We are traveling at about one hundred thousand miles per hour. We’ll stop about a mile away from her.”
“When we stop, what’s to keep us from being spattered against the wall in front of us?”
“Just like the ships in the TV series Star Trek the builders of these ships figured out a way to keep that from happening. The writers of Star Trek called this mechanism “internal dampeners” and that’s what I call it. After all, it is science fiction.”
As they sat there drinking their tea and coffee, Amanda grew in size until she filled the screen.
“Isabel, send a probe two or three hundred miles out and film us next to Amanda just to show Victoria how small you are next to her. Put a blinking white arrow over the Isabel and turn on all of your outside lights.”
Ten minutes later a blinking white arrow appeared. At the point of the arrow was a tiny smug of light, the Isabel.
“I’m at a loss for words. She’s massive.”
“Yes, she is and she is our home. You’ll like Amanda. You’ll fall in love with her like we all have, even Max.
Take us in Isabel.”
Isabel flew in high, about a thousand feet above the ship.
Pete had told her the hanger bay was big but she wasn’t prepared for this. Huge, enormous, gigantic, mammoth? There were no words to describe it. When she looked in any direction, length or width, she couldn’t see the end. There were ships of all sizes in the bay some as small as a one person craft. Others were miles long, miles wide and as tall as thirty miles high. There were ships everywhere she looked.
“This is amazing. You told me it was big but I didn’t expect this.”
“I know. As many times as I have seen it, it still boggles my mind.”
Pete pointed to the left and said, “That small ship is Sarah. She is usually our main form of transportation. She’s a small warship, a corvette. Towards the last years of the war, these behemoths became obsolete. The engineers who made Amanda designed better weapons, drives and shields. They made them smaller and more powerful. They could stuff all this fire power and technology in a ship like Sarah. Instead of larger ships, they started cranking out Sarah type corvettes who were more maneuverable, quicker, cheaper to build than the big ships and they could turn out hundreds of them for every large ship they built. Before the population disappeared, they built nothing but smaller ships.
They still used the larger ships. They upgraded them to be as powerful as Sarah but they were now used to intimidate.”
She didn’t look that small to Victoria but considering the size of the other ships she was seeing, Sarah was tiny by comparison.
Isabel came to a stop a mile above the hanger floor. A small shuttle pulled up alongside and docked at the observation deck.
She followed Pete into the shuttle.
“Take us to deck two of the Great Plains.”
The shuttle shot straight up. A door in the ceiling opened and the shuttle shot through it. As they passed through deck four, Pete said, “This deck resembles Western Europe and Africa. If we were over the veldt you would see large herds of antelope, elephants and wildebeests. The makers of Amanda tried to make these decks as close to the world they lived on as they could. When the creators terraformed these planets, they tried to make them resemble the Earth as closely as possible. Many of these planets were too hot, too cold and too arid to make them replicas of Earth but that didn’t stop them. They did their best and put people on them anyway. I think it was all part of the experiment to see just how resilient humankind was.
On some, the environment was too hostile and all of the humans died. On others they held on by the skin of their teeth, adapted and lived. Some thrived like smiley and his vicious lot.”
They continued on to deck three. “This is like Central and South America.”
On deck two the shuttle slowed and then took off in what would be on Earth a westerly direction. Victoria looked down and saw what looked like the Appalachian Mountains. They flew over large sparkling white cities and then over the great plains.
They were up close to the ceiling of the deck. When she looked down it looked like she was seeing a vast moving brown carpet.
Pete said, “Take us down to 500 feet.” As they got closer she could see the carpet was an enormous herd of buffalo.
Pete said, “If humans were ever to live here they would not have to hunt or raise food. The replicaters would supply all that they needed.
Up in the foot hills of the Rockies there are hundreds of small communities where the city dwellers could come to live or visit. They could come here as tourists, take a shuttle and see all the herds of buffalo, wild horses and antelope.
I don’t think that ever happened. I think they were stripped out of these population ships before they could live here.”
“This is amazing,” said Victoria “It’s like we were looking at the great plains in the early 1700s. I’ve read that before the white man, the buffalo herds numbered in the tens of millions and I am getting to witness it.”
Pete commanded the shuttle to take them to the bridge deck. Pete explained, “The bridge is a small part of this deck. The rest of the deck is picturesque living communities. I have converted part of the deck to resemble my West Texas ranch. You won’t see my modern ranch house. You’ll see a copy of the house I grew up in.”
The shuttle pulled up next to a bulkhead that had a holographic image of a peaceful country side, complete with forests, hills and streams.
At first Victoria thought it was a continuation of the landscape they had just flown over. But as Pete approached, it a door slid open revealing what looked like a large living room/ dining room, not very bridge looking at all. It reminded her of the bridge on the Isabel but much larger.
Pete walked through the bridge. On the observation screen which ran the length of the room was the image of a nebula.
Pete stopped and pointed towards it. “We like to stop a few million miles from a nebula, nature’s art gallery. They are very restful to look at.”
“It takes my breath away. The hues of reds, purples, greens and yellows are indescribable. Just to see this was worth the trip.”
