Alpha Class [Book 2]

by TS Paul

  No wonder Ms. Bethany Anne told me minimum three months.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Deteusch watched as the two men got into the Pod. Mr. Deteusche had asked before the hatch was shut, “Did you just say you are going to the ship Polarus?” When Eric agreed they were, he asked, “Didn’t you say that was near France right now?” Eric agreed it was. “How are you going to make it to France in thirty minutes?” getting to his real question.

  Eric hit the button to close the hatch, “Short-cut!”

  Mr. Deteusch could hear his son’s laugh get cut off. A few seconds later, the Pod smoothly went up about twenty feet, then they both heard the heavy ‘whoosh’ of air when it practically disappeared into the night sky.

  The pods were a whole lot of fun especially for the uninitiated. According to the records, Jeo did a wonderful job out in the asteroid belt. He was in charge of construction and development of both the mining processes and the Queen's ship, the QBS Archangel. It was the very first Leviathan class battleship in existence.

  Peter had access to all the records and even knew about Samantha and some of her alternate personalities. Jeo was extremely lucky that it was Bobcat who first tripped to that and not one of the Guardians. Disrespecting the Queen or her handmaiden could cost you your life. That would be of course if the Queen didn’t get you first. It was his understanding that the problem had been fixed and Samantha herself had control over her structure. Only she could change if she wanted to.

  Checking the time, Peter could see it was almost 0900 hours. The members of Alpha Class should be climbing off the tram right about now. This was their second term, and they understood punctuality. That could not be said about Mr. Deteusch himself. Peter’s spies told him that the man in question was up very late partying at the bar owned by team BMW. It was just like them to screw with someone and then place bets to see if he showed up. One more minute and Peter would win the bet he had with ADAM.

  Who would be first in the office to greet the kids: Jeo or Samantha?

  Repeating to himself his earlier statement. Jeo was a major security risk. But then so was this particular group of kids. What they did on the Moon didn’t bear repeating. Last term Jeo took Delta Class on a tour of Earth engineering feats. They touched on all the continents in a time when the Etheric Empire was not having good relations with the world. He did it with a cluster of standard pods unaccompanied by any fighters or guardians. The man didn’t even take ship’s security with them. This time there would be a change. Peter had already requisitioned the two experimental five-person pods as well as one of the fighters. BMW was supposed to have all the bugs worked out of the new ten person pods. When they did, Peter had first dibs. There was too much in the way of secrets and special knowledge to allow Alpha Class to run wild this term.

  “Guardian Peter?” Peter looked up to see the hologram of a very lovely looking woman standing next to him.

  “Samantha, I presume? You just won me half an ounce of gold. Is he even alive this morning?” Peter pushed off the wall and stood up straight.

  “He is functional. The students should be arriving within the next four minutes. Would you like to assist with greetings?”

  The large Wechselbalg nodded. “Sure. I’ve met them already. Unlike Delta, this is a very cohesive group.” Peter opened the front doors as the lights started to come on.

  “Delta class. Yes, I can see that. It was my belief that the balance between male and female in that group throws off the dynamic some.” The holographic woman stood in the center of the room prepared to greet the new class.

