The Black Planet (2 page)

Chapter 3

One-day colonel Howe requested to see him alone and he didn’t look happy.  He handed Steven an electronic pad, ‘when were you going to tell us about this sir?  I talked to Babes and she said you were aware of them.’

Steven picked up the pad and flicked through the report and the pictures.  ‘I wasn’t going to colonel; I wanted you to discover them for yourselves.’

‘There are hundreds of ships out there sir, maybe thousands, do you have an explanation?’

‘It’s fairly simple; you know how the neutrons from our sun kill those from across the great barrier?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Well this is pretty much as far as most of them got.  It is a midway point between our sun and the great barrier.  This planet has some protective properties however not enough, neutrons still get through; they still kill.  As you know or you should know by now, no ship that has crossed the barrier is allowed back.  A thousand years ago one such ship did exactly that.  Half the crew were killed in their short excursion into our solar system and when the crew returned they came down with some kind of plague.  Eventually all died of course but not before the plague had spread to dozens of different planets and killed millions.  They found no cure and it infected all species, nothing was immune including the insects which actually carried it.  In the end the disease ran its course and disappeared however a new law was brought out.  Anyone who crosses the barrier stays across.  What you are looking at is a graveyard.’

He handed the pad back, ‘this planet is stationary, it doesn't orbit our sun it is too far away to be affected by the suns gravity.  It just sits here, a midway point.  To be honest it’s the only show in town.  When Babes and Ico first arrived here with their original crews they detected some form of activity.  Half the crew were already dead or dying.  The captains frightened of scavengers decided to push on.  By the time all of the crew had perished they were just close enough to pick up stray signals from Earth.  The rest of the story you know.’

‘To be truthful sir I'm still not happy about the situation, I should have been informed before we arrived at the planet.’

‘This is a one off colonel and it will never happen again.  This crew has been together a year now and we still haven’t gelled as a team.  I needed you and the crew to find these craft on your own.  I want conferences, I want planning, I want healthy debates, the whole nine yards.  We need to come together as a crew and as a team.  We need to learn each other’s strength and weaknesses.  The scientists will discover very quickly that they need you and your men to explore these craft.  If this doesn’t happen colonel them I'm damn sure I'm not taking this ship through the great barrier; not with a crew I can’t rely on to work together.’

‘I thought you were stuck with us sir.’

‘For the past six months I have been working on a nano removal program with Babes.  You will not relay that information to anyone else.’

Howe nodded his understanding, ‘Have you completed the technology sir?’

‘Yes I have.  Now I sent out a probe just after we got here and detected no signs of life anywhere within the bone yard.  So take this as a low risk training exercise.’

‘I hear with what you are saying sir but maybe some of those ships have technology that can beat your probe.’

‘There is a very good probability of that colonel, so when you are sent out there to investigate you had better be on your toes.  Will that be all?’

‘Yes sir.’

Colonel Howe left and Buzz appeared a few minutes later, ‘what was the colonel after, he doesn’t look very happy?’  Steven told him but Buzz just shrugged. 

‘He’s just gonna have to learn to live with it isn’t he Stevie.’

Chapter 4

They argued for days and Steven left them to it.  Every now and then a department would come up with a plan and Steven would reject it.  Slowly they began to draw together and more importantly they began to understand more intimately the systems they had at their fingertips.  By the end of the week Steven was able to trawl through stacks of information.  Almost half of the planet had now been surveyed and they were still finding individual craft.  Finally he decided they had done enough and called a big meeting.

The briefing room was crowded as everyone from both ships crammed into it.  The whole of one wall turned into a massive screen.  ‘Is everyone here?’  Steven didn’t bother waiting for an answer, ‘good then let’s begin.’

The first picture appeared on screen, it was of two builder ships exactly the same as Babes and Ico but they were much bigger.  ‘I am going to break up our tasks into a number of different missions.  This is the first.  I am sure you have all noticed the similarities between these ships and ours.  They are of course ships built by the same race as this one.  Since we discovered them our ships have been trying to get in contact.  It hasn’t happened so we have to conclude that the ships have died as well.’

Tapper held up a hand, Steven nodded, ‘how can that be sir?’

‘Short version is that when the crews died the ships gave up the will to live.  These ships are big enough to be third or fourth generation ships.  The death of the crews devastating.  Our ships are young, first generation and even though the loss of their crew was crippling they were able to go on and find another one.  Of course if this had happened in their part of the universe they would have returned to their home planet.  Once a ship has been joined for as long as these ships were, it is impossible for them to take on board a new crew.  They will return home only to die.’

‘But aren’t they mechanical sir?’  Tapper insisted.

‘They are self-aware Tapper; conscious beings with a soul and they can die. Simply put they just cease to function.’

Tapper nodded, ‘thank you sir.  It was just something I wanted clarification of.’

