by William Lee
Forte inserted, “As one of the few members of this crew that have actually been to Earth, both of you are correct. Humans, unlike us, are very emotional creatures that make many of their decisions based on feelings and chemical imbalances in their brains. Very few, their leaders, sometimes, will use logic and strategy, but, all too often, the ones with higher intelligence make decisions based on greed.”
Cordatus smiled and said, “You just proved my point, that we do not need to know their fairy tales.”
Forte shook his head in disagreement. “Think about it. Humans make decisions based on emotions; they tend to rely very heavily on their fictional characters to help form opinions on important and complex subjects. I read in a report that many humans determine who will rule their planet based on the opinions of their comedians.”
The young officer smiled and said triumphantly. “That’s why it is so important that we understand their fiction.” He jabbed his index finger at the table to make a point, “because humans use it to make important decisions.”
Cordatus rolled his eyes and scoffed, “I don’t need to know why a dog chases a bone, only that he does.”
Forte grinned and said, “One thing those humans got right – coffee. I wish we had some here.”
“Coffee, Sir?” The young officer looked puzzled.
“Humans have a hot drink, they call it coffee. I had some the last time I was on earth,” Forte said.
“Is it safe for us to drink?” Lieutenant Brevis asked, now joining the conversation. He had been patiently waiting, in silent amusement, for the discussion to flow into a less heated topic.
Cordatus leaned forward. “Like most human food, we can digest it in small quantities. However, normally we should make sure the food we eat goes through a sterilization process. Your Commander here, drank a little too much the last time he was on Earth.”
“Hey, we don’t need to tell that story,” Forte cut him off.
The young officer hustled across the room and then returned with two cups of limpicom, “Here you are, Sir.”
Limpicom was a thick liquid that contained many of the calories and vitamins needed for a healthy diet; it was perfectly balanced, with no unhealthy side effects. Vitahicians were stronger, smarter, and faster than humans, but not immortal. Centuries of genetic planning and manipulation had increased the average Vitahician’s life span to 325 years.
Forte turned to Cordatus and asked, “So, are you going to miss Vitahic?”
Cordatus sat back in his chair and stared out the portal. “I have been on this ship for almost 150 years – nearly half my life. I have no family back home. I’m looking forward to settling down on Earth. What do you think about decommissioning the ship on Earth, Commander?”
Forte took a sip of his tasteless limpicom. “It’s about time. This ship is nearly 600 years old. As far as giving it to the humans, I think it will go a long way in maintaining our alliance with them. This old cargo ship may not have much value to our people, but, to the humans, it’s extremely valuable. Besides, it will be stripped of any advanced technology before we give it to them.”
Cordatus was familiar with Vitahician trade policies, but asked anyway, “What tech are we going to let them have?”
Forte said, “After unloading the cargo, we are going to remove the electromagnetic pulse drive and land the ship next to their current moon base. They will use the ship’s super structure to expand that. We will leave the old antimatter nuclear fusion reactors in place, but they won’t be used for space travel anymore, just to power the new space station.”
Lieutenant Brevis inserted, “We don’t want them to obtain faster-than-light technology from our electromagnetic pulse drive, right?”
Forte confirmed, “That’s right, we may be joining forces, but we still want to maintain the upper hand. They already have reverse engineered our antimatter fusion reactors, which gives them enough juice to travel within their own solar system. That is all they need to know, for now.”
“Commander, what’s it like on Earth?” The young officer asked.
“I know it’s not healthy, but I wish I had some of that coffee, the humans drink,” Forte said shaking his head. “The main thing to remember about Earth is that, out of its seven billion people, less than fifty thousand even know of our existence. Most of our contact with humans will be limited to the government agents with whom we work. We will be allowed out into the world to interact with the public on a very limited basis and only under strict protocols. The penalty for revealing our identity to unauthorized humans is death.” Forte gathered his thoughts for a moment. “The last time I was on Earth, Harry Truman was President of the United States of America. They had just developed the atom bomb and could barely achieve flight within their own atmosphere. Since then, with our assistance, they have developed antimatter reactors, invisibility cloaks, and space flight within their own solar system. The Earth we see in a few days will be very different than the one I left.”
Cordatus interjected, “Most of that advancement is due to the teams of scientists we left there. Why do only a few humans share in the technology we give them?”
“That’s not exactly true. Most humans have benefited from the technology we help them engineer; and they just don’t know it came from us. Most humans believe that their technological advances come from the work of human scientists,” Forte corrected him.
“This is a great breakfast,” the baby-faced Officer interjected, “it feels like I haven’t eaten in years.”
Cordatus chuckled. “That never gets old. I will have to thank the cooks for doing a great job this morning. Hey kid, do you even have to shave yet?”
The young man looked a little embarrassed. “No, I’m only sixty years old; this is my first assignment.”
Cordatus lifted his mug, as if to toast: “I would give anything to be sixty again - with my whole life ahead of me.”
Commander Forte said, “I’m glad we wake up the cooks first.” As the four finished off their breakfast, the galley was filling with newly awakened crew members.
