by William Wood
He took his time getting showered and dressed. Clearly this ship was designed to take care of royalty. Not one single function was without luxury. It took care of all of a person’s needs, leaving him or her free to worry about other things. This is how it worked: Each morning Calvin stood in front of his closet door, where a computer would scan him. Once the computer recorded his measurements, he was presented with a program that would allow him to select what he wanted to wear that day. The computer would then make it for him, and it was ready to go. It worked just like the food machine in the dining room, but with clothes instead of food.
Today he decided on a red long-sleeved shirt, with a black pair of pants. Clothes had never fit so well. Even the shoes were a perfect fit. He picked a pair of black shoes that might have been the most comfortable he had ever worn.
After he dressed he walked down to the dining room for breakfast. He ordered eggs and bacon with toast. The computer flashed multicolored lights on the keypad, and the door slid open after five seconds. A wonderfully intoxicating smell caressed his senses.
“This place is great!” Calvin thought, and he sat down to eat. Just then, the door opened, and Astra walked in. Calvin was happy to see she was smiling. There was something else too, in the way she was carrying herself. Her shoulders seemed a little higher, her head a little taller. She got some food and sat across from Calvin.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Good morning,” Calvin said, looking into her soft brown eyes. “How did you sleep?”
“I slept great,” Astra said.
“I did too. I finally made contact with my father last night.” “Oh, Calvin, that’s great,” Astra exclaimed. Calvin told her
about the conversation he had with his father.
“I’m very happy for you, Calvin. I know it’s been on your mind
a lot lately. At least now they know you’re OK.”
After days of depression, the dark cloud was gone, and they both
felt better.
“So two days till we get to the ice planet?” Calvin said, not
knowing what else to call it.
“No,” Astra answered. “We’ll get there tomorrow night.” “What do you want to do today?”
“I’m going to go down to the lab and study the first segment.” “OK,” Calvin said, trying to hide his disappointment. He didn’t
want to be alone today. “Do you like science? Are you good at it?” “Oh yes, I love it,” she said smiling. “I practically grew up in a
lab, taking things apart and putting them back together. It’s fun. Plus, the
only thing that kept my people alive was the few engineers and scientists
who kept our ships flying, discovering and improving our technology
that gave us an advantage.”
“Oh, I see,” Calvin said. “So what does the super-weapon do?” “It’s a high-powered pulse generator,” Astra said. “The idea is,
once we have all the pieces, we take it to the center of the universe and
fire it. It sends a massive pulse across space, literally to every corner of
the galaxy, and it destroys all electronics, computers, but most
importantly, robots.”
“Wait a second, what about planets that don’t have anything to
do with the Goremog, like New Arlandia? Won't they be destroyed too?” “Our scientists have done research on that, and they found that
Goremog technology has a unique signature. They said they can program
the pulse so that it targets only that signature.”
“That would be great, if it works like that. Seems like a pretty
big risk. How can you be sure all the pieces work after all these years?” “I’m not really sure,” she admitted. “It's old, and the scientists
who designed and built it are dead. I have their notes, but they didn’t
leave behind a manual. The hard part is going to be identifying the
pieces, and figuring out how to put it all together. The programming is a
whole other story.”
“So there’s a chance, right?” Calvin asked. “That we find all the
pieces, it’ll work and not destroy my home planet?”
“Yes, of course,” Astra said resolutely. “This ship is small, but it
has the most advanced laboratory equipment in the universe. I’m going
to analyze the first piece, find out what it is and if it works. Don’t
worry.” She must have sensed that Calvin was worried about it. She
seemed to know exactly what to say to him.
“OK, I’ll leave it to you then.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I want to do some more flight training—how to use the
weapons, navigate, and fix basic problems. Ion’s been teaching me.” “OK, that’s a really good idea. There’s a flight simulator on deck
three that you should check out. It starts with the basics and goes all the
way up to advanced combat situations. No offense,” she said smiling.
“But you could use a little more practice. That flight off of Arlandia was
a bit rough.”
“Thank you,” he said dryly. “I’ll check it out. Let me know when
you want to take a break for lunch. I’ll meet you here.”
“OK.”
Before going to the simulator, Calvin went to the bridge. He
wanted to look at the longrange sensors to make sure they weren’t being
followed. When he got there he found Ion sitting at the computer station.
He was just sitting there, staring into a monitor.
“Hi,” Calvin said cheerfully. Ion didn’t answer. Calvin looked
closely at Ion and noticed a small cable running from the computer
directly into the robot’s chest. Clearly, Ion was very busy. Satisfied the
sensors were clear, Calvin went down to check out the space flight
simulator.
