T’lag Ten directed Rey to another part of the building. It looked like a lab. There in the middle of the floor he saw what he assumed was the body of Ten. It was humanoid shaped with a head, arms and a torso but where the legs were supposed to be was an oval cylinder about eighteen inches in diameter at the bottom and tapered at the waist. Other than not having legs it reminded Rey of an old picture he saw once of a robot called Asimo. The robot started talking to him.
“Yes this is the real me, T’lag Ten, my injury is that I can’t move about.
“What happened?”
“This island was attacked and I was damaged.”
“Well there’s your problem, you don’t have any legs!”
“Very funny. Remember in the visuals there were flying cars. Well, I use the same method to get about. My hover engine is broken and I need your help to fix it.”
“Yes, I was kidding. I figured it was something like that. Tell me, what’s the principle behind the hover engine? We don’t have anything like that on earth.”
“I see that your people are a little technologically behind. But now you do have warp-drive, and by the way, congratulations on developing it. I’ll tell you how our flying cars work in exchange for your help.”
“Ok, maybe we have a deal. What do you want me to do?”
“I need you to take your ship to the mainland of the First Republic to get parts and supplies.”
“How do I bring you into my ship?”
“I’m not coming with you, she is.”
Into the lab walks in a namuh female. She was young and striking and had the same arched and upswept eyebrows as he saw on the other namuhs.
“I’d like to introduce you to my sister. Rey meet Nia T’lag.”
Nia greeted Rey who was immediately attracted to her. They spent some time getting acquainted with each other. She already spoke English well enough so that they didn’t need a translator.
Nia was born 37 years ago, the same year that Ten, the last Machine being, was created by Nia’s father Neos. Nia treated the Machine beings as her brothers. She was especially close to Ten. They grew up together. They loved each other as sister and brother.
The other nine Machine beings went into the various professions that were available to the namuhs. Most became scientists or heads of corporations, one went into politics and another decided on a military career. Their mind worked on the same principle as the namuhs. The difference was the level of intelligence, their ability to reason and to remember was on the level of a namuh genius. So no matter what profession they chose all Machines excelled in them and most became very wealthy. As they aged they began having various mechanical problems. Ten saw a need for a Machine Doctor. Neos taught him the workings of the Machine body and the mind. Ten bought an island and opened up a practice.
“So Ten became a doctor to my other nine brothers. I followed in my father’s footsteps and began studying his designs. I was interested in building a Machine being with a greater mental capacity than the one my father designed. I had a theory of how to do it but I needed some way to test my theory. Ten suggested I build my own Machine and offered to let me use his lab. He needed help with his medical practice so we became partners.”
“Are you saying that you wanted to make an even smarted robot?
“Initially yes, I thought that’s what I wanted to accomplish. Ten made me realize that what I really was trying to do is build a Machine being that operates on the fourth level of consciousness.”
“Now wait a minute. I don’t understand these levels you and Ten are talking about. I’m not totally convinced yet that Ten’s mind operates on the same level as ours and now you’re hitting me with this superior, fourth level.”
Ten interrupted the two to remind them of their work. They were preparing for a trip to the mainland of the First Republic, the country Ten and Nia belonged to. Rey’s ship was not built for inter-atmospheric flight. He had to get to the mainland from orbit. While under way they talked.
Nia climbed into Rey’s ship to sit next to him. “I see you cleaned up your cabin a bit, and you removed some pictures off your wall.”
“How did you know it needed cleaning up?”
She responded. “I was the one who went inside when you fell asleep that first day. We needed to be sure you weren’t dangerous to us that you were not from Rehto here to attack us.”
“Well, I probably would have done the same thing. Now get ready for liftoff. Strap yourself in Nia. We’re off to see your world.”
Once in orbit. “Nia, what actually happened to your island? How did it get attacked?”
Nia explained. The attack on their island was a nuclear air burst probably meant for the nearest mainland. It was one of many suicide bombings directed from the planet Rehto. The pilot missed his target and exploded off the coast of Ten’s island. Ten was in one of the buildings that imploded. He was badly injured. Nia managed to patch him up but couldn’t do anything about his mobility. His hover engine was damaged and the spare parts for it were destroyed in the explosion. The explosion also damaged their air car and destroyed their communications.
“We were cut off from the world. So as the population of Tenalp was being evacuated, Ten and I prepared for a biological attack, which never came.”
“What do you mean biological attack?”
“The attack on our planet was supposed to come in two waves, the first a conventional nuclear barrage of thousands of suicide ships. This was meant to overwhelm our defenses so the second wave could succeed.”
“And the second wave, that was the biological attack?”
“Yes, other thousands of ships carrying a deadly timed virus were supposed to land. The virus was meant to kill everyone on our planet and deactivate itself after a year. This way they could come and settle on our world.”
“Incredible! But how do you know that the biological attack never arrived?”
“Although our communications system was down we were able to monitor the skies with our telescopes. Maybe one or two ships got through but we don’t think an actual wave was launched. We never detected any virus on the island and before we leave your ship after we land at home we will check for the presence of the virus in the area.”
They were over a large continent.
“Down there is or was my country, the First Republic. It’s the largest part of the continent. After the World Wide War all the nations on this continent merged and formed the United Republics.”
“Are your recent attacks part of this World Wide War?” Rey asked.
“That war was fought over forty years ago and Rethro was visited about 5 years later.
But in a way they are connected. You see, the people who are primarily responsible for this war came from my planet. They are the descendents of our enemies from that terrible war.”
“Was the World Wide War that bad?”
“It was very bad. Five hundred million, a quarter of the population of our planet, died during that war.”
They arrived at the descent point and began slipping into the atmosphere. Nia directed the landing. It was in a suburb of one of the cities of the First Republic. They touched down near Nia’s home. It was a big complex and looked more like a commercial site. It contained their home, laboratories and a small factory.
“Rey, help me get the power back up. We need to restart the nuclear generator plant. It’s a good thing we decided not to dismantle it like many others did.”
They got the power going and decided to spend the night there before going back.
They slept together for the first time. The next day, with the ship full of supplies they lifted off to get back to the island.
“I’m very glad that our parts fit together so well.” Nia smiled.
“Parts! Nia, you’ve been hanging around machines too long.”
When in orbit Rey asked Nia about the evacuation. Why they decided to leave their planet and not fight back. How they left and where did they go.
“This requires a historical context spanning over forty years. For now I’ll just give you a brief summary of the present situation. Our military determined that to fight the war would result in hundreds of millions of deaths on both of our planets. They did however offered us another option, the complete destruction of Retho.”
“What!” Rey gasped. “Do you really have the ability to destroy a planet?
“Yes we do. Completely destroying Rehto was the only way to avoid being attacked. With the terrible death and destruction still in our memories of the last war we decided to leave our world rather then destroy another one. Some did stay and went underground hoping to wait out the attack. Some went to live on our moon which was already settled. Most however went to a planet in another star system that we colonized some time ago.”
“Here we are Nia we’re approaching the landing trajectory, your brother will be very glad to have his new hover engine”.
End of Chapter 2…River Road
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