Novum Chronicles: A Dystopian Undersea Saga

by Joseph Rhea Rhea

  He thought about trying to go back to sleep when he noticed a pair of women’s shoes lying in the corner of the room. He walked over, picked them up, and realized they were Jane’s. He was confused until he remembered that Jane and Jessie had hidden from the probe in this room. In fact, they had hidden in the same shower he had used a few hours ago. He placed the shoes on the floor next to the door and turned back to the bed. Halfway there, he stopped and walked back to the door.

  “Bilge,” he cursed aloud as he grabbed his clothes from the cleaner, quickly dressed, then opened the door and headed up to the bridge. Most of his crew was up there, crowded around Ash’s console.

  “Captain on the bridge,” AJ yelled as she snapped to attention. “Sorry,” she said a moment later. “Old habits die hard.” Jake had insisted that she drop Shippers Guild formalities on the bridge, and she sometimes forgot, but this was different.

  He glanced over and saw Ash casually turning off one of the screens on his console. “So, what’s your plan?” he asked as he approached the group.

  “Sir?”

  He looked at Raines. “I might be new at the captaining thing, but I wasn’t born in a pod.” As he said those words, it suddenly dawned on him where the expression came from.

  “I don’t know what—” Raines started to say, when Jake cut him off.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “I gave you all orders to continue on our original course, but that doesn’t mean I expected you to just give up.” He studied the five individuals. “I know that when Nia was in charge, you were trying to prevent what Wood tells us might be happening right now: a colony-wide civil war.” He paused there.

  “And?” Raines asked.

  “And you never told me why you were on the side of Betas.” Everyone looked suddenly uncomfortable. Everyone except AJ.

  “Are you calling us Betas, Sir?” she asked, a hint of anger building on her face.

  He shook his head. “We all have some Beta blood in us, according to Wood.”

  “Everyone except Jane,” Jessie whispered.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he continued, “Last month a person was considered ‘inhuman’ if he had more than fifty percent Beta markers, now it’s ten percent. Someday, it will be one percent. The point is people will fight against what they’re afraid of no matter what.” He sat down on the edge of the helm console. “So again, I’m asking; what’s your plan to help Dr. Wood stop this from happening?”

  AJ patted Raines on the shoulder as she headed for the stairs. “It’s yours and Jessie’s idea,” she said. “You two should be the ones to explain it to him.”

  Jake followed AJ down the stairs. Raines and Jessie came down next, leaving Vee and Ash on the bridge. He grabbed four mugs when he saw AJ bringing the coffee pot to the table. After cups were filled and everyone sat down, Raines began.

  “Do you recall the salvager we saw inside the dome?”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever forget any part of that day,” Jake said, as he glanced over at Jessie. She had taken off her shoes and was sitting cross-legged on her chair, her large coffee cup filling both hands. He started to look back at Raines when she spoke up.

  “My equipment happened to record the salvager’s transmissions while we were inside the dome,” she said. “It was encrypted, of course, and somewhat complicated, but I managed to dig out what seems to be its recall command.”

  Jake looked at Raines and then at AJ. “So? What does that give us?”

  “Raines thinks that if we can capture the salvager,” AJ said, “he might be able to find out where it picked up that sphere.”

  “And if we find out where it came from, we might learn why it is here,” Raines added.

  “Why it’s here?” Jake asked. “You mean you believe what Wood said about a possible Beta invasion?”

  “As a man of science, I believe all possibilities should be examined,” Raines replied.

  “If that thing was sent here,” AJ said, “we need to know a lot more about it.”

  Jake tried to pull all of that in. A sphere containing a pureblooded Beta sent here. The idea seemed like a children’s horror story, but it was beginning to make sense. “So you really think this salvager might have some answers?”

  “We won’t know until it gets here,” Raines said.

  Jake looked at AJ. “Gets here?”

  “Sorry, Sir. I authorized Jessie to send out her homing signal four hours ago, and she received what seemed to be a reply almost immediately. That’s what we were discussing on the bridge when you came up.”

