The complex was extraodinarily quiet. Adem deduced rather quickly that death was an important issue on this planet. He decided that it would be best for him to slip away and allow them their rituals concerning this situation. The alien ducked out of the door and wandered the halls.
{What do we do now?} Jym asked.
Adem lifted the screen in his palm to his face and answered, "We find out how to get back home. That's what."
The alien and his AI companion finally found themselves in the main computer room. The translation computer had yet to break down the alphabet used on this planet, making a manual interaction with the computer impossible. Adem was about to mentally comand his nanites to tap into the system when Jym spoke, {Please. Allow me.}
"Are you sure you can do this," Adem asked hesitantly. "You didn't do so well last time, remember?"
{That was before I had a chance to monitor and analyze the technology on this planet. Also, a physical connection with the use of your nanites would allow me better interfacing than my previous attempt at remote networking.}
The quiver of reluctance rang in Adem's voice as he responded, "Alright. Just be careful this time." The nanites traveled forth and connected Jym directly into the Vanguard mainframe. Jym's face flickered off the screen as two terribly seperate and incompatible technologies met, head to head, for the first time.
{Here I am, available for the first time in stereo!} Jym's face proudly proclaimed from every computer screen in the room. {It is a pretty tight fit in here. It looks big on the outside but inside is rather uncomfortable. I am still having to use the portable to store most of my data.}
"Any problems with the security software?"
{Pfffftttt!} the AI responded as a tongue appeared on half the screens with the other half displayed a game of pong. {They are still using a binary system. How in Bateks's name do they ever plan to leave their solar system with this, I don't know. Hold on a second...... I think..... I might have.... Yes! Though this system is extremly limited, I have found connections to outside systems. I should be able to open them and access terminals on a global scale.}
"Can you access star charts or anything else that can help us get back home?"
Several hours passed as Jym instantly became an expert in searching out and accessing other systems. His advanced speed and capability only helped to fuel his impaitence with the slower machines. The alien AI easily swept into systems and out again without a trace, taking only the information it sought. As he compiled data from observitories, libraries, and archieves on the location of this Earth planet in relation to the rest of the cosmos, Jym also fed Adem with information on languages and their alphabets.
"Well?" Adem asked after many hours of learning and waiting.
{I only ask that you remember that none of this is my fault.} the AI asked as a frightened child who just broke a window might. Different nodded slowly as his head hung heavier now knowing that the news would not be at all to his liking. All the monitors but one changed from Jym's face to representations of the solar system and the galaxy. {None of the surrounding star clusters, nebuli, or galaxies represented in the wholeness of Earth knowledge appear in any of our own literature. It would seem that we have been catapulted to an entirely unknown section of space. At best we are no less than 200,000 light years from the home world.}
Different's face was solid as stone and unwaivering. His voice, however, gave his true emotion away. Adem Different, visitor from another world, one of the foremost Cleaners in his cluster, was depressed. "So, we rode on a beam of light for over 200,000 years? Even if we could find a way back, it would take another 200,000 years to get there. There'd be nothing. Nothing for me, anyway. Everything I know is long gone. Everyone I know is long gone." His speech trialed off as he sat, pondering.
{The transporters must have malfunctioned.} Jym could tell that Adem was not in the mood to hear theories on what went awry. {Well, what should we do now?}
Different stood. "Might as well make the best of it. There's nothing we can do." His voice had now changed. It was more definite and forceful. "The language research was a good start. Give me everything you can find on culture, geography, history, whatever. If I'm going to be stuck here, I'm not going to be unprepared."
