Star One: Dark Star

by Weil, Raymond L.

  “I promise you won’t regret it,” Teela said excitedly, her eyes glowing. “Now I just need to decide what to wear.” With that, the hologram blinked out, and Teela was gone.

  I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into now, Jennifer thought. With Teela, you could never tell.

  -

  A few hours later, Jennifer and Kathleen were sitting in Jensens with Teela looking around excitedly between them. Jennifer appraised Teela’s outfit critically, wondering if she had been talking to Kathleen. Teela was dressed in a short skirt with a tight fitting blouse that fit snuggly around her breasts, accenting every curve and making them stand out even more. Jennifer was glad that she had designed the program for a smaller sized bust and not anything larger. She sighed deeply, shaking her head, knowing that Teela’s clothes obviously were a result of Kathleen’s suggestions.

  Looking around the restaurant, she spotted Daryl Jensen making his way toward them with a happy smile on his face. This could be extremely entertaining, she thought, as Daryl reached their table. Yes, very entertaining indeed!

  “Good evening, ladies,” he said in his stylish French accent with a broad smile. “I would like to recommend our new chicken breast filet cooked with a special sauce that will make it truly a unforgettable dining experience.”

  Looking at each of the three, he paused when his eyes took in Teela. “And who do we have here?” he asked curiously. “I don’t believe we have met before.”

  Teela looked uncomfortably at Jennifer as if wanting her to answer.

  Jennifer just folded her arms across her chest and looked at Teela. This was Teela’s idea, and she would have to learn how to handle these situations.

  “Hello, Mr. Jensen,” replied Teela, trying to sound as cordial as possible. “Your restaurant here is beautiful! I’ve always wanted to experience its atmosphere and your legendary hospitality.”

  Jensen beamed at Teela. “I’m glad you like it so well, I only hope we live up to your expectations. What did you say your name is?”

  “I’m Teela,” she said a little uneasily, watching Jensen for a reaction.

  “Teela!” exclaimed Jensen, turning slightly pale and taking a step back. “It can’t be.” He looked closely at the lovely young woman and walked slowly over to stand beside her. Hesitantly, he put his hand out to touch her, jumping back slightly when his hand found no resistance, and passed easily through the young woman’s shoulder.

  “I promise to behave,” Teela said worriedly with a pleading look in her dark blue eyes. “I won’t cause any problems.”

  Jensen hesitated, looking slightly unhappy. “Very well,” he said forcing a smile. “I agreed to allow your holographic projectors to be installed, and you are with two trusted patrons, so we will see how it works this one time. But I’m warning you, young lady; you had better be on your best behavior.”

  “Oh, I will,” replied Teela with a serious look on her face.

  After Jensen left with Jennifer and Kathleen’s orders, the three sat talking about what was going on in the station and how their jobs were going. Jennifer was extremely impressed by Teela’s ability to make small talk and sound just like a normal young woman in her early twenties. Looking around the room, she noticed Todd Williams come in. Spotting them, he made a beeline for their table.

  “Good evening, ladies,” he said politely. “Mind if I join you?”

  “Not at all,” the three said in unison, then broke into laughter.

  Sitting down across from Teela, Todd eyed her critically before commenting. “You look gorgeous tonight, Teela. I’m glad you don’t dress like that when you are on duty!”

  Teela blushed slightly not sure how to respond. “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander Williams.”

  “Just call me Todd when I’m off duty,” he replied with a relaxing smile.

  Jennifer was surprised to see Teela blush. It was obvious that Teela had been tinkering with the holographic image program quite a bit. She would have to talk to her about that later to see just what she had done. The program was doing a number of things that Jennifer had not designed into it.

  The four talked easily for several minutes about Todd’s work on the Space Platform, only being interrupted long enough for Jensen to take Todd’s order and to check on Teela.

  Jennifer noticed bemusedly that Jensen was poking his head out of his kitchen on an almost regular basis to glance over in Teela’s direction. Jensen was obviously making sure that Teela behaved as she had promised.

  A few minutes later, he returned with a waiter and served them their meals. The two girls were having the chicken breasts, and Todd had ordered a large, medium rare steak with French fries.

  “Can’t cook these too much,” explained Todd, using his knife to cut off a tender piece. “My dad always said a good steak cooked medium rare was hard to beat, and he was definitely right about that.”

  Teela eyed the food in front of Jennifer for a moment before closing her eyes and accessing several programs she had designed for just this occasion. In a blink of an eye, a complete holographic setting duplicating the food that Jennifer and Kathleen had as well as the wine appeared magically on the table in front of her.

  “This should be interesting,” Todd said, slicing up his steak and taking a bite of the savory red meat. He had become used to Teela’s little tricks with the holographic projectors. He paused for a moment, watching her as he applied butter to the large bread roll on his plate.

  “I designed a program to allow me to fit in better at meals,” Teela said nervously, looking at the three. “It should even simulate the tastes and smells of the food and wine.” Taking her fork and knife, she cautiously cut off a piece of the chicken, as she had watched Jennifer do, and took a hesitant bite. “This is delicious,” she said wondrously. “No wonder people like to eat so often.”

