Ride the Lightning.

everittdmickey (73)in #fiction • 7 years ago (edited)

Part 3:Broke the Boat

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“Momma?.... are you there momma”...the small frightened voice sounded from the communicator.
“I’m here daughter...We are so happy you survived...are you ok”...replied Autumn’s mother.

“Not really mommy. I broke the boat. I’m so sorry, it was so pretty, now it’s all melty around the edges.” She sounded like a very young child on the verge of tears.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for daughter” Gruffly responded the father “you completed your mission...you saved the planet. You were the only one in the solar system that could do it. You should be proud”.

“But I broke the boat Daddy…and…..and…..I can't stop”...she wailed.

Silence…..then “you can’t stop?” he said “the ship is out of control?”

“Yes Daddy. It is. It’s a little bit melted” sniffed Autumn. “I used the engines to keep me in close to the sun so I could go faster. I didn’t want to fly off into space and be crisped by the Flare so I had to get on the other side of the sun real fast.

"I over did it. I made a U-turn around the sun but just as I got pointed toward earth... the engines fell off. Then they exploded. I’m going really, really fast daddy….and I can’t stop.”

Mother and Father conferred briefly..then the mother said firmly “No tears daughter...your job is not yet finished. Run a diagnostic. We need a systems status report. Transmit it to us. Quickly now.”

Meanwhile the father was in communication with other survivors elsewhere.

“I need any and all of the original Team available to be ready for a crash project. Autumn is returning from the sun-dive. Her ship is ballistic. I need some options. I want alternate scenarios and possible solution sets...data will be forwarded as I get it. She is moving very rapidly...there’s not much time.”

Shortly the diagnostics were received and disseminated to the team.

“This does not look good” said one.

“We have very little time” said another.

“Lets get busy then” replied a third.

So they did. The data was inputted into ultra computers and scenario after scenario was run. All possible options were rapidly explored and the best one was chosen, then they began working.

“We’re lucky you know. ” said one team member speaking to the father.

“Why is that?” asked the father. “I fail to see anything good about this situation. Other than that we are still alive I mean. Had she failed we would not be.”

“ What I mean is that the ship was to be a new class...had there been time to complete it, an upgraded combination of a Frigga and a Freya, with the drive of a Thor.

The Frigga class is a ship fabber capable of making everything from widgets to complete ships. It is highly automated, the new ship is even more so.

The Freya class is medical cruiser...capable of handling almost any type of medical emergency, it too is highly automated, and the new ship was to be even more so.

The Thor class is just a monster designed to ‘get there firstest with the mostest’...it’s drives are enormous and it’s armament is terrifying.”

The new ship was originally intended to be a scaled up combination of all three. It was intended to have every type of mechanical, electronic, cybernetic and medical tool imaginable with the ability to get on site in the absolute minimum amount of time. It would also have the ability to defend itself against all comers. It could have boosted at a hundred gravities had it not been pushing that gargantuan nova bomb.” he exaggerated.

“When plan Omega was conceived all the other ships in the system were already dedicated to Ragnarok. The almost completed new ship was the only ship available. Rather than tear anything out, and waste precious time, we just added on and made it the most powerful tub ever built.”

“It would have had to be” stated the father as he remembered what had happened “You’re right... that nova bomb was gigantic.”

“Yup “ said the team member...shaking his head…” The new ship pushing the nova bomb reminded me of a wasp pushing a pumpkin. It is the largest ship ever built but the nova bomb was possibly the largest single structure ever conceived.“

“It no wonder it took so long to deliver the bomb.” he said “even with all it’s power it’s acceleration was less than one gee.”

“It was also totally unstable. Autumn is the only person in the system who could handle the complexity to control that slap-together nightmare” said the team member “no one else has her reflexes and speed of reaction. No one else can learn as fast. No one else has a variable time sense. She must have boosted in FastTime in order to have balanced it...much less flown it. A subject year or more must have gone by for her in the week it took to get from the Nova Bomb construction site to the sun. A pure organic would never have succeeded.”

