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Intro:
During the One Year War a group of rich businessmen, politicians, and those close to them, feared a total destruction of the human race. Using all of their vast resources, they began construction on a new type of ship, designed and assembled by anonymous contractors. The purpose of their ship was to travel to the closest star to Earth, Alpha Century. Unknown to the rest of the population, an Earth-like planet was found, one capable of supporting human life. Estimated to take over 120 years, new secret technologies were developed in the field of cryogenic storage. Around 10,000 people were stuffed in side-by-side in “Cryo Chambers”, single person cryogenic pods, built as utilitarian and simple as possible, to lower cost and the chance of malfunction, and increase overall storage. Over 70% of the gigantic ship consisted of passenger compartments, around 10% with food and equipment, and the additional 20% for the massive nuclear pulse engines. The nuclear pulse engines functioned as such: the reactors provided enough energy to split nuclear atoms, causing small, controlled nuclear blasts, released in pulses, and allowing the hulking craft to reach unthinkable speeds. Built in orbit around Jupiter, the entire production process took about 4 months, a monumental project at the time; because of this the working staff were allowed to travel onboard to start anew for their hard work. Finally, on December 15, UC 0079, the launch window is opened, and the final hours till launch began to count down…
Chapter 1 New Beginnings
“Everyone! We’re ready to dock with the construction platform!” Blared the pilot, awakening many of the passengers, “Base command is telling us it’s about 4 hours till launch!” Bill Patterson, an engineer for a subcontractor that worked on the ships superstructure, noticed his child awakened by the excited pilot. “Daddy, when are we leaving?” His daughter, Fina, sleepily said, almost in a yawn. “Soon, honey, the pilot says about 4 hours.” “4 hours! That’s forever!” Fina said, smiling widely. Bill grinned, and said with a chuckle, “Well, I’m sure Grandpa will have something to keep you busy!” “Will Grandpa have presents?!” said Fina, with a glow in her eye.
“Sir, all registered passengers are accounted for, and are being prepared to be placed in Cryo-Stasis,” Said the young man, probably in his early 20’s, thought Paul Manchester. “Thank you. All right everybody! File into your assigned transports, security, check all Blue class accessible areas and guide any people you find into the standby shuttle!” All the people in the bridge started to scramble to their respective shuttles, the pilots, the engine crew, security, the Cryo Engineers… It was time for him to go, his private ship for the primary corporate investors, important politicians, and the like.
Around the ship, christened the Starship New Beginning, were tiny
capillaries, small metal structures, used by the construction
crew for mounting construction equipment, and a large
superstructure containing a coordination bridge, a dock, and
worker dormitories. Finally, the entire construction yard was
evacuated. In order to move through the long cylinder, the
supporting superstructure would have to be dismantled, and moved
away as not to damage the ship. Sitting in his command chair,
Paul looked to his communication officer, he gave the O.K. to
activate the destruction of the now useless shipyard. And with
the pressing of a button, the pathways, the command center,
everything, disconnected, flying outward, caused by small
explosive discharges strategically place throughout the
structure. “Sir, the engine room is ready to fire the
engines, I need your O.K.,” said the older 2nd in
command, Luke Patterson. Looking at the excited faces of the men
and women on deck, they were so excited, to get away from this
war, to start anew… “Yes, activate the engines! God
speed!” With that, Luke talked over his headset,
unrecognizable whisper, but you didn’t have to have good
hearing to know what he said. Suddenly, the sound of the 4
massive reactors began to make the ship vibrate slightly. Luke
looked up at his old friend Paul, with a gleam of hope, and
almost a tear, began the countdown. Please god, watch over our
journey. “Countdown begins on my mark…Now, 5, 4, 3,
2, 1, ignition!” His words were followed by a massive
explosion, shaking the ship, causing some of the looser metal
beams to groan under pressure. The 4 engine nozzles began to emit
a light, nearly blinding, causing the New Beginning to
accelerate, almost frighteningly fast.
Hold together. Thought Bill, I wish they would’ve put us in Cryo sleep BEFORE we left… He suddenly felt his stomach turn, and found himself wanting some medicine for his aching stomach. Looking over to his left, he saw his daughter, actually enjoying this… She’s just like her mother, impossible to scare and adventurous… His vision slightly blurred, a tear formed in his eye. It was a mixture of being proud of his daughter, and wishing things with his wife would’ve been different… “All right! I’ll be putting you all in you Cryo sleep, say goodbye, you’ll be asleep for over 100 years!” Said a Cryo-Techie, as Bill called them. “Daddy.” Fina said as she grabbed on his arm, “It’s time to go to sleep!” Bill just smiled, and whispered something into her ear. “I love you too dad!” The Cryo-Techie, a guy Bill had known for a while, took Fina off, and placed her into her pod, and closed the door. “Bill looks like it’s your turn!” Said, Gary, was that his name? “O.K.” Bill said sheepishly. He let himself into the pod, and the door closed in front of him. He put on the black rubber mask, and closed his eyes. The chamber filled with freezing cold water, and he quickly slipped into darkness…
Paul keyed in his friend Luke, and suddenly got a feeling, something strange… He was alone, everyone onboard was in Cryo-Sleep. He had wanted to be the last one, and had his personal chamber customized, so it could be operated both inside and outside. He entered the pod, and keyed himself in, closed the door, and put on his mask. Covered in coldness, he fell into darkness.
