Chapter 10: Lofty Plans

I gradually became aware. I began to feel sensations all over my body. I felt a jolt and my thoughts became clearer. My heart started to beat and I took a slow deep breath filling my lungs to their maximum before letting it out just as slowly.

Remembering how to wake up from bio-suspension was becoming easier the more I did it. I tried to tilt my head back knowing the tube in my throat would soon be withdrawn. When that finally happened I waited, breathing slowly, for my lungs to clear and my throat to moisten. Only then, did I slowly open my eyes. A small bright light was in front of me. The familiar glowing screen was gone. Strange. The crèche seemed smaller somehow also. I waited a bit more and ‘heard’ the feminine sounding artificial voice speak deep in my thoughts.

—John Abrams, all is well.—

‘All is well.’ I thought about those words. Memories came flooding back. The stealthy missions I had done on the various islands of the Galapagos. The preparation and actual lightning fast raid on the enemy base. My being injured by the enemy but surviving to be treated by Ohmu. ‘All is well’. That also meant that we were still safe and undetected from the master artificial intelligence. I felt myself relaxing where before I would have grown tense with questions.

—You are still in the medical crèche aboard the Nautilus. Once again you have fully functional limbs, — the voice said.

I flexed my left arm and fist. It felt normal. I did the same with my right just to compare the sensations. They were identical. Good.

—I am now rendering you unconscious again to complete your revival and recovery. I will see you soon.—

I started to fade. ‘Revival.’ Something about that nagged at me. What was it though? I again fell unconscious.

I awoke quickly, feeling rested and full of energy. I opened my eyes. This time the crèche felt the correct size. Had I been moved? The familiar display screen was back in front of me like it should have been. It was blank except for the word: “BEWARE!” What the hell? The medical crèche lid began to open. I quickly noticed that the chamber beyond was black. I sat up and looked around the dark chamber confused.

“Naomi? Ohmu?”

No response. What the hell? The dim light from the open crèche barely lit the floor of the medical chamber. I hopped out of the treatment basin and padded over to the sealed hatch. It did not open. Had there been a computer failure or a power loss of some sort?

The room was also missing any clothing for me to wear. Strange. Maybe Ohmu was gone on some mission back to Baltra Island? I pulled the manual latch and slid open the door. The corridor beyond was pitch black except for an intermittent strobing light of some sort coming from the salon. What the hell is going on? Was it an electrical short or failure? Had there been an accident? I was about to step into the corridor when I saw a moving shadow in the flickering light. Something was coming quickly from the salon!

I peeked around the hatchway and saw a black xenomorph bounding towards me. It hissed loudly when it saw me, and I spotted its long metallic fangs. JESUS! I jumped back, scrambling around the end of the crèche just as the short little xenomorph stuck its head into the medical chamber. Fuck! What do I do ... Wait a minute, short?

“Happy Halloween, John!” the little xenomorph yelled. “Trick or Treat!”

Ohmu! “God dammit, Ohmu!” The adrenaline was coursing through my system and my heart was racing.

Ohmu took off the long black insectoid-like headpiece. Her normal mannequin-like android face was illuminated with a large grin.

“Do you like my costume? Look! Its extendible inner jaws even work.”

She demonstrated the costume head’s working jaw motions. The metallic inner jaws did indeed shoot out and bite with a ‘click’ just like she described. I just stood there, still in a bit of shock.

“Very nice.” I finally said, flatly. “Where are my clothes?”

Ohmu frowned and put one of her hands on her hip. “Sometimes, you are no fun John Abrams!”

I started chuckling at her. She threw the costume head at me which got me laughing harder. Luckily, the fake head was very light. The lights returned to normal and she spun around and went to my berth. Her body’s projected images changed and now she again looked like the cute anime character I always preferred.

I followed her into my berth and found her holding up a large pair of Peter Pan tights.

“Here are your clothes!”

I started laughing again. Well, I guess I deserved a little hazing for spoiling her fun, so I put on the damn tights. The green tunic followed. Ohmu smiled when I stood at the mirror flexing. The tights felt pretty good! I turned to her and stood in the traditional ‘Pan’ pose, legs spread, hands on hips. She tossed a green hat with a red feather at me. It completed my costume.

