highflyingadventures

                                                                                  Quantum Man Episode Five Part One

                                                                                                         © 2004
                                                                                                              by
                                                                                                             NM

 

                                                           Normal space above the planet Alarimnon

     Blurry star lines, indicative of the beginning and end of travel at Arc Light speeds, shrink and regain their normal, starlike appearance. The massive carrier ship, Cetopin, deactivates its drive engines assuming a normal orbit about its home world.
     The Cetopin is but one of a larger fleet of  “collection” ships whose single purpose is to search for less developed worlds. When such a world is found, its inhabitants, intelligent and otherwise, are collected - specimens to be taken back to Alarimnon where, if suitable, they shall live out their lives as slaves. If  the unfortunate captive proves to be unsuitable in that capacity, for whatever reason, they are turned over to the Ministry of Science for use as experimental subjects.
                                                                                                                   ..............
     Captain Rogash Marphelium leaned back into his chair, happy that his cruise has finally ended - they seemed to grow longer with each passing year. Having collected his prescribed quota he was certain that he would soon be receiving quite the tidy sum for his efforts.
     The Captain is a rotund,  partially bald, squatty humanoid with bulging eyes, his mouth and ears seemingly just a bit too large for his head. His skin is rough carring a perpetual, deep reddish tint as though he had been exposed to too much sunlight.
     He was looking forward to a nice rest planetside ... figuring that with the cargo he had restrained within his ship he has earned it. All he wanted to do now was ..... Warning claxons reverberate throughout the length of his ship quickly followed by the hollow thud of firing laser batteries.
     Marphelium spun quickly to face the young officer who temporaily occupied the bridge watch station. “Watch Officer Zargaroon, I need your status report NOW,” roars the Captain.
     The young officer snapped to shaking attention; for the Captain was not a forgiving soul under the best of circumstances .. which these definately weren't. “Sir, we have the unauthorized departure of a small cargo pod from the ship, sir. It has refused to answer any of our hails... Our laser batteries are presently engaging the fleeing ship, attempting to disable its engines before it can make the jump to Arc-Light speeds, sir.”
                                                                                                          ..........................
     The pilot can only hope that his wild, gut wrenching maneuvers are enough to avoid the deadly laser blasts emanating from the huge, slower batteries aboard the Cetopin; for he is certain that his life, along with those of his passengers, will be a living hell if they are captured. Stark fear and terror grip the small group of passenger within the pod's smallish transport space as more than once their stomachs violently protest the ship's movements. 
                                                                                                                    ..........................
     “How many are on board that ship, Lieutenant,” Marphelium hisses between clenched teeth.
     “I count eight. Apparently the pilot has just joined the crew, sir,” says the young officer in clipped, precise militaryese.
     “Can we pursue;” angrily demands the Captain as he glares at the view port upon the forward bulkhead of the control room.
     “Not at this time. Engineering informs me that it will take several hours to bring our Arc-Light engines back on line.” The young officer shakes his head. “The small ship is too agile for our lasers,” he says with disgust tinging his voice. “I have ordered our batteries to cease fire and have dispatched two of our small, attack ships to pursue, capture, and then return the cargo pod to this ship, sir.”
     The Captain momentarily glares at the junior officer and then nods his approval at his handling of the emergency. “Very well, Zargaroon...” Captain Rogash Marphelium is no longer a happy man. He had just suffered the loss of an expensive part of his cargo, a family of seven to be exact. They have managed, with the aid of a new pilot, most likely a secret member of the Prohibition Party, to break out of confinement and make their way to the now fleeing cargo pod. The Captain could do nothing but watch as a portion of his profits suddenly disappear from sight. Thirty seconds later, the two small, attack ships have disappeared in like fashion. “Heads are gonna roll, Zargaroon! I tell you, Heads are gonna roll,” booms the Captain’s voice across his bridge.   

