“Sarah? Who’s Sarah? I thought your ship was Alice,” said Pete.
“It is. Alice is my yacht. Sarah is a small warship. You never know what or who you are going to find out there in the rift.
By looking at Sarah and by our Earth standards, you would never know she was a small ship but by the standards of civilization that built her, she’s small. She’s one thousand yards long, 500 yards wide and 200 tall. Sarah was sleek and streamlined. All their ships that didn’t have to enter atmospheres are boring rectangular boxes. They look nothing like you see in science fiction movies. There is no atmospheric resistance in space so the ships don’t have to be streamlined besides, a box is one of the most space efficient shapes there is. You can pack more in them than you can in those sexy designs in movies.
You have a lot to absorb. Someday I’ll show you around town and some of our facilities and introduce you to Katherine.” Pete said to Victoria.
“The city is beyond description. Parks, ponds, birds and clean as a whistle. We could stop at a bistro run by service bots and get coffee or a bar for a beer. Imagine, a city in immaculate condition that had lain dormant for ten thousand years and you could still get a beer or coffee or a full dinner for that matter.
I met Katherine. She never looked at us. She was ethereal, and for lack of a better word, like a goddess. Mac spoke to her and introduced me. Her lips didn’t move and she looked straight ahead but I heard her voice. She welcomed me.
Mac said she communicates to us through our nanobots.
Since then I have visited the city many times and I am always in awe.
If you want, I’ll take you there someday.”
“I don’t want to go there. All I want to do is get my life back.” Said Victoria.
“You disappoint me. This is an adventure of a life time and all you want to do is go back and write fluff pieces for The Wall Street Journal.”
“No! I want to be a serious financial reporter. I have a good life in New York and I want it back.”
“A good life? What does that entail, going home each night to your cat?”
“How did he know I have a cat?” She thought.
Her eyes welled up with tears. “Make fun if you want but this has been very hard for me to take in. It’s overwhelming. I just want a normal life.”
He wanted to take her in his arms and console her. He held back. It wasn’t his place to do that. He was the cause of her distress. Instead he said, “Of course it is and I should never have said what I said. It was unkind and cruel. Please forgive my boorish behavior.”
“It’s not your fault. You were trying to be kind and show me places that would amaze me. After all that’s happened, I’m just stressed.
You’re right this is a chance of a lifetime. Of course, I’d like to see the city but I also desperately want my life back.”
He patted her shoulder. “I’ll try and get you back as soon as I can but first we have to go to the Amanda.”
Chapter 5
800 Years Earlier
For the first 180 years nothing happened. The only reports from the probes were of space junk, the shot up wreckage of various space ships from warships to transports. There was nothing worth investigating.
From what Mac and Stumpy had told him, there were two great civilizations that had populated most of the planets near the rift. These planets had been terraformed and seeded with humans, by what CAIN called the Creators, thousands of years before the great war.
Mac named the factions the Montana Alliance and the other the Texas Hedgehog Empire. When Pete asked why not use their real names, Mac said their names were lost to antiquity. The planet that Stumpy lived on and all of their ships were from Montana Alliance.
Katherine told them the war lasted at least four hundred years and it was bloody. In the first one hundred years, entire planets on both sides were wiped out killing billions of people. In order to save their people, both sides built huge population ships, each ship holding billions of people. The ships had powerful force fields and a large weapons arrays. They were population transports and also mammoth battle cruisers. These ships not only protected their people but they were mobile which meant they could hide.
Both sides moved their populations and their fleets into the rift and like scuttling a ship so it wouldn’t fall into enemy hands they destroyed all of the infrastructure on the planets they were abandoning. The rift was so vast both sides thought they could not only hide their people but protect them from the other side. They dispersed each population ship far away from the other population ships. Each side had large fleets of warships. They deployed some of the ships to protect the population ships and the rest they sent out as hunter/killers.
For the following three hundred years large battles were fought, none of them decisive. It looked like this was going to last forever and then all of a sudden all of the humans in the rift disappeared in a snap of the fingers, gone.
The planets that had been destroyed were terraformed by the Creators and reseeded with humans, animals and plant life.
There were other populated planets in the Creators part of the galaxy but by comparison they were primitive. None of the primitives had left their planets.
Eventually some of these “primitive” societies and the newly seeded planets developed, by comparison, rudimentary FTL drives and began exploring space, trading with some planets and conquering others. Even though they could jump a few light years at a pop, it could take them decades to travel to the farthest reaches of the Creators colonies.
The warring parties had several things going for them or against them depending on your point of view.
They were at least twelve thousand years technologically ahead of the primitive planets. They had developed an inexhaustible power supply that powered their civilizations, their ships and their weapons. Their FTL drives could span over one thousand light years and for distances longer than that they could open worm holes to almost anywhere in the Galaxy. Their force fields were powered by a feed back field generator. This meant if anything assaulted the force field, that energy was fed back to the generator which in turn strengthened the force field. It was almost impossible to penetrate the field. All of these advancements were spectacular but their pièce de résistance was the replicator. It could replicate almost anything and if made on the right scale could replicate space ships, buildings, roads and smaller replicators, food, clothing and anything needed in a household. The possibilities were almost endless.
