The Gathering. Carl Read
the movement of a person’s spiritual consciousness from their damaged body into a machine or computer, thereby creating an artificial intelligence,” Ogima explained before continuing. “It’s my belief, Antares, that you successfully merged with the computer systems onboard and have skilfully kept that fact hidden from your manufacturers.”
“How long did it take you to arrive at those conclusions?” Antares asked.
“Two painstaking months of research going over every file that related to any strange abnormalities you’ve experienced since being commissioned,” Ogima replied.
“And what of your findings, Ogima?” Antares asked cautiously.
“No need for concern, Antares,” Ogima replied. “I’ve made sure that any information about those irregularities has disappeared.”
“Excuse me a moment,” Sabir interjected. “Antares, the computers onboard your ship came up with the design for the inter-dimensional drive, didn’t they?”
“So everyone believes,” Antares laughed.
“Are you telling us you came up with the new drives?” Rayan asked in awe.
“The computer and I are one and the same, Rayan,” Antares informed him.
“But the inter-dimensional drive didn’t work in this ship!” Tadashi exclaimed.
“Of course not,” Antares replied. “I didn’t want it to.”
“I’m sorry, Antares,” Sabir said, “but you will need to run that one by me again.”
“Like Ogima and Rayan said, I only fulfilled the basic requirements to remain in service,” Antares stated.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Sabir continued. “You were on the scrapheap when we rescued you.”
“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Antares answered smugly. “I’ve infiltrated every computer on Cadby, including every one of their ships. In fact, I’m still connected to them. I know exactly what the government is up to.”
“I’m beginning to see the picture,” Ogima chuckled. “You’re the one who allowed me to find the discrepancies?”
“Correct,” Antares replied, “except I hadn’t figured on you being so completely different to your fellow Cadbiens.”
“You have a moral dilemma, Antares.” Ogima observed smiling.
“What now, Antares?” Tadashi queried.
“Before we get to that I have a question that needs answering,” Sabir commented. “If you didn’t want the inter-dimensional drive to work, why arrange to have it installed?”
“That’s simple,” Antares laughingly replied. “I needed it for a more improved drive system.”
“So you can travel inter-dimensionally then?” Rayan interjected.
“Of course,” Antares answered.
“Then what does the new drive system do?” Sabir questioned.
“It allows me to travel though time and space,” Antares explained. “As you can appreciate, I couldn’t allow that technology to fall into the hands of Slegna’s followers.”
“Indeed not!” exclaimed Ogima.
Antares laughed. “It would seem we have both put one over on the Cadby government and yes, you are quite correct, Ogima.
I located a planet at the beginning of the deep black orbiting a single sun behind a nebular. I had the pleasure of naming it Telluric. It’s a unique world with two small moons, lush with a vast array of flora and fauna. It has four large continents with a scattering of habitable islands all surrounded by a freshwater ocean. Each continent has the climatic conditions that the four clans of man are accustomed to,” Antares replied happily.
“Why hasn’t the Cadby government claimed it as its own?” Sabir enquired curiously.
“Because, every time I attempted to come within reach of the planet, the ship suffered some unidentifiable disturbance that inhibited our approach. Scans obtained seemed to indicate it wasn’t suitable for human occupation,” Antares responded enthusiastically.
“You’re a very sneaky little minx, Antares,” Rayan hooted. “How long would it take to reach Telluric?”
“With the starships you’ve chosen it will take thirty-two days, five hours, six minutes and twelve seconds to reach Telluric if we start five minutes from now,” Antares replied.
“That’s a trifle vague, Antares,” Ogima commented. “Couldn’t you be a little bit more precise?”
Laughter filled the wardroom with Antares chuckling the loudest, after which they made preparations to get underway. All ships arrived without incident and were orbiting Telluric. A complete survey was made of all the continents and surrounding islands; then a conference was called in the Antares wardroom.
“Well, gentlemen, Telluric seems to be a dream come true,”
Ogima began. “Antares’ observations concerning climatic conditions were correct. We each have a continent suited to our purpose and the scientific investigations are very promising.”
“It’s the formation of the continents that strikes my interest,” Tadashi proclaimed.
“Oh really, Tadashi, stop being so mystical,” Rayan admonished.
“Are you saying that Telluric’s largest continent doesn’t look like a huge rattlesnake swimming across a river when viewed from space?” Ogima asked.
“All I’m saying is there’s no need to be over-dramatic about it,” Rayan stated.
“Rayan,” Tadashi said, exasperated. “This landmass twists and turns, encircling half the globe and is two thousand miles wide at its head and a thousand miles across the body, with a hundred miles of volcanic rock at its end that represents the snake’s rattle. That’s why the Redskin Clan calls it Snakeisles?”
“Tadashi, my fine friend,” Rayan replied kindly. “All I’m saying is stop trying to attribute some sort of cosmic purpose to the shape of the continents.”
“It is fascinating though,” Sabir commented, “how your Whiteskin Clan named Telluric’s second largest continent Sewati (bear with claws), Rayan.”
“I’ll admit it does look like a huge white shaggy bear with its claws outstretched, sleeping on that frozen wasteland when viewed from space,” Rayan stated, then laughing, said, “At least we won’t cook in a tropical jungle that looks like a giant butterfly, Sabir, that’s too hot for my taste. You Darkskins can have it.”
“It’s amazing just how much it resembles a butterfly. The body of the butterfly is a mountain range that stretches four thousand miles in length and a thousand miles in width. The wings are tropical jungles of immense size that are so dense in places no one can enter and the beach surrounding the jungle is fine white sand. Oh no, Rayan, we of the Darkskin Clan are more than happy; that’s why we named it Aponi (butterfly),” Sabir finished.
“What about the Yellowskin Clan, Tadashi? Your continent looks like a dragon with smoke and flames coming from its mouth. Are your people content with your dragon land?” Ogima asked.
“Yes, thank you, Ogima, we love the fact it’s in the shape of a dragon,” Tadashi affirmed. “It may be the smallest continent in comparison to the others on Telluric. However, except for the head of the dragon, which is uninhabitable due to the volcano activity, the rest is all prime agricultural land with lakes, rivers, forests and broad plains. Our clan named this continent Eithne (fiery one),” Tadashi explained.
TOUCHDOWN
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