Around the ship, there was peace; perhaps for the first time since the start of the One Year War, there was peace. The New Beginning, carrying hope for humanity. Many wondered if mankind would even exist when they arrived. Only time would tell.
121 years of travel, very close to the scientist predictions. Probably caused by evading a mass in space, perhaps an asteroid. Slowly, the day the crew had trained for, the arrival at the Alpha Centari system, was being executed. First, the Cryo-Tech people would be awakened by the central computer. From there, they would awake the bridge crew, then the engine room workers, the medical staff, the mechanics, security, and the Red group, the ones that would prepare the planet-fall equipment. Lights around the ship were lit for the first time in over 100 years, taking a while, but flickering back to life. The bridge crew was to be awakened now…
“Well, we’re not dead, but damn I feel like it,” said Paul, obviously shook up the sudden and shocking awakening. “What is today?” Luke activated his computer, covered with a cobweb, apparently the spider died without any food. He swept it away, and reactivated the network and its subsystems. “Uh, September 27, UC 200,” Stated Luke, “Man, I can’t believe this, traveling in space for 121 years… Incredible!” A wave of celebration swept through the crew, but cut short by the Captain’s booming voice, “O.K. people! Is Red Group ready?” “Yessir!” said a visibly cold Comm. officer. “They say that all planet landing equipment is ready, and they will have target data soon, this is a good time to wake everyone up.” Paul simply nodded, and it was done. Make it so! Thought Paul, like captain Piccard. He always found how pre-space warfare entertainment portrayed the life of a Space Captain interesting.
“Have you got that shuttle fueled!?” Screamed a Red Team worker, I was quite loud, all the shuttles and landing equipment had to be checked out, and the engine tested for the first time in over 100 years. “Yea! What’s the status of the command lander!?” Screamed another worker, pointing to the Command Center. It was a large capsule, and when it landed, the sides would fold down and outwards. The center building would be the center of the town, the government centers, medical facilities, and the like. The outwardly placed layer from the capsule would be used as a sturdy foundation in which the initial town would be built. After everyone was settled in, living in the high-tech pre-fabricated homes and businesses. Afterwards, the citizens would vote as to salvage the New Beginning for use as raw materials. “Everything is a go!”
Bill awakened, almost no time had past since he fell asleep. Was there an accident? Why are they waking me up already? Quickly, he began to think clearly again, and the water drained. The green light turned on, and he took off his mask. The door opened, and he collapsed, pushed down by the artificial gravity. “Ah, man. What a day.” He grunted, only to be frightened to see someone else that had fallen out, but they weren’t moving. “What’s going on?!” He yelled, trying to bring order to the chaos of the arguing mob around the man. “Clear out, lets get this guy to the med deck!” The people looked at him, remembering their training, began to carry the man out. “Thanks. Those morons can’t handle a little shock, someone collapses and go insane!” Said an old man. He walked on, probably to see if the man would be O.K. “Daddy!” Said a joyous Fina. “I’m so glad to see you!” She jumped in his arms, and walked off, talking about a wild dream she had.
“Captain, Red Team has selected a suitable landing site! They say we should be able to make the initial landing in a few minutes to prepare the Command Center’s landing. We should be on the planet within a few hours!” Congratulations spread throughout the entire ship, and celebration rang out, everyone able to sigh a sigh of relief. Captain Manchester smiled, finally, away from the war. “Sir, we have some bad news!” Blared the Comm. Officer; “we’ve got word from the med staff, 24 people injured from Cryo-Shock…” He began to feel bad for destroying the good mood, but it had to be done. “And 137 people dead… If you have family or friends onboard, there is a list available on your computers, look for the med staff status screen.” In a sudden flurry, most of the Bridge Officers checked to see if they knew anyone that was dead or injured. A scream rang out. Sandra Coffman, her husband, dead… Those that had checked already came to her side, and tried to comfort her, her cries heard throughout the bridge. Paul wished he could help to comfort her, but he had to stay in constant communication with the engine room people. He felt a knot in his stomach.