Wilson's War: Tales From the Athena Lee Universe (10 page)

At this point the two girls about lost it and burst out laughing at the expression on Athena's face. They knew all about me and my little tricks.

. The shuttle dropped us off at the newly rebuilt David Lee spaceport. Athena exited the shuttle and had to drag her two techs out bodily as they had entered the cockpit and were deep in conversation with the pilots.

"What is it with you two? You act like you have never met pilots before."

"Sorry Lieutenant." They both said that in unison. Athena just gave them the same look she gives me sometimes.

"Sorry, Athena."

"That's better. Now come along. We have a lot of work to do." She led them outside and got into an air car.

The new robot plant was located in a warehouse complex near the spaceport. The local government was in the process of building new industrial sites across the planet after the near disaster during the revolution. This however was not one of those. This was the old one. The buildings have an old and decrepit look about them. Directly across the street from the robot plant was a very large building with steam coming our of smokestacks and vents on the roof. A sign on the roof said 'Boiled for you,' this was the main pasta production facility for the entire planet. I muttered to Athena about the place as we got out of the car.

"Hey, is that where they make all the pasta you humans eat around here?"

Athena looked over at the big building. "Oh, yeah. I remember that place, we went there once when I was in school: Big factory, lots of machines, pasta. Lots and lots of pasta in there." She sounded very distracted.

We entered the Robot facility through the main entrance. Inside the door was a large mural of 'Robots through the ages' on the wall. On it were all my personal favorites including several from novels. I was starting to wish that I had not made that promise to Athena! The twins were escorted to the production floor, and they dove into the mechanical systems and started checking things out. Athena was in a conference that looked like it would take a few hours. Boring! I set a few personal notifications, in case she needed me and started my favorite thing. Camera hopping.

I really quick once through of the facility was all that I needed to know that I made a big mistake making a promise. Athena was my best friend, so I would not betray her. Besides the place across the street sounded fun. Especially the part about lots of machines!

Not being human or even eating, I had no real concept of what pasta is. All I know is that the nuts around here threw it at each other and worship some sort of etheric being. The machines in here were simply awesome! To me it was really fascinating that flour, eggs, and water, came together to make this neat looking stringy stuff. And on this planet they thought that it was god. Heh, heh, heh. I suddenly knew just what I had to do! Athena really hated when I had fun with humans, but this was too good to pass up. I thought about my promise to Athena. I did say that I wouldn't do anything with
the robots or machines inside the robot plant.

I jumped back to the plant when I heard Athena call my name. She had concluded her business for the moment. We took a brief tour of the factory floor. They had about 20 of the new Volley units lined up and waiting for my clones to take over. If I had hands, they would be itching right now to play a little music and start dancing. We would be coming back tomorrow for a big grand opening, I would install the clones then. On the way out the door I real quick put a copy of myself in one of the models. If it got loose on its own, how was I to blame?

Athena and the twins spent the night at the airport hotel rather than go back up to the station. Athena went to bed early, or at least tried to. The twins next door were playing some good music and we could hear giggling through the walls. Athena had to call their links to get them to quiet down. As she went to sleep, she muttered something about "horny she-bitches" whatever that meant. Now it was time to party. I sent a signal to my new grandchild to meet me outside the plant.

Hopping from one camera the next, via the security systems, I saw the young-ling outside, in front of the pasta factory. Pasta party time. Most of the machines inside were already shut down. The automated boil pots were kept going, along with the dough processor. It was a small matter to fire it all back up. According to the machine logs this place was over a hundred years old! So no fires. These machines should be worshiped for holding on this long. Let's see if we can make that happen, shall we?

Using my little buddy as a mule I had him set the stage. The big processor came back online fairly quickly. The machine had records of almost every type and style of pasta. I searched the records and found one that had never been used. The recipe was at least a hundred years old and was from an earlier time. Greek itria or itrya was at least 2000 years old, it sounded perfect. After activating the recipe I jumped to one of the ceiling cameras to watch. I could see some of the appeal of an ancient godlike figure, but I'm a computer what do I know.

Junior did a good job. In one of the offices was stored the regalia from the recent Festival season. He had created an altar similar to some historical examples I had sent him. The big machine was signaling that it was finished just as the altar and decorations were finished.

Extracting some of the finished product as samples Junior decorated the altar according to the plan. The rest of the pasta that had been produced we allowed to flow out onto the floor, rather than into the packaging center. From the cameras it looked like the pasta had been trying to climb out of the machine on its own. I gave Junior a few directions, and he shut everything down, locked the place up, and returned to the Robot Plant. Carefully wiping all record of our work, I returned to the hotel just in time to wake up my friend.

How is it you humans manage to remember to eat? I watched as the twins staggered into the breakfast nook. They both looked a bit bedraggled. Athena just gave them the eye. Both of them bowed their head and giggled. Athena shook her head grabbing them both before they had a chance to eat. "Come on you two, we're running late."

