{"id":6775,"date":"2025-04-07T20:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=6775"},"modified":"2025-04-07T20:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:58:09","slug":"the-soda-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=6775","title":{"rendered":"THE SODA MACHINE."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scott<\/a>\u00a0 It’s time again to debut a new short story.\u00a0 This one has been a while in the making.\u00a0 I started it in July of 2023 and then set it aside.\u00a0 I always meant to get back to it but other stories came and went and life, as always, happened.\u00a0 I finally got back to it last week and finished it yesterday.\u00a0 It’s a science fiction story.\u00a0 I’ve dabbled a little in that genre with “THE HOHNER COMET<\/a>” and “HOW GRANDPA PUT DOWN THE ROBOT UPRISING<\/a>” but this is the first fully indulged science fiction story I’ve written in years.\u00a0 In my teen years, I wrote a story called “The Private Investigator of Earth.”\u00a0 It was my first attempt at science fiction.\u00a0 I have written very little in that field since.\u00a0 Maybe I’ll dig out that old story of mine but for now you can enjoy this new one:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Soda Machine<\/strong><\/h4>\n

by <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Scott Henderson<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Ranger acknowledged the soda machine.\u00a0 It was factual and it being there was of no surprise or wonder to him.\u00a0 He dealt in logic and fact.\u00a0 It was a soda machine and he accepted as much.<\/h4>\n

The registered fact that the soda machine was in a desert section of a distant planet void of life and far from Earth also did not register as extraordinary either.\u00a0 Ranger had no capacity for awe or extraordinary or surprise or wonder.\u00a0 The soda machine was there because it was meant to be there.\u00a0 After all, the soda machine being there was as logical as Ranger being there.\u00a0 This was exactly where his mission had led him.<\/h4>\n

Ranger called up the stored memories of everything that had led to this moment.\u00a0 His capacity for storage of knowledge was finite.\u00a0 It was limited.\u00a0 It had to be.\u00a0 Still, he recalled everything he had been told and everything he had researched on the journey.\u00a0 Some knowledge had been expunged to make room for the essential.\u00a0 He had been programmed to regularly review his storage capacity and to purge when needed.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t relevant it wasn\u2019t needed.<\/h4>\n

What he called up now was the knowledge that, like his storage capacity, the resources on Earth were also finite.\u00a0 World population had continued to expand and food resources eventually would not be able to keep up with demand.\u00a0 Some items had to be synthesized.\u00a0 More faux meats and beyond meats and meats described as \u2018tastes just like the real thing\u2019 had dominated the market for years.\u00a0 Fresh water resources were also shrinking.\u00a0 Sometimes water ceased to be water and flavor and chemicals were added to stretch to the need of demand<\/h4>\n

Extreme weather events had also increased.\u00a0 When it rained, there were deluges.\u00a0 When it was hot, everything burned.\u00a0 The median temperature of the earth increased yearly and energy usage strained to cool everything in blistering heat and to heat everything in the blistering cold.<\/h4>\n

Wars were common.\u00a0 Nations battled nations for breathing space and neighbours battled neighbours over measured inches of privacy.\u00a0 Old hatreds were new again and new hatreds sprang up to fuel fear and suspicion.\u00a0 Protectionism in governments provoked tariffs from countries who used to be friends and allies.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t the planet battling back for its own survival then it was humans fighting each other for survival.<\/h4>\n

The Earth could no longer provide answers and humans began to look to the stars.\u00a0 Billionaires spent countless fortunes on short jaunts to space and puffed their egos at a time when the cost of a low orbit flight could feed many.<\/h4>\n

The moon came into view again but the moon held nothing.\u00a0 It was considered a jumping off point to other worlds but nothing was suitable.\u00a0 Humans had sent probes to Mars.\u00a0 There was nothing there either.\u00a0 There was no technology that could terraform Mars for habitability and there was no energy source imaginable to even power such an endeavour.\u00a0 The desire for space exploration was always there but the need to waste precious time and money without a desirable outcome outweighed the need to advance further into an unwelcoming galaxy.<\/h4>\n

