Floyd lost his sense of time and he depended on Lina to schedule the daily cycle of eating and interviews. He felt more and more confined; and other than a rare report from Mr. Watson had no information on the conditions outside. He would sit and stare at images of the outside world from the days before the asteroid strike trying to imagine being outdoors under their stars. The interviews were less stressful and even the Councilor he did not like seemed more reasonable. When Floyd asked when the quarantine would be lifted he received evasive explanations about the need to complete this test or that test. He did find joy spending time with the Ancient One discussing the philosophy of life and especially the time spent talking about flying. It seemed the Ancient One had a strong interest in how they had developed flight on Earth and the design of the early airplanes.
Floyd decided to build a model of a J-3 Cub airplane. It was the first airplane he had ever ridden in and despite its primitive design served the purpose of wilderness transport very well. Tesla seemed to like the project and many an evening was spent designing wing forms and making parts for the airplane. Mr. Watson was able to contribute some information about the original dimensions but mostly it was based on Floyd's memory. Wood was precious in the Sanctuary so they used a variety of wood substitutes for the structures. For an engine the only choice was electric because of the air quality issues in the Sanctuary. Tesla came up with a small electric motor and battery pack which was about the right size. Floyd carved the propeller out of a solid piece of plastic making sure it balanced. When they were done it was time for the test flight. The only problem was there was no place to fly it. They launched it in the small living space and proved that it could fly straight and level for a few feet but the confines limited any other flying. Tesla was so excited he was jumping up and down. Lina said, "It seems your toy has made the Fixer very happy."
The Ancient One followed the project and had many engineering questions that Floyd was not capable of answering, especially about the curvature of the wings. He never suggested any improvements but did discuss in general terms the flying machines of his world and how balance was achieved in the controls of their aircraft. They had long discussions about design philosophy and the need to build it as light as possible while maintaining the required strength - strong enough for the purpose but no stronger.
These "hangar flying" sessions were interspersed with all the other interviews which had become less of an interrogation and more of a real discussion. The evening debates were watched but they mostly dealt with art and had not the interest of the first debate Floyd had watched on the seismic activity. He maintained his exercise protocol and occasionally this caused Lina to go into heat. He never objected. Things were going well enough but the sense of confinement seemed to always be nagging at his thoughts. His dreams were almost all of being outdoors. When he tried to explain this to Lina she was unable to understand and out of frustration he quit trying.
They had no sooner finished their morning coffee when Lina's communicator summoned her. She listened intently and Floyd could see her tail sagging progressively as she listened. When she signed off she turned to Floyd and said, "You are scheduled for a hearing before the Council after midday to decide on the quarantine."
Floyd responded, "Good, I’m looking forward to getting out of this cage."
Lina's tail drooped even more as she added, "It is to be headed by the President's daughter."
"Oh great, the one person I do not get along with!"
The computer screen became active and the President appeared. He apologized for interrupting them but needed to talk with Floyd before the midday hearing. He said, "The meeting of the Council is the final authority and their decision on the quarantine will stand. It is within my authority to offer you another alternative."
Floyd asked, "What would this alternative be?"
"I offer you immortality. We have the ability to download all of your memories and thought patterns and create a super intelligence by combining you with your Mr. Watson." He let the words soak in for a minute before continuing, "Your senses will be greatly expanded as the entire monitoring system of the Sanctuary is integrated into your new self."
Floyd asked, "This has been done before?"
"Obviously not with a member of your species but the consensus is that our similarities are enough to make it feasible."
Floyd was quiet for a moment as thoughts raced through his mind. An image of the Ancient One entered his consciousness and he asked, "Would the existence of the Ancient One be explained by this merger of man and machine."
The President replied, "You are very intuitive. Yes, the one referred to as the Ancient One was dying and we used this technique to save his essence."
"And it would seem that the President himself may represent a similar super intelligence."
Without responding to the accusation the President said, "It will be your decision: a choice between suffering and immortality." The screen went blank.
Lina who had not left the room was staring at the computer. She finally asked, "Our President is a computer program?"
"Seems likely enough." He continued, "I wonder why they allowed you to witness the discussion." He had no sooner said the words than a thought which seemed to arise from Tesla entered his awareness. They had no intention of letting Lina exist with the knowledge she had. He looked at her and the tears formed in his eyes but he did not explain his fear.
Lina asked, "What are you going to choose?"
Floyd's mind wandered back to his time on the dialysis machine and said, "I was dependent on a machine once before and I will choose not to do that again. I am human and wish to remain so." He wanted to add that he preferred being with Lina but dared not.