                                                                                                               *****************
                                                                                                          On board the cargo pod

     “Is everyone OK back there,” asks the worried pilot over his shoulder.
     “We’re all scared but otherwise OK, Lieutenant Thivius.”
     “Good,” Thivius replies, relief flooding his mind. “Those pulses were just too close. I thought we were history a couple of times back there.”
     “But we made it, thanks to you .. Now what?”
     “That beats the hell outta me, Mr. Muglow. The drive engines in this ancient thing are certainly no match for the ones on those two attack ships ...” Thivius swallows, trying to clear the growing lump within his throat. “Sooner or later they’re going to catch us, it’s as simple as that ... As I see it,” Thivius says as he thoughtfully scratches his chin, “we have a couple of options open to us. We either out run em .. and that ain’t very likely to happen, or we find someplace that can shield us from their sensors.”
     “Your second option sounds good to me, Lieutenant,” replies a hopeful Muglow. “Do you have any place in mind?”
     “Wellll .. ahhh .. no,” Thivius flatly/quietly says. “Not really. We had to get off of the Cetopin so quickly that I just didn’t have the time to .....”
Boom! Shake.
     Thivius casts a disbelieving, wide eyed look at his ship’s velocity; for what was happening was supposed to be impossible, way beyond what the specs of the small ship indicate were possible, and yet he sees the evidence before him. “I don’t understand this,” he mutters  ... “You folks had better hold on to something,” he yells over his shoulder. “It seems that our speed is increasing exponentially.”
     “That’s good, isn’t it,” asks the elder Muglow once again.
     “Ordinarily I’d have to agree with you, but this isn't ordinary. Our ship just isn’t designed for these velocities... Not only is our speed way the hell beyond what the engine’s specs say is possible but the stress upon the hull ... that's way off the charts as well." - Minutes later - Thivius gives his head a perplexed shake.  "So far .. so good, but there’s just no way that we should be traveling at these speeds.” Thivius takes a quick glance at the ship's scanner history. “According to this,” he says to no one in particular, “just before our speed began to increase we passed through some sort of a weak energy field.” With the press of a smallish, glowing red button a screen within the passenger's compartment flickers to life. “Take a look at the view screen,” he says over his left shoulder.
     The image of a wide, wafer thin band of violet color appears on the passenger’s screen. The band turned and then angled sharply away from the pod’s flight path to disappear into the distance.
     “What was that, Lieutenant?,” asked the perplexed older man softly.
     Thivius slowly shakes his head. “I have no idea, Mr. Muglow. In all of my days as a pilot, I’ve never seen readings like these before. Whatever the phenomenon was, it seems to have somehow transferred some of it’s energy to our engines.”
     “That’s good, isn’t it,” asks Muglow quickly.
     “Temporarily yes, but we’ve gotta figure that whatever happened to us is gonna happen to those other two ships when they run into that thing. I suppose that our only advantage is that it happened to us first.”
     “Welllll, ah, do you at least know where we’re headed?”
     “I haven’t a clue, sir. On the upside,” Thivius says happily. “We’re making really good time.”
     “That’s good isn’t it?”
     “I guess that beats the alternative of making no time and .." Thivius lowers his voice, "having those other guys fly right up our ass.”

                                                                              ...................................
                                                                                    Ten hours later

     “May I have your attention please,” Thivius says softly over his shoulder. "We seem to be receiving some interesting returns from our ship’s scans.”
     “Not the other ships,” asks the elder Muglow with dread.  
     “No sir,” says Thivius with a puzzled shake of his head. “At the present time they’re no where close to us, at least as far as our scans can determine.” Thivius' eye's narrows as he stares at the data returned by the ships scanners. “What we’ve got out there is a new system .. a complete unknown. As a matter of fact, our nav computer can’t even give me any intel on it..... Our speed must have been pushed well into the hyperlight range for us to be this far out  ....." Slow, disbelieving shake of the head. "We’re way the hell off of any charts that I’ve ever seen.,” he says softly. “We have to be the first to enter this system,” he says with thinly disguised excitement.  
     At their present location, the system’s single, distant star, glows the dimests of yellows and seemed awfully small, but of course that was to be expected, given the distances involved. Yet, with their fuel almost exhausted, they have no where else to go. If they are to escape from those which pursue them, and find any sort of refuge; the system before them offers... their only hope. 
     Activating the forward vid sensor the young officer gives those behind him their first look at the system... the blurry image of its distant star appearing at the front of the passenger compartment.
     “Is that where we’re going, Harvistad,” asks his wife.
     “I believe that it is, Felist,” replies her husband.
     “Lieutenant Thivius.”
     “Yes, Ma’am.”
     “Is there any place for us to land out there,” she asks, quietly hoping that their sensors had told them more than Thivius had revealed.
     “I’m afraid that we’re just too far out for any detailed telemetry, Mrs. Muglow. About the only thing that the scans can tell us at this range is that there are nine planetary bodies in orbit around that star, Ma’am.”
     “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
     “No problem, Mrs. Muglow.”
     The cabin falls silent. Time passes .. the distant star growing ever larger. The Lieutenant begans to gradually apply braking thrusters to help soften the cargo pod’s entry into the unknown planetary system.

