Chapter 28: Chapter 29 TRILLION Long-lost Friends

Trillion floated at the very top of the cargo bay. She was organising Lex to clear a large section of the hangar. It wasn’t a smooth operation without Ship’s subtle hand guiding ANTs and eleph-ANTs.

What she had assumed would take a few hours had taken almost a whole day. Lex struggled with coordinating that many machines at once. It should have been a well-choreographed activity. It normally was. But the orb struggled with the task.

She wondered just how stupid the ANTs were without Ship to add a subtle, but noticeable, hand to direct them.

She cringed as she saw several ANTs crushed when an eleph-ANT carrying machinery walked right over the top of them.

She thought how painful it was to watch and decided she didn’t want to see ANTs bump into each other or be crushed. She changed her playback speed, speeding things up until it did look like a well-oiled machine. ANTs and eleph-ANTs blurred into one another; they became lines reaching out and clearing things away. From her perspective, as she floated at the top of the room, it looked like a jittery line would reach out and absorb items in the room. She found it meditative watching the free space increase through the cargo bay.

She laughed a little, reminded of when she was a kid watching videos of ants digging ant colonies. Time-lapse videos of them digging into sand were her favourite, she remembered, as she watched the blur of ANTs working.

A good 12 hours later, the room was finally clear and changed her playback speed to normal. The cargo bay was littered with ANT body parts. Broken metal legs, arms and flattened ANTs lay all over the metal floor. She assumed that was the collateral damage from eleph-ANTs moving large objects around, but the space was now open enough for what she wanted – to use the large space to war-game multiple scenarios, starting with one where she completely and utterly destroys the Dottiens.

On one end of the cargo bay she projected an image of the Dottien planet. Floating around it she added the army of the Dottiens, colour-changing objects that floated nearby. Then on the other end she showed the armada of spacecraft on their way to the system.

Visualising it like this, it became evident just how lopsided it was going to be.

On one side, Trillion could see a planet the size of a basketball. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of small dots spaced around the Dottien home world. All in all, when she projected their resources like that, the Dottiens stretched across one cubic metre worth of space.

On the other side, there were many objects. So many that it looked like a large cloud that stretched the entire length of the cargo bay.

Trillion smiled. There was no way she was going to lose. At the scale she was showing the battlefield, the Dottiens controlled one metre of space. But she was about to bring an armada that stretched the entire length of the cargo bay.

As she played out the scenario – her armada versus the Dottiens – she realised the only challenge was making sure she survived. She needed to get off the moon while the Dottiens were distracted.

Trillion found it important to think through even the worst possible scenarios. She needed to have a plan for every eventuality. That way there was no chance she was not getting off the moon.

As she played different scenarios she heard a ping from Lex. It was the kind of sound phones used to make when they received a message. Trillion looked at the orb. “You trying to tell me something?”

The orb flashed green and on all the screens in front of her an ‘unread message’ icon appeared.

“Did we get a message from Ship?” Trillion asked, excitement in her voice.

The orb flashed green and played the message to Trillion.

She had to play it back multiple times as she didn’t understand part of it. It said he was on his way back, but it also mentioned a communication network was ready. And that she could speak with Atlas.

Trillion looked at Lex, leaning forward. “Communication network?” She tried to rack her brain about what it was. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

The orb flashed green.

“Well this just sucks then,” Trillion said. “Without Ship, you and I can’t really communicate well. Let’s treat this like charades. Explain it to me.”

The orb transformed into a phone. The phone started to ring and the caller ID read Atlas.

Trillion started to clap. She was quite impressed with Lex’s efforts. It did make it clear. She remembered when she got the message from Atlas and thought it was a cruel joke from him. She had told Ship to set it up, thinking it was some silly game. But if it was real …

She thought about the possibilities. She imagined herself in one system but controlling all ANTs and eleph-ANTs on another system. It would make having a galactic empire possible.

She shook her head. She was getting too ahead of herself. First she needed to get off the moon.

Trillion looked at the orb once more. “Are you sure? Is this true?”

The orb flashed green.

Trillion smiled, still not quite believing it. “How smart is that old man Atlas. Who figures out how to do faster-than-light communication? Everyone says it’s impossible.”

She left the cargo bay. As she walked, she thought a bit more about what communication meant. It meant she could speak with other people. Other Beta Explorers. She could speak with Atlas, Icarus and Angelique.

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She froze in place, the thought going through her mind a million miles an hour. Atlas. She could speak with Atlas. Another human. It had been centuries since she’d spoken to anyone. Anyone other than Ship or Lex. She could ask Atlas how he figured out FTL communication. She missed that smart old man.

She paused, wondering why she hadn’t been bothered by not having spoken to another human until now. This was one of the few times she realised that she wasn’t 100 per cent herself. She had changed since becoming digitalised. She thought about when she was flesh and blood. She would have been so depressed not speaking to another human for this long.

She thought it must have been one of the subtle changes made to her when she was uploaded. It made sense, since getting depressed on a journey like this would have been counterproductive.

“Can I speak to him now?” Trillion asked.

Lex was still shaped like a phone. The phone flashed green and started to ring.

“Wait.” Trillion put up her hands. “Not in here.”

She teleported to the bridge. She was grinning from ear to ear as she paced in circles.

“I can’t wait to speak to a human,” she blurted out, turning bright red. Why was she nervous? She needed to relax.

She closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. In. Out. In. She opened her eyes.  

“I’m ready, Lex. Put me through,” she requested, a fake authority in her voice.

Two distinct beeping sounds were heard through the speakers. It was the sound of a phone call connecting.    

“Hi. Hello,” Trillion said with a quiver, betraying her fake confidence.

Atlas’s voice came through the speaker.

“Hello, Trillion, are you there?”

It worked! She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t expected it to work. She didn’t quite know what to say next though.

“Hi. Hello,” she said again.

“Oh, good. It’s working.”

“Hi. Hello.” Trillion slapped her head. Why was she repeating herself?

“Oh, is this not working? Can you not hear me? Ship, what is happening? Why can’t she hear me?”

“Yes, I can hear you. Sorry, I was in shock,” Trillion said, shaking her head.

“Oh, thank god. Most of my tests were between two ends of my ship. I took a risk that it would actually work over light years like this.”

“This isn’t some prank, Atlas? Are you actually at the other side of the galaxy?” Trillion asked, a touch of suspicion in her voice.

“You bet I am. How are you?”

“Well,” Trillion began, “it’s a long story. I’m kind of stuck on a moon.”

“What? Did your spacecraft break down? I might be able to help you if you need a new one.”

“Well no ¼” She paused, thinking about how to explain it. “It’s not that. I met some aliens.”

“Aliens? Oh my god. You’ve met aliens. What are they like? Who are they? Do they think like us? What kind of technology do they have? Anything we can copy? I have so many questions for you, Trillion.” There was a pause on the line. “Are you okay, Trillion? How can I help?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Trillion nodded as she spoke. “Basically I played with fire. I have a bit of a plan, though. Ship is on his way back with an army. I’ll be out of here soon. I’m just so happy to be speaking to another human.”

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