The Circle

by Harold R Watson

  From the console, she could work all the systems on board the star cruiser as a complete back up should the control of the ship somehow fall into enemy hands. She could over ride all other controls from her hidden little control room. She then told us to make ourselves at home while she went to the bridge to begin preliminary preparations for departure. She said that she would return in about an hour.

  While she was gone, I decided to explore our quarters to see where everything was located. Apparently the girls had already been on the ship enough times to be familiar with it.

  Come on dad, they beaconed me to follow them. I did and they showed me to a large walk in closet from inside the master bedroom.

  Inside the closet were hanging several military uniforms with all the accessories plus countless other apparel. They showed me their mom s uniforms and also my new Commanders uniforms.

  Mom will want you to put on one of your new uniforms before she takes you to the bridge to introduce to the watch crew. Go ahead and put on this new flight uniform for us so we can see how you look, Doreen said as she took it out of the closet.

  Come back in half an hour, I told them. I need to take a shower before I put it on, I said.

  Okay, well see you in half an hour, Susan said as the left.

  We are going to our quarters to get ready too, Doreen said. It might take us a little more that half an hour but well be back when we finish. With that, they left and I proceeded to the bathroom to take a shower.

  My uniforms were the color of almonds or perhaps beige might be a more proper description. They were not the pure white color of my wife s uniforms. I later learned that the uniforms are colored according to rank. Captains wear white commanders wear beige and lieutenants wear gray. Enlisted personnel wear light blue uniforms. Admirals wear Gold colored uniforms, I was also told.

  We were asked to wear dress uniforms today but later in the cruise, we would change to work uniforms of the day as prescribed by the Captain. Work uniforms are dark blue in the winter and a lighter blue in the summer for all personnel regardless of rank. Work uniforms are mush more comfortable to wear than dress uniforms and they are also much easier to maintain.

  My uniforms all had three gold bands on the left sleeve to designate my rank as a Commander. There were four gold bands on all of my wife s uniforms to designate her rank as Captain. I guess I didn t mind too much that Tess out ranked me because I realized that ever since I had left the Air Force that I had been working for her, so what else was new?

  While on duty, I would, as a trained military officer, have to obey her orders. Once we are back in our quarters as a family unit, I plan to take charge forget we are in the military.

  After cleaning up, I put on my new uniform. I have to admit that I looked pretty spiffy. Before long the girls returned wearing their dress uniforms.

  We admired ourselves in the mirrors and talked of how important we looked. Before long the door opened and in walked Captain Neville.

  My!! Don t you all look sharp, she remarked as she looked us over in our new uniforms. We have about an hour before we have to return to the bridge, she told us.

  Then she suggested the girls return to their quarters until 23:30 hours while she went over some of the ship s procedures with me. They left and went back to their quarters. Once they were out of the room, she stared straight at me and said: Now Commander, as your Captain, I m going to give you your first direct order.

  Now what, I thought to myself. Was she going to go military and pull rank on me?

  Your first order from your Captain is to go back into our bedroom and get out of that uniform and join me in the shower. I want you to scrub by back.

  Aye! Aye! Captain, I said as I saluted her and started toward the bedroom.

  As we showered together, it wasn t long until we both became sexually aroused as we fondled each other. It had been more than three months since we had made love because I had been in the hospital. As we washed each other and kissed, one thing lead to another. Before long we could no longer control our burning desires. We rushed from the shower to the bed and soon we were making mad passionate love like two star crossed lovers doing it for the first time.

  Afterwards while we were laying on the bed before getting dressed, we hugged each other and she raised up and looked me straight in the eye and said: I wish we could just lay here and keep these feelings forever.

  Me too, I agreed.

  We better get up and get dressed. It s almost time for the girls to return, she said as she sat on the edge of the bed. Later, when we all arrived at the bridge, she called a meeting to brief the ship s duty officers. After the briefing, she turned on the ship s inner-com and gave the following instructions: Now hear this. This is your Captain speaking. Those of you in your quarters should at this time turn to channel three on your closed circuit television sets for messages about our take off. Your programs will be interrupted occasionally so we can up date you on what we are doing. We will make live telecasts you can watch as we move into the heavens. End of message.

  She then sent all the assigned officers to return to their assigned duty stations to meet with their crews, to stow all gear, to close all exterior doors, to secure the ship, and to make all preparations for take off.

  She then showed me to my console and instructed me to put on my headset. She then returned to her console and she flipped a leaver that allowed her to talk only to me. She instructed me to bring up a program on my screen that would walk me through things that I should do. There was a bank of squares listed beside areas to be checked off as secure before we would begin to move the ship.

  Each duty station was represented by an officer responsible for securing his or her area. As each area was secured, the officer would place an X in the box along with his or her four digit Identification Code. All computer access by an officer was accompanied with the ID Code which acted the same as a signature verification.

