Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1)

by Paul J. Fleming

  Swinging the doorway before her open after the locks released, she entered into the main body of the ship and turned to close the doorway securely before her. Everything was shrouded in darkness and only the illumination from the light mounted on the shoulder of her EVA suit gave her the ability to see where she was going within the ship. Slightly reluctant to divest herself of the helmet she wore for the moment, at least until she ascertained the condition of the environment she now found herself, she made her way slowly and steadily through the main passageway of the Erstwhile towards the forward section. Her mind was focused on reaching the bridge and assessing the damage from there, as long as the controls were operable under emergency power.

  If nothing else, she hoped that she may find Ezri there already effecting repairs to bring everything back in order.

  As she advanced upon the entrance to the bridge, she paused to consider the fact she had not yet been challenged at all on her approach, which either meant internal sensors were down and Ezri was unaware of the company she presently had, or was unable to check them.

  Her entry onto the bridge provided the answer she sought, the sight of Ezri still at her bridge station, but slumped forwards over the control panel which Maia had witnessed her playing previously like a concert pianist. The unmoving form of the android body did not bode well and Maia’s hopes for companionship during her repair efforts took a severe knock. Slowly she approached the figure and gently pulled slightly on Ezri’s shoulder to pull her back into her chair away from the console.

  Ezri’s eyes were wide open and her arms swung downward away from the controls as her upper torso pivoted backwards, the limbs hanging limply at her sides as she sat upright staring blankly ahead of her.

  Maia took a moment to stand up straight and look about the bridge which was shrouded in darkness, aside from a few controls in front of the motionless Ezri which were blinking in sequence, demonstrating there was some power routed to the controls at the very least.

  Leaning across her silent comrade, Maia checked the panel and activated the display, quickly running a diagnostic on the environment and atmosphere present with the ship. To her joy the results showed normal atmosphere and pressure for her to safely remove her protective gear, which she found altogether too cumbersome within the confines of the tramp freighter.

  After she divested herself of the helmet and then the EVA suit, Maia took another glance about the darkened bridge and a feeling of dismay began to creep over her as she realised the possible enormity of the task which lay before her in trying to get this ageing freighter off the ground once more. There came a time in every ship’s life when it took one too many poundings and there was nothing more that could be done to revive it. She desperately hoped that the Erstwhile was a little more recoverable than she feared at that very moment.

  Her gaze came to rest upon the motionless figure of Maddox’s most trusted friend and crew-mate.

  ‘I suppose you’d approach this calmly too, emotions getting in the way and all that?’ she muttered to Ezri and shook her head slightly.

  As she stared into the eyes of the motionless body her mind raced on her best way forward, but a voice from the vicinity of the motionless body made Maia physically jump with shock. To her understanding she was completely alone out here.

  ‘Voice interface active. Welcome on board the Erstwhile. Emergency retrieval program 006 active.’

  ‘Ezri?!’ Maia almost shouted with sudden relief as she recognised the voice through her state of shock. She bent slightly closer to the immobile form in the chair and scrutinised the face, watching for movement to show that Ezri was not as deactivated as she had feared. ‘Ezri? Are you active in there?’

  ‘Voice analysis as Maia, recent addition to complement aboard Erstwhile as updated in recent upload to this emergency program. Welcome back Maia, this is emergency recovery program 006,’ the voice remarked, but as Maia was leaning over the immobile body of Ezri she noted it was coming from nearby and not the artificial body. Turning her gaze slightly, she saw a wireframe representation of a face upon the display screen which had recently displayed the environmental reports. ‘In witnessing this program you are present aboard the ship, but we have encountered a situation which has caused severe damage and the disabling of the Ezri program. This program will assist you in recovery measures.’

  ‘Hold on a moment,’ Maia remarked as she stood upright and turned to face the screen. ‘You’re not Ezri? Just a program which sounds like her?’

  ‘Correct. The Ezri program is too complex a construct for the Erstwhile computer core, however a limited version of the same has been implemented for the purposes of basic interaction and informative assistance in recovery efforts.’

  Maia cast a wary glance at Ezri and then back to the screen once more.

  ‘Okay then double O six, what guidance do you have for me to get Ezri back up and running so I have some assistance out here in the real world, no offence, but I think the situation here needs more than a talking program to get the Erstwhile back up and running.’

  ‘That is the purpose of this program,’ the voice replied quite levelly. ‘To reactivate the Ezri program you will need to reactivate the power core, after which the Ezri program will automatically reboot. Once the program is active and running it should be able to take over from this construct.’

  Maia turned back to face the immobile form of Ezri sat in the chair and with a cursory glance back towards the screen as it vocalised instructions on locating the power core reset control, she leaned forwards and rested her left hand upon Ezri’s right shoulder, left right hand feeling under Ezri’s left breast for the lower edge of her artificial rib cage.

