Taking Space

IT BEGINS

*Two months later*

Daniel’s robot stood opposite of Stephanie’s. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to concentrate.

In a lightning-fast movement, the robot dashed forward. Right before it reached Stephanie’s, it jumped into the air and punched down, aiming straight for the chest of Stephanie’s robot. This should have easily disabled it, but Stephanie’s droid stepped back on her right leg and pivoted, causing the attack to pass just millimeters away from making contact.

She continued the pivot, putting her robot’s back solidly against his in a movement so fast, that he had no time to react.  Her droid leaned back, swinging its arms up over its head, grabbed hold of his robot’s head, and twisted. The head of his robot broke clean off.

The headless robot dropped onto the ground. A millisecond later, the pain hit Daniel, and he dropped to the floor as well.

Stephanie gave him a wolfish smile.

Steven had long ago figured out why these mental-powered controls were so much more efficient. Unlike the controls of their time, these not only received signals from the controller’s brain, but sensors were buried under the droid’s skin, which allowed the user to truly feel and connect with the robot. The feelings were so acute that a wisp of a wind blowing across the droid could be felt by the user. Thankfully though, Daniel was only using one of the cheap training robots that had very few sensors, which meant the pain wasn’t nearly as acute. Still, it hurt like hell when Stephanie did something like that, and she knew it.

As the phantom pain from the dying droid faded, he glared up at her.

“Want to go again?” She asked mockingly

This was humiliating for Daniel. He had always been the strongest and most capable physically in the family. The very thought that Stephanie could beat him over and over like this was humiliating. He’d like to say that he could beat her in hand to hand combat without the robots, but he knew better. For the last months she had trained not only mentally, but also physically. She could probably easily wipe the floor with him now.

The Lionhearted had a rather advanced computer training program that he and Steven had modded and turned it into a fun game that Stephanie had become addicted to. He, however, had not found it as fun as she did, because it wasn’t open-world enough for him. He had found it a lot more fun to play the modded flight simulator game Steven, and he had made from the Lionhearted Starfighter training program.

He closed his eyes and wished he could beat her just once.

“Looks like I’m too much for you.”

Daniel's eyes shot open. “No, I’m so going to beat you!”

Daniel repositioned the hat on his head and mentally took control of one of the robots standing along the wall. It came to life and walked in front of Stephanie’s droid.

She smirked at him and said, “I see you’re cruising for a bruising. Begin!”

Instead of attacking, this time he had his droid do a backflip away from her. Then he turned and ran into another section.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Daniel smiled as his robot found a training sword and whipped it out.

“Oh, I see. Well, if you want to play it that way then...”

To Daniel’s surprise, three robots along the wall came to life and dashed towards his.

He gaped at her. “How?”

She didn’t answer. Rather, she just smiled as the first of her robots came within striking distance.

Daniel turned his droid to the right. He managed to dodge the downward chop of one of the oncoming droid’s heel. In reciprocation, he brought his commandeered sword up in a swinging arc, trying to cut the first droid in half, but it bent to the side, and the sword just barely touched the tip of its chest.

Sparks flew, but the damage was superficial, and the robot kept coming.

Daniel jumped his droid away in a backwards flip, gaining him precious seconds.

Controlling this many droids at once made Stephanie’s movements slower. If Daniel could score a hit, the artificial pain she felt might give him a chance… or so he thought. He did not, however, realize that Stephanie had rounded her first droid around the training equipment.

It rolled out from behind the weapon rack and brought its left heel down into the back of the knee of Daniel's droid.

His droid collapsed to the floor, and the droid he had swung his sword at smashed its foot down on the neck of his droid.

Sparks flew, and Daniel dropped to the ground in pain.

“Oww,” he moaned, falling onto one knee and clutching at his neck, even though he knew it was fine.

“Ha! Serves you right for cheating,” Stephanie gloated.

“Cheating!? You are the one who cheated!”

“I did not cheat.”

“Whatever. Four verses one is not even remotely fair.”

“Ha! There! You are wrong. It was still one verse one as there is only one of you and me. I just can control more at one time than you can.”

Daniel coughed. “I didn’t even know that was possible; how can that be fair?”

Stephanie shrugged. “Hey, it wasn’t fair, to begin with, because it is as simple as this: You stink, I rule.”

“What?!”

“You are like a baby. Making noise, don't know what to do,” she said in a mocking tone with a weird accent.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Oh, I am, am I? Just come up to the flight simulation room, and I’ll show you who’s a baby. I’ll even give you your pick of a ship that you can have twenty of to my one, and I will still wipe the floor with you.”

