Alastair (Ghosts of Ophidian Book 2)

by Scott McElhaney

  Alastair

  Scott McElhaney

  DATASTREAM MSG – BEYOND SYS

  Origination: GC3 Niels H D Bohr

  Destination: Oort Station Lvl 14 Cor 3 Rm 15

  Addressee: Theophilus

  I want you to know that there’s a reason for my abrupt departure. Whatever our mother may say, you must believe me that I had to do what I’d done. You’re my little brother and I couldn’t tell you everything at the time, nor did I feel you should bear any of my burdens at your innocent age. You were much too young to understand and even now, I worry that I may be troubling you with more than you can handle. But alas, you’re a clever kid and I believe in you. I hope this message reaches you at the right time and I hope you’re willing to give me your full attention as I say what I need to say.

  You should know from the start that Mother doesn’t know even half of what’s been going on and I ask that you don’t destroy her precious innocence with what I’m about to tell you. The fantasy world that we call home is something she readily clings to and I think that in her case, this is a good thing. You, Theophilus, must not abide any longer. I want you to come find me when the time is right, but that time won’t be until you learn for yourself what I have found to be true. I want you to come find me if you reach the same conclusions as I.

  Listen up, little brother. The Oort Station has been left behind in whatever it is that has been happening beyond our artificial atmosphere. I’ve lived all my nineteen years in the same place you are sitting now. I’ve never seen Earth, Legacy, or even Ophidian with my own eyes. But believe me when I tell you this – I once lived in a station where the peoples of the known worlds would dock and they’d hang out in the pubs while their ships were being loaded with our precious water. Humans, the Ophidians, and even those glowing Legacians would come together in the pubs or local restaurants just to chat and share a few laughs. I was young at the time, but I’m telling you firsthand, you and I once lived in a different world where the Oort Station was considered one of the coolest places to hang out in the known universe.

  Then, something happened around the time I started training to gather ice. The visitors to our station just suddenly shut their mouths. An Earth ship would dock only to be loaded with water and be sent on its way. The Ophidian ships would do the same. Sure, they’d offload the cargo we required in trade and as usual, that cargo included all the typical “smugglings” that it shouldn’t have. But even when they boarded the station during those necessary moments, they would speak to no one. They most certainly wouldn’t hang out in our pubs or eat at our many restaurants. If you prodded them for social conversation, they would openly shun you and walk on. This is the world you already know, I’m sure. Go ahead and visit the main strip on level twenty-six if you haven’t yet. It’s a ghost town. I’m here to tell you that it wasn’t always this way.

  Something happened, Theophilus, and I know what it was. If you want to know and if you’re willing to help me, I need you to hear my story. I need you to pay attention now to what I have to say. I probably don’t have much time to tell you everything. Let me start at the beginning – long before you or I even existed.

  Most people probably don’t realize this, but our vastly populated Oort Station was initially supposed to be just a small way station operated by no more than three-dozen people. The unlikely billionaire who came up with the idea (and ultimately funded the first two years) had a very basic philosophy behind the necessity of such a station. Water was, and is, quite heavy and as such, quite expensive to launch into space. Earth ships were getting larger and larger, necessitating a need for more and more water.

  When a valuable trade route was projected as a possibility between Ophidian and Earth, the largest obstacle beyond that of increased speed would most definitely be the need for many years’ worth of water on the ships. No matter how fast the ships could go, assuming superluminal speeds would never be achieved, the transit between Ophidian and Earth would never be less than two years relative time.

  Billionaire businessman Hermes Roth was not the first to suggest mining the ice of the Kuiper Belt, but he was definitely the first to take action. Less than a year after the plans were drawn out, he laid out all the necessary finances and had a crew formed.

  That initial shipload of miners, architects, and engineers set out to the Kuiper Belt with Asteroid MH2037 as their target. It was pretty ingenious if you think about it. They already knew there was a six-mile wide iron and carbon rich asteroid amongst the tumbling chunks of ice we knew as the “ice belt.” They wouldn’t mine the asteroid for its minerals so much as they would simply tunnel into it and make use of its natural protection against the hostility of space.

