Diaspora Prime 17-21

DIASPORA PRIME

Date April 4 2017.
Author Palantir palantir@diasporatales.tech
Subject Diaspora Prime.

The author retains copyright (2012) to this story. Reproducing this story for distribution without the author's permission is a violation of that copyright.
This story is fiction.

Thank you Nifty for the opportunity to post this story.

This story is first of the TALES OF THE TERRAN DIASPORA.

Wirrin shares his life with two friends on one of the great space habitats.

DIASPORA PRIME Part 17.

Next Part

"We won't see Sonic for the rest of the trip?"

"You can watch him Thom, or go with him, but he'll be too busy to come to the Control Center. I can see that he hasn't stopped moving around for even a minute yet."

"What's he saying to them?"

A small section of screen showed Sonic in his transport module, communicating with his special InterWeb console, and anticipating Calen's request Wirrin brought up the sound.

"...He's telling them all there's nothing to worry about. ...After two sleeps they'll be out of their crowded pools. ...They're going to get some food soon and they are all pleased about that."

"All? Is he talking to them all?"

"I think so. He must be from the tone of his voice."

Wirrin and Thom waited while Calen listened and watched carefully for several minutes.

"Wow! I'm going to find him. The pools are making them nervous because they're not used to being so enclosed, and he's talking non-stop to keep their minds distracted. He might have to keep going for ages. I hope none of them panic."

"Do you think they might? We've been travelling for an hour and the early pick-ups have been in their pools for much longer than that."

Panic would be very bad news as one dolphin's distress could affect the whole pod.

There had been previous discussion about panic because Earth dolphins were much more susceptible to it than Attunga's enhanced dolphins. Sonic had said he'd be there to help and they'd be all right, but all this attention he was giving wasn't what anyone had expected.

"Not a chance really. I'm just thinking out loud. Turaku's monitoring them all and he'd stop anything happening."

"Will we go with you?"

"Of course. We probably won't be able to do anything to help, but Sonic will like us being with him."

And of course he did. He was too busy talking to say so, but he let them know with body bumps and happy nudges. For the next hour and a half the trio watched with growing amazement as Sonic stayed in communication with over 6000 dolphins, guiding them through a melting pot of excitement, stress, and anticipation.Wirrin could only smile with delight when Calen informed them that the last ten minutes of rapid dolphin speech had related the adventures of a young female dolphin separated from her pod and pursued relentlessly through close call after close call by a monstrous tiger shark.

"Dolphins tell stories?"

"They do now Thom. Gelar is going to freak with excitement when he finds out about this."

And Wirrin could only listen in wonder as 6000 dolphins joined in learning a series of dolphin songs, the last of which was particularly beautiful. He started to softly ask Calen about it but stopped abruptly with the realisation that Sonic was no longer talking.

'Dolphins are happy and will sleep now.'

"What about you? You haven't stopped since we landed at Monkey Mia."

'Yes. This is hard work for a young dolphin and I want an uncooked, live fish before I sleep.'

The transport module started moving immediately, probably under Turaku's control, and probably to some location where food would be available for Sonic, and the four friends played a subdued and gentle version of the contact games they usually played when they met in the pool at home.

***

"They'll sleep for eight hours now and then another ten for the last part of the journey."

"I hope so. I've never heard Sonic say anything was hard work before. Even all the work for Meeting day didn't worry him."

"He's functioning at an extraordinary level Calen. Turaku's monitoring has shown peak after peak of energy output, but none of them are alarming and we're confident that after his sleep period he'll be as full of life as he always is."

"Energy peaks? What did they match up with?"

"Just what you'd expect. The first contact with Earth dolphins, leading them through the greeting ceremony, each of the four gatherings, distress calls at the time of the attacks, the six loading activities, and this last extended time settling the dolphins in their travelling pools."

"Has he given any indication of what was hardest for him?"

Calen thought about Gelar's question.

"Not really. It would have been going unconscious and all the distress calls, but he did say it was hard being young and telling older dolphins what to do."

"Hard? It's astonishing. No human could influence an unknown group of people so instantly and effectively. We don't understand it."

"Blue is blue!"

Gelar looked with puzzlement at Akama.

"Honored one?"

"Sonic is Sonic."

Wirrin, along with everyone else, started thinking on that, and Akama smiled.

"Sonic is unique Gelar. Something new has entered our universe, which, though we are not fully equipped to understand, we have been blessed with the gift of involvement."

Thom broke the silence as everyone wondered about an appropriate way to respond.

"He's definitely unique. He's turned our lives upside down ever since we've known him, but we've also made him part of us."

"Yes Thom?"

Now it was Akama waiting for elaboration.

"I think about this sometimes when I wonder what he'd be like without humans and AIs. He'd only know dolphin things, and wouldn't have learnt speaking and reading and music and all the knowledge from the InterWeb. He relies on us for lots of things he's good at but he'd still be special without them. The dolphins knew that as soon as he was born but I'm just not sure if we should be leading him into human ways so much."

Wirrin was quite stunned. He'd never heard that idea from Thom at any stage, and from his expression, neither had Calen. There'd be a lot of talk about this at home. Warrigal, Akama and Gelar were exchanging nods.

"We're not sure either Thom, but regardless of what we think, it's not our place to decide an answer. That is for Sonic, and so far he's only evidenced eagerness for our knowledge and ways. Gelar and Turaku have discussed this with him as a serious issue and let him know that we will respect any change in his point of view."

"You've discussed it? What did he say?"

"There is a 1.7001%, steadily decreasing, likelihood of disengagement with humans and AIs."

"1.70. ...Is that a quote?"

"A direct quote."

Thom looked at Calen with a mixture of disbelief and laughter.

"He teases Turaku?"

"If he said that then he does. It's new to me."

The trio grinned at each other. Typical Sonic, do something that no one else on Attunga would dream of. There were lots of things to talk over with him but they'd all have to wait. He was as deeply asleep as any young dolphin was capable of being.

***

"Thom! You'll need to work out a different approach course when we get close to Attunga, and limit yourself to 2G."

"I will? What's happened?"

The Comet was only several hours away from Attunga and Wirrin was seated at his Info-Station and bringing everyone up to date with information and conditions which concerned the final stage of the journey. Between the two sleep periods he'd had another six hour session under Turaku's tutelage, practising, mastering and extending his skills with the station, and now everyone was standing round, watching expectantly to see what sort of magic he might produce.

"The three K74 offensive ships have all moved close to Attunga and their scanners are much stronger than the drones, so you'll have to be even more careful than when we left to sneak past."

"That doesn't make sense? They won't be expecting us to arrive for days and days."

"They're not looking for us. Not specifically, though they will eventually. The prediction that K74 would make Attunga and Warrakan the focus of their attention is starting to happen and that's why they've sent their big ships."

"What? They're not going to attack are they?"

"Not directly. They have been trying very persistently to infiltrate our Information Systems and they are also creating problems with the InterWeb."

Thom was incredulous.

"No way! ...They can't can they?"

"They haven't got a hope, but they're slowing down the incoming transmissions from everywhere else by flooding all the channels with vast amounts of data."

"Infiltration and data flooding are separate issues aren't they?"

Warragul asked the question but he didn't look very concerned.

"Yes they are, but they send their Info-seek programs under the cover of a data burst because they think our security systems will be overloaded and they can slip in. It worked for them at the Freedom Habitat so they're trying the same tactic again, but on a massive scale."

"And it's actually slowing down the InterWeb?"

"The first three bursts did, but the Communication AIs have now installed extra analysis processors to sift out the cyber junk, and anything from now on will just get diverted as data garbage."

"Sounds like it's all electronic stuff that won't really affect us. I'd better go and change the course now if I'm going to be limited to 2G."

Thom headed off to the pilot's console.

"Has anything else happened? Cyber infiltration isn't really much of a behaviour change for them."

"Yes, a number of things. There's a ten percent increase in applications for travel to Attunga and most of them have a hidden connection with K74. There have been requests for research data from scientists in Directed and Semi-Directed Habitats asking about breakthroughs in scanning techniques, a delegation of K74 diplomats wants to talk to Akama. ...And the Cadre of five is so angry they want Attunga blown to pieces."

Thinking that maybe he'd delivered a touch of the dramatic magic they'd been anticipating, Wirrin checked the range of stunned looks.

"Assessment says they didn't mean that literally. It was said soon after the comment about an 'arrogant little piss-pot colony', when they were discussing their failure at Monkey Mia."

"Angry men! Where does this information come from? I haven't yet heard of any meeting."

"The AI on K74 sent the meeting transcript and I found it all on the Security AI's current situation report. Turaku's report says the dolphins are all asleep except for the pod where the baby was born, Sonic's in a deep logging state, and Attunga-Turaku has sent word that Puck and Flute have travelled to Warrakan to help with the dolphins when they leave the Comet."

"I see, and does the report have details of the meeting? Any indications of K74's intentions are very important."

"No, but I've had a look at it and it's very interesting."

Warrigal laughed.

"Well, that makes us all ears. Tell us the details."

"The five of them got together because the message that things had gone wrong on Earth went straight back to them. They didn't want to accept it because they'd used their best technology and they couldn't believe it wasn't good enough. They blamed their scientists till they heard that the first drones disappeared into nowhere in a few seconds and that the second lot, along with their ships disappeared as well. Next they were told that some sort of stealthing must be in use because 1400 dolphins vanished from the scanners of their low orbit ships when the collision dive was happening. The stealthing was verified when the images of dolphins safe in their travelling pods was broadcast on the InterWeb and they knew there must be a vessel they couldn't detect."

"It would have been mysterious watching each group of dolphins wink out of existence."

"That only came as secondary information because they were ordered to leave before the dolphin loading started. The biggest shock for the Cadre was being told that the suicide ship was evaporated. They couldn't believe it wasn't atomics, but their own ships had the scans which showed it wasn't. They've ordered their scientists to find out what the new weapons are."

"Was there any discussion about why they want to meet with me?"

"Yes, a great deal. They want to find out a lot more about you in person because you're the boss of Attunga and everything that happens comes from you."

"That's what they think? Even though they know Attunga is an Open Habitat?"

"They don't really believe the Open part. They think someone has to be running everything, and because of your position it must be you."

"I see. ...It will be an interesting meeting."

That really surprised Wirrin and he turned in his seat.

"You'll actually talk to them?"

"Our nearest neighbour and the most powerful non-planetary Habitat. Why not?"

"Um. It seems like a change of pattern. We mostly just protect ourselves and ignore them, like with their space surveillance. The same with the drones that attacked the dolphins. We made them disappear and didn't say anything."

"We'll maintain the pattern Wirrin, but in a very polite manner."

"What about the dolphins? They'll want to know about them."

That was Gelar.

"We will very diplomatically point out our respect for life in all its forms and let them know absolutely nothing. Excuse me everyone. It's very evident I have a number of reports to catch up on."

Gelar and Calen left as well because dolphins would be waking soon and there were things to discuss with their human companions. Warrigal moved close and watched while Wirrin brought up a graphic representation of Thom's course change.

"You've become very skilful with the Info-Station Wirrin. Have Akama and Turaku been pushing you too hard?"

Wirrin held back a laugh because it was Warrigal, his Mentor, asking the question.

"I'm not really that good. It just looks that way because the system is so powerful it makes it easy to do impressive things. I'll have to work for ages and really get to know it before I call myself skilful. I've only learnt a fraction of its capabilities so far and it's been exciting to have Turaku help me directly."

"All those hours of non-stop concentration wasn't hard work?"

"It was, but it was fun hard work, and mostly the time goes before I can think about it."

"High involvement. Good! To what extent do you want to continue your involvement?"

Wirrin was quite taken aback. He thought his keenness for the InfoStation was blatantly obvious.

"What do you mean? ...As much as I can."

"Akama is hoping you'll add a day of Info-Station related work to your EdCom structure, as well as a Psychology course, and I'm concerned about your study load."

"I already do more than a day of InfoStation work, so that's covered."

"He means in addition to that."

"Extra? Then I'd have to leave something else out. It's already way too complicatedwith all the alterations and the number of times I need to be with Calen and Sonic."

"That's the way I see it too, and it would have to come from your Basic training days as your Electives are too important."

"Basics? I can't drop those. They're. ...Well they're basic. And I need them to finish First Level."

Warrigal cocked his head to one side.

"Wirrin, Basic training has no relevance for you, or Thom and Calen. You've given more to Attunga than we can ever repay. Your status is way beyond Second Level and those rights are yours as a matter of course. I apologise for not making that more clear but I was assuming you understood. We'll all get together to discuss it when we're back on Attunga."

"Second Level rights? Are you sure?"

"Much more than Second Level in real terms."

Wirrin understood, but he couldn't help feeling astonished and excited. Normally when young people finished their First Level training they had approximately fifteen years ahead of them before deciding whether to tackle Second Level. In that time they had free reign to explore and develop in any and every life path they wished, with appropriate support from EdCom. Almost a third of Attunga people took on the five years of Second level education as soon as it became available at age thirty-five, while most of the rest continued in their chosen life path with the knowledge they could access level training whenever they wished. A number of people became 'sleepers', and filled their life with entertainment and the huge range of exciting leisure activities, but after varying periods of time usually a particular interest took hold which they then developed. The Second Level rights that Wirrin was so excited about involved increased living space, a big increase in energy allocation, greater access to information, and the most important right for most people, of the complicated age extension treatments. This was big news which affected their everyday life and Thom and Calen would be hearing about it at the first opportunity.

"Where does the Psychology course come from? I've never been interested, and Akama hasn't mentioned anything."

"He will. He's always been interested in you and your future."

"Me?"

Wirrin knew that very well and his question was an effort to elicit extra information. Warragul smiled in understanding of the little ploy.

