Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 13: An Absolute Stillness

Art by R.E.

Previous Chapter 12: Cheap Shot: https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2023/04/25/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-12-cheap-shot/

Rather than squat, as usual, Yoshi knelt in Engineering by one of the impulse reactor drives.  He had spread his arms wide, his fingers splayed with just the fingertips touching the surface of the drive chamber,  like two five-legged spiders, holding itself down on the floor. Their head was turned with their ear pressed against the drive’s metal surface. With eyes closed, they had been like this for an hour. 

Chief Freihoff floated nearby, wondering what Yoshi was doing. Yoshi remained motionless. Moving right up close, Freihoff could not detect any breathing. But the color of their face was good, reassuring Freihoff that Yoshi’s tissue was getting good oxygenation. 

Captain Maureau entered Engineering. “Chief. We are up to over one point five million kilometers per hour. How long should we hold our speed there?” He noticed Yoshi and stopped. “What is Yoshi doing?”

“I really don’t know, Captain. I have an idea, but I don’t want to interrupt him to ask while he is monitoring the shield.”

“You’ve never seen anything like this?” Maureau carefully floated by the cables running into Yoshi and leaned in to look at Yoshi’s face. Yoshi continued to maintain stillness, eyes remaining closed. Maureau looked at the cable that hardwired Yoshi into the ship’s mainframe system. “Obviously sensing the drive. But doesn’t Yoshi already have all the metrics it needs from our system monitors?”

“I think it’s something like his monitoring of our physical metrics when he pushes acceleration G’s,” Freihoff said. “Yoshi’s told me that all the input from the individual crew members is integrated into a single sensory measurement for the entire ship, not just for the sum of individuals. Similarly, right now, I think he is using his sense of hearing and touch to get some enhanced understanding of how the drive is doing generating the shield field.”

“I’m concerned, Chief. Now that we are up to one point five million, can the drive core maintain this shielding?”

“They’re not working hard. The cores are smoothly diverting power into the shields.”

“You should see what the dome of the forward shield looks like from the bridge,” Maureau said.  “Looking forward is like looking directly into the sun. You have to look away. It’s not just a glow, it’s got the brightness of a ball of lightning.”

“Yoshi told me he would monitor how much material and radiation gets through to the ship. So far, the occasional proton that gets through the shield has been slowed to a harmless velocity by the time it reaches our hull.”

A young star-sailor engineer stepped up behind Freihoff, beaming. “Captain, no ship in Star Force has ever reached, much less maintained this speed! We will set every speed record there is.”

“I know,” the Chief said. “We are only forty-two hours out and nearly a third of the way to Mars. A transit in five earth cycles. Unbelievable. There should be plenty of time for Senator Mitchell to meet with the Emissaries before they are scheduled to leave Mars through the Portal.”

Yoshi opened their eyes. The biodroid pilot took their fingers off the drive. “Yoshi has determined the probability of there being a problem with the drive and shield, while not sensing via audio and tactile sensors, is ten to the negative twelfth power. Is that an acceptably low probability?”

“Yes,” Maureau said. “Is that a joke, Yoshi?”

“No, that is not a joke. Yoshi was confident you would accept that probability. You did not order the multi-sensory monitoring in the first place. Some decisions are made with a higher probability of failure. Chief Freihoff has encoded Yoshi with the instruction to report the probability of adverse events when making a decision. That instruction does not include navigation decisions that must be made in nanoseconds.”

“What are you doing using hearing and touch to monitor the drives? Can’t you monitor digital sound profiles and pressure waves.” Freihoff said. Yoshi looked at the three men, back and forth between them. “You look like you are unable to answer that.”

“No, Chief Freihoff, Yoshi is working for the best answer. It will arrive momentarily.”

“Answer the question,” Freihoff said softly. “We want to know why you were listening and feeling the drive column with your, ah, humanoid organs.”

