Shen Ark: Departure

by John Hindmarsh

  “Tyburn fire, Tyburn fire,” others shouted in unison.

  “Midnight’s the time. Death’s the reward for these thieves. Fire’ll cleanse the vermin,” shouted the first barrel attendant.

  The passing crowd was beginning to pause and move closer to the fire barrels, obviously interested in the promised demise of the captive Rats. Freddie could hear Fern urgently talking to someone on her cell phone. She finished the call and tugged Freddie’s arm. “It’ll take five or six minutes for the Guards to reach here. We need to make sure these idiots don’t burn those poor Rats.”

  “You love giving me challenges, don’t you?” murmured Freddie as he came to a stop near the last barrel. “Do you have any weapons?”

  “No. It’s unfortunate that we told Sabre and Felis to stay home, tonight.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “Could we grab some of the weapons off the Cats?”

  “Cats are very aggressive and deadly fighters—so maybe not. Perhaps if we protest, we can stall whatever they are planning until the Guards arrive.”

  The crowd began to realize there were two dissenters in their midst and drew back, leaving Freddie and Fern both very visible and isolated. The speakers at the fire barrels picked up on their isolation and verbally attacked them.

  “Rat lovers. We’ve two Rat lovers. Bring ‘em here,” ordered the speaker at the middle fire barrel. Anonymous members of the crowd pushed Freddie and Fern towards the speaker and then withdrew, re-establishing the isolation of the two strangers.

  The speaker continued his verbal attack. “What shall we do with ‘em? Shall we teach all Rat lovers a lesson? Shall these two share the fire with their Rat friends? Tonight we can have roast Rat and barbecued Rat lovers.”

  There was a swelling of noise from the crowd accompanied by an occasional cheer. The speaker accepted this as permission to continue his threats. There were no dissenters.

  Freddie said, “This is murder, you realize.” He knew his statement would antagonize the speaker and possibly the crowd; however, the only strategy he could determine was to stall, if possible, whatever was planned with the fire barrels.

  “Murder! Murder!” howled the three speakers in unison. The middle speaker continued, shouting to the crowd. “Murder, he says. Rats have stolen our food, stolen our children, stolen our future. We need to defend ourselves. Self-defence is not murder. Killing Rats is not murder. Are you with me? Death to Rats. Death to Rats.” The crowd took up the chant and the speaker allowed it to develop in volume and intensity.

  He raised his hand and the crowd stilled. “And death to Rat lovers? I think so. Don’t you?” The other two speakers began to chant and the crowd again followed their example.

  “Death. Death. Death.” The chant continued, gathering momentum.

  “We’ve a problem, I suspect,” commented Fern.

  “How much did the Eastern Bloc pay you for tonight?” Deciding he needed to attack, Freddie shouted his questions at the middle speaker. “Do you believe everything they say or are you in this for the money? How much? How much gold did you get?” The crowd stilled; this was getting more interesting, seemed to be their consensus.

  The man almost became hysterical. “Lies. Lies. Death to Rats. Death to Rats. Death to Rat lovers.” Spittle flew from his mouth and he waved his fists in the air, punctuating his speech.

  “Where did you get the gold watch? Is that an Eastern Bloc knock-off in payment for tonight?”

  The speaker stared at Freddie. The crowd grew quiet in anticipation. The speaker drew the back of his jacket sleeve across his mouth, wiping away the spittle. “I know you. You’re that engineer who’s working with the Rats to deprive us of our rightful heritage. You’re a traitor as well as a Rat lover. Grab him!” he shouted, and Freddie was quickly held, gripped by two of the heavyweight supporters of the speaker. “Bring ‘im here, to me. We’ll start with this one, first.”

  The two men pushed past Fern and dragged Freddie over to the speaker, in front of the fire barrels. Freddie coughed as a wave of smoke blew across his face. The heat from the fires was intense.

  “Tie his hands behind his back,” instructed the speaker. “He’ll be the first into the fire. His pretty lady will follow him. Then the Rats.” He waved to the crowd, as though he was a conductor of an orchestra. “Burn them. Burn them. Burn them,” he cried.

