Chapter 5: Pioneer

Chapter 5 Pioneer

It was getting dark. Angela and Dingo were spying the state property ruins. The beacon signal was lost in this very city. It was not clear if the transmitter was discovered or if something was blocking the signal. They observed for several hours, but no one had appeared. Getting inside, they came across just one working robot on the central street. He was just like the others, but he had a red cap with a sign on the sensor module on his head. He was just standing, not doing anything. Hiding behind a ruined fence, looking at the digital monocle, Angela said, “What do you think?”

Watching all this from the scope lens of a sniper rifle, Dingo answered, “Obviously, this is not just a scarecrow… We have to think this through. The signal disappeared here. I don’t think that we could just pass by him.”

“Do you think he will attack?”

“If that was the case, he would have waited in ambush, but he is standing in the open.”

“Is he just there to frighten us away?”

“He looks weak. No matter how much you look at him, he just doesn’t look like a serious security guard. He is there for something else.”

Angela put away the monocle and looked at Dingo.

“But what is he for then?”

“Maybe he’s greeting someone.”

“Huh?”

“Well, this is the marked place.”

Dingo held out the rifle to Angela.

“You will cover.”

“What did you come up with?”

“I’ll go say hello. If anything… Do you know how to use it?”

Angela snatched the sniper rifle. She took a short course on using weapons from the real world. And this semi-automatic rifle of the infantry snipers was no exception.

“I’m counting on you.”

He put the radio headset in his ear, stood up and headed towards the central street where the robot stood. Angela also put on the headset and sat with the sniper rifle, ready to fire. As her target, she chose the sensor of the robot. Dingo came out into the middle of the street with his arms raised, showing that he was not hostile and began to approach the robot. The robot remained standing still. However, he seemed to have reacted somehow to Dingo’s appearance. His sensory camera began to move. He stood up in sufficient conversation to be able to communicate.

“I mean no harm. I just want to meet with Pioneer. He’s here, isn’t he?”

Without answering, the robot turned 180 degrees and rode along the street. Dingo stood in his tracks, but the robot just beckoned him with his manipulator, by this saying, “Follow me.”

“Wait. I’m not alone. Can she go with us?”

The robot stopped. It seemed as if he was waiting. Dingo contacted Angela.

“He seems to be inviting us to follow him.”

“Will everything be alright?”

“Well, at least he does not intend to attack us. Let’s go?”

Angela carefully examined the surrounding of the robot through the lens of the rifle, but couldn’t find anything suspicious. She put down the rifle and headed towards the place previously on the watch, towards Dingo. The robot waited the whole time. As soon as Angela got close enough, he continued his way. At the end of the street was a huge structure. The central part of it was destroyed. Only the broken columns stood as if they were old doors. They went inside. Examining the wreckage, Dingo said, “What a military facility. To destroy it, a simple missile would be enough.”

“Once the facility was reliable, but now it has literally crumbled because of the nano-catastrophe. Modified crumbling machines eroded the building materials. Well, what kind of base is this?”

“That’s true. I believe that this was a shelter since, during its construction, the threat of an external attack was taken into account...”

The robot stopped before a big freight elevator. There was electricity only here. The door opened automatically. Entering inside, the robot invited Angela and Dingo in. Inside the crumbling building was an elevator. Puzzled, they went inside. The door closed, and the lift began to descend. The speed was so slow that it seemed as if they were never going to get there. Alarmed, Angela asked, “How much longer do we have to go down for?”

Dingo smiled, this did not alarm him.

“Don’t ask me. This is a military base, only they know how deeply everything is dug up here.”

Finally, the elevator stopped and the door opened. The passage was illuminated by old fluorescent lamps. The ceiling and walls were covered in cracks with dirt everywhere. However, maintenance had been carried out. Unlike the complete wreck on the surface, everything was different here. The robot went through the passage, and Angela and Dingo silently followed him. There were no signs of humans. No one walked past them, not even any sounds were heard. There were only their steps and the sounds of the walking robot. The robot got to the end of the hallway. Using its manipulator, it opened the door.

The air was cold. The room was wide and dark. The lighting only came from halogen lamps. Angela looked with wide eyes at what was lighted. She was speechless. Dingo whistled in surprise, “Oh, wow!”