  Her fingers pressed in-wards just under the rib cage as hard as she could, and then upwards slightly against the resistance efforts of the artificial skin covering the framework. Her efforts were such that Maia could not help but mentally apologise to her new crew-mate for discomfort, despite the fact she knew Ezri would feel no such pain or displeasure at the action she was undertaking.

  As her fingers met with resistance within the torso behind the rib cage, Maia was quite relieved as she feared any more pressure or effort would cause her fingers to actually penetrate the artificial skin. Within moments the body before her twitched slightly and she quickly withdrew, flexing the fingers of her right hand slightly as they ached at the joints around the tips.

  ‘Power core of the avatar now coming online. Ezri program will reboot shortly. Awaiting vocal confirmation,’ the emergency recovery program reported casually.

  Maia straightened her back and retained her gaze upon the face of her new crew-mate, eager to hear her first words and receive companionship for her efforts to recover their vessel. She could not help but admit to herself during those moments of eager waiting that the prospect of undertaking the task alone had daunted her to the point of inactivity. The hope which filled her now fought against the dark shadows of doubt over her own abilities.

  ‘I assume you have been able to rectify the power interruption within my body as I am functional once more?’ Ezri’s voice said, snapping Maia from her thoughts of solitude and causing her mild surprise.

  ‘Yes, yes I have. I had to dig my fingers into your abdomen area quite hard, I hope you’re okay….’ Maia answered, but her words trailed off as she realised she was treating Ezri once more as if she were organic.

  ‘Please do not feel the need for explanations or apologies. You needed to access my reset control for the power core, that I understand fully and to do so you needed to probe within my upper torso. Now should we focus on the further repairs to the ship?’

  ‘Confirmation of Ezri program activation complete. This program will now terminate,’ the emergency program remarked from the console before Ezri, who turned her attention to it almost immediately.

  ‘Confirmed,’ Ezri remarked as the display panel before her returned to the atmospheric readings Maia had taken earlier. Quickly inputting enquiries of her own into the
console, she read the returning results and returned her attention to Maia who stood nearby.

  ‘We are currently on emergency power which is maintaining the lighting and life support system, however, we only have a short time before they drain out and we need to get the reactor up and running. From these readings we appear to have structural integrity, however the port engine received a direct hit on my approach so I would suggest it would require attention before we try to lift off.’

  Maia nodded eagerly, more than happy to have Ezri’s input into their predicament and follow her guidance.

  ‘That’s why I switched you back on,’ she replied keenly. ‘I need your help if we’re going to do this quickly as I think the Captain may be running on borrowed time over there in the colony.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Ezri replied. ‘As we work, maybe you could bring me up to speed on things, and just how precarious his situation is.’

  Maia nodded and turned to leave, leading her crew-mate aft towards the reactor room as she began relating all she knew, starting from their capture on board the Martian vessel.

  16 Ghost Colony

  Maddox and Praia moved cautiously along the deserted corridors with concern growing with every footstep. When Maddox had been taken to the operations centre previously before his unwanted experience with the nano-meds, he had passed by a number of people moving about busying themselves with various operations and system checks. Now the tunnel they were in was devoid of life.

  ‘Early lunch break maybe?’ Maddox quipped to his young companion as they advanced upon the operations centre. ‘Group hug in the mess hall?’

  ‘No,’ Praia responded with concern evident in her voice. ‘This is not right at all. There should always be one group working routine maintenance and monitoring at all times, that is, unless the evacuation protocol has been used, but even at my low level of connection to the shared mind I should have received some notification of such an event.’

  Instinctively Maddox’s hand reached down to the empty holster strapped to his hip, then he curled his fingers and sighed in frustration as he suddenly caught himself grasping for a pistol that was not there.

  ‘Well, this whole place appears to be abandoned,’ he muttered, giving his thoughts a voice as they approached the open hatchway into the operations centre which was as devoid of life as the corridor had been.

  Gesturing quickly to Praia to remain outside and concealed, Maddox took a deep intake of breath and ventured forwards into the cavern which teemed with various displays, consoles and empty seats. He could not help the eerie feeling which crept over him, coupled with the short hairs on his neck standing on end. He had certainly heard the campfire tales of ghost ships that were meant to roam the space lanes, whose crews had fallen victim to some deep space amoeba or other weird phenomenon but never a ghost colony.

  As his eyes took in the scene, he felt a presence moving up behind him slowly and turned about in a flash prepared to defend himself only to see Praia recoiling slightly at his rapid movement.

  ‘I’m sorry, I was frightened out there,’ she whispered softly. There was an innocent vulnerability in her voice which melted any frustration or annoyance Maddox may have held about her not staying put.

  ‘It’s okay, just looks as though everyone just upped and left. The tools just discarded over there, that screen is waiting for user input and there’s a pad on the floor over there,’ he said as he turned back to the scene and took note of the quite obvious signs about them as he moved over to the discarded pad and retrieved it. ‘Looks like whoever held this was doing a diagnostic on the air filtration system.’

  ‘Yes, that’s quite normal,’ Praia replied as she advanced on the nearest active console. ‘We run frequent checks on the environmental systems so there are no nasty surprises. This screen shows more routine diagnostics and nothing out of the ordinary when attending to our regular schedule of checks.’