  Her three companions laughed and dug into their food as well. The meal was quickly polished off, and Jennifer noticed as time went on that conversation between Teela and Todd was becoming much easier.

  When Jensen reappeared, he said nothing about the almost empty plate in front of Teela or the empty glass of wine. He only stared at the other three perplexed.

  “Don’t worry, Daryl,” said Kathleen, grinning at his obvious confusion. “It’s a hologram also.”

  “This meal was great!” said Teela, excitedly. “I used one of my programs to simulate the food you had prepared for Jennifer and Kathleen and it tasted fantastic. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

  Jensen looked at Teela with a smile finally breaking through. Perhaps this young woman wasn’t so terrible after all.

  Later, Kathleen and Jennifer left Jensens, leaving Todd and Teela still sitting at the table. They were engrossed in deep conversation about Todd’s experiences on the Space Platform and the early days of life on Star One. Jennifer had a feeling that Teela had made a new and very special friend. With an uneasy feeling, Jennifer wondered where this might lead. It was something she would have to watch closely. Teela had made so much progress; she didn’t want the AI to get hurt.

  Chapter Five

  Steve, Christy, Lieutenant Commander Williams, and Captain Gerald were in Steve’s office listening to the frantic message they had just received from President Kateland. Disaster had struck! It had been sudden and unexpected. The message had been sent on a fast military drone rocket, from a military base just outside of Washington D.C. It had taken less than eight hours for it to reach Star One. Steve had been surprised at the small rocket’s capability and even more surprised from where it had been launched. Rockets were never launched near heavily populated areas.

  It had been eight frantically short weeks since Captain Gerald and his marines had arrived on Star One. A lot had been accomplished in that time. His men had set up quarters in the Alpha Wheel and built three missile defense platforms. Two had been installed on Star One and another on the Space Platform. They had also set up ten railguns on Star One for added security.

  Du
ring all of this, Steve had questioned whether Star One actually needed such powerful defenses. It was almost as if the space station had become a military base. The marines could be seen in nearly all sections of the station, as well as over on the Space Platform as they carried out their work assignments. The marines had been extremely polite to all the civilians and, after a few days, most of the civilians had quit worrying about the sudden military presence. Now it looked as if they might indeed need those weapons to protect themselves after all.

  Teela, Lieutenant Commander Williams, and Christy had worked closely with Captain Gerald assigning work details for the marines. A number of Captain Gerald’s people had been assigned to work with Doctor Wruggi on constructing the deep sleep chambers. Doctor Wruggi had been pleased to get the extra help, and rapid progress was now being made. One of the storage areas had been completely converted and chambers installed. The first 220 sleepers were already resting in deep sleep with another 200 scheduled to join them shortly.

  Steve had hoped that things Earth side would continue to stay calm for at least a few more weeks. The shuttle supply flights were on schedule, and a lot of needed supplies and people had already made it up to Star One. Senator Farley had been quiet, and things seemed to have calmed down on the political front. There was still so much that needed to be done to get ready for the coming of the neutron star-black hole binary.

  There was still some unrest across the country as well as the rest of the world due to the threat of the neutron star. The media stations, as well as the Internet, were full of frightful predictions of what might happen to the Earth.

  Doomsday prophets were turning up on every street corner with their cries of Armageddon. Churches were booming with increased attendance and offerings. Riots had stopped due to the heavy presence of U.S. military troops in every community with more than 10,000 inhabitants. There was an uneasy peace in the American cities as people waited nervously for more news.

  The first hint Steve had that something was wrong was early that morning, when communications with Earth based stations in the United States started to fail. From orbiting satellites, it was obvious that widespread fighting had erupted in the United States and other countries. There were also massive riots breaking out in nearly every major American city. Margaret had tried repeatedly to reestablish contact with various communication centers, but to no avail. They retained communication with the three launch centers on encrypted radio bands, but very little else.

  From the cape launch center, Jane Kinsey had worriedly informed Steve that many of the communication lines into the cape were also down. From the scattered news reports she had managed to receive, she had pieced together the startling news that a military coup was ongoing in the United States. The military forces guarding the cape had not been attacked but had been placed on a higher level of alert as a precaution. She had some limited communication with President Kateland earlier, but that had ended and only silence was now coming out of Washington D. C.

  It was just a few minutes after talking to Jane that Teela had detected the military drone launch from outside Washington. Once the drone broke the outer atmosphere it began broadcasting a message that it contained important documents and a message from the president for Steve on Star One. They had tracked the drone, keeping two of the stations railguns targeted on it the entire time in case it was a trick of some kind. It had stopped twenty miles from Star one and the Space Platform. A Centaur had been sent to retrieve the message disk and other documents contained in the drone’s small cargo compartment. They were now viewing the message in Steve’s office. On the viewscreen, the president appeared.

