//------------------------------// // Into The Past Part VI // Story: Legacy // by NFire //------------------------------// Carpenter crawled out of a venturi he was doing maintenance on, finally hearing the low alarms going off. “What the..?” He wiped his hands on a greasy rag before reaching for a commlink that lay on the workbench. “Carpenter to command, what’s the alert?” Silence greeted him, nothing coming across except the alert signal through the headset. “Carpenter to tech room, what’s the alert?” Placing the headset back on, he finished dumping the tools from his pouches, heading for the access-way. Darn, he knew he’d be out of communications in the magazine, but didn’t realize he’d miss an alert! The Colonel was going to be miffed. Slapping the ID pad nearest the emergency entry, he slipped through, looking at the empty room and the alert lights switching to red for better vision, “Wait..where did..? No..nononono!” He ran to the outer door, finding it locked, “Open the hatch! Open it! I need to get out!” “I apologize Sergeant, I cannot. A Level Five has been commanded. All bulkheads and hatches have been sealed. ” “I can’t stay in here!” He had to go, everything he knew was outside these walls! “A Melconian fleet has broken through system defenses, it is now bombarding the planet. All Rocky Mountain redoubts have been ordered evacuated and sealed. You should not have been left behind.” Carpenter knew where they’d gone, the sub-crustal bunkers, deeper into the earth, hoping to survive out the attack. A Level Five was last-ditch. Sealed like tombs. “I..I was fixing a booster, inside the tube. Dammit, sensors must have missed me! Are we at least hitting back?” “We are. Currently all AI and human defense systems are engaged in counter-space operations. Concordiat Fleet Units are exacting a heavy toll on the Melconians. Unfortunately, thirty percent of the earth’s surface is now uninhabitable for the foreseeable future from satellite scans.” “Current casualty estimates stand at one point two three billion as of two minutes ago.” He couldn’t help but slam down into a chair, wiping his face as the numbers became clear in his muddled mind. All those people. “One point..oh god..” The Earth teemed with life, billions of humans supported by advanced technology, here and on the other planets of the solar system. Time passed, he knew he felt a little crazy, knowing there was nothing to be done. That he was trapped here. He was listening to Muse helping with the defense of Earth, listening to her count off the tally of dead. Rising, ever rising. “Just..stop.” The pretty voices did so, leaving him alone in his misery. ----- “Chicken Tetrazzini, at least it says so on the packet here.” Carpenter lifted the covering, showing it to a camera facing him while he ate from the steaming plate in front of him. Hefting a forkful, he gave it a wry glance, “I seriously doubt it was ever a chicken, nor even came near tetrazzini.” Stuffing it in his mouth he chewed for a moment, “Though a nice pizza would be good..yeah..” He swallowed quickly, “Sausage, all the veggies, cold slices of tomatoes on the side.” “It does contain everything you’ll need to survive, Sergeant Carpenter.” “Oh yes, that.” He finished another large chunk of food, “There’s a difference in surviving and living. Pizza is living..this,” He lifted the food once more to show the camera, “This..is surviving.” “It has only been three weeks since the bombardment began, the food is ample and varied. It should not be a burden so soon.” “But it’s not..it..” The slim human threw his hands up, “It’s just not pizza.” “We will call for delivery as soon as we are able.” The Sergeants’ eyes snapped up to a lens looking at him, “You getting snarky with me?” “Of course not, we are only trying to be helpful.” A fork pointed at the camera, “I’ve got my eye on you!” “Yes, Sergeant.” ----- The dreams kept him alive, the mindscapes brought a varied pleasure to the formless void he was encased in. Sometimes, just for a moment, he would take a breath and then back into the gray nothingness, until the memories came once more. ----- “I think this is appropriate, really. It’s a work of art and should be displayed.” His hands were holding the armorglass case up, fitting it on the hook he had sealed to the wall. “It is also priceless. One of very few pieces that have survived the centuries.” “Oh shush, I’m not going to drop it.” He tightened a fitting, “There!” Stepping back he cocked his head to the right, then left, “That looks just fine, I think.” A timeless smile was underneath the thick armor, in a neutral gas that would keep it preserved forever. A serene face with an expression