Scrapyard Ship (23 page)

“No, I have selected this one,” Three Horns said, indignation in his voice.

Jack looked over to Jason for him to decide.

“See if you can make this work, Jack,” he said, apologetically.

Jack accessed a small monitor mounted to an area of the bulkhead that divided the habitats from one another. “Well, this habitat contains the Furlongs. This actually might work. Just wait, one will show itself shortly. The two warriors soon became impatient and started to pace back and forth in front of the habitat. Finally, there was movement. A family of large bear-like animals had assembled in the distance, near the side of a stream.

“They look like regular bears,” Jason said, somewhat disappointed.

“They are very similar to bears, mostly like the North American Grizzly,” Jack replied. Traveler stepped up closer to the habitat opening, where his horn penetrated the invisible field separating the habitat from the inside of the corridor. He was thrust backward and landed hard on his backside. Mollie’s presidential tour group down the corridor turned around to see what the commotion was about. Traveler got back to his feet, no worse for wear.

“Can they share the habitat? It won’t be forever,” Jason asked, looking over to Jack.

Three Horns nodded his head affirmatively. “Yes, we hunt the Furlong bear—cook the meat on open fires.” Jack looked over at Jason with an expression that said,
see, this won’t work
.

“If you’re going to stay here, temporarily, you cannot hunt the Furlong bear, It’s an endangered species,” Jason said, although he had no idea if that were true or not. “It’s either here, with your food supplied by Jack, no hunting, or you and your warriors can stay back in the cages. It’s up to you.” Jason started to walk away, indicating it made no difference to him.

Three Horns, seemingly upset he’d said the wrong thing, replied: “Yes, we live alongside the Furlong bear. This will be our home while we join you and fight the Craing together.”

Jason turned and nodded his head. Then he looked at Lieutenant Morgan. “I’m putting this project in your hands. Get the rest of the rhino-warriors situated. Work with Jack here and make sure we can retrieve them when needed.”

“Yes, sir,” Morgan replied.

* * *

Jason awoke as soon as he detected movement in his cabin. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted two amber spheres moving and hovering in the darkness. The lights came on when Jason sat up. Ricket stood at the foot of his bed.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Jason asked, annoyed, and looked to see if anyone else had barged into his quarters in the middle of the night. “What time is it?”

“0400. Sorry to disturb your sleep, Captain. I have made some new discoveries, ones that may help us against the approaching fleet.”

Jason rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Wait for me in my ready room, I’ll be right there.”

Jason took a quick shower, got dressed, and was sipping coffee when he found Ricket waiting for him in the ready room. “Okay, what have you got for me, Ricket?”

“Best if I show you, sir.” Ricket answered, as he headed for the door.

* * *

The flight deck was in stark contrast to the last time Jason saw it: Where it had been quiet as a tomb before, it was a flurry of activity and sound now: The loud noise came from power tools and blasting rock-and-roll music. Jason smiled. He was starting to like these hotshots. Five of The Lilly’s six sleek, dark red one-man fighters were at different stages of dismantlement around the flight deck. All of the newly-arrived Top-Gun pilots were there. One was only partially visible up on a ladder, bent over a fighter’s drive compartment, while another pilot, up in the fighter’s cockpit, impatiently shouted down for a stabilization calibrator.
How does he even know what that is?
Jason wondered. Lieutenant Craig Wilson, the self-appointed leader of the team, was at the far side of the flight deck barking orders to three pilots sitting in their respective cockpits. When Wilson noticed the captain he barked several more orders and walked confidently over to where Jason and Ricket were standing. He then came to attention and saluted.

“As you were, Lieutenant,” Jason said, returning his salute. “I commend your diligence, everyone’s, but what is it that required me to get out of my bunk at 0400?”

“Best if we show you, sir.” Wilson replied with a smile. He turned on his heels and with a twirling index-finger gesture held high in the air, the three fighters on the far side of the flight deck simultaneously disappeared. Momentarily surprised at the disappearance of three of his fighters, Jason quickly realized what happened, and smiled.

Ricket moved to the main flight deck console along the bulkhead, entered something on the pad, and the twenty-foot high flight deck doors began to slide open. Jason and the others congregated at the opened large bay doors. Dawn had given way to morning light; the sun was peaking above a distant ridgeline. Sitting fifty yards out in the desert were the three fighters. Jason nodded his head. “Good! So where are we now with the other three fighters?” he asked, turning toward Wilson and Ricket.

