Yesterday's Tomorrow: An Oz Garrett Novel

by Paul Rix

  It was then that the main lights changed color to a soft blue and began to pulsate. Garrett looked around the room, desperate to find some alternative controls or an explanation for the change in lights. But the increasing numbers of flashing lights on the equipment around the room were meaningless.

  Next, Garrett was distracted by bright green lights that blinked into life above three of the pods. The fourth pod, with the smoky glass, had an orange light.

  That couldn't be good.

  He peered inside each of the pods once more but was unable to spot any changes from his initial inspection.

  Returning to the console, he noticed the monitor was no longer scrolling data. Instead, it was displaying three phrases. 'Ambient Pressure', 'Internal Temperature' and 'Oxygen Saturation'. Next to each was a number that was increasing. Garrett stared at the information for thirty seconds, seeing a steady rise in each of the measures. They were rising too quickly to apply to the whole ark. Garrett knew that even with modern technology it would take hours to pressurize a vessel the size of Britannic. There was no way that ancient Earth would have had the necessary technology.

  This had to be an emergency protocol, pressurizing only the part of the ark that required it. The command deck. It explained why the hatch had sealed itself shut. Britannic's programming was ensuring the command room was habitable. The next logical step was reviving the bridge crew from cryo-stasis, allowing them to take control of the ark. Except the officers were now well over two thousand years old. There was no record of any human surviving any longer than two hundred years. That was an insurmountable gap.

  At least I won’t suffocate immediately.

  Within five minutes the ambient pressure reached 100kPa, similar to sea-level atmospheric pressure on many of the Stellar Cluster's planets. Temperature and oxygen levels were also now capable of supporting human life. Not completely trusting the information provided by such ancient equipment and systems, Garrett checked the sensors on his suit. The numbers were consistent, and his sensors detected no toxins or other noxious particles.

  Cautiously, he cracked open his visor to take his first breath of the Britannic's air, ready to seal it quickly if need. The air had a unique smell about it. Not unpleasant. Slightly metallic. It was cool and fresh, reminding him of high altitude and alpine regions on Vadia II. He took a second, deeper breath, savoring the fact he was the first person to breathe this air in over two thousand years. This air had come directly from Earth. It was a link to humanity's home world. It was like uncorking a fine wine. He stood motionless with his eyes shut, just breathing, and focusing on every lungful. With each breath, he noticed some additional nuance in the smell, some subtle sub-note. Is this what Earth smelled like?

  He opened his eyes and lifted the visor on his helmet.

  Something was happening to the pods. The steady green lights were now flashing and the rear walls of the pods were glowing a faint orange color. This had to be the start of the reanimation sequence. Now that the command deck was habitable, the ship was following its programming and attempting to wake the bridge crew. What was going to happen when the crew failed to emerge from hibernation?

  Garrett didn't have time to find out. He returned his attention to the console. There had to be a manual override. Surely the ship's designers hadn't relied solely on autonomous systems. Otherwise, what would be the need for the officers to be placed on the command deck? The first task was to purge the room of air and return the ambient pressure to a vacuum. With increased pressure inside the room, there was no chance of opening the hatch and returning to his ship.

  "Computer. I need the operational procedures for the Britannic."

  There was no response. He tried again, with no success. "Comms check." Still nothing. Damn! The hatch and Britannic's shielding must block transmissions. He was going to have to figure out the controls for himself if he wanted to escape.

  Taking two deep breaths, he maneuvered himself around to the communications station, only to stare ruefully at the vast array of switches and buttons in front of him. Why couldn't the designers have labeled everything? Undaunted, Garrett pressed a random selection of buttons and flicked several switches, rocking them back and forth. Nothing. He slammed the console in frustration. A section of the workstation slid back, revealing a keyboard with three rows of letters, one row of numbers, and several other keys with odd-looking shapes. It took him a matter of seconds to realize the rows of letters contained the full alphabet, although not in sequence.