“Shall we head up to the helm and relieve the crew. They have been standing watch for quite a while,” asked Forte, as he pushed himself away from the table.
Cordatus stood up and said, “Time to get to work.”
After thanking the cooks for the healthy breakfast, the men walked through the corridor that lead to the elevators., filed in, and headed up five levels to the command center located near the top of the ten-story tower at the stern of the ship.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Impegi was nearly 600 years old and had been transporting cargo in outer space for 570 of those years. The super structure was 1,700 feet long, 200 hundred feet wide, 300 feet high and could carry more than 270,000 tons. The Impegi was a Gerulus class vessel which meant its primary function was to transport large amounts of materials to distant planets, whether for colonization or trade. The ship had a long cigar-like shape and closely resembled an ocean going super container ship. The ten-story tower at the stern of the ship, housed the crew’s quarters, the LTS chamber, communications equipment, and the command center.
Even though it was designed primarily for transporting cargo, it was equipped with a modest arsenal of defensive weapons. The Impegi was equipped with one hundred positron torpedoes and an antiproton electromagnetic pulse weapon, which was capable for firing over 70,000 high intensity energy bolts per second. Not enough to wage war, but enough to defend against pirates or lesser developed species, like humans.
The Impegi was designed to operate with as few as fifty crewmen, but could comfortably house over 100 without retrofitting any sections of the ship. Since it was designed for long distance travel, and many of its destinations took over twenty years to reach, the ship was outfitted with LTS chambers, or long-term-sleep chambers. These chambers would slow the crewman’s metabolism and place him in a deep, dreamless sleep for years at a time. While sleeping in the chamber, the crewman would age at a fifty percent slower
rate. The Vitahician scientists were working on a way to completely stop the aging process during LTS, but had not yet achieved success on that front. Once they could calibrate the LTS to slow the aging process down to zero, then they could attempt to send a ship to another galaxy.
On a typical voyage, the crew would take shifts operating the ship, while the rest were in the LTS chambers. Ten crew members would stand watch and monitor the ships functions for any problems. If there was a serious issue, they would pull the Commander out of LTS; otherwise, they were capable of handling most routine tasks. There was very little for the ten on-duty crewmen to do, as the Impegi’s computer did all the calculations. The ship was essentially on autopilot while traveling at FTL speed. With a crew of fifty, each crew member would sleep for several years and then serve a few months on duty; this cycle would continue until they reached their destination.
The most impressive bit of armament was not the pulse weapon or the torpedoes, but the nanobot reinforced plasma shield. The plasma shield would protect the vessel from attacking pirates or, more likely, an unidentified asteroid or space debris. Not even the advanced minds of the Vitahicians could accurately plot a collision-free course through space at twenty times the speed of light, taking into account the stars, planets, asteroids and space debris. It would be nearly impossible to navigate around these things at such speeds. The ship’s computer would calculate and recalculate the trajectories of all celestial bodies while they were traveling, but inevitably some small objects would be missed. If the Impegi were to run into a small asteroid or space debris while traveling, the plasma shield would repel the foreign object. If the object were to pass through the plasma shield, within a fraction of a millisecond, billions of nanobots would be shot at the object. The nanobots were designed to interact with and dissolve the object into a fine mist. Finally, the Impegi was equipped with an outdated optical stealth shield which would cloak the ship from the naked eye and radar. The optical shield was original to the ship; even though there had been numerous advances to the optical technology, there had never been any reason to update it on this ship.
The Impegi was powered by six antimatter injected nuclear fusion reactors that powered local propulsion and an electromagnetic propulsion drive. This would bend space and time around the ship, allowing it to reach speeds of up to twenty times the speed of light. The ship itself did not travel faster-than-light; it existed within a bubble that compressed time and space directly in front of the ship and expanded it behind the ship. While traveling at FTL speeds, the crew would not experience time differently than normal; however, people on their home world would seem to age more quickly. When the ship was not traveling in excess of the speed of light, the antimatter reactors would simply power the thrusters, which could bring the ship to speeds over 450,000 miles per hour.
The ship had 100 crew and passengers on board for its final mission. All crew members had volunteered knowing that they would likely never return home.
Commander Forte, and the three other officers stepped out of the elevator onto the ship’s helm. The helm was sixty feet long and forty feet deep. The entire length of the command center was transparent so that officers at the helm could get a panoramic view of space. When traveling at light speed, or while under attack, an armored shield would slide down over the window for additional protection. The shield was not currently in use, so all those at the helm could see the infinite sea of stars before them. The helm had numerous large display monitors that tracked everything from positioning, course plotting, fuel consumption, life support, systems analysis, cargo holds, and reactor performance.
“Good morning, Commander, welcome back to the helm,” exclaimed Captain Pilosus, with the standard Vitahician salute.
“Glad to be back, Captain,” responded Forte. Forte was genuinely happy to be back on the helm. Even though time passes very quickly in the LTS chamber, Forte was eager to get to Earth and begin the next chapter in his life. “Anything interesting happen since I was last at the helm?”
“Not really, we had a close call with an asteroid, and there was an incident with a small craft,” Pilosus answered.
