Chapter 3: Taking to the Skies

It was an hour later as the truck pulled up in a large area of open grassland. The forest and the colony could be seen over a couple of kilometers away. There was also a similarly sizeable electric truck but painted in gray that the black truck pulled near.

It was noontime on Eutera. It was as warm as it was going to get as Zalika shifted the truck in park and powered it down. The engine shut off as her, Bekra, and Chuang surveyed the scene.

They could see a huge blue tent that had been erected in the vast field of grass. The colony’s location was perfect as it provided a large area to expand outward for the future population to go. While the settlement was parked next to the vast forest, it still had mostly grass plains adjacent to it. There were these tiny bugs that would fly very slowly in the air. Chuang could look down and see as they fed off the grass. There was also another bug that would come and attack the bugs eating the grass.

There was an ecosystem on Eutera. It was simple yet effective. While there was nothing intelligent living on Eutera except for the immigrant human and Itrean population, there were things here and there that showed that life was functioning.

And there was more yet to come. A very light wind was going on as the breeze naturally pushed the tent a little bit. Its harnesses kept it firmly in place. It was difficult to see the people they were delivering to since the tent’s wall was in the way. The entrance was facing away from the pair of trucks. Only a small extendable table placed by the tent’s side showed some various equipment of some sort.

“Alright,” Zalika said as she opened up the door. “Chuang, grab one of those thruster packs. Each one of us will haul it to the tent. Doctor Ericson should be here so he can accept it.”

There was some excitement on Bekra’s face. She was blinking a lot as she was trying to survey the scene as much as possible. Even Zalika tried to grab her attention.

“Hey, did you hear me?” Zalika called out to her.

Bekra responded by grabbing Zalika’s arm. “Yes ... I have been looking forward to this.”

“Wait,” Chuang asked as he sounded confused. “This Ericson ... it sounds familiar.”

“What? Were you living under a rock for the last year? How do you not know Ericson and Miranda?”

“Minerva...” Bekra corrected her.

“Fucking! God Damn it!” Zalika exclaimed as she smacked the seat of the truck.

Bekra lifted her scaly hand away from Zalika and simply shook her head lightly. Chuang seemed to hold back a chuckle. Then the information started to sink in for him as he thought about it.

“Oh! You mean the whole situation with Mars last year?” Chuang asked. “I didn’t even think of it until now. The whole situation where an AI took over the entire Martian computer mainframe.”

Zalika nodded. “Yep. Same people. Honestly, I don’t give a crap about Minerva or her daughter.” She lowered down her voice so that only he could hear. “To me, this Minerva character is just a blow-up doll ... a companion bot sex toy. People are getting all worried about nothing. The other Itrean clans have been far more of a threat than some lowly AI program that is controlling a robot. That is just me, though.”

“I can’t wait to meet them,” Bekra said. “I heard the whole story and loved it. I can’t wait to meet them. I hope they brought their baby.”

“Wow ... it didn’t really dawn on me,” Chuang said. “I thought we were just delivering a few thrusters to a doctor, and that would be it. I didn’t think it was going to be...”

They could see a man that stepped away from the tent and towards their direction. The man had red hair that fell to his ears. He also had a red beard that followed down his face. His pale complexion was easily overshadowed by the black and white lab clothing that he wore. He looked at the three that were in the truck.

“There he is,” Zalika called out to everyone. “Grab one of these, and let’s go.”

Chuang looked over and could see four moderately large cylinders. These objects consisted of a thruster nodule and various parts inside that could propel a vehicle around. The size alone was the length of his hand to his elbow. They could slow down the descent of a falling car or help launch it over rocky terrain. The M30 APC’s thrusters could be deployed from large heights on planets that had gravity. They were not heavy, but Chuang was struggling to lift it.

“Having some trouble Private First Class?” Zalika watched him. “It must have been fun you watching me, and Bekra carry them, huh? Not used to the gravity of the planet yet either?”

Chuang sighed a little bit as the rest of the doors of the truck began to open up. He managed to lift one of the thruster packs off the seat. He stumbled out with the pack in hand as Zalika and Bekra got out of the truck.

The grass could reach up to his knees as Chuang hoisted the gray cylinder in his hand. Bekra’s tail swung and hit the grass as she moved towards the same area in the back seat where the thrusters were located. She went and grabbed one of the cylinders as Zalika walked up to the same spot where Bekra was standing as she carried one with both hands. Her scaly four-digit fingers almost pressed a button on one of the sides.

“Careful,” Zalika told her as she went and eyed the remaining two packs in the backseat. “You almost disengaged the manual safety switch on the pack you were holding. If you pressed that and then the button below it, you would have activated the thruster.”

“Why have that on there anyway?” Chuang asked.

“Testing purposes to see if they work,” she replied. “Part of the maintenance on these things requires to see if the thrusters will work on the vehicles. They are taken off and then manually tested. I will show you all of that next week. It will be good to know before the armored vehicles start getting delivered.”

“I understand,” Chuang replied as he watched Zalika take a pack in each hand. It surprised him in watching how strong she was.

“Poor Chuang can only lift one,” Zalika mocked him. “You have to see Karine carry these. She can carry like ten of these things.”

“There they are!” the red-headed man said as he got closer to the three. Zalika knew it had to be Ericson by his description. Bekra was the first to head toward him as she carried the pack in hand.

“Doctor Ericson, I am assuming?” Zalika called out to him.

Ericson looked at Bekra, and he had a nod and a smile on his face. Bekra seemed a little enthusiastic to see him as her tail appeared to swing a bit more than usual.

“Yes. Man, I was waiting for those packs for hours,” Ericson replied.

“Sorry about that,” Bekra replied to him. Ericson focused her attention on her as her digitigrade legs tried to find purchase through the grass. “We had a schedule to keep today.”

“It is alright,” Ericson said with a little bit of a huff in his voice. “The only thing that we were waiting for was the thruster packs before we could begin the flight tests.”

“Staff Sergeant Kole wanted to make sure that you got the thruster packs you needed. He wanted to make sure you had four thrusters available. He also wanted to tell that we have more available if, for some reason, there are any issues...”

“There aren’t any,” Zalika interrupted. “I tested them myself, and they work.”

“I apologize, Doctor Ericson,” Bekra continued. “I should introduce myself.”

“Wait till we talk to Minerva at the tent,” Ericson explained. “That way, you marines don’t have to introduce yourselves twice.”

Chuang walked behind Zalika as Ericson led the way through the field of grass to the tent’s side. There was a momentary sound of a baby crying that echoed near the tent.

“Is that your baby Eve?” Bekra asked.

“Yes,” Ericson replied. He pointed to the nearby table. “You can place the thruster packs right there.”

One by one, Bekra, Zalika, and Chuang placed the thruster packs on the small table. Chuang breathed a little bit of a sigh of relief as he put the gray cylinder down. Zalika practically tossed them onto the table as they landed with a clunk.

Chuang looked at Zalika with some caution. Zalika looked at him and gave a questioning look.

“What?” Zalika asked. “These packs are designed to be tossed around. They belong to vehicles that bump and jump around. You don’t have to be that gentle with them.”

Chuang shrugged as he followed behind Zalika. All four stepped around the tent to the main entrance of it. The entire front side of it was wide open. Inside was a large folded bed for two. A crib was placed beside the bed. There were a couple of tables in the center with a few tools and equipment lying around. Two foldable chairs were by the entrance. All in all, it looked quite comfortable in the tent. There were no people for the entire distance except for the colony and base behind the tent.

It was here that Zalika and Chuang saw Bekra walk up slowly to a character that she was seemingly familiar with. Bekra had approached what could be described as a woman that was sitting on one of the chairs. The stranger of a woman was not a typical human or Itrean, but something else. She looked in all aspects to be a robot of some sort. She had a light gray color for her skin. She appeared by some perspective to be naked with the lack of clothes, but she had a synthetic layer covering her breasts and her crotch. The woman had digitigrade legs, much like Bekra’s, but she was noticeably taller. The skin itself would cover large portions of her body where it ended upon touching another layer of skin. Her eyes were also distinguishable, being very blue human-like artificial eyes. Another distinguishing feature was her long black hair and cat-like ears that rotated to the sounds generated by the movement of people through the grass.

