‘Yes, it does,’ Kalrea said, sounding pleased.
‘The cartridges… I could read the writing on the cartridges. One had komputronic data key written on it. But I’ve never seen writing like that before. How—’
Kalrea interrupted. ‘You were taught our language when you were very young. You probably don’t even remember.’
‘No, I don’t,’ James replied.
‘Qinant young learn the language before they can speak themselves. The seatra can feed the brain information whilst you sleep. You were taught it when you were about three sykals old.’
‘What? Without me knowing?’
‘No, you were aware of it subconsciously at the time. It can even surface in dreams. But of course you were very young. You would have also started to speak Qinant at a very early age; however, Lex and Carol needed to teach you English as soon as they arrived on Earth, so would not have spoken our language since then. Seeing the writing will have triggered the memories. You should be able to read, think and speak Qinant. Try saying something.’
‘But I don’t know how!’
‘Relax! Just think of the writing and speak it. It will come naturally.’
James thought for a moment.
‘I can see the words, but—’
‘I can feel you’re trying too hard,’ Kalrea started to speak in Qinant. ‘Relax. Say the words you’re thinking.’
‘Okay,’ James said, taking a deep breath. ‘What is a—’ James stopped abruptly. He was speaking in Qinant.
‘That’s not bad.’
‘This is amazing,’ he replied, in very rough and broken Qinant. ‘But I don’t understand what Kimlo is.’
‘You were taught the main words you are most likely to use, so of course there are words you won’t know,’ Kalrea said. ‘Kimlo is actually a name; the name of the Qinant who invented the holographic table.’
James ran his hand along one of its edges and over the writing.
‘What is this Kimlo holographic table anyway?’ he questioned in broken Qinant. ‘It looks out of place here and it’s rather low.’
‘Oh… that’s not just any table,’ Kalrea said.
A holographic image of the Aurora suddenly formed above it.
‘That’s incredible,’ James said, looking closely at the image, which was floating above the table and rotating slowly. ‘I should have guessed from the name. It looks so real. Like an exact scaled down model of the ship. Can… I touch it?’
‘Of course,’ Kalrea replied.
James tried to place his left hand on the hull of the ship. He let go quickly.
‘It… It feels real… solid!’ he said, surprised.
He touched it once more. When he gripped the edge of the ship it stopped rotating. He lifted it at an angle. Then, the ship started to rotate again around its axis but at the new angle.
‘Incredible… How does it work?’ he enquired.
‘The table is a standard Kimlo holographic generator. The image of the Aurora is currently scaled at one millimetre to the metre. It uses a multi source projection system, which allows each pixel to be plotted even when other objects are within the Kimlo table’s projection area, for example your hand, and ultrasonic waves to give you the feeling that the surfaces of the image are solid.’
As James held the ship the port side became transparent, exposing the event horizon drives.
‘It’s so detailed,’ he commented. ‘Carol said that the Aurora wasn’t finished when it left Qintaino. From what I’ve seen it looks finished now?’
‘It is, almost. Once I arrived here, I started work on getting the Aurora completed and fully functional. Since then I’ve been improving it!’
‘How long has it taken you?’
‘Ten point six-eight Earth years since arriving here.’
‘All that time,’ James was surprised.
‘It’s a big ship,’ Kalrea replied.
‘This may seem a silly question, but how did you do it? I mean you can’t walk and I haven’t met anyone else.’
Kalrea chuckled.
‘I had a little help. You’ve seen one of them already.’
‘What?’ James replied in a confused voice.
‘In the cargo bay, you looked straight at one.’
‘Did I?’ James tried to think back. He twigged ‘That pile of material. Someone was in it.’
‘Not exactly! I’ll introduce you, shall I?’
James studied the holographic image. He was still holding the Aurora’s image when the pojin lift arrived. He turned towards the opening door, pulling the image outside of the ellipse marked on the table. It disappeared, startling him. When he looked back at the table, the image was once again rotating slowly in its centre.
James could hear a constant whine emanating from within the lift. The tone changed and a small robot emerged. It had no recognisable front or back, just many articulated arms tucked in neatly around its body, some with what looked like tools attached to them. It hovered above the floor in front of him.
‘Meet a micnorit nuronic construction drone,’ Kalrea announced proudly. ‘They’re my arms and legs. Without them I would still be a shell.’
James walked around admiring it.
‘How many are there?’
‘I lose track sometimes. I think there’s one hundred and twenty-three at the moment; that’s if they haven’t made any more of themselves in the last forty minutes.’
James smiled.
‘Today the Aurora, tomorrow the Universe,’ he said quietly.
Kalrea was silent for a few seconds.
‘Oh, I see,’ she said, before laughing.
The drone disappeared back into the lift.
‘You said the Aurora was almost finished. What’s missing?’ he enquired.
‘There is an element called Plyane needed to complete the hull. Without it we are vulnerable. One laser strike would tear the ship apart. The rocks did enough damage!’
‘Kalrea, where can we find this Plyane?’
‘There’s only one place. Normia. It’s one hundred and twenty-six thousand light years away in the Thantonia system.’
