The Pattern Ship (The Pattern Universe) Read Online Free PDF

would be.
    It contemplated isolating the creature so there would be an opportunity to monitor the progress, but decided that was not acceptable. Instead Zirkos set the A.I. the task of creating a means with which to firstly, extrapolate the genetic changes and time-scale them with the rate of decline of the being’s health; and secondly, establish a means of removing the Alacite without harming the being.
    Having checked the range of the remit was kept short of invasion of the being’s body, or other physical disturbance Zirkos moved onto other items on his list of objectives.
    ***
    The A.I. given additional objectives to attain noted that the work related to the item it had uncovered previously. It immediately restored its data on the object from its memory store and set about completing its new objectives.
    It received additional instructions to prepare the area designated to manufacture the ship and immediately ‘D-jumped’ to several hundred feet above an uninhabited island it had previously selected in the middle of a sea in the southern hemisphere of the planet.
    From there it proceeded to map the region precisely, including seismic style surveys that gave it pinpoint accuracy of a series of caverns underground. They had probably been created by volcanic activity a considerable time ago in the planets history.
    There were no entrances to the surface, but adequate supplies of air, water and elements for forming the ship as well as providing habitat for the Maker, when he was re-constituted from his last held pattern.
    The Pod A.I., satisfied that all above ground surveying was completed, ‘D-jumped' into the largest of the caverns and in the absence of any light, used its sensors to map the internal layout ready to begin construction of the ship.
    It de-materialised a massive section of rock, re-materialising it across the other end of the cavern nearly a quarter of a mile away. The crash of the massive slab as it settled into its new home bought rock and stalactites down from the roof where they were suddenly displaced. The A.I. wasn’t concerned, it knew the cavern was structurally sound.
    Now left with a smooth level shelf that extended for several thousand metres across, the A.I. proceeded to de-materialise a newly exposed strong vein of metal into a heap at one end of the shelf. In the process of re-materialising the metal, it was purified to an accuracy of one hundred percent and left on the shelf in stackable ingots of uniform size.
    The Pod, now using its sensors, tackled the next ingredient it required from across the cavern, repeating the process to purify the material and re-materialise it on the shelf next to the first batch.
    It continued until it had over forty piles of varying quantities, all exactly measured for the construction of a single new T-Ship. The Pod ‘Dematzed’ and reappeared above a large chemical factory in an industrialised zone in the northern hemisphere; cloaked, it remained unseen by the inhabitants below. It knew exactly what it wanted.
    ***
    Zirkos was watching the progress while continuing to learn the languages and habits of the beings called ‘humans,’ and was suitably impressed with the A.I.’s intelligent use of the ‘Dematz thrust’. It also realised that without it, the job of building the ship would take considerably longer. The alternative requiring the use of nanobots to extract the elements and transport them in small quantities by tractor beam to the chosen location for the build, was considerably less efficient.
    The Maker temporarily downgraded to an A.I. pondered the human with the Pheson Alacite in its head and bloodstream. It posed a serious problem as there were only two other sources of the substance on the planet and neither of them would be enough on their own to meet the ship’s needs. The human, on the other hand had more than enough for several ship’s A.I.’s. Perhaps there might be a way to overcome the problem.
    It mentally keyed in a string