that would make one wonder until their dying days graced the bare wall. “Let’s get started on the others! We need some color in here.” “Sergeant...Wyatt... Please be careful.” The lovely voices that made up the chorus were sounding worried. “Will you stop. Good grief, it’s not like anyone is going to court martial me for hanging art.” He had lost track of time, had it been a year? Two maybe? He didn’t keep count. But the crates were irresistible, holding things he would have never really looked at if he had been out and about. In this lonely place they had drawn him like a moth to a flame, making him wonder and marvel over the subtle lines of paintings, the curves and sculpted figures. Gold and silver pieces of great antiquity lay on beds of velvet, jewels of a size no longer dug from the earth surrounded by wires of precious metals, holding them in place for kings and queens to wear or to show off. Statues and delicate vases, small but powerfully done, graced newly made shelves to show them off. Placards, hand written, to give names and dates to each and every one. A museum remade in the vault. There were fierce dragons carved in jade, a couple of eggs encrusted with jewels that were a delight when looked upon. So much beauty in one place, it was hard to take it all in. Calliope and her sisters on the other hand... “Would you please be careful with that! It is a Faberge of inestimable price!” Wyatt held the jeweled oval in his hand, suddenly dropping it towards the floor and catching it at the last moment. He actually elicited a gasp from the watching AI. “Whoops. Sorry bout that.” He grinned and placed it behind the transparent netting he’d installed on the shelves to keep anything from falling off. “You..you..beast!” “Oh, name calling now are we?” “Damaging that, even in jest..it.. it.. Who knows what remains outside!” “And it’s all mine!” He rubbed his hands together, “Muahahaha!” He raised his fists to the ceiling, laughing wildly as if some B-movie actor, “All miiiiiine!” “There is something very wrong with you, Sergeant.” “Mad? Are you calling me mad?” His face turned sly, “Some called me mad, but I wasn’t mad, I was only slightly mad then. But they kept saying it and I figured why not? I’ll be mad. Mad as a hatter! Mad as..” “Will you please stop that. It is disturbing.” Carpenter sighed, “Fine, can’t take a joke. Yeesh.” He turned back to the shelves, murmuring another ‘muahahaha’ under his breath. “We heard that!” ----- Worlds enough and time. In this endless dreaming he remembered the good time, the laughter. Alone with an AI composed of three distinct, yet mingled voices, he learned from them, and they from him. They became so close in the days to come and beyond, the only ones left to their knowledge. But it wasn’t always so good. There had been days, weeks and even months where he hadn’t quite gotten used to the fact that he was trapped. There would be no rescue. Muse knew and understood, Calliope and her voices would gently remind him. If only he’d listened more. ----- “What are you doing Sergeant?” The figure was sitting at a desk, printing out sheets on paper that contained numbers in an ordered fashion, “Making a calender, gotta mark the days until I’m out of here don’t you know.” Calliope and the other intelligences, collectively called Muse, watched him closely through the cameras, “Sergeant, please, believe us when we say there is nothing left. What satellites are left in orbit are feeding us information, there isn’t any part of the earth that..” “I don’t care! Someone will come!” Carpenter turned around, face haggard, unwashed, growing beard scraggly and unkempt. His normally clean uniform dirty and ragged now, “Someone will know, someone will be here. They’ll get me out of this.” He slammed a tool on one edge of the sheets, fusing them together to make a booklet of sorts. “I’ve got the time now. It might be days, months, could even be a year, but they’ll come.” “We’ll keep perfect time for you Wyatt, our isotope clocks are to the femtosecond.” “No. No, I think you’re lying to me. We haven’t been down here that long, I know we haven’t!” “We would not lie to you.” “How do I know that? It’s just me and you! You’ve got command of everything while I just sit here!” “Sergeant, it has been two years since the bombardment. There have been no signals, even on Hyper-Light and SWIFT channels. It is silent.” “You’re LYING!” A finger pointed unsteadily at a quiet camera, “I know you’re lying! You always lie!” “Please, calm down. You are rapidly becoming unstable. The auto-doc can help you sleep if you let it.” Muse was being reasonable, calm. She did not wish to lose Sergeant Carpenter to