Bootstrap Colony
Authors: Chris Hechtl
Bootstrap Colony
By Chris “Jekyll” Hechtl
This is a work of fiction. All
the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional. The exception
is Dr. Bowyer who graciously gave his permission to use his name and his work
in this book. Any resemblance to other people is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved, including
the right to reproduce this book and or portions thereof in any form.
Copyright 2009 by Chris Hechtl
ISBN/BN#
2940011946943 Bootstrap Colony
Cover art Copyright 2009 by Chris
Hechtl
Dedication: Since this is my
first published book I’d like to dedicate it to my family and Mrs. Phillips.
Both
in their own ways encouraged me to follow my dreams wherever they may take me.
Mitch looked on, across the sea
of machinery and sighed. “Best I can do.” He muttered to himself, and then
glanced at his cell phone tablet. “Five minutes to show time.” He looked up,
waved to the camera crew nearby.
When he had won the lotto for the
first time it had been a life changing event. The second time had been an eye
opening experience. Now here he was two years later; about to take the greatest
journey of his life across the sea of stars to a new world. “I hope this is on
the up and up boss.” He heard over his Bluetooth. He grimaced wryly at the
comment.
“Yeah, wouldn’t I have egg on my
face if I was wrong and no little green aliens show up?” Mitch replied. An
earthy chuckle answered that.
Bob always did have a good sense
of humor, and a good sense of proportion. “Not too late to call this off, go
get a beer...” Bob left that hanging as he stepped up beside him. Mitch turned
a mock glower to his stocky subordinate as he flipped the Bluetooth off.
Bob was wearing his favorite
duster, with his classic marine hair cut. He was only five foot six, far
shorter than the broad shouldered six foot one Mitch.
Mitch pretended to think it over.
“Let’s see, go to a new world, or get a beer... Decisions decisions...”
Bob grinned, “Yeah, a beer sounds
good right about now.”
Mitch snorted. “I have a micro
brewery around here somewhere... You did remember to pack it right?”
Bob looked shocked, and then
patted his sides mockingly. ”Let me check my notes...” They both chuckled.
The sky began to darken ominously
over the center of the machinery. “Nice knowing you Bob. Good luck with Mary
and the kids, I hope it all works out,” Mitch said, looking at the sky briefly.
It was about that time.
Bob looked up, then into the eyes
of his boss. “Nice knowing you Mitch, I wish to god we were going too.” He
shook Mitch’s hand, and then jogged to the camera crew waiting a safe distance
away. Mitch nodded to them, and then turned his attention to the vortex forming
over his head.
He took a sip of coffee from his
mug, and then tossed the rest on the ground. He grimaced because it had gotten
cold. He turned and stepped up to his command hummer, getting in and slamming
the door just as lightning began to pepper the field perimeter. Instinctively
he put his seatbelt on, knowing that it was completely useless, but following
ingrained habit.
“Show time. Hope those boys don’t
get fried,” he murmured to himself. He flipped on the Bluetooth and called Bob.
“Bob pull your people back a bit out of range of that lightning.” Static was
his only answer. He tapped the Bluetooth but it only hissed and popped. He
muttered and pulled it from his ear, then looked down to pull up his cell
phone. When he looked up the field was gone, a glowing cloud were in front of
his crowd of shaken spectators. “Never mind...” he muttered as he watched.
The cloud retreated, taking on a
more distinct and familiar shape. Several more can be seen, they form into
ethereal jellyfish shapes darting in and around the vehicle park. “
You
certainly strained our quantum...” >ME&%$WX static “to the limit homo
sapien organism designated Mitch Chambers,”
a neutral voice rumbled.
He smiled. “You said all we own
outright,” he replied as he looked around, fumbling with the camera.
“
Affirmative,”
the voice
replied.
He watched as around the perimeter of the park the flares of
light pass by.
“Are those stars?” he asked,
astounded.
“
Affirmative. The quantum”
>ME&%$WX static pop “effect has some optical bleed on the edge of the
field.”
One of the creatures paused in front of his vehicle then moved on.
“
Your materials have strained our power reserve, ordinarily we would plant
you with others of your species, however your materials have required a
separate transit all on their own.”
He smiled wryly. That was just as
well. He'd hoped to be on his own; it made protecting his stuff all that much
more simpler. “Well, I always did march to my own drum.” One of the creatures
paused while it ran a tendril over the roof of one of the animal containers.
“
Comment understanding error.
Query, rhetorical idiom?”
