by Ted Iverson
Ty stood and stretched across the desk to shake Alec’s hand then sat down again and leaned back in his chair. “Just trying to get organized, catching up on paperwork. There’s an incredible amount of work. I don’t know how Dad ever did all this. I’m sure, once I get into the routine, things will go more smoothly, but trying to make sense of some of this...”
He picked up some papers in one hand, holofilm containers in the other, and waved them around, then tossed them back onto the desktop. “I don’t know. I see why he had the little studio apartment attached to this office. It’s great to pass out for two hours and then get right back at it.”
“That explains why I haven’t seen you around. I just thought you were sleeping on the couch over there.” He pointed to the small couch in the office. “Have you eaten anything?”
“Yes, I’m getting some rest too. I don’t feel that bad. Thanks for your concern.” Ty leaned forward and with a more serious look went on: “I’ve been keeping myself busy with the day-to-day things around here, and I’ve made a conscious effort not to think about Orion. My heart tells me that he’s okay, that he’s just not been able to communicate with us. But my mind tells me that we haven’t heard anything because something terrible happened to him. Zach hasn’t contacted me yet and, I’m guessing, you either. I just wish I knew what was going on.”
“Ditto, little brother, ditto. I have my own theory.”
“Let’s have it.”
“If the ship ‘took over,’ as Chris suggests, then Orion is definitely okay. We just have to wait until he contacts us from wherever he ends up. I truly believe that we’ll not only hear from him, but we will find him safe and sound.”
“Gut feeling?”
“No, faith.”
“Alright then, patience it is.” Ty didn’t feel as if his smile would convince Alec. “Back to business. How about your conversation with Commander Pargon? Do you have the security problem solved?”
“It’s really too early to tell, but we have implemented a few things that should take care of the immediate threat. We’re still working on the long term. We’ll get there.”
“Great to hear. Think we’ll find who leaked the story?”
“Hard to say, really. By the way, your press release on Orion’s disappearance was well written as usual, and I thought it put out the fire for now, but the press will want updates.”
“I know. I figure I’ll give them one every other day. If that’s not enough, too bad, so sad. Besides, the truth is, we have nothing new to report.”
“You’re right, of course. Were you able to reschedule the OEC meeting?”
“I was. I don’t think they wanted to, but it’s now a week from this Monday. Although, it’s beginning to look like I’ll still be going in empty-handed. The outlook is bleak.”
“I’d have to say at this point it looks as if you’re right, but we still have time. Something will turn up. Faith, remember?” A quick grin spread across Alec’s face.
“Well, faith isn’t going to get this paperwork done. I’d better get back at it. I hate to cut you short, but I’m afraid I have to, Alec. I’ve got to get caught up here. Will you contact Zach and see how he’s making out on Luna? See if he’s found anything, anything at all, and then please let me know.”
“No problem. Think you’ll be able to catch up here, or do you need some help?”
Smiling, Ty answered, “I have my help right out front.”
“I see. When did you hire her?”
“Didn’t. Apparently she’s been on the payroll for years. She worked in most of the departments while she attended college. Her mom got her the job.”
“Her mom?”
“On your way out take a closer look. It’s Emily’s daughter, Joanne. I mentioned to Emily that I would be in need of a secretary and she suggested her daughter. She’s really good at the job. You can tell that she’s had experience in most of our departments. It’s a real plus.”
Cocking his head to the side, Alec caught sight of the slight gleam in Ty’s eyes. “Okay, then” Alec said. “I think I’ll go now. If you need me,” he tapped on the com link attached to his side, gave a wink, and left. On the way out he glanced at Joanne, busy at work.
He smiled and thought to himself, That’s the kind of company Ty could use.
Sitting in the back of his limo on the way to another useless meeting, Senator Axion contemplated how things were progressing. The older Bindls were gone, the younger Bindls in turmoil—all seemed to be going well. He rubbed his right arm. He knew there could be no pain, but sometimes it felt as though it truly hurt. The same went for other parts of his body. He hoped that one day the pain would end. Even more, he wished that it had never started. But he knew that someday, hopefully sooner than later, the ghost pain would’ve all been worth it.
Ty Bindl’s letter requesting a postponement of the OEC grant meeting was a small victory. Axion knew that this meant they hadn’t located any of the schematics. Unfortunately, it also meant that the boys weren’t giving up. Although Orion Bindl’s accident wasn’t in his overall plan, it simply couldn’t have been scripted any better. Not that he would wish harm to the young man, but, if something terrible had happened, it wouldn’t bother him much. He certainly wasn’t worried about the Bindl boys finding anything useful, what with all the documents he’d witnessed being destroyed. Still, he thought it better to be prepared. He’d need to keep an eye on them just to be safe, because if they did find something... well, that just couldn’t be allowed.
He touched a button on the armrest. The soundproof, shatter-proof glass between the driver and Axion rose to complete the barrier. Another push of a button and the small flat table in the center of the backseat rose and swung over his legs. A screen silently appeared from the table.
“Yes, sir?” the voice quietly asked.
