Initiation Series: Series One Compilation (Terran Chronicles)

by James Jackson

Patrick glances up at the voice and grins cheekily, “We’re on it...” He stops midsentence, his grin fades into uneasiness as he notices a shuttle landing. Its gravity drive causing what looks like a heat shimmer beneath it.

  A gout of oil suddenly shoots upward, soaking both men completely. As the oil blasts upward, Patrick’s fingers begin to slip. A solid clunk runs through the pipe just as his hands lose their grip. The spurting oil instantly reduces to a mere dribble.

  The man at Patrick’s feet shouts out excitedly, “Got it!”

  The rig’s foreman calls down from the catwalk once again, “Patrick, I think they’re here for you,” he motions a thumb at the shuttle.

  Patrick removes his gloves and helmet, then shakes his head, slopping thick oil onto the deck, “Well, I’m gonna take a shower first.”

  Fifteen minutes later, a clean Patrick enters the rig’s main stateroom. His fresh shirt and pants are testimony to the effectiveness of his efforts. A few of the other workers are in the room, including his foreman.

  Patrick runs his gaze over everyone, he stops at John and stares at him with a hard expression, “What do you want?”

  John smiles, and holds out his hand. Patrick sighs, then shakes the offered hand. He adds with bitterness, “The bastards sold me out.”

  John nods, “We were all sold out. But do I have a surprise for you.”

  Patrick replies with disgust, “I am not helping them again.” He mutters a few obscenities that impress some of the other riggers.

  George steps into the room, “You won’t be working for them. You will be working with us.”

  Patrick glances warily from John to George, being forced to give up his bodysuit cold turkey was an experience he will never forget. He rubs his chin thoughtfully as he asks, “Who is us?”

  George walks toward Patrick, a smile lights up on his face when he can see that Patrick is breaking, “We, as in Cindy, John, Joe, and almost the whole crowd.” George can see that Patrick does not quite get what he means, so he adds, “The Terran is ours, by order of Regent Voknor.”

  Patrick’s jaw drops in shock, “The ship is yours?”

  George slaps Patrick on the back, “No, it’s ours! You coming?”

  “When?” Patrick replies, momentarily stunned.

  “Now!” George smiles as he adds news that only he and Patrick could fully be thankful for, “Your suit is on the Terran, and is being charged as we speak.”

  Patrick is dumfounded, “The suit will be mine again?”

  George grins, “Till the day you die, my friend.”

  The rig’s foreman glances warily around, this was not what he had expected to happen, “Hey, you leave now, and you breach your contract, Mister.”

  Patrick stares back at his boss, grins, then says, “Send me the bill!”

  We’re Back

  George smiles widely at the assembled group, his friends. He mentally checks everyone off as his eyes wander around the bridge, Cindy, John, Joe, Peter, Emma, Radclyf, Hayato, and Patrick. Lisa and Johnny are sitting quietly in chairs on the opposite side of the bridge. I would much rather Cindy run this, he thinks.

  George takes a deep breath, then begins. “Okay folks, here it is in a nut shell. Regent Voknor has said this is our ship, and that we should use it for humanity’s peaceful expansion.” He pauses, thinking, well that’s my interpretation anyway. His voice carries a more serious overtone as he continues on, “But the coalition is almost ready to launch their own vessel. Add the unknown element of the rogue Chinese ship, captained by a ‘Commander Jie’, and we find ourselves facing a number of problems.”

  George runs his gaze over everyone, and is pleased to see that he has their undivided attention. He continues boldly, “We have to escort the colony ship, Liberty, to New Earth, where Emma should be in control of establishing the settlement.”

  George lifts a hand before anyone, especially Emma, can respond, “I also think we should consider having General Walker as the military liaison on New Earth.”

  The room remains dead quiet, except for the almost imperceptible whir of the life support systems.

  Finally, Cindy responds, “Why Walker?” she asks curiously, her eyes narrowing.