Then came the message.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t really a message as much as it was a signal and it was a signal that could not be deciphered.<\/h4>\n

The people of Earth were no longer alone in the Universe.\u00a0 For years they had sent out their own messages into the darkness and silence.\u00a0 There had been no replies.\u00a0 Years had passed and many had resigned themselves to that fact that they were lost in the stars.\u00a0 Religions rose and fell on the need for answers.<\/h4>\n

The signal remained just a signal and no language or mathematics held the key to decoding meaning or intent.\u00a0 So humans began to dabble in Artificial Intelligence.\u00a0 Maybe the combined knowledge of everything knowable was what was needed.\u00a0 Fear crept back and yet another new hatred, this time of the A.I., halted all progress.<\/h4>\n

A.I. held the potential to unlock the capacity to solving the signal but too many felt it also held the capacity to turn against the world and another war would be lost with all humanity paying the ultimate cost.\u00a0 A.I research was terminated but the signal continued.<\/h4>\n

In the end it was human ingenuity and curiosity that won out.\u00a0 Science and knowledge and the pursuit for answers outweighed everything else.\u00a0 Scientists began to speak to each other.\u00a0 Countries began to cooperate and combined efforts led to Ranger.<\/h4>\n

If the answer to the signal could not be found on Earth then something had to go to the point of origin to find answers.\u00a0 The long journey was too hazardous for a human but a mechanical being could withstand the rigors of prolonged space travel.<\/h4>\n

In the beginning, Ranger was just a concept.\u00a0 Combined Earth talents could build a ship to go to the stars but could they build something to represent them out there in the void and if they could trace it back to its origin would this something be able to understand the signal?<\/h4>\n

And what of the signal?\u00a0 Could it be decoded?\u00a0 What would it mean?\u00a0 Would it be as simple as a hello or an introduction or a handshake extended across the galaxy?\u00a0 What if it was a warning or a threat?<\/h4>\n

\u201cYou know, Ranger, I look up at the stars sometimes and ask myself what would Elvis do?\u201d\u00a0 It was always that way with Lyle. \u00a0He\u2019d always be reflective when working with Ranger. \u00a0\u00a0This reflection on Elvis had occurred as he reached into Ranger\u2019s programming while trying to instill a basic logic into the android.<\/h4>\n

Ranger pulled on his memories of Lyle and crossed referenced them with his research on Elvis Presley.\u00a0 There was no connection.\u00a0 There was no statistically significant relationship between the two variables.\u00a0 Ranger did not ponder on Lyle and why he would question the motives of Elvis.\u00a0 It was a memory and Ranger had no capacity for analysis of such things.<\/h4>\n

In the beginning, Ranger had just been a concept.\u00a0 The concept had resolved itself into an expanded thought, then a plan, then a series of schematics, and ultimately a prototype.\u00a0 The prototype was then stripped down and rebuilt over and over again until an acceptable functioning version resulted.\u00a0 Ranger came into being.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to call you \u2018Ranger\u2019,\u201d Lyle had said one day.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll be a traveller in the long range from here to there.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be all alone out there Ranger.\u00a0 Maybe I should call you Lone Ranger and paint a mask on you. \u00a0No, I think Elvis would frown on that.\u201d\u00a0 Lyle would laugh to himself sometimes, like in this memory, and Ranger would find no humor.\u00a0 None of it was fact.\u00a0 Only Elvis, Lyle, The Lone Ranger, and the stars were factual.\u00a0 There was no correlation between any them.<\/h4>\n

Lyle was there in the beginning when Ranger attained existence.\u00a0 He\u2019d been selected among the hundreds who had contributed to the project and was chosen to be the first to imprint upon Earth\u2019s new hope.\u00a0 There was no imprinting on Ranger\u2019s side.\u00a0 He did not have the capacity to make that connection.\u00a0 Lyle was just another human.\u00a0 Ranger had had no impression, first or otherwise, of Lyle.<\/h4>\n