Stephanie cracked a smile. “No, you wouldn’t. I’d pick a Myrmidon destroyer, and you’d be helpless.”

“You can’t pick that!” Daniel protested.

“I just did.”

“Cheater. You are nothing but one big, fat, cheater!”

“You’re just upset because I’m better than you are.”

Daniel began to say, “Hardly...” But Steven ran in and shouted. “Hey, guys you’ve got to see this.”

They looked over at him. When he was sure he had their attention, he dropped the metal tubing that was in his hand.

As it dropped to the floor, it sprung outwards in a giant circle, then stood up perpendicular.

“Oh, that’s cool,” Daniel said as he looked at the six-foot in diameter metal hoop.

“Oh, that’s nothing watch this.” He touched the metal hoop, and the air in the middle of it flickered a few times, then twisted suddenly into a completely opaque image of the gaming room on their space station.

Stephanie looked at it in amazement. “Wow, a foldable holographic screen. I’ve never seen one of this quality before. Good work, Steven.”

“It’s not a screen,” Steven replied, almost bursting with joy.

He stepped in front of it and walked straight through it into the gaming room on their space station.

Daniel shot up to his feet, and Stephanie stood there completely dumbfounded, unable to move nor comprehend what had just happened.

Steven picked something up on his messy engineering table and threw it back through the hoop at Daniel.

Daniel caught off guard, and stunned didn’t even move. The tool hit him square in the chest, but he still didn’t move.

Worried Steven said. “Are you okay I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hit you?”

Daniel freed from his momentary dazed state, finally moved and rubbed his chest where he was hit. “You... You… You made a dimensional door?!”

“It’s not a dimensional door it’s called the ‘Octagonical trialic graviton matrix continuum.’”

“Dimensional door,” Stephanie said with finality.

“No! It uses eight different gravity forces powered by three graviton matrixes to fold a continuum, and as such it has to be called ‘Octagonical trialic graviton matrix continuum.’”

“Ah, nah it’ don’t,” Daniel said.

“Yes, it does!”

Stephanie walked through the hoop and put a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “No, sweetie, it doesn’t.”

Steven looked crestfallen. “How come you guys always name my creations something horrible?”

Daniel walked to the metal hoop, and testingly put his hand through, then pulled it back out immediately. “Because you always try to name them something we can’t say or understand. Anyway, this is downright amazing I can’t tell any differences when my hand goes through the dimensional rift, or whatever you call it, continuum.”

“Because there is no rift, it’s almost a complete connection.”

“Wow. How’s that possible? I mean this seems nothing like the star ways.”

“That’s because the star ways are ancient old, outdated technologies made before there was really enough power even to power them. However with the invention of the Dynovamator and with our advanced technology in graviton waves and gravitational fluxes this becomes as easy as one two three.”

“You didn’t think of this, though, did you?” Daniel asked.

“No... Not exactly the Lionhearted did. But I dramatically improved on it!”

“I’d say you did,” Stephanie commented. “How’s this powered?”

Steven’s face lit back up. “By another much smaller Octagonical tria…” He was cut off by Stephanie, giving him the annoyance-squint-eye. “Eh… a Dimensional door with a wire running through it straight to our space station’s Dynovamator.”

“Wow, it sounds like you have the hole-within-a-hole-inside-of-another-hole type of thing going on.”

“More or less.” Steven beamed.

Catherine and Michael walked into the gaming room. “Ah, I see Steven is showing you his mind-blowing invention,” Michael said.

“It’s still hard for me to believe that he is doing what he is doing,” Catherine said. “We just finished Marvin’s shipment by the way.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I forgot all about it.” Stephanie apologized.

Daniel turned his head, looking down at the dead training robot as he rubbed the side of his cheek with his finger.

Stephanie noticed his motions. “Daniel, you have to start helping out around here!”

“I do.”

“Do not!”

“Do too. I just don’t like cleaning the kitchen or doing the mindless work of pushing weightless boxes around in zero-G.”

“That’s basically all there is to do besides the Aquaponics, and you don’t help with that either!”

Suddenly, the communicator braided into Daniels hair beside his right ear began to buzz. He tactfully used it to get out of the conversation by quickly pressing a finger onto his lips and touching the communicator with the other hand.

Stephanie glared at him, but as he listened to the communicator, the blood drained from his face.

The pale look on his face and the tears forming in his eyes alarmed everyone.

As the communiqué came to an end, Daniel stared lifelessly at them.

In trepidation, Michael asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I... John... I... They’re going to kill John.”

John was one of Daniel’s oldest and best friends outside the family. Even though he only visited every three months if that, they were still rather close.

Catherine walked through the dimensional door and put her arms around Daniel. “Why, what happened?”