“Well she IS the only cyborg ever wired into a ship” said the father with some pride and a shake of his head. “and she’s my daughter”

“Yes she is “ said the team member “ that, and the unique ship, might allow us to save her. Perhaps we can send instructions so that the ship, in time, can repair itself.”

“We’ll have to see”.

“Autumn? Can you hear me” said the mother.

“Yess mommie...I can hear you fine”...replied Autumn much too quickly...she was getting too near too fast… the speed of light lag was almost negligent.

“Autumn, we need you to activate all the repair robots. Quickly please...and prepare all operable receivers for a data flood.” said her mother.

“Yes Mommie”...said the wired in brain embedded in the most advanced computer ever conceived, much less built. The ultra computer had been hastily installed in the new ship during project Omega. In some sense Autumn WAS the ship. “ I’m activating everything as quickly as I can”

The massive ship rapidly approached earth ...and rushed past it all too quickly. A multitude of onboard robots were rapidly making modifications. Molecular Furnaces and Atomic Forges worked at maximum speed. Memory capacity was being increased and everything possible was being done to capture and store that gigantic cascade of data. Powerful message lasers illuminated the ship as it passed earth and headed toward the outer system. The ship was soaking up data like a desiccated sponge would soak up moisture.

The ship could not stop. It could not BE stopped. There were literally no other ships in the system. None had survived Ragnarok. Absolutely every ship that could launch had been used to fight the enemy...and they had all perished. The new ship had been incapable of flight at that time or it too would have been destroyed.
There was no time to build any more ships and no time for self repair functions on the new ship to be effective. The plan was to upload the Planetary Archives. The Archives contained all the data, history, knowledge and information possessed by an eons old technological civilization and that which it had inherited from memory diamonds of civilizations that had come before it. The data was all beamed to the ship as it sped past.

Perhaps Autumn would find it useful, and given more time, use it to devise her own salvation. Perhaps it would be safeguarded….it was fated to destruction if it remained on on the planet.

What they hadn’t told Autumn...yet...was that Atlantis was doomed. Something had disturbed the geology of the area. Perhaps it was the CME. Perhaps it had something to do with the Enemy Visitation. Perhaps something else. Whatever the case, the climate was changing rapidly. It was getting much warmer. The continental glaciers were melting almost fast enough to see. The sea level too, was almost visibly rising.

Land which had been held down by gigatons of ice was rebounding. Earthquakes and volcanic action were occurring everywhere much more frequently. Evacuation was already underway but the massive archives could not be removed in time.

Shortly Atlantis would be no more. The sea would retake it.

“We can’t stop your ship Autumn” said her mother
“I kinda figured that mommy...I’ve been watching” said Autumn.

“The damage was just too great and the time is too limited.” mourned the mother.

“I’m sorry I broke it mommy” sniffed the mind wired into the machine.

“None of that young lady.” Snapped the mother to her daughter “I’ve already told you that you should be proud...you have nothing to be ashamed of. The part I didn’t tell you is that Atlantis is doomed. It has only weeks left before the ocean takes it. We are evacuating now. There is much that we can't take with us. We don’t have any heavy lift transport. That was all lost in Ragnarok. We’re making do as best we can with surface transport but much of it is primitive. We can’t take the Archives for example or any of the large industrial equipment. We’re beaming the Archive contents to you. Perhaps you can save it. The accumulated knowledge of hundreds of civilizations on several planets over almost a million years. It’s a sacred trust dear.”

The mother and daughter talked as long as they dared. Eventually the mother had to leave. She risked injury or death when Atlantis sank beneath the sea if she stayed too long. They parted in sorrow.

A tearful Autumn rushed outward from the inner system at incredible speed. She feared that she had exceeded the solar escape velocity. She feared that she was heading toward the stars. She did NOT want to go there. She wanted to go back home.

After too short of a time Autumn receded out of communicator range with Atlantis. The big transmitters had been destroyed when they sank beneath the seas. Nothing to hear, nothing to see..move along.