A star chart was displayed on the nearest monitor with the Thantonia system highlighted.
James smiled.
‘I’m afraid to ask you how long it’s going to take.’
‘We’ll arrive in seven Earth days I’m afraid. We can’t afford to compromise the hull.’
James was pleasantly surprised. He had expected a lot longer.
‘When can we leave?’ he asked, excited.
‘That’s up to you. You’re the pilot. Oh and by the way, you’ve left your bag in the Telecan control centre. I imagine you won’t want to leave that behind.’
‘Thanks, Kalrea,’ he said appreciatively.
*****
James wasted no time in retrieving the bag. He removed the magnogenic canvas of the flowers, which lay on top and then looked at the bare walls of the bridge. It’s going to look a bit lost in here.
‘Kalrea, do we have any nails?’
‘Nails?’ Kalrea replied. ‘You’re not serious!’
‘I mean, I have a painting. I’d like to hang it on the wall.’
‘Where would you like it? I’ll get a construction drone to sort it out later. Without the nails!’
‘Oh, near the consoles would be good, at about eye level.’
James placed it on top of the Kimlo table, before removing the pictures of Carol and Lex from the bag and placing them inside the seatra. He then reached into his pocket and took out the red data cartridge.
‘Where did you get that cartridge from?’ Kalrea asked.
‘It was in the box with the telementor and the other cartridge. Why do you ask?’
‘Because it’s not from this ship.’
James looked at it.
‘It’s someone’s diary.’ he said. ‘Carol was very insistent you read it. They were even her last words before she passed away. She seemed very frightened by it.’
James pushed the cartridge into the slot.
Without warning, there was an explosion. James was thrown across the floor, and the console erupted in fire. Internal extinguishers smothered them instantly.
‘Remove the cartridge, James. Quickly!’
James jumped to his feet. Startled, he pulled it from the slot.
‘Ah, it’s hot!’ He dropped it immediately. ‘What happened?’
‘That’s impossible,’ Kalrea said. ‘The cartridge just gave off a massive temporal charge. It’s not in phase with this time.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s not meant to be here, James. It’s from the future.’
‘So our people can travel in time?’
‘No James, they can’t. This is impossible. Think what would happen if someone messed with history.’
‘But the cartridge proves someone has.’
‘Yes, and that concerns me.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it’s here; that’s why. Carol must have known. See whose name’s on the side of the diary. They have a lot of questions to answer!’
James bent down to read the side of the cartridge.
‘There’s no name on it. It looks like it has been deliberately erased,’ James said. ‘The casing is damaged too.’
‘Yes, looks like a laser hit. Its owner may have been killed.’
‘How do we find out whose it is?’
‘We know it’s from the future, so at some point it may be obvious whose it is. Or you may just stumble upon it.’
James hesitantly pushed the cartridge with his fingers. Feeling it was now cold he picked it up.
‘Is it all right?’
‘No, it’s completely burnt out,’ Kalrea replied.
‘So we don’t know what’s on it then.’
‘I managed to download ninety-three percent of the data before it was destroyed, but not the encryption keys. Without those it’s just random data.’
‘Can you rebuild the keys?’
‘In time, yes.’
‘How long?’
‘The keys are based upon a DNA chains and there are four hundred keys in all. It could take a few hours or tens of weeks. I just don’t know. If we find the diary that exists in this time, then I can use the keys from that to access the data straight away.’
‘Carol was very insistent we read what was on it; must be something about the future. She said there was great danger.’
‘I’ll start work on the deciphering the keys,’ Kalrea said. ‘If I can rebuild just one of them, then I may be able to get some data from it to determine whose it is. Then you’ll know who to look for.’
James placed it inside the seatra alongside the pictures of Carol and Lex.
‘Let me know as soon as you have something.’
‘Don’t worry, James, I will. The data on this diary has to be important.’
He looked down at the pictures inside the seatra. Staring at them, his mind wandered back to the cottage.
*****
James was putting his new scarlet model aeroplane away in his bedroom when he heard a loud noise from the stairs. He walked outside his bedroom to see Lex collapsed at the base of the stairs. Carol rushed over to him. She appeared very frightened and concerned. He could remember the ambulance arriving, but not much else. It was the last time he saw his father, because Carol never visited the hospital.
A few days later Carol received a phone call. He remembered seeing her sitting on the stairs, where she had found Lex, crying.
‘Why are you sad, mummy?’ James asked.
She looked up at James and opened her arms.
‘Come here, James,’ she said softly.
James walked over and Carol embraced him.
‘I’m sorry, so sorry,’ she cried.
James was confused, but he felt her sadness.
‘What’s wrong, mummy?’
She was finding it hard to find the words to tell him that Lex had died in hospital.
‘It’s your father; he’s not coming home.’
James did not understand.
‘He’s gone away for a very long time,’ Carol added.
‘Will he be back tomorrow?’ James asked her. ‘He promised me we’d fly the aeroplane.’
With those words Carol eyes filled with tears again; she gripped him tightly in her arms.
