The Dark Ship

by Phillip P. Peterson

  “Where did the former crew live?” Irons asked.

  “They were distributed all over the ship.”

  “So far we haven’t found any signs of former inhabitants. And how did the passengers get from one point of the ship to another? Surely they didn’t run down hundreds of miles of corridors?”

  “The crew took everything useful out of the ship to their new colony. A long time ago there was a transit system, but it was removed by robot workers upon arrival at the target system. The empty holes were filled for reasons of stability, so you will find no evidence of it.”

  “Where was the bridge of the spaceship?”

  There was another pause before the computer answered. “Bridge? What do you mean by bridge?”

  Irons frowned. “Well, the place where the ship is controlled by the members of the crew.”

  “Ah, you mean the control center. There were several such rooms, all in the core of the ship.”

  “I would like to see the bridge—control center, I mean,” Irons said.

  “I’m afraid that will not be possible,” the computer answered.

  Irons didn’t seem surprised by the answer. Nevertheless, he persisted. “And why not?”

  “As I said, the ship was converted into an unmanned reconnaissance ship after it arrived at its destination. As there was no more crew on board, the manual controls were removed, and it was switched entirely to computer operation.”

  Irons sighed. “Shame. I would have liked to find out more about the builders and their technology.”

  Jeff nodded. He was particularly interested in the builders of this ship, and their culture. He signaled to Irons and tapped on his chest. Irons nodded.

  Jeff cleared his throat. “I have a few questions about the builders of this ship.”

  “I will do my best to answer your questions,” the computer responded.

  “First of all, what did they look like?”

  Joanne whispered something to Castle, who did not hear her, he was so engrossed in the conversation.

  “You would call the form humanoid. In fact, they did not look dissimilar to you. A little smaller and more graceful and without body hair. Big eyes, small mouth. Is that sufficient for an answer?”

  Jeff nodded. The description matched the dimensions of the corridors and doors they had seen so far. The prevailing darkness in the ship, even when the light was on, suggested very light-sensitive eyes. “Yes, thank you. In what ways was their culture different to human culture—as far as you can tell?”

  “I’m afraid this question exceeds my analytical abilities.”

  “Did they have a religion? Did they believe in one or more gods, or in life after death?”

  Mac rolled his eyes and groaned. Irons looked at him sharply.

  “I do not understand the question.”

  Either the aliens lacked culture and religion, which could not be ruled out, or the computer simply was not programmed to answer such questions. It was impossible to say.

  “Do you have any information regarding the history of the builders?”

  “I’m afraid my memory banks contain no information for the time before the ship departed from the world of origin.”

  Jeff sighed. “Are there any rooms on this ship that contain evidence of the builders, and could we look at these?”

  “I’m afraid the answer is no. There is nothing for you to find.”

  Somehow Jeff had the feeling that despite the computer’s cooperation, it did not approve of their further exploration of the interior of the spaceship.

  “You said we could move freely around the ship,” Jeff said. The computer did not answer. “Didn’t you?” Jeff persisted.

  “Yes,” the computer replied.

  “Would you give us a three-dimensional map of the ship so we don’t get lost?”

  Irons looked up. Several long seconds passed, without an answer from the computer.

  “Computer?”

  “I’m sorry,” the answer came at long last. “My attention is required in another part of the ship where there has been a power failure. I will get back to you.”

  A faint crackling sound indicated that communication had been broken off.

  “The last sentence sounded almost like a threat,” Castle said.

  “It’s a computer,” Green laughed. “It’s hardly capable of making ambiguous statements.”

  “It all sounded logical to me,” Joanne put in. “They probably radically rebuilt the ship after they arrived in their new home system. If it’s only controlled by one machine, then it really doesn’t need a bridge anymore.”

  “But why are there any quarters on the ship at all then?” Castle asked.

  “Well,” Joanne mused. “All that seems to be left are these empty rooms and corridors. These quarters were specially prepared for us. A few days ago, they were just empty rooms.”

  “Well, I don’t have a good feeling about any of this,” Castle said.

  “Me neither,” Finni agreed. “Every time I hear the voice of that computer, I get the creeps.”

  Owl laughed. “I think you’re being paranoid.”

  “Jesus, we’re on an alien spaceship,” Castle looked angry. “Surely it’s natural to be a little paranoid.”

  Owl just laughed again and gave a wave of his hand.

  Castle turned to the major. “That computer said it would bring us to Sigma-7,” he began.

  “What’s your point?”

  “How do we know that it’ll really bring us there? Without access to a bridge or a map room, this ship could take us anywhere it wants.”

  Irons shook his head. “As soon as the computer tells us we’ve made the first jump, two of us will go outside and check our position against the stars.” He turned to Joanne. “That’s possible, right?”

  The navigator nodded. “Sure. Every handheld is capable of determining our location from the position of the stars. I saved our position when we left the Charon, we can easily compare the two.”

  “So what next?” Finni asked.

  Irons shrugged. “Our plan hasn’t changed. We’ll continue to check out our surroundings and gradually expand the radius of the area we explore.”

