Chapter 4: Volume 1. Chapter 4. Celine Delaire

     Celine checked the cameras of every digger on the interior. Trevor was examining the Three-A tunnel entrance. It had collapsed. He looked spooked but physically unharmed. She activated the diggers speaker system, "Trevor, are you okay? Is there a way out?" asked Celine.

     Trevor responded while coughing. "Physically, I'm fine. There is a lot of dust here, and it's making it hard to breathe. All three exit tunnels collapsed along with some of the interior tunnels. I'm trapped in here."

     "Which tunnel collapsed closest to the entrance?"

    "Three-A. It looks only a couple of meters thick on this side," said Trevor. Celine confirmed the thickness of the collapsed section in Three-A as only a few meters thick using the diggers on the outside.

     "I'm going to start the diggers on that section from both sides."

     "No!" Frank had a shovel over his shoulder. "I'll get started on this side of Three-A. The emergency team should be here to assist. Use the Qbot maintenance tunnels to move them inside. It'll be faster."

     "Frank, more of the tunnel could collapse."

     "How much air does he have in there?" asked Frank. Celine checked. The answer wasn't good, and Frank saw it in her eyes. "See! The Qbots are too slow. He'll be dead before they dig through."

     "Okay, go." Celine re-opened a comm link to Trevor. "Trevor, Frank, and the emergency team are working outside Three-A. The bots are going to work on the inside. There is a risk the tunnel might collapse further. Move to One-A and stay out of the way. The tunnel panels there should prevent further collapse." Celine began issuing commands to the nearest brain. The onboard AI directed diggers to start relocating regolith.

     It took nearly three hours. Frank came out of the excavated entrance of Three-A carrying a barely conscious Trevor Hu. Regolith dust coated Frank. He looked like a coal miner from the twentieth century. The emergency paramedics began providing oxygen as they carried him to the ambulance. Frank slumped against a tree, sucking back a bottle of water.

Investigation of the collapse showed a fault in the brain's coordination of the builders. The memory available to the brains hadn't been able to track the progress of the iron cladding in the tunnel interiors. They had left part of the tunnel un-stabilized resulting in the tunnel collapse. "And that is why I'm going to Luna," said Frank peering over Celine's shoulder.

 

June 3^rd, 2047

     "What happened to Trevor?" asked Alicia.

     "He survived. Thank goodness. He had two kids at home."

     "Why did it collapse? You've been digging tunnels here forever."

     "We didn't have the crystal memory cards we do now. Those increase the coordination capacity per brain. Without those, we were limited by the memory capacity," explained Celine.

     "Why not just use more?" asked Alicia. 

     "We were doing a mock-up of LUNA1. Launch capacity limits how many brains we can get up there—sending more added weight, which requires more fuel. You know, rocket equation. You understand?"

     Alicia nodded. "Yes, I do. What are the new crystal memory cards, and how do they improve the brain's function?"

     "The base size was too big for the number of brains available. Here on Earth, it's no big deal. We ship another pallet of brains to the site, which solves the problem. Deliveries are a tad more challenging on Luna." Celine chuckled. "The new memory cards have a far higher memory density. I wish we had had them forever."

     "Oh, I know the feeling. These binoc recordings take up a ton of memory space."

     "Do you want to try one of the crystal memory cards?"

     "Um, aren't they only for memory-heavy commercial applications? I don't think I could afford one."

     "Yeah, but I have many, and I like your work. It'll be a gift."

     "Well… yes. I'd love one." Alicia thought it was odd that Celine Delaire, CEO of an energy and infrastructure company, found her work with biosynths interesting.

     "I'll arrange with Martia to get you one before you leave." Celine flicked another request to Martia's desk outside. "Now, where were we?"

     “LUNA1.”

You are reading story Future’s Past at novel35.com

     "Ah yes, Frank and his team went up with more brains than initially planned and completed the base by 2043. It housed a staff of 23 scientists and engineers initially. The bots have been expanding the base ever since, and it's currently at just under 200. Frank Arnold could give you the detailed version. He was there."

     "I'd love to, and I already know you and Franks's next target. How long until he gets there?"

