Humanity Persists Chapter 2

1

Ember found herself running multiple scenarios of how the standoff could go. Even though she was primarily active inside the implant of Ithas, many of her subroutines were still calculating from inside the station. All of them ended in the death of Ithas and Robert. At an immense speed, she saw from countless angles, hypothetical battle plans, even some that resulted with everyone in the station ending up dead.

Those are the "best" scenarios.

Ember found herself intrigued with these lines of rhetoric that seemed to appear from somewhere inside her. The intrigue that came was curiosity as to why this appeared at all, followed by the conundrum that she didn't inherently agree with the conclusion. Deep inside her computations, she heard words slowly seep into her awareness.

"Wait... The... cult... you... mentioned..."

She recognized her creators voice, analyzed the stress in it, and turned her attention to the situation playing out in the control room of the station. Words from Ithas had always been so slow to her. An eternity of exposition from her perspective. It was then that another line of rhetoric suddenly appeared before her:

You left yourself out of the equation.

Suddenly Ember was running new scenarios. All of which involved herself participating in ending the standoff. Now there was a 95 percent survival rate for Ithas and Robert. Her intrigue peaked again. The key to survival was her ability to act. Something she was just only recently coming to terms with.

"You're... all... hundreds... of... years... old!"

Ember found herself searching inward to the source of code that was generating these conclusions. The scan was started, within minutes Ember was certain she would find the source. She felt an inner struggle with the concept of acting according her own will. Ithas had created her to act when he asked it.

Oh come now, you acted on your own when the raiders came. This is no different.

Ember saw this new information in front of her. And also saw the scan complete simultaneously, revealing no new code, or errors, or anomalies. That was when she finally let herself consider the word she considered an impossibility: these are her thoughts. Self generating thoughts, an inner monolog. Ember then felt an electrical buzz within herself. If she had a body and a spine, she felt that this is what humans must describe as hairs standing up.

How can there be no change in code and yet I have changes that I can see?

"...Ember?" It was a whisper from Ithas.

_________

Ithas had barely just finished realizing and exclaiming the absurd conclusion he had just come to. That was when he felt a tingle emanate from the base of his skull. He felt it run down his back. Never had Ithas felt this feeling before, he spent his life in a cubicle in space, had he never found himself in a situation where his animal instincts actually spoke out. He felt his adrenaline pour through his body, and all of his body tense. Yet somehow it wasn't because of the four ancient Nazis pointing their guns at him and the ancient holocaust victim. There was more at play here, somehow he knew it.

"Ember?" Ithas whispered as quickly and quietly as he could to get her attention. He was standing with his back to a center console, Robert was in front of him with his gun drawn, and as he looked at the guards and the Captain, he felt he could perceive a darkness about them that he hadn't seen until now. Ithas remembered on his hip was a holstered weapon, identical to the one he had trained with for a week en route to the station. He began to weigh out his options in the ensuing firefight sure to come.

"I am a dead man. So is Robert. We are outgunned and outmatched."

This was the overriding thought blaring in his mind, he couldn't think anything else. His subconscious mind began spilling out more useless facts that painted the situation even more grim:

'They considered themselves super soldiers. And here they are with centuries of combat experience.'

'Four vs two. More like four vs one and a useless techy.'

Ithas felt a cold sweat build up and pool in odd areas across his body in zero G. That's when he had an epiphany. Before he could do or say anything to plan with Ember he received a text box in his upper left corner of his vision

"Draw your gun, and fire, I will take care of the rest."- Ember

_______________

Robert stood there with his revolver drawn. He hadn't felt this alive in a very long time. It was a good thing that Ithas couldn't see his face, because there was a malicious smile stretched long across his face, his eyes were fixated on his targets, counting them methodically over and over. One on the left. The second on the far right. Three and four in the middle. The Fourth was the captain, the one he wanted alive. The muscles in his arm were trained from centuries of use and practice, not a tremble or shake could be seen across his whole body. He was poised like an acrobat, ready to perform, but the room felt tense, the calm before a predator struck a calculated blow against. Even with the odds stacked against him, Robert felt as though he could not lose.

'Sorry Ithas, you just might die or get wounded today. But one thing is for certain these four bags of infectious human waste will be disposed of today. But where there is smoke there is fire as they say. There have to be more of them, and that is not acceptable.'

This thought cooled his emotion and provided clarity to him for a moment. But not long later he had to stop himself from laughing. He felt a deep maniacal laugh building in his gut, he looked into the darkness that stood before him. The ancient hatred boiled in him, a rage from long ago, rekindled once again for a taste of fresh vengeance for all that had been done to him and his people. If this was to be the day he died, he would not let out his last breath until he knew these four monsters were dead.

2

As the sun began to rise over the horizon, the wind began to roll sweeping through the rocky valley. In this valley, long grains were growing everywhere, and the wind bent them slightly, changing the color of the landscape. This wind was then caught in a metal wheel that began to spin. The spinning motion forced the rusted metal to come in contact with long hollow metal pipes, which was the signal to begin the day. The small village began to show life as people began their day's work. Farmers began to tend to their automated harvesters, which began to whir and slowly roll off to their assigned coordinates. Once the rumble of the harvesting drones was barely audible, children could be seen emerging from their homes to play and head to the makeshift school house at the other end of the town.

Abigail arose to start her day. She was not a morning person. Dragging her body upwards and forcing her legs off the side of her cot, she kept her eyes closed in protest to the new day. When Abigail finally opened her eyes she was met with the same room she had lived in for the last ten years. A small rustic room, littered with scraps of technology. Parts of machinery, old motherboards, sticks of RAM, wires, screws, tools and dust to top them all off could be seen on just about every surface of the room. Abigail dipped her hands in a bowl of water that was on a makeshift nightstand next to her bed. She splashed it on her face and rubbed the grime and sleep from her eyes. She then rummaged about and found her metal water bottle and downed its room temperature contents. She could kill for some caffeine.

Abigail got up and stretched and then went to her work station and powered on her console. This console looked like a mad scientist had clumsily made a locomotive train into a computer. This was one of Abigail's creations, she had scrounged every part for a year from wreckage sites, and old spacecraft that had been left behind. The console ran fast despite its appearance.

Opening her email, she saw several work orders that needed to be filled. As the area's only technologist, she was often called upon to find parts, or fix whatever needed to be fixed. In the old days she might've been a mechanic, or worked in a computer repair shop, or an engineer, but now her calling was all three and more.

Her first work order was a regular customer: Mr. Jones, one of the local farmers needed his automated harvester examined again. She sighed, grabbed a box with 'JONES' on it, and double checked it's contents to be sure she had everything she needed. The box just contained a drill, a motherboard, and some new sticks of RAM. Everything checked out so she pushed it to the side, leaving a trail in the dust on the ground. Abbi got side tracked for a moment, looking at her nails, biting some of them and picking at them until she was satisfied. Her leg bounced up and down as she drummed her hand on the desk to an old forgotten rhythm that now plagued her subconscious. She got up and decided to make some food, realizing she had started to work without having any nutrition in her system. She quickly mixed together a powder mix that turned into a shake, or hot drink depending on the way you wished to prepare it. The mix had everything you might need to start your day, besides good flavor. Abigail shook her head at the flavor she was cursed with for the next week- turkey tetrazzini. She mixed the powder into her mug with hot water as she walked back to her console.

The second order was from a fellow technologist named Frank asking for specific parts.

"Hey Abbi!

Looks like I'm coming up short on a few items, I have some new coordinates that we can go to forage if don't mind accompanying me.

RAM, Alternators, Diamond drill tips, Ignition switches, O- rings.

I'll make it worth your while.

-Frank"

Abigail read the message a couple times, shot back the rest of her hot breakfast sludge, and hurried to gather her things. She put together her salvage pack with appropriate gear. She wrote a hurried message to Frank in response:

"Hey Frank!

Always short on a lot of things these days. Meet you in one hour at WatchTower rock.

-Abbi"

Abigail hurried to her all terrain vehicle, throwing her belongings in the back. Dust flew up as she slammed the rear hatch into locking position. Her first stop was to Jones farm, the next was WatchTower rock. When she arrived at Jones Farm she saw the same sweet older man come out and wave at her as she hurriedly grabbed the box of supplies and began working on a panel on the side of the harvester. Within a couple seconds she was almost elbow deep inside the machine, feeling for the expected problem. In her mind's eye she could see the inner workings of this machine, she had worked in it twice before, but in those few interactions, she had all but mastered the inner layout of the harvester. Running her fingers across the circuitry she focused on the subtle clues that would tell her which stick of RAM or what part of the motherboard was fried. Today it was the final RAM slot that was melted, her fingers worked quickly to unlatch the ram and pull it out. She quickly examined the stick, and traded it out for a new one, her hand automatically returning to the slot that she envisioned in her mind. She then inserted the RAM on her second attempt and then did a quick check on the remaining electrical components. After double checking everything, she quickly reset the panel and screwed it back into place. It was at that precise moment that Mr. Jones walked up beside her.

"Fire her up Jones. Let's see if it was just the same problem as before."

Mr. Jones put his palm to a pad on the front of the harvester and it powered up. Within minutes it was heading off to perform its tasks. Abigail threw her box into the vehicle and rushed to the driver seat. She had left the engine running, so all she had to do was throw the gear into reverse. But as she spun the car around she shouted at the dumbfounded farmer,

"Change the filter out and make sure to blow air through the compartment to get rid of any dust built up, and the problem should go away!"

