Chapter 4 - Savior (The Ari Chapter)

 Savior

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“Well, that was quite an introduction to this planetary system. Although we couldn’t establish any meaningful relationships with any of the planets, we did help to save a life and perhaps a generation” Captain Viz said thinking aloud.

“Yes, Captain. We could not have done anything else in the situation.” Adam added.

“Homebound then. Set course for Earth. Engines at Full thrust.”

Starship 191 was on its way home. The mission was over. Maybe another starship would come exploring this part of the galaxy in times to come and may find what the future holds for Arnon and Arthe – the two planets at loggerheads.

191 was homebound on auto mode. The crew was relaxing. This had been a fast-paced adventure. They were all looking forward to a peaceful journey back home. Captain Viz had retired to his quarters to take some rest.

“Woooah..” Captain Viz woke up startled with the loud blaring of sirens on the ship. The sirens triggered off when the ship was under threat.

“Now what?”

Captain viz ran towards the deck.

“An unexpected asteroid belt, Captain” informed Adam, as he looked up to see the Captain entering the deck.

“This is a new course charted by the SuperNav and it did not have any asteroids as we locked on to the course.”

SuperNav was the Ships’ Advanced Navigation System and based on several input parameters including presence of asteroid belts, charted the safest possible route.

“Ok. Do you foresee any damage to the ship?”

“Negative Captain. The ships’ astro-shield can help us get past this belt. It will vaporize the asteroids in the ship’s path.” Adam reported.

“The asteroid belt is approaching in five minutes. The shield will be deployed two minutes before the rendezvous.” Adam continued.

“Ok”

The next few minutes passed with the 191 powering its way thru space. The thrusters drag illuminated the steely blue outers of the spaceship.

The calmness on the deck was broken by Adam’s voice.

“Captain, we have a problem. The shield is not powering up. Looks like there is a malfunction.”

“Can we get the backup engine to power the shield?” Captain Viz asked.

It was important to get the astro-shield up else there could be life threatening damage to the ship.

“Trying that captain. The remedial scan shows some damage to the shield generator. It is getting the power it needs but the ionic generator that powers the shield has some issue.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Three minutes and twenty seconds for the rendezvous, Sir”

“hmm.. we do not have much time to rectify the damage. Can we stop the ship and then let it drift alongside the asteroid belt and take a longer route around it?”

“Negative, captain. The asteroid belt is too spread out for us to avoid it.”

“Alright then, we will have to go thru it – get SuperNav to reconfigure on a nano-second by nano-second basis to avoid any asteroids.”

“Yes, Captain”.

191 was going to go thru the asteroid belt with the hope that it can withstand this new condition. It has passed many asteroid belts in the past, all with the astro-shield up, saving the ship from any damage. This was different. Although the ship was built and tested to withstand these kind of scenarios as part of its preparation, but never was it tested in real flights. Perhaps, now was the time when the structural integrity of the ship will be tested.

Hoping that they do not hit any big asteroid, the 191 powered thru the belt.

“Adam, how is the ship doing”

“So far so good Captain. As per calculations and asteroid visibility, we will surely be able to navigate thru it”.

As soon as Adam had finished, the ship was jolted. Everybody was thrown off their seats. It seemed as if something big had hit it. The lights flickered and then went out as the deck lay in complete darkness.

“What was that?”

“Captain, we have been hit by a large asteroid and it has impacted the ship’s thrusters and the energy core. I am trying to restore power thru the auxiliary standby units.”

“Adam, do whatever you can and fast. Another hit and we would be in trouble.”

The 191 was now drifting thru the asteroid belt without any power. It was a sitting duck for any asteroid to hit it.

“Captain, I am afraid, there is significant damage to the aux unit as well. It is delivering very low power output.”

All the communications were out, the deck was all dark and there was no way to reach out to anyone for help.

“Can we send out any communication at all to anywhere?”

“Negative, Captain.”

The starship was now stuck between the two planetary systems, in an unknown asteroid belt, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

It was beginning to dawn on the Captain that perhaps this was the beginning of the end for the ship. He was thinking of ways to take his crew to safety. Afterall, he was responsible for them.

Suddenly, there was a sound and from the main window panel above the center screen on the deck, he saw wat appeared as an old school spacecraft. Was he hallucinating?

The central screen flickered, and an image appeared on it.

“I see you can do with some help here.” It was a man. He was wearing an old-time space suit. Perhaps he was on a long journey.

The Captain looked up perplexed.

“My name is Max – commander of the Guardian One. I can help you get home.”

“Thanks Commander.” Captain Viz had regained his composure. He had no option but to play along. Maybe it was a dream. He had to play along even in the dream without questioning it one bit.

“We are out of power and our astro-shield is down.”

“I will deploy two arms from the rear of the ship. These can create a suction mechanism to latch on to your ship. You can then be towed out”

This is very old school, thought the Captain.

But the bigger question was who this person was and from where he had suddenly appeared.

“Alright Commander. Thanks for your help. We will follow your direction.”

The two arms from Guardian One latched on to the top of the 191 in the front and started to tow it thru the asteroid belt. The belt seemed to be ending.

Soon, they were out of the belt without any further damage or incident.

Meanwhile, the engineers of 191 were able to repair the aux unit and the ship could get the power supply for essential areas. 

“Alright Captain looks like you can now make the journey back. I will retract the arms and let you go on your homeward journey.”

“Thanks, Commander, for all your help. We are all indebted to you and look forward to meeting you again.”

“I would not be returning to earth sometime soon. Someone needs my help. I need to be rushing there now.” Commander Max waved goodbye.

The Guardian One retracted its arms. The shining blue 191 was on its way again.

“Captain, the main power unit will also be coming up soon. We have been able to rectify it.”

“Good work team” Captain Viz was happy that the 191 was coming up to full force.

As they crossed Saturn, Captain Viz wanted to send out a thank you note to Commander Max.

“Adam, please give me all the details on Commander Max and Guardian One. We should send out a thank you message to him. Also, please inform Earth Command of our situation back in the asteroid belt”

“Yes, Captain.”

A few seconds passed.

“Captain, I haven’t found any information about Guardian One or Commander Max in the data from the current thirtieth century.”

“How can that be?” wondered the Captain.

A few suspenseful moments passed.

“Captain, I found something and am bringing it up on the central screen.” Adam informed as placid as ever.

Captain Viz‘s eyes opened wide in astonishment as he saw the information on the screen.

Commander Max guided the Guardian One on a mission to the planetary system of Star 143A a couple of centuries ago. The mission was believed to have been lost in an asteroid belt due to high impact. It had pictures of the Guardian One – the same one which had helped them come out of the asteroid belt.

*****END*****