“I believe it is time we kept a close eye on the Bindls. Report back to me if they find anything they could use to their advantage. And start preparing your ‘men.’ Keep them on the alert. I suspect no real trouble will come of this, but I will not take any chances.”
“Sir, if we think that they have located information or other items, there may be no time to contact you if we need to...” Clearing his throat, he finished, “...to recover them.”
“No move without my approval. I cannot risk any exposure. It would only give the Bindls public support. Report first. I will make all decisions on any ‘recovery’ attempt. Understood?”
There could be no mistaking the tone of Axion’s voice. Any deviation from orders and there would be dire consequences. “Understood.” The voice faded.
With one last push on the armrest, the screen and table returned to their original positions. Axion folded his hands on his lap and turned his head to gaze out the window.
Once again Orion was lying on his rack and staring at the stars, preparing to get up. It had taken until late into Thursday evening and all of Friday just to get through the upper and very lowest decks of the massive outpost.
As he lay there, he tried to remember everything he’d learned and seen. The lower area had housed all the crew, except for the officers; they were located in the upper level, which is where he’d been bunking for the past four days. Also located on the lower level were the galley, the library, classrooms for the children, training rooms, and recreation areas.
Attached to the lower level, what Orion called the “great underbelly,” was the large docking area where he’d landed. Behind the landing bays was a large engineering area. The upper level consisted of the large hydroponics lab, various other laboratories, observation decks, the main command center, several smaller sub-command centers, the security office, and numerous conference areas. There was more, but it was all he could do to remember what he had.
Today he’d get to see the middle level, where the StarDancer had been constructed. Most important of all, maybe he’d get the answers and documents they needed for Ty’s meeting with the OEC. When he remembered the meeting wa
s scheduled for this Monday, he began to panic. How could he get the information to Ty on time? Was it too late already? What would they do without the grant that they were sure to lose it if he couldn’t get everything to them. Of course, he reminded himself, he didn’t have anything yet anyway. The chips would have to fall where they would, he reasoned to himself. A few deep, calming breaths later, he managed to get upright. He had to meet Lyet in the galley in thirty minutes to get the day started. He hurried to the restroom to freshen up.
“Captain Lyet, you are a man of many talents,” Orion said once he’d met up with Lyet and they’d finished eating. “Thank you for that great breakfast, not that the frozen ones we’ve had have been bad, but a fresh-cooked meal? Nothing beats it.”
“It’ll be a long day and I haven’t had a fresh meal in a while, so as long as I had company, I thought, why not? Let’s clean this up and get going. We have a lot to cover today.”
The two men finished and headed toward one of the lifts. “Captain, I’d still like to know where your crew went. Is there a reason you keep avoiding the question?”
“Orion, there is. And in due time you’ll get your answer, but I cannot promise that I can tell you any time soon. Your arrival was much sooner than I’d expected and it... well, it will change things that had already been set in motion. As of yet, I cannot determine what the outcome will be, but I am happy that you are here.” Arriving at the lift door, the captain motioned to Orion and they entered.
When the lift stopped, Lyet exited first. They walked down a long corridor and came to a pair of hatches offset at forty-five-degree angles. “I tell you now that entering this level will change everything. Here, at this outpost, through these doors, science fiction ends and reality begins for you and your brothers and for Space Tech. Orion, once we enter this level you, and yes, even I, will have choices to make. Are you sure that you’re ready? If not, now is the time to back out. I, or should I say, we, have the ability to let you forget all that you’ve seen so far. I can program the shuttle to return you home.”
Without hesitation, Orion answered, “Yes, absolutely, I’m ready. We continue.”
Then he stopped dead in his tracks and grabbed the captain by the arm. “Wait! You said you had the ability to make me forget? Forget what and how?”
Lyet smiled. He gently grasped Orion’s hand to release the tight hold. “That, my young friend, is a discussion for another time.”
“Another time?” Orion was disappointed, but he forced himself to focus on the discoveries he was going to make now.
“Now we will start on the right with the FESC side.”
“FESC?”
“Framing, electronics, structure construction: FESC. Place your hand into the VGID to the right, please.”
Orion did as instructed. The pad, as it did at Space Tech, engulfed his hand. “Unknown identity. Access denied.”
“Captain Cyrus Lyet, Commander.”
“Voice recognition identified.”
“Add imprint to memory.”
“Access level?”
“Access level alpha, access all.”
A familiar orb dropped from the ceiling and scanned Orion’s retinas, then disappeared.
“State name and rank.”
Orion leaned towards Lyet and whispered, “Do I have a rank?”
“Yes, you do. Just say your name, say Captain followed by Science Commander. See, you do have a rank.” Lyet smiled.
“Restate your name and rank.”
Proudly, Orion announced, “Orion Bindl, Captain, Science Commander.”
After a few moments the voice asked, “Approval code?”
The captain answered, “5938. Approve.”
“Captain Orion Bindl, Science Commander. Imprint, optical and voice recognition accepted. Authorization code 67466. Welcome, Captain Bindl.”