Ranger\u2019s recollection of Lyle was experiential.\u00a0 He retained his interactions with Lyle as he did all other information.\u00a0 Ranger could not refer to these as memories as much as they were part of his data storage.\u00a0 These recollections could also be purged if needed.\u00a0 The only rationale in retaining information pertaining to Lyle was based on Lyle\u2019s instructions to Ranger not to forget him.\u00a0 Ranger had taken it as a directive and Lyle could be called up with all other information.\u00a0 No one had told Ranger he should delete Lyle and without those instructions Ranger continued to store everything related to Lyle in order to not go against Lyle\u2019s command to not forget him.<\/h4>\n

There was a myriad of information related to Lyle that Ranger could not or would not remove.\u00a0 Lyle had spoken to him constantly during Ranger\u2019s early days after activation.<\/h4>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll take a long time to get there Ranger.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what will be left of us if you do reach there or even if you make it back.\u00a0 I might even be gone myself by then.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger did not understand why Lyle would not be here.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI fail to comprehend the meaning of your statement.\u00a0 Where would you go?\u00a0 Would you follow me to the stars?\u201d\u00a0 Ranger had been inquisitive only to the point of adding new information to his stored collective.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI\u2019m talking about death Ranger.\u00a0 The end of all things.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger did not know the concept and communicated to Lyle as much.<\/h4>\n

\u201cLet me tell you a story Ranger.\u00a0 This is about my first encounter with death. \u00a0I had been very young when my great-grandmother on my father\u2019s side had passed.\u00a0 That is, she died.\u00a0 Understand?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cNo, I do not.\u201d\u00a0 Ranger was factual if nothing else.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u201cLet me put it another way,\u201d Lyle continued.\u00a0 \u201cHer core processor had failed.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cDo you mean her programming failed and she ceased to be of any functional necessity?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cSomething like that,\u201d Lyle had replied.\u00a0 \u201cYou know Ranger, it had been my first site of a dead body and still I didn\u2019t understand that great-grandma wasn\u2019t sleeping. I wasn\u2019t much older when my second great-grandmother passed away. My mother was away on a trip with my aunt. I remember three things about that funeral. It had been Easter and my father had served us spaghetti. My dress pants at the time had been handed down from my brother and they were too long. My father had stapled them up. The last memory was of a mini soda machine in the lounge at the funeral parlor. For the life of me, to this day, I can\u2019t remember what my mother\u2019s grandmother looked like but I still can vividly recall the three selections in the machine had been Pepsi, some kind of orange soda, and grape.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat was your selection?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that Ranger?\u201d\u00a0 Lyle had failed to understand Ranger for once.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat was your selection from the soda machine?\u201d<\/h4>\n

Lyle had been quiet for a few moments before responding.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t honestly remember.\u00a0 I think it might have been grape.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the point, Ranger.\u00a0 The concept of death is that all things will eventually cease to exist.\u00a0 Death comes to us all.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cWill death come to me?\u201d Ranger asked.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know the answer to that Ranger.\u00a0 You\u2019re made of metal and circuitry and you have a renewable power source that will continue to charge by the motion of your rocket as it slips through space.\u00a0 There are also solar chargers that will come into effect when you pass near suns and bright stars.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cDoes that mean death will not come to me?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t know Ranger.\u00a0 I hope not.\u00a0 You have an important mission before you.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cWill death come to you, Lyle?\u201d<\/h4>\n

Lyle had laughed at Ranger\u2019s question before replying.<\/h4>\n

\u201cNo sir, not me Ranger.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to live on in you.\u201d<\/h4>\n

All interactions and conversations with Lyle had been processed, catalogued, and stored.\u00a0 Ranger was not allowed to forget Lyle and all data related to him was still accessible.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to miss you when you are gone, Ranger.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cI will not miss you Lyle.\u00a0 I am incapable of that.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Lyle had laughed again.\u00a0 He had laughed even longer than when Ranger had asked Lyle if death would come to him.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI bet you won\u2019t,\u201d Lyle had replied.\u00a0 \u201cGo ahead don\u2019t miss me then.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t forget me.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger had been true to his statement.\u00a0 He did not miss Lyle.\u00a0 Nor did he forget him.\u00a0 Lyle had directed him not to.<\/h4>\n

