Teardrops In The Night Sky (Steven Gordon series) (8 page)

Chapter 16

B
rian Gordon kept breaking out into cold sweats.  It had been a whole twenty-four hours since Steven had disappeared inside the ship and he hadn’t had a wink of sleep since.  His mind was beginning to become befuddled.

Howe sla
pped him on the shoulder, ‘come on Doctor, you should try and get some sleep.’

Brian whipped his shoulder away violently, ‘get away from me Howe,’ Brian’s red rimmed eyes bored into him, ‘you knew didn’t you?’

‘How could I?’

‘You’re a man of instinct remember.’

‘I could never have known he would go inside.’

‘Then why give him the g
un?’

‘A precaution.’

‘In case the ship opened and he went inside, you just put your own foot in your own mouth Colonel.’

Howe sighed, ‘the Generals worried about you.  He needs you bright and alert not half dead.  If you don’t go to bed soon he’s going to have you restrained.

Brian turned away, ‘tell him I’ll grab some sleep after we try his new plan out.’

‘Ok.’

The new plan was simple, having exhausted every other avenue of approach, they were going to try and threaten it.  A tank rumbled along the outside of the perimeter.  As it came into view of the craft, its gun turret began to swing towards it.

In the blink of an eye the ship was gone.  Howe cursed and slammed the transmit button on the consol in front of him, ‘shit! Get that damn tank out of here, far away from here.’  He received a terse acknowledgement and the tank began to withdraw.

Brian slumped defeated, ‘great, I knew that wasn’t going to work.  The President was a bloody idiot to order that.  The question now is, will it come back, or will I have lost my son for good as well?’

Howe shook his head, he had agreed with Brian that it had been a bad idea, but the President had run rough shod over everyone.  The President had been quick to condemn Sales, but the Colonel’s alarm bells had been ringing full tilt ever since.  Something hadn’t been quite right.  He began to wonder who the real perpetrator of this calamity really was.

As the tank began to move out of range, a small dot in the sky slowly began to grow larger.  There was a loud shout from the operators.  Within a few minutes the ship once again rested in the middle of the car park.  For a few seconds Brian almost believed that it had never left.

He sat and stared at it for what seemed an eternity. A fog began to drift in over his mind’s eye.  He stood abruptly and swayed a little.  Howe steadied him with a hand.

Brian turned his red-rimmed eyes on him, ‘what do your instincts say we do now Colonel?’

‘They say to wait
Doctor, same thing they were saying this time yesterday.’

Brian shook his head, ‘well I’m going to bed.  Maybe the time will begin to pass faster.’

Howe watched him retreat then scanned the room to see if anything was happening but everything was the same.  A bank of operators were attending the screens in front of them and poor Buzz was frantically pounding on the key pad of a cell phone, a task he had repeated a thousand times in the past day.  Howe knew he had slipped one into his friend’s flak jacket, but as yet it hadn’t even rung once.

Chapter 17

S
teven slowly drew back into the light.  He tried to sit up but immediately felt dizzy.  He lay back down until the giddiness passed.  When he tried to sit back up again a gentle voice cautioned him.

‘Please take it slowly.  You are a little dehydrated and will feel disorientated for a few minutes.’

‘Who are you, where am I?’

‘Do you remember coming onto the ship?’

His memory began to flood back, ‘yes I do, I felt tired and feel asleep didn’t I?’

‘Yes you did.  I am the ship.’

Adrenalin squirted into his system and the fog covering his mind cleared.  He looked around; the metal sheen was gone.  He could clearly make out individual workstations.  There were push pad buttons next to his hands on the arms of the chair. 

It was then he noticed his hands.  There was some form of metal plate on the back of his left hand, but it wasn’t that.  His fingers seemed longer.  He jumped up off the chair.

‘Ow!’ his feet pinched in his boots.  He looked down and was amazed to find they were split.  He took a step and wobbled, grabbing for the arm of the chair.

‘Be careful,’ the ship warned, ‘the buttons you see on your seat are active and you now have full control.’

