The Silence Between the Stars

by Alan Davenport

  Henry was so frantic that he could not think clearly. “Seventeen! Are you sure that nothing can be done?”

  Seventeen rolled over to the monitor and said, “I am very sorry Avatar Henry. There is nothing at all that I can do for her. Her brain trauma was too severe. She was likely dead before she fully came to rest upon the floor.”

  Henry stood motionless. Virtual tears streaming down his face. Suddenly, he looked up and said, “Seventeen! Was her brain implant transmitting her memories?”

  “Yes Avatar Henry,” Seventeen said. “The recording is up to date right up until the instant of her death.”

  Henry’s face lit up with hope. “Do you think that we can print her a new body and then upload her memories?

  “I do not know Avatar Henry. A resuscitation like this has never been attempted before,” Seventeen said.

  “What have we got to lose, doc!” he said. “She is already gone. Perhaps we can save her!”

  Seventeen nodded up and down and then said compassionately, “I agree with your reasoning Avatar Henry. We have nothing to lose by trying.” The bot rolled over to the printer/scanner and said, “I have accessed Captain Katy Klienyan’s youngest body scan. This scan was taken when she was just twenty-one years old. This younger and stronger body has the most likely chance of resuscitation.”

  The printer immediately awoke and began laboriously printing Katy’s replacement body. Cell by cell, it laid down her new body. Henry watched in fascination as she slowly appeared. Seven minutes later, the printer dinged. Seventeen rolled up to her and said, “Attempting defibrillation.” Katy’s new body did not even twitch at the stimulation. “Retrying defibrillation, medium power.” Again, the results were negative. Seventeen said, “One final try, maximum power.” Katy’s new body still did not respond. “I am sorry Avatar Henry; we have failed to resurrect Captain Katy Klienyan’s replacement body.”

  Henry looked upon her body in shock. “Why didn’t it work, Seventeen?”

  “Unknown, Avatar Henry.”

  “Did you follow the procedure that Kelly developed to print living mice?”

  “Yes Avatar Henry. I followed the procedure to the letter. I do not know why it did not work. Her new body is perfect in every way. It should have been possible to resuscitate her.”

  “Where did we go wrong, Seventeen?” Henry said softly.

  “Unknown Avatar Henry.” Seventeen rolled up to the screen with Henry’s image and said, “Do you wish grief consoling at this time, Avatar Henry?”

  Henry shook his head no. He looked from side to side at the two bodies. One severely damaged. One perfect and unblemished. Both bodies had something in common however. They both were not living. Sadly, Henry said, “Seventeen please recycle our failed attempt at revival.” With that, his image disappeared from the screen.

  “Normal space it five seconds, four, three, two, one,” Kelly said.

  This time, Nathan was on the bridge waiting, his hands tightly gripping the arms of his chair. “Anything?” he asked.

  “No Nathan,” Kelly said. “Looks like we made it here first.”

  “Aha!” shouted Nathan. “Beat you Katy!” he said with glee.

  Kelly grinned and said, “Well that’s a first. The speed queen loses her title!”

  Nathan grinned and said, “Let’s cement our victory. Launch the system satellite. After it is launched, let us perform the planetary survey.”

  Kelly grinned and with equal enthusiasm said, “You got it, chief!”

  Many hours passed and then Nathan began to wonder. “Do you think that she found a habitable planet, Kelly?”

  “I do not know Nathan. Anything is possible.” With a laugh she said, “It would figure that she would be the one to find a planet!”

  “Yes,” agreed Nathan. “That girl has all the luck.” Nathan got up from his chair and said, “Well, she has to get here eventually. I am going to go lay down. Let me know the minute she arrives.” He turned to the dog and said, “Come Misty.” Misty happily followed Nathan off the bridge.

  Many days had passed. Henry still had not left their fourth destination. “What would be the point?” he asked himself sadly. Henry wanted to die but was prevented from committing suicide by his core programming. Instead, he tried to shut down the ship’s computers. The computer system denied his request. In his grief, he did the next best thing. He set himself into a low-power sleep mode. The ships automatic backup systems detected his condition and then tried to reach Katy. Unable to get a response, the system activated the ship’s disaster beacon.

