AL Clark, Jonathan G. Meyer [the little red hen ebook .TXT] 📗
- Author: Jonathan G. Meyer
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None of what Chris said jogged any memories. It was like a science fiction story he’d never read.
Chris continued, “The habitat ring was to be used to house the people after revival until planetfall, and then for the subsequent operations. The ship is fully automated, and the computer was programmed to wake the crew when ready or if there was an emergency. I guess that didn’t work out so well.”
Something had gone wrong, and Chris and Al were either the first to wake up or the last ones alive. A forty-something amnesiac, and an eighteen-year-old kid.
Chris continued, “When they first discovered Avalon with one of the telescopes in orbit around the moon, it was considered a pretty significant find. The planet they found was in a Goldilocks orbit around its yellow sun, and the images sent back showed a world very similar to Earth. An early Earth before the industrial revolution. In other words, Earth—before we messed it up.
“They got the name Avalon from a mythical island paradise detailed in the legends of King Arthur. It was where they forged his sword Excalibur and where he went to recover after the battle of Camlann.”
The boy laughed and told Al he had gotten all this from the brochure advertising the lottery. After reading their glorified description, he said he was hooked.
“Avalon was not the only planet reachable within a thirty-year journey. Four starships were built and sent to different promising planets. They were assembled in space in a synchronous orbit around Earth, and it took five years to build each ship. As soon as one starship was finished and launched, another was begun.
“A lottery was set up for a place on a vessel, and it raked in trillions. They charged one-hundred U.S. dollars per ticket, and the money financed the building of the ships. The rest was supposed to help those most affected by rising sea levels, catastrophic storms, species extinction and so forth. The ships turned out to be extravagantly expensive, of course, but the people attempting to save the planet still got almost half, which was a lot of money. Unfortunately, it did little to make the Earth more livable.
“Our ship, the Excalibur, was the last one built of the four. It benefited from its predecessors in that it had the best of everything. There’s supposed to be a very extensive seed bank for crop promotion, a large hydroponic farm, and the latest design of primary fusion drive that money could buy. The hibernation pods had all the bugs worked out and were the best models built to date. They also said the master control computer was one hundred times better than the computer on the first ship.
“Our ship is like a modern day Titanic, with everything needed for a long voyage. Except the Titanic was for recreation, and the Excalibur is for survival.”
Chris was the last one aboard the last ship, which means he was the last person allowed off the planet.
The two shipmates entered the capsule for the number one spoke using Chris’s card. They both grabbed hold of the tree, and Al activated the lift. They watched the walls of the spoke slide by, and as they got closer to the hub, Chris began to smile. When the lift reached the top of the tube and stopped, he looked at Al and said, “Is there anything like zero gravity? I will never get tired of it.”
As soon as the door opened and the lights came on, Chris pushed off and sailed gracefully to the far wall, where he grabbed a waiting handle. Like a monkey, he then swung from handle to handle spinning around the circular hub until he got back to Al, where he stopped, smiled, and said, “Ever flown before?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure...let’s see.”
Al pushed off to try and follow Chris’s example. As it turned out, it was trickier than it looked. The lift section was slowly revolving, and they had to be careful not to bang into the raised capsule as it rotated around. In addition, if you landed on the rotating section it would change your trajectory and make you go where you didn’t want to. In the end, the two spacemen proved Al was reasonably proficient, and Chris, who had spent many hours practicing in the hub, was easily deemed an expert.
Chapter Four
After a little discussion, they decided to find the bridge first. Al figured if there were working computers, they would be there, and they could gain a lot of useful information. There may also be a labeled schematic of the ship or a log book to tell them where they needed to go. Hopefully, there would be something there to give them more information.
The two hatches on both sides of the hub had clear markings. Bold lettering on one door said MAIN SHIP and the other said BRIDGE. Simple, and not very descriptive. There were the standard control panels, and both doors had green lights. Things were looking good so far.
Chris showed Al how his card wouldn’t work on the bridge door, so Al tried his—and nothing happened. A second attempt also failed. He looked closer at the control panel, but it appeared to be no different than the others. Al looked at Chris and said, “Ok, that didn’t work, how about we try the other door?”
The door labeled Main Ship sighed, and then slid aside after Al pulled his card through the reader. Inside the door was a smaller version of the habitat ring airlocks. After the first door had closed behind them, they walked across and opened the secondary door. What they found was the breadbasket for the ship.
