Cygnus Rising: Humanity Returns to Space (Cygnus Space Opera Book 1)

by Craig Martelle

  The recruits were excited. Two teams today and in two days, two more teams would join them. The computer system was limited to transferring twelve people at a time and sometimes it took up to two days to make the transfer. The technology was centuries old, but no one had figured out how to improve on it. So they used it as it was, within the system’s constraints, planning around the limitations it imposed. No more than twelve at a time traveled.

  SI Hendricks shepherded the teams through the underground tunnels beneath New Sanctuary, in the bowels of what was the New Command Center, having been named by the AI called Holly nearly two centuries earlier when the computer, with nothing more than a single bot and its own vast store of knowledge, relocated from the ruins of Sanctuary, the capital city of Cygnus VII destroyed during the civil war. Holly established the New Command Center, which served to usher in a whole new era. They even started the year count anew because of it.

  The teams meandered in the hallways and corridors, around machinery and in odd rooms, until SI Hendricks took the opportunity to gnaw on both the team leaders, Black Leaper and a human called Patesh. The SI had authority and sometimes lauded it over the recruits, but only when out of sight from Space School. It was his way of getting back at the powers that be. He was not well liked.

  By anyone.

  Stinky and Patesh rallied their people to tighten up and close the gaps. They could get a tour after graduation. Until then, they were on the school’s time.

  The matter transfer chamber was tucked away to the side on the factory level beneath the New Command Center. Its door was a section of wall that moved aside to allow the travelers inside. Each would get their own reclining chair to sit in, as the technology required separation of all the travelers. The room was exact in its dimensions, down to a micron so the computer system could deal with fewer unknowns during the transfer process.

  The SI wanted to bring another instructor along to watch over the group because he selfishly wanted to pick Briz’s brain, but he couldn’t because of Tandry’s Hillcat. It was standing policy to never separate a recruit from their ‘cat. The matter transfer system required every living creature to occupy its own recliner in the chamber, so the ‘cat took up the remaining empty spot. This soured Hendricks’ mood further.

  They climbed into their chairs, received the briefing from the Artificial Intelligence, from Holly himself, and stayed still as the room began to shimmer. They kept their thoughts to themselves as darkness descended. None of the recruits had traveled using the matter transfer technology before. None of them had ever been to space either. Usually, the SI had one who’d been to the Traveler, even if it was only on vacation with their parents or on a school trip.

  The travelers disappeared into a dreamless sleep as the process worked, flawlessly, as always.

  The twelve people opened their eyes, seemingly only a few heartbeats after the process started, but it had been a day and a half according to Vii time. SI Hendricks wanted to be first up, he’d done this dozens of times and it was old hat. He swung his feet over the side, put his head between his knees, and yacked up his breakfast of toast and jam, as he’d done every time previously. The recruits stayed where they were, the queasiness threatened to do to them what they’d just seen from the SI, a seasoned veteran of space.

  No one wanted to be the first to move, so Mixial tentatively stretched and jumped to the floor, freezing in place as she tried to acclimate herself to the ship’s spin. It made her feel like she was falling sideways, just enough to be annoying. She walked with a lean, making a wide arc around the SI’s puke, and headed for the panel that slid open to reveal a well-lit space beyond. The SI stood tall and told the recruits to get moving, secretly hoping every one of them would spew their guts out. He was already disappointed that the ‘cat hadn’t hacked up at least a hairball.

  The recruits had been well briefed and moved with glacial slowness. Tandy leaned over, in slow motion, and said goodbye to her breakfast of granola and berries. The bile crept up the back of Cain’s throat and his mouth started the telltale watering of imminence, but he refused. He was Braden and Micah’s great-great grandson. He had their genes and showing weakness on the ship that they opened for all the people of Vii was something he refused to do. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, thinking of other things, like which chairs they sat in as they traveled.

