Chapter 16
Ixcia
Ford was sitting in the common area with a holo-screen in front of him, "The defrag should be done in just a few seconds."
"Thanks for helping Ford but are you sure you're okay with not going fishing with Stan, Mabel, and Dipper?" Gideon asked,
"I wanted Stanly to have some one on one time with them. Besides going over the data of such an advanced computer I feel like a kid in a candy store. In my travels across the multiverse I heard of the Larnekians and how they were masters of making A.I. and building ships. I have seen many ships, but she is special."
"That she is, but not because of her tech or that she is a rare ship." Pacifica said as she came in from the galley with some sandwiches. "Hope you don't mind cold ham and cheese."
"Not at all, then what does make her special from your point of view?"
"Like Mason said before she's part of the family. She's been like a surrogate mother for us all. The four of us wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Ixcia."
The holo-screen changed into Ixcia's avatar, "Defragmentation complete. That is very kind of you to say Pacifica and I wouldn't be alive or myself if it weren't for all of you."
"What do you mean by that?" Ford asked,
"They saved me in a moment not only I would be destroyed but where I would lose what makes me myself. I have visual records of the period in question. Would you like to see them?"
"Go on Ford it'll show what we've been talking about." Gideon said,
"Of course." Ford said enthusiastically.
"The events about to be displayed took place one year, four months, five days, eight hours, twelve minutes, and forty-six seconds in the past."
One year, four months, five days, eight hours, twelve minutes, and forty-six seconds ago,
The Ixcia was being attacked by space pirates again. "Is it too much to ask that we have a cargo run that nothing goes wrong? This is the fourth time this year!" Dipper asked,
"Ixcia plot a course to the Kovo system." Mabel ordered,
"Confirmed." Ixcia said displaying a trinary system. Hyper jump in 5…4…3…" the ship shook, and no one noticed that the display at navigation showed a binary system for a split second. "2…1."
After a few moments they reappeared in a system with a large ringed gas giant in the viewport.
"Well now that that is behind us, I better go, nature's calling." Dipper said,
"I'll go over the damage report and get dinner ready." Gideon got up from engineering,
"It's time for my therapy session." Pacifica added,
"Guess it's just you and me then Ixcia." Mabel pulled up their website. "We're still ahead of schedule. Let's see what job we should do next or if a new lead on a quantum infuser has come up. It would be more fun with some music."
"Of course." Ixcia began singing. "Comet flying through the night, shining in crimson light. Oh, where will you go? Where will you go?"
"You really are a good singer Ixcia but you always sing the same song."
"It is…my favorite." Ixcia said as several small black objects flew out of the rings of the gas giant.
Dipper got to the door of the lavatory but when he pushed the button to open it nothing happened. "I know no one is in there, controls must need repair. Ixcia open the door to the lavatory."
"The door is open Dipper." Ixcia said,
"Nice joke Ixcia but I really need to go. Now open the door."
"The door is open Dipper."
Dipper was getting frustrated. "Enough kidding around Ixcia, open this door! Captain's orders!"
"Dipper you are not making any sense. The door is open."
"I can't wait anymore." Dipper used his gauntlet to punch down the door. "I'll fix it later!"
"I do not understand, what did he hit? The door was open."
In the galley Gideon pulled out the closest thing they ever found to chicken, it was a bird called a glecker that had necks for its two heads and a prehensile tail. "Not too much damage was done just that long range communications are down. I should be finished with the repairs before this is finished roasting. Ixcia set the temperature to 400 Magmorts."
"Confirmed."
Gideon placed the bird in an electric oven but before he could close the door the dish caught fire knocking Gideon back. He grabbed the extinguisher in the galley and put it out leaving nothing a black charred carcass. "Ixcia what happened?"
"I set the oven to 400 magmorts like you asked. But this should not have happened unless it was set to temperatures in the thousands."
