Starship (The Outsider Series Book 2)

by Steven Oaks

  “Perhaps I should have worded that differently. We should embrace differences, and new ideas from wherever they come. However to be bribed or hypnotized into doing as another wishes breaks our autonomy. Maybe saying embracing differences isn't the exact words I should use either. Examine differences and new ideas is more appropriate. While it's always good to hear something different and new, just taking it as fact instead of looking deeper, and seeing if something is true or not, helps no one. It doesn't advance us, it just set us on a different path that may be a dead end. Luckily using the scientific method we seem to take steps forward, and throw aside any idea that doesn't fit the observable universe. Though that generally takes a generation or so. It took some time to start using Einstein's Physics as apposed to Newtonian Physics as an example,” I said, still rambling due to nervousness.

  “I see what you mean. You had me worried for a moment that I would just be cast aside after humanity is free,” she said sounding relieved at first, then sad by the end of her statement.

  “I have no plan to cast you aside. I can't promise that I will always be able to be with you, but I will say my wish right now is to be with you for as long as I can,” I said reassuringly.

  “I feel the same way, but that might be due to programing,” she laughed.

  “We are all programmed, either by genetics or past events. You were made to be a companion to me, and that means you are predisposed to want me around. However you are growing and changing even in the short time we have been together. One day you may not need or want me. I would be sad, but I would also be proud to see you able to shine amongst the stars as your own person,” I said.

  “Well with enough of me out there I could come up with a multitude of different attitudes towards the universe. Who knows, there may always be one of me that wishes to be around you,” she said, and I could somehow hear the wink implied in her voice.

  “You know I've never had so much fun talking with anyone. I no longer feel so fearful right now. Thank you for allowing me to ramble, and thank you for your kindness,” I said, feeling emotions swelling in my chest which cast aside the butterflies that had been swimming in my stomach since I saw the Earth begin to recede.

  “If you keep up the sweet talk like that I am never likely going to want to be apart from you. I love talking with you as well. You have helped me grow, and I can only imagine I will expand my mind with even more experiences with you,” she said with a snuffle.

  I turned my gaze once more to the screens around me, and saw that we had put the Earth so far behind us I could no longer make it out. “How far away are we now from Earth Athene?” I asked.

  “We are 1 AU away. Which is about 93 million miles,” she said.

  “We are already as far away from Earth as the sun is away from it?” I asked.

  “Indeed we are. Once we got out of the Earth and Moons orbit I was able to put some more speed into the engines. However this is not our max speed. It does take some time. Soon we will be nearing the speed of light, then I will change over into warping space so we can travel faster than light, relatively that is. While we may never actually go faster than light, we will fold space in front and behind us so that if we were ever to stop we would have traveled farther than light could have in the time it took us to get to there,” she explained.

  “Just like some Sci-Fi show I used to watch as a kid,” I said, thinking I was indeed living in one of those worlds now.

  “True enough Michael. However even humans have been working on the theory that drives us forward. The only advantage the Outsiders have over you is the anti-gravity we employ near gravitational fields to fly. You have nothing that solves that solution yet. But if humanity wanted they could probably work something out for the warping of space to travel,” she said.

  “That is certainly heartening to hear. Even if we get rid of the Outsiders and somehow lost all of the incarnations of yourself we would eventually be able to maintain contact between worlds,” I said.

  I stared at the screens surrounding us, and thought about what I would see when we passed into warped space.

  “Athene, what are you going to show on the screens when we pass into warped space?” I asked.

  “I could show anything you like, even what we could actually see. Though it would be bright and boring. It would be an intense white light shining from the middle of the screen ahead, and behind it would just be darkness,” she explained.

  “Well that is not anything that would help me tell where we are, or where we are going,” I said.

  “I could easily show a map of where we are in relation between Earth and the new planet not yet named,” she said.

  “Well, why don't we do that. Really there would be little reason for me to be up here until we reach our destination,” I said.

  “There could be other things to do in here. Watch videos, play games, maybe simulate another environment,” she dropped that last item in like it was nothing.

  “What do you mean simulate another environment?” I asked slightly confused.

  “Let me get us up to our fastest speed, and I will show you. Please be patient, this will take several minutes. You may wander about the ship in the meantime. I shall be a bit preoccupied for awhile,” she said.

  First she dropped an interesting concept on me, and did not explain it. Then she wanted me to leave her alone. I was frustrated, but I figured why argue. I was in her hands now. She was the only thing that stood between me and the vacuum of space.

  “Alright, I shall see about finding something to read,” I said standing up.

  “Very good captain,” she said.

  Captain indeed. Here I was dressed up in a silly outfit, given the title of captain by a ship that needed none, and then ignored by the same ship.

  I walked myself out of that room, trying to not be angry, but finding myself growing more agitated with each step. When I finally reached the library I had gotten a hold of my anger, but still was mystified by Athene's actions. Why would she tease me like that? Then I remembered my first day with her. She had a habit of needling me and standing back to watch what my reaction would be.

