Stowaway Read online

  Judging by the indicator on the map Zade was staying in crew quarters number five, the room closest to the cargo bay. After getting his routes memorized, Zade turned and headed toward the galley, to crush some food so Jorloss could give him the nanite treatment as soon as possible.

  Before he was out of earshot Samix called for him, “One last thing, if you don’t make it out with the main body you are going to be stuck on the ship; we have to close it up for diagnostic testing. Oh…and we will need the SSILF that’s been shadowing you when we’re planet side, so if you stray away from the ship, you’re on your own.”

  Acknowledging Samix with a nod, Zade headed to the gut truck for fifteen replica beef and cheddar sandwiches. His favorite, from his favorite fast food joint back on earth. After choking down all of the mediocre sandwiches, Zade headed for the med bay where he found Jorloss examining what looked like a charred arm on a lit table. Thinking nothing of it Zade explained that Samix ok’d him going planet side and he needed the nanite treatment to protect against the poisonous wildlife before they landed. Further explaining that he had already eaten and was ready for the shots. Jorloss turned slightly with the same middle ground stare that Zade had seen at breakfast this morning.

  ∆∆∆

  Zade charged into the med bay right as Jorloss was examining one of Zade’s original appendages that was too damaged to repair. Worried about how he would react Jorloss headed him off before he could make it deep into the med bay. Luckily Zade was too worried about going planet side to make the connection. The nanites in both Jorloss and Samix had slightly more functionality that the ones given to Zade. These nanites connected both crewmembers to the ships internal data network, giving them a permanent means of communication. After listening to Zade Jorloss decided to confirm with Samix before administering.

  Samix did you tell Zade he was going planet side?

  Yup.

  What nanite treatment do you want me to give him? He’s rattling on about poisonous plants.

  Give him a treatment that meets the standards of the ones we got before we hit this planet the first time.

  Ok.

  Make sure you tell him it’s for the poisonous plants. I’ll fill you in while he sleeps it off.

  ∆∆∆

  “All right Zade, sit down in that chair while I make up the mix.” Jorloss ordered.

  Zade sat and waited for Jorloss to finish making up the nanite treatment. Expecting another shot of metal gray goop Zade held out his arm. Instead of a shot of gray stuff, Jorloss just gives Zade a small shot of sedative to relax him.

  “The nanites were already in your blood stream so I just had to reprogram them. The sedative I gave you is enough to relax you but not enough to knock you out. I would, however, suggest you get some sleep before we go outside.” Jorloss instructed.

  With that he turns around and went back to his work, leaving Zade to head back to his quarters. As Zade walked through the common room a sudden sluggishness came over him and he decided to rack out, assuming that he would hear or feel the ship begin its descent, and assuming that he would have enough time to head to the cargo bay after he awoke. Exactly six and a half hours after Zade fell asleep the ship touches down, Samix and Jorloss headed towards the cargo bay, passing Zade’s door with no attempt to wake him up. Once in the cargo bay both dawned spacesuits custom tailored for their species’ and prepared their gear.

  Zade was abruptly awakened by Samix’s voice over the ship-wide intercom. “Attention all crew we have safely landed and are preparing to depart.”

  Shit, I must have overslept Zade thought as he threw himself out of bed and towards the door to his quarters. With the route to the cargo bay memorized Zade shot through the common area at full sprint. After heading down the hall and through the cargo bay door Zade could see Samix, Jorloss and three SSILF staged by the door. Both Samix and Jorloss had just finished securing the helmets of their suits and were preparing to open the ramp. Taking the steps, down to the first floor of the cargo bay, four at a time, Zade had to get to them before they open that ramp.

  “Hold up” Zade shouted as he closes the final distance between him and the rest of the crew.

  “Jorloss close the interior doors and prepare for depressurization. Zade I told you to be here when we landed, I don’t have time to wait for you to put on a suit. Jorloss, final life support check, you good?” Samix said as she turned away from Zade

  ​With a thumbs up from Jorloss, Samix hit the controls for the ramp causing it to open to atmosphere.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck. I don’t have a suit on, I’m going to die as soon as that door opens. Either sucked out of the ship or suffocated by unbreathable air. Why are Samix and Jorloss doing this.

  ​The only word to escape Zade’s mouth as he hit the ground was “Shit.”

  After a few tense moments, while the ramp fully descended, Zade could hear raucous laughter coming from above him. Removing his hands from the back of his head and looking up he could see Samix and Jorloss, helmets in hand, laughing hysterically. Jorloss was doubled over laughing so hard he could hardly catch his breath. Samix, with tears rolling down her face from laughter, said

  “That’s what you get for scaring the shit out of us in the med bay jackass. Did you really think we were going to space you for being thirty seconds late?”

  Jorloss chimed in with the obligatory, “You should have seen your face.”

