Endeavors Run: Chapter Three

The Endeavors crew is woken up from their 4 year suspended animation, and find out exactly what their real mission is.

Chapter Three - The Wake Up Call

 

Two weeks after the battle with the Spartan, which incidentally, was also the last time that Alexus had used the hand-to-hand combat program, he was awakened out of a sound sleep by the ship wide warning alarm that signaled the near end to his six-month shift, and since his was the last single crew shift before reaching their destination of Kepler-3211, he had the arduous responsibility of waking the rest of the crew out of their suspended animation slumber. The Endeavor was now 2.73 light years from their mission objective, and a full crew compliment was required for the star ship’s braking and subsequent orbit sequence.

   After the alarm, Alexus spent the next seventeen hours sitting in the bridge, going over the reanimation procedures with SADI before initiating the crew wake up.

   After reading the procedure guidelines several times he finally leaned back, stretched, and began to quiz SADI with some of his concerns. “Okay, so once I start the initial wake up, how soon will it be before they can talk to me?”

   SADI took a moment to answer, and calmly replied, “It will be different with each individual, but average speech cognizance manifests itself within the first eighteen to twenty-two hours. Before that, the core body temperature simply isn’t high enough to engage in the motor skills needed to articulate a thought into words.”

   Alexus mused in his most mischievous bad boy voice, “So, you’re saying that I can say anything I want, and they won’t be able to talk back. Right?”

   “Yes, Alexus. But keep in mind that even though their vocal ability may not be available to them, their cognitive ability is almost fully functional, and their ability to remember what you’ve said a few hours later is not a problem.”

   Taking her words to heart, Alexus decided that he should probably just keep his mouth shut and his opinions to himself. Of course that digression didn’t include 1^st Lieutenant Basil Jonathon Hartley, his best friend, and the prime perpetrator of the endless practical jokes that they both seemed to relish while the other one was in suspended animation.

 

***

  

In fact, star ship pilot 1^st Lieutenant Basil ‘Baseball’ Hartley and Alexus shared the sole duty of remaining awake in alternate six-month stretches. Given this, during Baseball’s last six-month shift just prior to the one Alexus just finished, Alexus woke up from his six-month sleep to a completely hairless body. Only his eyelashes remained. Naturally Basil had no clue as to how Alexus had managed to lose all his hair while in suspended animation. With total sincerity, he theorized that possibly Alexus had dreamt about being a dolphin during his dormant cycle and his body simply reacted to the dream’s suggestion. He then earnestly postulated that, “I mean, who ever heard of a dolphin with hair?”

   Baseball was also the chief suspect behind the second virtual combat adversary that Alexus had faced on the holographic deck, when upon activation of the program, there appeared a blind ninety�"year-old lady in a wheel chair with a nasty disposition and a potty mouth. Initially amused, Alexus curiously approached the old lady, and when he got within range, she whacked him in the crotch with her white cane and let out a profanity-laced verbal assault that would have made the Boatswains mate proud. Upon inquiry, SADI disavowed any knowledge or complicity in the program alteration. Still smarting from the crotch shot, and no longer amused, Alexus had unceremoniously ordered SADI to bring up the pirate ship program centering on the Caribbean port of Tortuga in approximately 1750 AD. The old lady, complete with her white cane and wheel chair, was then given a one-way ticket off a plank into shark infested waters, theorizing on the nature of Alexus’ parentage all the way down before the splash silenced her graphically detailed opinions. No further mention of the incident was made for a very long time.

   Alexus had had six months with which to plan his revenge, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

 

***

  

Waking up from an induced four year long sleep was never a pleasant experience, and the crewmembers often needed help reorienting themselves for about the first seventy-two hours before they could resume normal duties. Immediately upon waking, they would often experience nausea, cold chills, and dizziness that kept them close to their bunks and toilets for the first couple days.  As a result, only four of the thirty-two sleeping crewmembers were initially woken up so that Alexus wouldn’t have his hands too full with more than just a few sick crewmates to look after.