  The eminent Hillcat Prince Axial De’atesh had also occupied one of those chairs. Legends suggest he never puked, although Cain’s grandfather, when he was still alive, told the family that the Golden Warrior, as they called him, never hesitated to share his discomfort through a good pile of spew, strategically placed.

  Cain coughed once and up it came, despite his best efforts to hold back the flood. The Wolfoid slid off his chair and onto the floor, feeling the spin of the ship. He stood, front feet on the floor and back legs still on the chair, before carefully moving one paw at a time until he was standing, albeit on all fours.

  “This feels funny. The ship is spinning,” Stinky articulated clearly through his vocalization device. The others started to gag. The smell in the matter transfer chamber overwhelmed them and they lost it. The good news with puking was that they felt moderately functional afterwards. They eventually worked their way out, wiping their boots on a special pad outside the door for that purpose.

  “The usual, Hermes,” SI Hendricks said loudly to a man who appeared in the doorway with a second being that Cain recognized as an Android. He’d looked forward to meeting one, although his family had a long history of mistrusting Androids.

  A small maintenance bot rolled in smoothly behind them and started cleaning the matter transfer chamber before the next group’s transfer process started. The recruits put it out of their heads since the nausea passed once they were in the engineering section. SI Hendricks pulled them together in a semi-circle to give them their shipboard safety briefing.

  “Never interfere with the vines you see in this section and that you may encounter elsewhere on the ship. We’ve finally been able to reverse their growth, but it’ll take centuries for them to completely shrivel. In the interim, we work around them.” The SI pointed to the odd green growth on the forward bulkhead. People of various sorts worked by the vines, but a guardrail kept the alien growth from the ship’s other inhabitants.

  “My great-great-grandparents cut through them with their blasters some one hundred and thirty-six years ago, right there,” Cain said excitedly as he tried to see the scars, but the vines had repaired themselves and no sign of the battle remained. “And the vine gave Master Aadi’s shell a vicious slash,” he added in his storyteller voice.

  “We’re all aware of who your great-great-grandparents are, Recruit Cain. They caused a great deal of damage to this ship and thanks to Holly and the Androids’ superhuman efforts to save it, we’re able to use it today to explore space,” the SI said sarcastically.

  Cain was instantly furious. Ellie grabbed his arm to hold him back. Stinky bumped against him and worked his way in front. Mixial hissed and jumped into Tandry’s arms. Briz didn’t hear anything the SI was saying. The Rabbit looked at the workstations, the hints of equipment behind the aft bulkhead, the sounds of the ship in operation, the curvature of the deck, the rotation. He closed his eyes and breathed it all in. He was home.

  The SI saw the anger in Cain’s eyes and the others as they moved to protect him. Maybe DI Katlind was right about how tight the team had become. They seemed to know each other innately, what their next actions would be. The Rabbit looked to be in heaven.

  “All of that is behind us. Let’s continue with the briefing to keep us all out of trouble, and then let’s begin the ship’s tour. For the purposes of this visit, we will remain in the aft section, studying the life support systems and how they work to ensure a fully functioning environment for space travel. The RV Traveler has been in space for more than four thousand years and yet it still functions. How is that possible? That’s what we’re going to study over the next two
weeks that we’re here. At a special request, we’ll visit Decks 8, 9, and 10 as some of your ancestors started your existence there. Moving on…” SI Hendricks started walking away as he talked.

  Cain fumed. If it hadn’t been for my ancestors, none of this would be possible. Holly and the Androids! Neither of them could have done anything without Braden and Micah, you pompous ass! he thought to himself. He ground his teeth. Ellie held his hand as they walked to help keep him calm, but all that did was send his emotions surging, until she pulled him roughly to the side.

  “You need to get yourself under control! Your thoughts are projecting everywhere and I have to say, I’m a little disgusted with what you are thinking about me!” She threw his hand down and stormed away.