Zalika was kind of surprised by looking at the robotic looking woman. The famed Minerva was sitting next to her. Chuang’s jaw seemed to express some shock upon looking at her. Bekra’s excitement, however, was the most noticed above all else. Zalika could tell that she was trying to keep her emotions at ease.

In Minerva’s hands held cradled to her breast was a baby. Bekra’s reptilian eyes beheld the small infant. The less than 1-year-old child was still relatively tiny as a pink layer of silk was wrapped around her. The baby herself had a pale but mixed complexion.

“I suppose you are Minerva?” Zalika asked.

“You are correct,” Minerva replied in a female synthetic like tone. “May you please identify yourselves.”

Her voice was unique in itself. It was close to monotone in some ways, but there was definitely emotion and variation to the verbiage and words that were being used. There was a soothing and friendly voice that was mixed into the tone. It was very articulate and well pronounced to avoid any misunderstanding.

“My name is Zalika,” she replied to Minerva. “Staff Sergeant Kole wanted to make sure that you and Doctor Ericson received the shipment thruster packs for your ... experiment.”

Minerva’s head tilted and focused on Zalika with precision. Her eyes moved fluently, scanning her frame and facial looks. “Yes, according to the Euteran population records, your facial recognition matches that of Corporal Zalika Hennings. You were assigned to serve at Fort Caprice approximately five months seventeen days ago in the United Human Naval Marine Corp.”

Zalika sighed. “Yeah ... that sounds about right. AI ... ugh.”

“I also heard your conversation from my location to your vehicle about the thruster packs. You have brought in four Tenix Model 327 Adjustment Control Thrusters.”

“Yes ... Staff Sergeant Kole wanted to express his help to you and Ericson.”

There seemed to be a smile that extended from her face and almost feline-like nose. “I understand, Zalika.”

“Minerva,” Bekra said, pointing her scaly hand to her chest. “My name is Bekra. I am a Centurion that is also working with Zalika.”

Minerva’s face was scanning her facial features and body frame. “Yes, according to the Euteran population database records, you are Bekra that serves in the T’rintar Clan and has the rank of Centurion. You were assigned to work at Fort Caprice approximately four months and three days ago.”

“I wanted to say that I am happy to meet you face to face,” Bekra explained. “I have been wanting to see you since I got here. I heard about the rumors from my people that a being of artificial construction and her child moved to live on Eutera. You were able to take control of Mars’ computer network single-handedly.”

Ericson went and checked out the thruster packs on the table. Chuang walked a little bit closer to Bekra as Minerva’s head turned to look at him.

“Ummm...” Chuang tried to explain. He seemed somewhat anxious to speak to her. “My name is Chuang. I am the new guy. I was just assigned to this world.”

“You do not match any facial profile on Eutera’s population records,” Minerva explained. “I am running an analysis on other databases ... the analysis is complete. According to UHN basic records, you are identified as Private First Class Len Chuang. You were completing boot camp at the...”

“Yeah, I know,” Chuang said. “I apologize ... I don’t mean to be offensive, Mrs. Minerva. I just finished up boot camp yesterday. This is ... all of this is brand new to me. I was genuinely not expecting to be meeting ... an AI, let alone the only AI humanity has ever allowed to be made.”

“You do not need to apologize, Chuang. Human beings have shown much strength in their ability to adapt to new environments. You feel overwhelmed by being here next to me. I know that you mean no harm towards me.”

Chuang seemed to sigh a little bit. “Yeah, it is weird being in your presence. I heard that I was going to be giving a couple of thruster packs to a doctor, and the name started to become familiar.”

It felt like an awkward conversation to him. He looked over to Bekra that gently reached out her scaly hand towards the baby.

“May I?” Bekra asked her. “She is so cute.”

Minerva momentarily scanned her. “You may.”

Bekra was slow and careful as she used her two fingers to stroke the baby’s hair and head. She stirred in Minerva’s arms a little bit and started to give a cooing sound. There was a big smile on Bekra’s face.

Chuang was trying to figure out the scene of events. Zalika turned her head to look at Bekra as she seemed to shake her head before looking back. For Chuang, while he knew about Ericson and Minerva, Bekra seemed the most familiar with her, even if this was her first time as well.

