Teardrops In The Night Sky (Steven Gordon series)

by Murison, J W

  ‘In case you’re wearing a space suit.’

  ‘Of course, I never thought.’

  ‘The ship told us about that.’

  ‘It’s quite light but it’s also robust. What does it fire?’

  Beaver sniffed loudly, ‘green shit. So the ship says any way.’

  Howe laughed, ‘we saw some type of training film, and whatever it fired looked green anyway. We really need somewhere to try it out.’

  Steven shook his head with amusement, ‘unfortunately it will have to wait a little while.’ He handed the weapon back. ‘We’ll be leaving in about ten minutes, can I have you at your duty station on the bridge by then?’

  ‘Of course, there's a couple of things I need to talk to you about.’

  ‘Do we have time now?’

  ‘Yes, it will only take a few seconds.’

  ‘Fire away.’

  ‘I’ve been talking to the ship and she says the defences and firing of weapons is a two man job, so is it all right for Beaver to help me on the bridge?’

  ‘Yes, I don’t have a problem with that, what about you Buzz?’

  ‘Nope, why split up a good team.’

  ‘That’s great, but one other thing, we’re going to need a good armourer. I know a guy who just retired from the forces. No family to speak of and was nuts on science fiction. I know he would jump at the chance to come with us.’

  ‘Securities your problem Colonel, not mine. You can pick your own team to a certain point. The first point being I expect you to present them to Buzz for an interview before I meet them. If he likes them he will come to me and then I will give them a final interview.’

  ‘Is that necessary?’

  ‘Buzz is an impeccable judge of character Colonel and I trust him implicitly. If he don’t like him I know I won’t.’

  ‘Ok, I don’t have a problem with that, but I’ll warn you now, Lewis is an unusual guy, but there's none better at what he does on the face of this planet.’

  Buzz gave Howe a level gaze, ‘I don’t have a problem with unusual or weird Colonel, just look at some of my best friends.’

  Everyone burst out laughing. Stevie and Buzz made to leave but Stevie hesitated for a few seconds. ‘Colonel, I have assigned you and your men quarters. You'll find them the same way you found the armoury; just ask the ship. I have taken the liberty of designing new uniforms for the crew. You’ll find yours in your rooms; please put them on before you come onto the Bridge. If you don’t like them then we’ll discuss it later and see if we can come up with something you do like.’

  They left leaving the two soldiers alone. Beaver sniffed again, ‘so what do you think of them Boss?’

  Howe nodded, ‘I think I like them fine Beaver.’

  Beaver nodded, ‘yeah I like them to but what about that Buzz being second in command? I would rather it was you.’

  ‘I don’t know about that Beaver. Remember Anderson runs his own business, and it’s one of the top in its field.’

  ‘A lot different from what we do Boss.’

  ‘I’ll give you that, but at least he has an inkling of what we do and what our needs are going to be. He’s also used to working with these scientists and knows how to handle them. I think he might just be the man we need for the job.’

  Beaver thought it over for a second, ‘never thought of it like that, you could be right.’

  ‘Let’s go see what our captains cooked up for us.’

  ‘What's the matter with what we got on?’ Beaver grunted.

  ‘Yeah you’re right, Jungle colours are just the thing we need in space.’

  Beaver screwed his face up in disgust, ‘I hate you, do you know that?’

  ‘My dear Beaver I revel in it.’

  Chapter 24

  ‘All crew to their duty stations.’ Steven took his finger from the Comms button on the armrest of his chair, as his voice still seemed to echo throughout the ship.

  Colonel Howe and Beaver appeared wearing their new uniforms. Steven suppressed a smile but it showed in his eyes. Then to his surprise Matt McGuire appeared in his and took up his station at the engineering consol. The effect wasn’t lost on the scientists on the bridge.

  It had changed quite dramatically. Steven was sure that even the roof had been reduced in height, and he was right.

  Buzz now had a chair next to his and a third sat to his left but it was empty. A small wall had been thrown up behind them. It reminded Steven of something but he wasn’t quite sure what.

  Matt turned, ‘all engines ready to engage captain, I recommend interplanetary drive.’

  Steven felt the adrenalin kick in, ‘navigation?’

  A pretty pigtailed blonde flushed, ‘coordinates imputed … I think.’

  Steven grinned, ‘ship confirm destination.’

  ‘We are headed for a point in the asteroid belt, time of arrival in planetary drive, fifteen Earth minutes.’

  The blond looked up blushing furiously now, ‘eh! That’s right sir it’s all here.’

  ‘Good work. Sensors?’

  Howe wasn’t going to be caught out, ‘nothing within sensor range captain.’

  ‘We have no one on the helm yet so would you do the honours Chief?’

  McGuire seemed to grow two inches, ‘engaging planetary drive now sir.’

  The ship lifted up off the Moon’s surface, reoriented itself and in a flash the Moon was left far behind. As the new crew gaped at the scenery outside, the ship allowed herself a moment’s contentment. She began to feel herself come to life again. Although she could have done all these things herself, it wasn’t how things were supposed to be.