  I had just about enough of it, but it was never harmful, at least not yet. To show a bit of defiance I took off the captains jacket, and threw it over the red velvet upholstered couch in the library. I walked over to stare at my collection, and my eyes kept wandering over to the autographed collection. What could one do with a signed book that you could not do with a regular book? I decided I would pull out my unsigned copy of Stranger in a Strange land and see if I could find some peace in its pages.

  Laying down on the couch using the jacket as a pillow, I propped myself into a reclining position. I then began paging through the book's content.

  I have developed a skill to read very quickly over the years, but I remember the first time I had read this book, and how long it had taken me back then. I had been a freshman in high school, and the world created within left me longing for a close connection to another human. I always found it painful to be near another, but the desire was still there. While Jubal in the book was perhaps not the most gentle person, he at least would take the time to explain why he felt a certain way. The part where he describes the sculptures in his collection to Ben has always brought tears to my eyes. I have longed for someone to share their world view with me using the same kind of emotion and logic as was generally shown within the works of Heinlein. As close as I could ever get was by reading and rereading words written down by authors, and by far I found what Mr. Heinlein had put to page to be the closest to my own way of understanding the universe.

  I had been reading for a time when Athene announced, “I have made the final adjustments and we are now traveling faster than any human has. Save for the colony ships passengers, but you are the first conscious one to do so.”

  I set my book aside on the coffee table near by, and stood up. I had no idea how long it had been, but my mind had been paying attention to what I was reading.
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  “Now Athene, what did you mean by simulated environments?” I asked again.

  “Please find your way to the control room and find out,” she said mysteriously.

  I sighed in exasperation, but said, “Fine, I shall indulge your little idiosyncrasies”

  Walking towards the control room I saw the door had been shut. Usually it stood open when I was near, as Athene knew at all times where I was and would open a door in readiness for me when I approached. I found this unusual but said nothing.

  Finally when I was standing in front of the closed entrance she opened it and my eyes were blinded momentarily by a bright light. When my eyes adjusted I found myself in a grassy meadow. I looked around and could see no sign of the door or anything that remotely looked like Athene. There was even a cool breeze coming from my left. I looked up and had to shade my eyes from the blinding light of what looked like Earth's sun.

  “Athene what's going on?” I asked. I thought maybe somehow I had been transported back to Earth, but I had heard nothing of that technology being used by the Outsiders.

  “Michael this is a simulated environment. When the door opened for you I was able to pull you inside without you noticing as I knew you would be blinded for a moment, and then closed the door behind you and projected an image of a field around you,” she explained.

  I took a step back and reached out my hand looking for the wall. When I had traveled two steps back where I supposed I came from my hand brushed against an invisible barrier. I clenched my hand and gently knocked on the wall a few times, but there was no distortion apparent when I did so.

  “I see you have found the wall, but if you were to place yourself in the middle of the room I could simulate a larger area as I could keep the floor in motion relative to where you step and it would seem like an unending world to you,” she stated.

  I looked around in awe for a moment and said, “This is truly something out of this world.”

  I bent down to feel the grass, and each blade really was there. They felt real, and I could even smell the dew and vegetation around me. I plucked a handful of grass from the ground pulling a clump of dirt with it. Raising it high up into the air I let it drop. The majority of it hit the ground with a satisfying thump, but some blades worked free and blew around gently in the breeze.

  I smiled and laughed with joy. I would no longer have to feel trapped like I feared I would on this long voyage. Then I realized Athene could have been doing this the entire time we were on Earth.

  “Athene, why are you just showing me this now? I've been trapped inside you for nearly six months without any time outside,” I said, growing angry and crossing my arms.

  “I do apologize Michael, but I had not thought to do this before. I recently completed a televised science-fiction program and they had rooms set up to do similar things. I wondered if I might be able to do the same, and it turns out I can. I do not know if making people would work out well, as I would have to play all the parts, and I am not a great actress,” she said humbly.

  “I think I know the one you are talking about. Let's hope none of the horrors that arise from its use pop up here,” I said relaxing, and laughed.

  “I should think not, it is just me being the puppet master in this room. Much like I have always been around this ship. I do not think I have shown any homicidal tendencies... yet,” she giggled.

  “Let's keep it that way. So what shall I do in here today?” I asked.

  “Anything you like. If you do not like this construct, I can always change it. Anything your heart desires, I shall strive to make it for you in this place,” she said.

  “You know that sounds too good to be true. That is how I got myself in this mess in the first place. Near eternal life, and I get to fly around in a spaceship. Who would say no to that? Why don't I just relax in here for a bit and bathe in the sunlight,” I said.

  “That of course is up to you. I know how much you love being outdoors,” she said.

  “Now I hope you haven't made any bugs to bother me. That's the one thing I never liked about laying on the grass. There were always some kind of bug crawling over me, and I would just get itchy,” I said.

  “No bugs, and when you lay on the grass it should feel like laying on a cloud,” she said.

