Aurora Saga 2 Immortality for Life (20 page)

Asnica nodded half-heartedly.

I have an idea!
Kalrea thought and hurried back down the steps. She knelt down in front of Asnica and Doine and said,

‘Will you two do something for me while I’m away? It’s very important.’

Asnica was now very focused on what Kalrea said and replied, ‘What is it?’

‘While I’m away, I need someone who can feed the Glonvis for me. Would you do that for me?’

Both Asnica and Doine nodded quickly.

‘Good,’ Kalrea said. ‘A construction drone will bring you the food each day. Now you will look after them, won’t you?’

‘We will, Kalrea,’ Asnica said, ‘Won’t we, Doine?’

Doine nodded.

‘And make sure the baby Glonvis are eating.’

Kalrea got to her feet.

Vinuar had a smile on his face. ‘Thank you, Kalrea. They’ll be the envy of all the other children now.’

Kalrea entered the Antrolo transport and went straight to its bridge. Supora had been placed inside the seatra, which was just inside the only entrance, and was now in suspended animation ready for the journey back to Onliv. Kalrea acknowledged her bearers, who then left the ship.

The six metre diameter bridge of the Antrolo transport was compact, but functional. It had a bare matt-black wall running all round in a circle, from which a thick lattice frame supported a high domed glass ceiling. Once in flight this dome would become the front window of the transport. Suspended from intersections of the lattice frame, on coiled stalks, were seven spherical terminals, and on the floor directly beneath each of them was a flat padded mat with raised pillow, set into the floor, where a member of the crew would have laid to pilot the ship. The mats made the room look like a small gym ready for a fitness class.

Kalrea readied herself and accessed the control systems of the transport. Five of the spherical terminals descended down to within arm’s length of the padded mats, and then screens within their bases illuminated. Kalrea stood motionless as she connected into each of the terminals.

Aurora cargo bay clear.

Transport engine start. Fuel auxiliaries engage.

Release floor clamps.

Open Aurora cargo bay doors.

Craning her neck, Kalrea peered up through the front window and out the open cargo bay of the
Aurora
at the stars flashing past. The Antrolo transport lifted sedately from the floor and then powered slowly out into space, before tilting in the opposite direction to the
Aurora
.

The
Aurora
quickly disappeared into the distance, while the Antrolo transport accelerated towards Onliv.

Interface check. Nuronic link with Aurora verified.

The Antrolo transport was now on a heading to Onliv. As with any other spaceship, it had an internal gravity generator, the only difference was the unusual direction of travel. People could see where the transport was heading only by looking up to the dome ceiling, which was actually the front window. After a couple of minutes peering up to the window, Kalrea felt the back of her neck, and thought,

Why did I pick a ship with a transverse motion? I’ll have a stiff neck by the time we reach Onliv if I keep looking up like this.

She eventually decided to do what the pilots would have done and laid on one of the mats. While getting her head in a comfortable position against the pillow, she thought,
At least it’s only seventy-three-point-eight minutes until we get to Onliv.

From a monitor within the accommodation space, Zoren and Gulco watched the Antrolo transport as it disappeared into the distance.

Zoren was feeling relieved that Kalrea had left with Supora, to try and save her life, but he was also concerned because he knew that should they be discovered, then Kalrea was never going to give up Supora and would protect her no matter what the cost was to herself or those trying to take her. This meant that even if Supora was saved by the operation, she could still die travelling to or from Onliv.

Gulco watched an excited Asnica and Doine as they rushed away to tell the other children that they were going to look after the Glonvis.

‘Do you think Supora will make it to Onliv?’ Gulco asked Zoren.

‘I really have no idea,’ Zoren replied. ‘Kalrea, do you know what her chances are?’

Kalrea replied using the console’s speakers.

‘I’ve calculated that Supora has a seventy-two percent chance of survival if she is operated on within the next hour. To give you an idea, that drops to forty-two percent after one hour and a half. Soon after that she will die from loss of blood. From the data I obtained while we were there on Onliv, I’ve identified a medical facility, which is outside of a city called Piun. It’s used to treat space accidents.’

