by Z D Dean
As soon as the lift gate closed, leaving an almost imperceptible seam in the floor of the cargo bay, Zade was greeted by the cold, mechanical, feminine voice of the ship’s AI.
“Greetings Captain [please state name]. Welcome to [please state ship name].” The voice emanated from the newly installed speakers around him.
You’ve got to be kidding me, Zade thought to himself.
Samix’s impression that her father had greatly shortchanged him was becoming much more plausible possibility in Zade’s mind. He decided it was okay to be disappointed that the digital assistant on his cellphone back on Earth had more personality than his ship’s AI. The directives from the AI caught Zade off guard. He had assumed that he would be given a previously named ship and that his information would already have been transferred to the AI.
“I am captain Alexander Zade,” he said, filling in the first blank.
The second took him longer. He had assumed that ships, like the cars of his planet, should be named after women. He couldn’t just name the ship some common name. He wanted the name of his vessel to have meaning. Following his ethos of helping the oppressed he came across, and righting injustices along his trip, Zade began to narrow down the list of potential names. The ship may see combat, shrinking the list further. The name of a Sumerian goddess came to mind. He had learned about her in a college elective about ancient religions. His ship was beautiful, if in a state of disrepair. He would be trying to bring justice to the being he ran across, including mankind eventually. He had no illusions that his travels would be without bloodshed. Confident in his choice he spoke up again.
“This ship is Ananna., named for the Goddess of beauty, war, and justice,” Zade said still in awe that his dreams were becoming reality. “Where is your AI core located? I need to upload navigational information.”
The AI informed Zade that an AI control terminal had been installed in the command deck of the ship and was connected to speakers that ran throughout. Zade moved through the ship, towards the nose where the command deck was located, exploring along the way.
The ship had a pretty basic layout. The lower floor, connected to the cargo hold in the rear, consisted of an armory, galley, and three large empty rooms. Although he could identify the purpose of the rooms, all of the equipment was foreign. The armory had weapons racks along one wall which were covered in dust and didn’t look like they could hold any of the weaponry he was familiar with. The center of the room had workbenches, equally coated in dust.
The galley, or what he believed to be the galley, had a seating area in the middle that could hold about eight people. The backwall had equipment lining it, but was nothing like he had seen in the galley of the XES01. On the other side of the lower hallway, there were the three empty rooms that Zade assumed were either special purpose rooms or storage.
At the end of the hallway there was a stairwell that lead to the second deck of the ship. At the top, a right took you into the command deck, and a left took you toward the crew quarters. The number of rooms matched the number of seats in the galley. There were seven modest quarters consisting of a bed, a desk, a bathroom and a storage area. The eighth room was much larger, better equipped, and had a door leading directly into the command deck.
Assuming the large room was the captain’s quarters, Zade set his bag on the bed and grabbed the data core from it. He wasn’t sure how AI technology worked, but he hoped that the added capacity from the core in his hand would improve the performance of the ship AI. As he walked towards the command deck, he made a mental note to add linens to the list of things he would need to supply the ship, along with other basic supplies.
The command deck was laid out exactly like that of the XES01. The nose had wrap around windows that were currently looking out at the wall of the hanger. There were seven workstations arranged in a tiered fashion, giving each station a clear view out the windows, towards the front of the deck. Towards the rear was a lone chair, the captain’s he assumed, with screens flanking either armrest. Next to the captain’s chair was a freshly installed pillar covered in blue lights.
Figuring it was the AI controls, he moved closer to inspect it. Although the exterior of the pillar was covered in lights, there didn’t seem to be any place for him to insert the new data core. What concerned him more was the fact that the pillar didn’t seem to be connected to any of the control systems on the ship. The only wires he saw coming out of the pillar moved back toward the rear of the ship.
Zade picked one of the wires at random and followed it, hoping to find its termination point. It was easy to follow, as it was the only silver thing in the ship. The interior of the ship seemed to be made of the same green laced, black material as the outside. After a few minutes of following, Zade stood looking at the speaker in the cargo hold, from which the AI had first spoken to him. Undeterred, he headed back to the command deck and followed each of the silver wires, hoping that at least one would be connected to the engines. Each led to a different speaker located around the ship, the last led to the speaker in the captain’s quarters.
Zade stood absentmindedly tossing the data core he held from hand to hand, contemplating how the AI could control the ship. The thought that the Chancellor had double crossed him caused him to drop the data core. Zade watched in horror as the data core fell to the floor, praying it wouldn’t break. The core struck the floor, bounced a couple of times and rolled towards the bulkhead, apparently undamaged. Relief allowed Zade to release a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.
Zade hurriedly moved to retrieve the dropped data core but, before he could reach it, the bulkhead next to it seemed to melt away and the core was drawn into the wall of the ship. Zade stood in rapt fascination as he watched the accents in the wall begin to pulse with green light. Before he could move, an electric shock rose from the floor to his head causing stars to bloom across his field of view. When Zade’s vision cleared he was staring at the hologram of a woman projected from the ceiling of his quarters.
“Thank you for providing the data core needed for me to regain a portion of my function. I am currently working at one percent of my total capacity. The shock you felt was a scan of your physiology, biological function, biological needs, and your memory. I approve of my new name and your vision for our mission. I am Ananna, starship destroyer. It is nice to meet you, Captain Zade.”
End of Book 1
I hope you liked reading this as much as I liked writing it.
Thank you for reading through the first book of the Redleg In Space series. I chose to write this to challenge myself. I wanted to know if I had the discipline, dedication, and attention to detail required to write an entire book. Please leave a review, good or bad, to let me know what you thought of it. All I ask is that the reviews are constructive, so I can improve my writing.
