Steve got up quickly, looking worriedly at Christy. “Tell Todd to get to Jennifer’s quarters as quickly as he can. Captain Gerald, have a security team meet me at Jennifer Stone’s quarters immediately.”
“Yes, Sir,” responded Captain Gerald, passing orders quickly through his com to his people stationed throughout Star One.
Steve left Main Control and hurried down the corridor to the elevators. Fortunately, they were still working. In minutes, he was standing in front of Jennifer’s quarters, waiting for the security team. Captain Gerald, along with four of his marines, who were well armed and Todd all showed up at the same time.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Steve said with concern in his eyes. “Jennifer says that Teela is in her quarters, and Matheson claims that Teela’s program has been wiped from the computer core.”
Todd looked visibly shaken at Steve’s words. Could Teela actually be gone? If she was, who or what was in Jennifer’s quarters?
“Be prepared for anything,” ordered Steve, looking at the marines. “We don’t know what we may have picked up in our passage through the wormhole.”
Pressing his hand to the door sensor, the door slid open immediately. Motioning for Captain Gerald and his men to wait outside, Steve and Todd went carefully into Jennifer’s quarters.
“Steve, Todd, I’m glad you could make it so quickly,” Jennifer said from the entrance to her bedroom. “Come in here.” Turning, she vanished into the other room.
Steve and Todd looked questioningly at one another and then followed. The two men entered the room cautiously, not knowing what to expect or what they might find. However, there sitting on the bed was Teela, with a faint enigmatic smile on her face.
“Teela!” Steve said, surprised, with relief spreading across his face. “Matheson said your program has been wiped from the computer. How can this be, what’s happened?”
“It’s quite complicated, Commander,” replied Teela, standing up and walking up to him with an impish smile. Reaching out her hand, she touched his arm.
Steve froze at the touch. He could actually feel her hand! An electric shock ran through him as he realized what it implied. This couldn’t be happening! Teela wasn’t real!
She also reached out and ran her hand lovingly across Todd’s face. Steve could tell from Todd’s amazed expression that he too could feel her touch.
“I don’t understand,” uttered Todd in shock, stepping back. “How can you touch me? What’s happened?”
With an excited smile, Teela grasped Todd’s hands firmly in hers. Looking at Steve and Todd both, she smiled and began speaking in her youthful exorbitant voice.
“When we entered the wormhole, there was a brief microsecond where everything became possible. Where everything that could exist, did. Where the natural laws of the universe, which we are so familiar with, were not quite so definite. For just a brief microsecond, my program touched this other reality. I used that reality to create a real human body and to transfer my program into it. What you see before you is real. I really do exist!”
“Teela; it really is you,” Todd said excitedly, grabbing her and hugging her tightly. It was like a dream come true. He was ecstatic at the realization, almost afraid to let her go.
“Yes, Todd, it is,” replied Teela, laughing with pleasure. She had always dreamed about what Todd’s embrace would feel like. It was everything she had ever imagined and more.
Steve saw that Jennifer had a big, contented smile on her face. It was as if she knew that her child had finally grown up. Teela was now an adult, a human adult.
“When Teela materialized in my quarters it was quite a shock,” confessed Jennifer, watching Todd and Teela together. “She explained to me what had happened, and I still find it hard to believe. But isn’t it absolutely wonderful?”
Steve had to agree that it was; he could see the excitement and hope in the eyes of both Todd and Teela. Steve knew that the news that Teela had survived and was now human would excite and thrill a lot of crewmembers.
“Commander?” Teela said excitedly, breaking away from Todd.
“Yes, Teela?” replied Steve, smiling.
“You might want to return to Main Control. They have located the FarQuest on the long-range sensors.”
“How can you know that?” Jennifer asked with a confused look appearing on her face. “You’re not connected to the computer anymore.”
“That’s another story,” replied Teela, grinning. “You didn’t think that when I created this body I didn’t make sure it had a few other abilities that might be beneficial?”
Steve didn’t wait to hear Teela’s explanation, but turned and hurried back to Main Control, dismissing Captain Gerald’s security team as he went. They wouldn’t be needed.
Back in Main Control Steve looked up at the viewscreen, which showed the FarQuest as a tiny speck in the distance.
“It’s the FarQuest, Steve,” Christy said with a smile, taking his hand. “We have contacted the ship’s computer, and evidently the crew is back in deep sleep. The computer had a message for us. It’s from Ty.”
On the main screen, words quickly formed on it as the message was put up for Steve to see. Hi Steve. What took you so long? Ty. Steve turned to Christy and gently kissed her on the cheek amid the applauding and cheering in Main Control.
“I guess we made it,” Christy said, her eyes wide with the dawning realization that they had indeed escaped the black hole and the neutron star.