  Peter pulled up Delta Class’s stats and checked them. “Hmm, you may be right. It’s too late to fix it. They will have to compensate somehow. I’ll send a message to both the Ds and Ship’s Maintenance and repair. That is their new posting this term. Three girls and two boys. Only one Wechselbalg among them. It might be a recipe for disaster if they can’t overcome the disparity. The Ds have a new program they have been dying to implement. It might help some. Thank you, Samantha.”

  ~~~~~~

  The walls of the base leading toward Jeo Deteusch’s office were decorated with paintings and vid screens chronicling the achievements of Engineers and highlighting the construction of the Archangel. To the members of Alpha Class just watching the vids was pretty cool.

  “I think we can download these on our tablets.” Ron fiddled with his.

  “That would be kind of cool. I didn’t even know these were made.” Tina also pulled out her tablet.

  “If you like you could even meet the man that created the ship.” All five students looked up and away from the screens to see Guardian Commander Peter watching them from the doorway.

  “Sorry. The vids…” Tina pointed at the screens.

  “No need to apologize. They are pretty cool. I’ve ridden inside the Archangel, and it’s a kick ass ride. This is Samantha.” A tall blond woman appeared out of nowhere.

  Maxim jumped back with a “whoa!”

  Peter only smiled. “As you should have smelled and noticed she is one of the many EIs that help to run our Empire. Samantha is a bit smarter than some of those others. She has been around far longer than many. She is Jeo’s primary aid and administrative assistant. If you have any problems or questions, she is your best option for resolution.”

  Peter peered at each of the five students. “We have already discussed the reason I am here with you. Thank you for your reports by-the-way. They will be of value to the team digging into the alien base.”

  All five kids visibly started and just stared at Peter. “They are digging into the base?” Nestor spoke first.

  “Of course. Your reports, even Bobcat’s, showed that there was valuable information to be found there. We have a couple of years before we leave. It gives some of the teams something to do as well as provide training. Bravo Class is actually going down there to assist General Lance. They will also learn how our military operates and team building exercises.”

  “Have they found anything yet?” Maxim stared at his future commander.

  “Just wreckage. I don’t normally get to see the reports, but I checked knowing one of you might ask. When and if you cycle around to the General you may get to return. For now, this is your assignment and Jeo your instructor. In fact, I hear the man in question approaching now.” Peter turned toward the rear hatch.

  As all five students watched, a young looking man wearing wrinkled clothes tripped over the hatch seal and tumbled head over heels into the room. He landed on his posterior and sat on the deck blinking at them.

  “Did I miss anything?”

  Peter just groaned and covered his eyes.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Sorry about the falling thing. I got up on the wrong side of the bed today. Let’s do that again shall we? My name is Jeo Deteusch. I’m the head of construction and shipbuilding, but I dabble in mining and manufacturing too.” Jeo, recovered from his fall stepped to the head of the room in full-on lecture mode. “Does anyone have any questions so far?”

  Tina raised her hand. “Yes, Sir. Are we still mining in the asteroid field?”

  “Excellent question Tina. The answer is sort of. This base we are in is an asteroid after all. We are starting to wrap up our efforts out here. Much of the material we are using now is coming from this asteroid as we dig out the base more and more. The Queen has requested that the QBBS Merideth Reynolds be able to hold half a million or more of her people. We intend to double that number. Engineers are overachievers.”

  “Wow. Why so many?” Ron blurted out.

  Jeo looked at the younger students direction. “Name?”

  “Ron Diamantz.”

  “I know your father. The full answer to that question would have to come from the Queen herself, but I think she intends to take anyone who wants to come with us. We are going out to the stars. Yes, we intend to confront whoever and whatever intends to bring harm to Earth, but it’s space! Who wouldn’t want to go? I’m sure there are other reasons. But mine is s
imple. I have family down on Earth. They don’t want to come along. They are tied up in family drama, TV shows, 9 to 5 jobs, and making a buck. Do we even worry about any of that up here?” He peered at the students.

  Yana nodded. “I can see that. My name in Yana Konstantinovich.”

  “Ah, the princess. I’ve heard about you. You are the perfect answer to the question. Your family could have stayed down on… what is it I heard the other day? The mud ball. You could have stayed down there if you wished. Instead, you came to the New world.” Jeo smiled at her.

  “Not as simple as that. We didn’t want to die. But yes. That is one reason. Earth… is the past. The Etheric Empire and what it represents is the future. Even I see that now.” Yana looked to her friends for support.

  “So expanding this is one of the many things we do.” Jeo placed his hand on the wall. “We also build the ships for the Empire as well as some of the larger scale weaponry that comes out of the Jean Dukes think tank. You have to be wondering ‘what I will have you do this term?’ The answer to that is varied. Your predecessors, Delta Class, were a bit confused by what I had to teach them. Does engineering interest any of you?”

  “Me, Sir. I have built both rockets and cars. Back in our town of Romanovka my father encouraged me to learn to fix things. But building them is what I really want.” Nestor stepped forward.

  “A dreamer.” Jeo cocked his head to one side. “You would be either Maxim or Nestor?”

  “Nestor. Maxim is my cousin.” Nestor pointed to Maxim who waved at Jeo.

  “Good. How did the rockets do?”

  “Not well. I burned down a shed and invoked the ire of my father. But I did get one to go four or five hundred feet before it blew up the shed.” Nestor smiled as he spoke.

  Jeo laughed. “Remind me to tell you about some of my experiments as a child. My parents are lucky I didn’t burn down the town we lived in. What I intend to teach you is the basics of what engineering is and why it’s important to our lives. We will explore some of the great historical works of mankind. If you talked to Delta, they might have mentioned some of the places we went. This class we will go to different places than them. This is both for you and for me. I like to explore as much as anyone.”

  Peter cleared his throat and attracted Jeo’s attention.

  Jeo pointed to the camo-clad Guardian. “If you haven’t met, that is Peter. He is tagging along this term to keep us out of trouble.”

  “They’ve met me already. I have a secondary assignment to find out as much as I can about the alien base they discovered. But my main job is to watch out for you. Try not to get killed. I hate to fail.” Peter barely smiled as he said it.

  “I will make that my new goal in life I promise. Now, let’s get started. I have a classroom set up around here somewhere. Samantha?”

  The tall blond hologram reappeared. “You are using room four this time. The weapons development team needed more room and took over the old classroom.”

  “Samantha is my keeper as well as the best assistant I have ever had. If you need anything while here simply speak her name and she will do her best to help you.”