“Two more will be shift-ready within the hour. We still have one fighter that is totally inaccessible,” Wilson responded.

“What do you mean by inaccessible?” Jason asked, looking over to one fighter still pushed back against the bulkhead.

Ricket took off his baseball cap and used it to gesture toward the lone fighter. “It’s not a problem with the fighter, it’s a system’s issue; something with the AI not allowing access.”

“Why would The AI not give you access?” Before Ricket could answer, Jason addressed The Lilly directly: “Lilly, are you monitoring this conversation?”

“Yes, Captain,” The AI responded.

“What’s going on with that last fighter? Why can’t we access it like we did the others?”

“Original Caldurian configuration parameters do not provide adequate level clearance to access the Pacesetter fighter.”

The fighter was not actually the same as the others. It was slightly larger, more maroon than red, and it actually sat two pilots instead of one. Jason looked down to Ricket for his intake, but he was scratching his head again.

“Captain, this is new information for me. Like the AI itself, the ship’s database and my own memory banks were wiped clean many years ago. Until now, I’d never heard any reference to the Caldurians, or anything about the original inhabitants of The Lilly,” Ricket explained, his face showing a mixture of emotions, most of which Jason couldn’t read.

Wilson interjected, “Sir, I’d like permission to start atmospheric, as well as outer orbit flight training maneuvers. HyperLearning can only go so far, we need time at the stick.”

Jason nodded. “Permission granted; ensure you stay within the geographic confines of the outpost for atmospheric flights, coordinate all flights through the XO, and maintain constant coms contact.” Jason brought his attention back to Ricket and the issue at hand.

“Lilly, why are you revealing this information now? What’s changed?”

“Original Caldurian configuration parameters have been updated,” the AI responded, her voice a monotone, but borderline bitchy.

“By whom?” Jason asked, not liking the direction this was going.

“By the Caldurian.”

Jason had to let that sink in for a moment. He could see why Ricket found the AI difficult to work with. Like pulling teeth, getting the full story was tedious.

Irritated, Jason continued, “Lilly, I require complete information. You seem fairly intelligent, work with me here. The old status quo, where you provided only minimum information, is not acceptable. ”

“Yes, Captain, please migrate to AI standard operational mode,” the voice replied flatly.

“What mode are we in now?” Jason asked, confused.

“What you would refer to as Safe Mode. As acting captain, only you have permission status to bring The Lilly AI fully online to Operational Mode.”

Jason looked down to Ricket, “You didn’t know any of this? Why wouldn’t my father have done this years ago?”

“Your father found The Lilly AI most irritating. After a while he wouldn’t even speak with it,” Ricket replied, then shrugged his little shoulders as if his whole understanding of the world was flipped upside down.

“Well, you’re the Science Officer, Ricket, do I upgrade these parameters? Are there any dangers in doing so?” Jason asked, feeling he was in way over his head again. Ricket did not reply. He looked perplexed.

“Lilly, earlier you mentioned the parameters had been changed by the Caldurian. Are they still issuing you commands?”

“Yes, Captain.”

Jason, now thoroughly irritated, wondered where the AI was physically located. He had visions of showing it his boot, or better yet, using it for target practice. The truth was—everything was at a crossroads. With hundreds of Craing ships on their way to Earth, their small efforts so far seemed too minor, too insubstantial, to fight off the imminent approach of the overwhelming Craing forces now only two days travel away. Jason, his crew, and their distinguished guests had read his father’s report. Two thousand United Planetary Alliance warships had been annihilated by a Craing armada. That same fleet was now approaching Earth. If something radical didn’t change, and change soon—Earth’s situation was hopeless. Jason didn’t really see a choice in the matter.

“Lilly, who do you report to, me or the Caldurians?”

“The Caldurians set the original parameters. I report to and follow your orders,” the AI replied.

Jason looked one more time for some indication from Ricket. After a moment, Ricket nodded his head.

“Lilly, please go ahead and migrate to AI standard operational mode. Do it now.”

“Would you like the cyborg you refer to as Ricket to also be migrated to operational mode?”

Jason saw both surprise and worry in Ricket’s eyes. Obviously, he had never considered the fact that he was so closely tied to The Lilly in this way. Jason was fairly sure Ricket was thinking along the same lines as himself. “How will it affect you? I mean—will you still be you?”

