Chapter Two:
Children—Kitt.
Kitt Ayers is, by only a few moments, the oldest of the 'first twins', as Lisa Hawkern calls her first born. Twins and Triplets are far more common amongst the Edrailians than Single births. And by this, Kitt is the oldest child of the Family
Who lives in a closeted world of her own…
She is by all appearances a younger version of her Mother, but with much longer golden blond hair and darker skin inherited from their Moorish Grandmother, who spends her time alone with Cybernetic operational systems (as robots are usually called here), and translating ancient Edrailian Texts stored in the molecular structure of crystal rods (as an advanced form of informational storage).
But, trying to speak with her about what she does for Ayers Aerospace, (largely consultation and design work for it any other Family concerns), can be in itself a trying experience for those without patience.
Hawkern leads me down into the heart of the Mesa by private elevator, then down three short corridors that lead to a silver door that in turn leads into a highly sophisticated machine shop and laboratory with silver walls, floor, worktables and numerous shelving. The only things that break up his color scheme in this long steel-colored rectangular room are the tan computers with their numerous black screened monitors situated around the room, a large tool rig hanging down from the ceiling like some bizarrely huge spider, and the black padded swivel chairs along the walls. The back third closed off into some sort of special room where I can see numerous shelving containing several metal cases.
This, Hawkern explains, is Kitt's only other personal room besides her bedroom.
As we enter, Kitt Ayers is dressed in a white one-piece work smock with her long blond hair tied back in a large bun and wearing safety goggles, is busily dealing with the internals of one of her many 'Bot's', though the one in question looks like a real human child. In fact, she's so absorbed in her work she not even aware of our close presence to her, in spite all the noise we made, until her Mother taps her lightly on the shoulder—which not only results in Kitt jumping like she'd been shocked but also sends numerous small tools flying throughout the room.
It's not intentional, as Hawkern explained to me; she has suffered through several traumatic experiences early in her life. And has reverted to seeking solace by burying herself in her work. Unfortunately, this has cost her the ability to socialize, even with her very Family, comfortably.
After a few minutes of calming her down, she appears somewhat at ease. But sits nervously even with her Mother close by.
"My-my worksssin ther-oy, andhell-ping the textsss fromthe F-fam-lee are-chives." She tries explaining, half-stuttering and forcing the words out which results in the smaller words being jammed together in a nearly unrecognizable mess. "Butbut, I-I'm wor-king onmy Bots'"
She motions to the one she was working on,; a pointed-jawed female, child-like in appearance but scaled with adult proportions, with it's red hair styled up in a pompadour with two long tendrils of hair sweeping downward at the temples she identifies as 'Priss', who's developed a fault in her breathing system which mimics human breathing to remove excess heat from delicate internal systems before they're damaged by it.. Its chest is opened, exposing internal workings that bare a close resemblance to actual human organs that are made from composite plastics and metals instead of flesh.
She then glances at her Mother, wondering what to do next.
"It's alright." Hawkern gently tells her with a warm smile, which encourages Kitt to continue.
"I-I built them asa child." She continues, smiling while nervously working her hands in her lap. "Ma-modeled af-ter an-anime car-toon char-caters. The littleones ha-ave them nowas their com-pan-ins, andI tendto them 'winIcan. Eachis…k-able of indy-pendant thought andaction, butonly within care-fully de-finded terms."
"Like laws?" I ask, wondering about similar standards. Her rapid nod gave me my answer before she even spoke it.
"The-the lawsare sim-u-lar to As-a-moff's, butbut aremore ex-sten-sive indetail concerning thesystems' a-bill-i-tee to re-act in num-er-us sit-u-rat-ions. Itit gives them the a-bill-i-tee toboth learn and mod-dee-fy their be-have-yer a-cord-dingy."
Simply, they are artificially intelligent and self-aware.
Such mechanisms aren't unusual among Edrailians, (as I will find out when meeting TOM later on), and do manage themselves when in Society. But there are those who 'go rogue' becoming criminal, either through the tampering of their base programming, or through abuse…
"Itit's really alllearned be-have-yer." Kitt explains. "No diff-rent from act-u-well child-ren."
It's hard to believe, but Kitt Ayers is a genius.
At fourteen, she entered Cal-Tech, and within two years had graduated at the ahead of her class as Valedictorian. By age twenty, she had already and fully earned her Master's in both Cybernetic Theory and Quantum Physics at Cambridge University, England. I'm not entirely sure how well her Thesis presentations, which are requirements in both cases, went but on the whole they must have been accepted in spite of her impaired speech.
But during that time, Kitt was never too far away from protection—both physical and psychological.
"She has suffered greatly from experiencing numerous traumatic events." Hawkern earlier explained. "She and her sister were present with me at the climax to the Takeover attempt, and had witness the deaths of several childhood playmates killed in various attacks. To escape from it, she buried herself into her 'work', and never emerged."
