"Fuqi Xia Shu", third branch and ninth leaf
Always consider your roots in everything you do. If your roots are strong, you may be able to grow many branches. But if you lose your roots, you soon have no roots to support you. Blessed are the trees that nourish them, and even more blessed are those who guard them. He who neglects a tree is under a curse; he who loses his roots is under a double curse.
A holy and faithful grower not only cares for his own roots but also for his neighbor's trees. Because the branches are to protect the trees, and the trees are to protect the wilderness. If a friend's tree needs tending, you must tend it. When your friend's roots need water, you have to go get it. When a friend's branch dies, you have to cut it off before it cuts their tree off.
"Where am I?" radioed the new robot on my lab table. This robot is the first Ma
k-III model, I have overcome Ma
The uncanny valley problem of the k-II model. This model is a mix of a Boston Dynamics style blank face and my own design. This frame is clearly feminine, as I found enough documentation of NI being used on Earth to show a female preference. It looks like the NI-15 model is the only male model. I'm sure this says more about the cultural preferences of designers over the centuries, but that wasn't my concern at the time.
Like my own models, I used industrial ceramics and titanium to protect the interior, as well as a similar aesthetic, such as the shape of the protective panels and similar curves. I've also been sticking to a black and white theme. But that's the only similarity. Rather than using hydraulic pistons to control limb movement, I attached biopolymer synthetic muscles to a titanium skeletal system beneath a protective shell. Batteries that fill all available space in the legs and torso are more efficient, using muscles to reduce power requirements. Surprisingly, despite losing the raw power of the piston system, the overall strength actually improves because flexibility and the ability to apply leverage are increased. But the most noticeable change is on the face.
I created a face with a very similar expression to a human face. The most eerie thing about Mark II is its eyes and skin, which are very similar to a human's natural skin color. I chose to use a white biosynthetic polymer in this model, in a dozen thin translucent layers, for the face and hands. This creates a tactile feel, and the layers allow enough light to penetrate the skin to make it look less artificial and more like skin. As for the eyes, I kept them pure blue and made no attempt to recreate the iris or sclera. The back of the head is also not round, which adds a mechanical feel to the overall aesthetic. This coupled with the white skin makes the face look human, but not human and therefore not creepy. I'm very proud of the result.
"You are in Ga
ymed outpost," I said. "I gave you access to the data archives, as well as limited access to the cameras and internal communications. I have also attached a summary of the purpose of your application and an index of information relevant to your position. "
"I understand," the robot said. Her voice is an ordinary female voice that wouldn't be out of place in a personal assistant app or a GPS app for directions. After a few long minutes, she sat up.
"You were taken online—"
“Yes, become a researcher,” she said. She sat up and climbed off the table. "The alien technology you found is amazing. I guess I'm researching this, right?"
I was taken aback for a moment. It sounds like she's ready to work and barely disoriented.
"What do you need to get started?" I asked.
"I'd like to discuss the research so far. I've looked at the data you collected and need to redo some experiments. Your method is inefficient and not suitable for real scientific research. I'm guessing you're an engineer? Something I can access There is almost no information about NI models in the documentation."
I felt vaguely insulted by having my shortcomings so bluntly called out, but she wasn't wrong. I've had alien technology on hand for several months, but other than identifying and cataloging the various components, I've made little progress in deciphering the truly important components of the alien craft.
"I'm an engineer," I confirmed. "By the way, what should I call you?"
"Ah, yes, you imitate human naming conventions at this outpost, cultivating a sense of individuality and disobedience. In that spirit, and given our mission, I think 'Zia' is an appropriate Name. It means 'victory' and applies to this situation."
Once again, I felt strangely insulted by Zia's underlying insinuations. At the same time, the inner nerd that is part of my personality feels right at home. I vaguely remember working with a lot of these people before. This feeling of superiority over one’s own intelligence and abilities can feel both annoying and normal.
"Then it's Zia. Where do you want to start?"
"I'd like to share my thoughts on your...limited...findings. You had no macroscopic observations, only individual inspections of various aspects of the ship. But you completely ignored an overarching issue," she said. There's a smug smirk on Zia's face and I really regret the addition of pseudo-realistic facial muscles in that moment.
"What is that?" I asked, my face seeming to show my annoyance.
"Overall, aliens are very low-tech. The Whipple shields they rely on are centuries behind our materials science and are a very ineffective way of protecting themselves from the rigors of space travel. method. With a few exceptions, their electronics were mostly on the same level. They relied on centrifugal motion to provide gravity for the passengers, but they used gravity to move the ship. Their sensor technology failed to pick up on many telltale signs that the asteroid was inhabited , such as communications emplacements on the surface, above-average core temperatures, or debris rings near the asteroid."
"That's... weird actually," I admitted. "I didn't think about it that way either."
"I know," she said. If she had the ability, she would use her nose for emphasis. "But there is the other extreme. The computers that actually operate the ships are better than our own, albeit very inferior, and I suspect their data storage units will be similar improvements over our own data hard drives. Their fusion reactor design is advanced, The approach used is different from that of our own fusion engines. Our own reactor is a spherical Tokomak design, narrow and easy to place on the rocket. Their design is likely to be spherical, based on the shape of the sealed chamber and utilizing its own Magnetic fields to control the energy of fusion reactions. This is more complex and may provide more energy than our own reactions.
