Chapter 1.11

“So you’re saying,” Fred asked, looking at his wife, “That these are the missiles that were launched from N22 before it left?”

“The same,” she replied.

“Those were sent into the sun!”

“I’m sorry, Fred, but apparently not.”

He sighed and slowly sat down at one of the unused stations. He kept his eyes on the screen the whole time.

The comm signaled that there was an incoming communications It was Kevin Grayson, the commander of Fomalhaut IV.

“I take it you see those, as you slowed down,” he commented to Gina.

“Yes, we...” Gina broke off as they all saw the missiles break apart as the MRVs split off. “How the...” She turned to her father-in-law. “I thought those were disarmed!”

“They were supposed to be.” He almost couldn’t speak. To compound what they were all feeling, they saw the solid fuel engines fire, putting the MRVs into carefully plotted, decaying orbits.

“Rhoda,” asked Paula quietly, “Is there any point in asking if we could make it back in time to stop any of those?”

“Absolutely no way, Mom.”

“We can help people, though,” Gina announced. “Turn us around, Rhoda. Keep the ship out of the range of the ‘Total Fun” signal.”

“That’s outside the moon’s orbit, Gina.”

“Okay. That will have to do.” She turned to Grayson. “I’m going to rescue as many of those people as I can. The MRVs will hit before I can get there, but I don’t feel comfortable just letting them die.” Her statement was sent to all of the ships, and a signal came back from each of them saying they would do the same.

All twenty of the ships wasted precious fuel, coming to a stop relative to the planet, then put themselves into an orbit around the equator, but beyond the orbit of Earth’s moon. They were barely moving so they could maintain the orbit they were in.

As they were moving into position, the MRVs exploded right above the military installations and major cities on the surface. It was as if an orange cloud swept across the surface. Unfortunately, the warheads did exactly what they were designed to do. They released the orange clouds, which lifted out of range of the primitive explosions, then descended. The explosions were simply to open every nook and cranny of anyplace a human being could hide. Then, the orange clouds, consisting of millions of nanites, converted all organic material into more nanites, and swept over the planet’s surface.

“How...” Rhoda was staring, tears flowing freely down her face.

No one was immune from the tears. Every person who could see the screens in each of the ships, cried that day. Each one had been chosen because they were known to care about other people, no matter the situation. Seeing every person on their planet destroyed was beyond what they could stand.

As soon as they could prepare their landers, they sent them out. The crew of each was all the same gender, so there would be no problems as they got close to the planet. Each returned the same story. No one was alive that they could find. The only ones who might be, would be locked in a bank vault Otherwise…

“We are gathered here today, to pay tribute to our fallen world.” The commanding crews of each ship had joined on Centaurus, as it was the ship of Earth’s president. Those who were not able to attend physically, sat in their own ship’s amphitheater, along with their thousands of neighbors, watching Paula Freeman speak.

“We have seen the outcome of the MAD project, and it was truly that. Mad. Watching as every human on the world was destroyed by the very things that are in our bodies, keeping us from being destroyed, was humbling. To think that one man was able to orchestrate this loss of life over this world, is unthinkable.

“There will never be anymore life on this world, our home, but we can spread our wings and build our lives elsewhere. We can, and we will. Each of us is set to go to a different possibility, with five backup locations each. That makes a hundred worlds that we can check, with even more possible as we look out in the galaxy.

“Where will we end up? We don’t know right now, but we will survive. We have to. This is the only choice for us. We know that there are two more ships out there, but they have left our galaxy, heading toward no galaxy that we know of. We know that N21 had the ‘Total Fun’ on their ship, but perhaps, if N22 finds them, they can move to N22 and be free.

“If N22 finds N21, and I believe they will they will return here. They will see what happened to our world, and then undoubtedly leave.

“Gina and I have discussed this possibility, and we have decided to help them, if we can.

“We are going to place Centaurus into an orbit where we can wait for them to arrive. It may take thousands of years, but we have enough substance on this ship to wait that long. Again, just as we had to check on our people on Earth, we have to save this last vestige of humanity, if we can.

“My charge to you, as your president, is to go out into the galaxy, and make us proud! Find a place to call home again, each of you, and never give up. Don’t surrender to whatever challenges you find out there. We no longer are Caesar’s playthings. We are our own again. Do not be beaten!”

She stepped away from the podium she had stood behind, then told the crowds, “Now, go to it, and be blessed!”

Then she stepped off the platform and walked out of the amphitheater. Just outside the door, she met Fred and just about fell into his arms. “You did great,” he told her.

“Remember all those times I got on your case about Willem and how you felt about watching him die?”

He nodded, not knowing where she was going with this.

“I want to kill him a thousand times over now. No, make that millions of times, billions of times. One for each person destroyed on our planet.”

“We don’t know if he reprogrammed those missiles, Paula. We’ll never know.”

“Whether directly or indirectly, he is responsible for each of them. We wouldn’t have any of the N series weapons platforms if he had stayed out of power.”

Fred hugged her hard. “Paula, I want you to know one thing.” He backed up so he could look in her eyes. “I would be right there helping you with those billions of times killing him. Long ago, I lost any love I had for him. There is no connection to him at all. I have been Freeman so long now, I hardly remember being a Wallace. He is gone from my soul.”

She nodded and pulled herself into him. It was awhile before they went back to their rooms.

Centaurus had sat on a cometary orbit around Sol for many years. Actually, close to fifty thousand. There had been a few upsets with the after effects of ‘Total Fun’, but they had dealt with them and moved on.

