days?”
Irea replied, “I don’t know what the term bunker means.”
I explained the term.
“Yes we have such dwellings. No one will die in the next few days.”
“Tell me more about E Four.”
Irea turned toward me. “Our planet has a long history of heavy meteor showers.”
“Will you, Darwin or the other translators ever go back to E Four?”
On my vtp, UE’s name remained dark, no new messages.
“That is hard to say.” At the bottom of her eye, a tiny-white 0 changed into a triangle. To the right of the triangle, three vertical lines, all parallel, morphed until they resembled three concentric circles.
A recorded male voice, a recent translation that the SAN had just deciphered, came out of my earplugs. This hieroglyphic refers to a duplicator, a molecule that makes copies of itself. The duplicator, an organism, helps the translator adapt. No more information is available.
“Irea, tell me about the duplicator.”
Darwin stopped next to Irea and they looked at each other.
Irea hesitated. “Greg, Darwin just told me that because his English is so poor, he can’t talk about this vessel’s engine. In a few hours, I will send you a holographic email that will discuss this craft’s engine room.”
I gave her several vtps and told her how to use them.
She studied the features, never making any comments.
I asked that she give the other ones to the rest of the translators and show them how to operate them.
She said she would do that.
I nodded and walked away, headed for my office.
Chapter Twelve
I entered and sat at my desk. Then I spoke into my vtp, wanting to retrieve star maps that would help us reach D36.
Several hours later, while studying network script, a tool that improved star charts, my vtp chimed. Someone was calling me.
Jen’s voice came out of the device. “Greg, I’m reviewing flight-path syntax. Thomas just told me that it needs to be finished as soon as possible or we can’t head for D Thirty-Six.”
“Understood.”
A miniature holographic planet, Losis, appeared above my desk. Beneath Losis, a miniature silver Reen ship, a craft resembling the one I had just entered, veered starboard. I began studying the vessel.
That evening, after the fourteenth holographic Reen ship, one of many that I had been examining, vanished, it occurred to me that it was time to look over Mary’s records, then fill out a report.
In my mind’s eye, just over a year ago, I was walking down the hall. Beneath a light, Alan hugged Mary.
Sometimes, when I saw them holding hands or kissing, I envied them. Alan had someone waiting for him. I did not.
Alan, a pilot who had flown to Doros 5 and Tagas, two space stations orbiting Blue 5.1, joined this mission because exploring deep space interested him. He hadn’t counted on meeting Mary, a woman with a doctorate in Astronomy, someone he had a lot in common with.
I left my office, headed for section 8757.
Chapter Thirteen
After reaching it, I lifted my scanner. At the same time, a floating screen appeared, inches above it. On screen, David’s wave functions, information regarding the durability of worn-out conduits, began scrolling. Wave functions, a probability scale, predicted the most likely outcomes. Yet, they allowed for the occurrence of random, unpredictable incidents such as carbon nanotube fatigue, a state that was similar to metal fatigue.
After floating through a low-gravity corridor in 8757 for over several hours, I x-rayed frayed cables. As Bayesian-like statistics showing the probability of equipment failure information enlarged, I compared these x-rays with other simulations. According to the x-rays, the fraying was much worse than I imagined.
Inside housing near the center of a monitor, text brightened. Database is not available because cables 515 and 516 are broken .
“Close.” The cover slid over the housing.
“Sam, are you there?”
“No. It’s Lesley. She is busy.”
“I haven’t received any
Irea replied, “I don’t know what the term bunker means.”
I explained the term.
“Yes we have such dwellings. No one will die in the next few days.”
“Tell me more about E Four.”
Irea turned toward me. “Our planet has a long history of heavy meteor showers.”
“Will you, Darwin or the other translators ever go back to E Four?”
On my vtp, UE’s name remained dark, no new messages.
“That is hard to say.” At the bottom of her eye, a tiny-white 0 changed into a triangle. To the right of the triangle, three vertical lines, all parallel, morphed until they resembled three concentric circles.
A recorded male voice, a recent translation that the SAN had just deciphered, came out of my earplugs. This hieroglyphic refers to a duplicator, a molecule that makes copies of itself. The duplicator, an organism, helps the translator adapt. No more information is available.
“Irea, tell me about the duplicator.”
Darwin stopped next to Irea and they looked at each other.
Irea hesitated. “Greg, Darwin just told me that because his English is so poor, he can’t talk about this vessel’s engine. In a few hours, I will send you a holographic email that will discuss this craft’s engine room.”
I gave her several vtps and told her how to use them.
She studied the features, never making any comments.
I asked that she give the other ones to the rest of the translators and show them how to operate them.
She said she would do that.
I nodded and walked away, headed for my office.
Chapter Twelve
I entered and sat at my desk. Then I spoke into my vtp, wanting to retrieve star maps that would help us reach D36.
Several hours later, while studying network script, a tool that improved star charts, my vtp chimed. Someone was calling me.
Jen’s voice came out of the device. “Greg, I’m reviewing flight-path syntax. Thomas just told me that it needs to be finished as soon as possible or we can’t head for D Thirty-Six.”
“Understood.”
A miniature holographic planet, Losis, appeared above my desk. Beneath Losis, a miniature silver Reen ship, a craft resembling the one I had just entered, veered starboard. I began studying the vessel.
That evening, after the fourteenth holographic Reen ship, one of many that I had been examining, vanished, it occurred to me that it was time to look over Mary’s records, then fill out a report.
In my mind’s eye, just over a year ago, I was walking down the hall. Beneath a light, Alan hugged Mary.
Sometimes, when I saw them holding hands or kissing, I envied them. Alan had someone waiting for him. I did not.
Alan, a pilot who had flown to Doros 5 and Tagas, two space stations orbiting Blue 5.1, joined this mission because exploring deep space interested him. He hadn’t counted on meeting Mary, a woman with a doctorate in Astronomy, someone he had a lot in common with.
I left my office, headed for section 8757.
Chapter Thirteen
After reaching it, I lifted my scanner. At the same time, a floating screen appeared, inches above it. On screen, David’s wave functions, information regarding the durability of worn-out conduits, began scrolling. Wave functions, a probability scale, predicted the most likely outcomes. Yet, they allowed for the occurrence of random, unpredictable incidents such as carbon nanotube fatigue, a state that was similar to metal fatigue.
After floating through a low-gravity corridor in 8757 for over several hours, I x-rayed frayed cables. As Bayesian-like statistics showing the probability of equipment failure information enlarged, I compared these x-rays with other simulations. According to the x-rays, the fraying was much worse than I imagined.
Inside housing near the center of a monitor, text brightened. Database is not available because cables 515 and 516 are broken .
“Close.” The cover slid over the housing.
“Sam, are you there?”
“No. It’s Lesley. She is busy.”
“I haven’t received any
Similar Books
