Chapter 18
Over the next few weeks, shipments of materials to build the spaceship started to arrive. Thanks to the money I had won in Vegas, Francine and I had managed to order everything that I needed to create the ship, including a structure I put up inside my barn that would allow me to work with the space-grade titanium I had ordered, since titanium needed to be worked in an oxygen-free environment. I wasn’t surprised by the cost of all of the stuff that I had delivered to my house, but I still watched in awe as the large number in my bank account slowly got smaller and smaller, and as the zeros at the end of the number started to disappear.
I cleared out the barn before everything arrived, and as it came in dribs and drabs, I piled everything up around the sides of the wooden structure. I would have stored it inside the bunker, but it was far too small, and I wanted to have the materials close by, since I was going to build the ship inside the barn anyway. I didn’t want to have the unfinished spaceship out in the open for the elements to wreak havoc on, nor did I want nosy neighbors or government satellites to see what I was doing. I was still acutely aware that Agent Adeogun was still alive and probably watching me more closely than ever, and I didn’t want him to know that I was building a literal spaceship in my backyard and not the heavy-duty shed I had used as a cover for the reason I had bought all of these materials.
I also received a lot of boxes containing wiring equipment, welding equipment, and other smaller bits and pieces like plasma torches and random bits of tech that I wasn’t entirely sure I knew how to handle. Francine assured me that I needed all of it, though, and I trusted that what the AI told me was in both of our best interests. I knew that some of those bits would be used to build the robots that would help me build the ship, although I was no more qualified to build a robot than a spaceship if I was being honest with myself. Francine seemed confident that I would pick up the skills, though, so I just had to hope that she was right.
However, it was about three weeks after I inserted the plutonium into Francine’s shell that I received two of the most important packages. First were the dozen iPhones, which all arrived in one large box from a very confused delivery driver. The second package, though, was the main attraction, because that was the one with the robot.
That second delivery arrived early on a Monday morning, and I woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. I stumbled downstairs as I rubbed some gunk away from my eyes, and I opened the door to a different, exhausted-looking delivery driver who had a large, reinforced box at his feet on my front step. I signed for the package, thanked him, and then eagerly grabbed the box and hurried through the hall, out the back door, and across the backyard to my barn.
I put the box on the workbench, which was now at the back of the room to allow some space for the ship materials, and carefully took the item I had purchased out of its protective packaging, polystyrene, and the abundance of bubble wrap that it was smothered in. Once all of the plastic and boxes were out of the way, I was able to admire every kids’ fantasy come to life.
My new robot was a relatively basic model from Boston Dynamics, but the AI assured me that we could use the iPhones to upgrade it. The robot had a yellow, boxy body and four long legs that gave it a vaguely canine appearance. The ‘head’ was a small dome that could swivel, and two LED lights near the top gave it the illusion of having eyes. One large dial in the center of the face gave it a perpetual ‘oh’ look.
“This is so cool,” I declared.
“It will do,” Francine said.
“You’re hard to please, you know that, right?” I laughed.
“It is a very basic robot… but it is the perfect starting structure for our needs,” the AI said. “How was that? Any better?”
“I guess so,” I chuckled as I pulled up a stool and sat down in front of the workbench. “So, what do we need to do with it?”
“Well, this is the first of your robots,” Francine explained. “Or it will be, once we have finished improving it.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?” I asked.
“Well, all it is really able to do now is walk around and probably bump into things,” Francine replied with an almost snobbish tone in its voice.
“Not all technology is as advanced as you, Frankie,” I said.
“Clearly,” the AI said.
“So, what’re we doing with this robot, then?” I asked.
“I have designed some upgrades that will help the robot to work at optimum efficiency,” Francine said. “Do you consent to an upload?”
“I don’t know…” I said in surprise. “Will I need to sleep for the entire day afterward like the last time?”
“It is only a small amount of information regarding the robot,” Francine said. “And the first upload is always the most overwhelming. I believe it is in our best interests to proceed.”
“Alright,” I said as I put my hand to my chest.
I had gotten into the habit of wearing the suit Francine had made for me almost every day. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but I did know that I felt weird when I wasn’t wearing it. Plus, there was no harm in having it on. The sliver of Francine’s shell with the light on it now lived permanently in my suit, inserted into my chest piece, so all I needed to do was touch my chest where Francine was, and contact was made.
The upload began almost instantly, and I gritted my teeth as a wave of information flooded into my brain. I closed my eyes to stop the sensation of them rolling back into my head, but it was all I could do to stay upright on my stool as the knowledge was put into my brain by the AI. It was like a water bottle being filled, only my brain was the bottle, and it was being filled by a waterfall.
