Chapter 2: The Ship

By the time the earth vessel came within range of their new home, the eagle was ready to go. By now news of this amazing discovery had circulated to everyone on Berg, and those not able to be in the Command Unit, were glued to monitors everywhere in the two communities.

The smaller group of Alphans who had originally chosen to come to Berg had built a robust little settlement by the time the decision was made to relocate those who had chosen to go to the bigger planet, Erath. As space in the original Berg community had filled up with structures of all kinds, most of the group from Erath settled in a second community about 9 km from the first. The first community had been named Uzazi, meaning "birth", and the second community Kukua, meaning "growth". The communities shared a medical center and laboratory facilities located in Uzazi, while Kukua housed Computer and the Armory.

"Ready for liftoff," Commander Koenig communicated.

"Reading you loud and clear, Commander," Paul Morrow replied. "Still no word from that ship, so… good luck."

As preparations to launch the reconnaissance eagle had been made, people had started realizing what the silence could mean, and the excitement of seeing a spacecraft from their own planet earth, was subdued because of the terrible realization that if the craft was manned, the silence could only mean one thing.

Victor Bergman was seated at Commander Koenig's desk, his head in his hands. Every few minutes he would jump up, rush to a computer station to rip out yet another printout before sitting down again. Paul could see that the Professor was obviously very agitated, which was completely unlike him. He also knew that at the last minute, the Commander had assigned Bob Matthias to join the exploration group in Doctor Russell's place. He had not seen Doctor Russell for a while, and wondered if she was ok.

"Professor," Paul said. "We have everything under control here. It will be a while before our eagle reaches that ship. If you need to go, we'll be ok. I'll let you know as soon as we have news."

The Professor was on his feet in a flash. "Thank you, Paul."

Paul looked at the departing back with astonishment, then glanced at David Kano and shrugged.

"What's eating him?" Kano laughed.

"Commander Koenig replaced Doctor Russell with Bob Matthias," Paul said. "Perhaps she is not well?"

"She looked fine to me." Kano, who had been married to Professor Angela Robinson not long before, was still in the skeptical camp regarding Victor and Helena. He got up too.

"It's going to be a while before they reach that ship," he continued. "I'll be back shortly."

Paul nodded. "I've got it, David."

Helena pulled down the blackout shades in their residential unit. She was secretly relieved that John had sent Bob Matthias. She was tired, the emotional tension of waiting to tell Victor their news wearing her down, and then the appearance of that ship! An earth ship! While she was curious about the ship, she knew it would a while before the eagle reached it, so she planned to take a nap, then return to the Command Unit.

Victor suddenly burst through the door, out of breath. "Helena, I'm sorry… I thought… I wanted John… I'm sorry… I know you wanted to go to that ship… I just thought… I don't know what I thought…"

She stared at him, trying very hard not to laugh. "Victor, sit down. It's ok, but you're worrying me… yes, I want to go to the ship, but I'm glad I don't have to go now. It's very sweet of you to be concerned for my welfare, so no need to apologize. But I'm not going to fall apart... women's' bodies were made to carry babies."

"I know, I know." He had sunk down on the couch, and she knelt down across his lap. "It's just so unbelievable; I don't know what to think."

She smiled at him. "What's so unbelievable? I'm a woman; you're a man, that's how it's meant to be. Now… don't worry about me. I'm going to get some rest, and I'm sure you have a few things to do about that ship. Wake me when they make contact." She kissed him tenderly. "I do love you, Victor."

She could see that mentioning the ship already started his mind racing in a new direction, and immediately he was the scientist again. "Yes. I need to pull up the data on the Superswift. The computer will have it. I remember some things about the propulsion and the power supply, and I recall they were working on some ways to make our craft safer, since there had been so many accidents…" He was up on his feet. "I've got to get information for John. I'll let you know when we make contact."

Not long afterwards he returned to John's desk in the command center, clutching papers and notes. "Bergman calling eagle one, come in John."

"What have you got, Victor?"

"Something interesting, John. I've been looking up the specifications of the original Superswifts. There had been so many failures on our missions, that at the time they were looking at making the craft safer. Since the computer was the heart of each vessel, and a catastrophic computer failure doomed the entire craft, for the Superswift they were planning to have three computers, each running a different system."

"What does that tell us, Victor?

"Well John, if that's what they did, the fact that we're getting nothing from that ship, may not be so dire. The Superswift was to have independent propulsion, communications, and life support. We know that ship has power, and propulsion. So, if it's run by three computers instead of one, communications may be out, but life support may be functional! There may be people on that ship, just unable to hear us, or reach out to us!"

"Victor, when we get to that ship, I am going to get Alan to fly reconnaissance around the entire vessel first before attempting to dock."

