“willkommen zuhause iols! As you have seen your world awaits, as you had erwartet.”
Rachel whispers so that both of us hear, “It is welcoming us to our new home and says it should be as we had expected.”
“Expected yes.” The Majesty corrects itself. Then continues, “We had not expected that our, your, sprache would have moved on so much, I entschuldige mich if my Sprache ist not so verstanden.”
Again Rachel translates for us, “They did not expect the language to have moved on so much, it apologises if its language is not… er, so understandable.”
“Just so. As Direktor I welcoming you. I hope alles you have seen you genehmigen.”
Rachel translates for us, “I hope everything you have seen you like.”
I correct the last word with “Not like, I think it is, approve.”
The Director responds, “Just so, approve. I am getting to understand you better now. We have zimmer and Nahrung for you to essen.”
Rachel says, “We have rooms and food for you to eat.”
“Just so. Obwohl, Samen the we mitgebrach do not funktioniert.”
“Although the…. er, seeds, we brought did not function…. er, did not work.
“Was this er?”
Rachel explains, “Just changing my mind, what I was about to say, it is a pausing mechanism. I should avoid it really, it just gives me time to think.”
“Just so. Was think?”
“What is the word for think? Er… denken.”
“Klingt ähnlich. Denken and think.”
“Yes.”
The royalty asks, “Übersetzen.”
“Sorry, Klingt ähnlich, sounds like.”
“Danke.”
Rachel replies, “Thank you.”
“Just so. I will have you getroffen to your rooms.”
“Taken to your rooms?” asks Rachel.
“Just so, thank you.”
Without the Director needing to do anything further, the nearest machine approaches us and says, “Folge mir. ”
Rachel not thinking says, “Follow me.”
The latest machine takes us all by surprise as it replies, “Just so, thank you.”
Rachel turns back to the Director and says, “Thank you.”
To which it replies, “Gern geschehen.”
“My pleasure.” Rachel replies.
The Director replies, “No my pleasure.”
We go back down the slope and follow the latest escort.
~~0~~0~~
Phil looking very worried asks, “So what went wrong then?”
“I just don’t understand it, I triple checked the circuit, it should ‘ave worked OK. I’ll need to disconnect it and check each component again, d’you think the core system will be OK?”
Phil replies, “Well I just don’t know until us can restore some power to it, should be OK, provided it didn’t send a really high spike.”
Ryan interjects, “Well there’s one thing for sure, it wasn’t anything I did, I only mounted the capacitors.”
Phil assures Ryan, “It’s OK Ryan us don’t do blame here.” Then he turns to Gavin and says, “Us have to get the kit back up and running soon, we can’t leave ‘em stranded.”
“Hey, I thought you said it was a test comms network, who is they and how will they be stranded?”
Gavin replies, “It is a bit complicated.”
~~0~~0~~
The room that we are being shown is really nice, rather uncluttered, the walls and floor are white as are the furniture, what little there is. It is quite clinical in appearance, but the edge taken off this by some rather nice pieces of artwork on the walls, similar to the things we have already seen.
Rachel asks Anile, “Would you like to take this room, we’ll probably be next door.”
Anile replies, “Alright, looks Ok. Could do with the rest, I can tell you. See you both in the morning.”
Anile steps inside and the door closes.
Our escort moves to the next opening in the corridor and waits for us to examine the room. It looks identical to the last. We walk in together and our escort asks, “Why you gehen Sie zusammen? This room is for eine. ”
Rachel replies, “We are together.”
The escort pauses a moment before it replies, “Yes I know that, but the room is for eine.”
“Sorry you do not understand, my meaning of together.”
The machine instantly replies, “I do, like the first you need to be in your own rooms.”
Rachel looks pleadingly at me and in a whisper says, “There is no way I am staying in this spooky place on my own.”
I think for a moment then say, “I understand, but our colleague Anile, is not paired up, we are a couple, together.” I point at Rachel them myself, repeating the pointing action to reinforce what I am saying.
The machine replies without any hesitation, or emotion in its voice, “You need to be in your own rooms, they are made for eine.”
“But we are not eine, or even one, we are two. Two together, Rachel will not be happy alone.”
“Understand this, the rooms are for even one, not two, together, but eine, even one.”
“OK I have confused you, eine means one. You can drop the even.”
“Just so. Understand you. The room is for one.”
I look at Rachel, her eyes tell me that she will not stand for being split up and I cannot blame her, whilst these machines have done nothing to indicate they intend to harm us. Split us up and take us out one by one and who know what they have planned for us. I reply, “I understand what you mean and whilst the room may not be designed for two, I am sure we can make ourselves comfortable.”
“You do not understand the room is for one.”
I reply, “You do not understand my friend, we are sticking together”
“Now I do not understand. You weigern sich getrennte rooms.”
I did not understand the latter so look to Rachel to explain it, she whispers, “It can’t understand why we refuse to take separate rooms.”
I repeat my earlier phrase, “Yes, because Rachel,” I point to her and continue, “Will not be happy on her own”
“Was is this happy?” asks the machine.
