by Steve Hertig
Chapter 49
RefPlane: Stardate 211554.60
"Prepare for Warp field engagement," Captain Nysas told the bridge engineer from the command chair of the Monitor. The Trua outpost appeared in the main viewscreen as a tiny speck at the end of the narrow tunnel through the gas and dust of the Cannon nebula.
"Chief Engineer reports warp drive ready on your order, Captain," Grayson replied.
"Main viewscreen, forward look," she said and then Wigwag made it so. "Confirm course above the galactic disc," she added.
"Course laid in, Captain," Carl said.
"Computer, confirm conn," she said.
"Navigation through the Orion–Cygnus arm to the specified coordinates beyond the clockwise, galactic spin aspect is confirmed, and clear," Luca reported over the bridge's com.
"Science?" the captain asked.
"Confirm both short- and long-range sensors clear," John said from the science station.
"Warp factor seven, Mister Watkins," the captain said calmly.
"Warp seven," Carl repeated as the star field in the main viewscreen morphed into a centralized bright glow.
John sat back; the Monitor's short-range sensors were only nominally reliable during an active warp field and Luca automatically analyzed and interpreted all long-range data much faster than he could. From his point of view, they were on autopilot until the captain or Luca said otherwise.
"Number One, Commander Mackinac join me in my ready room," Rori said. "Mr. Grayson you have the chair," she added as she left the bridge and the port door quickly swooshed shut behind her.
John knew the temporal anomaly appeared well before the twenty-sixth century, so a stationary, temporal translation would be necessary to converge with the anomaly in 6050 BC, roughly eight and a half thousand years ago. The translation would not be a simple task. It considered the Milky Way's gangly rate of spin, almost 230 kilometers per second at the Sun's distance from the Lár as well as the galaxy's overall speed of over 500 kilometers per second. Then there were intermediate variables to take into consideration such as the Great Attractor and the other Local Group galaxies, including the Milky Way's nemesis, Andromeda.
John had faith in Prophet's abilities given similar programming of the traveler's watch and the Relativity, but he reckoned the captain was not so sure.
John looked over to Jen at Tac-1 to see her busy at her station.
"After you Commander," Prophet said already waiting for John at the door.
RefPlane: 6,015,915 +/- 200,000 BC
Flint woke with a chill as he sat up in a more conventional stasis chamber that he had watched Vejay's little monster's fashion millions of years in the past. They were making discrete, timed translations of roughly one hundred million years that apparently was the most his modified TR parts could accommodate. The cyno commander usually woke him for one of her chats each time.
He had been able to obtain several star fixes during their journey so his sat-chron could calculate the approximate date. He glanced at the timepiece; his last awakening had been over a hundred and five million years ago and from within the Perseus Arm as was the awakening before. He surmised the Wrath's destination was sure to be within that space.
"I have brought nutrition," Vejay said from the hatchway of Flint's quarters. She placed a tray with several of what he called brown, mystery bars and a liter of water on a small table next a chessboard with pieces in play. "And our current coordinates in the projection and units used by your tricorder," she added leaning a thin, metallic sheet against the water container.
Flint observed that the mechs had finely etched their current coordinates on the sheet.
"Thanks," Flint replied dryly, knowing he had been outsmarted.
"I have monitored your interest in our spatial and temporal locations."
"I said 'thanks'."
Vejay collapsed her mech appendages to sit next to the chamber.
"Maker is preparing the last of the transmitters. Do you still believe your ship will investigate our signal?"
"I do not see why not since nothing has changed from the last time you woke me." Flint knew they had a keen interest in the Relativity and wondered if its technology figured into their plans to rebuild another version of the Navis.
Vejay sat in silence as Flint tried to chew the end of one of the dry, brown bars.
"Shall we play?" Vejay said pointing to the chess pieces after he had finished the bar and half the water.
Flint taught the cyborg to play chess during a past stop in hopes of discovering more weakness in her thought processes. It was mostly futile as she could see every possible combination going forward after the first move. However, she could be convinced to call a knight a bishop. He was still considering how that could be helpful.
"I'd like to see the view from the dome, please," Flint asked ignoring Vejay and pulling on a simple robe.
Flint was used to a short walk to the viewing dome but as his awakenings progressed, the ship's corridors had become complex. He glanced at his sat-chron; it was now over an hour since they left his quarters.
"This way," Vejay indicated as she climbed a ladder with both her organic arms and mechanical appendages.
Flint gasped as he entered the dome overlooking the Wrath.
"I have preserved this port for your benefit," Vejay said proudly but Flint was speechless.
As he walked a full circle within the small dome, causing Vejay to mirror his movements to keep him from bumping into her, he saw that the ship had increased in size tremendously. Other ships now flitted and orbited around it, and countless crews of mechs were fabricating yet more ship in all directions.
"You have been busy," Flint muttered in awe. He was worried as he swept his sat-chron in a 360-degree arc from behind the crystal, clear dome.
"Maker has determined this location as central to large organic occurrences in this sector," Vejay explained. "Here will be the birthplace of our new mother."
He saw several large crafts launch together surrounding a black spherical ship from a dock to his left.
"Maker?" he asked.
"Yes, the last transmitter will be in place soon."
Flint had pieced together that the signal's relay from the transmitters Wrath had left behind would create a lens effect, projecting the signal above the galactic plane keeping the location of its true source concealed.
"Have you devised the signal as hoped?" Flint asked glancing at his sat-chron. It read 6,015,915 BC with an error of plus or minus two-hundred thousand years.
"It is functional and I have to remind you, that you are in check."
"I should observe the signal's integrity," Flint said eying Vejay. "And checkmate in four moves." Flint lied, but knew his adversary could not resist a challenge.
