Chapter 2

There was pain, mind numbing, bone-breaking pain. As soon as it had started, it stopped. Mike slowly became aware of his surroundings, and realized something wasn't quite right here. When he opened his eyes, everything was blurry, and he had a slight throbbing pain in his head. He stayed still for a moment and felt a little better. His eyes came into focus and he saw that he was not at the bottom of the hole anymore. He was in what looked like a hospital, though not like any he'd ever seen. Some of the things around him were so futuristic in design that they would not have been out of place in a science fiction movie. Mike was startled out of his reverie by a strong, male, disembodied voice.

"Ah, I see that you're awake. How are you feeling? Would you like some refreshments?" For a good ten seconds, Mike was too shocked to speak. When he did manage to say something it came out like "Whadduppa". The voice asked if he could repeat that, because it could not understand what was said. Mike took three nice, even breaths and said.

"What is going on? Where am I? Who are you? And what the hell is going on?" Mike was starting to panic again, when the voice spoke as if sensing his discomfort.

"Please, try to remain calm. I'm not going to hurt you." Mike said, "Ok, but could you explain what's happening. And by the way, my name is Mike".

"Yes, of course Mike." said the voice, " About two hours ago you fell through a hole in the ground. When you landed you broke both your legs in several places, fractured your skull, and went into shock soon thereafter. Luckily for you, Mike, you landed outside the air lock to this ship. I am the ships AI and when you "landed", I came out of sleep mode and had a maintenance droid take you to the med bay. You were examined and completely healed in under an hour by the auto-doc. All your bones are healed as if they were never broken, and the only side effects will be a slight headache."

Mike was silent for a few minutes absorbing the information he'd just been told. Which had boiled down to three simple thoughts: ship, AI, healed. "What's going to happen to me now?" Mike asked. The AI replied "Well nothing is going to happen to you, I was hopping that you might be able to help me. You see, you are the first person that I've come in contact with, for over ten thousand years. I would like to know what's going on, I've been out of touch as you can tell. What is the status of the Emperor and his empire? Have anymore ships disappeared like this one did?"

Mike was a little hesitant at first but said, "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about an Emperor or any empire. This planet hasn't even traveled past our moon yet. I don't know what kind of help I can be to you."

The AI was silent for a few moments then said, "I know exactly what you can do to help me, if you're willing. Would you like to become my captain?" Mike thought this out for a minute. "Could I really take responsibility for a ship like this?" thought Mike. Seconds later he made his decision, "Yeah sure, I will be your captain. But you're going to have to explain exactly what happened to this ship and its crew."

For half an hour the AI told Mike everything about the ship, the sabotage to all the vital systems, and how they were forced to abandon the ship on this planet and settle it, forgetting their own history, so they could make some kind of life here. Mike was a little disturbed by the news of sabotage, but was excited by the story none the less. Mike decided that it was time to get up and slowly Mike swung his legs around over the side of the bed. He got up with little difficulty and started to walk around the room.

"What would I have to do to become your captain?" asked Mike. There was a pause from the AI for a few seconds. "Walk to the panel on the wall in front of you. On the keypad next to the panel press the red button. Inside is a device that will teach you all you need to know. Once you get it out, walk back to the bed, lay down once more, and slip the device on top of your head. The device will then activate and take care of the rest."

Mike did as he was told and once he saw the device it did look like a headband, though made of some unknown shiny material. He went back to the bed, lay back down, and put it on. "It's time to get up now Mike, your learning is complete." said the AI. "What are you talking about? I just put this thing on and I don't know if anything happened."

The AI replied that Mike had been asleep for over two hours and that the learning process was complete, but the information was locked in his mind. The AI was now going to unlock the knowledge. Mike felt an intense tingling sensation in his mind and suddenly he knew everything about the ship and how to operate it. Mike decided that he could not keep calling the AI "AI", so he decided to give him a name. "How would you feel about having a name?" he asked the AI.

"Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the ships' original crew, but I will gladly accept a name." Replied the AI. Though it surprised Mike a little, naming an AI was apparently unheard of in the empire "Ok, I guess your name is going to be Samuel. Sam for short, if that's OK with you of course."

"I would be honored to be called Sam. But you have to override some programming in order to change my designation." replied the AI.

"Alrighty then, AI access main computer designation, command override seven-eight-blue-alpha-omega, Captain Mike Anderson changing computer designation to Sam."

"Command verified. Welcome aboard Captain and thank you for the name." said Sam.

"Also Sam, when it is not a serious situation, you can just call me Mike instead of captain." said Mike. Sam acknowledged this and said that was fine.

"Mike we need to get this ship back up and running now that it has a captain and we will need a crew in order to operate it."

"Just tell me what needs to be done Sam and could you list according to priority." said Mike.

"First Mike we need main power back online, all power cells are depleted and backup power is only going to last for another half a solar cycle or six months according to recent reactivation. After you get some of the main power back-online, then I can get more maintenance droids activated and they can work on the systems that were sabotaged. In order to do this you're going to have to recruit a crew for the ship so it can lift off and return to space. After that it's all up to you captain."

"Alright I guess I'll start on the crew first then work on the power situation. But how will I be able to contact you Sam?"

"I've already thought of that Mike. When you were learning, I implanted a sub-dermal communicator. So you can talk to me wherever you are no matter what time it is, all you have to do is call my name. It also acts as a bio monitor and if need be, a tracking device."

"Well done Sam, now how do I get out of here and back on the surface? And could we set up a better entrance than a hole in the ground."

"Of course Mike. When the ship was buried several entrances and tunnels were made to get to and from the ship. The hole was just a fluke of natures' own doings."