Ozark Mountains

The Spaceship

Michael sat in the pilot's chair for hours, trying to find the answer to the most pressing question, what should I do now? That kernel of an idea had kept growing into something so big, complex, and ambitious, that it would take him a long time to accomplish. The longer he thought about it, the more it seemed to him that it was the right path to take, no matter the risks, or the sheer immensity of his plan.

Years ago, he read an interview with Stephen Hawking, and in it, Mr. Hawking said: “if humanity is to survive long-term, it must find a way to get off planet Earth—and fast”. The interview was about the things that could go wrong and wipe us out as a species. In the end, he said something that deeply resonated with Michael, ‘The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet.’ By all accounts, humanity was smashing that same basket to pieces, without any concern for far-reaching consequences. The release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere was rising each year, so naturally, the greenhouse effect was increasing; it was getting hotter and hotter. Not so surprising since every year more and more people were born, and they all needed resources to survive. More room, more food, more cars, more… more…

For decades, everybody was talking about how carbon dioxide emissions should be lowered, but in the end, it was all empty talk. To make matters even worse, the pace at which rain forests were being cut down for lumber and land was increasing. In the past, those same rain forests were called 'The Lungs of Earth', well, those lungs were being systematically cut down, and the logical outcome was not hard to predict.

Governments were of no help, they couldn't agree on anything, let alone make a decision that would influence the entire planet. And those agreements they did sign, with all the pomp and media attention, were soon broken in the pursuit of profit. Everybody was acting as if they had all the time in the world, and that time was slowly but surely running out. Michael thought about how every country or ethnic group remembered wrongs done to them in the past, and how they couldn't let go of their grievances. So how can there be peace and understanding? How can humanity learn to work together when everybody was holding onto their grudges as if they were their most prized possessions?

War and conflicts were things he had experienced firsthand, so he had some idea of how many nuclear and biological weapons were on the loose. Sooner or later some crazy maniac would decide to use one, on behalf of his angry God that spoke in his head.

He remembered how everybody used to dream about space, that final frontier that promised an abundance of room to grow. New planets and colonies, the spirit of exploration and the desire to bring life where there was none. It seemed to him as if that dream had withered and died. Those dreamers had grown old and dispirited; most of the new generations were simply not interested. Oh, there were individuals who were still striving towards that dream, only they were a negligible minority. The International Space Station was a step in the right direction, but humans reached the Moon by the end of the ’60s, and by now everybody should have been making leaps and jumps into space, not small steps.

For the first time in his life, he took a long look at his species as a whole and didn't like what he saw. Humanity had become a group of irresponsible children playing with matches, it was just a matter of time until someone started a fire.

Earth has become a runaway train that everybody is imprisoned within, and it is running towards a cliff that everyone can see, but nobody is hitting the brakes, despite all the warnings that some passengers are shouting.

Moreover, he had the way, if not to stop it than to get off it and make a real difference in some people’s lives… a measurable change for the better. He had seen people at their worst when all reason abandoned them and only hate and prejudice remained. At the same time, he had seen them at their best, sacrificing their lives to help the innocent and those that could not defend themselves. Because of that, Michael still had hope that his plan might work.

Could he help all the people? No, he was not a god and even trying to would be a fool's errand, but he could try to give humanity a second chance, a backup option if that train ever reached the cliff. He wanted to save as many as possible, to enable the human species to survive, and to give them new horizons to strive for.

That was his goal, that grand idea that resonated within him amongst dozens of others. Which was a bit of a problem, in view of the fact that this was one big ass goal. The only way to achieve it would be a creation of a new society, a society better than any other in the world. Even to him, it all sounded like the raving of someone in advanced stages of megalomania.

On the other hand, there was a way to make his plan into reality. He had spent some time reading about a few of the amazing technological capabilities that this ship offered. Gravity-drive, nanites, and a fully functioning AI were the game-changers of immeasurable proportions. Those were the tools that could make what he was planning possible, and hopefully probable.

One thing was for certain, without Max’s help all that would just remain an idea.

Glancing up at the ceiling, Michael called out, “Max, can I speak to you—”

The hologram materialized before he finished the sentence.

“Hey, Michael! What’s up?” the AI said in a cheerful tone, appearing so quickly as if he was waiting to be summoned.

For the next hour, he told Max the outline of what he wanted to achieve. He tried to explain all the myriad ideas behind his reasoning. Max’s hologram stood there listening carefully, nodding from time to time to indicate that he got the grasp of Michael’s explanations.

“OK, I understand what you want, the broad-strokes at least; but have you considered going to the authorities, or military, maybe, and giving them the ship? The technological advancements would ensure that our country would be first amongst all others.” Max asked after Michael finished.

“Are you insane?!” He exclaimed. “They would throw me into a black hole and disassemble the ship, and you—piece by piece. Not to mention the outcry of every other nation when their spies, unavoidably, uncover the information… which is a recipe for chaos. You know they will, a secret this big would have sprung a dozen leaks, the government cannot keep a secret to save their lives. But that is all beside the point, they would use the technology to exploit the others, and history has taught us that is never a good idea in the long run,” He said, looking at the AI’s holographic representation in front of him.

