Teardrops In The Night Sky (Steven Gordon series) (12 page)

He got up and went to a corner, knowing that everyone on the bridge was intensely aware of his presence.

‘Down.’  The simple command was all it took for him to disappear out of sight.  He smiled at what was now his private quarters.  ‘Screen on.’

The breathtaking vista appeared on the bulkhead in front of him and his smile broadened farther.  The ship had been busy.  There was now a large bed against one wall.  A workstation, an alien version of a three piece suite and coffee table that took command of the view in front of him.

He sank into what looked like a leather chair and sighed.

‘Are you all right my heart? I sense you are becoming very tense.’

‘I’m fine, although I’m just beginning to realise the enormity of the undertaking I’ve taken on.’

‘Do you have any suggestions?’

‘Yes I do but you’re very busy just now and it will have to wait.’

‘With my engines off line I can divert a lot more power to other systems, please state your request.’

‘We need something to begin to bind us together, like a uniform.’

‘I understand.  A simple idea but necessary I think.  What do you have in mind?’

Steven shrugged, ‘I don’t know, it’s not exactly my area of expertise.  Something plain though, simple and not too flash.’

Part of the screen went blank then pictures of uniforms began to appear.  They must have gone through a hundred or so before she began to appreciate the tastes of the man.  They very quickly made a decision on a basic uniform.

‘I can have it ready for you in a few minutes.  What kind of material do you want used?’

‘Can
you produce something close to earth cotton?’

It took her a few seconds to search for the relevant information. ‘Yes I can do that.  Now what about some form of insignia?’

Chapter 23

W
hen he re-emerged from his quarters, he felt good.  A hush fell on the bridge at his appearance.  He ignored it and went looking for Buzz. 

He was with some of Howe’s men and had ju
st finished stacking the supplies they had sneaked on board.  As they watched, the boxes began to disintegrate.

‘Is that right?’ asked one of the soldiers.

‘Yeah, don’t worry about it.  Any food supplies are brought in here.  The ship breaks it up and stores it.  When you’re hungry it will reform it for you and deliver it to whatever dispenser you’re at.’

‘Neat.’

‘Yeah, any leftovers you put back in the dispenser.’  He turned at Stevie’s arrival, his eyebrows flew up, ‘hey you’re looking cool, where’s mine?’

Steven grinned, ‘in your quarters.  I want to see how everyone’s getting on, you coming?’

‘Let me get changed first.’

‘Let’s go.’

They went quickly to Buzz’s quarters and he put the new uniform on.  Steven studied his friend for a second.  It was a two-piece suit but almost looked like a one piece.  The dark blue was almost black.  The collar was very small, but large enough to take a badge of rank.  They had settled on small stars.  Steven bore four while Buzz had three.

‘What does this make me?’ he asked pointing to his collar.

‘Commander.’

‘Cool.’

Steven grinned; his friend looked really smart.  They weren’t skin tight but they accentuated their natural lines.  Buzz had kept himself in trim over the years and it showed.  He gave a little twirl, ‘how do I look?’

Steven nodded in satisfaction, ‘you look good dude.’

Buzz tried to study the patches on his left breast and shoulder, ‘these are smart what do they mean?’

‘It’s a star map of our constellation with our sun in the centre.’

‘What's this, EISA?’

‘Earth
International Space Agency.’

He screwed up his face a little, ‘nah, not sure I like that.’

Steven shrugged, ‘we can always throw it open to the kids of the planet later in the day, let them make something up if you want?’

Buzz paused for a seconds reflection, nodding, ‘yeah the kids of the planet.  We have to think like that now, don’t we?  This whole space thing changes everything.’

Steven agreed, ‘it does, yeah.  We are no longer alone.  And we know there are hostile forces out there.  Earth’s really going to have to get its shit together and fast.’

‘What if all the Earth’s Governments get together and start telling us to do things we don’t want too?’

Steven shrugged, ‘then we piss off and do our own thing.  It’s not like they can catch us is it?’

‘We have to land sometime Stevie.’

