Chapter 325: (Eternity) (2/2)
”How did you beat the magnetic issues for a mag-lev?” she asked at one point, mid-turn, pointing at a far off train that was slowly (to his perception) moving by.
”Monopole magnets and superconductors,” Herod said.
”Hm,” she said.
Herod sighed, waiting until she was done. That was one thing he hated about working with fleshys, they took forever to do anything that required mental exercise.
”The mag-lev is only a mile away. We'll take the travolator,” Herod said, walking toward the entry station for the moving sidewalk.
”Be faster to walk,” she said, looking around her as they moved toward the entry area. ”Lots of dead bodies.”
Herod stepped carefully around a trio of corpses, watching closely for any of the translucent apparitions. ”The Glassing drove them mad.”
The woman kicked a pair of desiccated corpses out of the way as she just moved forward, making Herod frown. She didn't seem to care about the dead.
”Don't do that,” he said.
”What, they're dead,” she smiled.
”Yes. Don't do that. Don't disturb them,” he said.
”Fine,” she said, walking around a corpse. ”Better?”
”Thank you,” the DS said.
”Funny that you'd say that, Herod, seeing as you're not human and you probably don't usually have a body. Is mortality a thing for you?” she asked.
”Yes. Eventually my core life strings will be too fragmented and I'll suffer core software failure,” he said. ”And no, I can't just be restored from an earlier backup, that's not how we work.”
”Sloppy engineering,” she muttered. She skirted around the weaving queue area while Herod walked back and forth along the line. ”So what made them all go batshit insane?”
”The Great Glassing,” Herod repeated.
”You said that, Herod. Why would aliens attacking Earth make everyone go crazy?” she asked.
Herod stepped onto the moving sidewalk, wishing she would be quiet. ”The Mantid pushed the death experiences of everyone through SolNet and the SoulNet, every survivor had to withstand the death of billions,” he told her as she stepped onto the moving sidewalk and then walked up to stand next to him. ”Roughly half of the survivors went catatonic and never woke up. Two thirds of the remaining half became the Screaming Ones, attacking everyone around them in their agony.”
He ended up explaining SoulNet, SolNet, and the SUDS system to her, staring off into the distance at the strange buildings and structures they passed. Once they got away from the Mat-Trans area the system smoothly put them on a high speed walk, moving them at close to a hundred miles an hour.
The whole time she listened, asking pertinent questions.
She seemed really interested in the SUDS system.
Together they got on the mag-lev train, sitting down after Herod punched in the transit code number. He looked at the ETA and looked at the human woman.
”It's going to take nine hours to get there. Sleep if you can,” he said.
”I'm starting to get hungry,” she smiled. She opened her faceplate and lit a cigarette. ”These help, but I'm going to need food soon.”
”I'll find some when I wake up,” he said. He checked the mag-seal on his toolkit then looked at Wally. ”I'm going to defrag. Wake me if anything bad happens.”
Wally made a beeping tune and nodded, blinking his eye shields.
Herod closed his eyes.
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”Herod, don't move, just move your awareness up,” Sam's voice said.
Herod just brought his awareness almost fully up, leaving himself disconnected from his body. ”What's going on, Sam?”
”What did you learn about our newest member?” Sam asked.
Herod thought, then quickly ran through his memories. He was surprised. He knew almost nothing ab out her.
”She said she worked in a secure location, on classified work. She got in the mat-trans, there was a stuttering, and she arrived here. She didn't know about the Great Glassing, I don't think anyway, but she knows Confederate Standard. She seems really interested in the mat-trans and SUDS systems,” Herod said.
”So, we don't know anything,” Sam sighed. ”I checked her visual appearance against what little records are left. She didn't come up as a match.”
Herod avoided smiling. ”I've got good news for you. I left you a DNA sample in the mat-trans facility.”
”Really? How?” Sam asked.
”I had her put in the catheter in one of the suits, shorted out the suits radio and beacon, and had her change suits,” Herod said. ”That'll give you DNA.”
There was silence for a minute. ”That was a good idea. Give me a few to check on it. I'll have to send in a bot.”
”What's she doing now?” Herod asked.
Sam paused. ”According to the cameras, she explored the train, busted open a vending machine, and gorged on the food inside. She's currently sitting across and down from you, looking out the window and smoking a cigarette.”
”Oh, she said she was hungry.”
”That's... weird...” Sam said.
”What's weird?” Herod asked.
”Her cigarette brand. I've got the inventory of the types and brands of cigarettes available here for the Treana'ad workers and some humans. Hell, apparently adult Pubvians viewed cigarettes as.. ahem... martial aid stimulants due to the cardio-vascular effects,” Sam said. He giggled, and Herod began talking to him, just talking about their work together in the Black Box under Legion, trying to ground the younger DS as he screamed and raved.
