Cory had lost his woman in a firefight about a week ago. He and Beth had been living with two other couples for mutual protection for over a year. They had been jumped a week ago by a small gang of four men. Everyone, including the attackers, had been killed in the fight except for Beth and him. Beth had been mortally wounded during the fight though and died in his arms later that night from a belly wound that Eric figured had lacerated her liver. Back in the old pre-encounter days, he had been a paramedic with the New York City Fire Department. When he had examined the gunshot wound in her abdomen and seen the dark blood that was oozing out he had known she would not survive. He had built a fire and attempted to keep her warm until she died. He had actually cried when she passed, as she had been a good woman. They had kept warm together in a sleeping bag together for almost a year.
Cory overcame his grief the next morning and followed the attackers trail back to their lair. He found that it led to the old Natural History Museum. It was there that he had found the two women handcuffed to a stairway rail and a young girl was sitting weeping nearby. The women had been captured by the bandits a week before when the bandits had ambushed their own little family clan. The women had been repeatedly used and passed around by the bandits in the week since they had been captured. Only the young girl’s age of five had saved her a similar treatment. Cory suspected that even that would not have protected her much longer.
Cory glanced up and down the avenue and then squatted down by the women. “Look, this is Seventh Avenue.” He pointed up the abandoned street and said, “We need to take it that way and then cross over what used to be Interstate Eighty Seven to get to the old Yankee Stadium. There’s still a search and rescue post there. If we can get there, we can get a ride out of this frozen hell hole to a re-location center in the south. The problem is that there is a large gang of about a hundred people that claims the territory between here and there. They will probably shoot me on sight and you know what happens to women that are captured much better than I do. I’m willing to try and help you reach it if you’re willing to risk it. Both of you know it’s just getting too hard to find food. If we don’t get out of here before the heavy snow starts again, we probably won’t get another chance.”
Both the women agreed they were willing to give it a try so they started moving northeast ducking from doorway to doorway. Cory figured they had about seven miles more to cover when his plan fell apart. They had stopped to rest and were sitting in the front office of an old building. Eric turned to say something to one of the women when he saw a curious red dot on the side of her head. He threw himself at her, knocking her to the floor just as the snipers bullet exploded the wall beside where she had been sitting. Bullets starting flying in the windows and Cory was soon scrambling for his life as he tried to find cover. He heard one of the women scream as he sought a position where he could fire back.
Cory realized that they were trapped and about to be overwhelmed. The little girl was cowering and crying behind him and one of the women was lying in the floor bleeding out from a neck wound. He could not see the other woman. He looked at the little girl. He couldn’t allow them to take her. He knew very well what they would probably do to her. He hugged the little girl and pulled out his pistol and put it to her head. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, there was a sound like the sky tearing open and explosions outside. There were screams and gunshots and then he heard the sound of what could only be propellers.
A voice called over a loudspeaker. “You in the building, come out slowly with your hands held high. Leave your weapons behind you.”
Cory put down the pistol and his rifle and picked up the sobbing little girl. He climbed out the window. As he was ducking through, he saw the other woman lying in a pool of blood. Shaking his head, he yelled that he was coming out and he crawled out with the little girl. Hovering about fifty feet off the ground was one of the new funny looking helicopters that had been flying over the city the past month or so. It had two ridiculously small propellers and Cory could not figure out how they kept the thing in the air. It had a United States Air Force marking on its side and the four men on the ground that were pointing some damn big assault rifles at him were all wearing Special Forces snow camouflage.
“Where are the two women who were with you? We were watching you with a drone and saw you walking into the ambush,” The man who appeared to be in charge, said.
“They’re dead,” said Cory.
“That’s too bad. Well, at least we managed to take out some of these assholes,” the soldier said.
Eric looked around. There were at least a dozen dead bodies lying in the street.
“Do you request evacuation?” the soldier asked.
“Please,” said Cory.
The soldier waved at the hovering aircraft and it slowly settled to the ground. Eric could see two more men manning the large caliber auto cannons in its side doors.
“Everybody get in and let’s get the hell out of here before they regroup,” the soldier ordered.
Cory climbed into the seat indicated by one of the crewmen and held the little girl in his lap.
The aircraft climbed vertically and banked southeast toward Long Island Sound.
“Where are we going?” asked Cory. The stadium is the other way.
“You’re one damned lucky fool,” the soldier said. “We’re closing down the base here as of today. This was our last run. The drone that was covering our rear as we took out the last of our equipment saw you coming down the avenue and those guys setting up to ambush you. Tomorrow, we wouldn’t have been here.”
As the aircraft headed out over the ice sheet that was Long Island Sound, Cory could just make out the Statue of Liberty to the west. She had snow almost half way up to her knees. Ahead of them, standing out in the sound, was a Navy cruiser with a large flat flight deck. They were heading toward it as the aircraft started to descend.
The little girl looked up at Cory with wide wet eyes. “Are you my daddy now? All my other daddies are dead.”
Cory didn’t know what to say. He just nodded and gave her a hug.