The lights turned on automatically as he walked through the
doorway. There were two white bullet-shaped pods with black glass
canopies in the middle of the room. They each were sitting on hydraulic
legs. In the back of the room was a computer station.
Calvin walked to the computer and turned it on. It was extremely
user-friendly. It asked for his name and took him through the steps of
setting up a profile. A menu screen showed him what training was
available and suggested he start with the first lesson.
“I don’t have anything else to do,” he thought. When he selected
the first training mission, the canopy on the first pod opened with a soft
hum. A message on the computer screen read, “Please enter Pod One.”
The interior of the pod looked almost like the inside of an Arlandian
space fighter, but instead of dozens of analog computers with dials and
switches there was one solid piece of glass, and the chair looked a little
more comfortable. The layout looked just like the standard configuration
that he had seen in every Alerian spaceship. He appreciated that
philosophy—learn on one, able to operate all.
Calvin climbed into the pod and sat down. The central monitor in
front of him provided step-by step-instructions. He put on his shoulder
seatbelt, and the pod’s canopy closed. As soon as it was sealed, all
outside sound was completely shut out, and it was dark.
Then suddenly all of the screens around him lit up. He also
noticed that the canopy around him, which would have been windows to
the outside world in a real spaceship, was actually a series of computer
monitors, which displayed stars in all directions. The details on the ultradefinition screens were so clear that it looked real.
“Too perfect!”
The computer began with a simple navigation exercise: fly from
point A to point B. Along the way it provided a detailed explanation of
the basic ship controls and screen readouts.
The lesson lasted twenty minutes. When it was over, the
computer asked if he wanted to begin the next one. Calvin kept going. The next lesson involved navigating to four different locations,
and more in-depth explanation of ship functions. In the third lesson the
difficulty increased. He had to navigate through an asteroid field. During his first run through the asteroid field he thought he was doing well, until a small rock smashed into the side of his ship, disabling him. Unable to control the ship, he floated into a large asteroid and was destroyed. He did much better the second time through, receiving only a small amount of damage after he shot an asteroid that was in his path, and he flew through the debris. He also learned to have a healthy respect
for asteroids.
Calvin looked at the clock, and he was surprised to see he had
spent four hours in the simulator. It was time for lunch. He turned off the
computer, and the canopy opened. His legs felt stiff for a few minutes,
but he figured the walk back up to the dining room would stretch them
out. He found an intership communications system on the main computer
panel.
“Astra, can you hear me?” Calvin’s voice echoed through the
ship. There was a brief pause, and Astra’s voice echoed back. “Yes, what’s up?”
“Are you hungry?” Another pause.
“Sure, I can take a break. I’ll meet you in the dining room.” “OK, see you there.”
Calvin got there first. He got a plate of food and sat at a table
near the food dispenser. Astra arrived only a few minutes later. “How’s it going?” Calvin asked.
“Slow,” Astra said, putting in her food order. She took her food
out of the machine and sat across from Calvin. She had a bowl of salad
and a glass of juice.
“No matter what I do, it defies analysis,” Astra said. “First I had
the computer scan it, which took over an hour. It couldn’t figure out what
it is. I’m not even sure it was able to scan the inside. I’ve been studying it
all morning, and about the only thing I know is that it has a massive
amount of power in it. It seems dormant, but the energy signature is
massive. You know, if I didn’t know better I would say that it is fighting
me, trying to keep me from knowing what it is.”
Calvin wanted to laugh, but her expression said that she wasn’t
joking.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Normally I would take it apart, at least take off
the cover. I think I found a hatch on it, but I’m afraid to open it. There is
too much power inside it. I need to understand it better before I do that. For now, I’m going to do a search in the database to see if there is anything that compares to this. That’s going to take a while. How is your
training going?”
“Good. It was boring at first, just flying around. But I had to fly
through an asteroid field on the last one. That was a little more exciting.” “Oh, neat,” Astra said. “How did you do?”
“The first time…you don’t want to know.”
Astra smiled. “That’s funny. You died, didn’t you.” It was a
statement, not a question.
“Yes,” Calvin said sheepishly. “But it wasn’t because of my
piloting. Well, maybe it was. I didn’t use the perimeter sensors or point
laser defense. I didn’t think I needed them. It seemed like cheating.” “Well, they help, don’t they?”
“Yes, they do,” Calvin admitted. “I hope I never have to go
through an asteroid field without them.”
“And you could also try to not run into the rocks.” Astra smiled
at him playfully.
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” he said.
