Travels of the Starfire: Waypoint
Okalar was not very impressive. Not that I was expecting it to be terribly interesting to look at. Dajarin's Galactic Atlas described Okalar is a small rouge planet in the Outback, roughly spherical, and drifting slowly in space rather than orbiting a nearby star.I couldn't see any details of the planet's pitch-dark surface - The only thing that would let an observer know there was an object there at all was the fact that Okalar obstructed the stars behind it.
My ship - the MSV StarFire, a trade and salvage craft based in the Outback - was headed for Okalar's only significant settlement, on the other side of the planet.
"What's our ETA to the spaceport?" I asked.
"Ten minutes," replied the first officer, Amara Var, after she glanced at one of the many displays at her station on the bridge.
I tapped my fingers on the arm of the captain's chair. We were visiting Okalar on the personal request of our ship's capable engineer, and my close friend, Jules Bisping. As the planet was almost directly in line with our intended course to a remote colony in the Danubus star-system, I decided that a short visit would not present any difficulties to our schedule. After our recent run of poor fortune, we are all feeling a bit stressed, and some `shore leave' - even on this mostly barren rock - will do us all some good.
"Captain, we're receiving a transmission from the Okalar Deep Space Station authority," said Amy, the ship's android assistant engineer and communications operator. "They have granted our landing request. I'm sending the port co-ordinates to the helm."
"Good."
A few minutes later, as we rounded the planet and began our approach, we caught our first view of the Okalar Deep Space Station, informally called Oka City. The station was visible as a cluster of lights on the dark terrain, arranged in a system of concentric circles radiating from the field generator that kept the atmosphere in. (Okalar being far too small to keep a breathable atmosphere down.) The rest of trip was uneventful, Amara brought the ship to a smooth stop in our assigned landing area, under the atmospheric retention bubble.
The Okalar spaceport proved to be as unimpressive as the planet from space. Amy, Amara, Jules, the Danak tactical officer Chikar, and myself exited the Starfire's airlock and stepped down onto the concrete landing pad. It was cracked and blended almost seamlessly with the local rock at it's borders. I noted that the bulk of the illumination was coming from Starfire's external lights; only one sickly orange lamp associated with the port was operating.
"Lovely place," I remarked sarcastically. "Why'd this friend of yours move here?" I asked Jules.
"Not for the scenery, obviously," the engineer replied, eying the handful of run-down structures that constituted the Okalar Spaceport. "I'll have to ask Tim when I see him."
"That's why we're here. You want to go find him while we get things settled at the spaceport?" I inquired.
"Sure. Amy, do you want to come along with me?" Jules asked his assistant.
"Alright," she responded.
"Take care. Give us a call when it's convenient," I said, and the two of them walked off as the rest of us approached the spaceport's office to have the ship refueled.
The last time I saw Tim Parks in person was around twenty-five years ago, after I'd left Dral Polytechnic and he'd entered graduate school. I soon afterward joined up with the Starfire - under it's previous captain, Ben Carey - and never made it back to Dral. Tim and I had fallen out of contact in the intervening years, so I was surprised when he messaged me a few weeks ago, having discovered where I was working on the Starfire and asking if it might be possible for me to drop in for a visit.
I looked down at the multicomp in my hand, the glowing display a blessing in the street that was darkened by the rouge planet's cold, perpetual night. The navigation panel showed Tim's address, and indicated his house with a star on the map of Oka City.
"It's the third one," I said to Amy, as I looked up and pointed to a squat house among a row of similar dwellings built of local materials. It's lights were on.
We crossed the dimly lit street and walked up the path to the house's door. I rung the doorbell and waited for a response.
It was cold - seemed colder than earlier. I could see my the clouds of moisture from my breath in the feeble orange light of the streetlamps.
We continued to wait. "Is it colder now than it was when we landed?" I asked Amy.
"It's somewhat colder now and here than at our landing site thirty-two minutes ago; I can't say..." The android was interrupted by the door opening.
A short, graying woman greeted us.
