“Who are you?” She asked.
“Take a seat. I’ll be the one who asks the questions, and you’ll be the one to answer. Now, sit.”
Captain Cook found she wasn’t able to resist the command. It was as if she had been conditioned to do what he told her and answer any question he might have. She took the seat and folded her hands across the desk.
He looked at the clipboard, then up at her. “What is your name?”
“Marjorie Cook,” she replied.
“And what is your rank?”
“Captain,” she tried not to answer; she tried to resist but wasn’t able too. She was helpless in her own mind.
“And where are you from?”
“Earth.”
“And where is Earth?”
She hesitated, not sure how to answer the question. She wanted to; her mind was telling her to answer. She felt if she didn’t answer soon something would happen. The anticipation caused her to shake.
He cocked his head as if listening to something. “You don’t need to tell us, we’ll find it soon enough. What is your purpose being out in space?”
“Exploration, finding new races and determining if they’re a threat or a friend.”
“Good,” he replied leaning across the table. He was right up into her face. She felt his breath against her cheek and could smell his odd body odor. It wasn’t natural and unlike anything she had smelled before. “We look forward to seeing how this is all going to work out.”
She opened her eyes and found she was sweating. The dream, what was it about It was fading and she tried to grab onto it, tried to hold onto the images, the man, the table, the questions but by the time she had made it to her bathroom it had all faded. All she had was the lingering feeling she was forgetting something important.
Chapter sixteen
Newman Ruzoto stood on the massive platform and waited. Above him a magnificent sight he got used to hundreds of years ago. The Pleiades star cluster was so dense with starts it was impossible to see anything beyond them. Some stars were almost as large as the full moon on Earth and just as dim. In some sections of the sky the stars were to close and it was hard to distinguish them. He saw seven binary stars and three trinary stars. He saw the remnants of a star that had exploded not too long after he arrived. The dust from that star spread further each year. It made some of the background stars blurry and hard to see. He knew most of these stars had worlds around them, worlds the Handlers where in the process of encasing.
The stars bored him. His attention now focused on the most magnificent sight he’d seen since his arrival. A ship from Earth, a beautiful dart shaped, mirror surfaced ship.
Newman could hardly believe it when the Handlers told him they had an Earth ship trapped on one of their water planets. He knew they used those planets to attract space faring races. Here was an Earth ship, he would see his first human face other than his own in over 400 years. It made him excited, and that excitement was all that was holding back his sadness. Even though the crew didn’t know it the fate of Earth was now sealed.
The ship passed through the low-energy force field that surrounded the platform. As the last of it passed through it created a ripple which lightly touched the ground and rebounded up toward the point of impact. He could see the ship wasn’t a perfect mirror; it suffered some unrepaired damage. There were many gaps in the mirrors, many places that were battleship grey. He smiled and wondered if that was a coincidence or if the navy still used that color for their ships like they did in his time.
He tried not to think of his home world and its fate. It was a world he no longer related too. He remembered shoveling snow from his front steps and playing football in the park with his friends, even if he couldn’t recall any of their names, the name of the park or the address where he once lived. All that was gone. Even if he were to return to Earth before the end he would still not be able to visit those people or see his old house.
From somewhere underneath several magnetic anchors shot out and attached themselves to the surface. The engines stopped and the chain retracted, pulling the large ship downward. The size of it amazed him. The only thing he’s ever seen that was as large was a super aircraft carrier. He estimated it must carry thousands of people. He tried to understand what kind of ship it was. Was it an aircraft carrier, a battleship, some sort of cruiser or escort ship? Judging by the sheer size he figured it was powerful no matter what it was designed for.
The uniform he made was too tight. It’d been a long time since he had to make his own clothes, and he did his best to remember his measurements. The Handlers fed him well but, no matter how much he ate, or how little for that matter, he always kept the same weight. He was proud of the uniform he made. It was white with white dress pants and a pair of uncomfortable white shoes. Under his arm was a white hat with a blue trim. The tie was black and tied tight. When he looked at himself in the mirror it brought back memories he hadn’t thought about in four centuries.
A cloud of steam blew out from under the ship. The breeze rustled his dark hair, neatly trimmed after years of growth. He decided to shave the beard as well, the last thing he wanted was to look like a deranged comic book writer. He remembered how important a first impression was. He needed their trust just as much as he needed their company.
The ship stopped for several long moments and there was nothing but silence. From under the ship a port slide open and a craft floated out on a plume of fire. Like the ship it was mirrored. Unlike the ship it was flat on top with a smooth, curved bottom. From the back several engines fired and moved toward him. It hovered over his head. He felt the heat from the engines on his cheek and had to turn away. It lowered itself to the ground; several leg struts slide out and it landed gently. Once again, there was silence.
The unmistakable sound of a something lowering came from the back, out if his site. He leaned to the right trying to see if he could spot anything. Moments later he saw three figures turn the corner and walk toward him. It was a man, a woman and a. . .he wasn’t sure.
