AL CLARK - Avalon -: (Book Two)

by Jonathan G. Meyer

  Edward smiled and nodded agreement. “I’m not sure what it’s about either, and I am not sure we are supposed to. Every person gets different pictures in their heads when they hear it. But we are not here for the music.”

  They entered the outer workshop to find Cody inside, working with his datapad. Edward turned down the music to a respectable level and walked over to a table with something on it covered by a blanket. Like a proud father, he grasped the covering over his creation and asked, “Kira, are you ready?”

  “Please do not keep me waiting. Let’s see it!”

  He lifted the blanket and uncovered what was to be one of her new legs. Created with years of Edward’s research, 3D printing, and a touch of alien magic. It was molded with a tanned coloration, to match the color of her skin, and the seams so tight as to be almost unnoticeable.

  “It is fully articulated and controlled by the nerve endings in the remaining part of your legs. There is a microprocessor inside each leg that translates the—well never mind, trust me. I think this will do nicely,” declared Edward.

  Kira glanced down to where her legs used to be and then back up to the leg that would replace them. Her face went pale, and she said, “This is very strange. I do not feel so good.”

  Edward offered, “I know this is hard Kira, but it will be worth it in the end.”

  “Will it hurt…when you put them on?”

  “You’ll be asleep when we do the actual surgery. Doc Cody will be there, and the two of us are confident we will be successful. The new legs will take some getting used to, and there might be some pain as your body adapts to the changes. But in time, you will be good as new.”

  Cody offered a confirmation. “Maybe better.”

  “Will I be able to run fast like Mister Clark?”

  Edward was quick to say, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. This artificial leg is all brand new, and we will more than likely have some glitches to work out.”

  “Glitches?”

  “Umm…yes. We might have some minor problems.”

  “Problems?”

  The girl’s eyes were getting wider, and this was what the doctors did not want. Edward understood the overwhelming feelings she must be having, and he did not want her worried.

  “Do not worry Kira, we have a way to go before all that. First we must do some detailed scans, and then prepare the appendages for your signals. Today we make a mold so we can fit the legs to them. Are you ready to get started?”

  “I keep saying I am ready.” With a little of her old attitude, she asked, “Are we done yet?”

  Chapter Ten

  Al and the captain left the doctors to their work and headed for the Excalibur’s observation lounge for a look at their planet. Because Edward’s shop was at the back of the ship, they had to traverse the length of the starship to reach the big windows overlooking Avalon.

  Much had changed on the colonial starship since the awakening of the people on-board, and it was a walk down memory lane for them both. They saw it as it used to be; empty and silent in the beginning, crowded and alive as it got closer to planetfall, and then back to the more minimized state after everyone left. No one lived here anymore, and they only stayed overnight if their job required it.

  The ship was a segmented design comprised of three thirty-foot round modules, an engine module, the habitat ring, and a bridge section. All main sections but the bridge and engine module were a hundred feet long and divided up as needed, with airlocks separating each module. In the front part of the ship was the habitat ring, the observation lounge, and the bridge.

  One airlock aft of the bridge was the rotating habitation ring where everyone lived until they were able to transport down to the planet. It is also where Al Clark woke up, and where he met Chris, the only other person he found on the seemingly empty spaceship.

  They left the robotics shop and walked back through the shuttle bay, a place that was generally quiet. Today it held two of the four shuttles available to the colony. Both spacecraft were being serviced while on-board the Excalibur and the clink of tools, casual talk, and shuffling of feet followed them to the hatch.

  After cycling through the airlock, they entered what used to be the hiber-pod bay. Now refitted to be the manufacturing section of the ship. This space is where they produced most of the things needed to make life on Avalon bearable. It was a busy place, full of activity and noise. As they passed through, they waved at a few people they knew.

  “This place has sure changed,” remarked the captain.

  “It sure has,” answered Al, “I like it better this way.”

  Before the refit, this space had been filled with hibernation units. Each pod standing on end, and supporting a person in cryogenic sleep for the long trip to Avalon. When Chris and Al had first come across it, with no interior lighting, the room had resembled a graveyard with blinking tombstones spaced every five feet. There were a lot of memories here.

  Pressing the button to open the door to the other half of the module, they entered the medical center. Here too, things had changed. Originally intended for the revival of the colonists, and subsequent medical needs before leaving the ship to settle a new planet, the center was gradually reduced over the years. What was left was the surgery center, six hospital rooms, and the lab. Now that the flu epidemic was over, the place was almost deserted.

  They continued past the medical center, through the next airlock and found themselves in the park. The park was the one place that was maintained and kept in its original state. They had brought with them a piece of home, and it had not been allowed to change.

  Al and the captain took their time walking the winding path through the trees, the space resembling a pleasant evening in an upscale city park on Earth. A slight breeze ruffled the leaves on the lush trees and piped in sound effects completed the illusion.