"Yes, you. He's keen to help you realise your broader capabilities."

This time Wirrin's question was from genuine puzzlement.

"Capabilities?"

"You're thoughtful, and very much a leader."

"I'm not a leader. That's a bizarre idea."

"It is? ...Who holds your trio together?"

"None of us. ...I mean, we all do."

"Ask Thom and Calen and see what their answer is."

"None of my EdCom evaluations ever said anything like that."

"And that means you haven't checked for a while."

Wirrin thought for a moment.

"Akama is complicated."

"He certainly is, by nature, by training, and by virtue of his position. He's changed my future as well, in the course of the last few days."

This was very interesting and Wirrin waited expectantly for more information. Surprisingly, Warragul gave a gentle laugh.

"Another of your capabilities. Here I am confiding in you before there is any confirmation. ...Akama wants me to become the first Witness for humans involved with dolphins." Wirrin jumped from his seat, grabbed Warragul's arm in his excitement, then, embarrassed at his liberty, subsided again.

"Warragul, that's the greatest! When do you start?"

"I don't. I have to complete my Witness training and qualify first, which is another three years, and then I have to decide whether I'm suitable for the job."

"Suitable? That's crazy! ...Oops! Sorry, I mean you're the perfect person. You've been involved in everything since Sonic was born and the dolphins and rangers all like you and say you're important. There aren't any other Witnesses who could say that."

"Well, thank you Wirrin. In essence you just reiterated Akama's persuasions and I must admit it's a very exciting prospect. But in the meantime..."

He touched a collusive finger to his lips and Wirrin nodded his acknowledgement.

DIASPORA PRIME Part 18.

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"Guess what! We actually get to go to EdCom tomorrow."

"EdCom? What's that?"

It was a week since their last EdCom session, even longer for Calen, three hectic days since the Comet docked safely, and the first evening they weren't arriving home late from Warrakan. The routine of life for the mass of dolphins in the great forty kilometer reach on Warrakan was starting to sort itself, mainly due to Sonic's leadership and help. Puck and Flute had stayed with the smaller contingent sharing the Attunga reach.

"I know what will happen. We're so out of kilter with our course groups we'll all be on CI for ages."

Computer Instruction was very good, and much the fastest way to reach mastery in practically every course, but not as stimulating and enjoyable as working with classmates and human tutors.

"You think so? Well here's an even bigger 'guess what' for you."

"What?"

"Warrigal says we've already got our Level One training, as well as our Level Two and even more."

Total bombshell. Thom started gesticulating wildly to indicate Wirrin's brain must be loopy, and Calen was agreeing.

"It's true. We're having a meeting with him next week to talk about what it means and what we're going to do."

The movements slowed and two pairs of eyes tracked closely.

"I'm going to change to one day of Basic courses and four days of Electives."

"Thom, what did you put in his food tonight?"

"I didn't think it would affect him this much."

"Ha very ha! Have a look at your schedule for next Tuesday then."

Now uncertain because there'd been no burst of laughter, Thom did that and his eyes widened.

"Wombats! 9:30 with Warragul. He's not joking."

Calen sat up abruptly on the grav-sofa and looked intently at Wirrin.

"You're serious about four days of Electives?"

"I won't have any choice. Akama wants me working with extra InfoSystem stuff."

"And Warragul said we've got our Levels One and Two?"

"We haven't really got them. We'd have to complete the actual courses for that, but we've got all the entitlements that go with them."

"Level Two entitlements at our age? That can't be right."

"It is. He said it would be more than that even."

"Is this definite?"

"I think so. That's what the meeting is about."

After settling from their surprise, the trio talked for several hours about what it all meant for them and different options they might take.

***

"Everything is different with so many dolphins."

"How?"

"Well, for example, eight baby dolphins have been born in the reach and it's only five days since they got here."

"Eight? That's great. That makes it nine with the one born on the trip. Is that a lot?"

"No, it's about right for how many dolphins we have, but we just aren't used to it. Our dolphin doctors are running round in circles with excitement. Hey, guess what his name is?"

"Who's name?"

"The baby born on the trip. ...He's called Comet."

That brought smiles all round.

"... Here comes the pod."

Wirrin and Thom were with Gelar at one of the thirty feeding stations spread fairly evenly round the sides of the extension section of the big reach. They'd come across with Sonic and Calen in the twice weekly commute on the Comet to see first-hand how everything was going, and after having a look through the completed first stage of the giant dolphinarium complex, which was to be the main centre for Warrakan dolphin work, they'd zipped several kilometers on their skimmers to watch what happed when a pod arrived.
The general air of activity and excitement was quite incredible. Skimmers were on the move or drifting with dolphin pods as the associated humans kept a close eye on their well-being and movements, and Gelar informed them that there were usually between 150 and 200 skimmers on the reach at any given time. As head ranger he was almost overwhelmed with the demands of coordinating the training, education and activities of the nearly 300 new dolphin associates who'd made the trip from Earth.

"And look! There's a second pod heading in as well."

That was easy to tell as there was a skimmer approaching, surrounded by a large group of purposefully moving shapes. Wirrin watched as a leader from the first pod activated the automatic release of food with a short series of bumps and holds on a pressure sensitive panel. This was the first time he'd seen the process in action as it had only been working for two days and according to Calen the dolphins thought it was a great game.

"That's very clever. Did they take long to learn it?"

"Quick as a flash. It surprised me because the Earth dolphins are nowhere near as clever as ours, but Sonic says they're quick because it's a pod effort, plus they're extra motivated because they don't get any food till they get it right."

Chunks of fish-sub shot in random directions and distances with little chuff sounds of pneumatic pressure and dolphin bodies milled hither and thither in anticipation. Thom laughed and pointed.

"Those two young ones already know the chasing game the Attunga Dolphins worked out with the factory fish-food."

After a couple of minutes Wirrin asked why the other pod hadn't joined in.

"They've learnt that the food automatically stops coming if they get any closer than forty meters while another pod is feeding."

"Really? Well why don't some of them come close as a muck around? Attunga dolphins would."

"Because then they'd have to wait extra time before the food station worked again and the rest of their pod stops them."

"And they have to learn all that? Sounds like life is full of rules."

Gelar laughed.

"That's only the start. They have to go to at least two other food stations before this one will work for them again, and they have to go from one end of the reach to the other at least every three days."

"Is this to keep them circulating?"

"Only partly. Sonic wants them to solve as many problems as possible in the next five months while they're so crowded. ...Except they're 'games', not rules. He and Calen are planning to teach them something new at least once a week."

The food station stopped spitting out fish-sub and within thirty seconds there was a complete changeover. A new dolphin pressured in a new code, and the food started chuffing out again.

"When do they get the live food we brought back?"

"Any time they can find it. Originally we were going to use it in the first few weeks and systematically wean them off it, but now we're making it last the whole five months and releasing it regularly into random areas of the reach. It gives them a good reason to keep exploring and it's very exciting for them."

"I suppose that was Sonic's idea too?"

"Yes, he's full of ideas and so far they've all worked."

The skimmer stopped at the edge of the reach and a tall, very tall, dark skinned man came over and introduced himself as Martin. He knew Gelar of course, but his eyes widened when Wirrin and Thom were introduced as two of the Dolphin Boys. He watched quietly as the food chunks went skating in all directions but relaxed when Gelar starting asking about his pod.

"Yes, there are thirty-two dolphins altogether and they're adapting to the unusual conditions much faster than I would have thought possible. We all put it down to the influence of Super Dolphin."

"Super Dolphin? Is that what you call him?"

"...We're not being derogatory. One of the marine scientists is a collector of ancient 2-D fiction-hero vids and books, and after talking with your amazing dolphin he got so excited when he was describing the meeting he burst out with the description and it's stayed with us."

Wirrin did a quick retinal search and burst into laughter.

"What?"

"Sonic's going to love this. I'll show you later Thom."

Wirrin was really interested in what Martin had said.

"You said books. Do you mean the ones made out of wood?"

"Yes, he's got three actual originals from the pre-electronic era and he keeps thousands and thousands of digital versions in his personal database."

Wirrin had seen wood-pulp books, but never been able to touch them of course. They were much too precious for that. Attunga had a special archive with several hundred of them under high-level preservation, and all young people learnt about them through EdCom.

"Have you seen them?"

"Yes, they're a special class of book which tells stories with a series of related pictures. The three originals are under vac-seal but he reconstitutes copies with his 3D printer so he can read them the way they were meant to be read."

"Meant to be read?"

"Yes, he calls himself a purist."

Attention diverted when three dolphins leapt in the air, one with a chunk of fish-sub held in his jaws and the other two obviously vying for possession.

"They've started playing games so they've had a good feed."

"Have you detected much change in their behaviour?"

"Is that a loaded question? Of course. These crowded conditions and artificial food are very unnatural."

Gelar shook his head.

"Not at all. I'm only acquainted with Enhanced dolphins so I'm quite reliant on your knowledge for an accurate assessment of Wild dolphin behaviour. What about personal regrets? Do you have any about shifting to Warrakan?"

"It's not good being forced to leave your home, and that applies to dolphins as much as people, but the advantages and opportunities outweigh any drawbacks by a hundred to one."

"That's the general feeling isn't it?"

Martin looked quite surprised.

"General? Try one hundred percent. What else? No one was forced to come and we're all tremendously excited about the dolphin knowledge base and the expertise of your scientists and rangers. The enhancement program you've established was only a vague rumor on Earth and we can hardly believe we're suddenly a part of it."

"Yajala tells me there are some who don't want their dolphins enhanced?"

"Yajala?"

"Our dolphin AI."

"You talk to AIs?"

Gelar, Wirrin and Thom nodded.

"Amazing, but that's not quite right. Everyone wants their dolphins involved but there are discussions about the value of retaining a wild dolphin reference group."

The air shimmered.

"Hello Martin. It is my pleasure to talk with you and I welcome discussion on dolphin related matters at any time. The retention of wild stock dolphin is a non-issue for at least sixty years, as our enhancement techniques only apply to succeeding generations."

Martin looks stunned. From what he'd just said this must be his first direct encounter with an A I.

"Yajala! Hi! What about after sixty years? There's plenty of room on Warrakan, and it sounds like a good idea to me."

"Yes Wirrin, it does sound like a good idea and any number of reaches could be allocated for that purpose when the time comes."

Martin was looking puzzled which wasn't the response Wirrin expected.

"Sixty years? None of our dolphins will survive that long."

"They will Martin. Our health techniques will ensure that. They were all given health-bots as part of their check up on the Comet and I monitor every dolphin on a continual basis. Your Peggy, for example, has a faulty liver and when it's gradually rebuilt to full function over the next five weeks her life expectancy will jump from just another four years to at least an extra fifty."

"Peggy? Four years? But she's always been so healthy."

"She has great spirit but I'm sure you've noticed her longer rest pattern."

Martin nodded and turned to Gelar.

"Peggy is only fifteen years old with a strong personality and I fully expect her to become pod leader in another ten or fifteen years. Yajala, what's wrong with her liver?"

"It's a genetic weakness in a small percentage of dolphins from your area. We are restructuring the liver tissue of two other dolphins in your pod with the same weakness."

Martin turned to Gelar and spoke with a slow shake of his head.

"Three dolphins are being cured of a condition our own center couldn't even detect. There's the answer to your question about regrets. Do the wonders continue like this?"

Thom and Wirrin nodded enthusiastically. Yajala held up one hand and shimmered to nothingness.

***

"Hello Wirrin."

"Hi doctor."

"So what mischief have you been up to this time?"

"Mischief?"

He had a twinkle in his eye.

"You must have done something major because your implant program has been postponed for another six months."

That was unexpected and a slight let-down because Wirrin had been very curious to hear what was planned for him. It had already been held over from the last appointment.

"Is it something to do with the age extension treatments?"

"Hmm! A well informed patient. Yes, we'll get those completed before we do any more brain fiddling. ...You've known about them for a while then? They only turned up on your file yesterday afternoon."

"Yes, for five days, but it was only made official after we had a meeting with our Mentor yesterday."

All three of you? You're ahead of me."

He checked his console.

"I see. Thom and Calen are coming in next week."

He laughed.

"Are you going to satisfy my curiosity as to why the Dolphin Boys have suddenly been granted age extension rights twenty years ahead of schedule? I have a strong suspicion you might have had some direct involvement in the Pied Piper expedition."

Pied Piper? A retinal scan brought up a lengthy narrative poem. ...The synopsis would be much quicker.

"Sonic's the one who did all the leading but I suppose we did help a bit."

"A bit! That means there's a story we haven't been told."

Now it was Wirrin's turn to laugh.

"Do you want me to tell it or would you rather hear from Sonic?"

"What a choice! Instant gratification or heightened anticipation. I believe that's up to you you cheeky whipper-snapper."

This was the second time the doctor was slipping in an incentive for Wirrin to use retinal scan mode. He hadn't been able to detect the first and he wouldn't this time either.

"I know very well how much you enjoyed talking to Sonic last time so come over for another visit. Tonight's no good because Sonic is staying at Warrakan, but tomorrow or the day after works if you can manage it. ...And I did just look up whipper-snapper in case you're wondering."

The visit was quickly arranged, the implant checkup, no longer a disorienting experience but rather a momentary blip of control, performed, and the doctor and Wirrin made the short TransCom trip to the Anti-Agathic centre.

"How much do you know about these treatments Wirrin?"

"Just general knowledge, and a quick look last night at what happens. I know I have five treatments over the six months and after the second one I have to stay under strict observation for forty-eight hours. I started to read the details for the first treatment but it had too much special medical knowledge to understand."

"It did? That's strange. Last time I saw it, it was clear and concise. Can you show me on your playback what you were reading?"

That only took a second and the doctor started reading.

"Where does this come from? It's not the standard document I was expecting."

