Off Course

by Doug Farren

  “I copy. Standing by for the demo.”

  “Heather is my lead cargo handler,” AJ explained. “She will now demonstrate how a cargo container is moved. This area has been cleared in preparation for the construction of a living space for the six Keldans who will be traveling with us back to Earth.”

  A large, tracked machine with huge adjustable arms, suddenly came to life. A yellow flashing beacon on top of the control cabin drew everyone's attention. The machine quickly approached the container, its arms positioning themselves so they would slide along either side. The cargo handler slowed, gently came into contact with the container, and gripped it with its arms.

  The latches holding it to the deck unlocked and retracted. The container was lifted about half a meter off the floor and effortlessly moved to an empty position outside the cleared area. Less than a minute had passed.

  During the entire demonstration, Vevicty had been lifting one of his legs in a repetitive motion and allowing it to drop to the floor. “There's gravity here,” he announced.

  “The floor beneath us is the pressure boundary of what we call the core of the ship,” AJ said as the cargo handler drove away. “It consists of three decks. Deck one is engineering which is where the gravity generators are located. Deck two holds food supplies, the mess deck, recreation areas, the med bay, and the bridge. Each crew member has their own private room on deck three which is also where some of our small critical spare parts are stored. We are standing on top of deck three and that is why there is a slight gravitational field here.”

  “Will the gravity be this low during the entire trip to your planet?” Goeglict asked.

  “No. My engineering chief will be recalibrating the gravity generators to create a slightly heavier than normal field. The gravity here will be about double what you feel now.”

  “Won't that inconvenience your crew?” the President asked.

  “A little. We're only resetting the grav-generators directly below this area. It will mostly affect storerooms and engineering. We'll manage.”

  “How do we get inside?” Goeglict asked.

  “There are airlocks on this level but they are quite small. If you are ready to see the inside of the ship, we will return to the shuttle.”

  The group retraced their steps and boarded the shuttle. The cargo bay was re-pressurized while the shuttle made its way to the normal docking position. AJ was just hanging his suit on a hook when he felt the slight jar that indicated they were docked.

  There was a short two minute delay as Thomas secured the shuttle's systems before he walked through the hatch and announced, “We have a good seal on the cargo bay doors.”

  Without waiting, Thomas walked up to the door controls at the rear of the shuttle and keyed in the command to open them and extend the ramp.

  “Our shuttles are designed to carry several different types of modular cargo pods. The emergency shelter pod is normally loaded at all times. Right now, the emergency pod for this shuttle is on the surface of your planet. The deuterium extractors are a second type. We also have a passenger pod which is sitting over there,” AJ pointed to indicate the only pod left in the huge room.

  AJ led the way to a large, hydraulically operated hatch. “This hatch leads to our engineering deck. In the event that any of our larger pieces of equipment require replacement they will be brought through this hatch. We will begin our internal tour here.”

  AJ proceeded to show the group the rest of the ship, including his own stateroom. He was amazed that the agile Keldans had no problem traversing through the very narrow hatches. It was a little awkward when they all had to walk single-file down the passageways.

  The Keldans were impressed with the ship and said so on multiple occasions. Vevicty had to be prodded to leave engineering and Toonpin spent a great deal of time looking over the various control stations on the bridge. The visitors even took time to sample some human cuisine.

  On the way back down to the surface, the Keldans pelted AJ with a never-ending series of questions concerning humans, Earth, and the other races with which Earth traded. It was pouring down rain when the shuttle landed. The President's private jet was waiting on the field, its door open.

  “Thank you so much for the tour,” President Betreath said.

  “It was a pleasure Mr. President.”

  “The technological gifts you have given us will allow us to save our entire race. I must apologize for our rude behavior during the first few days of contact. Our race fears the Akuta and we thought you might have been them. We were wrong.”

  “I completely understand,” AJ replied.

  “Our race is indebted to yours. I will make sure that all Keldans understand what you have done for us.”

  Before AJ had a chance to reply, the Keldan world leader stepped out of the cargo bay and into the rain. AJ watched as he casually walked over to his jet and climbed aboard. Turning around, he was startled to see Commander Toonpin standing uncomfortably close.

  “I too would like to apologize for my own refusal to believe you when you told us you were not Akuta. I did not truly believe you until I saw your ship. I am looking forward to the trip to your home planet.”

  “I didn’t know you were going,” AJ admitted.

  “The list was not finalized until earlier this morning. We will be ready to leave as soon as your ship is repaired.”

  Toonpin then extended his hand. Without any hesitation, AJ grasped it. “I look forward to getting to know you better during the trip home,” he admitted.

  Chapter 22

  AJ scanned his monitor, every indicator showed green. “Helm?”

  Thomas double-checked his console then reported, “Propulsion system is go. Course is plotted and we have a clear exit lane. Hyperjump calculations in progress for jump in ninety minutes.”

  AJ turned slightly in his chair, “Chief?”

  Lora turned to face the Captain. “My board is green. All reactors are lit and stable. Power accumulators are fully charged. The Keldan's have given us clearance to depart.”

  AJ spun his chair around so he could address the large monitor that now hung in the corner of the bridge. “Councilman Goeglict, are your people ready?”

