Lost In Space (Space Rogue Book 5)

by Jay Toney

  "The blasted hatch won't open! Nathaniel gave us a broken shuttle."

  "It's not Nathaniel's fault this time," She said, pointing to the pressure readings. "The air pressure is higher outside, we have to equalize the pressure before we can open the hatch."

  "I knew that." Nugget made an adjustment to the air pressure regulator, and the shuttle's cabin began pressurizing. When the pressure equalized, the hatch opened without any resistance.

  Nugget stood, perched on the top step of the boarding steps, looking at the ground.

  "What are you looking for?"

  "Snakes. I hate snakes as much as Nathaniel hates spiders. This is the perfect terrain for them, lots of leaves and small branches to hide in."

  Astrea gave him a slight push and Nugget stumbled down the steps. "You see, there are no snakes here."

  "Very funny."

  They made there way to the lake's shore. Nugget took a sample of the water and ran it through his analyzer. It was pure and safe to drink. He took a drink, then began filling their water bottles.

  Astrea removed her dress, then entered the clear water. The rocky shore meant no muck to sink into, but she had to watch her step on the rocks below the surface. "Come on in, the water is a little cold, but okay." She waded out into deeper water and began scrubbing the essence of manure she still felt from her body.

  "There might be fish in the water."

  "What is wrong with fish? They are a sign that the water is healthy."

  "I like fish. I especially like them on my dinner plate. I just don't want them bumping into me underwater where I can't see them."

  "The fish won't bump into..."

  Astrea was swallowed whole. The snout of the crocodilian that swallowed her broke the surface just long enough for Nugget to see what ate Astrea. It was the largest crocodile Nugget ever saw.

  "That is why I don't go swimming before making sure the water is safe to swim in."

  Nugget found a safe boulder to sit on and wait for Astrea to regenerate. She is going to be pissed when she is back, but at least she won't smell like..."

  "Don't even think about finishing that thought. It was bad enough being transformed into a dung beetle, but being digested as a snack for some prehistoric creature is too much. Someone is going to pay for that."

  "I know just who to blame, Nathaniel. Somehow he is responsible for it."

  "Not this time. This is something that the God Dolos would do though. The next time I see him, he will learn what it is like to be eaten. I will feed him piece by piece to hungry crocodiles, myself."

  ****

  We had collected samples of enough fruit to keep Doc and the biologists happy for a while. There was plenty of edible fruit, the ground was fertile, and crops could be grown. The two of us turned and headed back to our shuttle.

  Persephone and I caught sight of a flock of birds in the grass ahead of us. They looked like chickens but were much taller, and the color was wrong. They stood a meter high. Their feathers were light brown, and their heads were covered by a crest of bright red feathers. They were attracted to the fresh dung piles and were feeding on the insects they attracted.

  I pulled my blaster from my belt and took careful aim.

  "You're not going to kill the birds are you."

  "We still have to ensure the meat is safe to eat."

  "But, they are defenseless. What is that smell?"

  "You should pay more attention to where you are stepping."

  "Those dirty creatures, kill them all!"

  I took careful aim and fired. The birds ran into the tall grass and hid, all but one anyhow. One dead bird laid on the ground ahead of us, its head gone. I picked up the bird by its feet and carried it to a nearby tree. I pulled a cord from my utility belt and used it to hang the bird by its feet. Then I began plucking the feathers and cleaning the carcass while Persephone gathered wood for a fire and a spit.

  After cleaning the bird, I made a circle of rocks for the campfire. I used my energy sword to cut the branches Persephone gathered to make a makeshift rotisserie for the chicken. I used a forked branch as a spit for the bird and built a small fire to cook the meat.

  The smell of cooking meat made our mouths water.

  "I thought you couldn't cook."

  "I have a hard time following Doc's recipes, but something as simple as roasting meat is easy. It is a part of the survival training that every pilot had to take. Most pilots survived by eating bugs and spiders. Not me, I couldn't stomach them, so I hunted larger game and learned how to clean and cook what I caught.

  Most pilots lost weight during their training, I didn't. In fact, I gained a few pounds. If there weren't observers watching us to make sure that we survived, I would have been kicked out for cheating. Instead, I was given an award for original thinking. We were told that most bugs were edible and we could eat them to survive. They didn't say we had to eat them."

  I removed the bird from the fire and set it on a flat stone. As soon as it was cool enough to touch, I began cutting the meat with my survival knife. Persephone and I both sampled the meat and ate our fill. It was a lot better than anything the vats could produce.

  After finishing our meal, I extinguished the fire, and wrapped the leftover meat in a poncho for Doc. Scavengers were already feasting on the remains of the bird. There was no need to clean it up.

  We boarded the shuttle and took off, heading back to the Persephone.

  ****

  We landed, Doc and Miranda were there to greet us. I gave them the fruit we collected and the leftover meat; the wings, thighs, and drumsticks.

  "That's it? Where is the rest of the bird?"

  "We ate it."

  "You know better than to eat anything without making sure it is safe to eat."

  "It is, and it was delicious."