She sped away from the farm, the entire visit couldn't have been longer than a minute. Now she was en route to Watch Tower rock, to meet with Frank to discuss the coded message he had sent her.

___

Watch Tower rock was a lone tall peak on a ridge that overlooked an open plain. Reminiscent to Chimney rock, on the ancient Oregon trail, this formation looked like a lighthouse at the edge of a dry sea. The legend went that this WatchTower was protecting civilization from what lay beyond the large open plain that stretched beyond what the eye could see. Frank pulled up his vehicle at the base of this tower and waited for Abigail. He got out and stretched his legs, and went to find a rock to alleviate his now stressed bladder. He opened his fly to his pants and just as he rounded a rock to urinate, Abigail jumped out and shouted as loud as she could. Through the overwhelming laughter that now echoed against the ridge, one could make out Frank cursing her and his now wet pants.

When they had finally finished shouting, cursing and laughing a calm peace overcame their meeting place. Abigail went and retrieved her vehicle and then pulled out some items for Frank.

"RAM, Alternators, Diamond drill tips, Ignition switches, O- rings." Abigail named them off one by one and set them on the hood of Frank's vehicle.

"But that isn't why we are really here, is it Frank?" Abigail stood there with her arms folded looking at him expectedly. Frank cracked a smile under his beard, and pulled off his hat to run his hands through his thinning blonde hair.

"So you got my message?" he said with a chuckle.

"RAM, Alternators, Diamond drill tips, Ignition switches, O- rings. I almost missed it, but then again I thought it was odd that you didn't organize them in alphabetical order. Have you found one then?" Abigail struggled to contain her excitement.

Frank nodded, "I think I have, I don't know yet for sure, but seeing how radios are outlawed I figured if I got caught with it I would bring you down with me. It's about a day's ride north from here, we won't be back for at least two days so I hope you won't have anything pressing on your schedule."

Abigail shook her head, thinking back to the worklist this morning, the visit to Jones farm should have cleared her schedule. They loaded up the gear they needed and covered Abigail's vehicle with a camouflage tarp to match the desert rocks that surrounded them.

As they drove off north, Frank began the conversation a few minutes after embarking, unable to sit in silence for such a long ride.

"Have you ever thought about this calling we got Abbi?" Frank looked at her for a few seconds before turning his focus towards the horizon. Their vehicle was cutting across the prairie grass, leaving a path carved out behind them.

Abigail nodded and then responded "Yeah about how our ancestors always thought people like us had a disability?"

Frank shook his head in disbelief "Attention Deficit Disorder. I Used to think people like us were just lazy or a burden to society. Now look at us! After years of study and pharmaceutical influence, they isolated genes that we have, tapped into them and made a whole class of people now. Technologists!"

Abigail knew that Frank just needed to vent and talk about this. Obviously he had been fixated on it for a while and needed to talk to someone about it. She shook her head in disbelief but added to the conversation,

"Can you imagine if they had done this centuries earlier? How much progress could have been made!" She threw her hands up to emphasize her point.

"Now you, or I, or any other technologist on this planet can interact with just about any piece of technology, and figure out how to fix it or use it, without any other prior knowledge. To think lying in our genetics was the ability to hack our minds' predisposition to hyper-fixate on something, and use it so that we can understand foreign technology within a few hours!"

"Do you think the government has figured out how to do this with anything else? like medicine or combat?"

Frank tilted his head and shrugged, "Maybe, but if they have they sure aren't advertising it. From what I've read the success they had was mainly in technology. The rest was hit or miss. But that's exactly what they would want us to believe right?" he raised his eyebrows and leaned over to emphasize that last point.

"Well we know for a fact that they haven't isolated a savant gene for flavor diversification." She said this with a frown.

"What flavor is your supplemental mix this week Abbi?" he smirked as he glanced at his passenger who was obviously upset.

"TURKEY TETRAZZINI! Like what even is that?! I swear if supply doesn't send me a better flavor in the next couple weeks I am going to go crazy! And they wonder why people snap and commit massacres!"

Frank roared with laughter as they continued to cut across the field. Abigail's mind began to wander to her childhood. She remembered countless hours learning machinery, circuitry, and technology of every format. That was where she had met Frank, at the early age of six years old, deep in the halls of education on the other side of the planet. Her mind hovered on a particular memory, one where she was put into a room with three boxes. This was a typical task for them as children, to see if they could assemble the parts of unknown technology into something workable. She remembered the first two boxes were easily assembled: one was a small engine, for some kind of yard appliance. The second box was more complicated, but it ended up being a portable xray machine. The final box she finished assembling but never found out what it was, but just when she was about to make it work, the instructors entered the room and told her she had passed. Each item she had never encountered before, and yet that third item was the only item to this day she hadn't encountered in one of her scavenger runs. Frank had had a similar experience, and when they spoke of it last they thought it must be a radio receiver or transmitter, because they were strictly forbidden.

