Acknowledgements
The Signal and the Boys incorporates ideas from AJM. Bill Patterson assisted on research. Any mistakes are strictly the fault of the author.
More About Felix R. Savage
You might say Felix R. Savage has a long history associated with rebellion. He was born in the 1970s, a decade of American youth rebelling against the safe culture of their parents. He is married to a wonderful woman and they have a beautiful daughter. Together the three of them live in Tokyo serving their cat overlord and benevolent protector. Felix writes Science Fiction and Fantasy while not translating, delighting in his family, or catering to the whims of the family’s cat. He never stops watching out for any sign the lizard people have found him. Sign up for Felix's mailing list and pick a FREE book to start reading now! http://felixrsavage.com/subscribe
Genre: Science Fiction Adventure
Pilgrim by Andrew Dobell
Pilgrim is a short story set in a gritty epic space opera universe and serves as a prequel story to a future Sci-Fi series. The story depicts an event that will shape the future of the human race for centuries to come when the crew of the exploration ship, the Pilgrim, encounter something beyond the reaches of human space.
I love the idea of landing on unknown worlds and finding the remains of a long dead civilization marked by huge foreboding monuments. I love the idea of dark figures in long cloaks landing their black ships on rain soaked platforms.
These are the ideas that have helped create the world this story is set within. Andrew was born and raised in the UK and this story is written in British English. Enjoy
GAZING THROUGH THE VIEWPORT on the side of the ship as it cut through space at faster-than-light speeds, the stars appeared as long parallel white lines against a mottled blue-black background. Their passage past the ship seemed almost lazy and slow, and yet Acacia knew they were travelling at speeds that the human brain found difficult to comprehend.
It was beautiful to watch, even more so at the front of the ship looking out through the forward windows that surrounded the bridge.
Kal stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist as he kissed her neck. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. They couldn’t do this in public, not really. Officially, relationships were frowned upon on these missions. Command didn’t want the crew getting distracted and fooling around, but in reality, it was inevitable when this many people were in a confined space for this long. She knew there were several other casual relationships going on amongst the crew she spent time with, and that was only in her close circle of friends.
Suddenly, a beeping noise sounded in her head, alerting her that someone was trying to make contact. At the same time, icons popped into her field of view indicating it was first officer Jonson.
Confused, she checked the readout in her heads-up display to see what time it was. Sure enough, she wasn’t due on duty on the bridge for at least half an hour.
She twisted and put her hand on Kal’s chest.
‘Sorry babe, I need to take this,’ she said, pointing to her head.
‘No problem,’ he answered, holding his hands up in submission and backing off to the nearby hatch.
She watched him go and enjoyed admiring his rear before she opened the channel to Jonson.
‘Sir?’ she said aloud. She could sub-vocalise her voice to talk privately, but she saw no reason to; it wasn’t as if Kal could hear the first officer’s replies anyway as they only sounded in her head.
‘Navigator Assen, report to the bridge, we have a problem,’ the first officer said, her tone insistent.
‘What kind of problem?’ Acacia said.
‘We’re getting some strange readouts and a few minor malfunctions; we need you up here now, navigator,’ came the reply.
‘Yes Ma’am,’ Acacia said and closed the link, turning to her lover. ‘Sorry Kal, duty calls.’
‘Damn, I thought we’d have some time to ourselves for once,’ he said as she stepped towards him.
‘Seems today is not meant to be; you’ll just have to make do without me tiger,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I know. What’s so urgent anyway?’
‘Don’t know. Jonson said they were having a few malfunctions. It’s a bit strange, but hopefully, it’s nothing. We’ve picked up a few scrapes along the way so we do get the occasional flashing red light.’
‘That landing two planets ago probably didn’t help, hey? What did they call that one in the end?’
‘Planet “Alton,” I think. Yeah, that was one rough landing. I could do with not having to go through that again. I nearly lost my lunch,’ Acacia said, smiling.
‘Aaah shit, hold on, I’m getting a message too,’ he said and moved away from her as he answered it.
She frowned. Something about this didn’t seem right. She’d bet a month’s salary that Kal was being called in early as well. After several months and just over half a dozen landings on newly discovered planets without any major problems, this should be routine. But something about this felt different.
Kal finished his call and turned back to her.
‘I’m being called in early too. They didn’t say why. Something’s up; no idea what, though.’
‘Yeah, this doesn’t feel right. Catch up with you later?’
‘You just try and keep me away,’ Kal said and gave her a big kiss before he walked to the hatch and opened it.
‘See you later space man,’ she said.
He winked and smiled at her and gave her a mock salute before he was through the doorway and gone. Taking a second to straighten herself out, she exited the darkened room and strode down the corridor towards the bridge, going in the opposite direction to Kal.
The Pilgrim wasn’t a huge ship, but it was big enough comfortably accommodate a crew of 30 which included the command crew on the bridge; the two security teams that Kal was a part of; and the engineering and survey personnel.