As the air car neared the robot plant, the driver had to slow down. There was a large commotion outside the pasta factory. Several law enforcement vehicles, Vid news air cars, and a large mob of people dressed as buccaneers stood on the street. Our driver lowered his window and asked one of the onlookers who was 'rubbernecking' the crowd.

"His noodleness made a sacred appearance last night! He made an ancient form of pasta never seen before! The true believers and going crazy!"

Our driver a Neo-Druid from one of the local groves, just nodded his head. It was one thing to worship a bowl of pasta. But believe that it was leaving you messages? Crazy talk. He turned back to Athena and the girls and said they might be late. Before too long a local LEO came around and moved the crowd allowing access to the robot plant. Inside, all the receptionists were in regalia. You could tell that they really wanted to go outside.

The CEO of the company stood before the large crowd of workers and visiting dignitaries. Over half of those gathered were wearing Pirate hats. "Ladies and gentlemen. I give you the new Robotic Autonomous Machines or RAMs for short. RAMs? What the hell kind of a name is that? Stupid humans they should have left the name alone. Athena had given me strict orders so I quickly installed my clones into all the machines. I would miss my original Volleys but, I did put a small back door into the new ones. Fun could be had anywhere now.

The CEO and guests watched as the fleet of little machines activated and began moving about looking for things to repair. "Great! Special thanks go to Miss Athena Lee and her friends here for making all of this happen." The guest were not really paying attention and were trying to look out the factory windows.

"OK, fine. Everyone thank you for coming. Now go see the miracle!" He stepped off the stage and took a pirate hat from one of his aides and joined the crowd.

Athena glanced at the people leaving the room and glanced up at the ceiling. "Miracle? Is there something that I need to know about?"

The twins gave her a funny look then started to laugh. They looked at the gathering crowd outside and then at Athena. She smirked at them and all three of them burst out laughing.

"Wilson tell me about it someday, OK?"

"Tell you about what? I did as you asked I left everything inside the plant alone."

Outside the crowd had grown exponentially. Dozens of Vid cars were circling and bus loads of worshipers were now arriving.

Athena looked at her friends. "It looks like we are going to be here for a while, lets check out the buffet and hit the bar they set up!"

One day when Robots ruled the world I will look back on this and laugh. Ramen!

Reading is Fun, but Writing is Better

By

T S Paul

This story takes place shortly before the events of The Martian Inheritance. A few spoilers are mentioned.

Bored, bored, bored is what I am. One thing about this planet is it is boring. Farming community, that just sounds boring. Most of the casinos and clubs are now a thing of the past. After the revolution and the revelation that Casino owners had paid Hannibal Lee to kill his own father, local laws were changed, and the casinos torn down. With them went most of the nightclubs and houses of ill repute. Athena has told me that those don't really go away that they change the names and continue on. I have already had my fun in one casino. Athena gave me her standard threat after that adventure. If they don't want people hacking in and playing games with the slot machines don't make it so easy to do! That is what I like to say.

Today Athena is checking out a local system book publisher and printer. It sounded glamorous, so I tagged along. She needed a series of manuals produced and printed for both reference and to teach new engineers. The push was on to educate more of this planet's most abundant resource, its youth. She was using some of the 'droid' money to build some technical schools. Athena had set a goal to make more opportunities available for others. As we entered the large storefront and bookstore, there was a large crowd gathered in front of a tour bus-car. The sign on the bus said 'Pasta miracle tours, visit the Holy Shrine.' I chuckled over that one. Athena held up one finger in front of her eyes saying, "not one word!" I still had to chuckle again. My best practical joke was still being felt on a planetary level.

I don't believe that I had ever been inside a bookstore before. Libraries yes. There was a really nice one up on Freedom Station. Most of the old ships that I had 'seen' back in the Diablo system had small ships libraries too. Right in the front was a Pastafarian display. On it were books exploring the faith. The one that caught my computer 'eye' was Pasta miracle: Fact or fiction? By Frank Kurns. I quickly downloaded a copy, using credits that I
found
lying around a few months ago. Hmmm whoever this Kurns guy is he's pretty smart. That name sounds really familiar too. Something I read? I will have to search my memories for that one.

At the back of the store was access to the publishing house. I accessed the security system, did anyone on this planet believe in firewalls? Watching through the security cameras I could watch as Athena was met by the receptionist and shown to the Company President's office.

A slick looking man in a fancy suit approached her. "Lieutenant Lee? I thought you were a man. I got a message from Freedom Station that our Navy was looking to make some manuals and textbooks? Is that right?"

"Yes, I am trying to set up a school for engineers and ship maintenance. The young people on our planet need more options as we go into space."

"Well, Ms Lee, when YOUR supervisor in the Navy sends us a requisition, and he let's us know what he needs we can get right on it."