He looked over to it. “That is an
affirmative,” voice and tone simplifying instinctively into those he used when
he used the Voice Address system of his computers. He watched as it ran
tendrils all along each of the containers.
“
There are insufficient life
forms within to maintain individual species consistency.”
He smiled. “There is a bank of
genetic material in another vehicle,” Mitch replied. The creature bobbed and
then moved on.
“
Destination coordinates are
Northern Hemisphere Terran resettlement continent.”
the alien voice
reported after a moment. He nodded.
“
You may feel residual inertia
upon ground contact.”
He chuckled. “In other words keep
my seatbelt on and tray back until the ride came to a complete halt.” The
creatures stream around the perimeter, which he can barely make out a rush of a
planet rising toward him. He always was leery of heights; this wasn’t helping
him get over them. A thrill of fear spurts through him, his bladder screamed in
protest.
“
Contact with atmosphere. One
time unit until transit completion.”
Mitch looked over to one of the
larger creatures. “Can you tell me more about this planet? Gravity, local life
forms, location of other humans? Location of raw materials, length of planetary
cycle? Solar cycle?” He should have asked about that earlier and knew he'd kick
himself later for not thinking of it.
The nearest creature bobbed
slightly, and then a tendril quivered as if in response. “
Insufficient time
remaining for proper query answer. In order of questions. Zero point nine
Terran standard gravity. Too many to be discussed in time allotted.”
Images
of animals flashed through his mind, blindingly fast. He fumbled with the
bottle of aspirin and popped three into his mouth.
“
Sixty kilometers due north nearest
transport site of other primates of your species. Others three hundred
kilometers south west and two hundred and ninety kilometers south east. All
others too many to specify in time. Query not understood. Time measure is
irrevalannnn...”
With that last answer cut off the creatures sped up and
then moved upward into a spiral. A burst of light made him instinctively cover
his eyes with his arms and duck.
The truck jarred to the ground,
bouncing him slightly. When he opened them his eyes were watering, with after
images of his forearm bones. He closed his eyes and leaned back into his seat
headrest. “Well, that was interesting. Now the fun began.” His head pounded
with a migraine. “Happy New Year. Whoopee,” he muttered.
He opened his eyes some time
later, feeling the headache receding and vision returning to normal. He looked
outside, beyond the top of the trucks to the sky. It was a marvelous shade of
blue, speckled with light puffy clouds. Suddenly a four winged creature flew
overhead. “Well, Toto, we are definitely not in Kansas anymore,” he said in
whimsy as he stared at it as it gracefully soared on out of sight. He smiled
wryly and flipped open the laptop.
He keyed in the activation to his
perimeter security robots, and then pulled up the video of the transit. He
watched on fast forward, pursing his lips in a silent whistle at the sight of
the creatures and show. “Damn what a show... Bit of a bumpy ride, but still
worth the price of admission.” He got out, stretched, and then followed natures
call since his protesting bladder was about to explode.
He heard the bawls of the cattle
and animals in the nearby containers. “Yeah yeah, I’ll get to you in a minute,”
he said, finding a bush and doing his business. He was gratified to see the
security robots moving out to secure the perimeter. He turned to look around
once more.
“Command not understood.” The
metallic inflection made him turn with a start.
“Damn! Thought you were one of
those aliens.” He gave the nearby general purpose robot an angry glare.
“Comment classified rhetorical,”
the robot replied. He cocked an eyebrow at the machine as a thought struck him.
“You sound just like them. Hmmm I
wonder if they are robots?” he mused.
The robot turned. “Query not
understood,” the AI replied.
Mitch snorted. “Disregard query.
Status report.”
The robot froze as it digested
that order and then answered. “All containers and vehicles within perimeter. No
damage detected. Security reported unknown organics outside perimeter. Unknown
threat classification. Local organics retreating from area,” the robot
reported. Mitch nodded.
“Launch a UAV; program it to do a
perimeter spiral outward one kilometer at max altitude then return.”
“Affirmative complying,” the
robot said and beeped. He turned and looked out over the grass and then up to
the sky. The sun was bright, yellow like Earth’s Sol, but he could see the
faded image of a pair of small asteroid moons. He turned to examine the
surroundings, noting the copse of trees nearby, and herds of giant animals in
the distance.
The UAV, a saucer shaped air
craft with an electric driven propeller in its center whooshed off the electric
catapult rail and into the sky. Bird creatures in the brush nearby started into
flight. Some of them had four wings. He shook his head and took a look at the
animals in the distance.