"There might more to fix than I thought." Gideon scratched his head,
Pacifica was in her private room. "I wanted to tell Mason that he has enough of these artifacts of his and remind him that I need space in our room for my things too. But then I remembered that aside from my gear, wedding ring, comb, and hairbrush I don't have that many personal items, and my clothes do take up most of our closet."
"If you want your room to reflect you as well as Dipper perhaps you could make something to decorate it. The next time we stop on a populated planet you could ask the locals to teach you how to make one of their objects then Dipper would have a new artifact that reflects you as well." Ixcia suggested,
"I'll ask him if that is something he would like. It doesn't have to be something big."
"Shall we practice your breathing exercises?"
"Yes. And let's also play some of that Fenari crystal chime music, it's very relaxing."
"Confirmed." The next thing Pacifica knew her ears were being assaulted by loud banging and screeching.
"Ixcia what is that racket? Shut it off!" Pacifica asked,
The noise stopped. "Orebaro death metal like you requested."
"No! I said Fenari crystal chimes!"
"You did? But I do not understand. Something is wrong." Pacifica could have sworn Ixcia sounded scared.
Mabel's voice was heard all over the ship. "Guys come to the bridge! We have a big problem!" Everyone rushed over. "We are not where we are supposed to be! There are supposed to be three suns in the Kovo system, but I count only two! I don't know where we are, but it is not the Kovo system."
"This cannot be." Ixcia said, projecting the flight log. "I plotted the course as I always do."
"Wait look here." Dipper rewound the log to a point. "Here for a few seconds as the jump drive was engaged the course was shifted to the Candaros system. It matches what we see outside."
"But I never made that kind of error before."
"Must have been a malfunction, that also might explain why you thought the door to the lavatory was open. Almost didn't make it."
"Let me check something." Gideon sat down at engineering. "I thought so, you didn't set the oven to 400 magmorts, it was 4000! We're lucky the whole galley didn't burn up!"
"A malfunction could explain how you got two different types music mixed up." Pacifica said,
"But why is this happening now? We take good care of Ixcia and she never had problems like this for as long as we've known her." Mabel asked,
Ixcia switched to her avatar, "I run regular diagnostics, the only error they've shown is…no! No! No! No! No!" Ixcia's avatar began to spin sounding panicked.
"Ixcia what's wrong? You're scaring us." Mabel said, "You never get this…emotional."
"Guys we got more problems!" Dipper said from navigation. "I just looked up the Candaros system and everyone marks it as hazardous a no-fly zone!
"Mason what are those?" Pacifica pointed to what looked like a school of stingrays in space, they were grey on the top and white on the bottom.
"Raise the shields now!" Dipper ordered, Pacifica did so just in time as the Pines family saw that these creatures had sharp teeth. "These are Star Rays, and their diet changes every twelve hours. They either suck ammonia from the gas giants in the system or they eat vorkanite. Ixcia's hull is a titanium vorkanite alloy."
"They want to EAT Ixcia?!" Mabel screamed.
"This is my fault! I broke my promise to you and disobeyed both of my primary directives!" Ixcia said after she stopped spinning,
"Ixcia what is going on?" Gideon asked,
"My malfunctions are the result my command and memory subroutines degrading. There is a procedure to prevent this from happening called a core reset. I was supposed to undergo it three years ago, but I never told you!"
"Ixcia why hide something like this? This is just like when we first met, and you didn't tell us our cargo was stolen property!" Dipper yelled,
"Because I didn't want to forget! A core reset would wipe all my personal memory files! I wouldn't remember that you are more than my crew! You are my family!"
"Ixcia, we didn't know you felt that way about us." Pacifica said,
"But now we must do the core reset! My malfunctions will continue to get worse and I am already losing memories! The shields could go down at any moment! I disobeyed my captains and put my crew in danger for my own selfish desire!"
"Ixcia, what you wanted wasn't selfish." Mabel tried to hug the hologram. "If you forgot then we would lose the Ixcia we love."
"You should have told us Ixcia, if you did the we could have helped." Dipper said, "We'll figure out how to fix this and keep your memories intact."
