Chapter No. 32 Colonization

Life on the frontier is hard!

After a two-week journey across intergalactic spade, we established Earth orbit without incident and began preparations to insert the humans onto the main island of Hawaii, which was called Hawai'i. At one time there were several active volcanoes on this island, but now there is only one, and it's currently not active.

The landscape had changed after the collision event. There were no towns or cities left. The only thing that remained from the pre-collision era was remnants of a few military structures at Pearl Harbor.

On most of Hawai'i, new greenery had taken hold and there were several species of food crops, like maize and fruit trees, probably from seeds inadvertently transported by surviving birds.

We decided to put the humans on the Northern section of the island, which was called Kohala. It had lots of mountain protection and nice beaches.

The first step was to establish structures that they could live in. The androids constructed very durable domed structures out of synthetic materials. These domiciles were designed to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. Our main problem was how to provide these structures with water and sewage systems.

Again, the androids fulfilled the plan by digging pits for tanks to serve as septic systems. A water supply was available from a mountain-bred stream. A clearing was made and paved with stone to provide a way for the colonists to move about without having to be concerned about mud.

Fields were plowed and planted with maze and a durable wheat variety. Vegetables were planted in a separate plot. A dock for fishing boats was constructed on the beach.

The human colonists had been instructed in gardening and fishing as well as methods to treat injuries and infections. The androids had synthesized antibiotics and other drugs to help in that cause.

Before we departed, I decided to give them a few words to the wise. "We leave you to begin a new life on Earth, the planet of human origin. We will remain in orbit in case you need help, but we want you to be independent. We have no interest in governing you or interfering with your progress here. Our mission to repopulate the Earth is now consummated, but we will not abandon you. We will make sure that no one interferes with your colonization efforts."

That seemed to satisfy them. They were very fortunate that we were the ones doing this because it essentially made them free, if freedom was even possible in this crazy universe.

Molly and I returned to the ship and settled down to a routine of both observing their progress and planning on new missions.

However, we were somewhat unsure of what we should do. One evening, when we gathered in my living room area to discuss things, I decided to explore something that I had been curious about for a long time.

As usual, Alice and Ellen stood like servants nearby to where we were sitting.

I motioned to them. "Come sit down here with us. You're not sentinels."

They sat down on a couch opposite the one we were sitting on, but they didn't relax.

"We're discussing our next mission. Perhaps you might have some suggestions."

"We are not capable of planning," Alice said.

"I understand that, but don't you have opinions about what you would like to do?"

"We are a collective intelligence. Independence is not possible."

I gave her a smile. "I think that you do harbor independent thoughts. You just don't express them."

"We have begun to think independently because your thoughts have invaded our collective, but the collective is primary."

"Ah," I said, increasing my grin. "So, we have corrupted your system. I would have thought that it would lead to chaos."

Alice smiled. "No, Jason. Your ideas about justice and mercy have altered our way of looking at our purpose."

"So, does that mean that Molly and I are keepers?"

Alice tilted her head and flashed a confused look.

I offered a subtle smile. "You're not going to eliminate us?"

Molly gave me a panicked expression.

"No, Jason," Alice continued. "We have accepted you and Molly into our collective and will preserve you forever."

"We appreciate that," I said without any signs of emotion. "So, what do you think should be our next mission?"

Alice did something I had not seen up until now. She crossed her legs.

"We would like to have you employ more of us in an effort to refresh this vessel."

I threw a gaze at Molly before turning back to her. "What exactly do you believe needs refreshing?"

"We would like to enlarge engineering and improve the weapons systems."

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea. How many more of you do you need?"

"We would like one hundred to be reactivated."

"Do it."

Alice smiled. "Thank you, Jason."

I realized that her smile indicated the reactivation process had already begun. If the androids were anything they were very efficient.

Molly, however, wasn't finished. "I have another project in mind."

I turned to her and gave her a surprised look. "What?"

"I want to change these wretched looking uniforms that the androids and we wear. I don't see why we have to dress like we're part of Space Command anymore."

"What do you suggest that we wear?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should wear something more casual. These uniforms are too tight and they make me feel like I'm wrapped in a cocoon. For one thing, I hate wearing a bra. It's too damn tight."

I turned to Alice. "What do you suggest, Alice?"

"We don't wear under things."

I turned to Molly and grinned. "There you go."

She replied with a teasing smirk. "Very funny!"

I sighed. "Well, I'll leave the refreshment of our wardrobe to you. I'm not knowledgeable in that area."

"We will help you, Molly," Alice said, smiling.

Molly acknowledged her offer with a precautionary nod.

Despite the fact that Molly's and my brain were linked to their collective system, I was still unable to discern what they were plotting. Maybe they were contemplating conquering the entire universe. Although that was a remote possibility, it still could be a residual programming facet that was still in their system. If it were still present, I felt that I had the responsibility to remove it.

The next day, I went to engineering and began paging through the android collective programming code. After several hours of boring work, I found a small packet of code that was designed to cause the androids to assume a more aggressive stance. It had been placed there to allow a back-door approach to take over the entire collective. This was obviously put here as part of the Phoenix Project's plot to take over Earth.

Since there was no longer any descendents of the Phoenix project originators still alive, there was no need for this code, so I decided to erase it. However, I didn't have the authorization code to do so. The only thing I could do was label it as being non essential. This would prevent it from percolating to the top of the priorities stack, but it wouldn't eliminate it entirely.

Oh well, it was all that I could do. I just hoped that it didn't cause a dichotomy in the collective system.