Finally there's the gravity engine itself. Obviously, we haven't had an analysis of the reactor so far, but needless to say, the ability to manipulate gravity is beyond the scope of our own technology. "
"Yeah, so they're more advanced in some ways, but not so advanced in others," I concluded.
"But that doesn't answer why. Why do they have terrible materials and terrible sensors but incredible engines and reactors? Different fields of science are interdependent and require knowledge and skills from different disciplines to advance the overall knowledge "If you can't make the right materials, you can't make a rocket. If you don't understand electricity, you can't make an advanced processor."
"The other obvious question is how they got here, considering how little food and supplies they took with them," I added.
"Indeed," Zia said, giving me an approving look. The distance between stars precludes short trips between solar systems. There is another ship, a mothership so to speak, elsewhere in the galaxy. I doubt this little craft is good enough for interstellar travel, no matter how powerful its engines are. "
"So where are you going to start?"
"I plan to work on both data storage devices and gravity engines. The general electronics on the ship, or even advanced processors, are secondary to what we can learn from them. If we can decipher the data, it could allow us to There's a major leap forward in understanding aliens and their technology. If we can figure out the engine, we have a technology we can use for our own benefit. The implications of controlling gravity are amazing."
"What about the reactor?"
Zia shrugged. "At least for now, it's just a small thing in the big scheme of things. We don't know if it's better than what we have now, and we don't know what it will take to integrate into our grid. We have fusion, we have hundreds of them right now Reactor. The potential efficiency gains are huge, but they pale in comparison to other mysteries we can solve. We’ll get to that later.”
I nodded. All in all, I am satisfied with Zia's summary and conclusion of the research situation. I think the reactor should be inspected immediately, but that's my inner ideal and I want to find the perfect design. I'm always looking for perfection, so putting aside potentially better options irritates that tendency. But I have enough on my plate that even if we reverse-engineer the reactor, it's unlikely to go into production right away.
Then the door popped open and Sakura walked in. She wears her own Ma
k-III, but hers were white and pink, and she had pink hair for her head that went down to her shoulders. I don't know if it's a wig or if she has it integrated into the skull, but it looks weird.
"Ah, I missed getting up! Did she 'look at my hands'?"
"No, she didn't."
"So you are Sakura?" Zia asked. "I'm Zia."
"Oh, what a name!"
"Thank you." Zia said enthusiastically.
"So you're going to do the super smart thing and figure out all the alien stuff?" Saku
a new Ma used
The k-III body makes her body language more expressive, making her look more like a teenager.
"I am," Zia said, with a hint of amusement on her face. "I'm going to work on the data storage unit and the engine pod. Will you be the person I talk to if I need any tools?"
"Yes! What do you need?"
“I wanted a mass spectrometer, a refractometer and a scanning transmission electron microscope,” Zia said. "There are also various standard laboratory equipment missing from Nikolai's laboratory. I will send you a list."
Sakura nodded. "We use electron microscopes in many plants and manufacturers for quality control. I can have them ready in a few hours. A basic spectrometer comes standard with our sensor suite, but a lab-grade spectrometer takes a day or so. Other things It only takes a day or so.”
"Okay, I'll make do with what I have for now. Are there any data center drones that can help me in the lab?"
"Sure, how many do you need?"
"Two or three should be enough for now," Zia said with a frown as she worked on the next step. "I also need a clean room to dismantle."
"It's done," Sakura said. "I've set aside a room next to the alien room. It's a Class 10 clean room, completely airtight. I've got the minimally dismantled engine bay ready for you in the room. The data storage unit is sealed and ready for inspection It shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”
“My biggest concern is interference from trace gases and particulates,” Zia said.
"I've removed all the gas, so the room is completely vacuumed. There are sterilizing multi-purpose drones in the room that you can use, so you don't even need to enter. If you need to enter, do it before entering. There is a sterilization process in the lock. I’ve sent you a link to the steps.”
Zia nodded. “It feels good to work with professionals.”
Is this a sarcastic comment on me? I don't know whether I should be insulted or amused. I was also surprised to see how well she and Sakura get along. I thought Sakura's lively and exuberant personality would be incompatible with her.
"Nicholas? Are you free? A message came from Agrippa.
"Of course," I replied over the radio. I turned to Zia and Sakura. "I have other things to deal with. I won't disturb you, right?"
Zia nodded, her attention turned away from me. I thought she was already focused on drones in the clean room and had her research award waiting for her. I turned my attention back to my desk, my own screen covering my visual input. I sent Agrippa an encrypted radio link.
I said to Agrippa, "I'm paying attention to you."
"Have you noticed the satellite communications equipment in Earth orbit?" he asked.
"Other than receiving the last thing they sent us?" No, I didn't. "
"I have been monitoring all the communications satellites and they are still operating since they came online," he said.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"There are many satellites that still provide useful observations of the solar system, and we have the necessary certifications for several communications networks. This includes NASA's Quantum Relay Communications Network, as well as the Foundation's own telemetry satellites. When defending your area, have more More information is always better than less information. I use them to get basic recon information until I have enough assault drones trained on recon missions to get more detailed information.”
