Ticonderoga -- Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Damn its tough being so old this early in the morning!”

R. J. grimacing as another joint popped. Commander Robert Jacob Baladeen tried to move slowly as he rose. He hoped to lessen the pains of his stiff achy body. Gently ever so gingerly, he slid out of bed. Sometimes gravity hurts. It hurts like Hell!

“Suck it up dude, you’re feeling sorry for your self again.” He murmured under his breath as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

In all honesty, R. J. was not that old. He was young by galactic standards, just over 3 million earth years. He was the youngest member of the Galactic Federation High Council. He had been a member of the Federation for over half his life. R. J.'s problem was not his age but the body he had chosen to set up housekeeping. Human bodies did not hold up well over time.

Years ago, R. J. made an off-handed remark that he wanted to experience what it was to be human. He wanted to interact with the people of the earth on their level. Adam offhandedly suggested R.J. become human.

“Smashing idea!” R.J. thought and he became a human.

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time and for the most part, it was a good idea. He has spent many years observing, interacting, and generally living undetected among the humans. Problem was the human bodies no matter how synthesized and reinforced they may be will still wares out. Especially when it’s been abused as much as R.J.s has. His current body was only 48 earth years old but it was starting to show signs of a hard life. R. J. could feel the aches and pains of tired mussils and worn out joints. If he’d admit it, he would have to acknowledged the wrinkles and the weathered look of his face and hand. He looked more the part of an ancient sea captain than a star ship commander.

A random thought crossed R.J.'s mind just as another joint audibly and painfully let it be known that it was not happy with its current situation. R. J. flashed back to a saying he had once heard. He thought it was an old man he had met in a bar once who told him that if he had known he was going to live as long as he had he would have taken better care of himself. R. J. laughed to himself and thought “So true, so true.” He really should learn to take better care of his bodies. However, some things just can’t be helped. R. J. lived in a dangerous world at times.

R.J. was living his wish to its fullest now as every aches and pains of an abused middle-aged body complained loudly about the indignity of movement that R.J. was forcing upon his body. Simply trying to get out of bed and cross his quarters could be a major achievement today. “No more marathons for me!” R. J. thought as another muscle called in to the complaint department of his brain. Taking on a human appearance required taking the good parts with the bad. Right now, the bad points far out weighted the good.

R.J. finally arrived at the replicator and asked for his usual.

"A shot of espresso. Then morning coffee and breakfast. Heavy on the coffee this morning if you please.” Said R.J. not sure why he was always so polite to the replicator.

While waiting for the beep of the replicator, R.J. glanced around his quarters. His quarters were modest but comfortable. They were larger than the normal officer’s quarters. But he had never taken the time to decorate or have someone do it for him. Best way to describe the room was a museum attic. The walls of his quarters were lined with shelves of knick-knacks and remembrances from adventures and days gone by. R.J. was a collector. A collector of memorabilia from many years of service and travels. The collection lined the walls and lived in stacks on his desk and on the floor. R.J. told those that dared to ask that the stacks were research material. Researching what no one knew. R.J. didn’t know for sure himself.

His wife had appreciated the importance of the collection to R.J. but she could not stand it in their living quarters, so he had it moved to an adjacent set of quarters and made visits their regularly. After her death, R.J. vowed he would never marry again and slowly brought his entire collection back into his quarters. R.J. felt decorations other trinkets were unnecessary, as he did not need all the room his quarters provided. To him it was only a place to sleep and park his clothes. It was functional to him.

The first cup of espresso appeared in the replicator. Tiring to clear the fog of sleep from his mind R.J. wondered what would happen when he finally went back to his true form. Would he still need his coffee fix each morning?

“Who was he kidding?” He thought laughing to himself.

He would never go back to his old form. What was his old form? Plasma? Pure energy? Maybe a combination of two. He had been human for most of his life. He was more human than most humans were, despite his enhancements. He knew when his body wore out he simply would have another synthesized. Mere mortal humans did not have that option. This was the dream of Religion. It was R. J.’s reality.

