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

by Craig Martelle

  The next step in the journey was about to begin. They were to be transferred through clear space to the growing shipyard outside the asteroid belt where most of the raw materials needed for a ship’s construction could be found. The Cygnus-12, their ship, waited for them to arrive.

  Four humans–Cain, Ellie, Tandry, and Lindy. One Wolfoid–Black Leaper. One Rabbit–Briz. One Lizard Man–Pickles. And three Hillcats–Lutheann, Carnesto, and Mixial. Ten intelligent creatures representing a broad section of humanity were heading into space.

  They were the people of Vii.

  Cygnus-12

  Having a clear line of sight without atmospheric anomalies to deal with greatly expedited the matter transfer process. Holly was able to deliver the crew members in four hours. The travelers had no idea how long it had taken as only moments passed in their consciousness. No one moved for a long time, then as if in slow motion, they moved, first one leg, then the other, sitting up carefully, stepping to the floor, and with glacial quickness, they walked out the door.

  Cain braced himself for the sound of puke splashing on the deck, but it didn’t come. The longer they could fight off the queasiness, the more likely they could avoid it entirely.

  Master Daksha was waiting for them with the ship’s captain, Captain Rand. The greetings were quick and tame. Captain Rand was a rather tall human, skeletally thin. Lindy wondered how he made it through Space School as he appeared to lack almost all musculature. He saw her critical eye looking him over.

  “Deep space can do a number on you if you spend too much time in zero-gravity, zero-g that is.” He stopped to look at them all and they crowded around him to better hear as the corridors of the shipyard were busy and loud. “On our last trip out, we lost the spin of the core and our food processor went out. We survived one whole year like that, but it does a number on one’s body.”

  The new crew members hadn’t heard that. As a matter of fact, they’d heard about successes, but no one had thought to ask about failures. What happened when missions failed?

  “You should have seen me six months ago. I’ve filled out a bit since then. I have a ways to go still.” He smiled before continuing. “And yes, the mission was a resounding success. We mapped two new star systems, one of which had a planet in the habitable zone that looked to be fifty percent water. Very promising indeed. A second mission is going there when the ship is ready.” He pointed out the clear impact window to a spaceship, massive compared to those in the adjacent docks. The habitat section of the shipyard was spinning to maintain the appearance of gravity, while the ships were best constructed in zero-g, where the parts and pieces could be more easily moved. The window they looked through was at their feet as they were pressed against the inside of the outer hull. It was a simple design, austere in its trappings. The facility served one purpose, as a place for workers to rest between shifts and were more comfortable doing detail work with instrumentation. Everything else happened in spacesuits, outside in zero-g.

  The Cygnus-12 was in a shipyard dock, looking small compared to the new ship it was next to, but they shared a similar design. The Cygnus-12 had the standard doughnut-shaped main module, the core where the crew lived and worked and where all the ship functions took place. But the Cygnus-12 also had a spindle extending aft from the center core of the main module.

  This spindle set the Cygnus-12 apart from the other deep space exploration ships which appeared to be doughnut-shaped only. They had no astrodynamics and if caught in solar winds or worse, a planet’s atmosphere, then the ship would most likely be destroyed. The original exploration ships stayed outside of solar systems in the interstellar void where dark matter was prevalent and the possibility of external forces impacting the ship were almost nonexistent.

  “What’s the tail for on our ship?” Briz asked.

  The captain shook his head. “I’ll show you.”

  After that, they only made small talk as they worked their way through the shipyard’s habitat toward the shuttle bay. Their first stop was in astro-physiology where they were all fitted for space suits. The shop had suits for all members of humanity, whether human, Wolfoid, Rabbit, Tortoid, Hillcat, or Lizard Man. They even had a suit for an Aurochs, although it was beyond comprehension that an Aurochs would be floating around in space.

  Getting the Hillcats into spacesuits required multiple humans, resulted in much yowling, numerous scratches, and finally, hateful glares through their small helmets.

  “What the hell, Lutheann? You picked us to bond with! We were going to space, which meant that you knew you were going to space. So shut up and take it like an adult!” Cain yelled. That earned him a scratch, but the ‘cat’s claws didn’t penetrate the suit, so no blood. Cain pushed her away, and that was all it took. The Hillcat snarled and pounced, smacking her helmet against Cain’s face as he she kept trying to get her fangs through the faceplate and into his neck. He rolled her from him, and she came back at him with a powerful leap.

  Cain turned slightly and helped her sail past. Her suited claws slid over his uniform. He readied himself for another attack, but she circled warily, looking for a way to hurt her human.

  He didn’t wait. Cain rushed at the ‘cat, catching her suit-covered tail as she attempted to dodge. He dragged her with him until he could get a good grip on her body. Then he attempted to throw her against the bulkhead. She was able to wrap her legs around his arm and started climbing toward his face. He jumped toward the bulkhead, attempting to squash the ‘cat between his body and the steel plates, but she pushed off at the last second as he slammed into the unforgiving metal. She wrapped all four legs around his neck and started banging her helmet on the top of his head.

