La Tombola - 10. Chapter 10

Ned Boone 8

“Ensign, I want you to run those scans again, contrast the data from the logs of the Mayflower and Speedwell. This time run each individually and triangulate our known star position. Once you have done that, extrapolate the same position from the stars as they would have been when they first entered this sector.”

“Yes sir, at our current speed, the variables will magnify any errors, while I can account for most of any discrepancies, I can’t guarantee accuracy.”

“Thank you, Helm please match our speed to the Mayflowers last known speed for this sector.

‘Aye…Aye sir, taking steps to match speed as requested, estimate time to optimal match in fifteen minutes.”

Captain Reynolds was hopeful that they had finally narrowed the vastness of space, to a likely corridor the Mayflower, Speedwell, and Discovery would have traveled, on their way to Orion-24ZFX. It was a ballsy move, one he wondered if he would have had the courage to have taken, knowing how primitive space technology had been at the time.

The burning question on everyone’s minds was, did they make it, and just what did happen to the Discovery? It wasn’t so long ago that both the Mayflower and Speedwell had been found, floating empty in the vastness of space. His grandfather had been just a kid when the news was out that they had been found. It was a great time to be alive and often wished he had lived through that era of history.

Like many of his peers growing up, he marveled and took pride in his nation’s history. Despite the odds, the planet survived the internecine wars of attrition…barely. Remembering his lessons, at the time of the launch of the Mayflower, Speedwell, and meeting the Discovery stationed on the far side of the moon, several advanced nations launched what was thought to be a devastating blow of hypersonic, nuclear armed missiles.

At the time it was believed that there was no defense by those who launched them. It didn’t take long for those who launched them, to realize the serious nature of the colossal error in judgement. Unbeknownst to all but a few, those who launched did not know their codes had been broken. Low level stealth satellites gave enough advanced warning of the missile launches, that a third-generation tri-sonic defensive missile, eliminated over ninety percent of the incoming missiles, before they had a chance to detonate!

The repercussions were staggering, the political, social, and humanitarian fallout brought the old-world order down. All nations on every continent demanded change. Over the course of the next two centuries the United Federation of Nations was born, a governing planet-wide body with the teeth to enforce its mandates. Ecological damage would be reversed, hunger and want would be eliminated. Citizens were educated for free in whatever their chosen professions were.

All this demanded raw materials, and the ability to extract them. The logical solution was to look to the heavens and the move towards space, exploration began in earnest. Now, over a millennium later here they were. What took his ancestors five hundred years to travel, could be done in a handful. When the desiccated remnants of the Mayflower and Speedwell were found, hardly anything had been left. The scorched hulks had suffered mightily in space. Little if anything was left, the shielded computer cores barely survived. The technology to restore them had to be invented. What information they were able to glean from historical archives filled in some of the blanks.

It was much like another historical search he recalled. A famous ship had hit an iceberg and was was supposedly unsinkable. The mystery enthralled millions and some seven decades and change later, it was found some two-odd miles beneath the ocean.

The discovery of the Mayflower and Speedwell, floating aimlessly in the black emptiness, of the void called space, became the greatest mystery of generations. Countless theories abounded, all unprovable…only fueling intense speculation. It became a race to understand what had happened, where did they end up, did they survive and if so, what became of them?

He remembered sitting, vividly enthralled at his grandfather’s knee, as he told him about that discovery and the ancient history that led to their embarkation from the planet they knew as home. What really furthered his interest were the tales his grandfather told of one of his ancestors who took his family aboard the Mayflower all those years ago. Every time he looked out to the stars, he wondered about the family he had out there.

~~~

It had been driving him crazy Thad thought, now he was scared. The reoccurring dreams he had been having, were almost every night now. In the dream, someone was trying to talk to him. At first, all he could see was a ghostly outline, delineating the shape of what he suspected was a young boy. The boy was trying to speak to him, the words were garbled, indistinguishable, nothing making any sense. Occasionally a gesture followed the words but it made no sense at all. To make matters worse, each time he had the dream, it was becoming clearer. He was beginning to see details at the edges of the foggy middle.

Whoever it was, was standing in what appeared to be a town square, he could make out buildings now around the square. As the details became clearer, he realized they looked much like the ones in the drawings of the first settlement. This morning as he recalled the dream, he clearly heard the boy say his name was James Bishop.

~~~

Letting out a deep sigh, Ned sat back in his favorite chair in his study, the preparations were done. All the necessary jobs had been assigned, the roll of names of qualified boys vetted and the families visited. Finally, it was all over but getting through the day of the lottery. And for the first time since his youngest son stood on that day of choosing, he was worried. He was overlooking something, in speaking with both Tom and Billy, they both felt the same way. Ned knew he had no issues with his memory, his recall was legendary, the same went for his two closest friends. What was bothering him was a niggling thought that just would not go away

The best answer that the three of them could come up with was that Mithras deliberately had tampered with their memories the day they sought her out. They could remember the walk up to the site of the original landing, the former Plimoth Plantation. Of drinking the tea, and of James Bishop leading to Mithras. They had all seen her sitting in her garden across the river. How his heart soared when he saw Peter, his beloved Peter. Again, she had a task for them, and that’s where his memory got stuck. What truly bothered him, was the face of James Bishop he saw in the campfire that night, it was if he was trying to deliver a warning.

