Deja Vu

Déjà Vu

Caver groaned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Trying to shift the sense of déjà vu that assaulted him as he stared up at the prefab ceiling above him. He pulled off his sleeping bag and stretched. A pain in his head and one in his throat clamoured for his attention. The sink was right next to the window and he swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of water as he gazed out at the huge sun that spanned half the sky of Satia. It was just rising now, it’s dull red light giving a strange cast to the distant mountains that ringed the featureless plain that stretched for miles around the shelter. Deties was outside motionless, Caver waved before turning away.

He showered and pulled on his biosuit, the planet's atmosphere was so close to Earth normal that it had been an irresistible prospecting target, any planet with atmospheres that only needed a filter to breath them were a number one priority for TriCore international. Human labour was a lot cheaper than robotics mining units, especially if they didn’t need to provide full space suits.

He left the shelter sinking slightly into the fine sand that made up the desert floor. He still couldn’t figure out why this had been their landing spot. He glanced back at the shelter noticing the first touches of wear on the frame, they were supposed to last for years and he had been there only a few days. It wouldn’t be the first time company equipment didn’t live up to its specifications. Luckily Deties was every bit as good as the company claimed. The 6 foot tall figure seamed to slouch on the tracked base that according to the experts was more efficient than legs for locomotion. The torso however was designed as much for appearances as for any other reason. There was no need for Deties to have a head or human like arms for that matter, however it was felt by the company that having a basically human if bright silver appearance above the waist made Deties more acceptable to humans than the more usual domed tentacled form. Caver found it a little disconcerting, you sometimes forgot that Deties was not actually a person.

“Good morning Deties.”

“Good morning Sir.” as always the slight pause before the robot spoke despite every advance made in computing and robotics, natural conversation was still the number one stumbling block and only the very best systems were able to cope.

“One day to go.”

“Query - one day until what, semantic analysis prediction ship-launch 55% completion of job 34% other..”

“Getting off this rock. The ship all ready to go?”

“I believe you would say, that is my problem sir.”

“Well if you have the seismic resonator working again and the data from the sat-scan.”

“The S.R. unit is now working to full efficiency. Satellite data has been collected and downloaded into your work unit. Sir permission to prepare the ship for tomorrow’s launch.”

“Permission granted.”

“Oh and Deties, lunch about midday.”

“Affirmative.”

Caver watched as the tracked robot trundled towards the huge bulk of the star-ship, nearly half a mile long, and Deties and himself the only two passengers. Of course after you had fitted the star-drive it did not really matter how much or how little payload there was. Even so it did seem a little ridiculous even when you took into account the satellites and surveying equipment that had been causing so much trouble over the past week.

Sighing he returned to the shelter, closing the door and waiting a moment for the air inside to resume its unusual balance before removing his filter. He had tried breathing Sartian air, it left a slight burn in the throat that got worse as time went by, lack of water vapour or something along those lines. He sat in front of the computer terminal and began comparing the computer simulations with the satellite and machine date that had been collected. There were large underground lakes that would make mining on this planet almost childishly easy, if there was anything much worth mining. The computer had pulled up 50 sites that may have contained significant heavy and light metal deposits. Caver reflected that if the computer was just a little better it would be able to tell whether the site was worth mining itself. Which would make these long tedious prospecting missions redundant. Admittedly he would be out of a job, but frankly being out of touch with the whole of humanity for the 3 years of journey time even if it was spent in stasis was beginning to get to him. This would be his last trip. The pay was great but now he just wanted a normal life with family and friends, not this shadow existence on the wrong side of the universe.

Sighing he focused on the figures and began examining the graphs and figures the screen printed out. 5 sites in he found one that looked promising and by the time Deities arrived with his lunch his mood had improved dramatically.

“That last SR scan confirmed site 5-a 125.235 has significant heavy metal deposits. More than enough to justify mining on its own. If you could do repeat scans on areas 14 and 43 it looks like they have some sort of deposit there as well but the data is a little ambiguous. It looks like we earned our money.”

