Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 97/?] (Patreon)

92 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. New Lorisa Forests. Point of Interest: Signal Station. 

Lysara

The speed and efficiency of the operation truly put me in mind of the burning desire for progress within the human-made apparatuses I was currently presiding over. To say that this put everything Vanaran-kind had built to shame, from the equipment to the tools to the processes and protocols we had at our disposal, would’ve perhaps been a bit too much for me to say. But I couldn't help but to actually consider it, even if I knew it was a result of me being enamored by the tools and processes I had at my disposal. 

The keyhole boring process only took fifteen minutes to breach Evina’s pre-drilled hole. From there, it took another ten minutes to maneuver the various extendable manipulators deep and into the hole, towards the control mechanism the felinor had correctly guessed was there.

All in all, only a half hour had elapsed before we were well and truly deep into the elaborate locksmith games led by Vir, and aided by Evina. 

The sheer speed and breakneck pace of the operation truly hammered home one idea that kept rearing itself into my mind with regards to humanity’s unique perspective on the world.

A thought which, I now realized, Evina might’ve had some insight into.

“Evina?” I spoke up, addressing the felinor who’d gone silent for the most part after she’d filled Vir in on most of the insights she had on the bunker door’s locking mechanism; her attention still very much squarely focused on passively observing the holoprojector held aloft by another drone.

“What’s up?” She shot back, her eyes not once leaving the holo-screen displaying the complex mechanical servos being delicately maneuvered by Vir’s surgeon-grade precision. 

“I have a question, a rather adjacent one mind you that I wished to address. Considering what you’ve told me before about the inheritance process, do you… ever feel the need to rush through life? As in, a burning desire to expedite and to accomplish any and all personal goals before you too are faced with the prospect of-”

“-death?” Evina interjected, completing my sentence for me.

“Y-yes.” I nodded.

“If this is a roundabout way of asking me if I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to in case we all die inside of that bunker, then I-”

“-oh, no. It’s nothing like that.” I interrupted, prompting Evina to once more cock her head in confusion. “I… it’s not about the bunker or its dangers. Moreover, it’s just a passing thought I had with regards to the nature of mortality in species that lack the Vuark; the erm… gift, or rather curse in this case, that the interlopers had forced upon the sapients of the galaxy. It’s just… my kind, and the society I hail from, we don’t necessarily process death or the prospect of a finite life cycle in the same way species without the Vuark do. I look around me now, and see these machines, participating in these processes, all built by a species that knows their days are numbered the moment they’re born, and I cannot help but to feel that raw and unbridled sense of passion that arises as a result of a finite life. I just… it was difficult for me to truly adapt to this mentality. Moreover, it seems to me as if you are able to seamlessly integrate into it in a way that I wasn’t capable of at first. I was just curious then, if the process of inheritance doesn’t necessarily force upon you the same issues of… perspective and motivation that come with a functionally immortal lifespan?” 

It was only after my long spiel did Evina finally turn towards me, crossing her arms as she did so. “Are you always this philosophical and introspective everytime you go on a death-defying, potentially reality-breaking mission?” The alien offered with a tone that bordered between incredulous and facetious, but also with an undeniable sense of chatty charm to it that I knew to be jocular in some capacity. “I mean, I guess I can see why you’d have these philosophical crises given the situation. But heck, Lysara, you seem to always be in the mood for some philosophical discussion everytime we talk.” The alien offered with a chuckle, before shaking her head. “In all seriousness though, I’m fine with you poking around with these sorts of questions. It’s definitely a welcome change to the downtime in a mission being filled in with the usual random chatter that doesn’t extend beyond — who do you think fired the first nuke — or whatever.” The alien once more shrugged. 

“Anyways, to answer your question? The inheritance process doesn’t override you with the memories of the past. Therefore, you effectively die when you go through it. Like, it’s weird, don’t get me wrong. But functionally speaking, you’re no longer the main character in life if that makes sense? Which means that we’re effectively working with a single life as well. What we become after inheritance is… difficult to explain, but the best way I can describe it is that it’s sorta like your memories just become part of the inheritor’s. So in other words, yeah, there is a sense of urgency to complete things in this life. So I guess we see eye to eye with the folks without this interloper curse; we have to make the most of our time in our limited lifespans. Moreover, personally? I have a desire to do more than what my previous iterations have, because that’s just who I am. I like one-upping them, in order to give the next iteration something to strive towards.” The felinor responded cheekily, with her fangs bared beneath the helmet no doubt. 

“Fascinating.” I responded, taking a moment to really take everything in with a careful nod. “I genuinely do wonder exactly how this process came to be.” I pondered outloud, eliciting a shrug from the felinor. 

