AL Clark by Jonathan G. Meyer (digital e reader .txt) 📕
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- Author: Jonathan G. Meyer
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The robot beeped, hesitated for a second, and then in a little higher voice; it said, “I would never do that sir. We are programmed not to cause damage; to anyone or anything. What good is a robot that hurts people and breaks things?”
“Well—keep that in mind.”
“Yes, sir.”
Al boarded the lift and rode it up to the corridor. As soon as he stepped off, the platform went back down to pick up the habitat robots. When the little elevator returned, the three little robots scurried down the corridor to fulfill Al’s orders. He figured he had some time to query the computer about Al Clark, and this was the perfect time to do it.
“No data available,” the computer replied.
“How about..., the habitat ring, orange section, quarters number twenty-five? The room labeled Al Clark.”
“No data available.”
Al was perplexed. “Did Al Clark even exist?”
He asked the computer to search for any information concerning Al Clark. He tried Alvin Clark, Albert Clark, Al*Clark.
“No data available.”
He was not going to learn anything. The computer had no record of him. Disappointed, he got up and left to see if he could help the others. He could hear them coming down the spoke long before he saw them, the sound of the lift echoing with people’s voices and laughter.
The ship was slowly coming alive, and the chatter of happy people improved Al’s mood. He was waiting in the airlock when the lift doors slid open, and laughter exploded into the airlock.
“The doctor believes in voodoo,” Chris proclaimed. “Doctor Mumbada is from Haiti.”
With a refined Haitian accent, the doctor was trying to explain, “That is not what I said. What I did say is medicine comes in many forms.”
Chris shot back, “I’m just saying if I find a little doll made of straw under my pillow, I’m coming to see you first.”
The doctor was laughing and shaking his head. “You are a silly boy, Christopher.”
After they had installed him in his quarters, they gave him a couple of hours to pull himself together, and then gathered once again in the women’s quarters. Robot Nine procured an extra chair, and they made room for the doctor at the table.
He was a tall, light featured black man with short black hair, deep brown eyes, and spoke his English with a slight accent. He was the kind of person where all you had to do was see him, hear a few sentences, and you could make a good guess where he came from.
Al asked him, “What’s all this about voodoo, Doctor Mumbada?”
“Please, call me Cody. I much prefer that. We are all one family now, and we do not need to be so formal. I was just explaining to young Chris, that our world is a mysterious place, and there are many things we do not understand. One must keep an open mind.”
“So, you’re saying that voodoo is real?” Ana asked.
“Having spent most of my childhood in Haiti, I have seen many amazing things. Voodoo is not always meant to be evil, and the power to influence another person’s mind can be useful for many things.”
Young Chris had a fresh hair cut, and looking younger still; he chided, “I’m still gonna be checking under my pillow.”
The conversation made Al feel hopeful. These were the kind of people that could save their piece of humanity, and it looked like they might have a little fun along the way.
****THE NAME OF ANA’S FRIEND was Kayla Hamilton, and they found her in the same troubling condition as the others; excepting Ana and poor Dr. Traskow. The little red light was prevalent through most of the hiber-pod bay, and why Ana’s pod did not would remain a mystery.
They revived Ana’s friend with no problems, told her of their plight, and settled her into quarters of her own. Before long she had cleaned up, eaten, and was ready to go to work.
Kayla was a sweet, thoughtful woman. One of those rare people who listened more than she spoke. She paid attention to whatever you said, and made every person she spoke with feel special. She was in her early thirties, with dark brown hair cut short, mesmerizing green eyes, and had no trouble finding a place in the group.
She was elated to see Ana was the technician that woke her.
Now they had everyone they needed.
It was time to wake the captain.
Captain Tobias Effinger was a career officer and an excellent pilot. He only signed up for the mission because once the Excalibur established a stable orbit, he would be free to fly the versatile little shuttles back and forth to Avalon. Liz met him several times at different functions and got the impression of a friendly, no-nonsense type of person. He confided in her that his application was almost turned down due to his age.
He was fifty-two and past his prime. However, he still turned out to be the best candidate for the job; the best they had left on Earth.
When they gathered around the captain’s pod, they discovered an additional problem. His pod had red lights on the outside, and under the cover of the control panel, there were more crimson warnings. The meter monitoring his heartbeat registered twice the normal rhythm and indicated the captain was quietly struggling for his life.
Ana, Kayla, and Doctor Cody huddled together to discuss this new development.