“What small craft?” Forte looked surprised. If they had an unscheduled contact with another vessel, he should have been woken. It’s not common to have contact with another vessel while traveling at FTL speeds.
“It was a burnt-out hulk of a small craft, could not have carried more than ten humanoids at full capacity. It was not listed on any of our charts and did not show up on our sensors - until it was too late,” clarified Captain Pilosus.
“Okay, was there any damage?” Forte sounded relieved.
“None for us. The plasma shield repelled it quickly. Nanobots were dispatched, but I don’t think they were even necessary. The small craft appeared to have been abandoned for years, maybe centuries. No way it got that far out into space on its own power. Must have been dispatched from a larger ship, and something happened to it,” assured Pilosus.
“Good. Anything else to report, Captain?” Asked Forte.
“No Sir, only that we will be arriving at Earth’s Moon Base in five days,” replied Pilosus.
“Thank you for the report, Captain. I will take the helm from here. You’re dismissed.”
“Thank You, Sir,” Pilosus turned and walked toward the elevators.
After greeting the rest of the helm’s crew, Commander Forte took his position in the command center. His large chair sat on a slightly elevated platform, in the center of the room, where he could easily oversee the rest of the crew. In front of his chair was a holographic display, from which he could monitor and control all ship functions. After taking a few minutes to verify all systems were functioning properly, he decided to send a message to Earth’s Moon Base.
Earth was in a remote, mostly uninhabited section of the galaxy; therefore, it was unlikely anyone was listening to his transmissions. Vitahicians and their allies on Earth had established an ultra-dimensional communication system secured enough to withstand any enemy infiltration so far. The very useful byproduct of the Vitahician’s failed attempts at ultra-dimensional travel, was the ability to send and receive radio transmissions through alternate dimensions.
Forte spoke into the holographic display directly before him, “Earth Moon Base, this is the Impegi.”
Instantaneously, a crystal clear male voice was heard, “This is Moon Base, Impegi. Switch to UDC 12.”
Forte understood that UDC meant ultra-dimensional channel, and he made the adjustment, “We are five days away from you, traveling at 450,000 miles per hour.”
“This is General Stone Byrd of Space Command. We just detected you on radar,” replied the disembodied voice. “Please switch to optical stealth. We don’t want to frighten any human star gazers.”
“Done,” Forte replied. Forte understood the need to keep their presence from being known by the public and potential enemies. The fewer humans that knew of their existence, the fewer problems they may encounter.
“Everyone here on Moon Base is excited about your arrival. How long has it been since you were on Earth?” asked General Stone Byrd.
“Sixty-one years since this ship was last seen on Earth, and this time it’s here to stay,” Forte responded.
“We are all very excited to see the Impegi. No one on Moon Base has ever seen a ship arrive from Vitahic, and most folks that were alive the last time you were here are retired or dead.”
“Copy that, we are anxious to arrive. I will make contact again when we reach our destination,” Forte said.
“Copy that, Impegi.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Commander Forte and Captain Stella stepped out of the elevator onto the hanger bay, where twelve jump shuttles stood; each facing toward a closed hanger bay door leading into space. Each of the jump shuttles stood with their stern facing a center aisle, like cannons facing outwards on an old ship-of-the-line sailing vessel. The hanger bay was in the super structure of the Impegi, directly below the ten-story to
wer.
Each of the shuttles were approximately the size of a school bus, and could comfortably seat ten crewmen and 10,000 pounds of cargo. The jump shuttle was designed to carry crew and cargo from an orbital position to the planet. The jump shuttle was not the primary means by which cargo would be off-loaded, nor was it designed for combat. They did not have any armor and had a maximum range of three thousand miles under ideal conditions. An optical stealth shield was the only defensive technology on the shuttle.
Captain Stella was the chief navigation officer and had been aboard the Impegi with Forte on their previous mission to Earth. On that trip, they had assisted the Vitahician leaders in negotiating a treaty with the American government. They left 2,500 Vitahicians on Earth with enough supplies to last several decades. The purpose of this mission was to resupply the Vitahicians with materials that were not readily available on Earth.
On the previous trip to Earth, Forte and Stella had stood watch together early in the mission. While most of the crew slept in their LTS chambers, Stella and Forte got to know each other. There were eight other crew members awake and standing watch, but Stella and Forte were the two highest ranking officers awake at the time. It did not take them long to figure out how to entertain themselves. Ever since that first watch on the Impegi, many decades ago, Forte and Stella would always schedule their watches for the same time.
The hanger bay was 200 feet wide, the entire width of the Impegi. The jump shuttles were 40 feet long, leaving a center aisle of 120 feet for them to walk between the rears of the jump shuttles. Neatly lined up along the center aisle were numerous metal lockers full of tools and equipment. There were also large dollies that could carry tons of equipment and cargo from the cargo holds to the jump shuttles. Each jump shuttle was enclosed in its own chamber. The walls of the chamber were made of a thick, shock-resistant, transparent material so that when the door opened to release a shuttle, the entire hanger bay would not vent atmosphere and depressurize. After a jump shuttle was prepared to launch, the transparent, blast door would close behind the shuttle.