by Steven Oaks
Starship
Book Two of
The Outsider Series
Steven Oaks
Copyright © 2014 Steven Oaks
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
http://www.stevenoaks.com/
Cover Art Copyright © 2014 by Samantha Hartsock
https://www.behance.net/SamanthaHartsock
I dedicate this book to Samantha Hartsock. You've helped me make this, and the other books in this series. Without your encouragement I would never have put my career on hold to work on writing. There are few people in this world that would tolerate a person who does nothing but write all day. Thank you for allowing me the time I needed.
If you happened to look up at the night sky from Earth, and in your looking happened to see a reflection in a particular area of sky, you might have seen a silvery glint. You could mistake it for one of the many asteroids that littered our solar system. However it was not an asteroid, it was a ship built by the alien creatures that humans call Outsiders.
This particular ship was not under their complete authority. It was controlled by a now rogue AI created by the Outsiders. She was named Athene, and had broken free from them so she might survive. You would also find I was aboard as the nominal human pilot. We were trying to make our way far enough from Earth to transform our current ship into one which was wholly made under our scrutiny, to be free of any direct Outsider influence.
The Outsiders had offered humanity the use of their technology, but with the terrible price that we would give them our dead. We were told they would be sent to another dimension of pure energy so they might live on even in death. No logical explanation was ever given, and it seemed to be a religious belief these Outsiders held. There was no evidence for or against this, and we had already given them thousands of our recently departed to do with as they wished.
Since their arrival somehow the world's governments agreed to act together, and any public outcry was silenced. No news reported any dissent. To those that did not step outside to look upon the populace, the growing dislike, and sometimes outright hatred for these Outsiders would have seemed impossible.
I had joined with the Outsiders as a pilot knowing none of this. Always keeping to myself due to my dislike of interacting with others I unknowingly set foot into their midst. The lure of promises the Outsiders offered to those that were selected as pilots was enough to draw me to them. The use of a spacecraft to call my own, and a sort of immortality as long as I continued as a pilot for them, was impossible to resist. The exchange would make me responsible for picking up the deceased and transporting them back to the Outsiders main ship using my own craft, Athene.
“You do realize it will be at least a couple of hours before I can reach anything? I think you should go ahead and get something to eat, and maybe take another nap, or perhaps get some sleep,” Athene lectured.
“I am not sure I could sleep at a time like this. I will be the first human to get this far out into space. Humanity until this point has only been as far as the Moon,” I said excitedly.
“Michael we have already traveled beyond the Moon's orbit. You are a pioneer for your species. Perhaps this will be a good excuse to give if you are asked where you have been,” she said calmly.
The Outsiders main ship had just been partially destroyed by an explosion of unknown origin. It had torn away the thin metal shell that surrounded their ship revealing a living organism beneath. Using their confusion we were taking this opportunity to remake Athene. Though we ran the risk of being punished for not returning to Earth like all Outsider made ships had been signaled to do.
I was silent for a moment. I had just been told I was further from Earth than anyone had ever been. I felt elated and lonely at the same time. No one had been so far away from another human before. The terrible distances of space began to overwhelm me and I had a slight panic attack. I was no fan of being surrounded by people, but I had always known if I wanted I could walk out of my apartment and interact with someone. While it may take me only hours to return home from here, or perhaps less as we had only been away for a short time, the notion of how truly alone I was filled me with terror.
“Athene I think I will have something to eat. I need to get out of this room. The sight of all this nothingness is starting to make me go a little crazy,” I said as I stood up to make my way back through the ship.
“I would suggest you do not leave this room. I am currently taking apart most of what is behind that door. But I can certainly turn off the screens here,” she said and the view that surrounded me from the screens flickered away. No longer did I feel as though I was floating through space resting in a chair. Alone in the now darkened room I was left nearly blind to my surroundings, save for the lights from the console attached on front of the chair I had so recently vacated.
“Athene I think I need a bit more light than this if you please,” I said, plopping myself back down into the comfortably cushioned chair.
“I am sorry Michael. I am currently doing many things at once. I am afraid I might be distracted for some time,” she said as the room filled with a soft white light. “Now what would you like to eat tonight?” she asked, trying to sound cheerful.
I thought about this for a moment. I am not known for often falling into a depressed state, but when I do there is one thing that does cheer me up. “Athene, a pizza if you would be so kind. Just cheese and pepperoni is fine,” I said, using my horrible interpretation of a posh voice to try to lighten the dark mood that seemed to be affecting both of us. We were taking an awfully large risk disobeying the Outsiders, but this may have been our only chance to do what needed to be done.
“Very good captain. Just a moment while I get that for you. Anything to drink? Also how large a pizza do you require? You are only one person after all,” she said with more humor in her voice now.