                                                                               ..................................
                                                                                    Two hours later

     Once again, the slightly muffled voice of their pilot fills the passenger compartment. “May I have your attention please. Our ship has just exited arc-light speeds and is now cruising in the sublight range. Sensors indicate that there are no spacial anomolies present, so there should be no navigational problems within this system. It appears that planet number three within this system is the only body capable of supporting life .. so, like it or not .. that’s our target.”
     “That’s good, isn’t it?”
     “Yes and no, Mr. Muglow,” Thivius says. “On the upside we know that the world can support our form of life. On the other hand, those guys in the other two ships are gonna arrive at the same conclusions that we have.”
     “But they won’t know where to find us, will they,” asks the older woman hopefully.
     “Ohhhhhhh, they’ll figure it out pdq, Mrs. Muglow. They’ll head straight for Number Three all right, you can count on that. And speaking of which, I’ve been picking up some particularly strong EM emissions from that world as well.”
     The older woman feels a cold chill run throughout her body. “That would mean that there’s probably life down there, wouldn’t it, Lieutenant,” she asks fearfully.
     “Most likely, Ma’am,” Thivius says as he makes a slight course correction.
     “Could they be dangerous?” 
     “I won’t lie to you, Mrs. Muglow,” Thivius says matter of factly “That possibility does exist, but we’re just going to have to wait and see what we find when we get down there, Ma’am.”
     “Should not there be some type of weapon on board this craft?”
     “Ordinarily .. yes, there should be, Ma'am. But given the haste of our departure I was unable to procure any for our flight," Thivius says with a resigned shrug. 

     “Oh dear,” Felist Muglow says. “We manage to escape from those awful people and now we may end up landing in the midst of wild barbarians.” She glances quickly at her children and then shakes her head worriedly. “I’m afraid that we may have jumped from a bad situation into something far worse.”
     “My dear, Felist, we do not know that for sure. On the other hand, we do know with certainty what would have happened to us and the children had we not escaped.”
     “You are of course correct, dear husband. We shall just have to wait for the future .. and when it arrives, we must make the best of whatever it brings our way.”
     “I agree completely, Mrs. Muglow,” says Thivius over his shoulder. "For now let us just see if I am able to get this ship down in one piece.  If I manage to do that, then you may begin worrying about the rest ... if you’ll take a look at your view screen you should be able to get a decent look at our new home...” A planet whos land masses are widely separated by what appears to be vast oceans of water of the deepest blue they have ever seen serenely rotates before them.
     “It appears that with few exceptions, the EM emissions all originate from each of those land masses... I’m going to try and bring us in on the dark side of Number Three ... hopefully shielding us from visual observation," quietly adds the busy pilot.
     “That is a good idea, Lieutenant,” says Harvistad Muglow. “Perhaps they shall believe that we’re just some sort of meteor.”
     “Precisely what I was hoping, Mr. Muglow..." Quiet pops and pings eminate from the control panel in front of the intense pilot. "With any luck at all ..." pop, ping .. "our ship’s electronic counter measures shall blunt whatever detection systems they may have developed.”
     “And those other ships, Lieutenant?”
     “Yes Ma’am, they’re definitely going to be a problem," replies Thivius grimly. "What I’m going to try and do is to set us down within an area which is close to a good deal of electrical interference and hope that that is enough to shield us from their scans.”
     Felist Muglow leans toward Thivius. “There’s not much of a chance that that will work will it, Lieutenant,” she whispers. 
     “Not very likely, Ma’am; but then stranger things have happened.”
     “What about there,” Harvistad Muglow’s clawed finger points toward a distinct glow eminating close to the ocean from the northern most land mass. 
     “That’s not a bad choice, Mr. Muglow,” a proccupied Thivius says .. his eyes fixed upon his nav screen. “That appears to be one .. huge... artificial light source down there..... I believe that we may have found our landing site, folks. If I’m able to bring us down close to that, it just might give us the cover which we need.” Thivius' fingers fly over the panel before him, expertly entering the landing coordinates and activating the ship’s ECM. Small but powerful braking thrusters spring to life sending their vibrations pulsing throughout the pod. 
     “Everyone, make sure that you’re restraints are operational .. We’re going in,” crackles the ship’s intercom.

