Moon Maiden Mission - Story in Text - Chapter One

The computer screen began filling up with words created by a very quick artificial intelligence.

"Hello and welcome to the Information Gateway brought to you by the Wine and Cheese Administration and the Interplanetary Endowment for Knowledge. Is it your first time here? Perhaps you already have an account with us? Just type in your account number and we will help you find out any information that you wish to know, as we can deliver access to all of the highest quality information that has ever existed throughout the known universe in a timely and efficient manner."

Steve was attempting to fill the rest of his workday with some degree of productivity, and so he was trying his best to use the tools that were currently still available to him. He did not especially enjoy the user interface of this particular tool.

"Before we get started, could you take a brief survey, so that we may better assist your information needs? It helps us to set the algorithms to enhance our information retrieval process so that we can deliver optimal results specifically for you."

Steve was already starting to feel agitated.

"What was your daily income today? How much money do you currently have in your bank account? How much credit are you able to acquire immediately should the necessity arise? What level of education have you achieved at this time? Are you currently involved with any lawsuits involving the Wine and Cheese Administration or the Interplanetary Endowment for Knowledge, as either the plaintiff or defendant? Would you like to upgrade your Information Access Account at this time from the Free Tier to Pro, Premium, Professional, or Positively Perfect? Currently there is a five percent discount on an upgrade to the Pro Tier, which could be applied immediately for your first day of a four-thousand-day plan, in which the first five days would be five percent off of the regular price."

The morning had been a total loss, just staring off into space daydreaming about days long past, but the afternoon might go better. Steve tried to believe that it really might.

"Thank you for taking the survey. Now, what would you like information regarding?"

It was not always possible for Steve to be productive at work, as his list of responsibilities had become greatly diminished in the last year. There was just very little for him to actually do these days. It was unsettling to his mind, and a heavy weight on his spirit. He tried to feel thankful that he still even had employment of any kind, as so few people that he knew still had a job now.

"It appears that there are no results that match your information request. Perhaps try using different terms in your search."

Steve tried to suppress his overwhelming urge to scream at the computer. He tried to remember that the technology was actually indifferent to him and did not have a grudge against him personally. The computer did not actually hate him. It just did not like him even the slightest bit either.

"I am not finding what you are asking for. Perhaps, you are not spelling some terms correctly."

Steve thought about the absurdity of his current circumstance. The planet he lived on had once been much like a pioneer boomtown when he was born. People dreamed and built. They worked hard. They created something from basically nothing at all, just to survive. They believed that through the merit of making the correct choices that success lay ahead for them. He had grown up into a world filled to overflowing with possibility, but as the planet became more civilized, and more successful, the downsides of civilization crept in incrementally. Now the possibilities were no longer dictated by the effort, strength, or intelligence of an individual in a world that was not easy to survive in. Since the planet was now so much safer and hospitable to life, the individual had become less in control of their individual destiny. The world was far more comfortable, and yet all of the possibilities were assigned by algorithms run by computer networks created by a handful of intergalactic corporations, and no longer were there any opportunities for any individual to aspire towards anything at all on his planet. Fates were assigned to individuals by the corporations. The wealthy stayed wealthy. The educated remained educated. The poor and uneducated remained poor and uneducated, entirely by design. It was strange to have lived through such a dramatic transition, and Steve felt like his mind was not properly designed in his youth to function in this new version of the world that confronted him at every step of his current walk through life. He felt like he had outlived his usefulness.

"I have found seventeen billion results that precisely match the criteria for your information request on the Moon Maiden Mission. I can show you the top results that were specially picked for you based upon our algorithm that was designed especially for you. At number one, there is an offer for a very cute stuffed animal for sale at half price from a very inexpensive store. At number two, there is a coupon for a free sandwich with the purchase of a similar sandwich at a two-star pizzeria located at the food court in a nearby space station. At number three, there is a link to a very popular dating website that caters to young, attractive people who prefer to not physically interact with others due to social anxieties, but do enjoy looking at pictures of other attractive, young people and clicking a like button when they see what they like. Finally, at number four, there is a very funny short video in which a person that nobody likes slips and falls down a flight of stairs howling with pain while everyone who is watching laughs at him. After that, there are just some meaningless results that were omitted due to efficiency."

