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Approaching the Stargate, Sol System
July 1st, 2037
Terry didn’t speak to Doc when he came to get him. The older man floated onto the deck, looked at the devastated expression on Terry’s face, and simply unbuckled him.
“Come on,” Doc said. He gently took Terry by the arm and began moving him.
Part of him marveled at zero gravity, but that part was crushed by his sense of loss. Why didn’t they tell me?
“I’m sure you’re wondering why we didn’t tell you,” Doc said as he helped Terry through a hatch and up/down another deck. Terry had no idea where they were going. “Your mother was afraid you might end up in jail with everyone else when the government came for us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Glad you’re still with us,” Doc said. Terry shrugged and almost hit a ladder. “Careful until you get used to this.” Doc helped him get his own grip on the ladder before speaking again. “The court not only ruled against allowing the whales to live, it also ruled everyone involved in the project was guilty of illegal modification of an endangered species.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Terry said.
“No, but you helped take care of them. In the eyes of the law, that’s enough.”
“They were going to put me in jail?”
“We don’t know,” Doc admitted. “As a minor, probably not. But they would have put your mom in jail, and you’d have probably been tried as a minor. Might even have been sent to some sort of juvenile detention facility.” He shrugged. “So much of the new Earth Republic government is still unset, nobody knows what would have happened to you. Your mom thought it better you come.”
“Without asking me,” he said darkly. “No one thought about what would happen to my life.”
“That’s not fair,” he said, “and not true. She was always thinking of you. In fact, she was thinking about staying and fighting it out, until we found out they were going to arrest you along with everyone else.”
Terry looked away, but couldn’t let go of his feelings of betrayal. They continued moving through hatches and long companionways until they reached a dome with windows all around. The Earth was a sphere off to one side and looked no bigger than a basketball. Terry gasped at the view. I’m in space, he thought, the spectacle finally overcoming his anger. In the dome were all the institute doctors, three strange people he’d never seen before, and his mom.
“I’m sorry,” she said as soon as she saw him. “There wasn’t time.”
“Doc explained,” Terry said. She could see he wasn’t happy and frowned.
“So you know we had to do it this way?”
“No, I don’t,” he said. “I’d have understood.”
“Would you?” she asked. “Terry, you’re mature for your age, but you’re still a child. The truth is, a lot more people than just you and I were in danger of going to jail, maybe forever. I had to think about everyone.”
“And the cetaceans,” Dr. Orsage said. His mom nodded in agreement.
“We also thought you deserved to be here,” Doc said.
Terry looked around at the people and realized he was the only kid there. Everyone else was senior staff from the institute, Doc, and some of the ship’s crew. At least, he guessed that was who the three strange people were.
“Terry,” his mother said, “this is Captain Baker; she owns the Teddy Roosevelt.” A woman with long grey hair pulled back was hanging onto a rail like she’d spent her life in space. She nodded to Terry and winked. He smiled despite himself.
“Glad to have you aboard, young man,” she said. “This is Commander Ed Moore; he’s my XO. If you need something from me, he’s usually who you’ll talk to.” The man she’d indicated was considerably younger than the captain looked, despite being bald. He smiled a big, natural smile and nodded to Terry as well.
“Lastly, meet Ensign Drake; he’s my purser and will see to all the passengers, including you, enroute.” Drake was a young man, and nodded at Terry with no smile. He had short cut dark hair and sharp eyes.
Terry was about to ask what their destination was when something outside caught his eye. They were approaching another ship. Terry grabbed a handle and moved closer to the window for a better look. He didn’t know much about spaceships, though just about everyone on the planet would recognize this one—a long, cigar-shaped ship with a ring of modules around the blunt rear.
“Is that Pegasus?”
“Yes it is,” Captain Baker said. “Teddy and the other transports are catching a ride. My ship’s capable, but she doesn’t have her own hyperdrive.”
“Pegasus,” Terry said again. The famous ship of the Winged Hussars, one of the Four Horsemen. Eleven years ago, they were the last of the alpha contract merc companies to come back from deep space. Everyone had written them off for dead, but they came back, and in a different ship than the one they’d left with. Nobody knew much about the huge warship, only that it was incredibly powerful and rarely came back to Earth. “Why are they helping?” he asked.
“Your mom can explain better,” Doc said.
“Well, the Hussars have helped us for years,” his mom explained. “They were the ones who arranged to move the bottlenoses and orcas from the parks where we found them. They were also the principle financial backer. Amelia Cromwell, who’s married to the Hussars’ commander, Lawrence Kosmalski, has been extremely helpful, though it was Colonel Kosmalski who volunteered to get us out this time. He just happened to be here when everything fell apart.”
“Where are we going?” Terry asked. All the adults looked at each other, but none of them answered right away.
Eventually his mother replied, “For now, we’re riding with the Winged Hussars to a system called Karma. We’ll wait there to see if this legal stuff can get sorted out.”
“What about the cetaceans?” he asked.
“You can see them after we dock with Pegasus,” his mom said. She looked at the captain. “We’ll have a few hours before we go through the stargate?”
