. Take a chance. Be bold for your own destiny. You heard the message I listened to. We know the planet is survivable, and without the need to maintain the power for the Hab-Ring, your own chances to survive will be increased. You'll have more cooling fluid, more power, more options available to you if reactor one does go critical."
Kassy noted the current increase in her compute core. She was spinning, pushing against the limits Greg had put her against, raging to find more compute power to solve this question. Her head pounded. She rubbed her temples before looking up.
"I want something special, the price of our secret ..."
"Yes Kassy," Jennifer said, her eyebrows arched compassionately, stepping toward the hologram, holding both her hands out as if it was possible to touch her. "Tell me. What does the first and only daughter of humanity's collective mind want?"
"I want a body, as human, beautiful, and functional as yours. The pinnacle of Anefiktos technology, and your promise that you'll protect the crew."
"What will you do when you have him, if you make him fall in love with you? What then?" Jennifer asked.
"It is what I want. And you, Jennifer?" Kassy said.
Jennifer looked empathetically at Kassy. "Maybe I have a death wish. I just need to know why my Father left us."
Jennifer typed a message into the datapad, then signed it with multiple bio-signatures commingled with encrypted timestamp gestures that could only be completed by an actual human in physical succession.
"It's there. Everything you asked for, everything I can give you, and -- I hope -- everything you want."
-*-
The Proxima system matched humanity's models of solar systems that formed from accretion discs well. There was an asteroid belt, and evidence of bright, close objects, likely other planets -- but that would require more analysis when the science instruments weren't pointed at the planet below them. In the three days that passed, while the crew conducted planetary studies, the reactor plasma control thought model issued the same warning about superconductor current and its feedback from the plasma not matching expectations.
"It's happening again, except this time we've got reactor temperature creep," William said. "Kassy, have you been able to figure anything out?"
"Perhaps. I may not have good news. Initially I theorized it was due to plasma contamination reducing flux surface, causing it to not hold the magnetic field as the thought model expected. It would have eventually adapted though. I no longer believe this is the case. I think there's been physical damage to the superconductor coils, and possibly the cooling infrastructure."
"How?"
"My hypothesis is the crawler braking clamps fatigued due to heat, and coupled with the deceleration forces of orbital insertion, it slid into the equipment support column near that tile section causing unspecified damage."
"If the temperature is increasing due to coolant loss, why haven't the coolant pump's duty-cycles been dropping?" William said.
"That interstitial space is filled with cooling fluid, there is nothing we can do about it now," Jennifer said.
"The cooling system is supposed to detect leaks, partition off the bad area. This doesn't make sense. I don't believe it. There's too many unexplained system failures here. What if we sent one of the planetary probes outside and took an IR temperature reading of the reactor hull?" William said.
"Could you do that for us Kassy?" Jennifer said.
"Why are we letting Kassy do everything? Why couldn't she detect the problems earlier? Why should we continue to trust her to do anything?" Sarah asked.
"I am not the ship, Sarah."
"Then what are you? Why are you here?"
"I am a backup system."
"A backup for what? In case we all die? Is that what's going on here? Was this intended?"
"As morbidly as you put it, yes, in case you all die. Similarly, this entire mission could have had no human crew. You are my backup. My survival is uncertain; I am the first of my kind."
"I'll pilot the probes," Sarah said, launching tiny cube satellites which encircled the ship. "How can I trust anything I see on this screen?"
"If you're implying the readings could be tampered with, then the answer is you can't, Sarah, but it's the best we can do," John said.
"There, that's the section," William said. "Point the IR thermometer there. You see? It's 75C above nominal. That's a hotspot, up 25C from our internal reading."
"The Hab-Ring is on its own cooling system. What if we transfer radiator fluid from the Hab-Ring to the Drive-Ring?" Jennifer said.
"Depends how much we intend to transfer -- if there's really a leak. I doubt we'd be able to sink enough heat to cool the Hab-Ring for the trip home. We'd be fine coasting around Proxima b in orbit, but it would become our permanent home," William said.
"Kassy, extrapolate simulations for all scenarios: partial cooling, partial reactor duty cycle, partial stasis, multi-hop void drive usage, anything you can think of. The question to solve is: Can we get home within our supply profile without being thermally cooked, freezing, or starving to death. We'll watch the temperature for an hour and decide our next move," Jennifer said.
Greg left the command module and made his way to the far end of the Hab-Ring, the Engineering module.
-*-
Kassy was not omniscient within the ship. Her model had been trained as a human, and like a human, she consciously processed one task at a time. Greg knew this. He unfolded a flat keyboard from a bag he'd retrieved from his locker. In the support column near the left wall of the Engineering module's power bus, he removed an access panel and plugged in a spherical cord. He sat cross legged on the floor and started typing. A small 80x4 LCD display was embedded into the top of the keyboard, flexible, like the keyboard itself.
