Space Pioneer 1 - 1. Chapter 1

Space Pioneer

by

Dolores Esteban

I

Joining the Space Community

The spaceship shook heavily and then it kind of jumped in space. Jeff was thrown through his room and hit the wall hard. He fell to the floor and lost conscience at once.

When he awoke, the lights had gone out and the alarms were ringing. Jeff stirred. His whole body hurt. He cautiously moved his limbs. His left leg was injured and the small finger of his left hand was dislocated, but as far as he could tell no bones were broken. Jeff rose to his feet and for a second stood, feeling disoriented, but then he remembered the impact. Something had hit the spaceship. An asteroid that the sensors had not detected? They were close to Mars, three more days until joining orbit. Jeff had a feeling that the mission had failed. The realization activated him. He hit a button and shouted into the intercom. Nobody responded.

Jeff hit another button. The door of the room slid open and Jeff exhaled in relief. The emergency systems were working properly. Jeff entered the hallway and saw a body sprawled on the floor. Derek Spencer, the engineer, was lying in a puddle of blood. Jeff made a step towards him, but one look sufficed to tell him that the man was dead. Jeff felt as if a hand was compressing his heart. He fought down the panic and hurried to the cockpit where two astronauts were supposed to monitor the computer systems. Jeff had only just ended his shift and gone to his room, when something had hit the small spaceship.

Jeff entered the cockpit. The pilots were strapped to their seats, but none of them did move. Gordon Lockwood’s eyes were wide open, yet broken. Jeff saw that the man was dead. Mark Emerson, the co-pilot sat upright, his hand reached out towards the console. Jeff realized the man had activated the intercom in order to probably send off an emergency call to Earth. Mark stirred in his seat and his eyelids flickered. Jeff bowed down and spoke to him, but the man did not respond. Then the man’s head dropped forward. Jeff’s heart was pounding fast. He was the last man on board and he had no idea what had happened. Jeff checked the intercom. It was dead.

Only now did Jeff raise his eyes and see that the lid of the front window was open. He gasped in shock at the sight of another spaceship that was ten times the size of his vessel. The outward lights of the foreign spaceship were turned on and blinking red. Had they collided with the foreign ship? Jeff was barely able to manage a coherent thought. Who had built the big spaceship? The Russians or the Chinese? Jeff was staring at the ship. A crackling noise from the intercom interrupted his thoughts. Jeff pressed a button.

"Houston?" he called out.

A computer voice answered in broken English. Jeff didn’t understand a word.

"Damn. Can’t you get out a proper message?" he shouted, but then forced himself to calm down.

Did the message come from the foreign spaceship? Did they want to make contact with him?

"Hold on," the computer voice said.

There was a long silence. Jeff was close to panic, but then his survival instincts kicked in and again he forced himself to calm down. The other ship was his only chance. Jeff looked at the two dead men, then willfully turned his eyes away. He grabbed a headset.

"This is Jeff Caspar, first officer of the Daidalos. This is an emergency call," he said.

"Hold on," the computer voice replied. "We’re trying to establish a better connection."

"Roger," Jeff answered, staring at the ship.

He pulled his eyes away and started checking on his ship. He realized it was severely damaged. The main system was out, but the emergency system was running. Jeff was looking at the displays.

"The oxygen level is going down," he said.

The intercom crackled again and the computer voice answered. "We’re still working on the connection. Status updates required."

Jeff wondered why it took so long to establish a connection, but then he decided to better do what they wanted. He reported to the foreign spaceship.

"Understood," the voice said. "We’re taking over your ship in short. Hold on."

"What?" Jeff asked.

He straightened and looked at the foreign ship. Were they able to seize control of his ship? Jeff sensed a shiver running down his spine and blocked out a sudden fear. Now was not the time for fearful thoughts. Jeff focused on the controls instead. Suddenly, a few controls went on and the display changed.

"This is Captain Lest, speaking from the Horus," a voice said. "I’m communicating with you through our computer intercom. We’ve established a connection."

Jeff tensed and once again stared at the spaceship.

"We’re in control of your ship. We’ll pull it into our cargo bay. Get ready for getting off the ship," the foreign captain said.

