Omega Rising (8 page)

"Get your fill? We're good to go, the reactor is still stuck in some kind of low-output mode, but the field emitters are fully charged and ready so we can enter slip-space. We're still going to have to use the main engines in normal space though." Deetz gracefully swung his mechanical body into the command seat and looked over to Jason expectantly. The human took one last, lingering look at Jupiter before heading back to what he now thought of as the copilot seat.

              "Let's do it. What's the play?"

              "We could jump to slip space within the system, but that takes a lot of energy since we're so close to the primary star and a gas giant as well. The ship is only just now slip-capable again, no point in pushing it too hard until we get to a proper repair facility." Deetz began to accelerate the ship, preparing to swing around Jupiter and slingshot out towards the outer Solar System and the heliopause. Jason could feel the pulsating rumble of the four main engines as the gunship roared around the enormous planet, but with the compensators fully engaged he didn't feel even the slightest sensation of the brutal acceleration.   

              The trip out of his native star system was mostly uneventful for Jason. He had hoped for a flyby of one of Earth's robotic space probes or some other such excitement, but other than a disinterested blip from the ship to let him know he was passing an artificial construct, there was nothing to see. Even at over 450 G's of initial acceleration (it had taken a few minutes to explain to the computer the unit of measure he wanted acceleration displayed in) the view outside the canopy didn't change. They would also not be flying near any other planets on their way out to the Kuiper belt, and even then it would be highly unlikely there would be anything more to see. Jason had fell for the same misperception many people did when viewing diagrams and renderings of nearby space; everything seemed so close and accessible when seeing it on a single page. The reality was that the distances and speeds involved were so great that other than Sol itself, the "crowded" Solar System was very much empty space with nothing to see. Jason slouched back into the copilots seat and stared off into space, literally, as the ship continued its long climb up out of the gravity well.

Another couple of hours passed and Jason rose out of his seat and stretched. "Does this tub have any coffee aboard?" He was fading fast but he didn't want to go to sleep until they had transitioned into slip space, whatever the hell that was. Deetz cocked its head as if pondering the question for a fraction of a second.

              "Ah, yes. Ask for
chroot
. It's very similar to your coffee drink and has the same stimulant effect."

              "Thanks," Jason replied as he hopped down from the command stations and walked off the bridge. He was very aware that sometime during his meals and rest his rifle had gone missing from the place he had set it on the bridge. Initially he had intended to ask Deetz directly about where the weapon had gone, but for now he decided to see how it would play out. While he doubted the synth was holding it for safe keeping, he knew from past experience it would do him no good right now as anything other than as a "security blanket". If Deetz meant to harm him or had any other nefarious designs regarding him, the AR-15 and its single magazine of ammo would not likely save him.

He walked with more confidence up to the terminal in the galley and instructed it with a single word, "Chroot."

              "How would you like it, sir?"

Shit, how am I supposed to know?
"Um, black?"

              "Processing..." He was once again rewarded with a
ding
and the panel slid up to reveal a steaming mug that looked like it was made from some sort of brushed metal. He grabbed the handle and peered into it, it certainly looked like coffee, and even at this distance it had that pungent smell he recognized. He brought it to his lips and took a small, slurping sip. After letting it roll around in his mouth he took another and a smile spread across his face. It was similar to an Arabica blend with some subtle clove notes that left a slight numbness on his tongue. It wasn't exactly "coffee", but it was damn close.
Maybe this trip won't be so bad after all, if I can get this thing to spit out a taco supreme I'll be all set.
He sat down at the galley table again to drink his chroot rather than go back to the bridge.

              "Computer," he said suddenly, "where is the original crew for this ship?"

              "Insufficient detail provided. This vessel has had multiple rotations of crewmembers at every post," the computer's dispassionate voice intoned. This gave Jason pause; he really had no idea as to the history of this ship. It looked state of the art to him, but it could well be an immaculately maintained antique.

              "How old is this ship? Please give the answer in Earth years." Jason felt he was on to something, or at least he had a source of information that was somewhat independent of the being that was on the bridge at that moment.

              "This vessel was constructed eleven Earth years ago and had been in active military service until two years ago."

Hardly outdated then, my truck is older than this thing.
"So this ship is no longer affiliated with a military branch? Explain, please."

              "The Benztral Mining Concern is no longer a viable entity. This vessel was sold on the open market as part of an asset liquidation and purchased by a private citizen." The ship's computer was a veritable gold mine as it seemed to be completely unconcerned about shielding any information he asked for.

              So this ship was part of a private military... interesting. One more little clue as to the nature of the universe I've just flung myself headlong into.
Jason continued his query, "Please tell me what happened to the last crew of this ship."

              "The last crew on the manifest disembarked at Oltrest Prime thirty-nine Earth-days prior and has yet to re-embark. Their whereabouts are currently unknown," the ship answered. Jason was quickly realizing that while the computer was not withholding any information, it also wasn't going to embellish or volunteer additional answers without being specifically asked.

              “Do you know where they might be? Or why?” Jason assumed that the entire crew was not on vacation somewhere.

              “Unknown.”

              Jason’s instincts led him to the next question; “Is Deetz part of the former crew that is currently missing?”

              “The synthetic being called
Deetz
is the property of Captain Klegsh and serves as an administrative facilitator while onboard.”