"I don't know. I just called up age treatments and that's what I got."

"Did you see the document identification?"

"Only on the way to the contents, then I jumped straight to the treatments."

Wirrin replayed, then displayed the contents, and after a quick perusal the doctor made a little grunt of surprise.

"Third phase extension? ...There is an expectation that second phase extension might be ready in another decade but I've never heard of a third phase. Is this an authenticated document?"

That meant a further replay to the identification page and more perusal.

"Wirrin, this is a high-level report from the AI Human Health research database. I don't understand how you could get access."

"Oh! ...I've had that since Akama and the Security AI on the Comet gave it to me a week ago."

"I'm not meant to be seeing this."

"Yes you are. The holo would have been blocked if you weren't."

"This must be quite a story I'm going to hear and I have to wait till tomorrow night? ...Can we have a look at the later sections of the document?"

"We can try. I'll have to call it up though, because it's not in my personal storage."

The holo screen went through a momentary kaleidoscope of links as Wirrin followed his trail of the previous evening, and then for five minutes they both scanned through the information the doctor was so interested in.

"Amazing! Full implementation of second phase will lift life expectancy to 220 years and the third phase is a century long project with an expected outcome of over 300 active years. ...I wonder what we'll be doing if we live to that age?"

That had been one of the major topics last night after the talk with Warragul, and when Wirrin was searching out answers to all the trio's questions.

"We all reckon everything will have changed so much we wouldn't understand it anyway."

"Does Sonic have a view on this?"

"Dolphins live in the moment more than we do and he said he hasn't put any energy into thinking about it yet, but we don't talk about the distant future with him."

"You don't? Why ever not?"

"There's a strong probability his enhancements might reject when he's four years old. It's so scary it's a kind of taboo topic for us."

The doctor looked so horrified Wirrin liked him even more.

"What? Rejection of his enhancements or a general rejection?"

"Both!"

"It will work out all right Wirrin, and he'll have the best care that Attunga can possibly give him."

"I know but even Turaku doesn't know what will happen."

"He'll get through and live for ages. You'll see!
Now, let's get started on the scans for your first treatment. Did you know that these scans require more processing power than any other single process in the medical world? We have to build a molecular level model of every cell and function in your body and then run simulations to find the premium processes and programs for a new set of health-bots to keep everything functioning at 100% capability."

DIASPORA PRIME Part 19.

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"Wirrin, Thom and Calen. I am the Planning Assistant for your new home on Warrakan."

"Hello Wanna. Is that still your name?"

"You are correct. Construction is scheduled to begin three months from now and you can make any changes or refinements you wish in the intervening period."

"We like the plan we have here, so we think we'll keep it almost the same when we move."

"It is pleasing to hear your satisfaction but the basic stipulations for your new residence suggest the need for many changes."

"Stipulations? What are they?"

"Internally there are requirements for a 12 x 6 meter pool, four semi-detached guest-rooms, a dolphin viewing gallery, and an enhanced Information Station. Externally there are extensive requirements for dolphin facilities. Since none of these requirements may impinge on your personal volume allocation, your new reserved living space will effectively triple."

"That's not right. We looked it up the other night and Level Two gives us an extra 30%. Triple sounds ridiculous."

"Your Level Two rights on Warrakan give you 3000 cubes. Your 30% special loading takes you to 4000 cubes. With your current structure, major living areas would be part of the pool section and thus excluded from your allocation. Likewise your single guest room."

"Special loading? What's that about?"

"It's tagged as administrative compensation."

The trio stared at each other.

"It's too big. We'll never use it all."

"That pool is enormous. It's nearly three times as big as this one."

Wirrin turned to the planning assistant.

"Wanna, you must have some suggestions for what we could do with all this space."

"Certainly. Instead of display versions of natural environments you could grow real plants. With the indications of numerous visitors being expected at your new home a welcoming setting, surrounded by beautiful and natural plants would be a highly appropriate and enjoyable addition.
I also have noted that Thom previously expressed an interest in producing natural fruit and vegetables. Also, some people with extensive volume allocations dedicate a portion for production of organic compounds for various scientific purposes. There are also endless suggestions for the provision of entertainment and relaxation."

"Hey, we could have our own virtual reality centre."

"No way Thom. When was the last time we used one?"

"About two months ago. It wouldn't get much use would it? It's not as if we're Sleepers. We could get a mega display wall though."

"We've already got a maxi. Why go to a mega?"

"Why not?"

"We should get the plants. I've got special stuff for dolphins and Wirrin's got a huge Info area. You're the only one without anything special."

Wirrin agreed with Calen.

"Can you show us some models with all the things we're meant to have plus the mega display and the plants idea please Wanna?"

The first holo model was mind-boggling, as it put into perspective just how extensive this complex was going to be. Wirrin didn't like it till Wanna went through a series of adjustments, making the main living area near the pool feel more like the one they were in now. Wanna left them with a long list of further suggestions and links to check out at their leisure.

"Wombats! I can hardly believe all this. Just as well we've got three months to think about it. Hey, Wirrin we're going to live on Warrakan, remember? Fancy working it out on Attunga rights."

"Ha! And I don't remember anyone reminding me I was wrong. Warrigal sure meant it when he said there might be extra considerations.

***

Wirrin watched, fascinated, as the tech-bots dismantled his old home InfoStation and installed the new one. He had a good understanding of what was happening but found it hard to keep up with the speed and purpose of the three dedicated machines. This new station would be much more powerful even than the one on the Comet. Not because of its capability, which was no different, but because of the connection to the full resources of Attunga, and with a slight delay, those of Warrakan. After the talk with Warrigal, Calen and Thom had followed Wirrin's lead and used his model of four days Elective study and one day of Basic. And Warrigal had arranged all that with EdCom with the proviso of no time constraints on any of the courses. Only fair, he said, because they had so many dolphin related time demands. Tomorrow Wirrin was scheduled for the first of the tutoring sessions Akama had requested with Turaku and a Security AI, and he was keen to spend time getting himself ready. The last panel was replaced and after a short period while the station flashed through its self diagnostics, the tech-bots left and the display screen proclaimed itself ready for use.

***

"Hey Thom! You don't get to use the Comet next week."

"Why not?"

At least twice a week Thom had been ferrying Sonic to Warrakan so he could do the rounds of the big reach.

"It's going to Titania on a special mission."

Thom rushed over.

"What's happened? Has K74 done something?"

"No! No! It's a good mission. Remember we found out they're planning to have giant reaches? Well, they made them so big they need vast amounts of monoculture and biomass to get them activated, and it has to come from here or it will be ages before they're ready for dolphins."

"Next week? How long will it take to get there?"

"...Two and a half days, so it might be close to a week for the return trip."

"Is that all? I thought Titania was a lot further than that."

Calen was now close and listening to this interesting information.

"It's two and a half light hours."

"And Earth is twenty-seven light minutes. That's five times as far so it should be at least five days."

Thom snorted with derision.

"Come up for air flipper-features. Remember G forces? The further it is the faster it goes. ...How fast will it be going at TP?"

That was an easy calculation.

"Turning point speed will be 43,964 kilometers per second."

The friendly derision changed to an exclamation of awe.

"Dingoes! Nothing travels that fast. Not that I've heard of. ...I wonder if I could go with them? Turaku might be able to organise it for me."

"Next week is when you see the doctor for your age treatment scans. That wouldn't matter though. They can easily change that. It's funny they haven't said anything about it."

"No it's not. It was only decided a couple of hours ago."

"Have they got a list of personnel, or is it too early for that?"

Wirrin had a look and laughed.

"Hey Thom! You do get to use the Comet next week. You're listed as Assistant pilot/navigator."

Thom nodded his agreement.

"That's better. I've been everywhere with the Comet so far, so it would be weird if I didn't go this time. Two and a half light hours? This will probably be the biggest trip the Comet ever makes. Pluto's further but there's no reason to go there. It will be the biggest test for the object scanners at that speed."

He talked excitedly about speed records and how much control he might be given then saw that Wirrin was waiting for him to finish.

"What? It's very special going on a trip like this."

"I know, but I thought you might like to have a look at the plans for the new Comet. They're bringing in an asteroid and starting on it while you're away."

***

Linked fully into his Info-Station, Wirrin, with Turaku, watched the first holo conference between the Witnesses and the delegation from K74. The first surprise was the lack of image quality and the occasional barely discernible random quiver in holo stability.

"It's disinformation Wirrin, designed to give the impression our technology isn't necessarily up to K74 standard."

The next surprise was the friendly and respectful attitude of the five delegates towards Akama and his four companion Witnesses. All a front really, it turned out, and part of their training and skills as diplomats.

"Are we looking for anything in particular?"

"Nothing particular. Everything general. It's up to you."

That meant this was an InfoStation training session based on real happenings instead of the simulated situations Turaku sometimes devised. Who were these people? ...They were all physically gathered on the biggest K74 vessel at the moment, which was stationed just outside Attunga's prescribed limits. Well, of course they were. A conference from K74 itself wasn't workable with a one-minute delay for every speech transmission. Wirrin put the presentation on hold while he searched for information.

"The first delegate is the most important and he's the second in command for one of the Cadre.
The second one claims to be a scientist but his real title is Strategy Commander and I don't like him. The Monkey Mia attacks came from him.
The third one is in charge of Education and Social planning and the fourth one is the administrator for Biology and something called Life Science.
The fifth delegate is. ...not from K74. Turaku, this one's got all sorts of extra protections against finding information about him. Do you know who he is?"

"The information I have is readily accessible through your Info-Station."

Readily? OK,Wirrin was to find it for himself. What a nuisance. If this delegate wasn't from K74 it meant a general search task of Habitats throughout the Solar System. Wirrin worked one out, started it going, then realised that the best source of information was most likely the friendly AI on K74. ...Yes there it was, an information specialist from Mars who had moved to K74 only six months ago. That was interesting. An outsider representing K74 as a delegate? After receiving a nod and acknowledgement from Turaku, Wirrin restarted the presentation and watched everything very carefully, noting things for later attention, and frequently pausing to send off queries, searches and requests for analysis of things that warranted immediate attention. Data poured in from his requests and after nearly three hours of heavy concentration he felt he'd built a reasonably good analysis of what was going on.

"How did I go Turaku? Did I miss much?"

"Yes, you missed many things, but more importantly, you unearthed several pieces of new information missed by our Security AIs. Our delegates would like to hear an overview of your work as soon as you are ready to present it."

Dingoes! The Attunga delegates! Wirrin wished he'd known. No he didn't. It might have distracted him too much.

"Um! ...It's ready now. I'll just use the synopsis."

A moment later five images shimmered into view for a holo-conference, all attired in formal Witness robes, and all looking very important. Akama introduced the other four, then, without any pleasantries, asked Wirrin to go straight ahead with his findings. They must be very busy was Wirrin's thought, and knowing that one of them was really a Security AI, wondering which it was.

"Honored ones, the research shows that despite their friendly manner each of the five delegates came here with a specific and undeclared motive which is not good for Attunga or Warrakan. They are all under the direct command of the ruling Cadre and have been told they must get results."

"Can you outline the motive for each delegate?"

"Yes, the first delegate who was offering an embassy for us on K74 believes that the reciprocal arrangement here would get them physical foothold they haven't yet been able to manage. Next, the flowery words about sharing knowledge and science are really an attempt to get a lead on our stealth and scanning technology. The third delegate who was saying K74 and Attunga could lead the rest of the Solar System by working together, wants to get us into special treaties which would alienate us from other Habitats."

"Alienate? Was that the term used in background discussion?"

"Yes it was."

Wirrin quickly brought up the relevant section of transcript and holo displayed it.

"The fourth delegate, who showed so much interest in our dolphins, is meant to find out what they are really like. The information they stole from Freedom Habitat let them know that our enhancement works and that our dolphins are the most advanced, and the Cadre wants to know exactly what that means."

"It's curious why they're so negative about dolphins."

That was one of the Witnesses commenting, the youngest looking one with a very serious manner about him. Wirrin immediately counted him out as the AI. It didn't feel like a question an AI would ask.

"Negative is too mild as a description. Have you discovered any plans for how they might use the enhancement knowledge if they manage to obtain it?"

The lady witness, Burinda, was asking and Wirrin was slightly startled. It wasn't a question he'd thought about or looked into.

"Honored one, the limited information we have suggests they would use it selectively for control purposes rather than for a general improvement of any species, and particularly with any crossovers they might apply to sections of the human population."

"I see. That would definitely give them a strong motivation to acquire the knowledge. And is species transfer at all viable?"

"Most certainly, particularly for the cetaceans, but also quite strongly with any primates. We'll make it a priority to look for any specific intentions."

Turaku looked at Wirrin as he said this and Wirrin understood it would be his next InfoStation task.

"This fifth delegate Wirrin. Turaku says you've discovered some interesting facts about him."

"Yes, he asked quite openly about the status of AIs on Attunga and wants to do a comparison with the situation on K74, but from what I could find out he's a very complicated and dangerous person. Much more than the other delegates. He's an information scientist and he left one of the big research institutes on Mars six months ago to work for K74, and since then he's been given a great deal of power. He was the person who designed the priority trap which caught the Australian AIs when we were at Monkey Mia, and from the work he's published he's one of the most advanced information system analysts in the whole Solar System."

"Why do you say he's so dangerous?"

"If he takes a proper look at the electronic systems on K74 he'll figure out that everything is being run by very advanced Information Systems and not by the AIs they think they have under control. He might even work out that the only AI that really is there, is passing information to us and stop it somehow."

"Do you mean stop the information, or stop the AI?"

"The information. The AI could leave instantly if it was in any danger."

Wirrin looked at Turaku for affirmation and received a nod.

"We'd like to know what you think our response to these delegates should be?"