"Oh, hello. You must be my husband's friend from college... he's expecting you but he went to the tech mart to buy some things for his project. He'll be back soon, though, come on in, " She invited, stepping back from the door. Amy and I readily entered the warm house.
"I'm Karen Parks, you must be... Jules, right?" She asked. I nodded.
"And who's this?" She asked, referring to Amy.
"Amy. She's my assistant on the Starfire," I explained, as the pair shook hands.
"Pleased to meet you, Amy," she said, in a friendly tone. I looked around - there were signs of Tim's project laying around the living room. I couldn't identify it's overall function, but it seemed to involved a fairly advanced computer - which was presently disassembled and covering most of the available horizontal space in the room.
"Have a seat," Mrs. Parks suggested, as she gestured to a pair seats. "I'm sorry about the mess, but we just moved in a few months ago and Tim hasn't been able to get the materials for a proper lab. All the construction material imported is being bought up by some new heavy-metal mining interest outside the bubble," she explained, carefully moving a diagnostic poly-con machine from one of the chairs and then sitting down.
"What's Tim up to these days?" I inquired of our hostess.
"Well, after he left his government job, he's been working on this project of his..." She said, a little critically as she looked at the stack of circuit matrices on the table. "He says that it will greatly advance the state of the art in thallium refining. It's an analysis AI system that will control the refinery, adjusting it to peek efficiency for the particular ore being refined. I'm not sure of the details, but it's got some interest - and funding - from the locals. That's mostly what they mine here, you know," she said casually.
"Why is a custom hardware platform necessary?" Asked Amy.
"You'll have to ask him when he gets back. I think it's just an excuse to tinker with the latest comp systems and get the investors to pay for it," she joked, laughing.
"Does he still do any work with cybernetics? Last time I talked to him, he was working at Dral Robodyne," I asked.
"Oh, that was a long time ago. We'd only been married a few months when he left DR to work for the government. I do remember him working with robots back then, but I'm not sure what exactly he did for the government. He had to keep me in the dark - a lot of his work was classified. It's a pity, really, I've always found cybernetics interesting. Some of the domotics 'bots he brought home from the DR lab to test were really advanced. Wish I had one of the housekeeper models around now..."
As she talked, I noticed Amy looking at some of the pictures sitting on a small table between the chairs. The picture cycled through images of Tim, Karen, and occasionally others.
"Did he ever do any research on mechanical humanoids?" Amy asked, pointing to the picture presently displayed by the frame. In it, Tim posed with a roughly humanoid robot and a few other lab-coat wearing scientists.
Karen was momentarily silent. After the pause, she spoke. "I think so, a long while ago. I'm not sure - why?"
"I have an interest in the topic. I am a synthetic person myself," Amy explained.
"Oh..." The older woman sounded uncertain. "I'm... sure Tim will be interested in meeting you, then," she said, returning to her friendly tone. "It's not very common to see such a realistic model. Did Jules construct you?"
I laughed. "That's flattering that you think so, but no, I could never manage that. I doubt there are many that could - Amy is years ahead of anything I've ever seen."
"Thank you," the android replied. "Actually, I'm not sure where I came from. My first memories are of being re-activated on a freighter - the captain said that he had purchased me at a used-tech market on Akiron."
"Curious," Karen remarked quizzically. There was a moment of silence. "Well, have you heard the news about the Akarn colony?" She asked, possibly attempting to steer the conversation in another direction. I wasn't sure about her reasons, but I made no attempt to resist the change.
"No, what about it? We were just there a while ago... unfortunately," I said, making small talk.
"A dreadful place; in my observation it is inhabited primarily by backward, ignorant yokels," Amy said, offering our shared opinion of the planet on which we'd had a recent misadventure.
"Hmm. Well, I was reading the news this morning. They're having awful robot revolts..."
Her account was interrupted by Tim, who just walked in carrying a parcel.
