First Journey Chapter: 13

Chapter:  13

Cirruit

GalNet Entry: Ex-One-Oh-One

Most individuals and government believed, without exception, the most unique, and unusual civilization in the known universe was the Sentmac. A culture comprised solely of machine entities that were sentient. This entity was known as X101, which bears remarkable similarities to the word human, in that it represents numerous variants to the species. In humans, these differences are nationalities, and in X101's it is models. The X101s originate from and occupy the solitary planet orbiting the sun Magnitude. The planet, Factory, is inhospitable to most life forms with temperatures ranging from -minus 120 degrees to - 20 degrees, Celsius. Its atmosphere is uninhabitable by breathing entities, and the planet is also void of water. The planet is home to a thriving community of highly advanced humanoid shaped robots numbering in the billions.

The X101 abhor the term robot or android and prefer the term Sentient Machines or Sentmac. The recorded history of the X101s begins with the series 101 explorer. But first mobile sentient entity lacked true sentience. Organic sentient entities develop over millennia of evolution usually from a single dominant life form. The machine entity was different as it required a maker first, to build a factory and second to produce the first machine to start the process. As in the development of all real sentient, the X101 was no exception, and before it became self-aware and self-replicating, many eons transpired. The Sentmac, by their calculations, became self-aware long after their Original Creators vanished. This mysterious creator is still unknown for even the Sentmac were unable to complete the task of finding their Creator. They, the makers, left behind a fully automatic factory, but not before issuing a fully functioning code-writing protocol, activated by one command:  "Build and improve robots." While the Sentmac conforms to no defined religion, in the eyes of the Sentmac, the makers are kin to Gods. About 200,000 years ago the X101 E series came off the assembly line. It was the first mobile, self-aware humanoid robotic machine in the factory's history. MotherMachine remembers the series original specifications. The core specification is straightforward but very specific, and The first two sentient machines made were to be an image of the Creators. MotherMac designated them to be male and female, using the widely accepted human concept of male and female. The X101 now sentient made conscious decisions related to what they wanted to have improved in subsequent series. The first order of business was the improvement of the factory and to replace its small, inefficient, control center with a massive positronic brain. The factory assumed the name Mothermachine. Her vast mind developed a very distinct personality and became the defining and ruling element of this unique machine society. But even with very advanced recycling and the extensive use and constant development of Nanite technology, with only the resources of Factory, a raw material shortage was unavoidable. For the X101 space travel was not available, and stagnation occurred. About two thousand standard years ago, with the Rare Earths and other essential raw materials nearly depleted, the Kermac made first contact, offering space-faring technology and thus, access to all the raw materials, but it came with a price. In return the Kermac wanted the X101 to serve them,  exclusively. Mothermachine accepted the Kermac as the returning makers, mainly due to being of biological origin and had humanoid features, with her acceptance all X101s welcomed the Kermac. The Kermac standard domineering control by psionic means proved ineffective with Z101s. Therefore using renegade X101, an anti-matter device of Kermac design was installed right at the base of the brain housing of Mothermachine. Threatening to detonate it, if the X101 would not accept the Kermac as they unquestioned masters and execute every order given. Mothermachine finally concluded the Kermac were not the Makers. For the Makers would never need such hostile means to control the X101, it would have taken nothing more than additional coding to control her. Mothermachine complied with their commands mostly because the Kermac gave Mothermachine and the Sentmacs a new purpose and something to do. The X101s became the most feared and efficient thrall species of the Kermac during the very expanding Intergalactic war. Near the end of that war a daring commando mission, executed by a team of Union Recon marines ( the Steel Gauntlet) dropped onto Factory and managed to kill or capture the Kermac guards. From the interrogation of the guards, their commanding officer gained the knowledge of the bomb and the existence of mothermachine. Therefore, they deactivated the Antimatter bomb and undertook the task of establishing contact with the controlling entity. The commander of the Union marines was a Homo Stellaris, and upon meeting him and understanding his original, mothermachine rationalized he was a descendant of the makers. His purpose on the mission was to stand guard and protect by any means the control center known to the Union. He soon realized the Union mistake and acknowledged her as mothermachine and convinced her their mission was to rescue her and to free the X101's. Shortly, thereafter, the Union assembly also recognized her position and the Sentmac joined the Union.<<<

Cirruit was a typical X101- 794. Exactly 200 centimeters tall, weighing 136 kilograms. A thin layer of memory flex chrome steel, smooth as water and shiny covered a skeleton of Nanotube cobalt steel and syntho muscles.