Bekra stopped petting the infant as she backed up and leaned down on the grass. Her digitigrade legs bent as her tail wrapped up and went forward. It was her version of squatting before Minerva. For Chuang, he had questions. Did the Itreans revere this anomaly that they called an AI? Was she famous, or was she infamous? Bekra seemed to answer the question perfectly.

“It is an honor to be with you, Minerva,” Bekra said. “We never developed our own AIs. We have computers, but they were never designed to operate with the ability to think for themselves.”

Minerva looked away as she seemed to be in thought for a moment. “According to your shared database, the Itreans focused on bioengineering rather than computer engineering. While the computer systems that all Itrean clans use are comparable to human computers, it took significantly longer for your species to reach that point than humanity did.”

“Yes,” Bekra replied with a few quick nods. “Our computers are more like ... I am trying to find a word for it, but my English skills are not good enough to give an answer.”

“I am perfectly fluent in the Itrean languages.”

Chuang, for the first time, had a chance to hear an Itrean speak their own language. She said two words to Minerva. “Gylo Goliy’fin,” were spoken by Bekra with two changing tones that went down and then up that went along with the sentence.

Minerva seemed to understand it correctly. “Biomechanical Computer Network is the closest English translation available for the Itrean bioengineered mechanical systems. Your systems are not compatible with my system mainframe.”

“Even so, you are looked at with ... wonder to us. We are capable of creating life with our bioengineering but not something like you. There are many questions that I wanted to ask of you.”

Zalika and Ericson were busy taking two of the thruster packs to the tent. There was what looked like a pair of large wings that had two harness attachments on each of them. Ericson took the wing and placed it on the table. He began to attach one of the thruster packs to the wings.

“Ericson is currently working on the wing system for my body,” Minerva replied. “He will need an additional eight minutes to configure the final adjustments needed for my test flying experiment. You may ask your questions.”

“That was going to be my first question,” Bekra asked. “Is that why we brought the thruster packs for?”

“Yes, that is correct,” Minerva replied. “My computer mainframe is currently connected into a quantum computer core that is interfaced with this body frame. I experience and feel what this robotic body feels.” She looked down at her child. “I was able to develop Eve inside of me. I gave birth to her. It is an experience that my core and memories will retain. I wish to explore the other thoughts and feelings that human beings enjoy. I was programmed with a limited lifespan. In another ninety-eight years, a computer program that I cannot control will terminate my life functions. I will eventually experience oblivion. I wish to see what other events that I can participate before that time arrives.”

“I remember on the news about you taking over Mars and everything,” Chuang said. “I remember the Chairman talking about a system that would shut you down eventually. You willingly decided to limit your own life?”

She seemed to look away a little bit as she thought about it. Then she looked back at him. “It was both a choice and not a choice,” she answered. “I wanted to save my daughter from being terminated. I knew that a code was put in that could terminate my life functions. I believed and still believe that I am alive. I could analyze my own decisions and decide what the smartest decision to make. My goal was to save Eve from destruction. I choose to have a limited life to ensure that Eve will live.”

“Wow,” Chuang said as he seemed to think about it. “I guess I can understand that.”

Bekra nodded her head a few times as she seemed to idolize Minerva and Eve. Zalika had overheard the conversation as she looked at Bekra. She seemed to quietly nod as she went and handed another thruster pack to Ericson.

“Why did you decide to live on Eutera?” Bekra asked.

“The decision was made based on multiple reasons,” Minerva answered. “Ericson used to live on Eutera for a short time before being stationed on the UHN Tyson to create me. He enjoyed living here and wished to move here. I cared for him and wanted to fulfill his wish to live here. Another reason is its location and population. There has been a long history in the human race with the ill sentiment in building and constructing artificial intelligence. While the decision was to keep me alive, the human race still harbors that resentment towards artificial intelligence that can think for themselves. Even though dulled, my existence still remains in most human’s minds even with the introduction of the recent peace treaty and alliance with the T’rintar clan. My desire to live in a remote area where humans and Itreans get along is ideal for my existence and Eve to continue. My acceptance in society would be more welcome here, for example, than in most other places.”