    Reanimating the human body from suspended animation requires that all the vital systems need to be brought back slowly and at a consistent rate. During the suspended animation period, the body is fed the essential nutrients needed for the body to maintain its normal functions via intravenous flow tubes.  These nutrients and drugs have to be injected at a very slow rate so as not to overwhelm the bodies’ ability to assimilate them.

   Upon revival, the first environmental condition to be changed is the body temperature, which is slowly increased from the hibernation temperature of 18° C back to normal body temperature of 39° C. This process takes about 48 hours to complete and coincides with the flushing of the circulatory cardiovascular system from the chemically enhanced slightly saline based synthetic blood, back to their own blood stored in specially contained cryogenic chambers.

   While under suspended animation, all normal bodily functions do not stop, but are simply reduced to extraordinarily low rates. Vital functions like breathing, expunging of body wastes, and the respiratory system are all controlled via catheter tubes and controlled by a medicinal program custom designed for each individual based on each member’s biological requirements. Although the same system was utilized for everyone, each biological unit’s slight variations were adjusted as per gender, age, weight, and other biological anomalies, unique to each individual. One of SADI’s prime directives was to maintain constant monitoring of the dormant crew.

    Breathing is slowed to no more than three slight breaths per hour, and oxygen was transmitted to the brain by way of a neural tube inserted through the nasal cavity. Instead of the normal heart rates of 70 to 80 beats per minute, the heart rate slows to half those beats per day. The keratinization growth that causes the hair, and fingernails to continually grow, is almost completely eliminated. As a result few haircuts, or nail trimming are needed upon waking. Unfortunately nothing can be done about the bad breath, and one of the first orders of business is dental hygiene. Alexus made it a habit to always wear a no more than a 20-micron surgical mask while working in close proximity to the newly awakened crew.

    The first to be woken were the commanding officer, Captain Richard Jennings, the ship’s doctor, Lieutenant Commander Bogdan Prata, one of the female medics, and the ship’s chief petty officer, Romeo Arturo Martinez, otherwise known as Khaki.

   SADI proved invaluable to Alexus as he had to keep a close eye on all the newly awakened, sick, and cranky crewmates. Her soothing voice and infallible instructions provided Alexus with an event free reanimation process of his charges.

 

***

 

The most disliked job for both the awakened person, and the person facilitating the wake up procedure, was the removal of the rectal, and urinal catheter tubes, and subsequent clean up. Much of the initial crankiness upon waking was attributed to this procedure, and the first female member woken had the added displeasure of having a male member of the crew be the one who completed the procedure. Alexus felt fortunate that he only had one member of the fairer sex to wake. It took more than two weeks to wake the entire crew and get them back to normal duties. In the course of a fortnight, the character of the Endeavor changed from one of quiet isolation to one of almost zero privacy with the constant hubbub of human activity. The food got better too.

    During the weeks it took to revive the crew Alexus had had to curtail his training regimen to just his usual one-hour runs and all his entreaties to Baseball about joining him in a friendly fencing match were met with his friend’s no uncertain refusals; he still had a scar on his right ear from their last sparring session. He was also more than a little perturbed with Alexus, after finding upon waking, a tattoo of a single letter on the top of each finger that spelled out the words: WANT DICK. Naturally Alexus vehemently protested innocence, but casually suggested that Baseball keep his hands in his pockets around Captain Richard Jennings, whose abbreviated name was coincidentally; Dick.

   Indignantly Baseball demanded, “How does one, exactly, go about saluting his superior officer with his hands in his pockets?”

  “You’re absolutely right, Baseball. Perhaps you should accessorize your uniform with gloves. I think that Mimi might lend you a pair of hers.” Mimi, or Ensign Mamiko Hayashi, was the medic that Alexus had awakened with the first group, and couldn’t stand the sight of Lieutenant Basil Hartley. A fact not lost on either Basil or Alexus.