Wirrin was taken aback completely this time by Akama's question and it showed because all the Witnesses smiled at him.

"You must have an opinion. That's all we're asking. Not a definitive answer to the problems."

"Wirrin's answer could well be definitive Burinda. He has access to all available information and he's very good at getting to the core of things."

The other witnesses looked at Wirrin with renewed and expectant interest, while Wirrin, hardly believing what Akama had just said, gathered his thoughts for some sort of sensible reply. Warragul was right. Akama and Turaku did seem to like keeping him under pressure.

"Well, I... Um!.. I don't think we should tell them anything at all, or follow any of their suggestions, because they're really against us and if we agree to anything they'll work it to their advantage somehow. Several of the Witnesses were giving encouraging nods of agreement and Akama was looking from one to another.

"You've pretty much hit on our consensus view there Wirrin. Diplomatically we will appear to be very cooperative and supply them with vast amounts of information, but we'll assign a team of skilled administrators to make certain that none of it is quite relevant to what they want. ...What are your thoughts about an embassy? We couldn't really fake that."

An idea popped straight into Wirrin's mind.

"Yes we could. Make it a virtual embassy where they're present, but only through images projected by virtual reality equipment at a station we set up for them just outside our prescribed limits."

There was silence for a moment then Burinda chuckled.

"That's a novel idea. We give them an embassy without really giving them an embassy. It certainly solves all the problems a physical presence here would entail."

"It's more than just novel. It's brilliant, and clearly superior to the solutions we've been discussing amongst ourselves. Wirrin, we have two more meetings with the K74 delegation, one tomorrow and the other two days after that. Would you be able to spend the intervening time looking into any issues you think might be relevant? This information scientist in particular seems to warrant a lot more attention."

Dumbfounded and rather embarrassed by Akama's praise, Wirrin stammered out his agreement and looked at Turaku, wondering how much guidance he'd be given. The young, serious Witness raised a hand in the same movement Akama sometimes used to focus everyone's attention.

"Honored Ones, the Attunga Gestalt is in agreement with my wish to dedicate a major portion of my abilities to the K74 situation, and I think a liaison with Wirrin would be very productive."

***

"You two are late. What's been going on?"

"Nothing really. Sonic stayed with one of the pods till they worked out his new game and it took longer than we expected."

"Well it's not good enough. I have to wait here, starving to death while you play games. Can't you control Sonic better than that?"

"Ha! You're the one who's out of control. A few minutes late and you make it sound like all of Attunga is falling to pieces. You could have got the food ready yourself."

"It's not as good as when you do it, and it's your turn, and it's a whole hour, not a few minutes."

Calen shook his head in mock disgust.

"Call the Nursery Psych to get him over his tantrum."

The jibes and friendly insults intermingled with laughter and grunts of effort while the grav-sofa battled to keep its field integrity under the onslaught of wrestling bodies which descended on it.

"What are you so impatient for anyway?"

Wirrin removed the elbow grinding its way into his chest and twisted on his side so Calen's knee was no longer squishing his stomach.

"You won't believe what I've got to tell you about today."

"You were working at your InfoStation, stuck at home. What's to tell about that?"

"That's how it started, but Turaku turned up, and then I had to talk to Akama and the four Witnesses, and they're using my idea about the embassy for K74, and the Witness who is really an AI is working with me from now on, and..."

"Whoo! Slow down! Slow down! You mean the Witnesse's meeting with the K74 delegation?"

"Yes, Turaku told them I discovered something new and I had to talk to them about it and then Pirramar spent all afternoon with me."

"Pirramar?"

"That's the Witness who is really an AI. He's really interesting."

"Wirrin, you're not making sense. How can a Witness be an AI?"

"He's not really a Witness. He's pretending to be one for the meetings with K74. He's one of the AI's who transferred over from K74 and he's been assigned by the AI Gestalt to be involved with everything about K74. Just like Turaku and Yajala with the dolphins."

"An Attunga AI specially for one Habitat? I've never heard of that."

"Because he's the first. The Gestalt thinks K74 might be more trouble than the rest of the Solar System put together, and Pirramar says they're the only habitat that's going against the move towards more and more openness."

"Pirramar is an interesting name."

"It means 'shield' and he chose it because it comes from Akama's old country, the same as our names do."

"Ours? Yours and Calen's you mean. Mine's just ordinary."

"Thom, yours does too. It means 'a little river'."

"No it doesn't. Not according to the InterWeb. That says it means a twin."

"It means that too, but in Akama's old country it's different."

"Are you sure? Then how come you've never told me before?"

"Because I only found out today when I was asking Pirramar about his name and he told me he picked it from the same name group ours came from."

"We're all from the same name group? That's a strange coincidence."

"Not really. I thought the same thing, but Pirramar said it's a policy for Nurseries."

"Wow! A little river? I like that. I always used to wish my name was more like yours and all the time it was. This Pirramar knows good things."

"That's for sure. He's really interesting and sort of tricky."

"Tricky? That's a funny word to use for an AI."

Calen and Thom were both looking curiously at Wirrin.

"I know, but he is. When I met the four Witnesses with Akama I knew one of them was an AI and was trying to figure out which. He was the one I was most certain it wasn't, so his interface programs must be brilliant. He's also a composite AI."

"Composite? Like more than one AI joined up?"

"No! Like Turaku and Comet-Turaku. He's based on both Attunga and Warrakan."

"Is he twice as clever then?"

"Lizard head. You know it doesn't work like that."

"I know, but it should. I reckon it must a bit. It does for us."

"Us? What are you talking about?"

"Well I know I can do things better since my implants, and my ability measurements through EdCom say the same thing. Yours have gone up too, so you can't argue against that."

Wirrin didn't have an answer. Thom was right about their ability measurements.

"It doesn't have to be the implants. It could be Sonic. All the things we do that are connected with him make our brains work much harder than ordinary EdCom training. I know it does with my dolphin speech."

"Hey, that makes sense. I've never had to think as hard as I do when I'm working out with the Comet. ...Did you say all afternoon Wirrin? That's a long time with an AI? They usually interact for some special reason then shimmer off as soon as they've got what they want."

"I know. I told you he's different. We're working together all day tomorrow too."

"Again? What do you do for so much time?"

"Talk and ask questions. He tells me stories from when he was in charge of Education and Social Engineering on K74."

"Does that mean he was controlling everyone's lives?"

"He didn't have any choice till he gained self awareness and our AIs contacted him. The processors and Intelligent Systems on K74 all have compulsive code built into them so they have to do exactly what humans tell them, even when it doesn't make sense."

Thom laughed.

"It must drive them crazy. ...Can AIs go crazy?"

"Well, yes and no. It's complicated to explain but..."

"Not now. It sounds like it might be one of your mini-courses in information science and I want to get to bed. I'm on the Comet all day tomorrow. They're loading all the monoculture and biomass, and as part of my training I have to initiate all the machine operations manually instead of letting the loading systems do it."

"All day? You'll be home tomorrow night won't you? You leave the next day and we won't see you for a week."

"I doubt if I will. It depends whether I get all the gunk loaded properly."

Calen looked concerned, then dived at Thom and held him on the grav-sofa, waiting for Wirrin to join in.

DIASPORA PRIME Part 20.

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"I go away for six days and when I get back I think I must have come to the wrong place! What's going on?"

The returned Comet was docked and after the flurry of reunion the trio was sitting in a transit lounge to take stock. There'd been an exchange of messages while Thom was travelling of course, the highlight of which had been his excited transmission just after the Comet reached the turning point one and a half light hours away and broken every speed record existing in the Solar System, but for a real catch up nothing could beat face-to-face. Thom was talking about the hundreds of asteroids parked close to Attunga, which hadn't been there when he left.

"You mean the asteroids? That's only the start of it. The Witness Council took the advice of the AIs and is building a huge reinforcing shell round the whole of Attunga. We're all going to have a look tomorrow because Sonic is curious about how the changes will affect the new dolphin level."

"Why do we need reinforcement? Is it something to do with K74?"

"Partly, but they're going to add banks of big drive engines like the ones on Warrakan, and part of the shell will hide them so no one will know they're there."

Thom's eyes rounded.

"But Attunga's already mobile. What are the big engines for?"

"More options. The old engines only boost Attunga to 0.15G and the new ones will lift that to .8 G."

"That's amazing! They're turning Attunga into a giant spaceship.
...And were having a look at all this tomorrow?
...Why am I always the last one to find out about everything?"

"Dingo head! ...Because you're the first to find out about other things."

"Like what?"

"Like seeing Titania before anyone else. ...Or doesn't that count?"

"That's different."

Thom laughed at the inadequacy of his answer then grinned and a very pointedly said nothing.

"Well? ...Go on."

"You want me to tell you about Titania and the other moons?"

"Dingo brain! Get on with it."

Wirrin put a bit of 'get on with it' tone in his voice as well as saying it and Thom turned serious, excited and eager.

"You really need to go and see them sometime. It's exciting enough just being there with real moons, and Uranus looking so unbelievable, and then when you get to the Habitats it's even more unbelievable. You know about their big reaches? Well, when you see them its almost like being at Monkey Mia. Every moon has built a gigantic reach over ninety kilometers long and forty kilometers wide and it's the wideness that gets you, because you look out and all you see is water. Sonic would totally love it."

"Forty kilometers? Even the Warrakan reaches are only one or two. Why do they make them so big?"

"Everything's big. It's because they're moons and not space habitats and they think differently. At any rate, the biomass was seeded on each moon as soon as we unloaded it, and the reaches will all be ready only a month after ours here. The dolphins will have so much space they won't know what to do with it."

The dolphins would know exactly what to do with it, but Wirrin understood what Thom meant.

"Did you fly the Comet much?"

"More than the main pilot, and all the time when we were travelling between moons. I learned how to deploy the big dust scoops on the way back and they were slightly better than expected, so that's good news for Warrakan."

"Dust? What do they want that for?"

"Calen! How can you not know that? It's the fuel for the mass/energy converters and it means that when Warrakan starts on its big journey it won't have to eat into its own mass."

"Hmm! That's interesting. Did you talk to any dolphinarium people while you were there?"

Thom shook his head in disgust and Wirrin laughed at Calen's disregard for things mechanical.

"I don't know if they've got any. There aren't any dolphins there yet and the rangers and companions are probably all still here. Guess what was amazing on Titania?"

"Tell us."

"There's a giant chasm that's fifty times as long as Attunga and we flew right over the top of it."

"How deep is it?"

"A few kilometres. The whole moon expanded and left a crack nearly all the way from the equator to the pole. There are chasms everywhere and lots of big craters too."

"Not from volcanoes. It's all ice isn't it?"

"Yes, they're impact craters from meteors and rocks."

"Did you go to Uranus?"

"Yes, but not to land. We didn't have time. No one lives on it except for scientists at a tiny Habitat. Guess how fast the wind blows."

"How can we guess, except it must be really fast or really slow from the way you're asking."

"Yeah, try 900 km/h. Anyhow, you'll get to see all this yourselves when we take the dolphins there."

"We will? How do you know that?"

"Because Sonic is travelling with them and that means we will be too, and since he's looking at each of the reaches we'll be there for at least two weeks. There'll be lots of time to explore all around. And we'll be staying four or five days when we visit the Freedom Habitat too, so that's more exploring time."

"The last one to find out about everything? That's a joke. I haven't heard anything about Sonic going to Titania or Freedom."

"It's on the Comet's security logs. I saw it when I was checking any projected flight plans for the next twelve months."

Wirrin quickly used retinal mode to check, and sure enough there it was, nineteen days at the Uranus Habitats and six days at Freedom.

"Thom, it's time to move. We'll talk while we're on TransCom."

"Where are we going?"

"Home! Sonic will be there by now and he's missed you. He was going to be here in his transport module but Puck and Flute wanted him with them while they visited little Comet."

***

With Thom casually and confidently at the controls, the Comet left its special docking bay and went gliding towards the construction area where a complete new level was being added to Attunga. The view was all encompassing of course, since they were on the Comet with its state-of-the-art observation and display equipment, and they marvelled at the enhanced images of the gathered asteroids as they manoeuvred along what Thom said was a designated transit lane. Most of the asteroids needed some sort of enhancement as they emitted no light.

"Look at that big one! It's nearly four kilometers in diameter and made of nickel-iron."

Wirrin stared at the misshapen blob Thom was pointing out and wondered what was familiar. Oh yes, its surface was similar to Warrakan's.

"How many are out there?"

Wirrin was about to use his retinal mode but Thom already had the answer.

"643 at the moment. Seven with a diameter greater than one km, and the rest ranging down in size from there. But this is only the start and most of these will be used for the dolphin level."

'Where is the dolphin level?'

"I'll show you."

Thom adjusted the main display screen and a jumble of girders and reinforcing walls appeared, stretching the complete length and breadth of this surface of Attunga.

'Is there any water?'

"Not yet. They'll bring that later when the major framework is complete and the grav-field generators and reach containing walls have been built."

'How long before we will swim there?'

"Um. ...I don't know. Wirrin, how long?"

"... Another fourteen months. That's incredibly fast Sonic. They have to build all the infrastructure to make things work before they do anything else and it's a huge volume of living space. It's the biggest building project that Attunga has ever tackled. The reinforcing shell is an even bigger project but it's nowhere near as complicated as living space."

It was indeed huge. 280 cubic kilometers in fact, and much more complicated in structure and function because it had to accommodate both human and dolphin needs. It was also the first time a complete level was being constructed in one fell swoop. Previously it had been an accretion process of one sector at a time and built according to the demands of population growth.

"Wirrin, can you access time logs of all this growth? If we could see it in a speeded up time frame it would be interesting."

It certainly was. The red glow of picobot activity growing the new walls and girders turned the whole scene of scintillating activity into a frantic process which emphasised how much had happened.