“Smart,” Chuang commented.

“I don’t see why they wanted to terminate Eve,” Bekra also commented. “She is so cute.”

Minerva’s eyes looked down at Eve as the baby stirred a little bit. Her synthetic hand gently pushed a small bug that landed on her forehead. It flew off as it went back to the grass.

“Yeah, but you just put yourselves in the firing line for the Aksren and Shal’rein clan fleets,” Zalika said. “This place was attacked before. We are not far from the landing spot where the T’rintar clan put their assault carrier to assault and kidnap the people here.”

Minerva’s ears turned to her location as she rotated her head a little bit towards the tent. “While all of that is true, according to the UWAN and T’rintar clan databases, no location is truly safe. The UHN lacks the necessary resources to repel large Aksren or Shal’rein clan fleets. Mars, Batrice, and Cebravis are just as likely to be attacked as Eutera or another smaller human colony. With all of that measured, I choose this location to live.”

“Whatever...” Zalika said. “I am ready to fight and die anytime, but even I know that Eutera is still a giant bullseye.”

“No, she is right,” Bekra argued back. “This world is under the protection of the T’rintar clan. We would devote our resources to protecting this world just as much as Mars or Cebravis.”

Zalika didn’t want to argue any further as Ericson asked for another thruster pack. He used a screwdriver as he began to screw in the next thruster to the wing.

“This brings us back to the question that you asked earlier, Bekra,” Minerva continued. “Why do I need vehicle thruster packs? The answer is that I wish to experience the ability that humans enjoy, and that is the ability to fly. Ericson and I have been developing a wing system that can be attached to my body mainframe. It will allow me to fly in both locations that have positive or no gravity.”

“She would be able to fly in space or on the ground with this,” Ericson added.

“Haha,” Zalika joked. “No offense Minerva, but seeing you with this is like seeing a blowup doll with a jetpack.”

Minerva’s head tilted a little bit as she displayed confusion. “I do not understand the statement.”

“Well, you decided to use a companion bot to put your ... I don’t know ... consciousness into. Now you are putting ... you know I don’t need to say anymore.”

“A companion bot is the only body frame currently available for my system to achieve mobility and operate. It was the only choice available for me.”

Zalika simply smiled and shrugged. She felt she had proven a point.

“There,” Ericson said as he picked up the wing. “I still wonder if we only need two thruster packs instead of four.”

“According to my calculations, there will be a ninety-one percent chance flight will be achieved, with just two thrusters,” Minerva explained. “If all four thrusters are used, there will be a ninety-four percent chance of that succeeding.”

“That isn’t what I am worried about,” Ericson said. “It is still a lot of thrust that is being put on your body. Your body was never rated for a flight like this.”

“This is the third time that you have stated this caution to me, Ericson,” Minerva said.

“Yeah, I am trying to make sure that you understand the risks to this. If you crash, your body will take damage, and it could risk damaging or destroying you.”

Bekra could see that Minerva was thinking for a second. “Human beings desire to do things that they normally cannot achieve. I wish to experience the ability to fly just as a human can climb the side of a mountain or swim to the bottom of a lake.”

“As I said, I am being careful,” Ericson said as he stepped up to the chair that Minerva sat in. “Zalika, can you grab the other wing from the table and bring it here.”

“Yeah, of course,” Zalika replied as she went and grabbed the other wing.

Minerva looked up at Bekra. “Bekra, would you like to hold onto Eve as I conduct my flight experiment?”

“Of course I would,” Bekra replied with almost excitement. She stood up as she held out her arms towards Minerva. In turn, Minerva stood up with her daughter in hand as she handed her to the Itrean woman. Chuang could see that Minerva stood over the Aksren.

They were both careful. With perfect precision in movement, Minerva went and handed up the bundled baby to Bekra. Bekra, in turn, brought the baby to her chest and held it, cradling in her arms.

Zalika could see happiness in Bekra as she was looking at Eve. The baby’s eyes opened up to look at the nose crested reptilian woman. Eve simply displayed a look of curiosity at her. The baby was neither scared nor content. Even Ericson noted it as well as he stepped up next to Minerva with the left side wing attachment.