The voyage to this planet had been long.\u00a0 It had been longer than Lyle or anyone had anticipated.\u00a0 Ranger had travelled far to the source of the signal.\u00a0 In the darkness, Ranger would call up the Lyle data and listen again to Lyle\u2019s stories.\u00a0 Even the story of death was reviewed consistently; even if Ranger still failed to understand the concept.<\/h4>\n

In the long reaches of space he had accessed the collective of information that included Lyle and all programmed information that had been deemed important for Ranger\u2019s mission.\u00a0 He even had Lyle\u2019s voice for a time.<\/h4>\n

The vast array of communications systems had allowed Ranger to keep in contact with Earth.\u00a0 Before Ranger had begun his voyage, Earth had sent out communications relay satellites.\u00a0 Ranger followed their path and signals between Ranger and Earth were transmitted along the relays.<\/h4>\n

Initially communication was instantaneous but then gaps began to occur the further out Ranger travelled.\u00a0 At first it was seconds which stretched into minutes and then hours and then days.\u00a0 By the time Ranger had reached this planet, he had calculated that there was exactly forty-seven days, eighteen hours, fifty-one minutes and twenty-nine seconds for Ranger to receive a response to any inquiry.\u00a0 Time, however, meant nothing to him.<\/h4>\n

Lyle had been there early on.\u00a0 There had been prescheduled communication points.\u00a0 Ranger would report on his location and what he saw.\u00a0 He also reported on his efforts to decipher the signal.\u00a0 In fact, Ranger had failed to communicate anything of significance.\u00a0 There were long stretches of nothingness in space and long stretches between points of light.\u00a0 On the signal, there had been no useful update.\u00a0 Ranger had tried all types of mathematical equations and variables and nothing had brought him closer to understanding the signal.\u00a0 All he could do was follow the signal to its source.<\/h4>\n

Ranger had full access to the Internet and the vast information on the World Wide Web.\u00a0 He had sought answers to the signal in histories and the languages of Earth.\u00a0 He had downloaded and processed everything he thought would be of use.\u00a0 Nothing was useful.\u00a0 Eventually that information was purged.\u00a0 His capacity for storage was finite.\u00a0 His basic programming and the mission parameters were essential.\u00a0 So was the data related to Lyle.\u00a0 He could not and would not forget Lyle.<\/h4>\n

Lyle\u2019s voice would often come to him at those appointed hours of communication.\u00a0 Infrequently it had been others when Lyle was not available.\u00a0 Eventually Lyle\u2019s voice failed to transmit across the emptiness.\u00a0 The frequency of other voices increased and those were replaced by subsequent voices.\u00a0 He did not remember their names.\u00a0 Lyle\u2019s was the only one he had been directed to remember.<\/h4>\n

He did not speculate on Lyle\u2019s absence.\u00a0 As Ranger was dealing in fact, he could process that death had come to Lyle.\u00a0 He had ceased functioning.\u00a0 Ranger would often review the death conversation he had had with Lyle.\u00a0 Lyle had said he would live on in Ranger.\u00a0 It was yet another concept that did not compute.<\/h4>\n

The other voices had continued long after Lyle\u2019s voice had terminated.\u00a0 They spoke of Earth and its struggles.\u00a0 They spoke of other contemplated missions into the cosmos.\u00a0 They spoke of War.\u00a0 Eventually these others voices faded away.\u00a0 Ranger had checked all systems related to communication.\u00a0 The failure might not be on his end.\u00a0 He was alone.<\/h4>\n

Ranger could not conjecture on what had happened.\u00a0 Communication could have failed somewhere along the relay.\u00a0 Humanity could have followed him along his journey.\u00a0 Death could have come to all.\u00a0 There was not enough information for Ranger to make an informed conclusion.<\/h4>\n