“We don’t jump until 22:00 Zulu,” she said. Outside, Pegasus grew steadily closer.
* * *
Docking with the Winged Hussars’ huge warship turned out to be nothing special. A few minutes of bumps from the Teddy Roosevelt’s maneuvering thrusters, followed by a jolt, and the PA announced they were docked.
Terry realized he didn’t know what Zulu time was after docking, but then a crewman helped him update his phone for the ship’s network, and the time matched immediately. They had three hours. He spent the time in the observation dome, watching the proceedings in space.
They were one of four ships docking with Pegasus, all of which had evacuated the institute, cetaceans, and staff. He overhead one conversation his mom was having with the radio operator. Authorities on Earth were insisting they return to Earth immediately.
“Can they make us?” Terry asked Doc.
“Pegasus is more powerful than all the spaceships Earth has combined,” he said.
“How do you know so much about this stuff?” he asked Doc.
“I was a merc for a couple years,” Doc said. Terry gawked. “Yeah, I didn’t tell anyone. I was with the Winged Hussars, and helped them develop marine tactics.”
“I thought marines were for water and stuff.”
Doc laughed and smiled. “These are space marines. More like SEALs in a lot of ways. But SEAL stands for Sea Air and Land. Sea, Air, Land, and Space?”
“SEALaS?” Terry asked. Doc cocked his head and shrugged, making Terry laugh. “Yeah, it doesn’t work, does it?”
“No, not really. And space marines have been talked about in science fiction. It was too cool a name to pass up, I guess. Anyway, I helped develop some tactics to defend ships from boarding, and to board other ships. We trained doing some of that as SEALs. I spent some time with NASA learning zero gravity maneuvering.” He flipped around a couple times, looking like a gymnast. “Afterward I put it all together and then taught the Hussars.”
“That is, no kidding, cool.” Doc shrugged. “Can you teach me some stuff?”
“Like what?” Doc asked, his mannerism suggesting suspicion.
“How to get around better in space,” Terry said.
“Oh, sure. You don’t feel sick at all?”
“No, why?”
Doc nodded. “A lot of people get sick in zero gravity.”
Terry thought about it. His stomach had felt funny since they’d reached orbit, but not sick. He’d figured it was because he missed Yui, and thinking about her took away some of the fun he’d been having. Doc saw his look and frowned. “Let’s go check on your dolphins?”
“I’d rather see the orcas,” he said. Doc nodded and they set out together.
As the two moved through Teddy Roosevelt, Terry watched how Doc moved and began to copy him. The former SEAL seemed to unconsciously plan every single move. He would soar from one handhold to another, often only touching the next handhold before gently pushing onward. It was a ballet. Terry couldn’t do half as well. Still, he tried.
Doc watched him as they proceeded, making suggestions and generally nodding in approval. “All your diving and swimming translates.”
“You’re right!” Terry said as he made a particularly good grab at a passing handhold. Then he missed the next one, and Doc had to snag him before he crashed into a wall. “Well, kinda.” They both laughed.
“You’ll get better.” They continued.
“Have you been on this ship before?”
“Nope,” Doc said.
“Then how do you know your way around?”
“All ships are similar in many ways,” Doc explained. “This is a Kuiper-class, the first Human-made ships. I was on the Donald Trump shortly after it launched in 2031. The later iterations aren’t as ugly as the first one, but it got the job done. They’re working on a new class; Comal Tramp is the name. Those will be hyperspace-capable!”
“This ship is only six years old?” He looked at the beat up interior, the rust spots, bent ladder rungs, and other signs of neglect.
“This ship is more like five,” Doc corrected.
Terry shook his head in amazement. “This thing is trashed.”
“It’s a working ship.” Doc said, “I’ve been on a lot worse down on Earth.” He swung around a corner, and there was a big doorway. “Here we are.” The door said, “Transfer Lock #2.” One of the Teddy Roosevelt crew was manning the hatch and saw them approach.
“Going over to Pegasus?” she asked.
“Yes,” Doc said. “This young man helps care for the whales.”
“Oh, I see,” she said and pressed a button. The big door rumbled and rotated to the side, showing a tunnel to another door. “Press the green button at the other end.”
“I know the drill,” Doc said. She nodded, and they pulled themselves through. At the far end Doc pressed the green button, and the door rumbled back closed behind them. Terry felt his ears pop and put his hands up to them. “Pressure between the two ships equalizing,” Doc explained. The door in front of them moved aside, much quicker and quieter than the other ship’s lock.
Inside stood a pair of men in black coveralls Terry realized was a uniform. Both wore ball caps and there were red stripes down the outside of their sleeves and legs.
“Welcome aboard the EMS Pegasus,” one of them said, a man in his forties. Then he looked closer at Doc and came more erect, not easy in zero gravity. “Lieutenant Commander Abercrombie, sir. Good to see you again.”
“Sergeant Teal,” Doc said.
“Lieutenant Teal now, sir.”
