by Z D Dean
Once the ship had completed its turn and moved out of sight, he unclipped his tether, aimed his body towards an opening on one of the adjacent decks, and pushed off. In his nervousness, he wanted to push off hard enough to shoot across the cavernous, football field length gap, but he knew he would hit on the other side as hard as he pushed off. Instead, self-control won and he moved through the gap at a comfortable walking pace.
The two-minutes it took him to cross the chasm were an emotional rollercoaster for him. Even though he knew Samix would rescue him if anything went wrong, the initial fear of floating in the abyss helplessly was primal. Once his head cleared and his rational mind took control again, he was in awe. Mankind had always longed to do the things he had done since being picked up by Samix. His reverie was cut short as he watched the walls of the fore section corridor begin to float by.
He had to make sure he was still in control of his flight and wouldn’t slam into any debris on his trip to the command deck. Ann could only power the ship section to which she was docked, which meant his whole trip to the stern would be done in zero gravity. His headlamp beams were his only comfort. Luckily, the map Ann had uploaded to him was true, and in no time, he was floating in the command center.
The room was absolutely destroyed. Everything had been sucked out through the broken windows when it had decompressed. Even the commander’s chair had been ripped from its mounts and was nowhere to be found. Although there was a significant amount of real estate that he wanted to explore, he feared that everything he found in the ship would be in the same abysmal condition.
“Is there anything of use we can get out of this room?” he asked Ann as he scanned the area.
“It doesn’t appear so. I believe the captain’s logs were lost when the area was destroyed. We may have better luck in his quarters. Many captains keep a backup of important documents in their safe.”
As she finished, he felt a gentle thud against his leg. He looked down to see a black, soccer ball-sized object that was covered in black circles. After picking it up to examine it, he found that he was holding the helmet of a lost crewmember of the ship. Thinking it must have gotten separated from its owner during the battle, he was horrified to find that the neck opening was crusted over with red ice.
“How do I get this open?” he asked Ann.
“I can send an open signal through your under suit. Without a gauntlet, it will be uncomfortable.”
“Okay, Ann,” he replied. “Do it.”
A painful electrical shock rolled down his arm, and it took all of his focus to hold onto the helmet. He felt the helmet click, and his discomfort was quickly forgotten. When the helmet opened, it released what remained of the crewmember who once wore it into battle. A cursory glance inside the helmet showed that it was clean of gore. He quickly secured it to his belt and began examining the disembodied head. It was so mangled and deteriorated that he couldn’t glean any information about what the Groz had looked like.
He wasn’t sure why, but he felt the need to lay the head to rest. He quickly pushed the head out of the broken windows, hoping it would eventually find peace in the eternal void. He turned his attention to the crew quarters. Ann had highlighted the captain’s quarters, the first mate’s quarters, and the engineer’s quarters as points of interest.
The captain’s quarters were closest to the command deck. He found them nominally different than his on the Ananna, which he found strange since this ship was significantly larger than his. The only thing of interest he found in the room was a set of pauldrons that he quickly equipped. Neither he nor Ann could tell what their properties were without taking them to the forge once it was up and working.
The majority of his time in the captain’s room was spent searching for his hidden safe. After he found the safe, Ann sent a few more painful shocks down his arm, but much to his dismay, the door stayed closed. After the treasure trove he found in his ship’s safe, he contemplated how he could get the safe back aboard Ann. Without any tools to help, he left the safe in place and headed to the first mate’s quarters in defeat.
The second room’s walls were plastered with blueprints and schematics of everything on the ship, from the small fighters to each subsystem of the ship. He assumed this meant that the first mate was also the pilot of the ship. Due to their age, he didn’t even attempt to remove them from the walls. Instead, he recorded their details through his visor.
Because he was fixated on the information he had just gathered, he found himself turned around in the corridor. Instead of going directly to the engineer’s room, he accidentally went into the room adjacent to the captains. Once he realized his mistake, he mentally berated himself for living up to the “lost lieutenant” stereotype. The quarters had been badly damaged during the battle, and the exterior walls had been shredded. The damage made finding anything useful a slim prospect, but he scanned the room since he was already there.
Just as he was about to leave the room and head to the engineer’s quarters, he realized that one of the most damaged walls was the one that separated the room he was in from the captain’s room. He gently pushed off the door jam and floated to where he approximated the captain’s safe was. When he looked in the torn wall, he found that the back of a large compartment had also been shaved off. If he was looking into the captain’s safe, which he believed he was, it was far larger than the one in his quarters.
He began bending and breaking the ragged metal face of the wall to give him easier access to the safe. Upon realizing that his under suit was protecting him from cuts, he redoubled his efforts and was rewarded with an unobstructed view of the spoils. The largest item in the safe was a double-edged axe. As he examined the weapon, he found a button that allowed it to be broken into two one-handed axes. He quickly reassembled it and stuffed the handle into his pistol belt.
