Opposite the airlock was a small room that contained the biggest surprise so far since boarding the craft.
As I entered this room, I was greeted by a long, white surface that bore resemblance to an examination table – and a mummified body that was strapped to it.
The shock of this find wasn’t terribly great and didn’t really last very long, it made sense since I had not met anyone aboard the ship and the length of time it apparently had been in the swamp that whoever had been on the ship originally had died..
As far as injuries were concerned, this individual didn’t appear to have spent his last days feeling very well. There was a line of tubing extending from a compartment on the wall that connected to the mummy like an IV and other instruments attached to mechanical arms that projected out over the corpse. I was surprised that there was no smell of death in the room. While attending college I had worked part time at a museum, where my duties included cleaning the display cases that held mummified bodies. Though the smell of a mummified body is not as bad as that of a rotting body, there is a definite smell of death that lingers even after centuries. These remains seemed to have none of that smell and, for a moment, I questioned whether it was a real body at all. Though the corpse was desiccated, it was not rotted away or decayed in any way and the skin maintained a flesh-like color. On one of his hands there appeared to be a discolored wound, but other than that the body appeared to be unharmed. Clearly, this room was an infirmary and the patient on the table had died before completion of a procedure of some kind. As I continued my self-guided tour, I wondered what had happened to him – and for that matter, what had happened to the rest of the crew.
Between the infirmary and the airlock there was another door leading to what I now guessed was the back of the ship. When I activated the door, it opened into the largest space I had seen so far. I was looking into an enormous cargo hold, but the only thing I saw stored in it was a container big enough to cram in perhaps eight people. The encasement looked like a ceramic-type material and the lid, made of the same material, was fitted with an electronic seal and locking mechanism. The whole assembly was loaded onto the front of a machine which, I gathered from its appearance, was used for moving cargo about the space. The rest of the hold was empty and featureless, with the exception of a large door or hatch on the far wall, obviously meant for loading and unloading cargo, and a smaller door on the opposite wall leading into what I could only guess from its configuration was the engine room. A second doorway at the forward of the engine room (moving back in the direction of the front of the ship) opened into a storage area that contained a small variety of supplies. Again, at the front of that room was another doorway that brought me back into the corridor near the control room where I had first entered the ship.
Having explored what I now was relatively sure was the extent of the craft; I returned to the control room and plopped down in the center chair. It was obvious that, except for the mummified body in the infirmary, I was the only one on board. What had happened to the rest of the crew? Had they died? Abandoned ship? Where did the ship come from? How long had it been lodged the mud in the swamp…and why was it there to begin with? My mind was plagued with such questions, as I pondered whether I was ever going to get back home or how would I accomplish that little challenge. The craft obviously originated from some place other than Earth; and if the display on the screen was correct, the ship was traveling in excess of light speed which, according to the best scientific understanding on Earth was impossible. But then, I thought to myself, many things in the past that were believed impossible turned out to be quite real, once science caught up enough to prove them so.
As I sat facing the giant display of passing starlight, probing my sore ribs and head, I found myself simultaneously surrendering to the unknowns that faced me and to the exhaustion that had overtaken the excitement of the day. “Day,” I thought, “I wonder if that word is ever going to mean the same thing to me again.”
I began to drift into sleep every few minutes, only to be roused by the intervals of broadcasts that I surmised were providing data and status reports. The male voice was also repeating a short phrase that started when I seated myself in this central chair, which I found myself thinking of as the captain’s chair. This new phrase seemed to be expressed as a question. In my exhausted state the repetitive interruptions became agitating; and I eventually blurted out, “Will you please shut up!”
This outburst was met by a momentary silence; followed by, “Mar goomie deluzkie mebulea?”
I had no idea what the hell that meant; and I responded with further exasperation, “Yeah right! Just my luck… I’m gonna die listening to this crap.”
The voice again responded with something a bit longer that again sounded like a question. I replied, “I can’t understand a damned thing you’re saying and I’ll bet you can’t understand me either… so why don’t you just shut up!”
A few more moments of silence followed before a portion of the star-filled screen before me opened up another display, within which a human figure appeared and began speaking! I leapt to my feet with a jolt of excitement at the welcome sight, because I first thought it was a real person on the other end of some kind of communication system. When I tried to initiate a dialogue, however, it became obvious that I was seeing a recorded video message.
I sank back into the chair with disappointment, just more gibberish in some sort of instructional video that directed the proper positioning and activation of what looked like a headband-like apparatus. The video was of short duration, showing an ordinary-looking man who walked to an enclosure in a wall to retrieve the headband, place it on his head in a specific arrangement, and then press a sequence of buttons mounted on the side of the band. The instructor repeated a series of words for about a minute then took the headgear off and placed it back in the enclosure. He then seemed to turn directly toward me, as if speaking to me specifically, and said something, which, again, I didn’t understand.
