Gabatrix: Minerva

Jordy, Frank Nordhaus, Quintin Martin, and Nightsound for their generous donations

And of course, the other patron supporters for allowing me to write and supporting the universe that I write. :)

Copyright 2020

The starship consisted of a long grayish tube that connected to several modules. On the bow section, it consisted of a large hangar bay. The bow also seemed to carry a series of launchers that connected near a large series of antennas. As you travel down the ship, you can see a series of vectoring thrusters to help the ship maintain orbit and direction. There were a couple of turreted guns that lined up to two doors that lined on both sides of the ship. As we proceed further to the center of the ship, we can see a description plate on the side of the hull. Written in both English and Chinese, the name “UHN Tyson” was written along with the registry number “RS-28” underneath the name.

The center of the ship consisted of an almost internal bridge on both the dorsal and ventral sides. On the dorsal section (top) of the ship was a large radar dish, possibly advanced scanning equipment for the time. On the ventral (the bottom) was another massive sensor array. On the starboard and port sides were four forward-mounted thrusters to help ensure that the vessel could stop or move in reverse. This would connect to more vectoring thrusters to help the ship move around.

As we proceed to near the stern (aft) of the UHN Tyson, you can see two large rotating rings. There were no noticeable windows of any kind, but it seemed to be a place where the crew and staff worked. Both rings spun at the same speed. It almost tripled the height of the ship alone, but it seemed to be a necessity for whoever was living in it. The twin rotating rings seemed to be the highlight of the ship.

When we finally reach the end of the ship, we can see an engine module and a power module that connects to the central structure where the centripetal rings spun. The engine module was really just the rear-mounted thrusters for the science vessel. There were lights throughout the ship that illuminated it. It orbited Europa with ease. Much like Jupiter orbiting the sun, the UHN Tyson orbited Jupiter’s moon.

It is here that we zoom into one of the rotating centripetal force rings of the ship. Inside the spinning ring was a series of interior rooms sheltered from the radiation of space around it. Inside the rotating rings was a series of rooms where humans operated in a comfortable pressurized environment. It is this that we focus on a human being by the name of Ericson that was sitting behind a display computer. One hand was pressed to the terminal while another one was at his chin. On a ship that had no way to generate gravity, it was obvious that the humans had found a way to bend that rule only in the very slightest. Even by this time, the ship had only one way to generate gravity as it orbited Europa, and that was to use centripetal force. By spinning the rings, the occupants like Ericson would feel a continuous force be applied to them. Their bodies would feel a sense of gravity more so than Mars ever did. Failure to generate gravity for ships operating for this long in space would mean that the crew would start to suffer from serious side effects in the long road.

Ericson’s lab consisted of a large square room. Besides the door that led to the hallway, the room had numerous displays on each wall. One display behind him depicted the image of Jupiter and Europa, where his ship orbited. A second display on another wall showed a series of listed subroutines. The computer coding seemed to show that he was busy doing something.

“Hmmm…..if I add these two…….no…….that won’t work,” Ericson said out loud. He sighed deeply. He seemed to be agitated but exhausted. He stopped for a second to look at himself.

Ericson had a pale complexion. He had short brown hair and a stubby beard. He wore a white, almost skintight lab coat. His pants were also white, soft, and partially skintight as well. On his feet were the typical Nisex MC-10 magnetic shoes that he had to wear.

“Nah…..no……that won’t work either,” he said as he looked at the display in front of him. He turned his attention to the side. His eyes looked at the large display screen beside the other one that displayed Jupiter and Europa.

There were numerous algorithms and subroutines. The coding that he saw was enormous. He walked up to the display, looking at it very carefully. His hands were away from the keyboard that was mounted on the table. He then pressed his right hand to his left wrist. A new display screen appeared from his arm. As a projection, he could see a new keyboard appear that his right hand could interface. It showed what the display screen was showing, and it allowed him to control what was on the large screen itself. The coding was displayed to him as his right hand pulled up one of the subroutines for him to get a closer look.

“Hmmm…..there is another one,” he said as he pressed his finger to the coding in front of him. The subroutine was zoomed in, and he looked at it closely. He then moved his left arm around as the projection moved with him. “So many errors……”

He then went to the keyboard display and tapped the projection to allow him to alter the coding. The words and numbers highlighted, and he began to type in a new series of codings to the original one. He then looked at the large screen, and he nodded. He went and then scratched his beard as he kept his mind at focus.

“Even one of the best can have his challenges,” he said to himself again. “If only humanity truly knew what I was doing. They would flip out.”

He pressed his right finger to his left wrist as the projection from his arm faded. He then crossed his arms and looked at the large display screen. He saw the corrected algorithm, and he simply nodded. It was one of the millions, if not billions that he was working to fix.

“Soon, my friend…..soon,” he said.

Ericson turned his head to look back at the display of Jupiter and Europa. It was his center of peace. The solar system was mostly barren, but looking at the gas giant and its moon where life could exist provided a sense of calm and ease for him. Even if life didn’t exist on Europa, it was like looking at two skyscrapers in a vast desert of nothingness. To him, it was life that he was looking at. Chemical reactions, movements of gas particles, and gravity in action helped keep his mind sane in a quiet environment. It also allowed him to think.