  He pressed the key marked 'B' and the letter appeared on the monitor. Clumsily, he spelled the word 'BRITANNIC' and hit the 'Enter' key.

  Garrett jumped in surprise as a voice behind him demanded, "Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?"

  ***

  Garrett spun around at the sound of the woman's voice, conscious that he had not brought a weapon. Although the voice sounded weak and hoarse, there was no mistaking the authority. The door of one of the center pods had swung open and from inside, a woman with short dark hair and wearing what appeared to be a navy uniform was staring warily at him. Tubes containing a dark fluid were connected to each arm halfway between her wrist and her elbow. She looked to be about forty years old, although her skin had a gray hue and her cheeks had a sunken complexion. Her piercing eyes, though tired, had a fiery determination as she stared at him.

  This is impossible! How could anyone have survived? He glanced at the other pods. Two of the other occupants were also stirring. The fourth pod, with the orange light, had not changed its appearance.

  "I'll ask you one more time. Who are you?"

  Garrett returned his gaze to the woman. "My name is Oz Garrett. I found your ship drifting in space."

  "Why did you revive me? This vessel is on a mission to the Stellar Cluster. You've ruined those plans."

  Garrett slowly shook his head, smiling sympathetically. "No, I haven't. I'm pleased to inform you that you've arrived at your destination. What is your name?"

  The woman's tone relaxed at the news. "Lacey Maxwell," she replied slowly. "I'm Britannic's captain. You should already know that." A look of confusion crossed her face. "You still haven't explained why you're here. The ship's systems are supposed to revive me and my crew. Have you interrupted those systems?"

  "It's a long story. You may want a few minutes to recover your senses and to wait for your colleagues to complete their reanimation cycle."

  The captain didn't argue, instead, shutting her eyes and relaxing back into her pod.

  Chapter 9

  Thirty minutes later, the three bridge officers had recovered enough to unplug the tubes from their arms. Garrett had looked on as each of them methodically drank one liter of a pink-colored liquid and injected themselves with a stimulant. He stared in silence as they checked on each other to ensure there were no immediate issues from the cryo-stasis.

  Garrett had secured himself back into the foot restraints and waited patiently for the Britannic's officers to complete their recovery checks. As each of the crew cast suspicious glances in his direction, he felt more like the intruder he was. This had not been his intention. He was not the best-equipped person to introduce these people to their new home. As soon as the hatch was unlocked, he'd have to get back to Raptor and contact the Federation authorities. He was prepared to accept the consequences of his actions and determined not to make matters worse than they already were.

  Captain Maxwell introduced the other officers as Chief Medical Officer Luke O'Brien and Chief Engineer Sakura Takahashi. Garrett couldn't forget these people had been born on Earth and spent all their lives there. At least before they entered cryo-stasis! Living links to his distant heritage.

  Although the crew looked extremely frail, they had survived the perilous journey and were living. The only disappointment was the fact the fourth pod had failed, with the unlucky occupant not surviving the journey.

  It was Captain Maxwell who spoke first.

  "Mr. Garrett. From the stunned exp
ression on your face, you weren't expecting to find us alive. Why do I have the niggling sensation it is too early to celebrate our arrival in the Stellar Cluster?"

  "Assuming that's where we are," added O'Brien.

  Garrett had spent the past half hour considering how he was going to explain the situation to Captain Maxwell and her senior officers. He still hadn't come up with the right words. During his career as a Marine, his colleagues had known him for being motivational and talking directly to his men to get the best out of them. When giving devastating news to the relatives of fallen soldiers, he had never shirked from the responsibility and been able to find the appropriate words of comfort. This situation was entirely different. How could he relate to what Britannic's bridge crew were about to hear?

  "There's no straightforward way to say this," he said. "I promise that you have arrived at the Stellar Cluster and that you are safe, but your journey has taken far longer than the one hundred and eighty years you expected."

