“Did I say something wrong, Robinton?” Fandarel asked, his voice an awed whisper again.
“Are you all right down there?” Master Esselin’s plaintive query reached them where they stood bunched together in the doorway.
“Of course we are,” Fandarel bellowed back to the Master miner. “Clear those windows. Let some light in. Glammie has my diagrams. Work from that and leave us alone!”
“New letters,” Piemur said, digging the Mastersmith in the ribs to attract his attention. “Running … Running? E…M…E…R…G…E…N…”
“Emergency,” the harper guessed before the C and Y appeared. He grinned with pleasure.
“P-R-O-G-R-A-M—program? The words we understand, but what do they mean?” Piemur asked.
“The lights are quite bright now,” Fandarel said cheerfully. “Very curious.” He stepped inside the room, his initial surprise having worn off, and the others followed hastily. “There are buttons on the wall.” He flicked one, and a soft whirring noise began. The fine film of dust on the floor began to shift: the closeness of the air freshened. Fandarel flicked the button again, and both the noise and the stirring of air ceased. He flicked it on again, murmuring happily to himself. “Well, this aivas of yours is an ingenious creature,” he commented, smiling down at Jancis. “And efficient.”
“We still don’t know what an aivas is!” Piemur remarked.
“AIVAS is an acronym for Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System,” the voice intoned. “To be precise, a Mark 47A, programmed to interface the main computer storage banks of the Yokohama and the settlement on Pern.”
“Pern—I understood Pern,” Robinton said. Then, enunciating very clearly and projecting his rich baritone voice, he added, “From where are you speaking, aivas?”
“This system is programmed for voice address. State your name. Please.”
“It sounds testy, but I think I’m getting the hang of its accent. My name is Robinton. I am Masterharper of Pern. This is Fandarel, who is Mastersmith in Telgar Hold. With us are Journey woman Jancis and Journeyman Piemur. Do you understand me?”
“Lingual shifts have occurred, Robinton. Modification of the language program is now required. Please continue to speak.”
“Continue to speak?”
“Your speech patterns will be the basis for the modification. Please continue to speak.”
“Well, Masterharper, you heard it,” Piemur said, rapidly recovering his composure. “Here, sit down.” He pulled the chair from under the desk, brushed the seat off, and made a flamboyant gesture.
Master Robinton looked aggrieved as he sat. “I always thought the Harper Hall had succeeded very well in keeping the language pure and unadulterated.”
“Oh, aivas just doesn’t understand us!” Piemur murmured reassuringly.” Everyone understands you. That thing,” he said, airily dismissing the aivas, “doesn’t even use words we know.”
“This is all very interesting,” Fandarel said, peering at every surface, poking a finger into the slots, and cautiously touching the various knobs, buttons, and toggles. “Very interesting. Much less dust has filtered into this room. No doubt due to the tile layer.”
“Please do not attempt to use the touch-screen controls. That function is now deactivated.”
Fandarel pulled his hands back like a small boy caught reaching for bubbly pies. The slanting board, which had been glowing amber, went dark again. Jancis had gingerly settled on one of the stools, rolling her eyes around the room and trying not to look at the screen.
“What’s happening down there?” Breide called.
“A modification of the language program has been necessary,” Piemur called back. “Master Fandarel has it all well in hand, Breide.”
“Four persons are observed to occupy this room, but only three voices have been registered. Will the fourth person speak?”
Jancis looked around apprehensively. “Me?”
“You are requested to speak a full sentence.”
“Go on, Jancis,” Piemur urged. “I don’t think it will bite you, and a feminine voice will give it a new perspective on life here.”
“But I haven’t the faintest idea what one says to…a disembodied voice.”
“Any speech will suffice. The difference in resonance and timbre has been noted. To assist the program, question: You are a female person.”
“Yes, she is a female person,” Piemur repeated.
“The female person is asked to answer for a voiceprint reading.”
Jancis burst out laughing at the surprise on Piemur’s face, for the reproof, despite the uninflected tone, was unmistakable.
“You should see your face, Piemur.”
“Well, at least you can laugh about it,” Piemur said. “Thank you…sir, whatever. How should you be addressed?”
“This is an artificial intelligence voice address system. It does not require personification.”
“Does artificial mean man-made?” Robinton asked.
“That is correct.”
“The men who built the Dawn Sisters?”
“Reference to Dawn Sisters is unknown. Please explain.”
“The three metallic objects in the sky overhead are known as the Dawn Sisters.”
“You refer to the spaceships Yokohama, Buenos Aires, and Bahrain.”
“Spaceships?” Fandarel asked, turning to stare at the panel with its green blinking legend.
“Spaceships, life-supported vehicles that travel in the vacuum inaccurately referred to as ‘space.’ ”
“Do the spaceships still support life?” Fandarel’s eyes were wide, his usually expressionless face betraying a passionate avidity that surprised even Robinton.
“Not at the present reading. All systems are on hold. Bridge pressure is .001 standard atmosphere, or 0.1 KP. Interior temperature reads minus twenty-five degrees Celsius.”
“I don’t know what it’s talking about,” Fandarel said, collapsing onto the other stool, his face a study of terrible disappointment.
“Hey!” Jaxom came running down the hall. “No, that’s all right, Breide, I’ll just go right in. I’m expected.” He entered the room, slightly breathless. “I thought you’d wait for me, Piemur. Excuse me, Master Fandarel, Master Robinton. What is this?” He began to assimilate the oddities of the room, the lights, the ventilation, and the expressions of his friends.
“This is an artificial intelligence voice address system…”
“Here we go again,” Piemur said irreverently. “You do realize, Master, that here is the key you’ve been hoping to find. A talking key. I think if you can just ask it the right questions, you’ll find out all the answers. Even some you didn’t know you needed to know.”
“Aivas,” Master Robinton said, straightening his shoulders and directing his next remark to the green light. “Can you answer my questions?”
“That is the function of this apparatus.”
“Let us begin at the beginning then, shall we?” Master Robinton asked.
“That is a correct procedure,” Aivas replied, and what had been a dark panel suddenly became illuminated with a diagram that those in the room identified as similar to one found in the flying ship Jaxom had discovered. Only this diagram had such depth and perspective that it appeared three-dimensional, giving the awed observers the feeling that they were hovering in space, an unthinkable distance away from their sun. “When Mankind first discovered the third planet of the sun Rukbat in the Sagittarian Sector of space…”