  Jake glanced at Jessie, who had her face hidden behind her mug, then at Raines. “So, you’re saying you made contact with this salvager?”

  “More than made contact,” Raines said. “We believe it’s heading toward us as we speak.”

  Just then, the ship lurched to a stop, and Vee called down from the bridge. “The salvager-thing is here, and it doesn’t appear happy to see us.”

  Jake and the others ran up the stairs and approached the forward view port. Directly in front of the Wave and blocking its path, the salvager hung in the water, its six arms moving up and down erratically.

  “Why’s it doing that?” Ash asked.

  “It does look mad,” Jessie agreed.

  “It’s a machine, but it’s probably not stupid,” AJ said. “It can tell we’re not its owners.”

  Jake turned to Jessie. “Tell me you know how to shut it down.”

  She looked at him blankly then cracked a smile and walked back to her console. A moment later, the salvager lowered its arms and began to drift with the currents. “It’s asleep,” she added.

  He just shook his head at her and then said to the group. “Well, I guess I’m agreeing to this, so bring it aboard.” He then turned to Jessie and added. “You and Raines are responsible for making sure this thing stays asleep.” As the rest headed below, he whispered to AJ, “Don’t ever go behind my back again, is that understood?”

  She looked shocked for a moment but then quickly regained her tough-as-steel composure and jumped to attention. “Understood, Captain.”

  He took a slow breath, just to stretch the moment out, and then added, “And, good work. If this machine doesn’t wake up inside the cargo bay and kill us all, maybe we can learn something useful.”

  Now she really seemed confused. “Yes, Captain,” she repeated, this time less formally.

  “All right. It’s your baby, so you go below and help with the recovery. I’ll stay up here and mind the bridge.”

  “Sir?” she asked, looking around the otherwise empty room.

  He pushed her towards the stairs. “Don’t worry, I won’t break anything.” After she left, he turned on the cargo bay camera and watched as the salvager was hoisted into the drop bay. Raines gave the others a thumbs-up a short time later, which Jake took to mean that it was powered down and therefore safe. “Bombs can be powered down and still explode,” he said to the monitor.

  The image of Raines looked up at him and said, “Don’t worry, Captain. We checked for that as well.”

  He quickly turned off the camera feed and then said to the empty room, “No wonder they don’t let me touch anything up here.”

  In reality, he could probably still operate any console on the ship, but since becoming captain, he had found that he had lost some of those skills, or at least misplaced them. You lose what you don’t use, his former captain used to say.

  “Drowned that,” he said as he walked up to the helm station and laid in the original course to the Rift. He even bypassed Ash’s autopilot and powered up the thrusters manually.

  By the time AJ came up to relieve him four hours later, he was feeling pretty comfortable in the helm chair.

  “The captain doesn’t usually take a rotation,” she said as she slid into the navigation chair next to him. “But if you feel comfortable enough up here, I could probably use an extra hand during this trip.”

  “I’m actually happy to help,” he said. Ships on long voy
ages used the “four on, eight off” rule when it came to bridge operations. That way, three people could cover a full twenty-four-hour day without burning out. However, even that took its toll on long trips, and having a forth bridge officer helped quite a bit. She was right though; captains seldom took a full rotation. That was partly because captains were, by their job description, always on call, ready to make life-or-death decisions at a moment’s notice, and therefore had to stay well rested. There was also the belief that captains needed to remain “above” their crew. Separate, in order to maintain the chain of command.

  Jake, however, was not one of those captains, no matter what his crew or the people in the bar thought of him. He was more than happy to take a shift. It kept his mind off other things. Things like the past. Things like the future.

  He transferred helm control over to the navigation console so that he could remain seated while AJ officially took over. All four stations on the bridge were interchangeable, even though the usual layout was helm at the starboard bow console, navigation across the aisle at the port bow console, acoustics at the starboard aft, and engineering at the port aft console. During all docking maneuvers, or when something interesting or dangerous occurred outside, all positions were filled, but during long cruises, only a single bridge officer was required.