"Copy that. Getting ready for getting off my ship," Jeff answered. "I’ll be putting on a pressure suit and will be going to the aft hatch. I should be able to open the hatch manually."

"Don’t take any weapons with you," the captain said. "Contact us once you’re ready. The intercom should work properly now."

"Copied. Over," Jeff said.

He looked out of the window. The sight had changed. The foreign spaceship looked even bigger now. Jeff realized they were pulling the Daidalos towards their ship. Jeff pulled his headset off and took a deep breath. He turned around, glanced at the two dead men and then hurried out of the cockpit to the room where the pressure suits were stored. It took him some time to put a suit on. His body hurt like hell. The dislocated finger was a minor trouble, but something was definitely wrong with his leg. Finally, he had managed to put on the suit. He put on his helmet, attached it to the suit and activated the life system. Jeff sensed another rush of panic, but managed to fight it down. He double checked the suit and then moved to the aft hatch. He activated his helmet intercom.

"Horus? This is Jeff Caspar on the Daidalos. I’m ready to disembark," he said.

"We have pulled your ship in and secured it. The hatch of our ship is closed and we have established a gravity field. Open the hatch of your ship and move out slowly," the foreign captain said.

"Copied. Opening the hatch now and getting off the ship," Jeff replied.

He moved towards the hatch and activated the system that would open it. The system was connected with the main system but could also draw current from a battery. A small hatch opened and revealed a plug connection. Jeff reached out and cautiously pushed a button. It was not easy with the glove, but he had trained the operation. The aft hatch started to open.

Jeff moved forward, but stopped in the opening and looked out. The cargo bay of the foreign ship looked gigantic. It was empty, however. Jeff saw neither cargo containers nor men. He stood for a moment until he realized that they had pushed a ramp to the ship. Jeff walked down slowly, his arms raised to indicate he that didn’t carry a weapon. When he had reached the ground, five men came forward with guns in their hands. They were dressed in gray overalls. Black helmets concealed their faces. Jeff stopped and looked at them, his heart pounding faster. One man stepped towards him. Jeff’s intercom crackled.

"Welcome on board of the Horus, commander Caspar. I’m Captain Lest. We must speak through our computer intercom for the time being because of the different languages. This should change soon, however. Please follow me. I will take you to the sick bay. My men will enter your ship and check on the crew members. I trust you don’t object," he said.

"Sure," Jeff replied. "My thanks for coming for my help."

He felt his reply was somewhat short and inadequate, but once out of the ship, he was close to collapse. He realized he was severely injured. Jeff couldn’t suppress a tremble. The foreign captain realized the state Jeff was in and waved his hand. A vehicle approached, steered by a crew member. Captain Lest pointed at the vehicle that looked like a golf cart. Jeff climbed in.

"He’ll take you to sick bay. I will join you there in short," Captain Lest said.

Jeff just gave a nod. His helmet seemed to weigh tons. He closed his eyes, but forced them open again. He wanted to see the foreign ship and where they were taking him to.

***

Jeff awoke, feeling disoriented for a few seconds, but then reality kicked in. He tried to sit up, but found he was strapped to a bed. Jeff turned his head left and right and saw what looked like hospital equipment.

The door of the room opened. Jeff tried in vain to sit up. He lifted his head. Two men had entered the room. They were dressed in gray overalls, but didn’t wear helmets. Jeff realized they had taken off his own helmet as well. He took a breath. The two men were looking at him. One of them turned to a display, while the other continued watching Jeff. Then the two of them spoke with each other in a language Jeff didn’t understand, not even the speech melody was familiar to him. They didn’t look neither Chinese nor Russian. Their skin was pale and their hair was blond. Scandinavians? Jeff wondered.

The man turned away from the display and approached Jeff. He reached out his hand and touched Jeff’s left ear. Jeff turned his head aside and struggled. The other man said something and raised his hand in a calming gesture. Jeff turned his eyes and looked at the man next to his bed. The man reached out his hand with his palm up. Jeff saw a clip on it. The man held it against his own ear and pointed at his mouth. Jeff didn’t grasp the signs, but decided to lay still. He closed his eyes The clip was attached to his ear. Jeff lay motionless, his muscles tensed.