Finally the day came where they wanted to settle on a planet. The ship had enough supplies to keep them going for years yet, but being stuck in a ship, even one as vast as Centaurus, came at a price. ‘Cabin Fever’ had been known of for years, but with all the things to do on Earth, the craft that could take you anywhere, without ever fearing sliding off roads, or plowing snow, it simply wasn’t an issue. Now, however the people were wishing for more area to visit.

Finally, Gina had enough. She sat down with her mother-in-law and discussed the problem. “I want to see them as much as you do, Mom, but we’ve got to be realistic.”

“I know, Gina. I just wish they had shown up by now.”

“I have a possibility for you, Mom. I’m really not sure what you’ll think of it, however.”

They met up with a few engineers who had worked on the ships in the briefing room.

“This is really a matter for you and Fred, Ma’am.” one of the engineers told her.

“Why?”

“You haven’t told her?”

Gina shook her head, and Paula was starting to get really worried now. Just what had they come up with?

“On our way through here, Mom, we’ve scouted this area many times. The fact is, it’s mineral rich. There are enough metals out here to build a ship. Another one, even bigger than this one.”

“You think we should build another ship?”

The engineer nodded.

“Transfer our people into that?”

“No,” Gina told her.

“I’m not sure I get it, then.”

“Mom, call Dad in here, please?”

Very reluctantly, Paula called her husband. He came in ten minutes later, and no one had given Paula anymore information.

“What’s up?” Fred asked.

Gina filled Fred in on what was already said, then she went on. “We are thinking of building a ship that can wait here indefinitely for N22 to return. We will put a small crew on it, to contact N22 when they arrive. As such, there will be the possibility… No, make that certainty, that children will be born to these people, thus an indefinite wait is really not possible, but a very long wait is possible.

“Where the ship will be much bigger than this one, and a very small crew placed on it, there will be a vast amount of space for them to enjoy.”

“How big are you talking?” Fred asked.

“To put it in perspective, our Centaurus’ diameter is two miles. We’re talking about the same size command ring, but a diameter five times that of Centaurus.”

“As well,” said the engineer, “Because of the size of this thing, We think there needs to be a few modifications as well.”

“Go on,” Fred was very interested now.

“We will build an outer ring around the upstairs and downstairs, with ‘U’ corridors between them as well We’re also thinking of the same idea in the middle of the bays. Not only will this allow for quicker transport between, but it will help strengthen the entire structure.”

Paula had been listening intently, and now said, “I want to be a part of that crew.”

Gina agreed. “It will be yours to command.”

It had taken a few years to build the massive ship. They had found vast deposits of the raw materials to make fuel, in the Oort cloud, as well as from some of the asteroids. These had been pulled to the dwarf planet, Pluto. They used that as a base for the builders and engineers to work on the ship. Once the superstructure was built and pressurized, they installed the anti gravity, then floors. At that point, Pluto was abandoned except as a storage facility for raw materials. One of the bays was given over to a metal fabrication plant. Once that was done, things began to move along much faster. Raw materials were moved to an open bay. It was estimated that there was enough there to fit out the inside of the entire ship.

Fred and Paula had decided that, while neither had experience in building, they would lend a couple of pairs of hands wherever they could. It was a special time for Paula, knowing that when this was completely built, she would command it.

Another change in the structure was made soon after the basic plans had been made. To increase the capacity, the shape of the bays was changed. The other ships, while much larger than N21, were still built the same. The bays were the basic shape of a rectangle, with thirty of them on the upstairs and downstairs halves. The new ship was completely changed, in effect, more than tripling it’s capacity. Each bay was built into the next one, with multiple ‘U’ corridors joining the sides together. As a result, there was no need for an outside corridor to connect the bays but an interesting idea was made. A corridor was made on the outer edge of the ship. It was over thirty miles long, surrounding the entire ship. The ‘U’ corridors were connected with ‘J’ corridors to this ring. The outside had a metal shell, but the inside was transparent steel. It made a wonderful walkway, where you could see the ship. You could also see the center, command ring. Just for the fun of it, the ‘J’ corridors in the command rings and in the outer ring, went the opposite way. Thus you were standing the opposite directions in the rings.

Now, it was time to start the engines for the first time to make sure that they worked. These were massive compared to the ones that powered Centaurus. When Paula gave the order to start them, there was a vibration in the entire ship that felt like it was hitting the harmonics of a person’s bones. It rose in power until the ship began to move. The ship was placed into an orbit that ran parallel to it’s smaller sister, but several miles away to adjust for it’s much greater mass. Very carefully, it’s roll was started, then Paula took a brass plaque from a pocket, wiped it off and placed it in a receptacle just inside the door of the command center. It stated that the name of this new ship was Neo22.

Once the Neo22 was run through it’s paces, it was time for Centaurus to depart. She watched through a scope as the smaller ship started out of it’s orbit. “Smooth sailing, Centaurus,” she said over the comm.

“They will be safe, Mom,” said a very familiar voice from behind her. She turned and saw Rhoda. Not just her, but Gina as well!

“What are you two doing here?” she asked, dumbfounded.

“Staying with you and Dad,” Gina told her. “You don’t think we’d abandon you, do you?”

“Who’s commanding Centaurus?” Paula asked.

“I transferred command to Rick Johnson,” She told her mother-in-law. “Right before I transferred to here.” She stepped over to Paula and asked the old question of seafarers. “Permission to come aboard?”