  “We are ready,” the Councilman replied. Since he could not physically occupy the bridge without crowding the humans, a video link gave him a virtual presence.

  “Very well then,” AJ spun himself back around. “Helm, take us out of orbit – normal acceleration.”

  “Aye Sir!”

  The ship shuddered slightly as the main engines came up to 80 percent thrust. AJ scanned his status screens which showed everything was operating as expected. But, like any good captain, he also relied upon his senses. He could literally feel the way the ship was responding and right now, everything felt right.

  It was probably his imagination, but the Star-Pulse felt as if it was happy to be moving again. Her deuterium tanks were stuffed and the hyperdrive had been repaired. Even though they were heading into possible hostile territory, AJ thought the ship was humming with the joy of once again being in deep space.

  Just shy of an hour and a half later, Thomas turned and said, “Ready for jump in ten minutes.”

  “Extend the pods and proceed with the jump,” AJ ordered.

  The first jump would drop them within two light years of the Akuta star system. At that distance, the ship's sensors should be able to detect the energy signatures of any hyperjumps occurring in the system. It would also give them time to recharge their jump accumulators as well as to fine-tune the next jump which would take them to within a half light year of their final destination.

  Thomas performed the traditional countdown and watched as the ship's first post-repair jump was completed without incident. “Jump complete!” Thomas announced. After a brief delay he said, “Arrival point is correct. I guess we got the alignment right.”

  Had the alignment of the newly replaced pylon and its complex emitter not been accurate, the ship could have ended u
p many light years from their intended destination or been torn apart by torsional stress.

  “Leave the pods extended,” AJ ordered. “Begin recharge using all reactors. Commence jump calculations as previously discussed.”

  AJ heard the acknowledgments as he spun his chair around. “Councilman, we are now four light years from your planet.”

  AJ was becoming more adept at reading Keldan emotions and he could tell that the Councilman looked a little perplexed. “We felt nothing,” he said.

  “That's the beauty of hyperjump travel,” AJ smiled. “On a normal run, we jump, recharge, calculate, and jump again. It's pretty boring actually.”

  “Until something goes wrong and your ship ends up getting smashed by an asteroid,” Goeglict replied.

  The Captain chuckled. “Very true. It's amazing how much good can come out of such a disaster though.”

  By violating company policy and using all three reactors, the ship's power cells were recharged in a little over two hours. AJ was taking no chances on being discovered by an Akuta ship. If their hyperjump energy pulse was detected he wanted to be long gone before someone showed up to investigate. Even so, their risk of discovery would increase the closer they got to the star system.

  The second jump was 1.83 light years taking them to half a light year from the Akuta system. As an emergency measure, a second set of jump calculations had been run to allow them to immediately jump out of the system if an Akuta warship showed up. The short jump depleted the power cells by about 30 percent leaving sufficient margin for them to immediately jump again if needed.

  “Jump complete!” Thomas announced. “Initiating full radar sweep. Arrival point is correct. Commencing emergency recharge of power cells.”

  “Very well. Chief, let's see if we can pick up anything.”

  While Chief McKintyre tended to her console, AJ got up from his chair and refilled his coffee.

  About an hour and two cups of coffee later, the Chief announced, “I've scanned the entire electromagnetic spectrum six times and have found nothing. Nor have I detected any hyperjump energy spikes. Either the Akuta are all dead or this is the wrong star system.”

  AJ stood up and stretched. “Thomas, have you learned anything about the system's planetary population?”

  “It's hard to detect planets at this distance,” Thomas replied, “But I believe there are at least three very large planets in the system.”

  “Can we safely make an in-system jump?”

  “From this distance – yes. The incident with the Keldan asteroid was a one in a million coincidence. I say we jump.”

  AJ sat back down and keyed the ship-wide address system. “All hands – this is the Captain. We will be jumping into an uncharted system. Prep the ship and get into your suits. Contact the bridge when you are set.”

  AJ looked at Thomas and said, “Run the calculations. Take us to a point 25 degrees off the orbital plane and 230 million kilometers from the star.”

  “Aye Sir!”

  There was a flurry of activity throughout the ship as the crew closed all the air-tight hatches and donned their spacesuits. The Keldans put theirs on as well. As soon as everything was ready, they executed the jump.

  “Jump complete!” Thomas intoned. “Scans are clear. Arrival point is confirmed.”

  “Chief – anything?”

  Lora's hands flew across several screens. “Nothing Sir. Are you sure this is the right star system?”

  AJ spun his chair around. The image on the screen was that of Thumis. “This is where the Akuta claim to have come from,” she said.

  “Thomas, what can you tell me about this star system.”

  Thomas tapped a command on his console causing the main viewing screen to switch to a diagram of the star system. “It's still a bit unrefined, but the innermost world is a very large rocky planet about three times the size of Earth. It's so close to the star that most of its surface is probably molten. The second planet is a dead world about the size of the Earth. No atmosphere. There are two gas giants orbiting much father out.”

  “That's it?” AJ asked. “No Akuta home world?”

