Scrapyard Ship

by Mark Wayne McGinnis

  Jason continued to walk fast down the cavern in the direction of the ship. The dire situation above was still fresh in his mind. Perkins and Ricket scrambled to keep up.

  “Sir, before we set off for Earth, the admiral provided clear orders. I’d like to review them with you now, or at the earliest possible time.”

  Jason paused, and looked at Perkins. “Well, what is it… get it off your chest, Lieutenant Perkins.”

  “Lieutenant Commander, I was instructed upon meeting with you to deliver this—first thing.” Perkins handed Jason a large white envelope. He flipped it over and read the text written in big block letters:

  EYES ONLY - LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JASON REYNOLDS

  Jason tore off the top of the envelope and emptied the contents into his other hand. A folded letter and two small brass eagle collar pins lay in his open palm. He opened the letter and read the contents.

  Jason, I’m hoping you and I had the opportunity to talk prior to you receiving this letter. If not, Ricket can bring you up to speed.

  Shipboard life is not as formal on The Lilly as you are undoubtedly used to on a U.S. Navy vessel. But I’ve tried to carry, as much as possible, the traditions, and even some of the formality associated with the U.S. Navy into our own young, interstellar military force, which is called the United Planetary Alliance, or simply Alliance.

  I’ve actually been back to Earth numerous times-right there at the small aquifer base beneath the scrapyard. I’ve watched your career, stayed connected as best I could, albeit from a distance. You’re a fine officer, Jason. Even with the outcome of that Somalian pirate situation. I wasn’t there but doubt I’d have handled things any differently. The two captain’s clusters are no mistake. This, as informal as it may be, provides official notice of not only your promotion to the rank of captain, but induction into the United Alliance.

  If you’re feeling overwhelmed and totally unqualified, well, you are absolutely correct. In fact, you have no idea how little prepared you are. But what has taken me fifteen years to discover, exploring one end of the Galaxy to the other, you will learn in mere weeks. The technology on the ship is beyond comprehension—some of which I only recently discovered. The Lilly is one of a kind, from an alien race most probably long extinct. Whatever her origin, whoever her designers, or her original crew, remain a mystery. The ship’s technology is hundreds, if not thousands of years in advance of anything I’ve come across. Without Ricket’s help it wouldn’t have been possible to get her back into space, let alone traversing the universe. But there is far more that we don’t know about this vessel than what we do know.

  Until now, I’ve never let her out of my sight. If she were to fall into the hands of the Craing… The implications are staggering. Imagine Adolph Hitler, mid-way through

  World War II, being offered advanced weapons’ technology hundreds, if not thousands, of years in advance of the Allied forces. There would have been no stopping him. For some reason, the Alliance has chosen me to lead our forces against the hostile aggression by the Craing. And subsequently we’ve pooled our forces from planets in multiple sectors, even those thousands of light-years from Earth. We are a force of approximately two thousand warships.

  I fear my days here are numbered. My location is no longer a secret. It seems we have a mole in our mist, either here on this planet among our ranks, or there on The Lilly. That’s something you’ll need to deal with. Moving forward, I only hope what we have planned will be enough. We’ll find out soon enough. If the Craing make it through our lines, no doubt Earth will be taken. Get off the planet and come to the Altar System. One more thing—the crew is inexperienced. I’m sorry, but we just could not afford to leave our best there, while the Craing are here knocking at our door.

  Properly manned, The Lilly would have a crew of about 200. You have a ragtag crew of about 30. Not necessarily all misfits, but we had to pull from where we could: A civilian doctor from Jhardon, a planet here in the Altar System, from Planetary University; ground forces officers; several men released from the brig; even an athletic sports personality. By the time you come on board, they will have undergone HyperLearning, which will help. Both Lieutenant Perkins and Ricket will bring you up to speed on everything else. Good luck, son.

  Dad

  Admiral Perry Reynolds, United Planetary Alliance

  Jason replaced the captain’s clusters as well as the letter back into its envelope.

  “Thanks for delivering this to me, Lieutenant Perkins. We obviously have a lot to talk about.” Together, the three of them hustled back down the rocky tunnel. Jason looked back at Ricket and the lieutenant. “Right now I need more information,” Jason said. “Do you have access to any of the TV news feeds from above?”