“Just wait until you get to the minefield exercise. That’s even
more fun.”
“Minefield?” he asked. “Really? That sounds cool.” “Cool? Just wait, they don’t just crash into you; they explode.” When Calvin and Astra were done eating, they both left the
dining room, anxious to get back to what they were doing. Calvin trained
in the simulator the rest of the afternoon. He flew the asteroid-field
mission again just to make sure he was comfortable with it before
moving on. Astra went back to work on the first segment, trying to
unlock its secrets.
Later, after dinner with Astra, Calvin went up to his room to
relax. It took only ten minutes to realize that he didn’t want to relax. He
couldn’t stop thinking about the simulator. Plus there wasn’t anything to
do in his room, so he went back down and climbed inside the simulator. The canopy closed, and the simulator turned on. “I’m addicted to
this,” Calvin thought.
He was getting very comfortable with the controls, and already
he had a standard pattern for turning everything on. Turn on engines and
shields, charge weapons to minimum levels so they would be ready faster. He had everything just where he wanted it. The next mission was going to be too easy, another simple navigation exercise. He was
supposed to fly to a space station and land—piece of cake. He loved the simulator; it was very realistic. It was just like
flying in a real space fighter. He was lost in thought when suddenly the
communications system came to life.
“Fighter X Two, Fighter X Two, this is heavy freighter Blue
Tundra. We are under attack by several unknown ships. We need
immediate assistance. We are carrying emergency supplies to the colony
on Cordon Four. Please help us! I don’t know how long we can hold
out.”
“This is Fighter X Two,” Calvin announced. “I’m on my way.
Coming in hot!” Calvin pushed the throttle full forward. The hydraulic
system built into the simulator made it feel like his speed was increasing,
as he was pushed gently into the back of his seat.
He checked the navigation computer. Time to interception was
two minutes and ten seconds. He used that time to make sure his ship
was ready. He channeled some extra power into his shields and weapons.
A small holographic image of his ship floated near the edge of his vision.
No matter where he looked, it stayed there. It showed the status of all his
ship’s systems. A solid blue bubble surrounded the ship, indicating the
shields were at full strength.
So much for the simple navigation exercise. He had no idea what
was waiting for him. Were those ships more powerful than him, more
maneuverable? Calvin didn’t know, but he wanted to make sure he was
ready for anything. He looked at his scanner. There were seven small red
dots, surrounding a big blue dot. He could see them off in the distance,
getting larger. Explosions burst around the big freighter. Much closer
now, he could see the smaller ships swarming it. They were fighters! The
big ship turned and tried to get away. But it was too slow, and the
smaller ships continued to pound on it.
Then suddenly four of the fighters broke away from the freighter
and headed directly toward Calvin.
“OK, here we go. They know I’m here,” Calvin said. He
adjusted his course and headed straight tow
ard them. A group of laser
shots flew past him, missing him by a large margin. A second later, laser
hits splashed against his shields. Calvin fired a few shots back, but the computer reported that they were out of range. Calvin suddenly felt vulnerable and outgunned. The laser fire intensified. The blue circle
around the ship had changed to yellow. The shields were failing. Calvin watched the range display anxiously. Something in the
back of his mind was telling him he was making a huge mistake, flying
directly toward the enemy fighters and absorbing all of their laser fire. That’s when the ship shook violently. His forward shields were
gone! The shield display showed a large gap on the front of the ship.
Calvin jerked the controls hard to the right, to get the exposed section of
his shields away from the enemy’s reach. If just one shot got through the
hole it would hit his ship and cause serious damage.
But he didn’t move fast enough. The screen went dark, and the
canopy opened. He had died, again. Calvin sat in the chair and stared at
the black screen for five minutes. He was feeling very tired now. He got
up out of the simulator and walked back up to his room. As tired as he
was, he had a hard time falling asleep. He replayed the last mission over
and over in his mind. What happened? It was a good thing that wasn’t
real, or he would be dead. He had messed up, badly. He’d waltzed into
the battle thinking that he was the most powerful thing flying around.
The computer taught him otherwise. He was going to have to adjust his
thinking and his strategy.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE ICE PLANET
The next morning he awoke, and he did his usual routine of getting ready. He walked down to the dining room and had a small breakfast of cold cereal, an orange, and a cup of coffee. He was almost finished eating when Astra entered the room.
“Are you all right?” she asked with genuine concern. “What’s wrong?”
He looked up at her, and he replied sadly, “I died again.”
“Oh,” she said, a little surprised. “What happened?” She walked over to the food processor while he told his story. By the time he finished, she had her food and was sitting across from him.