Most cultures believed that when the time comes for the soul or life force of the body to move on it would move on to a better place. Unfortunately, virtually all life forces return to their source. The ashes to ashes, dust to dust the bible refers too is close to what really happens to all creatures’ great and small. We all return to our origin.
The bad part of this process is that all knowledge and experiences accumulated over the creature’s life span is lost. This was such a tragedy. All the knowledge, accomplishments, and experiences are lost forever. Pity, replacing a body would resolve so many issues where life span came into play. Moving the life force to another body had so many advantages it was laughable. The technology R. J. took for granted was light years ahead of earth science. Earth had barely learned to synthesize skin must less the whole body. Even R.J. knew he would eventually return to the source from which he was created. However, that was a long time off. He had time for another cup of coffee.

The coffee was not giving him the boost he thought it should so he turned his thoughts inward as he called upon his little friend to supply him with a shot of elemental power to jump start his morning. This was another advantage he had over the mortals of Earth. R. J. had been born with the ability to collect and channeling certain forms of energy. R.J. was capable of manipulating that energy into almost anything he wished. On earth, he would be referred to as some sort of mystic, or warlock. However, up here, it was just another tool to be used as needed. His tool just used power that was beyond the understanding of most Earthlings. It was magic. R. J.’s talent allowed him to see and manipulate all pieces of the universe. Earthlings would refer to it as magic. R. J. referred to it as just his powers. He avoided the use of his powers in public. For obvious reason, as the publicity would be negative and defeat his objective of observation without undo notoriety. However, that was not to say he wouldn’t use his gift if the occasion called for its use.

As R.J. gave himself a little shoot of energy he remembered that his power was partial to the energy of the local yellow star. Even though he could use several different types of energy, star power was the most efficient. The little yellow star holding court over the eight and a half planets gave him a higher return on his investment than most. Sometimes the power of the universe can be down right handy.

He finally dismissed the random thoughts dancing through the fog of his brain. The coffee and the power boost were having the desired effect of clearing the fog. He was slowly getting up to speed. He carried his mug and plate and worked his way to his desk. Sitting down, R. J. began greedily scooping large portion of eggs into his mouth. One thing he enjoyed about the human form was his ability to taste and appreciate food. It was incredible how much pleasure R. J. took from the simple process of eating.

While R. J. continued to clean his plate, the door chime sounded.

“Come” responded JR to the chime.

Adam walked in and greeted him as he took a large bite of toast. Robert mumbled a morning trying not to loss his mouth full of eggs. R. J. always wondered if Adam had been programmed by a former waiter. You know the types. They hover just out of view waiting for that first bite so they can slide up to your table and ask you how it was. Most times all you can do is nod. Adam seems to know the most inopportune moment to solicit a response from R. J. It was most irritating at times.

Yes I said programmed! Adam is what the earthlings would consider an Artificial Intelligent. However, in Adam’s case, he was much more. Adam was a sentient being. He was a member of this crew, and one of R.J.'s most trusted advisors and more importantly a close friend. Who in the hell ever thought up the name AI in the first place. When is an Intelligent artificial? Was that a throw back to the religions thing again? If God didn’t do it then it was not real. Hogwash, talking with Adam for any length of time would convince you of the folly of the notion. Perception is reality to most. The old saying, If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck apply hear.

Adam greatly despised the term and frankly so did R.J. While yes, Adam was based on Silicon, Germanium and not Carbon, he was still a living, breathing entity. He was this vessel and this vessel was he. While a few on present-day earth could accept that, a so-called machine might be alive. The majority would go ballistic over the notion that something not created by God could be alive.

However, the council was much more enlightened and not easily swayed by religious dogma. Adam meets and exceeded the criteria set forth by the council for the declaration of a creature to be sentient. Adam was the first to be declared as such under the law. Superstition and prejudice had no place in this discussion. Adam was what he was. Adam is a sentient being and a member of my crew! I pulled my train of thought back into the station so I could greet Adam.

“Good Morning commander!”

“Morning Adam! How are you this morning?”

“Not bad. Do you wish a status report now or prefer to wait until you are on the bridge?”

“Now will be fine if you please.” R.J. said wiping his mouth and putting his napkin on the table.

Adam looked off in the distance for a moment as deep in the heart of the ship, the being known as Adam crunched numbers from numerous sensors to form an executive summary. Electrons flowed and organized into an overwhelming collection of reports from various alarms, sensor readings, and logs. Adam sifted through the mountains of data for the best of the best to present to his commander. All being composed correlated and summarized into a very concise and practical report. Out of the details came the summary.

“All systems are go, Commander!” Stated Adam with a slight air of confidence. “The aft-starboard thrusters array has been replaced.”