He sat back down and continued checking himself out.  Most of his clothes were in tatters, all split at the seams.  He flexed a muscle and felt it ripple.  It was then he realised with a shock that his close-cropped hair was now shoulder length.

‘My God how long have I been here?’

‘By Earth time, fifty eight of your hours.’

‘Is that all, what have you done to me?’

‘I repaired you.’

It was a simple statement, but one that spoke volumes to Steven.  Memories of his child hood came flooding back.  The accident, the pain and fear afterwards.  A tear rolled down his face.

‘You made me grow to, didn’t you?’

‘Yes
, you were in some form of accident.’

‘When I was fifteen years old.’

‘You natural growth was halted then.  When I repaired you I noticed you were beginning to grow again so I accelerated the process.  You have now reached your true potential height.’

‘So I’m taller, that’s why I’m feeling so unstable on my feet.’  Then a thought struck him; he looked down the front of his trousers, ‘OHH!’ he let them snap back.

There was a note of concern in her voice, ‘is there something wrong?’

‘No nothing,’ a big grin split his face and he laughed aloud, ‘nothing at all.’

He took his pinching boots off and regained his feet.  This time he was able to walk on the warm floor, ‘this is well cool.’

‘Cool?’

‘Yeah, it’s an expression.’

He whipped of his ripped jacket, and tore the restricting sleeves from his shirt.  Getting into a taekwondo stance he tried a few patterns.  He stumbled a little at first, but was soon zipping through his old forgotten patterns.  After a few minutes he felt his confidence return.

‘You know this is great, I feel great, thank you.’

He could sense the ships pleasure, ‘it was nothing.’

‘I would hardly call it that.  Now what can I do for you?’

There was silence for a moment, ‘you are my new heart.’

‘You mean like a captain?’

‘Yes but it is more.’

‘Yes I can sense that.  Why did you pick me?’

‘I felt a connection between us.’

‘The first time I touched you?’

‘Yes, did you feel it too or was I wrong?’

Steven felt an up welling of emotion, ‘you were not wrong, but I doubt if I will be allowed to stay your captain for very long.’

‘The choice is ours, we are as one now, mated for life unless one of us chooses different.  Old age, death or a handing over to your children is the only three things that can separate us.’

‘Mated is such a strange word to use.’

‘It is the right word; there is no one on this planet who can separate us now.  It can only be done on my home planet.’

‘You mean we are somehow integrated?’

‘Yes, are you displeased?’

Steven grinned, ‘you have to be kidding; this is a dream come true.  I’m just waiting for my mother to come wake me up.’  No sooner had the words left his mouth than reality came crashing home.  ‘Oh God my mother, tell me quickly are you in touch with the other ship?  My mother’s on board, Doctor Sales shot her, do you know if she’s all right?’

‘Your mother is comfortable.  She was hit in the shoulder and lost some blood but her companions have medical supplies and have treated her wounds.  She should be perfectly all right for a few more days.’

‘Where are they now?’

‘They are in orbit around the planet you call Saturn.’

‘What are they doing there, why don’t they come back?’

‘My mate has been disabled, the one you call Sales and his companions have removed the main drive coupling.’

‘You have another mate?’

There was a slight pause, ‘all were mated, the ships the crews our hearts.  He too she and she too he.’

Steven frowned, ‘you mean you ships have gender and are mated?  The hearts are the captains, yes and they are also mated?’

‘That is correct.’

‘So the ship up there is your male equivalent?’

‘That is correct.’

‘Can you conceive?’

He was surprised to hear her titter in amusement, ‘no we are primarily mechanical beings.  However we can design our own offspring but the builders have to build them for us.’

Steven shook his head in wonder, ‘amazing, I would love to hear all about your culture, but it will have to wait for a moment.  Can we go up to Saturn and rescue them?’

‘That is not possible at the moment.  It is too dangerous.  The one you call Sales has gone mad and is wondering the ship with a weapon.  My companion has locked your mother and her companions in the bridge for their own safety.’

‘That’s ok I have a weapon.’

