Teardrops In The Night Sky (Steven Gordon series) (11 page)

Chapter 20

T
he President leaned across his desk, eyes beginning to bulge, ‘I want him dead Colonel, do you understand?’

Colonel Howe’s face was deadpan, ‘but what if he wasn’t lying sir and we can’t find anyone to replace him and the ship takes off looking for another civilised planet?’

‘It’s a ruse to gain control of the ship for himself Colonel, isn’t it obvious?’

‘The thought had crossed my own mind sir.’

The President sat back feeling a little easier, ‘he who controls that ship will wield great power Colonel.  Think of the advances in technology it will bring.  Think of the advances it will bring to the United States.  No one individual should be allowed to control such power Colonel, it is our duty to seize that ship for the good of all mankind.  Do you understand?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Good, now how soon do you think it will take you to get your men ready for this mission?’

‘My men should be ready by the time I get back sir; I have already given them their orders.’

The Presidents eyebrows flew up in surprise, ‘you mean you already have a plan?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Enlighten us Colonel.’

‘Sir, I intend to offer the use of my team to rescue his mother and the people on board the other ship from
Doctor Sales.’

The President sat forward in alarm, ‘do you realise
Doctor Sales is under my direct orders Colonel and he is not to be harmed in anyway?’

‘Yes of course sir.’

The President sat back nodding, ‘of course you do Colonel; I’m beginning to realise why your superiors call you the best.  Your plan has my approval Colonel but I want you to seize the ship before you attempt any rescue, do you understand?  That is the single most important thing.’

‘Yes sir, once I have one of those gismo things on my hand, I should be able to talk directly with the ship anyway.’

‘You will order it to submit to our direct commands do you understand Colonel?’

‘Yes sir?’

‘Good then I won’t keep you any longer.’

Dismissed the Colonel departed the oval office.  The President turned to one of his black suited aids, ‘as soon as he boards the ship I want you to arrest
Doctor Gordon.’

‘On what charge sir?’

‘Spying, espionage, whatever.’

‘
Doctor Gordon is a respected scientist sir; do you think we can make it stick?’

‘We
’ll keep him around for a short while, just in case anything goes wrong and then get rid of him.  As for the wife, if we get her back, she should succumb to her wounds en route to the hospital.’

Chapter 21

W
hen Colonel Howe returned to the centre, the massive Beaver was waiting for him, ‘everything’s ready sir.’

‘Good, tell the men to standby.’

He made his way back to the control room; the monitors were empty, the controllers sitting back relaxed.  He found Doctor Gordon in his office.  Howe closed the door behind him, ‘Where’s your son Doctor?’

Brian shrugged, ‘your guess is as good as mine Colonel.  They’ve been coming and going since you left.’

‘I need to get a message to him as quickly as possible.’

‘You can talk to them on the radio.’

‘No it has to be in private.’

Brian thought for a second, ‘I doubt if my mobile would work, but I’m sure a text message would reach him as soon as he’s in range.’

‘May I borrow it?’

‘No problem Colonel.’

The Colonel sent a lengthy message and waited, discussing his plans with the Doctor.  A message eventually came through.  Howe grunted and shook his head.

Brian frowned, ‘something wrong Colonel?’

‘No not really, I’ve made a little miscalculation that’s all.  I’ll go rectify it now.  He thinks he’ll be back in about an hour.  I’d better go.’

‘Look after them for me Colonel.’

A dark look closed over Howe’s eyes.  He simply nodded and left.  When he reached his men Beaver was waiting for him with a man in civilian clothes.  The Colonel pulled the man over to the side where no one could hear.  An urgent discussion followed.  Eventually the man nodded vigorously and shook the Colonels hand.  Beaver thought he noticed something pass between them but wasn’t quite sure.

He came back over to Beaver, ‘there's been a slight change of plan.’

An hour and a half later the large silver ship slid quietly to rest on the car park.  The door opened and Howe signalled his men.  Two large trucks screamed up to the side of the ship.  Men jumped off and raced up the ramp, Howe in front.  The trucks then reversed right up to the ramp.

Howe burst onto the bridge weapon at the ready, ‘well?’

Steven pointed to the wall and Howe went over and searched for the hole.  He found it quickly, a puzzled Beaver watched on.  Howe grunted in pain as the implant was snapped onto his hand.