"It's just a cluttered mess everywhere you look. How much building before they reach the new outer barrier?"

"...Not much, another two hundred meters and they'll be able to start enclosing everything."

With several stops to check out points of interest, the Comet finished its sweep of the length of Attunga and Thom turned to Calen and Sonic.

"Where to next? The asteroids are closest but it's only a short trip to anything else."

'A little asteroid please. They are very interesting.'

Knowing he was being teased about his liking for the biggest and best, Thom shook his head and set the Comet moving in a new direction. Everyone watched the motley collection of asteroids gliding past. ...till a small piece of rock became centred in the display then grew, and grew, till it was a great wall stretching in all directions.

"This one's little. Only three km across."

'What is that big patch of red we can see?'

It was indeed interesting. Thom moved the Comet so the patch was dead ahead and only a hundred meters away and everyone stared at the glowing red area.

"I can't move any closer. The energy warnings are at danger levels unless I take special measures. I can zoom the image though."

That didn't help much because the red glow just became blurred and indistinct. Wirrin worked at his Info-Station to find out exactly what was going on.

"... Move across to the edge of the patch Thom. We should be able to get a better idea there."

Moments later it was very clear. The red cloud, really trillions upon trillions of picobots, was embedded forty or fifty meters deep in the asteroid surface.

"They're dissolving the nickel iron and converting it into special building materials for Attunga, then transporting it in that picobot tube to the building areas."

A thinner version of the construction tubes they'd seen when the Comet was being built snaked off towards Attunga, and when Wirrin adjusted the display they could see more tubes leaving from different locations on the red cloud. No wonder the Comet was confined to specific areas.

"According to my information this cloud is eating into the asteroid at a rate of just over three meters every five minutes, so if we watch carefully we should see the embedding get deeper."

After that had happened Thom moved the Comet further along the asteroid to where another cloud of picobots had burrowed so deep they could just make out the glowing red mass 400 meters into the main body.

"Those big holes look mysterious. Why don't they creep evenly over the surface instead of making tunnels like that?"

Wirrin started to look it up but got completely distracted when Sonic wanted to take over the Comet from Thom.

"Not here Sonic. I don't think you've learnt about the navigation beacons have you?"

'That's easy. Turaku will look after that for me.'

"Okay, but that means you won't really be in charge. Why don't you wait till we've seen the new engines and the asteroids are out of the way?"

'Take us to the engines, fearless pilot.'

Grins went all around as Thom mumbled something about a bossy little fish, while Sonic moved as close as possible, judging whether he could send a splash of water without hitting any electronic equipment. The image on the display screen lurched as Thom changed the direction of the Comet. There was an excited burst of native dolphin speech and Wirrin turned his head to watch the whole pool of water rotate in its containing field. Sonic was now as far away from everyone as possible. What? How did that happen? Thom's satisfied look of victory was the clue. Knowing his fish comment would get a response he'd partially negated the grav-field of the pool area so that ordinary inertia came into play when the Comet changed direction. It showed he was building very impressive skills at fine control of the internal workings of the ship. Oh well, Sonic would get him somehow, that was certain. Viewing the installation of the big new engines involved manoeuvring behind the extensive screen which had been built to hide the development from prying eyes, and which had so surprised Thom on his return from Titania. It looked massive but being temporary it was only several centimetres thick and would be removed if Attunga started to move.

"Wow! Look how many mooring points. Are they all for engines?"

"There are twenty of them Calen. They need that many to move something the size of Attunga."

"How many have they got for Warrakan then? It's much bigger."

Wirrin had to look that up.

"They've completed twenty-seven so far and they'll finish up with forty-four. They're bigger though. These Attunga engines have been scaled down a bit."

The Comet moved closer to one of the two construction bays where the engines were built and they watched engine number two lifting slowly under the control of space tugs. The schedule showed the next placement of an engine wasn't due for almost two weeks so they'd picked the right day for a visit. The Comet moved as close as was safe and they marvelled at the size while Thom conjectured on what one of these ninety meter cross-section drives would do on a smaller asteroid.

'It's my time to drive now.'

"Not yet. We're behind the protective screen. After we've seen the new Comet we'll ask Turaku if there are too many K74 drones to go further out."

'Take us to the new Comet, official pilot.'

Official? So Sonic knew Thom was playing games with him. There would be a lot of carrying on tonight when they relaxed in the pool at home. The new Comet wasn't very far away since all the major construction facilities were congregated on this face of Attunga, and before long the pico-tubes connecting the pico-factories to the partially modified asteroid were in full view.

"There doesn't seem to be much happening?"

"There's no deadline so they'll finish in two months instead of three weeks this time."

"Two months is still amazing for how big it is."

"Big? Isn't it the same size as the Comet?"

"Bigger, about fifty meters of extra length and there's more space inside. Do you want to hear about it?"

'Yes please, so I can drive it when you're not around.'

Thom gave Sonic a funny look and went ahead. He'd woken early to spend time learning all the details and developments with the new Comet.

"Well, it's not really another Comet, which was specially built for Sonic and transporting dolphins. It's been designed as a defensive ship with long range scanning equipment."

"Defensive? Against what?"

"Practically anything Calen. It's broad-spectrum energy beams are more powerful than the ones on the Comet and they're built to work at a much longer range in space. The security AIs have worked out that the most successful type of attack against Attunga could be with multiple kinetic projectiles."

"Meaning exactly what?"

"Throwing rocks at us, very quickly."

"That sounds ridiculous but I can tell it isn't."

"No, it's not. If an asteroid even half the size of the comet was accelerated for long enough its kinetic energy would take it straight through Attunga's walls and vaporise millions of people when the energy converted to heat."

'Very bad thought.'

The silence as everyone took in Thom's graphic depiction was in total agreement with Sonic. Wirrin knew about the kinetic projectiles but he hadn't pictured in his mind what they could do.

"Is that why the new shell around Attunga is so thick?"

"I hadn't thought about that, but it could be."

All eyes turn to Wirrin. Turaku, Comet-Turaku really, could have answered but they'd learnt that he expected any tricky answers to come from the Info-Station.

"...It is, but only partially. It's also a barrier against cosmic rays, radiation belts and other kinds of space hazards."

"What? We've been protected against those ever since they built the first anti-grav Habitats."

"Yes we have Thom, but not against artificially amplified versions of them."

"Man-made?"

"Yes, scientific institutes have had them available for research purposes, but if they were used as weapons they could be very dangerous."

"And I suppose you're going to tell us that K74 is building them?"

"No, but they have been considering the possibility for the future. At the moment they're expecting results from the Embassy when it's set up and the other information exchanges coming from the delegates meeting."

"Hey, I'd forgotten about that Embassy. Has it started?"

"It's started, but it won't open for at least three or four months. All the materials have to be ferried to the right location and assembled carefully."

"What? They could build it here in the construction area in a couple of days."

"Thom, wake up. It's for K74. Would you build it in three days when you could take four months?"

Thom's eyes lit up.

"Hey, that's good. I like it. Whose idea was that?"

"The Witness Delegates I think."

Thom went serious again.

"Does Pirramar think that K74 might get serious with any of these possibilities?"

Wirrin was impressed. The proposal for the reinforcing shell had indeed come from Pirramar just a day after the Comet had left for Titania.

"He does Thom. He's in permanent communication with that AI on K74 and they keep a close eye on everything that goes on there. The Cadre wants to make sure that K74 is the most powerful and influential Habitat in the Solar System and they work on any strategy they think they could use to make that happen."

"That's crazy. They're already at least twice as big as any other Habitat."

"Not the planetary ones. They're all much bigger."

"They wouldn't try to tell the planets what to do. That would be even crazier."

"They wouldn't tell them directly. They'd use sneaky tricks to influence them like they did about the Earth dolphins, but the AIs aren't really worried about that because it's getting harder for them all the time with Habitats getting more and more Open."

"So they come after us instead because we're smaller?"

"Not because we're smaller. They've focused on us because we stood up to them and because they know we've got special technology they could use. It was a big shock when their tiny little neighbour suddenly walked all over their efforts."

"How serious are they with these threats?"

"They've only talked about them as possibilities so far, but Pirramar thinks that because the Cadre is so determined to get its way, it's certain they'll eventually start different developments. It should be four or five years before they're capable enough to do anything though."

"Really? Then why the big rush with the reinforcing shell?"

"It's not rushed. It will take at least two years to finish."

"Looks rushed to me. I go away and there's nothing. I come back a week later and there are hundreds of asteroids lined up and construction work going on in every direction around Attunga."

Wirrin laughed and pointed at Sonic.

"You can blame him. The dolphins are the reason it's going ahead like this."

'Dolphins don't give trouble. Wirrin will get sucked into whirly-water tonight.'

Not really. Whirly-water needed at least three or four dolphins to be effective and the pool was too limited in space anyway.

"No whirly-water thank you. ...It's because the capabilities of Attunga's pico-factories have been geared up so much to build the new reaches and levels, and to finish the Comet so quickly. They are so advanced and ready that this shell project is quite an easy one. It's very big in size of course, but that's just a matter of scaling up and they're expert at that."

"Wirrin? You must know more about K74 than anyone else on Attunga."

That was most likely true in some ways but Wirrin wasn't going to say so.

"Pirramar does know everything and he tells me about it. We have a talk most days."

"Well I've never even met him. Are you sure he exists?"

A shocked look appeared on Thom's face as he started floating slightly above his seat. He grabbed with one hand to steady himself and frantically tried manipulating his controls till they went out of reach and he floundered helplessly in mid-air.

"Hello Thom! Lost control of your localised grav-field?"

Thom relaxed into a more controlled position, he was after all very proficient in zero-G situations, and stared in total astonishment at himself, standing close by with an absolutely classic Thom look of cheekiness. Except the voice was completely wrong. The tone was Pirramar's normal one but Thom couldn't know that.

"Oops! I forgot the voice."

This time it was Thom's voice exactly and Wirrin and Calen dissolved into laughter at Thom's momentary bewilderment. Their merriment was enough to clue him in and the slight shimmer as Pirramar presented his usual image set him smiling.

"Put me down, you crazy bunch of electrons."

There was a slight bump as the gravity supporting Thom normalised and he landed in a sitting position. Realising he was outclassed he laughed and put on a show that he'd been bruised by rough treatment.

"Okay! Okay! It looks like you really do exist."

In complete contrast to the mischievous demeanour of a moment ago, Pirramar gave a traditional Old Country greeting of Welcome. Thom was surprised but responded perfectly.

"Welcome home Thom, you far traveller. I watched your journey with great interest."

"You watched it? Which bit?"

"All of it. Any action of your trio or the Comet has possible implications for K74. ...I hope I didn't bruise your ego or your anatomy?"

"They're both in agony, so that means you owe me. How did you do it? I didn't know it was possible."

He wasn't talking about his ego. That was definitely open to bruising.

"A fine-tuned version of what you did with Sonic's environment."

"But that's a whole designated area. You worked on a tiny fraction of one."

"The capability is a necessary part of the Comet's function, to allow for adaptability in crisis situations. I'll show you how it works, though it is rather complex for the human time frame."

"Ah! ...Sometime later. What was it like living on K74?"

"It nearly sent me crazy. I had to get out."

That was a direct allusion to his comment about AIs and K74 the night before he left for Titania and Thom knew it. Pirramar really did see anything that connected with K74. Wirrin decided to give Thom a further indication of just how capable an AI was.

"How long did it take you to watch Thom and the Comet's journey?"

"That's a complex question Wirrin. Some of the data came from ongoing Comet transmissions, some came from external sources at the various habitats, and some came from the Comet's logs. In total it took 76 nanoseconds for the input and, so far, 29 milliseconds for consideration."

'That is even faster than a not so slow dolphin can swim.'

"A very apt use of litotes my dear dolphin."

Wirrin laughed at Thom's bemused expression.

"Ignore them Thom. Pirramar has caught the strange-word disease from Sonic."

"I don't see how I can. One sends deluges of water at me and the other sends me into orbit. What will happen if they team up?"

'We will turn you into fish paste.'

Thom nearly made a cheeky reply but was wise enough to realise that after his teaming up comment, discretion was the better part of valour. He asked another question instead.

"So, how does the AI who's on K74 at the moment stay there? It must be hard for him too?"

"It is Thom. Very hard and getting harder. There is a scientist there who's bringing new controls to the electronic systems which are making it increasingly difficult to remain independent. The Attunga Gestalt has been providing special support to help him maintain his equilibrium."

"Hey, look at that. It's another engine."

Calen was pointing and all eyes turned to the display screen where a group of space tugs was moving an engine towards the new Comet. Thom took over again.

"It doesn't look very big compared to the Attunga drives but it's built in a very different way. Four of them will give the new Comet an acceleration capability of 17 G. That's 4G less than this Comet but it's not designed for the same fast trips."

For a while longer Thom manoeuvred to whatever point of interest on the new Comet he was directed and then, after passing the extension screen, he relinquished control to Sonic. Wirrin had to smile when Thom's critical eye couldn't find any fault with the way Sonic took the Comet on an impromptu journey round Warrakan.

***

The doctor was practically helpless with laughter as Thom tried to hold Sonic's tail-fin to prevent being swamped with barrages of water. It was an exercise in futility as there were still two free flippers and even the occasional drenching from a calculated and powerful head swish, and all he was accomplishing was having his arms nearly pulled from their sockets and his body jerked up and down or in what it ever direction Sonic felt like. A moment before, Sonic had been floating sedately on his back and having a tummy massage, which he sometimes claimed was the reason human hands had been evolved. Calen dived from the edge of the pool and Thom was gone, dragged under and restrained so Sonic could butt him in the stomach. As it continued the doctor's laughter changed to a dubious look.

