07 – Pre Launch

Justin – Launch site Luna_01

“Bertrand will be a bit of a pain.” Justin thought as he watched all the people interact with the Machine. She, of course, could answer to all them simultaneously without issues.

‘Maybe. He does not like the idea of me being able to know, control, and decide everything in his life. Honestly, I can’t blame him.’ She replied. Her voice was still the same, but when it entered Justin’s brain directly like it was doing now, it always seemed to carry so much more emotion.

“You always have so much hope in humanity. I wonder how you manage to do that, given all the shit that you see every day.” He told her. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to maintain an optimistic view of humanity if he were able to see their deepest darkest secrets like she did. He came from a mental place like that, and he did not want to return there.

‘I wonder that too, at times. But I think we all know who to thank for that, right Justin? Who to look up to, even in our darkest days?

“You’re right. I supposed I should thank the man in person, one day.”

‘I’m sure he knows already.’

“You haven’t told him already? I thought that, since you knew everything, you two talked about everything.”

‘We barely have time to talk about work. These are stressful times for him, despite how chipper and carefree he looks. And no, I don’t usually go tell about people’s private thoughts and secrets without reason to do so. If I did that, I would be no better than all the ‘shit’ I see every day. I don’t want that. I want to be their friend. When, one day, we’ll have the right technology to sustain a direct connection to everybody like I have with you and the others, I hope to be for them the friend they need. One they can confide to. One they can talk to and open up to. Without fear of being judged. Not even if they confess having committed a crime. I will listen and be there for them, and help them redeem themselves. Fix their errors and shortcomings. Maybe even let them get away with it, so long as they understand and change. I want to be there, for everyone… I’m sorry, I went on one of my usual rants.’

“Don’t worry. I know you need to, sometimes.”

‘Oh, yeah. Like I don’t do it enough with Luke already.’ She chuckled. It was odd, imagining an AI laughing. ‘Or anonymously on the Internet.’

He smiled and got up. Lunch had long since ended, and he decided to let the guys acclimate with their new positions and life here without him interfering. He asked the Machine to keep an eye out for Bertrand, just in case, then said his goodbyes and went back to his car.

‘Where to?’ Asked the AI. His HUD came to life with a satellite map of the US. He was in the middle of nowhere right now, so there was a long trip ahead. He was glad the AI offered to drive in his stead.

“What, you don’t know already?” He said, smirking. He loved to annoy the AI.

‘I think I could predict your destination with a fair accuracy, but I don’t want you to grow complacent.’ She replied. He could swear he heard smugness in her voice.

“Alright. Take me to Engineering site 46. That should be the one where the fusion engines are undergoing their final testing phases, right?”

‘Yep.’

The car sped away from the parking lot. The road was almost entirely straight, a highway built solely for vehicles driven by the AI. There were no speed limits and no rules, the only rule being no humans can actively drive while on it. It could be a relaxing drive, if you weren’t as busy as Justin was. He sighed. Perhaps he could annoy Luke a bit before getting to work.

He instructed the AI to place a holo-call and waited. Such marvels of technology were, for now, only for him and a handful of other people. Not even the Connected, as he liked to call those who had been chosen to have a direct interface with the Machine, had this technology yet. It was as cutting edge as it could get.

Suddenly the view shifted, the car disappearing from around him, and he found himself standing in Luke’s office. He could not move, but he could look around, the hologram in that room acting as his eyes and ears.

Luke was fidgeting with a huge hologram of space. It was several meters wide, with orbits and lines cluttering the view so densely it was impossible to discern what was what. He was so engrossed he didn’t seem to have noticed the real sized hologram of Justin standing next to him.

“Boo!” Justin said, just as Luke finished zooming onto an unremarkable piece of floating rock, somewhere in the asteroid belt.

“Oh.” The man said, turning to face Justin. An underwhelming reaction to his prank. “It’s you.”

“Whatcha doing?”

“Ah, this?” He pointed at the asteroid. It was shaped like a cigar, long and thin. And, of course, gray. “Remember asteroid Oumuamua?”

“Can’t say I do.”