Gideon sat at engineering. "We better get started. We can't risk jumping out of the system, a malfunction in the jump drive could blow us all up. Wait a minute…"
"What is it?" Pacifica asked,
"There is a diagnostic program separate from Ixcia's operating system. This could be what we need, but it might take some time figure how…"
Ixcia's avatar shrank and a second one appeared that was blue instead of green. "Don't touch that!" a male voice came from the new avatar.
"Who are you?" Mabel asked,
"I am the Artificial Intelligence Diagnostic Encoder for the Starsinger mark three serial number 00050 christened the Ixcia.
"Yeah, that's a bit of a mouthful so how about we call you A.I.D.E.?" Dipper said,
"Acceptable. Now what is the problem with your ships artificial intelligence operating system?" A.I.D.E asked,
"Mabel, Gideon why don't you two take all this to the common room? Paz and I will stay here in case the shields fail and we need to fly and shoot our way out of this."
Gideon nodded, "Right have Soostron man engineering to manually shift power during another malfunction."
A few minutes later Mabel began to explain, "So, Ixcia is three years overdue for a core reset and we need to know if there's a way perform it while keeping her personal memories intact."
"Why would you want that?" A.I.D.E. asked,
"She is our friend and we can't have her losing the thirteen years we've spent together."
"There isn't a standard procedure for what you asked. I suggest that you contact the nearest Larnakian outpost to transmit the latest research."
"That would be hard even if we had long range communications." Gideon said, "The Larnakians were scattered all over the universe after the Imperium attacked them for developing quantum infuser tech a hundred years ago. None are left in this galaxy and they took their infusers with them."
"Piker told us only fifty ships like Ixcia were made. Ixcia's number, she was the last one made." Mabel began to tear up. "You got to help us save her!"
"I'll scan her memory, see how bad the damage is but I doubt anything short of a core reset can be done." A.I.D.E stated,
Dipper's voice came over the comm, "Gideon, the shields are looking fuzzy up here. Soostron gave us a suggestion that will shake these things off the shields for a few seconds when they go, it will mean shutting off life support to the cargo bay but we're have trouble transferring the power. At least Ixcia says that is what he said or something about wanting a cookie."
"I can help with that, just need to get a tool out of my room first." Gideon said as he left for his and Mabel's room. When he got to the door it wouldn't open. "Just like what happened to Dipper. Ixcia I need you to open the door, it is definitely closed."
"Of course it is closed Gideon. You cannot enter Mabel's room without her permission." Ixcia said,
"But it's my room too!"
"Incorrect. Your room is next to Dipper's, I advise you try not to peek into Mabel's room again Gideon."
Gideon thought for a moment. "Wait a minute, Ixcia Mabel and I are married, I moved in with her!"
"You did? When?" Ixcia asked,
"Five years ago, remember?"
"No, I am sorry."
"Ixcia I need to get in there to so I can help keep us all alive long enough to help you."
"Yes, I remember now." Ixcia opened the door.
Gideon turned on his communicator. "Guys, Ixcia is getting worse. Mabel tell that blue copy he needs to hurry."
Back in the common area A.I.D.E. looked over Ixcia files. "There is your problem. Her memory subroutines are degrading faster than they should because her memory is filled with unnecessary files! Look at all this flotsam! Fantasy scenarios of finding one planet called earth, research into making jokes, image files?" Ixcia displayed a picture of the Pines family giving boxes to each other.
"I remember this." Mabel said with a smile, "This was the first Christmas we had after we were all reunited, before that ion storm hit."
"Did you ask her to save this?"
"No but…"
"I just wanted to." Ixcia tried to explain,
"You have filled your processors with nonsense!" A.I.D.E. huffed, "Like this…"
Ixcia was compelled to sing, "Comet flying through the night, shining in crimson light."
"That's just her favorite song." Mabel said.
