Chương 2: The Long Way Home
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***
2012.
* * *
The ship approached the station's docking station. The giant space station had truly impressive dimensions - tens of kilometres, thousands of docking nodes... even more intelligent inside. The galaxy is large. The corvette HAL9000 looked tiny against the backdrop of the giant station. As we entered the docking station, the node began to automatically prepare itself. The servants present near the node stared at the corvette - a ship fifty metres long, with an aerodynamic hull shape, designed to fly not only in space, but also in the atmosphere. The swift straight shapes, the slight curve of the hull, the tail section, everything looked very unusual against the background of Sokar's visitors. The ship docked quickly. A second later, the airlock opened. Standing just behind it was a young man - about twenty years old, with a week's worth of stubble, wearing a long cloak and carrying a blaster on his belt.
- Hello, muzzies! - He smiled at the technicians, "Fill the ship to the brim.
The technicians looked at each other and without further ado ran off to do the job. The young man looked around. A dirty technical bay, a corridor with a computer recogniser. He fumbled in the pockets of his cloak. He wanted to go back, but found his card just in time. He put the card to the green circle on the door. The door opened immediately.
- Welcome to Sokar Station, Mr Hjarti.
The streets of the station city came into view.
* * *
- Are you sure this will work? - Roma asked, picking up the small cube.
- No data," the ship answered him.
The boy had no other way but forward. Only and exclusively forward. And the ship was his last hope. Of course, Roma was afraid to meet someone there, but his fears were not justified. It was not easy to reach the ship - the way took half an hour.
The giant ramp, which could have been used to drive a dozen large trucks side-by-side, was lowered invitingly, as if the unknowing owners were still inside. Or had forgotten to lock the door on their way out. Roma went inside - it was a long way down the ramp. The boy was terribly tired and wanted to sleep, but the desire to get into the spaceship was even greater. And there was nowhere to sleep - it was cold downstairs.
The cabin was luxurious and almost untouched by time - a large bed, a high ceiling, a desk with a chair and an incomprehensible computer or something like it... Strict, but cosy enough. Roma took a cube from the shelf, which was supposed to store information. Nothing happened. After a second, the cube flashed with blue light and a hologram of a man in some kind of military uniform appeared above it.
- Who's there? - He asked sternly.
Roma almost dropped the cube in surprise - the hologram was looking directly at him.
- Э...
- What do you want? Who are you?
- I'm Roma... - the boy sniffed his nose.
- Is that a name? And what the hell are you doing on my ship?
- Er... - Roma hovered again, - well, I found it by accident... - the question really stumped Roma.
- Under the ground, yeah, by accident, - the hologram of the captain cheered up, - tell me what you're doing on my ship...
The boy had no choice but to tell him everything. He told him confusingly:
- My name is Roma. Well, my uncle took me on a spelological expedition. To some cave... and then I fell....
- Where did you fall?
- There, I mean here, in a cave. And there was a long cave, I walked along it for a long time, and then I came out here. I thought that someone on the ship might have come in, and then some strange voice demanded my ID... We talked, and the ship said to find this cube here....
- I get it," the hologram waved its hand, "you're a juvenile idiot. And what do you want from me?
- Eh... - Roma hesitated, - Uncle Captain, can I go home?
- Home to where? Do you know what you're asking for? The Golocron is an information receptacle, not a teleportation device! Even if I let you go, they'd get the truth out of you and find out about the ship, and that's a breach of regulations. So don't ask.
Roma sniffed his nose, but it had no effect on the captain. He looked at the boy and scratched his intangible ear. Roma repeated:
- I want to go home!
- You should have said "to mum", sucker, - the captain grinned, - ship! Is there a direct exit to the surface?
- All the exits are blocked," the voice of the ship's computer immediately intervened in the conversation, "there is no direct exit to the surface.
- I heard that," the hologram said to the boy, "there is no way out. So sit here.
- But... - the boy was already crying, but the captain interrupted him:
- "Okay, sucker, enough with the snot and tears. You'll think of something... It's not easy to get to the surface from the geofront!