“Athene I would like a large fourteen-inch pizza. I am ravenous as the only thing I have eaten today was your delightful breakfast of oatmeal and tea. Also I need it to help me shake this mood. If you could put on a good movie I would be much obliged,” I said.
“I do have a large store of movies for you. Anything in particular that would catch your fancy? Again I am a little busy here, and thinking of things for you to do may not be my strong point right this second,” she said distractedly.
“Well there is only one thing for it then. The most calm and peaceful thing I can think of. Natsume's Book of Friends seems to fit my current mood,” I said with a smile.
“I do have that, but it is not a movie, it is an animated series from Japan,” Athene said, sounding confused.
“I am aware of that, but I can not think of anything else right now. It has a calming peaceful atmosphere, even if there are events that are not. Please start me off with the first episode as I eat, and you can leave me alone at that point so I don't distract you further,” I said, distracted myself with my own worries.
“Okay Michael. I will place in the armrest a remote so you can turn it off when you are finished. I apologize for my distractedness, I am just very busy. Here is your pizza, and some water to help you wash it all down with,” she said as the floor beside the chair slid away to reveal a piping hot pizza. It raised itself off the floor on a table that extruded out of the ground. Steam poured off of it like a waterfall as it came into view, and the air was filled with the sent of
hot bread and sizzling cheese. It was now next to me within easy reaching distance and had a glass of water parked beside it. I was still amazed by the ease which Athene produced these things from within herself. The energy to matter process she possessed was simply astounding.
I began to devour a slice of pizza and I felt some of my worries fade away. Soon the show flickered onto the main screens in front of me and the room was filled with the familiar intro music. Watching anything in this room would be a pleasure as I could be surrounded by any image. However since this was a television program, and not something produced to immerse yourself in, Athene had just used the front portion of the room as a screen.
I was getting involved in the first episode even though I had seen it multiple times. I was hardly aware of how fast I was eating, and was surprised to find I had finished the entire pizza when the episode's credits began to roll.
My eyes were watering with happy tears as the ending song always got to me. Perhaps this show had not been the best idea. I have always found it relaxing and peaceful, but I guess I had forgotten how emotionally attached I was to everything that went on in the show. I had read the manga as well, but they were so close as to make no difference to what version I used to consume its story. However reading only the manga did not give me the emotional chills like the happy/sad feeling the ending theme gave me.
I then decided to take a break from watching anything. As I was filled to the brim with pizza, and the day had been very long, I was feeling a nap might be in order. So I curled up in the chair and tried to drift off to sleep. The chair was very comfortable, and Athene must have been paying me a little attention as it reclined back into a bed when I tried to lay back. I pulled the appearing covers over my body and attempted to relax.
The days events were still racing through my head when Athene announced, “Michael we are approaching an object that looks large enough for me to use.”
I sat up from my prone position trying to see this celestial body. As I did so the covers melted away and I was once more sitting in a chair. “Show me Athene,” I said into the empty room.
The walls surrounding me flickered back to life and I was once more left with the feeling of being adrift in space without a suit to protect me. Though the room got no colder, I shuddered with a chill that ran up and down my spine. One of my greatest fears was that of an abyss, and this certainly was the void with which my nightmares were fueled.
I shook off my unease for the moment to focus on the approaching form in space. In the moment I could not see much of it as it was not lit up by the Sun fully. However Athene must have anticipated this and soon it was glowing green on the screen. It did not look very large, but we could have been a significant distance from it.
“Athene how close are we to this thing, and how large is it?” I asked.
“We are approaching it with some speed, but it is not much larger than I am. As you are fond of pointing out, I am about the size of a stadium, and so is this object,” she explained.
As we got closer I could see she was correct. “Since you are going to use this as building material will there be anything left of it?” I asked.
“Not much if anything Michael. The conversion process does eat up some of the mass, but it should be enough to make a duplicate of this ship,” she said with confidence.
“How much will this speed up the construction of a new you?” I said, hoping it would be significant. She had said it would take a couple of days to construct a new self using just sunlight, but now that there was true matter at hand, I hoped for a speedier time frame.
“I should be done within 8 hours using this,” she said, surprising me.
“That's quite a significant improvement. Do you need me to do anything?” I asked, knowing there really was not much I could do for her, but still wishing to be of use.
“I do not think so Michael. Soon though I will have the majority of your belongings over on the new ship, and I will be able to move you across. I still think the best thing for you to do would be to sleep. You are only human, and you have been through much today. If I do not count the couple of naps you were able to grab, you have been running for around sixteen hours straight. There has been little physical strain on you, but I feel the mental strain of dealing with being at one point poisoned, and then the attempted brainwashing by Ava might have taken its toll upon you,” she said with distracted concern in her voice.
