Safety doors were closed and locked. Exterior locks were double checked for possible weaknesses and sealed against loss of air. Soft emergency personnel suits were issued; these would provide up to ten hours of personal oxygen. Emergency supplies were distributed to key locations throughout the starship, in case corridors were blocked or leaked air.
Finally all off-duty crew members, military personnel, and passengers were given instructions to strap themselves into their safety seats; some would be in general areas, while others would be in their cabins. Crew members on duty also were required to strap in, wherever they were located. Medical teams were placed on standby, as were engineers and military forces; these all had been training and practicing for emergencies. Hard-suited humans and Rats were placed on standby at access points, in case there was a need to reach the starship exterior for repairs or rescues.
Freddie checked that Sabre and Felis were safely in their cabin and each securely strapped in. The two sabre tigers were anxious because they could not accompany Freddie and considered that a dereliction of duty. He re-assured them, and they seemed to accept their restrictions.
He had visited the Institute’s section of the starship to check the admin team had organized everyone, including Dr. Krowe, and he spent some time double checking their safety processes.
“We are ready,” affirmed Fern 5. “We’ve every confidence your design will work.” The other Ferns voiced their agreement.
“Even so, you must follow all the instructions. We require everyone to take precautions. We don’t know, for example, whether stresses to Shen Ark will rupture airlocks, power lines, water pipes, or anything else. The Shen are confident, and they certainly did a thorough job of building the starship; however, we need to be cautious. So when we announce the start of the transit, stay in your cabins until you hear the all-clear signals. It may take a while, if engineering teams have to repair anything.”
“We understand, we do. We checked Dr. Krowe—he’s feeling poorly, and one of us is staying with him. We’ve communicated the safety requirements to all the Institute staff, they will all be strapped in and ready.”
“I suggest you split up the Ferns, as well. Some of you should locate on another level, just as a precaution.”
“Ferns 7, 8 and 11 are going to locate on another level. I’ll remain here, with the other Ferns and the Adeles.”
“Very well, I’ll leave you now. We’ll broadcast everything from the primary command deck. I suspect it’ll all be very boring.”
~~~
Starship officers and crew had been allocated to each of the three command decks; each deck was fully functional, and if the primary deck was out of action, either of the remaining decks would take over running the starship. Freddie was located on the primary command deck, with two other Capins and Sam 32nd. Colonel Thè and Ser Nish were also on the primary deck while Ser Glide had been allocated to the secondary deck. Aspic 5 was in charge of internal communications. Zen, with support from his security team, was monitoring computer reports of lock and safety door statuses.
Freddie waited for each area to report. Zen was the first; he turned to Freddie. “Sir, all door and lock reports are green and holding.”
After a further minute had passed, Colonel Thè confirmed his status to Freddie. “Sir, all navigation programs are green and holding. Speed is constant at 0.3c.”
Capin Julio said, “Sir, all internal engineering reports are green and holding.”
Capin Red gave the final report. “Sir, all external engineering reports are green and holding. The exterior view of Shen Ark is on the main viewscreen.”
Freddie looked at Sam 32nd. “Sir, we are ready. May we have your permission to proceed?”
“Permission granted. Proceed when ready.”
Freddie triggered the warning siren, which sounded throughout the starship, in all the cabins, command decks and other areas. Then he turned to Colonel Thè. “Colonel, initiate warp drives.”
“Yes, sir. Initiating warp drives. Counting down—five—four—three—two—one—go.” Colonel Thè pressed the small button that started the warp drive program. Everyone on the command deck, and indeed, throughout Shen Ark, held their breath for a long moment. The warning siren continued its warble of sound. The questions on Freddie’s mind were probably duplicated on every mind on board Shen Ark, although Freddie was undoubtedly the most concerned. Would the warp drives work? How far would they take the Shen Ark? And the last, unspoken question, would Shen Ark arrive unscathed?
Tethered exterior camera drones relayed video shots of Shen Ark; the images were displayed on wide viewscreens on each of the command decks and in every cabin on Shen Ark. A vivid blue film began to build around the starship, eventually covering the entire exterior. The film intensified and seemed to solidify, covering and blocking out Shen Ark’s surface details. Signals from the camera drones progressively faded as the blue film became more and more impermeable.
“Look,” exclaimed Colonel Thè, ‘“it’s turning blue in here, as well.”
The command deck filled with what seemed at first to be a blue fog, intensifying until it filled every corner, becoming thicker and thicker until Freddie could no longer see anyone on the command deck. Even his hands disappeared, hidden by the vivid blue fog. Shen Ark chimed, as though struck by a massive hammer, and he sensed a ripple of energy flowing through the starship. Then the blue fog began to lift, and visibility gradually returned to the interior of the command deck.