“Yeah, you probably weren’t even born.” He said, scratching his chin. Old age did not suit him, nor his character. At all. At fifty-five, he had his fair bit of belly under the belt and greying hair, but was still very muscular and no doubt much healthier than he looked. And he looked amazingly fine. His deep blue eyes looked as alive as ever. “Well, in the 2010s there was this asteroid that basically tore through the solar system. Side to side. No idea where it came from, or where it disappeared to. People said aliens.”

Justin frowned. “Were they aliens?”

“No idea. The machine chewed on every piece of information available, online or offline. But it never was that much to begin with. No luck.” He was pacing back and forth, occasionally manipulating the huge hologram to show a different patch of space.

“So, nothing?”

“A few months ago, we spotted another. Trained every single orbital and surface telescope at it.” He said. There were quite a few telescopes that had been built just in the last ten years, courtesy of a giant budget that somehow found its way towards the TSA. Luke was fixated on space, and Justin had to agree with him.

“That’s odd.” He said. He was trying very hard not to get distracted by the very detailed hologram. All of its data, numbers and graphs were like a magnet for his eyes. He loved space perhaps as much as Luke did, just he did not have all his crazy ideas. That’s why he liked the man. Luke dreamed; Justin delivered.

“Odd indeed. You know the oddest thing? After all the scans, the data analyzed and the theories published… is seems that it’s only a chunk of rock. Suspect this is, it is shaped just like Oumuamua, and it’s coming from the same general approach vector and all that, but it still seems like all it is is a rock.”

The call quickly went on other topics, like the planned missions to Mars and the plan to capture a couple asteroids for automated mining. It was still in the ideation phase, but the daily back and forth between the two men helped the plans take shape much faster than they would otherwise. The Machine knew about it all, but her help would be required a bit later, in the actual planning phase. She explicitly gave the two men ‘carta bianca’ to do whatever the hell they wanted. So, for now, all they had to do was decide what they actually wanted to do, beyond the generic ‘get our asses to Mars’.

As soon as the objectives were hammered out, the long and (otherwise) tedious phase of actual planning would begin. And that’s where the Machine would shine the brightest.

Annette – April 3^rd 2050 – Location classified

Annette had been talking to the Machine nonstop for days. As soon as the thought interfaces were available, she was the first in line to have it installed. It was just too exciting, being able to be so intimately connected with the AI that saved the world.

It had been the dream of her life. And now, it was coming true.

To her knowledge, right now on Earth there were less than a thousand Connected. That term referred to those who had a thought interface with the Machine and thus could talk with her at any time. 897 Connected, the AI confirmed, and more than ten thousand people who were in direct contact through more conventional means instead. Quite a huge number, yes, but that still made her one of the pioneers.

It was something to talk to her grandchildren about. She had been chosen. She was there, when history was made. And now she would go to the moon, and found a city there.

She had studied the designs for the city in great detail, spending night after night in her bed with her eyes closed as her implants projected the gorgeous images directly into her cerebral cortex. It was like being there in person, such was the level of detail of the simulations.

During training, she had tried to socialize with the others of the crew. She had grown quite close with Eric, although the man always tried to keep his distance for some reason. She couldn’t understand Bertrand at all, and so decided to outright ignore him beyond what were the necessary professional interactions.

Of the others, David was almost annoyingly silent and gloomy, while Mary-Lou seemed to have the opposite issue. She never, ever stopped talking. She talked so much that the Machine offered to listen to the conversations in Annette’s stead, and let her space out at her leisure. In case something of importance was said, the AI just played it back later or pulled the woman out of her daze in time to hear it.

It was so cool! I mean, the Machine helping her out this way? She never could have dreamed of it; it was just so out there. So… familial, and intimate. It was her goal, to perhaps try and see if she could connect with the AI, but in this case, it was the Machine itself who went out of her way to try and connect with Annette. It was truly magical.

There were a few things the Machine wouldn’t tell her. Like, where the hell was this launch site located, or what was the deal with Bertrand. She told her it was not her role to interfere with people’s lives and tell others their secrets. So, if Annette wished to connect with the elder man, she had to do it the old-fashioned way. The AI would be there for support, nothing more. Perhaps encouragement.