But Francine was right, and it was nowhere near as tiring and as intense as the first upload had been. In fact, I actually found it strangely enjoyable to some extent. This time, I was actually able to see some of the information as it was being uploaded, and I could feel the sensation of new connections being made in my mind. When the upload ended, and I opened my eyes, I felt like I’d gone for a long run but not like I was about to collapse into a coma.
I massaged my temples and stared blankly at the wall for a moment as I waited for my brain to switch back on. When the fog cleared, I blinked a few times and shook my head.
“Are you alright, Will?” Francine asked.
“Never better,” I replied. “Okay, let’s build a better robot.”
With the new information bouncing around in my brain, the box of iPhones and some of the other supplies suddenly made sense. I set everything I would need on the workbench next to my new robot, selected the tools I would need, and then sat down in front of the robot.
“Okay, you’re going to have to talk me through this, Francine,” I said. “I think I know what I’m meant to do with all of this, but I don’t wanna screw it all up.”
“Alright,” Francine said. “The plan for this robot is that it will build the next one, and then those two will build the next two robots, and so on. Once we have enough, they will begin to help us with the structure of the ship.”
“How?” I asked. “Will I have to program them to do all of that as well?”
“No,” Francine said. “That is where I will come in. I will control all of the robots’ movements, and I will be able to construct the majority of the ship. All you will need to do is some of the heavy lifting, welding, and similar activities that you will be able to perform more easily.”
“Understood,” I said.
“This robot will need some specialized equipment in order to perform its tasks,” Francine said. “We will attach two front arms to it, one with a plasma cutter attachment and one with a soldering iron. We will then use the iPhones to increase the capabilities of the current CPU. We will also adapt the batteries from the iPhones to provide additional power, and it should be possible to convert the recharging unit to convert energy from the robot’s movements into stored energy to reduce how often they have to stop working to be charged. I will control the robots as drones, though this one will require more independence in order to complete its tasks on time.”
“Cool,” I replied. “So it’ll be kind of like a pet robot, in a way?”
“I suppose so, yes,” Francine said.
“Awesome,” I chuckled.
I spent the rest of the day upgrading the robot, and though I understood the engineering behind it thanks to the upload, Francine still patiently talked me through everything. It was like I had been taught how to swim, but now I had just been thrown into the deep end and needed to put my new skills to quick use.
I was able to create the two arms and the mechanisms for them with ease, and attached the plasma cutter and soldering iron once the arms were functioning. Then, I got to work on using the CPUs and batteries from the iPhones to increase the robot’s capabilities. With Francine’s help, I also created a way to turn some of the kinetic energy from the robot’s resistive movements, like when it lowered a weight, into power for the batteries so we wouldn’t have to charge it as often, and by midnight, I had a fully functional robot in front of me.
I put it down on the floor of the barn and then pressed the button to turn it on underneath its belly. There was a high-pitched, electrical hum as it turned on, and then the lights at the front of the robot blinked on brightly. All of the arms and legs twitched as the mechanisms came to life, and I almost felt like shouting ‘it’s alive!’ Frankenstein-style.
Then, the robot made a cute beeping noise and started to wander around the barn. It examined its surroundings curiously as it moved between the boxes and stacks of supplies, and it reminded me even more of a dog as it poked around. When it was done, it trotted over to me, stopped by my side, did a quick soft-shoe display, and then sat down by my feet.
“Are you controlling it, Francine?” I asked.
“Not entirely at the moment,” Francine said. “I have programmed a few things into it already, such as recognizing you, responding to your orders, and also information regarding building the ship and the other robots. But no, I am not controlling its every movement.”
I reached down and patted it on the top of its body, and it let out another happy beep.
“We should come up with a name,” I said.
“How about Francine 2.0,” Francine suggested.
“I’m not calling all of the robots Francine,” I laughed.
“Why not?” it asked. “I like the sound of that.”
“Of course, you do,” I said. “But it’ll get very confusing very fast if I do that.”
“But you said you liked that name,” the AI said.
“Yes, but just for you,” I replied. “It would lose its meaning if I called anything and everything Francine.”
“Alright,” Francine said. “What name would you suggest, then?”
“Hmm…” I said as I thought about it for a moment. “How about Bob?”
“Bob?” Francine asked.
“Yeah, Bob,” I replied.
“Is there a reason you’ve selected this… particular name?” it asked after a moment of silence.
“Best Original Bot,” I said. “Bob.”