“Heh,” Ericson commented. “She usually cries when someone either than I or Minerva holds onto her.”

“That is because she is smart. That is why” Bekra happily said. She seemed purely content with her actions as she kept the baby close to her.

Ericson gestured Minerva to step up next to him and keep her back exposed to him. Chuang could see a rigging of some sort that was on the robotic body. Ericson took the left portion of the wing and stuck it into the rigging. The moment that he fitted the piece perfectly, blue light emitted from her frame as the wing synchronized perfectly onto her body. Ericson then gestured Zalika to hand the other portion of the wing to him. She did so as he then positioned the other wing into place.

Upon giving the wing portion, Zalika, Bekra, and Chuang stepped back and away from Minerva and Ericson. Zalika briefly looked down to see Bekra was keeping a close eye on the baby. The baby reached out one of her fingers at her as she extended her scaly finger to hers.

The other wing was attached correctly as the blue light showed that the other wing was in place. Ericson then stepped back as Minerva turned to look at him. Both of them were facing downward, almost in a delta-like formation. Both pairs of thruster nozzles were touching each other.

“Minerva, give me a diagnostics on the wings,” Ericson asked as he held out his left arm. He rolled up his sleeve as he tapped his left wrist. An almost three-dimensional projection screen appeared from his arm that showed a menu screen pop up. Data began to process through the arm’s display screen.

“Diagnostics are complete,” Minerva reported. “Both wings are operating at 99.3% efficiency. Vectoring flaps for the thruster packs are fully operable.”

Zalika went and placed her hand on Bekra’s shoulder as she looked at the scene. She could see a skeletal structure portrayed by Ericson’s augmented arm of Minerva’s body. There was data that was running down the screen as it showed everything was green on it. There was a brief moment that Zalika was reminded about her own augmented arm as she watched the scene of events.

“Confirmed,” Ericson said. “Looks like we did a good job so far. The new addition of the main wings and the deployable mini leg wings are all showing full operational capability.”

He used his right hand to interface with the display. He slid the picture as it showed a schematic of both wings. It showed a glowing green color on each of the thruster packs.

“I show that all thrusters are operating between 95 to 100% operational efficiency,” Minerva said.

“Told ya,” Zalika said to everyone. She held a thumbs up to them.

“I will need you to step away from me, Ericson,” Minerva told him. “I will be deploying the wings.”

“Alright,” Ericson said as he backed away from her.

The moment that he did, Minerva slowly folded open the main wings. Like some old military aircraft, her wings extended wide open. All the thruster packs pointed straight down and towards the ground. In some ways, Chuang noticed that she looked like an anthro cat angel. Additional small wing tips protruded from her upper right and left leg.

“Both wings are fully extended,” Minerva said. “I have full control of the wings. Running tests on adjustable thruster flaps.”

Zalika could see that each thruster pack was on a flap-like device, with two on the top portion of the wing and two on the bottom. The flaps would adjust back and forth as the thruster packs would turn and turn to different directions. She reset them back into position again.

“Diagnostics are fully complete,” Minerva said. “All adjustable flaps are working between 94 to 98 percent efficiency. There is enough data to suggest that we can commit to the test flight.”

“I agree,” Ericson said. He sighed a little bit. “Alright, you can go ahead and carry out with the flight ... just make sure that you are careful, alright? I don’t want to be a single parent...”

“Do not worry, Ericson,” she replied. “If the efficiency drops below 90 percent or one of the thrusters stops operating, I will abandon the flight.”

Ericson seemed to remain composed even though Zalika could notice that he was still a little tense. He backed away from her to give her the space needed while keeping his display still on.

“Everyone!” Ericson called out. “Remain by the tent. Minerva is about to conduct her test flight. Remain here until she finishes her flight. Bekra...” He paused as he pointed his finger at her.

“I promise, Doctor Ericson,” Bekra told him confidently. “Eve will remain close to me at all times.”

Minerva turned to face away from everyone that was standing by the tent. She held out her arms a little bit and began to hold them out at a 90-degree angle. Her head looked up as she looked up at the blue sky. Her eyes scanned the clouds. The thruster packs began to give a faint glow from each nozzle.