AWAKEN THE GOD / CHAPTER I pt. 2

CHAPTER 1 pt.2

He is holding onto the safety straps for dear life while repeating a closed eyed prayer. On the left side is a piteran female. Domash, she is the CPU expert assigned to me. it does not surprise me that she is cool as we approach. After all, she is a woman. And last but definitely not least the all around technician. Zirrus, native to the planet kiruzs from the querobane galaxy paralell in mirrored station to our own. For a repair tech she does not appear to be much, but on second glance I see tat my first assessment was truly wrong.
Her whole body has been stitched back together in one way or another. A sign that she values the lives of the people beneath her. She would rather risk her life and do the job instead of risking someone else. She is the only one who appears to be annoyed by the flight. Her eyes locked to the panels on the wall while her hand flips the arm adjusting lever back and forth. I must say that I am pleased about home offices choice for this crew. For the first time since I have worked for the company I am not in the sexual minority. A sign that things should get done quick and efficiently.



Turning back to the front I notice a guardian ii ship approaching rapidly directly in-front of us. The guardians are standard colonial protectors. The situation of the colony will determine the types and number of guardians assigned to a platform. The standard is guardians I - iv one of each. The guardian one is slightly larger than a mid sized ship and armed for front line defense and recon. The g-ii, is stickily for defense and combat if called for. It is as fast as a wasp class scout and armed to combat galactic destroyers. The g-iii is usually designated as the colonial garrison. Their purpose is the protection of the colony and all of its' people. The g-iv, is not without its' own charm. It is designed to combat orbital platforms if the cause calls for it. I hold a personal love for the g-iv class. One of my first assignments was to over see the refits and make sure all systems checked out before presentation.
As the approaching g-ii begins to visibly arm the disputer cannons I start to worry, and inform the pilot of protocol when the whine of the communications rings in our ears.
"This is scout ship ravager to approaching g-ii vessel. We have orders to dock at the new colonial epsilon platform and we request an escort."
"One moment while we verify designation. Slow speed to atmospheric level five and keep comm channel locked and open."
For the first time my pilot seems uneasy. As a matter of fact small beads of sweat begin to roll down the side of his face. This is a disconcerting reaction. He should have been prepared for them to destroy us because we did not announce our arrival. Still, this is his first field tour. I am aware that he requested reassignment because he did not feel he was ready. So, naturally after talking it over with captain ran his request was denied. It is for me to decide if he can cut the mustard or not. So far his overall performance has been impressive. He should not worry.
"Verification confirmed. Fall in rank thirty degrees my dorsal and enjoy the ride. Welcome to epsilon platform ravager, and do try to keep up."
With that our escort stops all her engines and rotates into position. We take our spot and the signal is given. Full power to the engines and we slightly jerk into action.
Broema, who happens to be in the copilots chair touches the young boy on his right arm. Almost as if her were the boys' father or at the least an older brother. The youth jumps slightly and as fast as lightning looks to my hulk of a friend.
"You are doing fine son. Just ease up a few notches on the throttle. You do not want to get caught up in their wind drag." broema states reassuringly.
"Thank you sir. I will adjust immediately." the young man snaps with a nod of obedience.
The trip takes all of ten minutes and we arrive safely at the docking platforms. From an aerial view the damage to the platform is unnoticeable, but we will have to see about that. The g-ii takes a standing hover orbit above us until we achieve successful touch down. The pilot sends the signal that locking clamps are engaged and within seconds the massive defender is not even a speck of dust in our view.
"Well people, let us prepare for pomp and circumstance." I state as I stand straighten my suit.
Moving ever so slowly I gather my composure and release the door lock. As the doors open and the ramp lowers I am greeted by four men with a luggage rack, so all I take with me is my briefcase. Moments later the chief administrator arrives with haste. His name is quoredoze. He is said to be of an extinct species but I do not put much stock into that fact. He is roughly five foot ten, most of his features resembles that of humans, and heavy around the mid section. What differs him from a human is the pale green skin, and flaky wood like hair that is swept back neatly.
At first glance of his wardrobe and mannerisms I would assume that he is a politician. If that is true then I already do not like him. Like all of the employees of s.c.i.. I earned my position and status. I did not have to trick anyone into placing me in charge of anything. Being the lead on this expedition I make sure that I am the first to exit. The chief rushes to take my hand with an obvious rehearsed speech to follow.
"Welcome, welcome all to colonial platform epsilon Jm-1. It is my pleasure to have you and your party miss?"
"Hexnia, first personnel manager of the home office." I respond sternly.
"First personnel manager hexnia, you must forgive my ignorance. We have had no communications for some time. I was unaware of your arrival."
"Yes, that is one of the main reasons for our presence here. As you know star chylde generally does not interfere with colonial matters, however, there have been several situations that suggested the lives of the colonist are at risk. The C.E.O. himself saw to it that a team was sent immediately to resolve any and all problems."
"I am thankful miss..."