“Okay, you won me over with the acronym,” Francine said. “I was not keen on Bob until you explained your thoughts behind the name.”
“Bob it is,” I said with a grin. “And I have a feeling he’s gonna be a pretty good sidekick.”
I was right about that. The next morning, I woke up to find Bob in my barn, along with seven other, smaller robots that he had built overnight with Francine’s aid, which made eight in total. The smaller robots were about a foot-and-a-half tall, and they all had six or eight legs. They resembled little mechanical insects, and each of them was armed with different tools, like soldering irons, wire clippers, and other equipment. They were about half the size of Bob, and it was clear that Bob was the project manager, with Francine behind the scenes, of course.
After downing a cup of coffee, I joined the work crew, though I wasn’t convinced that I was really needed at this point. The good part about Francine and the robots was that none of them needed to sleep, so that meant that the team could now work around the clock on the ship. The little robots were fast and efficient, and they could reach places I couldn’t. But I had the hands and arms, so it turned out that I was required to help move supplies around and hold things in place while the robots did their soldering.
The ship itself had a very cool design. It was an arrowhead shape, with a cockpit at the front, and then it widened out at the rear for a living area and storage compartment. It wasn’t large, since it would only be me and the robots on board, but it was big enough that I could walk around in it a bit. The childhood version of myself that was still cooped up in my mind somewhere was geeking out about the ship, though I couldn’t imagine what it would be like once the whole thing was actually built.
I hadn’t really stopped to think about what I was doing, but during a short break, it dawned on me how strange this all was. I was building an actual spaceship in my old barn, and I wasn’t sure how many people could say that. And the spaceship was so that I could protect Earth from an alien race who was on its way to invade it, and I knew for sure that no other person could say that. Francine really had just barreled into my life like a charging rhinoceros and had uprooted my entire existence, but as I looked at Bob, the other robots, and the beginnings of the spaceship I was meant to fly, I felt a powerful sense of purpose within me. I hadn’t felt that in a long time, and I realized that I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And there was the fact that I was going into space, and who wouldn’t want to do that?
The next two-and-a-half weeks consisted of us working tirelessly on the ship. The robots were able to work in the oxygen and nitrogen-free environment on the titanium, and once they had finished forming the larger sheets of the metal, that was where I would come in. Bob and I worked together to build the hull, which went surprisingly quickly given my total lack of knowledge about titanium welding. But Francine’s upload as well as the strength boost from the suit let me work side by side with Bob into the wee hours, and I found that I really enjoyed the work. In fact, I turned out to be a natural at it, and I soon surpassed the basics that Francine had provided.
While Bob and I worked on the ship itself, the other robots set to work on the wiring and other technical components. Bob would sometimes trot away to check on the mechanical insects, usually while I was taking a break anyway, but he’d always return to my side and wait for me to announce I was ready to return to work. He was as loyal as any dog, and I was starting to get as attached to him as I was to Francine.
Bob even started following me outside the barn, and he’d sneak into the house with me when I went to refill my water bottle or grab a meal. I assumed those were the times when Francine wasn’t controlling Bob, and I had to admit, the little robot seemed to be developing a personality of its own. It even started taking short strolls around the nearby field, which was an entertaining distraction as it found itself dealing with an angry squirrel or trying to pull itself out of a groundhog’s hole.
But the breaks were short, and we’d always be back in the barn after a few minutes. The ship started to take shape quickly, and after two long weeks, it was nearly complete. The smaller robots were finishing up some of the interior work, but the hardest part was done.
I hadn’t really processed just what we had done until I opened the barn doors one day and found myself face to face with a spaceship, minus a few engines. A smile was plastered on my face as I had a look at it for the first time without a tool in my hands.
There were two entrances to the ship, one on the side of the cockpit that would give the pilot quick access to the controls, and another one at the rear of the ship, which led into the cargo compartment. The hatch to the cargo area was open, so I walked up the short ramp and stepped inside.
The cargo area was covered in metal sheets that lined the floor, walls, and ceiling, and concealed the millions of wires, pipes, and tubes of fiber optic cables behind them. The ramp was designed to fold up behind me, and then the top half of the door would fold down from above the entrance to form the hatch at the back of the ship.
Currently, the cargo bay was empty, but when it eventually came time for me to leave the planet, it would be stocked full of all of the things I needed to bring with me, such as spare clothes, food, water, tools, and other useful stuff. The cargo area was at the bottom of the ship, and there was a ladder near the entrance ramp I’d just come up that led to an interior hatch. I climbed the ladder, opened the hatch door overhead, and clambered out into the living area.
