Published: 14 Feb 2019

It seemed to take forever to reach the sleeper ship. We had to come in on space standard engines and then even cut to just maneuvering thrusters to bring us alongside. The Al had to bring us in carefully so our displacement wake wouldn’t knock the tiny ship around. Compared to the huge size of The Aspiration, the sleeper ship looked like a toy, even though I could tell from its shape there must have been at least 500 beds aboard.

“So what do we do now?” Chip asked.

“We extend our own shields around it and use our own structural integrity fields to stabilize the ship. Computer, did you get that?”

“Affirmative, stand by; extending shields now; activating integrity fields; the ship should now be safe for boarding.”

“That still doesn’t fix the power problems, and that thing’s still losing it fast.” Chip chimed in.

“Yeah, I know, and I think it may have something to do with that hole in the side of the ship. See there on her port side just behind the forward section?”

“Heck, that’s just a little hole. You sure that’s the problem?”

“Well you have to remember that they didn’t have the fancy integrity fields and redundant systems we have now. What seems to be a very small nuisance to us could very well be catastrophic to them. I won’t know for sure until I get over there though. I’ll go over and set up a power relay and then see what can be done about repairs.”

“You ARE going to wear an enviro-suit aren’t you?” Chip asked with a quaver of real worry and fear in his voice.

“Of course I am. Don’t you worry, I’ll be just fine.”

“What about me? Is there anything I can do?”

“Yeah, tell you what, while I’m getting into my enviro-suit you go down and get a couple of repair bots ready to go with me, okay.”

“Sure thing dad, I’ll have them ready.” he said as he ran off down the hall.

I always wondered why he runs out like that when he’s just a hologram. He could just as easily switch his transmission to another broadcast point in an instant. It must have something to do with the program trying to be as close to human as possible for my benefit.

“Computer, bring the teleporter in the main transfer bay online and ramp up one of the auxiliary generators as well. I want you ready to shunt power over to the other ship as soon as I get it hooked up.”

“Affirmative.”

By the time I reached the transfer bay Chip had two of the big repair bots there waiting for me. One was okay, but I needed a smaller one for inside that ship.

“Chip, get me one of the 1/3 size repair bots please. It’s got to go inside with me.”

“OH! Got ya, give me a couple of minutes.”

“Repair bots, identify yourselves.” I said turning to address them.

“Repair bot Gamma 2A.” said the first one.

“Repair bot Gamma 7F.” the other followed up.

“Okay, listen carefully. I want you two to go out the airlock and over to the small ship on our bow. Go over every inch of the hull and fix what needs to be, and can be, to make her space worthy. Oh, and remember, that ship is VERY old and fragile so take extreme care. Understood?”

“Affirmative.” they responded in unison.

As they trundled off to the airlock I started loading my own repair belt with as many of the things I thought I’d need over there as it would carry. I included an all purpose scanner, and then clipped on a hand weapon out of habit. In my line of work I can’t afford to be careless or to take chances, so I always carry a weapon. I didn’t think I’d really need it this time but you never know what might have stowed away on that ship in a thousand years. Locking the repair belt into its place on my enviro-suit I activated the suits systems and clambered inside. Just then a small repair bot came clanking through the door. It looked just like all the other repair bots, only this one is about a third the size of the others and has fewer appendages.

“Repair bot Theta One reporting as ordered sir.” it stated as it clanked up and stopped in front of me.

‘Oh crap! Not Theta One!‘ I thought as I remembered the other times I had worked with this bot. It has a sickeningly sappy personality, and is always trying so hard to help and be right all the time that it ends up grating on my nerves. More than once I’ve wanted to pull out my blaster and put a big hole through the damn thing. I simply shook my head and resisted the urge though.

“Activate your hover mode please and get into the teleport area.”

“Very good sir, complying.”

There was a hum of energy from Theta One and it drew up its legs underneath its body, then floated over and stopped in the middle of the teleport area. It looked just like a huge, football shaped, dead spider hanging there in midair. I once again had to repress the urge to blow a hole through the thing.

“Okay Chip, I’m ready now. Go ahead and tell the computer to shoot me over there.” I said as I too moved to the middle of the teleport area, not quite sure where I’m going to end up. ‘Chip was right, better safe than sorry. Thank the stars I wore this enviro-suit.‘ I thought moments later as I materialized inside what appeared to be the bridge and immediately floated up to bump against a bulkhead. The repair bot, still in hover mode, went shooting straight up, bounced off the ceiling, and shot across the room, but quickly righted itself and came to a stop in midair once more.

“The artificial gravity systems do not seem to be working sir.” the repair bot said through my suits comlink.

“No kidding!” I replied. “Nothing like stating the obvious, there are systems out all over this ship. We’ve got to find out why and try to fix them.”

“Repair bot Theta One ready and awaiting orders sir.”

“Right, the first thing to do is find out where the power drain is and stop it. I want you to track it down and fix it if you can but remember this ship is VERY old and needs lots of TLC, got it.”

“Yes sir, on my way sir.”

