Xanthus
*NOTE – Hello, everybody, it is I, TheManFromMudos, and today I bring great news! That's right, the highly-anticipated sequel to 'Xena' has finally arrived! Now, although 'Xanthus' was originally scheduled to be written and released in mid-2017 (as I intended to first finish writing one of my other FanFictions, 'Oddworld: Al's Oddventure') I have since decided to put that story on hold, mostly because I simply couldn't wait to get to work on this. So, for the first time this year, I've put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), and now, I am pleased to present to you for the first time, albeit a little prematurely, the sequel you've all been waiting for. So read on, and enjoy. It's 'Xanthus'. THANK YOU!*
*DISCLAIMER – OK, people, you really should know the drill by now, but I'm going to go right ahead and say it anyway. Aliens: Love 'em. Fascinating, and grossly misunderstood creatures, to say the least. But, the brilliant minds behind the equally brilliant Xenomorph did not include me. That's right, I know you may find it difficult to accept, but I did not create the Xenomorph, and as such have no affiliation or ownership whatsoever to them, or any other aspect of the Alien franchise. As for the rest of it? Pure, unbridled TheManFromMudos. THANK YOU!*
I
B-Beep, B-Beep, B-Beep. My eyes jolted open as my mind was suddenly flooded with noise and colour. I gasped for breath as I stared up at the glass cocoon that surrounded me. The beeping continued relentlessly, soon accompanied by the familiar 'click' of a latch being released, and the 'whoosh'of pressure escaping the tightly confined tube. I continued to breath heavily as the clear lid of the hypersleep pod slid away from the rest of the casing, allowing me to sit upright for the first time in what could potentially have been years. My eyes struggled to adjust to the bright light, but the sound of the beeping had already become much less harsh than it was initially. I looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise. My eyes finally fell upon a small speaker on a nearby dashboard. Sure enough, every couple of seconds, it let out a soft 'B-Beep', signifying that something was going on which required my attention.
Slowly getting to my feet, and with a little effort to keep my balance after so long, I made my way into the only other room aboard the craft: the cockpit. The beeping was intensified slightly in the tiny room, not least of all because another speaker on the main dashboard was chirping away loudly. Beside it, a row of three four-colour signal lights flashed periodically. The first two lights were blue, with the third an amber-tinted yellow. I knew at once that this light code signified the presence of a planet with a large man-made orbital structure. I needed only to look up slightly, gazing out of the Syracusia's sweeping windscreen, to see that the light code was correct. No more than three standard OA units ahead, but nonetheless likely to be more than a day away in a low speed craft such as the Syracusia, was a vast, ringed, dull green gas giant.
The planet seemed to rival Jupiter in size, and had a similar 'striped' appearance, though without the huge dark spots of atmospheric superstorms flecked upon it's surface. The ring system, however, would be better compared with Saturn, with the outermost rings easily spanning three times the diameter of the planet. The rings were also predominantly green, but with more of a brown tinge to them. And it was surely in one of these rings that I would find the assistance I so desperately sought. Despite how awestruck I was at the sight before me, I could not forget that. Somewhere, nestled deep into the rings of the vast gas giant before me, was the Montreal Technical Association Station Constantinople. Home to the most advanced medical technology known to mankind. If anyone could help me, it was them.
Looking around the confined cockpit of the Syracusia, I soon located a small computer screen which was tucked neatly into the main dashboard. I pulled the screen out, and watched as it slowly flickered to life. The familiar chime of the computer as it booted up played softly through the speaker grill beside it. Then, the following message displayed itself on the screen:
Deep Space Planetary Seeding and Colonisation Vessel Archimedes – Shuttlecraft Syracusia 1
Location Pinpointed: Binary Star System 954-ABA:954-ABB
Co-ordinates: 07-842:17-891:46-270
Galactic Standard Date/Time Stamp: 12th September 2319
Activating On-Board Micro AI Unit – Alpha Iota Systems Unit 42-B: 'Suzy'
"Good morning, Senior Navigational Officer Matthew Jones," Came an effeminate, but distinctly digital voice through the tiny speaker.
"Ah, good morning." I replied, sitting down in the cockpit's only chair as I spoke. "I don't believe we've formally met, have we?"
"With respect, sir," The voice replied hesitantly, "I'm afraid I don't understand your comment. Seeing as though I am merely an artificial intelligence, and have no physical form outside of this craft's server bank, how could we possibly have met?"
"Forget it." I sighed, leaning back in the uncomfortable chair. "You know, Archie's a lot more… approachable, shall we say? Than you, that is. But who can blame you? You've clearly had much less experience with people than he has. Anyway… I was wondering if you wouldn't mind telling me how far we are from that planet ahead."
"Not at all, sir." Suzy replied chirpily. "The Syracusia is currently 298,000 Astronomical miles, or 2.98 standard OA Units, from the outer rings of the planet 954-ABE, and a further 3 Astronomical miles, or 0.03 standard OA Units, from the Montreal Technical Association Station Constantinople. At present speed and course, we will reach the Constantinople within sixteen hours."
"Excellent." I replied. "Now, I want you to re-lock the hypersleep booths, if you don't mind. The others need to stay asleep for now. In the meantime, I'm going to perform some checks of the ship until we get a little closer to the planet. Keep monitoring our position, would you?"