"Again, welcome on the Horus. I’m Captain Lest," one of the men said.

Jeff opened his eyes. The two men looked at him and then exchanged a glance.

"It seems it doesn’t work, doctor," the man at the end of Jeff’s bed said.

"It must work. I can’t detect a malfunction," the doctor replied and looked at a display in his hand.

Jeff looked between them. "What is it? A translator device?" he asked.

The men gave him astonished looks.

"Well, yes, but since you didn’t reply, we thought it was not working properly," the captain replied.

"Sorry," Jeff said. "I don’t feel well. Captain Lest?" he asked, looking at the man at the end of his bed.

The man gave a nod.

"Once again my sincerest thanks for getting me on board of your ship. It was a last minute rescue. I’m in your debt," Jeff said.

The man smiled briefly, then grew serious again. "It was not a last minute rescue, but it was close to one. You’re not in my debt, however. We have caused this accident. Your fellow crew members are dead. I’m very sorry about it. This should not have happened."

Jeff swallowed. The memories were back. He stirred, but couldn’t move his body. Captain Lest made a sign to the doctor and the man unstrapped Jeff.

"You may sit up, but you must not get out of the bed. Your leg was severely hurt. It’s on the mend, but you need to stay here for another day or two," the doctor said.

Jeff sat up and tried to move his leg. "Well, it seems that it is all right," he replied.

"Ligament ruptures and an incomplete bone fracture," the doctor said.

"I don’t think so," Jeff said, pulling his knee up.

The doctor gave him a puzzled look. "Well, yes, you’ve been sleeping for thirty-six hours and the nano bots were working all the time, but the injuries require at least fifty hours in bed. Your system is unknown and we better monitor it longer than usual," he said.

Jeff was gazing at the man.

"Midad, the man has no idea of our healing systems, I guess," Captain Lest said with a little smile on his lips.

Midad looked up from his display. "Oh, I forgot. They’re a class C species according to the lists."

"What are you talking about?" Jeff asked in confusion. "I would have suspected that only the Russians or the Chinese were able to build a spaceship. Where do you come from?"

The men exchanged a look.

"I’m Daglon," Captain Lest said.

The captain fixed his eyes on Jeff and Jeff stared at the alien captain. Panic was seizing Jeff again and this time he wasn’t able to block out his fear. His mind was filled with horrifying pictures of aliens from space, albeit Captain Lest didn’t look like one of them. He looked more like a human man. Jeff opened his lips, but didn’t say a word.

Captain Lest was smiling. "I see that reality has caught up with you. Let me tell you what happened," he said. Captain Lest sat down in a chair and looked at Jeff.

"My ship, the Horus, is a warship," the captain started. It got a few hard shots and we decided to run. Well, actually we didn’t run, but we just hit the buttons and jumped to some unknown place in space. We found ourselves in your solar system, close to the planet that you call Mars. Our engines were damaged and we were orbiting around Mars until they were repaired. This done, we decided to leave your solar system before being detected by Earth. As soon as we had pulled up from the gravity well, we initiated the jump drive. Unfortunately, our external sensors were also defect and that was why we didn’t detect your small vessel. We jumped in space and pulled your ship with us. We’re currently in open space, 8,000 light years - your unit of measurement - away from the planet Earth."

Jeff’s head sank back. He gazed at the ceiling, processing the words he had heard. Captain Lest didn’t push him. He waited patiently until Jeff turned his eyes to him. Captain Lest looked at him gravely.

"I think you’re the first human in outer space, my congratulations on this, albeit the circumstances are sad," he said.

"I need to take my dead comrades home," Jeff said in a pressed voice. "They deserve a proper funeral." He couldn’t suppress the tears that were coming to his eyes.

Captain Lest watched him quietly. He stood and gave Jeff a nod. "We will continue our talk later."

Captain Lest left the room. Doctor Midad turned to his displays and entered a command. An instant later, Jeff felt sleepy and tired. Sedatives, he thought. He wondered how they did it without needles and tubes, but before he could finish his thoughts, he had fallen asleep.

