Stargazers Codex 002: "The Guides"

 Codex 002: The Guides\

 

            “I got the job.  I was hired and will be receiving the official briefing in-person before I arrive on-site, but I had already taken the time to do my own research before even accepting the position, of course.  What kind of organization goes head-hunting someone like me for a private position without giving them the details?  It was obvious from the start by the location of the planet alone and the company seeking me out that the work I would be doing would be curious, to say the least.

            Most of what I do know can be inferred by the things I don’t know.  I don’t know exactly what I will be doing there, but I can figure out some of it based on my degree and my work history.  I am one of the foremost experts on computer and coding language in the known universe.  I created Cipher, after all, and have been working both academically and professionally with A.I. templates and in classrooms for a few years now.  My expertise is not only acknowledged but well-earned.

            So, if they’re seeking me out, then it has to do with computer programming language and, most-likely, artificial intelligence.  The fact that they won’t tell me this directly also tells me that the work I will be doing is going to be, at the very least, private and, if I am honest, possibly illegal.  If that is the case, then why would I accept such a position?  Because, it has to do with the Guides.

            The research base they are shipping me out to is on the planet Canaan, or at least that is what it said on the hiring sheet found within their private databases.  Looking around in there, I also know that they are keeping everything hush-hush.  The HR managers don’t know much beyond placement and skillset requirements, and I was at the top of a very short list of people they needed. 

            Needed.  That was the word they used.  They needed me.  That means that they also have something big, and it is big enough to hide it from the other worlds.  They have found something revolutionary in the field of Guide research and, based on my work and research history, I have a few guesses.  What if, just what if, the Guide had machines of their own, with functioning A.I? What if we found an A.I. that was still salvageable?  What could we learn from it?

            Ever since moving into the stars, almost all of our technological achievements have been made by following the examples and blueprints left in the corpses of those who died before us.  We came to populate the stars and found them already populated.  It is in the shadow of the Guide’s vast but fallen empire that we build our own, and it is by looting their corpses that we make any progress in preserving our own livelihoods.

            To date, all we know of Guide technology and culture, however, are the crashed ships we find dotting distant planets.  Each one found so far has been at least as large as one of our Crown Ships, but they are composed in a manner alien to us, largely from alien material, and held together in an alien way.  By dissecting them and studying them, we have been able to build our own spaceships and improve our quality of life in the doing.

            As an example: look at interstellar travel.  Using our Ark ships, we left our home planet and travelled out here.  Since, our fastest ships have been able to travel between star systems within the space of a few weeks, which made interstellar trade difficult.  After building ourselves an Yggdrasil drive after the ones we found in guide ships, however, we are to travel between systems in a matter of days, sometimes hours, depending on proximity.

            Much of the technology we have, however, is foreign to us.  Their full function eludes us, and we’re no closer to deciphering any of them than we are to finding a Guide living.  That said, the existence of an A.I., even one badly damaged, could tell us so much more about our mysterious and missing benefactors.  If nothing else, it could tell us what they thought like and perhaps give us hints into their culture beyond the contoured halls of the Guide ships made known to the public.

            I am an expert in the field of A.I. research and am the first to create a fully functioning Smart A.I. program.  Subsequently, I can only ascertain that their interest in me is built on that.  The only other logical explaination comes from programming.   Having created a Smart A.I. that functions so well as Cipher does (Thanks for editing this, buddy), I have an extensive understanding and familiarity with computer programming and programming code.

            Modern computer programs and the computer O.S.s themselves run on A-O Code.  This code bares a striking resemblance to the existing Guide code that has been found on the crashed ships.  Having looked at it myself, and having successfully translated and replicated the code by hand, I have proven myself capable of whatever task they are assigning me to.  More than that, I have been able to narrow my suspicions.  With my knowledge, they could also benefit from me translating the code, though I cannot imagine that they would only seek me out now to perform the task.

            The Guides suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but crashed ships in their wake.  No bodies; no bones.  Just a future civilization sailing the stars, building their homes on the dead.  There is so much we still have to learn from them, and I only hope to be a part of the lesson and not a cautionary tale of vainglorious scientists taking their science too far.”

 

…From the journal of Chastity Clarke PhD.