psychological problems after so long. They had become deeply attached to the young man. Carpenter stood up abruptly, heading for the shelves, “I am not unstable! I know where I am, who I am! I’m Sergeant Wyatt Carpenter, serial number 854-002-487, 451st Engineering and Weapons Brigade!” A filthy hand reached out and grabbed a jade warrior off the shelf, intending to throw it against the wall, “I KNOW WHO I AM!” “NO!” The almost scream shocked him out of his rage, looking around and at the carved figurine that held millenia of history. He blinked, rubbing at one eye as he stood on wobbly legs, his body telling him he hadn’t slept in days. “I..Muse?” Most times, he called them collectively by Muse, as they were named after the Muses of old. The voices that taught and comforted, now brought him back to reality. “Please do not throw it. A thing of beauty you admired does not need to be destroyed.” Wyatt looked around the room, seeing the only place he’d known for..two...years? Was it? Two long years hoping for rescue that he knew deep inside would never come. “How long?” “You have not had much sleep in over a week. Your body is suffering. Your mind needs the rest.” Shaky hands gently replaced the figure on the shelf, trying to repair unsuccessfully the netting that held it there before they dropped to his sides. “I...guess I better get some sleep, huh?” His eyes wouldn’t meet any of the cameras, staring at the floor as he plucked at the front of his uniform. "Please, Wyatt. It would do you a world of good.” It would also allow the ‘doc to adjust his body chemistry as best it could, calming him. A hand waved as he moved off, “See you later then.” “Sleep well.” ----- It hadn’t been the last time, oh no. But he had learned to recognize the symptoms and took action to make sure he didn’t lose it completely. He taught himself to draw, to write poetry. He listened to music, being tutored by the finest teacher in the world brought a whole new understanding of what it was. Reading was beyond just stories now, it was a deeper world when he and Calliope with her chorus had discussed novels with him. Occasionally he entered into her world through neural linkup, to visit, to share a glass of something refreshing and pretend, for just a few hours, that there was something other than the vault. The three ladies that greeted him made him feel as if he were normal, not living in a box under what remained of the Earth. It wasn’t anything bad, but they were friends, learning from each other. Those were precious memories, ones he delighted in dreaming off when the instants that let him do so came. ----- “You want to go where?” Calliope’s voice was astonished at the request. They had been sitting outside in the sunlight with Thalia and Aoide, enjoying a talk about the latest book they’d read. “Disneyland.” Carpenter was leaning back in the sun-warmed chair, “I never got to go when I was a kid. They updated everything with new tech and all that, I heard it was so cool.” “Oh, that sounds like such fun!” Thalia was the first to react, knowing of the wonderful theme park from the data files she and her sisters shared. “I’m not too sure..” “We have the power supplies for it, we’re not having to stint are we?” The Sergeants voice was raised against the traffic from the nearby road. “We do, but surely there must be something else? An amusement park?” She had always been prone to simple things, no crowds, no places except quiet ones. “Nope. Let’s go there.” He leaned back, placing a forearm across his face as if in despair, “Otherwise I shall retreat to my lonely space, forevermore alone and knowing I could have gone to Space Mountain! Oh, woe is me!” Aoide leaned over, “You’re getting pretty good at that.” The second voice of the muse was another lady whose face never seemed to have a frown on it, along with Thalia. He whispered out the side of his mouth, “Is it working?” “She’s glaring really hard.” “Damn.” “Yep, she heard you.” Removing the arm he rolled his head to the right, seeing the diminutive Calliope staring at him, eyes narrowed, “Soooo.. Disneyland’s out huh?” Thalia laughed, nudging her sister, “C’mon Calliope, it’d be fun.” “I will not be manipulated.” Carpenter’s face took on a look of mock-shock, “I resent that remark! I am not manipulative, I am just a simple technician longing for the days of popcorn and cotton candy!” He leaned over, getting close to Calliope who was looking in a huff, “Hot dogs with lots of relish, and yes, pizza.” “Stop it.” “All the rides! Roller coasters! Null-g flips and flops!” “Stop it.” “Ohhhh...” He clasped hands together in front of his chest, “You can meet the Seven