The man was tall and he wondered if the trend for humans to evolve taller had come true. He was older, maybe in his mid to late fifties. His hair was white gray, neatly parted to one side. He wore a black suit with a red tie. He walked with confidence and, even from a distance, Newman knew this man was in command.
The woman was also older, maybe in her sixties. She wore a military uniform, dark blue with a white kerchief. She had a hat which she held under her arm. Her hair was long and pulled back into a pony tail. It was grey and black, as if someone had sprinkled salt and pepper into her hair. She was short; he guessed around 5 feet 3 yet, it seemed as if she were carrying herself as if she were as tall and the man next to her.
The thing next to her was hard to look at. At first, he thought it might be a deformed child but his mind readjusted and he knew it must have been an alien. It was small and stocky. If were any taller than four feet he would be surprised. It carried itself with power though, almost like a walking wall. It was shoe polish brown, the kind of brown he remembered from his home town’s football team. Its head sat below two shoulders. It looked like a cartoon character after someone hit it in the head with a sledge hammer. It waddled as it walked. What really struck Newman as odd, funny, and just plain weird were the clothes it wore. It mirrored those of the woman, dark blue military uniform but, since it didn’t seem to have a neck, it wore the kerchief tied to its right arm.
They walked up to him and stopped. The woman reached out with her hand and said, “Hello, I’m Captain Marjorie Cook. It’s good to meet you Captain Ruzoto.”
“Captain,” he said shaking her hand. “It’s good to meet you.”
“I’d like you to meet Professor Theo Ricter.”
Professor Ricter reached out and shook Captain Ruzuto’s hand. “It’s a pleasure.”
“And Commander Pippleton.”
“Commander?” He said looked down at the outstretched hand of the alien. He took it. It was cold and remin
ded him of rough sandpaper. “So, you’re an officer?”
“Yes,” Commander Pippleton said. “I am the first Ulliam officer.”
“Ulliam?” Newman said pulling his hand away. He had the urge to wipe it on his pants but knew that might be rude.
“It’s a planet about thirty light years from Earth,” The Professor said. “We’d be more than happy to catch you up, but maybe here isn’t the best time or place.”
“Oh, right.” Ruzoto replied. “I haven’t had guests in a few hundred years. Come, I’ll show you around.”
“I need to head back,” Commander Pippleton said.
“Oh?”
“Yes. It was good to meet you Captain. I hope we talk to you again soon.”
“Well, um- okay. Professor Ricter, Captain Cook, follow me please.”
****
Marjorie leaned over to the Professor and whispered. “Didn’t he seem more cheerful in his messages?”
Professor Ricter shrugged. “It was a performance. Anyone can be cheerful when they’re performing.”
Captain Ruzoto held his hand out in a sweeping motion. “This is where they put me after they found my ship. Do they know what happened to me on Earth?”
“No,” Captain Cook said, “all we got was a garbled message, then nothing.”
“Well, that makes sense, I suppose.” He said sadly. “What happened was pretty simple. I had an engine malfunction. Once I left the Asteroid belt and was clear I activated the main engines and wasn’t able to turn them off again.”
They passed through a door and into a brightly light hallway. “So you just drifted out of the solar system?” Captain Cook asked.
“Yeah. I used up all my fuel. Fifteen minutes of maximum thrust then, silence.”
“How long did you drift?” Captain Cook asked as she followed him around the winding hallways.
“A long time. I had enough food, water and air to last me years. It was a lonely existence, but I survived on the chance that Earth might be able to launch a rescue attempt. After the first year I realized I’d never be rescued. Ah, here we are.” He opened a door and waved toward a room.
The room was filled with computers. Seven rows of them, each row had 10 computers. Each computer was turned on. “I wasn’t sure what your computers looked like, I’m sure they don’t use the old monitor, keyboard and mouse configuration, but it’s the only way I know so I asked the Handlers to build them like this. I hope you don’t mind.”
“What is this for?” Marjorie asked.
“Oh, I assumed you would want to some research, so I asked them to set up a research station for your crew. Is this okay?”
Marjorie turned to talk to the Professor but found him in front of a computer monitor, staring at the screen. “Primitive, but useful.”
“Do you want a tutor on how to use it?”
“No,” he said. “You two may leave. Captain, I would like Doctor Lipton down here with me.”
“You know how to use the communicator,” She said. “Ask the Commander to escort her here.”
He just made an annoyed noise and pulled out his communicator. Marjorie turned to the Captain. He had his arm out and smile. “I hope this is still a friendly gesture a man makes when he wants to take a woman for a walk?”
Marjorie could not help but smile as she took his arm. It seemed his nervousness was slowly ebbing away. Maybe underneath the awkwardness he was that charming man who invited the Arwen to his home.
"I know you have a lot of questions, but I hope they can wait until we get something to eat.”
“Eat?” Marjorie replied. She still had her arm wrapped around his as she escorted her down the hallway.
“I haven’t eaten all day so I was hoping you’d join me.”
