by R J Murray
“A big lumpy rock with missile batteries. See any way in yet?” Eric asked.
“We have an opening in the center top big enough for the ship to enter.” One of the crew said suddenly. Eric couldn’t remember his name, but he was the one whining about dying on his first day.
“Can we scan inside yet to see where it goes?”
“Not yet Sir. Scanner is blocked by surface conditions. Get a little closer and I’ll see what we can do, Sir.”
“Alter course to fly over the opening Mr. Reed. Keep scanning Chuck.” Eric felt a bit of relief when he remembered the man’s name.
“Launch! We have Launch!” Chuck yelled.
Eric watched as a flare of light came up from the surface and grew in the screen far faster than Eric thought possible.
“Too close to dodge. Brace for impact. Secure all hatches and brace for impact.” Eric felt unnaturally calm as he lifted his finger from the all ship com button. The missile took two seconds after launch before it hit the Pathfinder. It crumpled on impact, small parts flying into space and the bulk bouncing off and drifting along with the planetoid. The warhead was dead after all these millennium. The ship took no damage other than a large dent in the outer hull.
“Well, that was anticlimactic. Any other activity Chuck?”
Chuck and everyone else turned to stare at Eric.
“Uh . . .No Sir. Scans are continuing from the planetoid. No other launches detected. Sir.”
“Then let’s check out the opening. Mr. Reed, we seem to still be on our original course.”
“Sorry Sir. I was distracted momentarily.” Reed was breathing heavily and rapidly, like all the other bridge personnel.
“Let’s maintain alert status at yellow for now. Keep the hatches between sections sealed just in case they have something that still works.”
“Yes Sir.” Reed answered. “Coming into view of the opening. “ Reed bent over the consol Chuck was working and checked a small screen on the left side. “Scanner says opening gets bigger inside. It could be a hanger. Can you clean that up any?”
“Not much more. There’s a lot of interference. It could be jamming by the . . . space base?” Chuck answered, an eyebrow raised.
“Sure, why not. Alright, this is SB Fox One. Enter it into the log with the coordinates and orbit. Easier to say than planetoid, that’s for sure. Any stations or bases we find that belong to the Astangii can start with Alpha One. We can further modify the system as needed if we find a bunch of these things.” Eric looked at Reed and waited for any objections. “Unless someone has any other ideas.”
“Coming up on the opening. Jamming is less here. It opens up inside and looks like it might be a hanger.” Chuck said.
“Send all data to the Ryu and then let’s head inside.” Eric said.
“Perhaps a probe would be safer first Sir?” Reed asked.
“You’re right. I stand corrected. Send a probe or two if needed.” Eric nodded to Reed.
Reed smiled and gave the order.
The probe left the ship with a small jar and entered the base. It was not empty, but there was no shooting. Corpses, dried by vacuum, littered the interior. Machinery, vehicles and two globe ships were also inside. Inner doors were open and the outer doors showed a lot of damage.
“See any weapon emplacements?” Reed asked.
“No Sir, nothing inside. Nothing obvious inside at least. Any weapon emplacements could be hidden behind movable bulkheads, panels, even under the floor.” Chuck answered.
“Devious mind you have there. I like it. We need to make you a weapons man when we have something to shoot with.” Eric said.
“Thank you Sir. It was my first choice but they decided we didn’t need guns.” Chuck didn’t look up from his scope, a close fitting face mask used when guiding an individual probe in tight spaces.
“I think they were wrong. We should fix that first chance we get. Contact the Ryu and let them know there are two intact ships inside the base. Is it safe for us to enter Mr. Reed?”
“Safe as it is out here at least Sir. I recommend entry.”
“Take us in.”
Chapter 5 Space Base
“So the nanobots weren’t the reason they were shooting at us. Some other means of detection or a lack of an identity code maybe. Whatever it was, they ran out of usable missiles and we got inside the hanger. I have teams out there now going through the place top to bottom and I could use more manpower if you have any available.” Eric wiggled in his chair, ready to pace but not wanting to in front of anyone else.
“Well, we are having good luck with Zible. He had no orders to hide any information so, we are getting a lot more planets to check on and a real layout of the civilization before and during the war. We still don’t know who shot first but I wouldn’t want either of these guys as a neighbor. They both have a ‘we are god’s chosen’ mentality and all others are insects. I think both the Beaks and the Furrys are bad people. It was a war of extermination.” Lee replied.
“You hear from the others yet?”
“Not a peep. That worries me. They should have called us by now, just to let us know they were all right. I tried several times but there has been no response yet.” Lee paused. “You think Asi took them out?”
“It is a possibility. I hope not but, until we get word from them, we need to be ready for a fight. These two ships can be salvaged pretty quickly once we get our nanobots programmed and they are armed. I’ll get Betty working on their computers and maybe we have two warships to take on Asi and his kind. Wish we knew who to trust.” Eric paused to think about what he just said. Taking these alien ships meant training crews and splitting his crew into three units. One to stay with Pathfinder and two to take the furry ships to locate Phil and Horace.
