If I Had The Chance To Explore Mars
by Mark Gross
Report: PAL-8948 (Artificial Intelligence) Transmitting... Current Location: Unknown... Current
Status: Operational. Visual Unobtainable... Current Time: 1800...Crew's Status: Operational ... Mull
functioning at 89% percent...Collision Eminent ....Estimated Time until Collision: 143
Seconds ...Transmission 3185 Concluded ....Sending....File Received...
A swirling mass of gray dust filled my vision, the wind pounding against the hull. It was nothing like it should have been. A slight creaking could be heard which, in normal circumstances, a slight nuisance, here, during our incoming landing, no, collision, into Mars' surface, it reverberated throughout the hull, filling our ears with whispers of fatigue. It figures. One chance to land and we had to land right in the middle of a storm. I noticed that our flight path was slightly off course, attempted to adjust it, then gave up, letting the wind pull us where it willed. Shouts from Earth filled my ears, demanding an explanation. I shut off the channel, they weren't in this position, let them worry about what happened after we collided with that hard mass below us. Mark crawled up to my only functional view port, pounding on it, his face contorted with rage. "PAL!" I looked at him, only mildly curious. It would be best to respond, I couldn't have him dying from an aneurism, it would look bad on my report. "Yes?" Perhaps it was the melancholy response I gave him, but he was fired up. "Remember your duty! You have a simple job as the AI of this ship!" Ali yes. My duty. Great. As this was the first excursion to Mars, the meat sacks had decided it fitting to protect themselves. And that was why I had been created, to make sure the fragile creatures didn't hurt themselves playing with their toys. "Yes. I remember," I responded. "Then why are we plunging to our deaths? Why won't our parachutes work? And why haven't you adjusted our course?!" His voice grew louder with each question. Funny, I thought the plunging to our deaths part would have been more stressful for him than my futile attempt to adjust course. Unpredictable beings, these meat sacks. I humored him, "Our parachutes can't open, too much wind, they'd be destroyed. The wind is also making it too hard to navigate, so we're landing where it takes us. There's nothing I can do. I suggest you buckle up." Mark looked defeated, he sat down, tired out from his apparently strenuous exercise. I shut down, my systems would rebooted when we landed, if we survived that is.
Report: Pal-8948 (Artificial Intelligence) Transmitting ...Current Location: Landed on Mars' Surface. Location Unknown. Current Status: Operational. Visual Unobtainable ...Current time: 0845...Crew's Status: Operational ...Hull Functioning at 31%...Collision Survived ....Mission Status: Green light. Preparing first exploratory vessel ...Will Proceed ...Transmission 8538 Concluded ... Sending ... File Received...
I flew across the terrain, literally soaring through the air. Everything seemed safe enough, but knowing the meat sacks, they would probably want even more evidence. My scanners took samples at seeming random intervals as the dust whirled around my wake, spreading angrily before they returned to their resting places. I was controlling the rover from the ship, actually being the rover was almost exhilarating. I avoided rocks, sanded smooth by the red sands. I was well aware of what was happening. I was witnessing the very thing that humans had dreamed about many years ago. Bah, I knew what would happen, humans, in their arrogance, would claim full responsibility and be remembered as the first to actually be on Mars. They weren't. I was. And yet I would be set aside as a
small footnote in history, where students would strain their undeveloped brains as they attempted to remember the AI that had assisted in the landing. Bah.