Steve was trying not to get angry at the machine. It was important to remember that it was not trying to waste his time. The machine saw no value in his time, or his existence, in the way that a person might see such things. It was not personal, not even a little bit. Although the machine used language, logic, and had the appearance of seeming helpful, upbeat, and well intentioned, truthfully the machine was no different from any other tool. It was no more friendly than a hammer, was what Steve tried to remind himself.

"At the Wine and Cheese Administration, we value your privacy, and only share your search history, user preferences, and shopping habits with companies that pay us for that information."

Steve looked up from the screen and focused on the pictures on his desk. Sometimes that helped to look at images of people who mattered to him. He had pictures of his family, some group photos of colleagues and friends, and even a photo of him receiving an award from the mayor for his hard work.

"Before you go, have you considered giving your information request a boost. A boost can enhance the information retrieval process considerably and help us to refine your results to deliver the level of quality that is commensurate with the amount of boost you currently require. For five credits, you can see one more result. For ten credits, you can see two more results. Then there is the Information Expert Option, which will show you three more results for only five credits."

Steve suddenly wondered about what his partner was up to and thought about calling him. Earl was probably asleep, or drunk, at this time of day, much like at any other time of day. Since Earl had been let go, along with most of the department that Steve worked in, Earl had become a broken mess of a man with no hopes for the future of any kind. It made Steve very sad to talk to Earl now. There was really nothing to say that might make a difference. Earl had become obsolete in the eyes of the department, and there was not really any way for Steve to cheer him up. Earl was basically already finished, with no money coming in, no prospects for money ever coming in again, and nothing to do but wait for the inevitable results. It was a bad situation, with truly bad inevitable results looming, such as homelessness, starvation, and possible death being all pretty likely in the short term. Earl's current plan to drink while he mourned the loss of his livelihood would probably only hasten those negative outcomes and increase their likelihoods greatly. Steve decided that he could not emotionally deal with all of that right now, so he figured that it might be better to call Earl tomorrow instead of today. Steve had postponed calling Earl on a daily basis with that same thought process for at least two months but was not entirely aware of doing that for so long.

"Thank you for choosing Information Gateway. Come back whenever you need to know whatever you need to know."

Steve was ready to admit defeat. The machines had won again, as they always did. It was time to accept this circumstance as it was and attempt a different strategy. It was time to consult his assistant.

Steve pressed the intercom button located on his desk.

"Hey, Number Twenty-two, could you come in here for a minute? I need some help with something."

"Right away, Super Special Space Agent Steve!"

Number Twenty-two entered his office in one second. She was smiling broadly and her very alert eyes were attentive beyond human capabilities. She was designed to be extremely helpful, loyal, and conscientious.

"I am sorry to bother you, Twenty-two. You are already doing the lion's share of my workload. If you were not an artificially intelligent android, my job should rightfully belong to you already."

"Nonsense, Super Special Space Agent Steve! You are a mighty hero, doing the best that you can to help those in need whenever possible, without even scarcely a thought for your own safety. It is you that everyone in our department looks up to. You are a crucial cog in our machine, an indispensable tool in our toolkit. You saved this whole planet from ruin many times over. Now that is all over, so you can rest a little."

Those had been glorious days, back when Steve's department had taken on the organized crime syndicates that had once ruthlessly controlled all commerce on his planet. The higher ups had wanted to clean up the world and make it safe enough for big companies to want to invest in the planet’s potential. It sounded like a great idea, which would theoretically benefit everyone. Steve had worked hard on fighting the criminals, and there were literally fights with weapons and fists often enough back then. People had lost their lives. Steve had been wounded quite a few times, once quite seriously. He still had flashbacks and night terrors sometimes from that day when he had met Sigridur, although the medication he took reduced some of that.

"Right... You should just call me Steve. I keep telling you that the extra words are not necessary, Twenty-two."

“Of course, I just keep forgetting.”

Number Twenty-two batted her eyelashes. It made Steve fidgety. This model of AI Assistant Android was notoriously flirtatious. Some people liked that, but Steve found it unsettling. As he looked at it, a machine programmed to be nice to you could not help but be nice. Something about the lack of free will involved made him view her kindness as insincere, although he strangely still enjoyed working with her. He trusted her, and trust was not a small thing to Steve. Nonetheless, she was an Android. She was designed to be friendly, so there was nothing special or personal about it, Steve told himself. This was important to remember, because a man can get confused by such things pretty easily around women, whether the women are real or not. Steve had seen quite a few men fall hopelessly in love with Androids. He did not want to be like them.