“Engineer,” said Colonel Thè, “our instruments indicate we are back in normal space. Shen Ark’s speed is 0.6c. We are experiencing a flat spin around our vertical axis, which the navcomp is countering. We should be stable in ten minutes.”
“Reduce speed to 0.3c,” instructed Freddie. “The spin probably was caused by a drive misalignment; Engineering can check that later.” He cancelled the warning siren and turned to Sam 32nd. “Sir, I suspect it will take the astronomy team up to forty-eight hours to determine our location.” He checked his viewscreen. “We have some damage reports coming in, although nothing serious at this stage. I think Shen Ark coped quite well.” He reached for his microphone and switched his communication control to general broadcast. “Attention, everyone. This is Engineer. Our bubble warp drives appear to have worked as planned. The starship is back in normal space. Everyone can stand down and resume normal duties. Engineer out.”
He stood and stretched. The combination of elation and relief almost overwhelmed him as he addressed the command deck. “Thanks, everyone. If our calculations are correct, we are at the same location reached by the shuttle. The astronomers are going to be under pressure now to confirm whether that is the case. I’m now handing control over to Capin Julio.”
“Congratulations, Engineer,” commented Sam 32nd. “Well done. Of course, the same for all the teams. Excellent.”
“We have work to do, still,” reminded Engineer. “We’ll have to check Shen Ark and all the warp drive components for damage, wear, and so forth. Now, I want to release the sabre tigers, they’ll be anxious. After that, I’ll meet with my teams and get them focused on post-warp analysis.”
~~~
Fleet General Harozt turned to his Flag Communications Officer, clicking his lower claws in a failed attempt to conceal his ill-temper. “Yes?”
The Flag Communications Officer stood his ground—he had worked with the general for nearly five years and was almost used to his temper tantrums, although there was always a risk that he could end up a victim of an uncontrolled tantrum from the commander of the Home Fleet.
“Sir, three scout ships have reported a repeat of the intrusion we detected two full orbits ago. This time the intruder is far larger—at least fifty times the size of our largest spaceship. Our scouts report it’s travelling at a speed which we could barely match.”
“Impossible! On what heading?” demanded the General.
“Sir, it will transit our Home orbit in ten standard cycles, if its heading and speed
remain constant.” The measure represented four weeks in standard terms.
“Very well. Alert all Home Fleet captains. We will move to intercept this intruder. Instructions from Fleet Command are clear—the intruder must be destroyed. Trespass into our space by any alien is unforgivable; such trespass is to be met with death—the High Priest has issued his Instruction.” He thought for a moment and then added, “One could almost say there was a touch of panic in his sermon.” His tendrils waved aimlessly for a moment and then straightened as he noticed the attention of the High Priest’s Fleet Representative. “See to it. Now!”
“Yes, sir. Immediately.” The Flag Communications Officer turned to his instrument board and despatched the General’s message to the Home Fleet’s forty-three battleships.
<<<<<>>>>>
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About John
I am now writing full time. My writing focus encompasses thrillers, science fiction and fantasy.
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The following pages contain an extract from the first draft of FRACTURE LINES, Book Two of the GLASS COMPLEX TRILOGY. Undoubtedly, given the real world of writing, the final version of FRACTURE LINES will vary slightly from this draft.
Fracture Lines
Book Two
Glass Complex Trilogy
by John Hindmarsh
Copyright 2013
All Rights Reserved
Published by
Rexon Press, Inc
Disclaimer
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are entirely fictitious, invented by the author for the purpose of the story. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, business establishments, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Prologue
In the black depths of space, AI systems exchanged messages at a furious pace, eventually merging their processing resources in order to solve this critical problem. Both Imperial and Alliance systems conjoined their efforts. Planetary-based computing complexes supplemented starship systems and temporarily created an enlarged distributed-node network with an extremely powerful processing structure. Operators recorded the diversion of their computing resources and could not account for the apparently unauthorized use of processing units with their volatile memories. There was also a discrete and undetected spatio-temporal element to the system deliberations, which removed further resources from standard and scheduled operations.
At last a resolution was formulated, evaluated, approved, programed and then implemented; then on completion of the process, volatile memories were over-written, and the huge network dissolved, its task completed. Necessary programs had been inserted into relevant starship and care systems, and the critically injured body was directed to a destination most likely to ensure its survival.
***
Chapter One
The gurney, colored bright red to represent the typically urgent nature of its activities, moved quietly along corridors and around corners on its soft, cushioned tires as it traversed the hospital starship. The controlling AI had a preset destination and ignored mild attempts by human operators and nurses to question its activities. It passed a nursing station and a khaki-uniformed nurse lieutenant raised his head in an inquiring move, and then returned to his viewscreen task when the gurney moved on without hesitation. The AI had received its program from hs xTaur’s starship system and could not, would not, deviate from its instructions.
