End of Oblivion
#2 of Aether Rising
AETHER RISING
An interactive story series by Rumbunk
Chapter II: End of Oblivion
While Sanyu slept again for the first time in nine thousand years, others awakened. The buffer matrix had been found faulty for as many as 13 operators and another two had died screaming after being decanted back into their bodies.
This left only a total of five operators capable of bringing the Aether to its destination. The ship had drifted through the stellar night for milennia at half the speed of light, but now it would have to return to earth through slipstream in a matter of a few months.
The main computer had already verified, that the slipstream beacon back in the Sol system was fully operational and all along the way to the Aether's current position, beacons had been released in the vicinity of every solar system they had passed.
Even if earth was found uninhabitable, there would be several hundred worlds to choose from, even though they would all require considerable terraforming. All this could be performed by automatons, intelligent machines, but no artificial intelligence could navigate slipstream.
It required a living mind with a high intuition to feel the way through the living strands of space, that connected every part of the galaxy and, at their roots, connected galaxies and more. Much like a honey bee moving from flower to flower by scent rather then crawling down one stalk and up another.
Many had tried to find routes through slipstream, but none had ever returned, unless they had a beacon to home in on. Beyond a certain depth the number of pathways became infinite and almost infinite ways lead directly to the core of a star or the nearest black hole.
Now the remnants of human civilization could start out not only with a mission to return home, but had an entire network of jumpgates at their disposal to aid them. Even if they could not reach Sol in a single jump, they would have several options within only ten light years away.
* * *
Bright luminescence flared up and danced around the drifting mind of Dasan. He felt himself pulse and flicker, then the walls of his prison seemed to grow softer, more fragile. He had no sense of time and only a vague idea of space, but this was the moment he had waited for.
He lashed out with all his will and felt the barriers shatter. A brief elation was quickly overtaken by a sense of horrible and inevitable doom, as he felt himself drifting towards his old body, his corpse.
His whole being was shaken with revulsion and anger as it was forced to integrate with the skeletal wreck of his former shape. He felt the regenerating brain, the quivering rejuvenated flesh. Instead of attaining freedom, he had only exchanged one prison for another.
When the procedure was completed, he hardly waited long enough for the machine to release all of his restraints, but lurched quickly out of the nanomed unit and half-stumbled, half-crawled towards the door. It opened and he stared up into the muzzles of two guns, held by a pair of security bots.
He gave a growl of frustration, but submitted, as they directed him towards his quarters. Just some time to gain strength, that was all he needed. Then he would find an opportunity to escape, to shed this feeble body and continue his journey home. He felt that he had almost forgotten all about it.
* * *
A low booming began to fill the corridors of Aether. First its frequency was so low, it was felt, rather then heard, then it was clearly audible to everyone awake.
Cale and Abby sat alone in the small operators mess and chatted quietly. They were brother and sister and both belonged to a rodent-like breed of genomorphs. Before being stored, they had let themselves fall into a state of hibernation and after being revived, they had simply been woken up, therefore the transition back to life was the least traumatic for them.
"Seems like the main drive is powering up.", Cale remarked.
"Yes", Abby nodded, "I guess we will get to use our new toy pretty soon now."
Cale chuckled. His sister liked acting playful, but deep inside she was rather what you might call an old soul. She usually took the world lightly, because she seemed to have enough weight of character to keep her balance. Even though she was three years younger, he had a great admiration for her.
Abby herself was actually deep in thought, while trying to show no concern on her face. She had seen a disquietingly small amount of maintainance bots on the way to the mess, which meant that they were either all very busy repairing a particularly damaged area or the ship had stopped producing them.
She was one of the operators in charge of controlling maintainance and defense systems during the ship's passage through slipstream, because she had an intuition that bordered precognition. She could increase damage control in an area whenever there was an increased risk and direct the ship's tesla projectors and rift disruptors like nobody else.
There had been only one other operator assigned to the same station, but he had not made it through resurrection. This meant that she was now vitally important for the survival of Aether and its precious living cargo and she didn't like it very much. She knew she was capable enough to deal with most situations, but unexpected events could take any course, especially in unknown space.
It was somewhat comforting, that the ship had obviously been unmolested for nine milennia, so it would be unlikely to encounter hostile alien species. At least not any with very advanced scanner systems for normal space. In a few days, however, they would leave normal space for a long time and begin an unprecedented journey through slipstream.
She knew, that she could rely on her brother to help her, just as she would be there for him, when he needed her. He was a scanner and astrometrics expert and would map slipstream as well as possible on their way to earth.
On one of the walls of the mess a screen flickered to life and displayed a countdown. Cale met Abby's eyes with a mixture of fear and expectation in his gaze. Thirteen hours before transition to slipstream.
It would have been easier, if there had been preparations to make, but all that would be done by machines. This left them waiting in idle anticipation, which was much harder to bear. They could only hope, that the old ship had been build well by their ancestors and makers. Soon it would have to prove itself.
I continued the storyline mostly as I had intended before, but the character of Dasan (which means "ruler") is new and based on the idea for a reptilian operator that PermaFrost suggested. His character isn't very well-described so far, except for him being a dominant male, who is also not exactly on friendly terms with his human creators, but was drafted into the program, because of his abilities.
@PermaFrost: Maybe you want to further describe him, since it is after all based on your idea?
In the next chapter all five operators (which means one more that hasn't been introduced yet) will meet and the Aether will launch into slipstream (unless there is difficulties, it's all open still).
For the next chapter I could use:
description for the missing character
suggestions for things that could go wrong or alter the situation in various ways
As the number of characters and possibilities grows, we can then begin to also incorporate sexual tension, where it goes with the story. I intend to keep the main storyline on the level of "mild erotica", while posting additional stories which will then contain the "explicit" description of love scenes. With a little luck, maybe there will even be people joining in to write some of those ^^
Comments please folks, with ideas or just with criticism. Remember - my writing is at your command! :)