As she moved along the corridors that snaked through the ship’s interior, she passed by a couple of other crewmen who also seemed to be trying to get somewhere quickly. Arriving on the bridge, she could see blinking red lights on a number of the consoles before her.
The navigation station sat towards the back of the bridge, and her co-navigator, Jace, already stood there looking puzzled while trying to do something with little apparent luck.
She walked over towards him and noticed the steely gaze of first officer Jonson eyeing her as she moved.
‘Nice of you to join us, navigator Assen,’ she said.
Acacia nodded and moved in next to her crewmate.
‘What’s the problem?’ she said to Jace.
‘We don’t know. Something’s sending the instruments screwy and we’re having difficulty keeping a lock on our destination planet,’ he said.
Acacia had laid in this course herself less than a day ago, but sure enough, the navigation system had an error message blinking away and another that said no destination had been chosen. She watched as Jace cancelled the error and warning before re-entering the coordinates of the chosen planet for dropping out of warp. The course was briefly accepted, only for the same error and warning messages to appear moments later.
‘Try one of the other planets in this group,’ Acacia said.
They were passing into a close grouping of systems some of which apparently held planets capable of life, and had chosen the one that seemed the best option, the one which fell most squarely into the parameters best suited for life. That planet was deep within the group and they were passing close to several other systems to get to it.
‘Are there any signals we’re picking up that could be throwing us off at all?’ Acacia said.
‘Not according to coms. There’s nothing,’ Jace said.
‘I think we need to do a reboot,’ Acacia said.
‘Turn it off and on again?’ Jace said, smiling at the age-old joke.
‘Something like that,’ Acacia smiled.
‘Not something I’d like to do
while in Phase,’ Jace commented.
‘Not sure we have much choice. If we drop out of warp manually we risk not being able to fire up the Phase Drive again with these readings.’
‘Any ideas, Navigator Assen?’ Jonson said from where she stood close to the captain.
‘Other than a reboot of the nav system or dropping out of warp manually, I’m not sure what to tell you.’
‘Might it not just work anyway, despite the malfunctions?’ officer Jonson said.
‘Maybe. I wouldn’t stake my life on it, though,’ Acacia answered.
‘But that’s exactly what I think we will be doing, and everyone else’s life as well,’ she said.
A loud dull noise sounded from deep within the ship, making it lurch violently. An explosion, Acacia thought? Klaxons and alarms sounded. The lines created by the stars outside wobbled and shrunk. The ship was slowing down.
Acacia took hold of a nearby hand grip to keep from being thrown across the bridge as more dull booms sounded from deep inside the hull. The familiar hum of the engine pitch shifted up to a whine as it struggled to cope with the stresses that were being imposed on it.
Outside, Acacia could see the star lines disappear, changing back to pinpoints as the ship dropped out of warp in a tumbling roll. As she watched, the entire forward viewport was suddenly filled with a view onto a barren orange-brown planet. Its terrain swallowing the viewport as people yelled and held onto anything as the ship fell towards it. The stresses on the superstructure of the ship were suddenly made apparent by the sound of warping metal, and two explosions as metal access panels burst open, showering sparks over the nearby bridge crew.
Captain Manco shouted orders, trying to make himself heard over the incredible ear-splitting noise that echoed through the ship.
Acacia held tightly to the handhold next to her station, with Jace doing the same on the other side of the navigation display.
Suddenly hearing her name, she turned and looked behind her to see Jonson shouting at her.
‘Get out of here, get to an escape pod, we’re going down!’ she barked. Beyond her superior officer, the tumbling vista outside the ship made Acacia feel sick. She looked at the floor beneath her for a moment to steady herself before looking up at Jace.
‘Wanna get out of here?’
‘Hell yeah,’ Jace said.
Acacia looked in the direction of the nearest bulkhead that led out of the bridge and noted the hand grips that she could use. She felt confident that she could hold onto to something the entire way into the next section beyond the bulkhead.
‘Follow me, and keep holding onto something,’ she shouted and made her way towards the door. She walked or pulled herself the forward and kept at least one hand holding onto a rail or grip of some kind the whole time, which, with the forces pulling at her and threatening to throw her across the deck, she felt very grateful for.
Moving as fast as she could, the noises of the ship around her spurring her on. It sounded as though the ship might pull itself apart at any moment, and the sirens seemed only to confirm it.
Moments later, she reached the bulkhead and turned to look behind her, keeping an iron grip on the rail she stood next to. Jace was close behind her, but as the ship rotated once again, he yelled in fright.
‘Hold on,’ she called back and reached for him with one hand.
‘I can’t… I can’t reach you,’ Jace shouted.
‘You can, god damn it, take my hand,’ she said and reached for him, their fingers touching. The ship’s roll continued to pull Jace away, when suddenly the forces acting on Jace shoved him forward, allowing him to take hold of Acacia’s hand.
She had a good grip on him and working together they pulled themselves through the bulkhead. Looking back into the bridge, Jonson, herself holding onto the side of a console, smiled at them and hit a button on the readout next to her.