‘What, you mean spaceships have accidents?’ Zoren said. ‘I would have thought they would have had systems to prevent that.’

‘Some ships have very sophisticated anti-collision devices integrated into their navigation systems, but unfortunately for ever one that does there are two or three that don’t. That Antrolo transport I left on doesn’t have any, for example. You can imagine when there’s a collision, then there can be very serious injuries. The hospital is setup for the most severe cases and that’s why I’m heading there. I’ll let you know when we arrive. In the meantime, I believe you were going to do something for me, Zoren.’

‘Oh, yes… Yes I was,’ he replied, and then said to Gulco, ‘Would you like to have a look around the
Aurora
?’

Gulco seemed stunned and looked as though he may have misheard what was said, so Zoren repeated,

‘I take it you would like to see the ship?’

‘Well, yes. I would,’ he replied. ‘I’m just a bit surprised that’s all. You’re serious, aren’t you, Zoren? This isn’t one of your pranks?’

‘No Gulco. Shall we go then?’ Zoren said.

As they left the room, Gulco commented, ‘I thought Kalrea didn’t like me. After all, she must know I hate computer systems.’

‘Oh yes, she knows all right, but she wants you to see the ship. I think you’ll be surprised, I know I was.’

Zoren gave Gulco a tour of the
Aurora
leaving the bridge to last. As they entered it, Zoren asked Gulco,

‘So, are you as impressed as I was?’

‘It’s incredible and I’m totally amazed that Kalrea can control everything on her own,’ Gulco replied, while he strolled around the room. ‘And this is definitely not how I imaged the bridge would be. There really is very little in here.’

‘Yes, it is a bit minimal. There are only two consoles over there,’ he said pointing to them.

‘What’s this in the middle of the room?’ Gulco asked, placing his hand on the seatra.

‘It’s a-’

‘It’s a seatra,’ Kalrea said interrupting. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk over you.’

‘No, it’s fine,’ Zoren said.

‘It’s a seatra where Zoren can sleep if he wishes,’ Kalrea replied lying. ‘It’s on the bridge, so he doesn’t have to go back to the accommodation area. So what do you think of my ship?’ she asked proudly.

‘I’m very impressed,’ Gulco said. ‘Now, please don’t take this the wrong way, Kalrea, but where is your computer, your mind? I haven’t seen anything that I would recognise as a central computer.’

‘It’s directly above you,’ Kalrea replied. ‘Zoren, if you look at the map I gave you, you’ll see a section of ship above the bridge.’

Zoren removed the notepad from his pocket and activated it.

‘Is that a holographic image?’ Gulco asked in amazement.

Zoren showed it to him. ‘If you want one, you’re going to have to ask Kalrea, I’m keeping that!’ he said assertively.

Kalrea laughed. ‘That’s not very polite, now is it, Zoren? Gulco, would you like one?’

‘Well, I’m not going to say no.’

A compartment door in the wall next to the consoles slid open.

‘Zoren, would you help me please and take a notepad from that open compartment in the wall?’

Zoren noticed a large number of notepads inside. He retrieved one and handed it to Gulco.

‘This is amazing,’ Gulco said, as he viewed the transparent three-dimensional image of the
Aurora
above its surface.

‘The area above the bridge is where my Xint nuronic computer is located,’ Kalrea said.

‘That’s a big area, Kalrea,’ Zoren remarked. ‘I can see why you cannot leave the ship. Your mind must be so colossal that your drone can barely hold any of your intellect.’

‘Who made you? I mean… where are you from?’ Gulco asked.

‘I was created by a race called Qinants, who live on a planet known as Qintaino. It’s in a very distant galaxy. Do you want to see images of my planet?’

Both Gulco and Zoren answered together, ‘Yes, please!’

One of the monitors illuminated.