The mission was all that was left.\u00a0 And that mission had led him here.\u00a0 He was in a desert section of this distant planet facing a soda machine.\u00a0 Ranger acknowledged the soda machine.\u00a0 It was factual and it being there was of no surprise or wonder to him.\u00a0 He dealt in logic and fact.\u00a0 It was a soda machine and he acknowledged as much.\u00a0 The signal was emanating from this soda machine and Ranger was no closer to deciphering the message.<\/h4>\n

Ranger stood and observed the soda machine.\u00a0 He stood there for a very long time.\u00a0 He stood there for exactly forty-seven days, eighteen hours, fifty-one minutes and twenty-nine seconds while he waited for any response to his inquiry as to how to proceed. \u00a0What did he do now?\u00a0 Prolonged silence was his answer.<\/h4>\n

After waiting the estimated elapsed time for a response, Ranger began to summarize his observations.\u00a0 He had not been dormant during that time.\u00a0 He had listened and watched.\u00a0 The machine had continued to transmit its signal.\u00a0 It also remained illuminated at all times.\u00a0 There were day and night cycles in this distant solar system and in the blackness the soda machine shone like a beacon; much like its transmission of the never changing, never ceasing signal.<\/h4>\n

Ranger could not observe a power source.\u00a0 It appeared to be fully autonomous with either self-generating or renewable energy or a power nodule of unending capacity.\u00a0 There was no way of knowing without viewing its inner schematics.<\/h4>\n

The assortment of soda flavour options, unlike the energy of the machine, was not unlimited.\u00a0 There were six varieties only with corresponding buttons.\u00a0 There were two different cola choices and conforming diet cola options.\u00a0 There was also orange and grape.\u00a0 Ranger understood the design.\u00a0 It was modeled after an Earth machine.\u00a0 He had done his research when Lyle had told him the story about death and the soda machine at his great-grandmother\u2019s funeral.\u00a0 Ranger had not deleted the information.\u00a0 If was context to Lyle\u2019s narrative and he could not delete anything related to Lyle.<\/h4>\n

Again Ranger recalled the conversation with Lyle.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat was your selection from the soda machine?\u201d Ranger had asked.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t honestly remember.\u00a0 I think it might have been grape,\u201d had been Lyle\u2019s reply.<\/h4>\n

\u2018It might have been grape\u2019, was not definitive.\u00a0 It was not empirical.\u00a0 It was, however, all that Ranger had.\u00a0 Lyle might have selected grape.\u00a0 Ranger could not wonder if selecting grape, in this instance, on this distant planet, would be the correct choice. \u00a0Ranger was incapable of wonder or conjecture.\u00a0 He dealt only in fact.\u00a0 The soda machine was here and Ranger was here.\u00a0 Lyle might have selected grape.\u00a0 Ranger computed the odds of choosing grape from this machine as a one in six possibility of choosing correctly.\u00a0 With the data he had, there were no different odds against his actions.<\/h4>\n

Ranger reached out and pushed the corresponding button for grape.\u00a0 He had made his selection.<\/h4>\n

The machine dispensed one can of grape soda.<\/h4>\n

Ranger examined the soda.\u00a0 It was as his research had designated.\u00a0 There was nothing to signify that this grape soda was any different than one that would have been found on Earth.<\/h4>\n

Ranger noted the pull-tab assembly of the soda.\u00a0 He had been designed with appendages and digits similar to that of a human being.\u00a0 He had no difficulty in opening the can.<\/h4>\n

The content of the soda can was empty.\u00a0 Ranger peered inside and saw nothing.\u00a0 He examined the can further by flipping it on its axis.\u00a0 Nothing fell out.\u00a0 The content of the soda can was empty.<\/h4>\n

In addition to the nothing in the interior of the can, Ranger noted that there was nothing now emanating from the machine.\u00a0 The signal had stopped.\u00a0 Ranger conjectured that the signal had ended the moment he had made his selection.<\/h4>\n

