The Pattern Ship (The Pattern Universe) (26 page)

They dropped off his gear, he had his usual room. He didn’t need anywhere to call home, he was never in one place long enough. Frank thought he knew what the problem was and thought, or more hoped, he had the answer.

“Annie, how are you?”

Zeke gathered her up into his arms as though she was his Mother and hugged her like she should be.

“I’m fine, my dear,” she said affectionately, not saying anything about but ruffling her fingers through his new fine gossamer hair.

“You are overdue for a break young man, you need to get out and about and meet some young ladies now you have some crowning glory to show you’re not an aged Old Fart, like Frank here,” she scolded him fondly.

“Old Fart? My apex!” Frank chuckled.

“No girl is interested in a silver haired old spaceman with baggage, Annie. You know what its like. They get your name, then tie you to the technology, then its a case of ‘Oh you’re that alien thingie with stuff growing in your body’ and then it’s 'oh, well, oh dear, is that really the time... must dash!’ and they’re gone.”

They all laughed. It was Zeke’s standing joke from a single introduction that Annie had made which had fallen flat as described, never to be repeated.

They chatted amiably for a bit, then Frank seeing that Zeke was getting restless, called for him to go take a visit of the factory.

Annie, who was savvy and well knew the score, just patted his cheek and scolded him about not visiting enough, then let him walk off with Frank.

She watched him, the smile quickly replaced by concern in her eyes for both Frank and Zeke. She hoped that Frank had done the right thing. If he hadn’t...

***

“Its the new Terrestrial model Fighter Class T-Ship,” Frank boasted proudly.

“She will fly in atmosphere using a new prototype version of our A-Grav system.

This is the only ship that has been equipped with it and the plans for it aren’t even in circulation.

Osbourne is keeping a very tight lid on it.

The only other place the plans are kept are on-board.

Its our version of the Pattern Ship, but much improved.”

Zeke was blown away.

“Geesh! Frank, you’ve outdone yourself. She. Is. Beautiful.”

And she was, without a doubt the most beautiful ship that Zeke had ever seen. The TFC T-Ship was covered in a polished chrome effect. It was larger than the one that Zirkos had built and just from looking, Zeke could see the armament complement was huge. It was an amazing piece of engineering.

“She is magnificent, Frank, can we go on-board?”

“Well, you can, nobody has been allowed on-board since Osbourne finished commissioning her.

He’s the only person capable of doing so, he designed her and had the whole thing built to his specifications. The boy is a raging genius.”

“Apparently, you have the only means with which to connect with the A.I.”

“Its got a terrestrial A.I.?”

“Oh yes, its not sophisticated like Pod, or Ship, but it does the job. We are fitting them to all new ships as a way of getting them space borne on a ‘fly by wire’ basis, to use an old defunct expression while we learn how to navigate in space.

It’s been called ‘Arty’, you just have to precede any command with its name and it will answer to your voice command, and only yours.”

“Arty, open boarding ramp,” Frank commanded.

“Access Denied”

Frank looked at Zeke who understood the silent message.

“Arty, Open Boarding Ramp, please,” Zeke commanded.

“Granted, Commander Callaghan.”

The boarding ramp appeared from a slot that materialised out the side of the ship. At the same time a hole seemed to just evolve above it until it got to a size allowing access to one, or may be two humans.

“Oh that’s Sweet!” Zeke said admiringly.

As they walked up the ramp and into the ship, the smell of newness was apparent and they appeared to enter a foyer preceding an open lounge screened by a clear curved wall that allowed you full view of the inner ship without immediate access.

There was a left and right turn from the opening and assuming the right was to living quarters and engine room, Zeke did a left and headed for what he expected to see, the Control Room.

He wasn’t disappointed.

A single chair with a high back sat in the centre of the room, with multiple view-screens on the wall in front. There was considerable space in front of the chair for consoles, Zeke correctly assumed that these were using the nanite technology that Ship had left behind for limited use, i.e. in case he needed them.

