Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (3 page)

I took a deep breath, stood clear of the opening, and pressed the first selection on the larger of the two fixtures.  I heard a whirring sound, followed by a few buzzing sounds, a moment of silence, and then another whirring sound, after which a small steaming container slid out of the side of the opening.  I started to pick it up by the sides, but it was too hot.  I found the two handle-like extensions at the top of the container to be room temperature, so I carefully moved the container to the table and focused next on what I was now somewhat more certain would be the drink dispenser.  With a bit less caution, I pushed the first button.  This time I watched what transpired.  Almost instantly, a transparent, sealed container appeared that held what I expected to be water.  I took it to the table and had a seat, wondering how I was going to get the liquid out, when I noticed a small nub like protrusion on the edge.  I shook my head in disbelief; surely I was not expected to drink from a sippy cup?  “Oh, what the heck,” I thought, and a placed edge to my mouth, not really expecting anything.  To my surprise, water entered my mouth… and good tasting water, at that.  I stared at the container a moment, trying to see where the water was exiting, and then took another sip.

The food looked like mixture of something like rice and lentils with some larger pieces of what may have been vegetables or meat.  I was fiercely hungry, so I didn’t much care how it tasted; but it certainly smelled good.  It was then that I realized I had no eating utensils.  I glanced about but saw nothing resembling a spoon or fork.  On one wall of the galley area I noted several outlines that resembled cabinet doors, but I had no idea how to open them.  Tentatively, I pressed on one and it popped open, not unlike handle-less latches and releases back on Earth.  Inside I found a number of strange objects and containers, the functions of which I could not identify.  I checked several more cabinets with the same results before thinking logically that eating utensils would likely be next to the food dispensers.  Upon closer examination of the dispensing area, I located a much smaller, almost drawer-sized outline.  The mechanism slowly opened a sliding panel, revealing several utensil-like items
 – some that looked like chopsticks, others that looked somewhat like square spoons, and a two-tined spear-like object that might be a fork.  The last item was clearly a knife, though the handle was a bit odd.

I had always been a fan of eating with chopsticks, so, without much
thought; I selected a pair from the drawer and returned to sample the food.  I was surprised at the richness of flavor.  I found the dish to be a bit spicy, not that it bothered me a lot, but I have never been that big a fan of spicy food.  Aside from that, it wasn’t a bad dish and it seemed to satisfy my need to eat.

Then I realized that I was sooner or later going to need a toilet facility…probably sooner, as I had now been traveling on this ship for several hours.  I didn’t recall seeing one on my earlier tour of the ship, so I thought I’d better not wait long to solve that particular problem.  I had no idea what to do with the dishes and chopsticks, so I left them on the table.

Oddly, I found the facilities right between the control room and the quarter’s area on the other side of the wall where I stood when I first descended into the ship.  I was rather surprised to find both the toilet area and what I assumed to be showers in a common location.  One partial wall was a full-length mirror, which I found a bit unnerving.  The two motion-activated lavatory basins operated a bit differently from what I expected; unlike the basins on Earth that generally poured water onto the hands from a spout, these sprayed the water up onto the hands from a raised portion in the center of the bowl, and the dirty water ran down the perimeter and into a drain.  A few seconds of soapy solution was automatically followed by clean water for rinsing.  I wondered how I was supposed to brush my teeth, but that came much later.  The toilet was something else altogether and it took me a few minutes to figure it out.  It was not the conventional bowl arrangement that I recognized, nor was it the recessed in-the-floor contraption like those used by some societies on Earth.  Instead, it was a sort of reclining contrivance that, frankly, I’m at a loss to describe.  Fortunately though, I managed to figure it out and the waste disappeared afterward, so I assumed I did it right.

Upon leaving the facilities, I decided to take a closer look at the crew quarters and infirmary.  The two cabins that appeared to be for single individuals were more or less the same; both had a single bed that was a bit larger than those in the four-person quarters.  I was surprised that these rooms weren’t equipped with private toilets and showers; but apparently, everyone was expected to use the one facility.  I assumed these individual cabins were meant for officers.  Similar to that in the galley, the walls of all the quarters contained cabinetry that opened to reveal shelves, this time containing clothing items in one area, blankets and bedding in another, and what I imagined to be personal items in another.  I also noted that all of the quarters were equipped with a viewing screen, all repeating the same headgear instructional video again and again.  I hoped I was not going to have to listen to this thing until the ship got to wherever it was going – or until I died… whichever came first.

I stepped back into the infirmary and once again examined the mummified body.  It looked like a typical human male with maybe a two- to three-day beard growth on the shriveled, dry face.  The body was covered in a one-piece jumpsuit or coveralls that appeared to be quite dirty and stained… and not at all like those I had found in the quarters.  Even the cut and type of textile was different.  Something about this individual caused me to feel that he had not actually been part of the crew; but if he wasn’t, why was he here and where was the
real
crew?

I again scanned the walls for cabinetry when I recognized a unique compartment door with a keypad panel beside it.  I looked at it for a second, then crossed the hall back to quarters where the video was now playing for
about the hundredth time.  I watched intently as the instructor retrieved the headband from a similar wall compartment.  With a sense that I had discovered something important, I returned to open the infirmary compartment and was not surprised to see a headband identical to the one in the video.  Could it be that I was expected to place this object on my head?  Was the message playing on the screen intended specifically for
me
?  It seemed too much to believe, yet there had to be a
purpose for the video.  With some degree of apprehension, I retrieved the headband, placed it on my head and pressed the sequence of buttons, as I had seen on the video more times than I cared to count.