The hatch slid open and the two men walked through. The first room they entered looked like a dressing room. The walls were lined with lockers on both sides, all white. The benches that ran down the center were white. The tiles on the floor, white. The walls and even the ceiling were white. Everything was white.
“Orion, now that we are the same rank, call me Cyrus. Welcome to the ‘white room.’ Some things cannot change over time; sanitization is one. Construction on a ship requires a sterile work environment. Everyone who enters must go through a decontamination process. Even a dust particle in any of the components could prove to be disastrous.” He took two suits from a hangar on the wall and handed one to Orion. “Since nothing is being built now, we won’t need to go through the ultraviolet decontamination but we should put on these suits.”
They donned the gear then walked further down the room towards a hatch in the wall, solid on the bottom, topped with tinted glass. They opened the hatch and went through. Within the room there were two booths constructed from floor-to-ceiling with tinted glass.
Mounted to the ceiling of each booth was what appeared to be a shower head. Pointing to the device, the captain said, “That has over a hundred small UV bulbs. It’s sensor activated. You walk in with your uniform on and a sensor pad detects weight. It comes on for a mere three to four seconds and you’re decontaminated and ready for work.”
“Uh, isn’t UV sterilization dangerous to humans?”
“That’s why humans don’t work on the ships. Only the droids do. Too risky for humans, so the UV sterilization is a non-factor. There are times when a human must enter, such as your parents or me. That’s why,” Lyet pointed to the left, “over in the corner we have a room for human decontamination: a shower with powerful cleansers. Those employees with clearance have their own lockers and suits back there. Primitive, maybe, but it works. Shall we?”
He moved forward through the room and went through another hatch. “This is the structure command center. The many desks you see here would normally be occupied and hopping with activity. Every part of the design and building is coordinated and monitored here.”
“It’s huge. So the computers must be networked together to keep the building process in order?”
“Yes, droids work in pairs and each pair is monitored. A great system. If a droid fails or gets damaged, the backup takes over without skipping a beat and we send out another to take the failed droid’s place. When undertaking a project as important as this, you must have a backup plan for everything. Once we started, we worked round the clock since droids need no sleep.” He continued through the command center.
Upon entering another secure area, Orion began to understand that his parents were into something so massive that he and his brothers might want to rethink their situation. He didn’t really doubt their abilities, but upon physically seeing this astounding science, he wasn’t sure they’d be able to handle it all. Then he saw something straight from the future. The walls were lined with off-white, egg shaped pods.
“Cyrus, these chambers are they...?”
“They are. This is where the droids are manufactured, maintained, and stored.”
The pods were two high on the wall and there must have been sixty or seventy in each row, with rows on both sides. “How many?”
“Seventy each row, a total of 280.”
“This is amazing. Unbelievable! It looks like something out of a book. How long does it take to create all 280?” Orion could hardly breathe.
“It could be done in forty-eight hours with our current staff of droids. Additional droids could be programmed to be droid builders, so getting it down to twenty-four hours is not inconceivable.”
“That is totally amazing.”
“I warned you: this is your new reality. Come, there’s more.”
As they walked on Orion could only think, More?
The next hatch required that they both identify themselves. “From here on out security is paramount. What we are now entering is the parts manufacturing area.”
They entered an enormous area filled with machines, computers, huge metal vats, and tables. Cables and wires were everywh
ere. It was organized chaos. “How do you acquire the materials to build this stuff? I’ve never seen any requisition slip or transportation order from Earth or Luna.”
“Location. Your parents scouted this part of the star system well. It must’ve taken them years of research alone to pick this spot. Getting here is tricky too. At one point in your voyage here did your forward blast shield activate?”
“Yes, but I figured it was just another malfunction.” Orion remembered being in the back of the ship looking for something when he’d heard a noise from the cockpit. He’d turned in time to see the shield close off his view, but he’d chalked it up to another problem. Later, while he was sitting in the pilot’s seat, the shield reopened and nothing appeared to be wrong. That was when he’d first seen the outpost. Now the activation of the shield was beginning to make sense.
“It wasn’t a malfunction, Orion. We are located in the middle of a large asteroid field several thousand miles wide. It’s approximately 320 miles from its edge to where we stand—a hop, skip, and jump in space distance. This asteroid field serves several purposes.
“First, it’s a defense wall. If you don’t know how to navigate it, you’ll be pummeled relentlessly by asteroids. Second, the many moving asteroids make it difficult to locate a stationary object; the field is quite dense. Third, and most important, it holds a wealth of minerals and raw materials.
“We fly out, mine what we need, then bring it here to begin the manufacturing process. Metamaterials—the light weight and the strength of the materials we produce out here simply can’t be found on or near Earth. The term was introduced in the late 1990s, and it was originally thought that they’d be a good material for cloaking. Your father, though, and his companion AI droid enhanced the strength so that, as well as being good for cloaking, it is almost indestructible. Something to do with magnetism as I recall. I don’t know all the particulars, but I do know it’s an impressive material.”
Orion was still shaking his head in disbelief as he followed behind Lyet.