Ricket seemed to weigh the implications, “There is no way to determine this beforehand, Captain.”

“Lilly, can that decision be made on its own at another time?” Jason asked.

“Yes, but it is not advisable.”

“Do not update Ricket at this time, but continue with updating the AI to standard operational mode.” Jason first saw relief wash over Ricket’s face, but then he shook his head.

“No, Captain, please continue with my update as well. I would always wonder if I were operating at less than optimum. But thank you, sir,” Ricket said, with resigned expectation.

“Lilly, go ahead and update both.”

“This process will take three minutes. All concurrent system processes will continue as normal and be unaffected. Although verbal access will discontinue temporarily.”

Almost immediately, Ricket became immobile, as if on pause. Wishing to give Ricket his privacy until the systems updated, Jason turned away. Still hearing the music in the background, he spent the time watching the fighters conduct their training exercises. They were flying in formation, skimming mere feet from the desert floor, only to swoop up at near-vertical angles toward the sky and disappear up into Earth’s outer orbit.

Jason thought how wonderful it must be to fly like that. He envied these men and women for having that kind of freedom. Mostly out of curiosity, Jason accessed his own added HyperLearning constructs. Like flipping through virtual file folders at lightning speed, he found the stats under the ship’s piloting section. He not only had the necessary learning to pilot the fighters, he alone had the learning and clearance for the Pacesetter fighter.

Precisely three minutes later, Ricket, who’s eyes had been closed, were open and looking up at Jason. He took a long deep breath and exhaled. Jason had never witnessed Ricket happy—until that moment. The smile was real, the gratitude was real and Ricket was still all there, and more.

“Good morning, Captain,” Lilly said enthusiastically.

“Good morning, Lilly. First thing, please tell me what you know about the Caldurians and your current connection to them.”

“Yes, Captain. I’d be happy to. The Caldurians are a race of humanoid descent. Their world is approximately three hundred light years from Earth. They pride themselves on being a peace-loving culture, one that thrives through its intellectual, artistic, and humanistic exchange with other world cultures. It was only through encounters with the Craing eight hundred years ago that the Caldurians were forced to integrate into their society both defensive and offensive weaponry domestically, as well as into their space-faring vessels. Attempts by the Craing to subjugate the Caldurian peoples failed. But approximately two hundred years ago, through the use of eight thousand nuclear-tipped missiles, the Caldurian world was destroyed.”

A deep sadness filled Jason at the idea of an advanced society, one most Earthlings would certainly wish to aspire toward, destroyed.

“Lilly, you mentioned you are still taking commands from the Caldurians. If their world was destroyed, how is that possible?” Jason questioned.

“Not all Caldurians were killed. There were several off-world outposts and they have survived. Their locations, as well as their numbers, are purposely kept secret.”

“Thank you, Lilly,” Jason said. His thoughts lingered on Calduria. A world destroyed so senselessly and, unfortunately, most probably the fate of his own world. One thing was perfectly clear: Jason needed to take the upcoming battle away from Earth, as his father had tried to do. His next thoughts turned to Nan and Mollie. Letting them remain on The Lilly while she flew into battle that could result in the death of everyone on board, seemed irresponsible. Yet, if they were defeated in space, would their fate be any worse than when the Craing ships came to subjugate Earth’s populace? Jason realized that the decision rested with Nan, and he’d support her decision either way. Jason’s thoughts were interrupted by Ricket, who seemed to be contemplating something, nodding his head.

“Oh, now I understand,” Ricket murmured to himself. He then continued aloud, “What I have discovered, to some degree, is that the original designers of this ship and its technology were intimately involved with navigating the multiverse, which of course are the infinite layers or membranes of separate universes that exist and coexist simultaneously. The concept of a multiverse has subsequently gone from speculation to one of science fact. What they accomplished that transcended all theory, at least that I am aware of, was locating a nearby multiverse membrane that operates in six dimensions versus our three dimensions. And it’s that sixth dimension where everything exists in the realm of math… no physicality. That sixth dimension allows for mathematical conversations to take place and it is through these mathematical conversations, like your Google-search browser—but on a cosmic scale. Other membranes are not only located this way but easily accessed,” Ricket said excitedly. Jason smiled and thought about what Ricket had discovered—now that he was operating at his full mental capacity. He also had become quite the little chatterbox.