"Good idea, John. Just be careful. We don't know what kind of weapons they've fitted her with."

"We'll keep our shields up. Meanwhile Victor, what I need you to do is work out for me what we can do with that ship once we've docked… and find it unmanned. Can we stop it? Can we fly it? Can we land it? We may want to use it in future."

"If we can get on that ship, John, and take control of their computers, I don't see a problem. The command module can detach too, and was able to fly independently, and land."

"Well, work on it, Victor. If that ship is unmanned, it's an incredible stroke of luck for us. We can't just let it go. A functional and intact earth vessel… like a gift from the gods."

"I'll get to work immediately, John."

Work in the Uzazi control room continued in silence. From time to time eyes glanced up at the big screen, following the progress of their eagle, and the service department brought some coffee and breakfast. Here and there a technician left, to be replaced by another, and eventually John Koenig's voice broke the silence.

"Preparing to do a reconnaissance flight around the vessel, Berg. We'll send you the feed."

"Careful, Commander!" Paul said. "And good luck!"

The ship was an amazing sight, dwarfing the eagle beside it. Yet, it was easy to see the design continuation. The control module had the familiar viper head shape. The body was elongated and thin, but supplemented with large cylinders that could be removed or reattached and were often used for storage and extra living space. The rocket motors were immense. The eagle flew alongside slowly.

"Still no signal, Paul?"

"Not a thing, Commander."

"Our scanners are also not picking up anything."

The eagle hovered for a moment at the command module of the Superswift as the Alphans tried to look through the ports for life, but the large ship remained lifeless.

"OK, Alan," they heard their Commander's voice. "I see no sign of any threat. Let's prepare to dock."

Alan maneuvered the eagle skillfully alongside the much larger vessel, carefully lining it up for docking. Some of those in the command center were holding their breath, and when the pilot finally announced: "Docking successful," there was a collective but subdued cheer on Berg.

"Let's suit up," John Koenig said. "Until we can get some trustworthy readings from that ship." Not long after that, the seven Alphans were standing in the docking tube between the two vessels. Matthias was running a scanner slowly along the surface of the Superswift door, studying the readout carefully. "Victor, I'm going to have my body cam send you feed, as well as that of Carter." John said.

"Commander," Matthias finally said. "There is atmosphere on this ship… stale, but stable, and definitely breathable."

"Can you get us in?"

Matthias went to work with the electronic lock reader; then finally said: "Entry pad override successful, Commander. We're in."

"Stand back," Koenig said. "Sidearms to stun. Fire only if provoked."

John Koenig took the lead as they entered the tomb-like earth vessel. The first area was obviously some sort of workspace, the floor shining softly in dim lighting, computer stations scattered along the perimeter. But each chair was empty, each monitor dark. The Alphans quietly gathered in the middle of the room.

"Confirm atmosphere, Bob?" Koenig asked, and when Matthias nodded after taking yet another reading, the Commander slowly lifted his visor. The others followed suit, some wrinkling their noses.

"Not very pleasant," Tony Allen remarked. The Alphans looked at each other with horror, realizing what this could mean. But they gratefully slipped off their helmets, placing them on a table.

"Alan, you, Tony and Jim head towards the front of the ship and the command module. Keep your sidearms ready and on stun at all times, but remember, engage only as a last resort. Peter and I will head towards the back; we'll do a back to front reconnaissance first before we take these pods." He gestured to the many hatches and trapdoors scattered along the wall of the room, obviously access to the cylindrical pods connected to the main body. "Bob, I want you and Bill to get the medical rescue equipment from the eagle in here, and set up in case we find casualties. Look around here by all means, but don't leave this room. We'll need to call you if we find anything."

"Berg, are you reading me?" Koenig asked. "We're splitting up now to reconnoiter."

"Loud and clear, Commander," Paul replied. "Good luck… and be careful."

The Command center on Berg could watch both video feeds from Koenig and Carter and everyone was glued to a monitor.

Koenig and Reeves cleared the first room and moved through a sliding door to the next. This appeared to be a recreational/residential area of some kind, with tables, chairs and crates of equipment scattered throughout the room, and recessed bunks around the perimeter.

"John! John!" Victor cried out. "Turn around again. Look at those bunks!"

Koenig turned to focus on the wall of bunks, his expression slowly changing to astonishment. The bunks were short and small, definitely too small for any of the Alphans. "They're bunks for children!" he exclaimed softly.

Back on Berg, looks were exchanged. This changed things a great deal.