“Three ships. Another week and this one will be space ready. We don’t have enough crew for five ships though. We should park the Pathfinder and the Ryu inside the base and just use these three ships. The only difficulty I can see is that Asi and his kind may not be too happy to see us in these.” Lee suggested.
“We tell him we captured them and decided to bring them back as prizes, maybe? We can set up an identity code for the ships and let him know who is who perhaps.” Eric asked. “There is plenty of history on Earth about prizes taken in battle. Ships were expensive and if you could capture one and use it against your enemies, so much the better.”
“Really? They did that on Earth?” Lee asked.
“Yeah. Age of sail stuff. Remember, I had a LOT of time to read.”
“Well, what if we capture some of the Astangii ships too? What if our ships computers fire on Asi the minute they spot him? We need to find out if we can truly control these ships before we do much else.” Lee said.
“Can we download our programs into the other computers? Copy Betty and let her twins run the ships? Might be safer that way. Betty! You following this conversation?”
“Affirmative. I can copy my mainframe and load it onto the Furry ships computers. I would need to modify my programming to handle the different systems and erase the other computers so they could not interfere. Recommend examining the ships systems prior to attempting. Based on the data I am receiving from the Ryu, this operation would take six days four hours after ships computers are reactivated. In addition, control of nanobots would be critical to success. I also suggest allowing both types of nanobots to mingle under controlled circumstances to determine reactions when the Furry nanobots are available.”
“You understand this plan means leaving you here for an indefinite time?” Eric asked. Computer or not, he was attached and felt bad about abandoning the ship, even temporarily.
“If we can activate the base computer and link it with me, I could spend the time repairing these systems and making it an operational support base for you and the fleet. It would be a logical use of the time and would enable you to have a return point for repairs of other derelicts and R&R for the crews. It would also give me an opportunity to study th
e weapons used. I may be able to modify myself to carry armament. From the data I have received thus far, there are large robot units here that can upgrade vessels for various purposes and even manufacturing units to create new modules. Time required could be as long as three months after base computer is active and integrated into myself before full access and usage would be available, depending on the availability of parts and raw materials.” Betty didn’t seem to sound too concerned and Eric reminded himself once again that this was a machine. “In addition, assembly of a gateway to wipe all nanobots from any captured ship could begin here during your absence. It would need to be large enough for a ship to pass through and be irradiated with the appropriate frequency.”
“A gateway? How big and how long would it take?” Eric asked.
“It would be a loose network of emitters remotely controlled and could expand to the appropriate size.”
“I got you. Larger individual emitters with maneuvering thrusters circle the ships and kill the nanobots. I understand. That would be good, but the base must be secured first. Fox Base to Ryu. You hear all this?” Eric asked.
“Ryu to Fox Base. Affirmative. We are towing this ship to base for additional work. Be there in seventeen hours approximately. I am thinking about leaving a few men here to secure the ships and the base Eric. If we buy the farm, they can still get home and warn Earth about what is out here better than our messages do.”
“Something to think about. We have forty men and three ships. Ten men per ship and ten here would mean five man crews for the Ryu and the Pathfinder if it came to that. Might be hard to find anyone who wanted to stay here though.” Eric said.
“Who said I would ask?” Lee answered. “We haven’t had a democracy on Earth in a hundred years, and I see no point in starting now. I’ll ask for volunteers to remain behind first, of course.”
“Of course. I think I need to find out if the others are alive or not. I’ll take ten with me and leave the rest with you to work on this base and the ships. If I lose contact with you, assume the worst and get ready for an attack against this base. Fox Base out.” Eric announced. “Mr. Reed, we need an Alpha team to go with the ship and a Beta team to remain and prep our other ships. You have been with these men longer than I have so I will ask you to decide who goes on each team. Let me know by morning.” Eric stood and stretched. “You have the bridge. I will be in my quarters taking a nap.”
“Yes Sir.”
Eric headed down the passageway toward his quarters. He realized suddenly that he had started giving orders to the other Captains and they had not objected even once. He shook his head and thought. “I wonder if Earth knew what they were getting when they picked me?”
~~~~~~
“Horace, come in. Asgard to Courageous, come in.” Phil looked around the secondary bridge, damage evident even here, deeper inside the ship. The primary bridge was open to space and several crew members missing. If Asi hadn’t moved in front of them and taken the second missile, they would all have died in the attack.
“The Courageous is under maneuvering thrusters Captain Phil. There are dead aboard and the damage is worse than you sustained in the attack. I have successfully destroyed the launch capability of the Catroph base. I do not find any other threat in range of my sensors.” Asi announced.
“Thank you Asi. We would be dead if not for you. Were there living beings on that base?”
“Negative. The automated facility maintained electronic silence until we were in range. It is possible there are others in this system. This is an indication that my builders no longer exist, as this was an important planet to them. Mining operations, food production and several shipyards existed here at one time. Most have either been destroyed or time has eliminated them. I consider this to be proof that the war is indeed over and my builders are extinct in this sector.” Asi added.
“Courageous to Asgard. Do you copy?” The voice was scratchy and there was no video but it sounded like Horace’s’ second, Lieutenant Hoskins.
