Chapter 499

... Jasmine also checked the line stretching out behind them, then mentally projected the path ahead again. Hmmm, it seems like we’ve gone farther than we did before. Maybe we’ve overcome whatever it was that got us turned around... But then she saw the crack in the wall.

“Morales,” she hissed out.

“Yeah, I know,” he returned with a sigh. Then to the others, “People, we’re back where we started.”

Kayla stood glaring at the crack. “I can’t believe it.” Turning to Jeff, she said, her tone apologetic as if their abrupt return to their starting point had somehow been her fault, “Baby, I verified Mr. Morales’ direction every time he turned to check behind us, then looked ahead to choose a straight course. I tried to do it almost continuously, but obviously, to no avail. But Hon, we went in a straight line...”

“I know, Baby,” Jeff assured her.

“General...” Morales began.

Whitworth chuckled, motioning for Morales to wait. “I suppose we all looked every time you turned to check the line, yet we’re back at the wall. Interesting... very interesting, indeed. I have several physicists who would doubtlessly love to investigate this room, cavern, area or whatever it should be called. Did you keep track of how much line you let out?” he asked.

“I had three rolls spliced together, so we used almost three hundred total yards of thin paracord, but ... I have no idea at what point we stopped going away from the crack. Crap, I was almost certain I would know if we got turned around, but obviously, I didn’t.”

“If we got turned around at all,” Jeff inserted.

“Well, we would have to have, wouldn’t we?” Jasmine asked. “I mean we wound up facing the crack...”

“I don’t think we walked back,” Jeff insisted. “Ship has a limited version of matter transmission inside herself. What if this ... room, or whatever it is, has its own version in there?”

That garnered him several stares, but one individual was still frowning. “My Prime, your postulate seems to fit all the criteria with the exception of the line continuing to stretch out behind us,” she finished, motioning behind them. “If the room had moved us, the line would have been cut. However,” she went on, “I also feel that we did not walk back, but I am unable to explain the anomaly.”

The General spoke up. “No matter. It’s just something to be resolved in the future.” Turning to the two, “Mr. Morales and Ms. Conners, it goes without saying that the two of you might very well have made a major discovery when you found this ... thing, whatever it is,” he said motioning. “Shall we return to your living quarters and begin planning the further investigation of your find?”

Selina held back as the others worked their way past the crack with Jeff waiting to assist her when she did choose to leave the big room. Changing her headlamp’s setting to its tightest beam, she shined it along the wall in either direction.

“What is it, Little Lady?”

After hesitating a moment, Selina turned to her Prime. “My sense of direction may be inaccurate after the winding passageway, but I feel as if this wall runs at an angle to our path back to the cave entrance.”

“Roughly thirty degrees off, I think. Just past Morales’ meat storage area, the path abruptly turns to the left, also. Is any of that significant?”

“I have no idea. I was just making an observation,” she replied as she returned her headlamp to its original setting.

“So, do you have an estimate of the room’s size?”

Selina sighed. “Unfortunately, I do not. And given the obvious level of technology the area represents, I fail to comprehend why the crack wasn’t repaired.”

“I wondered if you would come to that conclusion,” he said with a smile. “Now, shall we get the heck out of here and find some warmth?”

“Yes, My Prime. That is, indeed, an excellent idea.”

Several minutes later as they made their way along the winding path while following the others, Little One, as usual, was spread out over Jeff’s back, but she had been strangely silent since her brief attempt to talk to him in the column area. What’s wrong? I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings when I asked you to wait. I just assumed that you must have observed the same thing Selina did, and probably more strongly. Even I detected some of it, he said through their mental connection.

{{{ The technology exhibited in the column area is ... somewhat familiar, but I am not certain just how I came to that conclusion. It just ... feels vaguely familiar. }}}

“Elaborate, please,” Jeff returned.

{{{ It is a type of artificial intelligence with a central core that is very well protected, indeed. However, I was able to breach its outer defenses enough to determine its main objective. There are some slight similarities between it and AIs built by my master race, but only just. For whatever reason, its builders were obviously very concerned with protecting its core programming. }}}

Jeff’s response took a few seconds as he paused to think. Then, Ship says that her brain was made long ago, maybe even eons ago, if I’m understanding her correctly. Processes, programming, if you will, would have changed, maybe even become unrecognizable over that period of time.

{{{ I am aware of that, My Prime, but I feel that this was produced by another race. However, I am certain that I would be able to understand it, at least given enough time, but for the barrier. However, it is not a truly sentient brain. It seems to have been developed in order to carry out only certain duties that were assigned to it. }}}

“And what duties are those?” Jeff asked, not really expecting an answer.

{{{ To operate and maintain the booster station, of course. }}} Little One answered matter-of-factly.

During his communication with Little One, they had all been making their way toward Morales and Jasmine’s quarters. Jeff reached to take Selina’s hand to assist her in crossing over a boulder half her height. She looked toward him as she reached for his hand, thus her headlamp flashed directly into his face and she saw the expression. “What?” she asked, concerned.