Steven gave him a nod and continued, ‘we are going to carry out the funeral rights for the ships and crew.’  There was a gasp of surprise.  Steven cast his eyes over them hoping they would accept the seriousness of the task ahead.  ‘This job will be carried out by a select few.  Only the captains can open the ships from the outside.  We will go in and collect two things.  The first is the data crystals, the second is series of small containers.  They will be in the heart of the ship.  These containers hold what you might call the essence of the crew and the ships.  All of these will be returned to the builder’s home planet at some later date.’

A scientist popped his hand up, ’sir if I may?’

Steven gave him a small nod, ‘yes what is it George?’

‘Will we be able to look at this essence, examine it?’

‘Not unless you wish your bunk to suddenly find itself on the outside of the ship by morning.’  There were a few giggles and laughs and the scientist blushed.  ‘We will able to look at parts of the data crystals if Babes or Ico think it is appropriate or necessary.  Other than that they should be returned untouched preferably.  Once these have been removed Komoru and I will initiate a sort of self-destruct mechanism.  This will awaken the dormant nanobots which will tear the ships down.’  He thought it over for a moment, ‘basically they will use the ships to replicate themselves until there is no more ships.  At that point we will return and harvest the bots.  Any questions so far?’

There were none.  ‘OK good, the next mission will be to investigate the only building we have found on this planet so far.  Why it is there or why it was built we have no idea.  If it hadn’t been surrounded by dozens of these smaller ships we would never have found it in the first place.  The race the ships belong too isn’t well known according to Babes and Ico and they were surprised to see them here.  Their technology is a little more primitive, however their craft have been known to fly at extraordinary speeds.  As you can see they are quite small and Babes thinks they only have a three to five man crew.’  He pointed out one of the craft.  ’Some are slightly bigger, as though they were built to hold cargo.’

‘Or a unit of soldiers,’ Howe interrupted, ‘sorry sir.’

Steven smiled, ‘that’s OK colonel the thought had crossed my mind.  It is why I want to look over this place first.  Of all the craft these are the only ones fast enough to reach Earth with their crews still alive.’

Cookie stuck up his hand and Steven gave him the nod, ‘they look a lot like the ones you see in those UFO pics.’

‘Exactly Cookie, and that’s why we are going there right after we perform the funeral service.  I want to know why they built that building and what for; have they visit earth and why?  I also want to know if we can get some of those craft working.  At some future date they would make excellent scout craft for our new Space Defence Force.’

Cookie smiled his approval.  Steven changed the picture and every military man in the room sat up and took notice.  ‘When our ships passed over this planet the first time they crossed this area of the planet and this ship wasn’t there then.  This is a Hogarth battle cruiser.  A scan of the hull showed recent signs of battle damage.  We can detect no energy signatures from within the vessel but that is hardly surprising as it is an advanced military vessel.  According to Babes they weren’t at war with anyone when they crossed the great barrier but the Hogarth are the peace keepers of their universe.  When we approach this ship it will be with the greatest of caution.  It will also be a military mission only.  To begin with anyway.’

He changed the picture and there were huge lumps of another ship scattered a short distance away.  There were also other vessels scattered around, or to be exact pieces of them.  ‘It would seem the battle cruiser chased a foe into our universe and gave battle.  As you can see they won.’

Steven wound up the meeting by answering dozens of questions.  Some of the scientists got rather heated under the collar when Steven admitted that he had known about the ship graveyard for months.  It was Buzz who interceded. 

He banged a fist on the table, ‘shut up the lot of you.’  There was a shocked silence and Buzz glowered at therm.  ‘You all think you are something damn special, sitting there day after day in your own little worlds.  Keeping your little secrets to yourself; writing your academic papers to send to Earth with the next big discovery.  Yeah we knew about these ships, well some of them anyway and maybe if you had learned to work together then this wouldn’t have been necessary.’

Steven decided to intervene before Buzz really got stuck into them, ‘OK Buzz I will take it from here.’  Buzz scowled at him but Steven just grinned back.  ‘Buzz has a point; this has been a kind of test for all of you.  We are millions of miles from home and I needed you to pull together as a team.  These past few weeks has been for want of a better phrase your final training exercise.  I am glad to say you have passed.  From here on in I have no more clue as what is going to happen than you do.  I needed to know that you could come up with the right solutions or at least a solution I could agree with.  This is where it gets very, very real people, so please bare that in mind from now on please.  From this moment on you will have full access to Babes and Ico’s database’s.  Let’s try and find out as much about these ships, those who built and crewed them.  Dismissed.’

He could see many weren’t very pleased.  Komoru however was hiding a smile behind her hand.

Chapter 5

Lewis stood by the airlock as Ico docked with the dead ship.  Komoru slipped out from behind his shadow and placed her hand against the now dull hull.  The metal was freezing and she winched.  A thin film of nanobots on her hand was absorbed into the ship.  Within a few seconds she felt a connection with the ships passive systems.  There was no reply from the ship itself, only a few mechanical systems that still remained active.  Ico transmitted a signal to the systems identifying himself and the airlock opened with a hiss.  Steven was a few hundred yards away doing exactly the same thing on the other ship.  As the lighting came up Lewis stepped round Komoru and strode on board; before she could move, Cookie and Tapper along with her own Japanese contingent of Special Forces soldiers followed him onto the derelict ship.  Komoru could only sigh with exasperation and follow them.

