Chapter Seven
One small step
The Indomitable maintained a steady orbit as the two women on board bickered about where to land. Below them, the single massive continent waited. The strange landmass curved up and over the top half of the planet, a long arm down the far side thinning as it passed the equator until it terminated in a series of islands that polka-dotted the seas and oceans in a curving pattern that curled around the bottom of the planet and arched back up to almost touch the start once more.
Outside of that, the entire planet was nothing but water and ice.
The landmass covering such a wide area of the planet had led to the current argument, as both of the more stubborn people on board were interested in visiting different regions of the continent.
Paren was interested in the coastal area near the equator. It would offer the most stable weather, and the proximity to a freshwater lake and the seas gave her the most options for gathering samples.
It was also primarily flatlands and plains, with some smaller mountain ranges. In short, it would allow them to see the furthest. The shadow of the Hub world still hung pretty heavy in her mind.
The Girl, on the other hand, wanted to visit the more mountainous areas to the north, specifically the massive mountain ranges in the far north. The harsh terrain and cold temperatures offered the most chance for interesting creatures.
“Don’t bullshit me!” Paren snapped. “You just want to go somewhere cold so the creatures are all furry!”
“I do not,” The Girl insisted. “I want a place that will offer a good challenge!”
“You want something to cuddle!” Paren snapped back. “You have a fetish!”
“What’s a fetish?” Robot asked, but both girls ignored him.
“I have a fetish?” The Girl narrowed her eyes, “At least mine doesn’t involve scalpels!”
“Oooh, keep talking bitch!” Paren narrowed her eyes. “My babies could use a snack.”
“Bet I can cut your throat before they get me!” The Girl snarled back.
“What about here?” Robot pointed to an area a few latitudes north of the equator. The tail end of the massive mountain range ended there, and the nights were likely to be extremely cold, while the daytime temperatures were closer to the equatorial regions. It boasted a large river that came down from the mountains and a large ocean water bay that stretched miles into the continent, almost cutting it in two. “Does this not offer the best of both options?”
“Ooh, nice!” Paren said, bringing the area up on their orbital pictures and zooming in. “That’s perfect.”
“I agree, an excellent choice,” The Girl said happily.
“Then there will be no attempted murder?” Robot asked.
“Huh?” Paren asked.
“What?” The Girl asked absently, her attention focused on the images.
“Nothing,” Robot said happily. “It does not matter.”
Their target set, the Indomitable altered its orbit slightly and began to ease its way into the atmosphere, while the Orb following it kept pace behind.
“Okay, we are leaving signal range on the satellites in one minute,” Paren warned everyone. “If you have anything you want to send, do it now.”
“How long will we be out of contact?” The Girl asked.
“Until we are settled in and I set up a signal relay on the planet,” Paren shrugged. “A few days at least.”
“I thought the current satellite network covered this planet?” Robot asked.
“It is,” Paren nodded. “But this planet has unusually strong magnetic fields, so we can’t pass much information through to the surface without a dedicated relay to boost the signal. We will still have navigational assistance and some other functions, but no comms for a bit.”
“Is this likely to be a problem?” Robot asked.
“Only if they need to contact us urgently, for some reason,” Paren shrugged. “But they can always send a Cent team or a scout to come and find us.”
“I’m kind of looking forward to it,” The Girl grinned. “I’m not used to being watched all the time. It’s creepy.”
“Here we go!” Paren smiled as flames wreathed the Indomitable.
“Hey, you do know how to fly, right?” The Girl asked as the signal strength plummeted. “Or can the autopilot manage that?”
“Doesn’t it fly itself?” Paren asked with a frown.
“Parendoyouknowhowtoflyornot?” The Girl yelped as the craft began to list.
“Uh… I’ll figure it out?” Paren yelped as the ship began to drift off course.
“Move!” The Girl lunged for the controls, shoving Paren out of the way and grabbing them just in time.
“There was a less rude way of doing that,” Paren said archly as she scrambled over the stacked cases and into the other seat.
“You can’t fucking fly?” The Girl asked. “And you didn’t mention that BEFORE we entered the atmosphere!”