One of the more interesting facets of the laboratory are the Crystals, located in the secured portion of the lab I noticed earlier. There are several such cases, carefully stacked in thirty library shelves set along the back wall of the room. Estimating the size of the case, to the amount that each case holds to the number of cases currently stored, and adding to the fact the form in which the information is stored creates an archive of staggering proportions which could easily overwhelm the largest library in existence.
They are the size of what are called 'Finger Drives', or 'Flash Drives'; small ultra-slim sticks perfectly clear and diamond-like in appearance that are computer hard drives in their own right because they use the very atomic structure of the Chrystal it is used to store the information. Each are set snugly on their sides in the dark foam interior of a slim lockable case that holds some one hundred of those sticks each
"T-these that I-I'm wor-king-on now arewhat youwood call an En-cy-lo-pe-di-a." Kitt explains, with a subtle but nervous jester of her hand. "They're relics from the Or-signal World. What th-air is here, con-sists ofall thatwas known atthe time ofthe De-par-ture."
Edrail, the ancient Homeworld of the Edrailians, located in the middle ring of the Andromeda Galaxy. If what I have herd concerning the amount of time they have been in this Galaxy is true, then what I am looking at is far older that current human civilization.
"I-I've man-aged toget t-two fullshelves done." Kitt proudly adds. "Sofar…M-My workfor Fa-Father and Fam-Family takes pres-a-dent. Though."
It was perfectly understandable; this portion of her work was essentially for personal satisfaction. But I have no doubt that her parents support this venture, since translating records form the past can tell us in the present what is possible in the future, it also gives us a clear view of how we came to be where we currently are as a civilization.
Undoubtedly, there is an interest in knowing their past, why else would these crystals be kept and protected as they are.
Such understanding, then lead me to ask; "What have you found so far?"
She then takes a few moments to compose herself, which includes worried glances to her Mother. Leaving me to wonder if I've been too forward in asking the question…
It's only after encouraging words from her Mother that she answers, "W-What I-I've lo-cated sofar p-port-ons of hiss-toric tomes…and-and…other things…"
Now she's really nervous, and blushing terribly. So much so that her Mother comes over to see what is wrong.
After a few moments of hurried whispering, a very surprised Hawkern turns to me as replies; "Apparently amongst the literary sections there's some very explicit works of erotica, both in literary and visual form."
I haft to admit, that in spite of years of experience in avoiding such pitfalls I will, and do, occasionally 'put my foot into it'. Once my apologies are accepted (initially, it was politely refused because my question about what was on the Crystals was an 'expected' one), Kitt begins discussing the other subjects she's come across; information concerning ancient star systems1, their native inhabitants (on all levels), art works and various designs in deep space propulsion and their levels of power proficiency, especially beyond the Luminal (Speed of Light) range, and their subsequent effects upon various ship designs of the time. Much of this, I freely admit, goes beyond my ability to understand. But what I am able to understand involves the fact that every design, be it for Space or transference from Space to a Planetary Body, must adhere to the basic principal of what Kitt refers to as Balance.
All Spacecraft designs must take into account the amount of constant stress that is placed upon the vehicle's entire structure during flight. Not only from bombardment of various micro-particles and radiations, but also from the operations of the engines themselves either from pushing the craft (in the standard 'In-Line' rear mounted configuration) or from 'pulling' it by way of engines mounted on nacelle projections situated either in the midsection of the vessel or in some unusual instances out from the vessel's front.
In listening to this portion of what Kitt Ayers has so far uncovered from the storage crystals, it becomes apparent from what I have so far understood about the Ayer's Family 'Business' that Kitt's work on this avenue is far more important that I've originally perceived it to be. Since through such study, they would achieve a clearer ideal of these foundation concepts, and apply them accordingly to the ships they work on…
After the explanations on technical matters, one question comes to the forefront of my mind. It's one I dread asking, but her mother set the wheels in motion.
I have to know who she feels on the matter.
"Given what the future holds, what are your feelings concerning Emergence Day?"
Kitt silently stares at me before looking away to her Mother. Its five minutes before she answers, as composed as she could ever get under the circumstances.
"Isee it…asan…e-vent-u-al-i-tee t-that was b-bound to hap-pen. One which grr-rew s-stron-ger astime passed…Itit doze nogood wishing it a-way…
"I…I hope thingsdon't be-be-come hor-i-ble…I…I hope."
Kitt Ayers looks a little fearful, sitting nervously while rubbing her hands slowly while seemingly appear to shrink in her seat as a frightened child would. As I remain a gracious and considerate outward appearance, inwardly I am worried as well.
But as she herself said, it was bound to happen.
1 These are located in the Andromeda Galaxy--C
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