by Jay Toney
****
Fleet Admiral, our ships are arriving. Soon our fleet will be large enough to ensure the destruction of the Persephone and the death of its rebel captain. Our warships are getting into position, setting the trap that will guarantee the end of Nathaniel Roberts and his rebel crew.
"Soon we will be very rich Captain, rich enough to buy a high position in government. I can see myself as having a prominent place in the Senate or perhaps as a system lord. Are you sure your plan will work? I have a lot invested in this operation. Failure will mean our deaths if we are lucky."
"Fleet Admiral, or shall I call you Lord Admiral? Our ships are in position to intercept the traitors. All of our ships are running silent, with their drives on standby and their transponders silenced. They are only using a line of sight communications and passive sensors. When the rebels enter the system, they will not be expecting us to use their tactics against them. We have both the element of surprise and superiority of numbers on our side. He will be unaware of our trap until it is too late. Victory will be ours."
****
"Nathaniel, come with me."
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see." Amber led me to one of the ship's holographic simulation rooms. "Jewel is already inside waiting for us."
I looked at the control panel. The program running was titled, "Caribbean Island, Sol III."
Sol III was the designation for the Sol system, planet Earth. I didn't care one way or another about Earth. Like most people, I learned about our planet of origin by watching the mandatory vids as part of my education. I wasn't even sure if Earth still existed, or where it was. The exodus from the Sol system was during a great war that happened thousands of years ago. The location of Earth was forgotten.
I opened the door, and Amber and I stepped into the simulation. Except for the entrance, we were transported into another world. White sand separated the palm trees on my right and the ocean water on my left. Jewel was laying on a lounge chair, sunbathing, in the nude. There was a tiki hut, under the palm trees, with a bar and bartender. He wasn't paying Jewel any attention. I ordered three drinks for us. The bartender didn't recognize any of the cocktail names I requested. He made us three Pina Colada's and assured me the ladies would like them. When I joined Amber and Jewel, Amber had taken her clothes off and joined Jewel sunbathing on a lounge next to her. I handed them each their drinks and joined them.
The computer that ran the holographic simulations wasn't very intelligent. Most simulations ran without any problems, at least until they ran into an unusual situation. This was one of those situations. It didn't know how to cope with people removing their clothes on a public beach. One person taking their clothes off wasn't enough to trigger a response, but when Amber and I took our clothes off, something registered as an error and the computer tried correcting it.
What was supposed to be a semi-private beach setting became very crowded. We ignored the computer's response and continued enjoying the sun. Then it started raining, lightly at first; then it became a full thunderstorm. The computer-generated holograms ignored the rain. Jewel and Amber didn't. They ran for the door, and I followed them.
"What about our clothes?"
"We'll get them later when it stops raining."
All three of us were wet. Something must have gone wrong with the safety protocols. When we exited the simulation, the water should have vanished. I would have to have Kim take a look at the computer.
Several crewmen and women stared at us as we made our way to our cabin. Individual nude crew members sneaking into and out of cabins was common. Two people seen doing it together was unusual, but it happened often enough that people ignored it. A group of three people walking the decks in the nude was uncommon, and people couldn't help but stare. Being dripping wet made us look even odder.
We had just finished drying off when Natasha announced, "All bridge officers report to the bridge." We finished dressing and headed to the bridge.
Tanya and Natasha took one look at us and started laughing, "That was the best glitch yet! We only have a couple of minutes before it is time to come out of hyperspace."
"Did the two of you have anything to do with the glitch?"
"Not this time. It was a real glitch. You should have ended the program when it first started."
"The two of you were watching?"
"Of course, so were a lot of other people. The three of you have become very popular since you all became stars on Busted."
Natasha brought the ship out of hyperspace and into real space. Proximity alarms started sounding immediately. Natasha raised the ship's shields, and Amber began running the sensor scans. The Persephone was rocked by a series of explosions, causing several warning lights to flash on. Our forward view went out again. I thought we had that fixed. Tanya brought up our tactical screen, and Natasha overlaid it with our course plot and heading information. Another set of explosions rocked the ship. Natasha commenced doing a series of evasive maneuvers, and Amber activated our ECM and PDC.
Somehow, we came out of hyperspace into a trap, but that was impossible. Our tactical screen started filling with data. We were surrounded by a fleet of Alliance warships with several other military ships changing course to intercept us.
"Natty, how long before we can jump to hyperspace?"
"It will take 30 minutes for our jump capacitors to charge and six hours to reach a jump point with a favorable vector."
"We don't have six hours. Prepare to jump as soon as the capacitors have a sufficient charge."
Natasha fired two salvos of missiles, one from our rear missile tubes and the other from our forward missile tubes. She made an abrupt change in course, randomizing our movements. Our gunners reached their gun turrets and began firing our particle beam weapons at the nearest enemy ships.
