to her seat. “Greg, according to Darwin, it will take fifteen to twenty hours for this ship to adapt to your laptop.”
I blinked. “Irea, how do I operate my laptop after it integrates with this spacecraft? Will its navigation and steering software work the same way they did on Exp One?”
She looked at Darwin, then she faced me. “I don’t know yet.”
I crossed both arms over my chest. “Are you sure that my laptop will function properly?”
Irea stuck her hand into the bottom of the holographic screen. The screen, a fluid, covered the upper half of her fingers, making it impossible to see them. Around the bottom of her fingers, spinning hieroglyphics enlarged. “Please be patient. You will find out.”
I flinched, amazed by the fact that the screens were made of fluid, not plastic or other hard substances. “Can I see the engine room?”
Irea replied, “When Darwin is finished, he’ll show it to you.”
“I’ll bring Joel. David is busy. At some point, Thomas and Alan need to be briefed.”
Irea glanced over her shoulder at me. “Very well.”
“Is there anything else I should know about this ship?”
“Although Exp One is designed for long journeys, its hull shape is fixed. Unlike this ship, it cannot morph. As a result, your vessel burns more tritium than this one does.
“While this craft is not as large as yours, there is enough room on it for half of Exp One’s crew.
“Despite extreme heat, freezing temperatures and gravitational changes, this ship will endure.
“As we understand more English and learn more about your vessel’s computer network, we can tell you more about this craft,” Irea said.
“How many shapes can this ship achieve?”
“Initially, ten,” Irea replied, in a somewhat warm tone. “However, after you get more acquainted with it, you can create thousands of hull configurations. This craft will interact with your designs—it wants to help you.”
“What are this ship’s weaknesses?”
“Those can be studied when our separate networks are joined.”
“Has this craft ever flown beyond E Four’s gravitational pull?”
“No.”
On screen, five stacked dashes, a hieroglyphic, morphed. Now they resembled a circle, a shape with five dots in the center. I didn’t understand why this ship’s server or its software was creating this symbol.
Another problem came to mind. The RM robots maintained the engines, computers, networks, cables and the hull itself. Yet, they couldn’t fathom Sila or any foreign language.
“Have you or the other translators ever created vectors for interplanetary travel?
Irea remained silent, staring straight ahead.
In front of her, a keyboard rose out of the countertop. On each key, tiny hieroglyphics changed colors. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out of three keys, one from each key, and hit Irea’s eyes.
“Are you studying galactic maps?”
Irea didn’t say a word because she was concentrating on some unknown topic.
At the bottom of the screen, five floating pyramid-shaped hieroglyphics, all three-D, moved toward Irea. Then they stopped, inches above the keyboard. Within seconds, all five gradually morphed until they resembled spheres.
Irea said, “Greg, the Council has just informed me that meteor showers will hit E Four in the next few days. There is no doubt that they will. We should leave before then.”
Much to my surprise, the keyboard flattened. At the same time, it rose. Then the edge that was closest to Irea jerked up and the keyboard changed into a blue screen. In the middle of the screen, ten cubes, all of them the same size, stopped twirling, inches from Irea’s eyes.
“How often do meteor showers hit your planet?” I blinked, worried that meteorites would hit Exp One and rip the hull apart. “I’m talking about life-threatening ones.”
“At this point, I don’t understand enough English to answer.”
“Have the Reen constructed bunkers, or will everyone on your planet die within the next few
I blinked. “Irea, how do I operate my laptop after it integrates with this spacecraft? Will its navigation and steering software work the same way they did on Exp One?”
She looked at Darwin, then she faced me. “I don’t know yet.”
I crossed both arms over my chest. “Are you sure that my laptop will function properly?”
Irea stuck her hand into the bottom of the holographic screen. The screen, a fluid, covered the upper half of her fingers, making it impossible to see them. Around the bottom of her fingers, spinning hieroglyphics enlarged. “Please be patient. You will find out.”
I flinched, amazed by the fact that the screens were made of fluid, not plastic or other hard substances. “Can I see the engine room?”
Irea replied, “When Darwin is finished, he’ll show it to you.”
“I’ll bring Joel. David is busy. At some point, Thomas and Alan need to be briefed.”
Irea glanced over her shoulder at me. “Very well.”
“Is there anything else I should know about this ship?”
“Although Exp One is designed for long journeys, its hull shape is fixed. Unlike this ship, it cannot morph. As a result, your vessel burns more tritium than this one does.
“While this craft is not as large as yours, there is enough room on it for half of Exp One’s crew.
“Despite extreme heat, freezing temperatures and gravitational changes, this ship will endure.
“As we understand more English and learn more about your vessel’s computer network, we can tell you more about this craft,” Irea said.
“How many shapes can this ship achieve?”
“Initially, ten,” Irea replied, in a somewhat warm tone. “However, after you get more acquainted with it, you can create thousands of hull configurations. This craft will interact with your designs—it wants to help you.”
“What are this ship’s weaknesses?”
“Those can be studied when our separate networks are joined.”
“Has this craft ever flown beyond E Four’s gravitational pull?”
“No.”
On screen, five stacked dashes, a hieroglyphic, morphed. Now they resembled a circle, a shape with five dots in the center. I didn’t understand why this ship’s server or its software was creating this symbol.
Another problem came to mind. The RM robots maintained the engines, computers, networks, cables and the hull itself. Yet, they couldn’t fathom Sila or any foreign language.
“Have you or the other translators ever created vectors for interplanetary travel?
Irea remained silent, staring straight ahead.
In front of her, a keyboard rose out of the countertop. On each key, tiny hieroglyphics changed colors. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out of three keys, one from each key, and hit Irea’s eyes.
“Are you studying galactic maps?”
Irea didn’t say a word because she was concentrating on some unknown topic.
At the bottom of the screen, five floating pyramid-shaped hieroglyphics, all three-D, moved toward Irea. Then they stopped, inches above the keyboard. Within seconds, all five gradually morphed until they resembled spheres.
Irea said, “Greg, the Council has just informed me that meteor showers will hit E Four in the next few days. There is no doubt that they will. We should leave before then.”
Much to my surprise, the keyboard flattened. At the same time, it rose. Then the edge that was closest to Irea jerked up and the keyboard changed into a blue screen. In the middle of the screen, ten cubes, all of them the same size, stopped twirling, inches from Irea’s eyes.
“How often do meteor showers hit your planet?” I blinked, worried that meteorites would hit Exp One and rip the hull apart. “I’m talking about life-threatening ones.”
“At this point, I don’t understand enough English to answer.”
“Have the Reen constructed bunkers, or will everyone on your planet die within the next few
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