Since it has been a bit quiet here for a couple of days (weeks?) and you never know how long I am still alive to post more chapters of Helge's story ... London has become a bit explosive lately
So, here is chapter 18 of the translation of HelgeK's story Farnham's Legend, which is the background story to the X Games. For those of you who are new, in a mutual effort of a number of people from this forum we have translated it from German to English and then dumped the whole lot on SteveMill (the one with the fabulous Rogue series) to rewrite it to something that resembles decent English
Thanks again to all involved!
Enough babbling from me, have something to read
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It took thousands of years for mankind to take that first tiny 150 km step into orbit; with malfunctioning heat shields and destroyed retro rockets its return journey took a mere 10 minutes. And moments before the air gets too hot to inhale, you ask yourself why, why the hell did we not stay where we came from?
Nathan R Gunne
From an e-mail to Loan "Hydra" Mitchell
"Are you sure that what you saw from the Ceo's Pride was a Xenon?"
Elena did not look at Nopileos but kept her attention on her monitor, which flashed images and descriptions of moons, asteroids and small rock particles in a rapid procession.
Nopileos rotated his claws upwards in the Teladi equivalent of a shrug. "What else could it have been?"
"A Paranid or Split scouting drone?"
"Hm. No. I don't think so. The Split would simply blow up a Boron base. And what interest could the Three-Eyes have in an ancient, burned out station?"
Elena shook her head. After a pause of several sezuras she replied: "And what would be of interest to the Terraformers?"
The young Teladi got his squawk cubes out, lifted them to his nose and sniffed.
"For Xenon any information that brings them more knowledge of the Federation is important." He placed the precious keepsake back into its small polymer bag, while Elena immersed herself in the records. Ever since they came together, events had taken an astonishing course for the young Teladi.
This pilot from Earth was more systematic and much more goal-driven than he, or for that matter, any Teladi. It was her aim to find an ancient jumpgate, which was left here many hundreds of years ago by her ancestors. She ran computer correlations one after another, searched local libraries, even met the Argon Ferd Harding, whose young son Erki turned out to be an unbearable know-it-all, on the distant world of Ringo Moon. Elena used modified message drones to sort and catalogue small to medium-sized objects of various star systems, and personally reviewed the results.
She called her procedure 'detective work'. It was fascinating and kept them constantly moving. Sometimes while travelling between sectors, both developed exciting theories, discussed world politics, economics, biology - and told the stories of their lives.
Nopileos was deeply impressed by all the scale-raising and dangerous adventures, which Elena already had experienced, and this despite her very young age. Translated into the time scale of the Community, she was not much more than 21 Suns old, just 8 Suns older than him. An average Teladi could reach a tenfold of this age and could afford to take their time over anything, unlike these short-lived humans, who seldom reached the age of 100 Suns.
"Nopileos, look here! I think I've got it"
Jolted from his reverie Nopileos jumped to his claws. Elena focused in on a detail of the image on her viewer. It looked like an artificial structure; it could be a jump-gate.
"This is it?"
"This is it!" Her almond-shaped eyes shone with certainty. "Only a few light seconds away from here!"
*
The forgotten terrestrial gate was ancient. Strange actually, as the jumpgates left by the Ancients were eons older but due to their hardiness, reliability and sheer omnipresence seemed timeless. This one here however, looked like a ruin, inactive, forlorn. The singularity it once contained had long since leaked away through what Elena termed Hawking Radiation.
"We are not the first ones here," Elena said. Nopileos watched the outline of her white space suit from the cockpit of the Getsu Fune.
"Tshh?"
"Don't worry.... that was long ago. A certain Martinus left an inscription here in the year 211."
"Tshhhhhh????"
Elena had examined the structure of the old terrestrial jumpgate for more than two hours before she found the air lock to the maintenance entrance. Both doors stood wide open and the claustrophobically narrow service tunnel was empty.
A square duct allowed her direct entry to the machinery. The plate that was once the cover to lock the duct hung loosely on a single bolt and it was there she discovered the laser-engraved message from the past:
The last directive from the old log of Nyana's forefather, Commander Nathan R. Gunne, has now been carried out. We found the damaged jump-gate of our ancestors from Earth and completely destroyed its circuitry so it can never be repaired and used by the Xenon. But we are leaving its dead shell behind for generations to come. It shall remain a remembrance for what we had to give up to protect our siblings on that far, blue planet.