“So, I take it that it is October 31st?”

“Yes, John. It is 08:15, Tuesday, October 31, 2930. You have been undergoing treatment and recovery for ten days,” she answered.

“So, all is going well over at the launch complex?”

“Yes, John. All damaged equipment and data lines have been repaired. All debris has been removed or hidden. The wireless network is again fully operational. Our quadruped assault units have filled in for the former enemy units destroyed during our attack so that the facility’s productivity has been maintained.”

“Cool! And my arm has been repaired fully?”

“Yes, as good as new. Because it is new, silly!” she answered.

“What about the clone that provided the new arm? Is it okay? What did you do with it?” I asked in a rush.

“It’s fine and whole. The only thing I did to it was to scare the crap out of it when it awakened.”

I blinked a bit as I digested that. When I fully realized what she had just said, I looked over my body ... my ‘new’ body.

“Yes, John. You are currently in one of the spare clone bodies. Your damaged body was mind-data scanned and your presence was transferred into the clone. The clone was then revived as normal. You’re welcome, by the way, for lugging your unconscious new body up here so you would awaken in familiar surroundings.”

“Thank you.” I said distractedly, still inspecting my ‘new’ body.

“That’s okay. I had to haul your old, damaged carcass down below anyway.”

“It died?” I asked, finally looking up.

“No, it’s fine. It still has the missing limb which will take quite some time to regrow. I could rush it in an emergency but it’s easier on that body to let it regrow slowly.”

I thought of that. I was down below, sleeping while regrowing a new arm. Weird. A sudden thought struck me.

“Did you wipe its mind?”

Ohmu looked at me a bit before answering. Was she going to answer?

“No, it was left with your memories intact. If awakened, it would be the “you” that went to sleep ten days ago,” she finally said. “Are you okay with that?”

I thought about it. I wondered what would happen in the future if both of us were awake at the same time. Or, what if the old body was never needed. Would Naomi just unplug it and let it die? What a strange thing to consider.

“I guess I am, for now. I’m ... not really sure, Ohmu.”

“Well, it’s nothing you have to worry about for now, John. Since this body is ‘fresh’ I would recommend you spend the day with occasional light exercise sessions. We will be returning to the island facility tonight as I assume you will want to get off the boat for a while. I have prepared an assortment of clothing and other items for your quarters there. They will be crude for a time but no worse than a camping trip. Please inspect the gear and feel free to add to or alter what has been provided.”

“What will you be doing in the meantime?” I asked, wondering if she needed my help.

“Shit detail,” she said as she left my berth. I later found that she meant that literally as she was helping to clean and dismantle the former bat cave in the port sponson.

An hour after dark Ohmu and I were on board Habu and flying across the ocean heading towards Baltra Island. Packed aboard was a gear bag that contained my clothing and other supplies I would need for a few days until the fabricators caught up enough to get me better outfitted on the base. We were also transporting Naomi’s second suitcase processor.

Since the launch control processor ate itself when it suicided, Naomi needed to take over that role herself until new hardware could be constructed. She indicated that she ‘thought’ she had recovered enough launch data from the old processor to fulfill its duties properly. I guess we would find out for sure during the first launch. I hoped to be well away from ground zero when that occurred.

Twenty minutes later we were overflying Santa Cruz Island. Our altitude was around 1,200 meters so we passed over the radar installation on Cerro Crocker fairly closely. The data overlay on the inside of the cockpit showed a well-lit real-time image of the mountain top combined with a plethora of additional digital information. I spotted a dozen mobile units hard at work and asked Ohmu about them.

“Those units are updating and improving the taps and equipment you installed three weeks ago.”

Ohmu did a quick orbit around the peak and pointed out just what work the units were doing. The main change was the microwave link I had installed was now being replaced with a larger and stronger antenna. Also, this new antenna was mounted on one of the two existing towers. There was no reason to hide it as adding the link was explained as general facility improvements to the area. Only the last few kilometers of undersea fiber direct to Nautilus was still hidden from the master A.I.

