While Making Other Plans:
Chapter 11

  “Defensive systems… offline.” the voice noted through their helmet speakers, and the four breathed a sigh of relief.  Even the otherwise unflappable Margaret was visibly relieved.  “What is your purpose here?” it asked.

  “We came to see if we could help you,” Kathryn answered, not sure where to look as she did.

  “Help?”

  “Yes.” she insisted.  “We thought there might be life forms here in need of assistance after our… our exchange.”

  “I am the only life form aboard.”

  “And… what are you, exactly?” Margaret inquired with uncharacteristic sincerity, sidling up beside the central projection.  She seemed to be making assumptions the others had yet to, such as this central projection being the source of the intelligence they were communicating with.

  “I am… the ship,”

  “And your mission?” Kathryn asked.

  “To establish a portal in this star system.”

  “And now?” Kathryn asked.  “Are you still able to do that?”

  “I am no longer able to complete my mission.  Systems are…” it seemed to take a moment to confirm the status of its systems, “damaged beyond repair.”

  “So what will you do now?” Maggie asked.  It was clear from the tone of her voice that the girl clearly had sympathy for the disembodied voice.

  It took a moment to fully respond, but finally did: “Nothing.”  

  Kathryn thought she might detect a note of sadness in the voice.  No, not sadness exactly, a sense of defeat perhaps, dejection even.  It was easy to understand why; there was nothing left for it to do.  It could no longer maneuver, no longer attack or defend.  If it could not complete its mission it had no effective way to even contact its home base to let them know.  It’s singular purpose had been thwarted, now there was nothing for it to do but wait to fall closer and closer to the star before it was inevitably consumed by it, a failure.

  “Where are you from?” Kathryn asked.  “What people sent you?”

  “I am from a planet… which cannot be translated into your language.”

  “How far away is it?”

  “Based on the metrics provided in your original transmission, the home planet of the Builders is fifty-two-point-eight thousand light-years away.”

  “You travelled that far?” Felix balked.  “It must have taken you eons!”

  “I did not travel here directly from the Builder’s world.”

  “Explain,” Kathryn asked it.

  “I was dispatched from the system in which I was constructed through the nearest portal.”

  “And how far away was that?”

  “Eighteen-point-six light-years.”

  “And how long did that take you?”

  “Twenty-six-point-three years by your metrics.”

  Kathryn closed her eyes and took a moment to try to absorb this new reality.  “Ask if they’ll send another unit when they don’t hear back from this one,” Jaren asked in her ear.

  “Will they send another like you when you fail to establish contact?” Kathryn asked the ship.

  “Yes.”

  The four of them exchanged nervous glances at the prospect.  “What should we call you?” Kathryn asked.  “Do you have a name?”

  “I have no name.  I am the ship.”

  “Alright then I’m going to call you Ralph.  Tell me Ralph, do you bear us any further hostility.”

  “My mission is now impossible.  Action of any kind is no longer required.”

  “I’ll take it,” she acknowledged.  “Ralph buddy, we have a lot of questions here and you seem to have a lot of the answers.  Would you like to come with us instead of floating here until you fall into the sun?  Is that even possible?  Is there some way to separate your intelligence from the ship?”

  “I am the ship.”

  “I understand,” Kathryn clarified, suppressing a spike of irritation with its lack of understanding, “but is what I’m asking possible?”

  It paused for a moment, unclear if it was assessing the answer or unsure if it should give it.  “Yes.  This unit is removable for service and replaceable if necessary.”

  “Grand,” she affirmed with a nod.  “Are you willing to allow us to detach you and bring you with us to our ship so we can talk to you and learn more about you and your builders?”

  “This is not my mission.”

  “I understand that.” a slightly larger spike of frustration.  She was getting itchy to leave and get back to the safety of their own ship.  “But would you protest if we did so.”

  The voice paused.  “There would be no cause to.” it concluded.”

  “Again I’ll take it.”  She’d learned her lesson over the years to simply take yes for an answer when it was given.  “How do we disconnect you from the ship?” she asked.

