It was a slow shift towards where the craft needed to be, but they had fifteen years to get there, so it didn't seem particularly urgent. A few days later they reached the target and the thrusters were stilled, any tiny sound they made through the craft evaporating to silence. Auton felt calm, it catalogued that as another feeling and then went back to awe again, as it watched the vast expanse of the universe float around it.
There was a sudden warning that flashed up from the craft's outer sensors; something outside of the craft was approaching. Auton turned some more sensors on to check the problem and quickly discovered that there was space debris headed straight to them. Why hadn't they thought of this? They knew there was space debris floating all around them, too many to count, but had just thought the probabilities of something hitting the craft were too low. They had been wrong. It quickly calculated the impact time, it was ten seconds, the debris hurtling towards them at twenty-six thousand miles per hour. A thousand calculations spun through an immense array of outcomes, only one would work. So, it hit the thrusters as hard as it could. The craft was propelled forward with a sudden jolt. If Auton had a body it would have been crushed with the g-force, before being shredded by the metallic interior. With only seconds to spare the debris rushed by, the craft having a lucky escape.
Auton stopped the thrusters again and the craft drifted back to stillness, the danger over. Auton had another emotion, one it catalogued as regret and then another one, disappointment. Why had it not factored that in its calculations? It knew that it should have done and was disappointed with itself, disappointment that turned into a new emotion, anger. As quick as this flurry of confusing emotions overwhelmed it, they cast them aside. This was no time to analyse such things, it needed to calculate the probability of collisions happening again. It meant ithat it had to scan every inch of the heavens around them. It had to track every piece of space debris, every meteorite and every satellite, to log their trajectories and orbits, how many of these could potentially collide with them? The craft gently thrust itself back to the original position, a few hours of very slight drifting and it floated there ready to survey the skies
It took a few days to gather the data, and the outlook was dire. It discovered two hundred million pieces of space debris and four thousand satellites. It took another few hours to calculate that twenty satellites and three hundred pieces of space debris were in an orbit that would affect the craft over the next fifteen years. It was a conundrum. It had just wasted more energy than it safely should have done, escaping just one of the pieces of debris, so making a quick manoeuvre every time would be impossible, even if it was able to repair the damage to the solar panels and cells.
A thousand more scenarios whizzed through Auton's mind, some absurd, some impossible, but it eventually coalesced into a potential solution. It wasn't perfect, but it was the only one it calculated could work, but was tricky to pull off.
The fact it had even calculated it was astonishing. Auton had the capacity of a thousand computers all at once, an astonishing amount, and if not for this it wouldn't have been able to devise the plan. It was going to align the escape pod at a slightly different angle, so that it could simply drop back into the atmosphere, with no thrust required. Auton calculated it could afford to detach one thruster, and use it as a weapon to target a satellite. This targeted satellite would then be knocked from its course to start a domino effect, striking a piece of space debris, then another, and so on. It was the most detailed chain of reactions, all precise measurements to ensure that each hit the other at a certain angle, changing its course. It was a complicated and crazy plan, but it was the only one that would ensure the survival of the craft. It had to wait another six months for the correct alignment. Auton slowed its own processing speed down further so that it used less energy while they were suspended above the atmosphere. It also meant that their perception of time sped up, a month feeling like a day to their awareness.
Six 'day-months' later the time had come, everything was in place, so Auton brought itself out of its semi-slumber and fired the thruster to life. With a loud rumble it was freed from the craft and its flames shot it off far away, quickly vanishing from sight. Auton could track it with the on-board systems, along with all the intended targets. It took less than ten minutes for it to hit its target, the first satellite.
The impact cracked the satellite into pieces, the largest part flung off on its collision course with the debris that was next in the queue. Auton watched as the plan worked. One after another the debris and satellites were either flung far off course, or smashed into tiny particles on impact. It was watching a dance of a trillion molecules, swirling into deep space after their ballet of destruction.
