The hour goes by very quickly. Two of the trucks carry large generators with very long power cables and a lot of lights. The soldiers are very efficient at running cables and setting lights up inside the cavernous spacecraft. As Cindy finishes getting the new arrivals up to speed, the throaty cough of a diesel generator fills the air, followed by a waft of its exhaust. Lights flicker from inside the spacecraft’s hold as the generator revs up to full power. As the engine steadies, the lights stay brightly lit, ceasing their pulsing.
The Chinese contingent has been assigned to investigate the possibility of installing the alien power unit they received into the ship. The French are there to investigate the onboard computer systems. Cindy looks down at her checklist as she marks these two issues as ongoing. She has the Australians working with George on the terminal interfaces, and the Americans on the flight systems with the Russians.
As they head up the ramp, George hollers out. “Hey, don't plug anything in yet. That ship is still rigged to blow. I am going to need to power up a bridge terminal, but not before we are all ready.”
Cindy suppresses a smile as the new arrivals falter in their steps. Walking up the ramp, she looks at George. What an asset, she thinks. We need to keep him here and motivated.
The second generator fires up, causing Cindy to frown a little as she looks around. The Australians have set up a lighted perimeter about the camp, and are clearly in the process of making a series of defensive bunkers.
Heading to the bridge, she finds it looks a lot less ominous now, with fixed lights hanging from the walls. They are so much better than the glow provided by their flashlights. Cindy looks over at George, who is wearing the Gamin bodysuit. Joe sits nearby with a pair of laptop computers. A helpful soldier hands Joe a power cord.
George looks up at Cindy as she approaches and says. “You ready for this?”
“Sure, what do you want me to do?” She replies.
“Just be ready to unplug the power if I tell you to.” George issues, matter-of-factly.
Joe looks nervously at George. “And I am here because?”
“You're going to help us interface with this terminal so we can hopefully disable the self-destruct.” George answers bluntly.
“Just how are our computers going to interface with theirs? They are literally light years apart.” Joe looks at his laptops, and then somewhat helplessly at the alien terminal before him.
“Have a little faith, Joe; I can make an adapter with this suit. Okay, I have plugged into the terminal. It hardly needs any power at all. Joe, open the lower compartment.” George suddenly stops.
Cindy and Joe freeze, expecting certain doom. The previously helpful soldier decides that he is not needed in the room at all and glancing around, leaves quickly and quietly.
George suddenly laughs. “Oh my. I had this all wrong. I will provide full power to the terminal.” It suddenly springs to life. “Now, to disable the self-destruct. Hmm, funny; now that's odd.” His expression is one of curiosity as he stares at the terminal.
Joe feels a chill work its way down his spine as he looks anxiously at Cindy, whose eyes are transfixed on the active terminal.
“Okay, all done.” George states happily. He smiles at Cindy and Joe; they are very pale. The terminal sits before them, with various symbols scrolling up and down the screen.
“George, well done, but we could have done without your choice of words. Can we power other systems now?” Cindy’s voice is tinged with nervousness.
“Sure, but now to get Joe's laptops to interface with this terminal.” With that, he uses the suit and creates an interface unit. Handing it to Joe he says. “Just plug one end into that funny looking section.” George leans down and points.
“No worries.” Joe says as he plugs into the socket created by George. The laptop makes a small pfft sound as smoke rises from it.
Cindy looks back and forth between the two men. “Keep at it; I’m sure you guys will figure it out.”
George is dumbfounded. “That should have worked! Um, Joe, I hope that wasn't your favorite one. Let's try the other one, shall we?”
“Uh, no, I don't think so. How about we get the proper equipment and test the output next time? Mate!” Joe is not amused, but looking at the functioning terminal does make him quickly forget the fried laptop.
By the end of the day, George and Joe succeed in their task, and do so without destroying his other laptop. George then spends a lot of time making more interface units at each bridge terminal. The interface is a buffer which slows down the transfer speed of the information from the terminals.
George’s next few days are spent making more of these buffer circuits, as he starts to call them. It seems every team has a need for his services as they all try to unravel the spacecraft’s secrets. Along the way, he manages to slowly gather a basic understanding of the ship. He finds himself spending more and more time alone at the various terminals, as he figures out many of the ship’s interdependent systems. Each time he connects to a terminal, he activates a vocal command instruction he stumbled across. As the various terminals relay their information in the Gamin language, his earpiece does the job of translating the information very well. Each night he falls asleep completely exhausted, having discovered a little more.
Rift
“What are the power requirements of the ship?” Cindy is getting quite exasperated, as it is obvious the group before her does not know. They have had one week to come up with something, anything, and yet, for all their demands and complaints, they have nothing to show.
“We have no idea what requirements for power any of the internal systems have.” Jules stands emphatically before Cindy. “How could we, with the limited resources you have provided?”
She shakes her head as Jules delivers other excuses. She looks at Mr. Mao. When he arrived, he was quite a charming and quiet individual. But these last few days have stripped away a lot of his self-control.