  ‘And yet they just dropped everything and left?’ Maddox mused as he set the retrieved pad down on the console surface nearest to him. His attention was drawn by a door set into the rock face which was closed, in contrast to the larger main access doors into the operations centre which remained wide open. ‘I would have thought such an ordered society such as this would be more fastidious about putting things away, but then again if there was some sort of urgent need? What was this evacuation protocol you mentioned?’

  His words tailed off as he stopped slightly short of the door and began to trace the outline of the door pillar thoughtfully.

  ‘If the computer detects incoming meteor showers or other stray astral bodies in our vicinity, it is procedure for everyone to retire to the underground chamber where the computer core is housed. In there we have the life support pods from the colony ship, designed for deep sleep during interstellar travel, but now utilised as individual protective environments all hooked up to the computer core allowing us to interact directly with the colony systems and AI whilst we shelter from the impending threat, but as I said I should have had some notion of the call even though I am technically in my rest period,’ she explained as she moved over to the next console to her left and continued to query the computer as to the location of her colleagues. The information it presented caused her to pause in mild alarm and she straightened up slightly, turning away from the screen as she did so to face Maddox, who was still intent on the doorway he was inspecting.

  ‘They went without me,’ she muttered in disbelief.

  ‘What? Have you found something?’ Maddox asked in concern as he turned around to face her, the tone of her voice demonstrating a new level of uncertainty.

  ‘Everyone has retreated to the core chamber, but I didn’t receive the call. They left without me!’ She replied, resentment taking the place of astonishment in her voice. Her eyes met with Maddox’s concerned gaze for a moment before she turned back to the screen and demanded more information of the computer core. ‘No astral anomalies, no impending meteor strikes or registered fault on the atmospheric systems. Nothing.’

  She sat quietly for a moment simply staring at the screen with a feeling of utter loneliness creeping over her. She had retracted from the shared mind before, to enjoy the solitude of her own thoughts, but that was by choice and at her own discretion. This was utterly different. This time she had been excluded with no say in the matter.

  ‘Praia? What’s through here?’ asked Maddox and gestured over his shoulder towards the sealed doorway when she glanced in his direction. He knew she was feeling abandoned and how it could make her responses emotionally driven and unpredictable, but wanted to try and keep her focused on their task at hand as much as he could. It was not without quick but careful consideration that he posed the question, for he had experience of entering an unknown situation with an emotional loose cannon at his side. That experience did not end well, something he desperately wanted to avoid here. The more he could try and focus her mind and divert her from pondering on the ramifications of her peers’ actions, the more reliable she may prove if they encountered adversity.

  ‘It’s the auxiliary access to the underground chamber which contains the data core. Normally it is open which allows us free access for our routine duties, but if it is sealed then maybe there was an impending threat of depressurising we’re not aware of?’ She remarked as she glanced back to the screen at her side and gestured towards it. ‘But the computer has no record of impending threats.’

  She turned about once more to watch Maddox as he returned his attention to the door frame.

  ‘I could re-link with the shared mind to ask my friends?’ She offered tentatively, but in response Maddox waved his hand dismissively.

  ‘Not just yet, eh?’ He replied as he brought both hands into action on a small, irregularly shaped panel along the length of the left door pillar, trying to prise it free. ‘We don’t know why everyone has just upped and gone below, but maybe it’s something in the shared mind? Maybe a computer glitch or… ‘ his voice tailed off slightly and then h
e resumed quickly, without voicing the suspicion that arose within his own mind. ‘Anyway, once we get through here we can go below and ask them for ourselves using the archaic technology known as speech.’

  ‘You suspect that someone is using the shared mind for a nefarious purpose?’ She asked as she rose from her seat and moved over to him and regarded his efforts on the small panel, quite obviously picking up on his quick change in direction.

  ‘Yes, I do.’ He replied bluntly. ‘You said your colony was organically developing until Marcus came of age and then there was a definite shift in purpose to become a group of cyberterrorists intent on returning to Earth to share your technology with the masses and punish Mars? What caused such a dramatic change of focus? Was it some deep seated desire within the young boy who became a man which was given form and purpose by his new status, or something else we have yet to discover?’

  The panel he was fiddling with dutifully depressed slightly as he resorted to pushing instead of pulling and then popped outward, allowing him to pull the top edge and prise it away from the securing points to reveal a small silver cylindrical handle. A slight pull on the topmost end of the cylinder caused it to pivot at its base so that it now protruded from the wall and another twist and pull extended the cylinder to provide a more useful length of handle as it now protruded clear of the door pillar.

  ‘Old backup systems in case of electrical failure,’ Maddox explained as he glanced towards Praia who now stood at his side and gestured gleefully towards the exposed handle. ‘Thankfully, when you all moved these systems down here and installed them you retained the safety features too. Now all we need to do is pump the hydraulics a bit to get some movement out of that door.’