‘No… He’s not going to come back, James.’
The following day James felt very sad and lonely. He had been playing on his own with his scarlet aeroplane on the hillside at the back of the cottage. He had gone momentarily down to the cottage for a drink of orange and was walking back up the hillside to where he had left the aeroplane, when suddenly it landed at his feet. Startled he looked around to see who had thrown it, but there was nobody there. He picked it up and walked back up the hillside, puzzled by how it could fly on its own.
When he reached the top of the hill he turned and saw an old woman standing behind a large bush. He remembered her being very tall and having a strange tattoo on the left side of her face, which was partly covered by her long hair blown by the gentle wind. He felt frightened.
‘I’m sorry, James. I was just walking in the hills, when I saw that red aeroplane. Is it yours?’ she asked nervously.
‘Yes, it’s mine. My dad made it for me.’
‘It’s very nice and flies very well.’
James nodded.
‘My dad plays with me, but he’s not here today,’ James said. ‘My mum says he’s not coming back!’
‘I’m sorry about your dad, James,’ the old woman said.
‘I don’t believe my mum; he’ll be back soon. He promised!’
‘James, who are you talking to up there?’ Carol shouted from the cottage.
James looked down at the cottage and then back to the old woman, who put her finger up over her mouth.
‘SSShhh!’ she said. ‘I’m not here, James. It’s our little secret.’
‘No one, mum,’ he shouted back looking down to the cottage.
He turned back to the old woman, but she was gone. He looked around quickly, but there was no sign of her.
*****
Kalrea could sense James’ sadness and she read his thoughts.
‘I’m sorry they’re not here,’ Kalrea said. ‘When Lex died Carol was heartbroken. All she had left was you.’
‘I promised them I would help our people,’ James said, trying to smile. ‘Let’s get to Normia, Kalrea. Do I need to do anything?’
‘No, I can manage,’ Kalrea replied.
‘Can I see the drives?’
‘Help yourself,’ Kalrea said, and the remaining monitor illuminated.
James sat down in the console seat to watch. He felt a small vibration through the seat as the inner two event horizon drives started. With his mind, he used the monitor to watch a swirl of plasma rapidly form inside the cylindrical drive chamber. Then, suddenly he felt a jolt. Now he could hear a loud noise, like a jet engine, coming from the back of the ship. He focused his mind on the noise and the monitor showed plasma exiting the rear drive cones.
It’s darker outside, he thought.
Suddenly a tail of white light pushed from the rear drive cones. He now focused on the front of the ship. The light; it’s being drawn to front of the ship, he thought in amazement. Lines of coloured light streamed into the intakes of the event horizon drive.
He felt the ship drop very slightly, as the landing legs retracted gracefully into the hull. The Aurora then tilted sharply upwards. James instinctively grabbed the arms of the seat, expecting to be thrown backwards, but he felt nothing, just a smooth forward motion. The ship headed upwards towards an aperture made by two large doors sliding apart on the asteroid’s surface. He could hear the faint shrieking whistle made by the air escaping the cavern. Once the ship cleared the surface of the asteroid, James watched the door
s closing, trapping the light from the crystals within.
The Aurora moved slowly away from the asteroid belt and then, with a deafening roar, turned and accelerated past Lavmino.
James now watched the view ahead on the monitor. Without warning, the Aurora jumped to light speed. The stars and planets blurred past the ship, creating a black and white tunnel around it. The faster the ship travelled the brighter the tunnel became.
The ship was also constantly rotating and pitching as it travelled, which made James feel very uncomfortable. He turned off the monitor.
‘Why are we moving about so much? Are you drunk?’ James asked cheekily.
‘I’m sorry if it’s uncomfortable, but there’s a lot of space matter and asteroids out here. At the speed of Q2 and with the current condition of the hull, if we have a frontal impact with anything larger than a Qintaino trincan or Earth football, then it will go straight through the hull.’
‘Q2?’ James said. ‘How fast is that?’
‘In Earth measurements, every eighty minutes we’ll travel one of your light years.’
Occasionally there was a distant dull thud. Kalrea assured James that the objects were glancing off the ship.
‘Kalrea, what can you tell me about our people?’ James enquired, while trying to relax. ‘How do we live? What do we believe? I have a lot to catch up on.’
The monitor illuminated.
‘Our technology is far more advanced than that of Earth. The only known race with higher levels of technology in this galaxy is the Holriods. Our heritage is very important to us. Some of the cities on Qintaino are over ten thousand sykals old and relatively untouched. The modern cities are very spacious, with vegetation everywhere. It’s a very beautiful planet.’
The monitor displayed footage of the city of Omio, situated in the southern hemisphere of Qintaino.
Kalrea continued,
‘With the constant daylight provided by two stars, everything is powered by their energy.’
James’ mouth opened in amazement. He could see brightly coloured buildings, which towered through the stratosphere.
‘How tall are they?’ he asked, in astonishment.
‘The Atui Tower is the highest at eighteen point two kilometres, but most are around thirteen.’
Unbelievable, he thought.
The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1) Page 7