There stood a huge rocket. This was a rocket capable of bringing cargo onto the near-earth orbit. It was installed on the mobile launch pad and was waiting to be launched.

Stunned by the grandeur of the rocket, Angela returned to the robot. Who, when, and for what was it created? What are they going to do with it? She had a lot of questions. The silent robot led them back to the elevator. This time they were rising, halfway through it stopped and let them out. There were boxes with raw materials and electronic components everywhere. Going past this, they got into a communication room, where there were a number of displays. And no humans. There were stocked things here too. At the center, the device for three-dimensional projection started working. An old video started broadcasting. There was a white man of Anglo-Saxon origin, an engineer. He announced a plan for deep space exploration. Angela and Dingo were confused.

The speech was obsolete. Although the language was familiar, following the man’s explanations was impossible because he spoke very quickly. The date was displayed according to the christian calendar: the events took place about 200 years ago. But they didn’t understand the actual plan of deep space exploration. It seemed as if the robot was also part of this plan.

They were made in such a way so that they would be able to participate with the specialists in experiments and repetitive work. These weren’t just normal robots, they were developed to be comrades for engineers. The red cap with the badge on the robot was put on by the engineers personally. Dingo turned to Angela, who was looking harsh.

“Nothing to do with the hacking.”

“But the plan is worth abandoning. Didn’t you see? The video is old. I can’t believe they’re still continuing this. To use this rocket to explore deep space? It can’t even cross the galaxy.”

“Maybe this isn’t the ship? They seemed to be talking about a huge one.”

“And where is it? Also, huge amount of resources would be needed. There wouldn’t be enough here. Maybe they have a different goal?... This is a military base. What if these are weapons? What if they are going to attack Deva?”

“Then why would they bring us here and show us all this?”

“I don’t know. But they are dangerous for sure. Perhaps they are conducting an investigation before the destruction.”

Angela ran her wrist computer. But they were too deep, so the connection was bad. Some sort of signal source was needed. She headed for the exit, but the robot stood in her way.

“Get out of my way.”

The robot spoke for the first time.

“What?”

Dingo joined in.

“It’s true though, it seems like weapons. Come on, we’ll listen to everything you have to say, and then we’ll decide.”

Angela thought it over and nodded.

“Yes. Somewhere, there is the someone who arranged all of this.”

She gave him an order.

“Where is your master. Tell me where Pioneer is.”

<It’s not like that,> the robot repeated, <The plan does not include an attack on Deva.>

“Right, he’s on remote control. Is someone speaking for him now? Who are you?”

“You finally admitted it. And where are you?”

The robot went silent.

“You can’t say? Oh well. I’ll find him myself. Wait.”

<Sorry, but this is impossible.>

“Hmm, of course, and how is that?”

<Unfortunately, I don’t have a body of my own. You will have to accept this voice interface as me.>

“You’re artificial intelligence?”

<Yes.>

“So, the Pioneer?”

<That’s me,> The robot replied and continued speaking, <After many years of preparation, the project to investigate the inhabited zone of Orion’s spiral arm is complete. An unexplored new world, meetings with intelligent forms of life, a chance to travel through the vast area of the galaxy…>

This was what he told the inhabitants of Deva.

“Wait, you..”

But the robot continued his speech.

“What’s wrong with you? Enough.”

“Okay, calm down.”

Dingo interfered. The robot continued talking like an enthusiastic child.

“You’re Pioneer?”

<Yes.>

The robot answered, interrupting his speech.

“Are you really a virtual person?”

<No, I am an AI.>

“And this AI is Pioneer himself?”

<That’s right. After many years of preparation, the project to investigate the inhabited…>

“Wait. Hold it! We already understood this.”

Angela sighed heavily.

“You have errors in your dialogue program. No wonder, after all, you’re an outdated model of AI.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s just not used to communicating with humans. If you sit just like him all alone, you won’t be different.”

Dingo returned to the robot.

“We heard your speech. We understood everything about your body too. We want to talk. Except we will talk in turns. When one talks, the other stays silent and listens carefully.”

“As if an AI is capable of such a thing,” Said Angela annoyed, “You can only understand someone if you have your own personality that is capable of empathy. An AI doesn’t have such a self-consciousness, he doesn’t even come close to empathizing with someone. He can only answer and give out answers in accordance with his assigned program…”

The robot answered.

“Huh?”