  For decades she had been working on an emergency program, but that’s all it was. This was how it was supposed to be. Manned by a crew of living breathing beings, someone who made the decisions for her. Steven could feel her happiness radiate around him and instinctively smiled.

  The fifteen minutes seemed to pass by in seconds. The bridge had filled up with spare bodies as the journey went on. All of Howe’s men were there standing against the back wall.

  When the ship announced they were braking, everyone leaned forward eagerly. All of a sudden they seemed to be adrift amongst the stars and in front of them appeared the asteroid belt in all its splendour.

  All had expected to see barren chunks of rocks, but many different minerals within the asteroids shone through in a spectrum of colour. There was almost a collective sigh from the crew.

  The youngest member of Howe’s team was the first to respond, ‘where the hell do I sign up?’

  Some burst out laughing, other cheered and some even applauded lightly. Steven walked up to the transparent bulkhead somewhat in awe at the splendour of the moment. ‘What was it Neil Armstrong said? One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’

  He turned and found everyone listening, ‘what we have achieved today was a giant leap for man, but what about mankind? I find it hard to believe that they will just allow us to please ourselves. I have no doubt they would far rather hide these ships away and slowly but surely pull them to pieces. They would probably use the technologies they discover to invent a new way of cooking our food.’

  There were a few chuckles and he paused for a few seconds to let the truth of his words set in, ‘I for one, am not going to let that happen and I have every intension of pleasing myself, for a while anyway. Eventually we will have to submit ourselves to some kind of Earth law or directive. What that directive will be shall depend on our actions in the next few months or years.

  We will have to woo our own species. If there's one thing we know they will respond to its profit. We will have to show them that it will be worth their while letting us gallivant all over the galaxy. Actually thinking about it, it would probably be worth our while trying to set up some form of corporation to filter technology down to the masses, and their governments, but that will come later.

  In the short term we can do one thing and that’s to generate interest. A website, one dedicate
d to our travels. I know there are those amongst you who know how to set one up. We have a laptop and the ship is connected to the web at this moment. I want pictures or this asteroid belt on it.

  Not only that but I want some form of mapping of it and also a list of minerals that can be extracted and processed. I’m going to get the ship to package up a few valuable minerals to take home and hopefully a few we don’t know about. That should start the ball rolling anyway.

  There's one more thing I would like to talk about. I have heard a lot of talk since you all got here as to the validity of my position as captain of this ship. I understand your feelings on this matter but I will make my position clear to all.

  I am the Captain of this ship, while you remain on board you will take your orders from me. My second in command is Buzz Anderson. Third in command Colonel Howe and forth Chief engineer Matt McGuire. I will always be open to suggestions but my decision will be final.

  Before anyone considers usurping me as captain learn this and you can ask the ship at your own convenience. It takes a certain level of conciseness to link properly with the ship, and none of you posses it. You are all aware of the links on your wrist. These all connect you to the ship at a certain level of awareness. Here is something none of you are aware of yet.’

  Steven flipped back his hair, to reveal in its entirety, the plate attached to his head. This is a direct neural link to the ship, only death can break it. I am less the captain of this vessel, than part of it. The ship itself is a living sentient being, not a super computer. Treat her like one.

  All this doesn't make me smarter or better than any of you, only a little different. I am sure you will all come to learn the truth of everything I have said here, but again, knowing human scepticism, it will probably take a little time.

  There is only one other thing that concerns me. You all know by now how these links affect us. We will remain, as we are unchanged for maybe another fifty to a hundred years. I strongly suggest that we keep it a secret amongst ourselves for now.

  You can imagine the clamour there would be on Earth if this news got out now. There would be nowhere safe on the whole of the planet. Every government, every individual with any kind of money would consider us fair game. They would use us like laboratory rats to try and steal what you have gained.

  Hopefully if we work hard, then we can develop this technology to benefit the whole of mankind, not just a privileged few. As for those of you who have not yet joined us, remember this, the choice was yours. I will expect anyone who doesn't stay to keep to himself anything they have learned here. As long as you do that the invitation to join us will remain open. Now we have a lot to do. Thank you for listening and let’s get to it.’

  Steven didn’t have to worry, within half an hour every man of Howe’s team was wearing a bracelet and everyone on the ship had now donned the new uniform.

  The ship manoeuvred itself next to individual asteroids and a beam shot out from the hull. The beam extracted the necessary minerals and ores it needed, like a straw in a milk glass, leaving the asteroid itself intact for the most part.

  Much to everyone’s surprise the ship absorbed the laptop into its own systems and then upgraded it in a manner un-thought of before. Most importantly it was still compatible with all of Earths existing technology. Very quickly replicas began to appear at every station.

  The scientists on board quickly began to realise the power of Steven’s intellect. Theories that had existed on Earth were very quickly proved or eradicated.

  One of Howe’s men proved to be an excellent signaller and took it upon himself to sort out the ships communication equipment. Steven became aware of his abilities almost as quickly as the ship did. Steven stood over him for a few minutes.

  ‘What is it you’re doing?’

  ‘Configuring what I suppose you would call the radio to send as well as receive sir. Actually it’s more like television although even that is far wide of the mark. We can talk to anyone on Earth we want to, or will very soon, with very little delay.’