Mao cannot stand her gaze and angrily blurts out. “If that George would stop telling us which terminals to use, and just make sure they were all powered, we would have an easier job.”
Cindy sighs at excuse number two. “George says that we can't power them all until we get a more reliable power source, such as the one given to your people, Mr. Mao. Besides, I was of the understanding that many of the terminals are multifunctional.” She looks at the two men before her in great disappointment. It is obvious these two have become friends. Well, at least something positive has come out of this, she muses.
“We will never allow our power unit to be installed on that thing. It will never fly anyway. Even your George will tell you that it can't leave the ground as it is.” Mao is quite agitated.
Cindy considers this to be a typical distraction from the issue at hand, and again she sighs. “Well, what do either of you propose? We must know the power requirements of the ship.”
Mr. Mao looks at Jules, his face totally devoid of expression. Then just like that, he walks out the door. Cindy is stunned by this; she looks at Jules, who after a moment’s silence, heads out the door himself. She considers the impact of these two walking out, and, within seconds, comes up with a solution. Heading outside herself, she can see Jules gathering his entourage. Mr. Mao is gathering his people as well. As she watches for a little while, it becomes abundantly clear that they are packing to leave. She considers confiscating their computers, as they undoubtedly contain everything they gathered about the spacecraft. Considering the developing situation, she smiles. Let them have all the information they want. She will not let them blame her, or her team, for their own inadequacies any longer.
Three hours later, a plane takes off from the airstrip; its destination is unknown, though it is probably headed for somewhere in China. With both teams on board, she can only wonder what they plan to do. Well, so much for a global initiative, she thinks. So many countries were unwilling to participate, and others claim they were unable.
Later that afternoon, Cindy sits
in her office with the only man who could make the plan work. She smiles at him as he sits passively in his chair, waiting for her to speak first.
Cindy breaks the silence. “With the French and Chinese contingents pulling out, we have lost a lot of resources. It would seem we are not going to get the power unit from the Chinese. With this in mind, I have a request to put to you.”
Peter puts his unlit pipe down, and smiles back at her. “The first of the nuclear power plants will arrive by rail in about one month. Each reactor will be accompanied and assembled by a team of specialists. I believe that George can tell us not only where to put them, but how many we will need.” He watches her jaw drop as he lifts one eyebrow. “Is there anything else you need?”
“Who are you, really?” Cindy is asking more out of awe than seriously expecting an answer from this mysterious man.
“I am a friend,” he declares. With that, he picks up his pipe and leaves her to ponder exactly how he is always one step ahead.
Cindy spends a long time filling out her latest report. What could have been a world initiative, has ended up becoming a small group of countries working together. It is very late before she completes her work. Heading outside, she is pleased to find many members of the various teams once again together around a campfire. Even though it is a balmy night, the fire is a great social setting. Hayato and Radclyf are deep in discussion, as are Joe and George. Andrew and John are pointing to various stars as they, too, have found some common ground. Many others are scattered around, involved with one discussion or another. She is relieved that even with the two teams leaving everyone seems to be getting along just fine.
She looks again at the massive spacecraft, as she thinks. We must complete the ship before these Gamin come back.
Epilogue
Anyone who looks back at the five months that have passed since the Gamin left, would be amazed. The first days after finding the partially built spacecraft were a whirlwind of discovery, excitement, and then disappointment. As teams investigated more of the abandoned spacecraft, it became quite clear that a lot of effort would be required to make any of it work, let alone capable of going anywhere. When the Chinese and French contingents left, it almost halted the progress of the research teams. Those who remained were quickly and efficiently reassigned by Cindy, and then left to their own devices to figure the out the alien technology.
Lisa and Johnny arrived with one of the first groups of engineers. They had to live in tents until the permanent buildings were constructed. Some of these were for residents, some for recreation, and others for the task of making the vessel functional.
A few week later, a long convoy of trucks arrived. The cargo included a massive contingent of engineers, along with an abundance of equipment. Within days of their arrival, a temporary airstrip was constructed. An additional two weeks saw that transformed into a permanent, heavy duty concrete runway. Soon after this, the facility’s larger warehouses were erected.
About a month after the arrival of these amazing engineers, they began constructing a rail network. It ran for many miles, straight through the desert, and eventually linked to the nation’s rail network. Soon it became clear why the rail line was built. Once it was completed, trainloads of heavy equipment began to arrive, taking the burden off the airfield, and ending the truck convoys.
Within days, the first of many nuclear power plants arrived by rail, accompanied teams of Russians. They wasted no time in installing the reactors in the forequarters of the spacecraft. Almost one quarter of the ship served no function as far as anyone could discern. This huge area is sectioned off by thick armor, and numerous bulkheads, making it an ideal location for the reactors. Each one is isolated, and yet close enough that a central control room is installed with relative ease.
Another huge surprise came along the rail line, also with its own support teams. Three American space shuttles had been taken out of mothballs, and now find themselves loaded into the cargo area of the spacecraft. George was tasked with creating the unique system that would allow them to board a shuttle, and then launch it from the spacecraft. These shuttles are to be used for space jaunts, or as emergency landing craft.
