The atmosphere around the craft sparkled with radioactive dust that had been thrown up, the craft wobbling as it ascended further, small alarms flashing. Auton turned its attention to the alarms, a number of warnings signs were picking up higher than expected radioactivity. There was nothing they could do except ride it out and reach space, where the blast couldn't follow. Thirty seconds later it was safe, the planet left behind, the mayhem contained seventy miles below them. Auton let the craft ascend a little further before turning off the thrusters and allowing it to come to a rest. They checked the alarm and warning signs one after the other. It quickly dawned on Auton that the radiation from the blast had damaged parts of the central computer. There was also a warning sign from the solar panels, out of four of them, only two remained functional. Another check revealed the fuel cells weren't processing what energy they were receiving properly, and there was slight damage to the left side of the craft.
The existing power was being trickled away at an alarming rate, they had no time to try and repair the damage yet, as it would take more energy requirements than the craft had. Auton's first priority was the safety and survival of the team, so it checked the energy efficiency of the drive their virtual world was running on. It was using more than it needed to, it couldn't keep it running at full capacity. Auton started checking a few options, at the same time performing diagnostics on the rest of the equipment. It decided to lower the processing speed of the team's virtual world, slowing the processor down to a billionth of a degree, so that any power used was minimal. The plan was to send all their DNA back using the specially adapted pod Jarrah and James had devised, as soon as the planets radiation was back at safe levels, hopefully between ten and fifteen years. Slowing their world down would mean they would only be in the 'virtual world' for a few days to their conscious minds. It was an acceptable outcome, Auton decided. Sensible and power saving, so it adjusted the processor and watched the energy expenditure fall.
It suddenly dawned on Auton that it hadn't checked the team's DNA, it had been safely stored in a large lead container. It had been designed to withstand cosmic rays, so they were hopeful it was enough to shield them from the deadly radiation. A quick flick through the databanks gave it a damage report; it took a little longer than it should, again due to the slower processing capacity. Auton felt a huge relief, everyone's DNA was intact, and there was no damage. They had also added the DNA of a selection of plants, all perfectly preserved too. If a nuclear winter had hit a lot of the planet then most, if not all crops, would have died off and they would need food. They would re-engineer the plants, to sustain them.
Auton could now turn its attention to trying to fix anything it could on the craft. It assessed the damage to the panels, it didn't look good. It required more material than they had on the craft. It had to try and figure out what to do. They were floating in a universe of possibilities; there must be something that could be done.
A quick series of calculations gave them the first option, one that would use the least amount of power that was gradually seeping away from the craft. Anticipating a fifteen-year re-entry, it worked out the precise alignment required to release the escape pod back home with the team's DNA and the Nano-bots. All it had to do was fire the thrusters and get the craft in that position and wait fifteen years, it was the safest and most energy efficient plan.
Auton changed its view from the internal circuitry to the inside of the craft, making one more careful check to make sure there were no other problems internally. It then changed its view to the outside of the craft, the view of endless sparkles in the dark void of space. Auton had never seen this before, it had read and seen pictures of the universe, but to be absorbed in its' environment, surrounded by its' majestic patterns was something entirely different. It gave it a series of new vibrations in its mind, were these emotions once more? If they were, how would it know what the emotion was? It scanned its database, its huge repository of knowledge, to see if it could match it with something that made sense. Awe? Excitement? Astonishment? It could have been all of them, or something similar. It was hard to quantify for it. It knew of the existence of emotions, but having never experienced them before, it found them hard to believe. But something was stirring new thought structures in them; it was convinced it was experiencing something emotional. It decided to label it as Awe and catalogue it, it was better to give it some meaning, so it could identify it again if it occurred again in the future.
Without wasting any more time Auton calibrated the thrusters and began its plan. The craft moved slowly, first carefully turning towards its intended target and then with a slight burst of more thrust it drifted quietly