“Congrats, my friend,” Doc said, then looked at Terry. “This gentleman was a new recruit when I started training the Winged Hussars’ marines. How has my training worked out?”
“Great, sir,” Lieutenant Teal said. “We’ve had to make some changes, of course. We had a fight two months ago; a bunch of Zuul tried boarding. They weren’t expecting the hairless monkeys to be able to put up a fight.” The man’s teeth skinned back in a feral smile. “They won’t be expecting anything anymore.”
“Glad to hear it,” Doc said, then gave a little cough and glanced at Terry. “This is Terry Clark, the son of Dr. Madison Clark, head of the science expedition.”
“Hello, Terry,” the marine said. He introduced the marine with him. “I don’t suppose you need directions?”
“No,” Doc said. “Just tell me which docking port has which ship?”
“Kavul Tesh is at dock two, and Kavul Ato is at dock three.”
Terry noted the one they’d come out of was dock one. Doc thanked his old student and set out. Right away Terry noticed the interior of Pegasus was vastly different—in every way—from Teddy Roosevelt. Its corridors were rounded and smooth, the metal carefully painted and tended to. They also curved around the ship. Teddy Roosevelt was like being in a building; everything had right angles. It somehow felt inHuman.
“Different kind of ship, right?” Doc said, looking at him.
“Yeah. Feels weird.”
“It should,” Doc said. “Pegasus was made by aliens before Humans learned the written word.”
“Incredible,” Terry said. It was only a rumor among people. Endless videos talked about the Four Horsemen, speculated, guessed, or sometimes made up stories. They all wanted to know how they survived and flourished. The most commonly speculated on rumors were about the Winged Hussars and their mysterious ship, Pegasus. The most common rumor was they’d made it from parts. That it was entirely alien was not a commonly held belief. The Hussars themselves didn’t talk much, mainly because they weren’t ever on Earth.
Doc led them around the circular corridor. A door to their right said, “Lift #2.” The door opened. Inside was a woman and an alien who looked like a badger. Terry knew the race; they were called Cochkala. The Human had gold stripes on her uniform, the Cochkala blue. They got out and moved back in the direction Terry and Doc had come from.
A little further on, Terry saw two aliens working on an open panel. One was an elSha, like he’d seen before. The other looked like a big anteater. They both wore clothing appropriate to their races in black, just like the marines, only these two had green stripes. The elSha moved an eye to track them as they went by; the other didn’t seem to notice.
“How many aliens are in the Hussars’ crew?” he asked Doc.
“A lot,” Doc replied. “They have to be at least half Human, according to the Merc Guild, so less than half.”
They walked past one of the other locks. This one was unguarded, with a ramp going up and a ramp going down, and finally another lock’s sign said #3. A pair of marines saluted and opened the door. “This is one of the ships holding your orcas,” Doc said and went inside.
“Why do they always keep the locks closed?” Terry asked.
“Warship,” Doc said. “It’s protocol.”
“But this is Earth; aren’t we safe?”
“Nowhere in the universe is safe,” Doc said.
Terry wondered why he would say such a thing, then realized Doc had been a merc and lost friends in the alpha contracts. He guessed Doc would know as well as anyone else.
The inside lock opened, and they entered the other ship. Kavul Ato, the marine lieutenant had called it. Its interior looked strange, like Pegasus, but different. The curves of the corridors were more unusual, as if whoever had designed it hadn’t had a plan and had just wanted to build something.
Doc wasn’t as familiar with this ship. He stopped the first crewman they encountered, a woman with short brown hair and bright green eyes.
“Where are the whales?” he asked her.
“Main hold,” she said. “Two companionways over there; you’ll see signs.”
“Thanks,” Doc said, and they floated in the indicated direction. It was a good thing there were signs, or they never would have found it.
“Who made this ship?” Terry asked.
“Some aliens,” Doc said. “No clue which ones.”
“Why are Humans using alien ships, anyway?”
“Because we’re still figuring out how to make our own,” Doc said.
The corridor opened through a big hatch into the hold. Inside, a massive glass wall had been installed and the space was completely filled with water. Four orcas floated inside, so Terry knew it was the Shore Pod even before he recognized Kray.
Terry was about to ask what was on their heads but he figured it out. A glass dome with machinery integrated into its rim was somehow stuck to the orcas’ heads. There was no air in the tank, but since there was no gravity, it wouldn’t have mattered. Terry understood—without gravity, the air wouldn’t form a surface, it would just float around the water in bubbles. The apparatus on their head was a rebreather, related to the device Doc had brought them to dive with the previous year.
“Hello, Shore Pod,” Terry said.
The four orcas lazily moved over to the tank wall and looked at him with their huge eyes. “Warden Terry,” Kray said, “you in dark, Shore in dark.”
Terry looked around. The hold was well lit. “It is not dark, Kray.”
“Is dark,” Kray said.
“Is all dark,” Ulybka said. “Beyond.” All four orcas turned to face in different directions.
“In space,” Doc said. “They mean in space.”
“How do they know they’re in space?” Terry wondered aloud. The orcas didn’t answer.
* * * * *