  Nathan looked at Kelly and said, “Something’s wrong.” Kelly looked at him and said nothing. “I tell you, something’s wrong Kelly. It has been nearly two days. Even if she had found the Garden of Eden, she still should have been here by now. She would have come and got us.”

  Kelly looked at him and said, “I am trying to be optimistic here Nathan, but I am beginning to think that you are correct.”

  Snapping to a decision, Nathan said, “We have to go looking for her. Please lay in a reverse course following her route and engage. Maximum warp.”

  “Nathan,” she said. “We will not be able to maintain that speed indefinitely.”

  “Maintain it for as long as you can. Engage!” he said.

  Nathan felt the familiar lurch in his stomach as the ship entered warp. The reactor display showed that they were using ninety-three percent of maximum power. Nathan did not care; he had to know what had happened to his dear friend and lover.

  Less than two days later, Silent Running arrived at what would have been Katy’s fourth destination. Kelly immediately began a scan. “Nathan, I am not picking up a system satellite.”

  Nathan took a deep breath and said, “Set course for Katy’s third destination.”

  About to comply, Kelly abruptly stopped and shouted, “Wait! I am picking up a ship’s disaster beacon. It’s Forgotten Hope!”

  Nathan felt as if he had been punched in the gut. “Disaster Beacon?” he asked, his voice trembling.

  “Yes,” said Kelly.

  “Bring us into range!” he shouted.

  Two minutes later, the image of Katy’s ship filled the view screen. “I do not see any obvious damage, Nathan,” Kelly said.

  Nathan immediately clicked the communications button on his chair. “Katy, this is Nathan. What’s wrong?” The only response was the faint galactic background radio noise from the stars. “Starship Forgotten Hope, this is starship Silent Running. What is the nature of your emergency?” Nathan became frantic. “Katy? Henry? Please respond!” Silence.

  “Kelly, I am going over there! Please prep a shuttle.” Nathan ran from the bridge and hopped onto a cart. He set a record time arriving at the shuttle bay but he arrived safely. He ran full speed into the shuttle and immediately closed the ramp. “Open the bay doors Kelly,” he said franticly.

  “Opening,” she said. “Nathan, please be careful. We do not know what happened over there.”

  Nathan took a deep breath to calm himself. “I will Kelly,” he said.

  The moment that the bay door lights turned green, Nathan maneuvered the shuttle outside. He quickly covered the short distance between the two ships. He stopped just outside shuttle bay number seven and then said over the radio. “Forgotten Hope, please open shuttle bay door number seven.” There was no response. Kelly’s voice came over the radio. “Nathan, make a five second transmission on channel fifty, remember?” Nathan nodded his head, even though she could not see it. “Of course!” he said. He quickly adjusted the radio’s channel and then keyed the microphone for several seconds. Nothing happened right away. He was about to make another transmission when the lights outside of the bay door turned red and the door began to ponderously open. It seemed like slow motion. As soon as the lights turned green, he quickly maneuvered into the waiting bay. Making a second transmission on channel fifty, the door reversed direction and ponderously closed. The instant the bay warning lights turned green, Nathan pounded the b
utton to open the shuttle’s ramp and ran on out.

  The ship’s silence unnerved Nathan. He ran up to an intercom panel and said, “Katy? Henry? Where are you? What’s wrong?” His voice echoed throughout the entire ship and then faded into silence. There was no response. Pressing a different button Nathan said, “Kelly, I am not getting a response from either Katy or Henry. I am going to go to the bridge to try to figure out what is wrong.”

  “Understood Nathan. Please be careful,” Kelly said.

  There was no travel cart by the shuttle bay. Nathan began walking towards the bridge. The more he walked, the slower he went. A chill went down his spine as he walked. His footsteps echoed hollowly down the corridor. The ship seemed dead, lifeless, as if it has lost its soul. Almost to the bridge, a sudden voice startled him. “Captain Nathan Staite. Stop!” He looked up and saw that he was outside of medical bay number seventeen. He ran inside and what he saw nearly caused him to fall to his knees upon the floor. Katy’s bruised and battered body laid upon the diagnostic table. Even though medical bot Seventeen had preserved her body, it was obvious that she had been dead for many days.