“What is happy you mean.” I correct it.
The machine, replies in its monotone voice, “Just so, but what means it?”
Rachel replies, “glücklich.”
“Surely you are not wanting to be happy Ständig.”
Rachel rather emotively replies, “Well I wouldn’t want to be unhappy.”
“unglücklich? Yes not happpy. The room is for one. Follow me one of you.”
We both step out of the room, hoping that our escort sees the futility of arguing over the occupancy design of the room, also in the vein hope that these machines may have designed rooms for couples.
The machine responds, “No one stay in room, one follow me.”
I reply, “We are together. Have you not made rooms for two?”
“No” is the instant reply, “Rooms for one, as on plan.”
I whisper to Rachel, “Crickey strange people that built these things, just wanting single rooms.”
Rachel replies, “Strange or not, I don’t care, I am not spending a night in this place alone.” Decisively Rachel says aloud, “OK we will make do with this room then.” She nudges me into the room we have just left.
Our escort says, “The ressourcen not genug for more than one.”
Rachel determined replies, “We will cope, I am sure there will be enough resources to last until the morning.”
The machine is silent for quite a while, then takes us by surprise as it says, “I do not understand you, but will allow.” With that it reverses up a bit then stops, presumably waiting for us to step fully inside.
Having won the argument, Rachel nudges me towards the centre of the room. The door closes.
Rachel and I explore the decor, it is the first time that we have actually been able t
o touch a piece.
Rachel suddenly withdraws her hand with a pained exclamation of “Ouch!”
“Whats up?” As I look round, I can see she is sucking a finger. “Cut yourself?”
“Yes its darned sharp, downright dangerous!”
“In their defence, I suppose it had not occurred to them that we would harm ourselves on such edges.”
Rachel replies, “Well they know we are biological, they should have thought of that. What if we had brought children with us?”
I smile.
“What?” Rachel asks.
“Nothing”
“What?” This time Rachel’s tone is less of a question and more of a demand to know what lay behind my simple smile.
Knowing I will not escape I reply, “It’s just that they are only machines working on logic and here you come expecting them to have thoughts and feelings.”
“Well anything that can come up with such beauty as this should have feelings.”
Un-escapable logic there. Certainly too powerful for me, to argue against. Instead I put my arms around Rachel’s waist and ask, “Do you want me to kiss it better?”
“Bill, I am not a child.”
I pull Rachel closer and kiss her cheek. She takes her finger from her mouth and kisses me back.
Chapter 9 – Day One
As Gavin pushes the multi-meter away from himself, he exclaims, “I cannot believe it, the whole thing is kaput! All that work for nothing!”
“Can’t anything be rescued?” Phil asks.
“No! It is as if all the components had been faulty in the first place.”
“But they were all brand new.” Phil protests, then says, “OK we will just have to go back to using the original circuit.”
“Well there lies the rub Phil.”
“What?”
“I had to cannibalise the original to complete this one….. Sorry.”
“I don’t bloody believe it!” Phil exclaims.
Then there is a painful silence, broken eventually as Phil says, “OK nothing for it, we’ll have to buy in a complete new unit, how quickly can we get one?”
~~0~~0~~
The door remained closed and there is no apparent way of opening it.
Rachel exclaims, “Come on Bill there has to be a way of opening it, surely they wouldn’t build rooms that can only be opened from the outside.”
“They are machines, perhaps they…”
Rachel explodes, “Stop defending them! They should have thought about this! They must have, there has to be a way of opening it, try again!”
The desperation in her voice tells me that nothing apart from some apparent activity on my part to find a solution will calm her down. Yet I have looked at everything and tried everything I could, I even cut myself, breaking off some metal, in-case the switch was some form of metal proximity detector. I felt stupid waving the piece of metal around in front of the door, the frame and in fact anything that could possibly be the holder of a switch.
I closely examine the wall either side and above the doorway again, in-case I have missed the slightest clue. I run my hands up and down the wall at various speeds in-case there is some form of motion detector, but the door stubbornly remains closed. After what must have been a further fifteen or twenty minutes of frantic activity on my part, I am rewarded by Rachel exclaiming, “Oh let me have a go!”
I step aside, feeling helpless. I watch as Rachel repeats all of my moves and strategies. I feel her pain and frustration as she also comes to the same conclusion, that there is no way to open the door.
Even though I know I have covered every centimetre, I resume my exploration around the bed and cabinet beside. If I had been in the room on my own, I would after initial exploration, have been able to wait patiently until one of the machines returned to let me out.
~~0~~0~~
Phil exclaims, “Two days!” then he continues, “Yeah, yeah, I know, but couldn’t it be done before then, ours blew up and we are stuck without power and it is…. Yes I understand, but….OK….No I have and you have quoted the earliest…. Yeah, yeah, OK I understand. No we don’t need one, oh you have to have one, use Phil. Digits? You have to have them, why? OK 1234. No I’m not being sarcastic, we are only tiny and don’t need to use purchase orders as I already told you. Yes that’s fine, same name and address. Thanks.”