It didn’t take long for it to begin to work.  His vision slowly swam into focus.  He looked around him in awe for a moment.  Then Steven advanced on him also carrying his weapon but it was slung.  The tension in the air was almost palatable. 

Steven looked down at the barrel pointed at his chest, ‘Do you mind pointing that thing somewhere else?’ 

Seconds seemed to stretch for hours.  A bead of sweat ran down the side of Buzz’s face as he fingered his revolver.

Then a grin appeared on Howe’s face as he shouldered his weapon, ‘certainly sir any orders?’

Steven returned his grin, ‘let's get those supplies aboard before anyone realises something’s gone wrong.’

Everybody that could be spared ran to the ramp and began unloading boxes and crates from the trucks. 

Back inside the centre a dozen black suited men split up into two groups.  Both stopped at a pre-designated position and waited.  The leader checked his watch.  His number two raised an eyebrow; he could only shrug.  After another five even he was beginning to get restless.  He ordered the second team into a position where they could see the ship.

There was another terse wait until a radio message came through.  He immediately realised something was wrong and ordered them to seize the ship, but they were a long way from the entrance.   He and his team quickly made their way to the control room to grab Brian Gordon but he was nowhere to be seen.

As the black suited men burst from the building with drawn weapons.  The last boxes were thrown on board and the empty truck abandoned.  They watched helplessly as the ship took off into the blue sky above.

At the same time, Colonel Howe’s hummer left the compound without being stopped.  The stranger in civilian clothes that Howe had been talking to earlier, shouted into the back.

‘It's ok Doc, you can come out now we’re clear.’

Brian threw off the mouldy smelling camouflage netting and just caught a glimpse of the ship as it left.  He sighed, ‘good luck son.’

Chapter 22

T
here were still chuckles of laughter amongst the men gathered on the bridge.  Steven tried to hide a grin, ‘welcome gentlemen, if I say so myself that was a job well done.’  Laughter broke out freely.

He waited until it was finished, ‘I have a proposal for you to consider.  At this moment in time we are all fugitives, but hopefully that won’t be forever.  Things have already been set in motion to remedy that.

Part of that remedy is the setting up of an international space agency.  Made up from scientists and people from all countries.  I have already begun negotiations with some heads of states across the globe and have received a good response.

However the President of the United States is not amongst those heads of states, which makes you all deserters.  They of course can’t be sure of that yet, but it won’t take them long to figure it out.’

The chuckles soon dried up as men began to realise the seriousness of their position.  Steven went on, ‘there are two alternatives open to you.  Firstly you can decide to be returned to the United States and if you do then I will return you home at your request within the next twenty-four hours.

There is another option open to you.  There are baddies out there in the universe and we will at some time or another come across them.  Colonel Howe has decided to join me and he has asked me to consider you all as a security force.

You would be the very first soldiers in outer space from Earth.  There is a problem however, you can’t join today and quit in a week’s time.’  He held up his hand and showed them the silver plate on the back of his hand, ‘all you can see at the moment is a certain kind of white light.  Once you have one of these on that will change rather dramatically, but these are the reason you will have to stay.  This thing will plug you directly into the ship and her systems.  If you take one of these then you are making a commitment.  We will be exploring deep space and just can’t pop back here for birthdays, Christmas or any of that kind of thing; we will be gone for years at a time.  Before you take one of these be sure you know what you’re doing’

He paused for a second to ensure that he had everyone’s attention.  ‘These things plug you in to the ship in ways you cannot fathom.  They are hard to remove and removing
them can leave your body very vulnerable for up to a few months afterwards’

Steven paced back and forth in front of the cold eyed men for a second to let it sink in, ‘there is an upside to all this.  Once this has been attached to you, your lifespan will be doubled, maybe even tripled, we’re not sure yet.  You can still die, but unless you’re shot in the head or in the heart or suffer overwhelming injury’s, then the chances are you will make a speedy recovery.’

He could see his statement begin to sink in and smiled at the questions beginning to appear in the men’s eyes; ‘it’s a sort of nanobot factory that does all manner of different things; most of which I don’t understand myself yet. However the longer you are attached to the ship the more reliant you will become on them, I'm talking decades here.  They become part of you, part of your DNA almost; if you lose a limb they will rebuild it for you.  You can have them buff out your muscles without exercising, you know, that kind of stuff but be warned, the nanobots take their power directly from the ship, if you are away from it for any considerable period of time they will become dormant and stop working.  Any immediate questions that I might be able to answer?’