Later, in discussing with Thery what they had seen, his memory wasn’t any better, only that shortly the time would come when all would be made clear to them.

~~~

“Captain Reynolds to the bridge please, Captain to the bridge please.”

The summons to the bridge wasn’t unusual, one of the many inconveniences the position required. Putting the engineering tablet down, he’d have to come back to the anomaly later.

The trip to the bridge was perfunctory, finishing up a few ideas with the Chief Engineer. Logic would win out, there had to be reasons their longest-range sensor droids were graying out. There hadn’t been any issue previously, the state of the are electronics were the most advanced available. Sharp enough to look up the backside of a gnat on the moon from earth. All the systems checked out, every long-range droid was disassembled and put back together. Parts were interchanged, or completely replaced. Past missions were gone over ad infinitum, looking for any discrepancies. Sensor findings run over, and over again, at times multiple readings run against each other. Yet nothing conclusive, just an ethereal mystery.

“Captain on the bridge!”

“At ease everyone, Navigation report your findings.”

“Sir, we were successful in extrapolating the info requested from the star charts. From the data retrieved, we can infer the direction the Mayflower and others took. If out figures are correct, we should be about thirteen months.

“Good work, plot the course and Helm, resume cruising speed.”

~~~

Thad found Evan in the back of his Grandfather Tom’s warehouse, sorting boxes, and rotating some of the previous years remaining stock of winter vegetables and grains. While those commodities were dwindling, it was critical that an up-to-date inventory be done so space could be allocated for the soon to be incoming foodstuffs. Shortly after the lottery concluded, wagons from some of the other settlements would be arriving with goods to trade.

New Boston produced some of the finest grains and winter wheat. The glassworks made a steady supply of windowpanes, goblets, fancy dinner service along with kiln fired clay earthen ware. Wool from their domesticated schaffers was sent out to be spun into cloth. Cured meats from their porcums and bife went quickly, so great was the demand.

Trading days were always exciting. Enormous wagons full to the brim with materials they could not furnish for themselves rolled slowly into town behind teams of museulos. From the wool they sent out came back bolts of finely woven and dyed cloth from New Kyoto. Barrels of fine-grained sand came from as far away as New Johannesburg to be used in the making of fancy glass. In addition, harness makers from New London produced all sorts of leather goods. New Sidney’s limited iron works keep up a steady supply of nails, sawblades, knives, tools, hoops for storage barrels and boxes. Once back up and running, New Plymouth would restart the manufacturing of paper in addition to their surplus farm goods. They specialized in cheeses of all sorts.

For Thad, the warehouse was a magical place, in that building was stuff from all the remaining settlements, everything anyone needed and lots of material someone his age could only guess at. The best part however, was stolen moments with Evan once the days inventory task was done. With both working at it, it went much quicker, leaving time to practice kissing and the inevitable boy games.

The afternoon had been warm and the interior of the warehouse warmer still, having satiated certain urges, the two boys soon found themselves nestled together, resting their eyes and bodies from their exertions. As they fell deeply asleep on that warm afternoon, they unknowingly shared a dream. Thad soon found himself in what he now recognized as the central square of the first settlement, The difference this time, as he was walking towards it, he soon realized he was holding Evan’s hand.

This time, the surprise was he could see everything clearly, no longer were parts fuzzy or out of focus. As they entered the square Thad heard, then saw who he now learned was James Bishop, calling to him. He was standing by the granary building pointing towards the inside. He was asking for help, help retrieving a box. As they drew closer, the dream was rudely shattered by some sort of commotion outside the warehouse. Something either fell or was dropped or fell with a loud clatter.

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, Evan wondered and asked why someone named James Bishop was looking for them, visibly shaking Thad.

~~~

“I can’t see any other explanation for it Captain. As we left the last star system, one of the long-range droids captured a faint beacon. A preliminary analysis indicates it is of the type and typical to what the Mayflower would have used as a location beacon.”

“How long will it take you to compare the signal to the records in the databanks?” More to the point the captain added, “Have you sent out any other droids?”

“We should have confirmation within the half-hour Sir,” was the reply from the Chief Engineering officer. “The problem is that once we captured the signal from the beacon, the droid grayed out and we lost the signal. The back-up droid failed to capture anything from the beacon and grayed out as well.”

“Call both of them back now please, Helm increase speed and plot the fastest intercept course and then bring us to where the signal from the beacon was lost.”

“Aye…aye Sir” Course plotted for fastest intercept; navigation estimates a bit less than twelve bells Sir”.

Having retreated to his ready room, there was much for Captain Reynolds to ponder. He could feel it in his bones, they were closer than ever to possibly solving the greatest mystery of the ages. Everyone wanted to know what did happen to the Mayflower and the Speedwell, and where was the Discovery, what was her fate?

What would they be like he wondered, if they had been able to make a landing? Considering the condition of both ships that were found, it appeared that they had discharged their cargo. From the fragmented logs every indication from the data they were able to retrieve, indicated a planet known as Orion-24ZFX was hospitable for human life. Seasons that mirrored earth, a plethora of flora and fauna compatible for consumption. More to the point, there wasn’t any reason the seeds they brought with them, should thrive once planted. All sorts of wheat grains along with fruit and nut trees. Of greater concern was the dearth of natural resources. From the historical records of the earliest data collected long with the planetary surveys conducted by the Mayflower as they drew closer, indicated no large deposits of oil, coal natural gas, or metals.

After a thousand or more years, how did they develop and grow, what customs did they keep and how did they organize their societies? Were they able to avoid conflict or religious strife? What were the issues with health and their technology?

The most frustrating aspect of all of this to Captain Reynolds was the loss of the exact location of Orion-24ZFX in the wars following the launch of the Mayflower and Speedwell. The navigation data retrieved from the Mayflower and Speedwell once discovered not so long ago, was useless, those files were corrupted beyond repair.