  “Yes, of course, we’ve been monitoring events as they’ve unfolded. It’s apparent that this isn’t a planetary-wide invasion—at least not yet. We believe they are right here, specifically in this part of North America, looking for The Lilly.”

  “The Craing followed her here?”

  “No, that would not be possible,” Ricket chimed in. “As your father explained, there is a mole, someone aligned with the Craing opposition forces. The Craing were tipped off and subsequently were waiting above Earth in high orbit. We believe the Craing detected the ship just prior to our going underground. Their incursion has been limited to a fifty-mile radius above.”

  Lieutenant Perkins then continued: “Four Craing light cruisers were deployed—seems they are either killing off local populace, or, in some cases, bringing them on board their ships—most likely to be interrogated. Right now, San Bernardino is center-stage news around the world.”

  “What the hell is the military doing while all this is happening?” Jason asked, even more agitated.

  “The military was fast to react. Ground forces have been deployed and hundreds of fighters were scrambled from Vandenberg, Edwards, as well as Los Angeles. They were all quickly destroyed with little damage, if any, to the small contingent of Craing fighters.” Jason stopped running and looked at Perkins, momentarily speechless.

  Scowling, Jason felt like he wanted to punch someone. “So, what’s the latest you’ve heard?”

  Ricket continued on towards the ship. The lieutenant shook his head. “They’ve gone. All four Craing ships lifted off and all but one have left orbit.”

  As they rounded the final corner into the main cavern Jason was surprised to see the crew had assembled into three rows of ten—all standing at attention in front of the ship. Unsure what was expected, Jason brought himself to attention and acknowledged their salute in return. He looked at each one. The crew was a disheveled lot. They were giving it a good try, but it was obvious they lacked any real discipline—several wore a smirk—several others looked generally pissed off. Observing their behavior, Jason wondered what he’d gotten himself into.

  “I’m Lieutenant Commander Jason Reynolds. I’m assuming most of you, if not all of you, know my father, Admiral Perry Reynolds. It seems we’ve been thrown together—and an odd lot we are, yes?” Smiling, Jason looked to his new crew, feeling unsure if a smile was appropriate or not.

  “Everyone, please stand at ease,” Jason said. “The truth is I probably wouldn’t have joined this fight. I had my own battle to contend with. But now the fight is personal. Our planet has been attacked and someone I care about is locked up in the hull of a Craing cruiser. Truth is, all I can think about is getting this thing up in space and chasing them down. So bear with me.” Jason had a fleeting image of Nan being ushered up the gangway of the Craing ship, causing his heart to skip a beat. “From what I understand we’re safe here underground. Though the Craing know we’re near. Let me get situated and then I want to meet with each of you. I’ll come to you, where you are stationed, and you can tell me what you do and a little about yourself.” Jason took one more look through the ranks. “Dismissed.” The group disbanded and went back to their previous duties. Ricket headed off towards the supercomputer-type machines against the
wall. Lieutenant Perkins stood with Jason.

  “Sir, may I show you the ship?” The lieutenant asked, with obvious pride.

  “What are we doing here? What’s it going to take to get this ship up in space?” Jason asked, frustrated. The ground shook, muffled explosions reverberated from above off in the distance. Rocks and dirt fell from the cavern walls.

  “As you can tell, the Craing want this ship. But we’ve never fired her weapons, didn’t even know how to access them until recently. We’re not ready. And frankly, neither are you. We go up there now—go up against that warship, The Lilly will be destroyed.”

  Jason took a breath and acknowledged Perkins points with a nod. “All right. So a tour it is. Lead on, Lieutenant,” Jason said.

  Lieutenant Perkins looked to the ship and held his arms out wide as a used-car salesman would when making a pitch. “The Lilly is 125 meters long, in earth measurements, with a width of 75 meters. She has five distinct decks. Her outer hull is coated with a hardened self-repairing substance—it’s similar to other nanotized materials utilized throughout the ship. And there, close to the two primary drive units, are the two fighter bay doors—although all openings, hatches and seams are virtually invisible when closed.” Lieutenant Perkins shrugged. “Something to do with that same nanotized material. The ship has a complement of six one-man fighters available—although one is out of commission.”

  “Being repaired?” Jason asked.