“Query, this is a fixed rate job, you would have earned your money whether you found deposits or not, and I am not paid.”

“Figure of speech. Don’t worry about it.”

Caver picked up the processed food can and grimaced in disgust. Only tonight’s meal to go. Then stasis and the next meal would be back on Earth. Admittedly in a decontamination chamber as he was checked for alien viruses. But it would be home.

“I trust we aren’t running short of these things.”

“No sir there is a 20 year supply.”

“What? Why?”

“Standard operating procedure, Ship supplies, directive 145, In case of failure of ships drive and stasis units. At light speed radio messages could take 10 years to reach an outpost. Sending a second ship could take as long again.”

“What a cheerful thought. The drives are OK aren’t they. I don’t think I could face spending a year here, let alone 20.”

“Do not worry sir. I will take care of everything.”

The robot trundled out with the empty food can.

Caver turned back to his charts.

The robot returned as the sun began to set. Stars appearing in the Northern sky.

“Which one of those is the sun?”

“Query - Earth’s sun?”

“Yes.”

The robot paused for a moment.

“Unknown. I could research it using the ship computers trigonometric.”

“No don’t bother.”

“Your Meal sir.”

Caver looked down at the food can.”

“No thanks, it’s only one day to go I think I’ll just wait until I get back to Earth.”

The robot began to jitter slightly, it’s fluid movements becoming a touch jerky.

“Please sir I must insist, I cannot allow any action that may jeopardise your physical or mental well-being.”

“It’s just the one meal.” Caver was surprised, robots were not supposed to have feelings and could only manage a monotone voice but Deities sounded almost frantic.

“Sir my programming.”

“OK, OK, if it makes you happy I will eat it.” One more wouldn’t hurt.

The robot settled back into its normal state.

“Thank you sir. Will there be anything else.”

“No thanks I will get an early night. Make a perimeter of the ship, just to be on the safe side then do what you like, have a party whatever.”

Deities moved outside and began to make his patrol as he did every night. Soon he knew the winds would start up and obliterate the days tracks. He moved around to the far side of the ship and looked again at the ruptured star drive. The huge star at the centre of the system put out so much radiation that the monitors had not been able to pick up the meteor until it had hit the ship. The landing had be forced but surprisingly successful under the circumstances and Caver in stasis had known nothing of any of it.

Finishing his patrol he re-entered the starship, and started broadcasting a distress call. The ships power cells were now so low that the beacon could only be used a few minutes a day. The radiation that had been the downfall of the ship would prevent any radio message from being heard but futility was not part of Deities programming. Preventing physical or mental harm from coming to his master was.

He switched off the beacon to let it recharge and returned to the shelter, letting himself in silently. Caver stirred slightly as a whiff of Satian air reached him clearing his throat then drifting back asleep. Deities placed a small device on Caver’s forehead. It was an inductor. It would interrupt the sleep patterns of Caver’s brain, preventing memories being laid down, effectively removing all memory of the day that had just passed.

The he connected to the terminal, without needing the clumsy human interfaces, silicon mind to silicon mind. He reset the date and erased the work Caver had done that day. It was the work of a moment to remove the two meal cans of the day and rearrange the furniture to the way it had been when Caver had woken up that morning. Deities removed the inductor as it signalled the completion of it’s work. He had some capacity for learning and curiosity and sometimes wondered what it would be like to forget. Something else he had not been programmed for.

He returned to the ship neatly stacking the two empty cans with the others. Beneath his unchanging exterior subroutines clamoured for attention, the 20 year food stocks would not last forever, the shelter even he himself would one day wear out. He duty of care to his master was not one he could deal with, but because the company profile indicated that Caver would be unable to accept his imprisonment on this planet Deities had no choice but to carry on the deception. He trundled out onto the sand and moved to his accustomed spot waiting for the dawn, for it all to begin again.