When Ships Mutiny

by Doug Farren

  “As soon as your interface training is complete, you will spend three months training with squadrons 18 and 73 to sharpen your combat skills and to allow you to become familiar with the capabilities of your new bodies. Squadron 73 will take the roll of the Evendi. Your squadron will be paired with squadron 18. Listen to what they have to tell you – they’re all seasoned combat veterans.

  “Because of the advanced nature of your ships, it has been decided to keep your squadron together to increase its combat effectiveness. Normally, you would each be assigned to a more experienced squadron following combat training. As such, your squadron is a bit of an experiment – don’t let me down. Are there any questions?”

  The Admiral looked around. He would have been very surprised had anyone asked a question. If there were any, the answer could have been quickly obtained by querying their linked computers.

  After a brief delay, the Admiral concluded, “I would like you to meet with the other two squadrons. They are waiting for us in another part of the V-world. If there are no objections I will alter our environment so you can meet them.”

  The table, as well as the room and all the furniture suddenly vanished. Fernando found himself inside a large tavern filled with smiling faces. The man nearest him had a distinct Chinese appearance. Immediately upon registering his face, Fernando’s mind was flooded with information.

  His name was Bulldog, merged with a Defender-class battleship and a member of squadron 18. He had seen combat on multiple occasions and had been heavily damaged during the successful repulsion of an Evendi invasion attempt of Athenos. He was currently in orbit around the moon.

  If Cipher wanted to dig deeper, he could have accessed Bulldog’s personnel file and learned everything the military knew of him. In the V-world, introductions were unnecessary.

  Cipher mingled with the others while the ship he was merged with was fueled. It was an odd sensation. Even though he was thoroughly immersed in the V-world, he could feel the many parts of his new body as they quietly talked to him. If he concentrated, he could actually feel his deuterium tanks as they were filled. He smiled. Being a ship seemed completely natural to him.

  After making the rounds and getting to know the members of the other squadrons, Cipher excused himself from the party. He had an important call to make.

  Chapter 4

  The virtual vidphone screen indicated it was ringing the recipient’s phone. Cipher looked around and suddenly realized just how strange this call was. He no longer had a body and therefore could not sit in front of a vidphone. But, his mind was telling him he was doing just that. The virtual reality world was incredibly realistic. The person on the other end of the phone would see him exactly as if he had been sitting in front of a real vidphone. That meant the V-world computer was not only simulating him sitting in front of a vidphone, it was simulating his simulation sitting in front of the vidphone to the person on the other end of the line.

  The screen came to life and a woman’s face appeared. “Fernando!” she yelled, tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. “I was worried. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine mom,” Cipher replied. “The merging went well. I’m a warship now! Is dad around?”

  The woman turned and looked off to one side. “I yelled and told him it was you that was calling. I think he’s headed for the basement phone.”

  A second later, the screen split itself in half and the smiling face of Fernando’s father appeared. He and his wife were both 45 and in very good health. She was an insurance claims adjuster while he was an accountant with his own private business. They both had pitch black hair and well tanned, young-looking skin.

  “Hi son!” his father said looking at him critically. “I thought you were being merged? Something happen?”

  “The merging is complete,” Cipher explained. “What you’re seeing is a virtual image of me. Watch this.”

  Cipher reached up, grabbed his lower lip, and pulled it over his nose.

  “Oh!” his mother averted her eyes. “That’s gross.”

  “I think it’s pretty neat,” his father admitted. “Okay, I believe you. How do you feel?”

  Putting his lip back into place, Cipher replied, “I feel very good. They say it will take about a week for me to be able to control the ship as if it was part of my own body. I can feel bits and pieces of it right now.”

  “I’m proud of you son,” his father said.

  “As am I,” his mom quickly added.

  “Thank you both. That means a lot to me. I don’t know when I’ll be able to call again. Right after learning how to control the ship, I’ll start my combat training. As soon as that’s done, I’ll be sent on my first mission. I’ll try to stay in touch as best I can though.”

  “We’ll understand if we don’t hear from you for long stretches of time,” Mr. Munoz said.

  “If you’re ever in her neck of the woods you should call your sister,” Mrs. Munoz said. “She worries about you too you know.”

  Cipher smiled and chuckled. “It’s not like I can go knock on her door mom. But I promise to give her a call in the near future. But now I have to run. Time to learn how to use my new body.”

  * * * * *

  Cipher was once again sitting at the complex control panel. He knew this panel so well he could operate its every control with his eyes closed. He had spent hours at this very same panel learning how to run the ship he was now merged with.

  “Let’s start with something very simple,” Bill Rogers said. His voice sounded like it was coming from a pair of headphones but Cipher, of course was not wearing any. Bill was actually seated at a much different control panel. This one monitored the various neurological signals being sent between Cipher’s brain and the ship.

  Cipher was moored to a space station built specifically to train newly merged minds. Thick umbilical cables allowed the station to monitor nearly every function of the ship.

