Earth's Last Angel (14 page)

Tom grins. ‘Oh yeah, this ship is totally magic!'

‘Go on,' says Val, ‘I know you can't wait to explore her.'

Val is surprised by an awkward hug. ‘Thanks dad,' says Tom, ‘and don't you get stuck in here. Nolack-1 can run this baby for a while.'

‘I guess so…I'll go soon,' replies Val.

‘OK, I might catch you at the lake then,'

‘Yes, sure,' says Val. He watches Tom leave the flight deck, wishing his mother could see how he had turned out. She would have been so proud.

‘Nolack-1, could you pick up any of those stations we sent the telecast to? I'd like to know their reactions to us hijacking the global sky screen,' smirks Val.

‘Scanning now, Captain.'

Tom steps into the glass elevator, a pod that shoots down a tubular shaft through the decks. He could slow it down to take in the scenery but the view is spectacular even when seen as a blur. The spectrum of colors and shapes, fused together, produce a kaleidoscope effect at high speed. He enjoys the heady rush of traveling fast.

Stepping out at the resort, giddy and swaying a little, he walks to the manager's office.

‘Been joyriding again?' asks Macca. ‘I thought your dad would have you working.'

Tom just grins back and slaps a 10 point token on the counter. ‘I want your fastest, water bike Macca, please.'

Macca looks past him and winks. Tom casually turns and finds himself face to face with a gorgeous young female.

‘I love a Mazuban with manners,' she comments, smiling at him.

‘I hope your Mazuban isn't too well mannered,' he replies, regaining his senses.

She frowns. ‘I did mean you, but…maybe I was wrong.'

‘No, no, you were right,' Macca interjects, ignoring Tom's warning glare. ‘He's just teasing, aren't you, mate?'

Tom, not answering, stands aside so the woman can give her token to Macca.

‘Your name please?' Macca asks, glancing at his own reflection in the mirrored counter.

‘Sofia, and I'll have the fastest water bike you've got,' she shoots back, glancing sideways.

Tom caught the challenge and smiles. So, she wants to race.

Val is feeling satisfied with the telecast feedback. Though many reported it as a hoax, some in the scientific community stated they believed the footage was authentic and there was much discussion on how it was possible to construct such a large ship under the sea bed without detection. There was even a hint of outrage that a small sovereign kingdom had outfoxed the Ishtara, Ahamrik and One World Order with all their advanced surveillance technology. Val smiles at this.

‘Captain, we are locked onto our first reference point, the Moon,' Nolack-1 reports.

Val automatically glances at the console, even while knowing it wasn't necessary. ‘Perfect, what is our estimated time of arrival at our zero point on the asteroid belt?'

‘At our present velocity we're expected to arrive at the zero point in 1648 days, sir.'

‘Nolack-1, I think we should see what this little girl can do. What do you think?'

‘If you mean how fast can we travel? Yes. Perhaps a safe 75% thrust to start with, sir?'

‘You catch on pretty quick for an AI, Nolack-1.

75% sounds good to me. What's our new ETA?'

‘ETA is now 12 days.'

‘Thank you, Nolack-1. Patch me through to main comm's, please.'

‘You have the comm's, sir.'

Val waits for the tone to sound throughout the ship. ‘Could I have your attention, please? This is your captain speaking. We are picking up the pace a notch, we will be at our ‘0' point in 12 days, well ahead of schedule. We will divide into two shifts. One will be on recreation leave and the other shift will be on work roster, alternating after six days.'

A wave of whistles, hoots and cheers sound from the decks and Val smiles. He feels Nolack-1's sensors seeking his attention. ‘Yes Nolack-1?'

‘The crew are noisy, captain.'

‘They are happy,' Val replies.

‘I am sensing that this is good.'

Val smiles at Nolack-1's child-like perception.

‘Yes, it is Nolack-1.'

‘Nolack-1, you are not programmed for emotion.'

‘Ah, Mazuban emotion?'

‘Yes, we Mazubans are strange creatures, aren't we?'

‘You are indeed, Captain. Will there be any other assistance required?'