As Pete approached the bulkhead a door opened and they entered West Texas. A small golf cart looking vehicle hovered nearby. They got in and Pete said, “Take us to the ranch.”
The cart took them up three hundred feet so she had a panoramic view. The landscape looked the same as when she drove to the ranch on her way to interview Pete. There were oil wells pumping and a few depressed looking cows looking for something to eat. The only thing different was there was no modern house on a manicured lawn. Instead they were rapidly approaching a weather beaten wood frame house with a large porch. The ground was parched, no grass and no trees. On the periphery of the dead ground around the house were a few scrub oaks. These oaks were about four feet high and the leafy branches spread out in roughly a flat circle about ten feet in diameter. The root system was so efficient that when it did rain the tree sucked up all the water giving other plants no chance at all to thrive.
As they approached the ranch, Pete describe all of this to Victoria. “Not many people know this but just a few miles from my ranch in Texas is the largest oak forest in the world and all of the trees are the same as these, scrub oak.”
The shuttle dropped them off in front of the ranch’s front porch. A large German Shepard was stretched out on an old couch. Seated in rocking chairs was a man in a light brown jump suit. Next to him was a stunning dark haired beauty dressed in faded Levis, a belt with a large western buckle, a light blue short sleeved denim shirt and well used cowboy boots.
They climbed the two steps onto the porch. The dog came off the couch in a flash and was jumping and spinning around Pete. Pete bent down and started scratching the dog’s ears and said “I’ve missed you too old friend.” Once the dog had calmed down, Pete introduced Victoria to Gyro who got up and shook Victoria’s hand. He then introduced her to Zoe. Who turned her head away, ignoring him.
Victoria said, “Has the temperature dropped? I feel a chill in the air.”
Pete looked at Zoe, pointed to the door and said “Inside!”
She ignored him.
“NOW!”
She stood up quickly, glared at Victoria and then at Pete and stomped into the house. Pete was right behind her.
He closed the door and said, “What in the hell is bothering you?”
“Nothing is wrong with me. For centuries we have had the perfect life. You, me, Amanda, Mac, Gyro and Max and now you bring another female to the mix. What’s wrong with you?”
Pete looked like he had been struck by a powerful gust of wind. He blinked and almost stepped back, then laughed and said, “I would never have believed it but you’re jealous. It’s not that I’ve brought anybody here. It’s that I have bought another female here. If I had brought a man in, you wouldn’t be behaving like this. You and Amanda have been Queens of the walk and you don’t want to share it with anybody else. We have always shown you kindness and deference.”
If looks could kill, Pete would have been struck dead on the spot.
Through gritted teeth Zoe said, “I am not jealous! I am just…just.” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
She thought for a moment, smiled and said, “Well, maybe a little bit jealous.”
“Welllll, I want you to get over it. When you first came here Mac, Gyro, Max, Amanda and I helped you through a very rough time. We showed you understanding, love and kindness. We accepted you as one of us from the very moment you entered our small circle.
All I am asking is for you to show her the acceptance that we gave you. She didn’t ask to be here. I had to take her with me or she would have been killed.
Her ordeal can never compare with yours but you can imagine the shock she felt when she woke up naked on that causeway being chased by a giant lizard and then finding out she was parsecs away from Earth and her mundane, safe but boring life on Earth. All she wants is to go home so I am asking you to show her the same kindness we showed you when you first entered our lives.
One last thing. Since you have entered our lives, none of us could imaging a life without you. I love you Zoe. I think I loved you from the first time I saw you, all bloody and vulnerable in that stasis chamber. I loved you then. I love you now and I will love you forever.”
His eyes welled up. He couldn’t help himself. He hugged her. She hugged him back and sniffed loudly in his ear.
“Now, let’s go out there and start over again.”
They went back to the porch. Zoe went over to Victoria, hugged her and said. “Welcome to Amanda. After you get settled in, let me give you a tour of the ship. It will take several days. We can stay at Pete’s beach house.”
“That’s so kind of you. I’d love a tour if you can spare the time.”
“All I have is time. We spend months at a time sitting around here BSing and drinking beer. That’s not all we do. When we get a call from one of the probes in the rift we go check it out or we go sightseeing on the inhabited worlds or we go to Mac’s Place.”
She turned to Pete and said, “We should take her to Mac’s. We haven’t been there in over a year and I miss him. Beside she should be exposed to Mac’s Bar and Grill. It’s the most interesting place in this part of the galaxy.
In fact, we should stay at Mac’s instead of floating around here in Amanda waiting for a probe to call. It would be a lot more fun.”
“I’ll think about it.” said Pete. In fact, he thought it was a pretty good idea and wondered why he hadn’t thought of it.
Pete directed Victoria to a rocking chair next to the couch across from Gyro and Zoe. He sat down on the couch. Max jumped on the couch and laid down with his head on Pete’s lap.
“How about a Texas beer,” he asked Victoria?
“Sure, why not. I didn’t spend enough time in that barbaric state to try any of the foods or drink the natives love so much.”
“Be careful. Zoe loves West Texas. Don’t you Zoe?”
“I wish I was there now.”