  Their ship, the Endeavor, was cannibalized in the process. Everything had been built inside that ship to be easily removable, giving that initial crew the sinks, toilets, walls, floors, ventilation units, and power systems they could use in the new asteroid station. It only took them six months to have a very livable and self-sustainable home away from our sun. Eight months after that, they had a system in place that allowed them to melt down the ice brought in by the 2MGs, purify the water, and then start filling the reusable water tanks.

  By the way, the reusable water tanks were also one of Roth’s awesome ideas, though he doesn’t typically get credit for it. A lot of people don’t realize that those were his creation. He’d drawn it all out, but it was someone else who developed simple connection system and warming units of the tanks. Nonetheless, he recommended that companies start building ships with vacant spots where the pre-filled water tanks could be loaded at a later moment once the ship reached the Kuiper Belt. The ships were leaving Earth with as many as six vacant spots and heading straight to the Oort Station before heading off to their destinations. This in itself meant that the Oort Station needed more people to work the Two-Man Gathers, or 2MGs, and to also work the purification units. The demand had skyrocketed which as we know, increased the value of water in space to that of gold or platinum.

  The billionaire knew what he was doing from the very start. He saw a way to make billions off the future trade routes in space and he went for it. The engineers and miners started tunneling more rooms out of the asteroid, growing the station even further. By the time of Roth’s death, the station would be larger than the initial 6-mile asteroid that it started from. It already had those ugly lower levels that jutted four stories from the bottom as well as the inner-system observatory protruding from the side. They’d built two of the three greenhouses and hadn’t even conjured up the idea of the live chicken coops yet. The upper levels came later, but suffice to say, it already had a continual population of over 150,000 by his death.

  They don’t really teach this stuff in the schools, but the information is out there. None of it is really mind-blowing information to someone who has spent his entire life aboard a space station, so I’m sure you’re thinking “where’s he going with this?”

  I wanted you to understand that the station wasn’t supposed to be home to over half a million regular residents. The station wasn’t supposed to be a “home” at all! It was supposed to be an outpost where people would serve six to eight month tours before rotating back home for six to eight months. There should have never been pubs, restaurants, marketplaces, and schools. There should have never been farms, arenas, theaters, and arcades. Man wasn’t meant to live years upon years in a closed environment such as the Oort Station, no matter how rich we have gotten from the ice farming.

  Now, this is the moment when you tell me that this is the reason for the constant problem with escapism drugs, especially sheol weed. You told me this last year when we argued about the residents o
f the lower levels. We readily blame them for the drug problem aboard the Oort Station, but I recently discovered that the blame doesn’t belong there. It’s the reason I stowed away on the Bohr. It’s the reason I’m sending you this Datastream.

  You’ve heard enough about sheol weed to stay away from it, I hope. We’ve all heard about the hallucinogenic effects it has on people and some of us have seen it firsthand. Sheol weed is the reason the whole universe has suddenly silenced, Theophilus. It’s the reason people don’t risk talking to residents of the Oort Station anymore. It’s the reason no one talks to us from outside the cold walls of our home anymore.

  They are afraid to speak to us, Theophilus. Or better yet, they are all ordered not to speak to us. Why is that? I know the answer and I’m going to prove it. Our station is home to many biologists, one of whom I took a liking to. Her name is Doctor Lilli Edinburg and she I’ll message you later when I get a chance. Sending before someo p[p;lbj lhjk

  One

  “Take me a little closer. I’m not as confident in my abilities as you appear to be,” Theo said.

  “It’s only fifty-six yards in front of us. If you can’t hook that target, then I think it’s time to go back to Gathering School,” his pilot replied, “Just don’t accidentally wrangle us that stationary one twenty yards to the right. It’s nothing but a frozen chunk of methane.”

