Beyond the Farthest Star: Chapter 9

Amy Striker went straight to bed as soon as the Raptor made it back to New Tikal. She was so tired that she barely noticed when Miles led her to an abandoned apartment, gave her its key, bade her good-night, and shut the door behind him after he left. The girl collapsed into bed and slept all through the night. She didn’t wake up until she heard a knock at the door.

“One minute,” she grumbled. Amy opened her eyes and looked around. At first she didn’t know where she was, but then it all came back to her. I must have been really worn out last night, she thought. I can’t believe I didn’t redecorate this place before going to bed. I’m surprised this building hasn’t been condemned! Even the Sparrow wasn’t this bad.

Amy was appalled at the condition of her bedroom. The only furnishings in the room were a rickety plastic chair and a rusty metal bed. A single light bulb dangled overhead, but it was off. The room was light by sunlight that was streaming through a window in the far wall.

Wait a minute, Amy thought, startled. Light is coming through a window? How is that possible? Isn’t this colony underground?

Amy studied it for a minute and then realized that the window wasn’t real. It was just a display terminal, cleverly built to look like a window. As she moved her head the scene out the window changed perspective, making it seem that there was a grassy field was on the other side of the wall. But she knew that was not the case. This planet no longer has grassy fields, she thought sadly.

A muffled voice called out through the front door, but she could not understand what it was saying. “Just a minute,” she called out. “I’m coming.”

Amy got out of bed and left the bedroom. Since there were no fake windows in the living room she snapped on the overhead light. She was surprised to see how extremely small her apartment was. A single dilapidated couch took up almost the entire living room. Along the far wall was the kitchen area, which contained a rusted sink, a broken stove, a refrigerator that was missing its door, and a few broken cabinets. There was another door that led to the bathroom. Other than that the apartment was empty. The floor, walls, and ceiling were made of a dirty, tarnished metal that was dented in places.

“This place is hideous,” Amy complained. She shook her head, then walked over to the front door and opened it. Standing outside was a tall, elderly man who was dressed in what appeared to be blue overalls. He was wearing a pair of shoes that may have been white at one time but were now a dirty brown. He had a kind face and deep blue eyes. There was something about him that made Amy think that he was much older than he seemed to be.

“Oh, hey there,” Amy said. “You’re the guy from last night, aren’t you?”

The man smiled and put a hand in his pocket. He pulled out a few crumpled notes, browsed through them, and then held one up.

Amy read it aloud. “I don’t speak ancient Martian. Oh. Right! Of course you don’t – I should have known that. Um, ok. That’s going to make things a little tricky. If you’ll come inside I’ll try to find a way for us to communicate.”

Amy stepped away from the door and gestured for him to come in. The man nodded, stepped inside, and then sat down on the couch. He appeared to be in no particular hurry.

The girl thought for a few minutes. Ok then. How am I going to do this? Let me think. You know, I bet this is something my nanites could help out with. When Steve went back in time to the 19th century he found a way to learn the local languages. He may have written a program that I can use. But first things first – I need to create a nanite cloud that I can tap into.

Amy closed her eyes and spread her arms, and used her nanites to visualize the planet around her. She then released a small cluster of nanites into the air, transported them to the planet’s surface, and commanded them to replicate until they had saturated the atmosphere, the ground, and the New Tikal colony. As they began multiplying the girl browsed through their repository of commands until she found a section that dealt with languages. Amy experimentally activated a few of the commands, then opened her eyes.

“Well, that’s going to take a while,” she told the man. “This colony is pretty small, so the nanites don’t have a large data sample to work with. It may take them a while to map ancient Martian to whatever dialect you use today. But you don’t understand a word I’m saying, do you? No, I didn’t think so.”

Amy thought a moment, then waved her hand. A group of words appeared on the metal wall of her apartment, written in ancient Martian. The girl then left the room, went into the bathroom, and shut the door.

It took Miles a few minutes to decode the writing on the wall. The letters were very clear, but the sentence structure was oddly informal and some of the words were extremely old. Studying it made him realize just how ancient Amy actually was. He wasn’t able to translate the entire message, but he could read enough of it to understand what she was trying to say. “Looks like she’s working on the language problem and wants to freshen up,” he said aloud. “Fair enough. I’ll just sit here and wait, then.”

Amy did not reappear until nearly an hour later. When she finally emerged from the bathroom Miles was surprised to see that her outfit had changed. She was now wearing blue jeans, a yellow T-shirt, and a pair of white sandals. Her hair was tied back in a yellow ribbon. That’s odd, he thought. I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a suitcase last night, and this apartment surely didn’t have any clothing that would fit her! Where did she get that outfit?

As he watched, the girl closed her eyes and held still for a few minutes. Occasionally she made little motions with her hands, as if she was controlling something that he couldn’t see. She finally opened her eyes and looked at him. “All right, let’s try this. Can you understand anything I’m saying?”

“Absolutely!” Miles replied. He stood up. “My names is Miles. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Stryker. We’re all very happy to have you here.”

“You know my name?” Amy asked, surprised. “How could you possibly know who I am?”