  That made sense, logistically, but it also made for boring shifts. Captain Coal always insisted on a second person on the bridge, especially during the night shifts. He even arranged card games on the chart table, just to keep the person on duty awake.

  Of course, staying awake was less of a problem with Norman Raines brewing a new pot of coffee every few hours. Speaking of which... “I’m going for coffee,” he said to AJ. “Want some?”

  “Sure,” she said, “and when you get back, maybe you can give me a foot massage. Also, my chair’s kind of squeaking. Can you fix that for me as well?”

  He frowned. “You know, crewmates are allowed to do things for each other from time to time. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Because we’re not crewmates, Jake. You’re the captain, and I’m the first mate. We each have jobs to do and positions to uphold. The crew expects a certain degree of separation. Separation between them and us, between you and me.”

  He stood up. “So, you’re saying that we can’t be friends?”

  She stood up and leaned in close. “We can share a bunk during off hours, if that’s what you want,” she whispered. “Only we don’t show it on the bridge or talk about it around the crew.”

  “Hey,” he said, waving his hands in mock seriousness. “I just offered to get you a coffee. I never said anything about...”

  “You know what I mean,” she said as she sat back down and began working her console.

  He dropped his hands. “I do, actually. Coal used to say that on a ship, the captain and first mate were the parents, and the crewmembers were their children.” He thought about that for a moment, and realized that, in Coal’s case, one of the crew really was his child.

  As he stood there, lost in memories, AJ said, “Go get your coffee.” When he realized what he was doing and turned to leave, she added. “If you see Vee or Jessie, could you ask one of them to bring me up a cup?”

  “Sure,” he said. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw the rest of the crew sitting around the table. Even Jane was there, sitting on the floor in a fetal position, as usual. “Where’s Wood?” he asked.

  “Asleep in one of the aft quarters,” Ash said.

  “Is it a good idea to leave him alone?”

  Vee spoke up. “We locked his door from the outside.”

  He nodded and then went into the galley. He was about to pour himself a coffee when he noticed the pot was empty. He held it up towards the table. “Anybody going to make another?”

  “We need to talk, Captain,” Raines said, “and I think AJ should join us.”

  He contemplated this. “I don’t usually like to leave the bridge unattended.”

  “We’re in open water, Captain,” Vee said. “Besides, I can reach my helm chair in less than eight seconds from this spot.”

  He smiled. “Timed yourself, have you?”

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  He shook his head and then called up the stairway to AJ. When she came down, he joined her at the table. He looked at Raines. “So, what’s up?”

  “I’m not exactly sure where to begin, Captain.” The old man stared down at his clasped hands as though he were looking for the words there.

  “Is this about the salvager?” Jake asked. “Were you able to find out anything about it?”

  Raines nodded his head while continuing to stare at his hands. “Oh, I have indeed.” After another long pause, he looked up at the group around him. “I’m sorry. I’m still trying to process all of this myself. Perhaps I should have waited—”

  “Just tell us what you found,” Jake insisted.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right of course.” He nodded to his granddaughter, who activated the screen on the back wall. The forward half of the drop bay appeared with the curled-up body of the salvager filling up most of the space.

  “We were lucky the body was segmented,” Vee said, “and able to fold up in this manner. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to get it into the bay with the reactor.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” AJ said.

  “Nobody has,” Raines said. “I believe it is a Pre-Fall robot that has been resurrected and somehow reprogrammed for salvage operations.”

  “As far as I know, nobody’s ever gotten a Pre-Fall machine to work,” Ash said.

  “Well, someone got this one working,” Vee said, “and we all know who that was.”

  “The people from the forest dome?” Jessie asked.

  “They were just grunts,” AJ said. “It had to be someone from the Ministry of Science who did the reprogramming.”

  “Dr. Wood worked for them,” Jessie added. “Maybe he knows something about it.”