  “Wait a minute,” Thomas said, his fingers dancing across the computer keyboard. “The computer just found another planet. This one's way off kilter from the orbital plane and it appears to be orbiting in the other direction in an elliptical orbit. Its position makes it planet number three. Temperature would be tolerable. I don't have an atmospheric reading on it yet.”

  “This doesn't add up,” AJ said. “If this is the Akuta home system, then which planet did they originate from? Chief, are we still clear?”

  “This system is not inhabited sir,” Chief McKintyre replied, emphasizing the word not.

  AJ got up from his chair and walked over to the helm. “How long would it take us to get to the third planet?”

  Thomas worked his keyboard for a moment before replying, “About three days.”

  “Good, set a course for the third planet. It's time to see what happened to the Akuta.”

  * * * * *

  The annoying buzz of the intercom woke AJ from a sound sleep. Heather stirred next to him and tried to cuddle closer. AJ rolled over and hit the accept button. “What is it?” he said, keeping his voice low and even.

  “This is Lieutenant Delray Sir. Sorry to disturb you. We're picking up a number of metallic objects orbiting the planet. Sung Li and I thought it best we inform you to see if you would like to proceed.”

  AJ didn't like to run his ship over the intercom. Glancing at the clock he noted that it was nearly oh-five-hundred. “I'll be there in 15 minutes,” he said then broke the connection.

  When he rolled back over, he could see that Heather was awake. “I'm going to stay here and go back to sleep if that's okay with you,” she said.

  Kissing her on the forehead he said, “I don't mind at all. Give me a call when you get up and I'll join you for breakfast.”

  Heather mumbled an acknowledgment then drifted back to sleep. AJ dressed and left the room without disturbing her. On the way to the bridge, he stopped by the mess decks and picked up a cup of coffee and a donut.

  “Show me what you got,” AJ said as he stepped through the hatch onto the bridge.

  The main view screen was active showing a large number of contacts in orbit around the planet. Scott was at the engineering station. “Looks like a lot of debris,” he said. “We're tracking at least four hundred separate pieces of various sizes. None are radiating.”

  “How far out are we?” AJ asked, taking the command chair that Susan had just vacated.

  “About three hours,” Susan informed him.

  “Sung Li, put us into a high orbit above all that junk. Have we seen anything on the surface yet?”

  “No Sir,” Susan replied. “The planet does have an atmosphere but it's not breathable. So far we haven't seen any signs of life down there. We have, however, noticed an anomaly on the surface.”

  “An anomaly? Such as?”

  Susan reached over and punched in a command on one of the consoles. The screen in front of AJ came to life to show the view of the planet as seen through one of the Star-Pulse's telescopes. AJ looked at the image for a moment and said, “Looks like a meteor crater. How big is it?”

  “Roughly 17 kilometers from edge to edge. It's not a meteor crater either - it's not round and it's nearly perfectly flat,” Scott replied.

  “Lava flow?”

  “Maybe,” Scott replied. “Only I haven't seen any evidence of volcanic activity anywhere on the surface.”

  AJ sipped his coffee and stared at the image on the screen. Coming to a decision, he said, “Lieutenant, I'll take over the watch. Wake up Thomas and Chief McKintyre. Have them grab a quick breakfast then report here as soon as possible. Sung Li, I want you and Susan to take a shuttle down to that anomaly and check it out. Scott, you're qualified at the helm right?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Then you've got helm and engineering until the morning c
rew arrives. Sung Li, you're relieved.”

  The Star-Pulse was settling into its prescribed orbit as the shuttle was approaching the anomaly. Sung Li made a low-level pass over the entire area then brought the shuttle down inside the flat area near the edge. From the air, it looked as if they were flying over a sand-covered landing field of immense size.

  The two spacesuited figures used the cargo ramp to descend to the surface. Sung Li knelt down and brushed away the dirt to reveal a glassy surface. “What do you make of this?” he asked.

  Susan brushed the dirt off another area to reveal an identical surface. “I don't know. Looks like melted glass.”

  “Could it be lava?”

  “I don't think so. I've never seen lava like this before. Let's walk over to the edge.”

  The strange flatness gradually gave way to normal rock. After examining the edge in considerable detail Susan stood up and looked out towards the center of the flat area. “Good lord,” she said.

  “What?”

  Pointing down to the line they had just cleared, Susan said, “You can see where the melting stopped. There's a gradual transition between the glassy material and the surrounding landscape. This entire area was beamed from space by some type of weapon.”

  AJ, listening in on the conversation, said, “What kind of weapon can do that amount of damage? You're talking about melting millions of tons of rock!”

  “Look at the evidence,” Susan explained. “There's debris in orbit. Possibly the remains of destroyed ships. There must have been a base here at one time. It's now a glassified wasteland.”

  “Grab a sample from several locations if you can and head back to the ship,” AJ ordered. “If you're right, that explains why the Akuta have never returned. Somebody else wiped them out.”

  “I wonder where they are now?” Thomas asked.

  Getting out of his chair, AJ said, “I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question. I'll be with the Keldans. Chief, you have the bridge.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” Thumis said as soon as AJ entered the Keldan common area. “We have always believed that the Akuta home world was in this star system. It never occurred to us that they invaded us from a base.”