"Certainly, sir." Suzy agreed. "I will summon you back to the cockpit when we are within short-range radio distance of the station."
"Thanks very much." I nodded, and with that, I slotted the thin computer monitor back into the dashboard, and got up to leave the cockpit.
As I stepped back into the living quarters-come-briefing room-come-storage bay of the miniscule Syracusia, I found myself thinking back to the Archimedes. Sure, it wasn't the roomiest ship in the galaxy, but it was a damn sight better than this claustrophobia-inducing dustbin. I considered how old Archie's crew were holding up at the moment (or what remained of them, at least). Of course, the majority of my fellow crewmen, and indeed crew-woman, had been lost to eternity. Goddard, Nicholson… Holmes. All of them had lost their lives in one way or another. Chestburster, Xenomorph, high-powered energy-burst cannon. And then there was me. The only crew member who had departed the Archimedes without departing… well, life. If only the same could be said about Xena. As I passed the hypersleep booth furthest from the cockpit, I stopped for a moment, and stared down into it, my eyes falling upon my recently-deceased partner.
She was… breathtaking, to say the least. Even now, laying there lifelessly, I saw how beautiful she had been. And how beautiful she would be again. The way that her eight-foot frame had been squeezed into a six-foot hypersleep pod would be hilariously comical, if the mood were not so sombre as it was. She'd been taken from me too soon, you know. And by a man who wasn't quite insane, but who had clearly been holding back a lot of emotion as the rest of us had sat idly by, oblivious to just how much he'd truly been through in the past. I wanted to feel bad for Ryan, really I did. But how could I show remorse to a man who had killed my closest friend? And just to top this whole sorry affair off, in the booth to the right of Xena's lay Xanthus. That's right, my Xenomorph son, Xanthus. A mere child, less than a few hours of age, excluding hypersleep. But how bittersweet it was, the very idea of his existence. Every time I looked at him, I was reminded of what happened to Xena. And I told myself, no matter what he became as he grew, I would never let the same thing happen to him.
"How different things would be, eh?" I quipped aloud, not really caring that there was nobody there to listen but a computer.
"I'm afraid I do not understand your question, sir." Suzy replied robotically. "Your statement requires further information to be justified."
"She sacrificed herself, you know..." I continued, ignoring the intrusive AI's distant words. "Ryan's gun was pointed at me, and she took the bullet instead. She really cared about me enough to do that."
"I believe, sir, that you are referring to the events of the 21st of March 2319, on which date First Technician Ryan Goddard was killed by Senior Lieutenant Alan Grike on grounds of mutiny," Suzy interjected. "In which case, I would like to point out that the weapon used by Goddard, when he attempted to assassinate you and the organism which you colloquially refer to as 'Xena', was an energy-burst cannon, and as such no bullets were actually fired. Based on this logic, your statement 'She took the bullet instead' is inaccurate."
I had to chuckle slightly at the total lack of empathy that Suzy displayed. She was only an artificial intelligence, who could blame her? But at least Archie had always seemed to show compassion, even if, in reality, it was all pre-programmed.
"You know what, Suzy?" I sighed, climbing back into my still-open hypersleep booth. "Forget I said anything. Just wake me up when we're within radio range of the Constantinople."
"Roger that, sir." She replied. "I would also like to apologise if I have offended you in any way. I cannot help my programming."
"Quite." I chuckled, pulling the glass lid of the pod down over my head. "Even you saying 'I cannot help my programming' is just another phrase you've been programmed to say, isn't it? But thanks anyway." No sooner than I had finished enunciating the final syllable of this sentence, though, the hypersleep pod lid had clicked itself firmly into place. And within moments, I found myself falling asleep once more.
It was probably about half a day later that I was at last re-awoken from hypersleep again. Technically, using hypersleep for journeys this short was incredibly damaging to one's health, but to be perfectly honest, I didn't give a shit about such issues right now.
"Good morning, sir." Suzy called out as I sat up slowly in the tight pod, already feeling the strain of short-term stasis on my body. "The Syracusia is now within radio range of the Constantinople. I have already taken the liberty of sending a docking request, however we are currently being asked to wait as a number of other requests are being processed." Stretching my arms as I stood up, I slowly stumbled my way into the cockpit of the Syracusia and gazed out of the front windscreen. Sure enough, the enormous gas giant 954-ABE was now directly in front of us. It was a truly massive planet, dwarfing everything that surrounded it. And between us and it, was the MTAS Constantinople.
The station was clearly designed to resemble a typical ground-based hospital building. It was split clearly into a number of sectors and wards, and by the looks of things it could easily house a population of 4,000, be they patients, visitors or doctors. That being said, surrounding the station, as Suzy had quite rightly pointed out, were a number of other ships. Some were huge, Almost a quarter the size of the station itself. Others were no bigger than the Syracusia. But most were mid-sized, somewhere between the Archimedes and, oh, I don't know, let's say the Pride of Jarney (a foundry ship which was about twice the size of the Archimedes, and which I served aboard in… 2298, if I remember correctly). Anyway, one thing was certain: all of these ships wanted to dock. So all I could do right now was wait for someone to give me docking permission. Sit back in the cockpit's only chair, put my feet up on the dashboard, and wait until somebody would process my docking request. So that's exactly what I did.