It was a stimulating problem, trying to figure out what was on the alien computer. The keyboard(s) worked similar to what I had guessed. Hold down what keys it takes to make the letter you want then hit the key under your left pinky and that character is accepted.
The hard part was trying to get to a screen where what I was typing in would be displayed. It's like this; if you were set down in front of a normal computer and had no idea what you were typing in--probably what you'd eventually get hung in would be some program that would respond to single keystrokes. Instead of displaying what character you had typed the computer would act on it instead, it would go to another screen or prompt you for what file to load or save or print some error message or display some requester box. That's what their computer got hung in every time I turned it on. It was trying to respond to what I was typing when I just wanted to see what the character I had typed looked like.
Killer was very supportive and didn't try to rush me. Mostly I just played with the alien computer and watched what it was doing in the hope that I might assign some meaning to what I saw. The graphics I saw were very impressive. There were layouts of the complex we were in and pictures of the machine. If only I could see a picture of the machine in use I might be able to guess what it did.
I would have loved to have seen a picture of the aliens. I suppose in the back of my mind I was worried if they were friendly looking or not. It was important to me. Suppose I deduced the machine made ice cream but the aliens looked really mean and scary--I wouldn't try to make any ice cream in that machine!
It was a long arduous task and I wasn't making much progress. Killer was anxious but kept it to himself where Toni couldn't. She was always trying to rush me. I had been diligent in the extreme to the translation process. I was fascinated by what I might find. I can remember one day being so immersed is what I was doing that I looked up for a moment because I was hungry and realized it was nearly time to go to bed and I hadn't eaten all day.
With that kind of dedication, on my part, Toni still had the gall to push me to go faster. I unloaded on her! I told her that she had just as good a chance at figuring out the alien written language as I did and she could start pushing her own self! She didn't bother me while I was trying to work again. I think she even found an office for herself and tried working the computer in there. The only time she would bother me then was to bring me something to eat.
It had been three days and I had nothing but ideas on how to proceed. It was still early in the night, for me, when Killer came by to get a progress report.
"Are you planning on staying up all night, Cookie?"
"I might, Killer, I seem to work better during the night and sleep in the morning. I thought I almost had something a little while ago. There was a screen that looked like a menu with alien words next to little icons that looked like some of the parts of the computer system. If I can figure out what the icons are supposed to represent then the alien words would mean what I called the icon.
"There are strong similarities between the way we write and the way they used to. We both read from left to right and down, I think, and they used a collection of characters to 'spell' a word, like we do. I'm trying to map out how many characters they had in their alphabet, so far I have twenty symbols. I'm hoping they didn't have capital letters."
"Look, I don't want you to burn yourself out on this. You've got just as long as you want to work on it. Just go at your own pace. Ok?"
"No problem Killer, I'm doing fine. I'm really enjoying this. It's like the most complete and most important puzzle ever created. This is great."
"Y'know, I do believe you are enjoying yourself. That's good. You just keep working on it. I've got to get back and check on things. I wanted you to know I'll be hiking out in the morning. I should be gone about a week, at least, but I may be gone longer. Toni will be staying behind with you. There's plenty of food and water. Is there anything I should bring you when I come back?"
"I've wished a million times I had a video camera to record what I'm doing here. That way when I wanted to compare a screen I had just been at I could just rewind the tape and not have to keep trying to back up their computer, which I haven't figured out how to do yet. Could you do that for me, Killer, I think it would be well worth the expense..."
"That's a good idea. I like that, Cookie. I'll bring one. Anything else? Cost is no object. I'd sink every credit I have into getting this thing going, if I thought it would help. This thing, what ever it is, will probably allow the CBs to get their own colony so hang the cost."
"Well I've been thinking, this computer up here might have been intended for almost anything--except operating that machine. The terminals down in that control room are probably dedicated to the machine. I think we should move all of our stuff down to there and maybe even get a second system for up here. What do you think?"
"Um, you're right. I'm trying to think how I'm going to get all this here. I've got to bring more food and water when I come back and I want to stop by your place and get all of your and Toni's clothes and what ever you need. I need a bigger truck. I don't know, maybe I can handle it. We'll see. Right now I had better help you move this down to the control room."