   “Thanks a lot, buddy. Just a thought, but perhaps you should be really careful with your virtual combat opponents from now on. Your lack of respect for little old blind ladies is legendary, and next time she might show up with a pack of really big really hungry wolves. Just say’n…”

    In spite of their constant pot shots at each other, both Alexus and Baseball were not only best friends, but also inseparable. Their years at the Space Flight Academy only helped to cement their friendship. Alexus was the consummate athlete, while Basil was far more sedentary and cerebral. In short, Baseball was an academic genius and a wizard with writing computer programs. He was also probably solely responsible for Alexus passing the academy as the runner up to their class’s Valedictorian. As a reward for all of Basil’s academic help and unwavering loyalty, Alexus had given him his undying friendship and hung the moniker of Baseball on him, which promptly became permanent. Anyone, who ever met Basil thereafter, immediately adopted this name.

   Everyone had always assumed it was because of Baseball’s slightly overweight, roundish pear shape and the similarity of the nickname to his own. However, only Alexus knew the true reason for the name, and he made sure that he never even came close to letting his friend know the true imputes behind the name, and besides that: Baseball was actually proud of his nickname.

    During their third year at the academy there was a drunken cadet plebe hazing party that also included female plebs. It was that night that Basil Jonathan Hartley, after striking out with yet another female cadet, became forever known as Baseball. Solely due to the fact, as observed by Alexus, that Basil could never get past first base.

   They both were exceptional pilots, which was the reason why they were the only two crew members who were rotated on the six-month wake shifts during the more than four years of deep space flight required to get to the mission objective. They were also the two primary pilots for the two OVAL craft on board the Endeavor.

   The OVAL, or Orbital Vehicle and Atmospheric Lander were basically a nineteen-meter long shuttlecraft whose primary role was transiting from the orbiting star ship to a planet surface. They were extremely aerodynamic and belied the mental image of an oval shape craft as their acronym might suggest.  These sleek crafts had the ability to easily maneuver in a planet’s atmosphere at high speeds and were protected by hardened heat deflectors for rapid atmospheric re-entry.

    Baseball piloted one OVAL with an extremely talented co-pilot: Second Lieutenant Karen Roque, or Rox, as the crew knew her. It was a common admonition for Baseball to tell her: “You rock, Rox!” It never failed to elicit a blank look and a perfunctory, “Aye sir.”

     Alexus had a bit more success in engaging with his co-pilot, one 2^nd Lieutenant Denish Velleraj. Commonly known in the mess room as The Raj. Raj was a slight looking young man who, like Baseball, was pretty much a genius, but in a gullible innocent sort of way. He also hero worshipped Alexus, which provided Baseball with an endless source of thinly veiled anachronisms alluding to the pilot co-pilot relationship social strata, insensitively stemming from some perceived ancient colonial rule cast system. Alexus simply ignored it.

   One day in the mess hall, shortly before leaving Earth’s orbit, Baseball pulled Raj aside, and with serious confidentiality told him that Alexus liked to have all his co-pilots to Kou Tou upon entering the OVAL. Not wanting to offend his pilot, the next time Alexus and Raj went for a flight together, Raj got down on his hands and knees and proceeded to bang his head on the metal floor of the OVAL while facing in Alexus’ direction. Alexus simply raised his eyebrows and casually told Raj, “If you get any blood on the floor of my ship, I’ll make you lick it up.  And the next time that Baseball tells you something stupid, don’t prove him right.”

   After that, Raj settled down and became the model of co-pilot proficiency. He also began to ignore the other OVAL pilot’s inane suggestions. Coincidently however, The Raj became Baseball’s main competitor in the ship’s chess club, of which they were the only two members. After the ship’s compliment of crew was put into suspended automation, Baseball had only SADI to play chess with, and he rarely beat her.

 

***

   

Three days from their mission objective, Captain Jennings called an assembly of the entire crew to be held in the mess hall, which was the only place on the ship other than the holographic deck that could accommodate all thirty-two crewmembers in a comfortable, close-quarters environment.

    Everyone was sitting down when Captain Jennings walked in. The ships First Mate, as well as the CAG: Commander Zonta Eaglecreek, immediately jumped to attention and loudly announced over the general hubbub of the assembly, “Captain on the deck!” At which time all talk ceased, and the crew rose to their feet and stood at attention.