There were no windows to look out from inside a spinning rotational ring that generated gravity for the crew of the UHN Tyson. Your entire world was spinning over and over again. If one peered out the window, they would get sick and throw up. Instead, the camera outside the ship was continually focused on what he wanted to look towards. Only the orbit of Europa would alter the view. For now, it was perfect. Like watching a sunset on Mars or Earth, Jupiter was practically the sun of Europa. 

“Fitting that they call this Project Minerva,” he said out loud. “The daughter of Jupiter.”

Ericson was getting tired. He had been doing this consistently for nine hours straight. He sighed as he put his hand to his head.

There was a sound from the entrance to the room he was located. The door had slid open with the calmest and quietest action to reveal a man that was looking at Ericson. Even with the well-placed lighting and artificial lab that he was in, he could hear the footsteps and knew who it was. A familiar person had entered the room, and he turned to look at him.

“I would have guessed that you were in this room,” his friend responded to him in a thick African accent. The man was taller than him, and his skin had a dark complexion from the planet he was born. He wore the same type of uniform as he did but it also had a series of Velcro-type pockets where his various instruments and tools lay. His uniform had a slightly different color, however, as it displayed red coloration to help the others depict his role on the ship.

“How are you, Jabr?” Ericson asked him as he turned his head to look at him.

“Better than you look,” Jabr replied back to him with a smile. “You look like you have been working for three days straight.

Ericson shook his head and sighed. He displayed some annoyance in his face. “You have no idea. I am so close to perfecting it, but the Artificial Intelligence is still not responding to me,” he told him. “Three years of working on this, and now UWA Research is telling me to hurry up.”

Jabr put his hands to his hips as he looked at the display. He walked around the bed in the center of the room. His eyes went to the large black box where it rested on the table that Ericson stood near. The box had a solid black color and was the size of an old computer desktop that Jabr had seen in the Earth museum on Mars. Unlike those old desktops, this one was far more powerful than any of those computers. Three hundred years of advancement in technology were more than enough to show where computers had become. Quantum computers were able to process information instantly, and the amount of data that could be stored inside the hard drives made those desktops utterly obsolete. If anything, what Jabr was looking at was a large and powerful computer that Ericson had. This would hold the databanks necessary to power and operate the project that he was working on.

“Perhaps you need to have a break and get something to eat,” Jabr told him. “You need to clear your mind and come back to this.”

“Ugh……” Ericson replied to him as he put his hands to his face. “I think you are right. I feel like I fix one subroutine and there are thousands more in its place.”

“Making an AI is not easy, my friend. Come and let’s go get something to eat.”

Ericson got the hint. He took a deep breath and nodded to him. “Yeah….let’s go.”

He went and pressed his hand to his left arm. He activated the projection and keyed in the code to shut off the computer. Instantly the black box shut off, and the large display in the background went dark. He walked up to him as Jabr patted him on the shoulder. The two left the computer lab as the doors closed behind them.

In the hallway, the two men walked side by side. There was another room on the other side of the computer lab. Living on a centripetal rotating ring was a simple and unique experience for those that lived on a planet. Your entire world was designed where if you walk forward, you will eventually find yourself back in the same spot in a matter of minutes. The hallway was slightly curved upward. The spinning motion could not be seen by the crew, but the rotation was what was keeping everyone planted firmly on the ground. If the ring stopped rotating, you would find yourself flying forward and floating in the air. It was this that all the crew required wearing magnetic shoes or magnetic boots. If the artificial gravity had failed, then the shoes would click on and prevent the crew from floating in zero gravity.

“So, when is your wife coming back?” Ericson asked Jabr as they proceeded to walk down the hallway.

“Akari already came back,” Jabr replied. The Gray Whale returned from Europa an hour ago. “I just finished up my shift to check up on how you are doing.”

“Are you happy with the change in shift?”

“Absolutely. Why else do you think I have this big smile?”Jabr said as he showed a broad grin on his face. “They listened to my pleas and they granted it. I wanted to be with my wife more often and the shift in work schedule will allow us to have a lot of recreational time.”

The location that they were heading to was actually straight up above them, but since they were walking in a ring, it would mean that by going straight forward, they would be going to their destination. They continued to walk down the hallway. They would walk past doors that led to the various rooms and labs on the ring. Restrooms, living quarters, recreational areas, labs, tool shops, offices, and more dotted the hallway.

Ericson simply smirked a little bit as they walked. He didn’t share the same sentiment, but he seemed happy for his friend. “I am glad of the news, Jabr,” he told him.

“You need a girlfriend,” Jabr replied back. “You are working yourself too hard, and there are some single people on this ship.”

“You know that I am married to my work. There isn’t anyone out there for me. Nobody shares the same desire in computer engineering like I do. I am the best that the UWA offers. Any woman I meet would just give me a blank stare and walk away.”

“Come on, Ericson,” Jabr practically chuckled at him. “You should meet my wife’s sister. She shares some desires in computer engineering.”

“You mean sisters,” he corrected him. “What is it? Ten? She has a lot of sisters and only one brother. How that mother of hers managed to pop out so many kids amazes me, especially at a time when the human race is still struggling to restore the numbers from long ago.”

They walked past a long ladder and tube. This long passageway tube would lead to the center of the spinning ring and the hallway of the interior of the ship. By exiting the ring, the two would be in zero gravity, but there was more to the vessel beyond the ring. It was not precisely on Ericson’s mind, though, as they were getting close to the cafeteria. The simple journey of walking forward led them to where they needed to be.