‘No thank you, Nolack-1.' He walks out to the platform, affectionately nicknamed the Plank. From this commanding view extending out 100 meters from the main deck, he can look up through the clear glass floor of the top deck and see the golden pyramid appearing to levitate above the glass floor over the main deck. He now looks down and sees the inner wall that rims the open center, balconies are draped in hanging gardens of green amid a rainbow of color. Fragrant blooms cascade like a waterfall 20 floors to the ground level.

Below this, is a fresh water lake stocked with fish and other small marine life. It doubles as a venue for recreation. Surrounding the lake at its northern tip is the small forest leading to the rock formations which provide climbers with realistic peaks to scale.

The parks and resort are for the pleasure of the ship's occupants, and the artificial environment is carefully balanced to sustain all Mazuban and plant life. Even the four seasons are replicated by the ship's artificial sun.

Val knows this is the ultimate Ship, a perfect balance of nature and advanced technology finally brought to fruition. Val is still moved with deep emotion at what he sees, and smells. Standing on the Plank, he feels like he is a proud eagle soaring high above his kingdom.

‘Another emotion, Captain?' Val breathes deeply. ‘Yes Nolack-1, pride.'

Mondok storms over to the control room on level 24. ‘12 days,' he mumbles. It's far too close. What is the captain thinking of? Even with a support crew of 260, it was obvious, at least to him, that the prospecting vessels won't be ready in time with the crew working at half capacity.

A pimply young Mazuban stands by the console with a coffee cup in hand. Mondok glances at the coffee ring on the table and glares at the Mazuban. ‘DJ, drink your coffee on your own time. We're here to work.'

DJ rubs at the coffee ring with his sleeve. ‘Sorry, boss. It's just that there are problems with some of the prospecting vessels and I knew I would be here a long time so I took a moment to…'

Mondok puts his hand up, cutting the flow of words instantly. ‘We're all going to be here a long time,' he says, ‘but if I see another coffee ring on my table or any other mess, I'll rub your damn nose in it. Understood?'

DJ nods. ‘I'll just take the cup back.'

‘Quickly! I bet you haven't installed the fuel cells in PV 011 yet!'

‘Almost,' he replies. ‘Twenty minutes to go.'

‘Well, you wasted most of that time on your coffee, so now you've got five. Now get out!' Mondok hissed.

DJ was all too happy to escape. He passes Denise on the way out.

‘What's wrong with you?' she asks him.

‘Old firecracker is at it again.'

Denise laughs. ‘Old? He's around my age.'

‘Yeah, but you're not a mean, cranky old bugger!'

She smiles. ‘So, what did you do to make him cranky?'

‘I just made a coffee ring on his desk.'

‘Well, you know how he is about tidiness and order.'

‘Yeah, but he said he would rub my nose in it.'

Denise sighs. ‘DJ, he wouldn't do that to a dog so he's not going to do it to you, is he?'

He doesn't look so convinced.

‘And did DJ tell you he still hasn't installed the fuel cells in PV 011?'

They both spun around to see Mondok standing behind them glaring ferociously at DJ, though Denise thinks she could see a hint of a grin.

‘No, he didn't.' she catches Mondok's wink but tries not to smile as she stares hard at DJ.

DJ shifts his feet uneasily. ‘Alright, as soon as I get rid of this cup, I'll get right into it,' he says.

He shoots a scared look at Mondok, unsure if he had heard his firecracker remark, and almost runs from the control room floor.

They wait for him to be well clear and burst into laughter. ‘Oh my God, I haven't had this much fun in a long time. I think poor DJ is going to work his butt off for the next six years, never mind six weeks!' chuckled Denise.

‘Yeah I only have to leave the floor for 10 minutes and then it all turns to crap! Someone has to keep them in order.'

‘Well, I'm here now, and I know Ven is on his way so what needs to be done?'

Mondok groans. ‘What doesn't need to be done? There's PV 011.'

‘Well, DJ is doing that,' she reminds him.

‘PV 003 has a hydraulic malfunction. The airlock keeps jamming open but Wacko is onto that one, a Boddington reactor split open on PV 012, shutting down the vessel, so now that needs to be replaced,

Grasshopper is fixing the core drill on PV 005 but something else has happened and the main computer was fried, so we need Ven to take a look there since we're both clueless with bio-computers.'

Mondok stops, seeing amusement on Denise's face.

‘What?'