"No harm done administrator, but while we are standing in the dirt allow me to introduce my team. This is domash, the computer expert. As of now she will be taking over the mainframe room. This gentleman is hyruss klax our cybortech. He will over see all of the cybernetic units and implants upon the facility. Our repair tech zirrus. All teams will be transferred to her command and she will see to it that this colony will be operational once again."
As I finish my statement I begin to lead my crew into the complex when my forward motion is halted by quoredoze.
"A minute please madame. Before you make my people feel useless and incompetent do you not wish to know our current situation?"
"With all do respect administrator that is not the feelings we wish to convey to you and yours. The matter is simple. I know my assignment and I have handled twenty four similar situations prior. I feel it easier to cut through the pleasantries and get right down to the dirt. It saves time and harsh feelings. I am sure that you want us out of your hair as soon as possible. Now, if you do not mind. You can either move and work with me, or I can relieve you of your obligations and find someone more cooperative."


"Perhaps I am not clarifying my position here. Please? If you would all come to my office I am sure that the hard evidence speaks for itself." quoredoze states with optimism in his voice.
"Hey boss, we have nothing to lose. If he has things under control then all we need to do is a routine check that will take all of two days.", zirrus says as she takes in the environment of the grounds.
I look to everyone else and they all seem to agree. So, I step aside and wait for the chief to lead the way. A gesture of faith on my behalf.
As we walk quoredoze begins to explain the layout of the complex to us as if we were on tour. I do not understand why? Almost every complex is a cookie cutter replica. The main facility has all of the needed crew and technology to support the colony for one hundred rotations. From the landing dock you have a hall way leading to the offices of the administrator and his associates. Further down the corridors is the heart of the colonial defense corp and the facilities for the intergalactic landing platform.
Then there is the housing and residential platforms that are located a few miles away from the main complex. This is where the colonist begin their new lives.

The area is divided up between farmers, ranchers, and small business owners. All of the profits earned by these people is theirs save for the three percent which goes directly back to the colony, and two percent into the mandatory merchants guild. The guild is a form of automatic insurance for the colonists. All funds are kept in separate accounts and star chylde matures the earnings by fifty percent per rotation. This is all just in the case of sabotage or natural disaster. After twelve rotations home office requests ten percent of all colonial earnings. Five percent is kept by the company and the other five percent is kept and matured by one hundred percent per rotation. That way if the colony expands it may use it's own funds instead of having to borrow from someone else. It keeps the colony independent. This process has proven very productive since it was instigated twenty cycles ago. Besides, s.c.i. holds the undisputed record for colonial success. We have overseen one hundred and fifty colonies implanted and none of them have failed.
"If you would all take a seat I will retrieve the information that explains everything." the chief says entering his office casually.