  “But the computer just told us there’s nothing on board for us to find,” Finni said. “So why bother?”

  “Do you want to spend all day in your room?” Irons asked, with a hint of a smile. “No. For one, we need a purpose, and we need exercise, since we’re going to be stuck here for half a year. And I don’t think we should rule out finding something interesting.”

  “Do you think the computer lied to us?” Jeff asked.

  Irons shook his head. “I didn’t say that. On the contrary. So far the computer has responded to all our questions with logical answers.”

  “So why won’t it give us a 3D map of the ship?” Castle asked.

  Irons shrugged. “I’m not sure I would hand out maps to unknown guests on board an Imperial ship. But let’s stop with all this speculation. Please clear the table, Lieutenant Castle. That’ll give you something to do and less time to brood.”

  6.

  “We’ve reached—” The rest of the words were swallowed by static.

  Jeff hit the talk button. “Please repeat, Finni.”

  “I said, we’ve reached a dead end. The corridor doesn’t go on.”

  Irons leaned over Jeff’s shoulder. “Interesting. The whole area there seems to be cut off. The only access is this corridor here.” He pointed at a line on the three-dimensional map projected into the room by the handheld. Jeff nodded.

  For the last week they had been exploring the corridors around their quarters. And the more they explored, the more apparent it became that the corridors were arranged in a particular pattern. Several times they had come across smaller areas that were only accessible via a corridor, which then branched off into dead ends. They came across these areas particularly near the outer shell of the ship. But they could never make it right to the edge of the ship—the corrido
rs ended at least three hundred feet away. The only access to the outside was the airlock through which they’d entered. Joanne had floated the idea that the ship’s corridors were arranged in a fractal structure like a snowflake. This meant you could only ever cover larger distances inwards or outwards, and only short distances going sideways. If they wanted to get to a part of the surface that was farther away, they would first have to go deeper down, then move across through another passage to a different part of the ship, and from there go back up and out. Castle agreed with Joanne and hypothesized that this structure might be a result of the automated production process of the ship. A robotic factory or nano-forge would be provided with a specific, basic formula, and the artifact automatically produced repetitive elements according to these formulae, without the need for complex blueprints. Jeff vaguely remembered hearing workers in the shipyards on Luna talking about a similar process. And if that was the case, they only had one option left. “We have to go further toward the center of the ship.”

  Irons pointed at a spot on the hologram. “Tell Corporal Owens that he and Fields should advance to this area. They aren’t far away from it, and it’s the only area near the outer shell of the ship that’s accessible to us but which we haven’t properly mapped yet.”

  “What about Herrmannsson and Short?” Jeff asked.

  “They can come back to HQ.”

  Jeff suppressed a smile. Only somebody who had spent half their life in the military would think of describing their accommodation as “headquarters.” But he carried out the major’s order.

  “Shall I take over?” Joanne asked, who had just come back into the room after a break.

  Jeff shook his head. “No, it’s OK. I’ll carry on until the men are back.”

  Joanne nodded. She had dark rings under her eyes, probably because she’d taken the middle night shift and then hadn’t been able to get back to sleep, as she’d told them at breakfast. She disappeared to her room. The others who weren’t taking part in an expedition today were also in their rooms. Jeff was left alone with Irons.

  The major sighed, pulled a chair over from the dining table and sat down next to Jeff. “I think you’re right.”

  Jeff turned around and frowned. “About what?”

  “That we need to go deeper into the ship to find anything. The computer said that’s where the control center is—or used to be.”

  Jeff’s mission a few days ago had been the one that had taken them deepest into the ship so far—albeit only about three hundred feet.

  “HQ?” Owls’ voice sounded through the room.

  Jeff leaned forward and pressed the speak button. “Jeff here.”

  “We’re now at junction G12. What direction should we go now?”

  Jeff zoomed in on the hologram. “Go to +Y. That’s the only corridor leading from the junction that we haven’t explored yet. If the same pattern that we’ve seen in the other sections repeats itself, you should get to two more intersections with three branches each, all of which lead to dead ends. In one of them there should be door, and behind it an empty room.

  “Understood.”

  “Tell him he doesn’t have to report back at each intersection,” the major said. His voice sounded tired, but it still had more authority than Jeff would ever manage himself. “He should only report if there are deviations from the pattern.”

  Jeff passed on the order, and Owl signed off. But now Finni’s voice sounded from the speaker. “We’re at junction B17 now, leaving for the area B-F. We’ll take the shortest route back to our quarters. ETA forty minutes.”

  “Understood,” said Jeff. “Report back if you come across anything interesting.”

  “You’re good at this,” said the major.

  Jeff turned around. “What do you mean?”

  Irons smiled weakly. “Coordinating the team. On the ship, and here, you’ve demonstrated good organizational skills.”

  The major almost never gave praise without an ulterior motive. “What are you getting at?”

  “But …”

  “But what?”

  “But you lack authority. The men and women do what you say, but they do it reluctantly. If you were in a real emergency situation and had to make tough decisions, it could get tricky—there’s a good chance the team wouldn’t follow your orders.”

