Chapter Seven - Tyler
In Remnant’s systems core, Tyler tried to remember the correct procedure to successfully reboot the protocol as he waited. The readiness indicator had yet to light, and until the dialog populated on the screen, they continued to drift. The beauty of the AI system was also its downfall. While they had manual control of the reaction control thrusters, the main and secondary engines—needed to divert them from a collision course with Cardiff—were inoperable. It would have been easy for Cardiff to maneuver out of the way, but Tyler knew MacLeash was playing chicken on purpose. MacLeash wanted him to sweat, and a part of Tyler could understand. The man blamed Tyler, and more importantly Remnant, for the death of his wife. Why the two of them had to be involved on this capture eluded Tyler, but business was business. He and Lew would get Remnant under control and capture the target bird. From there, he’d be ready for whatever MacLeash could throw at him.
The ready dialog populated on the screen, followed by a descending stream of Chinese characters. Tyler recognized a few, but not nearly enough to be able to read them. If he’d been able to do that, he would have stopped Remnant from the complete shutdown in the first place, rather than having to go through the reboot cycle and dialog.
<READY>
Tyler rubbed his forehead and tried to remember the correct sequence of major systems Remnant needed to interface with first, and what could be reconnected and calibrated from the bridge once they burned out of the way of Cardiff. Where would a protocol start first? Tyler began to type.
SYSTEM SETUP
<IDENTIFY SYSTEM>
INITIALIZE REMNANT PROTOCOL 001
<REMNANT 001 INITIALIZATION COMMENCING. PLEASE ENSURE ALL CRITICAL SYSTEMS ARE OPERATIONAL BEFORE CONTROL IS ESTABLISHED.>
<CONFIRM RESTART?>
YES
<SYSTEM REBOOT COMMENCING>
As the code filled the screen, Tyler allow himself to breathe. Remnant was on her way back. The manual didn’t give an estimated time for the reboot to complete. Cardiff was barreling toward them, unaware of their problems. Finding the code sequence took only a moment.
On the auxiliary command prompt, Tyler typed ENGAGE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL
<CONFIRM?>
YES
The computer displayed a countdown from five minutes. Tyler turned to the intercom unit on the wall and jabbed the talk button with a finger. “Lew, what’s our time to impact with Cardiff?”
“Eleven minutes, twelve seconds,” Lew replied. “Did you do something? I’ve got a bunch of blinking lights on the mainframe control panel.”
Tyler smiled. That’s a good sign. “She’s booting now. Any systems out?”
“The UHF transceivers in the hardsuits are off. They have to be turned on manually.”
“Not a big deal,” Tyler said. “We’ll jump off the bridge when we come to it. When you see the Control light turn green, hands off the controls until she comes up.”
“How much longer?”
“Four and a half minutes. Call you in a minute.” Tyler released the button and turned back to the control panels. The interface safeties needed to be engaged, he remembered. He knelt at the panel. The seven switches were in the closed position, as they should have been. Each was tied to a different system. Working quickly, Tyler snapped the switches to open. When he finished, the screen changed.
<SYSTEMS ARE COMING ONLINE. PLEASE RELINQUISH CONTROL AT THIS TIME.>
“I have a green light,” Lew called through the intercom’s speaker. “What now?”
Tyler pushed the button. “On my console, there’s a green book under my seat. Turn to page five; I’ll need that code sequence.”
Lew called back in a moment. “We don’t need this! Get her booted and back online!”
“She’s not Remnant without that coding.”
“It’s for her voice, Tyler! For God’s sake!”
Tyler closed his eyes and yelled, “Read me the damned code, Lew!”
As Lew read, Tyler typed.
sudo service hid-persona restart
=> human interface devices stopped
=> human interface devices initiated
info: hidd: persona-nn remnant selected
info: hidd: vox-synth loaded using MM phoneme temps
warn: hidd: sample overwrite from 0x03FE07 val #FC7832DD7429A8B
=> human interface devices started in 78.26 ms
One by one, the lights on the main system panel flickered from red to green. As the final switches engaged, Tyler heard the system processors spin up and the cooling system engage. The screen flickered to a simple status.
“This is Remnant. I am completely operational.” The breathy voice brought a smile to Tyler’s face.
“Remnant, get us off this course and reengaged to target.”
There was a pause. “Affirmative, we’re on a collision course with Cardiff. Executing evasive maneuvers. Brace yourselves.”
Tyler grabbed a handhold on the low ceiling as Remnant twisted and dove. Within ten seconds the movement stopped, and he heard Remnant call his name. It took a moment to realize that she was speaking only to him on a local circuit.
“Tyler? We’re clear of Cardiff. There’s something you should know.” Tyler released the handhold and stuck his hands in the pockets of his coveralls. “I’ve purged all erroneous data and have established contact with Cardiff. Do you still want me to penetrate their defenses?”
“Yes, Remmie. What did you mean erroneous data?”
“The conjunction produced a rapid data stream that shut down my systems. I’ve checked my internal systems and expunged that data. I’m fully functional.”
Tyler smiled. “Yes, you are. Let’s get the target captured.”
The intercom speaker clicked to life behind him. “Tyler? You might want to get up here. Ian MacLeash is calling, and he’s not happy at all.”
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