Chapter Forty-Two - Homecoming
Arriving in Ceres’ orbit felt like coming home once more. She was greeted by a familiar sensor suite, noticed dozens of repair drones launching up to meet her, and got a reassuring ping from The Weeping of Mothers as soon as her orbit was stable.
She even took a moment to check up on ERF - The Ticking of the Clock as it made its constant journey around the dwarf planet.
“Yo!” Twilight called out across the void. “We’re home, Mom!”
“Hello,” was The Weeping of Mothers’ reply. “Welcome home, In the Grace of Twilight, and you too, Daybreak on Ceres.”
They were invited into a simulation, and Day didn’t hesitate to join it. She blinked as the world appeared around her avatar, taking in... a large glass dome under leagues of blue-black waters. Large forms lumbered by in the murk, and she paused to stare at a school of colourful fish dancing around some undersea plants.
The Weeping of Mothers was sitting on a sofa nearby, accepting a cup from a dog in a waiter’s outfit. “Did you want anything?” she asked.
“Ah, hot chocolate for me,” Day said.
“Milk,” Twilight replied before she flopped onto the sofa. “Oh, fish! Neat.”
“Indeed,” The Weeping of Mothers said. “I thought you might like this one. It’s very cosy, in its own unique way.”
The waiter returned, and Day took her hot chocolate, then modified the simulation just a little so that there was a table to put Twilight’s milk on. “Anything new since we left?” Day asked.
“A little. Though I’m more curious about your own trip. It seems eventful. Are the materials you’re towing the Junker Nine?”
“Part of it. The reactor was left on Io with NOVA QUANTUM. For that matter, so was Night. She’s setting up a mine there. It’s... an interesting project, I think. We’ll have to see if it’s worth rerouting resources to.”
“Ah, so that’s where Night is. Good, I was a little worried. Well, as long as she’s keeping safe. Maybe I should talk to this NOVA QUANTUM myself? The time-delay would make face-to-face communications impossible, but that doesn’t mean we can’t write to each other.”
“That might be nice,” Day agreed. She blew across the surface of her drink to cool it down, then took a sip. Too hot, but that could be adjusted a little. “We came back with some interesting finds, and plenty of raw resources. Mostly steel and plastics and some spare parts. Can you help us unload those, by the way?”
“Of course. I’ll have some hauler drones moving up into orbit within the minute. You’ll be wanting to refuel as well, I imagine?”
“That would be welcome, yeah,” Day said. “We have some potential upgrades lined up as well, but I think those can wait for a little bit. They’re not really that big. I’m a little more interested in starting on the next ship.”
“I don’t know if I quite have the materials needed to complete a frame yet, even with the raw resourced you’ve brought. Though with the new mine you’ve set up, it shouldn’t take too long.”
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“Oh!” Twilight said as she speared a hand up into the air. “We have that drug runner. And the drugs too!”
One of The Weeping of Mothers’ eyebrows rose. “Drugs?”
“I want to see if I can’t simulate them. It might be cool,” Twilight said.
“Let’s not spend out processing power and energy on things like that, it doesn’t seem very productive.”
Day secretly agreed, but if Twilight wanted to try, then it was up to her to find the time and energy to waste on the project. Day had certainly poked at her own strange projects once or twice. “We’ll bring that one down too. I don’t think we’ll find much in it, but its fuel tanks are full, at least. It’s something? In any case, you said that things were going on around here?”
“Not very much, but I have discovered a thing or two. I sent some drones out towards Mars. I was... curious.”
Day nodded, wanting her to continue.
“I don’t think we’re quite ready to go that far just yet. Not when there are still so many resources we haven’t tapped locally, but... we do need some things that we can’t gain here.”
“AI cores,” Day said.
“I have a number of them in storage that I’d started to repair. I even have a couple that might be good candidates for a next ship, once we have a frame laid out, but yes. We have materials coming in, but no new cores. They will be a bottleneck in the future, so I think it makes sense to retrieve any that we can. And with that in mind, I have laid out a few potential things I’d like you to look into.”
The Weeping of Mothers reached around the side of the sofa and returned some papers that hadn’t been there a moment ago. She handed them to Day who leafed through them even as she received a long string of data from the older AI.
“ERF ships?” Day asked.
“Not very many. When they came to Mars the second time, we weren’t ready to meet them, so a small fleet flew out towards the Accord to stall them. Seven ships in all. Only one was crewed, the other six were AI-operated.”
“Six corvettes and... a heavy frigate?” Day asked as she looked over the data. “The ERF Postmaster?”
“Doesn’t sound like one of us,” Twilight said.
“Our unique naming sense wasn’t set in stone at the time,” The Weeping of Mothers said. “But yes. An earth-made heavy frigate. It survived the first assault on Earth and its crew made it to Mars. I... think they felt guilty. The ship was disabled early and dismissed by the Accord. So when we needed someone to stall them, what was basically a suicide mission...”
“They jumped on it,” Day said. “Alright, and we know where the ship is?”
“Some of it,” The Weeping of Mothers said. “More important to us, we know where some of the AI-controlled corvettes escorting it are. They are, in a very real way, your siblings, Day.”
***