The Pattern Ship
Page 24
He missed the damned AI and now it was important, he needed a friendly AI that knew the score and could help him sort out what was going on.
‘Pod, where are you when I need you, dammit !’ he voiced his mental frustration into the ether.
He was in space in an unfamiliar ship with an AI that barely scraped by. He needed answers without delay and wasn’t even sure if this ship had the capability of landing with another T-ship in tow. Zeke had no idea how to get it to respond without a D-Field generator and meanwhile his friends, Ship and Zirkos were missing, presumed captured, or worse dead. He, not ‘they’ were in major trouble.
***
“Damn it, Pod, I need you,” Zeke muttered futilely.
‘I’m here, Zeke. I’m outside the ship,’ the mental communication activated his built-in device.
‘Geesh ! Pod, how did you do that ?’ Zeke mentally voiced, relief flooding through him, ‘and why didn’t Arty inform me of your approach ?’
“Arty, detect anomalies in proximity to the ship.”
“None detected, Commander,” the AI responded.
‘Bloody hell, where have you been, Pod, I’ve missed you,’ Zeke blurted. Well he had, he realised.
‘I have been, err’m, doing stuff, Zeke,’ Pod hedged.
‘Okay, never mind. Can you transport me across to Ship, I need to get aboard ?’
‘No can do, Zeke.’
‘Damn, why not ?’
‘I need to produce an atmosphere. I am instructing your ship to increase air pressure and I will jump it across until there is sufficient atmosphere for you to breathe.’
‘Oh, okay, how long will that take ?’
‘Not long.’
He felt the pressure increase, decrease and this went on for about ten minutes. His ears popped each time as the pressure regulated itself in his ear drums. After a while it stopped.
‘Heating air to ambient temperature,’ Pod advised him.
Then followed by ‘Zeke, ready to port you across, stand by.’
Zeke was suddenly in the control room of Ship. He immediately felt at home, although it was strangely empty without the AI and Zirkos. It was cold and empty. there were crystals of ice formed in corners where there had once been atmosphere, and Zeke immediately thought that thr ship had been forced to open into vacuum. As he watched the crystals turned to vapour as thr air temperature continued to rise.
Pod ported in beside him. Zeke grinned stupidly, as it materialised.
Together they went through the whole ship and could find no trace of anything, no battle scars, no body parts, nothing was missing. Except the processors that made up Ship.
It was then Zeke noticed the cube of Alacite was missing. In its place was a piece of crystal. He went to touch it , but Pod stopped him, warning him out loud.
”No, Zeke, it’s a message.”
“What do you mean it’s a message ?”
“That piece of crystal has been removed from a Nubl Shadowship. If you touch it, there is a liklihood that it will transmit a signal, probably a locator beacon. It will tell the Nubl precisely where we are. It most likely already has,” Pod informed him.
“It is a message and it has only one meaning.”
“Oh Christ, you don’t think...”
“Yes, Zeke. The Nubl are coming.”
End of Book 1
Thank you for reading the first book in the Pattern Universe Series. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would like to purchase the next book in the series from my website [click here]. My site also provides a Universal Link to sales platforms across the world as well as back story and interesting blogs from yours truly. As I’m a ‘reviewaholic’ and always love reading about my books everywhere, please indulge me if you can and say something nice somewhere I can find it. (My website, any other sales platform, or even your own blog if you have one - and send me a link). Thanks
Book 2 of the Pattern Universe POD
Book 3 of the Pattern Universe Nubl wars
Book 4 of the Pattern Universe Sky City