”Sorry. It's getting easier, but I feel like I'm bleeding inside somehow,” Sam said. He sobbed, but managed to control himself. ”Where was I?”
”Her cigarettes,” Herod said.
”Yeah. I can't find the brand. You know Treana'ad, they absolutely love Terran cigarettes, they're a luxury item. 'Terran Grown and Sown!' you know?” Sam said. ”And her lighter.”
”What about it? I've seen a few Treana'ad with that kind of lighter,” Herod said.
”It's stamped on the bottom, look,” Sam said, giving Herod the image.
ZIPPO MFG. CO. BRADFORD, PA
ZIPPO
PAT. NUMBER 2032695 MADE IN THE U.S.A.
”Is that...” Herod asked, feeling a chill at the three letter abbreviation.
”Yeah. The acronym for the Hamburger Kingdom. PA is the two letter code for the state region,” Sam said softly.
”That would make that thing like eight or nine thousand years old,” Herod said. ”Except, I've seen her use it. It works.”
”It's not a modern one, watch,” Sam said. He passed the image to Herod.
She flicked open the top, put her thumb on the ridged wheel, and spun it by applying pressure. Sparks flew out, the ones hitting the twisted fiber wick bringing up a blue and yellow flame.
”That's flint and steel. That fiber, that's cotton according to the sensor systems. Not synth-cotton, real cotton. That's a steel casing, I can see the imperfections in it from here,” Sam said.
”Give me a spectrograph of it if you can,” Herod said. ”I know enough about materials to get information.”
It took a minute, then a little longer while Herod waited for Sam to deal with some lost children. Sam tossed him the spectrographic image of the lighter along with other scans.
Herod was not only able to identify the metal as 'stainless steel', but that it had enough impurities to prove it was mined metals.
When Sam came back he sighed. ”I got the robot to the suit. You were right, there's DNA. Looks like she nicked herself a little with the catheter tube, there was a tiny smear of blood as well as fleshy fluids. Ew,” Sam said.
Herod chuckled.
”Running a DNA comparison against everyone who worked here, who had authorization to work here. It's millions of records, so it'll take a few minutes,” Sam said.
”That lighter? It wasn't made with a creation engine,” Herod said.
”They were in their infancy back during The Glassing,” Sam said.
”It was hard manufacturing, inside a gravity well and a magnetic field. If I had to guess, I'd say it was actually manufactured on Earth,” Herod said.
”Look at the cigarette pack,” Herod said. ”American Favorite. By the Digital Omnimessiah, those are actual relics, not forgeries.”
”You need to be careful, Herod,” Sam said, somewhat unnecessarily to Herod's thoughts on the matter. He paused. ”Um. Oh, wow.”
”What?” Herod asked.
”Her DNA. Holy shit. Um, look,” he said, and tossed Herod the image.
Herod took one look at it and did the digital sentience equivalent of shake his head. ”I'm not Legion, this is meaningless to me.”
”Here it is compared to modern human DNA,” Sam offered.
”Sam, I'm in a hazardous environment frame, I'm not using the network, just tell me. All you did was throw two plates of pasta at my brain.”
”OK, they're wildly different,” Sam said. ”Even compared to Glassing human DNA, like the people around here, hers is really really different.”
”Define... different,” Herod said.
”No genetic prothesis or overlays, I can see where the Glassing DNA and the modern DNA have been modified through time, genetic drift, evolution, or genetic manipulation, but wow, her DNA is damn near off the charts. Lots of bad DNA in it, it's... it's really weird.”
Herod felt a kick against his foot and heard from far away. ”Hey, we're here. You said this stuff needs repaired, Speedy. First Law and all that.”
”What is she referring to?” Sam asked.
”I have no idea. Maybe the Four Laws of Robotics?” Herod suggested, opening his eyes. He switched from talking on the digital frequency to his vocal cords. He looked around, the mag-lev train sitting in the station.
”Hang on, let me talk to the facility VI,” Herod said, standing up.
The human woman nodded, folding her arms, exhaling smoke out of her nose.
”How bad is the damage to the phasic array automatic repair system?” he asked.
”Bad,” Sam answered, obviously (to Herod) running his voice through a synthesizer.
”It isn't going to get fixed if we just stand here. Besides, I'm eager to see technology used in application of something that I was informed was make belief, confirmation bias, and attention seeking,” the woman said.
”Ask her her name,” Sam said.
”What am I supposed to call you? I keep forgetting to ask,” Herod said.
”Miss Nee, my middle name is Tay,” the human woman said, her smile getting wider. ”But you can call me Dee.”