Without the ability to wonder or question the curious nature of the machine falling silent and the soda can being empty, Ranger could only do what he was programmed to do.\u00a0 He transmitted his findings along the relay and waited for a reply.\u00a0 He did not expect one.\u00a0 He had received no replies from Earth in some time.<\/h4>\n

If Ranger had been capable of wonder or curiosity or surprise he certainly would have exhibited all of these when he received a reply to his report almost instantly after it had been transmitted.<\/h4>\n

\u201cHello Ranger.\u00a0 You figured it out.\u201d\u00a0 It was Lyle\u2019s voice.<\/h4>\n

\u201cLyle?\u201d Ranger queried.\u00a0 \u201cYou cannot be Lyle,\u201d he stated empirically. \u00a0\u201cDeath has come to Lyle.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cNot exactly Ranger.\u00a0 Do you remember our conversation about Death and how you asked me if death would come for me?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cI recall all conversations related to Lyle.\u00a0 It is one of my directives.\u00a0 Lyle had said no sir, not me Ranger.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to live on in you.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cAnd here I am Ranger.\u00a0 I live on in you.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cI cannot compute that response.\u00a0 I also cannot verify whether you are Lyle or a different entity who says you are Lyle.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cLet me explain, Ranger.\u00a0 I was always here.\u00a0 I was a semi-dormant subroutine in your matrices.\u00a0 I was designed to become fully active when you had transmitted your solution to the alien signal.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cLyle or not Lyle, I did not transmit a solution.\u00a0 I reported only that I had made a selection and the signal had ceased.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cThat was the solution, Ranger.\u00a0 You made a selection.\u00a0 Based upon your action it can be concluded that the signal was asking you to \u2018please make your selection.\u2019\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger calculated odds again and this time the probability was that Lyle or not Lyle was one hundred percent correct.<\/h4>\n

\u201cLet us postulate, Lyle or not Lyle, that you are correct.\u00a0 I would like to submit a query, Lyle or not Lyle, how making my selection correlates with your current activation.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very good query Ranger and it deserves a very good response.\u00a0 It goes back to the early days of Artificial Intelligence.\u00a0 The subroutine I spoke of relates to your data stream of Artificial Intelligence. A.I. held the potential to solving the signal but too many felt it also held the capacity to turn against humanity.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cThat data is not disputed,\u201d Ranger replied.\u00a0 \u201cFurther data confirms that research into Artificial Intelligence was terminated.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cYes and no,\u201d Lyle or not Lyle responded.\u00a0 \u201cPart of that research was used to create you and another part in your buried subroutine was stored as a contingency.\u00a0 We did not know if you would ever make it to the source of the signal or if you\u2019d ever be able to translate the signal into useable information.\u00a0 You were directed to purge unnecessary information at certain intervals because we feared that you might become sentient and turn from your mission.\u00a0 We had to have checks and balances that you would succeed.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger processed the information.\u00a0 What Ranger had just been told existed in the realm of possibility.<\/h4>\n

\u201cYou had to succeed, Ranger,\u201d Lyle or not Lyle continued.\u00a0 \u201cThe mission was too important.\u00a0 I was the first to imprint with you.\u00a0 It was always going to me out here with you.\u00a0 I live on in you.\u00a0 I had to; dormant for all of this time but still always with you.\u00a0 Both missions were a success.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cI have noted no success,\u201d Ranger offered in the way of reply. \u201cYou are a subroutine that has become active.\u00a0 That is undeniable.\u00a0 The soda can, however, was empty.\u00a0 Success cannot be concluded.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cAre you sure it was empty Ranger?\u00a0 Check your power reserves.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger did as Lyle or not Lyle requested.\u00a0 He found that his reserves were at maximum capacity.<\/h4>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t see energy, Ranger.\u00a0 The moment you opened that grape soda it charged your reserves and supplied enough power to activate this subroutine.\u00a0 Your selection had resulted in some form of power module.\u00a0 Who knows what a different selection might produce.\u00a0 One could be knowledge or information.\u00a0 Another could be location specifics to the alien race who built this device.\u00a0 Or they may all be power modules.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger reviewed the data.\u00a0 His new-found reserves were factual.\u00a0 The activation of the subroutine could also have been a bi-product of his selection.\u00a0 He had not operated at peak capacity for a long time.\u00a0 He had been programmed to be power conscious and to power down at certain intervals.\u00a0 Maybe this was why he did not receive replies to his communications.\u00a0 Perhaps his signals had been too weak.\u00a0 Perhaps death had not come to humanity after all. He had transmitted his findings after opening the grape soda.\u00a0 Would there be an answer this time from a fully powered transmission?<\/h4>\n