"That's ok, Killer. Toni and I can get it. You know, you could bring Dick back. He could look at what you have and maybe figure out what it does. The more people we have working on this means the more likely we are to find out how to make it go and it probably means we'll be able to do it quicker."
"Un un Cookie, the fewer people involved the better. I'm sure I could get some people in here that were familiar with machinery and they could make a good guess at what the machine might do--I don't want that. My biggest concern right now is security leaks. What I want is someone who can figure out how to operate it and give me an idea what to expect from it. I don't know about you, but I think it's a weapon of some sort. It's just what the CBs need. If it is a weapon or, at least, something that can be used as one then we can use it to force Tower city to let us start our own CB colony where we won't be bothered to death by dweeb cops. If it's not a weapon then we can sell it and buy our own land to build a colony on. Either way we win--provided we aren't found before we can use this thing.
"I'd rather give you more time than increase how many people we have here. The problem is getting in and out without attracting attention. If I have to start having a truck come in here every week with food for all of us then we'll get caught. It's better to just slug along and use the time that we have. That's our advantage, we may not have resources but we do have time."
"Ok Killer, it was just a suggestion."
***
When Killer left the next morning I took some time to myself to reflect on the fact that Toni and I were indeed prisoners in that alien installation. Killer would not allow us to leave until the alien language had been interpreted. It wasn't that bad. I was enjoying what I was doing and I had anything that I wanted, almost, and I was pretty safe. I wondered what had happened to the man that Killer had mentioned. The one Killer had look at the machine before me.
What would happen when I did figure out the alien's language and thus the machine? If it turned out to be a giant fruit juicer then nothing would happen, much.
The problem was if it was a weapon of some sort. If Killer decided to sell it to Tower colony then my life and Toni's life wouldn't be worth spit. The state would either lock us up forever or execute us. If Killer decided to use it to threaten the colony to either treating CBs as equals or letting us set up our own colony then it would have paid off for me.
So far I trusted Killer.
I have this thing I go by. If you risk getting your arm chopped off for a meatball sub then you are stupid. Every time you do something (and that includes doing nothing) there is a certain degree of risk involved. If you risk a lot for next to nothing then you are goofing up. It's easy to have a low risk for a low yield. It's a good deal, it's worthwhile. As the degree of risk rises then even though the reward is better too it becomes harder to decide if it is worth the risk. It makes life more interesting and it can make life shorter.
I was playing big stakes. I could end up dead or I could see the beginning of a better way of life for myself and all CBs. It reminded me of that old saying about 'it is best to live in unexciting times'.
***
With Killer gone Toni and I went to pot. We got up any old time of day, did any thing we wanted to anytime we wanted to, ate whatever we wanted, wore what ever we wanted. The equivalent of the barracks was strewn with our garbage and our clothes. We only had one change apiece so what I started doing was to wear the least that I could so that I wouldn't dirty any more than absolutely necessary. Among our supplies we found a huge cache of pills and enough booze for us and two more like us. While I worked on the computer I munched on junk food all the while and when I called it quits for the day/night I popped pills and drank myself into a stupor.
We got very casual. One week went by then another. I began to worry if something had happened to Killer. I had tried everything I could think of and I wasn't too much further along than I had been after my first day.
I was down in the control room messing with the computer late one night or maybe it was early the next day when George came in. George was what we had named one of the many automated drones. George's job was to clean. It was a kick to watch one of those drones work. They were fussy...
Take George, for instance, Toni and I had marked him with lipstick one night so we could tell if it was the same drone the next night. George seemed to get the idea that he was dirty and immediately began trying to get Toni's lipstick off of himself. He tried so hard that he scratched his finish and that was how we knew which drone was George. Anyway George was frantically, almost, trying to get that lipstick off it's self. It reminded me of a puppy chasing it's own tail. Toni and I laughed at that dumb drone until tears came to our eyes. We finally had to throw some trash on the floor to distract it so it wouldn't tear it's self up.
I was sitting there totally bored with what was going on and ready to call it a night. George was cleaning the other side of the room. I decided to watch George work. Drones were fun to watch. They acted just like they were alive sometimes. George had uneventfully worked he way over to where I was sitting watching him.