“There we go philosophizing again.” Evina chuckled. “Honestly, there were theories, but scientists and biologists even back in my first iteration’s day found it difficult to really pin down exactly how or why it happened. The generally agreed upon hypothesis is that it naturally evolved in order to enhance the ability of subsequent generations to be able to survive with the prior generation’s skills and stuff. Listen, I’m probably not the best person to ask this, this is more a question for-”

A series of three beeps interrupted our rapidly deepening conversation, punctuated by a warning from Vir over the airwaves.

“Door lock is disarmed.” Was all he said, his voice measured, highlighting the sudden intensity of the situation. “Ready to engage the manual override mechanism at your discretion.” 

The both of us now stood at the ready, as I ordered each of the robots form a tighter formation around us, placing three of them on point, and several aerial drones above them for good measure. 

“I’ll have the mainline operator drones take point, and as soon as that door fully opens, I’m planning on deploying a tentative first wave of aerial drones to scout the interior before we enter.” 

“Yup, just like we planned.” Evina nodded. “This reliance on drones is really putting a damper on things y’know.” She continued with a snide snicker. “All those sci-fi shows Eslan goes on about always seem to have the bridge crew taking point and leading from the front.” 

“Well, unlike a television show, we don’t have the privilege of writing our way out of danger should we face it.” I responded, trying to match Evina’s more light hearted sensibilities as best as I could. “In any case, you ready, Evina?”

“Ready.” The felinor nodded, prompting me to give the final all-clear to the AI high above us.

“Affirmative, engaging manual override now.” Vir announced.

Nothing happened at first.

Then we heard it; a series of mechanical clunk clunk clunks that sounded raw and unmitigated. 

It was slow to start at first, hiccuping every other clunk, and whirring inconsistently to the point where it almost seemed to sputter out and die.

Though after a solid minute of this, something else seemed to click, and loudly as well. 

This preceded the retraction of all fourteen of the ‘cogs’ that seemed to be holding the circular door in place, followed by the door itself violently and forcefully being retracted into the facility, before rolling neatly out of the way just to the right of the entrance. 

The sudden KA-THUNK of the rolling door settling into place was enough to cause the local wildlife to stir, as almost all of the entirety of the treeline burst to life with entire flocks of birds taking flight far and away from the sudden flurry of activity. 

Sounds from the massive metal disc coming to a stop echoed throughout the forest, and into the large and empty atrium that lay within. 

An atrium which remained dark, and seemingly abandoned, with nothing to indicate that the facility was even operational.

In fact, it was far too deep, and much too dark for sunlight to really penetrate. Though that wouldn’t stop us, as the first wave of aerial drones entered, and began scouting to the best of their abilities.

Each of them began mapping out their little section of the atrium, linking up their readouts, before sending all the data back out and up to the ship, where a live scan of the entire space was promptly relayed back to us. 

What immediately hit me were the striking similarities between the expansive atrium within, and the design of the moon base’s atrium. This similarity was just as quickly remarked upon by Vir, as Evina was quickly brought up to speed on these initial findings. 

“This is a near perfect one-to-one match of the moon base’s entrance.” Vir offered, overlaying the aforementioned facility over top of the live scans of the signal station’s atrium. “The only difference seems to be the layout of the branching doors and such, but the similarities for the atrium being built this way is quite-”

“It’s nothing special.” Evina offered with a shrug. “Granted it’s not common, but I’ve seen the design before. Heck, the moonbase was publicly televised until it suddenly stopped gaining media attention. Apparently a lot of the bigger and elusive government bunkers were built the same way. My bunker however, and most of the other standard civvie bunkers, lacked something this grand though.” She offered. 

“Fascinating.” I nodded, as the readings revealed no visible traps, no weapon emplacements, and not much in the way of furnishings either. “Looks to be a purely utilitarian setup. Tracks on the floor for pallets to be easily shipped through several service entrances. Clearly defined marks indicating where you’d load and offload cargo… and nothing much else but a single lonely forklift in the corner of the room.” I narrated, pointing out each of the notable details within the room. 

“Right. Are we clear to enter, then?” Evina urged.

“Hold for a moment for the mainline drones to enter first.” I responded promptly, as three of the humanoid drones entered with their guns at the ready.

A minute passed, and no notable changes had transpired. It was around that point that I felt confident enough to turn towards Evina, giving her the all-clear. 

Flanked on all sides by more drones, we cautiously passed the threshold of the entrance, the room around us illuminated only by the light sources we brought with us; which was honestly more than good enough given the enhanced vision granted by the helmet’s various optical sensors.

Though we wouldn’t have to provide our own light for long.

As suddenly, and without warning, the dormant lights above erupted to life with a series of loud KA-THUNKS! Power readings from the drones spiked, as panel after panel around the atrium lit up in a dazzling display of unprompted activation. 

This, unfortunately, also applied to the front door. 

Which suddenly, and rather violently, began rolling back into place; outpacing our efforts in our mad dash back to the entrance as we were met just inches before it could firmly seal back into position.

KA-THUNK!