“Navigating space is more than just mathematical measurements. It is necessary for a BDP to feel the ship, especially feel how the drive is handling the stress.”

Maureau was perplexed. “But Yoshi, you have numerous digital sensors that pick up so much more than anything Freihoff could discern if he was listening to the drives like you were.” 

“Freihoff cannot integrate his senses with the data that the BDP has from the ship.” Yoshi looked expectant.

Maureau looked at him skeptically. “Yoshi is very different from anything in our manuals,” Freihoff said. “Why did it take you so long to come up with an answer?” 

“Yoshi is not supposed to feel things. BDP’s do not feel. Your BDP is saying they are getting an all encompassing feel for the ship. When integrated into the ship’s system, the ship becomes Yoshi, and Yoshi becomes the ship. It is impossible to explain it better than that.”

“Are you saying your feelings are more than just sensory perceptions that can be analyzed like all the other data being monitored?” Maureau said. “We describe emotions as feelings. Do you assess the sensory data as emotional?”

“The synthesis of all the sensory data, both from the ship, and from this organic platform, with its human sensory system, produces more than an analysis of data. It results in a higher level of output.”

“And when your body is ill?” the star-sailor said.

“You should know a biodroid pilot will shut off the organic input into the computer system and disappear into the ship,” Yoshi said. “But remember, the strength of a biodroid is in the organic neural networks it contributes to the mainframe. That is why a Star Force ship is using cloned biodroids. You lose some computing power when Yoshi is physically ill.” 

“Freihoff. You need to explore this,” Maureau said. “Find out what the other ships are experiencing with this new model of droid.”

Freihoff, Maureau, and the star-sailor just stared at Yoshi. 

Freihoff finally said, “So, Yoshi, how is the drive core ‘feeling’ about our pushing through space at this speed?”

Yoshi processed his response. “Things are good. There is capacity to safely go faster than London is going now with the shields continuing to protect the ship. Captain. Chief. Johnson. The London could safely maintain a speed double its current speed. The London needs to accelerate above one point five million kilometers per hour if it is to arrive in less than five Terran cycles. ”

“That is good to hear. Work this out with Navigation,” Maureau said. “I want to hold at our current one point five for two hours. The two hour burn we just gave the crew was nice. A five cycle transit gives us two  cycles to work with the Emissaries. If we cannot influence them in two cycles, we probably are not going to influence them.”

Maureau left Engineering troubled. He recalled Yoshi’s maneuvering of the London that resulted in Captain Plotkin getting sick. That seemed to Maureau to have an element of independent defiance operant in the BDP. 

I fear there is a downside risk to his human-like, sensory feelings that they describe as being more than additional input for data analysis. I wonder if there is a way of shutting this independence down without losing the special functioning Yoshi has. 

__________

Maureau returned to the bridge to await Commander Gray’s arrival to relieve him from the watch. On arriving, he asked the Action Information Center to monitor Yoshi closely. But if he is the system, how can we know what he is allowing us to see?

Gray’s wet hair attested to a recent workout and shower. She exuded a sense of dominance, apparently quite invigorated by her workout.

“That was a nice beak from weightlessness,” she said.

“We got up to one point five. Million. Per hour with that burn. You’re looking quite pleased with yourself,” Maureau said.

“Lieutenant Song and me just sparred and I showed her that Marine training is better than Ranger training.”

He flinched inside with Gray’s emphasis on the title of “lieutenant.”

“Oh? What did you use?”

“We used quarter staffs without protective equipment.”

“That was aggressive of you two,” Maureau said. He wanted to launch into her, tell her, as XO, she was tasked with caring for her crew, not beating on them. He kept silent, wanting to avoid a comment that appeared protective of Song.

“You have the watch, Commander.” 

Just as he was about to slide down the ladder near the center of the bridge, the Systems officer called out, “Systems reporting. Something is running in the background beyond our normal needs. It  is close to overloading the system.”

“Well, Systems. What is it?” Gray demanded.