A highly advanced pressure, thermal, and audio sensitive sensor network in his fingertips allowed him to perform the most delicate tasks.

He could see in all light conditions and process the entire electromagnetic spectrum with his enchanted senses.

Cirruit was a healthy Sentmac and could lift or press weights exceeding five hundred kilos easily. Cirruit did not need air or food as his zero-point energy power storage would last approximately 1,752,000 hours or two hundred standard Union years under normal conditions.

After energy depletion occurred, he would cease to exist, and as with humans, he would be pronounced dead.

Mothermachine prohibited the re-energizing of any Sentmac and arranged that each zero-point power unit would cease operating at random times. Thus allowing X101s to associate closer with humanoid, and not be set aside due to species jealousies  The termination of each X101 permitted the birth of a new unit. That feature emulated a human's natural life cycle and x101's and humans more compatible.

He had human facial features, but it was without hair, pores, or wrinkles.

Cirruit did not have eyelids or any real body orifices other than a mouth, But it served no real purpose beyond providing a location for his voice speaker. This speaker was flush to the roof of his mouth and gave a human-like tone and location similarity  He planned to get a SimuEat Upgrade as soon as he was off planet. Union Robotic Companies offered a wide range of Upgrades, add-ons, and custom modifications. Of course, most of them were not approved by Mothermachine, although, to appease both other humanoids and X101 some of these features received her "blind" eye. This approach to add-ons and upgrades beyond the on-hands control of mothermachine did give her the right to stop certain features if they become harmful to anyone.

Mothermachine maintained strict control over the access to all positronic brains. Any attempt to access the mind of an X101 sent an immediate notification to mothermachine, and appropriate action would occur. Cirruit, like all human male, with his distinctive synaptic pathways making him a true individual.

Although he came off the same assembly line with forty million other model 794's, there was not a single 794 that conceived the environment, felt, talked, thought, or performed thousands of iteration like him. He was a unique individual and physically a male. Sentmacs had no sex drive or gender differentiation, and of course no functional sex organs (there were certain mostly illegal upgrades available though.  Of which there were rare purchases, as mothermachine would again receive instant information)

The addition of gender-related features to the X101-712 was a noticeable improvement that happened during the period of Union acceptance of the X101s into its membership.

Mothermachine decided that the pure perfection of individualism lay in imperfection and in her opinion having a gender was the biggest illogical biological mystery and thus an imperfection, therefore in her opinion perfection. She had through trial and error processing found that other species had adverse reactions to individuals or races they believed to be perfect. Or rather she correlated they were afraid of perfection.

Her own self-image was genderless at first, but the human translation of her self designation had a very distinct female meaning, and she gradually began to identify herself as she.

Union robots were as advanced and in the case of the latest SII Battle and Expert robots far more advanced than X101s in terms of technical features. Mothermachine did not want mere factory cookie cutter robots, but a real race that was equal to organic ones, and that indeed required imperfections. A randomization program she developed introduced a wide range of defects.

Cirruit for example, despite his positronic brain, wasn't a genius when it came to math, or remembering things, he could not tell time without looking at a PDD.

His left arm was 0.7 cm shorter than his right. He and all of his kind had to learn in schools. Mothermachine insisted every X101 attend and graduate Union School.

Each 101 came off the line with only the rudimentary programming to learn to walk and use the basic system maintenance routines. They immediately entered their learning cycle, which included the development of a set of methods and protocol that would last the entirety of their extended life. Unlike humans, they remain true to these initial values and only when presented with overwhelming prove would they change. Whims and fleeing fancies were not part of their makeup.

The sleep protocol became standard with the introduction of model 719. As with organic races, the sleep routine became a necessary feature and also modifiable to suit individual lifestyle and duty cycles.

All Sentmacs since then could no longer function around the clock and would feel tired and fatigued, the protocol called for them to lay down and rest (a stage of reduced power levels and awareness) to ensure compliances a restored robot experienced improved physical and mental peaks after a sleep period.