There were a few under suits and other smaller items in the safe as well. With Ann’s help, he identified handfuls of data disks, AI cores, and a few unidentified glowing green vials. The last looked to be the same color as the Rua that escaped when he unplugged the forge, but Ann couldn’t be sure. He laid out one of the suits and began piling the items on it in hopes of making himself a bindle that he could take back. The attempt quickly became frustrating in zero gravity. He couldn’t get the items to stop floating apart. Changing tactics, he quickly tied the legs and arms of one suit together and used it as a bag. With the small items secured and his makeshift bag slung over his shoulder, he headed out to the engineer’s room.
The engineer’s room was its own treasure trove of mundane items he would have once taken for granted. It had schematics and data disks, and a large assortment of tools. By the state of the room, he could only assume that the engineer of the large ship never stopped working. Documents were quickly scanned with his helmet, and as many of the small items as he could fit were stuffed in his bag.
His trip back to the break was much faster since he had already traversed the route once, and felt comfortable finding his way through the wreckage. As he got to the opening, he called Samix to check in and let her know he was returning to the ship.
“We almost… have… the forge in place,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “All I have… to do is tighten… up its clamps. Ann thinks… she will have the diagnostic… done on it before you return.”
He made his way back across the void happy with how much he had gained from the trip thus far. When he got back to the aft section of the ship, he was close enough for Ann to power it again. She asked if he wanted her to power up the grav-plates. His venture to the front of the ship showed him that he could move much faster without gravity. He declined and asked her to power up the emergency lighting as brightly as she could. With the ambient light, he made the best possible time back to the airlock.
Chapter 4
The transition back to gravity screwed with his equilibrium a little, but not as much as the transition to zero gravity. As the airlock cycled, he took off his bag. He was pleased to
find that it had stayed closed on the trip back, as he hadn’t thought to look behind him while he was dragging it. Samix was there to greet him when the airlock’s inner door opened.
“Flying this ship was amazing,” she said excitedly. “If I had any doubts about staying on the crew, they are gone after that.”
“That’s good to hear. How is the forge installation going?”
“We got it hooked up already. Ann is running a diagnostic. I can’t wait to see what it can do. Ann thinks it may be a newer version than the one she had aboard before.”
“Diagnostics are complete,” Ann said as if on cue. “It appears that the forge and battery were undamaged. The functionality of the forge and capacity of the battery are significantly larger than anything that would normally be aboard a ship of my type.”
“What does that mean for us?” Zade and Samix asked at the same time.
“It means that we will be able to gather strength at an unprecedented pace. Forges allow the ship on which it is installed to grow to the maximum capacity of the ship for which the forge is intended. This forge will allow the ship to grow to the size of the carrier if you choose,” she said, watching the surprise on the face of the organic crew members. “With the reserve of Rua in the battery, this ship could function for two hundred thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight Earth years. With a working forge, I can replace all of the Unity equipment and have us back to full Groz functionality.”
“I am ok with taking all that equipment offline, but let’s not destroy or space it,” Zade said still recovering from the magnitude of the good news. “I want it all secured in the cargo hold. You never know when you’re going to need a backup of something. I have some data disks and cores that you could use and a few pieces of equipment I need to identify. How do we go about doing that?”
Following Ann’s instructions, Zade laid out the cores and data disks on the deck of the cargo hold. The metal floor parted and absorbed the cores exactly like it did when Zade had dropped the first one that brought Ann back to life. After announcing that her capacity was up to twenty-five percent, the floor again opened and absorbed all of the data disks. The amount of information must have been massive because Ann stayed silent for a few minutes before she spoke again.
“The information you provided was for Groz systems and technology more advanced than those found on this ship. I estimate that three percent of the Rua reserve will bring me back to fighting shape and another five will allow me to implement the most advanced Groz systems available.”
“So, if I am understanding what you’re saying correctly, using Rua to create material is extremely expensive, but as an energy source, it is very potent.”
“Correct.”
“So, you are almost completely functional. Eight percent of reserves means that you don’t have to make too many repairs, but the other ninety-two percent will keep you fueled and habitable for the conceivable future?”
“Correct. I will have to address some poor connections and corrosion. Weapon systems and shielding have been removed, which I will not be able to recreate with our current supply.”
“Use the three percent to bring yourself back to fighting shape. I think that will make you the most advanced ship in space. Let’s use the rest as needed since we don’t know how long it will be until we will be able to refill the Rua stores,” he said. “Now, Ann, how do I identify the equipment I found?”
“Let’s move to the forge room, and I will explain on your way there,” Ann said. “The forge has two main modes: create and modify. Both require the user to be wearing a helmet. The user then places their hand on the side of the forge. The connection allows the user to access the menus.”
When they arrived in the forge room, Zade put his helmet back on and touched the side of the forge. His visor was immediately filled with seemingly endless menus of creatable items. It took him a moment to figure out the organization scheme, but he identified that the items were organized into four categories: ship, armor, weapons, and other. Each category had countless items and subcategories.