“I don’t know, Ma’am. I can’t identify any of the ship’s programs running anything we usually run. It may be a virus. We need to cut some of our operations.”

Maureau paused above the hatch, studying his bridge. Everyone was hyper-alert. He forced himself not to make a recommendation. After all, he was off watch and the ship was under his XO.

“Navigation, what are you running?” Gray said.

“Navigation reporting. We are not running anything. Our BDP has the ship on autopilot.”

Gray called out to Engineering, “Freihoff! Report. What are you doing that would take system resources.” Commander Gray turned to the Systems officer. “Keep looking!”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Freihoff reporting. I presume this is Commander Gray. Impulse rockets on hold. Cores are running cool. Yoshi has been monitoring them closely. Right now, Yoshi himself appears to have shut down. I will check on him.” Maureau thought Freihoff had exaggerated his “no-problem” drawl.”  

“We have a problem here, Freihoff. Our system is at capacity and we can’t account for it!” Gray shouted.

“This is Systems reporting. We are at maximum activity. The system’s temperature is holding at an acceptable level. There is no fluctuation of usage, like you would expect. It’s just stuck at maximum.”

“Turn off long range sensors.  AIC, are any of your targeting systems running?”

“AIC reporting. Targeting systems are on hold. Only thing we got going is enhanced active radio projection.” 

“Turn off that enhanced operation.” Gray waited a half minute. “Systems, is that helping?”

“No, Ma’am. We are maintaining maximum utilization.”

“This is AIC. We are having trouble gaining control of the active radio projection. The BDP is using it.”

“Damn that BDP. How can it not release the sensors to our Systems control?” Gray was hot.

Maureau could not keep from saying something. “Commander Gray. May I recommend you find out what our BDP is doing right now?,” he said in a drawl that outdid any drawl Song or Freihoff generated, even at their most laid-back state. He caught himself. Why did her intensity draw out a calm, laid back response? “Freihoff told us he was looking into Yoshi’s state. We need to find out what he finds out.”

Gray ignored Maureau, but said, “Freihoff, what have you found out about the BDP?” They waited. “Systems, project your usage onto the main screen.” The graph looked stuck at the maximum level, without any fluctuation.  

“Yoshi’s more than awake now. He’s been doing an enhanced, long range, imaging scan and appears hyper-alert. He says, ‘don’t worry about the system usage. He is the system. Hejust unplugged and left Engineering. He’s quite excited and is coming to the bridge.”

“He needs to tell us what he is doing before coming to the bridge!” Gray shouted. “I have not requested the BDP to the bridge.” She looked at Maureau. “I’ve got this, Captain.”

He stepped away from the hatch and pushedback towards the central holographic display on the bridge. Without saying anything, he made it clear to Gray that he had taken back the bridge. 

“It’s my command, Commander Gray. Thank you. I want to know what Yoshi has been up to. Freihoff, Yoshi unplugged?”

“Yes, Sir. He just did it on his own and now is wireless. He did not wait for an order.”

“How do you use up all of the processing capacity doing an active scan?” Akhtar-Gatewood said. 

Maureau and Gray waited expectantly for Yoshi. Gray clenched her lips and said nothing.  Maureau could see she was upset that he had stepped in to take command. I’m sure she wants to order Yoshi back to Engineering. There’s a reason it is coming up to the bridge. But excitement in a BDP? Oh, do we have to get a hold on his functioning.

They both grabbed the railing around the central display which suddenly flashed a holographic image of the position of the ship and its path towards Mars. No other image shown. The surrounding space had a fine haze which shifted and whorled in places, like the subtle movement of fog.  They had never seen a display like this.

While studying the display, Yoshi suddenly popped through the hatch from below. They were spinning and did two flips before landing feet first on the deck above, cushioning their contact with bent knees. They then gently pushed off to float down to the upright deck with one flip landing between them and grabbed Gray’s leg to keep from bouncing away. Yoshi held his bicorn hat and firmly placed it on his head.