Angela and Dingo stared at the robot in amazement.

“Update version. Run the simulation of the partner’s personality. Initially I was created as a standalone optimization program designed to accompany the construction of the Ark. Since the beginning of the task, 16,278 days have passed. After 2,259,341 self-renewals, my consciousness took its present form. This happened 42,659 days and 11 hours ago. The conclusion of one’s own self-consciousness was obtained as a result of communicating with you. Thank you.>

“What did he say?”

“Oh that, well, yes.”

Dingo was embarrassed. He held out his hand as a greeting.

“I am Dingo. Pleased to meet you.”

In response the robot held out one of his manipulators.

<Hello, Dingo, I am Pioneer. Nice to meet you.>

Angela stood with her jaw dropped.

The sun sank below the horizon, leaving only the endless night sky. Dingo and Angela sat on the roof of the structure, the part that didn’t collapse. The working robot, controlled by Pioneer, was setting up the telescope. He launched the altazimuth mount of the telescope (ED: This wiki page should give an idea of what it actually is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altazimuth_mount). It began to move towards the specified observation point. There was a built-in miniature camera in the eyepiece, the image was broadcast on a flatbed monitor.

Angela watched in terror from afar. The fact that the AI acquired its own personality frightened her, she could hardly believe it. Pioneer handed Dingo the flatbed monitor. It was completely black.

“I can’t see anything.”

In the infrared light, a silhouette of a ship appeared.

“Wow, it’s huge.”

Dingo blurted out as soon as he saw the ship on the monitor. The main part of the ship resembled a corolla of a flower. The propulsion system was at the end, a long nozzle with a magnetic field monitoring system to direct the plasma flow, a cooling panel, and a thermonuclear reactor.

“This is the ship destined to conquer distant space.”

“Yes, this is the Ark.”

Dingo called Angela. She got closer to the monitor.

“It’s length… How long is it?”

“Lagrange point 3…”

Angela bit her lip.

“That’s it,” Dingo said understanding everything.

Deva is located at Lagrange point 1, which is in the opposite direction. The rocket isn’t visible from there.

“If the goal was just exploring, then why such secrecy?”

Pioneer answered.

<Initially, project “Pioneer” was developed with the goal of preventive measures because of the deterioration of the global environment. It consisted of finding suitable planets for the relocation of humankind. At this moment, each country was developing its own plan in searching for a way to save humanity. Because of the high competition, the project was kept secret.>

“And Deva turned out to be not as all-knowing and powerful as it was thought to be.”

Angered, Angela’s lips tightened. Putting back the telescope, the three of them got down from the roof. To prove that he was not lying, Pioneer was telling everything that was in the building. Through cameras, he showed them experiments in a vacuum, tests under turbulent conditions, a parabolic antenna for satellite tracking, and a Doppler radar dome for weather observation. He even took them to the very heart, the server room. There was a mainframe of a quantum computer, and many servers. The computer technology was similar to Deva’s earlier technology, but it had been constantly improved. This explained how he could penetrate Deva.

“And is it okay that you’re showing us all of this?” Dingo asked.

<Yes. I thought that in order to get rid of your fears, it is necessary to show you the in-depth information.>

Angela looked at Dingo angrily but stayed silent.

Dingo said in a treacherous tone.

“Barge into here on an Arhan and none of this would have happened.”

“Idiot.”

Angela puffed her cheeks. They got into the elevator and headed for the underground room. Dingo asked Pioneer.

“But why did you have to hack into Deva?”

“Then why didn’t you immediately go to negotiate with Deva?”

“Deva views your actions as attacks.”

“That’s bold.”

Angela, about whom they simply forgot, showed discontent.

They returned to the rocket. Pioneer talked about the system of delivering cargo into the near-earth orbit. The rocket was located on a launchpad, but still not complete. It was still necessary to install auxiliary missiles and fairings. And it couldn’t take off anyways. The movement mechanism of the launch pad still had to be checked. Before, this was an experimental installation for launching intercontinental ballistic missiles. The visible part of the city was leading an unpretentious life. After the collapse of the government everything was abandoned, and all of this was taken care of by Pioneer.

Dingo asked, “What kind of cargo do you want on the ship?”

“And why so many difficulties?”

“So you also built the rocket? It’s good that we did not use hybrid rockets before.”