                                                                    ***********************
                                                           Early Sunday evening. Dr. Anna Lewis’ ranch

     Sleep deadened eyes flicker ever so slightly apart .. a gentle rub attempting to drive the effects of three days of sleep from them. Zev slowly rolls his head to the left .. reading the clock upon the nightstand -- Six P.M. Sunday -- Three days ago he had stopped some madman’s attempt to destroy the ICW bridge and kill a great many people in the process.
     “Three .. days,” he quietly mumbles.   
     “I should say that your bod needed the rest. Would you not agree with my assessment?”
     In an attempt to drive the final vestiges of sleep from his eys Zev forces his eyelids still wider. “I .. hear that ... QI.” He gingerly moves his arms and legs .. that effort telling him just how stiff and sore he really is.
     “That is kind of painfull, is it not, Zev,” asks his QI mischievously.
     “Ohhhhhhh,” Zev moans, “it sure is .. QI, ..... and thanks, for your concern.” Zev silently swears that one day, not now, but someday, that smartass of a QI is going to get his ... as soon as he can figure out just how to do it ...
     “I believe that a nice hot shower followed by some stretching to help those muscles relax is in order. Agree?”
     “That sounds good to me, buddy,” Zev quietly replies. “I just hope that I can get my legs working so that I can make it into the shower.”
     “I can understand that,” replies QI dispassionately. “If you don’t mind me putting your present predicament in purely mechanical terms, I’d have to say that you exceeded your design specs. That barge should have been too heavy for you to lift, and yet you managed it .. something which I find I am at a loss to explain. Please don’t get me wrong,” QI hastens to add, “I am very pleased that you did, but it should have been beyond your capabilities.”
     Zev rolls over and slowly/painfully sits up. “Ohhhhhhhh," he moans, "that hurts.” Sitting upon the edge of his bed he allows his chin to rest against his chest. “I’m not sure how I managed it either... Ya know, all I cared about was getting that barge outta there, saving the lives of those people on the bridge..... I felt the same sort of jolt .. or surge .. or whatever, that I did just before I beat the Vole..... But too many lost their lives ...” Zev's "voice" tails off, his sorrow for those who lost their lives ... overwhelming. 
     “Such shall always be the case, Zev; for you cannot save everyone....
     "I suppose ......."
     "Now ... concerning that jolt, an unusual occurrence to be sure,” says QI. “I fail to find any record of a similar circumstance in the data banks upon New Quantum. But it does seem to significantly inprove your ability to help others. So even though I do not understand it, I would say that it is indeed a welcome occurance.”        
     Zev slowly levers himself off of the bed. “I hurt all over,” he says quietly to no on in particular. “I just hope that I can make it to the shower.”
     Ten minutes later Zev stands within the steaming shower. He closes his eyes allowing the scalding water to cascade over his chest., back, and arms .......
Forty five minutes later.
     “Howya feeling now, Zev?” 
     Zev stretches his arms and then slowly shakes his head. “Better, but I’m still pretty sore, buddy.”
     “That’s to be expected,” QI replies matter of factly. “It appears that your chips were able to complete their repairs on that bod of yours whilst you were asleep. What we’ve got to do now is to work your soreness out ... Finish your shower and then get dressed, you’ve got some stretching to do.”
     "Great ..." Zev painfully groaned. 