  They found a man sitting in the middle of the park on a bench. When he saw who was approaching, he wasted no time getting to his feet. Meeting two senior leaders of Camelot in this place of sanctuary seemed to rattle him. He kept glancing at his feet.

  “Umm…Hello, Chief Clark—Captain Effinger, what are you doing here?”

  “We’re on our way to the bridge, Lieutenant. Might I ask you the same question?” replied the captain.

  “Well, I was supposed to meet someone here, but I’m beginning to think she couldn’t make it.”

  To the two older men, it looked suspiciously like young love. A clandestine meeting in a romantic setting. He was one of the colony pilots, and the captain recognized him. “I’m sure she will show up shortly, Lieutenant Alvarado, but don’t mind us, we’re just passing through.”

  Before the captain left, he added, “And don’t look so guilty, at your age, you have every right to follow your heart.” Al winked at the embarrassed officer, and they continued down the path.

  At the end of the footpath was another door; a door that led to an area quite different from the pleasant paradise they just left. Dark and barren, it was the place where they used to grow their food. Now stripped of its plants and soil, it was row upon row of empty planting beds. There was little to see and in many ways too depressing to talk about, so they hurried past the abandoned farm to the hub of the habitat ring.

  ****

  The habitat ring consisted of a central round hub, with four spokes radiating out to an eight hundred foot donut where the living quarters are. In the beginning, before they migrated down to Avalon, Chris and Al played racquetball in the hollow ball at the center of the ring. The outside ring had a natural, artificial gravity due to its spin, but in the one hundred-foot center, there was no gravity at all.

  In parts of the starship, they had overridden the security protocol, but this section of the ship required clearance, so the captain held his card over the sensor to access the airlock to the hub of the wheel. The lights were automatic and came on whenever someone opened the hatch.

  After the interior door of the airlock hissed and slid open, b
ecause of the lack of gravity, it took only seconds to get to the other side of the hub. They pushed off after closing the door and floated across, grabbing handrails on both sides of the hatch that led to the forward part of the ship.

  Al spun around and looked back across; he could see the spoke lifts slowly circling above and below. “Chris still talks about this place.”

  “He used to spend a lot of time here didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, back when he was stuck in the habitat ring all that time, just because he didn’t have the right card. He spent a lot of time here just floating around.”

  “Pretty good in zero gravity, huh?”

  “Yeah, he is good. That’s why he usually won when we played together.”

  “Well, you can’t win at everything Al.”

  “That may be so, but I can try!”

  The observation lounge was where they discovered they had made it to Avalon. Because the sensors had been down, they had not known their location. It was when they had finally were able to access the lounge, and see the beautiful blue planet below them, that they had realized the journey was over. They discovered later they were orbiting for ten years before they awoke.

  It was an incredible sight and still brought wonder to all that gazed through the large clear windows; Al and the captain included. Avalon is a planet very similar to Earth before it was spoiled. Avalon is a lovely blue and white untouched rotating haven.

  ****

  Sometimes, there is fortune hidden within misfortune. A silver lining in a storm cloud that only comes to light after the rain. As luck would have it, Al and the captain were there, staring out the window when the event began.

  “Did you see that?” asked the captain.

  “I did…there’s another one…and another one.”

  Then they began to hear them. Tap…tap…tap, bouncing off the hull and getting louder. Within seconds, all hell broke loose.

  “Meteor shower—we have to get to the bridge!” yelled the captain.

  As time passed, the bridge had become relegated to a low priority status, but there was always an officer on duty in case of emergency. The officer stationed there today had a sleepy look about him as Al and the captain burst through the door onto the bridge.

  “I didn’t see it coming, Captain! There was no warning until the proximity alarms went off.”

  The combination of the grating warning and the collisions happening outside made talking almost impossible.

  Only two feet away, the captain still had to raise his voice, “Turn off the alarm Lieutenant.”

  There were no windows on the bridge, but there were view screens. The main view screen displayed a storm of small rocks hurtling towards them. Whether they were being pelted by the rocks as they passed by or the ship was moving through them was irrelevant. The ship was experiencing a meteor shower.

  Most were small, and ranged from tiny pieces of sand to pea sized pebbles, but some were the size of baseballs. These were the projectiles that concerned them.

  The main lighting flickered, and then went out entirely. The backups kicked in; casting the bridge in a red emergency glow. One rock could be seen screaming towards the camera, getting bigger fast until the viewscreen flashed and went dark.

  The captain hesitated only a second and activated the ship-wide warning system. “Attention all personnel. This is Captain Effinger. Proceed to the shuttle bay using the evacuation protocol. Repeat—evacuation protocol!”

  This meteoroid pounding was not the first meteor shower the Excalibur had been through. Five years ago, another cloud of rocks had knocked out a section of the habitat ring and opened it to space, damaged the navigational sensors, demolished one of their precious shuttles, and probably was responsible for Al Clark’s revival. It left him with a tiny reminder in his head that his doctor friends had to remove.

  Speaking over the racket going on just outside their thin metal shell, Al asked the captain, “Are we leaving?”

