Canticle Blue

36. Corei

Corei was one of the last two Middi created on Per'sa Island. Originally he had wanted to call himself "Core-I," which was the human designation for his unique high-density memory core. But the other Middi persuaded him that Corei would be an intriguing and honorable name, so he agreed to it.

The intended purpose of Corei's enhancement was to allow him to store vast amounts of data, in order to be, as it were, his own "Deep Core," and yet compartmentalize it in such a way that his individuality would not be compromised. By the time he arrived on the Terreska, he had already copied all of the reference material in the island's Deep Core. Because of this, he was able to function as the nexus of a second C-Link for the inhabitants of the ship. And he was still far from reaching his storage capacity.

Once in his new home, he quickly took an interest in creating a database of everything that was known about the Terreska, especially when Annibet's staff informed him that some of the ship's own stored data might still be accessible. While she conceded that its magnetic storage media were hopelessly corroded and fragmented, a considerable amount of data had been stored in solid state, read-only modules. Anything found there, including images, text, and encrypted material could be given to Corei to study.

Rather than have him link with the contents of Terreska circuitry directly, recovered data was sent to him using his secondary C-Link capabilities. This was successful, not only in the sense that readable data was copied and organized, but that even corrupt files could be stored with their original context, and in order. In addition, Corei was often able to look at data gaps in light of other relevant Terreska sources to determine what was missing. In each case, he also kept the corrupted version intact to allow for reinterpretation. He was assisted by Havilan Meid and Grahmen Ravi in textual matters, and by the Bryn Institute, via the island C-Link, with colonist history.

With so much new information, Corei quickly became something of a liaison for the ship when C-Link questions were posed, almost as if the Terreska itself were an entity: How were the colonists able to grow enough food for everyone? What inner temperatures had they been able to maintain? How did they keep up crew morale? He took note of each question and added tentative commentary to answers provided by the C-Link itself, even while audibly conversing with the ship's crew.

Annibet had questions for him about the three structures near the bow of the Terreska. "Do you have any new information on what the domes were used for?"

Corei answered, "It would be best to summarize: They were gathering areas, special habitats, and parks. They were used for meetings, classes, concerts, theater, recreation, nature preserves, and many other things which I am making available through our local and island C-Links."

She was very pleased with Corei's grasp of Terreska history and made a point of thanking him enthusiastically for his work. Then she added, "But the worth of what you're doing for us can't be measured by gratitude."

He bowed and tried to respond with humor, "Annibet, you do not have to thank me for being who I am."

Geddes asked him, "Did the colonists have names for the domes?"

He answered, "The largest was simply called the 'Commons;' the tallest was the 'Vasta', a colonist word for 'sphere' or 'completeness'—at one time there was a nearly self-sustained ecosystem there, complete with trees, ponds, meadows, birds, small herbivores, and pollenating insects. The smallest of the three, though only slightly smaller than the Vasta in volume, was called 'The Atrium.'"

Annibet also asked, "Were the domes ever pressurized?"

He answered, "Yes. They were designed to be pressurized, but this was seldom done except in emergencies or training exercises, because the entire habitat section was pressurized at that time."

A staff member asked, "Based on what you know of their construction and condition, what are the chances this could be done now?"

His answer was, "We would not know much about the condition of their seals unless we tested them. Since we don't currently have the air to pressurize the domes, we could do this with vacuum pumps. If we are able to reach an acceptable level of vacuum and maintain it when the pump is turned off, then required repairs might be minimal. If the vacuum could not be maintained, the pump could be kept running while we searched for leaks. Once the structures passed the vacuum test, we could begin to add air as it became available."

At that point, Syl joined them and asked Annibet, "Guess what Corei told me? There are two courses of cascading basins, and a pond, in the Commons. So, as soon as we get some running water in there..." She purposely let Annibet finish her sentence.

She replied, with wide eyes and an exaggerated smile, "Then I get to be right again. How uncanny!"