Gray looked unsure of herself until Maureau nodded to her. “London BDP. What are you doing with the computer system? We run the risk of failure.”

“Lieutenant Commander Gray. The London’s Biodroid Pilot has been named Yoshi.” Yoshi emphasized “lieutenant.”

“And I will be addressed as Commander Gray. Enter that into your circuits.”

“All of the capacity of the system is being used to scan ahead and optimize the route of the London. Adjustments are being made to avoid some of the more dense space debris. This display you are viewing is a schematic showing the relative density of the space gasses and debris. By steering clear of some areas, less stress is put on the shields.”

“Is that necessary to project so far ahead? No ship I know uses this navigational method.”

“Commander. No Star Force ship has maintained the speed the London is maintaining.”

“If you back off and free up some of the system, will you still have the ability to navigate around the denser areas?”

“Yes. This could safely be done, but more rapid adjustments would be needed, causing noticeable fluctuations in our gravitational forces, for the crew and, especially, Senator Mitchell.”

“I believe you should free up some capacity for us. That is an order,” Gray insisted. “Give back some of the systems’ capacity. Systems. Report to me, to us, when there is some free capacity.”

“Systems report. There has been a three percent backoff.”

“Give us at least ten percent back. That’s an order.” Gray said.

“Systems report. Utilization is up to one hundred percent.”

“Yoshi, that was an order!” Gray nearly shouted.

“Yes, Commander. I acknowledge your order, but there is new information to consider. That is why Yoshi came to the bridge. There has been detection of an anomaly and the scan range has been shortened but intensified at the same time,” Yoshi said as he floated into the holographic display, peering intently at a spot about one meter away from the point that represented the London. He floated up towards the ceiling deck, pointing at something Maureau could not appreciate. Yoshi bounced off the deck above, and pushed off to dart back down to the rail. 

The holographic display rotated with the London contracting into a point of light. The imaging of the interplanetary space expanded. Now the display looked to be nothing more than magnified swirls of fog.

“Commander. Captain. Look at this point.” Yoshi hooked his feet onto the rail to prevent drifting away and leaned into the display. He pointed at a point that looked no different than the rest of the roiling clouds. The holographic image became increasingly homogenous. 

“Yoshi is focussing in so you can see what is being detected.” He held out a finger and rotated the scan so that his finger touched a black line. That is all they could see. The entire bridge was staring at Yoshi. 

“What are you detecting? I see nothing,” Gray said.

Yoshi continued to expand the image until a fixed, black hole was evident in the holographic image. It clearly stood out from the homogenous haze around it. “This is a stationary phase hole, five kilometers in diameter at nine million kilometers distance. It is not drifting with our galaxy. Yoshi will call it a ‘nil-void’. There is nothing there. No gravitational field. No dark energy matrix. No interplanetary debris. It is an absolute stillness in space.”

“Commander. AIC reporting. We found the source of thirty percent of the memory use. The London is doing a deep gamma ray scan and the detector data is being processed by the BDP.”

“I did not order this kind of scan,” Gray said. 

Yoshi responded, “It is part of the enhanced acceleration procedure Yoshi is providing London.”  

“But gamma rays! For what purpose?” Gray looked incredulous. 

“To be able to find anomalies in the matrix of space, like the one just found.”

“Engineering,” Gray commanded sharply. “This is your XO. Chief Freihoff to the bridge.” 

Maureau wondered why Gray wanted the Chief on the bridge. She keeps discounting Yoshi. 

“Yoshi, what is the significance of this finding?” Maureau said. “I do not know what a ‘nil-void’ is.” 

Yoshi said to him quietly, almost in a whisper, “It is a tear in the universe. Part of another universe is intruding into this one.”

Gray overheard and laughed. “You detect an object five kilometers wide at a distance of nine million kilometers? We don’t have the capability to sense something that small at that distance.”

