Scrapyard Ship 4 Realms of Time (5 page)

“
Captain!” he said, excitedly, “This device is quite amazing.”

“
What’s it doing?” Jason asked, seeing something emerge from one of its mid-sized openings.

“
Accessing the database took me some time, but I’ve located the same drone configuration that was dispatched to the five continents.”

What began to exit from the opening was not what Jason expected. It was a sphere the size of a small automobile, matte black in color, with an irregular surface composed of varying-sized panels and small protrusions.

As if laying an egg, the phase-synthesizer expelled the spherical drone. The drone hovered a moment before quickly moving in the direction of the bulkhead. There it slowed and lowered itself several feet above the deck’s plate flooring. Small panels moved aside and segmented support struts locked into place. The drone lowered itself the rest of the way down to the deck.

Ricket returned to the console and called up a virtual 3D model of the drone. He ran through a complicated list of menu items and selected a sub-category.

“
As expected, Captain, once these drones have been fully activated, as those on Earth have been, they work autonomously. No way to deactivate them.”

“
What can we expect when we go up against them on Earth?”

Ricket continued to scroll until stopping on another group of menu items. He selected the first item and both the virtual drone, as well as its physical counterpart, changed configuration. Weaponry protruded through eight access panels, several of them located on the far side of the drone. Ricket stepped away from the console and approached the sphere. Seeming to track his movements, four separate muzzles moved in unison. Without turning away, Ricket signaled for Jason and the others to join him. Immediately, another panel opened and a stubby, significantly larger gun barrel locked into place with a definitive click.

Ricket took another step forward, now less than twenty feet from the drone. As if something was internally triggered, translucent light-blue shield segments, overlapping and constantly moving, hovered several feet around the black sphere.

“
Dynamic shielding,” Ricket said. “Very difficult to breech.” He took another step forward and the shield segments repositioned themselves and added new ones, separating itself even more with Ricket’s advance.

Jason continued to watch Ricket incite the drone to react in different ways. It obviously was a highly intelligent piece of technology, but something wasn’t adding up. Why hadn’t the Caldurians sent other ships to rescue the Minian? Perhaps the better question was, why no retribution?

“
Ricket, is the Minian able to communicate with other vessels, ones that exist on other planes across the multiverses?”

“
I do not believe so, Captain,” Ricket answered, taking another step closer to the drone.

“
Aren’t you afraid of it firing on you, or the thing exploding?” Billy interjected.

“
No, I’ve disabled those functions.”

“
So, in all probability then, the Caldurians are not aware of what has happened to the Minian?” Jason asked.

“
I do not believe what we accomplished, utilizing phase-shifting as a weapon, would have crossed their minds. We are unique in that we have a Caldurian vessel of our own, The Lilly, that has phase-shift capability. I’ve noticed the Caldurians are overly arrogant and take pride in their unique technologies. To them, the Minian was impregnable; it is their latest, most-advanced vessel. We may still have time before they send another ship to look for her.”

Jason let that sink in for a moment. But how much time? He turned three hundred and sixty degrees, not looking at anything in particular. “This ship, what’s left of her, may be our best and only defense against them when they do come.”

Ricket smiled and gestured toward the phase-synthesizer. Jason hadn’t noticed, but numerous items had emerged out of several ports. Some were small, no bigger than a cellphone; others were the size of a minivan. Hover drones, retrieving the items as they appeared, placed them off to the side.

“
I anticipated this, Captain. As I mentioned, this device is quite amazing. Amazing enough to manufacture, replicate, everything required in rebuilding the bridge and other damaged areas of the ship. With the help of the hover drones, she can be completely restored.”

“
Timeframe?”

“
Perhaps a week, maybe less.”

“
What’s your estimate for finding a weakness on the drone we can exploit?”

“
By tomorrow morning. That is if it’s even possible.”

“
Do your best. We’re in a lot of trouble if you can’t,” Jason exclaimed. “Also, you’ll be part of the assault team that’s going to Earth to disable those five drones. I’m not exactly sure what we’ll be running into down there, but I have a feeling we’re in for a wild ride. One that makes what happened to us on HAB 12 seem like a walk in the park in comparison.”

Billy and Orion looked at each other and smiled. Dira crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe I should sit this one out?”

“
Sorry, we’ll definitely need a medic.”

“
What about Mollie? She’s going to need a lot of TLC over the coming days, perhaps even weeks.”

“
Already have something in the works for Mollie. She won’t like it but my options are limited.”

Chapter 7

“
No! I want to stay with you.”

“
I’m sorry, Mollie. It’s not safe where I’m going. You’ll be with people you know, and Grandpa.”

“
Will Dira stay with me?”

“
Not this time, Mollie. Think of it like you’re going on your own adventure.”

“
Where’s that?”

“
To a place where there are other planets and different kinds of people.”

“
Can Teardrop come with me?”

“
Of course. Teardrop is yours.”

