by Jay Toney
Most of the control consoles were without power. The one control station still with power was for life support. The ships life support system had been turned down to minimum to conserve power. There was no way to access the ships logs from here, the computer terminals had been deactivated to prevent power drainage.
Something or someone was still guiding this ship, keeping it on course. I was determined to find out what or who that was. We headed back to the tube car. I pushed the button marked engineering. The car let us off at the stop nearest to our destination. We followed a red stripped corridor to the engineering section. It was closed off by a bulkhead door. It couldn't be opened. A warning light on the door indicated that the other side of the door was in vacuum. If we wanted to get into engineering we would have to find another way.
We headed back to the tube car. There were only two other selections; reception, and steerage.
"What the hell is steerage," I thought out loud. "Steerage is cattle, or more eloquently put the passengers. They were packed in tight, with minimum essential life support. Most passengers were probably were selected from some sort of lottery system. I doubt any but the most desperate would pay to travel in suspended animation. The risks were too high.
Back then it cost much more to travel by hyperspace. Travelers who could afford to travel in first class, frequently traveled in luxury aboard generation ships. They wouldn't see their destination, but it was hoped that their children, or grandchildren might."
I pushed the button marked steerage. If anybody was still alive, this would be where we would find them. The car whisked us away and stopped on deck 7. A guide map showed the layout of the cryogenic pods. Each deck was divided into four sections; A, B, C, and D. Each section contained 75 cryo pods, There were 43 decks in all dedicated to carrying the passengers and crew in suspended animation. That meant that there were 12,900 cryogenic pods on board.
"It takes less food, water, life support, and space to carry people like this. That is how they were able to afford to send so many people, for so few credits."
"It looks like their risk didn't pay off."
"Some did, some didn't. It is no different than any other refugee fleeing a war zone. You either stick around and hope you survive, or you get away by any means you can afford. Most refugees had no savings or income to support them. They lost everything. They were dependent on whatever their governments could provide."
We searched the first and second decks. Every pod was without power, having failed long ago. We stopped at a computer terminal on deck 10. It still had power and was operational. Persephone accessed the computer and searched its files for pods that might still be functional.
"Deck 37, sections A and C still have minimal power for pods. It is possible we may find some still functioning."
"Is it possible that they are still alive after all this time?"
"I do not know. We will have to look and see. It is going to be quite a hike."
I opened the door to the central corridor and began walking towards the rear of the ship. We had 27 decks to go through before reaching deck 37. I had to carry Persephone piggyback for the last 10 decks. She stopped on deck 27, refusing to take another step. She was complaining about her feet and back hurting. I didn't know that a hologram could feel pain. She didn't complain about any pain when her body was torn apart and eaten by Skirax. Nor did she complain when we were used for hard labor in an ore processing facility on Nevis. Something was definitely wrong with her. A computer virus? I hoped she got over it fast.
We inspected the cryo pods. 102 of them still had minimal power. Their instruments showed that the people inside were still alive, in suspended animation. If they weren't rescued soon, they would join their fellow travelers in death.
I used my comm unit to call Jewel. I needed Doc, Miranda, Mike, and 10 cargo shuttles with crew to remove the pods and transport them back to the Persephone. While waiting, Persephone found a comfortable spot on the floor and was resting again.
"What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything to her. She only started acting this way today."
"She is an AI, and if I am to believe you an ancient goddess reborn. She shouldn't be acting like this."
"No, she shouldn't. When we get back, I will have to find her some help."
"Who do you know that can help her?"
"Maybe another god or goddess."
Doc, Miranda, and Mike were first to arrive, more shuttles were landing, their crews on the way. Doc examined the various displays on the cryogenic pods.
"Their power source is failing. We need to remove the pods now if there is going to be any hope of saving them."
Their removal was simple. It only took a simple three button sequence to release the pods. They would remain on internal power until we could get them back to the Persephone, and begin the revival process.
Crewmen rapidly took the waiting pods back to the shuttles and loaded them in preparation for transport. All of the surviving passengers were loaded aboard our shuttles in about an hour. There was nothing else to see aboard this ship. It now served as a mausoleum for the remaining passengers.
Persephone refused to stir when I tried waking her. I picked her up and carried her to our Marauder. We were the last ship to leave the sleeper ship. I watched the shuttle bay door close in my rear view monitor. After it was closed the ship vanished. It didn't make a jump to hyperspace. It simply wasn't there any longer. The area where the ship had been was now filled with stars.
After landing aboard the Persephone, I picked Sleeping Beauty up and carried her. That was Nugget's nickname for Persephone, and it fit her. Doc would let me know the status of the sleepers when he was ready. I had a more urgent need. I had to find help for Persephone.