  ‘You mean from here to there or the other way about?’

  ‘Both. She left a small transponder back on Earth so she could continue to upload the world wide net. However we can use it to send signals back to Earth.’

  ‘That’s quite a way, how long is the delay?’

  ‘Only a few seconds, but it is at its limit. If we used it to transmit to a website at this range we would probably overload it and lose our link all together.’

  ‘Not a good idea then?’

  ‘We need to build a bigger transponder. More to the point, we need to leave it with someone we can trust not to rip it to pieces. I’m trying to reconfigure a satellite to relay our signals through it. It will act as a buffer. We can then send a heap of stuff down the line. The satellite will store the information for a short while before sending it on.’

  ‘You’re going to use the satellite like a reservoir so the transponder doesn't overload.’

  The man grinned and nodded, ‘that’s right captain. If we put a bigger one on Earth we won’t need to use the satellite but it will suffice for the moment, and we can also use the satellite link to download what we want onto the net avoiding the transponder all together.’

  ‘There's a job going, do you want it?’

  The grin grew wider, ‘always knew my talents were wasted in the Army.’

  ‘Let me know when we’re ready to download to the net.’

  ‘Will do.’

  Steven left him to it and went to see how the Chief was doing in Engineering. He found the Scot flat on his back inside a panel talking to the ship.

  ‘Is that it now?’

  ‘Yes, it’s only a physical line there is no need for electronic alignment.’

  ‘Great, can I do it once more just to make sure I’ve got it right?’

  ‘Of course but I think the Captain wants to talk to you.’

  The chief slid himself out of the panel, ‘sorry sir I didna realise you were there.’

  ‘That’s ok Chief, it wasn’t important. I was just wondering how you were getting on?’

  ‘A lot better. I think I can have that part replaced in about ten minutes now.’

  ‘Excellent, would you be able to have a revised addition of the periodic tables ready in about an hour?’

  ‘All done Captain, and I already have two samples ready to ship back to Earth along with a quick explanation of their properties. It should cause quite a stir.’

  ‘That’s more than I would have hoped for, thank you.’

  ‘Thank you sir for making me Chief Engineer.’

  ‘No need to thank me Chief, I like the way you work but more to the point so does the ship. She has already expressed admiration in your abilities.’

  He looked a little struck, ‘I never realised. Thanks Babe that was nice of you.’

  ‘I sincerely hope you’re talking to the ship and not me Chief.’

  He laughed, ‘aye she knows when I’m talking to her.’

  ‘I’ll leave you to it.’

  He found Howe giving a lecture to his men on the new weapon they had developed.

  ‘Can I have a quick word Colonel?’

  ‘Yes Captain, does it need to be in private?’

  ‘No not at all. Before we leave here I want to test the main weapons on board. That will involve towing a large asteroid clear of the belt. Before we fire, I want you to make sure that nothing can possibly fall back into the belt and collide with anything within it. That could cause a chain reaction with disastrous effects.’

  Howe nodded, ‘I understand, I’ve seen the film.’

  ‘It’s just something I want you to bear in mind when firing weapons at anything in our part of the universe.’

  ‘I will sir.’

  ‘Good! By the way I’ve stolen one of your men; he’s working with the ship to reconfigure our signals matrix to make it easier to communicate with Earth.’

  ‘They’re not just my men now sir, do with us as you
will. As a matter of fact a few have stated interest trying something new.’

  Steven nodded, ‘I would recommend it. I have no idea how often your special skills may be needed. In an ideal world that would probably be never, but I’m not that much of an optimist. However the times between actions may be long and boring. The golden rule for the moment is quite simple gentlemen. If you see something that you think should be done then do it.

  Ask the ship, she’ll keep you right. If she needs to then she will inform me of what you are doing and if need be I will send you help. Please carry on.’

  Steven left and went back to the bridge. He wasn’t long there when the chief called on the intercom, ‘can you hear me captain?’

  ‘Yes chief loud and clear.’

  ‘Would you like to take a guess at what we found?’

  ‘Put it on screen.’

  Part of the view disappeared and a display appeared. As Steven read the chemical symbols a slow smile began to spread across his face. There were a few gasps from the scientists.

  ‘How much is there Chief?’

  ‘Within a radius of ten miles there is about half a ton of gold. Fifty pounds of diamonds and about another twenty pounds of rare gemstones that we recognise and another five pounds that we don’t but are considered valuable on other planets.’

  ‘Can we grab it all?’

  ‘She says there’s no problem there and it won’t take long.’

  Steven turned to Buzz, ‘it looks like you’re going to get paid after all.’

  Buzz scratched his head, ‘how much is all that worth?’

  ‘Freedom,’ Steve stated simply. It was causing quite a stir. Steven went down into his quarters and asked the ship to do a quick scan of a hundred mile radius. The results made him sit down.

  She felt uncomfortable at his extended silence, ‘is everything all right?’

  He half smiled, ‘oh yes, everything’s fine. There's enough gold and gemstones here to finance a space program for the next thousand years, and that’s only in a hundred mile radius. If they even suspected the wealth here back on Earth, we would have been mining it years ago.’

  ‘They would have advanced the space program?’