  The crowd took up the chant as Freddie’s arms were tightly bound behind his back. His captors released him once he was restrained, confident he was now under their control. Freddie looked at Fern and winked. He jumped forward, kicking one of the barrels as hard as he could. It fell and rolled, spilling burning timbers. Embers fell onto the speaker and he shouted in pain and anger. Freddie tried to push over the next barrel; however, one of the heavyweight guards struck him from behind. As Freddie fell, he saw Fern dash forward and grab a machete from one of the Cats guarding the Rats. He was unable to move, one of his captors had a heavy foot on his back, and he could not defend Fern. His other captor was kicking him in the ribs.

  Freddie heard the hiss from the crowd and the snarl from the Cats. Fern waved the machete in defiance and moved towards Freddie. “Stand back,” she directed his captors, threatening one of them with the machete. Neither Freddie nor Fern saw the signal from the leader of the speakers. On his command, two Cats lifted and aimed their crossbows and released their triggers. Two bolts penetrated Fern’s chest and she fell, her eyes meeting Freddie’s in one last link. Freddie screamed his pain and anger. In the distance the sound of sirens wailed.

  ***

  Chapter 34

  Freddie nursed his broken fingers, the last of his injuries to heal. He was mourning the loss of Fern—she had been his stalwart—and, much more, his lover. He was angry. Most of his anger was focused at himself; he blamed himself for not being more security conscious. Then, after Fern was attacked, he had been knocked unconscious and had not seen the battalion of Guards arrive, led by one of the London-based Capins. They had homed in on Fern’s cell phone, arriving just seconds after the Cats had fired their crossbows.

  Guards rushed both Freddie and Fern to the Institute, in the hope that Fern was revivable. However, despite the efforts of the urgently summonsed emergency doctors, of her clone-sisters, and a constant nanite bath, the Institute medical team finally acknowledged their cause was hopeless. The two crossbow bolts, travelling at almost three hundred feet per second, had inflicted fatal wounds; one pierced Fern’s heart, cutting through her left ventricle and slicing into her aorta. The other bolt had pierced her lung, and the sharp blade, driven by the tremendous force of the cross-bow spring, had carried on to severe her spinal column.

  Freddie had been far more fortunate; his captors had left him with broken ribs, broken fingers, and concussion. He had regained consciousness the following morning, and had to be almost forcibly restrained by the medical team when the doctor told him Fern’s wounds had been fatal. He wanted to check, to see her body, to find and deal with the men who had caused her death.

  Finally, the doctor administered a mild sedative, and Freddie slept through the day. The nanites worked their healing, and when he woke again, most of his pain had eased. His broken fingers ached; the pain, the doctor decided, was akin to a phantom pain that occurred after an amputation. Freddie knew it was pain caused by his guilt because he had not saved Fern.

  After the short and private funeral ceremony attended by all the Ferns, Dr. Krowe, Sam 32nd and Freddie, as well as a number of Rats and sabre tooth tigers, her body, draped with her robe, was placed on a gurney and rolled into the Nanite Room for absorption. Freddie hung his head; he tried not to visualize the process which would follow as the nanites claimed their own.

  ~~~

  Sam 32nd regarded Freddie with concern. They, just Sam 32nd and Freddie, were meeting in one of the smaller meeting rooms in the Embassy. It was just a week after Fern’s death, and Freddie was pale, listless, and expressed himself with anger whenever there was a reference to
the Speakers’ Corner thugs who had taken Fern’s life.

  “Freddie, we and the English authorities will deal with these people. They were all caught by our Guards, and they were not prepared for any reaction from us. Fern captured some informative and helpful video images with her cell phone, which will be very valuable in prosecution of the key offenders.”

  Freddie thumped the meeting table. “The real key people are outside our jurisdiction. The Eastern Bloc is behind all of this—I know it and you know it. They killed my mother and Uncle Charles, as well as two young Sams. They have attacked both me and you. Now they have murdered Fern. Also, it’s obvious they are trying to destabilize England, because they see the country as the major barrier to their expansion efforts in Europe. We need to take this war to them.”

  “Freddie, we cannot usurp England’s rights to do battle in whatever way the country decides. Yes, I want revenge—justice, too. However, we can’t just step in and wage war. That action would damage us tremendously.”

  “Sir, it’s so frustrating. I miss Fern—” He thumped the table again and then stopped, staring into his memories.

  “I know, I know. We all miss her. I promise we’ll do everything we can, to see justice done for Fern, and certainly will support prosecution of those involved here in Fern’s murder.”

  “Thank you.”

  There was a long pause. “Freddie, what do you want to do now?”

  Freddie looked up. “Sir, I’ll resume my warp drive design program. The team has had their week away and now we need to make some real progress.”

  “You can take an extended break if you want. Anywhere you want to go, anything you want to do. I’ll help. No one will criticize you.”

  “No, I want to—I need to work. I must complete this design—the sooner, the better.”