He swallowed. “You know he became a sheriff at the Almandian police. Well... Well, I...”

“What did you do?” Catherine gently coaxed.

“I lent him one of Steven’s probes and controllers that had his pin-hole technology.”

“Without asking me?!” Steven fumed.

“I didn’t think to. The last time he was here, I told him about it, and he thought it’s rather cool. So I let him borrow one.”

“So, what happened?” Michael asked

“He showed it to Mr. Wade, and they were testing it out together when they came across what looked like a big-time d**g deal. Without contacting their superiors they went to check it out.” Daniel swallowed hard. “When they got there, Mr. Wade challenged them. In return they opened fire on him and John. Mr. Wade was shot down and killed in the ensuing fight.”

Michael’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “Mr. Wade is dead?!”

Daniel hung his head, “That’s what the message said… John only made it out alive because he blew up the cargo ship that was carrying the drugs.”

“But he did make it out alive?” Catherine said, with a tad bit of relief.

Daniel solemnly nodded. “Yes, but the ship he blew up belonged to the ULIX group and they claimed the ship was full of over a billion credits worth of new medical drugs. Not illegal drugs, so they are demanding compensation.”

Stephanie looked confused. “But what’s that have to do with John?”

“The ULIX group is a known cover for one of the biggest illegal d**g and spice dealers in the entire galaxy. You don’t cross them, or you die. The Almandine government has turned their back on John’s small precinct, and told them it’s their own problem and they have to deal with it themselves. So to keep their own hides safe, they are handing John over to the ULIX group.”

Catherine gasped. “And they will make a public example of him, won’t they?”

“They will. And from John’s message, it’s worse than that.”

“How?” Steven asked.

Daniel reached up and took his communicator out of his hair and brought it up, so it could project a holographic image of John’s message. He scrolled to the bottom and let them begin to read.

I have been arrested. They were planning to court-martial me, in which I know I’d be found guilty. Normally this would mean my dishonorable discharge from the police force. However, my superior officers have told me they are handing me directly over to the ULIX group to handle my court-martial, which undoubtedly will end in my death. I had come to terms with this, but a few minutes ago I learned that the ULIX group is coming with half of an Armada, and the Almandine government has decided to hand over my entire precinct to them to be court-martialed in their own courts. Everyone here is going to pay for my mistakes…

To be honest, none of this feels right to me, no matter how I look at it. I know destroying the drugs probably saved thousands of lives in one way or another, so I could come to terms with my own death, knowing that I did some good. But now… The men here might be corrupt, but they don’t deserve what’s coming to them by these wretched creeps!

I wish to the God that you always talk about that there was something I can do to stop this! But I know there isn’t. I’m sorry for getting your brother’s drone destroyed, and I just wanted to thank you for being a good friend.

Goodbye, forever

John.

Catherine finished reading and said, “We have to help them!”

Everyone stared at her; Catherine was never the type to make such a rash choice.

“I know what you’re thinking. But the truth is, we always talked about doing what’s right around here, yet we do so little. For once we have the resources and ability to walk the talk.”

Daniel put his arms around her. “You’re right. I’m not to let John be killed just because he did what he thought was right.”

Michael nodded. “I want to help too, but how?”

“We have over two hundred thousand g*n emplacements, that’s how. Duh.” Daniel answered harshly.

Michael looked out of one of the viewports in their gaming room. An asteroid field floated dangerously close to their space station, or so it seemed. In reality, they were thousands of fake asteroids that opened up to reveal high-powered laser turrets. In their midst hid the capital-sized factory ship that was now once again in stealth mode. He looked back through the dimensional door at Catherine and Daniel, who were on the training deck of the said capital ship. Realizing this, it slightly derailed his thoughts, because they had been using space shields to go back and forth between the ship and the space station. Now, however, they would never need to do that again.

He forced his thoughts back to the matter at hand. “No Daniel, they are not of any use in this situation. They are defensive systems, not offense. We’d have to put them in place beforehand at wherever this Armada is meeting the Almandine government, and that would never work because if the Almandine government has any brains at all, it will secure the area.”

“Fine then. We just ambush the ULIX group before they reached the meeting.” Daniel suggested, frustrated.

Michael shook his head. “No, they will come by Starway, and having an asteroid field miraculously appear around a major traffic zone is way too conspicuous and obvious.”

“And even if they did fall for it, after the initial assault, the survivors would just pull back out of range of the lasers and bombard them with antimatter missiles,” Catherine added as she worked out the scenario in her head.

“What abou...hum.” Stephanie muttered then continued, “What about the capital factory ship? It’s only half of an Armada; maybe we can use it to take them on.”