-aC, the year of 211
signed, the crew of the AP Gunner:
Martinus Sandas
Nyana Gunne
Randol Niddong
Jidlak Andreju
Sonja Khadir
Jawn Mantell
It would have been easy for Elena to remove the last bolt that held the cover plate in place. But this plate and its inscription belonged here and not any other place in the Universe. She took a few high-resolution pictures with her helmet camera and returned to the Getsu Fune.
A very excited Nopileos had met her at the air lock; the pictures of the inscriptions on the plate had made him itch with curiosity.
"There is nothing else for us to do here," she said, stowing her helmet back in its compartment.
"But, but..... sister! Do you know how much that plate is worth?"
Elena laughed out loud. "Noppi, I know a young Teladi who claims credits are not what he craves." Nopileos stared wide-eyed and disconcerted. "But, but..... "
"No 'but'. Look, the old gate is a memorial. Even more, a reminder. The Argon forgot it for hundreds of years and although it is on Teladi territory, your people never found it. We will leave it in peace and tell no one of its existence."
Nopileos looked down and rolled one of his ears between two claws. "You are right, sister. But Martinus and Nyana - the Nyana I named my ship after!"
"Crazy, isn't it?" Elena stepped into the cockpit. "Sure is!" Nopileos answered. "And none of the history books tell that they were ever here. And neither have I heard the names of their friends and their ship before!"
"There'll be a reason," Elena said. "Perhaps they did not want us to learn about them? Or someone else did not want it? For example Argon Prime? Anyway, 'AP Gunner', doesn't that sound just like the Goner sect?"
Nopileos looked at her with his snout wide open. "Tsh! That is correct. It is so! Now what?" Elena slid her pilot seat forward on its rails and toggled a few switches. "Now we fly to Argon Prime".
"But you just said, perhaps the Argon themselves had a hand in this episode?"
"Nopileos, this all happened almost four hundred years ago. Three hundred and something suns, Jazuras. And now I am here, an ambassador of Earth, the lost home planet."
The Teladi did not look too convinced. It seemed like for a moment he wanted to say something but decided against it. "Sister, I will return to my ship to find room for my thoughts! Inanisas will communicate with Marc and follow Getsu Fune."
"I thought his name was Inanias and not Inanisas?"
Nopileos snorted, "May the adolescent itching never leave your forehead scales, oh sister!"
Laughing, Elena began entering the necessary course data, while the young Teladi disengaged his yacht from the Earth ship and waited for further instructions.
*
Her first glimpse of the system momentarily overwhelmed Elena with a desire for home and for a moment she let herself believe she was. However Sonra, the central star of this sector, was a tad too orange and Argon Prime was not quite blue enough to sustain the illusion. Nonetheless the system was beautiful and only the activation of the star gate's lights behind the Getsu Fune, announcing the arrival of Nopileos' yacht, tore her eyes from the projection screen.
Argon Prime was still half an hour away and could not yet be seen directly, all she had were images from Marc's database. The communication screen lit up again and Elena expected Nopileos' face to appear. Instead a woman in uniform, with a strict, almost ascetic visage and short, blue hair appeared.
"Sector control Argon Prime, 17-8-99-4. Heavy destroyer AP Dementer, Lieutenant Rae Scrollong. Unknown ship on course 17-1-64-0, identify yourself."
Elena did not have to think too long about an answer. She had come to contact the Argon government. No more need to play hide and seek and hide behind coy evasions.
"Major Elena Kho, aboard Jump Ship USC Getsu Fune. Origin planet Earth, destination Argon Prime. I request co-ordinates for a parking orbit."
The woman from Argon sector control looked momentarily startled, as if she had not quite understood Elena.
"Origin .... please repeat!"
Elena repeated as requested and added: "Please make a Shuttle available to pick me up, I must speak to representatives of your government as soon as I land."
"One Sezura, please," Lieutenant Scrollong said as her face disappeared from the screen. A little while after the screen flickered alight again with the image of a small faced Argon male, with greying temples.
"Sector Admiral Henson speaking. Unknown ship, please repeat your identification."
Elena patiently repeated her little speech. Another pause followed.
"Getsu Fune," came the reply, "can you prove your claim? You originate from Earth?"
"Scan my ship, Admiral", Elena replied casually. "We are doing that just now, Major. The profile of your ship is not known to us but it could well be a very old, modified model of Argon construction."
"Admiral..."
"Major, personally I do not question your statement, the weight of evidence speaks in your favour, including your unusual appearance. That was meant as a compliment by the way," the Admiral smiled.
"I assume you are directly related to the unknown Jump Space Ship we discovered about one and a half Wozuras ago?"