<Yes. After the collapse of civilization, it was the hybrid engines that became the main opportunity for me, but because of their low traction power, I had to start from scratch. I had to make combustion experiments. For this, I had to increase my computing power.>

“So you have been doing this for over 40,000 days… How much is this…”

Dingo began to mutter something under his breath, and Angela sighing, said, “More than a hundred years. But what for?”

Pioneer answered with an indifferent mechanical voice, <Because this is the proof of my existence.>

Angela glanced at Pioneer again. This was just a robot, he had no expression on his face. It was impossible to tell what was inside of him by looking on the outside. But his words were sincere. It did not seem like he was lying to them. Such a simple concept as time in the real world was different from the one in Deva. There it could be controlled. If a person has enough computing power, the process of thinking also gets faster. If necessary, it can be compressed. And if running late, on the contrary, it can be slowed. Most prefer it to go faster. And that’s why they need computing power. With limited capabilities and resources, it takes time to overcome each emerging problem. And in order to achieve anything, there was no other choice but to go forward, even with just baby steps. Pioneer also did this, getting to his goal for over a century. All alone. And all for the future of mankind. Dingo said, “And what do you plan to do after you go on your way?”

“So you are planning to leave Earth?”

Dingo turned to Angela.

“And you, as a security official, what do you think?”

“What about me…” Angela hesitated, “I’ll write a report and send it to the management, they will make their choice.”

“So that means our mission ends here.”

“It remains to decide how to return. If I had an arhan communication channel, I would have downloaded myself into Deva, but thanks to someone, I can’t use that anymore.”

“Maybe just send a help signal?”

Looking at how carelessly Dingo said this, the blood poured into her face.

“What are you saying? I’m not sinking to that lev…”

Pioneer intervened,

“Well, yes…”

Dingo shook his head.

“But is this equipment compatible with Deva’s terminal standards?”

<Yes, virtual people have closed mechanical interfaces, and without the quantum communication protocols, nothing will come out of it. We need to reconfigure the cable system. For this, I will need help.>

It was already night, but Angela wanted to write up the report as fast as possible and insisted that they quickly get to work. Pioneer led them to the communication room.

In the communication room beside a projection device were network equipment. Pioneer had a number of electronic devices. And from all of this, he will build a device that will be able to transport Angela from her physical body into the virtual world. Angela herself was helping. An old terminal helmet, capable of reading the neural map of the brain, and a transmission device. If it is possible to transfer information, then Pioneer would be able to correct the protocol of the quantum bonds.

Dingo connected the terminal helmet to the transfer device. Connecting the wires, he whistled a song. Unexpectedly, Pioneer asked.

<It’s ALISE, is it not?>

Dingo was surprised. He looked at the robot closely.

“You know the music?”

<The engineers I worked with loved it. They often sang it while designing the Ark.”

“Ah.”

“Seriously? Oh, I’m glad to hear it. Few people like to discuss old music.”

He looked at Angela angrily.

“What?” Angela asked irritably, she was assembling the helmet, and for this she even paused. She looked at him suspiciously.

“Wait do you even know what “like” means?”

<It is an indefinite feeling, it speeds up the process of decision-making. During the development of the project, to decide what to give the priority, where to start collecting, how to determine the order of search and troubleshooting. There were many choices, and it was necessary to somehow determine the most reliable of them all. At that time it was not easy for me. At that time, the users made the decisions themselves, but when they were gone, I had to decide everything myself. Then I began to analyze what people call emotions, that I watched the users do, and developed a simulation system.

“Oh,” Dingo said in surprise, “So what do you feel when you sing?”

<Actually, the emotion function can lead to wrong decisions, it can cause a lot of harm, it led to a few unforeseen situations before. However, although the user’s music gave a lot of stress to my schemes, at the same time it also increases the processing performance of the CPU, this is the phenomenon. Whatever the deviations from the norm were, in the end the work was always done in the most effective way. To analyze this mysterious situation, it takes a long time. Melodie, rhythm, all of this came from the past and merges in the future and has this general effect, that’s what I came to. Having studied the concept of the past, present, and future, I came to the concept of understanding what is “I”. But to understand that this is human self-determination, I have come to thanks to you.>

“Incredible. I can’t believe that I’m talking to a machine.”