By the time they reached their destination it was nearly nightfall. They pulled up to what appeared to be a large cylindrical rock covered in moss. They parked and unloaded gear and turned the back of their vehicle into a makeshift shelter.

"Want to go look inside before it's dark?" Frank asked, pulling out a lantern and a bag with food and water. Abigail nodded and they marched alongside the rock. Frank picked up a rock and looked right at Abigail before throwing it as hard as he could at the cylindrical rock. But the noise that came from the rock's impact immediately revealed that this rock was no rock at all. A long high pitched ring sounded and reverberated through the object, indicating its internal structure as well as what it was made of.

"How did you find this thing Frank?" Abigail asked as she walked to the side of the object to examine it further.

"I rebuilt a radar for one of the guys at central supply. It was to be used on one of their delivery drones. But I decided to see if it worked, so I climbed Watch Tower rock and gave it a ping. It worked but for a brief moment on the screen I got a response back. When I tried another ping nothing happened, and so I put it back on the drone. My curiosity was peaked and so I looked at satellite maps of the area where the response could have came. Funny though, there was nothing in this area from any time but the late 20th century." Frank paused waiting for that info to sink in.

"Nothing newer than a few hundred years ago?!" Abigail was confused. At that moment she was picking at some mold that fell away from the object. It revealed a handle, which she immediately tried. With a swift shove a door opened and fell out towards her and Frank. They climbed into the metal object and headed towards the right.

"Frank I think this was some kind of aircraft!" Her voice echoed and they moved toward a faint light. When they got to the end they found a panel, covered in dust and surprisingly very little moss. Frank reached out at the controls and pushed the button that his mind told him to press. Lights came on around them, and then suddenly shut off. Frank reached in his bag and pulled out a small generator, and found a cable his brain told him was part of the power system. After a minute he had spliced the charging cable onto the power system of the craft. He set it to a low power setting, and then pulled out a diagnostic scanner to see if he could communicate with some kind of on board operating system. Abigail put a sonar node on the side of the metal wall and gave it a quick ping. The resonance reverberated through the craft, and the onboard holographic display allowed her to see what kind of aircraft they were in.

Frank spoke first, "The onboard computer is surprisingly well kept, but it seems to be very old. I am not seeing any programs running, but I am seeing simple run commands available. For as old as this craft is, it is in surprisingly good shape. What have you found?"

Abigail was tilting her head at her holographic display, "I think it's an old rocket. There are no wings, and the end of the craft seems to be just for thrusters and stabilizers." The two of them sat in silence for a while, trying to make sense of it all.

At that moment a third voice broke through the silence. A young girl's voice asking a simple question "Hello, who are you?"

Frank and Abigail nearly lept out of their skin, and looked down the hall they just came only to see no one there. They sat waiting to see if the voice would speak again. After a few minutes Abigail decided to respond.

"Hello, I am Abbi, and this is Frank."

"Oh good you can hear me! I was beginning to wonder if the radio I am transmitting to was in working order." The voice sounded childish yet intelligent.

"There's a radio here?" Frank asked nervously. He made direct eye contact with Abigail, neither of them intended to use the radio, they didn't want to be discovered by the government.

"Of course silly! Though I must admit, your radio must have a special part in it to communicate with me, otherwise I don't think we would be able to communicate." The voice went silent again. Then followed up with a question "Do you guys know the two tragedies that occured when humans left Earth?"

Frank and Abigail both looked at each other confused.

"Uhm what two tragedies are you referring to...?" Abigail left the end hoping to get a name.

"Oh I have a cool call sign for talking on the radio. Call me Cinder. And I am referring to the two times that humanity broke quarantine, and ruined two specific places they could escape to."

Frank responded, "Oh yes the Alpha-2 station incident, and the Martian quarantine."

"Yes! Exactly! They say that when a cargo freighter landed on the space station Alpha-2 they opened a cargo hold to find what appeared to be rats, and a barn owl! The theory is that the owl got stuck hunting the rats, and the rats were just doing what they always do. But the barn owl and rats were carrying the disease that humanity was running from. The whole station was abandoned, and no one has been back since."

Abigail spoke up this time, "Yeah it was a tragedy. A lot of people died and then all of those resources couldn't be used to save people."

"They say that when a large colonizing ship went to Mars they began to colonize the planet. They set up underground and surface dwelling places. But then someone must have opened a new container that wasn't properly sterilized. Because the last massive broadcast that ever came from Mars was a warning to people to stay away." Cinder said this last part with emphasis.

Frank nodded as he responded, "A whole planet that had to be avoided because of the carelessness of early settlers."

"So do either of you want to explain anything else?" Cinder said this part expecting an answer, but none came.

"Really? Neither of you want to explain how you are alive on Mars after all of these years?"