They soon came to a stop.  It was lifeless and felt lifeless.  The corridor’s still configured for the builder race reached high above their heads.  Komoru caught up with Lewis.

‘Dey is big these ships Miss Komoru, even for me.’

She smiled then shuddered, ‘they are huge, but I don’t like this ghost ship Lewis, let’s just get what we came for and leave.’

He simply nodded and followed her to the bridge.  She sat in the captain’s chair and placed her hand on a pad.  Ico transmitted signals through her hand to the ships systems.  In the middle of the floor a large circular section began to rise.  It rose to the height of Lewis’s head and stopped.  It was full of beautiful crystals. 

‘OK be careful,’ she warned.  The team for the bridge began to pull the crystals and put them into individual containers that Ico had manufactured.  She led the second team to the heart of the ship.  There she opened a door and strode into a circular room.  Placing her hand against a panel, the wall began to slowly dematerialise.  There were hundreds of small beautifully coloured vials.  Komoru lowered herself to her knees and with her hands clasped in front of her said a short prayer in her native language.  When she was finished she simply nodded and the team began to place the vials into racks.  As each rack was filled they began to shimmer and the rack became a solid container. 

Komoru had time to do a little searching and was directed to the captain’s quarters.  She was in for a shock when they opened before her.  Steven and her own quarters were quite austere while these were opulent by comparison.  Strange multi coloured drapes covered the walls and a huge bed.  She couldn’t help but touch one.  It felt even finer than silk.  She wished she could take some but felt it would be disrespectful.  It was an Aladdin’s cave of wonder.

Lewis lowered himself onto the bed, ‘dis is real comfy, and big.’  The look on his face said it all.  Komoru couldn’t help but smile.  He stood up and went over to a unit and opened a drawer.  ‘Dis ain't just a ship miss Komoru, dis is a home.’  He closed the drawer slowly.

‘You are right Lewis and we are trespassing, let’s go get the others.’

Once everyone was off Lewis and Komoru returned to the bridge.  Lewis watched as she sat on the chair for the last time.  The normally shy and reserved woman was sitting with her hand hovering above the panel.  It was as though she was stuck in time.  Her face filled with emotion as the indecision hit her.  Lewis felt his heart swell.  He loved this woman more than life itself.  It wasn’t a sexual thing; never had been.  He regarded her as a rare flower, a person of great beauty inside and out, it seemed to radiate out of her when she was happy.  Lewis loved to see her happy and bathe in those beautiful rays.

Lewis’s life had been full of hardship; brought up on streets full of gangsters, hate and violence.  He had pulled himself out of the gutter by his own intelligence.  When a local gangster tried to recruit him as an enforcer Lewis ran off and joined the army to escape the endless cycle of violence.  Ridiculed at first for his massive size the army soon realised the value of the man.  Promotion came fast and then he was offered a transfer to the Special Forces.  He excelled, but after being badly wounded in a fire fight Lewis was transferred to the heavy weapons department.  It was here he really came into his own.  For years he worked as a specialist, it was then he met his Sharron. 

She was a big girl and had been ridiculed all her life as he had because of it.  He had been on leave and travelling home.  He had decided to break his journey at a small city.  He had walked into a local bar and within a few minutes had felt a presence behind him.  He had snapped round and there she was, sanding with her mouth open in wonder. 

She looked him up and down, ‘soldier boy my grandma always told me there was a man out there just specially for me.  I always doubted her until now, but if you ain't him then I don’t know who is.  You had better ask me for my number now before I lose my courage and run.’

It had taken him a few minutes to get over the shock.  Lewis never did get home that leave, or the next, or the one after.  When he finally returned home it was with Sharon by his side.  Sharon had discovered everything good in Lewis and had nurtured it.  After a year they had got married and Lewis decided to leave the life of destruction behind him.  They returned to her hometown and settled down.  They had been happy, so very happy.  When Sharon had succumbed to cancer Lewis had wanted to die as well.  Lewis had never thought he would ever love again until he met Komoru.  It was a different type of love, but it filled his heart with joy all the same.  He knew his presence gave her strength.  She depended on him and he reviled in it.

Her stricken face turned towards him and he thought his heart was going to burst.  A single tear ran down that beautiful face.  He smiled slowly and nodded.  Komoru closed her eyes and lowered her hand.  It only took a few seconds and Lewis felt something change around him.

‘Time to go Miss Komoru.’

She got up off the chair and crossed to him.  For a brief moment she paused and placed her head against him.  He reached down and stroked her head, ‘let’s go.’

The brief moment of contact passed and he followed her quickly off the ship.  They undocked and moved away.  When they reached the bridge she ordered the viewer to be activated.  Below the fine black dust that had settled on the craft began to cascade off it to reveal it in its entirety.  As they watched, the surface of the ship began to shimmer.  ‘Let’s go join Steven,’ Komoru ordered.