  “Trying to… like with everything else on the ship. There’s no repair manual—figuring out the operation, maintenance and repair of things has been pretty much a crap shoot,” Lieutenant Perkins said, shrugging.

  “Shall we move inside and continue?”

  “One question, what is that circular thing at the top forward area of the hull?” Jason asked, pointing to a curved section near the top front of the ship. It appeared to have a slightly different composition, and an almost dome-like appearance.

  “That’s the observatory—if time permits, we’ll see more of that from inside,” the lieutenant answered, pointing to the gangway leading into the rear of the ship.

  Once back inside, Lieutenant Perkins was ready to continue the tour. “And here we have the—”

  “Excuse me, Lieutenant, would it be possible to continue this tour a bit later? I need to check on my daughter,” Jason said, showing concern.

  “Yes, I’m sorry. Thoughtless of me. Let me show you to your cabins.” The young officer led the way, looking back over his shoulder to ensure Jason followed. “We’ll be moving between decks, sir. I need to warn you in advance that our doing so involves a phase-shift process—and the only way to explain it is to show you. But leave it to say, there are no elevators or stairs on this vessel.” Lieutenant Perkins turned towards an adjacent corridor and paused in front of a wider hatchway—which, under closer scrutiny, wasn’t really a hatchway at all. Outlined in a frame of light blue, the opening itself was translucent—almost as if looking through water.

  “You’re at mid-Deck Level 1 right now, sir. We’ll be moving to Deck 5 above. Before entering here, what is called a DeckPort, hold up four fingers—like this before entering.”

  Lieutenant Perkins held up four fingers, stepped forward, and disappeared out of sight. Jason remembered this process from earlier with Ricket, when first bringing Mollie into the ship. He stepped into the DeckPort and felt the same, not unpleasant, tingle. Jason emerged on what he assumed was Deck 4 to find the lieutenant waiting for him, with a smile on his face. Jason looked around and nodded his head in appreciation.

  “And if two people enter the port at the same time—but are going to different decks?”

  “It’s not a mechanical process, sir. You’d go to the floor you indicated and they, in turn, would go to theirs.” Jason nodded again, while trying to keep the bewilderment from his expression.

  “The truth is, the hand gestures are not actually needed. There are 32 separate and individual DeckPorts on this ship. The Lilly’s AI is highly intuitive and can take you between decks as well as to any ports automatically, once you have been nano-configured—like the rest of the crew have been. We can discuss it later, if you wish.” Jason nodded. He was quickly feeling in over his head. The corridors were somewhat wider on this level. He noticed again the cleanliness of the ship and the fluid-artistic lines of the padded walls, which on this level were a soft tan color. They walked for what seemed a long time before coming to several arched doorways.

  “We are at the officers’ quarters section of the ship and, specifically, the captain’s suite,” Lieutenant Perkins said, gesturing towards the widest of the three doorways. “Mollie is already inside.” Lieutenant Perkins stepped forward—just as with the DeckPort, but this time what appeared to be a solid door, disappeared before him allowing access to the captain’s suite beyond.

  “Dad! Where have you been?” Mollie asked, admonishing Jason in a motherly tone. She got up from the floor where she had been playing some kind of 3D virtual game—which hung suspended in the air—seemingly waiting for her next move. She ran over and hugged her father, giving a disapproving scowl as she looked up at Jason. He hugged her back and smiled. Taking in the surroundings, Jason was again taken aback by the ship.

  Lieutenant Perkins said, “This is the captain’s ready room.” To the left was a hallway, which Jason guessed led to the rest of the suite. The room was divided into two sections: the first was a conference room with an oval table and was configured with multiple large display units placed high up on the curved bulkhead. The adjoining room, more like an office, held a large desk with a stone or marble-type surface. Four comfortably padded chairs and a matching couch completed the furnishings in the cabin. The lieutenant continued to speak as they proceeded down the hallway.

  “Here you have a kitchenette and a small eating area. Jason noticed a small alcove and virtual workstation across the hall from the kitchenette.

  "What's this?" Jason asked.

  "Oh, that's similar to the food replicator in the kitchenette, it’s your garment replicator. This is used for things like your daily spacer and officer jumpsuits as well as any other casual attire—everything here is recyclable. Of course garments are custom-sized and fitted to each crewmember's unique body. Similarly, any replication of combat-type gear is handled through the gunny’s station on Deck 2." The thought of needing combat gear had thrown Jason, but in lieu of recent events it made sense.