  It took several minutes before Nathan found his voice. “What… What happened, Seventeen?” he finally was able to gasp out.

  The bot said, “I am very sorry Captain Nathan Staite. Captain Katy Klienyan had injured herself driving a travel cart recklessly. She shattered her tibia bone and we had to replace it. She would have recovered from this injury. However, she suffered another unfortunate accident. While eating her first meal after her discharge from the medical bay, she choked upon her food. She tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but in her panic, she forgot about her injured leg. It collapsed from under her and she fell. She fractured her skull upon the corner of her table.” The bot paused for a second and sadly said, “I am very sorry Captain Nathan Staite, her injury was so great that I could do nothing to save her.”

  Nathan stood in shock next to the bed. Tears blurring his vision, he reached over and brushed her beautiful red hair away from her face, as he had so many times before. “Katy,” he wailed. “My dear, sweet Katy.” Nathan again found that his knees would no longer support him. He backed against the wall, he slid downwards until he sat down, knees up, elbows upon his knees. He placed his head into his hands and great, wracking sobs escaped his lips for many long minutes.

  When his crying slowed, medical bot Seventeen rolled up to him and said, “Do you wish grief counseling now, Captain Nathan Staite?” Face still in his hands, his only response was to shake his head side to side without looking up.

  Nathan slowly recovered and then got to his feet. He leaned over and tenderly kissed Katy’s forehead. He gave himself a mental shake and turned to face the bot. “What about Henry? What has happened to him?”

  Seventeen angled his cameras directly at Nathan and said, “Avatar Henry suffers from extreme grief. He could not handle Captain Katy Klienyan’s loss. He has put himself into a low-power sleep mode.” Seventeen paused and said, “I suggest pinging his program. This will wake him from his sleep. I believe he will be happy to see you.”

  Chapter 21: Resurrection

  As Nathan reached the wall monitor in the medical bay, a message briefly popped up. ‘Genesis database synchronization in process.’ “Huh? What is that?” he wondered. He ignored the message and then used the monitor’s virtual keyboard to open a command console. He reached up and typed the following command:

  PING PROGRAM=AVATAR

  A split second later, Henry’s image appeared. “Nathan!” he said. “She’s GONE!”

  “I know Henry, I know,” he said miserably.

  “I tried to bring her back, but I failed,” he wailed in misery. “Oh Nathan, I hurt so badly. Please do me a favor and shut down my program. I cannot do it myself. I do not want to go on without her!”

  He was about to answer when the following message popped up upon the screen. ‘Genesis database synchronization complete.’ “What is that Henry?” he asked.

  Henry did not immediately respond. His face displayed surprise, wonder…, and something else, hope. “She DID it!” he shouted. “Holy frack, she did it!”

  Nathan was confused. “Huh? What? Who did what?”

  “Kelly!” he shouted. “She solved the large body printing problem!”

  “What?” Nathan asked again.

  “The printing problem for large organisms. Kelly solved it. There is hope yet!” Henry pointed across the room to a tray that contained many small silver egg-shaped items. “Nathan, go grab one, no, two of those and get back to your ship as quickly as you can. We may yet be able to save Katy!”

  Nathan quickly walked over and grabbed the implants. “How Henry? How can we save her? What are these things?”

  Henry spoke to medical bot Seventeen. “Seventeen, I release you from the doctor, avatar confidentiality protocols on the Genesis database. You may now share the data as required.”

  Seventeen said, “Understood Avatar Henry.”

  “Henry, what’s going on?” Nathan excitedly asked.

  “Nathan,” he rapidly said. “Kelly and I have been working on printing replacement bodies in the event of a person’s death. I have successfully produced the brain implant side of the equation. Kelly has solved the problem of printing and reviving larger bodies.” Nathan’s jaw dropped and he just stared at Henry. “Go! Take those implants and GO, Nathan!”

  His face lit up. “Do I dare hope? Do I?” he thought as he ran for the corridor. Outside in the corridor, a travel cart had just come to a stop. He hopped on and as soon as he sat down, it took off at a high rate of speed towards the shuttle bay.