"You can put me down now. I'm awake."
"Are you sure? I don't mind carrying you."
"If you don't people may get the wrong idea about us"
"I don't care."
"Where are we?"
"Near the main cafeteria."
"Good. I'm starved. Let's get something to eat."
The whole time she stayed with me in the ore processing facility, I didn't see her eat or drink anything. Now she was hungry?" I set her on her feet so she could walk the short distance to the cafeteria. It was open around the clock to serve different shift workers. breakfast was always available, so I led her to the breakfast buffet. We each took a tray. She placed three plates on her tray. Seeing that I only had one on my tray, she added two more to it. I guess she was really hungry. I helped myself to eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast. She put the same on one plate, then put a stack of pancakes on three of the remaining plates.
"I love pancakes. It's been ages since I last had them."
She put strawberries and whipped cream on one stack, blueberry syrup on another, and maple syrup on the last stack. She took a couple of servings of carrot cake and placed them on the last plate.
We took our trays to an empty table and set our trays down. Persephone started eating right away, while I got a pitcher of orange juice, glasses, and a mug of coffee for myself. She had already finished one stack of pancakes and was attacking another before I returned. She hardly noticed as I poured us both some juice. She reached out and took my coffee mug and drained it.
"Yuck! It needs sugar."
I got two more mugs of coffee, making sure I put plenty of sugar in hers. She was nearly finished with the third stack of pancakes. All of those pancakes, and she hadn't even slowed down. She finished her meal, saving the cake for last. She finished her entire meal before I managed to finish mine. Persephone drank her juice, leaned back, sipping her coffee while I finished my breakfast.
&nbs
p; "Where did you put it all?"
"My mother used to tell me that I had a bottomless pit in my stomach. Growing up, when I got hungry, I could eat enough to feed a family of seven. It's a wonder that didn't get fat, like Dionysus."
I couldn't believe she managed to eat all of the food she selected. "Are you going to eat that?" She asked, pointing to my last piece of toast. Without waiting for an answer she ate that too. After finishing with our meal, we headed to our cabin. Amber and Jewel were there waiting for us.
"Persephone, would you take a look at Amber's children, to check their sex. I told her she has the boys, but she doesn't believe me."
Persephone placed her hand on Amber's belly. "I can't my hand won't merge with Amber's body. Something isn't right. I'm going to take a look at my systems and re-run the diagnostics... What am I still doing here? The diagnostics are running, but I shouldn't be in corporeal form."
"I told you, we are somehow bonded to each other. We have to stay within sight of each other."
"That's impossible." She tried disapparating again.
"You need help, maybe from another god or goddess. I'll call upon Astrea. Maybe she could help."
"Not Astrea. My mother. She will know what to do."
Persephone closed her eyes and concentrated. A young blond lady appeared. She could have been Persephone's sister. She was wearing a white dress, with red roses embroidered around her neckline.
"Persephone, my daughter, what ails you?"
"Mother I can't dematerialize, and I find myself needing to sleep and eat a lot. I don't know why?"
"It's simple. You are no longer pure. In fact, you are with child. I can't wait to let your father and Hades know. They are both going to be mad. I love it. It is about time they get a taste of their own medicine."
"Must you tell them?"
"They will find out eventually. Better sooner than later."
"How is it that I was gifted with a child? I have not done anything to conceive one?"
"You must have. I can see that you are no longer pure. Allow me to look within you to see who the father is. Maybe then it will become clear."
"Please mother."
Demeter merged with Persephone. She shared her daughter's memories and looked deep inside of her, at her string. Then she was back with us.
"I have learned who the father is. It is the one you call Nathaniel."
"Nathaniel, how could you?" Amber cried.
"You could have at least come to us and asked!" Jewel yelled. "What are we going to do now? We are carrying your children."
"I didn't... ."
"He and I did not make love to each other."
"Then how did you get pregnant by him."
"Persephone, have you merged yourself with Nathaniel?" "Yes mother, a few times. He would need a string of life within him for me to conceive."
"Did he not have a string placed within him by the fates?" "Yes, he did. I had forgotten. It was part of his restoration process."
"Are you saying that when you merged with Nathaniel to restore his memories, you got pregnant?" Amber asked.
"It would seem so."
"The fates did not need to place his string within him for the cure to work. They only needed to weave it into their tapestry. There is also the matter of your forgetting the placement of his string. They played a part in some scheme. Who's I don't know? Dolos may be up to his trickery again, but why the fates?"
"How long will my problems last?"