  ~~~

  Freddie threw himself into his tasks—if he appeared driven before, now he was even more focused, although at times he sat at his desk, lost in thought. If disturbed, he would jump in surprise and immediately return his attention to the design task in hand. His support team worked exceptionally hard to achieve a comparable work pace. They had returned refreshed from their week away, and then were saddened at the news of Fern’s death. The team also shared Freddie’s need to succeed, as their way of honouring Fern.

  He checked reports from the Shen Ark; both the first and second unmanned shuttles had passed all of the intended test programs. They had two spacecraft to work with, although Freddie hoped they would need only one. While optimistic, he was also realistic, and knew the second shuttle was a reasonable investment.

  Early one morning, he sat with both his design team and the key engineers responsible for instantiating the design: eight humans and ten Rats. Two Ferns, seconded from the Institute’s admin team, were tasked with taking notes. As the meeting commenced Freddie said. “You all look totally exhausted. If Fern was here she’d chastise me and send you all on a holiday somewhere.”

  “Engineer, you’re correct,” responded David Marshall. “In your defence, I think we’re all enjoying the challenge of keeping up with you.” His words were confirmed by smiles and nods from the team.

  “Good, because I think we have it. I reviewed the final design notes yesterday and I believe we’ve resolved the final points. You’ve all done an excellent job. The engineers have minor drawings to complete and we then can commence building the bubble warp drive for the shuttle. Congratulations, everyone.”

  The applause from the team was very well meant. Sabre raised his head to check and then nudged Freddie’s knee. He reached down and scratched the sabre tiger’s ears. Felis glared at them both from the other side of the room.

  “Ssshe is ssstill angry,” affirmed Sabre. “Ssshe misses Fern. Ssso do I.”

  “I do too,” Freddie quietly agreed. He turned his attention back to the gathering of designers and engineers. “We can move faster now with the design for Shen Ark. Of course we must test, we must run trials, with the unmanned shuttle. However, we can produce the drive foundation and power distribution designs, now. Is anyone up to that task?” He looked around the table.

  Dr. Marshall said, “If I may? Let’s get this test warp drive built and installed on one of the unmanned shuttles as soon as we can. I suspect that will motivate the team more than doing foundation blueprints.”

  “Yes, you’re right, of course. Yes, let’s focus on the test. Take today off, you’ve all earned that at the very least. I suggest that tomorrow, we head to Shen Ark and start building the shuttle warp drive. Agreed?” There were no dissenters. Freddie spoke to the two Ferns. “Please arrange a shuttle flight for the team, for tomorrow. Advise Capin Julio we are coming. I’ll let His Highness know.”