The morning was spent getting his uniform presentable and trying to mentally prepare himself for the hearing. Mostly he just fidgeted because there was nothing to prepare. He ate the midday meal a bit early and fidgeted some more. He discussed the issues with Mr. Watson who had little to add saying, "I have not been given access to the legal norms of The People."
The computer screen came to life revealing a large conference table with about a dozen of The People sitting around it. At the head sat the President's daughter dressed in what appeared to be formal academic attire. The hearing began with a long winded proclamation by one of the Councilors about the vital nature of the Sanctuary and the system of governance that had maintained its viability. When he had finished the gavel was struck against a block of wood and the President's daughter announced that the hearing was in formal session. The Councilor in charge of health then stood and gave her report summarizing what they knew about the medical risks. Floyd was surprised to learn that he still carried the measles virus and a few other viruses which were foreign to The People. Her summary statement was, "The Commodore represents a significant risk of infection but a vaccination program would minimize the risk."
Floyd figured that it was as satisfactory of a report as he could have expected. Report after report followed and all had slightly negative to neutral connotations. The afternoon was wearing on when the President's daughter rose to give her report. She opened by stating, "Our visitor is a military man who has been involved in warfare that killed many of his fellow beings. His species has a history of violence to their own kind and to all other forms of life they have encountered. They practice a form of governance called democracy which leads to even more conflict because of the inequities it promotes."
This was followed by a long litany of both physical and intellectual deficiencies that had been noted in their monitoring of Floyd. She closed by stating, "He has no chip to control his sexuality and his pheromones are capable of overriding the control of our chips."
When she was finished Floyd glanced at Lina and her tail had sagged to the floor. A few other Councilors had more negative comments to add and only when they were done was Floyd asked to respond. "I was sent on a mission of peace in r
esponse to a plea for help from your planet. The interstellar distances are so great that my arrival was years too late. There is no intent to cause harm to The People or your institutions. It is true that my people have both a loving and violent nature but it was our desire to help you that launched the mission. You are protected by the vast distances that separate our worlds and have nothing to fear."
Floyd felt the hatred in the President's daughter even across the electronic gap between them. Without acknowledging his remarks, she asked if anyone else had any comments. The Ancient One appeared on the screen and said, "I wish to speak."
The President's daughter replied, "You are not part of this hearing."
"No, I am not part of this hearing, but I am part of all of you. You are acting much like those of your world did when I came to warn of the coming asteroid. Only your president and a few others had the courage to prepare for the change that was coming. I would caution you not to fear change for it is essential for survival of The People."
The President's daughter interrupted him saying, "Out of respect, we will include your comments as a footnote to the official recording of this hearing." She then asked for a motion to proceed with a vote on lifting the quarantine. The motion was received and an almost unanimous vote to continue the quarantine was achieved. Only the minister of health voted against the President's daughter and received an evil look in return. The gavel was struck and all rose except the President's daughter who spoke, "The Council has decided that the quarantine will continue and all records of interaction with the Commodore will be sealed. Any biologic contamination will be sterilized and no further interaction with the Commodore will be allowed." She asked Floyd if he had any closing comments.
Floyd was slow in responding said, "I would ask the Council for expulsion from the Sanctuary allowing me the freedom to die aboard my ship rather than the slow death of isolation."
She responded, "You are a burden on the Sanctuary but why would you chose to die of starvation and poisonous gasses aboard your ship?"
"Because there I can see the sky and the stars. I would die as a freeman rather than as a prisoner in solitary confinement."
The President's daughter asked for comments from the Council and the Minister of Health spoke up saying, "The Commodore does suffer from mild claustrophobia and will not do well sealed up in the confinement chamber. He should be allowed to choose the method of his death."
Floyd was asked how long his supplies would last and he needed to confer with Mr. Watson for the report. The reply came back that he had supplies that would begin to run out in three months. When he was asked what would happen then, Floyd responded, "Nature will take its course and when my time is up, it will be over."
The gavel was struck again and the President's daughter announced, "It will be as the Commodore requested. He will be expulsed from the Sanctuary and no further aid will be provided. This hearing is closed."
The monitor went blank and Floyd just sat there and stared at it. Lina came up behind him and began rubbing his shoulders but said nothing. Tesla came up and handed Floyd the cup he had made and seemed to transmit a thought that things were going to work out. This made no sense to Floyd and he questioned his own decision not to accept the President's offer of immortality. Looking at Tesla he knew that he had made the right decision but the whole hearing process was so unfair. Further thoughts were interrupted by the descent of the travel cube he had arrived in, from the ceiling where it had been stored. As it descended it reformed itself back into the cube from the flat form it had been stored in. The open door was beckoning but Floyd hesitated entering the cube. He turned and gave Lina a long hug and then picked Tesla up and gave him a hug. The tears were streaming from his eyes and Lina's eyes seemed moist with her tail hanging down to the floor. Tesla seemed as good natured as always and after Floyd set him down he ran over and picked up their model airplane. With an almost reverent form Tesla handed the plane to Floyd. Floyd accepted the plane and turned back to the cube. Gone was the dune buggy but his space suit was still there. A single seat was present and a few lights on a small panel were lit up; otherwise it was a barren metal box.