  George nods, acknowledging her question, “Well for starters, he has a kind heart, and secondly, he is an American.”

  George grins broadly, but he can see that the statement has gone over everyone’s heads. With a fading smile, he adds, “How can the American President deny our request that General Walker be in charge of the colony’s defenses?” He raises his eyebrows in feigned innocence, “There is the matter of the Chinese ship that’s out there, somewhere.”

  Cindy replies, “You don’t think that ship is going anywhere near New Earth, do you?”

  George says with conviction, “Not for one second.” He points at the stars sparkling on the screen before them, and adds, “Why would they go where we can find them when they have so many other choices?”

  Emma speaks up, “Hey, can’t we just search for that ship of his?”

  Joe shakes his head, “It would be easier to find one particular grain of sand on a beach.”

  Emma frowns in annoyance at his analogy, “Why do you say that? I know space is vast!” She adds, slightly miffed at Joe’s tone.

  Joe shifts in his chair, thinking, oops, did not mean to offend her. He answers warmly, “Because a beach has a defined area, with a finite amount of sand, while space...” his voice trails off as he gazes at the screen. With concern building in his voice, he adds, “Well, we don’t even know its limits, and that rogue ship could be anywhere.”

  George glances at Cindy with pleading eyes, now that he has said his piece, he really hopes she takes charge of the group.

  Cindy catches George’s expression, and offers him a slight nod. Stepping forward, she says firmly. “Okay folks, let’s tackle these issues one at a time!” She motions to Emma and asks pointedly, “Are you willing to oversee the establishment of the colony?”

  Emma is caught totally off guard by the bluntness of the question, and gulps as she feels a slight rush of adrenaline. I could be responsible for Earth’s first colony amongst the stars. She blinks as the enormity of the task begins to sink in, “I am...” she hesitates, then glances at Peter, who nods and offers a rarely seen smile in return. Emma turns back to Cindy and meets her gaze with resolve, “I’m willing.”

  Cindy recalls the time Emma arrived on the bridge, mentally unhinged, carrying a small bucket of strawberries. She continues to stare at Emma, evaluating her, then adds, “I will still be in charge of the overall operation, but you will have direct control over the settlement’s planning and subsequent construction.”

  Emma nods, clearly happy with her level of responsibility.

  Cindy turns to Radclyf and Hayato, “And what do you two think of General Walker being in charge of the colony’s military presence?”

  The two combat veterans have quietly been discussing this very point since George raised the suggestion. Hayato motions for Radclyf to reply on their behalf. Radclyf also glances at Peter before offering his thoughts, “Walker uses his head more than most military leaders. So, unless Peter knows something we don’t, Hayato and I agree with George.”

  Peter stands, tucks his hands into his jacket, and then adds his thoughts. “It is a shame that we’re even considering a military option for the colony, but with threats everywhere, and I don’t just mean Commander Jie, it is a prudent gesture.”

  Without even pausing, Cindy points at Patrick, “Are you ready to be the colony’s foreman?”

  Patrick stares back at her blankly. He did not expect to be involved in the discussion at all, much less singled out. He stammers, “If you think I am the one, then okay, but aren’t there better qualified people for the job?”

  Cindy scoffs, “Who on Earth, literally, would work with Emma to set up the colony’s infrastructure, so as to cause minimal impact on the environment, while providing maximum return for us?”

 
; Joe quietly chuckles to himself at Cindy’s play on words.

  Without a moment’s delay, Cindy turns her attentions to John and Joe, “Get this ship out of the space dock. We will inform Earth of our decisions,” she hesitates for a second, puts a hand to her chin as a thought comes to mind, then grins cheekily, “No... Inform Earth of George’s demands.”

  George feels a flush of embarrassment at her statement, “Is that really necessary?”

  Cindy turns to George and says with resolve, “If we want this done the right way, then we will have to use every tool at our disposal, and if that means using your name, then so be it.”

  George sighs, “Okay,” he says in resignation, “it just makes me feel like I’m some sort of dictator, that’s all.”

