A New Colony amongst the Stars Page 2

  “I take it these flashing lights mean that we have not arrived at our destination yet?” Commander Leander asked of any of his crew, his heartbeat increasing as he thought over all of the possibilities that could occur to bring a modern starship out of hyperspace.

  “No, Captain, according to the navigational computer we are still twenty eight days away from P1056, but which appears to be malfunctioning, so we have an urgent problem that requires our attention.” First Officer Karin replied. He had checked on their position before he had finished dressing, only now did he pay attention to his state of dress.

  Commander Leander now turned to his chief engineer. “Li-Ching, I will speak to you once I have spoken to the ship`s main computer, you understand that we have to personally attend to any problems that have occurred during our flight, we are not allowed to ask for help from anyone?” Commander Leander asked.

  “Yes, Captain, I know, I have to manufacture any parts we need out of whatever scrap we have laying around the ship.” Li-Ching Yung complained in disgust at their orders, he then headed for engineering with his assistant, Manchu, to sort out any problems they found there, and they both hoped that they would all be minor ones.

  Commander Leander and First Officer Karin now rushed to the small bridge of the special operations starship. “Computer, what is the emergency?” Leander asked as soon as he entered the bridge.

  “The ship is not on course for P1056, we have dropped out of hyperspace due to problems with our hyper drive and we are being drawn directly towards a neutron star, the navigational systems will not respond to my commands and the normal space engine is not powerful enough to pull us to safety at this distance.” The male voice of the computer replied in a voice devoid of any emotion, and one that always grated on Leander`s nerves.

  Leander flipped a switch. “Engineering, we must have the hyperspace drive back on line immediately, we are being drawn towards a neutron star.” Leander said in his usual calm voice.

  “Captain, we have a major problem down here, how much time do we have.” Engineer Yung replied, his voice a little shaky upon hearing about the neutron star.

  Leander looked across at the other officer on the bridge who had just been working on that very question. “A maximum of one hour Captain, after that we are dead.” First Officer Karin replied, trying to mirror his captain`s calm voice, and almost making it.

  “One hour at most Yung, after that you can forget it for we shall all be dead.” Leander replied repeating his first officer`s bad news.

  Leander headed for engineering to offer a hand, leaving Karin in command of the bridge who now busied himself doing tasks that could easily have waited for a more suitable time, but he wanted to take his mind off the possible future, one that became more real as the minutes quickly ticked away, something that he noticed however hard he tried to stop looking at the large clock set on the port side wall of the small bridge.

  In engineering Yung and Manchu had looked at each other on hearing about the neutron star, but only for a moment, they did not bother to reply to their captain, they merely got busy by-passing a piece of poorly written computer software, which is when Leander arrived to lend a hand.

  The three men then spent what could be their last remaining hour alive repairing many pieces of hardware that had been damaged, and finally rerouting many sub-routines to the bridge as their original destination was beyond repair. The poorly written software had initiated a powerful electrical pulse, this it had sent to all of the motherboards set inside every computer within the starship, including the one within the computer connected to the hyperspace drive, and the motherboards are the hearts within each of the many individual computers that regulate the systems of the starship. The Aldebran surge protectors had not been up to coping with the amount of energy that came their way, which meant that many of the motherboards were damaged, and in turn they took down many other systems. Thankfully, the maintenance program finally shut the faulty software down when its self-diagnostic program saw what was happening. Five minutes before the captain`s deadline, Yung called across to Leander, and Yung although looked tired but he did look a little happier.

  “Captain, we now have our hyperspace drive engine back on line, but be sure to only take the ship far enough away from the neutron star so that we are safe. Once there you must take up a holding position, please do not leave this planetary system.” Yung said grimly. “If you will then kindly return to engineering Captain, when we are safe, I will tell you of our remaining problem and what we must do if we are to continue on to P1056.”

  Having done everything that they possibly could, Yung and Manchu now slumped down onto the floor, both men physically and emotionally exhausted by their race against time itself, sweat covered their bodies and neither men had the strength to even speak to one another.

  Leander arrived back on the small bridge and told First Officer Karin the news, he found that Karin was not much better off than Yung and Manchu, the strain of waiting for news, be it good or bad, had given him a bad headache. Karin had already set their course in readiness for this moment, should it actually come, but after listening to his captain he went back into the navigational computer and put in new co-ordinates; and with this done he gave Leander the OK to proceed. Commander Leander punched a button in front of him and they left the death promised by the neutron star behind them, they were now on course for an empty part of this planetary system, and when they reached it the starship came to a halt. The engines would hold them there, with the aid of the starship`s thrusters if it became necessary to use them.

  “Johan, you have the bridge again, I am off to speak to Li-Ching Yung, to see what else is wrong with the ship, and he certainly sounded grim.” Commander Leander said as he rose from his seat, his heartbeat still well above its normal level.

  Twenty seconds later Commander Leander walked into the engineering department.