  “That’s why he hasn’t been allowed near the cargo bay,” Vee said.

  “And why he’s not with us now,” Raines added.

  Jake looked around the table and then at Raines. “Can we just get to the point?” he asked. He appreciated that the crew were allowed to speak freely during meetings, something Captain Coal frowned upon, but sometimes he missed the simplicity of the old days. “Did you find out where this thing came from?”

  “I don’t yet know its origin, and I doubt I ever will. Its memory seems to have been erased, although I’m not sure how that was accomplished. However, I did manage to retrieve its navigation log for the past year, and I think I know where it picked up the birthing sphere.”

  When he didn’t continue, Jake prodded him. “Where?”

  Raines glanced back at the stairwell and then at Vee. “Are you sure Dr. Wood is still in his quarters?”

  Vee turned and touched the wall panel. A small sub-scene appeared showing Wood asleep on his bunk. When Vee turned up the volume, they could hear him snoring.

  “Very well,” Raines said, nodding to his granddaughter. Vee swiped the screen and the image disappeared. He turned back to Jake before answering. “You asked where the sphere came from, but I’m not sure you will believe what I have learned. I’m not sure I believe it myself.” He looked back at his hands.

  “Drown it, man!” Jake yelled. “I don’t need any more suspense. Just tell me.”

  Raines looked up at him with a solemn face. “According to the salvager’s own logs, it picked up the sphere to the far west of the border.”

  “West of what border?”

  “The western border,” Raines said flatly.

  He studied the old man’s face for signs that this was some sort of practical joke. Then he looked at the rest of the crew to see if they were in on it, but they seemed as bewildered as he felt. “You’re telling me that it came from outside of the colony? How far?”

  “I can’t be sure, but it’s at least four thousa
nd kilometers.”

  “Four thousand kilometers?” Jake repeated as he stood and walked around the stairwell into the galley. He shook his head and said, “That’s just not possible.”

  “You’re right, of course,” Raines said. “Nothing can get past the border defenses, and certainly nothing we know of could travel that far and return, yet it seems that something has. Repeatedly, according to the navigation records.”

  “Those can be altered, can’t they?” Jessie asked.

  “Of course they can,” AJ said. “That’s the answer. The owner of the salvager simply altered the nav records to keep people like us from discovering where they’ve been.”

  “But why make up something so outlandish?” Vee asked. “Why make it seem like the salvager went four thousand kilometers outside the colony?”

  “They were lazy,” Ash said from the galley.

  “How so?” Jake asked.

  Ash came back around the stairwell. “Translational shift,” he replied. “The easiest way to hide your nav course is just add an offset to every record.”

  “So you’re saying that they just added four thousand to the range coordinates?” Jake said.

  “That would make it easy to decipher,” Vee added.

  “Unless they added an offset to the bearing as well,” Ash said. “Which, unless the owners were complete morons, they would have done.”

  “Actually, the salvager isn’t using a polar coordinate system,” Raines said. “That’s why it took me so long to figure it out. It’s using an old fashioned Cartesian coordinate system, with X being the east-west component, and Y being the north-south component.”

  That brought Ash back into the room. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Ah,” Raines said, his eyes coming back to life. “It doesn’t make sense for a vessel navigating inside the borders of a circular colony. But...” He let the word hang there above the table.

  “It makes sense outside, in open water,” AJ said.

  “I still don’t buy it,” Ash said, returning to the galley. “My theory of adding an offset to the coordinates works just as well in that system.”

  “I would consider your theory,” Raines said as he stood up and walked over to the display wall, “if it weren’t for the fact that other locations in the salvager’s records line up with real places inside the colony.” He brought up a colony map on the wall, with its standard polar coordinates, and then added a Cartesian coordinate overlay. To add to the confusion, a red line appeared that zigzagged all over the place and occasionally veered completely off the map. Jake assumed this must be the salvager’s route during the past year. Those lines converged in the spot Jake knew to be the location of the forest dome.