Their eyes adjusted to the brightly lit room, and before them stretched a long wide aisle with planting beds on both sides going all the way to the other end, where there was another door. Row after row of ten by twenty-foot hydroponic beds, loaded with plants and separated by narrow two-foot walkways, filled both sides of the room. In the efficient beds was a bumper crop of all kinds of vegetables: corn, potatoes, squash, lettuce, melons, and further down what appeared to be herbs.
Industriously moving about them, a dozen three-foot tall robots tended the plants. Slender enough to fit through the walkways, they looked like sharp pointed bullets standing on end; with arms. Long spindly appendages that could reach anywhere in a plant bed and were raised straight up when navigating the walkways. Chris immediately nicknamed them, Pinheads.
The robots, busy harvesting their crops, ignored the two humans slowly walking down the central aisle. The room, maybe fifty feet tall and two hundred feet long, was a cornucopia of produce.
“This stuff has been growing for a while, what do you think activated it? Chris asked.
Al was still taking it all in, his head following the long line of planting beds. He turned to Chris and said, “I would think the growing of crops wouldn’t start until just before we arrived at Avalon. Why is it here going full blast? We need to find out where this ship is, and exactly how much time has passed.”
“Look—tomatoes!” Chris exclaimed. He ran the last couple steps and snatched a ripe tomato from the vine. His face lit up when he took a bite, and he said, “Best tomato ever! I’ve been living on packaged food so long; I almost forgot what a fresh tomato tastes like.”
Towards the center of the farm, on the right side, was a chute labeled Incinerator. Three pinheads were loading fruits, vegetables, and plant matter into it; causing the food to disappear into the belly of the ship.
Chris asked Al, “Why do you think they are doing that?”
“No one here to eat it I guess,” replied Al.
They moved on. When the two searchers reached the door at the other end of the aisle, they found it labeled with a more stylistic sign declaring it to be, THE PARK. Neither spoke, however both were thinking, This sounded promising.
Al opened the door into a large space, similar in size to the farm, only here was a perfect replica of a full grown Earth park—at night. A park complete with trees, benches, winding paths, and grass. Above them, simulated stars and a full moon filtered light throughout the park, and there was a gentle breeze circulating from somewhere that brought with it the evening scents of Earth in a well-designed city park.
The colonists brought with them a piece of home. A place to come and think, to dream, and to recharge after a day of living on a spaceship. The only missing component were the people. Humans were all the park needed to make it complete. Almost at the same time, they stepped over to the closest bench and sat down to marvel at their discovery.
Chris informed Al the park had a blurb in the brochure. “I read it was here, but I had no idea it would be this nice. You see, the ship is designed using modules, and the modules are reconfigured to make up the different sections. The park and the farm are parts of one module and originally designed for the first ship. Over the years, they improved and refined the tech until they created this state-of-the-art module. There are fruit trees here: peach, apple, orange, and even pear trees.”
Al asked, “All this for three months? Weren’t they supposed to go down to the planet after they arrived?”
“They were, but they would have to live onboard until they were able to get down to the planet and get set up. The ship would remain in orbit to assist the colonists for years afterward with medical facilities, seed storage, and building materials. All the supplies could remain aboard the ship until needed.”
“How about shuttles?” inquired Al.
“I think the brochure said five shuttles, capable of twenty-five passengers each.”
“So somewhere on this ship is our ticket out of here?”
Chris grimaced, “Yeah, if we knew how to fly one, and we’re not a billion miles from nowhere.”
They talked for a while longer and then got up to wander the park. Strolling down the moonlit path, they passed the fruit trees Chris mentioned and helped themselves to an apple. At the end of the footpath, they entered the airlock for the next module labeled MEDICAL BAY and HIBERNATION UNIT STORAGE.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” remarked Al.
The secondary hatch opened onto a long hallway, both sides of which made up an extensive medical bay. The lights were on only in the hall and the rooms on both sides were left dark and foreboding. There were foggy plastic panels on both sides of the hall that helped little in allowing them to see into the medical offices.
Doors were located on both sides, each with lettering stating their use. They stepped through a door marked Recovery, and the lighting quickly increased to expose the interior. Six hospital beds were arranged around the room, with medical equipment
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