“Good morning, Commander,” said one of the showering men, as he wiped the soap from his eyes. Of course, they all knew it was not morning, but it was common for crew to greet each other by saying good morning after waking from a long sleep.
“Morning, Lieutenant. Did you sleep well?” asked Forte, smiling, as he was becoming more like himself by the minute.
“Yes, Commander.”
Forte lingered under the hot water for ten minutes, thinking about the many tasks that would have to be completed in the upcoming days.
Commander Forte, while having the appearance of a human, was not from Earth. His planet, Vitahic, circles a star located in the Cygnus Constellation – 620 light years from Earth.
Forte finished showering and headed into the dressing room, where there were several officers putting on their utilitarian uniforms. The navy-blue uniform was a synthetic, form-fitting material, thicker than spandex, which protected the crew member from extreme weather conditions. The uniform contained millions of nanobots that would activate to protect the crewmember in hazardous situations, and it was capable of being powered by multiple sources, including solar, kinetic and thermal energy. The uniform was made from a ballistics resistant boron carbide fiber, and had a built-in forearm display that allowed the crew to communicate and remotely access critical data.
As Forte finished putting on his uniform, he attached the small star-shaped pin over his heart – one of only two distinctions between his uniform and the other officers’. The other difference was that commanding officers were to wear a holstered, laser pistol. The laser pistol, while fully functional, was mainly symbolic, as no commander in recent memory had found cause to use it. At one point, Fleet Command had even discussed discontinuing the practice of commanding officers carrying side arms.
Much like humans, Vitahicians were hungry after sleeping for long periods; so Forte decided to walk to the galley in search of food. As he left the LTS chamber, he noticed that more of the crew were stumbling out of the LTS units with the assistance of Officer Telnecki.
CHAPTER THREE
Forte stepped into the elevator, and it smoothly glided along an electromagnetic force field, up five levels, to the Galley. In the dining facility, Forte walked up to three officers sitting at a round table.
“Good Morning, Commander,” blurted one of the younger officers.
He could not remember the officer’s name, as he was the newest edition to the ship. Forte forgave himself for not knowing his name, after all, he had been asleep for most of the last decade.
“Good morning,” responded Forte, hoping one of the seasoned officers would use the kid’s name.
“Yes Sir, I’m ready to get back to work. I feel like a slacker having slept for all those years and not even producing a dream.”
Captain Cordatus, a veteran officer grumbled, “You get used to it after a few centuries.”
“You must feel like Rip Van Winkle, you know, the character from that human story where the guy slept. . .”
Cordatus cut off the young officer, “Stop talking about human fairy tales. The rest of us don’t care about their fiction,” Cordatus snarled, with a scowl on his face.
The young officer, not picking up on Cordatus’ lack of amusement, insisted, “We need to understand humans as much as possible, we are going to be living among them soon.”
Cordatus glanced over at Forte and said, “We need to understand their technology, physiology, languages, strengths, and weaknesses, both mental and physical, we don’t need to know their fairy tales!”
Forte inserted, “As one of the few members of this crew that have actually been to Earth, both of you are correct. Humans, unlike us, are very emotional creatures that make many of their decisions based on feelings and chemical imbalances in their brains. Very few, their leaders, sometimes, will use logic and strategy, but, all too often, the ones with higher intelligence make decisions based on greed.”
Cordatus smiled and said, “You just proved my point, that we do not need to know their fairy tales.”
Forte shook his head in disagreement. “Think about it. Humans make decisions based on emotions; they tend to rely very heavily on their fictional characters to help form opinions on important and complex subjects. I read in a report that many humans determine who will rule their planet based on the opinions of their comedians.”
The young officer smiled and said triumphantly. “That’s why it is so important that we understand their fiction.” He jabbed his index finger at the table to make a point, “because humans use it to make important decisions.”
Cordatus rolled his eyes and scoffed, “I don’t need to know why a dog chases a bone, only that he does.”
Forte grinned and said, “One thing those humans got right – coffee. I wish we had some here.”
“Coffee, Sir?” The young officer looked puzzled.
“Humans have a hot drink, they call it coffee. I had some the last time I was on earth,” Forte said.
“Is it safe for us to drink?” Lieutenant Brevis asked, now joining the conversation. He had been patiently waiting, in silent amusement, for the discussion to flow into a less heated topic.
Cordatus leaned forward. “Like most human food, we can digest it in small quantities. However, normally we should make sure the food we eat goes through a sterilization process. Your Commander here, drank a little too much the last time he was on Earth.”
“Hey, we don’t need to tell that story,” Forte cut him off.
The young officer hustled across the room and then returned with two cups of limpicom, “Here you are, Sir.”
Limpicom was a thick liquid that contained many of the calories and vitamins needed for a healthy diet; it was perfectly balanced, with no unhealthy side effects. Vitahicians were stronger, smarter, and faster than humans, but not immortal. Centuries of genetic planning and manipulation had increased the average Vitahician’s life span to 325 years.
Forte turned to Cordatus and asked, “So, are you going to miss Vitahic?”
Cordatus sat back in his chair and stared out the portal. “I have been on this ship for almost 150 years – nearly half my life. I have no family back home. I’m looking forward to settling down on Earth. What do you think about decommissioning the ship on Earth, Commander?”
Forte took a sip of his tasteless limpicom. “It’s about time. This ship is nearly 600 years old. As far as giving it to the humans, I think it will go a long way in maintaining our alliance with them. This old cargo ship may not have much value to our people, but, to the humans, it’s extremely valuable. Besides, it will be stripped of any advanced technology before we give it to them.”
Cordatus was familiar with Vitahician trade policies, but asked anyway, “What tech are we going to let them have?”
Forte said, “After unloading the cargo, we are going to remove the electromagnetic pulse drive and land the ship next to their current moon base. They will use the ship’s super structure to expand that. We will leave the old antimatter nuclear fusion reactors in place, but they won’t be used for space travel anymore, just to power the new space station.”
Lieutenant Brevis inserted, “We don’t want them to obtain faster-than-light technology from our electromagnetic pulse drive, right?”
Forte confirmed, “That’s right, we may be joining forces, but we still want to maintain the upper hand. They already have reverse engineered our antimatter fusion reactors, which gives them enough juice to travel within their own solar system. That is all they need to know, for now.”