Music began to come from the loudspeakers. It was a sequencer. The communication room was filled with old rock.

“To hell with them…”

Dingo clapped happily.

“Wow! I have a guitar. Let’s play together later!”

“Great arrangement! Cool!”

Angela stopped working on the helmet. She stood up and turned to Dingo.

“Can I speak with you?”

“Huh?” Dingo turned. He was clearly puzzled. He stopped working and got up. Leaving Pioneer alone in the communication room, they went out into the fresh air to talk.

Having risen to the roof, Angela said.

“What do you think of this AI?”

“What I think?”

“Does he really have his own personality?”

“Who knows. To tell you the truth, a clear answer can’t be given about you too: are you a human or a program. Your soul has a binary structure. There’s not that big of a difference between you and him.”

“Maybe so… But we’re different.”

“And how so?”

“A person has a self-consciousness and an organic body from birth. A human has intelligence, he can experience pleasure and fear, can use a tongue, all of these are the natural biological functions. Even my soul leads an existence in a digital form, I always had a conscious. I recognize myself as a person. If he had a similar structure with us, there would be nothing surprising about the fact that he can feel and have a consciousness. But it seems to me, that everything is different here. He probably just imitates people, thinking that this is the result of appending his source code and updating the existing dialogues.”

“Are you saying that he doesn’t have his own identity?”

Angela tilted her head thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. Just, if it really is so…”

“You know, having a physical body is not the cause of the origin of a mind.”

“Yes.”

“Which means, since he’s not like everyone else, we can’t say with absolute certainty that he did not develop a personality of his own.”

Angela fell silent. She understood what Dingo was saying. But she didn’t want to continue. They still didn’t trust each other that much. Looking at her, Dingo said.

“Well, in general, what’s the difference?”

“Huh?”

“Can you prove to me that you have your own will?”

“I…”

Angela fell silent. She searched for an argument, but nothing came into mind.

“I can’t prove anything either. No one fills their head with this stuff. Same thing with Pioneer. All this isn’t important.”

She looked at Dingo and sighing, said, “Well, yeah…”

“What will you tell the leadership about him?”

Angela crossed her arms.

“Leaving an AI capable of hacking Deva’s system is dangerous, but he’s going to leave the solar system.”

“That’s right. He has no grudge against humanity.”

“And if there will be no more hacks, the problem will be solved. He is a reasonable artificial intelligence. By Deva’s laws, he will not be judged.”

“He is not evil, and if we ask him to stop, he will obey, right?”

“Yes. Somehow this was very easy. If he stops interfering illegally, then our mission is complete.”

“Not your mission?”

“No,” She lifted her head and looked into Dingo’s eyes, “We did this together. You have made a sufficient contribution for its succession.”

Surprised, Dingo looked at her. Angela kept talking.

“I think that you could already get a Deva citizenship. I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’re invited. But you refused all the time.“

Dingo looked away and looked at the ruins at night.

“Well, yes…”

“Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t going to persuade you. I understand that you do not want this. Someone like you, is a pure idiot. I don’t understand how you can give up a better life.”

Dingo smiled sadly.

“But I’m still interested. Let me ask. You are an outstanding person, so why not go to Deva? Why do you continue to live, constrained by this body?”

Dingo didn’t answer, but Angela said again.

“You can freely communicate with an AI that has its own will. You really don’t care about your physical body?”

A little confused, Dingo spoke.

“In Deva, the possibilities of the mind are endless. You can develop as much as you want. This is what virtual people say.”

“Yes.”

“But this is all a lie,” Dingo snapped, “You’re being controlled, allocating a certain amount of memory. Even if the potential is unlimited, it requires resource opportunities which are very limited.”

“But how? Computing power has limitations. They are singled out to people based on their personal qualities and achievements and to citizens who make the greatest contribution to society.”

“And this is why you’re trying so hard. Life in Deva is determined by the amount of memory allocated to you. Everything comes down to fighting for a place in the structure.”

Angela fell silent. Dingo asked a question.

“What happens to those who are not given any memory. After all, there are some useless people in Deva.”

“Those who don’t have an ambition are neglected. They don’t get memory. Eventually they are sent to the archive and their thought processes are suspended. The freed memory is passed on to more useful members of society.”

This was what Dingo didn’t like. Angela lowered her head.

