Rockets and Ray Guns - An Anthology of Sci-fi short stories

Part 4

Thankfully he didn't have long to ponder what he had heard the bridge crew say.

"Hey!" a voice called from the door. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," he managed before metal hands were helping him off the deck. A glance at their owners was enough to tell him they belonged to a pair of caduceus AI's, their skeletal forms festooned with satchels filled with supplies and equipment.

"You don't appear to have any physical injuries," one of them indicated as it passed a somal status scanner over him once he was sitting up. "But your brain is demonstrating some very unusual activity outside of the standard synthetic neural parameters." It turned glowing photosensors towards him.

"How are you currently feeling? Any dizziness or pain in your head?"

Blaine slowly shook his head.

"Nothing," he said, prompting the two AI's to glance at each other. Then the one examining him made a sound curiously like a sigh.

"Very well then, crewman," it said. "While your neural activity is unusual, it isn't preventing you from performing your duties." It handed him a tube of protein paste, a mild analgesic and some water. "Let us know if anything changes." Then they were standing and moving away.

Blaine was thoughtful as he took his painkiller then a squeeze from the tube, chasing both with a mouthful of water. Unusual neural activity? Was it somehow leftover from his strange conversation during the transition?

He was pulled from his pondering by the rumble of the sublight engines coming to life, their throaty roar sending a shiver through the entire ship. A few seconds later they were pulling out of the dust cloud and into the brilliant light of a main sequence yellow star.

Taking another pull from the protein tube, Blaine chewed as the view slid to the side to put a large, Earth-like planet into view, sporting a rocky ring and a decent sized moon. It wasn't often that a first jump netted what appeared to be a habitable planet nearby. The orientation said most jumps resulted in further FTL flight in an attempt to find something to justify the trip. To locate a possibly habitable world right out of the gate, was a stroke of incredible good luck.

It also meant that a landing party would shortly be dispatched to look the planet over up close. No sooner had he thought that, the intercom was coming back to life.

"Well, team, against all odds, we've managed to find an Earth-like planet just beyond the dust cloud the gate was hiding in," the captain announced. "So I am dispatching a landing party with survey equipment to the surface while our engineering team makes some necessary repairs to the ship. Will the following crew members please report to the shuttle bay." The captain then began to read out a list of names.

Certain he didn't have any survey skills, Blaine concentrated on feeling better instead of listening for his name. Then:

"And Kor Blaine. Report to the quartermaster for your landing party kit and encounter suit before heading to the shuttle bay."

Blaine stopped chewing to turn and stare at the intercom. Did, ... did she just say his name?

"But I don't know anything about surveying," he protested as the quartermaster handed him a large metallic case of equipment, an encounter suit and a helmet. "I've never even explored before."

"Kinda picked the wrong ship to be on then, synth," the cyborg behind the counter grunted. "That's all the Summer Twilight does. Good luck." Then he was turning to the next crew member in line.

"I was assigned this ship," Blaine said to the lean android packing gear into the shuttle's compact cargo bay. "I didn't receive any training to do this sort of thing."

"Don't worry, fella," a hoarse voice said from behind him as the android wordlessly took Blaine's equipment from his unresisting hands and began to pack it. Turning towards it, he found himself looking at yet another simanoid, this one already wearing his encounter suit.

"I'll watch your back," he said with a chimp's characteristically broad smile as he came to a halt beside him.

"Uh, thanks," Blaine said, feeling more and more resigned about the approaching reality of exploring a planet for the first time. "And you are?"

The simanoid held out a long fingered hand.

"Bartholomew Wilde," he said, the smile unwavering. Taking the hand, Blaine gave it a shake.

"Kor Blaine."

"Right. The synthetic Thaddeus was telling me about," Bartholomew said with a knowing nod. "You're in for a treat, Kor. Stepping foot on a virgin planet is a rare thing."

"I'll have to take your word for that, Bartholomew. And please, call me Blaine."

"Blaine it is, then." Bartholomew tossed his equipment case to the android, who mutely caught it and turned to pack the case with the others. "C'mon. Let's get a window seat so we can catch the view on the way in!"