The Outer Ring by Martin Wilsey Read Free Book Online

 
     
    “ The Ventura was a deep space survey ship with a crew of over
2,000 men and women. When we entered the orbit of the planet
Baytirus that day, we never expected the Ventura to be immediately destroyed.
We didn’t know we weren’t the first people to find that planet.
But, someone knew.”
    --Solstice 31 Incident
Investigation Testimony Transcript: Logs of Master Engineer Wes
Hagan, senior surviving engineering member of the Ventura's crew.
Recorded on 26291010, over three decades ago, and stored in the
data being analyzed.
    <<<>>>
    Barcus woke two hours
early, as usual, before the Pal’s alarm. Pal was the personal
assistant layer of the Ventura’s central artificial intelligence system. Nobody
ever called them by those words, though. Everyone called
them Pal and Caisy .
    “ Good morning, Pal. What’s
the plan for the day?” Barcus said, stretching, as he sat up in his
bunk. At these words, Pal shifted the walls of the 3x5
meter room to a predawn mountain scene. It was majestic in its
ultrahigh definition beauty. It also conveyed data. Barcus knew
when the sun peeked from behind those mountains it would be
time to go. The light increased on the clouds above, as that time
approached. Barcus didn’t need any visual clues because he had a
digital clock, always visible, in his personal Heads-Up Display
(HUD). Computer display windows hung in the mountain scene, showing
the day’s work
orders and his personal calendar. His
messages were prioritized, quickly reviewed and promptly
answered.
    Pal’s voice imitated a professional
female today. “Today, you meet the heavies for a morning run,
beginning at Chen’s STU on the outer ring’s flight deck. Jack will
be joining you, again, so you’ll need to take your pack
along,” Pal told him. “After that, shower, chow, and then
prep for tomorrow's work orders that you’ll do
after we drop out of FTL.” The days after faster-than-light runs
were always hectic. “Jimbo will arrange for shore leave, if the
planet doesn’t suck.” Barcus enjoyed this AI’s sense of
humor.
    “ Jack is really joining
us, again?” Barcus asked, laughing to himself, as he donned his
running shorts and shirt. “I swear, he almost died after that lap,
last time.”
    “ Your pack still has the
twenty kilos of replacement gel packs, ” Pal said. “You
know that’s crazy, don’t you? Running the outer ring, at 2G, with
an extra twenty kilos that feels like forty
kilos.”
    “ The pack slows us
down enough so that, one day, Jack might be able to keep up.”
Barcus smiled. Not many people tried. “That day won’t be
today.”
    Pal asked, “Did you know he has applied
for a berth in the outer ring?” There was a slightly amused
tone in her voice.
    “ Excellent. It’s really
the only way to do it. If he gets past the first month, it’ll be
easy.”
    ***
    Barcus arrived on the
flight deck first. It was empty at 0520 hours. He already wore his pack, but he had made
the 3K run so many times with it on, he moved like it wasn’t
there. He strolled in the heavy gravity,
stretching his limbs as he went. The outer ring’s flight deck was
huge. At the point where he stood, the ship measured a kilometer in
diameter. The rotation of the ring gave it the feel of 2G, but there were no grav-plates in use. It saved a massive
amount of power. A wide, central taxiway looked like it sloped
uphill, in both directions. It was just over three kilometers for
one lap.
    He smelled coffee .
    Chen was already up and working on her
shuttle. She always made the best coffee.
    Even though Chen was a
pilot, she took total ownership of her Shuttle Transport Unit and
its systems. She called the onboard AI by the nickname
Stu. It was an old habit from her flight training days. Another old
habit was to soup up her assigned vessel, for maximum performance.
She was also a highly regarded AI programmer in the
fleet.
    Barcus knew that, today, she had to get everything back together in time
for the drop out of