“Earth reserve huh?” he said
thoughtfully as he looked over the animals with renewed interest. Giant six
legged behemoths, with hammerheads on either end were off in the distance.
Similar creatures of smaller size mill around, as do what look like giant
buffalo. “Hmm guess things have changed since they last checked in,” he
murmured. The high pitched trumpet of a creature made him turn with a start, a
feathered sauropod trumpeted loudly, and then passed near his vehicles and
toward the distant herd. Others soon followed at a stately pace.
“Neighborhood is a bit crowded,”
Mitch said dryly, somewhat shaken. He turned to the waiting robot. “Access
UAV,” he ordered. He pulled out his tablet. “Send it’s visual to my tablet.”
The tablet screen flickered, and then a dizzying sight of flight can be seen.
“Give me a map of the area based off of the UAV visual. Expand the map as new
data is entered.”
“Complying,” the robot replied.
The scene changed to a map of the area, with a slowly spiraling expansion.
He noted the direction of the
herd and then turned to look west according to the map. He looked at the
distant range of hills and mountains. “It looked like about twenty
kilometers...” he mused thoughtfully.
“Query not understood,” the robot
said. He doesn’t even look up until the robot repeated the statement.
“Disregard. Give me a UAV flight
time estimate,” he ordered, still looking at the video feed. A countdown clock
appeared.
North and South were ranges of
forests. East was a river and North East, a lake, and destination of the herd.
“Damn. Okay, looked like we go west to the mountains.” He turned to the robot.
“Prep lead vehicles for movement. Follow the leader protocol,” he ordered. He
turned to the West, looking at the distant mountain range. The sides looked
steep, and the sparkle along one side looked like a series of waterfalls, just
what he could use.
It was about fifty degrees
Fahrenheit outside. From the looked of the area it was in late thaw, there were
patches of still frozen mud in shady areas. The trees looked almost Terran, if
the aliens had transplanted animals it was a safe bet they may have transferred
plants as well. After all, the animals needed to eat to survive. Most of the
trees nearby seemed to be evergreens, but there were a few deciduous plants and
a sprinkling of some truly alien ones to liven things up.
He checked the tree line
carefully, dictating his impressions into the audio log. One of the trees had
to be alien; it was purple with a massive growth of roots raising the trunk
over two meters off the ground. The trunk looked like it was woven, with
patches of bare spots that were occupied by animals as nesting areas. “Wild,
exploring this world is going to be quiet the learning experience.”
“It looked about midmorning if
this planet is anything like Earth.” He turned to the robot. “Put another UAV
up and direct it West to the range of hills.” He used the tablet’s stylus to
draw a flight path.
“Understood. Launching now,” the
AI replied. A second aerial drone launched off the rail on the back of a
hummer, banked to the left and then climbed as it headed west. “Error, flight
path will exceed UAV flight power allowance due to prevailing winds,” the robot
reported after a moment.
Mitch nodded. The first drone was
already at its outermost ring and returning. “Program UAV two to land when
power demand dropped below five percent. Keep a running feed and updates the
map,” he ordered. He watched as the first drone landed near him. He picked it
up, brushed off the grass, and then placed it back on its launch rail.
“UAV one charging,” the robot
reported, and then trundled off and up a ramp into the back of a waiting truck.
Mitch nodded and got into the command hummer and buckled up.
He followed the flight path of
the second UAV as best he could, but was forced to detour around obstacles from
time to time. Having a real time map was a life saver of time and energy. An
hour into the drive he had to pause to recover the UAV. A feathery therapod was
checking it out, dancing in the grass at his approach before it ran off. He
returned the UAV to its rail then launched the first UAV once more, programming
it to head west.
He reached into the back of the
hummer, pulled out a gun harness and strapped it on and then pulled out the
Glock nine millimeter and carefully checked it over. He returned the pistol to
its holster and then pulled out a shot gun and racked it in front beside him.
He pulled out the Bluetooth and flipped it on. He cleared his throat. “Security
report.”
A squelch of static then a
robotic voice “No perimeter breach detected.” He grimaced, wishing there had
been time to improve the security AI.
There were five security robot
types, but only four were in current use. Each was painted army green. One was the
CAT, a four legged robotic jaguar style robot with two rifles on its back.
The P twins as he called them, P
one and P two were prototypes for the ED series of robots. The design team had
needed a stable platform to build the torso and develop the software. They used
a scaled up General Purpose robotic track drive torso, married to the upper
torso of what later became the ED robot.