He sighed, ‘I know Buzz.  I only hope we can prove our worth by then or that they come up with something sensible.  It’s not like we can just retire.  These things we have on our wrist work off some kind of power generated by the ship.  The longer we’re here the more dependant we will be on them for our well being.  After six months or so the nano bots run out of juice and begin floating round our bodies, more a hindrance than a help.’

‘Yeah maybe one day we’ll find a way round that.  Either that or we start taking our families along with us for company.’

‘Kinda beginning to make sense now, ain’t it?’

‘The ships being family ships yeah, so where do you want to start this inspection?’

Stevie shook himself off, ‘let’s start with the engine room.’

They raised eyebrows as they entered the engine room.  Mark McGuire was a fellow Scot stolen from t
he labs at NASA.  He was a hands on engineer and the best in the world at his job.  He was standing with his jaw hanging loose, attempting to make sense of a diagram.

Steven felt loath to disturb him, ‘how’s it going Mark?’

His head swung towards them but it took a moment or two for his eyes to swing into focus, ‘uh!’

‘How’s it going?’

‘Oh right, aye, no, it isn’t.  I canna make neither head nor tail of any of this.’

Steven felt disappointment begin to slide, ‘nothing at all?’

‘Well apart from the fact that there's more than one kind of drive.  Three to be precise, there's an anti-gravity drive, interplanetary and interstellar, self explanatory right?’

Both men nodded.

‘Good, but how they even begin to work is beyond my understanding.  There's no retros or anything like that.  Manoeuvring is done automatically by the ship itself.  All we have to do is tell it where to go, so in that sense it’s easy enough, but understanding even the basic principles of how it works is so far beyond me, I don’t really know where to start.’ 

‘Let's start with can you fix the other ship?’

He nodded, ‘that should be easy enough.  It’s a simple case of removing the damaged part or replacing it.  The ships shown me how, with your permission I’d like to try it here first.’

‘I don’t have a problem with that, do you ship?’

‘Because of my rapid expansion, I really need more basic materials.’

‘That could be a problem ship, we don’t have any money to buy anything with.’

‘There is no need to return to Earth I have located all I need in what you call the asteroid belt.’

‘How long will it take you to gather what you need?’

‘A few hours at most.’

‘Can it wait until after we have rescued the other ship?’

‘I really need those materials now.’

‘Ok ship if needs must, well go there first, but give me another twenty minutes to finish what I’m doing I would like to be on the bridge for this.’

‘Of course my heart.’

Buzz smirked and Steven nudged him with his elbow, but McGuire wasn’t quite finished with him, ‘look at this will you.’  He punched up a screen, ‘I’ve had her comparing our periodic tables with her own database.  So far I’ve found twenty new elements, ten of which she assures me doesn't exist on Earth.’

Steven’s eyes gleamed, ‘now we’re really beginning to get somewhere.  That’s great news Matt, how are you going to handle it?’

Matt looked shocked, ‘me!  You want me to write a paper on it?’

‘You found it didn’t you?’

‘I suppose so.  That means I can name them as well.’

‘Aren’t they already named?’

He grunted, ‘if you can pronounce the names of them, you’re a better man than me.’

Steven laughed, ‘well I’m not.  Could you have a preliminary paper done within the next twenty-four hours?’

‘Probably could if we had any paper.  Everything’s computerised, including notebooks.  No discs, nothing.’

‘We have a laptop reconfigured on the bridge.  Tell me when you’re ready and I’ll have everything saved onto disc for you.  It might be an idea to try and get one or two of those unknown elements to go with it.  We’ll see what she can come up with in the asteroid belt.’

‘That would be great, thanks.’

They left McGuire and followed her directions to the armoury.  They found Howe and Beaver cooing over what looked like something out of the Aliens flick. 

‘How are you getting on Colonel?’

They looked a little startled and guilty, ‘fine, fine,’

Howe reassured.

‘What have you got there?’

Beaver interrupted with a grin, ‘a real alien ass kicker.’

‘Is it one of theirs?’

Howe shook his head, ‘no we designed it, but the ship incorporated the workings of one of theirs into it.’