Two more explosions rocked the ship. Our lighting changed to emergency lighting, and several warning lights flashed on my instrument console. Our starship took a missile hit portside aft. We were lost one of our shield generators, leaving that portion of the ship vulnerable. Natasha fired four more missiles and changed course again.
I activated my comm, "Jane, we need more power for the shields."
"I'm doing what I can. We took damage with that last missile hit."
More Alliance starships closed the distance with us and fired their missiles. Our PDC changed from firing sporadically to constant firing. At the rate we were expending ammunition, they wouldn't be firing for long. Our damage control teams repaired our sensor array, and we had a forward view again.
"How much longer before we can jump?"
"I need a few more minutes to finish the calculations."
"We don't have a few minutes. Engage the hyperdrive."
"We will be destroyed if we do."
"We will be destroyed if we don't." I wasn't worried about entering hyperspace. The problem was exiting. There was no telling where we would come out or if we would survive the transition to normal space. Odds were that we would come out too close to a star or a black hole. There were no known survivors from people desperate enough to make a blind jump.
****
"Captain, we must convey our apologies to the Lord Admiral himself. If we are lucky, he will be merciful and take our lives quickly."
"Apology accepted." The Lord Admiral stood above the mutilated corpse of the Fleet Admiral. "Captain, you live, only because you have come closer than anyone else to capturing the rebel, Roberts. Do not fail me again Fleet Admiral. The High Lord is not as forgiving as I am.
Hyperspace
We were in hyperspace, and we were still alive. We made a blind jump into hyperspace without calculations for a destination a
nd an exit point. Our entry vector led towards empty space. That didn't mean that we wouldn't exit hyperspace too close to a star or a black hole. It simply meant that there were no stars or other large objects in the range of our sensors.
The physics that made faster than light travel possible in the dimensions of hyperspace also made it probable that we would collide with a large source of gravity such as a star or a black hole when we exited into normal space. Precise calculations were needed to prevent collisions from happening when exiting hyperspace.
All of us stared at our viewscreen hoping to see anything. All we saw was a field of black.
"Tanya, announce, stand down from battle stations. Have our damage control parties begin repairs. It will give them something to do other than worrying about our future if we have one."
"Where are we?" Jewel asked.
"Someplace in hyperspace. We are in a higher dimension that doesn't exist in our universe or space-time."
"Can we get back?"
"I'm not sure it is possible. No one had done it before and lived to tell about it. When we shut down our hyperdrive, we will be pushed out of hyperspace and back into our universe. But, to where? The universe isn't as big as the multiverse, but it is still enormous. We can come out of hyperspace anywhere."
"But not home?"
"No, not home." I stared at the blank viewscreen wondering when I should exit hyperspace. We couldn't stay here forever, and waiting in hyperspace just prolonged the inevitable. If we survived the transition back to sublight speeds into real space, hopefully, it would be someplace we could return home from.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" A strange on our bridge asked. "I can tell by the look on your face that you do not recognize me. We met twice before. I am Bob." He didn't wait for me to ask about him and pointed to the viewscreen. That is my creation. It is developing a blight of sorts, but I have a plan to fix it."
The image on the viewscreen changed from showing total blackness to showing a distant glowing disk that looked like it was made from a collection of gemstones, sparkling with a spotlight shining on them. I stared at it fascinated by all of the different colors and flashes of light. Periodically a single gemstone would brighten and burst into smaller pieces, and new gems replaced old faded ones, and the universe expanded with new gems being added to it. There were a few gems that lost their luster, and some that even turned black. I knew it was the decay that Bob spoke of without needing to ask.
"What am I looking at?"
"The universe, or at least one of them. There are seven of them altogether and an infinite number of multiverses. There are plans to make more universes if our experimental models work. This particular universe is mine. I created it and everything in it. It is a work in progress and will not be complete for a very long time. I've finished enough of it that I can spend an eternity talking about it and showing you its wonders, but you don't have the time, at least not yet. You only have four days. Use them wisely."
"Can the others see and hear us or am I going crazy?"
"No. You are not going crazy. If you were, you wouldn't be questioning your sanity. The others can not see me as I am or hear our conversation. What they are seeing is who they might expect to see, like Jane, Kim, Randolph, or Doc. They are also hearing what they would expect from those people," Bob ended our conversation by vanishing. I was losing my mind. I turned back to stare at the universe.
****
"Fleet Admiral, do you have a plot for their course?"
"Yes Lord Admiral. They made a blind jump into hyperspace space. We will never see them again. They are as good as dead."
"Send a part of our fleet after them, on their last known trajectory. We need to make sure this is the last time anyone will ever see Nathaniel Roberts alive."
"Yes Lord Admiral. It will be done."
"What is the closest system to his vector?"
"The Sarania System Lord Admiral. There is no way he could have escaped to that system with his jump vector."
