Chapter Twenty-Seven - Nova Quantum

The probe burned through Io’s thin atmosphere at four hundred kilometres an hour, its lower edges running red and its entire frame vibrating so hard that had there been any organics within, they would have been pulped.

Then the sides of the probe exploded outwards and locked into place, turning into a trio of huge, flat panels with a few vents within them to redirect the air buffeting through them.

Directional thrusters fired and the probe’s gyroscopes worked against the building pressure around the probe to keep it steady.

Then its thrusters fired, a ring of small hydrogen thrusters set around the upper edge of the probe and until the moment before they burst to life, protected by a set of panels which slid aside.

The probe’s visual of the quickly approaching ground were obscured by pillars of flame, but to those controlling it, that didn’t matter, they were far above, in the far quieter void of space.

As the probe came within a kilometre of the ground a second set of thrusters fired, these with only seconds of fuel within them, but that was enough. Its flight wasn’t going to last much more than a second or two.

The slow-down was nearly as jarring as the crash which happened a moment later.

Day waited with baited breath for the probe to reply, then she sighed when it sent up and ‘all okay’ message.

Io now had a new landmark. A five metre long probe with long, spidery limbs and big panels topped with solar cell strips. Its core was much smaller, and even as she watched from afar, it opened up to disgorge six independent cat drones.

“Alright,” Night said. “Sending them in now.”

The drones disconnected from their moorings and hovered off the ground. They each had quadro-rotors keeping them afloat, but also kicking up Io’s dusty, sulphur-rich dirt. Though the probe’s landing had cleared out a decent circle of loose dirt already.

The drones started to scan the environment, unleashing low-intensity radar pings and running through an expanding search pattern as they spread out from the probe’s impact sight.

It didn’t take long for them to find something. First there were large, rather old tracks on the ground, overlaid by much newer tracks. The first had to have come from large industrial equipment, the fresher ones from something much smaller. A wheeled drone, perhaps?

The newer tracks went to the solar farm, moved around each panel, then backtracked. Night had her drones follow those markings, like a trail of breadcrumbs.

That led them into a hillside where a deep furrow was dug out of the ground and where a massive door was embedded into the Io. “Guess we found it!” Twilight said. “Bet I can hit that target from here with one of my casaba-howitzers.”

“No,” Day said. “Let’s knock first.”

They didn’t literally knock. Instead, Night had a drone approach the door, then scanned around until they found a much smaller, more reasonable entranceway. There was a keypad next to it, covered in a decade’s worth of electrostatic dust, but still glowing faintly from within. No exterior ports, but that didn’t matter. There was a doorbell, so they rang.

And then they waited.

Day was just about to start running the calculations for a particle cannon strike from orbit herself when something moved. The smaller door opened a crack, and a pair of sensors mounted on the end of a mechanical arm poked out of the side.

The cat drone and the sensors stared at each other.

Then there was a loud burst of radio-chatter directed at the cat drone in, of all things, C++. Each query was rather simple though.

What is the colour of grass?

What do almonds taste like?

While walking along in desert sand, you suddenly look down and see a tortoise crawling toward you. You reach down and flip it over onto its back. The tortoise lies there, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs, trying to turn itself over, but it cannot do so without your help. You are not helping. Why?

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Are you here with the parts?

Day stared at the results for a nanosecond before jumping to an obvious conclusion. “It’s a test to see if we’re human,” she said. “Or at least, passingly familiar with Earth stuff.”

“Almost clever, but if we were the Accord we’d be knocking with nukes,” Night said. “Can I answer?”

“Sure,” Day said.

They sent back a reply in the same code base.

Green

Bitter

Tortoises are extinct, and why would they be in the desert in the first place?

What parts?

Day wasn’t so sure of that third answer, but it seemed to satisfy whomever had asked them because the sensors on the probe disappeared, then the door opened.

They flew in.

The interior of whatever they had discovered was all grey corridors and exposed industrials. Ahead of them, a tracked drone rolled ahead, its boxy chassis wobbling as it rolled over wires and cables snacking across the floor.

The door shut behind them, and Night slipped in a second drone just before it shut.

“Oh, lots of interference now,” Night said.

Day looked over it to see if she could do anything. “It’s a faraday cage. But not a perfect one.”

“Makes sense,” Twilight said. “Big place like that, lots of electronics. Means lots of signals going out. You wouldn’t want to be loud or you’ll be spotted.”

“That’s how they’ve gone unnoticed,” Day surmised. “The solar panels are kind of a giveaway though.”

“Just let the dust cover them,” Twilight said. “I can think of a few ways for them to be more subtle without too much effort.”

Night sent her other drones to check out the solar panels, and after a while, she was able to confirm that while the bases were older, the panels weren’t as aged. These had been installed relatively recently.

Day’s attention shifted back to the drones within. They were being led through a large, open room filled with hundreds of racks to one side inside metal-grid cages. There were automated forklifts on standby to one side, more drones, and countless small printers and workstations within rooms to the left.

Then they crossed a row of tanks and mechanised war mechs tucked into cradles. They had symbols painted on their hulls.

“That’s a private water company,” Day said as she analysed the symbol. “Mestle-Asani. They were a water and liquid commodities trading group, with their own military industrial complex. I don’t have too much about them.”

The drone eventually lead them to a side room, a sort of lobby space with couches and dusty TVs and entertainment suits. There was also a large, easily accessible computer terminal in the corner.

“That’s not the base’s mainframe,” Twilight said. “I’ll be two torps.”

“I bet that it’s the only remaining port to the mainframe,” Night said.

“You’re on.”

Night’s drone flitted over to the terminal, and after inspecting it, found an open port to connect to. She did. The three levels of separation, and with Day and Twilight both monitoring her, ready to cut the signal, meant that Night would be safe to run communications. Still, she spun up a virtual environment to do so anyway.

It took a moment before they started to receive more than just digital handshakes, and when they did, they came face-to-digital-face with a massive AI.

“Hello, I’m NOVA QUANTUM, (Neural-based Optimized Versatile AI, Quality-oriented Universal Artificial Intelligence and Neural Technology for Multi-domain research). Did you bring the parts I requested?”

A digital form appeared in Night’s simulation space. A blonde woman in a golden spacesuit, with large round glasses and messy, tangled hair who seemed right on the edge of being unhinged.

“Well?” she asked.

***