  “There is no need.”  Nothing could be heard in the vacuum, but they were able to notice the module projection out of the wall shudder ever so slightly and begin floating free from where it had been mounted.  When it disconnected, the entire interior returned to the dead, dark state in which they’d found it.  The module retained its blue glow from between its small fins, casting a haunting faint blue light on everything.  “I am equipped with maneuvering thrusters,” it explained.

  “You’re bringing that thing over here?” Jaren asked.  His tone wasn’t so much one of disbelief as much as a cautionary one.

  “Yes,” she answered, before switching to a private channel, but still unsure if this would prevent the AI from hearing her.  “This is an incredible opportunity, and it seems willing to answer our questions.  And we have so, so many at this point Jaren.  I’d rather… interview it on our own ground than stay out here with it until our air almost runs out.”

  Jaren paused for an extended moment before answering.  “Agreed.”  Even though she was in command and had final say, she was nonetheless relieved he wasn’t going to try to fight her on it.  “We’ll start working on setting up an isolation laboratory right away.”

  “Ralph,” she asked, turning back to the module.  “You don’t have any secret evil plans or weapons in there do you?  Of the doomsday variety or otherwise?”

  “No.” it humourlessly answered.  Kathryn heard a muted chuckle from Margaret, and she smiled to herself.

  She could only shrug and take the thing at its word.  Back on the ship they’d have equipment which she could at least take detailed enough scans to assess as much for themselves.  “Alright, let’s head back then.  Felix, take point if you wouldn’t mind, then Maggie next in front of me where I can keep an eye on you, then Ralph behind me and then Margaret at the rear keeping an eye on Ralph.”  Everyone acknowledged that they understood.

  The trip back was as uneventful as the first.  First Margaret pulled a winch line out from the front of her suit and attached it to a tow ring on Ralph’s module, then one by one they piled into the airlock through the outer door.  With the four of them and the module it was remarkably cramped in the airlock, but before long atmosphere had been restored and Kathryn could feel her suit loosening up in response.  The inner airlock door opened, revealing Jaren floating there to meet them along with four engineering crewmembers, and she did her best to suppress her irritation over his leaving his post on the bridge.  Kathryn also noticed that all of them were armed; Jaren could be such a worrier.

  “Felix we’ve taken over the main research lab for this,” Jaren informed him, “hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all,” he answered while wearing a giant grin.  “I’m certainly not going to be working on anything else now!”  Nothing gave him a bigger charge than the opportunity to study advanced new technology.

  “Alright,” Kathryn said while pulling her gloves off.  “Let’s get Ralph to the lab and secure him in place.  Once we’ve done so, Jaren please have the pilot ready to burn us to the crystal at one G.”

  “Are we really calling it Ralph?” Maggie asked, her eyebrows curled up in disdain.

  “Until it chooses another name for itself,” her mother answered, “yeah.”

  “We’re heading home then?” Jaren asked.  His tone was neutral, and Kathryn figured he was just masking his surprise that she would now actually do the responsible thing.

  “Yes,” she affirmed.  “We already went way out on a limb going this far without returning to base.  Now we have to.  Besides,” she added, “if we haven’t already, we should be getting a very strongly worded response back from Command any minute now.”

  “Haven’t yet,” Jaren informed her.

  “Good.  Let’s get Ralph stowed away and get ourselves home.  No doubt they’ll have answered by then; kind of surprised they haven’t already.  There’ll be plenty of time afterwards to deal with the fallout whatever it is.”

  “Understood.”

  “How long will it take us to get home?”

  “At one G we’re only a few hours out from the rift crystal less, then a little more than four days to climb back up to Earth.”

  “Great.  When everything’s squared away on the bridge, you’re welcome to join us in the lab.”

  As Jaren nodded and turned away towards the bridge, Kathryn grabbed his arm and stopped him after looking over at the alien computer core.  “And Jaren?”

  “Yes?”

  “Make it one-point-four,” she updated with a deliberate note of caution in her voice.

  “Understood,” he nodded.  “See you soon.”