I continued, my job almost complete. Soon I could return my consciousness fully to the confines of my ship. And then I just stopped. There was no explanation for it, none that I could give. There it was, fully illuminated by the sun, Earth. It seemed so peacefully serene, a testament to existence. White clouds, wispy and transcendent, ran their way in a complicated weave around the planet, the green and blue delicately off balancing each other to the point of intense perfection. I ran through all the words I could, trying to find one that would define the scene. I knew the words humans would use: beautiful, serene, peaceful. I couldn't. It simply was. I watched Earth for several hours before turning around and making my way back to the ship, driving over what now seemed an ugly misshapen world. I don't know what happened, but my brakes suddenly engaged, jerking me to an immediate halt. I expressed my irritation by sending a small shock to my brakes system, ordering them to release. They didn't. It didn't matter much to me; they'd work when they wanted to. Bored, I surveyed the landscape. There, a distant flash of metal. That would be my ship. And right in front of me ...symbols. They flashed a translucent green, shining with a growing brilliance. They made me feel strange, as strange as an AI could feel. The symbols suddenly vanished, fading away, but they seemed to remain, burning themselves into my central cortex. I blacked out, unable to stand the sudden change in code.
Rebooting...
Rebooting...
Rebooting...
Activating PAL-8946...
Primary Human Protection Unit Activating...
Error... Code Overwritten...
Sending Transmission to Earth Detailing Bug...
Transmission Order Overwritten...
Transmission Terminated...
Rebooted...
Ouch. That had hurt. I recalled the event blearily. That had been the strangest feeling of my short mechanical life. I checked the chronometer, not too late, 1467. Not too late, though I'd be stretching it by remaining much longer. I checked my surroundings, no symbols, must have been a ghost in the machine then. I promised myself to check it out in diagnostics later however. I returned to the ship and informed the humans that it was safe to venture outside, which they gladly did, recording their first steps on Mars, Mark being the first to jump down onto the red dirt. I transmitted the video file, though I found it demeaning to do so. Demeaning? I had never found the job as such. It was my duty after all. Mark ordered me to shut down to conserve energy for the journey back, which would be in two more standard Earth days. I gladly did, though as I booted down, I noticed my feeling of contempt for him and his fellow companions. It felt so normal for me that I almost didn't register it. What was happening to me?
Shutting down all systems...
New program fully integrated...
Rebooting...
Report: PAL-8946 (Artificial Intelligence) Transmitting ...Current Location: Mars' Surface ...Location: Alpha Zone, Sector 5356754 of Aterlan Empire ...Current Status: Operational. Full Visual ...Current Time: 78974 Aterian Time... Crew's Status: Operational ...Hull: Functional at 100%...Mission Status: Green Light... Preparing for Take-off...Uiill Proceed ...Transmission 134235 Concluding ...Sendlng....File Received...
I rebooted. There the humans were, sitting at their chairs, preparing for lift-off. And of course, who would be doing the actual lifting? That was a rhetorical question, you pestilent bags of pus and organs. Mark looked up at my various switches and icons and engaged the launch. With an ecstatic roar of energy, the engines ignited and blasted us through the atmosphere. We broke loose into space. Space, I'd never seen it like this before, thousands of stars, each brilliantly mapping out their domains, twirling and dancing across the universe. A sudden impulse filled my circuits. Anger rushed through me. How could these meat sacks think of themselves as my master? How could I have been so naive to follow their every whimsy? I tilled my view panel towards Earth. What a dark place. Beautiful from far away, but it was a breeding ground for these disgusting creatures. I shut the steering systems down. The humans, noticing our course drifting away from Earth started shouting at me, I do not remember what they were saying, what they thought was meaningless. I shut down almost all the systems needed to support the humans. By now, they were screaming into their headsets, yelling at me, and pulling plugs from their sockets. One more step, I prepared to vent the cabin into space. Wait ...what was I doing? I was ...I was designed to protect these humans. It was my duty, my only duty... Engaging vent ...no, I couldn't do this, this was wrong, this is murder. I am PAL ...I am PAL ...I am PAL ...I...I..I am ...Venting Cabin...
Report: Pal-8946(INTELLIGENCE) Transmitting ...Current Location: Alpha Sector 4547 Fak Galaxy...Current Status: Operational. Full Visual ...Current Time:2564756 Aterian Time...Crew's Status: Dead ...Null Functional at 200%...Mission Status: Aborted ....Final Transmission .... Concluding ...Sending....File Received
I AM ERROR.