Patrick Chiles is a graduate of The Citadel, a Marine Corps veteran, and a private pilot. In addition to his novels, he has written for magazines including Smithsonian’s Air & Space.

Awakenings
MAGELLAN VEHICLE STATUS REPORT / SUBMITTER: D.A.I.S.E
SECONDARY MISSION ELAPSED TIME DAY 656 / 2103Z
16.8 HOURS OF DSN SUPPORT RECORDED, 12.4 HOURS LARGE APERTURE COVERAGE. NO SIGNIFICANT OUTAGES DETECTED. RECEIVED COMMAND LOSS TIMER RESET UPLINK FROM DSS-34 DAY 655 / 1704Z.
SCIENCE INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE NOMINAL FOR ALL ACTIVITIES DURING PERIOD, NO EDR BACKLOGS.
FLIGHT SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE NOMINAL. SUCCESSFULLY INTEGRATED STAR TRACKER DATABASE UPDATE DAY 653 / 0804Z. COMPOUNDING TRAJECTORY ERRORS INDICATES GRAVITATIONAL FIELD AT PREDICTED PLANET 9 LOCATION.
CREW STATUS:
FLIGHT ENGINEER TEMPLETON REMAINS STABLE UNDER INDUCED TORPOR. H20/IV NUTRIENT INTAKE WITHIN NOMINAL RANGE.
With that, the artificial intelligence guiding Magellan to the far reaches of the solar system had completed its daily summary for the control team on Earth. Now almost fifty astronomical units—not quite fifty billion miles—from home, the signal return times approached thirteen hours. A long time for a human, it amounted to a near-interminable wait for a thinking machine.
Not that the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Surveillance Environment (DAISE) had much need to wait for others to make decisions on its behalf. Daisy had long ago evolved beyond the point of requiring human oversight, in fact its former crewmates had concluded their AI companion had become self-aware during their original journey to the Kuiper Belt.
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