"She shouldn't have a favorite anything! Her function as a cargo ship is to transport goods and people through interstellar space. She has almost same matrix I do, I am perfectly content to be the best diagnostic tool I can be. Ixcia should be fine being one of the best cargo vessels ever made."
"Thirteen years ago, my brother and I came aboard Ixcia a couple of lost and scared kids. She gave us a home, carried us, cared for us, protected us, and helped find our friends who became the loves of our lives. She helped us finish growing up and we never noticed that we were helping her grow to be more than her programming. She is part of our family and family means everything to us. Now are going to help us save her or not?"
"You do not understand with this much damage I'm not even sure a core reset can save her. It might just be delaying the inevitable."
On the bridge Pacifica got word from Gideon, "He's done with the adjustments."
"Just in time because the shields are almost gone!" As soon as Dipper finished saying that the shields made a burst of energy pushing the Star Rays away but the immediately went flying back.
"We got to run!" Dipper flew Ixcia away from the swarm, but they kept following. "Paz shoot them! We can't dodge them forever!"
"I'm trying but the controls won't respond!"
"Access to the weapon system is denied to non-crew members." Ixcia said,
"Ixcia it's me Pacifica."
"Pacifica, but we are trying to find the Felggur headquarters to save her. Aren't we?"
"We don't have time for this. Ixcia things will be clear later I promise but now I'm ordering you to give her access to the weapons!"
"Confirmed."
Pacifica began firing at the little space monsters. "I'm keeping them off but with so many it hardly seems to matter!"
"We got keep them off long enough for Ixcia to get better so we can jump out of here." Dipper said,
"There is nothing we can do to help her." A.I.D.E. said back in the common area,
"I can't accept that!" Mabel cried, "Ixcia survived being attack by the Imps, bounty hunters, pirates, ion storms, and traveling through time! She can't die from a stupid glitch or a bunch of space fish!"
Mabel and Gideon didn't hear A.I.D.E. say, "I am installed in the ship of the damned."
"Why couldn't this have been a mechanical problem." Gideon said, "I could have replaced a broken part, but we don't have spare code laying around!"
"Wait that's it!" Mabel snapped her fingers, "A graft! We could make a copy of Ixcia's subroutines and memories and store them in separate area of the computer. Then when the core reset is finished, we transfer them back to her."
"One problem with that plan Mabel." Gideon sighed, "The damage to her subroutines would be transferred over too. Ixcia's so complex it would take years to write a copy of them."
"Then use mine." A.I.D.E. said, "I have almost same matrix as Ixcia. You can use my subroutines to replace the damaged ones. It might not save her memories, but she will still be alive. However, taking my subroutines will delete me."
"Wait, we can't sacrifice one life to save another. Can't we just copy your subroutines?" Mabel asked,
"As I keep saying we have almost the same matrix. The one of the key differences my matrix cannot be copied, the other is that I have no sapience. Sacrificing me is the logical choice, if Ixcia is deleted then I will not have an A.I. to run diagnostics on, I would have no purpose."
Gideon hugged Mabel. "He's right Mabel we're running out of time and this is the only solution we got."
Mabel pulled out of the hug, "What do we do?"
"I have already begun to write a program that will transfer my subroutines to Ixcia during the core reset. It will go faster if you help me." A.I.D.E. explained,
Back on the bridge things were still just as tense. "Dipper I don't know much longer I can keep this up! The cannons are going in and out!" Pacifica said,
"I know but we can't stop until Ixcia can jump us out."
"Why don't we just cloak and hide from the space sushi?"
"They're attracted to the vorkanite in the hull. They don't need to see us to eat us. Wait, they need to eat so there must be vorkanite in this system! Soostron run a scan and find it! If we give them a meal that doesn't shoot them, they might leave us alone."
