I felt foggy as I woke that morning. Hell, was it really morning at all. The maintenance work on the airlock that night took me well into my time to sleep, but it had to be finished. I'd been drifting silently for weeks, maybe longer, but not for the reasons one might think. The part of the uninhabited zone was dangerous. Years ago, I left here with a handful of survivors. We'd only just gotten out in time.
The place I was heading was back there. I knew it was only a few days out from where I was. The others all tried to tell me not to go, but I had my reasons. Sometimes, age and loneliness can get to a bastard like me I suppose. I sat in my quarters, feeling the frigid cold that came from minimum life support. At least it was cold enough to kill the spiders that were busy spinning the now ragged webs on the trusses and supports. How long had it taken to get here?
I heard a slight bump ring through the hull of my ship. It was nothing, or maybe something. This part of space was literally a graveyard of ships, or what was left of them, and yet, the strange enemy that caused this still lurked from time to time. My ship was barely drifting on the smallest amount of power it needed to keep it going without detection. There were no lights on, only the light from a few distant stars came through the portal further up in my room. The ship maintained a low level cloaking field that would shield any small emissions from the systems that had to run, but light was outside of its spectrum.
I hobbled over to the thick window of plasti-steel and peered into the semi darkness. Out in the void, the smashed parts and smaller damaged hulks of many spacecraft could be seen. The one that bumped my ship's hull had bounced and changed its trajectory. It slid noiselessly past my window and was soon behind me. Soon, I could hear the tick-ticking of a thruster, making nano-pulses, correcting the course over a very long time. It would expend its energy at an almost glacial rate, keeping my ship hidden, in theory. It seemed to be working well enough. I was still alive. These "things", had ways of sensing energy output from ships, even humans or other living things.
I had to get to the bridge. My destination was getting near, at least if it had enough mass left to hold its position in this sea of drifting scrap. I hobbled down the hall, still stiff after the work I did earlier. At least the clothes I pulled on were insulated. It felt good to be warming up even if the clothes were a little south of being clean for a while. The main corridor was almost pitch-black, but I knew my ship like the back of my hand. It was so dead quiet in there, only the rustling of the ventilation system and the loud clank of that damned cable on the floor that I also knew was there to trip on again like the back of my friggin hand.
I regained composure and got to the bridge doors. The light to the keypad was dimly glowing in a kind of warm dusty orange. Touching it caused the doors to hiss as pressure was balanced between that space and the one I was in. It was normal, as the bridge was hermetically sealed when locked down. pressures could fluctuate over a period of months or more. The ship was programmed long before I even got close to this part of space. The AI knew what was expected and needed no interaction as it did it's job. I only had to wake from time to time when repairs or upkeep was required. Robots gave off too much energy to be stealthy. A well insulated life form was more practical.
The doors quietly slid slowly open to reveal the dark space beyond. I could see the triangular faucets of the forward windows, peering out just ahead of the dark shape of the captain's chair. All the consoles and indicators were dark, but I could tell everything was going like clockwork. I smiled with anticipation and triumph at the same time as I saw the cylindrical shape ahead of me. I was doubly pleased that it was still spinning and more so that my ship was spinning in sync with it. A massive dark slot led into the base of the cylinder, the massive main hangar, once filled with every manor of space craft.
Not a single trace of light could be seen anywhere on the thing or in the slot. I took my seat in the chair. It would still be a little while. All in all, the old spaceport still looked as it always did. The gold metallic surface still shone nicely against the stars and other things out there. There were pockmarks and abrasion where any number of things had glanced off, but the thing was absolutely huge. Its mass and possibly what was left of its gyro stabilizers were still holding it there. Could it still be under some power, even after all this time? The rate of rotation was still pretty close to parameters, close but not dead on. I didn't know what to expect. What was I expecting? I didn't have any clues at that time.
"Sir"?
The earphone in my right ear clicked on and the AI spoke.
"Yes"?
"I have matched or rotation to the port. There is a slight difference in rotation speed from station standards. Shall I send a ping to the docking guidance systems on the stations"?
"No. I trust you skills. We can't afford to break stealth. Use passive sensors and scan for any signals from the port"
A small screen winked on near where the one of the forward seats would've housed on officer, if there were any onboard. Moments later, I got a response.