Koenig had stepped over to one of the scattered plastic crates and opened it. "Toys!" He placed his knuckles against his lips as the significance of this started sinking in. "Victor! There are children on this ship!" Then, after a moment, he reached for his commlock. "Holster all weapons," he told the team on the ship with him. "I repeat, lock and holster all weapons. If approached, identify yourself clearly, and if accosted, retreat."

Peter Reeves had moved through the next lock, and as Koenig stepped through to join him, he saw the young man frozen in horror, staring at a transparent door set to one side of the room, that appeared to be another recreation area. John was beside the man in a few strides, but he too froze at what he saw through that door.

There was no mistaking the heartrending little piles scattered on the floor behind the door. Six little piles of torn clothing, a few bones sticking out, patches of hair and leathered skin visible here and there. There were audible gasps in the Command center on Berg.

John Koenig stepped towards the door, but Helena, who had since returned to the Command center, called out. "Don't go in there, John! We don't know what killed them." Then she buried her face against Victor's shoulder.

"Bob." John was on his commlock. "We need you and Bill here, with HAZMAT. We've found bodies. Bring… body bags, at least six." Then he turned away from the door, and paced the room furiously, his fists clenched by his sides. Eventually, as Matthias and Steiner arrived pulling two gurneys, he punched his commlock. "Alan? Found anything yet?"

"No Commander, not a soul."

"We found six bodies, Alan. But you guys keeping heading to the control pod."

"Yes, Commander."

Bob Matthias had completed a scan through the transparent door. "There's no radiation, Commander. Nor do I register any pathogens. It seems safe in there, but it won't be pleasant."

Koenig stepped forward, punching the access panel by the door. As it slid open, they were met by the unmistakable odor of decomposition. He stepped carefully to the first heartbreaking pile, knelt down. Matthias joined him.

"Can you tell me how long they have been dead?" John asked.

"Based on the absence of fluids, the leathery skin and bones beginning to show, a few months, Commander." He pointed to the skull. "See, the teeth have fallen out."

John shook his head. "What happened here? Who puts children on a spaceship?" He was clearly overcome as he got up. "Let's get them out of here."

"There's another one here, Commander!" Steiner called out. But when John looked down at that body, he realized that this was not a child, but an adult. And based on what remained of clothes and hair, she had been female.

"And what is this?" Koenig indicated one wall, were 8 recessed rectangles were visible in the wall. The floor was covered in broken glass.

"Victor, do you see this?"

"Yes, John."

"What do you make of it? Do you think the children were in those things?" He gestured angrily at the wall.

"I just don't know, John."

"Ok, Victor, I need you here. I need Helena here. I need you to bring a fully equipped medical rescue eagle. More HAZMAT equipment. We've found seven bodies, but a ship this size, there is bound to be more."

"It's been a while since I flew an eagle, John."

"No, no, Victor. Bring David too. I need him, and you, to find out if you can get into the computer on this thing. We need to know what happened here."

"Yes John. We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Paul, you're in charge on Berg. I want you to broadcast some sort of message to encourage everyone, but from now video feed is restricted. Keep people informed, but they certainly don't need to see anything else like this. We'll make a full report on our return. Now, get that rescue eagle equipped for Victor, Helena and David."

"Yes, Commander."

People in the command unit on Berg were sitting dejectedly in clumps. The horrific images they had been watching had eradicated all the excitement after finding the earth ship.

By the time the second eagle had docked alongside the first, Alan Carter had returned from the front of the ship with his team. They had found two more adult bodies, but not a single blinking light or functioning monitor in the entire ship. The command pod had been deserted.

"Alan, I'd like you to take your team to the back too. We never got further than the third room."

"Yes, Commander."

They turned as Victor, Helena and David came through the airlock, but no one felt like greeting. Bob Matthias and Bill Riley had loaded all the remains in body bags, and proceeded to transport the sad cargo to the medical eagle.

"I need autopsies immediately, Helena," John said. "I want to know what killed them. I also want to know what kind of fools put children on a spaceship… but that will have to wait."

Victor drew his friend aside. When he spoke, his voice was a whisper. "I have a theory, John. It's not a pleasant one, but at the moment the only one that makes sense to me."

"Let's hear it."

"Why would a civilized, technologically advanced people load up a long range vessel with provisions, and include children?"

John looked at his friend incredulously as the realization began to dawn on him. "A survival ship!"

Victor nodded. "Like you ordered before we entered the black sun. It's the only explanation that makes sense." The two friends looked at each other. It did not bode well for planet earth if this had really been a survival ship.

John turned back to the others, his face a mask.

"David, take Peter and return to the control pod of the ship. Alan saw some equipment there that might have controlled the functions on the ship. And see if you can locate the flight data controller."

"Yes, Commander."

"Victor, I want you to come with me. We need to search these pods around the main ship. We've found 9 bodies so far, but there must be more people here."