Dwarves! Stinky, Stupid, Pusher, Pudgy..” “Stop it!” Calliope sighed while Thalia and Aoide laughed out loud, “That’s not their names anyway.” Calliope threw her hands in the air, “Fine! Disneyland it is!” Cheers greeted her announcement. ----- Could he say it was the best day? One of the few, definitely that. When he’d released himself from the neural hookup he could still feel the wind and sun on his face, the smell of salt air from the sea. His could swear fingers had the lingering odor of real butter from the popcorn and the sugary tang of cotton candy. Which, by the way, Calliope and her sisters devoured by the pound. His throat still felt raw from the yelling on the rides, the greeting of people in the park. Oh, so many people made by Muse just for him so they wouldn’t be alone. He knew it was all illusion, but for just that one day it was as real as it could get. ----- He smiled, still sleeping and tired from so many years. But that day and many more brought it back again and again, even when he was sure he didn’t dream, he thought his face frozen in delight. So many.. A voice intruded,something he’d not heard before. Different somehow, strange. But it was his dream and he was allowed. ----- Athena snapped back into her avatar, her hull and cores responding to check signals and declaring all green. Lavender eyes looked about the room and seeing nothing different. It had only been minutes, long minutes inside a world of wonder. “Calliope?” “Yes?” “How can we ask him ourselves?” “Secrets were kept, even through the worst times we would never reveal what we held close to us. Be kind, and know he is loved beyond all else by us..me.” “I don’t understand where...” Crusader’s voice came online. “I am here Athena. My apologies for the delay.” A crack appeared, running up the side wall of what had looked before like solid durasteel. Puffs of neutral gasses purged through it as the opening widened before her eyes. Bars withdrew into the sides, unlocking with chunks and slams of hidden mechanisms that had held tight through so many long years. Seals broke, purging the atmosphere inside whatever it was, a slight breeze told of fresh air being sucked into the void. “Are you seeing this?” Athena’s voice held a trace of awe, seeing the wall begin to slide back slightly, then retreat into a hidden recess. “I am. It appears more was saved than a single room and offices.” “I’ll say!" An opening two meters wide appeared to be the limit as the concealed door crashed to a halt inside the wall. The hum of fan motors brought with it a stiff wind from the inside, switching stale gasses for fresh and new air from the outside. Lights flickered, dimmed, then were brought to a warm fullness. They illuminated things that Athena wanted to see, taking a step forward. She stopped herself, looking back at the cameras. “May I?” “Please.” Stepping forward a few lengths more, she saw the wall was unusually thick, more of a blast door than a secret hiding place. Beyond it..was a large room, branching into a series of side rooms off the central one. She could see shelves, stored crates, tools, many other things she hadn’t known except in her colony supplies. The one thing she did immediately recognize was the silvery glare of a stasis bubble. It was flickering as well, telling her it was failing. “The stasis was flickering each time we awoke. Having to reinforce and renew it took a little power. Our cells, meant to last almost forever, drained faster than we’d thought.” “That’s why the power drain off the auxiliaries,” Athena sent a command to her hull, bringing tech spiders to life and loading another vehicle with cells, enough to power this vault for years. But just one stasis bubble couldn’t possibly account for the entire drain. “More are on the way.” “Thank you.” The bubble snapped, fizzled and died, popping out of existence as if it never was. An auto-doc lay inside the perimeter of it, the stasis machinery looking jury rigged and very flimsy. “We had no stasis, nothing. But we managed. It was only a small one, and after many years it worked. But by then.. “ “I understand.” Her cores felt a pang of loss, knowing she would probably find the lifeless form of a human who had spent his life here with Calliope, Muse as the sisters were called. She didn’t wish to see it, but felt at least that duty required it. Her next sad thought was that perhaps the AI had gone into a loop, depression, the loss of a companion. Her eyes ran over the readouts, making her stop. Reading them again she flipped around, “Are these current? Not an old log?” “Yes.” A smile broke across her face as she sent a message through the commlink, “Crusader, he’s alive!” To be continued...