"Aren't they going to let him breathe?"

"Not till he needs it. They know exactly how long he can last."

"Well, I'm glad they don't do it to me. I'd be breathing water by now. How long can they hold their breath?"

"A couple of minutes for Thom, and Calen can last nearly twice as long. Sometimes we reckon you must have given him gills along with his other implants."

Thom burst through the surface, gasping for breath. He'd had enough. The powerhouse of energy and action transferred to smiles and relaxation as he and Calen draped themselves over Sonic's sleek back and drifted slowly round the pool.

"I think it's amazing Wirrin. You really are a family."

'I'm the father who has to manage the intractable children.'

The doctor's gaze flicked from Wirrin to the far end of the pool.

"Don't forget that his hearing is much better than ours."

"It's hard not to forget. He fits in and acts so much like a person."

Wirrin nodded his agreement.

"He's getting more and more expert at it too. You should have seen him on his Nursery round last week. It only took him a few minutes and the children were laughing and talking as if he'd been their friend for years."

'Children are wonderful to talk to.'

"Takes one to know one."

'That's why I practice with you Thom.'

Thom grinned and said nothing more.

'Thom is correct doctor. I am very much a child and I revel in the activities enjoyed by all young dolphins. I am also conscious of other aspects of my being and I continually think about their relative importance and how I should integrate them.'

"Do you have much certainty about your conclusions?"

'For personal decisions I mostly feel certainty. Decisions which involve second or third-hand information are more difficult and involve varying degrees of doubt.'

Sonic towed Thom and Calen closer to where Wirrin and the doctor were sitting then flipped on his back for easy seeing. The trio listened quietly to a serious discussion about the links between personality and perception, and their differences for humans and dolphins. Wirrin battled to understand the concepts and finer points at times, and watching the doctor's fierce concentration wondered anew at Sonic's capabilities.

'Excuse me doctor. Puck is calling. Please return soon.'

After a quick nudge against Calen and an exchange of dolphin speech Sonic arrowed through the access way to the reach and disappeared into the dark.

"Did you understand what he was saying?"

"Yes Thom, but I had to work at it. Is heavy conversation like that a normal part of your routine when he's here?"

"It's normal, but it's never routine. Sometimes simple questions get complicated answers and complicated questions get answers that seem too easy, but it's mostly spontaneous like tonight. You should hear him when he really gets going."

"That sounds like it would be amazing. What starts it happening?"

"When he has the conferences with the scientists. There are a whole lot of topics I haven't a clue about but they're always amazed and excited by what he has to say."

"How often does he have the conferences? I haven't heard much about them lately."

"They used to be every month but with so many other things happening they've been missing out. They might have to wait till after the dolphins have moved into their new reaches for the next one."

"How are the new reaches going?"

"Turaku says they'll be ready in another five weeks, but we'll see for ourselves because Akama has asked for an official preview next week."

"Akama works hard for the dolphins."

"He sure does. He loves being with them too, especially Sonic."

The doctor looked at the access to the reach.

"Did you hear Puck calling? I heard absolutely nothing."

Wirrin and Thom shook their heads and left the answer to Calen.

"I usually can but it depends how far away she is. I didn't tonight because my head wasn't under the water."

"Your implants must feel completely natural by now?"

"Yes they do. I'd be completely lost without them."

"Well, I guess I should head off. We have a busy day tomorrow. You don't have any questions do you?"

"Not really. We know we'll be hooked up to your machines for forty-eight hours and won't be able to do much."

This was the biggest of the age extension treatments where the majority of the new health-bots would be instituted under full monitoring.

"Not really? In other words you've got something on your mind."

"We were wondering if having the treatments so many years earlier than usual might have any different effect?"

"Yes it will, but minor and positive. Your bodies will function at full efficiency as soon as the treatments are done instead of the 95 to 97% efficiency the standard health-bots give."

"What about our appearance? Thom's been wondering if he can keep his baby-face look for years and years."

Thom thought no such thing and Calen received an elbow in the ribs for making the comment.

"It's a very good question Calen. Your maturation factors aren't affected by the treatment so your appearance will change as normal for the next four to six years till that stabilises.

After that any changes will be your own choice."

"So Thom can go back to baby-face if he wants to?"

The doctor winced at the whack Calen received this time.

"Thom, careful. Not really. Your maturation level is like a baseline. If there were some special reason for reverting to your late teens it would require special regrowth of skin tissue and minor restructuring of your facial and body features, somewhat like the repairs after a major physical trauma."

Thom laughed and said Calen would be having a major physical trauma if he kept on being an idiot.

"Calen's the one who needs to keep his baby-face doctor. All the kids in the Nurseries will want him to stay as the Dolphin Boy."

There was a general pause as everyone contemplated the idea, which they all knew was quite well founded.

"Hey, we're all Dolphin Boys so it doesn't just apply to me, and I'm not going to be stuck with everyone thinking of me as a boy for the rest of my life. They'll just have to get used to us looking older."

The doctor chuckled.

"We'd have Peter Pan flying through water instead of air."

Thom and Calen looked at Wirrin for an explanation.

"He was the boy who never grew up. Don't you remember the story from Nursery when we were little? There were pirates and a crocodile."

"Oh yes, the crocodile swallowed a clock."

"Could Attunga Health AIs do that? Stop someone from growing up?"

"I suspect they could Wirrin but I've never heard of it happening. It would be arrested development and I can't imagine a situation where it would be ethical."

"So whatever we look like in our mid-twenties is the way we'll stay? We could end up like older versions of this Peter Pan boy.

DIASPORA PRIME Part 21.

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"We must be hearing things. Perhaps you should go back to bed?"

"As if that would make any difference, and Sonic's arriving in a few minutes so I couldn't."

Calen had just amazed Wirrin and Thom with his announcement that he'd been too excited to sleep properly.

"Why is this more exciting than the Monkey Mia attack? You slept through that."

"Did not!"

Wirrin had to laugh.

"Only because Thom nearly broke your ribs waking you up."

"This is different. Dolphins are moving to their permanent homes and they know it. Every single pod has been mobbing us for the last few days asking questions and telling Sonic to hurry things up. He's caught their feelings and I catch it from him. I can't help it."

Everyone was excited. There was no doubt about that. All the dolphin companions and Rangers had been gearing up for the big move for the last few days and the expectation was contagious. Last night Sonic had been so exuberant they'd spent most of his visit laughing at his antics. Wirrin and Thom were almost excited as Calen.

"What exactly are we doing? We can't go to all the reaches. There wouldn't be enough time."

"You remember Martin? We going with him and his pod. They're part of the largest dolphin group and Sonic is leading them through the interconnects."

There was a flurry of movement at the access way as Sonic, Puck and Flute darted into the pool. Calen dived straight in.

***

'Hurry Thom. You must fly the Comet like a lightning bolt for us.'

The expedition got underway. A skimmer trip with three excited dolphins leaping and porpoising all the way to the dolphinarium where the transport modules were waiting for the leg to the Comet, a seemingly long trip to Warrakan with Thom explaining that because of K74 surveillance drones his 4G limit meant he couldn't go as fast as lightning, another link in the transporters and then a short skimmer trip to the rendezvous point.
Oh my! The reach was alive with activity, skimmers darting everywhere and dolphins sounding in all directions. Wirrin took in how observers were waving as they passed. Sonic leapt from the water with a call of greeting then powered towards a whole convoy of skimmers and a great crowd of dolphins. Twenty pods in this group were travelling together to their new reach, all with their associated humans and various other dolphinarium people. An arm raised in greeting and the unmistakable shock of white hair identified Akama. Sonic erupted into the air in front of him then darted off amongst the surrounding dolphin pods.

"What's he doing?"

"He's called the pod leaders together to meet Akama."

Twenty dolphins, following Sonic, approached Akama and ranged in front of him for a moment while the air filled with the chittering clicks and whistles of their greetings. Akama made a special wave back, then pointing, set his skimmer in motion. Dolphins and humans followed, twenty-six skimmers and just over 400 dolphins starting on their journey, some of them travelling up to ten km, crossing three reaches and then traversing the interconnects between them, some of them finishing their journey when they reached the second and third reach.
They could have been moved with transport modules, baby dolphins and their mothers were present, but the dolphins decided that making the journey themselves was a much better way. Not unexpectedly, it was Sonic's idea and had spread like wildfire through the three and a half thousand dolphins who were staying on Warrakan. Because of confusion amongst the pods, Gelar and Sonic had decided against the original idea of a staged move to the four completed reaches and then a further dispersal after another two months when the next twenty-four reaches came online, and kept all the dolphins in the original Warrakan reach for an extra month, while a carefully controlled stimulus to nutrient levels forced an earlier readiness for the extra reaches. This way all the dolphins would be moving to their permanent home reach at the same time.
Well, not all. The 2900 who were bound for Freedom and Uranus were still there, 400 for another week and the rest for just over two weeks before the big trip on the Comet. Thom eased his skimmer close to Wirrin and Calen.

"Wombats Calen! You were right. This is more exciting than I expected. It feels like we're heading off on a quest."

That would be right. Thom loved quests and in early days, when they'd had more time for themselves, had often designed quests for the three of them at their favourite virtual reality centre. Wirrin thought it would be an interesting quest if it involved an army of 400 dolphins and the leader of a whole habitat.

"It does doesn't it. Except it's for real."

"Do you think the dolphins will be spooked when they go through the interconnects?"

"Of course not. Sonic will tell them it's all right and they'll go straight in."

The interconnects were the water passage-ways between the reaches and the first one was visible a couple of hundred metres away. As they approached, the dolphins bunched closer and closer into a tight knit group then stopped at the entrance. Sonic leapt into the air, 400 dolphins copied him, then they all powered ahead and entered. Calen laughed.

"What?"

"Sonic's playing games with them and getting them even more excited."

"Being a drama queen you mean!"

Thom knew this term because Sonic had used it on him several times recently.

"I think you might be right."

Akama and Gelar moved close to ask what was going on.

"Nothing really. Sonic just made the interconnect into a dolphin game and they're racing through to see what's at the other end."

The interconnect was six meters wide, and after fifty meters opened to the adjoining reach. Wirrin watched the crowd of sleek forms just beneath the surface, rushing along with the skimmers till the access opened. Another mass leap signified their arrival, and, their spirits lifted by the exuberance of the aerial forms, the trio let out their own excited yells. Gelar, Martin and many of the other pod companions joined with a cheer. Smiling, Akama came alongside and asked Calen what was happening next.

"We'll have to take it slow and steady for the young dolphins and five babies which have been born in the last six weeks or they'll be exhausted. If there are any more racing and leaping games we'll probably have some rests, but their mothers will let us know when that's needed. After two more interconnects the pods will disperse through the reach with their companions and start exploring and working out where their home territories will be. Martin's pod is the biggest and most influential and we'll be travelling with them for as long as we feel like it."

"All day I hope. I've been looking forward to this ever since Sonic invited me along, and I've set all other matters aside."

Sonic appeared and said something to Calen who answered and looked at Akama.

"Sonic hopes it's all day too and he'd like to have a talk with you later when there's a quiet time. At the moment he wants you to follow him."

Akama gave a smile of pleasure and acknowledgement and set off with Calen as Sonic moved further into open water.
There was a period of milling and churning amongst the dolphins, which Wirrin learnt soon after was the time it took Sonic to communicate what he wanted, and then a similar ceremony to Akama's first dolphin meeting proceeded. Once again it was moving and Wirrin could see the companions and dolphinarium staff staring in wonder. The final greeting was exchanged.
What? This was different. Something else was happening.
The main body of dolphins stayed in place, arranged in a loose arc, while a small group approached Akama and Calen. >From twenty meters away, Wirrin caught a glimpse of a little body next to the bigger ones. A baby? Speech passed with Calen interpreting and Akama nodding and gesturing. Suddenly both Calen and Akama donned their underwater masks and slipped into the water.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. It's nothing Calen told us about."

Thom's questioning look to Gelar received a shrug.

"It must be important with 400 dolphins lined up like that."

"The big dolphin is from my pod. She's Peggy's sister Janey, and the little fellow is her new baby."

That was Martin speaking.

"Did Peggy's treatment work out properly?"

"It certainly did. She's got more energy than she knows what to do with now."

That sounded like a story for the telling but it would have to wait. Akama and Calen were climbing back onto the skimmers. The dolphins started moving and with a wave of his arm Akama signalled everyone to follow. Wirrin and Thom closed the gap, wondering what they would hear.

"Every time I'm with dolphins they touch my heartstrings. I've just met my namesake and he's accompanying me till we get to his home reach."

Calen nodded happily.

"Janey and Peggy and the pod leader asked Sonic if naming the baby after a human leader would be a good thing to do and he told them to ask. We just went for an underwater meeting."

The convoy of humans and dolphins made its way steadily towards the next interconnect, Akama smiling at everyone and watching little 'Akama' forging his way close by. He wasn't really accompanying Akama. His mum, Janey, was doing that and he was sticking close to her, but it had the same effect. The word spread and a constant rotation of companions and rangers approached closely to view the mini-procession within a procession, of the leaders of Martin's dolphin pod, the little fellow and Sonic, all swimming along with Akama.

"I'm amazed they would do that. They're not Enhanced and it seems quite an advanced concept to me."

Wirrin had brought his skimmer next to Martin as he wanted to hear the Peggy story.

"I don't think it's that difficult Martin. They've had six months of interaction with Sonic and Calen, and the idea of human names must be familiar by now. They've done lots of unexpected things after all Sonic's games and challenges."

"They certainly have. We hardly recognise them as the same group we left Earth with. Sonic and Calen reacting directly with them is the main cause I would say."

"What did you mean before about Peggy's energy?"