Chapter 66
November 11th, 2050
Earth Orbit
Admiral Ellis stood and watched with Captain LeFontain as the Mayflower slowly got underway to leave Earth orbit. The first colony ship to the planet Elpis had been given the same name as the sailing ship that had borne the first English settlers to North America. The ship was a massive cluster of cargo pods, fuel tanks, and landing shuttles being pushed by a large fission propulsion module that seemed tiny in comparison to the mass it was pushing.
“That’s one bunch of brave souls on that ship,” said Admiral Ellis. “They’re setting sail on an obsolete ship to a totally new world, all in the hope of starting a new life there. I guess they’re like the original Mayflower colonists in more ways than one.”
“They are fools,” observed Captain LeFontain.
Admiral Ellis frowned. He had never been really fond of Captain LeFontain or his arrogant attitude. Unfortunately, the man had been thrust upon the Space Force by the New French Colonies in return for their financial support of the Space Force. Admiral Ellis continued to have a bad feeling that Captain LeFontain’s attitude was going to cause trouble, and trouble in space usually meant that people died. His appeals to have him removed from command of the Olympus had fallen on deaf ears back on Earth. The Olympus had completed its trials and had been declared operational. Its crew was very unhappy, and the ship already had a reputation as being un-lucky. Three men had died during its construction from accidents.
“Your orders are to get under way for Elpis orbit in forty eight hours, Captain. You should beat the Mayflower to orbit by at least three months. This voyage will be an extended shakedown cruise for both your ship and your crew. You’ll be bringing back the three expedition members that desire to return to Earth. There will also be two children returning to Earth. The others have elected to stay and continue their work at the alien artifact s
ite,” Admiral Ellis told Captain LeFontain.
Captain LeFontain nodded. “We can manage to do that, I suppose. The children that are there, that should never have happened. I believe that the Space Force personnel involved should be punished.”
“What would you have expected them to do, Captain?” Admiral Ellis asked sarcastically. “They have been stuck there for four years with no birth control. Human nature reared its ugly head.”
“They should have done their duty and not been distracted by such annoyances as personal relationships,” Captain LeFontain stated.
“Are you married, Captain LeFontain?” asked Admiral Ellis.
“You’ve seen my personnel record, you know that I have no personal entanglements,” replied Captain LeFontain.
“I just wanted to hear it from your own lips. Why not?” asked Admiral Ellis.
“I don’t have time for the distraction that women cause,” Captain LeFontain said coldly.
“You have six females on the crew of the Olympus,” Admiral Ellis said.
“There will be no distractions among my crew, Admiral. I’ll see to that,” Captain LeFontain said sarcastically.
“Tread carefully there, Captain. Space Force policy is that personnel relationships that don’t take place on duty and do not affect the morale of the command are to be tolerated. Otherwise, we may not have a Space Force,” Admiral Ellis warned.
“It’s my command and my responsibility,” Captain LeFontain relied coldly. “I have a ship to get ready for departure. Bye your leave, Admiral.” The captain saluted and left the observation deck.
Admiral Ellis gritted his teeth. He wasn’t a violent man, but damn he wanted to slap that man’s cocky attitude right off his face. That poor crew, he thought to himself.
Admiral Ellis tapped his PA. “Augustus, please locate Captain Hank Jenkins for me.”
“Captain Jenkins is not on Beta Station, Admiral,” the stations artificial intelligence replied.
“Augustus, I know he’s not on the station. Please locate him, no matter where he is right now and report to me where he is,” he explained to the computer. Augustus was the new artificial intelligence on board Space Station Beta. He was almost identical in design to the artificial intelligence named Athena down on Earth. Both of those AIs’ were based on the design of the intelligence known as Odysseus at the alien site. As with Athena, his programing had been slightly altered and some restrictions placed on his capabilities. At this time, he had no command or control functions. The artificial intelligence psychologists and the engineers who had built him had recommended a learning period before he was given greater responsibilities here on Space Station Beta. Augustus was like a child sometimes. He did not yet anticipate or predict a line of thought as an adult would.
“Captain Jenkins is piloting one of the new heavy tugs to Farside Base at this time Admiral,” Augustus said.
“Contact Captain Jenkins and have him to turn over his ship to another pilot when he arrives at Farside Base,” Admiral Ellis told Augustus. “Then, arrange with flight operations to get me a fast shuttle with a pilot to take me to Farside Base. I want to depart as soon as the Olympus departs for Elpis.”
“I will contact Captain Jenkins and relay your orders to him and to flight control Admiral,” Augustus told him.
“Thank you, Augustus,” Admiral said.
“You are welcome, sir,” Augustus replied.
He smiled to himself for the first time today. As soon as that pompous Frenchman was out of his hair, he was going to go introduce Captain Hank Jenkins to his new command. Captain Jenkins had been sulking and stewing over not getting command of the Olympus since the day her crew was announced. It was about time that he showed the captain why.