“Hold it a minute! I think the power problems may have something to do with a hole I spotted in the port side of the ship, back just behind the forward section. You should start there, and give me one of those portable power units before you leave.”

“Yes sir, I’ll do that sir, and here’s the power unit sir.” Theta One said as it extracted a compact power cell from its tool compartment and passed it to me then floated out the open bridge doors and down the hall beyond.

Activating my gravity boots I turned to the bridge and began looking over the banks of control panels, service ports, and workstations searching for the external power input port. It didn’t take long to find what I needed and to attach the power unit. I activated the power supply and waited for it to go through its self-adjusting routine. Within a few seconds it had locked itself onto the correct settings for the old computers and the bridge came back to life. I wondered how long these systems had been without power and how they would react to suddenly being switched back on. I got my answer within seconds as two consoles on the far side of the bridge blew out in a billowing cloud of smoke.

I quickly moved over to the work station next to the burning consoles and searched for a way to switch them off. It took several seconds to find the correct circuits but I got them shut down and the smoke stopped abruptly. Opening the front of the first console I almost jumped right out of my suit when I saw a squirming mass of half burned goo that looked like bleeding jello. I grabbed the hand scanner and plied it over the goo to find out what I was dealing with. The readings came back identifying it as a Targillian Plasmoid, a space parasite that eats metals. The scanner said it can be destroyed by exposing it to high frequency sound waves or by simply passing a large amount of current through its cells. After examining the consoles circuits I decided it wouldn’t do any more harm to them then was already done so I reactivated the power and let it fry the damn thing. I could always vent the smoke later.

The next thing to do was to find the main power uptake controls so I could shunt a full power load to the entire ship from mine. I began moving from one console to another tapping buttons and looking at displays of information. Suddenly my comlink crackled to life.

“Dad, did you get there okay? Talk to me!” Chip said in frustration.

“Sorry Chip, I’m fine, just a bit busy that’s all.” I responded chiding myself for once again forgetting to communicate with him.

“I was getting worried, I hadn’t heard from you.”

“Everything’s fine Chip, I’m on the bridge and I’ve got the systems here back online using a portable power cell but I’m still looking for the controls for the main power uptake so you can start feeding me power.”

“Cool! It was the bridge! I was right!”

“Yeah, nice shot kiddo, right on target.”

“Thanks dad, that stupid Al tried to argue that we should send you to the engine room first but I made it send you to the bridge. The readings showed the small deck you’re on and two larger ones below you. Then there’s a huge area behind the two lower decks and the engines behind that. I figured the top one would be the bridge and that that’s where you wanted to go, but the Al wanted to argue so I overrode it again.”

“What do you mean you overrode the Al again?” I asked in trepidation.

“I did the teleport myself because it wouldn’t send you where I wanted to send you. It argued that the systems could be better controlled from the engine room and that you didn’t need to go to the bridge, so I just took over and did it myself.”

All I could do was shake my head and mutter to myself. I closed my eyes and stood there with visions of Chip and the Al both trying to control the teleporter and me ending up stuck half inside a bulkhead. I wondered how long it would be before one of Chip’s overrides would be wrong and I would pay the price for it. Maybe I should reconsider how I deal with Chip, and I definitely needed to figure out how he’s getting into systems he shouldn’t be able to. It was times like this that made me question my own sanity and why I programmed Chip this way. ‘Actually, you know very well why.‘ I told myself. There isn’t any real chance of being ‘stuck’ inside a bulkhead. The teleporter has safety lock outs that would prevent that kind of thing from happening in the first place and since Chip is a part of the computer he has access to all the necessary programs and systems to make the teleporter run correctly anyway. And of course, I knew I wouldn’t have it any other way unless I can find a way to separate him from the computer without harming his program.

With that I took a couple of breaths and relaxed. “Chip, I need to get back to work here. I’ll keep you updated on our progress and when I’m ready you can send me the power I need, okay?”

“Okay dad, I’ll be waiting.”

“Oh, and by the way Chip, in a couple of minutes I’m going to vent the bridge to space. I’ve got to clear out some smoke, so don’t worry about it when you see it, okay?”

“Okay dad, but where did the smoke come from?”

“It was just one of those stupid Targillian Plasmoids eating the circuit boards. I had to fry it but everything else is fine.”

“Ooooo yuk, that’s nasty. How bad are the circuit boards?”

“Pretty shot I’m afraid, but the nanos can fix that up quick enough. I’ll get them working on it in a few minutes, now I’ve got to get back to work, okay?”

“Okay dad, Chip out.”

Returning to my search of the computer systems it took about ten minutes to finally find what I was looking for. I attempted to activate the power uptake but was informed that the requested systems where offline and could not be accessed due to a breach in the circuits somewhere within the ship. In fact, after searching the computer further I found it wouldn’t even run a self diagnostic for me because of the breach. I was now convinced it must have something to do with that hole in the side of the ship.

“Theta One, progress report.” I said activating my comlink.

