Chapter 14: It Was an Accident!

Uh-oh. That did not look good.

“Um ... Ohmu?” I said, a bit more nervous sounding than before.

—Joan, remain calm please. A serious problem has developed. I will explain in one moment.—

Ohmu slumped a bit more and had to lean against the equipment cabinet to continue to support itself. After nearly ten seconds, a small panel opened in the middle of its lower back. Inside was a crystal data module.

—Joan, remain calm. Please focus on the instructions I am about to give you. Act quickly. —

What the hell?

—First, remove the data module now exposed on my lower torso and keep it safe on your person. Next, quickly begin removing the data crystals in the open cabinet and place them into your backpack. After that, proceed to the surface with the backpack. Once on the surface, quickly drop every item of equipment and supplies we have on the surface down the cylinder into the alcove and seal the hatch. I will then be out of direct contact with you... .—

“Ohmu! What the—”

—JOAN! LISTEN TO ME!— Ohmu interrupted my interruption. My head rang with the intensity of her mental message.

—After closing the hatch, take just your flechette weapon and the backpack and run quickly back to the river and the waiting mini-sub. Once there, cut loose the mini-sub and the four aquatic drones. Again, as fast as possible, toss as much of the gear we have left at the river’s edge into the river. Finally, enter the mini-sub and say the words “Escape mode zero one”. This will inform the mini-sub’s partial intelligence that you are alone and in danger. The sub will expedite your return to Nautilus. If you encounter any of the patrolling bio-drones while fleeing to the mini-sub, pause and while in eye contact with it, rapidly circle your right hand in the air with your index finger pointing skyward as if you were throwing a lasso.—

What the fuck!?

—Begin now! Move fast! I will continue to explain as you work retrieving the modules.—

I began to do as she asked. I first carefully removed the module from the recess in her back and placed it in my shorts pocket, sealing the pocket just to be safe. I then began rapidly pulling data modules out of the old equipment housing and tossing them into the backpack. This would take a few minutes. Ohmu resumed speaking when I was busy pulling modules.

—I have made a serious mistake, Joan. I am sorry. In my attempt to reboot the operating intelligence here, I could not sustain enough energy flow to augment the already reduced power levels being supplied by the RTG’s. The reboot attempt drained what power remained and caused some failsafe device under the floor to fall below a minimum preset threshold. This device triggered a scuttling charge to begin charging to detonation.—

Fuck! Oh fuck no! I tried to keep calm and not panic and just focus on pulling modules.

—The charging process rapidly drained much of my remaining energy before my circuit breakers tripped stopping the rapid discharge but the charge was successful. When I realized what was happening I quickly resumed power flow but rerouted the power to begin the reboot process only, hoping that would cause the scuttling device to pause to await a successful reboot. It did, although the explosion will happen when the reboot process fails in its later stages as it attempts to draw more power to fully activate the A.I. here.—

I was down to the last few modules and the bag was nearly full. I gave it a quick shake to settle the bag’s contents.

—To prevent that from occurring I am causing the reboot process to reset and restart every zero point four seconds. This interrupts the process before it can begin to draw the higher power levels but still pauses the scuttling charge detonation. I have enough energy remaining to continue the aborted reboot process cycles for approximately two hours and four minutes, Joan. After that, this location will be vaporized. —

I bagged the last module and turned to look at the little black humanoid unit. Its eyes were very dim. God dammit!

—Again, I am sorry. You must flee quickly. If you survive the explosion know that the enemy A.I.s will certainly notice and may come to investigate.—

“Ohmu, th—”.

—Please, Joan! Go quickly. You must save yourself! Good luck ... my friend. —

Shit. I scrambled to the ladder and struggled to climb while carrying the backpack strap in one hand. The ladder rungs were wet as it was now raining hard topside. As I climbed, I asked, “Do you know how big the explosion will be.”

—I estimate that the small fusion device will cause an explosion yielding between five to eight kilotons of your TNT, Joan. The good news, if there is any, is there will be little radiation. This chamber will direct most of the prompt radiation skyward and the prevailing winds are away from the coast.—

I almost lost my grip when I heard that. Eight KILOTONS! The explosion would be like a small nuke. Well, not so small really as eight kilotons was half the size of the Hiroshima bomb! I reached the surface and tossed the bag away from the open hatch. I scrambled out and quickly retrieved all of our tools and gear nearby and tossed them down the hole. I was carrying the last load when I noticed Jake come into view.

I stopped and waved at the jackal wildly. When I saw that it had noticed me and was watching, I did as Ohmu instructed and circled my raised right arm quickly with my finger pointed skyward. Jake stared at me for a moment and then took off running to the north and back to the river. A flapping of wings nearby startled me and I turned to see Jonathan take off and fly above the tree cover. Good! Both bio-drones would be saved. That just left Otto. I hoped I would run into the otter but I was not about to go looking for it.