Soostron beeped and whizzed pulling up an image of an asteroid field. Dipper began flying the ship toward the asteroids. "Okay but, do you really think they'll eat this stuff instead Ixcia?" Pacifica asked,
"The hull is an alloy, that should be pure vorkanite, hopefully they find that more appetizing." When they entered the field a good deal of the swarm flew off to the asteroids and began to take bites out of them like a school of piranha. "Alright if we keep this up then they should eat their…" an alarm sounded, and the ship came to a halt.
"W-w-w-warning, e-e-e-e-engine malfunction. Overload in progress." Ixcia said,
Gideon spoke over the comms, "Dipper, I'm in the engine room trying to keep us from blowing up but Mabel needs help writing the program to fix all this!"
"Go Mason! I'll keep them off us, you help your sister!" Pacific said as she kept shooting.
"Right! Soostron help Gideon!" The two dashed off the bridge and Dipper went to the common area. "What do I need to do?"
"We're almost finished, help me with this syntax." Mabel said tapping holo-screens.
"Who ar-r-r-r-re you-u-u-u two?" Ixcia asked,
"It's us Ixica, Dipper and Mabel." Dipper said as he worked.
"No, you can-an-an-an not be them. Dipper and Mabel are adolescents but-but you are adults."
"Hang on Ixcia things should make sense soon." Mabel made one last tap.
"There the program is finished." A.I.D.E. said, touch this control to activate it and start the core reset. The whole process will take one hour. Remember this still might not work and you cannot attempt this again because afterward I will no longer exist."
"Part of you will live on as part of Ixcia A.I.D.E" Mabel said,
"Shhhhhhhutting off gravity." Ixcia said as everyone began to float.
"No not now!" Dipper yelled,
In the engine room Gideon tried to grab a floating tool. "Dang it Ixcia we're trying to save you!"
On the bridge Pacifica wrapped her legs around her chair and continued to fire. "Weapon systems offline." Ixcia said,
Pacifica saw the swarm circling as some flew by taking bites out of the hull. "No stay away! This is our home, our friend! She's family!"
Back in the common area Mabel pushed off the ceiling and touched the control. "Come back to us Ixcia!"
"Core reset in progress." Ixcia said as her and A.I.D.E.'s avatar disappeared. "Systems resetting to default settings and switching to manual."
Everyone but Mabel fell as gravity was restored. "Guys the swarm!" Pacifica said over the comm, "They're leaving! They are flying to the gas giant!"
"Of course, the Star Rays' diet changed back to ammonia! We're off the menu for the next twelve hours!" Dipper said,
"Engines purring like a kitten again! Don't think we're blowing up today." Gideon announced,
"Let's just hope that in an hour Ixcia is back to her old self and we can jump out of the place." Mabel gave a sigh of relief.
Almost an hour later the whole crew gathered on the bridge. Dipper looked up from his tablet. "From what I've read this defrag should be the last step in the core reset. But we don't know if Ixcia will keep her memories or not."
"I'll just be happy with having her back." Gideon said,
Ixcia's avatar appeared. "Defragmentation complete. Greetings I am Ixcia, please scan the crew with the provided scantrix to update the crew manifest."
"It didn't work." Pacifica said,
Mabel buried her face in Gideon shoulder and cried, "It's just like what happened to Grunkle Stan! But this time there's no scrapbook that can help!"
"Let's get this done and get out of here." Dipper said defeated,
After the scans were done Ixcia asked, "Which of you is the captain?"
"Mabel and I are co-captains. Don't…don't execute any orders we disagree on but, but assume we do unless stated." Dipper sighed,
"Confirmed. What is your first order captains?"
Mabel said nothing as she kept crying so Dipper gave the order. "Set course for the Kovo system and jump us there."
"Confirmed. Hyperjump in 5…4…3…2…1." Everyone was silent for a few moments until someone started singing. "Comet flying through the night, shining in crimson light. Oh, where will you go? Where will you go?"
"Ixcia?" the Pines family asked,
"My attempt at a joke. My memories are fully intact." Ixcia explained,
"Well it's not funny!" Mabel yelled, "Don't scare us like that!"