“We need to get him out of there as fast as possible,” said the doctor. I’m afraid his heart is failing.”
The two hiber-pod technicians looked doubtful.
“Have you ever revived someone in this condition?” Ana asked Kayla.
“Of course not. Most of my revivals were healthy people. I don’t remember anything like this during training.”
“Okay, we need to check the computer for hiber-pod emergency procedures. Maybe there is something in there that can help,” Ana proclaimed.
The two women ran to the medical center to use one of the computer terminals, leaving the doctor to stare at a struggling patient he could not reach.
“Computer, show me emergency procedures for a hiber-pod occupant having heart problems,” Ana requested.
The short delay of the response was aggravating, but after a few seconds, it displayed what they needed.
“Just as I thought, there is an accelerated two-hour cycle. We have got to go.”
They rushed back and started the cycle. Two hours is a lifetime when it’s life or death. They followed the procedure outlined by the computer, and when the pod finally opened up, the doctor took over.
“Okay quick, get him onto the stretcher and to the medical center.”
Chris and Al did as the physician asked, and rushed him to a bed where the doctor could properly treat him. Ana and Kayla helped get the captain off the stretcher and onto the bed, hooked up to an I.V, and then prepare the machines the doctor requested. He asked Ana if she would like to assist, and told everyone else to leave.
The rest of the group waited outside and discussed the new developments. There were chairs in a small waiting room across the hall and through the two walls of thick dusty plastic, they could see fuzzy images of the doctor and Ana working feverishly to save the captain.
“Just in case, should we go and check the first officer’s pod?” asked Chris.
“He’s next in line so that would be the proper thing to do,” offered Elizabeth.
Kayla asked, “If the captain doesn’t make it. What if we can’t wake the first officer?”
“What if we’re not able to wake enough people to run the ship?” Chris wondered out aloud.
Elizabeth frowned in thought, and Al saw worry growing on the faces of his new-found friends.
“What if none of it matters, and we’re a zillion miles from nowhere,” added Chris.
Al interrupted their many questions, “I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves, we should have faith in both Ana and Doctor Cody.”
He was trying to be the voice of reason, and could not allow panic to take over their thinking. “I think we should wait, and give them a chance to do what they do. Whatever happens, we can figure it out from there.”
The surgery took a long time; seemingly forever. Eventually, bloody and tired, Ana came out to talk to them and to report that the doctor believed the captain had a good chance. “He will have to take it easy for a few days. In time, he should fully recover.”
They moved Captain Effinger to one of the recovery rooms, and Cody accompanied them. The doctor requested a sleeping bag and had Robot Nine bring them their meals, who Al temporarily assigned to the doctor. The robot seemed happy to be of service.
With Cody nearby, Ana and Kayla prepared to revive more people with the assistance of two service bots.
****AL, CHRIS, AND LIZ went to see what they could do about restoring the sensors. All their future plans hinged on knowing where in the universe they were. Liz informed them the ship’s sensor array was located below the shuttle bay in the main computer room. She led them through the hiber-pod bay and stopped by the airlock door leading the next module. A faded sign spelled out, ‘Shuttle Bay.’
Al was relieved that—to this point—there was little evidence of damage to the ship, excluding the large ragged hole in the green section of the ring. The Farm and Park module was well developed and appeared to have been operating for years with the help of the robots. As far as he could tell, the ship was remarkably intact.
Yes, the starship was old, but it seemed fundamentally sound.
The Hangar Bay was different.
When they opened the door into the hangar area, they found chaos. Pieces of debris littered the deck, and two of the five shuttles were damaged. One ship was beyond repair with a jagged twelve-inch hole driven through the middle. The ceiling of the hangar bay showed evidence of a similar sized hole and several smaller ones that had self-repaired.
On a long trip such as the one undertaken by the Excalibur, situations like this were anticipated, and the securing of everything that could become a projectile taken very seriously. It could have been a lot worse. Flying tools and parts can cause a considerable amount of damage. The parts liberated from the destroyed shuttle had crashed into the craft next to it, leaving numerous repairs necessary.
The path of the meteoroids was evident, and the flying rocks had continued through to the lower compartments. A rapid decompression occurred, and until the ship repaired itself, this area and the compartments below were open to space. In one of the compartments below was the computer room and the sensor arrays they sought.
“We need to get down there and check the computer,” declared Liz.
They ran to the lift and rode it down to the computer room. While
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