Chapter 34

Edited by Steve

The following day Tabitha stood at the side of the MTS entrance, waiting for the guards to bring out the five prisoners. She just wanted to have a few final words with them. They approached, and the leader spits at Tabitha. One of the soldiers raised her weapon to hit the leader. Tabitha raised her hand towards the guard and said, “Leave her be, she will be suffering when she gets to where she is going. The King, as already, made the shuttle to the outer planets ready for these five.”

Tabitha looked towards the leader, “I am truly sorry for your misfortune, but hopefully, in your next home, you will learn to appreciate what you have been given. For the rest of you, you just gave up a good thing to follow this woman, now think about it.”

Tabitha stepped aside to allow the women to pass through the MTS. Then, each woman walked up to the machine and stepped into it, except the last. This one stopped, turned to Tabitha, and said, “Princess Tabitha, I am sorry for my sister’s behavior, please do not hate her, it was the way our father taught her.” Then turned and walked into the MTS machine.

After the last one was through, Tabitha turned and switched off the machine. She stood there for a moment, could she have done this a different way. Did turning them over to her father do any good. Could she have talked to them, trying to make them understand, she was not her father. She did not agree with some of the things he did, but he was the King. Someday she may rule the Kingdom, but for now, it’s his.

She turned and started to walk back to her quarters. She felt terrible about what had happened. She really didn’t want to go to her quarters. Finally, she stopped and thought about what needed to be done. “Sarha, where is Tawni now?”

“She is in the new testing bay on deck nine, bay 34. She’s down there assessing the new uniforms.”

Tabitha turned to the lift and said, “deck nine, Please.” She exited the lift and headed for bay 34.

Tabitha stepped up to the doors of bay 34, and they opened, walked in, and saw Tawni next to a soldier with a new uniform. They were testing the new force field uniforms. They were upgraded with each discovery from Sarha’s data files.

The most recent upgrade was a means of removing or putting them on. The problem was the time to do either one of them. Her group had conceived the latter with a single push of a button. On their daily uniform that they wore, they would add a button to the left side of the collar. The uniforms already had the nano-bots bead along both sides that on command would expand to cover the body. That style of the uniform took two minutes to enclose the body of the wear. But it was activated by the wearer’s voice only.

With the upgrade, one reached up and touched the button, and within one minute, the uniform was sealed or unsealed. But another advantage was that if the individual could not press the button themselves, someone else could touch the button and activate it for them.

The medic would be allowed to remove the shield to do the aid that the individual needed. It would also act as a protector after the medic had finished. After finishing his or her field aid, he could press the button and have the shield back in place.

Tawni showed Tabitha how everything worked while making sure everything worked as it should, OK here. The replicator could start producing the new uniforms in about an hour. It already had all the measurements of everyone aboard the ship, and it would start with the soldiers. Tabitha spent some time with Tawni, just talking about different things.

Madlyn stood next to the soldier’s bed and checked out the chart to see how she was doing. She was the only soldier that was severely injured in the fight with the red ants.

When they brought her in, Madlyn and Jeanne didn’t think that the soldier would live. If that were the case, it would be more or less in a vegetative state.

The record on this soldier showed her condition: a fractured skull, fractured backbone, four broken ribs, punctured lungs, arms, and legs broken in multiple places, and blood loss.

“I want a recording of everything that’s going on from this point on. I don’t want to tell the King or anyone else that this soldier did not make it. There has to be a way to help her.” Madlyn said.

“The engineers just finished the first diagnostics unit. Do you want to place her in it?”

“We don’t know anything about how it works. Tawni’s researchers may have printed out a manual. ‘Sarha, was there a manual with all the data recovered?’”

“Yes, I have a bot bringing it to you.” A bot came into the medical bay a few minutes later carrying a large book and handed it to Madlyn.

“OK, I need four student nurses and two of Tawni’s researchers here ASAP. Jeanne, I need you to set up a schedule. I want a nurse sitting beside the diagnostics bed 24 hours. I want it set up in the next unit to the right of my office.”

“What’s with the researchers?”

“Somebody needs to read this manual, or do you want to read it?

“Sarha, could you ask Tawni to send two researchers to the medical department at once? Preferably those that have a medical background.” Said Jeanne.

Madlyn turned to see who was entering the medical unit. It was the diagnostic bed. Jeanne moved towards the men and showed them where she wanted it to be placed.

A few minutes later, six nursing students made their way into the bay. “You requested volunteers, and here we are.”