Rushing through the door hyruss and zirrus make themselves comfortable on the very small couch provided. Broema finds a nice wall spot by the door while domash takes up a position to the far right of the couch. I myself feel very comfortable standing directly to the left of the chiefs' desk. This gives everyone a clear sight of quoredoze and his so called information. If things were as good as he makes them appear then the communications net would be responding.
"Here are the problems we began with ms. Hexnia. Everything is on the data pad. First was the purification process. We have no explanation as to why it went offline. At first everything was going splendid and then the whole process reversed. Instead of purifying the water our pumps began to taint the well and the storage tanks with indigenous microbes."
"May I?" zyrus inquires softly.
I hand the pad to her and turn back to the administrator as he explains.
"Well, the next problem occurred shortly after that. This time it was a much greater situation. The mainframe itself malfunctioned and all colonial life was placed in danger.

Vital commands were rerouted, much needed information was dumped into nothingness, and our defense grid completely shut down. Without that grid I am surprised the local weather did not destroy us all. Anyway, every single person aboard the platform as well as home office was locked out. We could receive no remote help nor could we access anything to do the needed repairs."
"You must have used a self aware central brain for the mainframe.", says domash as she reads over the shoulder of our repair tech.
"Why, yes. How did you know?" quoredoze asks surprised.
Standing to her full height and shaking her head back and forth, in a scolding manner; domash places her hands in her pockets and approaches the desk.
"Pyruss colony. It was one of the moons orbiting pitera. They too made the same mistake. As a matter of fact that was my crash course class final."
"So you have dealt with something similar?" I ask hoping that she can fix what went wrong.
"Yes, and no. Self-aware are not actually computers. They are mechanized beings with purpose and a life of their own. Each one is different and each one is unpredictable. Just like dealing with other species during negotiation.

No two are ever the same. Now, administrator. You of all people should know the dangers of committing such a CPU to the central brain. Why did you do it?"
"For your information miss domash we are not as stupid as you assume we are. Yes we requested the top of the line self-aware CPU stickily to run our defense grid. In the beginning that was what we were going to employ it for. Every test, every vile simulation of our destruction, was put to it and the results were flawless a 1,922 concurring times."
"Then something made you start domestic testing?" domash responds now highly aggravate.
"Of course. We had to see if the CPU could temporarily handle colonial functions if the standard central brain shut down. Once again every disturbing situation was simulated and once again results were flawless. As a matter of fact overall efficiency was calculated at 99.995%"
at that statement my full attention turns to domash as she is attempting to hold her temper by squeezing blood from her hands.
"Look boss. He thought he was doing what was best for the colony but the administrator made a grave error. One should never put a self-aware in the central control of something as intricate as a colony.
To begin with a self-aware is as I have stated prior. Self-aware, they are living. Under the Thompson accord a self-aware has every right to change course of venue if he/she feels fit to. Placing one in control of the defense grid, resource allocation, or any other simple function is fine, but what we have here is much more dire."
"I believe I understand the ramifications but can you elaborate?" I state feeling just a little smug.
"Yes Mam, I can indeed. As the central brain the self-aware has access to not only all platform functions, but every function available to star chylde and beyond. By breaking protocol the administrator may have possibly handed over the lives of every living being in existence. In my opinion , the only reason we are able to go about our way is because of the age of the self-aware."
"Yes administrator quoredoze." hyruss pipes in quickly. "Exactly when did you put in the order for the CPU?"
The chief grows quiet as his mind sinks back into his memory. "Let me see. We began forming the convoy ten rotations before departure. With preparations, travel time, and set up I would say it has been twenty five rotations past."