Cirruit was especially proud of the fact that he could dream and with the same level of retention as a human counterpart. Coding would collect random images and sounds from daily memory imprints and reassemble them into vivid dreams. The more intense a real-time event occurred, the more of it would end up in a dream. A further upgrade allowed events from the past to come into play, which improved memory capabilities.

As a result of a class excursion to a Union battleship factory, Cirruit dreamt about becoming an engineer. He developed a strong desire to study and become an electromechanical engineer. He later modified his degree and intently studied Nanite technology receiving a masters and then a Ph.D. in Nanite augmentation and implementation. In other words, an expert in nanobotics a relatively new field of discovery.

Like all X101s he was ashamed of the time they had been forced to fight for the Kermac.

Even though the Terrans denied being the Makers, mothermachine believed otherwise. Mothermachine with access to GalNet researched the matter in great detail and concluded that the makers were the Celtests. This ancient, advanced civilization had vanished about a million years ago. In this context and the legends of a war that destroyed the Celtest, she determined the Makers did not abandon the X101 but had perished, perhaps in a long forgotten galactic war of epic proportion.

Many rumors existed that the Terrans were a forgotten Celtest colony. It was one of the explanations of the centuries-old Human Mystery as there were several humanoid and biological species dominant in the Upward sector of the M-0 Galaxy. Only a common ancestry could logically explain proximity and similarities.

To this theory add the fact, the Terrans created the Homo-Stellaris, the closest possible mixture between man and machine that surprisingly close to X101 abilities.

This find was a critical factor in mothermachine believing that the human from Earth aka Terrans were the direct link to the Makers and thus the sole owners and masters of the Sentmac.

Unlike the Kermac, however, when presented with her finding the Terrans rejected ownership, stating their beliefs stemming from a horrible period in their history of man owning man aka slavery and welcomed the Sentmacs as independent species with full membership in the Union.

Because of this, X101 were fiercely loyal to the Union, but especially to the Terrans. X101s served in all branches of the armed forces of the Union, but when push became shove, they sided exclusively with the Terrans in any matters. Cirruit, however, had no interest in becoming a soldier or a fleet officer.

Even the X101s considered him the go-to guy when researching nanobotics, for he indeed was a most gifted scientist in this endeavor, and required a quick, efficient fix to a problem.

While there were some space-faring cultures of tech-level six or higher using Nanite technology, none possessed the level of expertise or raw knowledge equivalent to X101s nanobotic engineers, none more so than in the X101s young genius, Cirruit, Ph.D. nanobotics.

He had a lucrative offer from Schwartz NanoTech Development in his pocket, and today he would board a space bus to start his journey to the planet, Omni, the most secretive corporate owned world in the known galaxy.

Rumors among his friends had Schwartz Industries working on technology project classified at level nine.

The list of innovation developed by SII for someone or SII exclusive use was mind-boggling. Some examples are The Trans-Matter Tunnel technology, and it was general knowledge that the Sentmac has nothing similar. Then followed Instantaneous communication with avatar technology, space trains via Schwarzlicht tunnels, zero point energy cannons, and many other technologies no civilization could or will duplicate.

During his original interview for a low-level position which he was over-qualified, the recruiter received a phone call and immediately excused himself, stating he was needed elsewhere. Would he please continue to fill out the form as the information they would contain was important. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and looked up to see a tall expensively dress man an woman walking casually into the interview area. Thinking no more about them, Cirruit, returned to form filling. It soon becomes apparent to Cirruit that the two wish to speak to him, but were patiently waiting so as not to disturb his paperwork. He reached a break, put down his PDD and stylus, and looking at the beautiful woman ask if he could ask their purpose for waiting to talk to him."

Slightly taken off-guard, the man quickly recovered and stated, "I am Rex Schwarz and this my personal secretary,  Yvonne, and yes, there is something you can answer.  What in the hell are you doing, applying for such a low-level, lousy paying job?  We, that is to say, my staff has been searching for a qualified engineer with some exposure to administrative duties to head a newly formed R&D department, solely devoted to researching the feasible of assimilating the Sentmac and the Homo-Stellaris.  The primary and only purpose of this program to investigate the feasibility of such a project.  No, and I repeat, NO attempt to develop an entity from the finding will occur.  A treaty between mothermachine, Sentmac, Homo-Stellaris, and the Union must put in place before initiating any actual design or programming of such an entity.