It made a true utopian society possible. It made trade obsolete. No longer did planets have to trade and barter with other planets for manufactured goods and raw materials. Every home had a replicator. Think about it, no farms, no conveyance devices to get the produce to market, no markets. Everything you needed was at your fingertips.
The people in both factions lived indefinitely and without any challenges had become indolent. An argument could be made that the two powers went to war to give their people purpose, a challenge, a goal. Whatever the reason the war was bloody and ugly.
Now all was mystery, a galaxy size puzzle. Why the war and where did all of the people go? Now Stumpy, Mac and Pete were in the rift looking for more than just artifacts, they were looking for ships and possibly a lost colony of survivors.
Katherine was turning out probes by the tens of millions and all Stumpy, Mac and Pete had to do was wait for them to find something.
In the interregnum, Mac aboard the Sarah began showing Pete the planets outside the rift. There were hundreds. All were different. Some had climates similar to Earth where they had relatively mild climates. Others had harsh environments, some with blazing heat, others with long freezing winters and short growing seasons. There were water planets covered with islands. There were desert planets and tropical rain forest planets. Almost any environment you could think of there was a planet or planets for it and there were people who lived on them and they had adapted to the conditions on the planet. There were people with scales, others co
vered in fur, and almost any color you could think of. Some were small. Some were giants, almost eight feet tall. There were a variety of governments from tribal to a central planetary government. Most of the governments were tyrannies, very few democracies.
Pete and Mac could visit some of these planets others were too hostile and violent. And as advertised, Pete’s nanobots allowed Pete to understand and speak any language or dialect on these planets. The nanobots had made some physical modifications to Pete. They had built a force field generator in his body cavity and a food replicator. The force field could stop most energy weapons and all projectile weapons and debris from a near by blast. The replicator could take waste matter like urine and feces and replicate body nutrients and water. If he was ever deprived of food and water, the replicator could keep him alive for another two months. When the replicator was in operation, he didn’t have to eat or drink during that time.
Some planets welcomed them others sent war ships to greet them and tell them they weren’t welcome. When they were warned off, they left. When they were fired upon they disabled the war ships and left a message that they were not their enemy but simply wanted to trade. It was a lie. They didn’t want to trade. They wanted to visit but it was meant to show they were peaceful and it gave the planet something to think about.
The more advanced planets had limited FTL drives. Their ships could jump as many as five light years at a time and then had to wait a couple of months for the drives to recharge. Some planets’ drives could only jump one or two light years at a time. It took them years to travel a thousand light years.
Three surrendered. When the first planet surrendered, Max asked Pete if he wanted to be king, emperor or grand poopa. Pete just laughed and said, “I’m a tourist not a tyrant.”
On the friendlier planets they would spend a few months to a year sightseeing and observing the different cultures. They were traveling between the planets just getting a feel of what they were up against in this inhabited part of the galaxy. They had been attacked by hostile planets, pirates and slavers. They became familiar with the trade practices and routes and who was trading with whom.
“Why does CAIN keep us in the dark? If I were planning this operation, I’d give explorers like us all the information I had. It would make them more productive.”
“I don’t know. I’ve thought the same thing for years and haven’t come up with any answers. Perhaps CAIN doesn’t know. Perhaps it’s the way the Creators want it. Maybe it gives us an open mind. We don’t have any preconceived ideas to distort our thinking. This way we have to explore all possibilities. Who knows what that goofy bot is thinking?”
A week later they got a message from Stumpy. A probe picked up a weak energy signature. They were to proceed immediately to the quadrants Stumpy sent them. The coordinates were over sixty thousand light years away. Mac decided to do it one thousand light year segments instead of opening a worm hole. Mac explained, “The worm hole is quicker but the jumps are more accurate. Besides, I don’t like worm holes. They make me uneasy. Call it superstition if you want.”
Pete didn’t pursue it.
It took them a little over a month to arrive at the target site. There, about a thousand miles away was a rectangular solid, one mile long by three hundred yards wide and three hundred yards tall. Mac said, “An escape pod. Something got blown up and somebody or bodies escaped.”
Pete said, “That’s an escape pod? When you said pod, I was expecting something much smaller.”
“It’s designed to hold millions of people. They would enter the pod and immediately go to their assigned stasis chamber. Let’s get closer and see what’s inside. You might not believe that millions could fit in there but if each person on Earth had one square yard to stand on, the entire population of Earth could fit in Los Angeles County.
Sarah, is the pod Montana Alliance or Texas Hedgehog?”
“Montana Alliance.”
“Can you raise it and if so will it identify us as a friendly and not fire on us?”
“Yes.”
“Take us in.”
As they were about to come along side, Mac said, “Suit up. We are going in.”