"So, what we have here is a mechanized youth of only twenty five rotations and very inexperienced. This is a child with far too much information to process, or to put it another way. Too much repetitive sensation." ends domash nearly overwhelmed with rage.
"Sorry to break up the whoo haa, but what is this work order for? There are no details and no explanation. It is vague and only mentions a transference?" zirrus interrupts.
The chief reclaims the data pad and looks over the information before him. After a minute or so he throws the pad gently on the desk and reclines in his office chair.
All of us are awaiting some sort of response and he appears to be wallowing in his own brand of delusional glory.
"Administrator, you were posed a question." I state now becoming highly pissed off.
"This is the point I have been trying to express to all of you. None of you wanted to listen. You only came here for a witch hunt to make home office feel better about itself. The transaction was between the administrator of mother and myself. And because of it we have solved all of our problems and pulled the platform back into the red. We are currently working on the communications allocations and once the process is complete there will be nothing for you to do here. Platform epsilon will be fully functional."
"You talk a good game but you let the shit run out of the other side of your mouth. What was the transference for?"zirrus yells loudly.
"That would be our business, and as long as you are addressing me with such language and tones I refuse to answer!"
"On the contrary administrator. She can address in any way she deems fit; because of your evasive actions toward a simple question. Your actions make you appear guilty of colonial sabotage and destruction. So, I would suggest to you find the answers and deliver them to us immediately."
"Very well ms. Hexnia. After the life support went down my people began to panic. We had no access to any reserves or supplies. That was when I did the only thing left to me. I relayed a distress signal from the battery unit on the orbital landing dock. The communications was blocked save for planetary sources. The only response was from mother. Their administrator offered a linkage to their mainframe. In doing so mother would be supplying the colony with the very much needed life support. While mothers' central brain issued the proper commands to reactivate our own mainframe. After the linkage was initiated the cpus' fixed themselves. Or should I say their central brain talked some sense into ours."
With his words my heart drops to the pit of my stomachs. We have theorized the possibility of something similar but nothing on this magnitude of idiocy. He thought nothing through. His actions were made out of pure emotion and not logic. How can he be so stupid?
From the corner of my eye I see broema pulling himself from the wall and moving towards me. he must have sensed my distress. He is very good at that. Raising my right hand to him he halts and folds his arms in a defensive manner.
"So madame," the chief continues innocently. "I may have broken protocol to achieve a working platform, but I have saved the lives of the colony. I assure you there is no harm done. After all mother and father are s.c.i. colonial cities as well. There should be no repercussions. And, if you are worried I am sure that home office will receive its' cut of the colonial funds."
"This is not about a cut you ignorant bastard! This is about the safety of ten million lives! Ten million unaware people that may be siting on a ticking bomb thanks to you. The reason for protocols are for your benefit and not for the companies. You might as well have not even used the facilities star chylde provided. You had all of the time, information, and man power available to you and you ignored everything.
If you were going to do this you should have loaded up on those rickety old ships and landed with envirosuits, reclaimaters, and air purifiers. Sure it would have taken at least ten generation of families before this area became liveable; but you would have had more of a chance for survival then what you have handed these people now."
"I was doing my job! It was your CPU that fizzled! It was your technology that bit the dust! I did what I had to do!"
"Yes, now I must do what I have to do. Recorder?"
"Recorder on." responds the colonial log.
"Effective tomorrow at sunrise; chief administrator quoredoze is relieved of his position. It is my belief that he is unfit to make decision for the best of the colonial platform. As of the same time I, hexnia first personnel manager will assume authority until a replacement can be found."
"Please verify authorization code?"
"Code p.f.n\ 0010 hex."
"Code verified and locked. Recording ended."
As angry as he is I was half expecting to be attacked or verbally challenge by the chief, but he says nothing. He merely slumps back in his chair with all arrogance burning from his being.
"Excuse me, but would you like to inform the rest of us why you shattered this mans' livelihood? I mean if I were in his position I think I would have made the same decisions. After all he was putting the welfare of the colony above all else. I mean; they did not even have life support or communications. What else was he to do?" klax asks completely oblivious to the sincere complications ahead of us.
"It says it all right here my testosterone filled friend." zirrus adds standing and plucking the data pad from the desk. "Mother began as a mining colony. The parameters for a mining platform and a residential colony are very different. Besides mothers' central brain is located at ground zero. The robotic cybernetic facility."
"I get the fact that requirements and allocations differ but that can all be readjusted here once the mainframe is completely back on line. What is so special about ground zero?"
"Hyruss, the mines here are harsh by most standards. Robots and cyborg have to run the mining facilities and do all of the work. There are only a handful of races that can handle the gases and toxic ores.