     "He's about three months away from Mars. It'll be a bit longer than that to enter the correct orbit and land. The bots were sent a few years ago and are already mostly finished with MARS1. Frank is going to get MARS2 started."

     "How are the bots operating solo?"

     "Those crystal memory cards from Pantex. They let us supercharge the brains and get away with fewer than would be needed if they were like the ones on Luna."

     "Okay, let's move to a different topic. What are the health risks associated with traveling to Mars?" asked Alicia.

     "I'm not the best person to ask. Sergey Lake at Apollos Life Sciences handles the drug cocktails the astronauts are taking. Even Frank knows more about it. I could arrange an interview with him if you want?"

     "That's interesting. Apollos has taken over manufacturing biosynthesizers. I will need to take you up on that offer. Let's get back to MARS1. What is the MARS1 crew going to do when they arrive?"

     "First is to ensure MARS1 is stable. We sent out a batch of diggers, smelters, builders, and some brains a few years ago. The design is essentially a copy of LUNA1. Then they will split between expanding MARS2 for the permanent ISC base and their research projects. Frank is going to coordinate the bot's activity," explained Celine.

     "Why?"

     "We're still limited by launch capacity. We can't send enough bots to make it bigger or the solar panels to keep them all juiced up. On the bright side, the brain's coordination capacity is way better now."

     "Have you considered letting the bots replicate themselves?"

     Celine chuckled. "That's pure science fiction. Von Neumannesque bots are not yet within the human capacity to build. We had enough trouble getting them to build an iron-clad tunnel system in zero-g. Without Frank and his team, the bots couldn't have finished LUNA1." Celine's watch chimed, and she checked it. "Martia is telling me I have another meeting. I'm afraid we will have to continue this another time. I promise to do it again."

     Alicia shook hands with Celine and promised to come back for another interview in the future. She walked out of the double doors to the waiting secretary, presumably Martia, who had a package for her. "I had time to get this sent up from downstairs workshops." Martia pressed a small box containing one crystal memory chip into Alicia's hands. "You know, that's the first public interview she's conducted in years. Did she tell you?"

     "Tell me what?"

     Martia chuckled. "She watches all your videos. I keep every Thursday morning from 8:30 to 9:00 am clear for her so she can watch your new video. She might be your biggest fan."

     Alicia was surprised. Her interview channels following was substantial, but it wasn't that amazing. "That's good to hear. Maybe I will get to come back," said Alicia politely. Martia was probably being nice.

     "I'd count on it," said Martia. The elevator bell dinged, and the door slid open. Alicia stepped on while Martia used the key panel to direct her downstairs. She checked her phone notifications and found one from her new advisor in the UK. The new biosynthesizer had arrived and was up and running. Her advisor had arranged for the universities maintenance team to incinerate the old one, whose AI did not have a link to the BioSafety Protocols.

     Alicia sent a confirmatory email detailing when she would be back. Happy to be rid of that cursed machine forever, she flicked a command to the city net, ordering a taxi. She wandered down to the nearby coffee shop and got an Americano while she waited.

 

June 4^th, 2047

     David had worked for the university for twenty-five years now. He'd started as a general handyman and worked his way up to supervisor. He'd sent his subordinate, Markus, to retrieve a parcel for disposal nearly an hour ago. 'Kid probably took a smoke break on my time,' thought David.

     His phone dinged as a notification arrived. It was Markus. 'This thing is too heavy for me to move. How will we ever get it down to the incinerator?' read the text. A second later, a picture popped up showing a huge wooden box.

     'I'll be right over,' David sent back.

     Ten minutes later, David and Markus stood there scrutinizing the wooden box. 'It would be momentous to get it through the hallways and down to the incinerator.' David thought aloud, "You know, there's an old equipment storage room down the hall. It's been untouched for like a century now. We could dump it in there and put it in the log."

   "You're the boss," replied Markus grinning. David and Markus wheeled the biosynthesizer, the one Dr. Udo Musa made, into a storage room most people on campus did not know existed.  

You can find story with these keywords: Future’s Past, Read Future’s Past, Future’s Past novel, Future’s Past book, Future’s Past story, Future’s Past full, Future’s Past Latest Chapter