    Captain Jennings walked to the front of the mess, and took a calculated look at his crew. He stood two meters tall, and looked every bit the star ship captain he was. “At ease, and please, sit down.”

    As one, the crew sat and remained quiet.

    Jennings waited a moment before continuing. “Is there anyone who is still feeling ill effects from the suspended animation?”

    The crew remained silent.

    “Good, if you have any ill effects, then please go see Doc Bogs, and I’m sure he’ll fix you up.  As you are all aware, we will be reaching our mission objective in three days. I want each respective department to begin preparation for orbit and surface observation.  If we find anything of interest after the surface analysis, we’ll send down both OVALs in tandem for a preliminary recon.”

    This caused a small ripple of quiet conversation through the crew; everyone was aware of the importance of this mission.

    Captain Jennings waited for the crew to quiet back down and then locked his gaze directly at Alexus and Baseball. “You two clowns need to make sure the OVALs are checked and double checked, and I don’t mean pushing a button on the diagnostic program and watching the readouts. I mean, look at every system yourself. I want these boats 100 percent, and SADI?”

    “Yes, Captain.”

    “Please give me a status report on their progress every hour.”

    “Yes, Captain.”

    Captain Jennings rarely gave out more than the minimal mission specifics, but this was not an ordinary mission, and he knew it was time to let the crew know just what it was they sent 1187 lights years from home to find.

    “I realize that few mission specifics were given out prior to launch and that all of you are volunteers, so I believe the time has come to let you know exactly what it is that we were sent out here to do.”

    No one uttered a sound.

    “As I’m sure you’re all aware, the sister ship to the Endeavor, the ESS Monarch, was lost in deep space ten years ago.”

    No one was even breathing by this point.

    “Our mission objective is the last known position of the Monarch before she went missing.”

    A few quiet exclamations of surprise shot throughout the mess hall.

   Jennings took a deep breath and ran his hand through his short-cropped hair. “The last communication from the Monarch was via their communication drone she launched back towards earth shortly after arriving at Kepler-3211. There was nothing from the drone that suggested anything was amiss. After that, however, nothing more was heard from her.” Relaxing slightly, he continued, “Incidentally, we’ll send our drone back to earth as soon as we establish orbit as well.”

    Seeing that he still had the full attention of the crew Captain Jennings decided that it was now time to disclose the final bit of information about the Monarch’s full mission directive. Other than the Monarch’s mission, this was the farthest any manned Earth star ship had ever gone.

    “The Monarch was sent to this solar system to investigate a radio anomaly that originated from here. The radio frequency that was picked up caused quite a stir when it was received and garnered the full attention of fleet command. This is because it was of a type of deep space technology not used for centuries, but an exact match for the type used by human spacecraft over one thousand years ago.”

    This final point rippled through the crew like a pebble dropped into a still pond, and more than a few furtive glances were cast among them. Jennings stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts and allow the crew to digest this first bit of information before getting to the crux of his briefing. “It was believed at the time of the Monarch’s mission, and frankly, is still believed by fleet command, that this radio transmission could possibly be from the first starship to have ever used the Enhanced Magnetic Drive propulsion technology.” 

    The furtive glances now became audible murmurs of surprise.

    Captain Jennings held his hand up as a signal to silence the crew, and was instantly obeyed. “Every school child for hundreds of years has heard the stories of this legendary starship. As you can probably guess, I’m speaking about none other than the Magellan II.”

    Various forms exclamation, some of dismay and some of disbelief, emanated from the visibly startled crew, because the Magellan II was a ship of legend. Many even doubted the legitimacy of its existence.

    The ships security officer, Commander Gunnar Hammar, raised his hand to speak, and Captain Jennings decided that a question and answer period would be the best course of action to calm his visibly shaken crew. 

    “Yes, Gunnar.”

    “Captain, tales of the Magellan II have been around for hundreds of years, and to my knowledge no substantiated facts have ever been found. This isn’t just the stuff of legend. With all due respect sir, it’s a borderline fairy tale, sir. Why would fleet command even consider the possibility that one thousand-year-old radio transmission could actually genuinely be the real thing?”

