by James Palmer
Mark stood and silently returned to the elevator, descending to the engineering bay. The magnetic elevators were a marvel. Not only did they move up and down, but side to side as well. Now after dropping to the fifth level out of the ten on the ship, the magnetic elevator, or ‘maglovator’, whisked him toward the tail of the ship, stopping in the ships center, where the doors slid open.
Dan Sledge raised his head at Marks arrival and nodded, smiling.
“Any luck, Danny?”
“I’m on the right track boss-man. Magno-disc balance system was a few ticks off. It’s gonna take me a while to get ‘em re-aligned.”
“How long?” Mark asked stoically.
“Mebbe six hours or so.”
“Get it finished in two, Dan. I need to get us into space ASAP.”
“Why? What’s up? Are we in trouble?”
“Maybe. I don’t like the way General Abruzzi was carrying on out there. I don’t trust him. I have a bad feeling he’s going to try some legal wrangling to take the ship away from me.”
“I’ll be done here as fast as possible.”
“I’m counting on it Dan. If you need an extra set of hands down here, let me know. I designed most of this system anyway.”
“Naaah, you go back up top boss. You’ve got enough on yer mind. Let me an’ the boys down here handle this.”
Johnson nodded stoically, “All right Danny, I won’t stand around hovering over your shoulder. If you need me, call.”
Before leaving Mark walked around the engineering bay and stopped at a schematic of the ship on a display. Its smooth rounded lines from the side did not show the entire shape of the ship, only a side view. The dimensions were written next to the ships image on the screen before him. They were one thousand feet long, two hundred and fifty feet high (body height, not from the ground, add another fifty feet for take-off and landing apparatus that retracted and hid in the belly of the ship once it was underway.), and six hundred feet wide. Mark tapped the screen and a view from above the ship now filled the screen. This view showed an almost exact depiction of a Manta Ray with a few additions. Instead of just the center tail of the real fish, there were two additional tail-like trailing edges at each side of the rear of the ship, for a total of three tail-like protuberances. Ten decks made up the ship, with fifty foot armored sections top and bottom before you even reached a deck. It was a juggernaut for its size. All it had to do was get off the ground.
“Danny, really, what can I do to help?”
Sledge stood up and looked at his boss and friend, then smiled slightly, “Mark, go back upstairs. Seriously, I got this.”
Mark nodded and walked off towards the deck hallway. The doors hissed open as he approached and sighed close behind him. He walked down the empty hallway and smiled as he ran his fingers across the spotless, gleaming white wall.
Entering the Maglovator, Johnson punched a few buttons and exited back upon the command deck a moment later. He looked about him one more time, then spoke “Hey everyone, listen up. Take an hour. Go to your quarters aboard ship. Take a shower and put on your uniforms, relax a little bit, but be ready to go at a moment’s notice. I have a feeling we may be heading into space very soon, possibly within the hour. So don’t fall asleep on me. I need you all. Just make sure you put the new uniforms on. I want everyone wearing them when we take off. Thanks. Now go on. Get out of here.” He concluded.
The rest of the command deck personal, the non-essential staff all headed to the dual maglovators talking amongst themselves.
The command deck was almost empty now as Mark sat back in his chair and looked out the view screen.
“Are you okay?”
Mark turned around and saw Ariel standing behind him, arms crossed, leaning against the wall by the maglovator. She walked towards him and sat in his lap. “Are you okay?” She repeated.
“So far. Abruzzi is going to try to take the ‘Cag’, I can feel it. We have to get her out of here as soon as possible. I will not lose control of this ship and the design work that went into her.”
“Mark, what’s the difference if they buy her from you or not?”
“Ari, this is my ship. I didn’t design this one for NASA or the government or anyone else. I built her with my money exclusively. There was no contract signed for anything on this ship. Yes, I guaranteed the new faster than light magno-disc propulsion system for sale to them, but that’s only going to happen after we run our own test flights. Also, like I said, this is my ship. It’s not under anyone else’s rules or jurisdictions. I run this baby. Everyone on this ship is on my payroll and they are the most trusted of employees.”
