Wisdom in the Dark

Chapter 18 - Jak

“We need to get a communication to your Family,” Durko said to Jak. “It’s our only hope of survival. Another attack and we’re done for.”

Jak wanted to believe another Family on Callisto would see the weakened Pyc for the opportunity they were: unrelated blood with the possibility to give birth to healthy children. However, Jak had just fought off members of the Kotik, and they seemed to have no regard for the lives of the Pyc, whether soldier or non-combatant. Would another family do the same if they heard the Pyc supposedly knew about the location of the Lost Factory?

“Agreed,” Jak said, “however the traffic control center is gone.”

Durko nodded. “While true, the communications relay itself is still intact, thank Wotuos. We’ll have to send the communication directly from there.”

“How do we do that?” Jak asked.

“Hell if I know,” Durko said with a shrug. “Oguz claims he can make it work. While I have my doubts, if anyone can get it to work, it’s Oguz.”

“The sub-space communications relay was used regularly. Isn’t that knowledge that’s been passed down?”

“It was used through the traffic control center,” Durko countered. “The interface worked, sure. But we rarely, if ever, had to access the sub-space communications relay directly.”

“Another bit of lost knowledge,” Jak said as he shook his head.

“Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of lost knowledge,” Durko said. “Exacerbated now by the loss of our people.”

It had been a full wake and sleep period since the attack, and Pyc Village still bustled with the activity of burying the dead and clearing debris. The final number of dead was forty-seven. The Pyc Family had lost loved ones and been reduced to just above two hundred people.

“We’ll have to make do if we’re going to keep our Family safe,” Jak said.

“We always do,” Durko replied.

Myra hobbled up to the two men as they spoke, and Jak offered her a hand.

“I’m fine,” Myra said, though from her movements and her face Jak could tell Myra was far from fine.

“Matriarch,” Durko said in greeting with a nod of his head. “I was just telling your husband that Oguz is going to help us use the sub-space communications relay to contact the Wodniki Family.”

“Finally, some good news,” Myra replied with a sigh.

“It will be approximately three days until they arrive, if they choose to answer our call,” Jak said. “We’ll rotate two Sylphs on patrol at all times, with a third pilot on rest and refit. The shifts will overlap so each pilot gets some down time every twelve hours. I’ve even worked it out so we have enough hydrogen fuel to keep the continuous patrols. The Pyc Shuttle is already fully fueled, just in case.”

Myra nodded her acknowledgement, but it was clear she didn’t listen fully. I have to be strong for her, Jak told himself. But can I? Jak had a feeling like tendrils tightening inside his chest as his insecurities threatened to overwhelm him.

“You should get some rest,” Jak said to Myra, and he hoped he sounded confident – he didn’t feel it.

“No, not now-“ Myra protested.

“Matriarch, everyone else is working overtime to clean up the village,” Durko said. “Go get some rest. If anything happens, I promise, we’ll wake you.”

Myra stood in silent protest for a moment. From the look on her face Jak could tell the thought of sleep was tempting, but, in the short time Jak had come to know Myra more intimately he knew her dedication to her Family and her duty overpowered her desire to sleep.

“Try to lie down,” Jak said. “I’ll take you to our quarters.” Jak turned to Durko. “I’ll meet you and Oguz at the sub-space communications relay shortly.”

Words of protest left Myra’s lips as Jak guided her toward their small home, but her body went willingly. The moment Jak helped Myra in bed, she slumped onto the mattress and was quickly snoring soundly. All the stress over the previous twenty-four hours had clearly drained Myra.

In short order Jak rendezvoused with Durko and Oguz at the communications relay. The massive dish outside the Pyc Village dome was pitted and rusted with age, but somehow it still worked. Dozens of cycles of care, maintenance and jury rigging had kept this piece of lost technology running.

“How does this thing keep working?” Jak asked as he watched Oguz open a metal panel at the base of the massive communications array to reveal wires and connections that had clearly been moved or held together with a menagerie of random materials.

“My father and uncle taught me,” Oguz replied as he began to pull tools from a large bag that seemed completely random to Jak. “When I wasn’t reading and learning in the Sylph hangars, I was reading manuals on the communications array and learning on the job how to maintain it.”

“Who else knows these skills?” Jak asked as he watched Oguz attach clips from some device on the wires.

“I’ve tried to teach a few of the others, especially some of the older kids. It’s difficult enough with everything else that needs to be done.”

Jak and Durko stood and watched as Oguz ran a few diagnostics and checked some connections. After a few long moments Oguz closed the panel with a satisfied grunt.

“No damage to the relay itself,” Oguz reported. “Now we just need an interface with the relay to communicate with Wodniki Village on Ganymede.”

“Doesn’t the relay already have a back-up?” Jak asked, remembering the almost identical relay in Wodniki Village.

Oguz pointed to the smoldering ruins of the traffic control center at the base of the Pyc Village dome. “We had to pull it about a cycle ago to replace the original in traffic control.”

“Is there anything in the village that can be used?” Durko asked.

Jak already knew the answer. “We’ll have to pull it from a Sylph.”

“We will,” Oguz replied with a sour look on his face.

“And we only have three Sylphs left,” Durko said.

“What about the already broken-down Sylph sitting disassembled in the hangars?” Jak asked.

“We pulled parts of the HUD for the traffic control center and to replace parts on the other Sylphs,” Oguz said. “There are some smaller displays I might be able to pull from different areas of that machine, but not promises. We’ve stripped that thing’s systems almost clean.”

Jak racked his brain for solutions. He was the Patriarch of Pyc Village. He had to do something. If I don’t, they’ll see me for who I am, Jak thought. A coward. A fraud. I almost didn’t keep it together during the battle over Pyc Village. Now Jasny is dead. Who else will die because of my failure? Jak scratched his head hard as he fought frantically in his mind to push down his insecurities while also trying to figure out a solution to the problem of an interface with communications array.

An interface.

Jak wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought about connecting to the communications array that way before. Oguz, Durko and Jak had been so focused on a display screen of some sort that other solutions were lost on them. But when Jak thought about it in terms of an interface with the array. . .

“What about my Sylph helmet?” Jak asked. “Would that work to connect to the sub space communications relay? I could connect almost similar to the way I do the Sylph.”

Oguz scratched his bearded chin. “That may just work. I would have to remove part of your Sylph to connect it to the relay.”

“Could you reinstall it in the Sylph afterwards?”

“I should,” Oguz replied. “But don’t be surprised if something is damaged in the process. I’m not sure how removal and interface with another piece of hardware will affect it. There’s a risk it will put your Sylph out of commission.”

Jak nodded. “If it means getting help and keeping Pyc Vilalge alive it will be worth it.”

“I hope you’re right,” Oguz replied.