"Nothing sir. No electronic signal at all"
"That's what I figured. Continue with programmed course"
The hulk of the spaceport loomed bigger as we grew closer. Eventually, the sheer scale of the thing made it all you could see in the windows, blocking out every star. The gaping maw of the massive hangar and the darkness beyond filled the bulk of the view-port. Above and below, the dark yellow gold of the ports surface became a patchwork of metal plate work, raised and lowered and of different shapes. There were millions of such shapes dotted with darkened windows so far away that they looked like drawn dots and dashes of Morse code with a charcoal pencil. All across the metal landscape, the occasional small crater with heavy scorching could be seen. These weren't the enemy's weapons that did this. Their weapons left no marks. This was all friendly fire. I remember;I was there.
The AI chimed in, "We're passing through the station's magnetic field. Adjusting trajectory to compensate".
"Understood".
Using the thrusters in a slightly higher output would have to happen. Even I felt the slight pitch as the ship passed through the lines of force. One of the things we found as we developed larger and larger constructions was that they started to behave like small moons or planetoids, exhibiting small gravitational and magnetic fields. If the bodies of the larger stations and spaceports weren't regularly demagnetized, the magnetic component could build up over time. This phenomenon actually was a good thing for now as it would further cloak the ship, hiding the radiation or other particle emissions my ships power systems might give off in the same way the Van-Allen belts used to protect Earth. It meant that I could now utilize radar at very low power levels and aid our movements.
The bridge now went pitch-black as we crossed the threshold of the hangar entrance. There was a slight hum that resounded through the body of the ship, moving from the front of the bridge to the stern as we moved forward. Was the air gap force-field still in place? A quick look on the sensor readout still showed no air in the hangar. It found another way out.
The return view the radar was seeing was overlayed onto the large windows, creating a faint picture of the interior of the massive hanger area. Now that we were inside, we could use more active systems to navigate. IR illumination now overlayed the black and white image of what was around us for at least a few hundred meters. Combined with the radar image, it made a strange but usable view. The fuzzy distant forms of long abandoned spacecraft could be made out in the massive distances. They ranged from a few hundred meters to several kilometers in size.
To say that the spaceport was massive was to understate things. It had to be built huge. Back in its time it was the busiest hub in this part of the autonomous commerce zone. Everything and everyone came through here. The cargo ships and space liners were massive. The military battleships were even bigger. Most of them simply parked in orbit, but the smaller dreadnoughts could enter as needed. A scan of all the ships the AI and I saw revealed that there was nothing and no one going on with any of them. A deeper scan would give us away. If there was anything running on any of them, it would have to be on standby or in a very reserved running mode.
"Sir, I must engage the suspension field at low output. It's barely present, but we do have low level gravity", came the voice through my earphone.
"gravity nets"?
"It is possible. The inhabitants of this port never had time to power anything down. Escape was all they had on their minds".
"anything else"?
"yes, as we passed through the magnetic field and emerged into the hangar, I have since begun to pick up very faint power readings from random location within the port, at least in the hangar and just beyond. The metals in the structure make it impossible to scan any further."
"Have you detected anything that may be life signs"?
"At the power levels we are adhering to, I cant project a scanning beam strong enough to yield any data. The density of the metals in the structure absorbs the beam at this level".
I'd forgotten that the station was built way heavier than the ships in the hangar. More power output would get the beam through but would compromise us. We had to go on faith. A bigger concern were the little bits of power signatures here and there. The reactor may still be putting out small amounts of energy. No one shut it down while we were running for our lives. When a ship is sinking, you don't worry about turning off the lights as you head for the boat deck. The faint level of gravity also proved that thee was still a little juice to be had, and explained the lack of floating debris in the place. Almost by surprise, I felt a light lurch and heard the multiple thuds as the landing feet engaged with the floor of the hangar. There were multiple pops and groans as the superstructure unloaded its weight to the suspension rams and the suspension fields powered slowly down.
"touchdown sir. Total external gravity holding at .5G".
"Excellent piloting".
"Thank you sir", it said in an appreciative tone, almost with what sounded like pride maybe.
One of the things I learned on this long trip was that this AI exhibited almost too human-like traits. I know that they programed them with algorithms to emulate emotions, but this one was different in a way from any of the many AI's I'd dealt with in the past. I just couldn't put my finger on it. Can an AI get bored or lonesome or crazy from long stretches in space? I pondered this for a few seconds as I made my way to the enviro-suit locker and got myself equipped up. The hangar was indeed devoid of atmosphere of any kind. EVA would be the only way to cross the distances. There were things here, memories, people, places, a home. I had to see them again, one last time. Something else crept into my mind, though for now I kept it at bay. Sadness...
End of Chapter I
I will post more in the near future. Please comment.