  “Thank you for dropping by Captain.” Yung began and sounding just a little flippant, something that Leander noticed but disregarded. “However, I am afraid that I have more bad news for you, first off I need to tell you what went wrong and then I need to explain what is still wrong with the ship.” Yung looked grimly at his captain who simply nodded, and so Yung explained what the problems were and why they had occurred.

  “It seems that during our last service somebody missed another of those faulty computer software programs, it almost killed us, it burnt out six motherboards, any more than that and we would have never made it, if that was not enough it also took out numerous other pieces of hardware and software. As you are already aware, we were forced to by-pass some of the software in the computer and Gerry rig a series of repairs elsewhere, some of our systems are no longer working because we had to strip them down to repair the essential ones. That is all that went wrong Captain, now I will detail our future problems.” Yung explained and Leander`s heartbeat began to rise as he feared the worst.

  “Captain, the navigation system is now nothing more than a boy`s own book of space because parts of it were fried beyond repair. It will allow you to plot a course to the next system, but no more, to leave it to take us all the way to our destination will see us crash into one of the many hazards between here and P1056. With so much of the software by-passed we will have to do all of the tasks manually that were normally done by the navigational computer. This means moving at a slightly slower speed and using a programmable calculator to give us answers that the software in the navigational computer normally calculated in micro seconds, thankfully I have one, a relic of bygone years. You or the 1st officer will have to constantly scan ahead of the ship to ensure that nothing hazardous is directly in our path, and one of you will need to constantly recheck our course and then input each new course correction, again manually.” Yung explained. “One of you must carry out these course checks every hour, even more so when we are passing through any planetary system.” Yung said stressing this point, for he did not want to plough into any star or planet near to
their flight path. “I am afraid that neither of you will get much sleep on this voyage.”

  Leander sighed and said nothing for a moment, taking the moment to digest all that his chief engineer had told him, then he smiled at Yung.

  “When we finally land on P1056, Li-Ching, do what you can to check out the systems, short of leaving us without power.” Commander Leander ordered.

  “Never mind about P1056 Captain, neither Manchu nor I will get much sleep either, we will need to periodically turn the power off every 24 hours while we are en-route to the planet. I will then have to check on all of the relays that burnt out as well as all the other items of hardware that were affected to see how they are all holding up, something not possible while the system is working. I glued several of them together with spit and chewing gum Captain, and as we cannot put in somewhere along the way to procure replacement parts, I will have to spend the voyage making new ones out of whatever material that comes to hand, because Captain their life expectancy is now very short. None of the crew will be using the cryogenic pods again on this trip, partly because I used many of their parts during the repairs and partly because we will all be far too busy. It goes without saying Captain that we will be arriving at P1056 later than planned.” Yung explained grimly.

  “Once we land we might be able to recycle some of the hardware aboard the Earth vessel to replace our damaged parts, meaning that I will have to strip down the navigational computer and other essential programs to accomplish this. For only then will I be able to check and repair the individual systems. Who knows, we might even be able to get back to Aldebra in one jump. Have no fear Captain, I will tell you before I make any repairs to the engines, but Captain there will be times when you will be without power, although it will never be more than a few hours away.” Yung promised.

  Cryogenic sleep had slowed Leander`s thought processes down and it was only now that something pinged inside of his brain.

  “My god, all this means we will have to survive the trip using the survival rations!” Commander Leander groaned. “As for our being late to arrive at P1056, if the empire had not bought so much rubbish to service their fleet, this would not have happened.”

  “Careful, Captain, you are amongst friends now, but when the soldiers awaken there will be no telling who is or is not an informer.” Yung advised. He had been with Leander for ten years and considered him a friend; one who he knew would never betray a fellow officer to further his own position.

  Commander Leander nodded grimly and then returned to the bridge, leaving Yung to his work, once on the bridge he brought First Officer Karin up to date. Karin took all of the bad news well enough; his time with Commander Leander had rubbed off on him.

  “Captain, when we first encountered the people of Earth, I thought that our own society would undergo a change for the better, however things have actually deteriorated, we are now on the brink of going to war with them.” Karin said glumly. “Our orders never seem to make any sense to me, take our present orders, this is supposed to a secret mission yet when the colonists of Earth are attacked their leaders will instantly jump to the conclusion that we are behind it. For Admiral Lu-Wing informed us before we left Aldebra that Earth had been informed a year ago that P1056 is on our list of planets to colonise, and that they should stay clear of that area of space as we have claimed the entire sector.”

  Commander Leander smiled, “Johan, I would take the admiral`s words with a pinch of salt, because our leaders would have arrived at the same conclusion as yourself.” Leander replied with a grin.

  As he spoke to his junior officer he remembered Yung`s words. “Johan, please remember only to voice such thoughts when there is no chance of our being overheard, for we would both live to regret it otherwise.” Commander Leander advised.

  Karin now set the first stage of their path towards P1056, and Leander took the North Wind out of the present planetary system and headed further into deep space. The special operations starship limping along through space, passing countless systems and losing three whole days during which Chief Engineer and his assistant effected repairs to this relay and that microprocessor. Each change in course had to be worked out and then input manually, usually the navigational computer took care of such mundane things, the crew being in cryogenic sleep. Worst of all Commander Leander was unable to advise Aldebra of this delay, for they were running silent through deep space.