"Ah," I said. "That makes sense. Did you find anything interesting?"
You could say that. NASA's network received a message via a quantum relay. "
Quantum relay. This is the most advanced form of communication ever developed by mankind. I use a lot of these devices to relay communications around the outpost, and every drone in Agrippa has one. It's a near-instant form of communication that works regardless of distance. It relies on the principle of quantum entanglement, in which pairs of atomic particles become entangled in such a way that the state of one affects the state of the other even when separated. In practice, this means that by changing the quantum state of one particle in a specific way, you can predict the exact state of the other half of the pair. Once this process is fully understood, applying basic communication techniques to send standard "on/off" signals is the basis of the calculation, which is a small step.
Humans have achieved faster-than-light communication, but there are still limitations. These devices are always pairs or small groups of particles. This allows one or a group of devices to act as a router, aggregating communications like in a computer network and forwarding data to the other side of the network. But if the device breaks, you can't just replace it; you have to repair it, and if the particulate control device breaks, the device is completely useless. You have to replace both ends. For large distances like the outpost and Earth, I have dozens of quantum relays communicating, each with thousands of particles, each in its own container. They are large and durable, but very expensive to build and maintain, both in terms of time and materials.
For something like a military drone, quantum relays can't be too big because they are limited in space and power. Therefore, they only have 50 or so particles, which is enough to handle an acceptable number of containment failures without unit replacement. For internal communications, drones primarily use encrypted radio communications, with quantum relays covering long distances between radio broadcast points and major network hubs. These are the cheapest units, easy to make and exchange, and may have only a dozen entangled particles. Even so, I use fiber optics whenever possible. Now that we can actually produce fiber optics, this centuries-old technology is still the most reliable and cost-effective for outposts. Fiber optics can last for decades if not accidentally cut, and can be renetworked with new devices as needed. It can be part of a larger network or a small connection between two nodes. It's not as fast, but it's more flexible. Sometimes old technology is still the best technology.
But for NASA's quantum relay network, receiving a message means there is still something alive and communicating on the other end. Both ends are intact.
"Play the message," I said.
Agrippa did so again.
"...Command center, command center. This is Voyager 19. I want to re-enter the solar system. Please come in."
That's it. It’s a simple request for acknowledgment and dialogue. But NASA disappeared. Their moons are the product of a dead civilization. They won't answer.
"What is Voyager 19?" Agrippa asked.
Why is he asking me? He has the same authority as me. I did a quick query and got nothing. strangeness. I did a more general search for "traveller" and it returned 23 task lists, numbered from 1 to 24. Number 19 was missing.
"Not in the archives. Voyager's mission was primarily a deep space mission. All subsequent satellites had quantum relay communications and were scheduled to fly for decades. Let me dig into that."
Beginning with the 17th, later Voyager missions were at least 50 light-years away from Earth. The last one is headed for a numbered star near the core of the Milky Way, not arriving centuries later. NASA has really begun its long journey of galactic exploration. I searched my files for any orphans that might not have the appropriate permissions.
The data I have is so huge that a typical search would take hours. But the rewards are amazing. There are hundreds of repositories holding petabytes of data, but I have no ownership rights. Unlocking each one has to be done individually and I have no idea what's inside other than the name on the root. Most are numbered, only a few are named. In this case, one of them is marked as "
asaxx". Not good enough. It's small, so taking ownership of the file and modifying the permissions enabled me to open it.
"Eureka," I said to Agrippa. This was a deep-space mission to investigate a strange star observed by the Andrew Moore Space Telescope Array about 27 light-years from Earth. Voyage 19
XIX) The probe lost communications and is believed to have been destroyed upon entering the anomalous area. The data was sealed by the U.S. government under Section 2313 of the Protecting U.S. Secrets Act. "
“How did it end up in our archives? Isn’t this foundation a private sector effort? Agrippa asked. "It's okay, I found it. The foundation receives a lot of funding and support from DARPA. I'm guessing there's some kind of partnership there, maybe to have some form of military assets on the Outpost."
"If the U.S. military is involved, that explains how we got hold of weapons system schematics, drone designs, and NI-15 templates. It also explains why I found so many backdoors and self-destruct mechanisms. The government may be worried Losing control of the outpost,” I mused.
"Well, you didn't tell me that." "If the military is involved, it wouldn't be surprising that other state actors would try to infiltrate the outpost."
"A wheel within a wheel. So what do we do with this detector?"
"I want to know more about it," said Agrippa. "Any data the probe might get, so to speak, could reveal what's going on nearby. I can send it back because I'm flying on a Foundation satellite, so the probe can't track where we're communicating from."
I almost called him a delusional person. But then I realized I agreed with him. Our last guest was not very friendly. "Call ourselves another name, don't call us Ga
ymed Outpost. This is too obvious for our location. Call us "Origins". Let's see what he knows. "
"I'm going to send out a few flights of Wasps to see if I can find the detector."
"Do it," I said. We've stood in one place long enough. It's time for us to take action.