  All box entries must be completed by the section officers before the star cruiser can be moved from its current stationary position.

  As the Executive Officer second only to the Captain, it was my responsibility to determine that all blocks had been filled in properly signifying all was secure prior to take off. When all boxes were properly marked and coded, I was instructed to notify the Captain that the ship was secured.

  Fortunately for me as a newcomer to space travel, the Toren officers on board were well trained in their duties. Everything fell into place as required and I reported to the Captain as instructed.

  The bridge of the ship was laid out in a circular pattern. The Captain s console was slightly higher than the other consoles and was located in the very center of the bridge. Her raised platform could be rotated in a complete circle. The other consoles were labeled so the Captain could identify them quickly. They were on a lower plain. The Captain could turn her platform and direct her attention toward any particular console of her choosing.

  There was a large see through bubbled doom ceiling that was located inside outer walls of the ship. The doom could be raised during flight so those on the bridge could view the heavens. This plastic like doom was normally down during take offs and landings or during combat. There are many exterior cameras that feed into monitors located in the vast communications center next to the bridge that would allow us to see in any direction while moving through space.

  It would be my responsibility during the up coming months to study training tapes and to become familiar with every part of the ship. For now, I knew only what Tess had told me about the BONNIE ONE .

  It was about 23:45 when we began to be pulled along the tracks to an enclosure called the elevator room. In this room of the base, there was also a control room from which the ground crew could man the controls necessary for the ship to go from the underground facility into the another room above called the locks.

 
The big engines with cables and pulleys pulled the platform on which our ship set into the elevator room. Once inside, the platform was raised several thousand feet on the elevator until it reached the locks.

  Once we were inside the locks, the room was sealed and water from Lake Erie above was pumped in until the room was full of water. It was large enough for the star cruiser to take on the characteristics of a submarine.

  The ship began to rise off the platform until it was free to be maneuvered in the water like a submarine. Once it was ready, one wall inside the locks was opened so we could escape it s box like confines and maneuver forward into the lake and eventually to the surface.

  Once on the lake s surface, we waited until the final shut down crew secured the base below and came up to join us in a mini-sub designed for that purpose. We took them aboard and made final preparations for take off.

  We glided along the surface of the water like a speed boat at first until we gained enough momentum to lift out of the water like a sea plane to become airborne. Once we were flying, we used additional rocket power to move upwards through the dying atmosphere until we reached orbit.

  Once we reached orbit, the Captain raised the bubble doom on the bridge so we could see our surroundings without the need for exterior cameras. We planned to make one complete orbit of the earth before heading off toward the outer space rendezvous point. This last glimpse gave us a final chance to see a brightly glowing red haze over much of the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia.

  Mixed in with the haze we could see black smoke in many areas. The haze and smoke were moving across the Pacific Ocean toward the West coasts of North, Central, and South America.

  My wife put the scene on the monitors throughout the ship for everyone on to see before it was time to leave orbit.

  Everyone, pl ease take a final look at planet Earth before we leave orbit. We hope someday to be able to circle back to a rejuvenated earth but in the meantime, we will travel out there to the stars to find a secure temporary homeland.

  We will fly the flag of a half-circle from this day forward as a symbol of our promise to return to earth some day again when it is safe. On that day, we will complete the circle as a sign our journey is complete and that we will never again have to leave the earth because of a holocaust started by a madman.

  Then she gave the command to set the controls for the rendezvous point and then the order to leave. We watched as the earth disappeared from sight. A feeling of great loss now laid heavily, like a great weight, on my chest. I was unable to hold back the tears and wondered if we would ever see Earth again. Even if we did, I wondered what it would be like without all those who had perished because of this horrible tragedy.

  My wife made this announcement as we left Earth in our wake: We pledge that we shall one day return and reclaim Earth as our home against all who would stand in our path regardless of cost or self sacrifice that might be required.

  Later, I had a plaque made in the form of a half circle of her words and hung it in the market place of the ship so that all who might have cause to experience self doubts, would be able to read her message and to reaffirm this unwavering pledge to our future commitment.

  CHAPTER 4-NUMBER FOUR HUNDRED

  Once we were headed in the right direction, my wife turned over the ship to the duty section. It would be another seven days she said before we would reach the end of the ripple barrier so there was really not much to be done until then. She suggested that all those not on watch, return to their quarters and get some sleep so they would be ready for duty when their next watch was scheduled. It had been a long day and night and rest seemed to be a good idea.

  The next day was spent in meetings of one sort or another. The ship had it’s own remote television station which provided hours of entertainment on one channel and hours of training videos on the other channel. Guess which channel the officers were required to watch the most?