"Or more bodies," Victor said with a sigh.

"These pods were mostly used for fuel and storage on long range ships," Victor explained as he climbed the short ladder to the first hatch. "They could be removed and replaced at will. See, this one is sealed from the inside. It is used for fuel, and can only be accessed from outside the ship."

Only by the third pod did they find that they could spin the lock and open the hatch. "Stay behind me, Victor." John said. "I'll go in first, and give the all clear."

Koenig pulled himself through the hatch, rolled away from it and quickly crouched down. The inside of the pod was dark, but his flashlight showed him moon buggies and some other types of ATV-like vehicles parked in neat rows on one side of the hatch, and neatly stacked crates on the other. The pod was tall enough for a man to stand upright.

"It's safe, Victor," he called. They explored the two sides of the pod, but found nothing more.

"Storage," Victor said as they dropped down from the hatch.

The fourth, fifth and sixth pods were exactly the same: filled with equipment and crates, all neatly stacked. But as John climbed into the short tunnel that led to the seventh hatch of the pod on one side of the main body, he stopped. "Victor! This hatch is not closed properly!"

"Careful, John," Victor said behind his friend. Koenig slowly pushed the lock open, and they were greeted with an unmistakable smell. "Oh, no," Victor sighed.

The two men pulled themselves through the lock and stood. At first glance it looked just like the other pods, vehicles parked on one side, but on the other side the crates had been scattered, broken open, and bottles, cans and pouches, some half full but most torn or broken haphazardly, and empty, all over. The two men approached gingerly, and it was not long before they found the first small body. It was not a pleasant sight, but the men knelt.

"It looks as if this one has not been dead as long as the others," Victor observed. "There's still some liquefaction. Of course there is no insect life here, so it would just be the body's own processes. That does tend to slow things down."

John slowly shook his head. "A ship of the dead. It breaks my heart. I'll get Bob in here."

As John moved back to the hatch, Victor continued deeper into the pod. "Another one here, John," he called out. "No… two… together." His voice just about broke. "It looks like they were holding hands."

John put his head in his hands. How much more could they take? But then his head jerked up at the tone of his friend's voice: "John!"

He rushed over, careful where he stepped. Victor was kneeling next to a blanket, clutching a corner of it in his hand. "This one… is still alive…"

They looked at the still, small form: the small, bloated body, limbs no more than sticks, the joints hugely out of proportion, the face nothing more than a skull surrounded with wisps of hair, but the large eyes bulging at them was slowly and unmistakably moving from one face to the other, and then… blinked weakly.

John scooped up the small body in the blanket without a second thought. "Get through that hatch, Victor. I'll hand him to you. Get Helena, get Bob."

Victor had almost flown through the hatch, and now reached for the tiny body. "I'll go see if there are more," John whispered and turned.

Victor looked around for his commlock, but his arms were full. He rushed through the open airlock into the first and from there to the second eagle. Helena and Matthias glanced up from where they were bent over one of the body bags, and saw the bundle in his arms.

"This child is alive!" he exclaimed. "Starving, but alive!" He looked around and reverently placed the blanketed bundle on a gurney. His eyes were filled with tears. "There may be more."

"Go, Bob," Helena said softly. "I'll tend to this one."

Victor followed Matthias too, and Helena bent over the bundle, carefully peeling the blanket away. For a second she glanced at her gloved hands and remembered Victor's bare hands as he had placed the bundle down, but it was immediately obvious that this child was dying of starvation. Huge brown eyes were staring up at her face as she gently rearranged the limbs and proceeded with the extremely difficult task of finding a vein to start an IV.

By the time she had found a vein in the groin and had a very slow glucose drip going, she heard the men again. She stared in astonishment as both Matthias and Victor stepped into the eagle with another bundle each. John Koenig was just behind them. "There was one more body," he said. "Adult. She's dead."

"John," she gripped his arm urgently as the other men lay down the bundles. "We must get them to the medical unit on Berg immediately. We can't waste any time!"

He nodded. "Victor, I'm flying this eagle and Helena and Bob back to Berg immediately. I'll send Vincent and an orderly up with a second medical eagle. I want you to call Bill or Peter or Tony back and go through that last pod. Then find David and see if you can come up with any answers for us. Get Alan to the cockpit and see if you can somehow take control of this ship. We can land her near the settlement on Erath while we investigate, until we know she is safe."

Victor nodded, briefly reached for Helena's hand, then turned and went back into the ship of death they had found, the airlock closing with a soft whoosh behind him. Before him lay an immense puzzle, and the horror they had discovered had left them all shattered, but the three children found alive but in grave danger had provided just the smallest glimmer of hope for them all.

(To be continued…)