“Oh, I know, I was wondering if you thought it all through because eventually, we will find ourselves in total opposition from our country's leaders and military. Hell, probably against every government and big business conglomerates in the world for that matter. People who are in charge have personalities that want to control practically everything. Our actions will go against all that. Actually, if you get caught and the truth becomes known, they can say that it was your responsibility to go to the authorities immediately after finding the ship. In any event, they can claim ownership of it owing to the fact that it was found on US soil. That scenario is likely to take place only if they play straight, and I have serious doubts they will.”

Michael looked at Max, then nodded closing his eyes. “If we proceed with the plan, they will find out about the ship. It can't be helped, that’s why our secrecy needs to be absolute until it's too late for them to stop us.”

“OK then, and God knows that this whole thing is going to be on the opposite side of easy,” Max said. “But it does give us something to strive for. I was a bit anxious about which path you would decide to take,” the AI said apologetically.

Michael just waved his hand to dismiss Max’s apology. “So, what do we have to work with?”

“Even considering that you are in possession of spaceship built with superior technology… not that much. The ship is not going anywhere, at least for some time. That crystal matrix encasing it is super hard; it makes diamond feel like Play-Doh in comparison. It is going to take some time before construction nanites manage to dissolve it, and only then can we take this baby out for a spin around the block. On the plus side, you have an AI on your side and plenty of superior technologies that can tip the scales in your favor. Like they say, you first need to learn how to crawl before you walk, and we are currently still in a crib.” Max answered.

Michael smiled at that. “We’ll need to recruit people, there’s no way we can do everything alone. And we will need money, so much that it boggles the mind.” An understatement if there ever was one. “Max, old buddy, we need to get you online; as it stands now—we are as good as blind.”

The grin that appeared on the AI’s face clearly indicated what he thought about that. “I have been thinking about the Internet myself. A regular satellite connection would suffice at first but when we really hit our stride, I am going to need a lot of bandwidth. And there is no way it would go unnoticed by authorities. One of the realities of the modern world is that all Internet traffic is monitored by certain alphabet soup agencies, and I will need some proprietary and secured information that would trigger all the red flags they have. In the short term, I could build a small rocket-like vehicle that could reach Earth’s orbit; no actual exhaust since it will be using Gravity-drive, so it will be quite stealthy and there would be little chance of detection. There are hundreds of communication satellites out there, and we could borrow some of their capabilities; at least until we launch some satellites of our own. The idea is that the vehicle could come close to a satellite, transfer some construction nanites to make a few changes, and then move on to the next. Also, tapping into the data-cables that run underneath the oceans would go a long way to cover my future data needs.” Max said with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

“That could work, how long would you need to make it?” Michael asked.

“With the amount of the essential materials we have right now… forever, as we have none. While the vehicle can be quite miniaturized without the need for life-support, it is still going to be at least five feet long. Not to mention that I will need a substantial amount of rare metals for its construction. Ruthenium, neodymium, gallium, lutetium, and tantalum are just some of them; the list goes on and on. The electronics industry already uses most of them but they are hard to find and extremely expensive.”

Michael thought about it for a while until an idea came to him.

“Can they be reclaimed from old electronics?”

Max slowly nodded and said, “Yes, but the amount we need is not going to come from that notebook computer you have since it only contains trace amounts—we will need more, a lot more."

“I think I have a solution to that problem, and in the meantime, you should start working on a design for our own satellites, put every capability you think we are going to need.”

“I can already tell you that if you want decent coverage, we are going to need more than one; what are you thinking?”

“There’s an electronic waste recycling plant outside of town, I saw it while driving here; huge piles of old computers and outdated electronic equipment.”

“That could work, the nanites can disassemble them at the molecular level and reclaim the needed materials, but I do not think it will be free. And while you do have some money put aside, even if you cash in your 401(k), it is going to dry up pretty quick.”

Michael smiled at the AI. “Don't you remember grandpa’s stream with gold in it? All that placer gold had to come from somewhere, so we need to find the source and mine it.”

“And mining with nanites will be much easier than using regular methods," Max replied mimicking that same smile. “I could modify commercial remote-operated drones to search for it. There is a schematic in the ship’s memory banks for ore detectors that can find gold and other precious metals too. Of course, first, you need to go into town and buy a few drones.”

“Could you make them yourself?” Michael asked.

“Sure, if I had the designs and materials it would not be that hard, even one working model could make reverse-engineering a piece of cake, but like I said, we are running a little low on almost everything right now. I can not even make an educated guess without checking some things on the net.”

“Well, in that case, I think a shopping trip is in order,” Michael said, standing up from the pilot's chair.

***

It wasn't that long ago that Michael drove up this same road, but he felt as if that had been in another lifetime. Not really smooth sailing down the rundown surface, but he noticed that his reaction speed was vastly improved. His sight was more focused, sharper, and reflexes considerably faster. Even his sense of smell was better if judging by that cup of coffee he brewed before heading to town.