"Jules Bisping! Glad you got here safe!" He welcomed me, placing the package on a counter. We exchanged warm greetings and he cleared off a chair across from mine. It was nice seeing him again after all these years, and I felt somewhat disappointed that we hadn't kept in touch.
"This is Jules' friend, Amy," Karen introduced my assistant to Tim. "She's a synthetic."
Tim looked surprised, even nervous. After a puzzling silence that echoed his wife's reaction, he spoke. "That's... very impressive!" He exclaimed, looking at Amy.
He shook her hand. "Warm to the touch, even!" He commented.
"Yes..." Amy replied.
"Um, well, we've got a lot of catching up to do, haven't we?" Tim said, sitting down in the cleared chair.
"Yeah," I agreed.
"So, you're still a ship's engineer? Ah, I told you that was a bad idea. You said you were only going to stay at it for a few years and then settle down planet-side; get a real job actually designing those hyperdrives rather than hacking on somebody else's work!" He joked.
"I know; I know. Turns out I liked it a lot more than I thought. And the Starfire's a good ship. It's an F-Series StarClipper; from AYOD. You know, I actually interned at AYOD - they were working on an successor to the F-Series then, but nothing ever came of it. Couldn't find any way to improve on it, I guess," I replied.
We chatted for an hour or so, about Tim's work with the thallium refining system, our recent problems on Akarn, and some other things. I couldn't get a straight answer from Tim about why he'd left his (rather cozy, I gathered) government research job, and decided not to press the topic.
Throughout this otherwise mundane - if enjoyable - conversation, I noticed Tim seemed to have his mind on other matters, he was almost edgy. He was congenial enough, but was a bit nervous about something. During a momentary lull in the conversation, he excused himself to go outside and "check a refining experiment in the back."
The three of us returned to some unmemorable smalltalk for a few minutes. It was rather duller than the first time.
"Do you think Tim would mind if we go take a look at his experiment?" I asked.
"I don't think so," Karen responded.
I got up from the seat. "Amy?" I asked, looking at her. She didn't appear not notice my request, and was staring out the window. "Amy? Do you want to go see his experiment?"
"Oh? No, thank you," she replied, still looking out the window. I was very surprised by the odd behavior from the android; it was definitely not in her character to be so... distracted.
I shrugged it off and headed down the hall, where Tim had went a few moments ago.
I soon was at the back door, which was ajar. I heard Tim's voice, outside.
"Alright? I'll see you there tonight... be there alone. It's important... I want to help you find out about this, believe me, but if they find out I said anything about this to anyone I'm a dead man, do you understand?" He asked. I peeked out the door into the murky darkness and saw Tim, standing alone next to a large machine of some sort - probably the refining equipment. He was speaking into his handheld phone.
I was shocked to hear the voice replying to him. It was Amy's.
"Yes, doctor Parks. I'll meet you tonight," she said. I recognized the crystal-clear pattern of intonation beyond a shadow of doubt - it was Amy.
Yet, she was no more than ten meters behind me and I heard nothing from that direction. I quickly put two and two together: she was using her internal radio to communicate.
Tim clicked his communicator off and started walking towards the entrance. He froze suddenly. Had he seen me? No, he was looking off into the darkness, somewhere I couldn't see. He stared off at whatever had gotten his attention, but soon turned back towards the house. I quickly stepped backwards and pretended to be just coming to the door.
"Oh, hi Jules!" He said, clearly surprised and unsure if I'd heard him.
"I was just coming to see your experiment, but I guess you're done now," I said, deciding not to let on about what I'd heard. I didn't think Amy would keep something like this from me, so I was sure I'd find out about whatever they'd discussed after we left.
"Yeah, not much to see really, just a small Claarison diaphragm sieve. It's controlled by a crude prototype of the system I'm building inside..." He said, recovering from the surprise.
"Alright," I said, following him back. We passed another hour or so uneventfully, and decided to take our leave for the night. I bid the Tim and Karen farewell, promising to return in the `morning' - while Okalar had no natural division of time, Oka city, I was told earlier, adjusted temperature and illumination levels somewhat based on an artificial twenty-four hour cycle.