Ariel shook her head “Sometimes I really do think that you are nuts.” She replied as she got up out of his lap and walked behind her chair.
He walked over to her and grabbed her arms lightly while staring her in the eyes. “Look Ari, you have to trust me on this one. There’s more going on here then I can talk about right here and now. You’re going to have to let me run with this. I’ll fill you in as soon as I’m able to. When it’s safe for you and everyone aboard this tub.”
She smiled whimsically at him, “A minute ago this was your baby, now it’s a tub?”
He leaned forward and kissed her, then pulled back. “YOU’RE my baby. This IS just a tub compared to you. But it’s a tub I’m passionate about. This ship is going to be special.”
Ariel smiled at him, “It already is, with you in control of things.”
Mark laughed“You are one cool chick.”
“Make sure you remember that, rocket scientist.” She smiled over her shoulder, and walked away.
“Ariel,” he called after her, “Go put your uniform on, will you please?”
“Wanna help me big boy?” She winked at him playfully.
“Any other time you couldn’t keep me away, but for right now I’ll have to take a rain check.”
Ariel pouted a moment, then left the command deck and headed to her own quarters.
A moment later Johnson left the now empty command deck and headed to his quarters. He exited forty-five minutes later wearing his own uniform. It was a one piece semi-shiny light-blue and silver suit. It was temperature controlled by an interwoven technology within the fabric, as well as being decidedly sturdy. It would resist most bullets as well as lasers and pulsed weaponry to a certain point. It still wouldn’t feel good being hit by any of those, though. But the wearer wouldn’t be killed, at least not the majority of the time.
Mark Johnson exited the maglovator and re-entered the command deck. He looked around the command deck and saw everyone was wearing their uniforms. The place was alive. Sounds were emanating from just about everywhere as decks were checking in with Ariel.
Mark sat down in his command chair and looked around smiling. On the right side of his chair, a yellow light was blinking. He tapped it and immediately Dan Sledge’s voice filled the area around him. “I found it boss-man. We should be good to go.”
“Good work Danny, now get your butt back up here, I’m going to begin launch procedures.”
Mark noticed every head turn to look at him when he finished talking to Sledge.
“Patch me through to the rest of the ship, Ariel.”
She nodded and clicked a virtual button.
“This is Mark Johnson.” His voice reverberated throughout the ship, “We are about to go into space, but I have to warn you all, this is going to be more than a test flight. There’s a good chance we will be gone for several weeks. If any of you want to stay on Earth due to family or any other reasons, I understand. I’m just going to ask you to exit the ship as soon as possible. We’re getting ready to lift off and I do not foresee us being on the ground for more than another twenty minutes. Once the doors shut, they are shut and you will be with us for the long haul.”
Some throughout the ship looked nervous, some excited, but they all knew what was about to happen. History was about to be made.
Chapter 2
“Engines sta
rting.” The burly engineer proclaimed from his seat on the command deck.
This time there was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no more filling loosening vibrations as the crew had first experienced, no loud noises that froze the hearts of weaker men. Just a very low and slight hum that soon disappeared completely.
Johnson smiled, “Sounds good, Dan.”
“Want me to take her up?” The big engineer replied.
“Not this time Danny. I’ve got it.” Mark tapped a button on the arm display of his chair and instantly a holographic pilot’s display and controls appeared before him. He touched a few of the holographic controls and with small puffs of sand; the ship gently rose majestically from the desert floor.
Slowly at first, then faster as its speed doubled, tripled and then quadrupled within a few scant seconds, the ship rose out of the Arizona desert and pointed its majestic body skyward.
“Ten seconds till we break atmosphere” Sledge reported with a big grin on his face.