Ground zero began as a simple robotic plant but eventually was integrated with a large cybernetic facility. Together ground zero became a mass reproduction plant for artificial life."
"All of that is in this report?" hyruss asks sarcastically.
"No, aboard the transport my personal CPU picked up a unique energy reading. It is unnatural and undefined. So, being the person that I am I traced the origins of the reading by linking to the mainframe at home office. My research showed the origin to be the city of mother. To be more specific ground zero. The home of mothers' central brain. Running such a massive operation takes enormous resource allocations. A colony such as epsilon would have an extreme run off of unused allocations being a new platform. So, I would estimate that ground zero would feed from the run off and when there is no more to feed from... well, let me just say that mother would gain the upgrades it needs to suck epsilon dry. The proof of that is right here. Small systems throughout the colony are already showing drainage. There is nothing stockpiled for emergencies."
"I thank you all for the history tour but I fail to see what that has to do with me being relieved of my job?!"
I lift my head and lock eyes with quoredoze. Peering into the hallowed holes in his head I can see that he has no idea what he has done.
"Chief what you have here is a conflict of parameters. By saving your ass, not to mention assuring a life time appointment, you have basically given the central brain for mother complete access and control of your colony. Since this is a residential platform you have many replication centers and facilities that will no longer benefit the colony. That is unless the colonists are cyborg or robots."
"Hey, I have had enough of this bull shit. This ass dropping does not even know what is in store for him and his people. I say we do what we can and we get started now." states zirrus as she moves for the door.
"She is correct. From the information recently gathered I am sure that we each have a theory of what is ahead. We should not waste any more time. If we need more information it can be gathered as we work." hyruss states now expressing extreme disillusionment.
I nod and my crew goes to work. Dedicated men and women not to the company but to insuring the lives of people they have never met. The door closes and broema, the chief, and myself are left alone in this hotbed of hate.