‘That would be brave of you but fool hardy; the man is completely insane.  I would suggest we take on a crew of your choice before venturing off planet.  There are many things I cannot do on my own including docking procedures.  To have any hope of surprising him you would have to be at the docking point ready.  You cannot be both there and here.’

Steven nodded wisely, ‘I hear you, and the docking procedure has to be initiated from here.’

‘Yes, you are also the only person we have found compatible to this point, to risk losing you now is foolish.’

Steven grimaced, ‘I understand where you’re coming from, but don’t expect to wrap me in cotton wool I won’t stand for it.’

‘I’m sorry I don’t understand the phrase.’

‘Don’t expect to be able to keep me safe all the time.’

‘I understand.  I have also many other requirements that require the assistance of a crew.  I have had no maintenance done on my systems for many of your decades.  I am now only running at seventy percent capacity, but these can wait until the immediate crisis is over.’

‘How long before the lack of maintenance becomes critical to you systems?’

‘I can run as low as thirty percent before my onboard systems begin to fail and I become a danger to my crew.’

‘A long time yet then?’

‘Yes.’

Steven sat back down in his chair weighing up all the possibilities that were open to him.  ‘Will human beings be able to do the work you require?’

‘Physically they are far more capable than my own species.’

‘That’s good but what about intellectually?’

‘To be able to perform the tasks, yes.  I have ways of training a crew to do the job required of them, but whether they actually understand what they are doing and why is a different matter.  My technology is far beyond anything Earth has.’

Steven smiled to himself, ‘monkey see monkey do.’

‘I understand, yes, it will be that way to start with anyway.  Whether understanding will come later is to be seen.’

Steven realised there was a thousand questions to ask, but he was sure most would be answered in the fullness of time.  If he wanted to rescue his mother then he had better get started.

‘Do you have a connection to the internet?’

‘No. I cannot access any of my signalling equipment on my own.  I can only monitor signals.’

‘Do you think I would be able to do it?’

‘I would need some form of interface for you to be able to interact with your Internet.’

‘Do you know what it is?’

‘Yes but I have been unable to access it directly.’

‘What I need to get my hands on is a computer, even a laptop.’

‘Why is that necessary?’

‘You need a crew and you’ll need the best.  There are
websites that can tell us who’s who in the world of science and technology.  The trouble is how do I get my hands on one?  The second I step off this ship I will be arrested, probably for my own murder.’

‘Yes you look totally different now.’

‘How different, do you have some kind of mirror?’

The bulkhead in front of him shimmered and Steve found himself looking at a complete stranger.  He got up and approached the strange apparition in front of him.

‘Is that really me?’

‘Yes that is how you should look.’

‘I look totally different, and how come I have long hair but no beard?’

‘I perceived your lack of facial hair meant you did not like it so I had it removed as it grew.  However I know some human males put a lot of effort into their hair and decided it would be easier for you to have a human do it in the style you wanted later.’

‘You’re a very smart cookie, do you know that?’

‘Yes.’

Steven laughed, ‘hey I look like Kurt Russell, well a young Kurt Russell anyway.’

‘Who is Kurt Russell?’

‘He’s a movie star, a very cool movie star.’

‘Is that good?’

‘Oh yes that’s very good.  Well it would be, only trouble is even my friends won’t recognise me now.  Which could be a problem, the big question is how to get round it?’

Steven paced the deck.  The bulkhead shimmered and became transparent.

Steven stopped and pointed, ‘can they see inside?’

‘No only you can see out.’

‘That’s good.’  He suddenly had an idea and went over to inspect his pile of discarded clothing.  He smiled as he found the cell phone Buzz had handed him.  ‘I hope the battery isn’t flat.’

‘I was able to send a signal to it and switch it off.’

He switched it on but there was no signal.  ‘Can I get a signal through your hull?’

‘Yes but I will have to depolarise it.  That means the rest of the equipment you brought with you
will begin to transmit again.’

‘Of course.’

Steven switched everything off manually and she depolarised the hull.  The signal came on full strength.  With a grin he quickly composed a couple of messages.