A light beeped on Ariel’s display, she turned towards Johnson. “That’s The General. He wants to know where we’re going and why wasn’t he informed the ship was space worthy?”
“Tell him we’ll talk after our rundown flight.”
She paused a moment, then, “He disconnected me. I don’t remember him being this hard headed.”
“Ignore him; we’re in space right… about… NOW!” Johnson finished with a smile as the big manta ray shaped ship broke the final vestiges of atmosphere and left Earth’s last remnants behind.
“Mr. Sledge, the controls are yours.” A beaming Mark Johnson proclaimed.
“Thank you sir.” Dan Sledge replied with a smile of his own, as his controls took over when Mark’s shut down.
A heartbeat later a beeping sound and a corresponding blinking light appeared on Sledge’s display.
“Hey Boss-man, we got company.” Mark was out of his seat and standing next to Dan instantly.
“What is it?”
Sledge waited an instant as the verification software compared long range scans, then furrowed his brow as he replied, “Uh Mark, that’s a ‘Goliath’ class star cruiser. I just received verification; it’s the ‘War-Hammer’.” Sledge swiveled in his chair to face Mark.
“Would Abruzzi send a war ship after us?” Ariel asked in surprise.
“It looks he already did.” Mark replied, as he sat back in his seat. “Eddie just in case, have the solar cannons online. I don’t want to fire on a US Navy space ship, but I’m going to take this ship out of here whether General Abruzzi likes it or not.”
“You do realize if we disobey a direct order from that ship we will automatically be performing an act of treason, right?” Eddie asked.
“Well, under normal circumstances, yes Eddie. But these are not normal circumstances. You’re all going to have to trust me on this.”
As he finished speaking the ship suddenly shuddered for an instant, as a flash of light played across the view screen.
“They just fired on us.” Red shouted from his security console.
“Yeah, we got that.” Eddie replied over the alert klaxons that were now going off.
“Red, kill that thing.” Johnson ordered, and the klaxon went silent.
“The War-Hammer is hailing us.” Ariel stated flatly.
“Let’s see what they have to say.”
Ariel nodded as the view screen turned to an image of the gray haired Captain of the War-Hammer, “This is Captain O’Neal of the USS War-Hammer. You are ordered to return from whence you launched and await General Abruzzi from there. Am I understood?”
Mark leaned forward in his seat and replied, “I’m sorry Captain O’Neal, but this is a private ship and is free to do as I deem necessary. We are under no military jurisdiction whatsoever. Give the General my regards, and you, yourself, have a nice day.” As he finished he slashed across his throat with his first two fingers on his left hand while looking at Ariel. She immediately killed the connection.
“Danny get us away from that ship, then power up the magno-discs to one hundred percent and get us out of here.”
“Already on it, boss-man.” Sledge replied.
“Incoming!” Shouted Red.
A shockingly bright blast enveloped the ship’s command deck for an instant and then passed as the Cagliostro shuddered from within.
“How’s integrity?” Johnson asked Sledge.
“Hull integrity is perfect. That hull armor you insisted on is holding up fine as of now.”
“Now you know why I insisted on fifty feet of it both top and bottom of the ship.”
“Yeah I do.” Sledge shook his head in the affirmative.
“Good, now get the magnetic defense shielding up.”
Sledge turned back to his console and pressed a button, immediately a blue glow wrapped around the ship, deflecting enemy fire easily.
“NOW we’re protected.” Red added.
“Yes, we are. Pilot, it’s time to earn your pay. Get us out of here.” Mark commanded.
Dan Sledge smiled, “With pleasure, Boss.” He ran his fingers up the clear touch screen and the ships engines began to hum strongly.
“We got more trouble.” Red barked, “Another ship incoming on an immediate approach vector. They’re trying to wedge us between them.” He turned when finished.
“What is it?” Mark questioned.
“Rapier class fast attack cruiser.” Red replied.