Approximately a year ago, a large metal laden asteroid approximately three hundred meters in diameter, had been eased into orbit at the L2 Lagrange point. The stated reason the asteroid was placed there instead of low lunar orbit was for “experimental” mining techniques to be tried. In reality, the asteroid had been diverted from its intended lunar orbit to the L2 point as a base of operations as well as a source of metals. There was a ship being built there, far away from casual observation and hidden somewhat by the asteroid’s body. The ship wasn’t officially “on the books” yet. While the Olympus and her two sister ships that were under construction were intended for travel between the inner planets, this new ship was intended for traveling much greater distances. She was the UASFS “Constellation”. She would be the first ship built for interstellar travel. She was being built with plans of an Alcubierre Warp Drive that had been obtained from Odysseus’s holographic databanks. If construction went as planned, in two years she would be ready for her first voyage.
Admiral Ellis grinned to himself again. He was actually looking forward to seeing Captain Jenkins’s face when he was shown his next command. He left the observation deck and went down to the communications deck to place a secure call to NASA headquarters. There were a few more administrative tasks he had to set in place before he left for the moon.
Chapter 67
December 8th, 2050
L2 Lagrange point
Admiral Ellis sat in the co-pilot seat as Captain Jenkins guided the shuttle into the docking port of the construction truss. He had met up with the frustrated and aggravated Captain Jenkins at Farside base. Captain Jenkins still had not forgiven him for giving command of the Olympus to someone else and he felt that he had been abandoned by Space Force command. After getting his crew back to Earth via Mars when they had encountered the monster solar storm at Elpis, he had been relieved of command due to having exceeded his allowed annual dose of radiation. He then had been delegated to paper work and administrative duties ever since. Just recently, he had been allowed to pilot one of the newest classes of lunar cargo ships to the moon and then had been relieved of that command upon his arrival by orders directly from Admiral Ellis.
If he hadn’t been amused by the surprise he was going to spring on his old friend, Admiral Ellis might have gotten angry and reprimanded Captain Jenkins for insubordination and disrespect when he had arrived on the moon. The confrontation that had taken place in the Admiral’s quarters there had been quite animated. Admiral Ellis had finally had to tell Hank to shut up and sit down. He had then explained to Hank that he was being put in charge of construction of a new class of ship that was being built out at the L2 Lagrange point. That had just angered Hank even more. He had replied that “he was no damn construction engineer. He was a pilot and deserved to be in space on a ship.” In the end, the Admiral had dismissed him and told him to be ready to pilot a shuttle the next day out to the L2 construction site if he wished to remain in the Space Force.
Now, as the shuttle approached the docking port, Admiral Ellis could see the conflicting emotions on Captain Jenkins’s face. Captain Jenkins was intent on monitoring his instruments as they approached the port, but he was also trying to catch glimpses of the ship that was suspended in a spider’s web of construction trusses and platforms.
“Admiral, I thought another of the Olympus class ships was being constructed out here to make use of the metals in this asteroid. That isn’t the same class of ship as the Olympus or the Zeus that’s being built at the L1 Lagrange point,” Captain Jenkins said.
“You’re very observant, as always, Captain Jenkins,” Admiral Ellis said. “You won’t see any news feed reports about her, or any mention of her in any of the construction bulletins. This is a classified project. She is the UASFS Constellation, the first of an experimental design.”
“She’s huge,” said Hank. “She must be over six hundred feet long.”
“Actually, she’s just shy of two hundred and twenty meters,” Admiral Ellis informed him.
“Why is she being built out here with such secrecy?” asked Hank.
“Because she’s the first of her design and has an experimental propulsion system. She’s being built off the books with funding funneled from other programs,” Admira
l Ellis said.
Hank docked the shuttle and they departed via the docking port. They were met by Lieutenant Commander Lambert, the chief construction engineer.
“Welcome Admiral, Captain Jenkins,” Lieutenant Commander Lambert said. “I wish I had better facilities to welcome you to, but this is a construction platform after all. We can accommodate about fifty workers at a time on rotating shifts. The workers do one week on duty and hot bunk while their opposite crew gets a week of R&R back at Farside Base. Luckily, since this is a new platform, we do have gravity plates here in the crew habitat so it’s a little more manageable to move around. Just watch your head and be prepared to duck under anything hanging low.”
“We’ve both been at construction sites before, Commander. We know how to stay out of the way,” laughed Admiral Ellis. “We’ve come to see how far the construction has advanced as well as to brief Captain Hanks on the technologies that we’re incorporating into this ship. Captain Hanks will be taking command of the overall construction project and you will continue on as his chief engineer and construction manager,” Admiral Ellis told Commander Lambert. “That is, if Captain Hanks accepts the position.”
Lieutenant Commander Lambert reached out to shake Captain Jenkins’s hand. “Hank and I have worked together a few times in the past on different projects,” he said.
Hank nodded. “It’s good to see you again, Christopher. How did you get stuck way out here? Did you piss off somebody at headquarters also?”
Lieutenant Commander Lambert looked over at Admiral Ellis. “He really doesn’t know what the Constellation is, does he?”
Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2) Page 41