“It’s a long story, I’m afraid, and it’s best saved for another time. There are more important things to attend to – such as breakfast, for instance. Are you hungry?”

“Actually, I am! I didn’t miss breakfast, did I? I’m not sure what time it is here.”

“You almost missed it, but not quite. As far as the time goes, it is currently nine o’clock in the morning. Breakfast is served until ten. I woke you up at eight because I wasn’t sure how long it would take you to learn our language. You proved to be a quick study!”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Amy replied. “It’s not that different from what I’m used to. Well, I guess it actually is pretty different, but I can see how your language is related to mine. It’s almost like we’re speaking two different dialects of the same language, only your dialect is a corruption of mine.”

“I suppose it is, in a way. Your language has not been spoken in a very long time. A lot has changed since the 19th century. Not all of the changes have been good, I’m afraid.”

“Have there been any good changes?” Amy asked.

“There have been a few. For example, the Spanish Empire no longer controls Mars. In fact, I believe that empire no longer exists at all. Mars is now an independent world, in control of her own destiny.”

“I guess that’s something,” Amy replied. “But honestly, I was kind of hoping for more.”

“Reality is what it is,” Miles said. “Unlike you, I cannot make the world change simply by wishing it was different.”

“And how do you know that I can do that?”

“We’ll talk about it after breakfast,” Miles replied. “It’s too long a story to discuss on an empty stomach.”

Miles and Amy left the apartment and began walking down the hallways. Amy briefly considered locking the door, but then realized there was nothing in it worth stealing. If they want that awful couch they’re welcome to it, she decided.

Amy was surprised at how dingy and old everything looked. She was hoping that her apartment was some kind of anomaly in an otherwise nice building, but she quickly realized that was not the case. Bare light bulbs dangled from wires that dropped out of the ceiling. Most of the bulbs were broken, making it difficult to see. The walls of the building’s corridors were made out of the same tarnished metal that she had seen in her apartment, and the floor was littered with old trash.

One thing Amy noticed was that every dozen feet or so she saw a door with a number on it. “So this is an apartment building,” Amy commented. “I’m not just imagining it.”

“It is, or rather, it used to be. As you might guess, no one actually lives here anymore. Most of the engineers who work on the ZPE live in the city and commute. I don’t really blame them – there’s no particular reason to live in the plant itself. These apartments are just a relic of the old days.”

Miles opened a battered door and stepped inside a stairwell. Amy followed him, and the two began walking upstairs.

“This place is in terrible shape!” Amy said. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but it’s clearly seen better days.”

“It has indeed. This particular facility is actually two thousand years old. The ZPE power plant was one of the first parts of the colony that were built. The city is somewhat newer, although much of it dates back to the same period. Very little has been added in the past five hundred years.”

“No wonder it’s in such poor condition! I had no idea it was so old. Why hasn’t it been remodeled?”

“It takes resources to remodel, and no one wants to do it. Our only source of metal these days is the ZPE, and it can only produce so much. It just isn’t cost-effective. Besides, things may not look pretty but they still work, even after all this time. That metal alloy you see was designed to last forever, and it almost has.”

After walking up eight flights of stairs they finally got to the top level. Miles opened a door that led to another corridor.

“Here we go!” Miles said cheerfully. “We’ve finally reached the main level. The cafeteria is just ahead, on the right.”

“Wait just a minute. Didn’t you say that the apartment complex had been abandoned?”

“I did,” Miles said.

“Then why was I given a room on the eighth floor?”

Miles smiled. “That’s the only apartment I was able to find that had a bed. I figured you’d want one of those.”

“Oh,” she replied. “Well, if I’m going to stay here then I’m going to be making a few changes. I hope you don’t mind if I take a top-floor apartment – or if I redecorate.”

“Be my guest,” Miles replied. “I’m just glad to hear that you’re going to be sticking around for a while. We are in desperate need of your help.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Amy replied quickly. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just said that if I’m going to stay here I may take a few liberties with the local décor.”

“As you wish,” Miles said.

As they walked down the hallway Amy tapped into the nanites to get a map of her location. She saw that below her was the residential section. There were twelve floors and, as Miles had said, they were all abandoned. Mine really is the only one with a bed, she thought. That is going to change. The hallway they were now in appeared to be the central passage for a large power plant. Up ahead and on the right was the cafeteria – a rather large room that could hold several hundred people. Other doors on both sides of the hallway opened into workshops and storage rooms, many of which were deserted. At the far end of the hallway was a gigantic room in which was housed the zero-point-energy plant itself. She could see several people milling around.

That power plant is in terrible shape, she thought. Do these people know how damaged it is? I’m surprised it can run at all! I’m going to have to talk to them about that. If they–

“And here we are,” Miles said, interrupting her thoughts. He held the door open to the cafeteria. “After you, miss.”

“Thanks,” she replied. Amy stepped through the door and into the cafeteria. She took a deep breath, and then began coughing. “Oh my goodness! What is that horrible smell?”

“Breakfast!” Miles replied cheerfully. “Come on in and I’ll show you.”