Mollie chewed the inside of her lip, seeming to weigh everything in her mind. He watched her as she scooted up in her bed. She had bed hair and a bad case of morning breath. Without her mother around, he’d need to help her stay on top of such things. Jason’s heart froze, realizing with Nan gone, his little girl would now depend on him more than ever. Guilt tugged at his heart—of all times to have to leave her …

“
Will Uncle Brian be there?”

“
Uncle Brian? Um … I’m not sure. I guess I can find out.”

“
OK. If Uncle Brian is there, then I’ll go.”

Jason smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I need to make arrangements; why don’t you hop in the shower. And don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

But Mollie was somewhere else. Her teary eyes glazed over and Jason knew she was thinking about her mother. She leaned forward for a comforting hug and Jason, wrapping his arms around her, kissed the top of her head a second time. “We’ll be all right, little one. I promise.”

* * *

The admiral ran his fingers through his own crop of disheveled bed hair. Jason had obviously gotten his father out of bed, and by the looks of things from sixty light years away, he wasn’t too pleased about it.

“
If you haven’t forgotten, Jason, I’m the commanding officer for the entire Allied forces. Not a good time to make a play-date for me and Mollie.”

Jason let his father’s words hang in the air.

“
But of course she can come,” the admiral relented. “There’s nothing more important to me than my granddaughter.”

“
She wants her uncle to be there, too.”

“
Brian?” the admiral asked, sounding amazed anyone would actually want Brian around.

“
Probably something to do with him saving her life back at the scrapyard. Is there a problem? Has he already left?”

“
No, although we’ve certainly tried to expedite that process.” His father looked as though he regretted what he’d said and continued, “It’s not so much Brian, but that creature, hopper thing. If it’s not nonstop eating, it’s shitting in the corridors. We were just hoping to get them off ship as soon as possible.”

“
Why don’t you drop the hopper off on Trumach. Probably lots for him to eat down there.”

“
That was my first suggestion. Brian seemed open to it, but the hopper wouldn’t go along. Seems to have developed a bond to your brother.”

“
To Brian?” Jason asked, not understanding how that would be possible.

The admiral shrugged.

“
I’m sending The Lilly back to you, Dad. It’s just a matter of time before the Caldurians come looking for the Minian. We’re no match for their technology. How we overtook that ship was a fluke, and not something we should count on happening again. I don’t want to jeopardize the crew, especially Mollie.”

“
And you’ll be able to deactivate the drones on Earth?”

“
We have the Epcot shuttle, as well as what’s left of the Minian that we can use for a base of operations.”

“
Let me know prior to your spooling a wormhole. And son, I’m staying optimistic you’ll be able to deactivate those drones. Seven billion displaced people are quite a burden for anyone to manage.”

“
Thanks for reminding me. I’m well aware what’s at stake. Returning Earth to the twenty-first century is at the top of the list.”

Jason cut the feed, turned in his chair, and saw Mollie coming down the hallway. Her hair was wet and she was all dressed, though barefoot.

“
Well, is Uncle Brian going to be there?”

“
Looks like it. Grandpa’s going to talk to him.”

“
What should I pack?”

“
Nothing. You’ll be going in The Lilly. Things won’t change all that much for you. You can even keep working in the Zoo, if that’s what you want.” Mollie brightened with that bit of news and even smiled. Jason heard noises coming from their kitchenette area: cabinets being opened and closed, the hum of the replicator, and silverware being laid out on the table. Teardrop hovered into view behind Mollie.

“
Go get your shoes and socks on before sitting down to breakfast. Okay, kiddo?”

* * *

Why was the Minian’s AI being so amiable was a question still on Jason’s mind, as Billy showed him a part of the ship that was very unusual; in fact, an entire deck that had no correlation to anything like it on The Lilly.

They entered another compartment similar to four others they’d exited from over the last few minutes. It, too, had rows of equipment, like generators or turbines; the ten-foot-high by thirty-foot-long items occupied every inch of the five compartments. Jason stood with his hands on his hips and looked up at the closest of the huge pieces of equipment. Black and heavy looking, they looked similar to early nineteenth-century locomotives. There seemed to be a layer of grease covering each mechanical component.

“
Like I said, Cap. There are hundreds of these things,” Billy said.

“
It’s a Zip farm,” Ricket’s voice commented as he entered from the far end of the compartment.

“
What the hell’s a Zip farm?”

“
I’ve never actually seen one,” Ricket said, stopping to take a closer look at one of the strange devices. “Only seen theoretical models. And certainly nothing of this scale.”

“
Are these used to support some kind of weapon?” Jason asked.

“
No, these are referred to as Zip accelerators and are how the Caldurians cross over to other planes of the multiverse.”

Jason nodded, his mind returning to the AI.

“
AI, are these devices of Caldurian technology?” Jason asked, out loud.

“
No, Captain. This technology was developed on Alurian, a planet in the Corian Nez constellation system, one hundred thirty light years from Earth. Caldurians only discovered this technology eighty-nine years ago.”