  The closest Fern nodded. The second Fern said, “We’ll come, too. I want to check on the progress of the Institute’s accommodation. Dr. Krowe wants us to be prepared for the move.” Freddie nodded his agreement.

  ~~~

  The command deck was full, there were no empty seats, no space left to stand or sit. Word of the scheduled test of the bubble warp drive had spread like wildfire throughout Shen Ark, and had also reached the Rat Embassy. All the Capins were present on the starship, as well as Sam 32nd. Six Shen had been shuttled up to the starship to join Ser Glide and Ser Nish as very interested observers. Five Ferns from the Institute admin team and Dr. Krowe were sitting in the middle of the crowded seats, accompanied by Sabre and Felis. The starship’s communications team had set up video relays to the Embassy and to the other command decks on Shen Ark. All shuttle flights between Earth and Shen Ark had been halted for the day.

  Freddie took the microphone and tried to ignore the two video cameras focused on his face. “Welcome, everyone. Our design, engineering, and build teams have done remarkable work and I thank them. Let me manage expectations. Today is a flight test. The first for our bubble warp drive. We are using an unmanned shuttle, Star Flight, which will be flown remotely by Colonel Thè from the control centre over there.” He pointed. “Colonel Thè has already put Star Flight through its standard flight paces. Our reason for using an unmanned shuttle—this is a test, and tests have been known to fail.”

  He continued, “We will monitor Star Flight from two piloted shuttles with video and other detection equipment. Colonel Thè spent most of last week flying the shuttle to its test location, directly away from us and from Earth. If our test fails for any reason, while the result might be visually spectacular, we’re all far enough away to be safe.”

  “Our test plan is simple. We’ll initiate a flight of Star Flight on a transverse course taking the shuttle across our field of view. When the shuttle reaches a pre-set speed, Colonel Thè will initiate its bubble warp drive. This will, we plan, create the expected bubble warp effect. As a result, the shuttle will transit through curved space to an estimated destination, at an effective speed well in excess of that currently achievable by Shen Ark. We have programmed Star Flight so when its flight deck computer senses it is back in normal space at the completion of that first transit, it will immediately reverse the process. Star Flight’s navigation computer will direct the shuttle to reverse course and automatically initiate the bubble warp drive, returning Star Flight back to us. We will utilize metrics from this first test to calibrate and fine tune future transits.”

  “We think we know where Star Flight will go. We think we know how far Star Flight will travel. We think Star Flight will return safely. Notice my carefully selected words. We think all this will happen. As I said earlier, this is a test flight. Colonel Thè, please commence the test.”

  Colonel Thè acknowledged Freddie’s instruction and sat at his controls. He described each step as he proceeded, “I programmed Star Flight’s navigation computer to fly the course indicated in the main screen, there.” He highlighted the course using his computer link to the huge viewscreens. “Star Flight has been accelerating for two hours and has reached 75% of its maximum speed, so it’s now travelling at one hundred thousand miles
per hour. I’m initiating the bubble warp drive—now.”

  There was a very expectant hush. The viewscreens showed images relayed from the observation shuttles. For a moment nothing happened. Then Star Flight was enveloped in an opaque, vivid blue layer and almost immediately the shuttle disappeared. The audience remained focused on the viewscreens.

  “We’re not able to precisely determine where Star Flight will re-appear. If our planning estimates are perfectly accurate it will return to the insert warp point. However, there’s no promise of that degree of accuracy.” Colonel Thè checked the timer on his computer and then began a countdown. “If we’re fortunate, Star Flight should reappear in thirty—twenty—ten—five seconds. Now.”

  Nothing happened. Seconds passed, an eternity. Then a flash of blue exploded near one of the observation shuttles. The automated cameras focused on the centre of the light which gradually faded and resolved into the image of a shuttle travelling at a tremendous speed. Colonel Thè manipulated the shuttle’s controls. “The shuttle’s travelling at over three hundred thousand miles per hour. It should be braking, yes. Speed is dropping, the shuttle is coming to a halt under programmed control. That’s it—success.”

  The command deck exploded with cheers. Everyone stood and voiced cheer after cheer. Sam 32nd waited for a minute or two and then walked to Freddie. He signalled for Colonel Thè and Dr. Marshall to join them. Freddie gave him the microphone and Sam 32nd signalled for the cheering to stop.

  “Everyone. I want to congratulate Engineer, Dr. Marshall, Colonel Thè, and all the teams and team members far too numerous to name, for their achievement.” He waited for the second burst of applause to stop. “As Engineer stated, this was a test. The teams will need to examine all the recordings from Star Flight’s computers and analyse the results of the test flight. Yes, the overall result is that the bubble warp drive worked as planned. The analysis will tell the teams whether the technology will work for Shen Ark. In the meantime—Engineer, other team members, all the teams—congratulations again.” The third burst of applause was the loudest.