Authors: Allen Charles
“I guess we present it to the whole council and vote. I do have one question that needs answering. What happens to the reaction gold trail when we reverse direction. We will be flying into our own trail.”
Shaw answered, “Nylast Dinkshif anticipated this issue but there is no practical application or experiment that provided an answer, so solution was very simple. We give away a small vector of our thrust for a five degree offset on each Drive, countering each other. The gold trail flows past us to either side during deceleration.
Once we understand the Drives after using them for some time, I would like to devise experimentation to resolve such questions.”
“Yes, without blowing us up.” laughed Fuller. “If Janine can join us for a while, call the Council meeting.”
Shaw presented his idea to the full council, resulting in a unanimous vote of approval. For now, the moon rescue took priority. They had several hours transit until they would come into line of sight communications. Everyone took a holiday and relaxed.
CHAPTER 67
Behind the Moon.
Back in the Shuttle, Sheila, Martin, Graham and Corcoran, now recovered, sat together and swapped information. Martin explained how all the passengers had simply vanished at the time of the mutiny without any obvious cause.
Sheila was writing the points on a dimage, but only got to two before they hit a wall. “Your passengers vanished and here the whole fleet population seems to have vanished. What are we dealing with? If it was the anti-matter then you and Corcoran would have been affected also.”
The group sat, speechless, thinking hard. Nothing made any sense.
“Aliens?” Graham broke the silence.
“God?” Martin added.
“Spontaneous human combustion? I read about it in history books.” Corcoran chipped in.
“Whatever it is, none of us have actually seen it happen,” said Sheila, “and at this point we will use that as Rule one. We always stay in sight of one another, including my passengers.” She turned around and surveyed her charges in the cabin. They were all busy doing small things or snoozing. Nothing was out of place in the scene.
“So what’s Rule two?” asked Martin.
“Rule two is enforcing Rule one by keeping in groups of four with two people designated to watch another group of four at all times. That way we are all being watched by one or two others. If any more disappearances occur, we will see it happen. We have to nail whoever or whatever is doing this to us. There can be no slacking off on this. We will roster four hour shifts so that sleep times are covered. There can be no privacy at any time until this is resolved.”
“We have twenty eight people aboard,” said Martin, “so we have seven groups. I think we should also roster the groups on watch staggered four hours each with two hour overlaps. That will give full coverage.”
“So what do we do if anyone does vanish in front of us?” asked Graham.
“Hit the alarm and circle the wagons. What else can we do but watch?” replied Sheilah. “Meanwhile, we need to set up a signal beacon that is not going to cause epileptic fits in case any of the other transports made it through. Then we need to do an inventory of our supplies and our people skills. Martin and Corcoran, please organize the security groups and roster. Do Graham’s group first. Graham, take your group, and another if you have to, and do the resources inventory, without losing sight of another group. That is the key I think.”
The group broke up and security groups were arranged. Sheila took her group to set up a signal beacon and survey the fleet. Even with the anti-matter coating, they knew how to break through it now and there would be essential survival materials aboard the other ships.
“Well! This is quite a turn about Peepers!” Charonelle was almost breathless in her excitement, except she didn’t have any lungs. “Zardooz has joined the Carver team and Sheila’s group has become highly suspicious because of the disappearances. I said it was too obvious to pull all those people into stasis.”
“Oh come now!” blustered Peepers, “Who would have thought they would find a way to get through the anti-matter. In fact I thought they were stasis fodder long before that, when they did the catch thing with Martin.”
“This puts a whole new spin on the act by Sheila’s troupe. They know something is up and they even suspect outside interference by aliens.” Howley snorted a chuckle. “Aliens indeed. Are WE aliens?”
“Your brain has always been strange Howley!” retorted Peepers. “Maybe you are an alien, from the comedy universe.”
“And a migraine to you Peepers! If I had a middle finger it would be up right now! Hmph!” Howley went silent.
“You know guys, we could mind wipe the lot of them and put the fleet people back.”
“Charonelle, there’s been enough damage done,” pontificated Peepers, “so we will let it run its course. If you restore it back this whole segment could run on for years. Let it be. What are we down to now, twenty eight in Sheila’s group and thirty on the fragment? That is enough to finish this series with a grand final like never before!”
“Agree with Peepers Howley?”
“Hmm!” Howley agreed, still angry with Peepers.
Down in the control room, Nickle had been watching the exchange in growing horror, the anticipation of mind wiping all those people a logistical nightmare. He gave a sigh of relief when the judges decided to carry on as is.
Nickle looked at the board. Everything was dark and quiet. There wasn’t even any betting traffic going on since things has quieted down. He sighed, took a swig of his beer and sat back to watch an old football game replay from thirty five thousand years earlier in Game Series Four. He loved the boot knives and exploding football shrapnel effects of that version of the sport.
CHAPTER 68
On the fragment.