“Couldn’t drones or bots do that?”
“Yes, but where’s the fun in that? Come on. Suit up.”
Before they left Sarah, Mac said, “Sarah can you have the computer turn on the lights and life support?”
I’ve already done that. I’m not an idiot.”
“Sorry.”
“Yes, you should think before you speak.”
Mac rolled his eyes.
“I saw that.”
Mac whispered to Pete, “This is worse than being married.”
“I heard that!”
“I rest my case.”
Pete said, “If I were you, I’d be careful every time I walked by an airlock.”
“Don’t take his side, Pete.”
“I would never do that Sarah. I was just cautioning him.”
“Well, I’m disappointed that you think so little of me. I would never space you or Mac. I’ve been tempted but I would never do it.”
Pete whispered, “You’re right. This is worse than being married.”
“Pete, for you, I may change my mind.”
“Thanks, Sarah.”
“We’re docked. Now get your sorry male chauvinistic butts over there and find the life form. I’ll guide you to it. Keep your suits on. This thing is ancient and could spring a leak any minute and I won’t be able to repair it.”
They walked through the docking chamber into the pod and down a corridor to the bridge and control room. The control room was like a medium size living room with easy chairs, a couple of couches and small tables by each chair and coffee tables for the couches. All of the tables were to hold drinks and snacks just like living rooms on Earth. There was a large screen on one wall. Standing at attention by one wall was a service bot butler.
Mac explained, “Humans don’t make many decisions on any of the ships in the fleet. The central computer does everything. The computer can be over ridden by the captain but that rarely happens.
For example, we tell Sarah where we want to go and what we want to do and she takes care of it. If we come under attack like we did in some of the planets we visited, she takes care of that also.”
The most impressive sight of all was through the control room’s window which ran the length of the room overlooking the bay below. There were empty, vertical stasis pods from wall to wall and as far as the eye could see. There was a walkway down the middle and walkways going side to side between each line of pods.
Mac said, “Sarah, how do we find the pod we are looking for?”
“I’ll get it for you.”
The first pod in the first row uncoupled and rose slowly in front of the observation deck/command deck. An opening opened up in the clear wall of the deck. The pod floated in and set down on the deck.
The canister was made of a transparent material. Both Mac and Pete walked around it to see everything inside. What they saw was a man about 5 foot 10 tall, wearing a loose fitting yellow jumpsuit with a rag hanging out of his back pocket.
Mac said to Sarah, “What are we looking at here?”
“You are looking at a synthetic. By the color of his jump suit and the piping on his shoulders, he’s a chief engineer.”
“What should we do with him?”
“Let me take him to sick bay, take him out of the chamber, try to revive him and find out why he’s the only person on the escape pod. Once you leave the escape pod, I’ll send it to Kathrine and she can look further into this mystery.”
Pete said, “I have a hard time thinking of a ship this big as a pod and just what is a synthetic?”
“Wait till we get out of our suits and are in the lounge having a cold beer and all will become apparent.”
“You mean you’ll tell me.”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
“No, you said all will become apparent.�
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“You’re not simple, are you?”
“I need a beer.”
Sarah moved well clear of the escape pod as it prepared to do a series of jumps to Stumpy’s world. She then turned her attention to the man in the stasis canister. She scanned the canister and the man in it. All of the vital signs looked good so she began the revival procedure. The canister’s clear polymer door slid open. The man’s eyes opened and he began to move slowly. A service bot was standing by and helped the man to a reclining chair.
After Sarah finished running her diagnostics and found nothing wrong with him. She asked, “How do you feel?”
It took him a couple of minutes to answer and when he did he croaked, “Like I have been asleep for a thousand years.”
“Try ten thousand years.”
He remained silent for about 30 seconds and said, “That can’t be. If the pod was intact, they would have found it in a few days, a month at most. The pod was intact, wasn’t it?”
“Yes it was but your population was gone, wiped out. Nobody was looking. We were hoping you could shed some light on that.”
It was obvious to Sarah that he was trying to come to grips with what she had told him. So many thoughts were running through his head. He was speechless.
“Take your time. This is a lot to take in. Perhaps you need to rest.”
“Rest? If you are correct, all I have been doing for the last ten thousand years is resting. No, I just need time to think.” He tried to sit up but the room began to spin. He flopped back down on his chair. “I have vertigo. I can’t sit up much less stand.”
“I’m going to sedate you and work on your dizziness. I’ll wake you in a few hours.”
Pete and Mac were in the observation lounge under a dome looking out at the stars. Both were drinking cold pint mugs of English bitter.
Pete said, “I never tire of this view.”
“Me neither. It has a calming effect on me.” Mac then asked Sarah for a status report.
“The patient is doing well. It looks like he survived the stasis quite well with a little bit of vertigo. When I told him how long he had been out and asked him what had happen he seemed confused and a little bit overwhelmed. I’ve sedated him and I think I got rid of his dizziness.
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