The Pilots and the Passengers
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: You guessed it. I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: An AU future, and see below.
Authors note: This is a sequel to The Pilot, and The Pilots.
Author's note: Some sci fi fans may note some things that I have borrowed from other fandoms.
"Ah, I see someone has finally found one of my messengers and come to me." The words came from the Quinncunx's mouth, but the voice was not his.
"Who are you?" Rick asked.
"What am I, is the question you should ask. I am an artificial intelligence and a very old one at that."
"And this…building is something of great power?"
"Not quite."
Rick shook his head. "We've come all this way for nothing?"
"Not at all. This building controls the mines."
"I'm sorry, but this far from anything, any mines couldn't possibly be economically viable. The transportation costs alone would bankrupt any company that tried to mine here."
'That's assuming that what you can mine here is available anyplace else in the galaxy. Are you familiar with the periodic table of elements?"
"Of course." Rick said, wondering where this was going. "It's all the elements that exist in the universe, starting with the lightest, hydrogen, then helium, then lithium, all the way up to some very rare elements I've forgotten the names of."
"Very good. You do know that from uranium on, the elements are unstable for a while. But after that, there are some extremely dense metals that are stable."
"I know that." Lindane said. "But they are extremely rare and impossible to find naturally, and horribly expensive to create in the laboratory. It cost the Imperial Laboratories on Earth billions of crowns to create something the size of the head of a pin."
"Very good, young lady." You could almost hear the smile in the AI's voice. "And you know it takes an enormous amount of energy and heat to create these metals."
"Of course." Lindane said.
"What do you see past the tops of the pillars?"
"The remnants of a supernova. We saw it coming in." Lindane was beginning to understand, even if the others didn't.
"Some five million years ago, that sun went supernova. The heat and pressure created all manner of rare elements. Normally, when the sun exploded, the elements would have been scattered in every direction and after five million years, finding so much as a spoonful would be impossible. When the sun exploded, however, it had planets. One planet was massive enough to have almost been a star. While the other planets were utterly destroyed, this one planet remained, but was bombarded with thousands of cubic kilometers of what we call super metals. The super metals are still there. This facility was set up to mine them, but for reason unknown to me, my creators never came back. I can assure you that your civilization can do things with super metals that you now can't even imagine. I'm sure your civilization will be here in no time."
The AI spent a very long time giving a very boring recitation of the highly automated mines and everything connected with them. By the time it was done, everyone but Lindane was half asleep.
The AI handed out bricks of super metals for them to take back to prove their story and sent them on their way.
Once back, a large Imperial task force was sent to secure the mines. They would stop at several of the planet visited by Castle and his crew to try to sort things out. Rick imagined that the Vorlag Party Planet and the high-tech bordello would get a lot of visiting miners on their vacations.
The crew of the ship found themselves back Catawrayannis Base on Llynathawr, in the office of the newly promoted Rear Admiral Zek and in the presence of the woman they knew only as Martha.
"I have some good news for you." Zek said cheerfully.
Rick doubted it.
"I am pleased to announce that Lindane has been made an intern at the Imperial Labs on Earth, and she's also getting a full scholarship to the Imperial Institute of Technology. That also comes with a small stipend, I might add."
"I'll be going with my daughter to establish an entertainment center for the students." Seeing the reaction of the rest of the crew, Andine quickly added, "It'll have games, snacks and energy drinks."
"There's also some bad news." Zek said next.
The door opened and in walked Moecious' three cousins, Muggsy, Buggsy and Puggsy, as well as Marie, the grasshopper-like alien who helped at the Jolly Spacer. Last was Freelady Gina.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Moecious." Marie said. "I tried to stop them."
"Stop who?"
One of the cousins, Rick wasn't sure which one, answered.
"Dat bum Wha An rubbed out da old ruler o' da Sky Cave an' said everybody wuz gonna hafta pay back taxes. He sent some gorillas to collect from us, an' dey just took over da joint. Sorry, Moecious."
Moecious sighed. "I do have a nest egg, so I can start over."
"The same happened to me." Freelady Gina said. "But I escaped with all of my girls, and I'm looking around for another opportunity. I've offered Marie a job as my restaurant operator, if that's acceptable to you, Moecious."
"I'm sure she'll do a great job."
"Now that the Empire knows where the Sky Cave is, a task force will be sent there as soon as possible." Zek said.
"Although the Empire might be able to use the Sky Cave for its own purposes." Martha added.
Rick was sure he could see wheels turning in both Zek's and Martha's heads.
"I guess that Kate and I can head back to the Fleet now." Rick smiled and stood up.
"Actually, you and your wife are still assigned to Naval Intelligence, Commander." Zek said quickly.
Rick sat back down heavily.
Zek went on. "With the ship we have, there are a number of missions I can think of that would be perfect for you."
"If Rick and Kate are going, I'd like to tag along." Moecious said, smiling hugely.
"An' us too." Said either Muggsy, Buggsy or Puggsy. The other two nodded happily.
"If my pal Moecious is going, count me in." Said Skinny.
"We couldn't allow our friend Kate to go anywhere with all of those males." Simone said. "She needs some feminine companionship."
"Do I get any say in this?" Rick asked.
"No." Everyone answered.
The Quinncunx stuck his head in the door and spoke.
"Marry crinkles to awl, and to oil a good buy."
The End
For Now
Author's note: Next up is a very short, one-chapter story entitled One Night. It's about, um, one night.