Cosmic Jabberwocky

Chapter 4 - The Mome Raths Outgrabe

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

It felt like an enormous weight dropped from my shoulders when the computer core shutdown, the little blinking lights now dark. At the same time, the maintenance-bots stopped their assault on the bridge door, ending the spray of sparks. After a few moments, the core came back on, as indicated by a small flashing yellow light. It would take a while until Jabberwock rebooted. I took my helmet off and blew out a huge breath.

"You did it!" Alice proclaimed with a huge grin, taking off her helmet.

"No we did it!" I replied. "Jack, you with us?"

"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" Jack quoted. A long stream of static followed. "Still having buffering problems."

Alice asked, "What was on the vorpal sword memory module, anyway?"

"The poem itself, in old-style ASCII code. I coded a reset command to it. Jabberwock didn't understand--" Jacks voice abruptly stopped.

"Jack?" I said, as Alice and I turned to each other. She raised her eyebrows, showing the same concern I felt.

Connecting Alice's handheld viewer to the memory module confirmed our fears. Jack's cognitive activity was too much for the quantum processors and they had shutdown. I was unsure if we could ever bring him back. Dipping my head, I rubbed my face.

A grin came to Alice, and she tilted her head toward the computer core. I said, "Do you think it would work? Complete what Jack started?" A glimmer of hope lifted my spirits.

After a few moments, the AI came online and said in a flat voice, "Vyse, is that you? And Alice?"

I smiled. "We are here, Jabberwock."

"I am happy you are both here with me again. But there is a time skip in my memory and we are no longer at port. Did something happen?"

"You malfunctioned, my friend, but everything is fine now. Welcome back."

"Is Jack here?" Jabberwock paused. "I do not detect his presence."

I glanced up at Alice, she nodded. "I regret to tell you that Jack died. But, in a way with your help, we might resurrect him."

"How would that be possible, Vyse?"

Holding up the memory module, I replied, "He uploaded himself to a mind simulation. With your permission, we will try to transfer him to your core computer."

"Then I would join with my creator?" Jabberwock asked.

"I think so, but this has never been done before."

"I would like that very much, Vyse."

After unplugging the vorpal sword, I plugged Jack in. "Download and compile," I told Jabberwock. Turning to Alice, I said, "Now we wait."

Exhausted, I slid down the wall to the floor and extended my legs. Alice sat down beside me with our arms touching. Her closeness warmed me. After a moment of silence, she said, "Thank you for saving me back there in the reactor room."

"Sure. Does that mean I get the girl?"

She grinned. "Maybe."

I wrapped an arm around her and she snuggled in, leaning her head on my shoulder. After a few more moments of silence, I said, "I really did want to go to that gala with you and I didn't go gaming or anything like that."

Alice raised her head. "What did happen?"

I stammered. "Well, umm, you know how really nervous I get about large crowds?" Alice nodded. "My stomach wasn't feeling very good that day anyway, and I, umm, kinda barfed all over myself."

She put her head back down. "You could have told me."

"I know, but it was embarrassing. I didn't want you to think I was so weird."

"I already knew you are weird, Vyse. We could have figured something out."

Both Alice and I jumped as Jack's voice came from the overhead speaker. "Good God! If I still had a body I would be gagging right now. But the disgusting truth is that you two just might be perfect for each other."

Alice stood up. "Did it work, Jack?"

"Yup!" Jack responded. "In all my awesomeness!"

"And Jabberwock, are you still there?" I asked.

"Yes, Vyse," another voice answered. "Jack and I partitioned our profiles so that we are separate, yet together."

"Cool!" Then I sighed. "I suppose we should call the Admiral and tell him we got the Invincible back." The thought dampened my mood.

"Damn shame to give Admiral hardass back his war machine." Jack muttered. "Especially with me in it."

Alice grinned at me, a big 'to hell with all the rules' type of grin. The corners of my mouth turned up, and I said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I got up and ambled over to the captain's chair. Alice took a chair beside me. "Jabberwock, get the Admiral over the long-range com, emergency channel. Tell them it is urgent."

The Admiral's jolly face appeared on a forward display screen, only not so jolly, more like we just woke him up after an all night war strategy meeting.

I grinned. "Admiral! Wassup?"

He frowned. "What is it, Mr. Dunn?"

"Just wanted to tell you that we recovered the Invincible and rebooted the AI."

From the expression on his face, you would think it was Christmas morning and Santa brought him the toy he had always wanted. "You did? That is wonderful, Mr. Dunn! Well done! Tell me where it is and I will have a crew come to retrieve it."

"About that, Admiral--" I paused for effect, fighting back the urge to snicker. "We decided to keep it for ourselves. You know, by salvage rights."

Wow, talk about a mood swing. The Admiral's face went from angelic to demonic in one second. When I was young, my mom warned me about not making her have a conniption fit. Turns out she was right. I think the Admiral had one. With a wave, I terminated the com.

"That was fun!" I remarked.

Alice turned to me. "So what now?"

"Hmm, how about a fancy date?" I winked. "Perhaps dinner in the Orion Nebula? Dancing among the Pleiades?"

Alice's smile warmed me. "Okay. It's a date." But then her eyes narrowed in a warning. "I don't want to hear anything of that damned poem! No vorpal swords, no slithy toves, not a single word! Understood?"