“Yes.” Asumy answered.
“What’s a fabricator?” Tamara asked.
“It’s a machine that can create anything it is programmed to, provided it has materials, and in a lot shorter period of time than a regular assembly would take.” Asumy said.
The rest of the party looked confused, so Jacob forestalled any more questions.
“Can this ship move? And can we move it without alarming the Ra’a’zani?” Jacob asked.
“Yes. The Ra’a’zani have little sensor coverage in the belt, their patrols are focused further out in the system close to the transit barrier, so that they can respond to any threat coming into the system, they do not consider humans a threat.” Asumy said.
“Good, can you show my people how to pilot the ship? And we need to give you the coordinates of our base.” Jacob said.
“I can teach them, the controls are fairly simple, and I already know the location of your base.” Asumy said.
Jacob smiled softly. “Of course you do.”
For the first time in a long time, Jacob felt hope for the future.
Chapter Three
October 2169 – Planet Sanctuary, Olympus city – Capital of Olympus
The night sky on Sanctuary was different from the one on Earth, there were no stars, only the two moons orbiting the planet, Thanatos and Hypnos. Thanatos glowed red, and Hypnos faintly blue. The night sky was of dark teal color with streaks of purple and red, it was the light reflected by the nebula that surrounded the newly named Sanctuary system. If there was one thing Tomas Klein missed about the place he left behind, it was the star filled night sky. The sky was beautiful here, but it was not the sky he grew up with.
Tomas sighed, he would have time enough to get used to it. He stepped off his balcony and back into his office. It was late, but it was not unusual for him to be working at this hour, there was so much to do. Building an entirely new civilization turned out to be tiring work. The 7 million colonists from Earth had been calling this system their home for the past five years. And they did turn it into a home. After landing five years ago, the first thing they did, after they chose the spot for their first city and landed, was to start assembling the necessary buildings for their people to live in after they were woken up from stasis. Then all the other building they would need, hospitals, storage facilities etc. Most of the work was already done, they brought enough materials with them to have a head start, and the fabricators on the four colony ships had been working for the last few years of the trip making the components they would need when they arrived. In one months’ time they already had a semblance of a city, and they started waking people up, after that everything happened at a faster pace. Two months later they had finished all the constructions on the city, which was then named Olympus city. All of four of the colony ships were built with dual purpose, they were to get them here, and then to be used for the other purposes. After everyone was transferred to the planet, two ships were disassembled and then reassembled into a station/shipyard that was now orbiting Sanctuary. The third ship was put in orbit around the fifth planet in the system, and used as mining station. The fifth planet – Gem, was an ore rich rock and by the end of their second year they already had mining operations there exceeding their needs. The fourth ship was used as a separate shipyard that focused only on mining needs, ships and equipment. With their fabricating technology they could build a lot faster than people on Earth could, and since then they had increased their fabricator factories numbers by 800%. Their population also had a constant increase over the years, since everyone went through the agelessness genetic treatment they didn’t need to worry about anyone dying of old age, they had a few accidental deaths, and with a lot of new births, they projected that their population could reach a billion in less than a hundred years. And every child was born with the agelessness gene, meaning that they wouldn’t age past their twenty fifth year. It was strange to Tomas, thinking that he would never die, barring a disease or a violent death. He always had to keep in mind that he would not live forever, and now that was no longer the case, it boggled the mind. He couldn’t yet wrap his thoughts around the concept, but he knew that he had forever to get used to it.
He walked to his desk and looked at the reports shown on the holographic displays there. There were numerous requests waiting for his approval. They had created a new form of government, taking the best parts of those from Earth and inventing new when they needed to. They kept the name, Olympus, even though they were no longer simply a company. They first of the humanity to venture this far. And Tomas was their leader, many had started referring to him as the Emperor, though not in his presence. But he thought himself only as a leader, he didn’t rule with an iron fist, he had many advisors. He didn’t really do much, leaving the governing to the people, only stepping in when asked to. He found that given a chance, people would rise to the occasion. But then his people were the best Earth had to offer, those who believed in the same things he did. The request on his displays ranged from someone asking permission to proceed with experiments, to those asking for land to build homes. The planet was big and they had more than enough room, so Tomas gave permissions for his people to start building homes outside of the city. He scrolled down the list using his implant to interact with the display, he gave permission where he thought it was appropriate, and offered other solutions where he believed it was not. After finishing with the civilian requests he started the ones from the military. The first request was from the fleet, it was a request he had read through many times, he had discussions with Laura Reiss the Fleets Master of Olympus’s fleet, and not all of them had ended well. She wanted to turn the entirety of one of the Sanctuary’s moons, into Fleet zone, with only fleet facilities on it, the Academy, Fleet Headquarters, research departments, and a new shipyard in orbit devoted solely to fleet needs. Tomas was reluctant to allow that, they were in a new system where they didn’t have enemies, and while he did see the advantages of her plans, he believed that it was best to wait until other things were done. They didn’t even have Sanctuary firmly under their control, and the fabricators were all working around the clock producing other things vital to their expansion. Laura’s plan required them to retask half of the fabricators to building new fabricators and the stations that would house the shipyards. Tomas was conflicted, on the one hand, he wanted his people protected, he did not want a repeat of the events that transpired back in the Sol. But on the other, there was no threat here. The entire star system was engulfed in a nebula, no one could detect them from the outside. The nebula was at least 4 light years across at its widest, the system hidden inside was around 5 light months in diameter. If someone wanted to enter the system they needed to know the exact coordinates, otherwise they risked coming out of hyperspace inside the nebula, where sensors had a hard time working, and where other hazards awaited. Including the systems Oort cloud. The only reason they knew about the system was because of the records in the Union databases they found on the alien ship back on Earth. And they had eight warships they brought with them from Earth, it seemed enough.
Tomas reach inside his shirt, he grabbed the chain around his neck and brought out a small round metallic object, he pressed the button on the pendant and a list appeared above the object. He gazed at the list of names. He read all 316 names that appeared, though he already knew each one. The names were of people that died when Concordis government ordered the destruction of the Cloud space station, in hope of hiding the theft of one of memory cores filled with data about Olympus’s technology. They failed, but still 316 souls died because of their greed. 316 people that were under Tomas’s protection, he knew that he would never forgive himself for their deaths. He looked back at the request still on his holographic display, he sent the authorization for it. Immediately another two attached requests filled his display, they were set to appear after authorization of the original proposal. He read them and shook his head, Laura must have known that he would change his mind. He authorized both requests, and then shut down the holodesk, it was enough work for one day. He stood up and walked across the office to the adjacent room, he entered it and collapsed on the bed. He fell asleep the moment his head struck the pillow.