Falling Ark

by Leigh Snelson

  “No problem, things are going to get noisy though, we are going to move some of the containers around and make the whole ship airtight.” I said.

  I could see the puzzlement on her face, she wasn’t sure if she should ask more questions. Did she really want to know the answers?

  “Airtight?” she finally asked in confusion but then the moment she asked, realisation hit her. “You’re going to lift the whole ship? Cool! Keep me updated!”

  Ava hopped out the room, she seemed pleased that she could get back to her passion, talking supercomputers into spilling their secrets. Moments later she returned, jumping back into the room, grabbing one of the huge thick coats that hung near the door and smiling back at me.

  “I’m just borrowing this.” She said and disappeared again.

  “Are we really going to try and lift this entire ship?” Hank asked.

  I could tell he didn’t believe it was possible. I wondered the same thing. The gravity drives could handle it, but I wondered if the ship could, or would it snap into pieces under the strain.

  “We are going to try.” I said smiling at him, but I could tell that he didn’t share my optimism. “There are lots of gravity drives in the containers. They can be programmed to work as one collective unit, if we don’t put too much stress on the ship it’ll be fine. Afterall this ship is designed to take on huge waves, we are just going to lift it straight up. It’ll work.”

  He could tell that I was trying to convince myself as much as him.

  “I never told you guys, but I am terrified of heights.” Hank confessed to us. “This makes me nervous.”

  This was a strange revelation, to see this hulking man admit that he feared heights. I shouldn’t have been surprised, it’s a perfectly respectable fear but I didn’t think he would fear anything.

  Sam did not share my understanding.

  “Really, the big mans scared of heights, how is that even possible? Are you scared to stand up because you’re really tall, don’t look down!” Sam snorted and laughed.

  They had known each other for a very long time so I assumed Sam knew how hard to push Hank. I hoped that this was the case because if Hank snapped there really wasn’t much anyone could do to stop him.

  “Don’t worry, I will always look down on you!” Hank said, towering over Sam. “Just don’t forget that I could throw you off this ship without breaking a sweat. So, don’t tempt me.”

  Hank curled his arm next to Sam as he walked past. His bicep was roughly the same proportions as Sam’s head, and Sam had a big head.

  Derek was next to return from the depths of the ship.

  “You know that there are just as many containers inside the ship?” He informed us as he stepped into the bridge. “There is some very funky stuff going on down there. It looks like they had plans to set up some sort of base, with tents and domes and all kinds of things, water reclamation, air processing, everything!”

  “Really? That could come in useful.” I commented. “If we find a safe place to set up camp”

  “I doubt it.” Derek replied. “It seemed to me that this stuff was designed for a different purpose, everything had airlocks and pressure systems on it. I think Lara was planning to go into space.”

  Hank, Sam and I turned to look at him. We had been staring out of the window, watching the cranes moving containers aside so that we could get to the robots, but this comment caught our collective attention.

  “No!” Hank said as he turned to me. “I can tell what you’re thinking and no!”

  “What’s up with him?” Derek asked.

  “Oh, he’s just scared of heights” Sam explained.

  Hank shot Sam a stare that would have struck fear into any man, a look to say I am going to get you for that comment.

  “Really!” Derek said, “So the big guy does have a weakness, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

  He jokingly tried to punch Hank on the arm, but Hank caught his fist before it could make contact, Derek’s fist was engulfed by Hanks hand.

  “You mention this again and I’ll tell everybody why you’re not allowed in Soho anymore!”

  “I want to hear that story!” Sam cried. “Go on Derek, provoke him, I dare you!”

  Derek looked at Hank and then made the gesture of zipping his lips and throwing away the key. Hank released his hand and joined us by the window.

  “So… The Moon.” Sam said slowly.

  “We are not ready for that.” I informed him. “Plus, people have families, we can’t just ask them to uproot their lives.”

  “Satellites cannot find you on the moon.” Sam replied. I could tell that he was trying to bait me in with this fact.

  “One thing at a time, let’s get the ship airtight first.” I conceded as I watched the cranes moving and picking up some of the containers from the top of the stacks.

  “Airtight?” Derek queried. “Did I miss something?”

  “I’ll update you as soon as everyone gets back, we have an idea.” I said.

  “O... K...” Derek replied, unsure. “Let me show you this first.”

  He tapped on the screen of his phone a few times and then gestured for us to look out of the window.

  Dozens of little orbs flew out from the side of the ship on either side. They accelerated away and formed a circle about five hundred metres in diameter with the ship at the centre.

  At that distance they were difficult to see but then they pulled off the best party piece I had ever seen.

  They started to rise in the air, a line of little dots in the distance, they went higher until they were about half a mile above sea level then the sea started to climb up towards them. Sucked up by their gravity.

  “How did you do that!” I asked, shocked at the spectacle I was witnessing.

  The ship remained perfectly still, no turbulence or waves crashing into each other. It looked like there was a large glass wall all around the ship and water was flowing up it.