“No, it’s a factory training ship, it has a very limited stock of weapons, and most of its systems are dedicated to stealth, not combat,” Steven informed her.

“So out of all the things we have, we don’t have any way to help at all? That can’t be right!” Daniel argued.

The two rooms fell into silence, as depression started to take hold of them.

Steven took a deep breath and started to make his way to one of the consoles. “Well I may have something that might help.”

He touched a button and pointed out one of the viewports.

Michael and Stephanie gasped as whatever he was showing came in the view. Daniel and Catherine quickly made their way through the dimensional door and looked out the viewport as well to see the last of sixteen black starfighters come into fighting formation.

“No way!” Daniel almost exploded with excitement. “Honest-to-goodness real starfighters? You can’t be serious!”

“I am,” Steven said with a smile. “They are the original lionhearted-style fighters. I’ve had the factory creating them ever since I found the blueprint in the memory banks. I was hoping to make a full wing for each of us just for fun of course.”

“Sweet! Can I fly one!?” Daniel asked.

“No not exactly, you see I have improved on them by removing the two-person cockpit and replacing it with my ‘Gravatic fold frequency gate-“

“Pinhole!” Stephanie interrupted.

Steven sighed. “By replacing it with my PINHOLE technology and using the extra space to add a laser turret and more shields, so they are not exactly humanly flyable.”

“Ah, man!”

Steven smiled to himself; he had mostly done what he did, just to make sure that Daniel could not actually fly one. “I also removed the two missile mounts and replaced them with one beam cannon because we don’t have the resources to make antimatter missiles. Sadly though I don’t think these will be of much help.”

“Why?” Michael asked.

“Well, I was hoping to one day make Dynovamators for each of them sadly even with the amazing quality of this factory I can’t do that without harvesting liquids and rocks from a star, which we can’t do. So, for now, all they have as an energy source is a big wad of batteries. Unfortunately the batteries only last about ten minutes fifteen tops and if they’re powering weapons and recharging shields I doubt they get even five minutes of continuous use.”

“Maybe that will be long enough!” Daniel said.

Catherine shook her head. “No, sixteen starfighters versus half an Armada is insanely steep odds, and completely impossible if the fighters only last five to ten minutes.”

Daniel scratched his head. “What do the fake asteroids use?”

“A battery pack. With expansive thermal solar to recharge it.” Steven replied.

Daniel scrunched his eyebrows together and stared at him, blankly in incomprehension.

“It’s a paper-thin flexible material that when frozen by the vacuum of space expands, and a solar collecting array that heats a molecular piece of metal witch then touches the frozen flexible material causing it to contract then expand aga-... Why am I telling you this? It doesn’t matter! It won’t work for these fighters. It works fine on the asteroids because the barrels on the lasers begin to overheat and melt far before their battery runs out and has to recharge again.”

“Oh.”

Catherine raised her hand. “Could you use your Octagonical trialic graviton matrix continuum to connect them directly to our space station’s dynovamator?”

Steven shook his head. “Thought about that already. It won’t work.”

“Why?” Daniel asked.

Steven blew out a puff of air. “Why do you always ask that? I said it wouldn’t work okay.”

“But why not? You said you did just that to power that dimensional door over there.”

Steven gave a frustrated growl. “Because of distortion. The energy from a dynovamator just like all other electricity carries with it a slight disturbance in frequency; however, the disturbance in the electricity off of a dynovamator is quite literally chaotic. That disturbance will cause an Octagonic… dimensional door to collapse. It works to power one because it is a wire thinner than my pinky, so there is not much disturbance but what you’re talking about is a conduit as thick as my waist with hundreds of currents flowing to different systems. The continuum would almost instantly collapse severing the conduit or worse!”

Daniel began to say ‘O,’ but Steven pushed his hand against his mouth. “I hate when you say that!”

Catherine stepped between them, trying to calm Steven down.

The room fell quiet as Steven turned away and fumed in frustration.

At last Stephanie said, “Wait, I remember you said something when we found the capital ship, something about how it was not being powered by its dynovamator and that’s why it was almost entirely impossible to detect it. Maybe the energy from whatever was powering it might be stable enough.”

Steven’s eyes lit up. “Gas! You’re right. The ship has quite a few alternative energy generators like right now it’s being powered by thermal expansive solar. When we found it was being powered by the ancient technology of a gas generator! The alternator in it uses zero-G bearings and, and… And the electricity it produces has very little disturbance if any at all! It might just work! You’re brilliant.”

Steven dashed through the dimensional door into the training room, then into the corridor of the capital ship, and out of sight.