“We come over the comms horizon in two minutes. We monitor every possible radio frequency, visual comms and even look for bottles with notes floating in space. We have no idea if our friends made it, or if they are disabled. Our searching must be pro-active. If you have any idea that something might be a message follow it through.” Janine looked at the intense young faces in front of her. “Take your places people.”
Most of the cadets and the President’s staff ranged themselves around the cabin next to port holes looking for visual signals.
Fuller, Carver, Shaw and Hannaford took up positions at the instrument panels. Shaw brought up a regional dimage showing a real time scan of the visible region. As the fragment progressed on its journey he peered more closely at the moon’s horizon and increased the scale. He could see some irregularities but was unable to make out what they were.
After a few minutes he started pumping the air with his right hand and chanting “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Fuller looked up from his screen, “What? Gerald?”
“Ships. Transports. Shuttles. I see them. As we move further I can see more of them.”
“Go full visual. Image up.” Fuller commanded the computer.
The view that appeared brought a collective gasp of despair from the four. The ships were all coated in anti-matter.
“Beacon! Beacon!” shouted Felicity excitedly. I have a signal from a Space City Shuttle. “Shuttle commanded by Sheila Johnson. Twenty-eight survivors aboard, including two Transport Pilots, Martin and Corcoran. Beware anti-matter coating everything. Need rescue. No reaction mass. Ship location follows.” A series of numbers giving a three dimensional location relative to a distant know star sight streamed in. Shaw plugged the coordinates into the computer and the dimage zoomed in on a dark grey spot that resolved itself into the shape of a shuttle in deep shadow. There was no anti-matter on this one.
Fuller played up and down the comms frequencies hailing the shuttle until a squawk came through the speakers and Sheila’s voice was heard, loud and clear. “This is Shuttle SC11. Sheila Johnson commanding. Please identify.”
Janine, as commander, replied, “This is Skyhook Transport X3 in conjunction with Air Force One, Janine Carver commanding. Commander Johnson, I am not familiar with you. Please identify fully.”
“I was promoted in the field by Commander Bob Evans who was in command of this fleet - until he and all the personnel vanished. I was originally Cook’s Assistant on Space City with a Doctorate in Stochastic Processes on the side.”
“What is your situation Commander Johnson?”
“We used the last of our reaction mass in rescuing two Transport Commanders, Martin and Corcoran. They report that their passengers vanished while they were outside their ship, however there was no anti-matter involved there. All the crews and passengers of the fleet were here some hours ago before the anti-matter attacked. After we returned from our rescue mission the ships were covered in anti-matter and the people gone.”
“How can you be sure that they are not trapped inside?” asked Janine.
“We devised a way to penetrate the anti-matter safely and looked inside the nearest transport. It was empty.”
“You said you penetrated the anti-matter. Did you record your method?”
“Did you say Air Force One?”
“Yes I did. Can we get back to the anti-matter matter?” Janine giggled when she realized the silliness of her words.
“Is the President aboard? Alive and well?”
“He is.”
“May I speak with him please?”
“I guess so. I will call him.” Janine asked Tom to come to the cabin, explaining the situation briefly.
“This is the President.” He put on his most imperious voice. “To whom am I speaking?”
“It’s me Uncle Tom! Sheila, your niece.”
“Sheila! Good lord! Thank God you survived!”
Janine rolled her eyes back and shook her head in disbelief. “The President’s niece!” she said to no one in particular. “Who woulda thunk it?”
Janine broke into the happy reunion, “Sorry people but this has to wait. We have a very small window to pick up this crew and no time to waste.”
“Sorry Commander,” Sheila apologized, “we will catch up later. But WOW! My Uncle made it!” The joy and relief were almost tangible in her happy expression. “What do you want us to do Commander?”
“We are going to try to grab your shuttle as we pass by. We have access to a fair quantity of reaction mass in this fragment and we have refuelled our transport in anticipation. We plan to come to you with the transport, offload a full reaction mass bladder and take your empty aboard. You will then be able to rendezvous with the fragment.
There is no time now to tell you all that has happened and what we have planned. We need to catch you in the next thirty minutes, so please remove the empty bladder and be ready to receive the full one. You follow us immediately. If you do not catch us, there is nothing we can do to assist you, so plan carefully.”
“One question Commander Carver?”
“Go ahead.”
“Have you experienced any strange disappearances of personnel?”
“Not directly, but another survivor we picked up did say something to that effect.”
“Oh! Others. Good! Well we had better get outside and get that bladder ready. Err... what about the rest of the fleet?”
“In spite of the fact that you did beat the anti-matter, it is still too dangerous to become involved in bypassing. We have good resources here so the risk is not worth it, especially if there is no one aboard those ships. Proceed Commander Johnson.”
“Acknowledged. Seeyalater Unc!” Sheila couldn’t resist throwing that in.
Aboard the transport Tom smiled and said, “She’s a real fighter that Sheila. Got a lot of her Australian mother in her. You know, she’s a martial arts master. Some seventh Kishka in Pirogi Cholent which was used by elite Israeli agents, cute as a button and brilliant at math.”