“Sure, I’d love too.” She replied. “I have to say, you seem more relaxed now than when we first met.”
“It’s all coming back to me. It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to talk to another human. I normally talk to the Handlers.”
“Did they rescue you?”
“I-I don’t know,” he stammered.
They stopped in front of a door and he opened it. Inside was a table and two chairs. The floor was a strange black which reflected light from a source Marjorie wasn’t able to see. The room looked familiar, there was something in the back of her mind telling her this. She hesitated before taking a step.
“Is there a problem?”
“Um, no.” Marjorie said wavering. “Can we just take a longer walk?”
He looked down at her, then at the table, then back at her. “Sure, let’s go. I have so much to show you.”
They continued to walk down the hallway, this time at a respectable distance from each other. Marjorie started the conversation, the one she had meant to start when they sat at the table. “How did you end up here?”
“I didn’t think I could get away without you asking that.” He took a deep breath and as he talked, he looked down the hallway as if talking to the spaces between the walls. “Like I said, I waited a year before realizing I wasn’t going to be rescued. However, I still had hope. I kept thinking, well; it would take them a few months to build a ship fast enough to get out here, then a few months for the ship to get here. I knew we had some ships that were able to go faster than mine. They were probes but hey, what if they sent a probe that I could board, then have it take me home. I never gave up until I decided to take a space walk. Not sure why, I was just needed to get out of that capsule for a few hours.” He paused, reliving the memory. “I told myself I was just going to check the radio antenna, see if was pointing in the right direction. When I went out there to look, I couldn’t find Earth.”
“What did you see?” Marjorie asked.
“Stars. Millions and millions of stars and you know, I couldn’t find the sun. I couldn’t find Earth. It was then that I finally realized I wasn’t going back home and I never would. If I couldn’t find Earth, what were the odds of Earth finding me?”
“What did you do then?”
“I remember dying,” Newman said. “I remember looking back at the stars. I remember thinking, well if I’m going to die, I’m glad I could see this. I then took my helmet off.”
“My god,” Marjorie said. “That must have been horrible.”
“No, not really. It was painful for a few seconds then, nothing.”
“So, someone found you and took you here?”
“I guess, I don’t know for sure. I just know I died and woke up here. I have no idea how long I drifted in space before being found.”
From the corner of her eye, near the edge of the dome, almost out of site, was the Dyson sphere. She walked over to the window. The act of walking brought more of the sphere into her view. It was hard to judge the size since she had nothing to compare it too, but she knew it was large. That kind of size seemed impossible for the mind to grasp and she tried to grasp it in military terms. It would take the firepower of every ship ever made to make a small hole in its skin. They could explode all the nuclear weapons they had, and it would only lightly damage a very small percentage of the sphere. “What about them? Who are they?”
“That’s hard to answer,” Captain Ruzoto replied walking over to her. “I’ve only met a few since I’ve been here. They mostly communicate with me through messages left on my computer.”
“Why do they keep you alive?”
“I think that’s obvious,” he replied. “They want to study me. They want to know where I come from and how I tick. I’m sometimes treated like a lab rat and given tests. Simple things at first, things I hadn’t noticed, but it didn’t take me long to figure out I was a rat in a maze.”
Marjorie turned to face him. “And you do this willingly?”
He shrugged. “Once I figured it out I didn’t. See all this? I told them that unless the build me something like this I wouldn’t participate. I stopped eating, stayed in my bed for days at a time, and refused to acknowledge any stimulation. I’m sure they found that reac
tion fascinating, but they needed me so, they did what I asked and I did what they asked.”
“Human stubbornness, that’ll be a tough lesson for them to learn.”
He pointed to the sphere. “Do you want to go over there?”
“I’d love too but how?”
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Chapter seventeen
Professor Ricter figured out the computer pretty quickly. It was an antique with an operating system he had only read about in history books, but it was intuitive enough for him to guess his way through the system to files he wanted to read. He knew The Handlers, whoever they were, would block any relevant information so he wasn’t surprised to find only a few files that told him what they already knew.
It also didn’t surprise him that the written language was in old Earth English. Luckily, he and his team studied and a learned the language while they were in Wormhole Beta space. It was slow going but he was able to comprehend most of what he was reading.
The door opened and he looked up from the computer screen. Doctor Lipton, along with seven of their science staff, walked in. She sat next to him. “Find anything interesting?”
“Nothing more than we already knew. It tells me we’re in the Pleiades, although that’s not what they call it obviously. It says that the Dyson Sphere, again not what they call it, was built around a young blue star. I did discover the population of the Sphere is something on the order of two Quadrillions."
“Really?” Doctor Mercury said astonished.
“Yes,” Professor Ricter replied. “I guess that would explain why they needed to build the Dyson Sphere. We don’t how long it’s been here or how it was built.”
“Well, it couldn’t have been here longer than four hundred years. When we left Earth we could still see the light from this star. I think if it suddenly blinked out someone on Earth would have noticed.”
The Arwen Book two: Manifest Destiny Page 12