  Cindy walks to George and puts a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, “Well, no pressure, but you do have the fate of humanity in your hands.” She walks back to her command chair, sits down, and says to the group, “We have a lot to do people, let’s make it happen.”

  George mulls over her words, and those of Sharz, why me? All I wanted to do in the beginning was find out if the Gamin destroyed Manhattan on purpose. He casts his gaze around the bridge, momentarily awed by the path his life is taking, and look where I am now.

  Joe activates his console, then grins as the Terran’s systems override the space docks.

  John does not even wait for the dock’s restraining arms to be fully withdrawn before he activates a series of thrusters, then maneuvers the Terran out and into free space.

  Joe is pleased to see that though the symbols are Gamin, the data they display is translated into English once again.

  Location:

  White House

  Washington DC

  Robert McKnight has been very busy working on his latest press release, I am sick of these lies and fabrications, he thinks. He stops, then stares at his desk, I am not a reporter anymore. All my work is censored. I am a puppet.

  While he still dwells in self-pity, a Presidential aide enters the room, points to Robert, then says plainly, “Come with me.”

  Robert sighs heavily, then follows the aide, he is rather tired of the games. He has little choice but to comply, he is the Presidential reporter, after all. Besides if I reported the truth, I would be spending the rest of my life in Leavenworth.

  The President of the United States sits behind his desk smiling. Robert is instantly unnerved by the sight. With all that has happened, the last thing he expects to see, is the President, happy.

  The President continues to smile as he greets Robert, “Ah, so good of you to see me. I have a new assignment for you, one better suited to your prying nature.”

  Robert listens, and as he does so, he feels a sense of dread building up. This is worse that Leavenworth, much worse, he thinks. He can hear his own voice answer as though he were experiencing an out of body experience, “Yes Sir.”

  Location:

  Outback

  Western Australia

  General Walker looks up from his desk and is most perplexed to see his Australian counterpart, General Hayes, standing there. Walker blinks in surprise then says, “What in tarnation are you doing here?”

  Hayes shakes his head and grins, “Who knows what’s going on these days, mate? I do know that these are your orders.” He hands Walker a sealed envelope, then adds with a mixture of sympathy and excitement, “And that I am taking this facility back over.”

  Walker rips open the envelope, muttering as he does so, “They’re probably sending me to Alaska.” He reads his orders, then reads them again. He looks up Hayes in disbelief, “I am to depart immediately?”

  Hayes shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know what your orders are, mate.”

  Walker frowns, “This must be some kind of joke,” he says, not quite believing the words before him. He leans back in his chair for a few seconds while he digests the news. Standing up, he offers Hayes a salute, then adds, “Well, that’s that then, I am relieved.” He glances around the office one last time, then strides to his room to pack. Well that Senator did tell me to expect new orders. Not sure if this is what he had in mind though. Walker shakes his head in confusion, then glances upward at some subconscious thought.

  Location:

  Starship Terran

  Planetary Orbit

  Earth

  Cindy had been challenged on every point, but eventually, the various political leaders ceded to her wishes. These last few days have been draining, to say the least. She rests back in her command chair, completely exhausted. She rubs her forehead, where a headache is developing. “Okay Joe, run that by me again,” she completely missed what he was saying.

  Joe takes a deep breath, then summarizes his last statement, “We can’t reproduce the Gamin computer systems, these consoles,” he waves a hand over the four in front of Cindy, then continues, “the Gamin bodysuit, or their satellites. What we can do is replicate just about everything else. This means that the colony will only be able to communicate with Earth while we’re in its orbit.”

  Cindy scowls in annoyance, “What about setting up our own satellites using their transmission technology?”

  Joe shakes his head, “Nope, that technology is heavily integrated with their computer systems.”

  Cindy frowns in confusion, “But don’t we have full schematics of the Gamin computer systems?”

  “Yes, we do, but we don’t even know how to manufacture the technology required to make the core components.” Joe replies with a sigh.