We continued northeast and descended towards the launch facility. Ohmu still had control of Habu and looped us around to the east and out over the Pacific so that we would first approach the island by overflying the launch pad and its connecting causeway. From a few kilometers away the pad was lit up with digital augments in the cockpit image.

I temporarily disabled the artificial enhancements. Without them, the launch area was very dark with just half a dozen small lights scattered about. I was reminded that this place was designed for robotic workers where the visual spectrum was just one of many. I restored the digital augments and began inspecting the pad.

Unlike the human launch pads from ‘back when’ with their massive concrete ramps and tall metal towers, this pad was much flatter and simpler. Where the causeway and pier ended more than a half kilometer out from the edge of the island, there was a circular hardened launch platform about eighty meters in diameter.

The platform was on massive pilings which held it at least twelve meters above the surface of the bay. The pier was supported by a combination of pilings near the platform before transitioning to a causeway on a graded earth berm covered with rock riprap as it approached the island.

We approached low over the launch platform and hovered near its edge. I saw a series of flame openings in the circular platform. The openings were ringed with heavy supports for securing the launch vehicle’s booster stage. There were also numerous bridging beams across the opening aligned with the long, straight roadway heading towards shore. The beams looked movable and I suspected that they would be swung out of the way of the rocket’s exhaust during launch.

Although there was no gantry, I did see a ring-shaped track around the perimeter of the circular platform. On this track was mounted a pair of long extendable arms tipped with manipulators. The arms were currently stowed retracted and flush with the platform surface. They and the ring-shaped track were covered with a series of scorch marks indicating that they had already borne the fires from many launches.

Running from the platform back to shore along the bridge and causeway was a wide flat roadway. It looked to be about twenty meters wide and perfectly straight. I did not see any rails or other types of transport track so the rockets must have been brought out to the ‘pad’ on a wheeled vehicle of some sort.

“That sure is one straight and level road, Ohmu.”

“I suspect you will be interested in the road’s surfacing, John. We will land to allow you a closer look.”

Habu resumed flying west along the narrower pier portion of the road until we came to the causeway. Here, there was enough room beside the road bed for Habu to land. I wondered why Ohmu had not landed on the roadway itself. I left the cockpit and joined Ohmu next to the flat and straight road. Up close, I saw that it was not a single smooth ribbon of paving but instead was a series of flat tiles. Each was a half meter square and almost perfectly flush with its neighbors.

I sighted along the edge of the road. It was indeed perfectly straight and led right into the massive, long assembly building further to the west.

“Use caution on the road’s surface, John.”

I put one foot on it and found it was as slippery as wet ice.

“Frictionless?” I asked as I gingerly shuffled my way onto the surface.

“Very near to it, John. When combined with similar frictionless skids on the lower surfaces of the launch vehicle’s support legs, drag is virtually eliminated. The roadbed also contains magnetic couplers, which guide the movement of both the large launch vehicle and the smaller service unit, which use the roadway to access the launch pad.”

Pretty neat. I slid along for a bit. The gaps between the tiles were a few centimeters wide and I was able to get a bit of traction by digging my toe into them as needed. I made my way back to the road’s edge just in time to see a large mobile unit go flying by with a whoosh of displaced air. It was near the center of the roadway, so we were in no danger. The unit and the cargo pallet it was pulling had no wheels but still managed to slide along without much sound.

We got back onboard Habu and flew another three hundred meters west until we landed just short of the large assembly building. Here, off to the north of the frictionless road was an armored pillbox looking building. Ohmu exited her storage bay lugging the portable processor.

I follow her around to the backside of the squat structure to where a large, armored access hatch stood open. There were a number of small mobile units going in and out of the bunker and we had to wait our turn. Finally, I followed Ohmu inside.

Inside was full of activity. New equipment was being installed and fastened into place by automated welders. Replacement wiring was being strung and tied into the remains of the existing data runs. New cameras and sensors were being installed behind armored shutters facing the launch pad. This must be where the launch processor used to be housed. A few seconds later this was confirmed, when Ohmu got busy installing Naomi’s portable processor at the junction of all the data conduits.