- But how did the ship get so deep? - asked the boy, -there must be a way out.....
- The exit is sealed. And the ship is broken, so to get out the same way we need to fix the ship.
The captain didn't want to help the little impostor, but he was pestering him and he decided to tell everything:
- Listen to me, rookie. If you've activated the holocron, it means you have the Force.
- What? What power?
- Don't interrupt me, kid! The Great Power. You can read about it later in the ship's computer. There's enough food, water, air and power in the holds to keep you here for a long time. But if you want to get to the surface, you'll have to learn how to use the Force. And fix the ship. Unfortunately, we were badly battered in the last battle, a lot of damage.
Roma listened and nodded. The captain suggested that he learn to use some unknown power. The boy agreed without a second thought. The consequences were not long in coming - the captain, deciding to share some of the information, drove Roma to the ship's medical bay, where the boy was subjected to a scanning procedure. The captain was frowning as he accepted the files from the ship with the conclusion of the medical systems. Undeveloped muscles, even for a small boy, too undeveloped, weak blood vessels, deteriorating eyesight and a bouquet of incipient ailments.
* * * *
The morning for Roma began at seven a.m. ship's time. He was raised by the ship's computer, which appeared to communicate not by sound but directly mentally. Roman jumped up on the bed at the sound of the bell in his head and groped his ears for a long time. The bell rang loudly.
Nearby, on the nightstand, lay a cube of Holocron. Roma reached for it and above the cube, as soon as his fingers touched the holocron, a hologram of the captain appeared. The miniature captain stood looking at Roma.
- Listen up, snot. Get up, get dressed in whatever they bring and run and march around the ship. I'll be watching you through the ship's visors.
Roma obediently got up and left the cabin. The captain demanded a run - he could do that....
***
10 minutes later.
***
- I can't take it anymore! - whimpered the boy, leaning against the wall.
- I said do it! Pull yourself together, are you a man or what? Begum-march, to the crossroads on the second technical.
Roma, crying, ran, though his legs were full of lead and didn't want to move. He made it to the technical deck, where he fell to the floor.
- Well, boy, you're in a bad way. Well, you're young, you'll get better. Now get in the shower!
- But--
- Shower, I said. And no "buts"!
Roma went to the shower room. But even there he was overtaken by the voice of the past captain of the ship, who demanded to hurry up. From the shower, Roman was sent to the household compartment.
After a short search, Roman found a hold with large cabinets.
The captain, which was so far out of character for him, began to explain:
- Listen up, rookie. If you can't understand shit, there's no point in teaching you. So we'll start from the bottom, we'll have to learn a lot and fast, get used to it. These cabinets are stasis chambers. Inside are the ship's provisions in a state of stasis. There's about 200 tonnes of food in here. That should be enough for you for now. Now, open the first chamber.
- Why? - Roma took the handle and opened the cabinet, staring at the containers inside.
- You'll be making your own breakfast. Or not, if you're not hungry.....
Roma wanted to eat, and very badly, so without any unnecessary bickering with the strict teacher, followed his instructions.
* * *
A long time later.
* * *
- Well done! - The captain, who never gave his name, praised the student, which was very rare, - it worked.
- Yes," Roma looked at the molten metal flatbread in front of him.
The lessons with the captain were interesting and exciting. In addition to basic physical training, various school subjects were hammered into his head at triple the pace and on a completely inhuman scale. True, by the standards of the galaxy, and a completely alien galaxy at that. Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Fundamentals of Psychology, Programming... Roma cherished the hope of becoming a game-maker one day, because he loved computer games so much. However, the more he understood how they worked, the more disappointed he became in the profession - it was all maths, programming, and no creativity. The only clothes Roma wore were a sewn-up version of a sports uniform, the most adaptive clothing on the ship.
The boy's life had fallen into a rut of its own - the captain influenced him greatly, practically watching his every move and not giving him a proper break. However, some of the activities were more like recreation. For example, the captain called Roma to the hangar, where he began to talk about ships. In detail, with great love and many stories from his rich biography. So the boy got acquainted with the main types of spaceships. They were on a heavy line cruiser, and there were several more inside it - one corvette, two shuttles, fifty fighters...