They reached their destination. Written in both English and Chinese, the words “Cafeteria CPR C-2” was displayed in the plaque on the door. It slid open for them to reveal the food hall. They walked through the open door as it closed behind them. The room itself was not very big. It consisted of three tables where one crew member was eating and watching the display to the left of her. Ericson already knew this person, but she was just another scientist on the ship. The cushioned seats connected to a mounted frame on the ship. Everything had to be mounted down to ensure that nothing floated away. Even the utensils that the woman was eating from had to be partially magnetic to ensure that they stuck to the table to prevent them from floating away if the ring shut down. In reality, everything had some form of an ability to stick to something to prevent them from floating around.

The cafeteria was simple in design. If anything, it had the same color as Ericson’s lab. It was an artificial construct, after all. The place consisted of a food alcove. Dried foods were placed on enclosed containers for the crew to eat. Drink dispensers with enclosed canteens were available for the crew to drink. Metal trays were available next to it. There was a place to dispose of food in an enclosing bin. The room itself was a pale color, but there were paintings that lined the walls. Each table had a different color to it. One side even had an overhead display.

“Hmm…..I think I will have green beans and tofu,” Ericson said as he walked up to the counter and pulled out the tray. He grabbed the utensils and plate and proceeded to get his food.

“I heard that they are planning on shipping Cevans to the ship in the next shipment to us,” Jabr commented as he grabbed a tray and began to browse what he wanted for dinner.

“Those fish from Cebravis?” Ericson questioned as he gave him a questioning look. “I never had them before.”

“I had them, and they are quite good. I am happy that the ship is finally going to get a chance to eat some more. They are better than most of the fish on Oshun.”

“And that is coming from a person that was born from a watery world,” Ericson said as he placed the tray into the quick heater. He pressed the button, and the lasers inside focused on the food that he wanted to heat up. It was fast as the machine heated his meal and gave a digital ping to let him know it was done. The device deactivated, and he was able to reach in and pull out his tray. Both the green beans and tofu were heated up.

“What can I say,” Jabr said. “Oshun, we have many things. Our fish is good, the wildlife tastes great, but some things can’t be beaten. Cebravis seems to have good fish.”

“If you would call it that,” Ericson said as he waited for Jabr to pick out his meal. He went and grabbed a canteen of soda and looked at the blue table. It was closest to the digital display mounted overhead on the wall. “Seems that everyone likes Cebravis. Everything I hear is Cebravis this and Cebravis that. No wonder Mars is becoming a ghost planet.”

“It is a world very much like Earth was,” Jabr said as he placed his tray to the heater. He pressed a button, and the lasers went to work immediately on his food. It pinged to let him know it was done. “We came from Earth, we did Earth-like things, and Cebravis is as close to that planet as it will ever be, if not more.”

“Yeah, and hopefully, they won’t treat it like they did either. Look what we did to that planet. It is nothing but a gray and orange landscape now. At this rate, we will make Cebravis look that in no time.”

Jabr went and grabbed his tray and drink. He went and grabbed a canteen of water as they walked to the table. “Don’t be so harsh, my friend. We will never turn Cebravis into Earth. Even Mars never shared that fate.”

“That is because we are still terraforming it. It was nothing but a wasteland when we colonized it. I am surprised more people didn’t die from the exodus than it did.”

“You have been overworking yourself a lot, haven’t you?” Jabr said as they had a seat. They looked across from each other on the table as they placed their trays and canteens down. They went and grabbed their utensils as they started to eat.

“Yeah, I have. This is the part where you are going to tell me that I am being pragmatic aren’t you?”

“You took the words out of my mouth, but that is alright, my friend. You have been working on that AI project for so long that it has become your religion.”

Ericson grabbed his fork as he began to take a bite full of tofu and started to eat it. His eyes went to the display screen. It depicted the news media being displayed from Mars. Connected to the UWA Galaxy Net (UWAN), the 24th century had a new form of internet that allowed ships, planets, and stations to see news currently going around from solar system to solar system. The UHN Tyson, just like all the ships, had access to this system that allowed the convenience of keeping up with the news, send emails to everyone regardless of location, surf the net, phone talk, or communicate with others. The apparent exception to this was if there was equipment failure or something celestial that was occurring to create interference.

“That display is on mute,” Jabr commented as he was eating. His eyes were fixated on the display screen. “The news is on.”

Ericson had just gotten a bite to eat when he pressed his finger to his left arm. A display screen popped up over his arm. He could see the TV controls displayed in the air. Jabr could watch the scene like it was mundane. Ericson used his right hand to disengage the mute of the TV. He then tapped his wrist to shut down his arm display before resuming his eating again.

The TV display returned to normal volume levels. As Jabr had noted, the TV was currently displaying a news broadcast. A news lady that had red-dyed hair and wore a fancy red dress was presently sitting behind her desk reading off the news. Beside her was a screen that depicted the events that she was describing. This would include recordings or live events going on.

“You always know it’s the Martian fad with red,” Ericson replied as he looked at the news lady on TV.

“Shush…..” Jabr said. “I haven’t been keeping up with the news today. I need to know what is happening with our hostile aliens.”