  Her jaw drops, “Of course!” Suddenly an alarming tangent comes to mind, “What about the Liberty’s main drive and its interface with the ship’s internal gravity?”

  Joe nods, “Well it depends on how they’ve set it up. Our computer systems are so far behind the Gamin’s, and thus, have much slower response times.” The color drains from his face, “Even a millisecond’s delay between the onboard systems would be fatal to the crew.” He begins to pace, that’s why there seems to be two systems at work on the Terran, one is reactionary, while the other seems to anticipate. He looks squarely at Cindy, “I need to check out that ship down there.”

  Cindy asks apprehensively, “Do you want to be on the Liberty when they test the main drive?”

  He stares back, horrified, “Not a chance! But I should definitely talk with their engineers.”

  Cindy nods, then returns to the original topic, “So, even setting up radio telescopes would be useless?”

  Joe shakes his head, thinking, she is bouncing all over the place, “Yes they would be...” he stops midsentence, frowns, then begins pacing while muttering quietly to himself. The Gamin destroyed all of our radio telescopes, why? Finally, he stops pacing, looks at Cindy then points to her, “That may just be the ticket.”

  It is Cindy’s turn to frown as she says. “But New Earth is over fifteen hundred light years from here, my idea was ridiculous.”

  Joe grins like a little boy who has just raided a cookie jar, “The lunar base has a complete communications network, and I bet there is more than one console.”

  Cindy nods her head in excitement, “So we set up a standard satellite grid, some ground based radio telescopes, take a Gamin transmitter from the Lunar base, and we’re in business.”

  Joe replies excitedly, “We just have to hope that I am right about the backup transmitters.”

  John steps on the bridge and immediately notices how energized Cindy and Joe are. Before he can even introduce the man that follows him, Joe says excitedly “Great stuff, can you take me to the Gamin’s Lunar base?”

  John is a little taken aback, “Ah, ok, but first, I have a Robert McKnight with me.”

  Robert steps onto the bridge, whistles, then says with awe, “Amazing! The few images I have seen don’t do justice to this room.” He eyes meander over the raised command chair, the four alien consoles before it, and the massive view screen that looks like a window into space. He turns left then right, each side has a couple of chairs near consoles th
at are built into the walls. Finally, he glances back to see where George would stand, and finds, yet another bank of consoles built into the wall.

  Cindy feels a welling of pride at Robert’s reaction, “Impressive, isn’t it?” She asks.

  Robert replies with admiration, “It is!” He quickly realizes he has been gawking, offers a sheepish grin, and continues. “Cindy, I mean Admiral, the White House has sent me as the Presidential reporter.”

  Cindy grins back, “Oh I know you’re only here for political reasons, so let me make this abundantly clear.” Her voice gains a level of forcefulness that surprises Robert. “You can go anywhere, talk to anyone, and report on anything.” She pauses then stares at him with steely eyes, “But, if you interfere with any of this ship’s functions, or harass any crew member that does not wish to talk with you, I will leave you in a shuttle in open space.”

  Robert gulps, heck, she would make an amazing President. So determined, forceful, he responds courteously, “We both know I am supposed to be the President’s little informer.” His face softens as he chuckles, then he adds with genuine sincerity, “But, what he doesn’t know is that I have no love for the man. He put a gag order on my report into the California incident, and again, when I reported the loss of the team that was transporting one of your infected crew members.”

  Cindy’s lips purse together and her eyes narrow, “Yes, I too, have heard nothing about that group’s disappearance. Luckily, the spores were completely eradicated from the victim’s system. Unfortunately, he was left severely brain damaged in the process.”

  Robert gazes around again, “So you’re okay with my being here?”

  Cindy studies the man for a moment, athletic, tall, intelligent, amazing blue eyes, and wavy brown hair, “Hmm, oh I am fine with you being here.” Let’s see if his character is as good as his looks. She adds, almost as an afterthought. “Go and find Peter, he will see to your room assignment.”