Chapter 26

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."R. Frost

"Michael, 10,000 years in your past I crash landed here on your planet. My pilot was killed when he ventured out by what you call a Smilodon. The cat got him before he could set up a safe perimeter. When he didn't return I did a sensor search for him. I discovered his remains and transported them inside. I placed them in stasis for his family. I sent out the standard distress beacon because I was buried in this mountain. I waited but no one came. I powered down and "slept" for awhile waiting. I woke up when that lightning storm hit. I did a search and found you. I sent the hint to you to come to the cave. I transformed it to make it habitable. It is now like I had made it for you then. When you entered the cave I decided to carry out one of my directives that I found in the data banks of my computers. I caused you to sleep and then I initiated the temporal rift. I took you back to shortly after my crash landing. I am as strong as I could be now, except I cannot get out of this rock. That would require movement that I am not capable of."

I was leaning back in the recliner and sipping on the Sprite "Go on, tell me more." The story was fascinating.

"Didn't you ever wonder how it was that you could understand their speech? At first you couldn't and then all of a sudden you could? I implanted a universal translator in your head via my teleport device. At low power like I was in the beginning, after using all the energy to do the temporal shift, all I could do was the translator. Now that I'm at full power again, I could temporal shift your whole group anywhere in time. I could move a whole city, in fact. I have been resting for a long time. The mountain over my hull has protected me somewhat from the elements on this planet. It has kept me from being discovered as our mission was secret. I have been observing you and your progress moving the indigenous species toward civilization. I am very pleased and that progress is why I chose to make my presence know to you and offer my assistance. In fact, I will remain online for the next 150,000 years to assist you and your family."

"If we are establishing a working relationship, I need a name for you. Do you have one?" I asked. "Normally humans address one another with names, like you called me Michael when you started talking to me. What should I call you?"

"I am an Artificial Intelligence. I do not have a name. I am using the Hamadaml Automatic Linguistic subroutine to interface with you. You may call me what you wish."

"Well that name is too long so I'm going to shorten it. I'll just call you HAL. When I'm with my family how do I contact you if I need to?"

"My sensors, which include mental sensors, will always monitor you, unless you request I not monitor for a specific period of time. All you have to do is think your question and we can converse just like we did when I first contacted you. "

"Right now, why don't you rest a bit? You are somewhat tired from your exertions and stressed from the injury to your child. Lean back in the chair and I will soothe you. I also want to examine you a little. I will do no harm to you and you will be refreshed when you wake again. By that time, Shira will be healed and you will be able to take her back to your cave. By the way, I will make this room and the healing room available for your use. We will talk about that later, though. Now sleep."

I saw no reason to argue. The recliner was extremely comfortable. I took a big swig of the Sprite, which finished the bottle and dropped it into the convenient trash receptacle next to the chair. I closed my eyes for a moment.

I woke with a start. I hadn't intended to sleep. I looked around and I saw nothing out of the usual. I got out of the chair and looked around the room. It looked like an office. I imagined it to be the captain's cabin on an intergalactic starship. Yes I'm a trekkie, trekker or whatever they call themselves now. Had all the episodes of the Original series, the Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise. Couldn't get into Deep Space Nine, even though it did have Worf on it.

There was a desk and chair so I went over to it. I sat down. It seemed to mold to my butt! It was one of the most comfortable desk chairs I ever sat on. The desk top was smooth and shiny. I put my hands down on the surface. All of a sudden a view screen rose from the desktop. It was a seamless transition. I was impressed. Looking under my hands I saw a holographic keyboard. Intrigued, I moved my hand up to the power on button and pressed it. In less time than it takes to blink an eye, the opening screen came on. There on the screen was the welcoming screen.

It said 'Welcome Michael. To set up this terminal for your personal use press control, alt, F3 and when the second screen comes up, type your user name and password. When it asks for you to verify identity, SAY your full name, your earth social security number and your first wife's name. 'I did as directed and I verified too. The computer then said, "Welcome Michael. All systems on this ship now recognize you as captain. All systems will obey your orders without hesitation. There are no exceptions to this; your control is absolute, with only one exception. It will NOT do harm to you. You may even remotely access this console from your linguistic translator that the artificial linguistics subroutine implanted. You will also find that the WiFi on your Touch is working now with unlimited range. If you are on this planet, it will work. Time and date have been set to local and you can use your weather app to stay current on the weather, too. You will also find out other handy features that work with your Touch and this console. Right now there are too many to list and Shira is finished in the med chamber. I am holding her release until you get there to extract her from the unit. Please exit the cabin and proceed to medical.