“Yeah…..” Ericson replied. He resumed his eating as his mind was focused on the so-called alien race discovered. It hit the UWAN like a wildfire. The United Human Navy or UHN was in an uproar and panic at what had happened. It sent chills through some people once they heard the news. The fact was that this was something that couldn’t be shut up. There was alien life out there, and humanity finally found it. He looked at the screen to see the name “Chenguang” written for the news lady. The Martian woman was obviously descended from China from her apparent looks. She had a pale complexion to her. Her accent was also faintly Chinese as well. The volume filled the mess hall as they listened and ate.

“Today on the news, Batrice has received a new order for additional warships to be produced from their shipyards. Batrice, as you may already know, is the second most important shipyard facilities available for the UHN. With the threat of the aliens and what they pose to the human race, the chairman for the UWA has placed an emergency resolution that all shipyard facilities to start construction of new Battleships to fill in the UHN fleets. Chairman Aniruddha had this to explain.”

“Shit…..” Jabr replied. “I guess it means that we are at war with them then.”

The screen changed to show a recording of the Chairman of the UWA. He spoke before a teleprompter to address all of humanity. Virtually an elected leader, the Chairman was Martian himself. His darker skin and facial features identified him more from India from Earth’s past. He had long dark hair, and he wore a solid black suit and tie. He wore a pin on his suit that depicted the Martian flag on it. The red square had the traditional look of the United Nations of Earth’s past but had a diamond insignia in the center of it. Behind him was a blue and red curtain. His voice also had a faint Indian accent to it as well. He stood behind a podium as he addressed the camera.

“People of the United Worlds’ Alliance. It is my awareness of the recent current events going on with the so-called Itreans, that we stand ready against all threats. I have issued an emergency decree that we build additional warships. The money will go to not only building more warships but also improve all defenses as well. Research will also be funded as well to ensure that humanity has any means available at their disposal. The sacrifice of the ship and crew of the UHN Cabot will not be forgotten. We knew what was at stake when we left our solar system and began to colonize other worlds out there in the galaxy. I will ensure that all 14 planetary nations of the UWA will be protected against whatever hostile threat is out there. I ask all us to consider what is at stake out there. We are dealing with a hostile enemy, and it is up to us to protect ourselves.”

“Yeah…..” Ericson replied as he said quietly. He knew what was at stake. His mind went to his AI. He was still trying to get it to work. He shook his head at the thought of what was going to happen. He didn’t even want to think about it.

The news feed changed back to the news lady that was sitting behind her desk. She resumed her talking. Jabr’s attention was focused hard on the TV screen as Ericson ate and listened.

“The Chairman has currently pressed for a five trillion mard spending bill to the UWA congress. Currently, there are very few against the spending bill, and it is expected for it to pass later on today. Aniruddha has assured that there will be continued attempts to establish possible peaceful negotiations with the Itrean race.”

“Damn…..” Jabr said. “They are going to start to really speed up the building process of new ships.”

“If we have the facilities to help manufacture them,” Ericson replied. “No wonder Batrice is getting the extra orders. Deimos is going to be working overtime now in ship manufacturing. I wouldn’t be surprised that they extend to Oshun.”

“That is very well possible,” Jabr noted. “I hope they do. I know we were trying to get a shipyard established. The people need the jobs right now.”

“Maybe that will wake up Cebravis as well. Almost all the people move there and call it paradise. They want it to become the capital of the UWA, yet they didn’t bother building much of a military infrastructure. Even Oshun wasn’t stupid.”

The news lady continued to talk about the news interrupting their conversation. They continued to eat and listen.

“In other news today,” Chenguang said. “A memorial is being built for the UHN Cabot that heroically sacrificed themselves for the UHN Drake. One month ago, both the Cabot and the Drake would meet the Itreans for the first time. The meeting seemed to go well, even if the Itreans refused to say anything. Both sides didn’t fire on one another until another ship of similar design to the Itreans appeared and opened fire on the UHN warships. Outmatched, outgunned, and unable to repel the endless onslaught of weapons fire, both ships tried to escape. In order for one warship to survive, the captain and crew of the Cabot veered towards the attacking Itrean ship to give the Drake the necessary time to open a gate and escape the battle. The memorial will be held over Mars, and it is expected for the crew of the Drake to offer their final words to the fallen. Chairman Aniruddha has assured the families of the crew of the Cabot will receive full benefits for the families of the fallen, including the UHN Galaxy Medal of Valor. It is the highest award given to those that give their lives in the line of duty.”

“I can’t believe that was a month ago,” Jabr told Ericson. “The first race of aliens we meet, and they prove violent.”

“We don’t really know that,” he replied back to him. “The reports they had showed two ships that were similar to one another and one of them attacked us. The only difference between the ships was the colors of the ships itself. I guess in the end. They will just call it the JJ-78 disaster.”

Jabr seemed to chuckle as he pointed his fork to him. “Maybe your AI will come to our rescue. You make it, and we send it to go and destroy the Itreans.”

“Ugh……” Ericson said as he displayed annoyance. “That is insane. I still don’t even have the thing fully operating yet. Plus, we all know about the Ibix Ban. I am already treading on a fine line with what I am doing. At least with you or Akari, you guys haven’t been too vocal against what I am doing. Anybody else on this ship thinks I am going to destroy the human race with that AI. They hope that I fail at it.”