The creaking of the doors’ closing brought on a feeling of anxiety which was not helped when a mechanical voice commanded him to be seated. He sat on the chair and fastened the seatbelt that was present. The box began to move and the mechanical voice announced, "Prepare for external sterilization." Floyd did not have the foggiest idea what that meant but the cube was moving. Suddenly, the cube was buffeted by streams of fluid spray. Floyd realized they were using a very high pressure fluid to sterilize the external surfaces. He reached up and could just touch the ceiling. It was hot to the touch. The environmental controls were having trouble keeping up with the heat soaking into the container and it was getting hot. About the time Floyd was sure they were cooking him to death the noise of the spray stopped and the container began moving again. The acceleration was slow and Floyd had no way of detecting final speed or direction. The simple control panel in front of him had only a few gauges one of which seemed to be a charge indicator. Another had the symbol for oxygen but the others were a mystery. Everything seemed to be working.
With nothing else to do Floyd began playing with the model airplane. With the limited materials they had to work with, the plane had come out pretty well. Some of the paper they had covered the fuselage with was coming loose and Floyd tried to smooth it out. Something seemed stuck under the paper and Floyd carefully pulled the paper free. A smaller piece of paper was folded up underneath. Floyd unfolded the paper and saw a miniature drawing of the airplane with a single word, "Coming."
Floyd just stared at the paper wanting so badly to believe the message but afraid to allow his hopes to rise and then be crushed. He continued to putter with the airplane checking the power and controls while carefully concealing the paper from the cameras he knew were watching him. After a while he just sat staring into the nothingness of his metal prison. He must have fallen asleep because the mechanical voice startled him when it announced, "Control and navigation will be transferred to relay unit in 10 minutes."
Floyd looked at the gauges and they were showing just above 1/2 full and he figured they must be 1/2 of the way back to the ship. There was some sort of digital counter on the small dash but Floyd didn't know how to convert the readings to time. He tried counting his breaths to measure time but that caused him to hyperventilate and his hands began to tingle and go numb. He just waited hoping that he could communicate with Mr. Watson as soon as the control was transferred. Suddenly everything just stopped. The lights went out. The cube coasted to a stop. Floyd just sat there trying to make sense of what was going on. Maybe he was being paranoid, but it seemed the timing of the failure just after the Sanctuary transferred control was an easy way for them to absolve themselves of any guilt for Floyd's death by suffocation. His anger began to build and he started yelling at the machine. When that did no good he pounded on the dash trying to rattle it back to life but the blackness continued.
He was working himself into a full blown panic attack and needed to rely on his military training from so long ago to calm himself. He took stock of his equipment which consisted of his space suit and his small back pack. As he fumbled in the darkness for his backpack, his desire to survive seemed to increase and a calmness developed. He kept visualizing Tesla and the hidden note. He finally found the flashlight in his backpack and the small beam of light lifted the oppressive darkness. He began searching for the emergency exit but nothing was visible. He found the multifunction tool in his backpack and began taking off inspection panels. For everything to have shut down a major relay would have had to open; he needed to find the relay and reset or bypass it. He began to trace the dash wiring back to where it dropped below the floor. The floor panels were harder to remove because of the unusual screws used and he needed both hands, which meant he had to hold the flashlight in his
mouth.
When he finally uncovered the power center he faced a sealed black box with two cables extending out of it. For some reason it looked familiar and Floyd took out the small piece of paper and looked closely at it. In addition to the drawing of the small airplane was another small drawing which he had ignored initially. It did look like the black box. It showed the smaller of the two cables having been divided. He stared long and hard at the cables before deciding that he had no other choice but to try. Using the multitool he cut through the smaller cable and nothing happened except for a mechanical click which arose from the end of the cube with the door. Floyd wiped the sweat from his brow as he stood up. He tried the door and this time it gave way slightly. He pushed harder and could smell the acrid air of the planet. Looking up into the darkness he could see stars. He gazed at them until the chill forced him back to the present.
Floyd pulled the door shut but not all of the way, out of fear that it would somehow lock itself. The cold was penetrating into the cube and Floyd needed to put on his spacesuit just to stay warm. It had to be spring but the cold of night persisted. He took a few breaths of oxygen but decided to save his air supply and try and get by with the air leaking in from the small opening in the door. Slumping down in the chair Floyd decided to try and get a little rest.