  He pinned her against him and turned around, finally managing to beat her against the bulkhead until she let go. She dropped to the deck, stunned. He staggered forward, blood running freely down his head where the helmet had cut into his soft flesh. When he saw Lutheann lying in a heap, he carefully picked her up and cradled her in his arms.

  “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like that in my whole life,” Captain Rand told Master Daksha. The Tortoid craned his neck sideways to look at the gangly human, and the ship’s commander blinked slowly as he thought.

  “I think we’re in for an interesting trip. I had planned for a one-year survey, but I think that might be too long. How many body bags are we bringing along?” the Tortoid asked.

  “One for each of the crew, Master Daksha, as per Standard Operating Procedures,” the captain replied.

  Ellie looked at them both. “Who puts the last crew member into her body bag?”

  “Now that is one question we don’t want to learn the answer to!” And the captain laughed heartily, watching to make sure that both Cain and the ‘cat were okay.

  ‘What were you trying to do, Lutheann?’ Cain asked, gently stroking the limp ‘cat’s spacesuit.

  ‘I wanted to make sure you’d stand up for yourself, as well as fight me and fight for me. Do you understand?’ Clarity returned to her eyes as she continued to allow Cain to hold her. ‘I also want you to know that I’m not happy about going aboard a spaceship. I had no choice in the matter and neither did he.’ She nodded toward Carnesto.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Cain asked in his thought voice.

  ‘We were volunteered by the ‘cat council. The bloodline of Prince Axial De’atesh’s humans must be protected to the full extent that the Hillcat Nation can provide. It is what we must do.’

  ‘Why wait until now?’ Cain was curious how he had been the only one of his family without a ‘cat and it took the imminence of space travel for the ‘cats to take action.

  ‘You were always watched, but your departure for Space School caught us all unaware. Then your engagement with the Android made it a necessity for someone to join you. Then you graduate early. So you’re stuck with me and she’s stuck with him. We were the only ‘cats with the misfortune of being within shouting distance of New Sanctuary when the call came in. I hate wearin
g this thing, if your thick brain didn’t already figure that out,’ she said matter-of-factly.

  ‘I appreciate your candor, pretty lady. We’ll have you out of that thing as soon as we get aboard Cygnus. This little scuffle only delayed that. So let me get suited up. It seems that everyone else is ready and waiting on me.’ Cain stood, only to be ordered to sit back down while a medical technician arrived and doctored the cut on his head. He was happy to see her use numbweed, as those on Vii had for centuries. Modern medicine didn’t have an alternative. Cain was gratified that he didn’t need stitches. The numbweed worked to stop the bleeding and soon, he was suited up and ready for the transport to take them to the Cygnus-12.

  The shuttle was flown by a Wolfoid from the shipyard, who expertly maneuvered the craft away from the habitat, following the station’s rotation and then flying clear. The trip across the spatial void took no time at all. Daksha and Rand watched the new crew members as they looked out the shuttle’s windows. They knew the ship. It was the crew that would require nearly all of their attention. They saw they were connected to the spindle, the tail that was unique to the Cygnus-12.

  The construction docks didn’t move, so the landing was a painless affair. The airlocks grappled and all movement stopped. The hatch cycled and opened into a short, round passageway. The new and old crew floated free within the shuttle, nearly all of them, their first experience in zero-g. They pulled themselves along using the handholds within the tube.

  The new ensigns had used their neural implants to look at the design drawings of their spaceship and expected to land at the center of the doughnut-shaped main core where the hangar deck was located. The spindle section was all new. The construction of it had started a full year before the Cygnus-12 returned from their previous mission to deep space. The main support anchors were reinforced within the hub of the rotating section, and that was where the spindle attached. The ISE required a significant upgrade to develop an interdimensional vortex large enough to include the new tail.

  The new ensigns still didn’t know what the spindle was for.

  Captain Rand led the way into his ship, the lights responding by turning on as he entered the airlock space. The far hatch was still sealed in case of an emergency decompression. Until the outside hatch to space was closed and breathable atmosphere confirmed, they’d keep wearing their suits.

  The ship was life. Redundancies were key concepts learned through hard lessons.

  They watched the clear tube retract around the closed and cycled hatch of their spaceship. The shuttle hesitated for only a moment as thrusters cleared it from the immediate vicinity, then the main engines drove it away, back to the shipyard’s habitat module.

  Cain, Ellie, and Tandry removed the suits from their ‘cats first, to show them that their discomfort hadn’t gone unnoticed. Then the rest followed the disrobing process.

  “Welcome aboard the Cygnus, your home for the foreseeable future. I am happy to be here. This is a great ship. Saved our lives. And with this section, we don’t have to dispatch a shuttle for an extended mission in the heliosphere of a solar system. We’re taking the Cygnus! This spindle is made up of the new EM Drive, a conical engine that bounces ion particles from a solid end plate, recovering them through a cone to recycle them. It builds forward momentum rather quickly, we’ve heard. I really want to see it in action. “We” means you, Briz. You’re going to have to get up to speed on that as soon as you can. I’ve asked Jolly, our AI, to assist you in any way he can.”

