27 Nov 2007
Final Destination, Chapter 5: September 23, 3094
“How’s it going?” I asked. We’ve been here for three days now.
“Tolerably well, Miles Porter. I have launched a cloud of small probes, and they have begun exploring the rocks that I have located. They will report their findings once we reach them. I should have some results in four days.”
“Hey, that’s pretty cool,” I replied. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I have many capabilities that you are not aware of, Miles Porter. You really should read the user’s manual. Had you started when the trip began you could have finished its 5,203 pages by now. I did ask you to, if you will recall.”
“Yeah, I know. I had more pressing things to attend to, like watching the mold grow downstairs. You never did tell me how to get rid of it, by the way.”
“Mold removal, Miles Porter, is not a part of my programming. You will have to attend to that yourself. I would suggest using bleach.”
“Do we even have any bleach aboard, Al?”
“No, Miles Porter, we do not.”
I sighed. “Let me know when your probes find something. I’m going to be downstairs reading your user manual. Maybe I’ll find a way to turn you off and finally get some peace.”
“Very good, Miles Porter.”
It had been a huge blow to find the entire planet missing. At least a few fragments survived; perhaps one of them held a clue. I really did not want to come back home empty-handed: Tau Ceti was dying and I knew that I was their last chance. If I couldn’t find a way to repair our technology then no answer would be found, and in a hundred years most of us would be dead and the lucky survivors would be depending on stone knives and bearskins. I had to find something.