"This way," Vejay said, already clattering down the ladder.
Flint had to trot to keep up with the tireless cyborg until they eventually arrived at an unfamiliar part of the ship.
Vejay pointed with a delicate finger at a huge apparatus before them. "The wave compiler unit. It will soon instantaneously initiate a broadcast from each of the transmitters."
It looked like a gravity coil but much bigger and more complex.
"These controls are unusual," Flint said walking over to a nearby console. The mechs rarely needed analog control systems.
"They control the modulation of the signal," Vejay said timidly. "I thought if I could vary the signal, it would have more impact."
"You wanted to play a tune," Flint said wistfully. "Very ingenious and you are right, that will have an impact."
Vejay smiled showing her metallic teeth briefly. "Only I was unsuccessful with the…melody."
"My people come from a long line of singers," Flint said. "May I?" he asked, his finger trembling on the modulation slider. He was lucky that Maker was off ship. He probably would never have access to the broadcast unit again.
"Of course. I will record your song so it will repeat," she said making an adjustment on the con
sole and then nodded.
Flint quickly moved the slider in a combination of nine short ups and four longer downs. "Finished," he said and then Vejay made a final control adjustment.
"That looked lovely," she said.
"It is an old tune," Flint said trying to think of a way out of losing another chess match.
RefPlane: Stardate 211554.62
John and Prophet sat down as the Rori activated a holo-display over the ready room's small table.
John glanced out the room's viewport at the shimmering brightness beyond. He knew stars really didn't elongate and streak by at warp speed as in old movies. He now understood the reason for the creative effect; the current glow was eerie and gave no depth perception despite sporadic and subtle blue and red tinges within the glow.
"Here's the overall schematic for the anomaly," Rori said as a star map and several 2D graphs appeared in the display. "It seems the anomaly contains a signal," she said pointing to a graph showing a simple oscillating, sinusoidal curve.
"And we're just now finding this out?" John asked.
"The information contained within the signal," Rori explained ignoring her science officer, "has possible consequences that could impact the entire Confederation and quadrant."
"Have the Vulcans confirmed the interpretation?" Prophet asked.
"Yes, but that turned out to be trivial," Rori replied. "It's the origin of the communication that is troubling."
John stared at the oscillating graph.
"It repeats," he said.
"It's Morse code," she said ominously, "within the Higgs field."
"How improbable!" Prophet said. "Is it from Earth?"
"I would venture to guess Earth is not the signal's origin, strictly speaking," Rori said. "It is critical to determine its origin upon arrival at the anomaly."
"How is it even possible to modulate the Higgs field?" John asked.
"One of the reasons for concern," she said flatly. "There are three Confederation starships also to rendezvous at our destination, but we should get there first."
"The technology implied is worrying," Prophet said.
"The message in itself is not threatening and may be good news, but the TC has obvious, valid concerns," Rori said.
"So what's the message?" John asked.
The captain turned off the holo display and sat back in her chair. "Flint," she told them gazing out the ready room's viewport.
RefPlane: 17,059 +/- 10 BC
As Flint climbed out of his stasis chamber, he thought he could feel the ship was different. It was a subtle change in its rhythmic vibration.
"We have arrived," Vejay said, startling him.
Flint saw the chess pieces were set for a game's start.
"And where and when would that be?" he asked.
She produced another thin sheet and placed it in the middle of the chessboard face down.
Over the eons of their journey, he had gained the cyborg's confidence so much so that she had also become cautious of Maker. He had stripped her of her cynos and she feared for her goodlife's safety.
"Your home planet is not far," she said as if to give him encouragement. "Just over six thousand of your light years," she added cautiously watching Flint slump against the chamber.
The fucking tricorder again, he thought.
Taking a deep breath and regaining his composure, he asked, "I would like to see the old neighborhood."
"I have installed an inter-ship transporter in your quarters," she said with a coy smile while pointing to a nearby platform. "Would you like to visit the dome now, before nutrition?"
Flint saw more mystery bars and water was waiting for him after his twelfth awakening.
"Thanks Vejay. I would," he said stepping on the platform.
They instantly appeared on a similar platform within a large viewing dome. It was impossible to tell if they were at the same ship's location as his last viewing, as the ship had continued to change and expand in size.
Flint looked around at the star field and numerous dust formations, recording the panorama with his sat-chron.
"This cloud fits our purposes as it contains a surplus of dark matter and Hydrogen for our needs," Vejay said, "as well as several mineral-rich bodies."
Flint glanced at his sat-chron. It now read the galactic longitude, latitude, and velocity relative to Earth in kilometers per second, as well as 17,059 BC plus or minus ten years. They had stopped in the outer edge of the Perseus Arm, and doing a quick mental calculation, he concluded the stellar nursery around him was what astronomers called simply W3.
He sighed as he looked out the dome at the machine ship surrounding him. It now stretched to a roughly circular horizon that was impossible to tell its distance. Countless mech groups dotted the structure in all directions. Several large ships flew overhead and looked more like warships rather than the construction shuttles of his past awakenings.
"So what's the plan," Flint asked.
Vejay scuttled nervously in place on her mech appendages. "A new game before you sleep again?" she asked.
He knew she knew what he was asking, and he knew she was growing increasingly cautious.
Maker had ignored her since his fourth previous awakening, and Flint assumed the mech AI was now effectively the captain of the Wrath.
"Maybe we should take a tour of the newer parts of ship first," Flint suggested stepping back on the platform but still gazing at the activity beyond the dome. "Let's start with your emergency evacuation boat," he added as more huge ships with armaments passed overhead.