The River Towers

[rosetto 0]

Sal crouched in a corner of the room near a wall that seemed to have warmth. It also had a low hum to it which eventually lulled him to sleep. The synapses of his brain, however, were firing on all cylinders. Everything that he had learned and could remember from his days on border patrol told him that logic, above all, always seemed to govern mechanical devices. The bottom line was that these drones were mechanical. He concluded that there may have been some adaptable routines built into their original programming but this could not ever subjugate the base processes that were running. What Sal had to do was to determine why these drones were on the surface in the first place. A culture this remote from the mainstream had no reason to fear interstellar invasions. They had no contact with any other races, or at least to date, there was no record of any contact. So the pending question on Sal's mind was: "Why would the Zoalus build planet-wide defenses?" This answer would govern the logic of the drones' original programming.

 

 

It would be several hours before his tricorder could decipher the text of the operations manual that they had discovered. It was only speculation that it was even a manual. For all they knew it could have been a romance novel that a worker had been reading. The structure of the symbols, however, looked highly organized and official. There were bolder and larger symbols at the top of each page and the content seemed to be numbered, bulleted and tabulated like a procedure would be. This was why Sal had thought that it may be important enough to immediately process.

 

 

An hour before the group had stumbled upon this outlying structure which jetted out from the river bank and cantilevered over a small water fall. The building consisted of several towering sections estimated at 20 meters each and these lower rooms that seemed to adjoin the towers. The towers contained large conduits that traced their length and entered rooms below. There were hatchways at varying intervals with automated doors in each of the towers. Their use was unknown. There was also what looked like automated hatchways that led to the rooms below. None of these hatchways would open for the party. There was no access panel that they could find. At the top of each tower was an umbrella-like structure whose purpose also eluded the group. Sal had hoped that this document would shed some light onto this structure.

 

 

The results from Sal's tricorder began to scroll. He stopped on an analysis of the text on the title page. This document was exactly what he'd hoped to find; details of the primary functions of the drones. It appeared as shown:

 

 

OBPoF IDM n R qb NF ma GDI

 

 

[practicality, acumen, cool, experience, good reasoning, good sense]

 

[benevolence, religious charity; God's love, God's grace; good will]

 

[of]

 

[environment]

 

[and]

 

[society]

 

[harmony, togetherness]

 

 

For the sake of clarity before Sal relayed his findings to the other members of the group, he took it upon himself to eliminate the original symbolic language and piece together the basic content:

 

 

Primary Functions:

 

• Inspect equipment, structures, or materials.

 

• Control machines and processes.

 

• Identify objects, actions, and events.

 

• Handle and move objects.

 

• Get information needed to do the job.

 

• Make decisions and solve problems.

 

• Monitor events, materials, and surroundings.

 

• Repair and maintain mechanical equipment.

 

• Communicate with supervisors, peers, or subordinates.

 

• Organize, plan, and prioritize work.

 

• Update and use job-related knowledge.

 

• Work with the public.

 

• Evaluate information against standards.

 

• Establish and maintain relationships.

 

• Estimate sizes, quantities, time, cost, or materials needed.

 

• Judge the value of objects, services, or people.

 

• Schedule work and activities.

 

• Think creatively.

 

 

Other functions:

 

• Use hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools, or controls.

 

• Repeat the same movements.

 

• Stand for long periods of time.

 

• Walk, stand, kneel, stoop, or crouch while working.

 

• Bend or twist the body.

 

• Hold an appendage in one position while moving.

 

• Make quick, precise adjustments to machine controls.

 

• Move appendages while remaining in one place.

 

• See details of objects that are less than a few feet away.

 

• Grasp, move, or assemble objects.

 

• Lift, push, pull, or carry heavy objects.

 

• Understand the speech of persons.

 

• Determine the distance between objects.

 

• Support the body for long periods without getting tired.

 

• Speak clearly so listeners can understand.

 

• Bend, stretch, twist, or reach out.

 

• React quickly.

 

• Adjust body movements or equipment controls to keep pace with speed changes of moving objects.

 

• See details of objects that are more than a few feet away.

 

• Be physically active for long periods without getting tired.

 

• See differences between colors, shades, and brightness.

 

• Coordinate movement of several parts of the body, while the body is moving.

 

• Keep or regain balance.

 

• Focus on one source of sound and ignore others.

 

• Choose quickly and correctly among various movements when responding to different signals.

 

• Move appendages quickly.

 

• Hear sounds and recognize the difference between them.

 

• See objects in very bright or glaring light.

 

• Make fast, repeated movements.

 

• While looking forward, see objects or movements that are off to the side.

 

 

Communications Network:

 

• Enable inter-drone commanding and data sharing

 

• Utilize wireless protocol for general command structures

 

• Pass learned information through entire network using satellite links

 

• Use error correction techniques and noise filters

 

 

 

The document also contained what appeared to be an extensive database of general knowledge concerning the plant and animal life forms. There were details on life cycles, pollination, pruning frequencies, seeding techniques, and animal behaviors. It also discussed associated maps which were to remain dynamically defined and updated via the communications network.

 

 

This structure and others like it were described as maintenance sheds where the drones would return for equipment, modifications and to recharge their power cells. The towers housed huge and powerful transmitters used to communicate with other facilities and the satellite network which orbited the planet. These energy beams were highly focused and used line-of-sight and point-to-point protocols.