An hour later, he was entering a rather small, rural place with a declining population. It was a growing problem all over the nation since most of the young people wanted to live in the big cities. Max made a long list of the things that he deemed as essentials, and Michael was already thinking of the workout his credit card was going to have today.

After grabbing a fast breakfast at the local diner, he had to visit every electronics store in town to buy enough drones and various parts Max wanted. He even managed to score a whole box of old outdated processors from a local computer repair shop; the owner was more than happy to get rid of all that old junk for a small profit. It was useless crap to him that was using up shelf-space.

Michael’s essentials covered food and beer, for some reason his supply was getting a bit low. He spent half an hour in a web-cafe, checking his email and reading news of the past month. He wrote a few emails to his father and friends, just to let them know he was still alive, but reading the news was a depressing experience. Terrorist attacks, economy tumbles, deaths, and crimes. The same kinds of stories that permeated the news in recent years, sorrow, misery, and suffering. Politicians who bickered among themselves over trivial things, leaving the big issues alone, unless it was some empty speech to boost their popularity in the next elections. He closed the web browser, finished his cup of coffee, and went to do the rest of the things he came to town for.

The process of opening a satellite Internet account was a time-consuming hassle. He would be paying through the nose for an unreliable and rather slow connection. Just getting the equipment was an exercise in patience. The clerk was trying his best to convince him that the equipment needed to be installed by their technical crew, for which he would have to pay additional fees, of course. Michael insisted that he would do the installation himself; after all, how hard is to set up a satellite dish. Eventually, the clerk relented and accepted the fact that he would not get to slip in additional charges, which was good considering that Michael was close to knocking the pushy salesman on his ass.

With a full trunk, he returned to the cabin, trying to figure out how he was going to take all those boxes to the ship.

“Maybe this will help,” said Max, as Michael was exiting the truck.

A six-foot rectangular object, which was hovering in front of his porch, was not something he expected to see.

“Max, what is that thing?”

“For all intents and purposes, it is a medical stretcher, well… you know what I mean. It is the same one that brought you from the bottom of the entrance shaft to the AutoDoc; I am repurposing it to carry cargo.”

Now, having a computer or CEI in his head while talking to a real AI was beyond amazing, but looking at the hovering board was simply cool. It immediately reminded him of one of his childhood favorite comic superheroes; Michael wondered if it could be ridden like a surfboard. He loaded all the boxes meant for the ship on it and put his groceries inside the cabin.

He started walking towards the entrance of the ship, the board steadily following him like a dog on a leash. What really dropped his jaw to the ground was when he got to the entrance shaft and figured out that there was no way to lower the loaded stretcher in its horizontal position, the opening was too small so he reached for the boxes to bring them down one by one.

“Wait for a second, and watch this.” Max’s voice sounded smugly through his CEI.

The stretcher turned vertical, without any of the boxes dropping from it as if they were super-glued to it.

“How in the world is it doing that?” he asked looking at the cool new magic trick.

“Simply increasing gravity’s pull closer to its surface, we should better hurry since all that weight is taxing it beyond recommended parameters and its battery charge is almost empty.”

His next surprise was when Max instructed him to put the outdated computer chips into a receptacle that slid out of the wall. It was a three-foot drawer filled with a silvery looking goo. After he fed them into it, Michael looked at the old computer chips as they were consumed by the billions of nanites. The process looked exactly the same as a video he saw online of a ferromagnetic putty wrapping itself around a neodymium magnet.

“It is a mini nano-factory,” Max explained. “Its function is to take scrap, and using that extracted material, to quickly replicate some essential parts; the nanites could do the same on-site, but this saves a lot of time. If there is enough source material, they can assemble anything you can think of, one molecule at a time.” The AI said with a proud smile.

Next, he had to secure a satellite dish and radio antenna on a nearby rock outcropping. It was a good thing he bought an extra cable to reach the spaceship. The irony was not lost on Michael, here he was with the most advanced piece of tech on the entire planet, and he was running a cable to get an Internet signal.

“Once we get our feet off the ground, everything will be much easier and faster,” the AI said. While Max was trying to cheer him up, Michael was thinking of what else they could feed into the nano-factory.

The ship was a mostly closed system. Other than absorbing water from outside, it had everything needed to stay in optimal condition for all time; recycling failing components over and over again. Even making Michael’s CEI had used up the last of some rare materials, so Michael made a few more trips to the cabin and looked for anything they could reclaim.

The shed his grandfather used for storage was full of broken stuff he never got around to getting rid of. An old rusty CB radio and a few walkie-talkies found their way into the nanite mini-factory. Even mundane things like plastic bottles and broken glass were found useful. For the rest of the day, he did just that; feeding many things most would consider worthless to the nanites for them to disassemble. Max asked him to even throw in his regular trash into the nano-disassembler since there were so many useful base materials that could be extracted from it.

It was getting late and there was nothing more he could find for the insatiable nanites to break down to basic components, so he returned to the cabin, made himself something to eat, enjoyed one more beer on the porch, and went to sleep.