  Is was necessary for us to watch the tapes which would teach us the things we needed to know about our benefactors in the Toren Empire, about the Toren space ships, and about what was expected of us as officers in the Toren military.

  Our daily routines also contained hours of physical training as well as schooling. There was a gym with a weight room and with instructors who knew how to get the most out of us. My wife told us that our training would continue for the entire six months it would take us to reach the mother ship and that she expected to have the best trained officers, petty officers, and seamen in the fleet by the time we reached the mother ship.

  The ship contained all the necessities for life. It had a shopping center, a manufacturing center, a recreation center, living quarters for all passengers and crew, and of course a training center where I spent much of my time.

  I might have been in sad physical shape when the ship left Earth but as the weeks and months of rigorous training continued, I began to develop into a lean mean fighting machine.

  But I am getting ahead of myself. We were the three hundred thirty-sixth star cruiser to reach the rendezvous point at the edge of the ripple barrier. The final sixty-four arrived within the next two days after we did.

  The ripple barrier is the point after which a star ship is allowed to proceed at warp speed. It is beyond the point in space where the ripple effects from the ship’s WARP engines will affect the weather patterns on any planets in the vicinity.

  With all four hundred star cruisers gathered together, the plan was for the four hundred Captains to meet on one of the ships to choose an Acting Admiral. The Acting Admiral’s ship would then become the flagship. The flagship would be in charge of the entire fleet and would assign the other ships numbers between two and four hundred. The flagship would be number one and the first to leave the rendezvous point to head for the mother ship.

  I learned that all the star cruisers in the Toren Empire have feminine names and all have “ONE” in their name. The meeting was scheduled to take place on the “CRYSTAL ONE”.

  Only the four hundred Captains could attend the meeting to elect the Acting Admiral. Afterwards, a ball would be scheduled aboard the Acting Admiral’s flagship to celebrate the occasion.

  It would be a huge honor for my wife to be elected Acting Admiral I thought as she shuttled from our ship to the “CRYSTAL ONE.” The Captains were there the next three days before they finally chose the Acting Admiral.

  When my wife returned, she told us that the Captain from a ship called the “AMBER ONE” by the name of Marvin Roberts was the new Acting Admiral. I think she was a little disappointed that she wasn’t chosen but also very relieved. She finished second in the balloting. That meant that the “BONNIE ONE” would also have a distinctive honor. The flagship would be the first ship to leave for the mother ship and ours would be the last ship to leave for the mother ship. The ships would leave in one-hour intervals that meant we would leave seventeen days after the flagship. It seems that it takes the mother ship about forty five minutes to an hour to dock and park a star cruiser in one of it’s bays and to connect the proper lines and utilities.

  The people in the star cruisers will continue to live aboard their star cruisers while on board the mother ship. The ships all take the same course using the same computer generated control disc so by leaving at one-hour intervals, they should arrive at the mother ship in one-hour intervals.

  As the four hundredth ship to be taken aboard the mother ship, we would have the distinction of becoming the last of the contingent from Earth.

  The flagship ball was for Officers and their families with a rank of Commander or higher. Even then, it would be a somewhat crowded affair.

  It was a gala affair and we were required to wear our formal uniforms. The guest of honor of course was Acting Admiral Marvin Roberts. He seemed to be a reasonably nice enough person but also seemed rather cocky and much too confident of his importance, I thought.

&
nbsp; We enjoyed ourselves but were glad to get back to our ship. The flagship left the rendezvous point two days later and our seventeen-day wait began. There wasn t much to do during those seventeen days so my wife and I spent them leisurely going around the ship to meet with all the passengers and their families so we could get to know them like the family of approximately four hundred we were becoming.

  We met families with small children, with teenagers, and families with expectant mothers. Many of the civilians we met had jobs in the mall area. There were bankers, and bakers, barbers, and candle stick makers as the saying goes. There were some who worked in the theater. Others worked in the dry goods store while others were grocers.

  We had our own little community aboard the BONNIE ONE . It was nice to be able to spend time getting to know so many without the urgency of duty for those seventeen days.

  Finally our departure time came and we headed off into the darkness soon reaching warp speeds in route to the mother ship. Once we were underway, the military atmosphere was relaxed and duty was light. We split the crews into four duty sections and pulled six hour shifts instead of the usual eight.

  Actually there wasn t much to do. The ship was on computer controlled automatic pilot and this allowed us to go about our daily routine marking days off the calendar until we arrived at the mother ship. The six months dragged along very slowly at first but looking back, it seems they went pretty fast. As we came nearer to the mother ship s location, the computer gradually began to slow the ship from warp speeds down to impulse speeds and then down to crawl speed.

  At crawl speed, we raised the doomed bridge again. Off in a great distance, we saw a small speck that appeared no larger than a grain of sand. As we gradually edged closer, it started to take shape.