  The ensigns clung to their handholds as they floated in the non-spinning ship. Everything was new, so they had no idea what to ask. Master Daksha bobbed his head in amusement.

  “First things first, Captain. Let’s show them to their quarters. Settle in for a few minutes, then let the tour begin. It’s early, but it’s already been a long day for our young charges. The real work starts tomorrow as we prepare the ship to leave space dock,” Master Daksha offered.

  “Well then, the ship’s commander has spoken, and that’s it. Tomorrow, our journey begins. Let’s get you settled in first. Everything after that will be learning about the ship. Always remember, the ship is life. Save the ship, save the people.”

  “The ship is life!” the ensigns shouted in unison.

  Getting Underway

  “How many are in the crew?” Cain asked, curious because they’d seen few other crew members during their tour.

  “The ship is heavily automated. I fear that nearly all of the crew is designated for maintenance duties, with secondary tasks within engineering, on the command deck, sensors, internal systems like life support, power generation, and elsewhere as needed throughout the ship. We only have thirty-seven total crew. We used to have thirty, but the EM Drive added too much new equipment. More people were needed to cover more territory. You’ll work about eighteen hours and have six hours off. We don’t run multiple shifts. We have overlapping work schedules and areas of responsibility, but when you are responsible for something, you own it. Any questions with what I’ve told you so far?” Captain Rand asked them.

  They nodded as they digested the information. There would be little to no down time, ever. Cain had never contemplated what it meant to serve aboard a spaceship. He thought back to why he joined. The captain who’d run into a burning building to save lives, losing his in the process. He wanted to be that man, fearless, selfless.

  He’d have to earn that title, which he’d known, but he hadn’t thought what it meant beyond doing well in training. It would take an endless number of eighteen-hour days, but he’d get there. He’d be the one they could count on.

  Having married crew members on board had been contemplated, but had not yet happened aboard the Cygnus-12. Cain and Ellie were the first ones. They were given a small recreation room that had been reconfigured. It was larger than the commander’s quarters or even the captain’s quarters. They felt guilty, but it wasn’t that much larger and there were two of them occupying the space.

  The ship could probably handle a crew five times the size of the one they had, but without the ability to resupply, they couldn’t feed or service that many people. The crew was at an absolute minimum. It wouldn’t take the loss of many people before the ship became non-operational. The captain said there was a backup plan, but he wouldn’t share the details with them. They’d have to trust him, and more importantly, they’d have to survive and make sure the captain didn’t have to implement the backup plan.

  The ship is life. Save the ship! There was a reason that saying was the war cry of the Space Exploration Service.

  The stark realization of why hit them as they followed the captain through the ship, talking with their new crewmates. The Cygnus-12 was huge, mostly for storage of supplies, every nook and cranny was filled to bursting with food stocks and spare parts, raw materials and manufactured goods. People were scarce, but nothing else seemed to be.

  The fact that they were getting underway without knowing their assigned post and responsibilities scared the hell out of them. Only Briz seemed comfortable. They didn’t know how he found the time, but he’d reviewed the schematics for the spindle section and the EM Drive. He’d studied the ISE, rather extensively, appreciative that the supplemental power needed to expand the interdimensional vortex was provided by auxiliary power generation in the spindle.

  At least when they got underway, the ship would start spinning through space. Only the very center of the donut and the center of the spindle would be zero-g. Everyone else would allow them to keep their feet solidly on the deck. The equipment elevators, fluid piping, and other support systems ran through that zero-g space, to get the most work done with the least strain on mechanical systems.

  The crew took responsibility for equipment and systems within and passing through their assigned areas, by deck, by section, by purpose.

  Engineering had three main sections: interdimensional space engine, EM Drive, and power generation. The engines didn’t require a human presence. They were heavily shiel
ded to minimize particle bleed and had no serviceable parts within the engines themselves. Power feeds, cooling pumps, and other external components were strategically located to make it easier for one or two crew members to service efficiently. The cooling systems and energy transfer were the most labor intensive, requiring constant monitoring and adjustment. Over the decades, the SES had discovered that the engines ran with great efficiency, but when monitoring systems of any type were introduced, the dynamic changed. The observer effect stated that the act of observation will change the phenomenon being observed. Removing or diverting particles through measurement devices, by necessity, changed the flow of those particles and upset the delicate balance of the systems observed.

  The SES determined that the change in the observed phenomenon was an acceptable variation for the value of being able to track the changes of the primary system. Without the measurements, the ISE could create a runaway loop, collapsing the vortex in on itself and destroying the ship. The vortex had to be controlled at point of origin and point of exodus. Movement without movement by using the vibrations and space within the dark matter itself.

  Briz loved it. None of the others understood the internal workings of the ISE. Very few did and those types generally didn’t volunteer for space duty. Briz was a rare creature indeed. When Master Daksha heard of him and his desire to stay with his team, the Tortoid went to the RV Traveler and personally intervened to ensure that Briz and anyone the Rabbit wanted was assigned to the Cygnus-12. The initial reason the others were assigned was solely due to the Rabbit.