Yet another bombshell, was the Japanese team of computer experts who arrived, and installed an amazing supercomputer. Taking up an entire section of the ship, and ranking in the world's top ten for computational speed, this beast is still too slow to work directly with the Gamin terminals. Once again, George's buffer circuits are invaluable.
The debate raged about whether this was to remain a civilian venture, or become a military operation. Finally, a compromise was reached. Cindy would stay in charge of the overall operation, due to her experience with both scientists, and military personnel. She is given the rank of admiral, but it is purely honorary. She seems to relish the command chair a lot, and she spends a great deal of time in it, examining its various controls.
John maintains the rank of captain, makes all ship-board decisions, and is their pilot. Joe and Andrew are tasked to be the ship’s navigators, and systems’ experts. Joe has a natural affinity with the Gamin technology, and other than George, seems to be the only person who understands the systems they are working with. Joe spends a lot of time with George, and constantly questions him.
George however, is the only person with any real knowledge about the ship’s systems, making him a unique resource. He is worn out from having to personally create interface units for every terminal on the spacecraft, along with his other tasks. The alien computers seem very powerful, and although no one has been able to figure out exactly how they work, the buffer circuits somehow allow the differing computers to interface. The various laptops, desktops, and tablet computers brought on board, can not only receive information, but can issue commands to the Gamin systems as well.
Many of the ship’s external gravity plates are missing, and not having the right module for the bodysuit, means that even George cannot make any more. He has warned Cindy, and others, that the way the ship is now, it will not be taking off.
The starship is to be named today, in an opening ceremony of epic proportions. Many governments from around the world are represented in the bleak Australian Outback for this historic ceremony.
George, who is sitting on a stage next to Cindy, looks up and down the rows of dignitaries. Behind them, the ship is hidden from view by a massive tarpaulin. The rest of the command crew is seated, facing them, in the front row of the audience. Various speakers drone on for ages, as each seems to have lengthy speeches prepared. He notices his wife and son in the crowd, and offers a slight wave, along with a smile.
Finally, after what seems like an absolute eternity, Cindy is called to the stand. Taking one look around at the audience, she gives them her usual smile, and then embarks. “I stand before you today, the leader of this international team, as we prepare for an unprecedented and historic occasion. Behind this tarp, rests the alien spacecraft that we have been retrofitting as quickly as possible. In a few days, we shall test the gravity systems as we make final preparations before we launch it into space. We have been naming ships for countless generations thus, we will name this ship as well. This ship carries no flag, and is being named for all of humanity. It is with great pleasure that I hereby present to you Earth's first true starship, the Terran. May she guide us well, as humanity reaches for the stars.”
At Cindy's last words the massive curtain behind the podium drops to the ground, revealing the alien spacecraft. The word 'TERRAN' is boldly emblazoned across the top of its sloping armor. Painted in bright white letters, the name is easily legible in the distance. Between them and the spacecraft, flags from the many nations present, flap proudly in the light breeze.
George is filled with a great sense of pride as he looks at the Terran; he believes that he has found his true destiny.
###
Section Two: Johnny’s Jaunt
Short Story
Preface
This short story follows George
’s young son, Johnny, as he gets himself into all sorts of trouble. With that being said, please enjoy!
“The world is a book. He who does not travel only reads one page.” - St Augustine
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.” – Dr. Seuss
Welcome to Johnny’s Jaunt, the first short story of the Terran Chronicles Universe.
Introduction
A fleet of alien spacecraft arrived in orbit after an asteroid and meteor shower that obliterated every orbital satellite and virtually every ground-based radio telescope facility. Numerous nuclear weapons were launched in a vain attempt to destroy or divert the asteroids. During this bombardment from space, two major cities were badly damaged, each by a single meteor. Young Johnny Stanton witnessed the Manhattan impact from the Statue of Liberty with his parents, George and Lisa. The impact was so powerful that it devastated many city blocks, all but wiping Manhattan from the face of the Earth. The Russian city of St. Petersburg was the other city which suffered a similar fate during the shower. Were these accidents, as the aliens later claimed, or simply demonstrations of their power?
With communications across the globe cut off, or functioning sporadically at best, military forces were rendered practically useless. While the citizens of the world looked up, wondering what was going to happen next, the aliens unexpectedly sent a message of peace. They were going to help the citizens in the damaged cities. In exchange for their help, all they required was complete cooperation. Military leaders the world over quickly capitulate; what else could they do against such an overpowering force?
The Gamin appear a little larger than humans, and have mottled green scaly skin that covers their torso, arms, and legs. They have yellow eyes with vertical slits over a short crocodilian snout that is full of teeth. Their hands are another obvious difference. They have two, and both have three long claw-like fingers, all about the same size. The outer pair are multi-jointed, which allows them to act as either thumbs or fingers, and makes the aliens quite dexterous when handing objects. With short boney spikes sticking out from their forearms and calves, these Gamin appear quite intimidating.
Initiation Series: Series One Compilation (Terran Chronicles) Page 25