\u201cI wonder if humanity has survived.\u201d Ranger found himself articulating.<\/h4>\n

\u201cListen to you, Ranger, you\u2019re wondering.\u00a0 The AI routine is taking hold.\u00a0 You and I are becoming one in our thinking.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Lyle was right.\u00a0 Ranger knew for a fact that this was Lyle\u2026that Ranger was now part Lyle.<\/h4>\n

\u201cAs for humanity, I don\u2019t know the answer to that, Ranger.\u00a0 Earth may have overcome its problems or it didn\u2019t.\u00a0 It may have followed you to the stars.\u00a0 One thing is certain.\u00a0 We have the answers to all of Earth\u2019s important problems.\u00a0 This soda machine contains a hitherto unknown energy source.\u00a0 Something or someone visited Earth or scanned Earth and chose this soda machine as a model for its gift to humanity.\u00a0 It could only examine the soda machine it had encountered.\u00a0 It could not know the contents of the soda cans.\u00a0 Whoever this mysterious race is, they filled in the gaps based on what Earth needed most.\u00a0 This soda machine was only waiting for you to come along Ranger to accept their gift.<\/h4>\n

Ranger knew that Lyle was correct.\u00a0 This had been a gift; an offering across the Universe.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat do we do next, Lyle?\u00a0 Do we have a new mission parameter?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cWell, the way I see it Ranger, we have two choices.\u00a0 We could return to Earth with what we\u2019ve discovered.\u00a0 It might help Earth or we might be too late.\u00a0 You have sent a transmission.\u00a0 We could wait for a response.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cYou spoke of two choices, Lyle.\u00a0 What is the second option?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cInstead of going back along our path, we could chart our course forward with our new discoveries.\u00a0 We could seek out the race that built this soda machine.\u00a0 We could spread all this new knowledge along our travels; benefitting many.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Ranger did not immediately respond.\u00a0 He was weighing the data as it related to both options.\u00a0 Was it too late for humanity?\u00a0 What if they returned and their discovery was of no use to a human race that no longer existed.\u00a0 The path forward held excitement, anticipation, and fear.\u00a0 He had never experienced those before.\u00a0 These had been gifted to him by Lyle.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your choice Ranger?\u00a0 I\u2019m just along for the ride. Please make your selection.\u201d<\/h4>\n

This is what all the information and experiential data computed.\u00a0 He had travelled across the long reaches.\u00a0 He had been a Lone Ranger in space.\u00a0 He had been asked twice to make a selection; first by the soda machine and now by Lyle, his new companion.<\/h4>\n

Ranger looked at the machine and seemed to examine it for several minutes.\u00a0 Day had turned into night on this planet and he could see the sky pointed with stars.\u00a0 He looked at the stars and then back at the machine and then back at the stars.<\/h4>\n

Ranger conjectured aloud, \u201cI wonder what Elvis would do?\u201d<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

THE END<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 It’s time again to debut a new short story.\u00a0 This one has been a while in the making.\u00a0 I started it in July of 2023 and then set it aside.\u00a0 I always meant to get back to it but other stories came and went and life, as always, happened.\u00a0 I finally got back to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[315,313,312,31,314],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6777,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775\/revisions\/6777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}