  Zade, red faced and embarrassed, stood and dusted himself off. After regaining his composure Zade began to laugh just as hard as the other two in the cargo bay. The absurdity of the situation was just too much to go unappreciated. While in the buff Zade scared two aliens, who then let him roam free on their ship. As payback the two said aliens set up elaborate gag to scare the shit out of Zade. In his mind there could not have been a more insane story. As the three began to collect themselves Zade spoke up.

  “Y’all think your regular comedians. But seriously, how am I standing here without any kind of protection? I don’t think there is any kind of barrier up, I can feel the wind coming through the door. And this definitely is not Earth, we don’t have Purple and orange spikey bushes.”

  “The nanite treatment I administered wasn’t for poisonous plants, since there are none on this planet. This planet is very similar to Earth, with two major differences, the atmosphere had about half as much oxygen in it, and the planet is slightly larger than earth, meaning it has more gravity. The treatment programmed the nanites to increase your lung capacity, to account for the lack of oxygen, and slightly increase your bone and muscle density, to adjust for the extra gravity.”

  As Jorloss finished his explanation a humanoid robotic skeleton stepped up to the group. Initially Zade assumed that it was just another SSILF. Zade had come to learn that the SSILF were synthetic semi-intelligent life forms created in the robotics and fabrication lab. The crew of the ship used them for maintenance while on the ship and rudimentary security forces while off ship. Due to their rather expendable nature, the SSILF were not capable of true artificial intelligence. They were advance for human standards, capable of understanding and processing complex tasks like fundamental security, but unable to adapt, or operate under any standards not established in their coding. Upon closer inspection Zade could tell that whatever just walked up to the group was not one of the SSILF. Conceptually, it looked like the SSILF, but the quality was better. Unlike the SSILF’s raw metal bodies, this one was painted fire engine red from head to toe. As Zade pondered the red thing, Samix began a quick mission brief.

  First off Samix introduced the red creature as Mur. Mur was the embodiment of the ship’s artificial intelligence. While onboard the ship Mur conducted all navigational and maintenance activities. Mur could then occupy the red body and go with the scientist’s planet side to provide additional security or remotely control the ship. For this mission it would be staying on the ship running a full diagnostic sweep. The designs of any broken piece, found by Mur, would be sent to the robotics lab to
be fabricated. Samix and Jorloss would be outside the ship running diagnostics on some of the external systems, in parallel with Mur’s testing, to expedite the pit stop. The SSILF would provide security for Samix and Jorloss while they are outside the ship. Even with all three individuals testing and repairing the ship, estimated time to completion was over three hours. Remembering that Zade didn’t have the same data link that the others had, Samix continued with a brief planetary description covering all of the threats on the planet. Based on their last visit, Samix knew that there was at least one class one species on the planet, somewhere in their hunter/gatherer stage of development. The ship was located in a remote region of the planet’s southernmost continent, greatly decreasing the odds of interacting with the indigenous people. In this area there were multiple predatory and dangerous creatures, hence the SSILF security team. With that, Zade, Samix, Jorloss and the SSILF security team started down the ramp, leaving Mur to close it and head to the sub deck to start testing.

  Chapter 4

  Walking down the ramp with a supply crate Zade had grabbed to help the team out, Zade began to think about the increased strength that Jorloss had mentioned. Doing some rough math, Zade estimated that, based on its dimensions, the crate he was holding had to weigh upwards of 300 lbs. Impressed that he was carrying it with ease, Zade curled it a couple of times trying to hash out the extent of his new abilities. At the bottom of the ramp Zade sat the box down and offered to help, but Samix and Jorloss both declined. With nothing else to do, Zade did a slow 360 taking stock of the planet.

  The ship had landed in a small clearing of purple tinted meadow. At the edge of the clearing, in all directions stood a forest that upon first look contained three distinct and different trees. The tallest and most abundant type towered over the other two. The tall trees seemed to have slender yellow trunks, topped with red foliage similar to the palms found on earth. The second type of tree almost couldn’t be classified as a tree at all. The stout bulbous blue trunks only stood around twenty-foot-tall, with a diameter at the bottom to match the height. It tapered to a point at the top, which was covered in red spikes. Initially Zade thought they may have been adolescent, because of the dramatic difference in height from the first trees, but upon closer inspection of the tree line Zade couldn’t spot one taller than about twenty-five feet. The last tree reminded Zade of some of the spruce he had seen while training in Alaska. These, like spruce, were roughly conical with what appeared to be evenly spaced rows of branches all the way up the trunk. Unlike the common spruce that Zade was familiar with, the bottom boughs of these trees were a deep azure that slowly transitioned to orange at the top. Looking up Zade could see that the atmosphere on this planet shone a beautiful purple instead of blue that he was used to back on earth. The sun had dropped just below the far side of the ship, and after circling around, Zade could see the orange behemoth perched just above the treetops. Jorloss later informed Zade that it was a K class star, one of the smaller classes of stars.