  -

  “Senator Farley and a group of military personnel are trying to overthrow the government,” began President Kateland, looking haggard and stressed on the screen.

  Steve thought she looked as if it had been quite some time since she had managed a decent night’s sleep. There were dark spots under her eyes and lines on her face he hadn’t noticed before.

  “They have the support of a surprisingly large number of military units and have succeeded in seizing most of Washington and a number of other vital areas around the country. They enjoy widespread support of the general population. In addition, similar coups have also been launched simultaneously in several of the countries allied with us. From the latest reports Canada, Britain, and several other governments have already fallen. I believe this was a coordinated attack set up by Senator Farley and those he represents.”

  Steve could see the shock on the faces of the other three as they listened and watched the video message. Even though Teela had warned of the possibility of something like this happening, Steve had not wanted to believe that it could occur in the United States. The ramifications of what was happening could be disastrous.

  “There is widespread fighting in many countries and across the U.S.,” President Kateland continued in a subdued voice. “Many of our communications are being jammed, and we are having a hard time getting messages out. That’s why I sent you this drone. There are documents and orders in it authorizing you to take certain actions. General Karver believes we can continue to hold the cape and our military launch facilities for the time being with our loyal units, but he can’t give me any idea of how long. I have ordered another carrier battle group to the coast just off the cape. We may need their firepower. We are trying to consolidate our positions and hold as much of the country as possible, but General Karver is not sure if we can maintain control. If Senator Farley manages to gain control of the country, you can expect immediate attempts to take control of Star One or to destroy it!”

  The president paused, evidently listening to someone else in the room with her. “We have just received word from General Karver. He’s out in the field with his troops, and it’s much worse than we had feared. Military units that we were counting on to help control some sections of the country and possibly retake Washington have gone over to Senator Farley’s insurgents.”

  Steve glanced at Captain Gerald, who was shaking his head in disbelief. It was hard for the captain to imagine military units turning against the president.

  “General Karver reports that all he can hope for now is to mount a successful defense of our launch facilities. General Karver is trying to strengthen the protective zones around the three launch facilities with all the loyal troops he can muster. Fortunately, the troops at the facilities were handpicked and have remained loyal. All three facilities are still under our control. I’m trying to get word to Jane Kinsey to launch every shuttle they have loaded or that can be loaded as quickly as possible. We will be going to around the clock launches. We are also shipping up additional military hardware for Captain Gerald from our military launch facilities. Tim McPhryson is at the cape, and I’ve ordered General Karver to proceed there and take command. We are evacuating all of our key people at Houston to the cape.”

  The screen seemed to shake, and the lights in the room President Kateland was sitting in dimmed. “We are under attack here now, and I don’t believe we can hold out much longer. We were not expecting the senator and his group to try something like this.” the president paused, letting her tired eyes rest for a second. “I have no intention of surrendering to Senator Farley. We are going to try to escape from Washington shortly if we have enough loyal troops left to break through the insurgent lines. Good luck, Commander Larson. I know deep in my heart that you will succeed in saving that part of humanity I’ve entrusted to you.” The screen went dark, and the room was silent.

  -

  “Oh my God!” cried Christy, looking panic-stricken at Steve. “If she won’t surrender, what will happen to her? What if she can’t get out of Washington?”

  “Especially with Senator Farley, who has always hated her in charge,” Todd muttered angrily. “You know he will do everything in his power to capture her.”

  Steve looked at the dark screen for several seconds before replying. “I think the president knows she can’t escape. I could
almost hear the despair in her voice. She has made sure that General Karver and Tim McPhryson are safe at the cape. We don’t know about the vice president.”

  Pausing, he looked around at the small group. “Captain Gerald, have your troops go to red alert for a possible attack from Earth,” ordered Steve firmly, seeing the trapped president in his mind. She wanted Star One to survive, and it was up to Steve and his people to make sure it happened.

  “Do you think the threat is that real?” Christy asked, not wanting to believe that anyone would dare attack the station. They were so far from Earth that an attack seemed impractical.

  “There is a chance Senator Farley and his group could gain control of a missile launch facility,” answered Steve, worriedly. “From what President Kateland said, too many military units have gone over to his side. There could be an attack launched against us at any time if they have the missile arming codes. What do you think, Captain?” Steve looked over at Captain Gerald, wanting his opinion.

  “It depends which facilities they take,” replied the captain, thinking about the capabilities of the different missile launch sites. “If it’s one of the command facilities and the generals in charge go over to his side, they may acquire the launch codes very quickly. Fortunately, very few missiles have the necessary range to reach us. The missiles will have to be modified first. I don’t believe we are in any immediate danger, but that could change in a few weeks.”

  “Very well, Captain,” replied Steve relieved to hear that. “However, if any missile or space vehicle is launched from anywhere other than one of the protected launch facilities, it is to be shot down,” Steve said coldly. He would not risk the station.

  “Yes, Sir,” Captain Gerald replied evenly. “We will activate our missile defense platforms immediately, as well as the railguns. We should be able to shoot down anything they send toward us.”