Falling Ark Page 23

  The robots had very basic intelligence and they learnt by trying different things out and observing the results. It was fun to watch them with this new type of propulsion welded to their underside.

  At first they didn’t move as their computer brains figured out how to talk to the orbs. Then they started to shift, slightly, then most of them lost their balance and crashed into the ground. This went on for several minutes before they started to get the hang of it.

  I will never cease to be impressed with how quickly these robots can grasp new tools. Watching them learn, it reminded me of when I tried to surfboard. The moment they turned the drive on, they went wobbly and often fell to the floor.

  Unlike me, who could never master sitting on a surfboard, let alone standing on one, by the end of the day it was second nature to them, like they had been hovering their entire, artificial lives.

  Once they were floating around the surface Sam ordered them to get working, firstly unpacking and then constructing the domes that had been hidden inside the ship. They were huge inflatable bags that were perfect for the zero-atmosphere environment on the moon.

  They also required very little maintenance. The outside was designed to be covered in a thick biotic gel that could be sprayed over the plastic sheeting by the robots. This gel helped to repair any microscopic holes that would otherwise stop the dome from inflating.

  The moon was a huge target for dust and particles. The same objects that caused shooting stars back on Earth as they burnt up in the atmosphere were like bullets out here and several times a day you could hear pings on the hull of the ship as something hit it with high velocity leaving dents and scuffs in the paint. Fortunately, the ship was built with very thick steel and contained two skins so if the outer one was penetrated it could be patched up by a robot while the inner skin kept us safe.

  Of course I wasn’t too worried about holes anymore as I had put a blanket of gravity holding the atmosphere in place, but any hole also meant that dust could get in and after seeing what it had done to Geovanni, I didn’t want to experience that.

  I often found myself sitting at the top of the Armillary. Sam had built a glass roof onto this giant ball and now that the robots had moved the makeshift roof of containers out of the way I could see straight up and out into space. I found it a very humbling place to work.

  This did expose the Armillary to the moon’s surface and I soon realised that I was trapped inside with no way out. Luckily Sam came to my rescue and ordered the robots to wrap the ship in material that was used for the domes. The robots gave the Armillary a giant skirt around its waist. It wasn’t the best solution, but it gave us a bit of protection as we moved in and out of the ship.

  A knock vibrated the metal staircase from below. I looked over and saw Ava’s head and she was carrying two drinks in her hands.

  “I haven’t heard from you in a while.” She shouted up through the steel opening. “Thought you might need a break.”

  I watched as her tiny frame climbed the stairwell, being careful not to spill the drinks. People were thankful that the gravity drives had put the ship and its surroundings back to normal gravity, but it did mean that dropping things was a problem again.

  A day with lunar gravity was an experience but it was not productive. If people wanted to experience it again, we had a container that had the gravity dialled down.

  It was fun at first, and when I took Ava in, she bounced around like she was on a trampoline, she was able to jump up and touch the ceiling with ease, however the novelty soon wore off and now it was mostly used by Julie, testing her plants behaviour to different gravity.

  Ava put the drink on the desk that I had constructed out of pieces scrap metal.

  “It has to be the best view on the entire moon!” she said as she gazed up through the roof. “It’s no wonder you spend most of your time up here.”

  “I enjoy it.” I replied, picking up the drink and gesturing my thanks.

  “So, let me update you.” Ava sat down next to me. “The crew are piloting the robots and planes trying to map out the local area. There are not many natural resources around here but there is an interesting crater about three kilometres north.”

  “North?” I said in a surprised tone.

  Ava looked at me, “Yeah, well, we have decided to still use the convention, it’s less confusing.”

  “I suppose that makes sense.” I agreed.

  Determining direction on the moon was an issue. When we had first unpacked the robots, they had started to get lost very easily. They could often be found spinning in circles, unsure which direction to go.

  We originally thought it was because there was no GPS signal that they could detect. The thing about the Global Positioning System, it is Global and not on the Lunar. Perhaps one day we would put satellites around the moon too, but that was a long way off.

  After some investigation it was Ava who realised their internal compasses were giving strange readouts.

  The moons magnetic field is very weak and compasses in the robots didn’t work, therefore they didn’t know which way they were facing. It was an annoying problem that was soon fixed. Ava rigged up some image detection software to the cameras so they could map their surroundings, after all, that’s how humans do it.

  “I suppose Tony and Julie want to get out the crater and check it out then?” I wondered as a peered through the glass dome and onto the surface. They were true scientists; everything caught their attention and they wanted to investigate anything they didn’t understand.

  “Yep.” Ava replied. “They want to go out in those space suits that we found with the moon base, but they are a bit nervous about it so they are asking the crew if they want to try it first.”

  “Nothing like a bit of human experimentation.” I laughed, although the worry in my voice was easily recognisable. I was still wondering if we were doing the right thing, or if Lara was right and we really were the terrorists she was making us out to be.

  “Don’t do that to yourself.” Ava reached out a hand and took mine.