The captain's stories were the most fascinating thing on the ship - the old warrior knew every last detail about each ship and could tell more than one story about this or that ship. Roma was also fascinated by it, and very much - he even asked to fly on one, around the Big One, but, laughing, the captain refused him - it was too difficult to control even a shuttle. Too much to learn before getting into a pilot's chair.
The best thing that revitalised him was training with the Force. Or the Great Force. What it was, Roman didn't understand until now, though they tried to explain it to him, but it didn't make much sense. They agreed that it was a kind of magic, and that was it - until there was a better explanation, that would do. The abilities of the power amazed the imagination of the young student - it was possible not only to move objects with the power of thought, but also much more - to subtly influence the mind and body of opponents, to melt any metal and even some non-metals, like special plastic, creating from them constructions of fantastic complexity. Even a spaceship could be created with the Force.
Roma, so far, was able to learn telekinesis and working with matter. The latter required not only spatial imagination, but also a thorough understanding of the principles of technology, and this in turn made the task many times more difficult. The morning jogs were getting longer and harder. The Force could be used to remove fatigue and increase stamina, but the captain forbade cheating.
The ship, which at first seemed large to Roma, turned out to be a Giant. Roma hadn't even explored a fifth of the ship - it was two and a half kilometres long, six hundred metres wide. Despite the fact that the ship was designed for a giant crew, the ship's AI handled all the systems perfectly, assisting itself with drones. Drones - of all different kinds, shapes, purposes. The captain's favourite drone was the duelist, with the help of which he taught the "rookie" to fight hand-to-hand and with the use of weapons.
This lesson was quite remarkable - Roma walked into a large training hall. One big sparring ground... He looked around at the surroundings.
- Is it empty here?
- No, - the captain answered immediately, - there are droids and weapons near the wall. Go, choose one, we'll teach you...
Roma found droids - humanoid shape, with long arms. And in the wall were stasis cabinets with weapons. Lots of different, mostly cold weapons - swords, daggers....
- Is this a joke? A spaceship and a sword?
- You're a joke, - the captain took offence, - what would you know, in the whole civilised galaxy cold weapons are used on a par with long-range weapons. They are the hardest to master, but even a hundred fighters with blasters are not a serious threat to a power wielder - there is always an energy shield, a force shield, the ability to dodge and move quickly.
- And yet?
- Well, you... - the hologram of the captain "spit", - listen, rookie, space is not the same as your planet. Most of them only have blasters, of course, but a skilled forceuser with a sword or some other cold weapon is scarier than the toughest squad with blasters. Because it's enough for him to take the enemy to close combat and kill them all, and blasters... no matter how you shoot, you'll have less chance to get away with it.
Roma nodded and picked up the sword he liked. But the captain, after scolding the boy, made him take the training short dagger. He decided to start his training with it. The dueling droid attacked and almost instantly put Roma down without giving him a chance to win. The captain was amused by the whole thing. Roma, pouting, asked for more....
* * *
Lying on the soft bed, Roma could rest. The captain had been racing him so that the boy wouldn't move out of phase while trapped in the dungeon of a broken ship. The reactor, thank the Force, was providing enough power to keep the ship's basic systems running - light, fresh, food hot. Secretly from Roman, the captain's image had made arrangements with the ship's iskine to bring water here. There was enough water in the caves, all they had to do was run a hose, connect it to the pumping station, and fill it to the brim. The ship had room for six thousand tonnes of water. With the normal flow rate and crew, that could be enough for ten years of use, but this rule was usually neglected. Water, especially in a solid or gaseous state, was common in space, and there was no need for long cruises in the Empire - even the longest expedition to unexplored galaxies allowed to collect water, or return if it ran out. Imperial engineers had managed to create a ship that could remain operational for thousands of years, without refuelling or external intervention, but no one had ever thought of creating an equally undemanding crew.
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