“We requested four, and six came, which is even better. Thank you, ladies.”

“We need you ladies to have a seat over in the office. We are waiting for the researchers to get here.”

It did not take long, and the doors of the medical bay opened, and two of the researchers of Tawni’s entered.

Madlyn directs the rest of the group towards her office. Everyone is sitting down, waiting to hear what they will be doing.

Madlyn stood in front of these women, “Ladies, this will be the first time. We are about to see if this diagnostic bed will heal the body. First, the researchers will read this manual.” She held up the extensive manual, so all could see. “They will explain to us how the bed will work and what we must do.”

“If you have no questions, let’s get down to business.” The researchers walked up to Madlyn, and she handed them the book. “ladies, you do not need the book itself. Sarha has it on the scanner. You can use the scanners in the first unit. We need to know what to do first and then keep right on reading.” They handed the book back to Madlyn and turned towards the first unit.

The first researcher said, “I’ll take the description of the machine and the buttons. Then, you start on the treatment part.”

It was about an hour later, the first researcher walked up to Madlyn and said, “OK, let me show you the buttons and what they will do.”

Madlyn gathered around all those that needed to know. The researcher showed them all the information she had collected and answered all the questions she could. Finally, she asked, “Sarha, could you place, just above this unit, a detailed description of what I just talked about.”

A second later, just above the unit, was a hologram, with details about each button and what it did. The nurses looked and studied it.

They were ready to place the soldier into the unit. Instead, Madlyn had three bots enter and transferred the soldier into the new unit.

Within the first hour, the Doctor could see some signs that she might recover. Everyone was thrilled that the unit was working, even though they did not understand how.

Madlyn scheduled body scans each hour just to keep records of how things were doing. The student nurses were told their schedule and what to do during their time on.

It was all taken care of, and now it was the challenging part, waiting.

Tim was in the lounge for a late lunch when Sarha appeared by his side and said, “Tim, we need you on the bridge.” Tim got up and headed for the door. On entering the bridge, Tim checked to see who the pilot was. It was Mayio.

He walked over and sat down in his seat, turned to her, and asked, “What seems to be the problem?”

“Tim, we seem to have a ship that just came on to our scanners. It is at the far end of the left scanner edge.”

“OK, what’s the problem then?”

“It’s not moving, and there is no Transponder ID coming from it.”

“Sarha, I need a couple of probes. One to verify the vessel itself and the other to monitor the area. Also, bring us out of warp-drive and cloak us. Once cloaked, we will remain in this position until the probes arrive.”

“Probes are away, about two hours until we will have the information needed.” Replied Sarha.

Time went by, and as the probes approached the ship, the images returned became more precise. The ship appears to be much older. There seemed to be minor damage if any. It sat there as a ghost, waiting for something to happen.

“Sarha, do you have an idea of the type of vessel or its origin?”

“At present, I have neither. So, we will just have to wait.”

“Are there any markings or names on the ship?” asked Tim.

“There is no way to identify this ship from the outside.”

“As soon as you can, I need a scan of the entire ship; any information would be appreciated.”

“Sarha, have the Commander come to the bridge if you would.”

“Tim, the commander, said that she was on her way.”

It only took a few minutes, and the commanding officer entered the bridge and said, “Tim, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, it seems that we have a ghost ship. I will need six soldiers to go aboard with me. Could you ask for volunteers?”

“I will have them ready when you need them.”

“Give them the new suits with the shield. Tabitha, I’ll need a shuttle, and the pilot will use an MTS shuttle.”

The time passed. Tim and the others sat and watched the probes as they neared the stationary ship. Then, Tim remembered the time ‘they had done the same thing with Pauline and the space station.’

“Tim, we have the probes in the area. One probe will move around the ship showing as much as possible. The other will keep searching the site without leaving.”

On the viewscreen to Tim’s front, he saw the ship. The probe moved slowly around the ship, checked for any hull breach. Then, Sarha had it make one more pass, this time to check for ID markings.

The ship seemed to be in great shape. It didn’t look like anything was wrong. It looked like someone just parked it there and left.

“Sarha, find out if you can scan the interior of the ship.”

“Mayio, move to within 2000 meters and hold.”

Mayio utilized the thrusters and began to move towards the other ship. The probe was still circling the ship while scanning the insides. He approached the ship, placed a monitor on the hull, and started transmitting the readings back to Sarha.

“Tim, there’s still something working. I don’t know what it is, but it continues to work.”

Tim gave it some thought. “Sarha, is there a way we can get more data?”