The smelly fumes in the chamber were leaking through my stealth suit’s mask, so I went outside to clear and reseal it. When I was about to reenter, Ohmu exited and said we were all done here. She pointed at the nearby assembly building and asked if I wanted to walk through it and take a quick tour on the way to my quarters. Habu could fly itself over to a hangar where it would be stored. Hell yes, I wanted to see inside.

“I would advise that you continue to wear your respirator mask when possible, John. There are trace gasses in some manufacturing areas and low levels of radioactivity in others. Both are potentially harmful if ingested or breathed. I am conducting a better cleanup of those areas soon and hope the area will become much safer for you in the near future,” she explained as we walked.

The assembly building’s massive launch vehicle doors where the causeway road started were currently closed so we instead entered through a smaller side door. I say ‘smaller’ but it was still large enough that I could have easily flown Habu through its opening. I paused after I stepped inside. There was some lighting and that combined with my goggles’ enhanced view had the cavernous interior well lit up.

This final assembly area was enormous. Starting at the huge doors, the cavernous room was two hundred meters wide with the underside of the curved roof at least a hundred meters above the floor. The depth of the room was almost lost in the distance though it stepped down both in width and height the further it went to the west, exaggerating the appearance of greater distance. This largest section extended for over two hundred meters, and I was reminded of those enormous hangars of old, back when the Navy had dabbled with large rigid airships.

Besides its large size, the building was strongly constructed with roof arches supporting many gigantic lifting cranes. These were clearly used to stack the various parts of a launch vehicle into something resembling a huge, tapered layer cake. Then, the finished cake was slid out the big door and down the frictionless road to the launch pad a kilometer to the East.

Currently, only the bottom of the layer cake waited here. Ohmu explained that this was the chemical solid-fueled booster stage. The stage was circular at around twenty meters in diameter and stood just under five meters tall. Next to it was a large gantry spanning across the booster which held some manner of large spray applicator head. It was currently being repaired or serviced by an assortment of mobile units.

Here inside the assembly building, the slippery floor tiles were larger than those outside. They also had wider gaps which I used to safely walk up next to the side of the booster. The exterior casing appeared to be a dull metal and I saw that there was a twenty-centimeter gap between the casing and the slick tile. Something was suspending the giant hockey puck of the booster above the floor.

“The exterior shell is a tensioned lithium-aluminum alloy sleeve, John. Inside this sleeve are the smaller circular fuel elements. Encapsulating these elements and forming a rigid monolithic structure is more lithium-aluminum alloy in the form of sintered metallic foam. Hollow glass spheroids are embedded into this metallic foam matrix as a form of aggregate, which performs insulating, lightening and structural functions.”

Okay. I’d have to learn what all that was later. For now, I did what all simple ‘grunt’ humans would do. I smacked it hard with my palm. It felt solid, like concrete.

Ohmu caught this and said, “No tires to kick, John, but feel free to urinate on it and mark it as your own if you wish.”

“I don’t have to go right now, thank you,” I replied, deadpan.

I made my way around the booster perimeter until I came to a large protrusion. This was made from a shinier metal and projected outward a few meters from the curved wall of the main cylinder. It was tapered and had a wide base in contact with the frictionless floor tiles. This must be one of the main support legs for the launch vehicle and explained the main cylinder being suspended above the floor.

The projecting ‘foot’ was a meter wide and tapered. I continued around another one hundred twenty degrees until I found a second, similar support. Sure enough, there was a third further on. Three enormous metal feet. I realized that the three legs would align with the heavily built contact points out on the launch pad we had overflown earlier. I looked towards Ohmu.

“The support legs and foot structures are constructed of a sintered stainless-steel alloy. The three ground contact pads are connected to one another by an internal triangular support truss structure extending through the circular booster mass,” she explained. Together, the truss structure and the three legs easily support the mass of the entire assembled launch vehicle.

I noted the outer surface of the sintered stainless-steel foot and pedestal was ribbed, forming a complex arrangement of triangular voids, probably to save weight. They would make a decent ladder.