  "I'll test it myself. At least you left me my favorite parts and enough for two." Doc and Miranda took the wrapped meat and sack of fruit then headed to his lab. Persephone and I headed to our quarters and began filling out our report. Doc would be the one to make the final decision, based on our reports.

  ****

  Every landing party returned with their samples and reports. All reports were favorable except for Nuggets. His report was short:

  "The water was drinkable if you can get past the 40-foot crocodiles and the habitat is favorable for snakes."

  Astrea's, being eaten didn't help. At least she didn't smell like manure any longer. Nugget claimed that the planet would have to be nuked from orbit to make it safe to colonize.

  Doc ignored his report and read the rest. It didn't take much thought for him to agree to colonize the planet. The only arguments came from Nugget, which he ignored. It was up to us to determine a landing site for the colonists.

  It came down to a choice between two landing sites. One on the coastline, and the area that Persephone and I explored. The ocean was full of life that could be harvested for food. Its tide rose and fell four times with the rise and setting of the planet's two moons. The beach gave way to grassland and woods. The woods near the coast had a large assortment of fruit trees that could also be harvested for food.

  The landing site we explored had grasslands that would be perfect for establishing a colony. It had nearby creeks for water and abundant game that could be hunted. We didn't see any carnivores during our visit, but there was plenty of evidence that they were there.

  The landing party didn't see any crocodilians on the oceans shore, but that didn't mean that there weren't any there. Nugget and Astrea didn't see the crocodile that ate her until she was in its belly.

  The creeks were too small to host anything as big as the 40-foot crocodile that Nugget claimed ate Astrea. They were large enough to provide a source of fresh drinking water for a small colony.

  The decision was made. The colony would be established close to the ocean on flat grasslands also close to woods. There were ample fruit and nut trees just like the site we explored, and plentiful game to hunt.

&n
bsp; ****

  Our shuttle craft started ferrying down prefab shelters, farming equipment, and seeds for the new colony. We would be sending down all of the supplies that would be needed to establish a new colony. On the return trips, the shuttles would fill tanks with fresh water for our ships to use as reaction mass.

  Nearly 200 security officers were bitten defending the ship from the Lycans. 184 of those bitten survived, and their wounds healed, even regenerating lost limbs. Their partners, husbands, and wives added 200 more to the list of those being transported to the planet. Most if not all of them were also infected with the Lycan virus. 127 children would be joining their parents on the surface. 511 people altogether would be establishing the new colony. Housing had to be built to house all of them. Work crews were working with the new colonists around the clock, but time was running out. Soon the Lycans would start to change.

  After two weeks, I recalled our crew. The colony was nearly complete. The colonists were more than capable of finishing the construction. We were out of time. The medicine would not hold off the change any longer. It was time to go.

  ****

  Lauren began training new security officers. Even at times of peace order needed to be maintained aboard the ship. The work schedule was adjusted to account for the loss of people and the changes that needed to be made. It meant that most people would need to work a few more hours to ensure needed repairs and cleaning were finished. It wouldn't take a lot more work with the loss of people. It almost balanced out. Initially, the emptied cabins would have to be cleaned. After that, it would be back to routine maintenance and cleaning. The workload in the ship's kitchens would be lessened, giving the cooks and the kitchen cleaning staff some relief.

  "Captain, we have a starship heading towards us at high speed."

  "Jewel sound condition yellow, until we know more about its intentions."

  "Persephone, get our shields up."

  "Nugget break orbit, heading 084°, ahead ¼ power."

  "The ship is changing course to intercept," Persephone reported.

  "They are not answering my comm signals," Jewel said.

  "I am not reading any weapons or shields on my long range sensors," Amber reported.

  "Time to intercept?"

  "One hour."

  "Captain, I've lost helm control, and our drives are shutting down. We are dead in space."

  "It's not just our ship, the entire fleet has been disabled," Amber reported.

  Persephone put the closing starship on our main viewscreen. It was huge even at this distance. It had a saucer shape with no visible means of propulsion. Light from windows made the ship appear to glow from this distance.

  "Captain, I'm receiving a communications request from the approaching ship."

  "Put them on screen."

  "The signal is audio only."

  "Intruders, you have trespassed and ruined our experiment."

  "What experiment, we saw no evidence of any scientific experiment."

  "On the planet below. We introduced several species of animal and flora. We have been monitoring the planet, watching for evolutionary change."

  "How long have you been monitoring?"

  "We started this experiment 200,000,000 years ago and have been studying it since its start. Now it has been contaminated. We must remove the contamination and restart the experiment."

  "There is no need to restart."

  "Explain."

  "Evolution only happens with change. Your creatures reached their maximum level of development long ago. Without change, they stagnate. We have introduced a new species, Lycans. The creatures on your planet will either adapt, evolve, or perish. The Lycans are new to their change and will need time to learn and control the changes introduced into them. They will learn, evolve, and one day reach the stars. We did not ruin your experiment, we introduced the change needed for it to progress. Change will not need millions of years to occur. It will now happen much faster in only thousands of years, maybe even sooner."

  "We shall consider what you have said."