“No, there is no opening to allow the probe to penetrate.”

“Mayio, how long before we get to the ship?”

“An additional 10 minutes, Tim.”

“Sarha, have Tabitha and Tammy make their way to the bridge.”

A few minutes later, Tabitha and Tammy both entered the bridge. “Tim, did you want to see us?”

“Yes, I’m on my way to the other ship with six soldiers. So, I need both of you on the bridge, Tabitha; you are in charge.”

“Sarha, tell the probe to look for the airlock, so the shuttle pilot knows where to go.”

Tim headed for the shuttle, and the six soldiers awaited him. They recognized Tim and followed him into the shuttlecraft. They fastened themselves in, and Tim moved to the co-pilot’s seat.

The shuttlecraft moved in next to where the probe was, showed an airlock door, moved to it, and sealed the connection. Tim moved to open the shuttle door to enter the other ship. However, finding the lock was frozen. They needed another way in.

“Sarha, asked Gento and Zagmu, could they come in and open that door?”

A couple of minutes later, both Gento and Zagmu were right behind Tim, “Tim, you wanted us?” Tim jumped, he hadn’t heard them come through the MTS. “Sorry,” said Gento.

Zagmu smacked Gento on the back of his head, “Next time, say something as you come across the MTS, and don’t scare the shit out of the Captain.”

Tim now had his nerves back under control, “I need to know if either of you could open this door?”

Gento approached Tim and laid his hand upon the outer edge of the other ship’s door. “I see there is a control panel, and it seems to be frozen. Maybe if we heat it, it will open.”

“Do you need a torch? Or maybe a small lighter will do?” Said Zagmu.

“A torch, but I’ll keep it far enough away so as not to damage the control panel.” Zagmu walked back through the MTS and picked up a light torch. He brought it back and handed it to Gento.

He worked on defrosting the control panel for fifteen minutes, then placed a hand against the panel. Finally, the panel turned blue, and the door started to open. Gento stepped back away from the airlock to allow Tim and the soldiers through.

They entered the ship and were in a large cargo bay. The soldiers spread out, making sure the bay was clear. Tim looked around and saw only one door at the far end of the bay. He walked up to it and placed a hand on the manual control handle, turned it to the left to see if it still worked. Slowly the door started to open.

Tim stepped back to allow the door to open; after fully opened, he walked through and found he was in another cargo bay. This one had a container in the middle of the floor.

He remembered the space station and the wires. He turned to the soldiers and told them to stay in this bay until he checked and made sure the bay was not booby-trapped. Then, going in, he watched where he placed each foot before taking the next step. He took as much time as needed, and he didn’t need any soldier to get hurt because he was in a hurry.

After checking all around, he walked up to the container to check it out. He saw that it was secured to the floor. So, he walked around it, staying about three feet from it. He did not see any wires or anything strange, turned and walked back to the soldiers. He told them to check out the rest of the ship. To look for anything that might help, to let them know about where this ship came from.

He brought Gento and Zagmu into the new bay. “I need you two to check out the container and let me know what it is? Please be very careful, I don’t need to find two new engineers.”

Zagmu said, “We don’t want you to look for new engineers, so we’ll let you know as soon as we know.”

Both Gento and Zagmu walked slowly over to the container; both started to study everything about it, it was over half an hour before they laid a hand on the unit. Then, finally, remove a little dust from a plate on the side of the container. “Tim, you may want to see this.”

Tim walked over and stood next to Zagmu as he pointed to the plate. On the plate was a name. Property of General Rornimilul Bi-imas Tul’na. “Sarha, could you check your database and see if you have anything on this general?”

“Tim, I am checking now, I have found something, but Tim, what I have found is over one hundred years old. He was a general with an opposing army, an evil guy. His records are very detailed, it will be hard to read what this guy did to everyone, including his soldiers.

While Tim was listening to Sarha, telling about the general, Gento wiped the top of the container off. Then, Gento jumped back away from the container and said, “Oh my God.”

Tim looked at Gento and said, “What is it?”

Gento just pointed to the top of the container. He didn’t have a scared look, just a surprised one.

Tim moved to look into the container, expecting to see the General. But, instead, Tim himself just stood there, not believing his eyes. There in the container was this woman. Gento had wiped the hold top clean, but he had started from what was now her feet.

Now all three men stood there looking into the container with their jaws lowered and not believing their eyes. On a plate next to her head was her name, Shanae

“Sarha, I need you to run another name, Shanae?”

“Tim, that name does not show up on any database I have.”