  After analyzing his surroundings Zade turned his inquisitive mind toward his current companions. Being on the poorly lit ship made finding a good frame of reference to truly analyze his shipmates almost impossible. Out, planet side, with beautiful orange light shining down Zade could really see the crew, starting with Samix. From watching her work, it appeared to Zade that the Xi’Ga were built for space. Samix’s lithe body and long limbs made her movements as she climbed up and down the ship seem effortless. Upon closer inspection Zade noticed that the digits on both her hands seemed to flare out right at the end, and if he didn’t know better, Zade would think that the tools Samix was using stuck to them. Jorloss was the exact opposite. Zade had noticed that he was a stocky slightly thick creature while under the ship lights, but planet side standing next to the SSILF and Samix, Zade wasn’t even sure how Jorloss could even move around. The last crew to be inspected by Zade, in the daylight, were the SSILF. After leaving the ship and setting the equipment crates down, the SSILF had formed a loose perimeter about one hundred yards from the ship. They were stationed at noon, four and eight o’clock around the ship.

  Moving towards the nose of the ship Zade could see the backside of the SSILF at the noon position. At roughly six-foot-tall, it had a bare metal frame with joints in all the same places as a human with the exception of inverted knee joints. The SSILF Zade was being escorted by on the ship had no protective paneling because Zade presumed it was meant for ship maintenance. The one Zade was approaching was a combat variant and although Zade could see the internal workings of the SSILF from behind, he could not see completely through its chest cavity like the maintenance variant. As Zade circled to the front of the SSILF he could see that it had a hard, white synthetic panel covering its chest and a face plate made of the same material. Stamped vertically across the left side of both the chest piece and face plate were an identification number, along with the ship identifier. This particular one was #2034, XES01.

  “Hey Samix, what are the numbers on these guys for?” Zade shouted to Samix who was perched like a gargoyle atop the command deck typing away on a small piece of diagnostic equipment.

  “What’s that one say?” she replied

  After Zade read off the number, running down the front of the SSILF, Samix explained that the SSILF Zade was standing by was the 2034th one created in the robotics lab. Zade remembered that Samix had informed him that the ship had only been on mission for six months, and he remembered that Jorloss explained that the SSILF were expendable.

  These guys went through 2034 robots in six months! It must have been rough going before I came aboard. Zade thought to himself. Continuing his inspection of the SSILF, Zade identified what looked to be some kind of long rifle that each was carrying. Similar to firearms he was familiar with, these were made of the same synthetic material that the protective coverings were made of. What appeared to be a magazine stuck out of the bottom of the rifles, and the only difference was that, unlike regular firearms, these lacked any kind of trigger assembly. With just over two hours left in the testing, Zade was satisfied with what he had learned about the crew and decided to head out and explore the woods surrounding the ship.

  “Samix, I’m going to take a look around. I’ll stay within earshot, don’t want you guys getting wise again if I’m late getting back.”

  “That’s fine, we’re going to be a while here. Be careful, there’s an animal that lives in the blue and orange trees. Looks like a monkey, but actually belongs to the reptile family. Loves to throw rocks down on things below it, last time we were here Axis got hit by one, it took almost a quarter of his nanites to repair the gash on his head.”

  “OK Mom” Zade said as he headed into the woods, laughing at the idea of a combat vet being afraid of a little lizard monkey.

  ∆∆∆

  “Why did he call you mother, and what was he laughing about?” Jorloss asked

  “I don’t know, maybe it’s a joke his people have. I need you up here though, looks like the data drone system was damaged by the solar flare, and it doesn’t look good.” Samix replied

  The data drone launch system is a standard system for all Unity exploration vessels. Every time a new astronomical object is discovered by the exploration ship, all sensor, navigational, and manually input data on the object is stored in the data drone. To prevent catastrophic data loss from an exploration vessel being destroyed or disabled outside of Unity space, the small warp capable drones are launched after every discovery. Unlike ships the drones are nimble enough to avoid the gravity wells of astronomical bodies as it passes during its flight back to the nearest Unity space station, so it is not required to make periodic navigational stops. Just prior to launch the captain of the exploration vessel manually chooses data they would like stored onboard their ship. The drone containing all of Earth’s data, to include galactic location was no longer attached to the ship.

  Luckily for Jorloss, his family was part of the forest dwelling subspecies on his planet, meaning that he wa
s born with the same sticky pads on his hands and feet that his ancestors used to climb trees to avoid predators. Making the climb to the top of the thirty-foot-tall ship no harder than a walk in the park. As he made his way to the top of the command deck next to Samix, Jorloss immediately saw the problem that Samix called him up for.

  “Where is the drone, and why is it not in the launcher?” Jorloss asked as he made his way to Samix’s side.

  Finishing the last test on the drone system Samix replied, “It looks like the system was damaged by the flare that hit us just before we warped. The electromagnetic clamps holding the drone in place inadvertently released, the drone fell off the ship just before we warped.”

  “Don’t these drones have recovery protocol?”

  “No, exploration vessels jettison damaged or subpar drones all the time. The Unity didn’t want the inconvenience of having to recover broken drones, so they never created a recovery protocol.”