"Nevertheless, we must make sure. Deploy half of our fleet there."
"Lord Admiral, we will sustain heavy losses."
"Are you questioning my orders?"
"No my Lord. I will see to it immediately."
"Very good."
****
Four days wasn't enough time for our maintenance crews and engineers to repair the damage we sustained. They did their best to shore up our damaged hull until we could get to a repair dock. For the bridge officers, the four days we spent in hyperspace lasted an eternity. Each minute seemed to stretch out forever. None of us left the bridge except to shower, change clothes, and eat.
"Are you ready?"
I spun my chair to face Bob. "Ready for what?"
"It has been four days. It is time for you to go home. I can't have you wandering around out here forever like the fools that followed you here. I've already invested a lot in you, and there is still much more that needs to be done before you are ready. This time I am going to try something different. I am going to give you a partner to help with your work. She is almost ready."
"What work?"
"Didn't I explain that? Every 10,000 years, give or take a century or two, I choose one of my creations to help me with my universe. It is constantly growing, evolving, and in need of care. It takes more work than what I can do alone, so I choose someone that has the qualities I need to be one of my helpers. I chose you. You are the perfect match for another person that I have been caring for, for almost 10,000 years. I hope that by using a team instead of an individual, that I will be able to finally get rid of the blight that is spoiling my creation."
"Nathaniel!"
I turned to look at Amber. She looked like she saw a ghost. She was staring and pointing at the main viewscreen. I looked to see what frightened her. The glowing disk that was our universe was gone. Planet San Paulos was centered on the viewscreen. When I turned back to face Bob, he was gone, leaving us with the mystery of how we got here.
"Captain, we are receiving a tight beam comm signal from Red," Tanya reported.
"Put it on screen."
"Nathaniel, for god's sake turn off your transponder. Do not respond to any communications other than by line of sight. I will explain later."
"Natty, turn off our formation and anti-collision lights.
Amber go to passive sensors only.
Tanya, silence our transponders."
Three salvage tugs clamped to our hull and began towing us to the space station that orbited the planet. Chief Mike's voice demanded our attention, over our ship's comm. "Attention Potemkin, this is a rescue one. We are detecting high levels of radiation from a reactor leak. Shut down your drives immediately. We are towing your vessel to a containment area until the damage can be repaired. A decontamination and triage center is set up for your survivors."
"Natty shut down our drives."
Someone mistook my ship for another starship. My ship was the Persephone, not the Potemkin. Our starship still had battle damage that needed to repairing, but our reactors were not leaking radiation of any sort.
The tugs did not tow us to a containment area. We were brought into a waiting hangar, with its lights off. Two of the tugs detached from our ship and departed before the hangar doors closed. The third landed alongside our starship.
Amber, Jewel, and I left the bridge and headed to the main airlock to see what was going on. Chief Mike and Red were at the airlock hatch waiting for us when it opened. They ushered us back inside and closed the hatch behind us.
"Sorry Nathaniel, we need to talk where we can't be seen or heard," Red said. He and the chief led us to my quarters. "No one can know t
hat you are aboard this space station. The wreckage from the Potemkin is moored a short distance away from the space station, with radiation warnings posted, to keep the curious away from it. I'm afraid that you will have to keep your crew aboard your ship for now."
"Our crew has not had any shore leave since we left and we just barely escaped an Alliance trap. If I keep them aboard, there will be trouble. They need a way to unwind and relax."
"Sally and her girls can be trusted to keep quiet. If we can't send our people to her, how about bringing Sally's girls here? I'm sure Sally won't mind the extra business, and her girls can use the credits," Amber suggested.
"I'll get my people on it right away. I have more bad news for you. Most of your people are going to have to double up in their cabins. We will be moving more people aboard, mostly repair dock workers, trained gunners, and mercenaries from my fleet. If any of your crew have any preferences for roommates, they need to make arrangements now."
"Most of my crew have been in worse conditions. Even sharing a cabin with another person is luxury compared to their prior living conditions. There will not be any problems with cabin assignments. With the additional people, we can work out shift schedules that will optimize the crew's privacy. For the most part, all they will see is their roommates empty bunk."
"Chief Mike and his wife will need to move into one of the officer staterooms."
"He can have mine. I don't have any use for it now," Jewel volunteered. "I can move my stuff out today."
"I know a little bit of about of what is happening, but not enough."
"As you probably figured out, the Alliance is moving into this sector, stealing resources, such as the gold you stole from them."
"They are not simply expanding into our territory. The Alliance is preparing for the next great war. The resources they are stealing are being used to finance their war industry. Most of the system governors don't have the guts to fight back and are surrendering before the fighting even begins," I corrected Red. "They are willing to give up all of our freedom and pay the taxes the Alliance demands of its citizens, to prevent another war."