After a short pause, the recording began to replay from the beginning.
Largely ignoring the recording, I absent-mindedly pressed one of the armchair buttons, which triggered the chair to tilt back gently into a more relaxed position. I allowed myself recline, discovering that there were also small screens on the ceiling above each chair that I had not seen before. The few that weren’t blank displayed more characters that I couldn’t decipher. I pressed the button on the armrest again and the chair returned to its original position.
I kept wondering what all of these displays meant, where the ship was going and what was guiding it. Based on the movement I saw on the screen and the sequential appearance of lines connecting the stars, there was a definite course in mind… but who or what was navigating was unknown, at least to me. When I pressed that amber flashing button, I must have somehow activated an automatic pilot that was responsible for the ship’s launch and my painful introduction to the back wall. No doubt, the voice had first tried warn me to be securely seated.
If my pressing that button had launched the ship into space, would pressing it again take me back? It was a long shot and I knew it, but I decided to try it anyway. Making sure this time that I was I was seated in the captain’s chair, I extended my arm to the button I had pressed before, only now it was glowing a constant blue. I pressed…and I waited.
Nothing happened. The stars kept whizzing by at the same rate as before and the ship seemed to be going in the same direction. Meanwhile, the headgear instructional video in the smaller window had repeating for about the thirtieth time.
I was getting hungry and thought perhaps there was chance that something still edible might be stored in the galley and, for that matter, something to drink. Looking at my watch I realized that it had been seven and a half hours since I had entered the ship, I must have been unconscious for some time after smashing into the wall.
“I suppose it’s better to get up and look for food and water than just sit here and wait to die.” I retu
rned to what I believed to be the galley and began to poke around. While most of the fixtures were unusual, I thought that I might figure out what they were, if I exercised some imagination. A cubic opening was positioned in the wall near a column of buttons, each of which was accompanied by what looked like a description in the alien writing that I guessed might be food selections. Next to that was a similar but smaller opening with fewer buttons and descriptions, which I hoped might be beverage selections. I was at least going to give it a try.
I took a deep breath, stood clear of the opening, and pressed the first selection on the larger of the two fixtures. I heard a whirring sound, followed by a few buzzing sounds, a moment of silence, and then another whirring sound, after which a small steaming container slid out of the side of the opening. I started to pick it up by the sides, but it was too hot. I found the two handle-like extensions at the top of the container to be room temperature, so I carefully moved the container to the table and focused next on what I was now somewhat more certain would be the drink dispenser. With a bit less caution, I pushed the first button. This time I watched what transpired. Almost instantly, a transparent, sealed container appeared that held what I expected to be water. I took it to the table and had a seat, wondering how I was going to get the liquid out, when I noticed a small nub like protrusion on the edge. I shook my head in disbelief; surely I was not expected to drink from a sippy cup? “Oh, what the heck,” I thought, and a placed edge to my mouth, not really expecting anything. To my surprise, water entered my mouth… and good tasting water, at that. I stared at the container a moment, trying to see where the water was exiting, and then took another sip.
The food looked like mixture of something like rice and lentils with some larger pieces of what may have been vegetables or meat. I was fiercely hungry, so I didn’t much care how it tasted; but it certainly smelled good. It was then that I realized I had no eating utensils. I glanced about but saw nothing resembling a spoon or fork. On one wall of the galley area I noted several outlines that resembled cabinet doors, but I had no idea how to open them. Tentatively, I pressed on one and it popped open, not unlike handle-less latches and releases back on Earth. Inside I found a number of strange objects and containers, the functions of which I could not identify. I checked several more cabinets with the same results before thinking logically that eating utensils would likely be next to the food dispensers. Upon closer examination of the dispensing area, I located a much smaller, almost drawer-sized outline. The mechanism slowly opened a sliding panel, revealing several utensil-like items – some that looked like chopsticks, others that looked somewhat like square spoons, and a two-tined spear-like object that might be a fork. The last item was clearly a knife, though the handle was a bit odd.
I had always been a fan of eating with chopsticks, so, without much thought; I selected a pair from the drawer and returned to sample the food. I was surprised at the richness of flavor. I found the dish to be a bit spicy, not that it bothered me a lot, but I have never been that big a fan of spicy food. Aside from that, it wasn’t a bad dish and it seemed to satisfy my need to eat.
Then I realized that I was sooner or later going to need a toilet facility…probably sooner, as I had now been traveling on this ship for several hours. I didn’t recall seeing one on my earlier tour of the ship, so I thought I’d better not wait long to solve that particular problem. I had no idea what to do with the dishes and chopsticks, so I left them on the table.