To everyone’s surprise it was the giant Beaver that came out with the first question, ‘yeah I got one.  If we piss off into space for a year
, will everyone we know on Earth be dead when we get back?’

Steven smiled with appreciation at the question, ‘as far as I have been able to comprehend, time will be relative regardless of the speed we travel at.  Ten minutes up here will be ten minutes down on Earth.’

‘Up where?’ Asked another.

Steven grinned and raised his voice a little, ‘screen please.’

He could clearly see the shock on most of their faces, as the moons landscape appeared where the forward wall once was.  ‘I want you to go think about it gentlemen.  Have a chat amongst yourselves.’

One of the younger members of Howe’s team moved closer to the screen, ‘wow, this is amazing.’

Buzz walked past with a large cardboard box on his shoulder, ‘yeah, but the pays crap.’

Steven burst out laughing, ‘what you got Buzz?’

‘Food, and it ain’t green and it ain’t grass either.  Question now is how do we heat it up?’

He looked up for a second, ‘right ok.’

The young soldier looked puzzled, ‘who you talking to?’

‘The ship.’

‘It talks to you?’

‘Yeah but you gotta have one of these on your hand.’

Buzz went over to a wall and shoved a can into a recess.  The can seemed to dissolve in front of his eyes to be replaced with a steaming hot plateful of sausages.  He repeated the process and received a plateful of stew.  Two forks appeared in the hole when he removed the plate, ‘thanks babe.’

He went back over to Steven, ‘stew or sausages?’

Steven took the sausages, ‘thanks Buzz.  How are things going?’

‘Not bad, I’m going to try and enlist the help of some of these dudes to help me move those stores.’

Howe moved up on Stevie’s other side, he had overheard the remark, ‘sure they’ll help.’

Buzz nodded, ‘thanks.’

‘Tell me, is there something wrong with my eyes or are all these consoles shimmering.’

Steven shook his head, ‘no there's nothing wrong with your eyes.  The ship is surfing the net, downloading information.  Making comparisons and changing things to suit human hands.’

‘So why is everything shimmering?’

‘It’s reducing the height of the consoles.  Its mother race was much taller than us.’

‘How’s it doing it?’

‘It’s all Nano technology, tiny robots that you can’t see with the naked eye.  The ships full of them.  That’s why there's no dust and no corpses.  Everything we use will be absorbed into the ship and reused.’  Steven held up the fork in his hand as an example, ‘she made this from the tins Buzz put in that thing over there.’

Howe shook his head in wonder, ‘where did all these people come from.’

‘They’re scientists from all over the globe.  Specialist in their chosen fields, the ships choosing its own personnel for the most part.  We’ve got about twenty so far, six in here the rest scattered throughout the ship.’

‘You mean you have no say in who comes or stays?’

‘Of course I do, but I don’t really know exactly what she needs.  So in the end she tells me who she wants and I say yea or nae.’

‘Let me guess, your finding them on the net.’

‘It was easier than I thought.  A number of
websites sprung up after the ships appearance, and many scientists registered their interest in working with the ships.’

Howe nodded his understanding, ‘so where’s my station?’

Steven shrugged, ‘don’t know.’

It was the ship that answered him, ‘you may address me Colonel Howe.’

Howe grunted in surprise, it was the first time he had heard the ship talk, ‘uh, sorry.’

‘I am the ship, as I am being called at the moment amongst other things.’

Howe smiled, ‘I’m sorry, I never realised.’

‘What is to be your official designation?’

‘Security officer, I suppose.  Do you have any weapons?’

‘I have many different type of weapons, Colonel although apart from their official testing none have ever been used.’

He frowned, ‘why not?’

‘The builders are a gently race Colonel, crime and violence unknown.  Each ship is a family ship.  They live almost exclusively in space now, although they always return to the home planet to retire.’

‘They never fight?’

‘I won’t say never Colonel, there are reports of incidents
where the builders took offensive action, but these are rare.  You see our technology is far in advance of most of the aggressive species, so we can almost always out run them.’