"Hai. I am searching for this ship so I can bring its pilot back to Earth. However, I just recently learned it has been destroyed and the pilot is dead." Somehow she kept a steady voice.
The Sector Admiral nodded. "We have similar unconfirmed reports. Major Kho, your onboard computer is receiving the requested approach data. A diplomatic delegation will welcome you at the spaceport B3, Argonia City."
"Admiral, unfortunately my craft isn't build for a planet landing. I need a Shuttle to pick me up from our parking orbit."
"We will arrange that Major Kho, we have here a curious looking Teladi ship on the scope too, the Nyana's Fortune, whose pilot claims to belong with you. Is this correct?"
Elena took a sideward glance at the gravidar, which displayed Nopileos' ship as a distinctive white blip in close proximity. "Yes, Isemados Sibasomos Nopileos IV is with me. He has been of great assistance."
Sector Admiral Henson raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, I would have imagined that ....... just a moment!"
In the same second something flashed on the gravidar, a rhomboid formation of six blips moved rapidly across the screen, closing in on the three ships. Before Elena could react, there was a flicker of laser beams near the jump gate and the flash of explosions.
Static striated the image of the Sector Admiral, then the picture flickered and died.
"Terraformers! Marc, evasive manoeuvres. I need weapon control."
"Confirmed."
The Getsu Fune began to slowly accelerate and Elena established a communication connection with Nopileos. "Have the Nyana duplicate my manoeuvres, mirrored and inverted. I hope we can distract them until the Demeter can help us."
The forehead scale of the young Teladi had grown very pale. "Affirmative, Elena," he hissed.
"We will meet in orbit. Keep your ears stiff!"
"The ears? I...." The rest of it was lost to Elena as repeated laser fire seized her attention. Instinctively she cut the communications and grabbed weapons control.
Most of her shots sailed into the emptiness of space as the Terraformers went evasive. A few bolts hit the protective shields, but not enough to have any effect other than draw their attention.
Two of the slender black ships broke formation and swung in a long parabolic arc towards the Getsu Fune. A quick glance at her gravidar showed Elena that another two black ships were stalking the Nyana's Fortune. The remaining two were moving to intercept the AP Demeter.
Nopileos would be safe for the time being; Elena was almost sure of that. Even with their combined forces, the two Xenon would not be able to penetrate the exceptionally strong shields of the Teladi yacht. Letting Nopileos get a little pale around the snout was worth it to break up the Terraformer formation.
But her own safety was not so assured. As the battle progressed the aim of the robot ships became increasingly accurate and more and more blasts slammed into the energy screens of the old terran ship. It wouldn't take too many more hits to drain them completely and then the Getsu Fune would be defenceless.
Elena let go of the weapon controls; her lasers were completely ineffectual.
"Marc, I need combat steering," she ordered. Now, while maintaining the general programmed bearing, she'd be able to perform evasive manoeuvres.
Where were the Argon units? The tactical screen showed more blips moving towards her position but they were minutes away and the battle could be over in seconds.
"Collision alert!" shouted Marc. One of the slender black ships of the Xenon had overshot the Getsu Fune and was now turning into a head-on pass while its companion blasted continually from her six.
Elena's lips compressed into a thin, bloodless line. These were machines, and she knew from history they had no compunction at all about kamikaze rams. They would care no more about sacrificing a fighter than a human would a missile.
She pulled the flight yoke into her stomach but the Terraformer matched her course change, swelling in her vision, its lasers a continuous blaze of fire.
"Shields at 20 percent," Marc announced.
Elena brought up the ecliptic plane on the HUD and chose the position of the Getsu Fune as the reference point. She flexed her tension-stiff fingers briefly and gripped the controls again. Constantly monitoring the gravidar in her peripheral vision she focussed on the sleek, deadly foe closing at a frightening rate. Trained and practiced through countless hours of meditation, she cleared her mind of all superfluous thoughts.
Her fingers were itching but she kept her cool. Just another split second. Her instruments showed her shield energy had dropped to 7 percent. The hull began to rattle and buck under the impact.
Now!
Guided more by instinct than calculation Elena pulled on the controls and twisted the Getsu Fune onto a drastic new heading, the inertia compensators screaming in protest.
The Earth ship shook like a sailboat in a storm as its shields scraped with the Xenon's, frying circuits and filling the air with static. But they did not collide.
A giant explosion blossomed silently in her wake as the charging Xenon smashed bow first into the other on her tail.