Oddly, I found the facilities right between the control room and the quarter’s area on the other side of the wall where I stood when I first descended into the ship. I was rather surprised to find both the toilet area and what I assumed to be showers in a common location. One partial wall was a full-length mirror, which I found a bit unnerving. The two motion-activated lavatory basins operated a bit differently from what I expected; unlike the basins on Earth that generally poured water onto the hands from a spout, these sprayed the water up onto the hands from a raised portion in the center of the bowl, and the dirty water ran down the perimeter and into a drain. A few seconds of soapy solution was automatically followed by clean water for rinsing. I wondered how I was supposed to brush my teeth, but that came much later. The toilet was something else altogether and it took me a few minutes to figure it out. It was not the conventional bowl arrangement that I recognized, nor was it the recessed in-the-floor contraption like those used by some societies on Earth. Instead, it was a sort of reclining contrivance that, frankly, I’m at a loss to describe. Fortunately though, I managed to figure it out and the waste disappeared afterward, so I assumed I did it right.
Upon leaving the facilities, I decided to take a closer look at the crew quarters and infirmary. The two cabins that appeared to be for single individuals were more or less the same; both had a single bed that was a bit larger than those in the four-person quarters. I was surprised that these rooms weren’t equipped with private toilets and showers; but apparently, everyone was expected to use the one facility. I assumed these individual cabins were meant for officers. Similar to that in the galley, the walls of all the quarters contained cabinetry that opened to reveal shelves, this time containing clothing items in one area, blankets and bedding in another, and what I imagined to be personal items in another. I also noted that all of the quarters were equipped with a viewing screen, all repeating the same headgear instructional video again and again. I hoped I was not going to have to listen to this thing until the ship got to wherever it was going – or until I died… whichever came first.
I stepped back into the infirmary and once again examined the mummified body. It looked like a typical human male with maybe a two- to three-day beard growth on the shriveled, dry face. The body was covered in a one-piece jumpsuit or coveralls that appeared to be quite dirty and stained… and not at all like those I had found in the quarters. Even the cut and type of textile was different. Something about this individual caused me to feel that he had not actually been part of the crew; but if he wasn’t, why was he here and where was the real crew?
I again scanned the walls for cabinetry when I recognized a unique compartment door with a keypad panel beside it. I looked at it for a second, then crossed the hall back to quarters where the video was now playing for about the hundredth time. I watched intently as the instructor retrieved the headband from a similar wall compartment. With a sense that I had discovered something important, I returned to open the infirmary compartment and was not surprised to see a headband identical to the one in the video. Could it be that I was expected to place this object on my head? Was the message playing on the screen intended specifically for me? It seemed too much to believe, yet there had to be a purpose for the video. With some degree of apprehension, I retrieved the headband, placed it on my head and pressed the sequence of buttons, as I had seen on the video more times than I cared to count.
Within moments I became lightheaded. The sensation escalated until I felt as though the entire universe was speaking to me at once in different voices and languages. This sensation gave way to what seemed to be some fantastic dreams running in fast play…everything sped along so rapidly that I couldn’t focus or keep up with it all, and at some point I fell asleep.
When I awoke, I found myself reclined in the control room captain’s chair, though I had no memory of leaving the infirmary. My head ached. Traces of voices still rang inside my head. Out of habit, I glanced at my watch and was shocked to find that several hours had passed since I had entered the infirmary As I lifted my head and glanced at the control panel in front of me, I was amazed to discover that I now understood the figures and symbols flashing and scrolling across the small screens. These were status reports – details as to conditions inside and outside of the ship and information about journey – speed, location, and special coordinates. While I was absorbing the data and trying to adjust to this unexpected development, the male voice spoke to me.
“You should be able to understand me now. Please respond affirmatively in Fede
ration Galactic Language.”
For the briefest moment I thought how am I to respond in a language I do not know when it occurred to me that what I had just heard was not in English. Just as quickly, I realized that I did know what to respond; so, in the Federation Galactic Language I replied, “Yes, I understand you.”
The voice continued. “This ship is equipped with a standard Federation educational headband which, upon proper application, has provided you with a thorough understanding of our language so that effective communication can occur henceforward.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am the ship.” the voice responded.
“Are you sentient?”
“No. I am designed to perform extrapolations based on available and observed data, from which I make decisions and execute actions according to programmed command patterns.”
I didn’t have to think long before saying, “I command you to take me back to where you found me!” I said.
“I am unable to comply with your command.”
“Why?” I asked with some angst.
“I am programmed to perform a principal command that supersedes all other commands until completed.”
“What is this principal command?”
“That information is restricted.”
I thought for a moment. “Can you tell me where we’re going?” I pressed.
Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans Page 2
