I Will Love You Forever

Chapter 2, part 1: Triage

Chapter 2: Survival

The remains of the probe slammed into the ground at ten times the speed of the fragment that hit Lu. Ken did not see what happened to her, as he was blown backward into the woods, already blinded by the initial flash and scorched by the fiery wave-front as he flew.

The force of the impact blew down a hundred trees, but attracted almost no attention. The farm was remote enough that there was not another person within five miles when the probe struck. All the windows on the back of Ken and Lu’s new farmhouse were blown out, but Ken was on his back, naked in a raspberry bramble, out cold. His hair curled and smoked as he lay, and his skin was already bubbling up into blisters and peeling.

* * *

“It’s down, sir.”

“Down where, Sergeant?”

“Sir, the data is very sketchy, but it looks like it might have come down in Idaho.”

Idaho. The general looked at the wall map of North America. Colorado Springs was prominently marked, but … “Can you firm that up for me, Sergeant?”

“Yes, sir, but only a little bit. Sir, the radius of possibilities is over a hundred miles across, but it seems to be southeastern Idaho, maybe fifty miles west of Yellowstone. About six hundred miles from here.”

General Peters did the math in his head. Dear Lord, how am I going to search thirty thousand square miles? “Keep on them, Sergeant. I need that data refined ASAP.”

He picked up his phone and punched it. “Mary? Find me a base we can use, as close to west of Yellowstone as we can get. Something with space for a thousand personnel. Yes, this is crash priority, and I’ll get approval. Thanks.” He punched another button. “Sir? I need to brief you on a developing situation.”

* * *

The probe consciousness ran through its list of system checks in a few microseconds, as the rest of the impact happened around it. It began the process of extricating itself from the ground, while it determined whether it had been successful in missing the two humans.

The one at the edge of the clearing might have escaped the blast, but it really depended on how tough these creatures were. Judging by their gravity and general structure, it decided it had given the farther one a reasonable chance to survive. The near one, however, might have been badly hurt. It would be several more minutes before the probe could get entirely free, but it was able to extend itself above the ground, just in time to see Lu’s lifeless body fall. The probe had been successful in making the majority of the blast miss the near human entirely. The human appeared undamaged, other than where an unexpected fragment had hit it.

The extension quickly scanned the area. Except for the two, no humans or other large fauna were anywhere near. The second human was lying some distance away in the vegetation. It might be dead or just stunned, but the near human was clearly either already dead or close to it. The probe used a significant percentage of its vanishing reserve of energy to blast itself free from the ground and move over the fallen human. It released a tiny cloud of nanites, even as it began to assess the damage.

The creature’s head had been split clean in half by the collision. It looked as though the right half of the head had not even been touched, but the left half was mostly gone. Large spurts of dark red fluid were spraying out from the open left side. Initially, the probe could not tell if the dark fluid being ejected was food, urine, or internal fluids. Within a second or two, it had grasped enough of the internal structure to comprehend that the spurting red stuff was probably important to the survival of the creature, but it couldn’t yet tell what would happen if it tried to stop the fountain of blood.

The pink stuff that was strewn across the ground was probably memory and processing matter. The probe didn’t know how it worked or even for sure what it was, but now that its nanites were in contact with the body, it managed to decipher the genetic basis for the creature in a matter of seconds. It ordered the nanites to begin closing up the leaking fluids and start making other repairs, even as it interpreted how the DNA worked for this planet, and how it described and defined this species.

From the blueprint in the creature’s cells, the probe built up a complete map of Lu Winston in four dimensions, seeing how she had developed in the womb, how she had grown to maturity, and what she would look like as an old woman. It could tell how her body would react to all manner of illnesses.

From that, it was able to determine what to do to keep her alive.

Even as it began the process, however, it realized that half of Lu’s central processing organ was sprayed across the clearing, much of which was on fire. If it even tried to recover the pieces that were gone, the exposure and blood loss would kill her completely. Yet these creatures had redundant brain structures, even though they did not use them as mirror images. It was just possible that Lu would be able to recover with half a brain. The next couple of seconds, though, showed the probe that no, the female human would not be able to grow the brain back, even if it managed to put her back together. She would never be the same.

The probe made a quick check of the other human lying in the vegetation, and determined that it appeared to have injuries, but it should survive.

It was still no more than five or six seconds from the initial impact when the probe made its final decision. It was risking everything, and it would probably not be able to continue its primary mission after this planet, but it had been sent out with very specific instructions not to harm the dominant life when making contact, regardless of the cost to itself.

As it set to work, the probe wondered what it was like to feel regret.

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