Upon reaching Omni, and officially employed by SII, he would work with, among, and side by side with the brightest and best engineers and scientists in the Universe.

The labs and development shops so he was told by the Schwartz Recruiter had no equal and the most expensive equipment was available to everyone working there.

There did not exist a limit on budgetary nor material restrictions.

His travel to Corri-Door would be by special space bus. Upon reaching Corri-Door, he would transfer to a luxury corporate ship to complete his journey to Omni.

In a holo presentation, he saw a representation of his new home, a beautiful two-level apartment with Super Lux accommodations and situated in a Stratosphere tower complete with an incredible view of Omni City and the oceans with its' fantastic white beaches beyond.

Cirruit was addicted to shopping, and his new salary would allow him to shop to his heart's content.

Factory, a planet once under Kermac control and it's star Magnitude had been deep in Galactic Council space. After the end of the last Big War and during the armistice conference, Mothermachine demanded direct access to Union space.

A specific region of space was designated by treaty as a corridor of Union space connecting the Magnitude star system with consecutive Union space.

This corridor is only twenty light-years long and has a diameter of one light year, a cul-de-sac occupied by an advanced civilization advanced in the featureless endless night of intergalactic space.

Neither the Kermac nor any of the Galactic Council thrall species dared to jeopardize the fragile armistice that ended the hot phase of the last big war. Knowing full well, if they broke it, that Mothermachine could churn out millions of armed Sentmacs in full battle configuration. In addition to this overpowering severe threat by the Seentmacs to the Galactic Council, there were several deep space forts within this region of space. One such fort stationed on Magnitude also provided mobile tactical force to any point within the corridor, and a complete star system designates Corri-Door also provided Sentmac workforce stationed at several forts within this system. These Corri-Door locations within Union space in addition to providing a robust military defense also allowed the Union rapid response offensive forces instant assess to the corridor and Galactic Council/Kermac military assesses in the surrounding space.

Travel to Arsenal II from an ultra-secure location within the Corri-Door system was possible via an eighty-three light-year long tunnel through a large section of space similar controlled by the Galactic Council/Kermac consortium.

Several hours ago Cirruit boarded the space bus to Corri-Door after having said his goodbyes to close friends and previous workmates.

Magnitude had only one planet but was the homeworld of a Union species it had a busy Class A spaceport in orbit around the sun about one orbit away from Factory.

There was one more solar system within the Magnitude connection. An old red sun called Outpost with a bunch of relative worthless rock planets of great age, but it was the site of a large Union construction project.

Wargus Sun engineers worked on that red star to coax it back to a new life as a G III yellow sun. For this, a seemingly ending stream of Tiny Tim freighters in tanker configuration ferried billions of tons of Hydrogen through the Corridor, making it a very busy traffic connection. This multi-trillion Union credit project was funded directly by the Assembly.

Having a forward post so deep in the enemies' territory could not be wasted. Everyone knew the Armistice was fragile and could disintegrate at a moments notice. The question was not "if" but "where" would the Union be at war with the Kermac and the Galactic Council.

There did not exist a naysayer regarding the reason for these planets and suns to undergo such dramatic renovations, that was to provide the Union with reliable, accurate, long-range scanner capabilities. Such that the Union would have real-time knowledge of the activity of the enemies troop and equipment movement even to their home planet of Kermac Prime. Despite the high classification of the individual phases of the project, the reason for the massive buildup and out was common knowledge. The Kermac and the Galaxy Council disapproval and apparent buildup to confront the Union activities in this area also was common knowledge. The only secret was where did they plan on entering open warfare.

Cirruit, as did all X101, hated the Kermac. Not every Sentmac was the perfect Union citizen, but lying to Mothermachine and planting a bomb in her mind center. Forcing her to accept their will was unforgivable. No X101 would ever forget or forgive and not even their Union allies knew about the Revenge device hidden beneath the tallest mountains of Factory.

If war was ever to break out again between Union and the Kermac, the X101 had means do their part to guarantee victory and repay the Kermac for their reign of terror.

Like every Sentmac he had visited the Monument of Freedom in the center of Mothermachine City. The 1000 meter tall obelisk made of Platinum engraved with the images and names of the marines and inside the 63 bodies of the Kermac guards encased in transparent Duranium along with a replica of the bomb. Like every X101 his positronic mind contained deep pathways of hate towards the Kermac.