A light flashed above them while another siren wailed its warning before the bulkhead slammed shut, as did another door behind them.
They were trapped in a connecting lobby that continued to spin wildly as the ship started to enter the atmosphere of the nearby planet. The single viewport in here showed the sky slowly lighten and the first fleeting clouds zip past them.
A deafening scream of warping super heated metal made Acacia clamp her hands over her ears as she looked back through the bulkhead porthole in time to see the entire bridge get slowly torn off the front of the ship in a shower of metal as the last fires of re-entry burnt all about them.
‘Acacia?’ sounded a voice in her head. It was Kal, and he sounded as stressed as she felt.
‘Kal, you’re okay?’
‘Barely, where are you?’
‘Just outside the bridge, in a… a bit of corridor. We’re okay, though.’
‘Damn it, I can’t get to you there. Get yourself strapped in. You will survive this and I will find you, okay? I will find y…’ he said, his voice suddenly cut off.
‘Kal? Kal? Come in Kal!’ But it was no use, she couldn’t re-open the channel. She hoped he was still alive, but she had other priorities that needed her attention. Kal was right, they needed to get strapped in otherwise they would be thrown around in the descent and landing which would almost certainly kill them.
Looking about her, she noticed there were a few pull-down flight seats, one of them right next to her. She looked over to Jace and saw one not too far from him.
‘Jace. Get to the seat over there and get yourself strapped in,’ she said. Jace looked at it and then back at her, nodding.
‘Will do,’ he said.
Focusing on her own predicament, she pulled down the seat next to her while holding the handrail and sat in it. She waited until the ship rotated in a way that would keep her in the seat and quickly clipped the straps together, tightening them as much as she could.
Looking up, she noticed Jace struggling to reach his own seat, fighting against the powerful G-forces as the ship continued to roll. One moment his feet were firmly planted on the floor, the next he’d been lifted off them and was holding on as best he could to avoid being thrown across the room.
Acacia was shouting words of encouragement at him, willing him to reach the seat when a heavy storage case broke free from its wall fastenings and caught her on the side of the head. Everything went black.
A warm breeze blew over her face and with a greater effort than she felt should be needed under normal circumstances, she started to open her eyes.
It took a few moments for them to adjust to the light, but she soon managed to open them fully and have a look around her.
She still sat in the seat, facing skyward looking up through a huge hole that had been ripped into the side of the ship.
Everything seemed quiet and still, a total contrast to the noise and chaos she had been in a short time before.
Suddenly, she remembered the storage case that had hit her head and reached up to feel a huge, painful lump. She winced as she touched it.
Wondering if she had been hurt anywhere else, she looked down at herself and tentatively moved her arms, hands, legs and feet. No, everything seemed to be okay. She ached and there were certainly a few more bumps and bruises, but she was otherwise alright.
Confident she could move, she looked around for Jace, but, at least on first glance, could not see her crew mate.
Had he survived? She didn’t know, but there were piles of debris all about her that he could be beneath or behind, she would need to move to check.
She undid her harness and pulled herself up and out of the seat which levered back into its recess. She felt a little shaky but got herself stood up and minutes later, was moving about the section of the ship she and Jace had been in, trying to find him. She called his name, but no answer came. She started to shift the debris, and moments later found him, crushed from the chest down by a huge metal strut and very much dead.
Acacia had always viewed herself as a strong person and not someone very prone to emotion, but seeing
her crew mate like that was too much. She sat down, allowing a couple of quiet tears to well up and creep over her cheeks.
The moment lasted all of a few seconds before she shook her head and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her jumpsuit.
Suddenly, she realised she had been breathing the native air of the planet meaning that it was at least basically survivable. She stood up and looked up at the huge crack in the wall and started to climb up to it, finally pulling herself through and up onto the top of the wreckage.
Finding her balance, she stood up in the warm gentle wind and looked over the landscape around her.
In every direction, the terrain looked rocky and barren, with only a few dry shrubs here and there. She couldn’t see much beyond her immediate surroundings other than a scattering of debris from the ship.
But if she had survived, maybe others had; maybe she wasn’t alone.
After a quick hunt through the ship to find anything of use, she packed a few supplies she found, including water and food in a backpack before climbing out of the ship. Close by, a ridge of rock rose above her which would give a much better view of the surrounding area and it looked like an easy assent.
It only took a little over ten minutes, and as she reached the crest of the ridge, she settled herself and looked about her. She found she could see for miles, and sure enough, the debris she had landed in was one part of a huge long trail of ship segments extending way off to the horizon on her left, but less than half that to her right, towards the front of the ship. There was no apparent movement that she could see in either direction with the naked eye and grumbled at not having anything that she could use to get a closer look at the debris field.
Wondering if her implants might work, she tried to use her coms once again in the hope that someone might hear her.
The channel sounded crackly and full of interference which seemed odd, but maybe that could explain the problems they had encountered on the ship that led them here?
The Expanding Universe Page 28