“What’s so bad about this? People who contribute to society must live a better life. This system is fair. Or do you think that this system is a mistake?”

“It’s fair, a mistake, as if this is important. It’s just a lie. And this can’t be overlooked.”

“How?”

“The fact that people there are free.”

“That’s not a lie.”

“No, it’s a lie. You just didn’t notice it.”

Angela couldn’t understand. Dingo began to explain to the girl, in which a doubt arose.

“On Earth, if you don’t earn food, you will starve to death. This fate awaits anybody who doesn’t take life seriously. You can always get sick or hurt. There may be an earthquake, or a wild beast attack. We have no shortage in trouble. Whichever disaster happens, there is no one to blame for it. Someone will say, nonsense, but this is all on luck, but it’s still all the same life. I can only regret that I live in the real world. In Deva, everything is different. What you do, what you want, everything is decided by society for you. For everything you do, you hope you will be praised for this, but you don’t even think about living for your own pleasure. And you call this freedom? Deva - a world that conquered death. And such an existence will last forever. It’s not funny at all.”

Angela had nothing to say. She didn’t want to admit it and now thought about what Dingo said.

“You gave up the shackles of the physical body, but put yourself in a worse prison than before. You bound yourself with chains called “society”.”

Dingo turned around and headed for the ladder.

“I’m not going to live somewhere, where everyone will label me. I’m not going to live like a slave in paradise.”

He began to descend, and soon his figure disappeared. Left alone, Angela looked at the night sky. She saw a small light from the space station of Deva.

“Still, I do not understand the inhabitants of the real world.”

There was still truth in his words. But she couldn’t think of him in any way but a troublemaker.

Angela lay down on a relay housing as if on a bed. The terminal helmet was on her head. Checking the connected wires, Dingo said, “Well, I think that’s everything.”

Watching him, Pioneer asked Angela, <When you return to Deva, what will happen to your physical body?>

“When my mind returns to Deva, the body will fall into a coma. When the mission will officially be declared complete, I will send a telomere reduction code to the neurons in the brainstem, after which the biological functions will stop. I’ll let you know. Forgive me, but can you get rid of the body then, burn it or bury it.”

Dingo groaned in disgust.

“Here you are. How can I not like to part with Deva’s agents. Always leaving something unpleasant behind.”

Angela forced a smile.

“If the mission will be continued, perhaps I will have to return to my body. So while it functions, don’t you dare do anything to it.”

“Yeah yeah.”

She turned to Pioneer.

“I want to clarify. You’re not going to be breaking into Deva anymore, right? You won’t be kidnapping people into your crew?”

She nodded and said seriously, “I will report everything about you to the security service. You can’t run or hide. If you want to find a crew, contact Deva’s government officially…Will you be able to do this next time?”

<Yes. Thank you for this decision, Angela Balzac.>

Having said this, the robot held out his manipulator. Angela’s face was calm, and she shook it in answer.

She placed her head, covered with the helmet, on a platen. Dingo glanced at her and said goodbye.

“Well, we did an excellent job.”

“You were the exact guide, that you were described as,” Angela sighed, “Effective, but too self-willed. There’s so much trouble from you.”

“So you won’t work with me anymore?”

“If this wasn’t enough.”

Having said this, she smiled, “If there are any more assignments in the future, I’ll ask for you as my partner. Don’t let me down.”

She closed her eyes. Dingo started to work behind the communication panel. Angela’s mind left the physical body and headed to the sea of electronic information. With closed eyes in the darkness, its vision switched to images from the virtual space. There was no more physical body, she returned to her original state, the virtual body. Before her was the majestic sight of the Deva space station. She filed a request to the security operator.

“Agent Code - ZQ875456, Angela Balzac. Please grant access to the security service through an unofficial communication channel.”

She heard the voice of the operator.

“Agent code confirmed, identity of Angela Balzac, officer of the third rank is recognized. Access allowed. Please come in through the secure gateway.”

Before her appeared a dazzling ring of light. This was how Deva scans for viruses and malicious data. In the worst case, they would have frozen her and sent her to quarantine. She was worried that this access was unstable, but she went ahead without hesitation. Angela flew into the gates. Everything went smoothly. An information display appeared in front of Angela, it displayed the open locations. Amongst them was that beach. It was filled with people in bathing suits like usual.

Angela was back in Paradise.