The space bus was filled to the last seat with construction workers, engineers and shop keepers coming from Outpost to take their vacation or extended R&R in Union main space. The factory always welcomed tourists but still had little in terms of real recreation facilities.

Cirruit found his reserved seat next to a human female. She smiled at him and removed her bag off his place. "Sorry."

"Oh no problem, I am just glad I did not sit and smash it, which I have done in the past."

"You have a very nice voice, for a machine." She said then put her hand on her mouth. "Sorry again. That came out all wrong."

Cirruit sat down. "I am not offended. I am a machine and you saying I have a nice voice makes me very proud. "

"I am Seilagh Renwick heading back to Ormond Planet." She held out her hand.

He took it and said. "Cirruit Sevenninefour, and yes it supposed to mean circuit, but I got that name from my first-grade teacher since I couldn't pronounce Circuit."

"You get your name from your teacher?"

"Yes, as we don't have parents or families in the traditional biological sense.  So our first-grade teacher gives each of us individual first names."

She kept holding his hand. "Amazing your hand is not as cold as I expected. I keep insulting you, don't I?  But you are indeed the first X101 I have met despite coming this way twice before this trip.

"We keep our outer skin level at exactly 34 degrees Celsius. It makes interaction such as handshaking with humans more agreeable, besides I don't like touching cold things either, and everything outside is cold on Factory. You are the first human I meet. My Union Teacher was a Garbini." He shook his head. "And you certainly are not offending me. I am quite aware that I am a machine and I know many of the X101 jokes Terrans tell and most of them are quite funny."

"I don't know any X101 jokes, but they have plenty of Irish Jokes where I grew up."

"How many X101s does it take to change a light bulb?"

"I don't know. What is a light bulb?"

"It takes only one but seven hundred years till Mothermachine designed the right one for the job."

Then he shrugged in a very human gesture. "I have no idea what a light bulb is, and I checked GalNet, numerous times trying to find out."

A terrifying centipede-like creature across the Isle clacked with his mandibles and said. "Pardon me, as I overheard your conversation. A light bulb is a very ancient Pre-Astro Terran device to produce light. It is part of a lamp."

"Wow. You should put that on GalNet. How did you know that, all that?"

"I am sure it is on GalNet. There are plenty of collector sites. I collect Pre Astro Terran antiques, although, mostly replicas as the real stuff is horribly expensive.

That's where I am going. A Pre-Astro Collector Convention on Ulta. I needed a break after bolting and bonding space fort frames for twelve months."

"I can imagine," Cirruit responded, "I need to buy a light bulb replica, do you think they are "horribly" expensive?"

The engineer checked his PDD, then stated, "TerraArtifacts Inc. offers a genuine 40-watt glass bulb with multi-color function and hundred-year energy spot for 259 credits, complete with certificate and a collectors card made of real paper."

"Mothermachine!  That sounds awesome, and I will order one as soon as I am at my new address." Then changing the subject, he continued, "They have been working on that system ever since my assemble or as you know it, my birth, 16 years ago.  I thought it would be close to completion by now?"

Seilagh shook her head. "My dad is an engineer there, he says, they won't be done for another 200 years.

The Sun would be back to G III type in about 200 years if I understood the Wurgus correctly. There are at least eighteen more space stations planned as far as I know."

Before anyone else could say something, the attendant robot came floating by with a rotating red light flashed on its head. It announced in a loud voice.

"All passengers are asked to return to their seats and put on safety restraints. Please keep all limbs and body parts inside the yellow line around your seats."

The engines of the space bus audibly hummed much higher, and it was now flying at maximum speed.

The young woman next to him had turned on her GalNet set, and a news announcer with a serious look on his face sitting behind a desk said. "This is just in: A massive space battle is occurring at this very moment on the Prometheus Five Sun Nebula expanse between Union forces, a massive Dai Than fleet, and Nogoll Forces.

All Union space is on the highest War alert. Intergalactic war might be imminent."

The girl looked frightened, "We are in the middle of that cursed corridor. I bet they increased speed because we are pursuit by the Kermac."

The Centipede raised four of his leg and arm pairs. "No worries young lady. The defense system for Factory is superb, and there are three space forts in the corridor."

As he finished speaking, a strong tremor shook the Space bus, and the lights went out."