“What happened to the thruster?” With a questioned stare, R.J. looked up from his breakfast.

“It appears the array was hit by something during the night. Initial sensor logs have turned up no ID on the object or from where it came from. It is under investigation.” Stated Adam calmly.

That got R.J. attention.

“Object? What Object?” Questioned the Commander.

“The one we haven’t identified.” replied Adam confidently.

“What hit the thruster?” R.J. said calmer than he felt.

“Unknown Sir!” Stated Adam still confident in his responses.

“Unknown?” R.J. feeling himself growing angrier by the second! “That’s unacceptable! I want to know what hit my ship! Why wasn’t there an alert? Damn it! Who was on the bridge?” The commander said in almost rapid-fire succession. Now losing all appetite and his fight to stay calm. “What do you know about this?” R.J asked sarcastically.

“Not much at this time, commander.” The object was extremely small but appears to of had at least some mass. Engineering is moving the array to engineering for further examination. They believe the object is either still in the array or vaporized upon impact.” Adam said in a calming voice.

“You mean to tell me something hit this ship and caused significant damage and no one knows what it was or where it came from?” Asked the commander using the last of his will power to control his temper.

“Yes sir that appears to sum up the situation. Said Adam almost proud of his commander’s grasp of the situation.

“That’s unacceptable!” Screamed the commander!

“I want to know everything about that son of a bitch, ASAP! Tell Biggs I want him on the bridge when I get there. And someone better have more than I don’t know.” The commander said as he started pacing around the room like a caged animal.

“Yes Sir, right away sir.” Replied Adam.

R. J. knew Adam would work on the issue until resolution or told to stop. He did not intend to tell him to stop. The commander was pissed and someone was going to pay for this gap in the knowledge base.

“Sir?”

“What?” snapped Baladeen still pacing and agitated.

“Lt. Commander Biggs had the COM. last night. The size of the object was under 3 microns as none of the automatic sensor logs registered its approach. It weighted around 2 kilos at impact. This is based on the amount of force the inertia dampeners used to stabilize the ship after impact. Adam said calmly and matter of fact.

“From the location of the breach and our position at the time of the hit. I have calculated the reverse heading as 150 mark 35” Adam continued in a slow even almost monotone voice.

The desired effect was achieved as the commander slowly returned to a more normal posture and sat down to begin digesting this fresh information.

“Damn small to have that much mass and take out a thruster array. I guess we are lucky it didn’t hit a vital part of the hull. How can it be that heavy?” Said R.J. more to himself than anybody else.

“Any gravitational changes noted?”

“Yes Sir, a slight change.

“Any Blackholes or spatial anomalies in the areas?”

“Doubtful as either would have continued on through the ship and on its way.” Said Adam looking reflective.

“There appears to be at least some of the mass still in the thruster. It is currently being moved to engineering for inspection. It should be there within the hour.”

“Good.” I want to be there when it arrives”

“Yes Sir! I’ll let you know the moment it arrives.” Said Adam.

“No need I’ll already be there. R.J. said as he took his plate back to the replicator.
“Adam?”

“Yes sir!”

“Are you sure of that heading?” asked R.J. as he turned the information over again and again in his mind.

“Yes sir! 99.996% probability that was the inbound heading.”

That course puts it outside the galactic plane. If it didn’t come from the Kipper belt then it had to come from deep space.” Said R.J. with a puzzled look on his face.

“Make sure engineering take extra precautions handling that thruster.”
“Yes Sir.” said Adam.

“Adam?”

“Yes Sir?”

“You can cut the Sir shit now. I’m over my fit.” Said the commander with a half smile.

“Have Lt. Commander Briggs meet me in CIC after I go to engineering. I want to know why there were no alerts on the incident.

“As you wish Sir. Will there be anything else?” Said Adam remaining stoic.

“No that will be all.” R.J. said registering his friend’s expression.

Adam faded from view.

“He’s pissed. I guess he’s mad because he missed something.” Thought R. J. as he moved to the bedroom for a shower and to get dressed.

“Shit was definitely starting early this morning.” Thought the commander as he moved to the bedroom to change into his uniform of the day.

“I guess today’s walk will have more of a purpose than usual.” Thought R.J. finishing buttoning his uniform and heading toward the door to start his morning walk toward engineering and that wounded thruster.