"Shield generators overloaded. Emergency shutdown initiated." Marc cut through her triumphant scream.
The gravidar showed the two Terraformers fruitlessly pounding on the Nyana's Fortune's powerful shields had turned their attention to her and would be all over the sluggish earth ship in a matter of minutes.
A few, well-aimed salvos from their strong lasers and the unprotected Getsu Fune would be graveyard junk. And that must not happen. Elena had not forgotten Admiral Molander's orders. If in danger, return straight to Earth. With Brennan and his X Shuttle destroyed, she was the only one able to bring back news of the existence of the Community of Planets and the renewed threat from the Terraformers. She had no choice.
"Marc, prepare the singularity engine for the leap back to Earth. Jump as soon as it's charged. Confirm."
"Confirmed. Jumping in six minutes fourteen seconds"
She checked the gravidar. The Terraformers would reach them shortly before and there was nothing that she could do to escape another confrontation. Her engines were much too weak and her shields no longer operating. Unless........
"Marc, can you reverse the emergency shutdown of the shield generators?"
"Negative."
"Not even if all safety procedures are disengaged?"
"I have to point out, this is prohibited."
"But, is it possible?" She waited with baited breath for his answer.
"Positive."
She continued the question and answer game until she knew the shield generators would most likely turn into useless pieces of molten metal if activated. But before their final collapse they could still generate enough energy for a shield to last from five to fifteen seconds. This and a few daredevil manoeuvres was all Elena had left for defence so it would have to do!
The swelling gravity fields of the charging singularity engine filled the ship with a growing bass rumble Elena felt in the marrow of her bones as much as heard. These fields would rip an artificial wormhole in the fabric of space-time and the first intimations of the distorted geometry were already making her feel sick in her stomach.
Three minutes. She'd better send a message drone to Argon Prime. In sparse, urgent sentences she outlined her hopeless situation and launched the small spaceship.
Thirty seconds - the final phase - beyond the point of no return and the rumble of the singularity engine had burgeoned to a roar so laden with subsonics she felt her scalp tighten and her hairs stand on end in an echo of primitive fear. Not that her body needed that stimulus as the Xenon ships rampaged into range. Tongues of electric blue licked around the hull as the artificial singularity formed. The lead Xenon cruiser began firing, the murderous plasma drifting towards the Getsu Fune like lazy fireflies, almost to fat to fly.
"Maaaarc! Shield generators on, safety measures be damned!" she screamed through the deafening howl of the singularity engine. She barely heard the confirmation but the shield generator power surged to six percent.
Ten more seconds! By now the Xenon were letting rip with everything they had and the Getsu Fune trembled and shook under the hailstorm of fire like it was coming apart. The shield generators screeched in an ear-bleeding sign that they were about to fail.
Five percent - three - one!
The Getsu Fune shuddered like a mortally wounded bull as the first few bolts scorched the bare hull. Something overloaded behind her, tainting the recycled air with the acrid tang of seared insulation foam.
A primary thruster exploded like a kick from a mule, sending the tormented ship into an uncontrollable roll. Her head smashed forward into the control panel and Elena tasted blood from cut lips.
Two seconds! A fist of blue fire clutched the wounded freighter as space ripped apart.
One!
The Getsu Fune fell into the artificial singularity like a boxer walking into an upper cut. A deafening explosion, a stygian dark pierced only the flickering of a dozen electrical fires and the ominous red glow of warning lights, the wounded beast screech of the over-stretch engines!
Strained beyond anything they were ever designed to counter, the inertial compensators almost gave up the ghost and the freighter fell through the singularity tunnel shaking like a rollercoaster on a collapsing ride. Intense streams of colours swirled beyond the cockpit transparency, black, white, blue, then black again like the Devil's kaleidoscope.
The steering column was dead in her hands. Maybe it was Marc or maybe it was just the dumb random luck of misfiring thrusters but the Getsu Fune fell from the fading hues of the jump tunnel into normal space under some semblance of control, blue light strobing the cockpit as the ship rolled. As the dervish whirl slowed to a mere tumbling roll Elena was able to gather her terror scattered senses enough to take stock of her surroundings.
They confirmed the fear that had pierced her gut like a knife when the mad rainbow of colours in the singularity had given way to an ocean hue. The Getsu Fune had emerged in the outer layers of the atmosphere. The thermosphere judging by the way the planet completely filled her tumbling view.
The Getsu Fune was not built for atmospheric flight, just for emergency landings, and it was falling. Elena wiped the blood from her face and frantically scanned the controls. Most systems were out but the main engine was valiantly attempting to claw the ship back into space and counteract the roll.