  ~~~~~~~

  “We need to immediately include spacesuit training in our basic curriculum. Maybe we could also have the high schools start the basics too. We also need to make sure that everyone has at least had some emergency suit training.” Dorene looked into the office both sisters shared.

  Diane responded by saying “I will get with the curriculum committee to see what can be done.”

  She continued, “What happened?”

  “Bravo Class again. General Lance took them down to the moon to work with the digger crews. This was their first time in suits.” Diane winced at the tone her sister had.

  “Do I really want to know?”

  Dorene arched an eyebrow. “No, but I’m going to tell you anyway. It was Craig that started it.”

  “What did he do now? Please tell me he isn’t dead!”

  Dorene laughed. “He’s fine. We may joke about it, but it’s scientifically impossible to fly off the moon. There actually is some gravity to hold you down. Craig either didn’t know this or wasn’t listening to the safety rules when he put on his suit and went outside for the first time.”

  Diane put her hands over her face. A muffled “do I want to know” came out from behind her hands.

  “Craig ran out the hatch past the instructors and other students and jumped as high as he could into the air. He didn’t fly off the moon, but he did crash into a mag-lift pod that was positioning itself to pull wreckage and debris out of the alien hole. He stuck to the bottom of the pod like a magnet on the refrigerator. The EI controlling the pod immediately released Craig, but there was a mass of construction drones and other digging equipment below it.” Diane winced.

  “The report I received said he bounced once and then crashed into the front end of the primary digger. Thank God it was not running at the time. That machine uses both cutting blades and lasers to chew through the moon’s regolith soil. One of the blades penetrated his suit and caused a leak.” Dorene had a serious look on her face.

  “I thought those suits were indestructible?” Diane pulled out a memo about suits from her files.

  “No. That’s not what that memo says. I checked too. It says the suits are indestructible by any normal means. It doesn’t include our own technology. I’ve already spoken to Jean about this. She told me that they are already halfway through the new run of a half million suits and it would have to wait for the upgrade. Jean told me to tell you that they didn’t anticipate idiots using them.” Dorene smiled at her sister. She was turning over a new leaf and actually apologized to Jean while they were talking.

  “Was Craig hurt badly?” Diane worried about the boy. He was gaining a reputation for being reckless.

  “Sort of. The rip in his suit opened his hand up to space. The automatic seals in the suit prevented a blowout and saved his life. One of the other members of Bravo is actually who saved him. Halli ran to his assistance and managed to get him off the blades before any more of his suit was punctured. She’s the real hero here.”

  “I will inform the Queen when I turn in the report for this. Maybe she can reward the girl or something. Which hand was exposed, it wasn’t his new one was it?” Diane could only shake her head over his impetuous conduct. This time his behavior would need to be formally addressed.

  “That’s what’s funny about the whole thing. It was his left hand rather than the right. If he keeps this up, they will start calling him stumpy.” Dorene chuckled at the look on her sister’s face.

  “So I should expect to hear from Dr. Running Wolf this morning? Did you know she was a board certified Emergency Room surgeon for over ten years?” Diane questioned.

  Dorene responded to her, “I actually did know that. She told me she would update you on his condition, but stupid is not something she can fix.”

  “Very funny DJ. Is the General mad?” Diane smiled at Dorene.

  “No. He said it typically takes several weeks to get the dumb out of most new recruits. Craig is just an over achiever. His main complaint was the Safety Report I asked him to complete.”

  “And on the first day too. Any other problems with the other five classes?” Diane could only shake her head.

  “Not so far but the day is still young.”

  ~~~~~~

  “Do you have a status update for me?” Major General Vlákas bellowed at his aide. He was angry at half the services right now.