  Theo squinted, trying to get a better view of the chunk of ice rotating in front of him. Twenty/twenty. That was the vision required for anyone operating a 2MG. It didn’t matter if you were the pilot or the gatherer; you had to have perfect vision – something Theo was starting to worry about in recent months.

  “Just take me a little closer, Phil,” Theo growled, “The rotation of the ice seems a little faster than the last few we encountered and I don’t feel like getting flung across the ice belt.”

  All gatherers were readily aware of the uncommon incidents where a 2MG had fired its cable-darts into a block of rapidly rotating ice and quickly discovered the true strength behind a rotating body. The superior technology behind a Two-Man Gatherer was still no match for a two-ton chunk of spinning ice. Theo knew that when you fired those cables, your pilot had better be ready with the reverse thrusters while you managed to enact the cable retraction triggers.

  “Fine,” Phil replied, drawing them closer to the spinning white gemstone, “Have you heard from Alastair since the last time he messaged you?”

  Theo rubbed his eyes, then stared out at the ice block in the distance. He was beginning to wonder how long his vision had been failing him. He may have been able to squint his way through the eye tests in the past, but he’d never make it through the routine one he was due for next month.

  “I’ll disregard the way you phrased that question and answer the question I believe you intended to ask. To that question, the answer is ‘no’,” Theo replied, maneuvering the craft’s arms toward the frozen asteroid.

  “What was wrong with my question?” Phil asked, “I asked if you’d heard from Alastair.”

  “No, you said ‘have you heard from him since the last time he messaged you’,” Theo replied, uncapping the cable triggers, “I’m about to fire the cables, so please be ready with the thrusters.”

  “I’m always ready. And yes, my question was simple and to the point,” he replied.

  Theo fired the steel darts from the craft’s mechanical arms, blasting outward and stabbing violently into the block of ice. The cables that were attached to the rear of those darts were drawn tight as he immediately started retracting them. The craft shuddered suddenly as his pilot fought against the asteroid’s momentum with the thrusters. The asteroid’s spin was halted rather quickly as the distance between the two closed.

  “If you wondered if I heard from my brother since the last time he messaged me, then the answer would always be no. Even if he messaged me two minutes ago,” Theo stated, “Do you see the fault in your wording?”

  He heard Phil growl in the seat above him. The seating arrangement in a 2MG was such a way as to permit both the pilot and the gatherer a clear forward visual. While Phil may have been seated behind Theo, the high position of that seat gave more of a feel that the pilot was looming over him from above. They both shared the same Alumi-glass window that served also as the overall hatch when they were docked.

  “I only see a fault in my choice of gatherers,” he replied, “Any other gatherer would have understood what I meant.”

  “I did understand, and that’s why I replied to your intended question,” he said, “I haven’t heard from Alastair in six years. Why do you even ask me anymore?”

  Theo retracted the cables until the enormous chunk encompassed every bit of their view. He then shot the secondary bolts into the asteroid and proceeded to lower the arms in order to open up their field of view. The arms would then hold the chunk of ice beneath the ship as the pilot maneuvered the craft back to the “Melting Pot”.

  “Do you ever wonder?” he asked.

  “Of course I do! Don’t you think my mother asks me every night?” Theo replied, “I let her read his message, you know.”

  “Uh, you let me read the message. Who hasn’t read it?” Phil asked with a chuckle.

  Theo leaned back in his seat, finished with his duty for the time being. The ice field slipped away as they turned and headed toward the Oort Station.

  “Yeah, but no one can give me answers. Not you, and not my mother.” Theo said, “I guess that’s what I’m really searching for.”

  “Your brother is chasing down the sheol weed, man! He’s a zoner who wants the ultimate high, so he’s chasing down the source,” he stated.

  “That’s a lie!” Theo blurted, “You know it as well as I do!”

  “Then give me something, Theo. Give me something beyond what was worded in his last message,” he said, “The Galactic Cruiser Bohr has not docked at any of the known ports in all the galaxy. It’s been six years and the Bohr doesn’t appear to exist.”