  "How long?" asked Takahashi, her hoarse voice quavering with anxiety.

  The desperate stares of the three people in front of him were heartbreaking. They were begging him for answers and deserved to know the truth. "Based on Federation records, two thousand three hundred and twelve years," he said, softly.

  The three crew members gasped in unison, their mouths dropping open.

  "No, that's not possible. You must be mistaken," Maxwell said.

  "I'm sorry, captain. It's the truth. I understand how hard it must be to hear."

  "But we wouldn't have survived so long in cryo-stasis. The systems aren't designed to last over two hundred years. Luke, tell me it's not possible." Maxwell nudged O'Brien gently with her elbow although he seemed initially oblivious to it. "Luke?"

  Dr. O'Brien inhaled deeply, somehow looking paler than he had done when he was first revived. Garrett thought he was about to throw up. Not a wise thing to do in a weightless environment. "It would explain the excessive weight loss and muscle degeneration that we are all presenting. But you're right, the stasis pods have a limited design life. Of course, it was impossible to perform practical long-endurance testing. We had to rely on computer simulations."

  Takahashi nodded in agreement. "Theoretically, the pods can run indefinitely as long as there is a power supply. It would appear that at least one of the fusion reactors is still functioning, so that problem is taken care of."

  O'Brien's eyes glistened as he whispered. "This is too fantastical to believe. It can't be happening. I could understand an additional thirty or forty years. Not two millennia."

  Maxwell put a hand on the doctor's shoulder as she continued to look at Garrett. "You're telling us we traveled to the year AD 4900?"

  "AD 4884 to be precise, relative to the standard Earth calendar," he replied, wishing he had an expert with him who could offer better support and counseling. That would have to wait until the Federation arrived.

  "How many other arks made it?"

  "With crew? Just over eight hundred. I can't recall the exact number, but roughly one hundred and eighty arks remain missing."

  "Where's the rest of your rescue team?" Takahashi asked, wiping away a tear.

  "I'm not part of a rescue squad. I came across Britannic on the boundaries of the Stellar Cluster."

  "But a team is on its way?"

  Garrett felt the return of the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. "I don't know. I've not contacted anyone. It's likely the ark has been detected by long-range sensors. When I boarded, I didn't expect to find life. And reanimating you was a complete accident."

  "But you can make the authorities aware of our presence?" Takahashi persisted.

  "As soon as I return to my ship. I'm unable to get a transmission through your ship's hull."

  "I don't suppose you know if the Archimedes made it?" Maxwell asked, interrupting the conversation flow. Garrett could feel Maxwell's eyes desperately searching his face in anticipation of an answer.

  He wished he had access to Raptor's computer. "I'm sorry, I don't. But I can find out if I can get back to my ship. Who was on Archimedes?"

  Maxwell let out a sob before covering her face with both hands. It was a matter of seconds before she recovered her composure, wiping an errant tear from her left eye. "My husband and two beautiful boys. They left Earth four months before me. I was due to fly with them. But then I was reassigned to captain Britannic. My husband insisted I take the command. He promised to find a home and have it ready by the time I arrived. I'm never going to see them again, am I? I never even got to say good…" She could not finish the sentence before a wave of emotion swept over her. Tears filled her eyes as her shoulders convulsed uncontrollably.

  Garrett could only look on in anguish as the three Britannic crew hugged one another for what seemed like an eternity, the raw display of emotion making him more uncomfortable. Trapped on the control deck with them, he felt like an unwelcome interloper at a deeply personal occasion.

  I shouldn't be here. In fact, I shouldn't be on the ship at all. What possessed me to become an explorer? What was I hoping to achieve?

  He couldn't remember.

  "Excuse our emotion," Takahashi said after maybe five minutes. Her eyes were red and moist. "We all have family or friends on other arks. I mean, we had families or friends on those ships. Knowing we will see none of them again has come as a real shock."

  "No need to apologize, chief. I can understand your pain. Your new situation will require a lot of adjustment."

