Chapter 35-Lost Ship
We were now within communication distance from the lost ship. I say communication distance, but as you know their radio or communication system is different from ours, so we had to alter things a little. I said to Reeas, ‘Do you want to take this,’ referring to the job of first-contact.
‘No, Dan, you are doing fine.’
‘Very well,’ I said, ‘but you know I’m not too good at first impressions.’
‘My first impression of you was very good.’ she said.
‘Thanks, that is all I want. OK, here we go.’
‘Starship from Amiron, do you read me?’ I could by now see and hear everything on the Amiron ships bridge, and I could tell they had only just received my message at the time it was sent. In other words, they had no prior knowledge we were near. I could see the people in charge scrambling to the microphone.
Boy, it must have been a momentous few seconds for them.
‘Yes, please go on, who are you? Are you from Amiron?’
They were excited, and I can’t blame them. I realized they were by now over-the-moon, but I also noticed that the ships defenses were now in red mode, with the defense shields up.
Debra said, ‘Their weapons are trained on us, Dan.’
‘OK, Debra, I know.’
‘I know, she said, but I thought I would let you know anyway.’
‘Thank you Debra.
‘Please, Debra.’ said Reeas, ‘we are trying to contact them.’
‘I know, said Debra, I am just trying to be helpful.’
‘Thank you,’ said Reeas, ‘we can handle it.’
with that, Debra made a sort of humph noise, and went blank.
‘Unknown ship, can you read us?’ they said.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I can also see your shields are up, and your weapons are trained on us.’
The person who was in charge looked flustered.
‘Hurry up and get the Captain out of sleep mode.’ He said to one of his ship mates.
‘There is no need to panic.’ I said, ‘We are friendly.’
‘Good,’ he said, ‘we too are friendly. Will you please state your intentions?’
‘Our Intentions are to help you.’ I said.
‘Really?’ he said.
I could by now access everything I needed to sort out whatever needed to be done to get the ship back on track to Amiron, also anything else that was needed to supply and equip it. I could see the Info-Scrambler had been activated on their ship. This means they were trying to access our computer.
‘These are not very trusting people.’ I said to Reeas.
‘No, but to be fair, you can’t blame them, their computer will be unable to access anything about us, so it is only natural they will be a little suspicious.’
‘Yes, but this guy in charge is very Grumpy, I can tell by his thought pattern.’
‘Yes, said Debra, I wouldn’t trust him, Dan.’
‘Thank you, Debra.’ I said.
By now the Captain had arrived in a very agitated state, I knew what he was going through. Anyone who has been in deep sleep mode knows well enough what a pain it is to wake up. He had to sit down to gather himself together.
‘Don’t worry, Captain Kriron, we will wait till you are rested.’
I knew that would shake them up a bit.
‘How do you know our names?’ he said.
‘We know everyone’s name on your ship; we also know everything that we need to know to get you back on track to Amiron,’
‘What?’ He said.
‘Yes, you are to be sent home.’
‘No!’ he shouted, ‘We are on a mission to find new worlds.’
‘Can we come over and discuss it.’ I said.
‘Not if you insist on trying to send us home.’ He said.
‘This is going to be harder than I thought,’ I said to Reeas.
‘Yes, I suspected this would happen.’
‘OK,’ I said, ‘now what?’
Debra said, ‘Their weapons are charged Dan.’
‘Yes, Debra, I know.’
‘You know we will be contacting the Veritalanian-Meridian in seven hours.’ Reeas said.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I know. OK, let’s get aboard their ship.’
‘Can I come, Dan.’ Debra said.
‘How?’ I said.
‘I can come as a hologram.’
‘You don’t need to come.’ Reeas said, ‘You can access anything we can while here on the ship.’
‘Yes,’ Debra said, ‘but I want to be near Dan.’
I glanced at Reeas with a-we-might-have-a-problem look.
‘Can you actually appear as part of the ship, Debra? I mean, as a Robot.’