“You have always held it in the highest regard, my friend. That is why I am behind you on this. You would be the perfect creator.”

His friend’s words always seemed to calm him down. His eyes went back to his tofu. He went and unscrewed the cap to his canteen as he took a big drink from it. He screwed the top and put it back on the table. There were weather reports of Mars, Cebravis, Cipra, and other planetary worlds colonized by humanity, followed by advertisements.   

“Thank you…..” Ericson finally replied to him. “At least you guys have been kind to me. Project Minerva may still work. I have faith.”

“Never lose faith.”

“Yeah…..” Ericson said as he took another bite. “I think that I should get to know your wife a little more now that she transferred to this ship a month ago.”

“What can I say?” Jabr asked as he shrugged his hands in the air. “I am a happy man. I get married two months ago; she transfers to here in a month. Now my shifts match with hers. I am a self-made man.”

“Well, at least you two are close. With those Itreans out there, this lovely research ship may be a safe harbor.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Simple. If I were the aliens, I would go after big targets like a planet. They wouldn’t get much from conquering a gas giant like Jupiter. They would just get a lot of gas and some moon rocks. Not much here really when you think about it.”

Jabr nodded his head, seemingly satisfied with his words. They continued to eat as they watched the news feed.

“In Oshun news, allegations surround the current upcoming elections continue to rise. Despite settlement on Oshun 70 years ago, the current government is having a hard time earning trust with its population. The people’s approval polls towards its government are currently at 29%. Government officials continue to ensure that the rigged voting system is going to be fixed. Many Oshun citizens are trying to appeal to the UWA in running the election system itself.”

“Hmmm……” Jabr noted. For once, his face displayed some sorrow to it. “My home still can’t get its democracy right.”

“I am sorry to hear about that,” Ericson said. “I heard government corruption is at an all-time high there. Shame even for a beautiful place like that.”

“Unfortunately our people rely too much on the tourism market. Everything is about asking everyone to come and spend their money there. Our society has become dependent on it. The only other job besides that is to hope that our population will get into manufacturing. Otherwise, the only other job is crime, and that does not help our tourism market.”

“You would think that with Oshun as beautiful as it is that there would be more to it. You guys tried to cram too many people on those two continents that the landscapes are too crowded.”

“I agree, my friend. Some of the Oshun citizens started to move out in the last twenty years, including myself. I went to have a vacation to New Olympia……well,” he paused. “You already know that part of the story.”

Ericson nodded. He was getting near finished up with his meal. The news lady continued to speak, but their talking drowned out the female voice. She finally finished up with her news report as it went to a commercial. He looked at his tray and saw that it was cleared up. He took his canteen and proceeded to drink up what was left of his drink. He sighed again as he looked at his friend.

“Ericson,” Jabr spoke to him. He was still finishing up his meal. “I will be a little busy doing maintenance on the waste reclamation facility tomorrow. I see that face of yours, and I can tell you are going to get back to work as soon as you finish up.”

“What about it?”

“Don’t overstress yourself. Maybe you are pushing yourself so hard these last few years that it is what is causing you to slow down.”

“There isn’t much I can do from my end. I have only one job, Jabr. I am a computer programmer and one of the UWA’s finest. I told them that I could finish up this Project Minerva in two years. It has been three…..”

“It hasn’t been easy for you. You don’t only have the public that would be against it, but you have had to do this mostly secret. You have no one to support you through all this. I remember you even telling me that a shipment of the quantum hard drives was delayed for a full year when they had it.”

“Yeah. Even how hard it was to make one of those things, they decided just to keep it away from me. I was forced to work on the program without it for four months. Finally, it arrived, and I was able to begin on this.”

Ericson took a deep breath. He stood up and was about to walk away when his friend called out to him.

“Hey! Remember what I said, friend.” Jabr said. “It will happen sooner or later.”

“Yeah, it will…..,” he said as he still held the tray in his hand. He nodded at him. “I will go. See you tomorrow?”

Jabr simply nodded his head to him. “Of course…..sleep well tonight.”

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but just to make sure he tapped his left arm to activate his arm display. The projection showed a menu screen in which he used his right hand to scan the logs to see if anyone had entered his lab. There was none.

“Ugh…..Jabr really is right,” Ericson commented. “I really am going too far in this project. People are going to be against it, but they aren’t going to go this far to sabotage me.”

Ericson instead turned to seal the door behind him. He lowered the illumination of the room by 50% with a simple flick of his finger on his arm display. He then turned his eyes towards the black box.

“Time to wake up Minerva,” he said as he tapped a projected button on his display. The box made the tiniest of click sounds as the box powered up instantly. Within less than a second, the large screen on the back of the room turned on. It began to list the millions of algorithms and subroutines as it defined the Artificial Intelligence that he was trying to create. He walked up to the large display and turned to look at the presentation of Jupiter. Europa was mostly in the way now since the ship’s orbit was directly behind the moon when facing towards the gas giant.

“Hmmm…..” Ericson said as he turned his focus on one of the subroutines. “I didn’t spot that earlier.”

He tapped his arm display and used his fingers to enlarge the codes and numbers. His eyebrow lifted as he spotted something. He had been used to looking at each of the billions of subroutines and sets of numbers that defined the program. It had been a nonstop choir, and it was simply impossible to keep track of all of it. Nonetheless, what he spotted made him express some shock.

