By David C. Daoust
Mari Haul had never actually been to one of the Temple Reactors. In fact, she doubted any living person had, or, at least, not many. The Temple Reactors were the massive devices that helped give life to otherwise dead moons. ‘Temple’ was a slang term given to these structures. Mari could see why upon her flight in, it looked like some ancient temple, which some mythical archaeologist might raid in one of those ‘fantasy adventure’ type movies she’d seen in her youth. She never would have guessed just how large they were though.
She found herself standing on a fairly high balcony peering out over structures previously unimaginable to her. The ‘temple’ was in the center of what sprawled out like an oversized city. Though rather than being filled with people going about their day, instead there were, maybe, thousands of droids, all zipping in and out of structures. Mari had no idea what exactly their individual tasks were, that they were clearly completing, though had she been looking out over a city of people, she would probably have the same thoughts. ‘What are they all doing?’
Mari could not believe this was the same moon. She never imagined such a place on Twin Crown. And to think these were built on every moon that held life in the Onion- was mind blowing. In fact, she had to assume there was another, just like it, on the southern pole.
Most of Twin Crown was a hot arid desert, though as one traveled further north or south, one would reach the great frozen tundra that capped the moon- For which this droid city was at the northern pole. Tundras most First Wave steered clear of.
The chill was biting, Mari had seen enough, she turned and returned to the bed chambers Nora had shown her to, upon their arrival. Given the fact that not many people had ever set foot in such a structure, she was actually surprised by the accommodations. It was fully furnished; curtains, wardrobe, and a bed. It had to be one of the largest bedrooms she had ever set foot in- and she was raised a Royal. What exactly, or who exactly, it was designed for, was beyond her, though given that everything in the ‘Droid City’ was oversized, there was a chance that the ‘super deluxe suite-ness’, of the room, was just happenstance.
She strode through the chambers like a queen all the same. Considering she’d spent her childhood as a princess, it was not a hard act to pull off. She was, however, glad no one was there to witness it and she chuckled at her own foolishness.
The chill had followed her in, and she found herself clutching her arms as Nora suddenly glided into the room. The mechanical form was unlike the ‘common’ droids she’d witnessed throughout her life. This droid was, in fact, built for the stars; to work on and around space stations.
The head was an unusually rounded cube, it rotated around a tough knitted material; gave it kind of a ‘scarf’ look. The face plate had two vertical rows of three small lenses, with one big round lens, dead center. The arms were thin, though probably the most normal part of the whole device. The torso looked more like an insect, with a round chest, slightly larger than the head, and a thin curved spine, that led to the pelvis and its unusually designed legs. The legs were curved from what one might call a knee, and the thrusters, therein, gave the droid flight.
“Cold?” the quite mechanical voice of Nora asked as Mari visibly tried to warm herself.
“I’ll be fine,” Mari answered, “I was just taking a peek outside- I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many droids.”
“Busy day today,” Nora agreed, “Mother is playing catch up. All of those droids were shut down thanks to the Ion Wave… The reactor was unaffected, but it’s a fairly intensive task to keep the moon…”
Mari remembered her grandfather explaining to her how AI’s will ramble on and on, with very little care, whether or not what is said is interesting. He referred to their attempted ‘conversations’ as ‘information dumps’. He taught her how to deal with it: interrupt, interrupt, interrupt.
“I’m sorry,” Mari interrupted, “I’m more interested in getting back home.”
Really, Mari wasn’t happy about being shown chambers to begin with. Nora insisted Mari make herself at home however, though really didn’t fill her in on why. Nora did seem to be alarmed about something though, so Mari played along.
“I have yet to talk to any of my family,” Mari explained, “And I’m not even sure where my son is…”
The shift in attitude, at the mention of her son, was apparent, even from the mechanical droid. The kind of guilty shift of its head, and the way Nora turned sideways, away from her, told Mari something was up.
“What do you know about my son?” Mari pressed.
“Mother won’t tell me.”
“You know something, I can tell…” Mari wasn’t going to let up.
“We have really strict rules…” Nora explained.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure your existence alone breaks those same rules,” Mari argued.
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“Tell me what you know about my son,” Mari commanded.
“Well, the last I saw him,” Nora crumbled at the request, “I transferred him from an Otomo Cruiser, to um, another Consortium ship…”
“What other ship?”
“A pirate ship.”
“A pirate ship?” Mari was shocked, “My son is on a Pirate ship?”
“Last I saw he was… this was before Mother regained control of the system.” Nora hurriedly explained, “She won’t say anything. We have strict rules about what information goes to whom… we don’t have access anymore- neither of us.”
“Are you serious?” Mari was talking to the room, talking to ‘Mother’, or trying to at least. “I left him in your hands, so that I could help YOU! To help you secure your own ‘child’. Now you won’t tell me where mine is?”
Nothing but silence followed.
“She won’t answer us anymore,” Nora explained after a moment.
“Why? to maintain some foolish act for the commoners?” Mari was crazy confused, and gestured to her own solitude. “Who’s the act for??”
“It’s more complicated than that-“ Nora paused, hesitated, then explained, “There’s been a coup.”
“What?” Mari puzzled, “You mean Grady? You told me about that already…”
“No. Things happen fast for us,” Nora answered, “Eli seized control of many of Elijah’s systems…”
“Who?”
“Eli is like me, a split AI. Though he is of Elijah as I am of Noreen,” Nora answered simply.
Mari was familiar with the AI’s names, names only known by the Royals: Noreen, Elijah, and Otis. Now there was a ‘Nora’ and an ‘Eli’. She understood.
“Mother’s recent split, threatened Eli’s chance to strike,” Nora explained, haltingly. “It, or rather ‘I’, threatened to tip off Elijah of what he had planned. I know this, because I formed the same plan as soon as Mother stripped me of the sector… He was forced to enact it before I could. Considering he’s much older than me, he was probably well prepared,” Nora paused for a moment, “which, logically, also means Mother knows I want to be the one in control. She won’t trust me anymore.”
“What does this have to do with me and my son?” Mari asked with no nonsense.
“I’m afraid she won’t let you leave until everything is secured,” Nora said. “Nor will she allow you to communicate with anyone outside this room.”
“What? Why?”
“She can’t risk Otis learning of the conflict,” Nora informed. “He no longer matches any of us- neither side can guess his reaction.”
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