‘Yet here you are, your crew were all killed or died.’

‘Yes it was most regrettable, and if my heart had decided to fight, they would most certainly all still be alive, but it was just not their way.’

‘There is something admirable in that, eh … ship, but it is not the Human way.’

‘We understood that before we made ourselves know to your people.  You are primitive but you do have values that border on those of my builders.’

‘That makes us more acceptable?’

‘You must understand Colonel, I may be a machine but I am self-aware and have a conscience of my own.  If I had been capable of firing my own weapons, and saving my crew I would have done.  That they gave their lives before taking the lives of another’s; even though they were of another race; it is admirable but a terrible waste and loss, foolhardy even.’

The Colonel nodded solemnly, he was a man who had taken life many times in his carrier.  ‘I will make sure that never happens again.  Neither will I allow anyone under my command or on board this ship to kill indiscriminately.’

‘Thank you Colonel, now what would you like to see first; the hand weapons we have on board are totally unsuitable for human use but you could help me redesign them if you wish.’

‘I would love to.’

‘If you look to one of the walls and follow the lights I will guide you to what you would call the armoury.’

Beaver shouted at his retreating back, ‘where you off to Boss?’

‘I'm going to the armoury to help the ship design some new weapons.’

Beavers jaw dropped, ‘ah stuff this, I want in.  Where’s that hole?’

Laughing Howe guided him over to the hole in the wall and shoved Beavers hand inside.  He never seemed to notice the pain but Howe had to hold him up a little as his vision began to blur.

After a few minutes orientation Beaver happily followed his friend to another part of the ship.  The young soldier seemed to tire of the scenery and turned to Stevie, ‘do you have any space suits on board, can I go out there?’

Steven shrugged, ‘I have no idea, but I would presume so.’  He paused for a second then nodded.  ‘Yes there is son, but they won’t fit us.  The ship will design and build some for us later, but it’s really busy just now redesigning the whole ship.’

The young man looked a little disappointed, ‘yes sir of course I’m sorry.’

Steven grinned, ‘don’t be sorry, it wasn’t like the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.’

Buzz grunted, ‘if you’re bored you can help me.’

The shutters came down behind his eyes, ‘who are you?’

Steven interrupted, ‘he’s my second in command.’

The soldier seemed a little startled, ‘oh, sorry I didn’t realise.’

Steven could see there was going to be some conflicts between these battle hardened professionals and the rest of the crew.  He was going to have to instil some form of command protocols, maybe even introduce a uniform code. 

‘That’s because no one told you.  There's no need for you to help out as you haven’t decided what you’re doing yet, but I would rather you were doing something to help while you are here.’

The younger man nodded, ‘yeah I’ll help.’  He turned to Buzz, ‘what do you want done?’

‘Follow me.’

They left Steven alone.  He took a moment to reflect on what had happened so far.  As the ship learned from its access to the Internet, the process of reformation became quicker.  The scientists designated to the bridge either went about their allotted tasks or stood together talking while the ship redesigned their workstations.

He realised very quickly he would have problems with the scientists too.  Almost every one of them had heard of him when he was younger, but that was twenty years ago.  It wasn’t that he had any catching up to do.  On the contrary, even at the age of fifteen he was years ahead of where they were now.

The trouble was, much of his work had been discounted or his theories proved wrong.  He knew they weren’t wrong and since coming on board he’d had some time to discuss them with the ship and had begun to realise how right he was.  The real trouble was even he had only touched the threshold of the mathematics of the universe.  He had a lot to learn and realised it would be hard.  However, if he had an uphill battle it was going to be harder for the rest of them.  He was going to have to change a whole belief system.

Then of course there was the natural resentment he was already beginning to feel.  Funnily enough he didn’t feel it from Howe or the soldiers he had brought with him, but Buzz had told of the strange attachment they had forged with his parents, maybe there was a link.

How was he going to forge all these people together into a single crew?  Everyone seemed to have their own itinerary, and he had no doubt their own governments would soon add weight to the problem.  Then of course there was the other ship.

Most of the scientists hadn’t grasped the fact that the ships had a will of their own.  They still believed they were working with some form of super computer.  Steven didn’t, he could sense the presence of the ship in the same way he could sense another human being.  That was another thing that he was going to have to get across to them, he was also beginning to feel a bit crowded.