“That’s it!” he said. “I guess that break really did the trick. That’s what is causing the problem.”

He tapped a series of buttons to highlight the subroutine. A keypad showed up where he began to type in a new set of numbers and letters to the codes. He saved the changes and tapped his left wrist to deactivate the display on his arm. He smiled a little bit.

“Hopefully, that should do it,” he said with some confidence. “Please work…..please.”

Ericson walked up to his table. There was a display that he looked at. It had one button on it. He used his finger to press the button. The results were instant. The screen began to take all the subroutines and apply them together immediately. It turned almost into a waterfall as the display turned blue. The quantum computer, even with the powerful hard drive, had to process the incredible amount of data that it was working with. Even with the combined machines of Earth’s past could not handle this amount of raw data. Ericson had genuinely believed that he found the missing, corrupt subroutine that prevented it from working. His years of experiences taught him that he was nearing his goal, and he was right.

The series of data flowed downward and would reappear at the top of the display. It would move with a sea of blue and white that mimicked an ancient waterfall. It produced a fantastic color and beauty to it. Finally, a series of light green letters appeared on the screen. It consisted of a single sentence.

“Hello Ericson, my program is active……..”

“Right…..Program, can you understand my voice?”

The letters on the screen changed and depicted the word “affirmative” on it.

“Good. You will identify yourself as Minerva. Is that understood?”

The next series of letters popped in that also depicted “affirmative.”

Ericson knew that even with this success, there was still a lot of work that needed to be done. This was only the very beginning stages of the running program of Minerva. The fact that Minerva understood his words and responded back to him was amazing in itself.

“That is a good start, but we need to get more of your interface up. Minerva, I need Face Interface B-18 to work. Are you able to initiate it?”

The green letters dropped and displayed a new sentence. “Negative. Unable to initiate.”

“Shit…..I imagined that there would be some kinks. Thankfully I programmed you to be able to help me out once we get to this stage. Minerva,” he directed his order. “I want you to show me what the issue is with why you are unable to initiate Face Interface B-18.”

The display on the screen showed the waterfall move. The waterfall sped up a little bit as the program was initiating its diagnostic. There were ten sets of subroutines that need to be corrected.

“Hmmm….not bad. Some of these just have some missing codes to them. I can make the changes. Minerva, once I start to fix these, I want you to initiate Face Interface B-18.”

“Affirmative,” it replied in green letters. The letters dropped as Ericson tapped his wrist to activate his arm display. He began to focus on the highlighted subroutine. He had designed it to operate this way, and it was working. Now he could make the necessary fixes faster and quicker with Minerva to help him out. One by one, he would go to the algorithm and fix it. Some were a simple addition of code or number, and the next one was fixing the fragmented data. His years of work were starting to pay off. Each set of codes and numbers of the billions to trillions were something that he created by himself. Each of those codes in itself was trillions upon trillions of terabytes of information. It would be his ultimate creation.

Finally, within less than a minute, he fixed all the subroutines. He smiled as he looked at the last one that needed to be fixed. He looked at the micro camera that was on top of the display. It would have to work. He tapped his arm display and corrected the last one.

Immediately, Minerva had done its job. It initiated the program that Ericson was trying to get working. The waterfall continued to move downward. A white and blue face began to appear on the waterfall. The face was seemingly bald and almost plastic-looking. The face looked like it was a woman. It had eyes, a nose, a mouth, and eyebrows. It would provide him a real face for him to talk to the AI he was creating. Now that he had it working, the AI could interface with him better.

“Good…..How are you, Minerva?” Ericson asked it.

“Hello, Dr. Ericson, my name is Minerva. I am functioning at 70% efficiency,” the face spoke to him with a male voice. The mouth of the face moved as it spoke to him. There were occasional flickers as the face would drop and reappear. Ericson nodded and understood what was going on.

“Don’t worry,” he replied to it. “We have a lot of work to do to get you working. First, let me try to fix that voice of yours. I can’t believe I had a male voice in that program of yours. I never had a chance to fix that when the voice subroutines were sent to me. I had the female voices installed, though. Let’s give you the voice that you deserve to have.”

He was checking his arm display as it depicted the varieties of voices he could choose. The face of Minerva gave him a blank stare, but occasionally the white and blue eyes would blink together as it looked at him.

“Minerva was the goddess of wisdom,” he told it. “She was a Greek deity. I think you should deserve a voice that is fitting of that,” he said as he was going down the list and found it. It was a female voice that depicted a woman from Eastern Europe close to what was Turkey and Greece on Earth. He highlighted it and implemented it into the program. “Minerva, how are you?”

“Dr. Ericson,” it replied with a female voice. “I am functioning at 70% efficiency.”

“That’s better. You might be genderless, but at least you will be as close to a woman as possible,” he could feel himself wanting to yawn. “Looks like we will be working on things for the next day. I am getting pretty tired. I guess working for twenty hours straight will do that to you.”

“It is recommended that you at least sleep for eight hours, Doctor Ericson,” Minerva replied to him.

“Well, your response subroutines are at least partially working. We got a long way to go. Tomorrow will be a big day for us. I wouldn’t be surprised that we will get you to 85% by the end of the day for tomorrow. Doing three years of programming and having you active will help point out any flaws that need to be fixed. The hard part is over.”