“I’ve located what I believe to be the source of the problems sir. It appears that a small asteroid has breached the hull and caused damage sir.”

“Well, what kind of damage? How much? Come on; give me something to work with!”

“Yes sir. Sorry sir. The hull breach is of approximately point six one meters…”

“Hey! You know I hate that metric garbage! We’ve been through this before; now give it to me the way I’ve instructed you to!”

“Yes sir. Sorry sir. The hull breach is of approximately two feet in diameter sir. One of the main power conduits has been fractured sir and several secondary conduits severed completely sir. Some of the computer linkage conduits have been severed sir. There appears to be some other subsystems that have been damaged in the path of the asteroid as well sir.”

“Damn, it sounds like that asteroid hit in just the right place to screw up a large chunk of this ship.”

“Yes sir, unfortunately it was very poorly designed sir.”

“Oh well, can you handle the repairs?”

“Yes sir, with ease sir.”

“Concentrate on the main power first. Oh, and stop saying ‘yes sir’ after every sentence, it’s annoying.”

“Yes s…, affirmative, repairs underway now.”

“Good. Can the secondary systems be repaired as well?”

“Affirmative.”

“Good, now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Please restate that last order sir, I did not understand it.”

“Never mind, it’s not important. I would like you to repair the computer linkage next after the secondary power, if you can.”

“Affirmative, the technology in this ship is very much substandard to ours but is easily repaired.”

“Now, what about those other subsystems you mentioned, can those be repaired as well?”

“No sir, I do not have the proper parts to do so. The workshop back on the ship can reproduce the necessary parts if we can find schematics in this ships information banks though.”

“Can the ship be made to function without those subsystems for now?”

“Affirmative, I can reroute them without problems. Do you wish me to proceed?”

“Yes. What’s your time estimate for getting the power back on and the computer working again?”

“Approximately 30 minutes, but that does not include repairing the hull breach itself.”

“Don’t worry about the hull breach right now. We need power and computer control first. Work on the other stuff after that. You can signal the exterior repair bots to fix the hull breach when they reach it. That’ll be good enough, now get to work.”

“Yes sir, repairs are underway as we speak. I hope you will be pleased with my work. Theta One out.”

I knew I didn’t need to worry about the repairs now. Theta One had a tenacious need to please and would make sure every system was working better than it did even when the builders had put it together in the first place. I moved back to the open control panel where the plasmoid had been and saw that it was totally charred now. Taking out a small bottle from my tool belt and inserting it into my handheld scanner I once again plied it over the damaged circuits and then over the adjacent circuits, thus programming the nanobots inside the bottle. I opened the bottle and tipped it upside down onto the circuit board and left it there. Those little buggers would now go to work putting the boards back together as they should be. They’ll even clean up the mess left from the plasmoid because they will break it down to its essential elements and rework those elements into the boards as needed and to replicate themselves as well. When they’re done they’ll return to the bottle and shut down until needed again.

The next thing to do was to get rid of the smoke still floating around the bridge. I tried accessing the automatic purge system but it wouldn’t work so the only thing I could do was to ‘open a window’ so to speak. There was an emergency escape hatch built into one wall I could use but I would have to get the main doors shut first. I had to use the power supply hooked directly into the doors circuits but I got them closed. Then I released a bottle of air into the bridge and released the hatch mechanism. There was just enough pressure to push the hatch out into space and take all the smoke with it but now the hatch was spiraling away from us on its own new course. Damn, why do things always have to get complicated?

“Gamma 2A, Gamma 7F, report your locations immediately.” I said activating my comlink.

“Gamma 2A on starboard side of ship near engine room.”

“Gamma 7F on port side near lower deck.”

“Gamma 7F can you see the hatch that just blew out from up here? It’s spiraling out at about a 28° tangent.”

“Affirmative, hatch in sight.”

“Go get it and put it back where it belongs up here on the bridge, now.”

“Affirmative, on my way.”

Well that took care of that little miscalculation. Now I was glad I brought those two big bots. It would make short work of retrieving the door and replacing it for me. Now for the computer itself. I moved over and searched for the proper port on the computer system.

“Chip, you there?” I asked into my comlink.

“You bet-ya pop. What’d ya need?”

“Chip listen up, I’m attaching a communication terminal to this ship’s computer here. When Theta One gets the computer link repaired and the power back on I want you to do a complete download dump of every last bit of info it has in it. Got that?”

“Okay pop, I’ll get right on it as soon as Theta’s done.”

“Good. One thing you need to look for is the schematics for the parts Theta One needs. Ask it and get a description of what it needs, then feed those schematics to one of the Aspiration’s workshops and get them working on the parts.”

“I’ll get it done as soon as possible. Anything else dad?”

“Not right now, I’ve done all I can here on the bridge so I’m going to go down and find those life signs. Keep the com open and you can guide me to them with the sensors, okay. You’ll also get a look around through my imager as I go.”

“Cool, I’ll lead you right to them dad.”

We hope that you are following this story. You might want to let Jared know by emailing him at: Jared at CastleRoland dot Net