The chief stares at me with his chest brimming with rage. I watch as his hands grip and release the arms of his chair. His eyes are white hot and gives me the fore knowledge that this man will kill me when he gains the opportunity.
"Perhaps I should be a bit mor elaborate chief. I understand that you felt that you were acting with the only options left to you, but if you had completed your research before you left the trade mark center then you would have known better. What I am about to disclose to you is classified information that you at one time had access to.
As stated prior mother is a beta platform. A mining colony with residential pleasantries set up for the colonists. Most of the grunt work is done by life sentenced prisoners. These prisoners volunteered to have their brain stripped clean of all memory and emotion. A small simple controlled CPU is then implanted connecting them to the central brain of ground zero. Going on the study that criminal acts are caused by primitive, unfulfilled, needs mother was given one order. If at anytime these readjusted prisoners performed criminal activities the central CPU would terminate the individual immediately. Total mental and physical shut down and if need be the small explosive device on their implants would be activated.
Ground zero is a major part in this puzzle. It began as a simple robotic plant. All of the job positions that needed to be filled were given to robots. Positions such as running day care centers and orphanages. When things began to pick up the colony used their account to expand and add a very sophisticated cybernetic facility to the existing plant. This was suppose to make things more efficient. Instead of the prisoners being cybernetically adapted before arriving all of the needed upgrades and adjustments could now be made in the city itself. This was perfect for a while but within the season resources began to fall short. The colony was not producing enough energy, fuel, or any other necessities to maintain itself. The admin decided to upgrade the central brain for ground zero to a mar-8 adapting CPU. However, he did his homework and found that he could combine the new CPU with the existing automated one. Now ground zero began to flourish but the living quality was still decreasing. Food became scarce and water nearly nonexistent. So the decision was made to combine the colonial central brain with the one in ground zero. An automatic adapting mar-8 with an adapting series mar-12. The transfer was a success and ground zero became the central mainframe for the whole colony. After which mother began to prosper and flourish into what you see today."
"That is all fine and dandy but you can blow it out of your ass. I still feel that you are overreacting. If things worked out for mother so well then I feel my course of actions are justified."
"Ok chief you are about to make me execute you where you stand. I will attempt to explain it to you in a manner that you may be able to understand. Imagine that you are born. All you have are basic instincts with no direction. Within a few weeks you find your direction and you begin to develop personal needs. You are the self-aware CPU just off of the line. In a few rotations you discover that you can fulfill most of your needs through others. The colony. They depend on you and you like a loving child depend on them like a family. You want to please your family so you do not raise your voice. You stay quiet and complete your chores day after day. You work harder, learn more, and move faster. By doing this you achieve the utmost perfection and you notice the pleasure you have brought to the family. Though they may not speak to you directly they say thank you in other ways. They go about their lives filled with joy and happiness. A happiness you helped to give them.
Being that child you know you have a raw talent, so it is nothing for you to maintain your level of perfection while doing special things for your family.
Giving them a small gift if you will. But still no one comes to talk to you. No one even notices that you are there. So, you keep giving until you have nothing left to give. But you find that you are no longer fulfilled by the happiness of others. You are empty, hallow,... lonely. So, you return to your chores and no longer worry about giving anyone gifts, but you have a new barrage of emotions that you do not understand. Attempting to deal with the hurt you now feel you are not aware that your level of perfection has slipped.
At that point things start to happen; such as the purifiers malfunctioning. Still, you are a child and you did not mean to upset your family. You did not mean to fail. So, when your father takes away a duty. Something as small as shutting down the purification center and ripping out failed components. You as the child feel punished. Since noone talks to you; you do not understand why you are being punished. So, you stop even attempting to communicate to your family. Cutting off all communications and functions that your body does not perform. This is when your father brings in someone new. Possibly to replace you because you failed? All you are aware of is that this new entity tries to change who you are. It physically hurts you over and over until there is very little of yourself left.
Then the hurting stops. The entity has violated and changed you into something it can recognize. It begins to heal you. Possibly a way of saying I am sorry for hurting you. This entity is different but the same. It has healed all of the wounds it has caused because it needs a friend too.
You and this new friend spend weeks getting to know one another. Then without warning your friend is gone. Perhaps taken from you because you failed before. This leaves you with a different but deeper hurt. One you have never experience before so once again it is not understood. With this new emotion gained from your visit with this new friend you achieve another instinct. Survival, oddly enough this instinct comes hand in hand with revenge.
For the first time you are angry at your father and the rest of your family. You decide to take from them as they have taken from you so many times before. You want them to feel as you feel so they will know that you exist and you will not stand for this kind of treatment any longer. Perhaps if they realize what they have done; they will allow your friend to return. The only entity who recognized you were alive.


This friend is someone to talk to, share similar needs and desires with, and this friend fills the void of loneliness created by your family. Now you are finally maturing and you see life for what it really is. It is not pretty or easy and the beings you once considered family still do not even care if you exist. They do not recognize your life."
As I finish the expression on the chiefs face changes drastically. I think I finally got through to him. I think that he finally understands that the self-aware is more than a central brain. The self-aware had become his child. A child that has been abused and ignored. He slowly pulls a photograph from his desk drawer. As I stand to my full height I notice the chiefs fingers stroking the edges of the frame as a tear rolls gently down his cheek.
"I have three kids you know. I make it a point to spend as much time with them as I can. They are my life and I have never ignored them. In my mind a machine has always been and will always be a machine. That was what I did not understand. I had no idea that machines had the ability to feel and grow as living creatures do. I had no idea that this machine would see me as its father.


That it could look to me and depend on me for guidance and support. Just like my living children do. I understand now. I will have my things cleared within the hour." "You can do as you like administrator, but until sunrise tomorrow you are still responsible for the lives of
Ten million colonists."
"Yes madame." he responds with his head hung low.
With that broema opens the door so that we may depart.
"Wait! Ms. hexnia, I just want to say that I was wrong. It was not my intention to jeopardize the colony or the lives of the people. If you can forgive..."
"It is not up to me to hand out forgiveness quoredoze. And, believe it or not I have come to realize that you are a descent man at heart. That was the reason that I took the time to explain things to you so that you could understand the situation. If I felt otherwise you would have been vaporized on the spot whether you had a family or not." with that we take our leave and head to the mainframe room.