“Hmm, a daunting combination for any man.” murmured Janine. “Let’s move. Gerald, how much water did we get from that storage tank?”
“We topped up both our bladders and about half a third one before we lost the feed and couldn’t push our pipe in or around any further. The bore hole has been plugged and fused to prevent any leakage.”
“Poor Zardooz, no more showers for a bit.” Janine put on a sad face and Felicity cracked up laughing.
“I’m amazed we got that done in such a short time.” said Shaw.
“Helps not to have someone shooting at us!” replied Fuller. “Is the laser borer secured in the cargo bay?”
“Yes, Felicity and I locked it in as soon as we brought it back. How did you make out getting into the complex?”
“We managed to seal off a small section of the entry tunnel and inflated it with carbon dioxide waste gas just to check the integrity. We didn’t try an entry yet. We’ll leave that until after the recovery and see what has happened to the gas pressure.”
“Will Zardooz try to interfere with it?” asked Felicity.
“I don’t think he will,” replied Fuller, “because he doesn’t have any appreciable water left in his storage tanks and we are the only hope for him to retrieve water from the reservoir. He has a vested interest in keeping us healthy now.”
“Ready for docking with the shuttle.” In the time the short discussion had taken place, Janine had taken the transport to the shuttle and matched relative velocity to zero. She worked the transport into position with the side thrusters, moving as close as she dared to make the bladder transfer as fast as possible. Fuller, Shaw and the President moved to the lock to go out and shift the full bladder. Janine could see the figures of the shuttle crew and the open reaction mass bladder bay with the empty bladder rolled up and ready to go.
In moments the crew had egressed and the fuel tank open light came on. She watched as Fuller’s team drifted the huge, wobbling bladder towards the shuttle in slow motion. The process was a docking manoeuvre in its own right, with precision acceleration and deceleration involved.
The three figures from the shuttle moved forward to assist and together they bedded the bladder into position. Graham, identifiable by his physical size, made the conduit connection and then the three shuttle crew recharged their personal reaction mass tanks from a small nipple off the main conduit. They were all running on empty.
Fuller’s crew took the empty bladder and jetted back to the transport, but not before the President and Sheila had hugged each other for a brief moment.
The transfer had gone off without a hitch.
Now both ships had to catch the fragment as it hurdled past at two thousand miles an hour. Martin piloted the shuttle as they moved off in tandem, Sheilah looking back with tears in her eyes at the abandoned fleet as they dwindled to faintly luminous points and then were absorbed by the dark silvery disk of the moon. Soon even the moon shrank as they drew away from the last vestiges of their home.
Sheila rested her head on Martin’s shoulder as she wept and he brought up his hand to trace her tears with a finger. He came closer to her and brushed her lips with his, making her open her eyes to look deep into his soul. She relaxed completely and snuggled closer as the couches allowed.
Aboard the transport, with the first moments of relaxation in days, Felicity and Gerald were snuggled together, whispering and giggling like two teenagers, exactly what they were.
Up front in the pilots couches, Janine and John were vigilant, but comfortable like a pair of well used, loved gloves. In fact in both ships, couples had isolated themselves as much as possible in their groups of four, which had also been adopted by Janine’s ship, cadets, secret service, presidential staff and space city passengers. Peace and love were in the air.
The board in front of Nickle started to sparkle with blue flashes, something he had never seen before. He had no idea what it meant so he rummaged through a rarely opened drawer in his desk until he found the quick start user guide card that had been there for over thirty thousand years. The colors were a little faded after all that time, but it was otherwise in as new condition, never having been used more than five times by new keepers.
He scrolled down the card until he came to the board color coding. Red. Yellow. Green. There was no blue listed. Then he noticed the asterisk next to the green code. He vaguely remembered that asterisks meant look somewhere else on the card, usually at the bottom in fine print. Nothing on this side, so he flipped it. Yes, there was something there right at the bottom. He squinted to read it.
*”In the unlikely event of the board turning blue, prepare a system wide shock jolt or the collective euphoric state of the audience and all participants, including judges, could become permanent and the Game Series will be automatically terminated without a winner. This will mean a further Game Series for the incumbent keeper after reviving as many brains as possible. Apply shock only if board is partially turned to ensure some brain survival. Applying at full blue is of unknown consequences and could result in total loss of immortal population.”
“Oh shit!” Nickle scurried to the board controls. He didn’t want to spend another five thousand years pampering a load of slimy brains, no matter what his reward at the end. And yet he was scared to be without them.
“Nickle! What’s going on? We are losing our audience. Private channel now! Explain!”
Nickle was working furiously to set the charge for the system wide shock. “Not now Peepers, got an emergency on my hands. Stand by for system wide shock!”
“What?” screeched Peepers. “Nooooooo!”
Nickle pushed the button.
BZZZZZTTT!