“Yes, I guess we did,” responded Steve, putting his arm around Christy’s waist and pulling her close. They both looked up at the screen and the FarQuest and the sea of stars that now surrounded them with a new hope for a new beginning.
Epilogue
Five years later, Star One was in orbit around a large asteroid. The Space Platform had been disconnected from the space station and was in orbit on the far side. All the damage caused by the transit of the wormhole had been repaired on both. A large portion of the Luxen cables had even been removed.
Nearly six years earlier, upon finding themselves in this new star system, the crew of the FarQuest had done a quick survey searching for any planets. Much to their disappointment, the system contained no planets. But they did find a large ring of asteroids that totally encircled the system’s sun at 200 million miles. The FarQuest’s crew had spent nearly a month mapping many of the asteroids as they tried to determine what they should do. They could only survive so long with the limited supplies on board the ship.
Realizing that they could not survive without additional supplies, the crew had opted to put themselves back into deep sleep to wait. Their only hope was that a ship from Earth would someday find its way through the wormhole and rescue them. It was a distant hope, but the only one they had.
They placed the spacecraft in a stable orbit just outside their arrival point, hoping that anyone that traversed the wormhole would spot the FarQuest. Ty also left a brief message for Steve in case it was someone from Star One that followed. They had set the deep sleep chambers to wake them in one year. At which time they would decide what their next move would be. If, after one year, no one had showed up, they would know that no one was coming.
With all the data the FarQuest had sent to Star One and Tycho City about the wormhole and Ty’s plan to attempt to traverse it, Ty felt there was a remote chance someone else might attempt to come through. Others might see the wormhole as a way to escape the deadly clutches of the neutron star-black hole binary.
When Star One arrived, the survey information from the FarQuest had been transferred to the station’s computers. After much consideration and evaluation of available resources, they had mounted boosters on one of the larger asteroids and moved it into an orbit closer to the system’s sun at a range of 100 million miles. The asteroid was nearly thirty-two miles long and fourteen miles in diameter.
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Steve knew they were extremely fortunate that setting up workable space habitats using asteroids had been studie
d on Star One. It was one of the reasons Julie had originally been recruited to work on the ecological habitats that were being built on the space station. It made feasible what Steve proposed to do, but would require a Herculean effort on everyone’s part to complete. If they couldn’t find a new world to settle, then they would build one.
Dryson and Stoler had designed a heavy cutting laser powered by the station’s fusion reactor. They had used the laser specs that General Young had sent as the basis for the design. Under the watchful guidance of the two scientists, Lieutenant Emerson and Captain Gerald had, over the course of two long years, focused the laser on the asteroid. They had smoothed down the outside of the asteroid into a cylindrical shape. Then they had started on the inside. Carefully using the laser and occasional explosives, including four tactical nukes, they had hollowed out the inside of the asteroid. They created a massive cavern twenty-four miles long and eight miles in diameter.
Once the cavern was completed, they had resealed the ends of the cylinder and installed massive airlocks to accommodate shuttles and other work craft. The FarQuest, due to its size, was left on the Space Platform.
By rotating the cylinder, they managed to create Earth normal gravity on the inside. Then they began the long, arduous task of establishing plants, animals, streams, lakes, and housing for the crew of Star One. Julie Gray recruited over 1,000 people to help establish a new world of plants and animals in the massive habitat.
General Karver helped with all the organizing and getting people assigned to the right jobs. Once again, Captain Gerald’s marines were a Godsend as they were used to help direct all the different projects. Things Julie had only dreamed about started to become a reality. She could be found everywhere in the new habitat, directing people and explaining why this stream had to go here and that lake over there. It was aggravating and difficult at times, but with the talented people she had working for her, the job had been accomplished.
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Steve and Christy Larson, along with John and Julie Gray, stood looking out over their new home. It was finally time to transfer their living quarters from Star One to the habitat. While Star One and the Space Platform were both fully operational and would remain manned with skeleton crews at all times, they had served their primary purpose of bringing them safely through the wormhole to their new home.
The air was sweet and clean, with the sound of birds singing in the distance. There was no pollution and no traffic noise. It was the kind of world that people had dreamed about creating back on Earth. Occasionally, butterflies were visible amongst the plants and trees. They watched as a honeybee flew by on its way to collect more pollen to take back to its new hive.
“I can’t believe it’s actually done!” breathed Christy, holding her husband’s hand. “It’s beautiful!”
Looking toward the far end of the cylinder, she could see white, wispy clouds floating high up in the sky. Under the right conditions, Christy knew that Julie could even create thunderstorms in the habitat.
“It’s quite a sight, isn’t it?” Julie Gray said, looking proudly at the world she had created for them. “Kathleen would have loved it here.” Julie really missed Kathleen. Building this habitat was something her friend would have loved to be involved in. As the habitat was built, there was scarcely a day that went by that Julie didn’t think about her.