Amy and I exited the Parks' home and walked down the path. The air was frigid now - I was surprised that it was allowed to become so cold in a few hours time.
"It's certainly colder now!" I remarked, wondering if Amy would tell me about Tim's strange message on her own.
"Yes, it is. I'm grateful my designer or designers gave me the ability to dampen unpleasant sensations."
"The rest of us have to make do with coats."
We continued walking briskly back towards the ship. As we reached an intersection, Amy turned towards me.
"Jules, I need to go attend to something. I'll meet you later back at Starfire..."
"What do you need?" I feigned surprise. "Can't I come along?"
"No. Please, this is important, trust me. It'll only be a moment."
I hadn't expected her to be so direct.
"Okay... I'll see you later. Be careful," I said, unsure of how to react. If I followed her, would she feel betrayed? Would I be actually putting myself into danger? Was Amy in danger? I certainly hoped not... I trusted Tim, but it had been many years since I could really say I'd known him.
I stood at the corner for a minute or so as she walked off, then resumed the journey to Starfire alone. My phone beeped.
"Jules here," I answered the call.
"Jules, this is Marcus. Are you and Amy still at your friend's house?" The captain asked.
"No; We were headed home. Amy... had some kind of errand to run. She'll be home after me..."
"Oh no... Why aren't you with her?"
"Well, she didn't want company - why, what's the matter?"
"Quick, Jules, follow her! Don't let her out of your sight! I'll explain later!"
This street was apparently a light industrial zone. Warehouses and other buildings were built wall-to-wall on both sides of the street; interrupted by an occasional alley. Like the whole of the Okalar Deep Space Station, it was cold, dark, and falling apart. Stacks of mouldering industrial machinery were plentiful.
I turned down the sixth alley, and saw that it terminated in one of the descending tunnels that were entrances to the underground. The `underground' of Oka City is a network of - as the name implies - subterranean passages and structures. Some of the cavities are naturally occurring, at least partially, others are artificial. It was constructed when the rich mineral deposits of the area were thought to be much richer than the first decade of mining revealed them to really be; back when it was expected that the City would soon outgrow the confines of it's atmospheric retention system.
Now, according to Dr. Parks, it is used primarily for cheap storage and low-income housing where it is used at all: most of the complex is abandoned and uninhabited. That quality was apparently the reason he selected it for this meeting.
Noticing the lack of any light source in the dim tunnel below as I walked down the angled ramp that connected the surface street with it's underground counterpart, I turned on my flashlight.
Although I recognized a certain about of danger in venturing alone into an area such as this, and in my lack of information about Dr. Parks or his unstated motives, his offer was not something I could reasonably refuse.
I had been quite surprised to receive a message via my internal wireless communications system shortly after Dr. Parks left ostensibly to check his refining experiment, since that system neither advertises it's existence to the digital network, nor responds to any data stream not explicitly addressed to it. His knowledge of the system lended credibility to the actual contents of his message. Dr. Parks claimed to have been involved with my design, and he had offered to communicate all his knowledge of my purpose and origins to me, if I would meet secretly with him tonight.
Halfway down the tunnel, I heard the sound of rapid footfalls from the road behind. I stopped and listened for a moment.
"Amy!" Jules called out, somewhere above. "Where are you?"
I noted a panicked tone in his voice, and decided to head back up to the surface and see what had motivated him to follow me in violation of my wishes. I certainly hopped it was important.
I ran up out of the tunnel and onto the ill-maintained pavement of the alley.
"I'm over here, Jules!" I answered, waving my flashlight in the direction of the street.
"Quick, come here!" He shouted back. I did so, and as I approached I saw that he had drawn his hand-laser.
"What's wrong?" I asked, slowing down to meet him.
"I'm not sure exactly, the captain just called and told me there was some danger..." He began, then reached down to his communicator. "Jules here. I found her, what's wrong?"
Before he could receive a reply, we heard a scream from down inside the tunnels.