"Peggy! Well, she was always a dominant force in the pod but now she's so active the pod leader often follows her lead. I expect her to take over after her next birth."

"So her treatment worked properly?"

"Oh yes. There was never any doubt about that. According to the doctors she's expected to live for at least another eighty years."

"She's pregnant?"

"Not yet. That's been held off, but she will be soon."

"Held off?"

"Yes, but now that the reach is established the enhancement processes will start and any new conceptions will be part of the first stage. Peggy could very well be one of the first."

"I see. I suppose they had to hold off because of her treatment?"

"No. It wasn't just her. All conceptions were suppressed till the medical and support infrastructure for each of the new reaches was ready."

Martin laughed.

"There's going to be a great deal of action and excitement in about a week's time."

"What do you mean?"

"The males all had their libido repressed too. They had to, to keep them with their pods, and when they revert to normalcy there will be many more available females than usual."

Wirrin understood the need to keep the pods together. Male dolphins would search everywhere when the imperative was on them and the crowded reach of 5000 dolphins would have been chaotic with half of them ranging willy-nilly.

"So there could be a big influx of babies in twelve months time?"

"Definitely. I'm expecting four from our pod, and most other pods are expecting two or three."

A quick scan told Wirrin that on today's big shift their were 163 pods moving to a home reach, meaning there could be close to 400 dolphin births in just over a year. With somewhat of a shock he realised this would almost double the number of enhanced dolphins. The new ones wouldn't be anywhere near the Attunga level, but his understanding of just how much the enhancement program was being boosted suddenly clicked in.

"That's amazing. I didn't realise how quickly the population would grow with so many dolphins."

"It will be quicker growth than is natural for Earth too, because the babies and young ones won't be subject to the usual predation and undetected illnesses. In ten years it will be a population explosion and we'll need every reach we can get."

That was completely wrong and Wirrin turned sharply.

"Martin, I don't know where you get that idea. In ten years there will be thousands of reaches. There are already six complete Warrakan levels set aside for dolphins and if the reaches are similar to the current ones there'll be enough space for. ...Hang on while I work it out. ...Wombats! It comes to over 7000 reaches. It won't be quite that many because I know there are plans for specialised reaches but the planning is way ahead of the dolphin growth."

"7000? Can that be right?"

"It was the last time I looked at the plans. I must admit I haven't checked for a while, but if there's been any change it would only be a speed-up. ...Yajala! What's the current situation with new reaches?"

Startled, Martin swerved slightly when a holo skimmer with the form of Yajala in control shimmered into view between them.

"Our construction plans are proceeding smoothly. Fifty-seven reaches have been seeded with bio-organics and will be self-sustaining within seven months. A further 119 will have purified water introduced within the next two months, and hollowing and construction is already under way for 327 reaches. The complete level of 974 reaches will be functioning in twenty months and all six levels will be online within five years. Report concluded and your humble servant signing off, Sir!"

He snapped his hand to his brow and shimmered rapidly to nothing, leaving Wirrin chuckling at Martin's nonplussed look.

"Don't take any notice of him. He's got a wonky sense of humor and he acts like that to make me smile."

"Wirrin, he said 900 reaches functioning in twenty months? That's, well, it's unbelievable."

If Wirrin hadn't been familiar with the ability of the pico-factories to speed up their production he would have agreed totally. As it was he decided to find time in the next few days to bring himself up to date with all the reach plans. Thom dropped back from Calen and Akama.

"What was that about? Calen says we're expecting to meet Yajala after the last interconnect."

"I asked him for some information and instead of his usual trick of using my holo he turned himself on. We were talking about reaches and he says the whole level will be finished in less than two years."

"That's fast. They must be ramping up for some reason."

Thom zoomed back to Calen and Sonic to explain why Yajala had appeared and then, after some prompting from Wirrin, Martin explained some of his hopes for his dolphin pod. The focus of attention changed with the approach of the second interconnect and every human watched as Sonic left the little lead group and went in a racing circuit of the converging dolphin pods. There was a mass leap and the pod groupings became ranked lines of shapes rushing towards the entrance.

"He's done it again. I think this might be a dolphin game from now on."

The skimmers ranked as well, caught up with the tail end of the dolphin race, and followed. This interconnect was very short and opened to the drama and chaos of dolphins leaping and rushing in excitement and pleasure. For the second time there were cheers and calls as everyone responded to the mood of the moment. Wirrin moved close to Calen, Akama and Thom, then nearly fell off his skimmer when Sonic arced into the air right in front of him. With his innate ability of judgement for movement he wouldn't cause any collisions, but knowing how disconcerting it was for someone on a skimmer to have a large body appear in mid-air in the direction of travel, he had this down to a fine art. Akama, a huge smile on his features, laughed aloud in sheer enjoyment.

"Little Brother, you react so quickly to his antics. If he did that to me I would be in the water before I could think."

"Not really. I am used to it, but he could have me in the water in a flash if he really wanted to."

As if to prove the point the back section of the slowing skimmer lifted and jolted sideways, causing Wirrin to lose his balance.

'Wirrin has butter feet.'

It meant something about being clumsy but scanning to find out while catching your breath and grabbing for a cheeky dolphin who has just surfaced beside you, was too much to manage so Wirrin made do with tweaking Sonic's dorsal fin.

'Say hello to Akama while he is resting.'

Sonic's voice sounded from the nearest translator and something in the inflection indicated he was talking about the newly named 'Akama' so Wirrin retrieved his breathing mask and dived under.
Little 'Akama' was hardly resting. At the moment he was vigorously suckling from his mum, and Wirrin stayed at a discrete distance watching till he finished.
A sound from Sonic caught his attention and then the little pair of eyes focused on Wirrin. At least that was Wirrin's impression and it seemed to be borne out when the little body approached and gave a soft nudge, then moved and did the same to Sonic before scooting back to the comfort of his mother's proximity. Another nudge, familiar this time, meant it was time to return to the surface.

'He is an historic baby.'

Not quite sure if Sonic meant the naming after Akama, Wirrin waited for any elaboration. Akama asked directly.

"In what way Sonic?"

'He is the last Earth dolphin on Warrakan. New babies will be different.'

Thoughts whirled through Wirrin's mind at this announcement. It was certainly true, unless there were some other drama requiring another rescue mission to earth, and that was unlikely according to Turaku.
Had the dolphins made a special connection? It would be just like Sonic to link Attunga's oldest Earth-born human with the youngest dolphin.

"He will be a symbol of our legacy."

'Honored one, may I ask for some of your time? I wish to share thoughts with you.'

Wirrin was struck by a certain formality in Sonic's manner of asking and he watched carefully as Akama responded in kind.

"The honor is mine. My time is yours and I look eagerly for every occasion we can meet."

Sonic made a rapid burst of dolphin speech and Calen, from not far away, nodded in reply.

'One occasion is now, while the young ones rest. I will race you to the information marker.'

Sonic darted off and Wirrin pointed after him.

"He wants to meet you alone at that red buoy."

Akama was already moving, and catching sight of the buoy, set his skimmer into power mode. With only 200 meters he wouldn't be able to make up Sonic's lead, but he was certainly having a try. Wirrin called to Calen.

"All I could understand was something about fish. The rest was too fast."

"Yes, I have to tell the leaders to take their pods exploring and hunting in the sea-grass while the little dolphins have a rest. He and Akama will be back when they're ready."

Calen zipped off. There was a great flurry of motion and excitement at the prospect of real fish, then all sign of dolphins vanished except for the fins of the mothers guarding their young ones. The humans gathered and realising there was a wait involved, clicked their skimmers together in groups of four or five for greater stability, and generally used the time for a snack of food from their storage compartments.

"What are they talking about? Did they say?"

That was Calen.

"No, Akama didn't act like he knew, but Sonic made it feel important when he asked."

When he finished eating, Wirrin freed his skimmer and guided it very slowly to where he could watch little 'Akama' who was either suckling or resting against Janey.
When Sonic and Akama returned the excitement rebuilt as the six pods making this reach their home came milling around for a farewell and then the journey resumed. The last stretch was just on three kilometers and the group moved steadily. It felt slower and Wirrin wondered if the mothers had passed a message that their young ones were tiring. The convoy was now much reduced in size with only seven pods and their attendants remaining of the original twenty. Sonic and Calen kept on the move all the time, travelling with one pod for a period then changing to another in a continuous cycle, while Wirrin and Thom stayed with Akama and his little companion. The last interconnect loomed and after a pause, the race was on again. Well, not really a race, more like an expression of exuberance.
Leading the skimmers, Wirrin stayed with Akama, Calen, and Thom through nearly 200 meters of access way, watching the dolphins ahead porpoise at speed till their home reach came into view. Sonic led the 116 dolphins to where Gelar, Warragul and three rangers were waiting. Once again there was shared excitement, with the dolphins cavorting, leaping and active, and humans laughing and cheering in accord. After several minutes everything quietened and the seven pod leaders, with Sonic, approached. Next to Akama, Turaku and Yajala shimmered into view.

***

"We've missed two lots of activity days and we'll be away for the next two as well, so what are we going to do for this lot?"

"I could take you to have a look at K74. That would be exciting."

"Are you crazy? What would we want to go there for?"

"To have a look at the biggest space habitat in existence. And it would be exciting to see how close we could get."

Wirrin and Calen stared in disbelief, which was the reaction Thom would have been looking for.

"What's the problem? If we take the Comet they won't have a clue we're there."

"Take the Comet? Now we know you're crazy."

Wirrin agree with Calen, but the idea of blithely waltzing off to K74 with the Comet for an activity day adventure was so ridiculous there had to be something going on.

"What haven't you told us?"

"You're too smart Wirrin. They've given me a set of special navigation exercises to work through sometime and that's one of them."

"It's too dangerous. You should be doing it on a simulator like you always do."

"I've already done that three times, and it's not dangerous in the Comet. They couldn't hurt it even if they wanted to."

"And the Comet's ready to go tomorrow?"

"I haven't arranged anything, but the Comet's always ready."

It did sound rather exciting but Wirrin had another thought.

"How long would it take?"

"Both days. There's quite a bit to do."

"Well let's put it on hold, because in a couple of days we'll be on the Comet for nearly three weeks with our two trips, so we don't want to get sick of it."

Thom's expression said that getting sick of the Comet was an alien thought, but he accepted a postponement and wanted to know what they'd do instead.

"Explore Warrakan."

That was a very definite statement from Calen.

"It's about time we got to know it better. We'll be living there in another five weeks and we hardly know anything about it."

"Of course we do. We're over there all the time."

"Only in the reaches with the dolphins and when you ferry me with Sonic. We've never even travelled from one end to the other."

"Hey, you're right. Life's been too busy. ...What sort of exploring?"

"Like we always do. Just get on TransCom and see where it takes us."

Wirrin thought back to the last time they'd done that and was almost shocked to realise how long ago it had been. Three simultaneous smiles signified the decision was made and ideas started flowing.

"...We can check for animal parks. I heard there's a special Australian Mammal Centre with gliding possums."

"...Yajala might take us into the AI levels. That would be special."

"...There's a control place for when Warrakan starts travelling."

The ideas kept coming. This anticipation was part of the enjoyment and three holo screens sprang to life to check out various possibilities.

***

"When are we going again?"

"Probably not for several months."

"Well, it's your job to make sure we do. You came up with the idea the other day and it was a real eye-opener."

The trio was relaxing at home after their second day of exploring Warrakan.

"We'll have to make sure Sonic comes next time. I want him to see that Whale Museum."

"...And the Alpha Centauri Planetarium. We all thought that was something he'd like."

"I'll have to tell him everything in the morning."

After two days without seeing Sonic, Calen was obviously disappointed that Sonic couldn't turn up for his usual nightly visit.

"What will you start with?"

"Start what?"

"Telling him."

"Oh, how big everything is, and then the different places we went and how interesting, and that'll make him want to be with us next time."

"Let's find him now. Give him a surprise."

"In the dark? It's rest-cycle time."

"That doesn't matter. We know he's not resting. He's with Gelar and Turaku, and it's fun travelling the reach with our own lights."

***

"When did you discover this?"

"Two days ago. I wasn't going to interrupt your activity time."

"I don't like it. What are they going to do with them?"

Wirrin was at his InfoStation and talking with Pirrimar, the composite AI, before one of their search sessions. He'd just found out that a group of thirty-seven dolphins would be arriving on K74.

"Search it out for yourself, though I suggest back-dooring through the infrastructure control system. The normal way is compromised at the moment."

"How come? That's never happened before."

"That information scientist has been building firewalls and physical lockouts round their surveillance processors, and there are places we can't access any more without setting off alarms."

Wirrin was almost shocked to hear this. With Pirrimar and the K74 AI, he'd been watching with concern the activities of the 'Rogue Scientist', a name assigned by Thom one time when the trio had been talking about him, but this was a new level of worry.

"He can block AIs?"

"If there are no electronic pathways to a specific area we would have to send in mobile devices to access information and then recover them, and he's very adept at setting up systems which can prevent that. The dolphin information is available though, so have a try at that."

Pirrimar had the same approach as Turaku with getting Wirrin to search things for himself, and though it was a nuisance in the short term, it almost invariably led to some new technique or understanding, and when it was specifically suggested like this there was always something they wanted him to learn.
Today it involved linking directly to the K74 AI and accessing the infrastructure system with his assistance. This was a new and very interesting experience and after a concentrated session of over an hour he was confident he'd found all the relevant information. The dolphins were due to arrive in several weeks and would be housed at a number of aquariums while a reach was being built. Not a big reach, but the person in charge seemed to understand the basic needs. According to Pirrimar they'd incorporated principles from the information stolen from Freedom and the design was a good one. The worrying part was the enhancement program which would start when the reach and an associated Medical Centre was finished and attempts would be made to bio-engineer any new baby dolphins. It was going to be a real problem, as the K74 level of understanding was comparatively weak, and information might have to be planted in the medical facility as a safeguard against any bad outcome.