  “I know. I just can’t help it; we have a lot riding on this.” I smiled and squeezed her hand. “The slightest slip up and we become the thing we are trying to destroy.”

  “That won’t happen. Tell me, what are you working on now?” Ava asked, looking at my computer screen, changing the subject.

  It was strange not to see Ava with her laptop in hand, talking to the supercomputer friend in the bowels of the ship. I suppose she had finally emptied the battery and it was on charge somewhere.

  “Well.” I sat up straight getting ready to explain. “We have enough food and water to last us several months easily. We have enough power generation to last us forever thanks to the gravity drives. The thing that is concerning me is how fast we are leaking air.”

  “What!” Ava yelled. “That sounds quite important! Don’t you think you should tell someone?”

  “Relax, I don’t mean in a dangerous way.” I explained, trying to take the worried look off her face. “The ships pressure has dropped a little bit as some of the air that was inside is now sitting outside under the influence of the gravity drives. The dome’s that Sam wants to inflate however, will cause the air across the area to become spread very thin.”

  “The domes have their own air supply. I saw Hank carrying the tanks around the ship earlier.” Ava reminded me.

  “They can be used to fill domes, sure, but what about the passageways leading too them? Look.” I lifted Ava to her feet so she could see out of the window.

  “I see the three domes and together they are going to double our living space.” She said as we watched two robots painting the strange pink gel on the surface of a half-inflated, circular patch in the lunar soil

  “How do you plan on getting to them?” I asked, pointing out that they were being constructed about a two hundred metres from our ship.

  “Sam has designed a series of containers, welded together that we can walk through as a corridor. He has
been working hard on the plans.” Ava said confidently.

  “And what are you going to breath while walking through these containers?” I asked, getting to my point.

  “Ahh, I see now, the air is going to be spread thinly.” Ava smiled, finally getting at what I was trying to explain.

  “We can keep expanding this moon base, creating new places to live and experiment but we only have a fixed amount of air, even though we have fantastic plants that are recycling the air for us, thanks to Tony, we can only expand so far.” I finally saw Ava realise the problem.

  “But Tony and Julie are going to turn the domes into greenhouses, then the plants will create more air. Wouldn’t that solve the problem.” Ava asked once again.

  “Nope, actually the plants are going to make things worse. They need air, just like we do, and as they grow, they will consume the air, making it even thinner. We only have a fixed amount of resources; we are a closed system and you can’t make something from nothing.” I reminded her.

  “I know you have a plan for this otherwise you wouldn’t be so calm.” Ava nudged me. She was getting to know me too well.

  “Fine!” I sighed, acting as if she had beaten it out of me.

  I spun back towards the computer monitor where an image of the Earth and Moon was displayed in real time and to scale. I zoomed in on the Earth.

  “Here we have all the air we will ever need. However, look closer.” I zoomed in a little more.

  “There appears to be something moving around in the atmosphere.” Ava said, alarmed.

  “Lara has started to put aircraft between us and the Earth and I suspect that she will attack anything that leaves the moon.”

  With that I zoomed out.

  “You think she is stopping us from returning?” Ava questioned, looking at the map in detail.

  “Why else would she put a blockade of ships high in Earth’s atmosphere.” I replied.

  “I really hate that woman.”

  “I know.” I said, smiling back at her. “There are a few other places where we can find an abundance of oxygen, which is really the only thing we need.”

  I swung the image displaying the solar system around and moved past the Mars orbit until my new target came into view.

  “Bennu.” Ava read the label on the screen aloud. “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “I would be worried if you had.” I laughed. “It is an asteroid that is about five hundred metres in diameter and full of water. From water we can make oxygen.”

  “That’s cool, is that little rock going to be enough?” Ava pondered.

  “This is just the first test target, there are loads of these asteroids all with different chemical readouts, just floating there, waiting to be mined.”

  “Sure, this could work, but are you forgetting one thing?” Ava started to tap at the screen, tapping on the moon and Bennu, a line appeared showing the distance. “This rock is over five hundred million miles away! It took us 4 hours to cover the distance between the Earth and Moon, at that rate…”

  Ava stared up, through the glass roof and into space. I could see she was doing the math in her head.

  “It would take just under a year to get there and the same to get back.”

  “You don’t have any faith do you!” I faked offence at her lack of trust in me. “Just look out of that window.”

  I gestured to the right-hand side of the room, where we overlooked the hanger bays. Tapping a few more buttons on the screen, an icon resembling a plane was added to the map, next to the moon.

  We both stood up and watched as a plane exited one of the containers. It rose, silently, away from the ship, rotated, and then vanished.

  “Where did it go?” Ava asked, turning and staring at me like I had just performed a magic trick.

  “It’s on the way to Bennu” I said, still staring at where it had been moments earlier.

  “How fast is it going?” Ava whispered, like we were doing something wrong or illegal.

  “About a quarter C.” I said, and I couldn’t contain the grin on my face anymore.