  “Moving down the hall, you have two bedrooms—here on the right is Mollie’s room, with her own wash facilities, and here on the left is your bedroom, also with its own wash facilities. Jason took it all in. Both of their cabins seemed relatively large and well appointed for a military vessel. Again, Jason needed to cut the tour short.

  “Would it be possible, Lieutenant, for you to give my daughter and me some privacy? We really need to have some time right now.”

  “Of course; I’ll be on the bridge, one level down at the forward end of the ship.”

  “Thank you—I’ve been there and will find you shortly,” Jason said, quickly ushering the lieutenant out of the suite. Turning back to Mollie, he was more concerned how to best explain everything that had occurred up top—the attack by the Craing, her mother’s abduction…

  “Come on, kiddo, sit down for a sec,” Jason said, gesturing for her to sit on the couch. “None of this is going to be easy for you, Mollie. And I’m very very sorry. Things are happening beyond our control. Unbelievable things. There’s a war of sorts occurring above our planet and we are now involved in it.”

  “Yeah, I know all this already, Dad,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Remember, I saw you and Grandpa talking?”

  “Oh, that’s right… wasn’t sure how much of that you actually understood. But Mollie, there’s more to it than that. The Craing, the aliens that Grandpa was talking about… Well, they’re above us right now, attacking our home, our planet. And worst of all, they’ve taken your mother and others onto their ships. But I’m going to get her bac
k—I promise you, we’ll somehow get her back.” Mollie’s eyes brimmed with tears; comprehension of what her father said now taking hold. Looking down at his daughter, Jason wondered how she was going to handle what was coming.

  “Dad?”

  “Yeah, Mollie?”

  “When are we going after her; when are we getting Mom back?

  “Very soon.”

  Chapter 4

  Jason arrived at the bridge four hours later. Tired, but he had needed to spend some quality time with Mollie before putting her to bed. Earlier, they had played several virtual games—all of which she’d easily won. She was a natural at thinking in terms of 3D space. Her favorite, a virtual Hide and Seek game, with AI-generated avatars—so real-looking even Mollie’s Little Kitty T-shirt was perfectly depicted. Looking down at the quasi-transparent, perfectly scaled representation of The Lilly, Jason realized it was just as much a learning tool as it was a game. He’d watched her, getting totally enveloped into the game. Then, at other times, the reality of their situation would sober her mood. Sometimes for only moments, sometimes longer, the tears would come. Then, just as quickly, they were gone.

  “Oh, Dad, watch this—it’s so cool,” she said, excitedly. She jumped up off the floor and pushed several of the chairs back against the wall, giving them more room for the game. Using her hands she pulled and stretched the corners of the virtual ship, making it almost fill the room. Then, using a finger, she tapped at the side of the now-floating representation of The Lilly—it gently spun around on its axis.

  By the time they finished playing, they both had an excellent idea of the ship’s basic layout, including the bridge, mess hall, observatory, gymnasium, engineering and communications sections, and something called the Zoo—which had Mollie more than a little interested. Jason also noticed there were numerous inaccessible greyed-out areas.

  Lieutenant Perkins didn’t immediately notice Jason standing mere feet outside the entrance to the bridge, giving Jason time to take a better look around the ship’s command center. The room was oblong with gently curved and padded bulkheads narrowing slightly towards the front of the room. As he’d noticed before, the most impressive aspect of the bridge was the massive curved virtual display that completely encircled the top of the room 360 degrees. Both sides of the room were lined with consoles and a myriad of complex instruments; each had an integrated small monitor. Additionally, there were three two-seater consoles, each one at a different level, facing forward. A command chair and two smaller officer’s chairs placed slightly behind it were located on the top level at the back of the bridge. The room easily held ten crewmembers, but only four were present. Two men sat with their feet up on their consoles—laughing and cavorting about something. Lieutenant Perkins sat in the command chair reviewing his tablet—although Jason noticed the tablet was completely virtual and there was no actual hardware present. The lieutenant looked up when Jason entered the bridge. A boson’s whistle sounded from somewhere followed by “Captain on deck!” announced in a pleasant female voice.