"When I conceived you, they lasted a little longer than a week. For each pregnancy it is different. Notice that Jewel is free of morning sickness, and Amber is not. What you are experiencing is our form of morning sickness. It will eventually pass."
"What am I going to do? Father and Hades are going to be very angry. Hades wanted my first to be his."
"I am going to celebrate your pregnancy. Your father will forgive you. Hades will take some convincing, but he will want you back. I never did like him and I still don't. I'm glad your first child wasn't his."
Demeter looked to me. "You must be Nathaniel. Astrea has told me so much about you. Congratulations on being my daughters first." She disappeared.
"Don't even think of sharing our bed with her. We ladies will be using it. There is only room for three. You will just have to sleep on the floor." Jewel said.
"It serves you right for getting her pregnant."
"I'll get a cot. It should only be for a few days."
"No, you can't. What would the crew think? Rumors are going to spread with Persephone sleeping here. Especially when they find out you got her pregnant. Your reputation would be ruined if the crew found out that you were sleeping alone."
I called Nugget from my suites comm. "Set our course for the Magellan System. Enter hyperspace when ready."
"I take it Persephone is okay now?"
"She isn't. She is pregnant, with my child."
"I know. Astrea can't stop laughing about it. She gave me all the details. Demeter is already spreading the good news. You're going to be in so much trouble. You won't be able to avoid Hades forever," he laughed. "It serves you right for messing around with another man's wife."
"I didn't have anything to do with getting her pregnant."
"I'm not the one you have to convince."
I heard both his and Astrea's laughter. If I didn't know better, I'd bet they both had something to do with it.
Temple of Destruction
The Magellan System was the last stop before we reached Antares, and began our search for the Star Bridge. The system housed an ancient temple, dating all the way back to humanities expansion into this galaxy. It was possible that we would find more information in its records. The temple once housed a library of records second only to the library on Aldebaran II.
Persephone was able to research the data contained in the three journals we took from Aldebaran's library. The information matched most of the systems in the astrogation book I purchased from an antique dealer. Most importantly, they gave us a direction to travel in our search for Earth. We could follow the ship's original course to reach the Sol System.
There was very little mentioned after their arrival to this galaxy, and less about the Star Bridge. The journals only mentioned that they crossed a dark void before coming to the Antares System. There was no mention of their course or direction of travel. Only that it was the brightest star they saw.
Unless we found more information, we have to search in random directions. I had no doubt that I would find the Star Bridge. It was just a question of when. I hoped to find something in the temple that would help me narrow the search, and allow us to find the Star Bridge quickly.
"Nugget, set a course to Aldebaran II, enter standard orbit."
"Course set and engaging."
"Amber, begin scanning for the temple location. It will most likely be someplace very difficult to get to."
"Why would they place it there?"
"To ensure that only those who really need its services get to it. Otherwise, it would be filled with curious people with little else to do."
"It will take some time to search the planet's surface. Most of it is obscured by fog or heavy cloud cover." Amber started running her scans of the planet's surface.
"I am picking up a lot of communications traffic from the planet's surface, none of it is directed at us," Jewel reported. "There are no satellite communications at all."
"That's odd. Energy production is mainly hydroelectric, wind turbine, and solar. I can not detect any form of nuclear fusion, fission, or antimatter. I am only reading only o
ne source of geothermal energy, located in a mountainous region," Persephone brought up a topographical map of the planet's surface and marked a location on the map.
Amber focused her scans on the area that Persephone highlighted on the map. "That area conforms with what you are looking for. It is impassible by ground. It is isolated by steep mountainous terrain. I am picking up a large structure there though."
She put the image on the main screen. The building that Amber put up on the viewscreen was old. It looked like an ancient temple, dating back to the ancient Earth, and its early civilization's worship of the gods. But if it was ancient, why did it have geothermal power?
"That has got to be it. Record its coordinates. We will be paying it a visit.
"It's much too late to go there now, I suggest waiting until morning, local time," Persephone suggested. "Besides my feet hurt and I don't feel like walking right now. I'm also getting hungry again."
"Amber, Jewel, will you two be joining me tomorrow morning?"
"I'll come along," Amber replied.
"Not me. My feet hurt too, and I got cramps. If it was a shopping mall, I'd go though."
"How about you Nugget?"
"Not this time. I've got a date with a hot babe tonight. If things go as expected, and they will, I won't be getting out of bed until very late."
"Who would date you?"
"Astrea of course. We get along great. I expect it will be the best date I ever had, and I've dated a lot. How else do you think I ended up with five wives."
"Good luck to the two of you." In truth, I wasn't sure how he managed to marry anyone of his ex-wives. His second wife must have been the smart one, getting away from him.