Booster station? What kind of booster station? Jeff asked Little One, not even hearing Selina.

The little alien hesitated for a moment before, {{{ It, the AI, seems to receive, enhance and retransmit telepathic impulses. }}}

Stunned, Jeff responded verbally with, “Oh,” while unable to think of a proper response at the moment. Sooo, if it’s telepathic, why can’t you understand the signal?

{{{ The problem is difficult to convey to a non-telepath ... The closest concept I can think of in your language – since it is basically devoid of terms that describe mental communication – is frequency. The word does little to convey in full what I wish to describe, but it will have to suffice. The booster station uses a different “frequency” than what Ship, her people and I use to communicate. I can detect the ... fringes of the transmission, and thus I can only ... sense the AI’s output as it boosts the signal, directs and forwards it along. That is a very crude approximation of what actually occurs, but again, your race is not telepathic and cannot inherently understand the concepts. }}}

“Oh, the General is going to love this,” the Prime muttered to himself.

Selina grabbed his hand again, although the path was smooth at this point. “You are talking to yourself, My Prime.”

Jeff reached to hug her. “Little One just informed me that the room, or whatever, is a booster station.”

Selina, at first, thought he meant a radio or TV signal, but her genius reasoned it out before Jeff could even continue. “A telepathic race is using the column room to boost a telepathic signal?” she asked/stated.

“That’s what Little One says.”

“Interesting,” Selina whispered, drawing out the word.

Back at Morales and Jasmine’s living area, Jasmine started a fresh pot of coffee.

“Ms. Conners, I want you to know that the coffee out of that,” the General said, motioning to the percolator, “is some of the best I’ve ever had.”

Jasmine turned to face him, a smile on her face. “Morales taught me how to make the coffee, but other than putting a pinch of salt in the water, I suspect the taste is better for the same reason I mentioned earlier. Things just seem to taste better around a campfire.”

Whitworth chuckled. “Maybe you’re right, but I’m looking forward to another few cups of that great brew,” he finished with a chuckle.

Turning to Jeff, the General continued, “I need to have a word with my security officers. I’ll be back in a minute or two.”

“Go armed,” Morales reminded.

“Oh, you can bet I won’t be stepping a foot out that door without a weapon in hand,” Whitworth said with a chuckle.

Jeff caught Whitworth’s eye. “We need to talk when you get back.”

“Thought as much,” the General answered.

When Jeff returned to his seat, Diana was staring at him. “You found out something, didn’t you?”

“Maybe. Actually, it wasn’t me, but rather, Little One.”

Both Jasmine and Morales turned their eyes toward Selina at the mention of the name.

“Not that Little One,” Jeff returned with a smile, “although she has certainly contributed significantly to the project.”

When they frowned, not understanding, Jeff had just sat down beside his Clan Queen. “Show them,” she said. “I think they’re ready.”

“Ready for what?” Jasmine asked, suspiciously.

“Just don’t gross out,” Diana warned. “He’s going to show you an alien.”

“An alien?” both exclaimed at the same time, Jasmine wondering, and Morales obviously not believing.

Jeff stood, turned away and walked a few steps. When he turned back, Little One was just forming into her solid shape.

“But that can’t...” Morales started, but whatever he was going to say faded away when Little One moved in Jeff’s hands.

Jeff sat and motioned. “Both of you, please come over and put your hands on her.”

They did, and the usual questions ensued, but it didn’t take long for them to believe.

Whitworth walked back in, and like the others, accepted a cup of the fresh coffee. When everyone had settled, Jeff spoke up with Little One still sitting on his lap. “She,” he said, stroking the little alien, “detected something very interesting as did Selina. Since Little One is telepathic, she has problems expressing certain things to a non-telepath, and this subject is no exception. In short, she is certain that the column room is a ... sort of booster station for telepathic messages.”

That brought on the questions. “So, now you’re saying that Selina is a telepath?” Jasmine asked.

Selina sat shaking her head.

“She certainly has her mental talents,” he said while thinking about her teleporting and TK, “but she isn’t a telepath. I ... don’t fully understand why she detected what she did in there, but remember, she and the wolves seemed to communicate very easily. Also, she has spent a lot of time on Ship’s bridge studying to be a navigator. And not just a navigator as we think of them, but an astrogator, I suppose the term is, and even more, she has been learning to navigate between dimensions. Point being, she has spent a lot of time conversing with Ship mentally. Now, this isn’t unusual on board Ship, as my wives know, but I felt something in that column room and, as you heard, Selina saw many, many ... images, to use a term that she says is only an approximation.”

Trying to get his mind around what Jeff had said, Morales repeated, “That ... room is a booster station for telepathic messages?” At Jeff’s nod, he went on, “So, are there aliens on 2214? What the hell are they up to?”