“Okay let’s rock and roll. Bring us in tight to the ‘War-Hammer’, I want us hugging its skin, then it’s time to go faster than light. Hit it Dan.”
Sledge nodded and brought the engines to full power, as energy blasts were now aimed directly at them and splattering on their shields, rocking the ship as it started to accelerate.
“How are the shields holding?”
“They’re taking a beating from both ships out there. They’re down to seventy-five percent. The way those things are pounding at us, we won’t last much longer.”
“Won’t need any longer.” Sledge grunted as the Cagliostro rocketed along the side of the big War-Hammer. Sliding past it and between the closing Rapier class ship. “Hold onto your stomachs, cause here we go!”
A sudden surge of acceleration pushed everyone back into their seats, and after an instant they were gone!
On the view screen before their stunned eyes the command staff watched in awe as stars and planets were left behind in a ghost-like state. Seemingly nothing more than an afterimage.
“Whoa.” Eddie DiGenovese whispered in awe.
“Whoa is right Eddie. We are now the first humans to officially break the light speed barrier. Welcome to history.”
“No wonder Abruzzi wanted this for the military first.” Ariel commented.
Mark didn’t say anything, keeping his council to himself.
“Okay so when do I turn this baby around?” Sledge asked.
“You don’t. I’m going to punch in some coordinates. That is where we’re going.” Mark replied as he called forth the virtual instrumentation in front of his Captains chair once again, and tapped a few buttons.
Dan turned towards him when he read the coordinates, his face screwed up quizzically. “This is a pretty damned far trip, you know that right?”
“Yes, I do, Dan. Just get us there.”
Dan shook his head to one side, then murmured “Glad I packed some extra socks.”
Mark smiled as Ariel looked at him strangely once before turning back to her console.
“All right Dan, Eddie, Ariel and Red, meet me in the conference room in five. Ari, call the secondary crew to the command deck while we’re there.” Mark stood up and headed towards the maglovator.
“What’s going on here?” Red Robinski asked. “Why are we suddenly flying further into space then man has ever gone which we already have crossed that threshold by the way, and going to some mysterious coordinates that you happened to have in hand the minute we clear Earth’s gravity well?” Red was agita
ted, as he always seemed to be.
Johnson smiled as he leaned back in his chair at the briefing table within the command room. “That’s why I like having you around Red, you keep me honest.”
Robinski looked at him through slit eyes, “What’s that supposed to mean? What are you holding back from us?”
“Look guys, you are right, I have been holding something back from you all. But this is big, really big actually. Like world changing big. I wanted to tell you earlier, heck I tried earlier today and then the general showed up and it had to wait.”
The four of them focused on him seriously at this point. Johnson sighed and then began, “Last week I had a meeting with the President, and it wasn’t the first one.”
“What about?” Dan asked slowly.
“This is deep, my friends. I tried explaining this earlier before the General interrupted us. There’s a traitor within the government, a mole. This is the part you’re not going to believe, it’s an alien. They know that for a fact. There’s an alien race targeting the United States government and its space program.”
“Why?” Red asked, with a furrowed brow.
“Because they do not want us to perfect interstellar flight. Which I don’t have to remind you, we just did.”
“Again, why the interest in us?”
“The President thinks it’s because we are dangerous. As a race we know one thing very well. That’s how to blow things up, and kill the enemy. The President believes that someone is trying to keep us sequestered in our corner of the galaxy so fifty or a hundred years from now we won’t be challenging anyone for galactic supremacy.”
“Why would they think we would do that?” Ariel asked, obviously perplexed.
“The answer’s obvious,” Red replied, “We’re conquerors. As a race we climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest ocean, etc. We explore until we run out of things to find in any given area and then we move on to a new area and start over.”
“That’s right Red. That was pretty much the Presidents assumption as well. He asked me to undertake this journey, to head up this investigation, and to do it surreptitiously. That’s why us and not the military.”