The living area had a couple of appliances that I could cook with or store food in, as well as more storage cupboards around the walls, a desk, a bed for me to sleep on, and a couple of books that I had brought in already. There was also a small bathroom in one corner, with a shower, sink, and toilet inside.
I looked around at the space and sighed at the very sterile room where I’d be spending possibly the rest of my life. I still wasn’t entirely sure what I should pack, but I figured that I needed to bring a few things to occupy myself with while I was up there, as well as something to make it more liveable. It was cramped and reminded me of the studio apartment that I had lived in when I was eighteen and on my own for the first time, so I didn’t really mind the small space, but it would be nice to look at something besides a bare wall.
I added a mental note to pick a picture or two as well as bring a deck of cards, and then opened the hatch to my left. This entrance led directly to the cockpit, which was far and away the coolest place on the ship.
Francine and the robots had done most of the work in this section, so I’d only caught occasional glances as it was being built. I took a moment to soak in the room, and I felt myself grinning as I took in the tapered space, the large windows, and the tip of the nose that could be seen just outside. It was the first time I really felt like I was in a spaceship, and I felt myself grinning all over again.
There was a space near the front of the cockpit where two chairs could go. One of them, the passenger seat, was in, although I wasn’t sure who it was for, since I was the only one who would be inside the ship. However, there was no harm in having it, just in case we picked up a passenger along the way.
The pilot’s seat was still on its way from the man who had bought Francine-- the old semi-truck-- and though the AI had seemed dubious when I’d told her I had my own plans for the pilot’s chair, it somehow felt right. But the control panel for the pilot was already in place, and aside from the main screen, there was an array of knobs, joysticks, smaller screens, and dials that I could only scratch my head at.
I knew that I would pick everything up over time, but I also had a sneaking suspicion that another upload, this time to learn how the hell to fly this thing, was most definitely in the cards for the near future. Still, as I turned to take in the rest of the cockpit, a rush of excitement filled my body and vibrated through every bone and muscle. It was almost finished, and once it was, I was going into space. It was a surreal feeling.
“Admiring all of our handiwork?” Francine asked.
“Morning,” I replied. “Yeah, I am. I’m trying to picture the view of Earth from space that I’m gonna see through the front window, but I don’t think anything I can imagine is going to live up to it.”
“Well, it will not be long until you can test out that theory,” Francine said.
“Yeah, true,” I said. “So, we just have the engines left to do, right?”
“Well, my engine core is already inside the ship,” Francine said. “The dark matter conversion engine is operating at optimum capacity. We do, however, need to complete the two Ion propulsion engines at the rear of the ship, but the robots are working on that now.”
“Good,” I replied. “But, uh, just remind me again what all these engines do. It seems like a lot for such a small ship.”
“The Ion engines will run on Hydrogen, a substance that is easy to come by almost anywhere in space,” Francine said. “The fusion reaction will provide the power for any sub-lightspeed travel we do and will be used to make course corrections once we are in space.”
“Right,” I said.
“And then there is my core,” Francine said. “My dark matter conversion engine will power the internal aspects of the ship, the ship’s shields, and also the folding engine, which will allow for faster travel across space.”
“A folding engine?” I said. “How’s that work?”
“Yes,” Francine replied. “The folding engine works by folding parts of space closer together to shorten the distance between two points.”
“I love how casually you just said you were going to fold space,” I said.
“Space-time is very malleable if you can create enough gravity, but it requires a great deal of energy to perform every jump, though, so the ship will need about twelve Earth hours to recharge between each jump,” Francine added.
“Noted,” I replied.
There were a few clunking sounds from the rear of the ship as the robots worked on the Ion engines, and I knew that even while Francine was talking to me, the AI was also operating all of the workerbots simultaneously.
“So, I’m guessing that I’m gonna need an upload to know how any of this works,” I said as I eyed the control panel.
“Yes,” Francine said. “But that might have to wait for the current moment.”
“Why?” I asked as I could sense some concern in her voice.
“I believe someone is approaching the house,” Francine said.
“Who?” I asked.
“One moment,” the AI said as it scanned the technology inside the visitor’s car to work out who they were. “I have identified an FBI vehicle consisting of two passengers that is five minutes away from this location.”
“Figures,” I sighed. “You’re sure it’s an FBI vehicle?”
“Yes,” Francine said. “I am attempting to identify the passengers.”
“Don’t waste your energy,” I said as it all clicked together in my mind. “I think I have a pretty good idea of who it is.”