  Cain stood confused as the two teams continued walking. Stinky looked at him and waved at him to catch up. The Wolfoid worked his way into the back of the group. With Briz attached to the hip of the SI, Hendricks wouldn’t notice anything else. The two were talking as if they were old drinking buddies.

  ‘So, what’s up? It looks like you’re having a bad day,’ Black Leaper said in his thought voice. Cain was gifted with the mindlink, but sometimes he lost control when his emotions raged. At this point, he was well out of control.

  ‘The SI makes me mad. My girlfriend back home leaves me, and now Ellie is starting to turn me on,’ Cain shared over their mindlink, leaving the details unspoken.

  ‘Yeah, we’ve talked about Aletha before. I don’t think she left you,’ the Wolfoid said as they strolled in the back of the group, not listening to what the SI was saying. ‘I think she’s letting you take your man journey, find yourself and all that. What does she want?’

  ‘Stay home,’ Cain replied quickly. She’d never said anything of the sort, but her actions and Cain’s impression told him that had to be the case. He was convinced of the truth and far too proud simply to ask her and have an adult conversation about their future. He continued thinking to himself as he descended into a dark pit of his own making, Why doesn’t she want to travel with me, see the stars?

  ‘You’re doing it again, Cain,’ Stinky interrupted the human’s errant broadcast over the mindlink. ‘By the way, what kind of thoughts were you having that Ellie found so distasteful?’ the Wolfoid prompted his human friend.

  ‘Sorry. I was thinking about her butt and what it would be like to caress it and give it a squeeze. That’s all, I swear!’

  ‘Why would you look at her butt?’ Stinky asked, perplexed by the vision.

  ‘Why wouldn’t you? Have you seen it? It’s impossible not to look at. Don’t tell me you don’t look at Wolfoid butts?’ Cain replied, defending his happy vision of Ellie.

  ‘No. Why would I?’ Cain shrugged. ‘It’s the smell, my man. That tells you everything you need to know about everyone. You don’t sniff them?’ The Wolfoid smiled, baring his fangs as good thoughts raced through his mind. He took a few quick steps to catch back up to the group.

  ‘That’s crazy! Why would I sniff the women? Look at this nose,’ Cain countered, showing Stinky his profile before chuckling out loud, drawing a harsh look from both Tandy and Ellie.

  ‘It’s clear why you walk around in such a daze. You can’t smell what’s going on. And your eyes don’t see much either. Can you imagine sitting around checking out Wolfoid butts? Me neither,’ Stinky finished.

  Cain retreated into his own mind as he watched SI Hendricks talk about something or other.

  Cain shook his head. He had to get his mind wrapped around what he wanted. Why was he thinking about Ellie? Why was he so quick to think poorly of Aletha? Why had the SI tried to goad him? ‘It’s how we work in space. We have to put the distractions behind us. The ship is life, right?’

  ‘The ship is life, my friend. Now let’s learn a little something. I’d hate to waste this trip watching you wallow in self-pity,’ the Wolfoid replied.

  ‘I’m going to grow a braid,’ Cain threw out.

  ‘Of course you are…’

  Damage Control

  Before being assigned their bunks, they had to successfully demonstrate the ability to don and clear their self-breathing apparatus and find their damage control station. Everyone on the ship was assigned one, even if they were only there briefly as they transferred from one ship to another. The colony ship was so large that crew, inhabitants, and visitors would be assigned new DC stations as they traveled, because movement over such long distances would be counterproductive in an emergency.

  They were assigned to one in engineering. The locker was well stocked with all the gear they’d used in training. It helped them to be more comfortable while also grounding them. The Traveler was a massive construction, making them feel like they weren’t even on a ship. But Damage Control, the practice with the DC locker, and the serious tone of the SI convinced them that this wasn’t anything trivial.