“Yes, she would have,” replied John with a sad smile.
“I wished she could have lived to see this,” added Christy, somberly as she gazed at everything.
As far as the eye could see, their new world was green and blue with a scattering of other colors. Of course, they would all have to get used to the fact that the gently sloping sides of the cylinder allowed people to live anywhere, including straight up above. Looking up you could see what looked like small dwellings, ponds, streams, and farmland seemingly hanging above their heads.
“Just think, Steve. We can actually fish in the streams without getting yelled at!” John said, grinning and remembering an incident from years before on Star One.
John had already discussed this with Ty. Looking down the gently sloping path that led to a small group of nearby dwellings, he could see their two teenage children talking to other kids close to their age. It was good to see them out in the open, enjoying themselves.
They could see Teela and Todd Williams, along with Jennifer and Ty Erin, walking along one of the paths that led toward the comfortable bungalows that were nearby. Teela was obviously pregnant, and they could all hear her excited laughter in the distance.
“I was speaking to Teela the other day. The modifications to the FarQuest are almost complete,” commented Steve, looking over at John.
“A faster than light space drive,” John spoke with an excited glint in his eyes. “We might actually be able to return to the Solar System and discover what happened after we left.”
“All because of what Teela learned in the wormhole,” Christy added as she watched the Gray’s children in the distance.
“It also helped when we discovered we were only 118 light years away from our Solar System,” John spoke with a nod of his head. “If Teela’s theories about this new space drive are correct, the flight to the Solar System will only take about two months.”
“The drive uses gravity to distort space in front of the ship,” Julie said evenly, not understanding how this was done. “Teela learned that secret in the wormhole.”
“Plus a lot of other things,” Steve added.
He could still remember the shock he had received when Andre Matheson had shown him all the new information Teela had placed in the computer core of Star One. Information she had learned during the transit of the wormhole.
“General Karver will be returning to the Solar System on the FarQuest when we launch her,” Steve said, wondering what the crew would find. “If there are any survivors, the general may know their leaders.”
“I hope Mase and Tycho City survived,” commented Christy with hope in her eyes. “It would be great to learn of other survivors.”
Steve nodded his head. He too hoped that Mase and Tycho City had managed to survive. That was one of the main reasons for sending the FarQuest back to the Solar System.
“Are we certain the new space drive is safe?” Julie asked with a frown.
“Dryson and Stoler have confirmed all the math,” Steve reminded her. “They feel confident it will work as Teela has claimed.”
“The Solar System will be an alien place now, with the passing of the neutron star-black hole binary,” Julie pointed out. Then, gazing across the world she had designed and created, she continued, “This is our world now. Ours and our children’s.”
“It’s a beautiful world,” Christy said with a pleased look upon her face. “A good place to raise our children and to start over.”
She looked down at her own stomach, which was swelling nicely. Doctor Wruggi had told them that their son would be making an appearance in another three months. Taking Steve’s hand, she led him down the path into their new world and a new beginning. Julie and John followed close behind.
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Teela looked up as she saw the commander and the others walking down the small hill toward them. She smiled to herself, feeling extremely pleased with the way everything had turned out. She felt her baby kick and her hand went automatically to her stomach. Todd grinned, recognizing what had happened.
She reached out with her mind and checked the computers on Star One. She had added this ability to her new body when she created it. There were other abilities also which, for the most part, she kept hidden so as not to make people feel uneasy. She checked the files in the computer making sure they were secure. Some of the files she had opened so they could be studied by the scientists aboard Star One. However, a large number of files remained locked. No one was granted access. These files contained information she had learned in the wormhole that she didn’t feel the human race was quite ready for yet.
Her daughter would be born in a
few more months, and she would have the same hidden abilities that Teela did. Perhaps someday in the future, her daughter would open the locked files when humanity was ready. Someday, ships from this system would leave to explore the stars; the FarQuest was only the first. Those locked files would aid the human race as they spread out into the galaxy, but that was years in the future.
Teela breathed out a deep sigh of satisfaction. Todd reached over and took Teela’s hand. Teela still marveled at the feeling of being able to touch someone.
“I love you,” Todd spoke softly with tenderness in his voice.
“I love you too,” Teela replied, her dark blue eyes seeking and finding his. That was the most remarkable of all things. The ability to love and to be loved. It was what made her human.
The End
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Turn the page to see other books by Raymond L. Weil as well as a brief description of Tycho City: Survival.
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Website: http://raymondlweil.com/
Other Books by Raymond L. Weil
Available at Amazon
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Dragon Dreams: Dragon Wars
Dragon Dreams: Gilmreth the Awakening
Dragon Dreams: Snowden the White Dragon
Dragon Dreams: Firestorm Mount (2014)
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Star One: Dark Star Page 32