  There was now a wall of water surrounding the ship. Plumes of water then criss-crossed above us creating a watery lattice roof overhead.

  “I know it’s only water, but I have instructed the orbs to build it twenty-five metres wide. It should stop any missiles or aircraft that Lara sends our way. At least until we figure out what to do next.” Derek put away his phone. “Also, no-one can see in, so she will struggle to see what we are doing.”

  He looked very pleased with himself as he admired the water fortress he had constructed around us.

  When we designed the software for the orbs, I had always theorised the possibility of targeting individual types of molecules. One of the early prototypes was based around this and we used it to filter water, lifting out only the water molecules and leave the rest. Derek had obviously found this and programmed the orbs to apply gravity only to the hydrogen-oxygen bonds.

  I gave him a nod of appreciation while Hank and Sam stood, staring out of the window in awe of what they were witnessing, a giant wall of water protecting us on all sides.

  As I stared out of the window again and saw Julie and Tony scrambling over the containers indicating that they would like one picked out and placed where they could get to it easier.

  They took one look at this wall of water, looked up to me in the control tower, gave me the thumbs up and went about their business. Nothing really shocked them anymore, they had been completely converted.

  We were in for a lot of hard work, but we would be ready the next time Lara came for us.

  Chapter 20

  The robots, the crew and all of us had worked hard for three long days but finally the ship was sealed, ready for take-off. It was a testament to the hard-working robots really. They understood the job and worked tirelessly until it was complete.

  Halfway through the third day they downed tools and returned to their containers having completed their assigned jobs. They had inspected every element of the ship. Their attention to detail was impressive. Wherever you walked you noticed new little welds that were
patching up microscopic holes in the hull. Holes that we would have never normally been spotted but the robots had dealt with.

  We now had a ship that would allow us to walk between the main tower where the crew were based, around the important sections of the ship, with access to all the containers now they had been re-arranged, through the refrigeration area and around the old engine and generator area.

  We had sealed up the propeller shafts because we wouldn’t need them anymore, which meant the entire ship was now one huge, sealed unit.

  Occasionally the robots had made new holes in walls leading to new staircases made from container metal and suspended walkways. We had re-organised the containers so that they were not stacked so high at the front of the ship but instead made little nests across the entire deck. We had clustered similar containers together, ammunitions, raw materials, advanced technology, and we were able to pop up into these nests of supplies, usually stacked between two and three high with air-tight roofs and makeshift lighting.

  “I think we are ready.” I said to Sam as we made our last inspections.

  “I think so too.” Sam agreed. “And it was a good idea to move the guns onto the top of the ship. That way Lara will be in for a surprise if she comes after us.”

  “Don’t thank me. Ava set all that up, she programmed the remote gunning systems so that the crew can fire the guns from the tower. Hank found the gimbles to move the guns around remotely, all I did was make the suggestion.”

  “Well it was a good idea.” Sam confirmed.

  “Not as good as your idea with the aircraft.” I pointed out.

  “Well it just seemed a shame to have fifty planes sitting in containers when we could create container hanger bays.” Sam explained.

  “I know, but the ability to launch fifty planes at the touch of a button. It gives us quite an edge.” I reminded him. “Do you think the airlocks will hold?”

  “They should, they are only simple seals but simple is sometimes the best.” Sam continued. “My only worry is that if the aircraft link program Ava wrote will be effective.”

  “I am sure it will be, besides, how else do you expect fifteen crew to pilot fifty aircraft. One person controlling a group of semi-autonomous planes is a work of genius.” I said.

  “I have to admit, the ship is looking pretty good.” Sam replied and I agreed.

  Over the past few days I had been blown away by Ava. She had written so many programs to help automate tasks around the ship, the most impressive was the code to allow a single pilot to control all the planes at the same time.

  She claimed she borrowed the software from some friends who worked for Disney. They had programmed drones for a new type of fireworks display. They would release hundreds of drones into the sky and create images using lights. Obviously, they didn’t have hundreds of drone pilots, they only needed one or two and they could control a swam of craft, each one programmed to react to the environment and not crash into anything, including other drones.

  Ava never stopped impressing me.

  “You head upstairs, I am just going to pop and see Julie and Tony.” I informed Sam who started to climb the stairs to the control room. He gave me the thumbs up and I continued down the corridor.

  “Julie! Come here!” I heard Tony call out.

  Tony and Julie had set up a lab on the third floor on the control tower and they could usually be found in there. I heard the shout from down the corridor as I approached the hatchway into their rainforest retreat.

  The room was full of trees. Most of these had come from the refrigeration unit and were slowly defrosting.

  “Hold on a moment, I am just configuring this DNA strand.” Julie said with her head firmly fixed to a microscope. Her hands were dropping in various coloured liquids on whatever she was looking at.

  They both looked like they needed two days of sleep and they reminded me of children at Christmas with too many toys to play with and not enough time to play with them all. They kept bouncing from project to project as ideas struck them.

  I didn’t know if they were doing anything useful, or just enjoying the freedom to experiment however they wanted, without the paperwork and the requirement to explain their actions to management every hour.