“Thank you, Dr. Ericson,” Minerva replied.

Hearing his own AI talking back to him even if it was basic was still unusual in itself to him. He knew that it was capable of doing so much more, but it would have to wait until the next day. He put his hand to his head.

“Alright, Minerva, I will go ahead and deactivate you. It looks like we will both get some much-needed sleep.”

“Sleep well, Dr. Ericson,” Minerva replied in the emotionless face. It responded by closing its blank eyes almost to mimic the looks of it trying to sleep.

Ericson simply smiled as he tapped his display. He went ahead and initiated the off sequence for the computers. Immediately the computers shut down, and the screen in front of him went black. There was a sense of satisfaction in his voice. He managed to achieve the hardest step for him, but he knew that he wouldn’t be famed for creating an AI that simply spoke to him. A few essential reactions were something done long ago, and recreating it wouldn’t be enough. It had to do far more. He shut down all the lights and other displays in the room. He unsealed the door and proceeded to walk out.

He walked back out to the computer lab. Unlike the galley, which was the opposite side of the ring, his quarters were only a few rooms away. He walked straight ahead of the long passageway. It seemed empty on the ring. There were never that many crew members on the Tyson. It was a research vessel, after all. The ship was designed to sit and hover over places for long periods of time. Even colony ships had to struggle with cramming people in the rings for the short voyages to other planets.

He passed a set of quarters for other crew members before he reached his own. He waved his hand over his door scanner. It quickly scanned his hand and unlocked the door. The door slid open, and he stepped inside. The door closed behind him as he took a good look at his room.

Ericson’s room was seemingly simple in layout. Anything that he had personal belongings wise was designed to be stuck or secured whenever the ship moved. There was a plastic globe of Mars on the table. He had a couple of paintings on the walls that depicted the UHN Tyson. It was a glory shot of it as it was moored inside the Deimos shipyards. Built into the very rock of the Martian moon, the shipyards made the perfect place to construct everything from freighters, transports, and warships. Phobos, the other Martian moon, was a dedicated weapon’s platform in case of a large scale assault. It was built way before the Itreans were ever discovered.

Perhaps his other favorite portrait on the wall was an actual overhead shot of the famed Equatis Wreck. It was a fantastic picture of the great ship discovered in the early 23rd century. With most of the people of Earth fully evacuated to Mars, an enormous sand storm enveloped the planet. After three days of the storm, it had settled. A child in his spacesuit was playing near the equator and found the piece of debris sticking out of the ground. Unearthed by the sand storm, a scientist named Equatis, discovered that the debris came from an artificially constructed ship. Teams were sent to dig out the massive vessel buried in the sands. The vessel was over millions of years old. It took over a year to painstakingly remove the dirt from the ship. Even with the amount of time, the wreck of the vessel was in absolute poor condition. The entire ground was nothing but splintered pieces all over Mars. It was the first proof that sentient alien life had existed even if there were no bodies or DNA to be recovered from the wreck. It would give humanity the technology to fold space. The wreck remains as it is today. Great care was insured so that the wreck would remain safe as Mars continued to pummel it with its vicious sandstorms.

Ericson shook his head. He had seen enough as his mind wondered, looking at the picture. He decided that the best course of action was to go to bed. His room was nothing big, but it had everything for him. It had a small restroom and even a shower stall for him. The room itself was perfectly engineered, much like the rest of the ship. Everything was designed in case the centripetal rotating ring went offline. The toilet was designed to prevent water from floating in the air, and even the shower stalls could be quickly reset to allow crew members to wash in zero-g environments. His bed, which was mostly a large alcove on the left side of the room, was equipped with Velcro straps. If there was no gravity, he could simply strap himself to the bed to ensure he didn’t float away. Thankfully, the rings barely had any problems. Jabr was a sound engineer and always ensured that his equipment functioned properly. Ericson knew that the Einstein Class Research Ships, despite their vast age, were still built to last and perform their jobs. Even fifty-year-old vessels, like the Tyson, could always perform well in the uncertainty of space.

Without much thought, Ericson began to take his suit off. With a simple zipper pull, the suit came undone. He pulled it down and placed it next to his bed. He then took his shoes and put them next to the wall. The magnetic shoes activated on the wall and held in place, ready to be used again. He still wore his black underwear. He didn’t take long to look at his body. He was slightly skinnier than the people of Earth used to be. Mars had 38% of the gravity of Earth, and the bodies had adjusted to this lesser force. The rings were designed to generate more gravity than Mars but not as much as the other colony worlds.

He climbed into his alcove. He was used to sleeping in a spinning ring anyway and didn’t bother to strap his body in. If worst came to shove, if the ring began to fail, it would still spin for a while and send out alerts to everyone that artificial gravity was not functioning correctly. He took the bedsheets and wrapped himself. Resting comfortably on the bed, his mind went to his achievement. He began to think about Minerva and what he created. It had been a long day for him. Part of him wanted to do so much more, but he felt his body get sluggish. Mentally exhausted, he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

“Yeah,” Ericson explained with some satisfaction. “I feel liberated. It was as you said. I needed to take a break, and I came back and poof…..I found the subroutine that needed to be fixed. Minerva turned on, and we began to go through the first steps in troubleshooting.”