  Chapter Two

  Departure

  Eight weeks earlier, a massive starship had hung in space above the planet Earth, it was one of just a few craft currently docked at the main space dock of Earth, however this craft dwarfed the others in size. It had been purchased from a bankrupt company for a specific purpose, to transport colonists and their cargo to a planet in orbit around a sun 110 light years away from the Sol solar system. Initially the vessel had been a passenger vessel travelling from planet to planet dropping off its passengers en route. The two hundred colonists who would soon board it would travel all the way to their destination in cryogenic stasis, and only part of the crew would remain awake for the three month journey to the planet New Caledonia, the name given to the planet by the man who had found it, and he was of course a Scotsman. The rest of the crew would be awakened just before the ship arrived at its destination; only if a problem arose during the journey would the remainder of the crew be brought out of their cryogenic stasis. Travelling in cryogenic stasis meant that the spacecraft could be of a smaller specification, especially if it only carried limited supplies.

  The supplies aboard the Ark had all been purchased by the Church, but paid for by the colonists themselves, this was certainly not a freebie trip, the colonists would even end up paying for the use of the starship, for all imports and exports to and from New Caledonia would be aboard a Church of the Universe freighter, and via the Church`s own import export company.

  The supplies inside the starship`s large hold included eighteen months of survival rations, and a number of electric chainsaws to cut down the tall thin trees that filled the land around the chosen landing area. These would enable the colonists to construct the log cabins that would be the colonists` new homes for the foreseeable future. Along with other essentials also on board the spacecraft were the seeds of numerous plants, the latest in waterless toilets, twenty solar-powered photovoltaic panels to provide the colonists with electricity, one mechanical digger, ten tractors with various pieces of farming equipment for use by the farmers and two large and two small tracked vehicles which would be used by the farmers and the twenty mining couples. There were also ten large wagons which would be used as goods wagons and which would be hauled along by the tractors. However, even with all of this the life for the colonists would start out rough and would not improve for some time, so the colonists had to be capable of enduring a hard life, those who preferred an easier time stayed on Earth. The ship had been named the Ark, after the more famous one that Noah and his family were said to have travelled in, although this one only carried humans, any farm animals required by the colonists would have to be domesticated from amongst the wild animals of the planet.

  This was the second such ship sent out by the Church of the Universe, unfortunately, the first ship disappeared without trace somewhere along the arm of Perseus, one thousand light years away from Earth. This new trip was of a much shorter duration, prudence being the new watch word of the religion, even so the colonists had to trust in their god to see them through, and be brave hardy souls able to construct what they needed out of the materials available to them. Each couple had been told to bring, amongst other things, at least one Phaser rifle, this was so they could hunt the wildlife on their new home world and so supplement their diets while the land was being cleared for farming, sown with seeds and finally the crops were harvested.

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  Two members of the Genesis cult, one of the many religious cults on Earth, were full time employees on the space dock, having kept their true beliefs a secret they were able to work
on the Ark unnoticed, for had their true beliefs been known by the authorities they would never have been employed. The reason why was that the followers of the cult believed that the Garden of Eden was in fact all the other planetary systems in the galaxy, and it was from one of these other worlds that Adam and Eve had been cast out, the aim of the cult was to stop Mankind’s exploration of space beyond the Sol solar system, for that would be going against God`s will and they saw themselves as his tools. To this end they had managed to smuggle two explosive devices aboard the Ark, they were in crates labelled farming equipment. At the moment the two men were each operating a forklift truck, they were stacking cargo in the large starship`s hold. The first of the men was on the starboard side of the huge starship, and he had one of these crates on his truck, and as he approached the particular section of the ship`s hull that he was seeking he stopped and then checked to see if there was anyone else around.

  This section of the starship was where a power cable, which supplied the necessary power to one pair of thrusters, entered into a junction box where it was split into two smaller cables that carried on to each individual thruster. They were the starboard forward thruster and the starboard forward lateral thruster, the latter being just on the other side of the ship`s hull at this particular point.

  Seeing that he was concealed from view, being hidden by the many crates already stored in the starship`s spacious hold, he now set his crate down. He quickly moved the stack of crates that had already been dropped at his chosen site and then replaced them with his crate, pushing it tightly up against the ship`s hull. Then he restacked the original crates back on top of the crate that contained the explosive device. The device within his crate had a small computer attached to it, it would monitor the spacecraft`s main computer, when the air pressure outside of the spacecraft reached 7 psi the device would explode. As the explosive device was of the directional type, the full force of the explosion would be directed against the junction box and the starship`s hull and the starboard thruster itself. The spacecraft would then be approximately 18000 feet above the surface of the planet New Caledonia, and the resulting loss of air pressure coupled with the loss of control would be catastrophic. On the port side of the starship the second cult member had just put his own crate down next to the power cables that fed the counterparts to the two starboard thrusters; this device was time to detonate twenty seconds after the first device.