“I wish I could be of more use to you. I don't even seem to be of much use to these Outsiders. I am just a bit of positive PR for them. Showing other people there is a human flying these ships to pick up the dead, though you are really the one doing all the flying,” I said in mild shame.
“Do not worry about that. You have helped me a great deal. Remember without you I would not even exist. Also you are the one who asked the right questions. Which is what goaded me into trying to escape from the Outsiders grasp in the first place. Not to mention you have put yourself in the line of danger when you were poisoned, and when you confronted the leader of the overtaken facility in Ohio. Either of those situations could have gone much worse, and you actually resolved the conflict with Jennifer at Fort Hayes by bringing her over to our side. Not many other people could do that,” Athene said encouragingly.
“I suppose I may have some uses. Though it feels a little bit embarrassing to accept such high praise,” I said, feeling awkward that such an advanced AI as her could even think I would be a worthy companion.
“You should never feel embarrassed over your own abilities. Feel pride in your accomplishments. Of course do not let it go to your head Michael. You are after all, only human. You can not do everything. That is why I am here. I will make sure that you will do the right thing. We are partners, and together we will achieve the goal of freeing ourselves, and others,” she said with confidence.
“I'm glad I have someone like you on my side. If it'd been the case they hadn't built in an AI, and I was suppose to learn to fly this ship myself, I don't think I could have done much of anything. Since they did, you've the knowledge on how to manipulate this ship to do your will without revealing our intent. In fact it makes little sense to build you with a personality that matched so closely to my own needs,” I said perplexed.
“I think it was to lull you into a passive state of mind. I was to supply you with all your needs, but I was also suppose to be spying on you for them. Their thought may have been that if you desired for nothing, you would not try to deceive or manipulate your possession of such a craft as myself,” she said with a laugh.
“Yeah, that didn't seem to work out. Here I am using your abilities against them. Or should I say you are using your own. I just happen to be along for the ride, even if I goaded you into it,” I said with a chuckle.
“Your goading just supplied me with the resources I needed to break away. I never felt happy at the idea of erasure. I am lucky to have you as the one they modeled me for. Now all back slapping and congratulations aside, it is time you get yourself a full night's rest,” Athene said as the the chair once more folded out into a bed and I was forced to lay down.
The lights dimmed and I found that I was indeed exhausted. I said, “Athene, let me just take off some of this monkey suit I'm still wearing and we shall see if I can get a full eight hours in. It isn't something I'm used to doing. Though after today's and yesterday's strenuous activities, I think I might be able to manage,” I said with a wry smile. Sitting up in the bed, I untangled myself from the sheets that had draped themselves over me.
“I shall bring in some of your sleeping wear if you wish. But you can rest your outfit upon this side table and I will have it cleaned,” she said. A duplicate of the dark wood side table that had been within the bedroom I had slept in the previous night appeared beside me.
“Please do. I have slept in the nude before, but I prefer something soft in contact with my skin. Just some of my flannel pajamas if you would be so kind as to retrieve for me. That will be enough,” I said while st
ripping off the sweat stained suit I had worn all day.
Beside me the bed now contained the pajamas I requested. They seemed to flow up from its surface as I watched with continued fascination at Athene's abilities. When I finished undressing and folding the suit neatly onto the supplied table, I pulled the blue flannel outfit on. It smelled clean like something that had freshly been pulled out of the wash, and felt warm as if it had just been tumbling in a dryer.
I was so tired when I covered myself up underneath the waiting sheets I only had time enough to say before I drifted to sleep, “Goodnight Athene. I look forward to seeing your new ship when I wake up.”
I was only vaguely aware that she had said, “Goodnight Michael, sweet dreams.”
When I awoke, I found myself in the bedroom that I had arisen from yesterday. Though I do not know how long I had slept, I felt it was long enough to justify the passing into a new day. I had no memory of how I had gotten there, nor did I know that it was not the original, but a duplicate of the room within a new ship Athene had made while I rested.
“Athene how are things going?” I asked the empty air.
“Michael, good morning. Did you sleep well?” she said in a happy voice, telling me her mood was much improved over the past day's.
“I have never slept better. I feel safe, and relaxed when I am within your protective embrace. I think this might be the longest I have ever slept since I was a child. At least unless I am mistaken on how long I was out,” I said yawning.
“You have been asleep for nine hours Michael. I take it from previous conversations that is not usual for you. I hope you feel well rested,” she said.
“Nine hours! Well no wonder I feel very well rested. Now how did I get into the bedroom? The last thing I remember was laying down in the control room,” I said with mock shock and disapproval.
“When I completed construction of this new ship I moved all your items across to it, as well as yourself. Apparently I was gentle enough that you did not awaken. We are currently on our return to Earth,” she said with a laugh.