Property? Now that is interesting. Are all synths considered property, or would Deetz more accurately be described as a slave?
The conversations he had with Deetz as to why exactly he was needed on this current mission floated back up to the top of his mind. It seems this
species?
wasn’t universally recognized as a free people. Jason’s almost compulsive need to categorize everything led him to try and draw parallels between the apparent situation of this synth and the institution of slavery on his home world. For some reason, however, he just couldn’t make that emotional connection between the two. The shame and revulsion he felt towards his own species for its treatment of dissimilar races throughout history didn’t come when he thought about Deetz living in servitude. Was it because Deetz would be considered a machine on Earth, or was it simply that the situation he was in was so outside of his “normal” that he couldn’t apply any of his values to it?

              “We’re exiting your star system now. We’ll be flying by a few interesting objects on our way out if you’re interested,” Deetz’s voice over the intercom stirred Jason from his thoughts. He swallowed the last, room temperature gulp of chroot and made his way back to the bridge.

              “On my way,” he said, leaving his mug behind for one of the little service bots to collect.

              Walking onto the bridge Jason saw that there were indeed some objects outside canopy, and they appeared to be illuminated by something other than the sun. “I’ve spot-lighted this asteroid while the ship completes a scan of it. All the objects out here are the left over debris from the formation of your star system, the forward sensors flagged this one as possibly having some rare compounds that may be worth extracting while we’re out here. We’re not necessarily on a tight schedule after all,” Deetz informed him as he slid into the copilot’s seat. As soon as he sat down the displays all faded out and came back up in English and displaying units of measure he could actually understand.

              “So why light it up?”

              “Actually that was for your benefit. The ship obviously doesn’t need illumination to do the scans. I surmised what part of the spectrum is visible to your species from your medical scan and had the emitters project those wavelengths to illuminate the object.” Deetz seemed especially pleased with himself as he favored Jason with one of those odd, closed-mouth smiles.

              “Thanks, I appreciate that,” and he did. The opportunity to view a Kuiper Belt object up close and in person was something to be savored, but it was also more than just that. Since the beginning of this trip he had walked on Mars, looked upon Jupiter, and was now observing an asteroid tumble through the interminable blackness of space, at the edge of Sol’s influence. All of this wonder to behold, and while on an alien spaceship and accompanied by an alien being to boot. Jason had met everything that had happened thus far with a childlike wonder and awe, and he was certain this innocence would not, could not last as he left his own world further behind. The fact that he was aboard a machine of war was indicative of the nature of the universe that waited for him.

A series of beeps from his displays grabbed his attention, the ship had completed its scan of the object and didn’t find anything of note, certainly nothing worth staying for. Without a word Deetz grabbed the controls and turned the ship away from the object and began accelerating out of the system. This far up the gravity well the ship had enough power to pull directly away without taxing the engines. The acceleration numbers, presented in G-forces on his display, were astonishing. So much so that it became abstract, Jason knew if an Earth-bound vehicle accelerated this fast its occupants would be pulverized into a gelatinous mash against the rear bulkheads.

Another set of warnings appeared on his display as they were still accelerating out into interstellar space, this one said ‘
Stand by for slip-space transition.’
Having been a science fiction fan for much of his life, Jason was looking forward to being there when the ship began travelling faster than the speed of light. A countdown from “5” appeared in the middle of his display and began winding down slightly faster than the Earth-seconds he was used to. At “1” the canopy suddenly went opaque and the lights on the bridge dimmed slightly for a split second, indicating an enormous power drain on the ship's power plant. That was it. There was no dramatic flash, no thunderclap of sound as the ship defied relativity, nothing to indicate that the “warp drive” had engaged. Jason let out an audible “humph”.

“Try not to be too disappointed. The energies involved in propelling the ship in slip-space would be blinding to you so the canopy automatically dims. Honestly, there isn’t much to see; the ship is inside of a slip-space ‘bubble’, for lack of a better term, and won’t emerge into real-space until power to the emitters is cut off.”

Jason sat back into his seat, still disappointed, but also thrilled as he realized he was sitting in a spacecraft that was now travelling faster than the speed of light. He stretched out and yawned, feeling very tired again. He knew his sleep cycle must be completely screwed up since there was no discernible day or night onboard the ship. He stood and hopped down from the command station. “I’m going to grab a couple hours of sleep. It doesn’t seem like there’s much going on right now,” he said as he walked towards the bridge exit.

              “You are correct, there will be very little to see while we’re travelling though slip-space,” Deetz confirmed. “We’ll reach our destination in approximately seventy-two hours. We could probably make it a little quicker, but in the shape the ship is currently in I don’t want to push the slip-drive too hard. If it fails, we’re stranded.”

              “By all means, let’s take our time and not spend the rest of our lives floating through space,” Jason called over his shoulder as he walked off the bridge. He made his way down to the stateroom that he had already begun to think of as “his” and took the time to strip down before climbing into the bed. He was sound asleep within minutes.

              The next few cycles
(Can't really call them days anymore)
ran together as Jason slept, ate, and explored the ship. He worked out in the cargo bay, poked around in the engineering bays, and spent hours talking to the ship trying to glean as much intel as he could from a source other than Deetz, a being whose motives still weren't entirely clear. As for Deetz himself, Jason didn't see him much as he spent most of the time locked in the communications room. Jason wasn't entirely sure exactly when he started thinking of the synth as a "he" rather than an "it", but the more time they spent together the more a pronounced masculine character became apparent. It wasn't that the synth was overly macho, or even that the timbre of his voice couldn't also belong to a female, it was something more intangible that Jason interpreted as male gender specific. The topic of gender within a society of constructed beings might be interesting, but for all Jason knew it could also be highly taboo or offensive in some way. While he was curious, that curiosity wasn't strong enough for him to risk being stranded light years from his home.