  “How about my forward camera,” Cipher suggested.

  “Very good. Now remember, try not to use the virtual video monitor. When you turn on the camera, try to feel the sensation of the camera powering up. Try to see through the camera but not with your eyes. You no longer have eyes. You have a very much expanded and enhanced visual cortex which can process the images from many different devices. Give it a try.”

  Cipher closed his eyes then reached out and activated the forward camera. The switch, however, was not real. It was a simulation giving him a point of reference he could use to turn on the camera. The simulation software would react by sending the appropriate signal to the camera.

  When he flipped the switch, he felt something but couldn’t see anything. He flipped the camera off and then on again. This time, the sensation was stronger and he was able to turn it off without using the virtual switch on the panel. He turned it back on and using the new-found sensation tried to look through the camera.

  A star-studded sky suddenly filled his vision. But it was far more than simple points of light. The camera operated far above and below the narrow wavelength of light that mere humans were restricted to. He could see but it wasn’t like seeing through human eyes. This was totally different and completely unexplainable to someone who was not merged. How would an octopus explain what it feels like to control eight arms to someone who has only two? How could a bat explain how it sees using echo-location to a creature that cannot?

  “I can see through the camera,” was all Cipher could say.

  “Excellent!” Bill seemed pleased. “Can you control where it’s pointed?”

  After a moment of experimentation, Cipher figured out how to move the camera. He swung it around until the city of New York was in the center of his vision. Concentrating, he caused the camera to magnify the image until he could make out the statue of Liberty. Bill, of course, was watching his every effort.

  “I see you’ve got the camera controls down,” he interrupted. “Now let’s see if you can hear using the radio.”

  Instrument
by instrument, system by system, Cipher learned how to use his new body. In less than a day, he learned how to simultaneously see everything around him in the full electromagnetic spectrum. Radio stars blazed and invisible heat sources sprang to life. He could hear with incredible clarity nearly every radio station signal that leaked out into space. The universe had become an awe inspiring place of wondrous beauty.

  “Ready for something a little more challenging?” a new voice asked.

  “Sure. Where’s Bill?”

  “Unlike you, Bill has to sleep. I’m Mark Matheny. Let’s fire up your number one fusion reactor.”

  “Okay.” Cipher reached for the button that would initiate the startup but stopped himself when Mark continued.

  “You’re going to feel a lot more than just your reactor starting up,” Mark explained. “Remember, no power system is 100 percent efficient. The power system driven by the reactor will dump its waste heat through your hull’s heat radiator grid. You will feel your hull temperature going up. Don’t forget to use the status display.”

  Unlike his biological body, not every function of the ship was wired into Cipher’s brain. Doing so would have overwhelmed him with information. But there would be times when he would need to make adjustments and changes to the operation of many of his systems. The ship was equipped with its own V-world generator capable of displaying a dizzying array of controls in the form of virtual control panels. In an instant, Cipher could call up one of those panels to see what was going on inside him as well as allowing him to make any needed adjustments.

  The fusion reactor felt like a warm gulp of rum running down his throat. It felt wonderful! Without waiting for permission, he switched some of his systems to internal power. He could feel the difference.

  Mark worked with him and together they fired up all six fusion reactors. Cipher felt warm and energized. He was keyed up and ready for anything. It was almost as if he had drunk an entire pot of espresso.

  “Let’s take a break for a moment and just hold where we’re at for now,” Mark said. He sounded worried.

  “Is everything okay?” Cipher asked. “I would like to keep going.”

  “Based upon what I see going on in your brain, I think we need to take a break. Going much farther could be dangerous. Don’t forget, we’re still artificially enhancing your brain’s ability to grow and learn. Taking on too much could trigger a seizure. How do you feel?”

  “Like I’m ready to run a marathon race up the side of a cliff!”

  “Listen to me very carefully,” Mark said in a firm voice. “No matter how much you want to, don’t do anything else. Your brain is processing and integrating a huge amount of new information and sensations. If you overdue it, you run the risk of having a seizure. You need to try to relax and get used to things as they are now. Understood?”

  Cipher really wanted to move on. He wanted nothing more than to keep this feeling of euphoria going. He felt like a superman and nothing could stop him. But reason quickly took over and he realized that Mark was right. This fantastic feeling of power he felt was not normal.

  “I understand,” Cipher replied. Although he still felt like he was indestructible he was becoming a bit worried. “What do you want me to do?”

  “You should be able to direct yourself in the V-world by now. Shift yourself over to port 11 and stay there until one of us comes to get you.”

  Cipher did as he was instructed. He instantly found himself sitting in a chair, in a quiet park, in front of a chess board. An old man sat on the other side of the table.

  “Who are …“

  “Shhhh,” the old man put his finger to his lips. With his other hand he pointed to a baby carriage sitting next to the table. A sleeping baby lay under the blanket. The old man reached out and pushed a pawn forward beginning the game.