***

Jeff felt calm and a little detached when he woke again. He pondered on the captain’s words. 8,000 light years from Earth. Jeff had no illusions. They wouldn’t take him nor his dead comrades home. He wondered where they would take him to. He was the first human in outer space and it seemed that all the stories he had laughed at in the past were entirely true. Aliens abducted humans to study them. They had not killed him off right away, but instead had saved him and taken his ship.

Jeff gave a bitter laugh. His ship was useless to them. He was convinced that the Daidalos, an ultra-modern spaceship, the pride of his nation, was just a can, an archaic vessel in the eyes of the aliens. Jeff compressed his lips. He had loved his ship and he had felt proud to be part of the mission. The trip to Mars had been an enormous risk, but he had been willing to take it. They had told him that the journey could well turn into a one-way trip. He had been aware of it and he would have died for the mission, not in order to get his name into the history books, but because the mission had felt like a step into the future and Jeff had been proud to be a part of it. His comrades had died an honorable death, whereas he had ended up in the alien’s lab. Jeff felt totally cheated.

His unstable condition didn’t go unnoticed. The doctor set him to sleep again. His physical injuries had already healed, but they kept him in sick bay and constantly monitored him. The doctor analyzed Jeff’s bodily functions and his system with the help of specialized computer programs. The human species was not entirely different from many other species in the universe and they were in fact not much different from the Daglon. The bodily functions were similar, the appearance was almost identical, both species breathed oxygen, albeit slightly different concentrations, but so far their passenger coped well with the oxygen level on board. The doctor monitored Jeff and presented his observations to the captain.

"The nano bots healed his body, but his mental condition is bad," he said.

Captain Lest nodded. He looked out of a window into outer space, before turning back to the doctor.

"He’s lost in space. He’s aware he will never return home," he said. "I would take him back, if I could, but you know it’s not possible. While I’m not with the Alliance, I agree with them on this point. Never introduce class C species to the space community prematurely. It will only end up in a disaster. It did so in the past. No, we can’t take him back. He would tell them about us. You can anticipate the humans’ reaction."

"From what we have found out about the species, I know that C species tend to believe that aliens abduct them in order to analyze them in their labs," the doctor said. "Typical class C beliefs. Superstitious, religious, fearful creatures, but striving at overall power."

"War is also part of our world," Captain Lest said.

"As an exception. The exception proves the rule," the doctor replied.

Lest smiled slightly. "Our warship is not the only one in space," he said.

"Well, yes," Midad admitted. "But only class C species throw nuclear bombs on a planet they have traveled to under great hardship. Imagine they would detect the jump drive prematurely."

"Space jumping doesn’t go unnoticed," Lest said. "As soon as a species begins experimenting with it, they are secretly monitored by the Alliance. Ultimately, they are approached by the Alliance. Those who do not concur, won’t last long. I agree with the Alliance on it."

"Well, why have we split up with the Alliance then?" Midad asked.

"Because I don’t like how they step away from guardianship to political authority," Lest answered.

There was a brief silence.

"Why did you take that human on board?" Midad asked finally.

"We killed three of his comrades. He was the only survivor. Should I have let him behind on his ship? Who am I to sentence an innocent to death?" Lest asked.

"I must change his sedatives in order to change his mental state," the doctor replied.

He turned to leave the bridge. Lest looked after him.

"Wait," he called out.

Midad turned back to him.

"He’s homesick. He’s grieving. We need to occupy him. We must give him something to do, so that his heart can heal. He was on a risky mission that could have well led him to death. He’s not only courageous. He’s curious also. He’s an explorer, willing to step into the unknown, a space pioneer," Lest said. "I think we might use his talents."

Midad raised an eyebrow. "Class C, Captain. Do not forget. He might throw a nuclear bomb at you, if only metaphorically."

The captain looked out of the window into outer space, turning his back to Midad. "I’ll find him a task, something he can do, so that he can slowly get accustomed to his future. He must learn to deal with the unknown he stepped into," he said.

"I have a feeling you want to step into the unknown yourself. Hopefully, this will not turn into a disaster," Midad said drily before leaving the bridge.

Captain Lest didn’t reply. He found that outer space offered endless opportunities and he sensed a thrill of excitement. He rubbed his hands and then turned to go to sick bay.

***