                                                                                  .............................
                                                                                      One hour later

     “And now?"
     “Much better, QI."
     “That bod of yours has been through a lot, Zev. Patience is required. It should not be long before you begin to feel like your old self once more ... My scans indicate that dinner is ready ... if you are hungry, that is.”
     Zev “quickly” finishes his hamstring stretches and then slowly heads toward the kitchen.
     “Well well, I see he’s finally decided to grace us with his presence again, Anna,” says a smiling Jackson Hole.
     Dr. Lewis glances over her left shoulder as Zev slowly limps into the kitchen. “Well, hello stranger. How are you feeling?”
     “I’ve felt better, Doc. Not  a good feeling when I first woke up.”
     Jackson Hole jumps up, pulls out a chair and shakes Zev’s hand seemingly in one motion. “That was one hell of a job, son. A lot of people around Neon owe you big time.”
     Zev grimices from the pain of Jackson's overly enthusiastic handshake. He gingerly nods. “Thanks, Mr. Hole. I’m just glad that I was able to help.” He gingerly lowers himself into his chair. “According to my QI I shouldn’t have been able to lift that barge.”
     “The bumblebee ain’t suppose ta fly either,” says Jackson flatly. “It don’t matter how you did it, bottom line is ya did.”
     “You’re quite the celebrity, Zev. And get this,” Anna says excitedly. “Not only has your picture been in all of the papers but everyone of the local and network news casts have been running film of what you did. It seems that people just can’t get enough of you. You’ve been their top story every since it happened.” Dr. Lewis beamed. “They’ve had every scientist they could find on their news broadcasts trying to explain just how you managed it. Even the talk shows want you. They’re asking that you contact them every chance they get.”
     “Yes sir, it seems like your ass is one hot property these days, son.”
     “Jackson,” gasps Anna.
     “Sorry, Doc,” Jackson sheepishly smiles as he gives Zev a sly wink. “I hear tell there’s a lot of women that want your ass too.”
     “Jackson Hole,” Anna protests. “You stop that!”
     The older man laughs, rocking back in his chair, clapping his hands together. “Ok, Doc,” he says in mock surrender. Quickly tilting his head toward Zev he nods several times, winks, and then lowers his voice. “They do, son,” he says with a smile..... 
     “I could care less what those shows want, Doc. I’m not here for any of that.”
     “That might be easier said than done, son.”
     “Maybe, Mr. Hole, but I’m just not interested in all of that mess.”
     “Good for you,” Jackson replies with a fatherly nod.
     “Have either of you heard if the police have any idea who was behind the attack?”
     Both of his friends shake their heads. “As far as we can tell the police don’t have a clue  ... maybe they’re just playing it close to the vest,” Anna says with a shrug. 
     Zev slowly twists and turns. "I'm thinking that I should be ready to go by tomorrow.”
     “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you take a couple of days off .. I figure that it’s the least that we can do, Zev. Correct Jackson?”
     The older man nods. “I ain't got no problem with that.”
     “You know that you don’t have to do that,” protests Anna’s young friend.
     “Zev ... don’t argue with the Doctor,” Jackson sternly intones. “Take your two days off and enjoy em.”
     Zev nods and throws his hands up in mock surrender. “Ok ok, I guess you've talked me into it.”

                                                                         *************************
                                                                                  The cargo pod 

     The slowly rotating world slowly fills the small ship's view port as carefully approaches. Thivius slowly takes his hands off of the ship's control stick  - relinquishing all control to its automated systems. Minutes creep by as the vehicle's Nav Computer skillfully guides the small ship through the planet’s thin, upper atmosphere toward their target.
     Although Thivius is technically not involved in this phase of their landing, his eys flit nervously from right to left and top to bottom across the screen before him. Everything seems just as it should ... The ECM  panel springs to life ... most likely in responce to some sort of threat radar originating from the planet below. He knows that if it operates normally, as it should, it will have no problem circumventing any attempts at detection. Of course he realizes that there is still Murflons Law floating out there in the shadows, just beyond his ability to control it; for he is certain that if anything can go wrong it will most certainly find a way to do so. The Lieutenant silently hopes that this is one time that that law will see fit to give them a break; for they desperately needed an uneventful landing ... and they needed time to hide once they had arrived.
     The outer hull of the small ship begins to glow as the atmosphere surrounding Number Three grows more dense. Thivius nods in agreement with their decent trajectory .. an angle that, if everything continues quietly, will eventually place them in the vicinity of the bright glow which they had been seeing for sometime now.

 

                                                                                      Tune in for Part Two -- coming soon

 

 

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