“Not quite, Colonel Greene,” replied Ariel, smiling.
Colonel Greene stepped back, his eyes refocusing sharply on the screen. He had a confused look upon his face. “Okay, what just happened?”
“This is Ariel, the ship’s AI,” Jason answered with a grin.
“An AI?” gasped Lisa, walking toward the screen to take a closer look. There was excitement showing in her eyes. “Just how sentient is she?”
“Very,” Ariel replied with a slight nod of her head. “I have been observing you from the time Commander Strong and Greg first came into the Command Center after their crash landing. I was planning to reveal my presence to you shortly, but a crisis occurred which put two of your crewmembers in jeopardy.”
“So that’s how you knew we couldn’t get back out of that section,” spoke Greg, gazing curiously at the screen. This explained the mysterious presence he had felt. It was the AI that had been watching them.
“It was my fault the door shut,” confessed Ariel, nodding at Greg. “I was watching you and the power I was using caused the hatch to shut. I appeared in front of Commander Strong and told him what had happened.”
“Ariel, what happened to this ship and how long has it been here?” asked Colonel Greene, realizing here was the opportunity finally to learn some valuable information. He didn’t want to waste it.
“This is a light cruiser class ship from the Human Federation of Worlds fleet. It was part of an evacuation fleet that reached this solar system in your year 1917.”
“An evacuation fleet,” Colonel Greene repeated, his head creasing in a frown. If this ship was part of an evacuation fleet, where were the other ships?
“There was a secret base in our home system that the Hocklyns missed,” replied Ariel, accessing her memory. “After the Hocklyns succeeded in wiping out our fleet and destroying all the human worlds, the only survivors left in our home system were at this hidden base. Once the Hocklyns left the home system, the survivors escaped in the ships still at the base with the aid of First Fleet.”
“How many ships and how many people came here?” Greene asked.
“There were eighteen civilian ships in the evacuation fleet carrying nearly forty thousand survivors.” A look of sadness came over the AI.
“Forty thousand,” Colonel Greene repeated slowly. “Those must have been some big ships.”
“They were. Several of them were colony ships. We landed survey parties on your world to find a place to settle. Before the survey was completed, a number of our people began falling ill. Soon the illness spread throughout the entire civilian population of the fleet. It was a disease that we had never encountered before. Our medical experts were helpless to stop its spread, and then our people started dying. Only the military ships remained unaffected. Their crews hadn’t been involved with the surveys and hadn’t intermingled with anyone from the civilian ships.”
“The Spanish Flu,” Greg spoke with sudden realization, recalling his history. Now he knew what the men and women in the medical wards had died from. “The Spanish Flu spread across the world from 1918 to 1920. It reportedly caused as many as fifty million deaths.”
“Yes, it was the flu,” confirmed Ariel, nodding her head slightly in acknowledgment. “We had no immunity against it. The civilians began dying by the hundreds. Our medical personnel were desperate to find a cure and worked night and day to find one. It was decided to leave your world and go elsewhere. It was obvious there were diseases on your world that the humans of the Federation had no immunity to.”
“How did your ship end up on the Moon?” Jason asked. He wanted to know why the Avenger had crashed.
“The flu broke out on the Avenger, striking down most of the crew within 24 hours. It’s not known how the flu managed to get on board. The commander thought that a supply shuttle might have carried it over just prior to the flu outbreak.”
“So the flu was spreading through your crew. What caused the Avenger to crash on the Moon?” Colonel Greene asked. From a medical standpoint, he could well understand how a population with no immunity to the flu could rapidly fall victim to the deadly disease.
“One of the engineers became delusional and set off an explosive device in main engineering next to our FTL drive. The explosion knocked out our propulsion systems and most of our power sources. We were already in orbit around your moon at the time. The orbit began to decay, and the Avenger crashed into this crater before we could get any of the secondary propulsion systems back on line. Most of the crew died in the crash. The few that survived, including Commander Standel, moved the bodies to the medical center. The center section was relatively intact. It’s heavily reinforced since it contains the crew’s living quarters, the medical center, and the recreation center.”
“Could none of your ships send down rescue craft?” Colonel Greene asked. He couldn’t imagine leaving the survivors here to die.
“The survivors on board all had the flu and passed away within 48 hours. The Battle Cruiser StarStrike stayed in orbit and was in constant communication with the commander until he died.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment. It was so sad to know that the desperate survivors of a defeated human civilization had come all this way to escape destruction, only to be struck down by a deadly disease.
“Now what?” Lisa asked. She had hundreds of questions she wanted to ask the AI.
“We get the power back up,” Ariel responded with a determined smile. “I have had nearly 100 years to figure out what to do.”
“Power?” Jason replied with a startled look. “What do you mean power, and what do you hope to accomplish with it?”
“The center section is still airtight, as well as other sections around the Command Center,” Ariel replied, her gaze switching to Jason. “This ship has a number of auxiliary vessels. There are two Raven class shuttles in the ship’s flight bay. If we jumpstart the main power source on one of them, we can use it to power up a small section of the ship.”
“How do we do that?” Adam Simmins asked.
“Auxiliary ships,” Greg spoke, his eyes growing wide. “Are these ships still flyable?”
“Possibly,” replied Ariel, shifting her gaze over to Greg. “I would have to run a diagnostic check on their key systems. They have been in a vacuum for the past 100 years. The shuttles are extremely durable ships.”
-
Early the next morning, Jason, Greg, and Adam were deep into the damaged section of the ship. Ariel had given them directions how to reach the ship’s flight bay. She thought the flight bay was still intact. The bay was located on the bottom of the ship, and Ariel didn’t believe the explosion that had taken out the ship’s drive systems had reached the flight bay. At least she hoped that it hadn’t.
Ariel’s sensors in that area were damaged, and she couldn’t access the bay to check on its current condition. That was one of the things she wanted Adam to repair. She thought one of the sensor couplings was damaged and needed to be replaced. Adam was carrying a spare, which he was going to install.
“I hope we can get back out of here,” Greg commented as he helped Jason and Adam move some wreckage that was blocking their path.
The corridor they were in had obviously been damaged by either the explosion or the crash landing. In several areas, the walls of the corridor were buckled in as if hit by a huge fist. Several small metal ceiling panels, as well as support beams, had fallen across the corridor blocking their path and had to be moved to the side so they could continue.
This section of the ship, while still intact, was dangerous to pass through. Ariel felt this was the only reasonably safe passage to the flight bay. The AI had promised that if they could power up one of the large shuttles and access its power system, then Ariel could power up the emergency environmental systems. She would then be able to make a small section of the undamaged part of the ship habitable.
Jason stopped and put his hands on his spacesuited waist as he gazed down the corridor. “It shouldn’t be mu
ch farther. We need to go through that hatch up ahead and then down two more levels. There should be a double airlock that leads to the flight bay.”
“I hope the flight bay is still intact,” Greg said, his tone showing concern. “As much wreckage as we found in this corridor, I can just imagine what the flight bay might be like.”
“The more I see of this ship, the more amazed I am,” commented Adam, looking into a room that seemed to be full of a lot of damaged electronic equipment. “The technology to build a ship like this is far more advanced than anything we have ever imagined possible.”
“Some of their science and technology is incredible,” replied Jason in agreement, stepping up next to Adam and gazing into the room. There were shattered viewscreens and heavily damaged control consoles everywhere.
“I wonder if this room had anything to do with their weapon systems?” Greg asked, intrigued. Just from looking, this room was obviously an important control room of some kind. He was still fascinated about what type of weapons these people had used. So far, Ariel had not revealed any of that information.
“Hard to tell,” replied Jason, looking over at Greg. “I’m sure the control systems are somewhere. Give us time, Greg; we’ll find them.”
Jason could just imagine the men and women who must have worked in this room. Thinking of them made Jason think about his own family down on Earth. If his sister could see him now, she would become unglued. If his overly protective sibling knew that he was deep inside a wrecked spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, she would totally freak out. Fortunately, this was something she would probably never know. Jason suspected that the government would be slapping an extremely high security clearance on any information about the wrecked human spaceship.
“Let’s go on down the corridor,” ordered Jason, ready to move on. “I can see the next hatch up ahead.”
“At least Lisa has an easy and exciting job now,” Adam said as he turned to follow Jason. “I didn’t think we were ever going to pry her away from the AI last night. Colonel Greene had to order her to go get some rest.”
“Can’t say that I blame her,” Jason replied with a smile. “Ariel is a computer scientist’s dream come true.”
“I noticed that Colonel Greene and Lisa were having a long conversation this morning before we left,” Greg commented. “I wonder what that was about?”
“The AI,” Jason replied. “Colonel Greene and I made a list last night of what we wanted Lisa to talk to the AI about. We would like more information about the Human Federation of Worlds, as well as these Hocklyns that defeated them.”
“Do you think we’re going to have to fight these Hocklyns someday?” Greg asked, his eyes turning to look at Jason.
He knew it would be in the future. Someday his great great grandchildren and their generation might be all that would stand between a free humanity and abject slavery. He didn’t want to think about the horror that might wait in the not so distant future.
“Probably,” replied Jason, taking a deep breath. “I’m afraid we may not have any choice. From what Ariel has told us the Hocklyns are coming, and we have 268 years to prepare. We can only hope that’s time enough.”
“If the Federation couldn’t stop them with their technology, what chance will we have?” asked Greg, wondering if fighting the Hocklyns was a hopeless task.
“We will have time to prepare,” Jason replied carefully. “From Ariel, we know what’s coming. Perhaps this time it will be different.”
They had made it to the hatch. Reaching forward, Jason grasped the handle and was relieved when it turned easily. Pushing against it with his hand it swung open, revealing a flight of stairs that led downward.
“This ship and its technology could make a big difference,” Adam said as they stepped through the hatch and started down the stairs. “If we can reverse engineer all of its systems, we can begin building our own fleet someday.”
“The AI should help there,” added Greg, thinking about all the knowledge the AI might hold the key to. “It may have everything we need to build ships of this type or even more in its memory.”
He wondered if his son would fly one of those new wondrous spaceships that lay in the future. He hoped he would follow in his footsteps someday. Perhaps his son would even command a ship like this one.
When they reached the next level, Jason found another hatch blocking their way. This hatch opened easily also and, after stepping through, they walked down the next flight of stairs and entered a short corridor. Jason stopped and looked at what was in front of them. On his left side was a heavily armored hatch. Stepping forward he tried to open it, but the handle refused to budge.
“I don’t think we’re getting that one open,” Greg commented. “It looks as if it’s really stuck.”
“I think it’s the backup control room for the flight bay,” spoke Adam, recalling what the AI had said when she was giving them directions. “It’s probably locked down. We can’t open it until we have some power restored.”
Jason nodded and turned around to the other side of the corridor. There was another hatch, and he stepped forward and turned the handle. It opened easily. It was the airlock!
“The flight bay should be through here,” he said, stepping inside.
A few moments later, the three exited the airlock and entered the flight bay. They had brought several large, portable lights, which Greg and Adam were carrying. Switching the lights on, they gazed in awe around them.
There were half a dozen spacecraft in the bay. The two large Raven class shuttles were in the center and seemed to be undamaged. However, two of the smaller ships had suffered catastrophic damage. They seemed to be some type of fighter craft. Both had been tossed against the side of the flight bay, either during the explosion or during the crash landing. The two fighter craft were now nothing but mangled pieces of wreckage.
“Don’t guess we will be flying those,” commented Greg with disappointment in his voice. He took several steps toward the two wrecked fighters to get a better look.
He wondered what type of weapons had been on the space fighters. Some type of lasers or blasters, he thought. He really wanted to talk to the AI about the weapons the ship was equipped with. His curiosity about that was burning inside of him. These two fighter craft were something else he would now have to ask about.
There were two smaller spacecraft on the other side of the big shuttles, and both of these seemed relatively intact. They were box shaped, with small stubby wings on the sides. Probably some type of small supply shuttle used between ships or to the surface.
What held Jason’s gaze were the two large shuttles. Each was about forty feet long and fifteen feet wide at their widest point. Both shuttles had short wings for atmospheric use. The nose was tapered and some type of rocket engines were in the back. Jason knew, from his brief talk with Ariel about these shuttles, that they didn’t utilize any type of fuel similar to what Earth was currently using.
Greg walked excitedly over to the nearest shuttle. Shining his light across it, he noticed several hard points underneath the wings for missiles.
“This thing is equipped for missiles!” Greg spoke with excitement in his voice. He then turned and walked over to the tapered nose and, examining it, noticed two indentations. Running his gloved hand over the indentations, he wondered what they concealed. “There are two small hatch covers here on the nose. I wonder if they’re for some type of energy weapon?”
“Hard to tell,” Jason replied as he and Adam walked over to stand next to Greg. “Perhaps we will know more after we talk to Ariel again.”
Greg shined his light up higher, and they could see windows in what was clearly the cockpit for the shuttle. The windows were dark and undoubtedly made of some type of strong glass. Greg realized it might not be glass at all, just some clear material that the other humans had used for their cockpit windows.
“Ariel said we can access the shuttle from the hatch on the other side,” Adam commented as he gazed in a
we at the shuttle. “She said it should be easy to open.”
“I hope so,” responded Jason, turning to look at Adam. “If we can’t get into the shuttle, Ariel’s plan for getting more power won’t work.”
“We’ll get in! Do you realize that this ship has more capabilities than anything Earth has ever launched?” Adam said, animatedly. “According to Ariel, this shuttle is equipped with a sublight drive as well as limited FTL capability. If we could get this shuttle back down to Earth and build more like her, we could be exploring the entire Solar System in just a matter of a few years.”
“That would be something,” commented Gregg, trying to imagine what it would be like to fly to Mars or the other planets in just a matter of a few hours. It was hard to comprehend. He would like to be on one of the flights to Mars. The red planet had always intrigued him.
The three walked around the shuttle and found the entrance hatch. Jason reached forward and touched a small control panel. He punched in a short string of numbers and waited expectantly. Ariel had given them the command codes necessary to enter the shuttle. The hatch slid open, and the three stepped cautiously inside. They found themselves in a small room that was obviously used for passengers. A dozen comfortable seats were against the walls. In the rear, another closed hatch obviously led to the engine compartment, and an open hatch in the front led to the cockpit.
Jason stepped through the front hatch and found himself in a small but efficient cockpit. There were four seats. There were two for the pilot and copilot, and two more seats on the sides in front of other consoles for two other crewmembers. The small cockpit was full of controls and instruments. It reminded him of other cockpits he had been in.
Jason wondered what it would feel like to fly something like this. He could recall the exhilarating thrills back in his test pilot days when he had flown experimental jets. The first few times flying this shuttle would be very similar.
Slaver Wars 1: Moon Wreck Page 8