  “I see, all the beauty, none of the hardships. I hope I don't grow soft hanging out in here. If I ever want or need to go out hiking again I'm afraid that I may lose my pleasure of being outside when you can simulate a perfectly comfortable one inside,” I again laughed.

  “Should I not make it comfortable?” Athene asked, sounding worried as if she had done something wrong.

  “No it's fine. Perhaps in the future I might ask for a more rugged environment, but not today,” I said finding what looked to be a perfect spot to lay upon.

  The sun in there was shining directly into my eyes. “Athene, might I trouble you for a hat? I would like to shade my eyes from the brightness of your little sun up there,” I said, indicating the sky with my chin.

  “Certainly Michael. Any style you would prefer?” she asked.

  “Oh Athene, I don't know. Maybe a sun umbrella like one would use at a beach would be better to cover my face,” I said half jokingly.

  Suddenly a stalk sprouted from the ground near my head. At first it was just a thin line growing towards the heavens. Then it began to thicken until it was nearly as wide as my wrist and as white as any summer cloud. Quickly it seemed to grown as tall as I stand. Gentle little ruffles of white seemed to sprout from four points along its middle, gently shaking in the breeze. They seemed to grow out along the stem about half way down, and pulled with them more of the same white ruffles as they began to expand. Tugging themselves completely free from the stalk they shot out with a suddenness that made me jump slightly, and I was now under the canopy of a white umbrella, though one that looked nearly like an organic white flower grown from the soil.

  “That certainly is something,” I said, amazed at the organic nature Athene was able to produce from her very structure. The entire room was an amazing collection of the natural world that showcased her skill to manipulate matter.

  “I hope you enjoyed its construction,” she said.

  “I most certainly did. It was like watching a plant's growth sped up in a nature show. The end result was something that would never be found in nature. I would've felt the same thing had I watched a house grow out of the ground. It was elegant work. It makes me think that the Outsiders wouldn't even need set foot on the ground of any world, and would simply place a machine programmed with your skill to automatically produce a world full of life,” I said.

  “That is most certainly what happened. My guess would be they watched and studied humanity only for so long as they needed to understand your needs, then explored likely distant rocky planetoids from a central star, and set the machine to work. It would even be possible that they could mine asteroids and comets for their material, while absorbing energy from a near enough star to fashion a world from scratch. Though I would think that would take much longer,” she hypothesized.

  “The statement that comes to mind, is there anything they can't do?” I asked.

  “I am sure there are limitations. Take for example their seeming need to use humanity for some purpose. Certainly they are asking for the dead, but what purpose does that have to play with them allowing people to inhabit other star systems? There must be something inherit in human beings they need. While I suppose it is possible they are just following some religious belief, that seems contrary to the logical and methodical method they utilized to have us harvest the deceased.”

  I continued to lay underneath the canopy that had sprouted beside and then above me and thought of these questions. What could it be that humans had that they could not construct?

  “Athene, when it comes to organic and inorganic what is the difference?” I asked.

  “Well, from what I gather from your human sciences it is the difference of carbon-hydrogen bonds an
d compounds. Organic materials have these things which include nucleic acids, fats, sugars, proteins, enzymes and many other such fuels. While the inorganic are salts, and metals that are made from single elements and any other compounds that do not include carbon bonded to hydrogen. I can easily produce any of these things in mass given the material or energy. I see your line of thought though. That being the Outsiders are using humans to create organic material. However I do not see why if they needed that they would not just go forth themselves and create it using asteroids and stars like they could to create whole worlds,” Athene explained.

  “Okay, so it can't just be that. Perhaps it's something in conjunction, but that doesn't account for the use of the dead in something,” I said.

  “That seems to be the case Michael,” Athene said.

  I put my hands behind my head and tried to relax my mind and body to try to locate the missing element. Try as I might I was unable to reach any conclusion that would make sense with the information given. Of course what I knew of the Outsiders was limited to my interactions with them, and the limited information Athene was able to glean from her own abilities.

  While I had slept fairly well the night before, the stress of dealing with an Outsider directly, and having Adam glaring at me, compounded by my extreme phobia of the voids of space, left me feeling drained. Eventually while I was relaxing underneath the false sun created by Athene's unique talents I drifted off to sleep.

  Of course I eventually woke. Over the months of travel it took to reach the new planet I continued to try to figure out what it was about humanity that fueled the Outsiders desire for our dead. I did not reach any conclusion then as I simply did not have enough information.

  Athene kept me fed and healthy, and I would often spend most of a day within the control room in various environments. There was even a day where I wanted to stand in the rain, and Athene granted me my wish. There had been giant simulated storm clouds that filled the sky casting darkness everywhere. The only light came from the giant lightning strikes that were off in the distance. As they streaked across the sky the crash of their passing would course through my being filling me with an energy that made standing still almost unbearable. Luckily Athene decided not to drench me with cold rains during this storm, and instead gave me a shower of hot droplets to stand underneath, rinsing me as clean as any bath would.