‘I wondered when you were going to take a breath.'

‘Yeah, well, it's going to be difficult taking a breath with all this work,' he says.

‘But that's only two to fix between you, me and Ven. What's the problem?'

‘We are working at half capacity now. If anything serious goes wrong, we will be pushing shit uphill to get it all done.'

‘Uh huh, but we've got 12 days with two crews working shifts.'

‘I hate it when you're so optimistic.'

‘Mondok,' says Denise, putting an ample arm around his wiry frame, ‘if you keep stressing out, Nolack-1 is going to pick up on your anxiety levels and we will be off the job and a fresh crew brought in.'

Mondok knows she is right, but he is not ready to give up his tirade just yet. ‘Not me, I'm working the full 12 days or this work won't get done.'

‘Oh boy, there goes my six day break,' she says.

‘You don't have to give up your break.'

‘And who's going to keep you in line?'

His frills twitch furiously. ‘No-one keeps me in line.'

‘If you keep telling your team members you are going to rub their noses in their mess, you won't have anyone left, except me.'

‘And me.' Ven swings his backpack off and tosses it on the floor. ‘Have you two seen this ship? I mean really seen it?'

‘Oh, so that's where you've been, gallivanting around, sightseeing.'

‘Chill out, old timer,' says Ven, grinning. ‘I knew you would want me to work the full 12 days so I decided to check out the place first. It's amazing, there are even water sports on the lake. And Denise,' he turns to her, wide eyed, ‘there are at least three chocolate shops, maybe more. but I was more interested in other things.'

She gives him a playful backhand, laughing. ‘I'm sure you were.'

Mondok kicks at Ven's bag under the table. ‘Don't know why you bothered. All the info is in the tech guide in your bag,' he mutters.

‘It's much, much better than in the guide. I'm telling you, you have to see it.'

‘We will, when the work's done.'

‘That's cool,' Ven says.

Denise is silent and Mondok glances at her. ‘Well?'

She shrugs. ‘Well, let's get a move on then.'

Mondok marches away, leaving them to run to catch up with him.

At the top of the ramp of PV 005, Ven stops to wait for Denise. Puffing, she slaps him on the rear. ‘Come on, get a move on. You need to get in shape, young'un.'

Ven laughs. ‘OK, mum.'

Mondok stops abruptly, causing the others to almost bump into him. He smiles to himself.

In the tail section of the prospecting vessel, buggies and drill rigs occupy the large floor space, while along the starboard side is the laboratory. On the portside is the workshop where a mechanic sits, surrounded by tools and machinery parts.

‘Aha, Grasshopper,' just the guy I'm looking for,' says Mondok. ‘How's that drill rig, coming along? We could do with an extra pair of hands if you're not busy'

Grasshopper looks at the chaos around him and grins. ‘Nah, not too busy, I could do with a break.'

‘Do you know Denise and Ven?'

‘We've seen each other around,' says Grasshopper ‘I've just been too busy to talk.'

‘Yep, well, time to get a move on, plenty of chat time later,' says Mondok.

They trail after him through another airlock door and into the biosphere, a lush paradise tropical oasis in the center of the newly completed crew quarters.

Denise passes beneath two banana trees and kneels beside the pond. Carp swim lazily on the surface. ‘Hey, Tiger,' she calls, tapping on the edge. A huge gold carp with black stripes follows her finger through the water.

She looks up, smiling at Ven and Mondok. ‘I'll take this one,' she says.

Ven laughs. ‘Only you would call a fish Tiger, how did you get it so tame?'

‘Oh, I came here to meditate sometimes,' she says, ‘when those noisy tradesmen weren't here.'

Mondok snorts with laughter. ‘You? Meditate? Why would you want to do that?'

Denise smiles. ‘You should try it, Mondok. It's relaxing.'

‘Ha, I've got better things to do with my time. Which brings us back to…?'

‘Work' Denise and Ven say almost in unison.

‘By gum, I've got you two well trained,' Mondok says, rocking on his heels and combing his neck frill with his fingers.

Ven pushes open the heavy metal door of the flight deck, and the acrid stench of burnt out electrics assail their senses. ‘Did you fart, Denise?' teases Ven, as it slams behind them.

Denise begins to laugh, coughs then restrains herself.