  “If the Bohr was headed to Ophidian, we would have only recently received the Tachyon Text,” Theo stated, “It couldn’t have come any earlier than this past September.”

  “Galactic Cruisers are equipped with that weird Jump-Drive technology we got from the Legacians,” Phil said, “When you get into all that crazy ‘quantum flux maggot-hole’ garbage that no one understands, there’s no telling when they could have arrived at Ophidian.”

  “First of all, we have no idea that his ship was headed to Ophidian. And second of all, the term is ‘wormhole,’ not maggot-hole,” Theo said, staring out the window at the station in the distance, “And the way I understand it, those Jump-Drives don’t use wormholes to go from place to place.”

  Phil snickered, “‘The way you understand it.’ Well, how about you finish school and then I’ll let you correct my understanding of interstellar travel. Until then, you’ll forever remain a sixteen-year old gatherer who doesn’t know anything beyond the skill of hunting ice.”

  “At over 20 tons a day, I’d say that your gatherer is the most skilled hunter in all the station,” Theo beamed.

  “We are the best, bro. That, we are,” Phil said.

  Two

  The 2MG settled smoothly on its trio of landing pads in the docking bay. Three other groups were doing some last-minute checks on their 2MGs nearby as they prepared for their shift in the ice fields. The clear hatch of their own craft opened upward, exposing Theo and Phil to the harsh vacuum of the docking bay.

  In an effort to conserve atmosphere, the docking bay remained open to outer space at all times. This saved them from the need to constantly treat the entire bay as an airlock. The useless ventilation ducts in the ceiling above them spoke of a time in the past when space suits weren’t required in dock.

  “Well, if it isn’t the killer and his mutt!” someone hollered in their shared CommUnit from 2MG beside them.

  Phil climbed down from his chair, stepping cautiously around Theo as he released his harness.

&nbs
p; “What’s the tonnage today, Philly?” the same person asked, approaching Phil as he leapt to the floor.

  “Twenty-one point three, Corby,” Phil said, pushing Corbin roughly in the shoulder, “It’s Phil or Mister Phil to you, Corby.”

  Theo finally got the harness off his shoulder after a moment of fumbling with it, then climbed down from the craft. He smiled at Corbin just as a way of greeting before turning to head for the airlock.

  “You’d better watch that boy of yours, Phil,” Corbin said, his voice echoing in the helmets of everyone, “I don’t trust him or his mother. Alastair wasn’t the type of guy to-”

  Phil slapped him on the side of his helmet, instantly igniting Corbin’s retaliation reflexes. Corbin tucked his head down and slammed headfirst into Phil’s abdomen, tackling him to the floor beneath him. The others quickly gathered to pull Corbin off of Phil before someone did some serious damage to a spacesuit or a breather unit. Once Corbin was pulled away, Theo reached down and took Phil by the hand.

  “Alastair is my brother and I’ll thank you to never speak his name again, you worthless ice-monkey,” Theo said, assisting Phil from the ground.

  “Ice monkey? What does that make you?” one of the others asked.

  “Oh, I’m a monkey too, but this isn’t where I intend to spend the rest of my life,” Theo said, gesturing toward the other 2MGs.

  “You keep on hauling in twenty tons a day and… well, let’s just say that they’ll never advance you out of ice fields. Something will always come up,” Corbin said.

  Phil dusted himself off, then patted Theo on the shoulder as he turned toward the airlock.

  “I think we all know where the Ten-tonners will find themselves by this time next year. I wouldn’t pay any heed to tomorrow’s biological waste treatment techs,” Phil said, “Besides, I heard they nearly hauled in a half-ton of frozen ammonia last week.”

  Theo joined Phil in the airlock and waited while the atmosphere hissed quickly into the small room. A green light indicated that the door to the station was unlocked. Theo reached up to his neck and released the two levers that attached his helmet to the neck ring of his space suit. Phil opened the door, then removed his own helmet.