engineering background.
He hadn’t realized all the other crap that went along with the job of launch chief. Like “leadership”, which as it turned out meant referring the petty squabbles of egg heads who’d been purposely kept out of the loop of what the mission actually intended to accomplish.
The phone next to his elbow rang, its chime sounding more irritatingly cheerful than normal. “Yeah, Harold here.”
“Excuse me sir, but every system check shows green lights across the board. Are we a go for launch?” The voice on the other end of the line spoke.
He paused for a moment, somehow he thought this moment would be bigger, or somehow more meaningful. It wasn’t.
“Yeah, what the hell. We’re a go for launch, begin the countdown.” Harold said.
A moment later a voice over the intercom, Launch commencing, begin countdown in T-minus two minutes.
He stood up, and considered what profound words he wanted to say to his people at this moment. There weren’t any, “Ok people; let’s just get this done.”
Finally the moment came, signaled by furious shaking that rattled the windows even from the far end of the complex. Launch in T-minus 5…4…3…The intensity of shaking rose to a fever pitch threatening to reduce the building to rubble, though destruction remained a possibility, 2…1. Launch commencing.
On the other side of the compound, a 7 story gleaming white needle lifted off the pad with a titanic roar and belching fire, bound for whatever lie overhead, but the earth they were leaving behind was already changing.
The buildings were the first to feel the effects of a thousand years of the rainbow sky ignited by the rocket thrust. One moment Harold Childes stood behind his control desk monitoring the rapid changes in the launch, the next he found himself thrown to the floor of the building, and unlike the others, now screaming, he’d been warned that something strange might happen.
Before he could contemplate anything further an eerily silent flash bloomed outside, followed by an invisible force that shattered the windows opening the way for the burning atmosphere to penetrate into the building. A wash of flames and lightning started at the launch site raced outward sweeping out over the earth’s surface.
The firestorm would linger on to some degree until the very last of the atmosphere was finally consumed, and the vacuum of space rushed in to put them out decades later.
Aboard the rocket, the last human beings were pinned into their seats by thrust. They were spared from witnessing the nightmare storm unfolding below them as their tiny vessel escaped.
Finally Emily felt the pressure crushing her ease until she floated within the confines of the pod. The crew had been told that the constraints built into the pods would remain active until the transfer was complete. She was slowly pulled back down into her seat.
Around her she could hear the various systems coming online, including the hood shaped dome built into the pods’ ceiling. The computers voice sounded from the tiny speakers.
“Transfer systems engaging, start up will commence in sixty seconds.”
Emily watched the myriad of indicator lights above her head twinkle, how much brighter will the ones outside be? She asked herself.
A brief sharp stabbing pain radiated out from the back of her neck. “What the hell?”
“Please relax; the transfer will begin in ninety five seconds.” The computer’s voice calmly ordered.
Another pain and it felt like something in her neck gave. One moment a slight pain and fear, but in the next her entire body felt on fire. Somewhere beyond her she heard the computer again, “ninety seconds to transfer start.”
Just as quickly as it had started the pain disappeared completely leaving an empty feeling in its wake. “What was that?”
“Phase one of the neural link instillation, systems are now syncing inorganic and organic components. Please stand by.”
Scared, all she could think of now was how nice it would be once this was over to rest for a while in her own bunk in the crew’s quarters. Then the computers voice came back.
“Sorry, no such search term exists within the system.”
Even though she hadn’t said anything it had heard her. “How?”
A voice now bloomed in her head, neural link.
You can hear my thoughts? She asked. The answer in her head came back with the affirmative.
Would you like to run ship wide systems diagnostic before transfer is begun?
“Uh, ok.” She said. In her head read outs, numbers, and diagrams rushed by. She spoke again, “what is the status of crew quarters.”
Sorry. There is no subsystem matching that description.
“Habitation?”
Sorry. There is no subsystem matching that description.
“Living quarters?”
Sorry. There is no subsystem matching that description.
“I would like to see a schematic of the ship please.” A diagram of the ship popped to the forefront of her mind.
“Diagnostic complete, transfer will commence in ten seconds.”
She searched the area where the technician said the crew quarters said would be, and couldn’t understand. Where they were supposed to be, were only power reactors, and computers each built for massive data storage divided by a bulk head. There were no beds, no living quarters at all. Were they supposed to remain in the cramped pods the entire time?
“Cerebral transfer commencing in 5…4…3…2….” A second latter pain ripped throughout her entire body, threatening to drive her insane, and for a moment she slipped into madness. She might have been lost completely except for a single thought. The feeling of the old man’s hand on her cheek, the warmth, and the calm returned, grounding her. She could tell how long this lasted before she had been swallowed by complete and unending darkness.
“Crew data transfer complete, and secured. Translation errors detected in pods 1, 2, and 4. Neural transfers incomplete in pods 1, 2, and 4. Disconnecting biologic interfaces. Engaging waste disposal systems.”
A moment later an outer panel on crew’s pods closed and sealed itself, inside the pods the crew sat inert, and unaware of their surroundings; however brief those surroundings might be. The temperature inside the pods rose quickly and reached its critical flash point within 38 seconds. Even with sealed doors, light still escaped as the fires inside blazed with near the ferocity of the sun.
“Venting waste exhaust. Biological Interfaces will be powered down. Ship wide systems will now revert to minimal operating levels. Thank you.”
The disembodied voice had no sooner finished speaking then lights and life support systems, now unnecessary, began shutting down level throughout the entire vessel leaving only the soft hum of the generators providing power to the engines, and data storage areas. Should they encounter something that required the crew’s “attention” then appropriate systems could be restored within mere nano-seconds.
Another twenty four hours past before a mandatory ship-wide system diagnostic was again triggered when contact with launch command could not be achieved.
“Possible communication systems error, data storage error, administration program #003 active, attempting to terminate… error, error, error. Deep scan initiated.”
The alarm terminated abruptly, and the external cameras began to power on scanning the surrounding space in no particular order. They paused every so often to zoom on a point of interest.
“Launch command do you read, repeat launch command do you read? This is mission specialist Emily Collgate, is there anyone listening? I hope you can read me, it’s all so very beautiful out here.” The ghostly disembodied voice even over the tinny speakers managed somehow to keep its awestruck tone.
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