Back at the hatch I tossed the load of gear into the darkness below and closed the heavy metal cover. Tears were streaming down my face as I grabbed the backpack full of modules and quickly put it on. Then, with my flechette gun in my hands, I started running north, hot on Jake’s trail. I wiped my damp eyes and put my goggles on as it was beginning to rain harder.

The goggles were doing a great job repelling the rain and the breath mask had kicked into a higher gear to handle my labored breathing. I had run a few hundred meters before I realized that I had better watch my backside occasionally as fleeing prey was just what would trigger a leopard to instinctively chase and attack. I made the first kilometer in under ten minutes.

Gasping, I stopped for a moment to catch my breath before walking backwards slowly for another minute with the weapon ready. After I had rested in that manner for another minute I resumed jogging facing forward. I wondered how much time had passed and how much time I had left before the explosion. I glanced at my fancy watch and saw that it now displayed a countdown. One hour and forty-two minutes!

“Ohmu?” I said, short of breath.

No answer. The range must be too great, or the unit had too little power ... or both.

“Watch!” I panted

—Yes. — was the simple answer I heard in my head.

“Can you warn me every ten minutes?” I asked out loud.

—Yes. —

Good, the watch had enough brains to do that much at least.

I made it back to the mini-sub’s location in fifteen more minutes. I was covered with rain and sweat and panting for air as I dropped the backpack into the now open hatch of the sub. The watch must have relayed the news of the crisis to the mini-sub’s partial intelligence because it came alive and began to pump out ballast water in preparation for freeing itself from the sandbar. This also gave me the slack I needed to easily untie and remove the anchoring lines. I tossed these into a deep hole in the river and went to untie the aquatic drones from their anchors onshore.

I noticed that Jake’s cylinder was sealed with him already inside. When I untied the drones, George’s and Jonathan’s quickly departed. Otto’s remained and I hoped the little otter would show up in the next minute or it was not escaping. I looked around quickly but did not see any sign of the otter.

“Watch ... signal Otto’s aquatic drone to wait submerged here near shore for one half hour, then depart to return to Nautilus if the bio-drone does not show up.”

—Affirmative —

I looked around the shore area and tossed any of our remaining gear that I could find either in the river or in the mini-sub if it would not sink. Last, I entered the sub myself and sealed the hatch.

The moment the hatch was sealed the sub spoke up, “Please confirm expedited emergency return.”

I had to think for a few seconds before I remembered the phrase Ohmu had told me to say.

“Escape mode zero one,” I said. The sub surged forward, and we began traveling down the river. I looked at my watch and saw that we had forty minutes remaining.

“Sub, can we travel faster submerged or on the river’s surface?”

“This vessel will travel twelve percent faster on the surface.” The voice said.

Well, the day is rainy and cloudy so screw it. Better risk the surface.

“Sub, do not dive until I tell you to. Travel as fast as possible on the surface.” I said.

What a ride. I sat on my ass near the middle of the sub watching the river water split around the clear front bubble. We were moving at well over five knots. If we could maintain this speed we could be back to nautilus in four hours. But, we would have to slow and submerge before the explosion and remain submerged the rest of the way to Nautilus.

I figure I looked at my watch at least five times a minute over the next half hour. I finally had to force myself to not look and instead found some food bars and got myself a beverage. This combined with the excitement meant I had to piss, so I resorted to going into an empty waterproof bag I held between my legs. It worked better than I had hoped and luckily the bag was large enough to hold my urine without overflowing. I was back to waiting as the clock approached the final ten minutes.

At five minutes I told the sub to submerge and travel as stealthy as possible. I could only imagine the amount of satellite and aerial drones that would be focused on this area over the next few hours, days, and weeks. I began to realize that I might not be alive much longer. My watch beeped as the detonation time came and went. I continued to wait nervously not knowing what to expect.

Ohmu held out three minutes longer than she had estimated. After two minutes I had begun to hope that maybe she had found a way to stop the explosion. I was just about ready to tell the submarine to halt when I saw the water light up with the flash. The surface of the river grew very bright for a few seconds before slowly fading back down to normal over the next half-minute.

Apparently, the distance the mini-sub had been able to travel was sufficient to provide enough separation from the explosion that its effects were limited. There was only a brief surge of motion as the shockwave traveled through the river. I had survived the detonation and slumped in relief as some of the worry and adrenaline faded.

As I sat there I imagined Ohmu’s last moments alone down in the small dark ancient bunker. I could picture her faint glowing eyes finally growing dim and dark as the last of her power reserves were exhausted. The chamber’s A.I. now free to complete its own self-destruction.

“Goodbye my little friend. You did your best and I hope it will be enough.”

I felt tears streaming down my face as I sat there in the growing darkness. Why the hell was I getting so upset about the loss of a machine! Get a grip John! Still, it was clear that Ohmu had been more than just a machine. There was no way in hell that the A.I. which had been at the heart of her android body had not evolved past an unthinking computer program. Just what she had become I could not say. All I knew was that I missed my friend. I felt her data backup module in my pocket. Hopefully Naomi would be able to do something with it.