    “Substantial proof of its existence has been found Gunnar, and the radio transmission wasn’t one thousand years old. It was only a few months old, and that transmission exhibited knowledge that only the Magellan II could have known, which pointed directly at the Kepler-3211 star system. Look, folks, I don’t have all the answers, and frankly I don’t know if anybody does, but whatever was communicated on that one and only radio transmission was enough for the brass to send a starship to investigate, and after the disappearance of the original mission, they deemed it important enough to send a follow up mission. That means us.”

    Jennings sighed and sagged back against a counter top, dropped his head, and rubbed his temples with the thumbs of each hand. His next words to the crew were much less Captain-like than he had been for the past several minutes. When he finally looked up, the crew saw a rare sight: their Captain was simply a man with vulnerabilities and doubts. “I know how you must be feeling right now. I too share those feelings. I too share the doubts that I see on so many of your faces. We’ve been sent to investigate the loss of our sister ship. No one has the slightest clue as to what happened to her, and frankly, what could possibly happen to us.”

    As far as I am concerned, and what you should be concerned about too, is that we need to dismiss all notions about finding some long lost legendary ghost ship sending radio transmissions. The contents of which are being kept a secret. Radio transmissions, which by all rights shouldn’t even, be possible. This mission is simply about finding what happened to the Monarch, her crew, and getting her, or her crew, and of course us, back home again.”

    Jennings took another deep breath, pushed off the counter, stood stock straight, and looked out at the crew with those piercing raptor eyes that were so familiar to those who knew him. Whatever lapse in command demeanor that had taken place a moment before was now gone, and the full commanding authority was once again addressing the crew.

    “Make no mistake ladies and gentlemen; I intend to carry out our mission objectives to the letter. If there is any evidence of the Monarch, or what might have happened to her, I intend to find it. We will leave no stone unturned, and I expect every member of this crew to perform their duties with all the due diligence at your disposal.”

    And, if we just so happen to find some evidence of Commander Gunnar’s fairy tale ship, then so much the better. But I am not going to risk this command chasing ghosts. Is that understood?”

    A strong “Aye, sir” echoed about the galley in practiced military unison.

    “Right, then, are there any more questions?” He gave it a moment, and seeing none, he said, “Fair enough.  Crew dismissed. Commander Eaglecreek, please assemble the senior staff officers, and meet me in my stateroom in thirty minutes.”

   Lieutenant Commander Eaglecreek glanced around the room at the officers in question before acknowledging him. “Yes sir, is that all, sir?”

   “Yes, for now, Commander. Carry on.” He then stopped as if in an afterthought and locked onto his two young pilots, Alexus and Baseball. “You two better come as well.”

    As one, the two 1^st Lieutenants came to full attention, and snapped out a crisp, “Aye, sir.”

    Captain Jennings then approached Alexus separately and motioned him aside with that slight head movement�"a body language command that has been used by Captains since mankind first put to sea in wooden sailing ships millenniums ago.  Alexus followed him over to the side of the room, and once Jennings was satisfied that they were out of hearing range, he stopped to face his pilot with a concerned look on his face. “Lieutenant, it has come to my attention that during your six-month wake shifts, you regularly engaged in potentially lethal hand-to-hand combat simulations on the holographic deck. I fully realize that these programs are not actually overtly dangerous to the human combatant, and that you were never in any real danger. This is not what concerns me. However, the psychological implications of my first pilot feeling the need to use a sword with which to kill opponents, however imaginary, is a bit troubling to me. Therefore, your last lethal combat simulation is, in fact, your last lethal combat simulation. Do I make myself clear, Lieutenant?”

    Still standing at full attention, and without betraying any emotion, Alexus recognized his Captain’s request for what it actually was: an order. “Absolutely clear sir.”

    With that, Jennings left the galley, and the crew began to file out, quietly discussing amongst themselves the gravity of what they had just been told. More than a few were expressing their concern about their mission directives and the mystery surrounding Gunnar’s fairy tale ship.

Author's Note

This is the last chapter I'm gonna make available here. There's about 20 more chapters. I'd like to get some reviews and opinions. Good or bad. Both are important.