  “I think it’s a good idea to get everybody into the shuttle bay, and then decide. In the meantime, the further aft we go, the safer it is.”

  Dents were appearing on some of the interior walls, and new alarms were going off from numerous parts of the ship indicating depressurization. Some of the projectiles were getting through.

  “I couldn’t agree more Captain—what are we waiting for?”

  The smaller holes were self-sealing. The bigger the hole, the longer it would take to seal. The ones the size of a baseball, could blow out a three-foot chunk and destroy everything in its path.

  The captain and the lieutenant went through the procedure for shutdown as quickly as possible, and then all three left the bridge to make their way to the shuttle bay.

  ****

  Because they were in the most forward part of the ship, it was their duty as they went aft to assure they left no one behind. Much of the lighting was out, and the damage was mounting. Alarms indicated some sections were venting atmosphere to space. If the power went out entirely, there might be people trapped. They needed to check the entire ship, and it needed to be done fast. In Al’s mind going enhanced was the best solution.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Aren’t your power levels getting low?” the captain asked.

  “If I can save even one life, it will be worth it.”

  His friend appeared skeptical. “I know you want to do the right thing Al, but to be honest, you’re worth more than most people. I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.”

  “I can do a search in half the time it would take anyone else, and that makes me the most viable option. You and the lieutenant head back to the shuttle bay. I’ll do a quick search, and be right behind you.”

  “All right, I can see by the look on your face that I won’t be changing your mind.”

  The captain opened the door and pushed the overwhelmed lieutenant out and through the opening. Turning to Al, he said, “You be careful…all right?”

  Al smiled and replied, “Aye Captain!”

  It was like being a drug addict that was finally allowed to return to their drug of choice. That first initial rush as you go back to the state of mind you craved and ultimately prefer. When he spoke the words, the world became a better place. He gained more light, more sound, and a clarity of mind that he could not explain to other people. To be enhanced was to feel truly alive.

  After the transition, the first thing he noticed were his power levels. A flashing red seventeen percent.

  Going to have to make this quick or Elizabeth is going to kill me.

  He floated into the hub and accessed spoke capsule four, activated the lift, and headed out towards the blue section in the revolving habitat ring. The one thing in Al’s favor was there were not many people using the ring, as most of it had been closed off, leaving only the blue and part of the orange sections available for overnight use. People were leaving the lift, making their way to the shuttle bay, and one distressed woman said, “I can’t find my husband!”

  “What room were you in?” asked Al.

  “We were in LQ30, but he said he was going to the mess hall for something to eat.”

  “Everybody keep moving; I’ll find him.”

  Al was quick. The storm outside made the inside of the spaceship sound like a hailstorm on a metal roof. But Al had a solution for that. He was able to tune his audio sensors down to make it bearable. His enhanced eyes turned the dark red shadows into something similar to daylight.

  The mess hall had a flashing red light on the door controls, indicating a loss of air pressure causing the automatic safety systems to close and lock the door; isolating the hall from the rest of the ship.

  He saw nothing through the small window in the sealed hatch, but Al thought he heard a soft tapping as if someone was beating on the other side. He pressed the open button with no result. In the back of his mind, he knew that his amount of effort was proportional to the energy he used, but that thought never made it to his conscious mind. He placed his hands on the d
oor, stepped sideways for leverage, and forced it open.

  From the other side of the door, a struggling man fell through and landed at Al’s feet. With the wind trying to suck them both back into the room, Al pulled the man away and forced the door closed again.

  He was an older man and lay on the floor taking deep breaths. The man was very pale, and it appeared like it would take a few minutes before he could recover enough to walk. Al picked him up, threw him onto his shoulder, and carried him to the spoke lift airlock. “What’s your name?” asked Al.

  “Ron…Alvarado. What happened?”

  “You have just experienced a fatal decompression. Didn’t you hear the warning?”

  “Yeah, I was leaving. I thought I had more time.”

  “Well, you didn’t—stay here, I’ll be right back.”

  In between breaths, Ron said, “Can you hurry it up, this place is getting scary.”

  Al smiled. “Will do Ron.”

  He searched the section he was in, checking all the rooms on both sides of the corridor until he was certain there were no more stragglers. It did not take long. He was in a hurry.

  Al picked Ron up, entered the spoke airlock, and stepping out of the lift capsule was the lieutenant they had met in the park. “Thank goodness!” the pilot said, “That’s my father; I was on my way to find him.”

  The young man's arrival worked out perfectly for Al. “Good, you take him and head back to the shuttle bay, I’ll check the rest of the ship.”

  The orange section had several rooms with flashing red lights. He checked each room and moved on. When he found no one else, he boarded the lift and made his way towards the shuttle bay, searching the struggling ship as he went. He reached the door to the shuttle bay, and regretfully uttered the phrase that put his body back to the normal mode. The power symbol in his peripheral vision as he shut down indicated ten percent and was no longer flashing. The indicator stayed red.