  They put the gear on and off four times before SI Hendricks was satisfied with the timing. Satisfied was a loose term, because he never changed his perpetual scowl except when he was talking with Briz, so the recruits devised a plan where Briz would keep the Space Instructor occupied while the others disappeared for some exploration. Their first day on ship wasn’t supposed to be a full training day anyway. They wouldn’t get into the real training until after the other teams arrived.

  The recruits were familiar with the layout of the RV Traveler, because they’d studied it before they transferred aboard. They knew the bulkhead designations and how the ship was arranged. They’d walked through the three-dimensional maps provided in their virtual reality training at Space School. It made them feel more at home, although nothing could have prepared them for the spinning of the ship’s decks. They felt like they were walking sideways. Briz seemed right at home instantly, while Mixial was the most upset. She sulked constantly, which put Tandry in a bad mood. Stinky shook it off. He had too much to worry about with the other four in various states of disarray.

  The klaxons rang through the engine compartment. The recruits were conditioned to think of them as a drill, although they immediately took action, heading for the DC locker. SI Hendricks intercepted them. He had a wild look in his eye.

  And half his arm was missing. The recruits stared at it dumbly. There was no blood, as the wound had been cauterized by whatever did the damage. He mouthed words, but nothing came out. He reached his good arm for them and spasmed, arching his back to breaking as he opened his mouth and spit blood.

  Seven of the recruits panicked and ran. Cain and Black Leaper moved forward to catch the SI, while Briz remained frozen in place, mouth open and nose twitching furiously. He didn’t blink as he stood transfixed.

  Behind the SI and walking calmly toward them was an Android, its laser tool exposed as it fired again into the body of the man they held. Without checking, they knew their instructor was dead. His back had been peppered by short blasts from the work laser. The Android approached. A shiver went through Cain’s body as its artificial eyes locked on his. The arm slowly rose, the laser taking aim…

  Cain remembered the stories his great-grandparents had shared in their final days, stories of duplicity and distrust. For all their lives, Braden and Micah refused to trust the Androids, despite Holly’s continual assurances that he was one hundred percent in control. Braden lost two fingers because of an Android-fired work laser. Braden and Micah had killed a great number of the humanoid robots, counter to what Holly asked. In the years since, Holly and the inhabitants had created new Androids to fill necessary positions. The activity within the Traveler to make it functional as a space station demanded a huge, active crew. Holly solved the problem through building more Androids, adding to the fifty percent on board from the generation built on Earth, four millennia prior. These were the ones that Braden and Micah feared.

  It was an Android from that generation that seemed to be coming after Cain.

  “No!” Cain screamed at the approaching enemy. He ducked his head behind the SI’s body as he started pushing the corp
se in front of him. Stinky caught on and helped. If they tried to run away, the Android would shoot them in the back as it had done to the SI. Cain and Stinky rammed the man’s body into the Android.

  They felt like they’d run into a wall. The thing was locked to the deck plate using its magnetic grappling ability. Its aim was thrown off and the laser scorched a metal panel in the corridor behind them. Stinky leapt over the falling body and clamped his Wolfoid jaws onto the arm that was firing.

  Cain dodged around the Android and ripped open the DC locker where he knew there were tools. He grabbed a flat pry bar and turned, swinging for the Android’s head. The bar clanged, ripping a great chunk of artificial flesh off the thing’s metal skull. Stinky fought an epic battle in front, fighting to keep the creature from getting a grip with its free hand, because with the Android’s powered grip, it could easily snap the Wolfoid’s neck.

  The Android changed tactics and swung the arm that Stinky was latched onto toward the wall. The Wolfoid bounced once and hung on. Cain hit him again, this time behind the knee, thinking it would be a weaker spot. The leg bent awkwardly, but the Android remained upright.

  The second time the Wolfoid bounced off the wall, he let go and crumpled to the deck. Cain turned his swing into an overhead chop and hit the arm with the laser right at the wrist joint. The thing’s hand snapped and the laser became useless. The Android reached for him with its other hand, but its damaged knee made it take a step and drag a leg. Another step, another drag.