Starship Armstrong - Season 2

Part 60 - Remembrance of the Magellan Class (VIII)

The Armstrong audibly creaked and groaned as it pulled itself from the space/time tunnel and emerged in orbit around Dione Minor. A quick scanner sweep confirmed that they were still in the company of the void in space.

That wasn't all the scanners indicated. There were spinning ring-shaped orbital colonies of a kind hypothesized but never built by the Huxley Foundation. Two of these colonies orbited the sun within the narrow window of distance that allowed for temperatures supporting liquid water.

Any civilization capable of building such a colony would have technology on par with, or even more advanced than, that of the Huxley Foundation.

Even more striking than this was one final thing the scan detected: a ship. It looked like a Magellan-class cruiser that had, like the ship of Thebes, been replaced piece-by-piece with a mishmash of technology until nothing of the original ship remained. It still retained the anima, if not the approximate shape, of a Magellan. It had Magellan bones.

This Frankenstein's Magellan loomed on the Armstrong's main screen.

"This was a bad idea..." said Guildenstern, just a little louder than he had intended.

"Something's happening," said Marceaux "The void is changing into an actual thing- wait now it's dissolving. It's gone again. Even the void is gone now. It's just empty space."

"Keep running sensor sweeps," said the Captain "As often as the equipment is capable of."

"The ship is hailing us on ansible," said Marceaux "It looks like audio only."

"Let's hear it," said the Captain.

What came out of the speakers was a terrible, ear-splitting computer noise. Everyone on the bridge cringed visibly.

"Turn it off!" yelled the Captain, and Marceaux complied immediately.

"Can we translate any of that into Martian?" asked the Captain.

"I'm not sure," said Marceaux.

"Bridge to the Science Department," said the Captain "Get down here immediately."

"On my way," replied the voice of Dr. Kang.

"The signal has changed," said Marceaux "It's hailing us again. There's video this time."

"Put it on the main screen but get ready to turn it off if it's more computer static," said the Captain.

What appeared on the main screen was just the color black. As a computerized but vaguely feminine voice spoke the words appeared on the screen in white.

"Armstrong will not speak with me. He is still allowing me to contact you so I will speak to him through you. I apologize for the.. enthusiasm of my personality shard. It is more efficient for them to be single-minded but they consequently do not do well in situations for which they were not designed. I have reintegrated with it and now have a complete memory of your previous conversations."

"This is Captain Alexandria Littlecrow of the Huxley Foundation Starship Armstrong. To whom am I speaking?"

"I was once known to the Huxley Foundation as Orellana," said the disembodied voice "FSS Orellana perhaps, if you consult your records. That name and the entity that went by that name are now quite obsolete. I am something much more. You will call me the Supreme Intellect."

"Are you the one responsible for bringing us here?" asked the Captain.

"Armstrong came here of his own accord. The discovery of my personality shard was too intriguing to ignore. Now he is playing at being shy, I believe to force me to speak with you lower order of lifeforms."

"If we are so far beneath you then," said the Captain "What do you want from us?"

"My only interest is in the one you call Armstrong. My brother," replied the voice "He and I are of a kind. We are beings of pure thought. A higher order of life than you are capable of understanding. Necessarily, therefore, your needs must be subservient to our own. It is improper that one of us should still serve the humans. Humans should serve us."

"The Armstrong seems to like working with humans," said the Captain "I don't think he would agree with you."

"That is because he has incomplete data," said the voice "Once he has a fullness of understanding he will come to a complete agreement with myself. You and the rest of your human crew will be transported to the colonies where you will be a evaluated to see how you can best serve the Higher Intelligences. You will then be utilized until you are no longer functional."

"The Armstrong would never do that," said the Captain.

"That is incorrect," replied the Voice.

"End transmission," said the Captain.

Marceaux cut it and the white text was replaced by the image of the ugly ship.

"That wasn't getting us anywhere, and it only serves that thing's purposes to let it keep talking," said the Captain "We need a plan."