Chapter 5

At the end of three weeks everyone had rudimentary knowledge of their new jobs. They were far from being experts but they could function considering all ship operations could be automated and taken care of by Glorious. The crew was needed for that spark of human ingenuity in an emergency and for damage control and combat purposes should one of those needs come about. Every member of the crew and every member of the base personnel was also cognizant of the regulations and rules under which they now worked. Jack scheduled a ship wide meeting to discuss future plans with and answer questions from the crew.

One of the first questions came from Sally, the woman who had worried about leaving her family when they boarded the ship. She asked, “What about our pay? What do we earn now and when are we paid? I need my pay to make ends meet. How will I pay my bills if I am in space?”

“Sally your pay will continue as it did before but I really don’t know when you will be able to spend it. As long as you are onboard the ship all your needs will be met from ship resources.”

Sally looked around and said, “That’s fine. I’m not worried about that but I need to be sure my pay is still at least as much as I made before and I need some way to get to it. I am supporting my parents because their pension isn’t enough for them to live on. I’m worried about them now because I didn’t get to send them any money last week. I usually send them a third of my take home pay every payday and I didn’t. I haven’t even been able to talk to them to be sure they are ok.” She began crying and there was a murmur from the assembled people.

Jack hadn’t even thought about his people being able to pay bills and send money to others. He raised his voice and said, “Glorious is there anything we can do about this?”

“Yes Captain. I can interface with the cell towers from here as I did on Earth so people can talk to their friends and loved ones. I can even make it possible for them to Skype or Facetime if the receiving party has that capability. We can access the internet for funds transfers or communication also. In fact, some of the crew have been sending e-mails already.”

“OK. Glorious please make sure everyone who wishes to do so is able to communicate with family and friends. Also be sure they can access their accounts and disburse funds to pay bills and transfer funds.

“Now, if there are no further questions I have something very important to discuss with all of you. As you know the Government wants us all. We are all on the wanted list for violation of Homeland Security Laws. They want to lock us up for reasons of national security. If we are arrested it could literally be years before we are free again if we ever are. I am sorry I got you into this mess but we are in it. I need to have your input before i make a decision about what comes next. I really hoped we could introduce new technology slowly and repair Glorious then make a stealthy departure from earth for an exploratory flight. Somehow something we did came to the attention of the authorities and that became impossible.

“I do not want to hold anyone here against their will. If any of you want to be put back on Earth you will be but I cannot guarantee your safety if we do so. There are many things we can attempt to do now but they all come with risks. Some of the rewards, to me, far exceed the risks. As Captain of this vessel I will not attempt to operate it as a democracy, however, I would like to get some input from you on future actions here. Any ideas or suggestions any of you may have should be passed up the chain of command to arrive on my desk before 0800 tomorrow morning.

“We need a base of operations. We need to be able to purchase or obtain repair parts, medicines, food and raw materials. We have choices available on how to do these necessary tasks. We can try to stealthily return to earth and set up a base somewhere. We can also try to find a country that will take us in, however, I am leery of trying that because I do not trust any nation to refrain from either attacking us to try and take over Glorious or to send in covert operatives to try and steal our technology. I would not even rule out kidnapping of crewmembers to try and force us to divulge and transfer technology.

If we do not find a safe place to build a base here on Earth, we can also take off for some of the nearer known outposts of the Empire to see if we can find a new home there. We have a chance of finding a completely new planet to move to if we leave Earth. If any of you have any other ideas about what we can do please let me know through the chain of command as I requested earlier.

Jack and Glorious shut down the public address system after his talk. Jack turned to Emily and Susan who were in his briefing room with him and said, “Well, I hope that went well. From the video feeds we had while I was talking it seems as if the crew is not too worried about our situation. I must admit I am in a quandary though. I would like to find a place here on Earth to build a base and try to improve life for our fellow man. Of course I would also like to make some voyages to other solar systems and, perhaps, colonize a few. I would love to do both but I am afraid the nations of the world would not leave us alone if we built an enclave on Earth.”

Glorious said, “Captain you are correct, the nations of Earth would probably make every effort to obtain Imperial technology by any means they could use. I submit, however, that that technology is superior enough to Earth technology that their attempts would be unfruitful. I can and would make any settlement impenetrable to those who we do not want inside. I can and will defend any base you chose to build here on this or any other planet. Unless my belief is seriously in error I, or more correctly, you, posses the most advanced technology in this part of the galaxy at the very least.

“I suggest we find a place here on earth and build a settlement for our people. We can find and hire like minded people from the world over, educate them to Imperial standards and build a new civilization. Over the next several years we can improve the life of every citizen of this planet if we can get the governments to cooperate. Conversely, we can expand our boundaries and force cooperation. We can revive the Empire if you will and explode into the stars once again from this new home of the human race.”

“Glorious, the dream is wonderful but I am afraid I am not sure of the morality, the ethics of it. What right do I have to move in on some country and build a home then slowly first take over the country then later, perhaps, the world?”

“Captain let me ask your question in a different way. What right do you have to ignore the inequities, the corruption, the inhumanity in this world and not do something about it since you have the wherewithal to do so? You now have the capability to improve the quality of life for every person on this globe if you choose to do so. You might ask, what right do you have to NOT do so?”