  “A quarter of the speed of light!” Ava yelled. “That means it’ll be there in around…” Once again, I could see her head quickly calculate the maths. “Three hours!”

  “Yep” I said turning towards the computer screen.

  “You have turned a year long journey into three hours!” Ava yelled at me, it was difficult to tell if she was shocked, amazed or angry.

  A yellow dotted line was now displayed between the moon and the asteroid belt with the little plane icon placed upon it. A number next to the target asteroid read three hours and twelve minutes.

  “It will lasso the asteroid and tug it back here at roughly the same speed. Slowing down to park the rock in orbit just above us.”

  Ava did nothing to hide the shock on her face.

  “You mean that you are about to almost smash an asteroid into us?” she screamed. “You have to stop it!”

  She leaped towards the computer, landing in my lap.

  “You can’t!” I said calmly, catching her as she tried to get across to the screen. “You can’t send a message; the plane is travelling so fast the message received will be distorted. It’s a relativity thing. I was going to ask you to help write a translator program that could filter out the errors so we can talk to things going that fast.”

  “You thought you would just launch first and ask me later!” She exclaimed.

  “Don’t worry, I have done all the calculations, it’ll be fine!” I tried to comfort her.

  “It better be fine! In six and a half hours’ time, if an asteroid lands on my head, I’m coming for you!” She said, getting to her feet. “I better get writing the translator program I guess, so we can at least know if something has gone wrong before we all die.”

  She started to walk down the stairs, her arms folded tightly across her chest and a huge fake frown on her face. She thudded like a child throwing a tantum.

  “Ava wait!” I shouted just as she went out of view.

  Her face appeared, popping up in the floor, looking through the bars of the spiral staircase.

  “I never thanked you for the drink!” I said, as I gestured to the cup sitting beside me.

  Ava threw her tongue out at me, let out a small grin and jumped away down the stairs and out of view.

  Chapter 28

  When the first asteroid arrived and successfully floated into a suitable orbit around the moon there were jubilant scenes in the control room. We sent the robots to mine and collect water and other materials and as soon as Tony had ensured it’s purity, we all toasted to the seemingly unlimited scope of materials that now lay within our grasp.

  We had equipped the robots with some of the material from the inflatable lifeboats that were useless to us now, here, on this dry lunar surface.

  This provided them with a large, thick blanket of material that they could use as a sack. They could gather the materials inside and bring it back to base. Knocking off huge chunks of ice, loading up the sack and dragging it back, placing it inside the cargo area just outside the ship. Then other robots could carry out more precise cuts before bringing it inside.

  It was strange to see the robots pushing giant blocks of ice around the ship but not as strange as seeing them flying around outside with large fluorescent sacks. They reminded me of Santa, all they missed were the reindeer.

  “Control room to Dom. Dom are you there?” The radio crackled. It was Derek and he wanted me.

  “Aren’t you going to radio them back?” Ava asked me. She had returned with her laptop and was putting some last-minute finishing touches to a flight path. With help from Ava and her supercomputer friend Lovelace, we had been able to develop a few more advanced techniques for capturing the asteroids.

  The latest calculations showed that we could now capture and move asteroids as big as two miles wide at thirty percent the speed of light and, most importantly, slow it down into a controlled orbit.

  “He
can wait a little while, he and Sam have thought of something big and they want to run it past me.” I explained.

  “Control tower to Dom. We can see you! How about getting over here?” Derek’s voice echoed around the room again.

  Now that Sam was constructing the walkway between the ship and the domes, he had removed some of the containers off the ship deck. This now meant that as I sat here, on the top deck of the Armillary, I was in front of the control tower. Through the glass roof I could see Sam and Derek looking out of the control room window at me.

  I reached for the radio, exaggerating my gestures for the sake of my onlookers.

  “I’m on my way!” I replied, then I let out a sigh.

  I logged out of the computer and climbed down the stairs to make the long journey through the ship to join Derek and Sam. Ava walked with me to the base of the control tower. She was going to head into the bowels of the ship and check up on her digital colleague.

  I still didn’t understand why she found it necessary to be physically close to the computer. It was cold and lonely down there.

  I had asked Hank to take some heaters down for her, but they only turned on when people were present. It would be a while before the little desk she had set up would be a comfortable temperature.

  Ava’s actions reminded me of when people visited loved ones in hospital. Even if the ill person was asleep the entire time they were there, it never stopped them. It must be something primal, but it seemed a bit pointless to me.

  “You be safe down there!” I said as we approached the stairwell.

  “I think I’ll be safer than you up in that control room, who knows what trouble you’re going to walk into.” She replied.

  “Don’t forget that I want to eat a meal with you tonight!” I shouted after her.

  She could easily stay next to Lovelace for hours, programming little routines and tasks, easily losing track of time and I was getting concerned about her health.

  “I know! I’ll be there, don’t worry!” Ava replied, her voice echoing around the metal staircase.