‘I am not a robot!’ She said.
‘No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean robot. You know what I mean, as part of the ship, in body form.’
‘Yes,’ Debra said.
‘Good,’ I said, ‘yes, you can come with us Debra; will you also be in charge of the ship?’
‘Of course, dear.’ she said.
Reeas was by now a little concerned about Debra.
OK, now for you students out there: yes, I know, it is funny that Debra is acting strange but I am not worried, after all, a ship of our magnitude will regenerate often, so it is just part of the process. She seems to be attracted to me; I’m not complaining, who wouldn’t want a gorgeous female light body near them. Reeas and I knew that with our light suits we could simply fall out into space and fly over to the Amiron ship, and then simply push our way in without endangering either ourselves or the Amiron ship.
‘This should be a shock to them.’ I said.
Debra said, ‘Yes, dear.’
‘Please, Debra, don’t call me dear in front of them, will you?’
‘Why not?’
‘Just don’t,’
‘All right, but I can’t understand why?’
‘Just call me Dan, as usual.’
‘OK, Dan,’ she said, sounding a little put out.
‘Make sure they can’t see what is happening Debra, will you.’
‘Yes, Dan, dear, only joking,’ she said.
I took a deep breath sighed and then we pushed our way out into space and then flew over to the Amiron which was the actual name of the ship. It was a giant of a craft some several thousand yards long with massive laser guns which were capable of destroying any normal craft, of course, our craft isn’t normal. We reached the main entry door and simply, yes, I know I use simply a lot but things do seem easy when you are a Guardian. We simply walked into the airlock room then through into the main boarding compartment.
The look on the crew members faces as we walked in was one of total shock. I saw that security people were in the room also with high-intensity blasters at the ready, in fact, one went off and glanced off my suit, then ricocheted into the wall making a substantial hole. I knew the damage was serious as the air re-filter system was now in danger of failure.
‘What the hell,’ shouted one of the crew.
‘Don’t worry,’ I said, ‘Debra, get that will you?’
Debra walked over to the wall and touched it. The repair was now done.
‘God almighty,’ Shouted another of the crew. I thought to myself this crew is a lot like people from Earth, trigger happy, and nervous.
‘Please don’t use your weapons anymore someone might get injured, now take us to your Captain.’
You students know that Reeas and I are still in our regular clothes, plus our light suits which were invisible. Debra was in a skimpy dancing dress with frilly tassels at the elbows. I was going to say something but I thought no, leave it. Also she had on very high heels and lovely earrings.
‘Please, Debra.’ I whispered, ‘can you just be normal?’
‘Why don’t you like me?’ she said?
‘I do,’ I said, ‘but we are at work.’
I could now see the crew members from the Amiron were getting confused.
/> The security chief was eyeing us with menace. I could tell he was stressed out and unsure what to do. I could also read his thought pattern and knew I had to watch him with closely. I said please let us go to the bridge. He gestured with his laser rifle to walk to the main door. We walked up a very long corridor to the bridge. Debra was by now walking like a fashion model on a catwalk.
Reeas said, ‘What are we going to do about her?’
I said, ‘What can we do?’
The security guards were in front and at the rear with guns Ready. I instructed Debra by thought to neutralize their weapons.
‘OK, Danny,’ she said.
Oh, hell, I thought, why bother, just accept it. The more I get bothered about Debra, the more it seems to get worse. We reached the bridge, by now there were lots of people around us.
Why didn’t I readjust the Amiron from our ship, I thought.
‘Hello Captain.’ I said. ‘We are from the emergency landing base on the asteroid Aulous,’
‘I don’t care where you are from, just go away.’ He said.
‘Captain,’ one of the crew said. ‘Can we just hear what they have to say?’
‘No,’ the Captain shouted!
I asked Debra to assess his mental state. She informed me that he was suffering from severe stress overload.
‘OK,’ I said, ‘who is the 2.i.C.’ (second-in-command).
People were now looking at another person in the room but I already knew who he was.