“Zoe’s been to the ranch many times. She loves punching cows. She’s a real cowgirl. She does it better than cow hands who have been cattle ranching all their lives. She’s amazing.
Bronco!”
The door of the house flew open and a service bot in western gear appeared.
“Four cold ones, please.”
“Right way sir.”
He was back in a minute with four cold Shiner Bocks.
Victoria said, “I expected to see Mac here. I was looking forward to meeting him.”
“I should have told you. It slipped my mind. As you know when I first met Mac he was the owner of the Paradise Bar and Grill on the Place. It turned out he really loved owning and running a bar so he asked Amanda if there were any other settlements/drydocks like the Katherine. She said there were a few scattered over the Montana Alliance controlled section of the rift.
We had Amanda take us to the nearest one. The planet was as large as Katherine but only had one large city. The docking cavity was large enough to hold Amanda We approached with caution and once Amanda made contact and supplied all the proper codes, she docked.
The planet’s computer had pretty much shut down. It only maintained the environment and kept just enough service bots to keep all the buildings and infrastructure in good condition.
We disembarked, called for a shuttle and went directly to the Sentinel’s control room and woke her up. As with the other Sentinels, she was confused. Mac named her Shawn.
Mac gave Shawn a couple of days to gather herself. He told her the history of the war of the rift and that she had been asleep for about ten thousand years. He told her what he wanted to do with her city. He didn’t want just a bar and grill. He wanted to open the city to all who wanted to change their living conditions. The conditions in some planets were so harsh everyday was a fight for survival. Other planets were ruled by brutal dictators and others just wanted a change.
As it stood then, the city could house twenty million people and was as beautiful and well laid out as Katherine’s cities. If down the road more than twenty million showed up, Shawn would have to expand the city or form more cities.
So far, the only civilization that had replicaters were the ancient waring factors in the rift. Mac wanted to keep it that way. There were just a few planets who had primitive FTL drives and if one came into possession of a replicaters, it would give them an unfair advantage over the other civilization and destroy the balance of power. Besides if all the civilizations had replicaters there would be no need for trade and with no trade there would be no need for a recreation planet.
Mac had planned to move his newly acquired planet to the center of the most used trade routes. The journeys between the planets took years. The crews were starved for a diversion from these crushingly boring flights.
He explained all of this to Shawn. He explained to her that she would have to remove all the replicaters. She would have to expand the cavity that housed the city and open it to farm and ranch land to feed this new population. Kitchens would have to be installed in every house and apartment. The changes seemed endless.
Mac wanted to build top flight bars, restaurants and lounges as well as dark dingy dives and greasy spoons. They would need hotels to house the visitors. Because of the different conditions on each planet, the environments in these establishments would have to reflect that.
Shawn was getting excited about Mac’s dream and contributed to the plans.
She said, ‘We don’t have to build unique places for different races. Once we know they are coming, we can adapt an area to fit their physiology and when they leave we can change it for the next race.’
We all chipped in and helped with the remodeling but most of the collaboration was between Mac and Shawn. They were the real brains behind it. Mac wanted real people running the bars, restaurants and recreation areas not service bots. He needed managers, bartenders, wait staff, chefs and kitchen sta
ff. The menial work like hotel maids and cleaning crews were service bots. Mac wanted a different feel to the place, the human touch.
We all pitched in and within two years everything was as Mac and Shawn wanted. The real test would come when the first guests arrived and the bugs were worked out.
The week after we arrived on Shawn’s planet Mac sent out probes to all the civilizations with FTL. The probes were the equivalent of fliers, advertising his recreation and population center.
Mac had a big problem with his plan to have humans work at the facility. Where was he going to get these people?
I said, ‘I know where we can get people. The Lithuanians have started pirating and slaving again.’
That was almost 200 years ago. Mac’s Place is the most popular place in this part of the galaxy. The city has about twelve million permanent residents and about fifteen million visitors a year.
Not all of them are ships’ crew pulling in for R&R. Most are tourists. As soon as we saw that tourism was the money maker, we built massive recreation parks with water rides, anti-gravity rides, fast food kiosks and virtual reality chambers, just to name a few. The virtual reality chambers were the most popular. There you could live out your wildest fantasies.
In order to meet Mac’s plan to have humans run all of the positions that interacted with his customers, we needed real people and I knew where to find them.
A hundred and fifty years earlier we had subdued Lithuania. The despot of Lithuania was a brutal little man named Roy. We scared the living daylights out of him by building a gallows, putting a rope around his neck and asking him if he had any last words. All he could do was sob and blubber. He literally crapped his pants. We told him we would spare his life if he would swear never to enter the pirating business again and never to slave again.
He was more than happy to comply We also had him call in all of his space fleet and to transport all of the passengers and crew back to Lithuania. Once that was done we destroyed the entire fleet. We also destroyed all the infrastructure on the planet that manufactured space ships and weaponry.
We then freed all the planet’s slaves. There were millions of them. We put them on one of Amanda’s population shuttles and sent them to live in one of Katherine’s cities. There they could make up their minds on where they wanted to go or they could stay in the city.
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