Within moments I became lightheaded.  The sensation escalated until I felt as though the entire universe was speaking to me at once in different voices and languages.  This sensation gave way to what seemed to be some fantastic dreams running in fast play…everything sped along so rapidly that I couldn’t focus or keep up with it all, and at some point I fell asleep. 

When I awoke, I found myself reclined in the control room captain’s chair, though I had no memory of leaving the infirmary.  My head ached.  Traces of voices still rang inside my head.  Out of habit, I glanced at my watch and was shocked to find that several hours had passed since I had entered the infirmary As I lifted my head and glanced at the control panel in front of me, I was amazed to discover that I now understood the figures and symbols flashing and scrolling across the small screens.  These were status reports – details as to conditions inside and outside of the ship and information about journey – speed, location, and special coordinates.  While I was absorbing the data and trying to adjust to this unexpected development, the male voice spoke to me.

“You should be able to understand me now.  Please respond affirmatively in Federation Galactic Language.”

For the briefest moment I thought
how am I to respond in a language I do not know
when it occurred to me that what I had just heard was not in English.  Just as quickly, I realized that I
did
know what to respond; so, in the Federation Galactic Language I replied, “Yes, I understand you.”

The voice continued.  “This ship is equipped with a standard Federation educational headband which, upon proper application, has provided you with a thorough understanding of our language so that effective communication can occur henceforward.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I am the ship.” the voice responded.

“Are you sentient?”

“No.  I am designed to perform extrapolations based on available and observed data, from which I make decisions and execute actions according to programmed command patterns.”

I didn’t have to think long before saying, “I command you to take me back to where you found me!” I said.

“I am unable to comply with your command.”

“Why?” I asked with some angst.

“I am programmed to perform a principal command that supersedes all other commands until completed.”

“What is this
principal command
?”

“That information is restricted.”

I thought for a moment.  “Can you tell me where we’re going?” I pressed.

“That information is restricted.”

“Can you tell me how long the journey will be?”

“Eight hundred, twenty-two hours and twenty-six minutes at our current speed,” was the response.

The response was of course not actually in Earth hours and minutes, rather I understood this to be the equivalent duration.
How
I knew this I could only attribute to whatever this headband had done to my brain, thought I did have to do some mental calculations using my newly acquired information.  As I sat there contemplating the situation, I realized that I could perhaps get some information from the ship that might explain what was going on.

“How did you happen to be in the swamp back on Earth?”

“What is
Earth
”?

“Earth is the planet where I found you.”

“This ship was taken illegally and flown to Earth, where it landed in the place you call
swamp
.”

“How long have you been in the swamp?”

“This ship was on Earth for 4,563,983 hours 42 minutes and 38 seconds.”

“Holy shit,” I thought, making a rough calculation in my head, “that’s over 500 years.”  In that amount of time the ship would have sunk into the mud.  It must have settled unevenly over time, which would account for the ship’s sideways position.

“Is the body of the person in the infirmary one of the people who took you illegally?”

“The body is that of the man who illegally appropriated me.”

“What happened to the others?”

“There were no others.  He was the only one.”

“Why did he take you?”

“He needed me to escape.”

“Escape! Escape from what?” I asked with confusion.

“That information is restricted.”

“Can you tell me what happened to the man that stole you?”

“Yes.  He died.”

“Well,
that
is rather obvious,” I said with lost sarcasm.  “Can you tell me what
caused
his death?”

“He died from a toxic substance injected into his bloodstream by way of a bite from
a creature of your planet Earth.”

“Really?  Which creature?” I asked in a somewhat incredulous tone.

“I do not have that information.  I was unable to observe the event.  When he returned from his excursion he had already been bitten.  My analysis of his blood indicated the bite was venomous and the poison was a variety of neurotoxin that did not exist in my database,” the ship stated.

I remembered studying poisonous snakes in the coastal swamps of the United States (the region of Earth where I am from), and only one of those delivered a venom that was primarily classified as neurotoxin – the coral snake.  The others were variations of protein digestive venoms that was necrotizing to the tissues.  But people didn’t normally die from coral snakes bites if treated with the antivenin.  For some reason, though, this man had not survived.

One thing bothered me so I thought I would ask, though I didn’t think I would get an answer.

“When you concluded that I didn’t understand your language, you showed me the video, believing I would find the headband and use it, correct?”

“That is correct,” the ship said, “In the event the crew is incapacitated or killed, leaving no pilot, and I am discovered by someone unable to understand the Galactic Federation language or any language in my database, I am programmed to repeat the instructional video on all available screens until the individual finds and applies the headband.”  Indeed, the instructional video had since disappeared from the screen.

“Why didn’t you do that when I first entered the ship?”

“Communication functions had been disabled by the thief.  Only the basic maintenance functions were still active.  When you pressed the amber indicator on the console, communication capabilities and controls were restored, making it possible to not only communicate with you, but to also carry out my prime directive.”

This last bit made me laugh, as it reminded me of an entertainment program that was performed on Earth television called Star Trek.