  "Tell me. Was Project Exodus a success?"

  It relieved Garrett to have an easier question. "If you mean have humans thrived in the Stellar Cluster, then the answer is a resounding yes. We've colonized more than twenty planets and mine resources from many more uninhabitable planets and asteroids. It's come at a cost and occasional personal tragedy, but we're here to stay. If you're wondering whether humanity has solved all the issues that forced it to leave Earth, then I would say the jury is still out. Once you've had time to adjust, you'll be in a far better placed to determine if humans have evolved in the past two thousand years."

  "What's the next step? Will we be taken from this ship?"

  "That's not for me to say. I'm a trespasser on your ship and have no authority to act on behalf of the Federation. I expect President D’Angelo will want to greet you at her palace on Constance II. Your safe arrival after so many years is miraculous. The Federation will treat you as heroes. And rightly so."

  Maxwell smiled weakly. "I'm no hero. I was just doing my job and was unlucky enough to end up on a defective ship. Sakura, do you have any idea what went wrong?"

  "Not without reviewing the flight logs. The propulsion systems must have fired to get us this far. I won't know why they failed to achieve optimum velocity until I've paid a visit to the engineering section to view the logs."

  "You can't do that from here?" Garret asked, incredulously.

  "You'd like to think so, but no. Britannic has several incompatible systems that were never synchronized because of limited time and resources. Basic essentials were in short supply long before plans for this PEA were finalized."

  "Tell me about the future," said a more subdued O'Brien. "What can I expect to enjoy in your world?"

  Garrett offered a sympathetic smile. "You'll have plenty of time to find out for yourself. Different planets offer a variety of experiences. My home world, Lafayette, for instance, has a thriving agri-economy and a reputation for building the finest quality space cruisers. Other planets are known for their business or leisure cultures." He was conscious of overloading these people with information. They were already in shock to find out they were in a completely different millennium. There would be time to get them up to speed when they'd accepted their unexpected situation. For now, he had more important priorities.

  "I came across Britannic purely by chance in one of the remotest regions of the Stellar Cluster. Once I report your position, a rescue squad could take between three and five days to arrive. Do you have
supplies?"

  Maxwell's frown returned. "Yes. There are ration packs stored in the section forward of this command center. Enough to last months. The concept was that Britannic's autonomous systems would revive the four of us once we arrived at the Stellar Cluster. We were the final ship to leave Earth; the first arks left over ten years before Britannic. The vanguard should have found a viable planet by the time of our arrival and they would guide us to that destination. It's only when we're in orbit around that planet that we revive the rest of the colonists."

  "An efficient way of conserving resources," Garrett observed.

  "Precisely. It minimizes the requirements for life support and food. The ration packs could be used while the colonists awaited transfer to their new home. We planned it could take up to one week to revive all the colonists and transfer them to the planet. Our landing craft can accommodate only twenty people at any one time."

  "So, you're not supposed to remain on this control deck for all that time?"

  "Of course not," said Takahashi. "As well as reviving us, Britannic re-pressurizes itself and becomes habitable. The process is programmed to begin twenty-four hours before we're revived to allow us full access to the ship."

  "That's not the case here. The central core, and the rest of the ship, is unpressurized. At the moment, we're trapped in this room."

  Takahashi moved to the life support workstation, blinking as she looked at the readout. "It's because you activated the emergency protocols. We've been revived to conduct diagnostics and effect any repairs."

  "But you can control the ship's life support from here?"

  Takahashi went quiet as she anxiously pressed a series of buttons. Captain Maxwell floated across the room to see what she was doing. Garrett watched in silence as the pair of them worked calmly at the controls. After several minutes, he felt or heard a low throbbing sound. It seemed to come from all around the room.

  Takahashi breathed a loud sigh of relief. "I've entered commands to fast-track Britannic's environmental systems. The entire ship should be at normal operating conditions in four hours."