“That you Hoskins? How bad is it?” Phil asked.
“Bad Sir. Twenty percent of the ship systems are not operational and we can only locate eight crew members. I’m in engineering, controlling the ship by remote. Orders Sir?” Hoskins did not sound healthy.
“Dock with us. We can work on one ship at a time to get things under control. We are not reentering this system until we have a better picture of what’s going on here.”
“Affirmative. Thrusters only for us at the moment. Main engines off line.”
“Roger that. We will come to you. Sit tight.” Phil closed his eyes for a second before issuing the necessary orders to dock with the Courageous. He could feel the engines thrust, which told him the inertial dampening was out. No FTL until it was fixed, if ever. They could be stranded here for a long time.
“I recommend you both dock with me, Captain Phil.” Asi suggested. “I have full life support capability and FTL if we need to escape this system. It will be easier to repair your ships if we work from me.”
“That is a good idea. Hoskins, change of plan. We use the Astangii as base for repairs. He will dock with you first then I will follow. Do you copy?” Phil waited.
“Yes Sir, I copy. Awaiting docking.”
“Screen operational?” Phil asked one of his men.
“Yes Sir.” The screen, smaller than the one in the primary bridge came on and they watched as the Astangii moved closer to the Courageous, finally docking in slow motion. The Asgard was close behind and docked with the bigger ship five minutes later.
“Damage control, keep working. Let’s get a three man team into the Astangii and set up in the bridge. Lieutenant Vondestraub, you are in charge of that team. Get communications going with the Ryu and the Pathfinder if possible and let them know our situation. Keep an eye out for any sign of the enemy and coordinate activities between the three of us.”
“Yes Sir.” Three men followed the Lieutenant out of the room and headed for the airlock. Phil moved to the ladder leading down to the bays, hoping he could reach East Bay Two, where the space suits were. He needed to get search parties going to locate missing crew on both ships.
“I’m heading down to check the suit locker. Get all the wounded on the Astangii and then form two parties. One for our missing crew and one to assist the Courageous. Mr. Honshu is to go with the crew to the Courageous. Mr. Walters will lead our party. Any questions?”
A chorus of No Sirs answered and everyone who could walk picked up someone who couldn’t and moved toward the airlocks.
~~~~~~
“Courageous, Asgard, please respond.” Chuck looked back at Eric and shook his head. “Still no response Sir.”
“Just keep listening for now. They could be having com trouble. We will be there in another two days.”
“Yes Sir.”
Eric paced the deck behind his chair fidgeting no longer enough. He wanted to look over the shoulder of the crew scanning the approaching system, to breathe down their necks and make something happen, but his console made pacing between them and his chair difficult. It would not have made the search any faster and would make them less attentive to the scan. He contented himself with the fact that he had a good crew, even if those idiots on Earth had selected them.
He had a thought which unsettled him and moved to his console to type in the question to Betty. When the answer came, he grunted. It should have been obvious to him earlier but with the way things had been happening it had escaped him. There was not one single person on any of the three ships who were inside the acceptable parameters of the new model citizen. None had been approved for companionship, much less for children. No women for these men, no families, no future on Earth. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that they had all been sent out here just to get rid of the undesirables in the population.
That idea disturbed Eric. If it were true then the colonists who were to follow would also be outcasts. He wondered if there were any women outcasts among the futur
e colonists or if the government just wanted them to die quietly in a small corner of the galaxy.
On Earth, population control had been in effect for at least a century and a half. Genetic selection decided who would be allowed to receive a partner as a life companion and who among those couples would be allowed to have children. Eric had heard of a few couples who had four or more children and others who had never had a single child. It was said in whispers that children who were unacceptable were eliminated and that two unacceptable children were considered enough to sterilize the couple. He had discounted them as rumors before, but it seemed more likely as time went on. The government was breeding docile populations in order to control things.
Maybe it went even further than that. Eric considered for a moment the needs of Earth. Leaders, soldiers and the workers. A hive came to mind immediately. Ants, bees, many types of insects were set up where each individual was less important than the hive. Each insect, in the case of ants, was breed to their job. Soldiers were not trained, they were born, and workers were the same. The queen ran the show with chemical signals and the colony thrived.
Chemicals. “Betty, analyze water and food stores for chemicals designed to control emotions and/or behavior.” Eric spoke out loud, forgetting to type.
“No chemicals contained within existing water or food at this time.” Betty responded.
“At this time?”
“You have replaced the water several times with ice from the belts around star systems. The chemicals were diluted to the point that they no longer exist. The backup chemical supply was used and then diluted by the same means until they were exhausted. The food supply has an emergency feature which if activated, would add the chemicals to each portion prior to serving. You current programming has blocked that feature, but not disabled it.”
“Can we disable this feature?” Eric asked. Everyone in the bridge was listening now.
“Negative. It would be possible to simply dump the chemicals overboard, however, it would be a manual operation as I have been specifically programmed, via program EX-two-nine-five to prevent any loss of these chemicals and via program EX- two-nine-six, to dispense these chemicals on the order from control, subject to your approval via your new programs.”