‘Why did you have to redesign the whole thing?’

‘Haven’t you seen one of their weapons yet?’

Steven shrugged, ‘never had the time.’

Howe slid back a panel to reveal what were obviously weapons, knowing you were in an armoury of course, and took out a long thin weapon that reached his chin and the top of Steven head resting on its butt on the floor.

Steven nodded in understanding, ‘a little unwieldy.’

Howe grinned at the understatement, ‘ever so slightly, and no trigger that we could recognise either.  So we came up with this.  The ship then took the workings of one of their weapons and fitted it inside.’

‘So this is a working model?’

Howe shrugged, ‘we won’t really know until we give it a try.’

‘May I?’

‘Knock yourself out, you’re the Captain.’

Steven picked it up, ‘not as heavy as it looks.  Why is this end of the sight flared like this?’

‘In case you’re wearing a space suit.’

‘Of course, I never thought.’

‘The ship told us about that.’

‘It’s quite light but it’s also robust.  What does it fire?’

Beaver sniffed loudly, ‘green shit.  So the ship says any way.’

Howe laughed, ‘we saw some type of training film, and whatever it fired looked green anyway.  We really need somewhere to try it out.’

Steven shook his head with amusement, ‘unfortunately it will have to wait a little while.’  He handed the weapon back.  ‘We’ll be leaving in about ten minutes, can I have you at your dut
y station on the bridge by then?’

‘Of course, there's a couple of things I need to talk to you about.’

‘Do we have time now?’

‘Yes, it will only take a few seconds.’

‘Fire away.’

‘I’ve been talking to the ship and she says the defences and firing of weapons is a two man job, so is it all right for Beaver
to help me on the bridge?’

‘Yes, I don’t have a problem with that, what about you Buzz?’

‘Nope, why split up a good team.’

‘That’s great, but one other thing, we’re going to need a good armourer.  I know a guy who just retired from the forces.  No family to speak of and was nuts on science fiction.  I know he would jump at the chance to come with us.’

‘Securities your problem Colonel, not mine.  You can pick your own team to a certain point.  The first point being I expect you to present them to Buzz for an interview before I meet them.  If he likes them he will come to me and then I will give them a final interview.’

‘Is that necessary?’

‘Buzz is an impeccable judge of character Colonel and I trust him implicitly.  If he don’t like him I know I won’t.’

‘Ok, I don’t have a problem with that, but I’ll warn you now, Lewis is an unusual guy, but there's none better at what he does on the face of this planet.’

Buzz gave Howe a level gaze, ‘I don’t have a problem with unusual or weird Colonel, just look at some of my best friends.’

Everyone burst out laughing.  Stevie and Buzz made to leave but Stevie hesitated for a few seconds.  ‘Colonel, I have assigned you and your men quarters.  You'll find them the same way you found the armoury; just ask the ship.  I have taken the liberty of designing new uniforms for the crew.  You’ll find yours in your rooms; please put them on before you come onto the Bridge.  If you don’t like them then we’ll discuss it later and see if we can come up with something you do like.’

They left leaving the two soldiers alone.  Beaver sniffed again, ‘so what do you think of them Boss?’

Howe nodded, ‘I think I like them fine Beaver.’

Beaver nodded, ‘yeah I like them to but what about that Buzz being second in command?  I would rather it was you.’

‘I don’t know about that Beaver.  R
emember Anderson runs his own business, and it’s one of the top in its field.’

‘A lot different from what we do Boss.’

‘I’ll give you that, but at least he has an inkling of what we do and what our needs are going to be.  He’s also used to working with these scientists and knows how to handle them.  I think he might just be the man we need for the job.’

Beaver thought it over for a second, ‘never thought of it like that, you could be right.’

‘Let’s go see what our captains cooked up for us.’

‘What's the matter with what we got on?’  Beaver grunted.

‘Yeah you’re right, Jungle colours are just the thing we need in space.’

Beaver screwed his face up in disgust, ‘I hate you, do you know that?’

‘My dear Beaver I revel in it.’