I don't know why but I stuck my foot out in front of him to see what he would do. He dodged my foot and went about his business. Not satisfied I stuck my foot in his way again and he dodged me. It tickled me the way he could move so fast then he'd sit there for a moment like he was waiting for me to do it again.
I got up and chased him into the corner. Slowly I crept up on him just dying to see how he would get away from me. There was nothing he could do and that's what he did. He just sat there and didn't move, waiting for me to get out of his way. Suddenly I was bored again.
"Shucks Cookie, You're playing chase with a drone for Pete's sake!" I said aloud.
George moved.
It was like he knew I was talking to him. I was intrigued.
"George? George, can you hear me?"
Nothing.
"Geeoorge...pretty drone. Here boy! Come on..."
I almost passed out when George made a sound. It sounded like "ferguy" or "for gie" or something. I couldn't believe it! That little guy was trying to communicate with me! Here I had spent weeks trying to get the computer to do something and suddenly I had a cleaning droid trying to communicate with me. What was it trying to say? Would it be "get out of my way"? Maybe it was just trying to warn me that it was there. Could it be trying to say "forgive", as in "forgive my intrusion"?
What did I say to it to let it know I was trying to communicate more.
"Ferguy" I called to it. "Ferguy? For gie?"
Nothing.
"Geeoorge...pretty drone. Here boy! Come on..." I repeated as exactly as possible what I had said before.
"Ferguy." It said plain as day.
"Geeoorge...pretty drone."
Nothing.
"Here boy! Come on..."
"Ferguy."
"Come on..."
"Ferguy."
"Come on...Come on..."
"Ferguy."
It was definitely responding to me when I told it to 'come on'. Did that sound like some command it was programmed to respond to? If only I could get it to help me. I had a start, now if only I could get my foot in the door a little farther...
I stepped out of the control room for a moment being careful to not let George get away. "Hey Toni! Toni! Tooonniii! HEY!" I called. I waited.
Nothing.
"Well maybe I can carry George up to Toni." I said aloud. I think I was hoping I would luck up and say something that would make George start talking to me and explaining everything I ever wanted to know about anything. Well! It was worth a try, wasn't it?
I turned around and there was George right at my feet. I closed the door quickly so he didn't escape. George was unperturbed. I wished I had something to jam under the door so George couldn't get out if I walked away from the door. There was nothing I could use. Gingerly I moved away from the door. George turned in my direction! He wasn't trying to get away.
Suddenly a terrible thought came to my head--was George stalking me? For just a moment I felt terribly alone. I looked down at the drone. Hell, it was more cute than scary!
I heard a noise and jumped. It was Toni. She was crashing down the stairs.
"What's the matter Cookie? You alright?" she asked as she burst through the door into the room.
"Yea, I'm just down here scaring myself." I told her as she was falling over George.
"What? I come running down here thinking you're hurt and you are doing what?" she asked breathlessly.
"I got George to talk."
"George? What are you doing messing with George? Wait a minute! He talked?"
"Yep."
"Well, what'd he say Cookie?"
"So far all I've been able to get him to say is something like 'ferguy'."
"What's that mean?"
"I dunno."
"Wait a minute, was this something that you taught him to say or something he made up on his own?"
"I was talking to him and when I told him to 'come on'-"
"ferguy" George finished for me.
Toni jumped. "What the hell... George! Hmmm, I wonder why he never did that before..."
"I guess we never said 'come on'-"
"ferguy"
"Shut up, George!" Toni barked at it. "To be sure we had to have said that at least once before."
"I dunno, maybe we didn't. He sure responds now though."
"I wonder what it means."
"That makes two of us, Toni. I wonder if we'll say anything else that will get a rise out of him."
"Probably. You said you were scaring yourself, you mean it scared you by talking."
"No Toni, I began wondering what George would do next to surprise me. You know any of these drones could decide that you and me are invaders and need to be removed."
Toni made an impolite noise with her mouth signifying disbelief. "Sure Cookie and I think you're not getting enough sleep."
It was my turn to make an impolite noise.
The whole book in zipfile format.
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