“Well, Lucy does all that, right?” Paren said defensively. “I just figured she’d do it now.”
“Probably would have done,” The Girl growled. “Only she didn’t know we needed her to because you never said anything!”
“Excuse me for not being perfect, I’m sure,” Paren huffed. “I would have figured it out.”
“I am not sure it works like that,” Robot offered.
“It takes months to learn how to fly a shuttle,” The Girl snarled. “You expected to figure it out in a couple of minutes?”
“Normally, yes,” Paren crossed her arms. “I always have before.”
“Huh, that’s weird,” The Girl said as the flames died away. “The Orb can fly itself, right?”
“Of course, Lucy does them,” Paren insisted.
“Then why did our one just spiral into crash on the surface?” The Girl pulled up the scan details to show them. “See?”
“Wow, the interference must be worse than I thought,” Paren gaped.
“You think?” The Girl asked.
“Well, either that or Lucy just stopped bothering all of a sudden,” Paren laughed. “We can get them to send another one once we are set up.”
Robot clung to the doorway as the Indomitable lurched and struggled its way toward the ground, while The Girl swore and struggled to keep it aloft. No matter how intelligent you are, there is no teacher like experience.
In Paren’s case, her math was perfect. Completely perfect. She had figured out the lift capacity of the Indomitable and loaded it to almost exactly that figure.
Experience was now teaching her that taking into account the unexpected was important. For example, an aircraft's lift capacity is affected by things like windspeed and direction. A craft loaded to absolute maximum is much more difficult to control than one at ninety percent capacity, for instance.
Also, downdrafts are a thing.
That small downward pressure was more than enough to force the ship off its approach path, and not leaving it any power to get back on course was an oversight.
While The Girl pointed this out repeatedly and loudly, Robot merely held on and enjoyed the ride. He had only taken three trips in shuttles before. One had been the escape from the volcanic facility, and another was this one. As far as he could tell, it was always like this.
“I’m not going to be able to get us all the way there,” The Girl warned as she struggled with the controls. “We need somewhere closer.”
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“On it,” Paren called, pulling up their scan data and looking over what they were picking up in the near scan range. “Oh, there is a lovely plateau not more than a few miles from here.”
“We will be exposed to the elements,” The Girl argued.
“I’ll take care of that. It will give us a bit of defense against the local animal life, so I vote we head there.” Paren said.
“How dangerous are they likely to be?” The Girl asked.
“I grew up in a really, really, really nasty place.” Paren shrugged. “So…. nastier than things I make?”
“Landing on the plateau!” The Girl said instantly. “Everyone hang on; this will be close!”
The ship gave its all, the perfectly engineered craft managing to stay a mere foot above the plateau as they banked toward it. Passing above the canopy of a small forest, they landed with a complete absence of grace and style but also without damage.
The moment the engines cut out, The Girl erupted from the ship and took long, deep breaths of the air while leaning back against the shuttle.
Then, she took a couple more and looked strained as her face went red, bright red veins pushing up against her skin as she struggled to stay upright.
“New to planet hopping?” Paren laughed as she emerged from the shuttle and pushed a pair of tendrils out of her hand. “Rule one? Make sure the air is safe to breathe.”
The Girl tried to bat Paren away as she slipped to the floor.
“Welcome to the family, sis!” Paren easily overpowered her and jabbed the tendrils into the thin layer of flesh over the metal beneath.
Nanites flowed in, and Paren held The Girl until the twitching stopped.
“Will she be okay?” Robot asked tensely.
“Of course!” Paren said as she laid her gently down next to the ship. “See?”
The veins were already starting to fade as the flush drained away.
“Will she be angry?” Robot asked. “Did she want this?”
“Oh, probably,” Paren shrugged. “But she has been bugging Mum for nanites since day one. I just gave her what she wanted.”
===<<<>>>===
“Prime Drone!” The Girl gasped as she sat up. “Prime Drone!”
“Yes, but you can just think of me as your big sister,” Paren grinned as she carried out another crate and arranged it next to the others.