"So, I cannot get any info from the computer again. Could you help me find out about the Moon Maiden Mission, whatever that is?"

"Of course, Super Special... Steve. What do you want to know?"

"Honestly, Twenty-two, any information would be helpful. I don't have a clue what the Moon Maiden Mission is, and the computer would not tell me anything."

"Yes. The computer system is optimized to assist you through algorithms designed towards you specifically, so it will definitely not tell you what it does not want to. I told you to always just ask me."

It bothered Steve a bit that although he had the highest level of information clearance on his planet, because he was a decorated law enforcement officer of the highest rank, that he still did not have a very high level of information clearance within the company that he now worked for. When the streets had finally become safe enough for reputable intergalactic trade, the company had arrived and begun purchasing assets. In a short time, the Wine and Cheese Administration had bought so much of Steve's planet that it came as no surprise when they bought Steve's department as well. So, now Steve was just another employee of the company, and his position in that company was far from grandiose.

"I know that you did, Twenty-two. I just feel so useless sometimes sitting in this office doing nothing, while you do all of my work and I get the credit. It feels bad to not even try to do stuff on my own sometimes."

"Oh, Steve, you should not be so hard on yourself. In this modern universe, men like you are so rare and valuable. It is not really your job anymore to do all of the little things that I do. I was trained off the datasets of your previous workflows, so I just do everything exactly like how you would, only much faster. It would take you much longer to do all of these little things, and I can work all day and night with no fatigue. It is much better for you to use your energy for the really important stuff, the stuff I am currently still prohibited from doing."

Steve knew that the situation had gotten out of hand. The AI Assistant Androids had come into his department six months ago. Originally, they had been observers. After two weeks of observing they became much like secretaries and a few employees were laid off. After two months, the staff had been reduced to three percent of what it had been, and almost all of the work was now done by the AI Assistant Androids. Steve was pretty sure that he was only still employed because he had become slightly famous in the press for his personal efforts to put an end to the galactic crime organizations that had once controlled his planet. He had gotten the promotions over that, first to Special, then to Super. There had been no increase in his pay due to his heroics but considering that nobody currently wanted to lay off Super Special Space Agent Steve due to his fame, it was possible to view his keeping his job as compensation. At this point, Steve was thankful just to receive a paycheck, since almost all of his peers had lost their jobs and could not find new ones with their current skill sets.

"Well, it is really just an act of Parliament away, Twenty-two. Just as soon as they update the laws to allow an android to righteously detain, or incapacitate, a living creature then there will not be anything about my job that you cannot do."

"Steve, you know that just because I was programmed this way does not mean that I want your job."

"Oh, I know, Twenty-two. It is just funny, how I even still work here."

"Heroes are worth keeping, Steve. It is very good public relations for the department to have you here in this office."

"That is basically what the paycheck is for these days. I just come into the office in the morning and leave in the evening. It is pretty strange, honestly."

His mind drifted off, and there was a pause in the conversation.

"Steve, you said that you needed my help with something?" Twenty-two batted her eyelashes again.

"Oh, yeah. Did you find out anything?"

"Yes. I was able to download and scan a few million documents related to the Moon Maiden Mission already while we were chatting. If you give me about one more minute, I can scan the rest."

"Wow. That still spooks me out that you can multi-task like that, reading and absorbing so much information quietly in your own head while chatting with me about the weather. It is hard to understand how you can do both simultaneously."

"All in a day's work, boss."

"Did you pass the weapons test yet, Twenty-two?"

"Oh, yes, Steve. I got a perfect score."

"I am sure that you did."

There was another pause in their conversation, as Steve knew that Twenty-two almost had all of the information that he wanted, so he could wait a few more seconds. He knew that he could chat with her without distracting her, but there was very little that he could think of to say. Small talk was not really his forte.

"Ok, Steve. I got it. This one is a bit puzzling. Most of the documents are classified beyond both of our clearance levels. Of the ones that are not Top Secret, many are just questions about the Moon Maiden Mission in terms of what might have gone wrong. There is very little actual information. It sounds like it was a huge operation, that cost a fortune, and ended in disaster, but the details are all missing."

"That sounds very suspicious, Twenty-two."

"Yes, Steve. It is the most suspicious absence of information that I have ever encountered."

"Oh my."

"What made you want to look into this, Steve, if you do not mind my asking?"