Frank was able to give him a run-down of the features, too numerous for Zeke to take in at a first sitting. He allowed Frank to show off his pride and joy. Although Osbourne had designed and built it, Zeke knew immediately that his good friend Frank had done this especially for him.

He wanted to give him this moment. So allowed him to take him around everything and explain all the new features. ‘Arty’ was surprisingly eloquent, limited in context, but certainly animated to the extent its voice didn’t quite grate on your ears.

“Okay, Zeke, you have to take it for a test run. Just tell Arty what to do and it will do it,” Frank finished, obviously pleased to have got through the tour without making a pigs ear of the explanations.

Zeke turned and hugged him. It wasn’t something either was familiar with, but Zeke felt a handshake and a thank you just weren’t enough. He needed to reach out to this man who had seen his need and filled it.

They parted awkwardly as do men who aren’t in the habit of showing their true feelings, but the gruffness in Frank’s voice showed it had affected him.

He headed for the main door and on his way out gave Zeke his parting shot .

“There’s food and drink freshly laid in so you don’t need to use the processor for a while. You are requested to test the limits of speed and navigation as well as the A.I.’s programming. So we are not expecting you back in anything less than a couple of weeks.”

He chuckled.

“If you get into trouble we might have a problem. This is the only space worthy ship until the new War craft are completed. Bon voyage, Zeke,” and then he was gone.

Zeke smiled and walked back to the Control Room. He sat in the chair and commanded

“Arty, take us into space!”

“Affirmative, Commander Callaghan,” Arty responded.

- 24 -

He had been in space for ten days now and the trials were working out well. Arty wasn’t Ship or Pod, but it did at least understand him and its voice was not quite a monotone. He was surprised how much he missed the little Pod’s voice in his head.

They were now at the very edge of the solar system. It had been very much trial and error with the hyper drive. He had given Arty instructions and luckily fail-safes had come on when Arty just matter of factly stated.

“If we proceed with the last command we will materialise in the approximate centre of Jupiter’s Mass. Therefore, please confirm your instruction by reciting the alphabet backwards, thank you, Commander Callaghan.”

Zeke had roared with laughter, sensing Osbourne’s sense of humour in there amidst the A.I.’s programming.

After that Zeke took three dimensional navigational mapping more seriously and by the end of the trials he was just about grasping the fundamentals. He now understood the ‘fly by wire’ principle that were being introduced in the War Ships under construction. He reckoned that there were not many who would be stupid enough to recite the alphabet backwards. A great fail-safe Zeke decided and carried on with his lessons. Arty was a great teacher.

The wormhole drive had not been activated yet. It was intended to be the next trial and Zeke was intensely nervous. He had access to all the maps left behind by Ship. He wasn’t worried about the possibility of landing in the middle of a planet, or a star. He was frightened of not being able to find his way back. It was this that troubled him, he thought.

The porthole that Zeke had enjoyed was not something he wanted to try and establish with Arty, considering there were no spacesuits on board. Instead he managed to get Arty to line up all the viewsceens and overlapped the view of space. It was not the same, but good enough. Zeke began to feel more relaxed and at home. The feeling of open space under his feet was now something he relished.

Retiring to his cabin he once again attempted to sleep. Something had been bothering him and it affected him more when he was trying to sleep than at other times. This time was no different as he tossed and turned without being able to focus on the problem.

Some hours later he finally drifted off into a troubled sleep. Arty was on watch and he would wake him if anything developed.

He was stationery, as if waiting for something to occur. It was nothing specific, just the feeling that events were about to unfold. A sense of expectation. He was just beginning to stir when the blackness came on him. It felt as if he was on the outside of the spacecraft instead of inside. He had somehow become the skin of the ship and he even felt the cold of the vacuum of space against his body.

Zeke realised he was not dreaming, but had no idea what was occurring. He could actually feel all of the sections of the hull as if it was part of him. The area where the propulsion motors sat was warmer, the side facing the sun was degrees warmer as the solar rays hit it. He felt the weapons tubes and sensed the cold dark interiors where no sunlight ever reached.

