“Home system, respond.” Hans always felt like an idiot when
he didn’t have a specific display to speak to and he hadn’t gotten around to
naming his home system yet either. Hans made a mental note to figure out what
to call his system because home system was just too much of a mouthful.
“Online. What can I do for you?” Unlike his office computer
that sounded like a chipper young woman, his home system spoke in a deep and
respectful baritone.
“Can you analyze this object that I’m holding and tell me
what it is composed of?” Hans held the artefact out with both hands.
“Scanning.” Was the response to his query. Hans held really
still as the minutes passed. He hadn’t expected it to take quite this long.
“Is there a problem computer?” Hans felt guilty disturbing
the computer while it was working, which was silly because it was just a
machine, but he couldn’t help it.
“I have been unable to identify the materials that are in
the object you are holding. Basic elements are recognizable, but are configured
in a way that is unfamiliar.”
“So, what you’re saying is that you don’t know what this
is?” Hans frowned. It was not the answer he had been expecting at all.
“Correct.”
“Thank you computer.” Hans stared with renewed awe at the
artefact in his hands. It was all the confirmation that he needed to prove that
this was a truly alien thing. Now all he had to do was figure out what it did
and why it did it. That was, of course, if it did anything at all. Before he
even knew what he was doing, Hans threw the artefact across the room. It hit
the wall with a dull thud and split into two pieces.
“Shit!” Hans rushed to the other side of the room. He knelt
down to pick of the pieces and stopped as he noticed something that looked far
too much like a button on the inside edge of one of the pieces. He hadn’t
noticed any seam on the artefact before, but it had broken with a straight edge
like it had meant to be opened.
Hans reached towards the button, paused and then pressed it.
He waited for a minute, holding his breath, but nothing happened. Just as he
was about to reach for it again he heard a soft beep, similar to the sound he
had heard when he took the artefact. Hans pulled his arm back away from the
object and watched, eyes wide as the two pieces began to wobble and move. In
less than a minute it had reformed into one solid piece again.
Hans sat there and stared at it, not sure what to do now. He
had taken a chance and not much had happened, but it was enough to make him
that much more eager to get back to the cave and find out what was really down
there. For all he knew, he had just sent a signal to an alien and they were on
their way to his place right now.
Hans glanced at the door and chuckled at the absurdity of
the thought. It wasn’t likely that an alien was going to come bursting down his
door. As far as anyone knew, humans were alone in this galaxy. Even if there
was a living alien race out there, he doubted that they would suddenly show up
on his doorstep to ask for the artefact back.
It was just one more mystery to pile on top of all the other
ones he hadn’t managed to solve yet. A small part of him wondered if he should
just throw caution to the wind and get what he needed to get back into the
cavern and find out what was there. If he knew that the specialized equipment
he needed to get would arrive before anyone got curious about what he was
ordering, he would have done it, but Hans knew it paid to be cautious.
He picked up the artefact and tossed it from hand to hand a
couple times. “I will figure out what you are and who made you.”
He placed it back under his bed and called it a night.
Tomorrow he would spend more time trying to figure out how to get the equipment
that he needed, but right now he needed to get some rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment