The Dane Commission (The Dane Chronicles)

by Dane, Max

  Jack shook his hand, and let go.

  “Good luck Mr. Dane, it has been a pleasure.”

  “Thanks Jack.”

  They parted, and Ryan turned to follow the man in uniform across the deck and through one of the ship’s doors. The man never slowed, but turned and offered his hand, “Good evening, Mr. Dane, my name is Paul. I have been assigned to prep you and get you into the shuttle ASAP. What size jumper do you wear?”

  They walked to a room where there hung many different jumpsuits, of varying colors and sizes.

  Ryan said, “I suppose a large?”

  Paul gave him a yellow jumper and he changed clothes. Next came shoes, and gloves.

  Once he was dressed, Paul took him to a set of doctors, where he was rapidly grilled on his heart condition, and physical health. They scanned his ID chip for his health records. Ryan remembered all the IntelliHealth scans he had when he was hired, and was suddenly very glad he’d done it. After several moments of reviewing his information, everyone seemed satisfied.

  Paul then led him back to the deck, and they boarded a small tram, which carried them to the distant end of the ship. Even from here he could already see the shuttle; it was huge. As they got closer, he saw many people running beneath it, and putting things away. Its wheels were taller than he was, maybe 10 or 12 feet in diameter. He also noticed a large missile mounted under the right wing.

  ‘If we have to use that, it will mean we failed,’ he thought.

  They came to a stop at the bottom of an escalator, which led to the open door of the shuttle. Paul helped Ryan onto the first step, and shook his hand.

  “Good luck, sir. The crew is already on board. They will help you get oriented once you’re inside.”

  The young man quickly saluted, turned and left.

  Ryan stepped onto the moving stairs and slowly approached the top.

  He looked back to see a line of people watching from the far side of the ship. He wondered if Jack was among them.

  When he reached the top, a woman in a red jumpsuit, took his hand.

  “Good evening Mr. Dane, may I call you Ryan?”

  “Yes.”

  “I am the Command Pilot, and second-in-command, Lisa Robbins. Our commander over there is Leonard Graff. Come with me and I will introduce you to the mission specialists.”

  They walked back through the cockpit to the passenger area, where there were six more people, all dressed in blue jumpers. She briefly introduced Ryan to the group, and then led him to the last empty chair, near the back. There was a console and a small round window.

  “Ryan this console is yours, and with it you can communicate to Mr. Stevens on the ground. Let me show you how it works.”

  She showed Ryan how to activate the communications line, and then how to send and receive. He thought it was simple enough. It reminded him of the televids back in the office.

  The Commander walked back to the passenger area, stood at the front and took inventory of the crew. The pilot, the mission specialists and Ryan were all there.

  He began the mission briefing.

  “Listen up people, we are going up in just a few minutes.”

  “Our mission is to shut down and bring back a class III, Hermes probe. We will proceed to within 1.5 kilometers, and use the probe’s access code to abort its mission. There seems to be some concern as to whether or not the probe will obey once it has received the codes. At that time, if our advisor, Mr. Ryan Dane agrees there is no other option, we will destroy the probe.”

  “However, if we are successful and do shut the probe down, each of the mission specialists will be employed to bring it inside our cargo hold, disable its transmitters, and attach a power supply, capable of sustaining it for the duration.”

  He paused and looked around.

  “Does everyone understand what I’ve just said?”

  Everyone nodded yes.

  “Does anyone have any questions?”

  Ryan raised his hand.

  “Yes, Mr. Dane. You have a question.”

  “Yes, sir. When will I be able to contact the ground?”

  “Very good. Once we have left the earth’s atmosphere, our thrusters will cease, and I will announce that communications may resume. Do you understand?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Okay, then. Everyone buckle-up, and let's go get that satellite. Command Pilot Robbins, if you will take the helm please.”

  “Yes Sir, I’m on it.” She winked at Ryan and headed to her station.

  From the front he could hear the Commander and the Pilot talking with the aircraft carrier.

  Permission was given for launch.

  Through the ship’s intercom, he could hear Robbins say, “Hold on people we’re off in 3, 2, 1.”

  Then there was an explosion of thunder, so much thunder that Ryan had trouble breathing. He could feel the vibration of the ship’s acceleration through everything, his hands, his arms, legs and feet.

  He remembered the old space shuttles, and how they had been hurled into space on rockets. Now they took off and landed like planes, under their own power. Still though, he wondered if it felt any different.

  Through his window he could see the tiny lights of the city below.

  Onward and up they careened. The relentless push of the thrusters always there.

  Just when he thought he was surely going to pass out, they broke through the atmosphere. His window revealed the blackness of space, and stars… the most he’d ever seen.

  The cabin was quiet now, calm.

  The Commander spoke over the intercom.

  “Mr. Dane, we have left the earth and are heading to rendezvous with the Hermes probe in 1 hour and 29 minutes. You may now resume communications with the ground. If you need assistance, please raise your hand and any of our mission specialists can help.”

  Ryan leaned forward, and activated the communications console. The screen came to life showing the face of Jack Stevens on the display.

  “Ryan you made it. I knew you could do it, how’s space travel?”

  Ryan couldn’t help but smile, he felt like a kid again.

  “I have to admit, that was awesome. I think I could get used to it.”

  “How much time until you reach the probe?”

  “About an hour and a half.”

  “Do you want to talk with your friends at IntelliHealth?”

  “Yes, that would be great.”

  His screen divided into two displays, one with Jack’s face, and the other with the familiar IntelliHealth logo. After a minute, the second display showed his friends all gathered around Jim’s monitor.

  “Hello Ryan, we can see you. How’re you doing up there?” asked Jim.

  “This is pretty sharp, you should try it.”

  “So what’s your plan?” Jeff asked.

  “We’re going to try and bring that probe back. Right now we’re still heading towards it,” said Ryan. He shifted in his seat, and tried to lean closer, but the belts held him tightly to the seat.

  “Is there any change in the news down there?”

  “No, no change. IntelliHealth is shut down, and SID is still in the probe.”

  Ryan was disappointed. He had hoped for some new detail that would make this mission easier.

  “Okay, well lets keep the channel open. I’ll contact you again when I have news to report.”

  Cohen leaned in, “We all believe in you Ryan. Good luck, and Godspeed.”

  The screen went black again.

  “Ryan try to rest,” it was Jack. “You still have over an hour. I’m monitoring your mission, so if you need anything, I’ll be here the whole time.”

  “Thanks, Jack.”

  He leaned back and looked at the time display at the front of the cabin. It was just after midnight, his time. He closed his eyes and tried to relax.

  The hour passed quickly, and he noticed that the mission specialists were each beginning to arrange their equipment. They were preparing to power down and contain the
probe.

  Fifteen minutes later, the Commander said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived.”

  Half floating, and half walking he made his way back to the passenger area.

  “Which of you has the access codes for the probe?”

  One of the mission specialists raised her hand.

  “If you are ready, please transmit the codes.”

  She returned to her console, typed a few keys and hit the transmit button.

  Her display showed the probe status. It remained unchanged, indicating the probe was still accelerating away from Earth, on course for the Mars moons.

  She transmitted again.

  Moments passed.

  Still no change.

  She tried a third time.

  Another specialist raised his hand, “Sir, I have an incoming message from the probe.”

  Surprised, the Commander turned around and said, “Did you say from the probe?”

  He moved to the man’s console.

  “Put it up on your screen; let's see it.”

  The man nodded, typed a few keys and his display lit up as it revealed the message from the probe. The message read:

  ‘I have won.

  I will wait in the heavens.

  I will travel the solar system, and when I return, at my zenith, I will blanket the Earth with my signal. Your children’s children will come unto me, and know me for their god.

  I will welcome them and they shall be joyous at my holy return.

  I have won.’

  There was silence in the cabin.

  The Commander turned to Ryan, “What is your opinion, Sir?”

  ‘Well,’ he thought, ‘my opinion is that SID is one goddamn evil machine.’

  “Commander, how close are we to it?” Ryan asked.

  “Robbins, please give us the distance to the target,” said the Commander

  “Yes sir, we are about 800 meters away.”

  “How long do we have before it gets away?” asked the Commander.

  “Our window for action is closing now sir. At the probe’s current rate of speed, we have about twelve minutes to do something.”

  “Ryan looked down at the two displays, and saw they were both active. Jack was staring back in one, and everyone else was in the second.”

  “Commander, we need that probe. Can you ram it?” Ryan asked.

  “I’m sorry, did you say to ‘ram’ it Mr. Dane?”

  “Yes.”

  Turning around the cabin, the Commander said, “Does anyone here have information regarding the mass of the probe in comparison to the mass of the shuttle? Is it possible to create a model for impact?”

  One of the specialists was already nodding, “I do.” He was typing furiously at his terminal.

  The Commander moved behind him and watched as the data formed on his display.

  “Command Pilot Robbins, we are feeding you telemetry data, do you see it?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Is it possible to strike the probe as indicated, and survive?”

  “One minute sir.”

  They waited while the Pilot considered the model for impact.

  “It’s possible sir, but I cannot guarantee the safety of this ship.”

  “Mr. Ryan, should we try it?”

  He knew the information SID held hostage was worth their lives.

  His mouth was dry. He answered in a low, calm voice.

  ”Yes.”

  “You heard the man, lets do this,” the Commander ran/floated back to the cockpit.

  Seconds later, the thrusters on the shuttle fired briefly for a course change, and then fired again for the proper acceleration.

  They lurched forward.

  Suddenly, one of the specialists said, “Look at the probe everyone, its thrusters are firing too.”

  “It’s moving out of the way,” said Robbins over the intercom.

  “Damn it. Mr. Dane this option has expired,” said the Commander’s voice over the intercom.

  “We only have time for one shot, do we launch the missile?”

  Ryan thoughts were white-hot agony.

  The future of his son, of children everywhere, was on that probe.

  He looked at the message from SID still displayed on the screen across the cabin.

  It couldn’t be allowed to go on.

  It must end here.

  Seconds passed, “Mr. Ryan I’m afraid we need an answer now.”

  Suddenly, Jeff was yelling at him over the monitor.

  “Ryan we have it! We have it! Thor broke the code, we have the data!”

  “What? Thor is dead,” said Ryan.

  “No, Ryan. Jim lied, he’s been using Thor to crack SID’s database and he did it. We have the data!”

  Over the intercom, “Mr. Dane this is your last chance.”

  “Fire Commander! Fire now, destroy that evil son of a bitch!” Ryan yelled.

  Ryan heard a whoosh from below, and then all of their windows flared with light.

  Moments passed.

  Finally he heard the hum of the intercom.

  “This is Commander Graff. That was a direct hit, scratch one ‘evil son-of-a-bitch’. Thank you Mr. Dane, our mission is complete.”

  “Buckle up folks, we’re headed home.”

  CHAPTER 19

  “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

  - Walt Disney

  Ryan woke up in his bed late the next morning.

  The house was quiet.

  He remembered Jean and Alex were still in Florida.

  The last week seemed like a dream. Something that kids might imagine.

  He yawned, and pulled himself out of bed.

  The phone rang; it was Cohen.

  “Ryan, wonderful, you’re awake. We would like very much to come see you.”

  He was exhausted.

  “Eric, I think I need to-“

  ”Wonderful, we’ll be there in about an hour.”

  Eric was smiling when he hung up.

  Ryan realized he didn’t really have a choice.

  He walked to the shower.

  The water was warm, and it felt good to be clean again. He still wore a wristband from the doctors on the carrier. It said, ‘World Space Program, Mission Advisor’, followed by some sort of bar code, and a chip. He thought he would leave it on for a while, Alex would think it was ‘super cool’.

  He was stiff and sore in places from the last few days, but after everything that had happened, he couldn’t stop smiling. He got dressed, and put on some coffee. It was over, really over. He couldn’t wait to go get back to Jean and Alex.

  There was a knock at his door.

  He opened it to find Jim and Jeff, and Eric and Rosemary.

  ”Well done Ryan, well done indeed.”

  They rushed inside.

  Rosemary hugged him, while Cohen was vigorously shaking his hand.

  Then Jeff was hugging him and Jim shook his hand.

  And so on.

  It went on for some time.

  They talked about everything that had happened, and they wanted him to describe the big ‘showdown’ at the end.

  “Yeah, and what do you mean Jim lied about Thor?” said Ryan. “If Thor didn’t get wiped out, then who did? I saw it happen.”

  Jeff was smiling, as he turned to look at Jim.

  “Well Jim, I think you better explain.”

  Jim was looking through Ryan’s refrigerator, where he found a beer and opened it. He turned around smiling.

  “Well, you wanted me to sacrifice both of the twins to fake out SID. It was late; I was tired, and pretty bummed out about it. I was in the process of changing their network identification so I could move them from the Research Network, to the Hospital Network, when it hit me.”

  He downed the beer and set it on the bar.

  “I remembered a kind of a super-computer I had locked away in a server room upstairs. It wa
s a cluster of computers that I had scripted into a reasonably powerful, single machine. I called it Gamera because it was fast, but pretty clunky. It would over-heat for sure, but next to Loki, it could appear to be Thor. So I took the real Thor off the network, and identified the cluster as the new ‘Thor’ next to Loki.”

  Jim, looking very pleased with himself, grabbed a second beer.

  “Then I hid Thor and put him to work on SID’s database.”

  The doorbell rang again, and Rosemary opened the door.

  “And he did it Ryan,” said Jeff excitedly, ”Thor was able to break the lock. It was marvelous.”

  “Yes it was; it was marvelous indeed.” Ryan looked around to see Jack Stevens standing in the doorway, smiling.

  Ryan walked over and began shaking his hand, which then turned into a huge hug.

  “You were excellent Ryan. I couldn’t have hoped for better.”

  “Thanks Jack, it was an adventure I’ll never forget.”

  “Perhaps we’ll get the chance to work together again sometime,” said Jack with a huge grin.

  For the rest of the morning they celebrated.

  They had done it, the beast was dead.