  It was just my luck that we arrived when the aliens were taking a coffee break. Now we know why the planet was never colonized. Colonization was prevented by a group of alien scientists watching a planet full of lab rats, waiting for them to invent the wheel and fire. They were in for a treat. Humans learned and developed fast. The settlers we left on the planet would grow, learn, and develop quickly by their standards.

  The prehistoric creatures on the planet would have to adapt to the presence of the Lycans. They would either evolve or face extinction as the Lycan population grew.

  "We have decided. We will watch this change you have introduced to our experiment. Know this, if this experiment fails, so shall your species."

  "Helm control has been restored, let's get out of here."

  "Set course for Alpha Crucis, enter hyperspace as soon as possible."

  Southern Cross

  We came out of hyperspace in the Alpha Crucis star system. A blue subgiant star showed brightly on our viewscreen. The inner planets were uninhabitable, backed by the suns heat and radiation. The outer planets were left relatively unchanged by the expanding star. That would change when the star grew to a supergiant.

  "Nugget set our course for Beta Chamaeleontis. We will make our next jump as soon as the jump capacitors are charged."

  "Course set. It will be about 45 minutes before we can enter hyperspace."

  "Captain, as long as we are in a quiet system, I would like to try a short in system jump. I've collected enough data from our astrometric sensors to make a simulation model and run the simulations. The simulations show that it is possible.

  According to our files, there have been instances where short jumps were used for in system travel. In the war game system, Sigma Luminae, the drones, and fighters used hyperspace to jump to our location. Our ancestors also used short jumps with their early jump drives to map the hyperspace routes we still use today. I see no reason why we cannot do the same," Persephone said.

  "It may have some tactical advantage. We will try it before moving on and wait for the fleet to catch up to us. Make it a short jump."

  "I'm sending the fleet a course change for our rendezvous point and calculating the jump. We have a sufficient charge for 30 light hour jump."

  "Jump when ready."

  The starfield vanished from our viewscreen for a few seconds. The view of the inner planets orbiting the blue star was gone. It was replaced by a different image. Stars filled our viewscreen screen now. We were in deep space heading away from the star system.

  I split the screen and brought up the rear view. The star was now just a distant point of bright light among the other stars. The planets were no longer visible on our screen.

  "Captain, I'm picking up a large metallic object ahead of us. I'm not picking up any energy emissions." Amber changed the viewscreen to full screen, forward view and magnified the image. We would have to get much closer to make out what it was. From this distance it could be anything. I wished that the rest of the fleet was with us now. It would take a week for them to catch up to us.

  The image grew larger as we got nearer. It was definitely some type of a starship. It was still too far away to identify the class. All we could tell from this distance was that it was huge. The only part of the ship we could see was the stern of the ship with its six massive exhaust nozzles. "Nugget, take us down 2000 meters. I want to get a better view of the ship."

  Nugget slowed the ship down and matched our speed and course with the starship. More of the ship became visible with our descent. It was much longer than Red's battleship, somewhere between two and three times the size of the Persephone. Searchlights from our ship panned across the hull. Most of the ship remained hidden in shadow.

  Nugget searched through our database of ship types, looking for a match. He discarded all of the smaller ships, looking only at the larger ships. The list was short after discarding everything smaller than a battleship.
<
br />   After a few minutes, he announced, "It's a carrier. In the early days of hyperspace travel, the military used carriers to transport smaller ships that they called riders to different systems to patrol their territory or engage in combat. It was a common way for the Alliance to move ships, being cheaper than converting or building hyperspace capable ships."

  The ship didn't belong to the Alliance. A flaming red skull adorned its hull. The Crimson Tide was a small pirate organization, even smaller before the exodus. How did they get hold of a carrier and what happened to its patrol ships? Hopefully, we would find some answers aboard the ship.

  ****

  Amber, Persephone, and I flew Amber's Marauder to the Carrier. We flew alongside the carrier looking for a shuttle bay we could dock in. The Marauders searchlights illuminated the carrier, shining on its weapon's turrets. Red would have a field day with this ship, all of its weapons were still intact and it looked undamaged.

  We flew along the port side of the ship, searching for a way into the ship. The docking cradles for the rider ships were mostly empty, with only a few ships remaining. When we got to the bow of the ship, we could make out the name, "Prometheus," and see a flaming red skull that identified the ship as belonging to the Crimson Tide.

  There was no evidence of damage on the port side. We circled the ship and started searching the starboard side. It told much the same story as the port side. There was no evidence of combat or damage that would make the evacuation of the vessel necessary. The ship could have been left out here for days, years or centuries. There was no way to tell from the exterior of the ship. Any answers would have to come from inside.

  The starboard side of the ship was nearly identical to the port side. Its weapons turrets were still intact, and only a few of its docking cradles had patrol ships attached to it. The ship was left untouched by scavengers, drifting away from the solar system into deep space. Like the port side, there was no shuttle bay that we could see.

  After searching the starboard side, Amber maneuvered her Marauder over the top side, shining its searchlights across the surface of the ship. Large pods were attached to the upper deck. Whether they were cargo pods or external fuel tanks was hard to tell.