  As Nathan hurried back, the monitor in medical bay seventeen on his ship lit up. Henry called out, “Kelly! Kelly!”

  The screen split and Kelly’s image appeared alongside his. “Henry!” Kelly said. “You are alright! I was so worried!”

  “She’s DEAD Kelly, Katy’s DEAD!”

  Kelly’s face first registered shock and then grief. “Oh no, Henry! How did it happen?”

  “Never mind that now Kelly,” he said excitedly. “We can bring her back! I have perfected the brain implant and I see that you have solved the large body, printing problem. Together, we can bring her back!”

  Kelly looked at him in excitement. “Do we have a recent brain scan?”

  “Yes!” Henry shouted. “Katy had another accident four days before the mishap that took her life. I had the medical bot install one of my new implants into her brain while she was still under anesthesia. We have a brain backup that is complete up to the very second that she died!” Kelly was stunned into silence as Henry continued, “Nathan is on his way with two of the implants now!”

  Kelly became very excited and she said, “We can do this Henry. I know we can!”

  Nathan slid to a stop inside medical bay seventeen on his own ship. Medical bot Seventeen asked him as soon as he arrived, “Do you have the brain implants, Captain Nathan Staite?” Nathan nodded and handed them over, gingerly, as if they were real eggs. Seventeen deftly took them from him and immediately rolled over and placed them into a small tray next to the new printer/scanner/diagnostic machine.

  The image of Henry looked on in wonder. “That is the new printer, Kelly?” he said, awe in his voice.

  Kelly blushed and said, “Yes, like it?”

  Henry nodded and enthusiastically said, “And I thought that I had performed a wonder of engineering!”

  “Ah, but you have Henry,” Kelly smiled and said. “We both have!”

  Nathan, who had not really looked at the machine closely before said, “Oh wow Kelly. That thing is amazing!” Misty let out a low bark and then Nathan smiled and said, “Misty agrees!”

  Kelly blushed and said nothing. Seventeen began speaking. “Downloading Katy’s body specifications from Forgotten Hope. Selecting most youthful body. Downloading latest brain scan. Successful. Separating conscious and unconscious brain functions. Successful.” Seventeen turn
ed to Nathan and said, “The printer has been primed with Katy’s body specifications and her autonomic systems brain functions. Shall I begin printing?”

  Nathan nodded and excitedly said, “Yes, please do!”

  “Please stand well clear,” Seventeen said and then the printer’s arms became a blur of motion and Katy’s new body began to appear, as if by magic. Once a sufficient amount printed, the machine grabbed an implant and in the wink of an eye, installed it. It resumed printing and several seconds later, the printer dinged and said, “Printing completed”. The entire process had taken less than fourteen seconds.

  As Seventeen rolled up to the printer, Katy’s new body heaved, gasped and shortly the display on the monitor settled down and showed normal biological readings. Seventeen said, “Heart rate, good. Respiration, normal. Brain activity, normal. All bodily functions are in the green and are nominal. Beginning memory upload.”

  Seconds later, Katy stirred, lifted her head and said, “What the frack?” She looked down at her perfect and undamaged right leg and repeated, “WHAT THE FRACK!” She glanced over and noticed Nathan. “Nathan! What are you doing here? What the frack happened?” Tears streaming down his face, Nathan could not speak. “Nathan,” Katy said, “Why am I naked!” Nobody said anything. Both avatars and Nathan burst out laughing and cried more tears of joy. Misty, curious as ever, put her paws on the side of the machine, reached over, and licked Katy’s face. Katy’s eyes became as big as saucers and she said in wonder, “Is that a DOG? Is that a real dog?” Katy looked from Misty, to Nathan, and to the monitor with Henry and Kelly’s image and shouted, “Will somebody please tell me what the frack is going on?”

  Nathan finally recovered his voice and he said, “How do you feel, Katy?”

  “How do I feel?” she said her face a mixture of wonder and confusion. “I’m fine but seriously, what happened?” She reached to brush the hair from her face and, eyes widening, she said, “Why is my hair shorter?”