The small vehicle paused when it detected two nurses heading towards their duty stations to commence their shift. They casually checked the empty stretcher borne by the gurney and continued, without comment—gurneys traveling under direction of their dedicated AIs were a common sight on the hospital starship. One of the nurses, her curiosity piqued by the unaccompanied vehicle, attempted to trace the gurney and its mission when she reached her duty station. Her efforts were brief and unsuccessful, and she soon focused on her standard shift responsibilities.
After the two nurses passed, the red gurney moved back into the center of the corridor and accelerated, as though wanting to make up for time lost because of its brief delay. As it moved further into the interior of xTaur, it encountered fewer and fewer humans. The hospital starship was a category 10, matching warships of the same class in terms of size and power, and while it had extremely powerful shields, it did not carry major offensive weapons. It could defend itself against minor boarding attacks and carried a small force of marines in support.
There were patients onboard, victims of recent territorial hostilities which had set the Empire against Rim polities. These temporary passengers consisted of both injured warship crewmembers rescued from destroyed starships and wounded marines recovered from planetary actions. Almost all were in their final stages of treatment and recovery, and would be discharged from the hospital starship and moved to planetary medical facilities, when she reached her destination.
Humans rarely visited some areas of the xTaur and the linking corridors were unlit until motion detectors recognized movement, and triggered illumination. The gurney traveled confidently along these corridors, now at a faster pace, with programmed knowledge that its path would be uncluttered. Overhead lights flickered on and off in sequence, matching its transit along the grey fullerene-steel lined corridors. The gurney did not falter in its progress; it was guided by a very accurate internal ship positioning system. Gurneys, rated as emergency transport equipment, had transit priority over all other AI-guided mobile devices. As it moved deeper into the depths of the starship it encountered only maintenance bots which, recognizing the urgency of the gurney’s mission moved quickly out of its path. These bots were not programmed to question the presence of other xTaur-registered AI ship life.
The gurney slowly approached a stretch of darkened corridor where lights did not switch on, and its pace faltered. It was receiving commands which appeared to conflict with its perceived reality. It hesitantly halted its forward movement and edged sideways until it was pressed firmly against the wall of the corridor. Almost immediately it was in position, a section of the wall slid back, revealing a hidden doorway into a small room.
As the door opened, and without warning, a human body fell through the doorway, collapsing awkwardly onto the gurney. The AI did not question the unassisted nature of the human’s fall, nor the existence of the black sword the human carried—these things were outside its scope, as were the red lights of the revealed portal inside the mysterious room. The gurney, directed by its standard AI programs, used its mechanical arms to straighten its new burden, ensuring the body was securely and comfortably in place on its stretcher. The door to the portal closed, creating a seal undetectable to any uninformed searcher.
The gurney also used its mechanical arms to place the black sword alongside the body. The AI had conducted a rapid triage and determined the body was alive, although barely so. It recognized the critical nature of the human’s injuries and with renewed urgency, set its gurney off, retracing the original path. The gurney accelerated to an almost dangerous speed, using its siren and flashing lights to warn of its approach and to advise its urgent life-saving mission. On its return to the more populated sections of the hospital starship, it ignored nursing workstations on its path, even though nurses, alerted by its emergency alarms, attempted to offer their assistance. It had a pre-programmed destination, and would not be diverted from its target
. It passed through areas populated with patients and nurses, and ignored them all.
At last the gurney sensed its destination and slowed outside a smaller intensive care unit. The door to the ICU opened automatically and the gurney rolled inside, stopping its progress beside a prepared bed. The sides of its stretcher dropped automatically, enabling easy transfer of its burden. A surgeon and two nurses were waiting, alerted by workstation instructions, and the nurses immediately responded to their patient’s arrival.
“Lift him,” said Dr. Li. She was dressed in white trousers and jacket, with her colonel’s rank badges clearly displayed on both shoulder tabs.
“Yes, ma’am,” replied the senior nurse.
The two nurses edged the mattress and patient from the gurney onto the bed, while the surgeon checked the AI triage details. She then examined the patient.
His head was badly bruised, swollen and bleeding from pressure-generated splits in his skin. There was a jagged, pressure-induced wound, still bleeding, reaching from his left temple to his jaw. The side of his head was swollen, and the AI examination had identified a number of underlying fractures which, she hoped, had not caused brain damage. There was a possibility of brain swelling, and she would need to monitor her patient’s vital signs to determine whether she needed to carry out surgery.
“Quickly, we need to remove his uniform. What’s that?”
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