  At first, Cipher found it hard to concentrate. He could still feel the buzzing excitement caused by his new-found abilities. The ship was talking to him, loudly, and from all directions. He had to concentrate very hard to play. He lost the first game as well as the second. By game three, his nerves had settled down and he was able to concentrate better. He almost won game three. The forth was a draw.

  Cipher decided to take some liberties and ordered a beer to appear. He sipped the cold beverage as he played. He won the next two games.

  “I think you are ready to continue,” the old man said.

  Cipher looked up and saw that the old man had morphed into the face of Bill Rogers.

  “I do feel much better,” Cipher admitted. “More normal.”

  They shifted back to the training simulation and continued to explore Cipher’s new abilities. He spent an entire day becoming familiar with moving himself through space. It was not unlike learning how to walk or ride a bike except he learned much faster.

  They moved into the weapons range where he learned how to control his incredibly powerful weapons. Lasers beat down on the battered surface of Oberon. Practice missiles were fired at imaginary enemy positions. The anti-missile lasers, or CIWS as they were known, were challenged by mock attacks.

  Bill was his instructor on his final day of training. Cipher was being monitored remotely through a special module attached to his hull. The module would be permanently removed when all of his training was complete.

  “Are you ready for the last challenge?” Bill asked.

  “Bring it on!” Cipher, knowing what was coming, was eager to begin.

  “We must be very careful,” Bill stated, his voice taking on a serious tone. “Your stardrive has a lot of built-in safety functions. All of them can be overridden. I don’t recommend doing so unless it is an extreme emergency. Those safeties are there for a reason.”

  “Then why can they be overridden?”

  “You’re a warship. There may be times when you must try anything to escape. If your life is on the line you may as well push your systems beyond their design specs to get out of the line of fire. Do you remember what the two most critical parameters are?”

  All of the volunteers had received extensive training on their ships. The training included details concerning how nearly every component operated.

  “Power availability and gravitational distortion,” Cipher answered.

  “Right – too much distortion and the drive could malfunction tearing your ship into pieces so small you would look like a cloud of ash. Insufficient power reserves to accommodate entry into hyperspace could leave you stuck in a transdimensional limbo or worse. We don’t know everything there is to know about hyperdimensional physics but we do know that an incomplete transition puts you outside our known equations.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

  “Okay. First, we will practice a transition to hyperspace. Power up your FTL and transition to hyperspace but try not to move. You’re going to find it very difficult. Even the slightest alteration of your drive fields will cause you to move at high speed. Once you have learned how to hold your position relative to normal space I’ll have you make your first trip. Proceed.”

  Cipher checked his power reserves, verified that the curvature of spacetime was within limits, and then brought his stardrive online. Everything went black! He couldn’t see or hear. Every external instrument and communications channel had ceased working. For an instant he panicked, then his systems automatically switched over to FTL mode compensating for the hyperdimensional field. Suddenly, he could see and hear again.

  Cipher found himself moving through space at near relativistic speed. Using the controls on his complex panel he slowed down until he was at a near standstill. Now that he was in hyperspace, he could measure his speed relative to normal space. Despite what many people still believed, there was a way to measure one’s velocity relative to space itself – it just couldn’t be done from normal space.

  A person in normal space could not measure spacetime with any device existing there. This is because the measuring device itself is affected by spacetime. This is why early scientists bel
ieved there was no such thing as an absolute velocity. But, the energy fields that make up normal space can be measured from within hyperspace. Although the concept of an absolute measurement of motion still did not apply, a ship in hyperspace could determine its motion relative to normal space.

  "Try to feel what each control is doing," Bill explained. "The hyperdrive is tied into your motor cortex and you should be able to operate it without using the virtual control console. It's more complex than the sublight drive so it's going to take longer."

  Learning how to move through space using the sublight drive had been like learning how to ride a bicycle. Once he became proficient at it, he found he could maneuver the ship as easily as he could walk. Learning how to control the complex drive fields of the hyperdrive was far more difficult – like learning how to fly a helicopter. But Cipher learned quickly. Four and half hours later, he was holding his ship steady using only his mind.

  “Very good!” Bill praised his achievement. “Reference your navigational database and set a course for Proxima Centauri. Once there, drop to normal. If you make it there without incident then you are free to roam the Centauri system for a couple of days so you can get used to maneuvering yourself around. Good luck.”

  Cipher found the appropriate coordinates, pointed himself in the correct direction and accelerated. At first, he kept his speed low in order to get used to the feel of how the ship responded to his thoughts. As his confidence grew, he increased his speed. A little over four hours later, he arrived at the Centauri star system.

  He slowed and dropped back into normal space. This time, the momentary blindness did not bother him. On his starboard side was an alien star. Drifting alone in space, Cipher took a moment to bask in the reality of the moment; he was no longer human – he was a Vengeance class warship.

  Chapter 5