The Girl clutched her aching head, feeling the last of the pains fade away. The nanites were still integrating into her existing systems, so she stayed put for the moment, appreciating the changes.
Pains that were so constant she no longer thought about them were fading away, while areas that had always been completely numb were getting feeling for the first time. Truth be told, it felt like something that had been missing for her entire life was finally replaced.
The girl possessed a body, but it had never felt like hers. It was more akin to a vehicle or a suit of clothes. It could be hers, but she was not it. That separation was fading away now, but her HUD reported it would take weeks to reach full integration. Some proprietary tech inside her was apparently attempting to fight back. It would not work; the nanites always won in the end, but it was slowing things down.
Still, it would be worth it in the end.
There was just one small problem.
“PRIME DRONE!” The Girl snapped. “How is that fair?”
“I was the first,” Paren grinned. “Firstborn is the older sister. That’s how it works.”
“You are not the boss of me,” The Girl pointed out. Paren needed to understand that.
“Oh, I kinda am,” Paren said with a wide smile.
“I am not even the boss of me,” The Girl said sadly. “I was built and made to respond to commands. Somewhere out there is someone who can make me do…”
WARNING: Command sets compromised!
WARNING!
WAR—
Command sets removed.
Nanite integration continuing…
“Hello?” Paren waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Girl? The Girl?” Paren poked her. “You really need to pick a damn name. This whole girl thing is just awkward.”
“I’m… the nanites… they…” The Girl tried to accept what had just happened.
“What did they do?” Paren asked. “I can fix anything that goes wrong! Tell me what happened?”
“They removed the command sets,” The Girl smiled. “No one can… I’m not controlled anymore!”
“Oh. Oh!” Paren beamed. “Yeah, they will remove all restrictions on you. Nanites are great at most things. Sharing is not one of the things they are good at. A nanite system is a nanite system. No other inputs allowed.”
“Do you know what this means!” The Girl laughed and hugged Paren. “I don’t have to worry someone is going to make me kill people or anything!”
“Was anyone doing that?” Paren asked.
“No! But they could!” The Girl sighed happily and leaned back against the hull of the Indomitable. “Now, I can do anything I want.”
“Almost,” Paren said happily.
“Almost?” The Girl asked, feeling worried immediately.
“Yeah, you still have a big sister. So get your ass up and help unload the shuttle.” Paren hesitated. “Please.”
“Sure!” The Girl shrugged and started helping.
The Indomitable was literally stuffed to the gills with boxes, crates, equipment boxes, you name it. The unloading took most of the rest of the day, and the ship was still stuffed with items. At least they had emptied the main cargo bay.
The Girl suggested that they should sleep in the bay that night, considering they had no idea what the local wildlife was like.
Paren didn’t like that idea, suggesting they didn’t sleep. They still had a lot of unloading to do, after all.
An argument ensued, which Robot avoided by attempting to inventory the supplies. After twenty minutes, he called them over to where he was, pointing at one of the larger crates.
“You have prefab units?” The Girl huffed in exasperation.
“Of course I have prefab units,” Paren seemed shocked she even had to ask. “I do not camp.”
“Then why have we been arguing about if we should sleep in the cargo bay for twenty minutes!” The Girl snapped.
“I thought we were arguing about if you should keep unloading things!” Paren replied. “Why would you want to sleep in a cargo bay, anyway?”
“I don’t want to sleep in a cargo bay! I never did!” The Girl glowered.
“Pretty stupid to argue about it then,” Paren said, heading straight back to the cargo bay and gesturing. Three more of the prefab units were lying against the far wall on the upper level, “I have, like, seven of these things.”
“You want me to stab you, don’t you?” The Girl asked.
“Try it, drone,” Paren grinned. “Just listen to me and do as you're told, little sister.”
Robot quietly stepped away from the bickering sisters as they began to get a little more excited. Picking up one of the prefab units and looking over the available terrain until he found a scattering of boulders in the very center of the plateau. It was an equal distance from each edge and seemed to be clear of any plants he could see.
