Thadd Evans

The robot got to his feet, facing me. A laser beam shot out of its forehead—hit my face, blinding me with a bright light. I closed my eyes and stood still, waiting for the robot to kill me by burning a hole in my head.

Gradually, the light darkened. Now there was a small hot spot on my chest. I opened my eyes and looked down. Not far from my neck, the robot lowered its head slightly, and the laser beam moved up the center of my chest. I stayed in one spot, trying not to provoke the android while the hot spot started burning my skin.

As the pain increased, I clenched my teeth. At the same time, the beam spread out until it was five inches in diameter. The beam moved to the right, and went down to my hips, and shut off.

For some unknown reason, the robot marched toward its original position. After arriving there, it pivoted, and faced ST7.

I took a deep breath, relieved, and glanced down. Sakra hadn’t moved. His mouth was wide open, both eyes staring into space.

Wanting to know if he had a pulse, I stooped, and touched his wrist.

Nothing.
 

We finished our meal. Yar removed a tablet from her pocket. A screen came out of the side of the device and started floating. Close to the top of the screen, one that glided toward Yar’s face, text brightened. Mii, on. Yu on. Way oh.

I rubbed my chin. “What does that statement mean?”

“It’s a Niil poem called Onily. I’ll read it.

“Umber swept away

“Yes Menot

“Embers speak

“Yes Massi.”

I glanced at her. “I don’t understand it.”

“It’s a rough English translation. Eighty thousand years ago, an asteroid hit Onily, a moon that orbits my home planet, Dusik. Within a month, from the North Pole to the South Pole, Dusik’s tides changed. Menot, an Embers Congressional member, said that like the tides, the Niil needed to change, remain open to new ideas. Otoq, a colleague, agreed with Menot.”

I nodded. “It’s an interesting poem.”

“Yes. However, there are some drawbacks. Although Menot, a great poet manipulated his Heta waves, infrared light, by breathing in specific rhythms, it’s difficult to translate them into English, Qoowo, Aito, Turon, or any other language.

“There is another concern. Some Heta waves smell like the ocean. When you sniff others, the odor reminds you of a forest.”

I raised one eyebrow. “Translating Niil into English is tough.”

“Definitely.

“Several years ago, my brother, Ro, told me about a journey through the Ydnn Forest. Halfway through the story, his Heta waves, a group of patterns, morphed until they resembled leaves. The patterns smelled like cedar.” Yar paused.

“I don’t understand, but it sounds interesting.”

“Someday, you might grasp what his poem is saying.”

There were five thousand Qooyo words for pain, three thousand for death in darkness, five hundred for being buried alive. Eventually, many miners became addicted to drugs, including Ente. But most of their stories were hard to translate.

I put away my tablet and ate. A woman in a turquoise jumpsuit entered the room. Without warning, she jumped onto the opposite end of the table and twirled and faced the door. Suddenly, the female in turquoise pulled out a knife and crouched.

The door opened. A stout Qooyo miner entered and headed toward the woman in turquoise. At the same time, she lunged at him. Both fell on the floor. Halfway down the table, the chrome woman stood, blocking my view. I got up.

The woman in turquoise swung at the stout miner—her knife missed his arm and she stumbled onto the floor. The dark tan lady moved in front of me. I leaned to the right as her adversary punched the woman in turquoise, striking her face and she crashed to the floor. After reaching down, he dragged her limp body into the passenger compartment.

Why did he punch her?

Someone else in the room might know. I aimed my tablet at the three Qooyo miners and my blank screen appeared. Their firewalls were on, the tablet couldn’t decipher what they were saying. I aimed the tablet at the bearded miner, hoping to find out why the other miner had punched the woman.

Text read. Srn, Kep, rin, meaningless phrases caused by jamming scrolled and faded.

More text enlarged. Dansra, sa, nex... Nonsense. Suddenly, it vanished.

I aimed the tablet at the tall miner. The screen remained blank.

I pointed the tablet at the female with a tiny nose.

Text scrolled. Diin knew, rin, kah. A translation popped up. You don’t have any money either.

I aimed it at the three women and ... white noise, encrypted conversations enlarged.

Then I pointed it at the woman in metallic blue. The screen remained black, blank. Text appeared. It, cah, min, yes, cah min. A translation enlarged. Why didn’t you tell me before? You’re a fool. Then this meaningless conversation dissipated.

A pop up alert slid across the screen. Mode 15, Mode 16, Mode 17. The woman in blue kept switching modes, blocking my attempts to find out why the miner had punched the woman. I put the tablet away and ate.

Next to LR2, several feet above the floor, a 3 D holographic replica of PRG, her supine figure, materialized. Much to my surprise, the replica’s skin began sagging, the results of aging. In an instant, the replica turned to dust.

PRG scowled. “I don’t want to grow old that fast.”

LR2’s tiny mouth got bigger. “This is only a simulation, a teaching tool that shows what would have happened if you used the old chambers. Because the device’s neural networks were outdated, microtubules, micron size structures within your cytoskeleton, were adapting slowly.

So we created new chambers. As a result, every one of you will live longer. Unfortunately, because you are the first humans IN5 has ever encountered, I can’t tell when you will die of old age.”

Greg tapped his fingers against his teeth. “That was an extremely detailed replica. Is it based on x-rays and Doppler imaging?”

Near the bottom of LR2’s forehead, floating point numbers moved across a screen. “No. After discovering that those modes alone don’t provide enough accurate information, IN5’s software decided to use absorption spectropy, a instrument that can detect the sound of turbulent blood, a beating heart, cell division and every sound the human body makes, all the time, not intermittently.”