He wasn’t afraid, for some reason deep within him he decided he was there because he needed to be. There was something he needed to see. He just needed to look for it. It was there. He looked outwards and was rewarded with a fantastic view.

It never ceased to amaze him how much the stars became bright orbs of light in space, the flatness of them from the Earth’s surface looking through the dust laden atmosphere was nothing compared to when seen like this.

From two dimensional twinkles to three dimensional sparkles, even photographs couldn’t catch the depth and intensity of a view like this. Zeke continued to wonder what had bought him out here. His abilities didn't extend to astral travelling.

His eyes warily scanned the heavens around him. They were looking for something specific. He could feel the tension building inside him. That 6th sense that he had in the gulf and that the Ferrazine was still honing inside him. He knew something was out there.

He continued to scan. He didn’t know whether he was dreaming, or if this was real, but he wasn’t prepared to take the chance. He would persevere until he had something tangible to hang his worry onto, or until it disappeared like an old ship in the fog.

His attention settled into a wide monitoring pattern and he waited, knowing that whatever had set his alarm bells ringing would be coming soon. Zeke was mesmerised by the stars, their pattern seemed to slip into a dance, he followed it as if the universe was serenading him. It was then that he noticed the anomaly.

There it was.

A blinking orb, not regular, irregular.

It was there. Yes.

He could see it. He watched for a few minutes. It was... getting bigger.

He zoomed in on the image. Was this him or the ships sensors, he couldn’t tell. It instantly became a large silver blob, no stick, no its a blob again. Ah! its a SHIP.

It was out of control falling through space bow over stern in an irregular motion that alternated the view of it from this perspective. He changed perspective. Now it was approaching along his port side. He could now see it clearly. Its stern had the uniform T-shape that denoted ... ZIRKOS!

Zeke was suddenly back inside the ship on his grey plinth. He leapt up, his vision bringing him to full alert.

“Arty, full sensor scan NOW!”

“Working, Zeke. Scanning.”

“Damn it! Zirkos, what happened to you?” he yelled as he ran into the Control Room.

‘SHIP do you hear me SHIP’ he mentally challenged across space in as loud a mental shout as he could manage.

“Arty, bring shields to maximum.”

“Affirmative.”

“Arty, show view screens, bow and stern.”

The images leapt into focus on the large screens in front of him. He tried to remember the star map from his vision, nothing seemed to look at all like it. Then he thought he saw a familiar pattern.

There. He could see that pattern from his vision.

“Arty, zoom in bottom right quadrant, screen one.”

“I detect a metalloid object of a similar nature to this ship. It appears out of control.” Arty responded.

“Arty, hail it.”

“There is no response.”

“Object is closing with us and will be within tractor range in sixteen minutes...”

“Arty, prepare to capture craft with Tractor Beam as soon as in range, without adding damage,” he added.

He wasn’t confident that the tractor beam had been fully calibrated yet. A poor, or mistimed catch could crush the ship.

“Arty, continue to hail ship.”

“Arty, record coordinates, origin, direction and speed of distressed craft. Log for further analysis.”

“Acknowledged.”

Zeke could feel the moment when the Tractor beam caught Ship. As the momentum pulled them out of alignment he felt the slight shift as Arty pulled them back onto the previous course.

“Vessel secured.”

“Arty, scan vessel for life signs. Attempt contact with the ship.”

“There are no life signs. No on-board A.I. No external signs of damage,” informed Arty.

“In addition, engines are cold, there is no life support; power reserves appear to be at zero.” The A.I. completed its analysis.

“Arty, secure ship to our vessel. Prepare an emergency hatch connection. Do not open hatch until I command it.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Ship is Secured.”

“Emergency Hatch deployed. However, there is no corresponding response from the other vessel.”

“Damnation! What on earth has happened to you two?” he screamed in frustration.

“I need Pod!” Zeke said to nobody in particular.

He had missed the damned A.I. and now it was important, he needed a friendly A.I. that knew the score and could help him sort out what was going on.