  As if Jeff hadn’t noticed this himself. “I think it has to do with where I come from.”

  Irons chuckled and shook his head. “I’m sorry—but that’s total nonsense.”

  “But that’s what Mac told me a few days ago.”

  Irons raised his eyebrows. “Did he say it to your face?”

  Jeff nodded.

  “And what did you do?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” The major swiveled around in his chair.

  “Well, I asked him why he didn’t like me.”

  “You asked him?” There was disbelief in the major’s voice. “You’re not serious.”

  Jeff was silent and looked down at the floor.

  Irons took a deep breath. “Listen to me, Captain Austin. Respect has nothing to do with background. Every officer has to deal with prejudices. One comes from the aristocracy, the other from a backwoods swamp, and another from a former prison planet. One is small, the other lanky, a third has a big nose. I come from Lamsid and didn’t have an easy time of it, either. Do you know Lamsid?”

  Jeff had heard of the planet. It was apparently a hellhole. Covered in foul swamps, it was home to a tiny and very isolated colony. Some people called it the “planet of the inbreds.” Jeff hadn’t known the major came from there, but he could imagine his first commando hadn’t been easy.

  “There are two things to keep in mind. First, when you encounter prejudice, you have to act against it. You’re on the right track—you’re doing good work and are empathetic toward your subordinates. But—and this is important—you have to punish any actions by your crew that undermine your authority.” Irons leaned in closer. “And never ask your subordinates what they think of you. Never! Because you couldn’t care less—at least outwardly—and it will affect your judgment.”

  Jeff nodded. He knew all this in theory. “I’m afraid they’ll think I’m nit-picking if I dole out punishments for every trivial misdemeanor.”

  The major wrinkled his nose. “Nit-picking? No, Captain Austin—you don’t care what they think of you. Your subordinates may like to make fun of you when they’re alone in their quarters or in the mess. But when you are in the room, you need to be treated with the respect your superior rank deserves. Because if that isn’t the case, you won’t be taken seriously, and your orders won’t be followed.”

  “You mean I should punish the men harshly the next time one of them makes a stupid remark?”

  Irons shook his head. “It’s not that easy; it depends on the situation. I’m sure you’ve noticed how many stupid comments I let Green get away with.”

  Jeff nodded. He had often wondered why the major didn’t call the engineer to account more often.

  “It’s the way Green is—and sometimes his comments even lighten up a tough situation. But he’s not doing it to undermine my authority. That’s where you have to draw the line. And it’s also important not to punish anybody unjustly. You won’t do yourself any favors if you behave like a dictator. It’s a matter of experience.”

  “You mean it gets better over time?”

  Irons swayed his head back and forth. “Only if you’re willing to learn. But sometimes I get the feeling you’ve already given up.”

  Jeff pursed his lips. Really? Maybe the major was right. Lately he’d been letting the team get away with a lot. It was easier than confronting them.

  Although Jeff found this conversation embarrassing, he was grateful to the major. Irons was one of the most charismatic officers he’d ever known. A born leader. He would never match up to the major, but maybe he could learn something from him.

  “HQ?”

  Jeff sighed as he leaned forwar
d and pressed the talk button. “Yup, I’m here.”

  “You were right. It’s a dead end.”

  “As was to be expected,” Irons said.

  “Understood,” Jeff answered.

  “Where shall we go now?”

  Jeff turned to Irons.

  The latter glanced down at his wristwatch. “Back to HQ. You’re done for today.”

  Jeff passed on the order.

  “Good, my feet hurt. The way back from our current position should take about half an hour. Over and out.”

  “Starting tomorrow, we’ll go deeper down into the ship,” Irons said.

  “Do you think we’ll find anything there?”

  Irons shrugged. “If we believe what the ship’s computer has told us, I guess not. Based on what we’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole ship is crisscrossed with snowflake-like corridors. But I wonder what happened to all the rooms and facilities? There must have once been engine rooms, power units, and so on.”

  Jeff had thought about this already. “Maybe the doors to the rooms were removed when the ship was rebuilt. Or the machine rooms were built in a way that they were always inaccessible.”

  Irons shook his head. “I don’t think so. They must have been accessible to carry out maintenance.”

  “Maybe every system was equipped with automatic repair units? They might have been made based on a modular construction system.”

  The major frowned. “That’s possible, of course. Like our Falcon-class fighter jets. But the two-man crew of a Falcon wouldn’t be able to carry out repairs during a flight, even if they wanted to. But for large ships and stations, we would always provide a point of access, in case the automatic maintenance systems failed.”

  Once again, Jeff realized just how little they knew about the ship’s builders. It was such a shame there were no clues of them left on the ship.

  Irons took his handheld out of his pocket and started tapping around on it.

  Jeff noticed that Irons’ handheld had a small red section on the back. “Do you have a different model from ours?”

  The major hesitated. Eventually, he sighed and nodded. “It’s not a secret, but our policy is to talk about it as little as possible,” he said. “Yes, some commanding officers, including squadron commanders, get a specially encrypted handheld. It contains the transponder codes for all systems in the Empire. Including positions of secret stations near the front line, in case we end up there.