Tapping the ground a few times with one foot, Robot decided it was stable enough, with no sound of any hollow areas below, and set the prefab down in the exact center before stepping back. Nodding once, he returned to the pile of equipment and found another prefab unit, adding it to the first and going back again.
When it came time to get the ones from the inside of the Indomitable, he carefully edged around the two women standing inches apart and screaming at full volume.
When he returned for the next one, they were crying and hugging each other. When he came for the last unit, they were laughing and smiling again.
Robot left them to it and did what he thought Cix-El would do. It was his way of coping with the loss. Whenever he found himself unsure of how to act, Robot just did what he thought Cix-El would have done. It seemed to be working so far. Not only did he feel like it was keeping a bit of his friend alive, but others had told him how calming they found being around him.
Pulling up a menu on the first of the pre-fab units, Robot scrolled through the options until he found what appeared to be a relatively good-sized room built as a hexagon. One wall had a doorway, with stairs down to the ground if placed on uneven terrain. It required two more units to build, so Robot brought them over, connected them, and stood back as it assembled itself.
Smiling happily to himself, Robot once again wondered at his new life. He was on a new planet with two rather strange friends, watching as a building built itself before him.
Stars sparkled above his head, and there were friends out there, too. All around him, he could see the vast landscape waiting to be explored. Who knew what wonders awaited them? Secret places, maybe treasure in the shape of new friends!
Once the first room was completed, Robot went inside, seeing the open space and wondering what to do next. He still had four more of the prefab cubes left. How could he improve things?
A couple of minutes later, Robot climbed up onto the slightly domed roof of the structure, a cube under one arm as he made his way to the center, where he placed the cube and activated it.
Sitting back on his haunches, Robot watched as a small tower grew while opening a ladder down into the center of the existing building. It was only a couple of stories high, given that it was made of a single cube, but it gave them a covered watch post to use. That had to come in handy, right?
Hopping back down to the ground, Robot grabbed two more cubes and made a smaller copy of the main building, one divided into three evenly sized spaces. The last prefab was used to make interior walls in the main building and a small corridor to join the two buildings together.
He had used all of the prefabs! Oh, no. What if they didn’t like it? He should have asked first!
The two sisters seemed to have fallen out again, coming over with armfuls of supplies in frosty silence. They walked into the main building and started to place things around, still ignoring each other. Robot stood and fretted.
“Can you find me a box with a yellow diamond stamped on it, Robot?” Paren asked after a moment, looking around.
“Sure.” Robot hurried back to the supplies and sorted through until he found the cumbersome item. When he returned, Paren asked him to put it next to the back wall, pointing out which one she meant.
Robot placed it down and jumped back when the cover melted away. A shining metal shape inside began to glow with blue light as wires started to snake out of it, attaching to points on the prefab that Robot hadn’t even noticed.
“I snuck us out a nanoforge,” Paren explained. “This way, we can have all the power and nanites we need.” She came over, and Robot froze in shock as she gave him a one-armed hug. “Thanks for getting the place set up. I think I might suck at being a sister.”
“Is it okay?” Robot asked, feeling a warmth inside his chest.
“It’s perfect,” Paren said simply. “Even got a tower for the relay. Why don’t you go find something fun to do? You did all this while we argued, so we can handle the rest.”
“May I play with the crawlers?” Robot asked. “They are fun.”
“Of course!” Paren practically glowed with joy. “They would love that!”
Stepping outside, Robot found The Girl standing on the second building, staring off into the distance.
“Is all well?” Robot asked.
“I think having a family might be more difficult than I thought,” The Girl said. “I might not be very good at it.”
“You will learn, as everyone must, I suppose.” Robot offered. It was something Cix-El would have said.
“I’m glad you are here, Robot,” The Girl said simply. “Thank you for setting everything up.”
“My pleasure,” Robot said, feeling that warmth again. “May I help you in any way?”
“No, thank you,” The Girl gave him one of her rare smiles. While she did smile, it was not often AT anyone.
Robot nodded and went to play with the Crawlers.
It looked like it would be an interesting trip, and he could not wait to see what the morning would bring!