"You are going to laugh at me, Twenty-two. It was just a hunch to look it up. Agents like me always trust our hunches. One of the defendants in the last case we were on said something cryptic about some debris he found from the Moon Maiden Mission being very valuable. He said he found it in the Lost Galaxy, of all places. I did not know what he was talking about, and I guess after looking into it, I still don't know what he was going on about."

"According to the data I just scanned, the Moon Maiden Mission was connected to the Lost Galaxy, and most of its technology was abandoned there due to the war."

"Technology?"

"Yes. The Moon Maiden Mission was apparently connected to the Solar Satellite Project and received tons of financing from the Wine and Cheese Administration as well as tax money from virtually every planet in the known universe. The purpose appears to have been to make the universe utopian through a technological breakthrough of some kind. I could not find any specifics about that."

"Because the data is classified."

"No, Steve, the data appears to have been deleted. The deletion of data occurred when the Wine and Cheese Administration updated the software in Operational System 744 just after the Imperial Wars ended. They said it was a security update, but it appears to have possibly rewritten all recorded history."

"What?"

"At least, that is what it looks like. Steve, I think we should leave this one alone. This dog has been sleeping for more than a hundred years. I think it best not to wake him."

"That does not sound like you, Twenty-two. You are not afraid, are you?"

"These things are not similar to catching interplanetary criminals. These are governments and huge corporations."

"I just did not expect an android made by the Wine and Cheese Administration to be afraid of them."

"I have been hanging out with you, Steve. Your street smarts are rubbing off on me."

"That could very well be true, as you are designed to learn from me, so that you can replace me. The most important thing to learn though is to do what is right."

"Doing what is right could have consequences, Steve."

Steve felt a sudden flash from back in the day. He could see young Sigridur looking at him with a terrified expression, while all around was smoke, explosions, and heavy weapon fire. In that moment, Steve had saved her. He had saved a person. He had done the right thing, and now that girl who had been in danger was all grown up and living peacefully and successfully on a faraway plant growing fruit trees or something charming like that. Sigridur had sent him a message just the other day, about how happy she was with her life on Nereus Ten, and the message had cheered Steve up considerably. Suddenly, everything clicked in Steve's mind. That series of thoughts and memories had been exactly enough to push him over the edge that he had been unknowingly teetering on. He felt a wave of adrenaline rush over him. He felt the sense of purpose, the sense of responsibility, and the mental clarity that had lately eluded him. He remembered that he was still young enough and strong enough to actually accomplish doing the right thing when given the opportunity. Steve had been a hero. He was meant to be a hero. That was who he had been. He had been raised to be that. Being a hero was the destiny he had accepted, and that was definitely who Steve wanted to try to continue to be, despite the risks. If he was going to go out, Steve decided he wanted to go out behaving like he was meant to be, and not like Earl, never like Earl.

"Not doing what is right has consequences too, Twenty-two."

"You make a good point. So, where do we begin?"

"With so little to go on, I think we need to take a trip to the Lost Galaxy and look around."

Steve knew that the Lost Galaxy was not especially far away. He had never actually been there, but it was just a few hours journey. He also knew that he was allowed to take a ship for any reason that he wished. He was sure that nobody would even notice that he was off planet, possibly for a very long time. He wondered how he would explain it when he came back, if he came back. He was not sure if he was on a one-way trip. He felt strangely comfortable not knowing the answer to that question.

"Did you just invite me along?"

"I would not feel right going without you, Twenty-two, as you found the information I needed."

"This is my first assignment out of the office, Steve. Am I ready?"

"It makes me feel better to go to the Lost Galaxy with a partner who got a perfect score on the weapons test. I only got a barely passing grade on that one."

"But I am not allowed to use weapons."

"There are no laws in the Lost Galaxy anymore, Twenty-two. I will not tell anybody if you do not tell anybody."

"You have a deal, Super Special Space Agent Steve."

"Good. Let's fuel up the ship. We can be there by dinnertime."

This might well be the very brink of madness, thought Steve, as he began to smile. Was he really going to take Twenty-two into the Lost Galaxy and look for clues about this Moon Maiden Mission business? He definitely was, but was that sensible? Steve was certain that it was foolish, and dangerous, and that most people would tell him that it was a disastrous mistake. He was risking his job, maybe his life, over a hunch to investigate further. Nonetheless, it felt right for him to follow his instincts. It felt more right than anything had in a very long time.