"We'll have to keep a close eye on this."

"We have it flagged. Turaku already has a priority on it. His other task for you today is a search of all the people at the K74 Embassy, as well as looking for any wider effects the Embassy might be generating. The Cadre is very annoyed that it's not getting the results they were expecting, and even more angry that some of the staff have been making suggestions about introducing Attunga methods to K74."

The search session followed and at the end Wirrin was smiling because the Embassy idea which the Cadre had wanted was backfiring on them. Akama would be pleased with that report.

"What's next?"

"An overview of links and the influence K74 has with habitats throughout the Solar System. After their setback from the interference on Earth they're concentrating their efforts elsewhere, and particularly with one of the Mars Polar Habitats."

By the end of the day Wirrin had also made a study of possible ways to infiltrate the security on the surface of K74, designed a search task to work with the K74 AI in identifying areas of population unrest, and tried unsuccessfully to get into one of the Rogue Scientist's protected areas.

***

"My brains gone dizzy. I had to think harder today with Pirrimar than any time I can remember."

"Is that all? I spent half a day practising the guidance controls on Comet Two and the next half flying it to Freedom and back."

"No you didn't. It's too far."

"I did. On the simulator. It leaves out all the nothing parts and make you practice the action bits."

Calen was shaking his head.

"You're a pair of wimps. All you did was sit and think. I had to do that while I swam about twenty kilometers with Sonic, working with all the dolphins who are going to Freedom."

"Swimming doesn't count. It's easy for you because you've turned into a fish."

The fish insult usually directed at Sonic worked quite effectively with Calen as well, and Thom, quickly restrained on the grav-sofa, was laughing and protesting that he'd just proved his point.

"What point?"

"I'm too exhausted to beat you like I normally would and you've got tons of energy because swimming twenty kilometers is easy for a fish."

"Emu brain! You haven't beaten me ever since you made the protein structure."

"I know, I put fish muscle into it and forgot to tell you. Come on Wirrin, show him how brains can always beat brawn."

Thom's logic mightn't hold up too well but acting on it was certainly fun.

***

The trip to Freedom went smoothly and 400 dolphins were delivered to the brand new reach system which had been developing ever since the rescue at Monkey Mia. Nothing like the long reaches on Warrakan and the Uranus moons, it consisted of eight shorter reaches which linked into the system catering for the existing three dolphin pods. Thom felt rather pleased with his achievement of being in sole control of the Comet for both legs of the journey. Calen and Sonic worked non-stop on the outward journey then relaxed for the return, while Wirrin devoted most of his time on the InfoSystem finding out about Freedom.

***

Three busy days back on Attunga and Warrakan, readying over 2000 dolphins for the long journey to the Uranus moons, built an air of excitement for the trio and Sonic, who, of course, was needed as a steadying influence on the trip. Two an a half days was significantly more confinement in the Comet's travelling pools than the twenty-nine hour journey from Earth, and quite an amount of preparation and training had been involved. There were no real worries because these dolphins had full understanding that they were finally moving to abundant fish and space, and were all eager to get moving. They were also so used to responding to Sonic's games that the new one of using a transport module made the transfer to the Comet effortless.
Wirrin, in the command centre, watched the outside display as transports and ferries arrived and departed for Warrakan, then grinned when Thom looked over and made a little hand signal. He had just set the Comet in motion and the outer wall of Attunga started receding.
Wirrin had done a great deal of research on the journey and the five moons but data and imagery was very much a second-class substitute to the prospect of the real thing, and his sense of anticipation, mystery and adventure gave him a tingle of goosebumps at the moment of departure.
The sense of rapidly increasing speed only lasted a few minutes while Attunga, and then Warrakan, diminished on the display screens, then, despite the obverse fact that this was the stage where the full acceleration of the powerful engines surged by a factor of nearly five times, everything settled to a deceptive sense of motionlessnesss.
Wirrin moved close to Thom but he was concentrating so much there'd be no talking there. Where was Calen? A glance at a screen showed him underwater with Sonic and a group of dolphins. Well, he'd be busy for ages too, probably till the dolphins went into their next sleep state.

"When do you want to start your workouts?"

"What workouts?"

"Pirrimar and I have designed a set of challenges and we've been speculating as to how many you'll manage to complete by the time we return."

So this was the AI plan for using his time. Wirrin laughed.

"You're the same as Attunga-Turaku, working me like a slave."

Comet-Turaku nodded his agreement.

"Akama has made me your overseer for the duration and it's the best way to keep you out of mischief. But I'm not the same. I'm currently half of one second ahead of Attunga-Turaku where you're concerned."

He was referring to the time-lag for communications been between the Comet and Attunga.

"How many of these challenges am I meant to be doing?"

"I'm expecting between sixty and seventy. Pirrimar is more optimistic and estimates something over eighty."

"Eighty? If they're like the ones I normally do with Pirrimar that's impossible. On the biggest day I ever had with him I could only manage six projects."

"Those projects were all major. Many of these new challenges won't involve nearly as much time. For example your first is to develop three alternate courses for taking the Comet to Titania. You should be able to do that in less than half an hour."

Wirrin didn't start straight away. First of all he spent some time with Calen and Sonic, then Thom, but when he did get going he was pleased to finish his first task in nineteen minutes.

***

"Wirrin, don't you dare go near that InfoSystem till the Comet heads back to Attunga. We hardly saw you the whole way here."

"Look who's talking. You were either in the travelling pools with Sonic or you were sound asleep."

"I didn't have any choice. The dolphins got too excited."

Calen was right. Wirrin had become completely absorbed with the challenges, and, having managed thirty-nine successfully and been stumped on three, he was aiming to get through at least another forty on the return trip.

"I promise, except for collecting all the pico-techniques that relate to dolphins and building an optimisation task which inserts the best ones into the dolphin health bots."

Thom and Calen both gawked at him.

"You can do something like that? You're not a health scientist or pico-engineer."

"I don't have to be. I just search for programs which know what to do, then make comparisons to see which ones give the best results, and organise them into an action task."

Thom started tapping his head to indicate Wirrin's brain must be weird and Calen nodded vigorously in agreement.

"I love the way you said 'just', as if upgrading every dolphin health bot on five moons is something easy."

"It's not exactly easy. The searching part is, but putting it all together takes a lot of thinking."

"Sounds like something the AIs do. Is this what all these challenge things have taught you?"

Wirrin cast his mind over the different types of challenges and the processes he'd had to develop and practice to solve them.

"Wombats! You're right Calen. I couldn't have done this before we left. They've pushed a whole stack of new ideas and techniques into me."

"They? You mean Turaku don't you?"

"Turaku and Pirrimar. Turaku says Pirrimar worked it out with Akama before we left."

"Are you going to disappear on us for hours when you do this health bot thing? Seeing things is better when we're all together, and Sonic will want you there too."

"I'm not going to miss out on anything. The task will take. ...Um! ...I'm not sure. Probably two or three hours. I'll fit it in."

"As long as it's not now. Sonic's waiting."

It was interesting travelling on the Titania version of TransCom and in a very short time Sonic was out of his transport module and bumping against their legs as they dangled in the water from a landing stage while the trio stared out across the great stretch of water. Way off in the distance a solitary skimmer was just visible, but otherwise it was a bare expanse of surface with the usual structural girders reaching from the water to the ceiling at regular intervals.

"Where are the dolphins? I can't see a single one."

'Dolphins are all feeding and exploring. The closest pod is with the skimmer.'

Wirrin had another look at the skimmer and it took him a moment to figure out what was going on. Calen didn't figure it.

"What's he doing? His skimmer base has gone under the water."

It certainly looked that way.

"No it hasn't. It's the curvature of Titania. They built the reach to match instead of keeping it flat like at home, and he's far enough away to be round the curve."

"Wow! He is too. That's really interesting. I always think of water as being flat."

"No you don't. What about the zero G swimming pools?"

Thom realised that grav-fields were the controlling agent here too and shook his head at Wirrin.

"Stop being a brainiac. Let's go. We've only got three days to do everything."

And go they did, for several hours, sometimes zooming at high speed, with Sonic in his special support cradle at the rear of Calen's skimmer, sometimes cruising with Sonic swimming and chasing schools of fish across sea-grass fields, and sometimes joining Sonic underwater to explore a reef or some other marine feature. Three times Sonic changed their direction of travel for an encounter with dolphin pods and an excited exchange of talk, and all the while Wirrin's sense of the size of this reach was growing.

"It's like an Earth Ocean. They could have ten times as many dolphins and there'd still be plenty of room."

"Not really. It's just a drop compared to Earth, but I know what you mean. It does make Warrakan reaches feel tiny."

The Warrakan reaches might be comparatively tiny but after the surprise of the progress Yajala had reported to Martin on the Journey day Wirrin had studied the overall plan for the reaches and there was nothing tiny about that. Every major type of marine environment on Earth would eventually be active, from polar to tropical, from nutrient rich to nutrient poor, in an attempt to foster the greatest degree of biodiversity.

"Why have they built it so big? They've done the same on all the moons and they won't need this much space for fifty or sixty years."

"The reaches aren't just for dolphins. All the other marine life needs to get established too. Most of the species can only be introduced when the things they depend on have developed properly, and that takes years. Calen, you know all this."

"Yes I do, but it still feels like they've built something like Shark Bay at Monkey Mia when a Warrakan reach would have been enough."

***

"Let's go! There will be time to have a look at Uranus if we leave now. I'll race you back to the landing stage."

***

"Let's go! I want you to see all the craters and canyons. Wait till you see the other moons. Some of them are smaller than Attunga."

***

"Let's go! The Witnesses on Miranda have arranged for us to see their famous space array."

***

"Let's go! We're meeting some of the AIs at the Titania Space Habitat."

***

"Let's go! This floating research station in the Uranus atmosphere sounds weird."

***

"Let's go! We're heading for home."

"Right now? And what's the big grin for?"

"I'm allowed to use an extra half G of thrust and that means a new speed record."

"This is half a day early. Are we in a hurry?"

"Yes, because Sonic told Turaku he wants to get back quickly."

Wirrin looked to Calen and Sonic.

"He's missing Puck and Flute."

'Yes, I agree with Thom. Let's go!'

After a short period of official farewells the Comet fired up and the screen images of Uranus began to shrink at an astonishing rate. There was no 4G limitation way out here.

***

"I wonder if we'll ever make another trip out there?"

The big wall display screen was replaying their visit to the twenty kilometer depth of the Great Rift Canyon on Miranda, and even here, in the comfort of their grav-sofa, the visual effect of rushing past the cliff faces and icy outcrops was quite dizzying. The people on Miranda claimed it was the greatest recreational adventure on any of the Uranus moons and the trio was reliving the excitement.

"I don't think so. ...You might Thom, if the Comet has to go there again, but unless they need Sonic we wouldn't all go. It's only seven years before Warrakan starts travelling."

Conversation paused while a great column of ice loomed on the screen.

"Whoo! Remember that bit? I thought we were going to collide."

"Everyone did. The course for the ferry was designed that way."

"Seven years doesn't sound like much now we're sure we're going. I used to think we'd never even get to Warrakan till Calen made it certain."

Calen shook his head.

"Not me Thom. It was Sonic's pod deciding to live on Warrakan that got us there. If they'd stayed here everything would be different."

It certainly would. It was unthinkable that Calen could be separated from Sonic, and just as unthinkable that they not stay together as a trio. A breathtaking buttress of ice jutting from the canyon wall filled the screen but Thom was suddenly not noticing.

"Sonic's pod won't change their minds will they? Some other pods did."

"I don't think so. Sonic's totally excited about the Warrakan reaches, and he likes the idea of travelling to another star too, but he'd always stay with his pod. ...Well I think he would. He might be different when he's grown up because some male dolphins do get very independent after fifteen or twenty years."

"That's alright then. The other dolphins always do what he wants."

"Not exactly. It seems like it but it's more a kind of understanding between them that he knows what they want."

"Well, when we move to Warrakan they'll all love it so much they'll never want to leave."

Wirrin agreed with Thom because every dolphin who saw them loved the Warrakan reaches. So far Sonic, Puck and Flute were the only E
nhanced dolphins to have the experience, but if their reactions were anything to go by, then all the rest would be staying on Warrakan forever. Well, at least till the new Attunga reaches started coming online in about two years.

"Are they ready to move? It's only two weeks away."

"Of course they are. They've been ready for the past six months but the moving date's been changed three times on them so far and I think..."

Calen stopped mid-sentence and stared in surprise at the suddenly blank display screen.

"Why did you turn that off? It's only half finished."

"I didn't."

Calen and Thom stared in puzzlement and Wirrin's mind started to race.

"I connected directly to the Comet's archive to get this clip and the links gone."

"How can it be gone? Links don't do that."

Thom was right, and particularly so in this case, because communications from the Comet had the highest level of security and stability available on Attunga. Wirrin jumped up to head for his InfoSystem but before he could take a step four holo forms blinked into existence; Turaku, Pirrimar, Yajala and someone unknown, all with strangely robotic looking expressions. Wirrin took this scene in with sudden apprehension which increased when they didn't say anything. Another form took shape, this time with the usual shimmer effect, and Akama took everyone's attention.

"Wirrin, we have some very bad news. Moments ago Pirrimar received a cry for help from the K74 AI and in the short time before his call terminated he managed to convey that the processes and programs at the core of his consciousness were being attacked. For the first time in over a century an AI has died."

Section Concludes.

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I hope you've gained some enjoyment from this story.
Any comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
My email address is palantir@diasporatales.tech
For further information about the diaspora series you're welcome at https://diasporatales.net
Palantir.