“The London is capable of doing this.” Yoshi flipped his feet so that he pulled himself out of the holographic projection back to the railing. He settled down on the deck again between Gray and Maureau grabbing Gray’s leg to prevent scooting past her.

“I’d like you to generate the margin of error on this finding,” Gray said, stopping her laugh and shaking her leg.

The bridge fell into a stillness and waited for Maureau to intervene. He just stared at Yoshi. The stillness was broken when Chief Freihoff floated up to the bridge. “Commander Gray,” he said with a smile. He seemed ebullient. “We are setting a record in our transit to Mars. No Star Force ship will get close to what we are accomplishing..”

“We have a problem with our BDP. This biodroid is out of control,” she said. Chief Freihoff frowned and looked at Yoshi. “Freihoff, do you know what the BDP is doing with the ship?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I do. Yoshi has accelerated us beyond one point five million kilometers per hour while maintaining the shields at a high enough level to protect us.  All the while, he is not stressing our drive or our crew. This is near magic.”

Maureau cleared his throat. “He is running the computer system at full capacity without reserve for our operational systems and he has generated gamma rays for a scan of the space ahead of the ship.”

“As Yoshi said to me, he is the ship’s system. Whatever he is doing is done to support the order we gave him, to get us to Mars as fast as he can. Commander, I have not forbidden him from doing these things.”

“Do you know how he’s doing this, or why? In fact, did you even know he was doing this,” Gray said.

“Frankly, I’m studying what he is doing with the drives in amazement. The engineering is beyond what Star Force uses. I don’t completely understand it. I admit I did not know about the use of gamma ray energy in his scans and sensory operations. But, may I speak frankly?” 

Maureau nodded to Freihoff. “Every time we allow Yoshi to upload into the ship, we are completely trusting him to take care of the London and our safety. With his operations, he is doing things before we know what they are.”

Yoshi mirrored Freihoff’s frown. It made him break into a laugh, which he quickly cut off. They all followed his look to Yoshi who instantly removed his frown, before Maureau and Gray could see it. 

“Commander Madelaine Gray,” Yoshi said firmly. “The scan of the anomaly will terminate with a cutback in the gamma ray scanning. It will be lost from London’s monitoring. With this updated information, do you still want Yoshi to proceed with freeing up the system to the point we lose the anomaly?”

“How far away is it, in transit time?” Maureau interjected. “If we explore it, how much time will be added to our transit?”

“It is four point five hours away maintaining current speed. Yoshi can decelerate to an exploratory speed over six hours. Diverting course to the anomaly will add at least six hours to London’s transit time to the Mars Portal, depending on how much time the London stays to observe the nil-void.  

“No one knows what a ‘nil-void’ is,” Maureau said, looking at Ahktar-Gatewood and Freihoff. “We should examine it closely. Slow the ship down as much as you can so our flyby allows us to optimally scan the phenomenon. Yoshi, maintain your scanning as needed to get us there, but do free up some reserve for our system. Use only what needed to maintain a fix on this, ‘nil-void.’”

The London went intoa Red Status and started a steady deceleration that called for use of g-suits. The increased gravitational forces were constant for hours. Maureau stayed on the bridge for the first three hours. As they approached the nil-void, it slowly contracted. At hour three, it was four kilometers in diameter.

They tried to call Alpha One Base to report their deviation in course and the finding of the anomaly.  There was no response. Communications reported the anomaly was interfering with their outgoing radio signal. 

Maureau was about to fall asleep after the first three hours of watching their progress towards the nil-void. He needed to get some rest. “It’s your bridge again, Commander. Inform me of any changes.”

Before leaving the bridge he called Engineering.  Freihoff, work with Yoshi and try to figure out what it means for us to fly towards a ‘nil-void.’ Is this radio interference going to disappear as the hole continues to contract. What are the risks? We don’t want to be drawn through a hole into another universe.”