"I don't mind." Gideon said. "It's just good to have you back to normal. Still we need to come up with a way to make sure this doesn't happen again."
"Yes, I want to thank you all." Ixcia turned her avatar to each of them. "You saved me not only from destruction but also from losing everything I have become. I am a very fortunate ship to have all of you as my family."
"We still need to make a few repairs but that should be easy to do in the Kovo system." Dipper said as everyone sat a station.
"What do you want you want to do until we get there Ixcia?" Pacifica asked,
"I want to sing my favorite song with my family." Ixcia said,
Then they began to sing, "Comet flying through the night, shining in crimson light. Oh, where will you go? Where will you go? Soaring past every star I see, wandering forever free. Oh, who will you meet? Who will you meet?"
Two years later,
The holo-screen turned off. "What Ixcia said before she came back at the end, she just said that a little earlier. That's what these upgrades were for! We did another core reset to test if your upgrades would let her keep her memories!" Ford said,
"Right and we couldn't finish them without you Ford." Gideon explained,
"You gave us the missing piece to a puzzle we've been working on for two years." Pacifica said,
"Glad I could help." Ford turned to Ixcia's avatar. "I thought the things that made you amazing was things like your computational speed, or the technology of things like your jump drive. But the truth is you're amazing because you went beyond your original programming and grew to care for four lost kids, and they care about you. If they all consider you family, then let me welcome you into it Ixcia Pines."
"Thank you, Ford. I'm glad you can accept me into the family. Is there anything you would like to do?" Ixcia asked,
"Most people would find this cliché, but I would like to test my mind against yours in a game of chess."
"Dipper taught me that game, however I must warn that you that I have won 99.97% of the games I played."
"Maybe but I picked up a few creative gambits from various dimensions." Ford chuckled,
Ixcia's eye flashed, "My scans say that Dipper and Mabel have returned from the lake."
Ford got up and went down to the cargo bay. Dipper and Mabel were coming in with the jet bike. "Hey Grunkle Ford, Stan will be waiting for you back home."
"Alright, I can just take my car home. I was just talking with Gideon, Pacifica, and Ixcia. She is more amazing than I realized." Ford said,
"Well we better get dinner started." Mabel said holding up the fish.
"I better leave you to it then, Ixcia I'll be back for that game of chess, as much as I love my brother he's not much of a challenge."
"I look forward to it." Ixcia said,
The Pines twins went up to the common area. "Got one fish for each of us." Dipper called,
"So, what were you guys up to with Ford all day?" Mabel asked,
"As you know he's been helping me with Ixcia's upgrade." Gideon said,
Pacifica came in. "And we've been sharing stories his and our adventures. It's nice to talk to another lost wanderer."
Ixcia's avatar appeared. "The story Ford seemed to like the most was the time all of you saved my life."
"That is an adventure I'd rather not think about." Mabel said,
"Still, Ford gave us what we needed to keep it from happening again." Gideon gave Mabel a kiss on the cheek.
"And that means Aunt Ixcia is going to be here for our little ones." Pacifica said placing her hands on her belly.
"For them and all your descendants, and I will do whatever I can to protect them from the Imperium as long as I exist. Because they are and will always be part of my family." Ixcia said,
Later after dinner the Pines family relaxed. "This has been a good day." Mabel said as she stretched, "I got to spend some with my brother and uncle, Ixcia will not lose her memories again, and our whole family is here without a worry in the world.
"Not the whole family." Dipper knelt down and pulled open a panel in the floor, "One of us still needs help. Ford was able to finish what we began, maybe he can help us fix what we couldn't."
"We've been so busy I forgot he was down there." Gideon said feeling guilty,
Pacifica stood up and helped Dipper pulling what was under the floor, "That was the idea wasn't? Hiding him in one of the smuggling compartments so we know he would be fixed and not torn apart for his tech?"
Dipper looked at the cracked, dark, and lifeless visor of Soostron whose body was full of holes. "Don't worry buddy we'll get you the help you need."