  “How’s it going?” I asked as I stepped into the room.

  Tony looked up from his station and beckoned me over. He spun around on his chair and moved a few of the larger plants away to reveal a vine that he had grown on the wall.

  “Check this out!” he said excitedly. “This is a traditional grape vine which is able to produce the most delicious tasting grapes.”

  Tony reached out, grabbed one of the many bunches that seemed to be growing out of the wall and picked off a few of the green-red grapes for me to try.

  Taking one, I put it into my mouth and prepared myself for the taste. I knew Tony was an expert on food and that he had spent many years researching the best possible combinations of flavours, so when he claimed something tasted good, I knew to trust him, but I was not ready for this.

  “That is amazing!” I said as I reached out to take some more.

  Tony slapped my hand away.

  “Not just yet.” He said, guarding his creation. “We are going to transport these into one of the containers to give them more room to grow. Do you notice anything else on the vine?”

  I looked around and noticed that there were also strawberries, small oranges and even bananas growing.

  “I always thought bananas grew on trees.” I said.

  “They did.” Tony replied. “Now they grow here.”

  “How did you convince a grape vine to grow bananas?” I asked.

  “Not just bananas,” he replied. “Take a closer look.”

  He was right. I thought that the fruits were growing on different plants but as I traced the vines, they were all growing on the same stalk.

  “That’s impossible!” I exclaimed.

  “Not really, it’s all about grafting plants and changing the DNA. It’s just science.” Tony said, smirking.

  “How much can this plant produce?” I asked and again reached out for a strawberry. Once again Tony moved my hand away.

  “Once we have transferred these plants into the container we have been preparing I should be able to produce enough food for the entire crew, every day, with a little bit left over. I just need to pipe the exhaust fumes from the electrical generator into container and add bit of water.” Tony smiled.

  The fumes from the generators were causing us all headaches. Not literally but figuring out what to do with this toxic atmosphere was becoming an issue since we had sealed the hull.

  We had plans to move energy production to a gravity drive, but we still needed the diesel power for the immediate future. We tried to use the nuclear generator from the Armillary. Sam had moved it out of the barn and built the ship around it, burying it in the concrete core for added protection. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to get it out without taking apart the ship.

  If we could put the exhaust into a container and Tony’s plants would eat the toxins it could solve a lot of problems right now and allow us to take off much sooner.

  “The plants convert the exhaust fumes into food? Is it safe?” I asked as I started to look suspiciously at him, no longer eager to try another berry off the vine.

  “Of course! It’s just carbon and hydrogen, you mix that with a bit of oxygen and you can create almost anything we need. I won’t tell you where the rest of the fertiliser comes from.” Tony winked at me.

  I thought about this, manure was one of the best fertilisers that I knew about but where was he going to get heap of… never mind I think I knew.

  Thankfully Julie broke my thought processes as she wandered over holding something in a small petri dish. A small spoon sat in the bowl and she used it to scoop up the contents.

  “Here, try this.” she said, and before I could even react she had put the spoon in my mouth.

  “That tastes like bacon!” I exc
laimed.

  “Not only tastes like, it’s chemically the same as grilled bacon, only it came from a plant and comes in slime form. I think the crew will be suspicious at first.” Julie said, placing the dish on the countertop next to me. Instinctively I picked it up and shoved another spoonful in my mouth.

  “After they try it, they won’t care where it came from.” I reassured her.

  The smile on Julies mouth rose. She was pleased that I liked it and I could tell that she was nervous that it’s texture would be off putting. I didn’t care, this stuff was delicious. Then again, I wasn’t the best person to ask, we had been eating ships rations for the past few days, so I was just hungry for anything that wasn’t vacuum sealed and full of preservatives.

  “How many containers do you want to convert for this little farm experiment?” I asked as I scooped another mouthful of this delicious bacon flavoured yogurt into my mouth.

  “Three should be enough for now.” Tony replied.

  “One for Fruits and Vegetables, one for meats and one for liquids.” Julie added.

  “Liquids?” I asked. That one caught my attention.

  I had been down here a few times and sampled the growing range of food but they had never offered me liquids.

  “Yeah, we are working on a couple of plants that excrete milk, orange juice or beer depending on how we configure them.” Tony informed me, “But they are not ready yet, well, not unless you want to spend the next four hours on the toilet.”

  With that last comment he sent a scowl over to Julie. Obviously, this was some joke as Julie snorted with laughter.

  “Hey, no pain, no gain” Julie laughed and went back over to her desk.

  “Well this is awesome guys. I only came down to remind you that we take off soon for our test flight. You are coming upstairs for that right?”

  Given that they had rarely left this room for the past couple of days, except to head down to their containers it was going to be strange seeing them on the bridge.

  I was worried about how they were integrating with the rest of the team. I need not have panicked though. They were making delicious food so of course they got plenty of visitors. Derek and Hank spent a lot of time here getting to know them, Sam often came down to see what was on offer and even Ava popped in from time to time.