‘This is one of our largest cities,’ Kalrea said.

The monitor showed a city surrounded by clear blue water. Various sized pyramid-shaped buildings dominated the suburbs and small crafts, like the shuttle Zoren had flown, filled the sky.

‘I don’t see any mono-pods,’ Zoren remarked.

‘No, our transport system in mainly underground. We use shuttles above ground like the one you flew to Onliv.’

Then the monitor zoomed in to show some people walking in the streets. Their clothes were very tight-fitting and colourful, with bright and bold reds, oranges and yellows.

‘That hair you have on your drone is nothing like what I see here,’ Zoren said. ‘That woman’s hair,’ he said pointing, ‘appears to go right down to her knees. And what’s all that coloured stuff in her hair?’

‘Oh, I like to keep mine simpler than what you seen here. That coloured stuff you are referring to is a material interwoven into the hair.’

‘Is it?’ Zoren replied.

Towards the centre of the city were brightly coloured buildings that towered up into the edge of space.

‘Look at the height of those buildings?’ Gulco said in astonishment.

Incredible,
Zoren thought.
Even the buildings are like their clothes. Look at the intensity of the colours.

‘That’s unusual,’ Gulco commented. ‘The grass is green and I noticed the water is blue.’

‘That’s not unusual,’ Kalrea said cheerfully. ‘In the galaxy I’m from, most worlds have green grass and blue oceans. It just happens that here your grass and trees are blue, and your oceans are yellow. It’s all down to how the worlds evolved bases upon the elements in the ground and the gases in the air.

‘The star-light seems very bright on your planet,’ Zoren said.

‘That’s because Qintaino has two stars,’ Kalrea replied. ‘Basically, that means there’s no night-time.’

‘Just like that damn space station!’ Gulco remarked.

‘You mean simulator,’ Zoren said.

‘Erm… Yes. I found it very difficult to believe you at first, when you told us we were in a simulator,’ Gulco said, ‘and that we were not even in orbit around Linud. What really happed, Kalrea? Was there a holocaust? Did we contaminate the planet with radiation, causing the almost extinction of our race?’

‘I’m sorry, none of that is true,’ Kalrea replied. ‘Instead, your planet was invaded by the Xangols. The Agonians were enslaved and used by them so they could become immortal. The Polnozoo fought hard to get the status of your race changed to protect you. They succeeded, but only just in time. There were only six Agonians left, the six you know as the Founders. The Polnozoo council created the simulation of the space station, and put them inside, where they would be safe.’

‘So did the Founders know they were in a simulator?’ Gulco asked.

‘Yes. They had to promise not to tell any of their children about how they really came to be there. Instead, the story of the holocaust and radiation was created, so that you would not be suspicious. The intention was that once the population had grown to two hundred, then the Polnozoo council were to make contact with the Agonians to tell them the truth, before moving them to a safe location far away from this area of space where they could live.’

‘Unbelievable,’ Gulco said, shaking his head. ‘And that damn ship we were building was going to be used to take us where exactly?’

‘Nowhere!’ Kalrea said. ‘It was deliberately designed to be complicated to ensure you would not complete it for at least three hundred years.’

‘That ship cost me my arm!’ he said, sounding annoyed.

‘I know, Gulco,’ Kalrea replied. ‘It must be hard for you to hear all this, I’m sorry.’

‘No, it’s not your fault, it’s the damn Xangols. They’re the ones who forced the Founders to lie to us. And they’re the ones who have destroyed what life we had and have killed three of our people so far.’

‘That may become four, if Kalrea cannot save Supora,’ Zoren added. ‘It’s been nearly an hour now since you left, Kalrea. Has the Antrolo transport arrived at Onliv yet?’

‘It’s now entering the planet’s star system,’ Kalrea replied.

‘Good, I’m glad you’ve arrived safely,’ Gulco said.

‘Yes, so far, no one has taken the slightest interest in the transport and I hope that continues.’