I said, ‘I am now speaking to all the people in the room.
Do you want to go home?’ No one said anything for a few seconds, and then one young woman spoke up. I already knew she was Tyren, the person who was earmarked for Guardian training.
‘Yes,’ I want to go anywhere, but here.’ she said.
‘I’ll have you suspended-in-time for this,’ the Captain said.
I looked at Debra, she already knew my thoughts. The Captain was now rooted to the spot, and totally stiff. Will you please take him to the sleep-tubes?’ I said.
The security people were still training their weapons on us.
One security man who I now realized was second-in-command of security started to approach me. He said, ‘As my boss is in a coma and in sleep-mode I am now taking over control.’ Then the actual second-in-command of the ship said, ‘No you’re not, I am in charge while the Captain is away.’ The security man then pointed his weapon at him and said, ‘When it comes to the security of this ship I am in charge.’
I looked at Reeas. She whispered, ‘Dan, we have less than thirty-five minutes before we reach the Meridian.’
‘Yes,’ I said in a low voice, ‘I know.’
I couldn’t explain to them that a Non-Human alien race would destroy them in a short while. ‘Right,’ I said, ‘time to act.’
I looked at Debra, she already knew what to do, everyone on the bridge just walked off to their stations of work or rest.’
Thank you, Debra.’ I said.
‘No problem, big-boy.’ she said. Reeas just started to laugh.
Tyren was in the room with us, I knew she was somewhat confused but she could understand something of who we were.
‘I knew you would come, someday,’ she said.
‘What do you know of us?’ I said.
‘I know I see you in my dreams.’ She said.
‘Don’t even think about it!’ Debra said, taking hold of Tyren’s arm.
‘Debra, please,’ I said. ‘She is a Potential-Guardian.’
‘I know, Dan, but she has feelings for you, I can tell.’
‘Yes, and I have feelings for Reeas, what do you think of that?’
I wish I hadn’t said that, as Debra suddenly grabbed Reeas by the arm.
‘What is happening?’ I said. ‘OK, back to the ship and that’s an order,’
I was feeling pretty scared at that moment, I can tell you. Debra was all powerful and I knew it. I had to keep my thoughts on the job and not get emotionally involved; I know it is silly
but I don’t know what she will do in anger, so to speak.
Back on the ship we could see a message had just come through for the Amiron ship; it said to turn away from Groveelion space or be destroyed. I instructed Debra to assess all the data from the Groveelions, after a short time we had enough Data to trim down their numbers by mainly assessing their mental or rather etheric state. We had, by now, realigned the Amiron Ship; it could now travel home in eight point two years. Tyren was escorted over to our ship, and she formerly accepted training as a Guardian, she was excited but not overly concerned, and that is a really good sign, it means she can cope with the stress and there will be stress, my student friends.
OK, now for the Good bit. To experience a ship like the Amiron being upgraded by a lightship is really special; also the crew was to be retrained in whatever was needed to get them back to Amiron. Most of the crew was happy to be going home although they had never been on a Planet! What would the People on Amiron think when they get back. All of the crews Relatives long dead!
It had been 375 years for the crew but it was twelve thousand six-hundred years for the Planet Amiron! The distance was only a paltry 350 light years, but with time-dilation you can, as it were, time travel.
For those students who want to be exact, please be aware that the ship was not always traveling at light speed, also they were stopped for a number of years to make repairs, whatever the outcome, they will be very late! OK, not wanting to blow our own horns, we did pretty well I think. Now, you say, why did we have to go through all that when we could had done it all aboard our ship, well, all I can say is it is a learning thing for us all, and as Zelda 3 said, we had to leave it till the last minute to get more info.
Amiron already knows about Guardians, so that won’t be a problem when they get back.’
OK, Debra I said, back to the base.’
‘No Problem, Daddy,’ she was now also giving me a shoulder massage;
I must admit I liked it. Reeas just had to laugh. Tyren just looked on in a confused way.