Phil puts his mobile back in his pocket and looks up at the awaiting Gavin, “Two bloody days and that was the earliest. What the hell will happen when Bill, Rach and Anile get back and find there is no tunnel?”
Gavin, not sure if he should reply or not, gingerly says, “Surely they will hang around until we can re-establish the connection.”
“What if they have run into any trouble and need to come back urgently?”
“Don’t worry Phil, they can take care of themselves, we wouldn’t have sent them if we didn’t think they could.”
Phil shakes his head, “But we were expecting that we would be able to hold the connection open.”
~~0~~0~~
The door slides open, Anile and one of the machines are outside. I step to one side and let go of Rachel. I had been trying to reassure her that we wouldn’t be trapped for much longer.
Anile smiling says, “Hope we didn’t disturb you.”
“Thank goodness, I thought we would never get out!” Rachel exclaims.
Anile, obviously unaware of the true level of Rachel’s despair, remarks, “Yes most strange that they did not put a door open button on the inside.”
“Follow me.” Our escort says.
Rachel almost leaps out the door, glad at last to be free.
Whereas my departure is somewhat more sedate.
We follow the machine as it leads us further down the corridor. It stops in front of an opening and announces, “Here you must dusche and umziehen.”
Rachel pops her head through the opening and protests, “I am not showering and changing here, there’s no privacy!”
Our escort asks, “What is this privacy you speak?”
“You know, privat.” Rachel replies.
“Privat? Why you want privacy?” the machine asks.
I reply, “It’s an iol thing, especially regards ladies.”
“What is this spezielle ladies?”
Rachel points to the three of us and says, “I am a lady, a type of iols…. we have men and ladies.”
“Just so.” The machine replies, then asks, “Why privacy?”
I wonder how Rachel is going to explain this one and am surprised when Anile says, “No problem Bill and I can wait out here whilst you have your shower.” He smiles as he adds, “Don’t worry, we will face this way.” And he points to the opposite wall.
Rachel walks into the room and asks “OK, where’s the…” then she spots the clothes on the bench running down the wall, opposite the showers.
The machine says nothing, as if it knows when it has got out of its depth.
I expected the showers to be a simple affair, of a shower head mounted on the wall; instead there is a ‘u’ shaped arrangement with holes all the way down to the floor. There is no obvious opening in the floor for the water to go down.
Anile and I turn and face the wall opposite the opening.
I whisper, “This could be a long wait.”
Anile smiles and replies, “I don’t mind.”
It is then that the irony strikes me…. The wall opposite is shiny, shiny, like a mirror and we can see all that is going on in the shower room.
“Close your eyes.” I whisper to Anile.
“Spoil sport.”
“You my friend are no gentleman.” I reply.
Anile smiles as he closes his eyes, then re-opens one eye.
~~0~~0~~
Gavin suggests “We could take the chance and connect it straight to the supply, dead on the 30 hours.”
Phil protests, “What and stand the chance of wrecking the whole kit?”
“We only need p
ower it up long enough to check if they have arrived back.”
Phil shakes his head, “Not worth the risk.”
Ryan asks, “How much power does this thing need?”
Gavin looks at Ryan, the question showing on his face, “Why, what have you in mind?”
“Well we might be able to borrow enough U.P.S. boxes to power it up.”
“How will that work?” Gavin asks.
“Run them in parallel.”
“Hey that’s sneaky!” Phil smiles, the first smile in a while, “It takes about 4 Kilowatts”
Ryan asks, “Bit dodgy on a 13 amp ring isn’t it?”
Gavin
replies, “No I think you can go up to 26 amps, if it’s a proper ring.”
“Alright, in that case you’d probably get away with about six U.P.S. boxes.”
Gavin asks, “But where will you get them?”
“The uni, no-one will be working today, at least not in the compulabs.”
“How are you going to get away with walking out with six units.”
Ryan smiles and replies, “There’s been a major failure and I need to do some urgent maintenance.”
Phil remarks “Got to hand it to you, we have the right man here.”
~~o~~o~~
Feeling much refreshed, we hope that our escort is now taking us to get some food, as we head back in the direction of the main dome. The clothes that had been supplied are of a very clever design, in that one size fits all. The material stretches to fit us perfectly. Rachel jokingly complains that the clothes are somewhat ‘utilitarian’ and have no sense of ‘design’. Although I pointed out the stripes in the design, saying that they were more for embellishment that for utilitarian purposes, Rachel’s put down remark was, “A small token, in design terms.”
I had replied, “Well they certainly fit well.”
I should have known I was on a losing streak as Rachel said, “Too close a fit for my liking.”
I replied, “I don’t know shows off your curves nicely.”
I got slapped down with, “That’ll do Bill!”
When we reach our room, the escort stops and the door opens, the escort says, “Leave your clothes here.”
I reply, “It’s OK we will keep them with us.”
“You will come back here.” The escort suggests.
“It’s OK.” And with that we resume walking carrying our clothes, the last thing we need is for our clothes to be locked in the rooms and for us not to be able to retrieve them.