He quickly equated it to the fabricators he used on the XES01, even though the forge was far more advanced. After fiddling with the controls for a few minutes, he placed the axe he had found on to the forge’s surface and touched the side again. This time, his visor filled with specific information on the item and the different modifications that could be made to it. The axe was a two-to-one Groz battle axe with a monomolecular edge modification that allowed it to cut through most materials. He repeated the process with his pauldron, which he learned was unmodified Groz armor that was made to absorb a portion of energy damage.
“If I need to be wearing a helmet to view the forge interface, how do I examine and modify my helmet?” he asked Ann.
“As the backbone of Groz society, helmets act differently in the forge. You must register your helmet with the forge first. Set your helmet on the forge and wait for it to chime. Once the helmet and the forge are paired, you will be able to view information on the helmet and designate modifications for it. Once you designate a modification, you simply set your helmet on the forge and wait for it to be completed.”
He quickly placed his helmet on the forge and waited for it to sound. The chime Ann spoke of was more of a rumble, but when it sounded, he knew what it meant. He donned his helmet and examined its properties. It was an advanced hybrid class helmet with a cloaking modification. It identified the user as a hybrid class of warrior-commander, which allowed the wearer access to the warrior and commander equipment and modifications. He was already thoroughly impressed by the capabilities the helmet provided him, most specifically the connection he maintained with his ship but was anxious to add more capabilities.
As he marveled over his helmet, Samix cleared her throat. He jumped. He had forgotten she was in the room as well.
“It would be nice to know what you are planning to do for other crew members,” she said sarcastically. “In regards to helmets, specifically.”
“You might be in luck,” he said as he withdrew the helmet he had found on the command deck. “I’m not sure if this is for a pilot, but I’m sure I can forge one that is.”
He laughed at how her eyes lit up. He had to stop her from grabbing it out of his hands.
“If you want to be the ship’s pilot, a medic helmet won’t do you any good, Sam. Let’s see what this one is before you go crazy.”
He placed the helmet on the forge as she stepped back, her skin a little darker blue than normal. He began to examine the helmet. His hopes began to climb as he read the class line: Pilot Helmet—Light/Medium Craft.
“Ann, what type of ship are you?” Zade asked.
“Medium craft,” she responded.
“And how long will it take Samix to pair with her helmet?”
“As the member of a species known to the Groz, it shouldn’t take nearly as long as your pairing. I estimate that it would be complete in a few hours.”
“This helmet will allow you to pilot this ship on almost a subconscious level,” he told Samix. “The different lenses allow you to simultaneously view different aspects of the ship. The pairing isn’t uncomfortable but it can be unsettling. All you will have to do is sleep with it on.”
She listened intently, weighing everything before she spoke.
“I think it is worth it,” she said as she reached out and took the helmet off of the forge.
Zade watched her leave the forge room, presumably headed for her quarters. After the door to the room closed, he grabbed the glowing green vials from the bottom of the bag. When he set them on the forge, the menu provided was not the same as the others he had seen. This one identified the vials as stored Rua and asked if he wanted to include them in the forge battery. He wasn’t sure why the captain had separated this Rua, but he assumed there was a good reason not to include it in the forge supply. He took the vial back and headed to his quarters to store it and the others in his safe.
With nothing more to do on his s
hip, he headed back over to the carrier to finish scavenging. He wanted nothing more than to make himself an ultra-high-tech suit of armor at the forge but realized he should figure out what other items he could get from the bigger ship before wasting any Rua. After leaving Ann, his first stop would be the armory. He daydreamed about what types of armor and weapons he would find there.
For all of the technological advances the Groz ship had given him, he was still rather toothless, especially if he had to leave the ship for any reason. He found the armory all but empty. Ann had said that nothing had disturbed the ship since its destruction. He assumed that most of the gear was being used by the original crew when they met their fate.
Although he didn’t find the trappings of a huge army, there were still a few things he found useful. Most of the equipment he left behind was basic, but he was able to find the components of almost two full sets of armor. As he worked, he clamped the first piece of each type he found directly to his suit, and he stowed the others in a bag he had found stuffed under the armorer’s bench. He completed pillaging the room by adding three rifles and two pistols to the armor in his bag. He couldn’t identify any of the weapons without the forge, but considering his armory was empty, he felt they would be useful regardless.
As he navigated towards the AI core, he lamented the fact that he didn’t find any other helmets. By the time he got to the room, his spirits had lifted. Given how specialized and how old the helmets were, he counted himself lucky that he even found one. If he pulled on more crew, he would have to make others at his new forge.
He was surprised to see that the AI core resembled some of the server rooms he had seen back on Earth. Rows and rows of black racks extended towards the dark depths of the room. Although he couldn’t identify any of the equipment in the room, he could see two distinct types of components on the shelves. About half of the shelves contained narrow rectangular devices, and the other half held spherical components that were rested on rings to prevent them from rolling onto the floor. At first, nothing looked to have power, but as he stood in the dark room and his eyes adjusted, he could see a faint green glow coming from the equipment.