It failed in the former but succeeded in the latter and the freighter descended stern first on a white-hot cushion of burning gases. Elena knew she could just about land the thing but once down the Getsu Fune would never touch space again. But one problem at a time, that's what they taught in flight-school.
"Marc - rear camera? Marc?"
The computer did not answer. Elena tested the flight controls again; they flopped dead in her trembling hands.
The ship continued to fall, the horizon becoming visible as a cobalt curve, then a blue ocean and finally a huge landmass appeared in the distance. But which continent, which sea? North America, the Pacific, the Atlantic?
The altimeter clicked down through the five-kilometre mark and she pushed those questions away in favour of the more urgent problem of a landing spot as the ship plunged in a controlled arc towards the sea.
She tried the controls again. Nothing.
"Marc, Marc - steer towards the land!" she shouted over the howl of the main drive.
"Negative." The computer sounded like it had just awoken from a dazed sleep.
"Manual steering!"
"Negative."
"Damn...why, Marc?"
"The manoeuvring control sub-system is inoperative. Steering is not possible."
The voice of the onboard computer was as cold and emotionless as ever, as if he was just a disinterested observer of the unfolding disaster.
Elena frowned. The Getsu Fune would hit the water and immediately sink like a stone. She would have only a few seconds to escape and her only chance to survive the down-drag of the sinking mass would be to be ready in the airlock before it splashed down.
She pushed herself out of the pilot chair, unsteady on her feet in the crosswinds buffeting the falling ship. It felt like the compensators had failed completely. She stumbled through the chaos of debris to the hatch leading to the middle deck and bracing herself, punched the lock control. Another giant's fist slam sent her lurching forward, hitting the heavy metal door with her right shoulder.
At that moment the gravity generators gave out and Elena found herself lying on the hatch that had just been facing her. Her weight pushed it open and she fell through, falling two metres onto the opposite wall.
Elena lay stunned on the new floor for a few seconds before attempting to rise to one knee. She failed. Her stomach felt like she was in an express lift decelerating from freefall. That and the agonising rise in the screaming pitch of the engine gave her an added impetus of fear. Impact could only be seconds away!
She stumbled into the outer airlock, uncoupled the safeties so the hatch could open under water and clutched a guide rail against the bone jarring pounding that threatened to tear the ship apart. A final, violent punch wrenched her from the handhold and she fell to the floor with a force that sent a sharp dagger of pain from her elbow up her arm.
Gasping with the shock Elena hauled herself up, took a deep breath, hit the switch and braced herself. A wall of water smashed in and attempted to crush her against the deck. With fight-for-your-life desperation she pushed back against the icy flood and when the water pressure equalised in the flooded compartment she catapulted herself from the ship with a powerful kick of her legs.
The whirlpool undertow of the sinking freighter threatened to drag her to a shared doom but she fought harder than she had ever fought anything before. Ignoring the pain in her damaged arm, ignoring the burning ache in her bursting lungs she crawled up towards the fading light and then somehow she was free, the bulky silhouette of the Getsu Fune fading from sight into the ocean dark beneath.
The last of her air dribbled in a long stream of bubbles from her mouth and as she awkward crawled towards the surface, her injured arm flapping uselessly, the urge to breathe became almost too powerful to resist. But still she struggled, knowing the nano machines that had let her breath air from water had long since gone inert.
Slowly the cold gripped her limbs and the ache in her arm became a searing torture but her will to live was unbroken. Just another fifteen metres, ten! With a final, Herculean effort she broke into bright daylight and greedily gulped precious air deep into her lungs. It tasted clear and fresh, better than any she'd tasted before and life flowed back into her.
She trod water and looked around, feeling the luckiest woman in the world. Her luck continued to hold. On the horizon was the grey glimmer of a coastline. Five kilometres, ten? 'Well girl, that'll teach you to complain about a lack of exercise,' she thought ruefully. She was a strong swimmer, even injured as she was she was sure she could make it if she took it slow.
But it might not be necessary. There seemed to be mechanical hum in the breeze and squinting around she made out two boats bouncing through wave crests at speed. And there were people on decks, waving. She almost fainted with relief, she was saved.
Elena stopped treading water and lay floating on the gentle waves to conserve the last of her energy. And it was then she knew something was horribly wrong, she could taste it on her cut lips that did not sting as the water lapped at her face.
This was not the Atlantic, this was not the Pacific, this was not even Earth.
This was a fresh-water ocean.