“I am proud of you. I am happy that your work is starting to finally pay off.”

They were busy eating cereal mixed with fruits. Ericson was drinking orange juice from his canteen. He continued to display a level of peace that his friend could see. It was as if he ran for twenty miles and completed the longest marathon he ever achieved. Even his friend nodded his head.

“I feel like walking around the ship a little bit,” Ericson told Jabr. “I have been working in my lab nonstop these last three days, and after all this, I don’t mind walking around.”

“My wife is currently in the shuttle bay in the forward compartment. If you wish, you can go and talk to her.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that,” Ericson said with a nod. “A part of me wants to work with Minerva right now, but being in that lab so long has taken a little bit of a toll.”

“You just need to talk to a few people on the ship. I know you are careful when it comes to choosing friends. Have you had a chance to talk to our parents?”

“I spoke to them about five days ago. They are doing fine so far. I keep trying to discourage them from leaving Mars.”

“Why do you discourage them? Where do they want to move to?”

Ericson displayed a sigh on his face. “They are doing what most of the Martians want to do, and that is move to Cebravis. The problem is that most of the Martians feel the same way. I might have grown up on Mars, but I know what will happen if everyone just got up and left. We still have an infrastructure there, and the economy will suffer as a result. Eventually, the shipyards will be abandoned, and we don’t need that right now.”

“I agree….” Jabr commented. “Even on Oshun, I discourage some of my family and friends from leaving. I tell them just because things aren’t working with the government and administration doesn’t mean that they should pack up their bags and leave. I tell them to go and fight. Running away solves nothing.”

“And with our hostile aliens out there, I tell my family that it is best for them to remain as they are. They seemed to agree.”

“It is unfortunate,” Jabr sighed. “I will not fear it, though. Fear only wastes energy.”

“I agree, as well. But……,” he said as he put his spoon down. “I have had enough food for the morning. I will go ahead and walk around.”

“You do that. I will be working this morning and afternoon. Maybe I will get a chance to meet this Minerva.”

“Alright, you take care, Jabr,” Ericson said as he took his tray and walked over to the window to turn it in. He handed his canteen over and headed out of the galley.

In the passageway of the ring, he looked around. There were a couple of chutes that would lead to the main compartments of the ship. It was a simple process really that he and the rest of the crew were used to. With the ring rotating, he would have to find the ladder that would allow him to climb into the central areas of the ship. He continued his walk until he saw it. The tube was large enough that you could essentially walk down it, but they had ladders built in so you can climb out. Gravity and force were a funny thing, but it was how life operated on these ships.

Ericson walked past the hatches and was nearing the shuttle bay. A walk of about three minutes had finally taken him to his destination. He wasn’t shocked that he didn’t see another crew member along the way. Most of them were obviously in the rotating rings except when they needed to take care of maintenance, on duty, or get to the shuttle bay.

He finally reached the door. There was a display panel that was lit green to indicate that there was pressurization and that it was safe to enter the hangar. Obviously with Jabr’s wife being there, the place had to been pressurized as Ericson had thought. He waved his hand over the panel and it picked up his signature. The motion sensors activated and the door opened up in front of him.

There was a secondary door that he also had to pass through. This was to ensure that there was proper pressurization when the shuttle bay doors open up to open access of space. Air would be pulled out as the shuttle bay doors open up and be pumped back in once the doors closed. The door slid behind him and there was a momentary pause by the door’s sensor in front of him. Checking to see that there was proper ventilation in the adjacent room, the panel above him lit green and slid open.

Upon opening up, the shuttle bay was vastly large. It was big enough to house the 40 meter long Argas shuttle. Literally taking a sizeable chunk of the Tyson’s space, the shuttle bay allowed the research ship to launch its shuttle to the moon and back again. The shuttle which had the name “Gray Whale” written in both English and Chinese, was an older ship but still used quite well in the UHN. It consisted of a long cylindrical vessel. Its landing gear had been deployed as it rested on the solid deck. The shuttle itself had three engines lined around it. Besides all the vectoring thrusters, the engines were strapped near the aft sides and top. There were the classic big hatches on the sides that were capable of docking with the hatches of the ship itself. He could tell that this was a civilian model with the lack of guns on it. It also had large windows on the sides of them for people to look outside. The ship had the cockpit window up front and on top. It also included a set of small grappling arms for moving and picking up cargo.

Besides the Gray Whale, was a woman that was busy looking at a series of containers and boxes. She was holding a tablet and electronic pen marking down certain things. Ericson already knew it was Jabr’s wife. She was dressed in a similar white and blue suit that he was wearing along with her magnetic shoes. Her features were marked by her appearance. She was a foot shorter than Ericson being about five feet in height. Even for a woman of her height she seemed much shorter than the typical humans of the time. She had long black hair that was tied up in a bun to prevent it from floating around in the zero g environments. Her facial features were similar to that of a Japanese woman. The containers and boxes were obviously magnetized to the deck.

“Minerva,” Ericson called out to her. “Report on your status.”

“I am currently operating at 84% efficiency.”

“That is good. We will keep working on that. I got the last of your human response subroutines fixed and operating now. Your memory core should be working at 99% now.”

“My memory core is currently operating at 98.978% Doctor Ericson,” she replied with an emotionless reaction.