The ED robots, so named because
they slightly resembled the robot from the Robocop series, were his strongest
line of defense. Each of them was bipedal, with two massive reverse knee legs
and an almost humanoid upper torso. Each arm had a trio of weapons. There was
also a pair of mortars on the back.
The Crusher robots were his
oldest robots, six wheeled robots developed over a decade ago by the DARPA
program. Each had a modular weapon system and a hybrid hydrogen/electric
ceramic engine. They were the most proven vehicle in his stable. These robots
would form his primary line of defense. They would patrol a perimeter once he had
a base set up. However they used massive amounts of fuel to move about, so he
had no intention of using them until the base had sufficient supplies. Right
now they were all riding along on the back of various vehicles or trailers.
The last robot was a UAV
helicopter. It married the predator design with a scaled down Apache
helicopter. Unfortunately bugs in the software had forced the team to shelve
the design. It worked fine as long as it was piloted, but in autonomous mode it
would attack any living thing. Not good.
Only two prototypes were built.
Since he didn’t want to get shot at, the two he had were boxed and would remain
so until he had the time to rewrite their software.
Half of the other robots would
remain behind at his landing site, protecting the equipment and trailers that
couldn't be moved until he could get back there to move them. He hated the
necessity of it but had no choice.
After a bit of a bumpy ride
through a handful of shallow gullies and a dried up creek he spotted the
cliffs, and the distinctive inspiring view of a pair of waterfalls.
“Beautiful.” He pulled up next to the drone in the grass, flicked the launch
for the second UAV, and pulled out the binoculars.
He checked the area, and then
focused in around the waterfall. He could just make out black spots on the
cliff face, possibly caves. “Better and better,” he murmured.
A low chitter and clucking sound
made him freeze. He pulled the binoculars down slowly to see a bird like
creature in front of his hummer. It was about a meter tall, bipedal, and three
meters long. Its body was covered in feathers. The head was dark, almost like a
hawk or falcon. The spine was covered in dark feathers that radiated down the
tan sides in tiger stripe markings.
It cocked its head from side to
side, using one eye or the other to look at him. Its head was tipped with a
beak, but sharp pointy teeth were behind it further up the muzzle. It thrummed
almost a low stuttering cluck, and he slowly reached for the defense switch. It
shifted about, almost hopping. It flicked its hands, and he could see the claws
on the tips of the fingers under the feathers.
Suddenly something smashed the
side of his truck, making him start in fright and lean away instinctively.
“DAMN!” The chittered and cawed were loud now. He flicked the switch and was
gratified by the charging whine... Then sudden pop of electricity followed by a
loud high pitched squeal and rustling. The creature in front postured in
agitation, flapping its wing arms like a bird, and then thrashing the claws out
in grasping motions at his truck. It dropped its head down low, giving a
hissing sound. Another of the creatures stepped on the fallen drone.
“HEY!” Mitch called in sudden
concern and annoyance. In just a second claws tore into the little UAV, then
the head dipped down and ripped at it. Bits of metal and plastic dripped from
its maw as it looked back up at him. “Damn!” Mitch snarled, punching the
truck’s ignition and then stepped on the gas.
The one animal in front of the
truck bolted, but he clipped it sending it spinning. He checked the rear view
mirror, watching as a group of the creatures pop their heads up over the stalks
and then come out of grass. “Just what I didn’t need, raptors,” he said in fear
and anger. He watched as the clipped one cawed, tossing its head feebly, and
then struggled to get up. Another was nearby, stumbling along. It fell, and
then got up. “Serves you right,” Mitch muttered, and then drove on.
Cursing he flipped on the Bluetooth.
“Security alert. Bipedal bird like creatures one meter tall, three meters long
attacked lead vehicle. Tan colored tiger camouflage color scheme, hunted in
packs. Alpha predators designate... raptors,” he intoned. He heard a beep.
“Entry confirmed. Request visual
record,” the AI requested.
He sighed. “No visual record at
this time.” He paused to consider. “Access archives Animals, sub category
Dinosaur, suborder Therapod Family Raptor.”
There was a pause before the AI
beeped. “Archive unpacked. Therapod Dinosaurs, family Raptor. Please specify
genus,”
He sighed. “Do any of the
therapod raptors meet the description?”
“Checking.” He looked down as his
laptop divided into a series of silhouette pictures of each of the species.
“This one, um, Deinonychus is the
closest match. Enter that as a temporary visual record.”
“Confirmed,” the robotic voice
answered.
“Threat level red. Terminate on
sight if approach within ten meters of established perimeter. Be on the lookout
for other Therapod predator species. Consider them threats if they approach.”