A.I.: Re-Genesis

Part 18

Chapter 17

The next day was another meeting with the space-farers but this one was slightly different. Captain Mala had requested that only she, the Talarian, and Sergeant Haddock should be present for this discussion. They were led to a small conference room where Stoick and Astrid were already waiting.

"Is there really such a need for secrecy?" Stoick had to ask and Mala nodded.

"It's best if fewr people know about the events that will be mentioned here. Even I was shocked when the Sergeant explained it fully to me last night." she stated while stressing the importance of keeping it a secret. All eyes then turned to the Sergeant who was seated between his Captain and the Talarian. He cleared his voice with a cough and began.

"It's been speculated by the civilians and lower ranked officers alike that I was part of the Sirius mission. The first mission to Titan where we discovered the Talarian race. Almost all information has been redacted by the Council when I rejoined human civilization." The man began. "The rumor appears to have no real basis as the Sirius mission was more than a century ago but it is in fact true. On record I am 47 years old. Mentally I am around 190."

"Excuse me what?!" Stoick couldn't help but bellow and stand up. He flushed red and sheepishly sat back down as Hiccup choked at the statement while Astrid's eyes narrowed.

"Nanotechnology?" Astrid asked herself aloud but then muttered a "No", "Android, no. Scans indicated fully human." She frowned harder. "Cloning, a possibility,"

"You think he's a clone?" Hiccup frowned but the Sergeant just shook his head negatively. Meanwhile Astrid was tapping her finger on the table in a steady rhythm as she wracked her brain. It seemed the space-farers weren't going to say how until the other side contemplated the situation themselves for a few minutes.

"Time Travel?" Hiccup asked, causing the Talarian's eyes to shift towards him briefly before quickly shifting back. Astrid caught it only by accident.

"Not time travel per se, but something close to it," She muttered and then suggested "Time dilation perhaps?" When the Sergeant nodded, seemingly pleased for them to get it so quickly, she frowned again. "I have to admit, the concept still seems pretty far fetched. Though I'm sure we are all curious to hear how this happened now."

"This story starts just after the establishment of the Rhea colony," the Sergeant stated. "Rhea is Saturn's second largest moon and is tidally locked in phase with the planet. The moon itself has a surface composition that suggested largely water in the form of ice rocks. The colony was placed on the sunlit side of the moon while mining drones were sent out to harvest the water for the colonists. There was also talk of sending miners to the sister moons Dione and Tethys if supplies ran low in the future. But since Rhea itself was to be the primary provider of water for the future colonies then setting a shipyard on the surface would cause a lot of loss in natural resources."

"So Titan, Saturn's largest moon, was chosen as the location for the shipyard which would operate in the Moon's low orbit," The Sergeant continued. "Titan was not meant to be colonized since it's atmosphere, which is largely nitrogen, and dense liquid hydrocarbon lakes would be detrimental for long term habitation unless expensive measures were taken. The Sirius mission objective was to simply place the initial space station parts in orbit resonance around the moon which would then be used to build outwards to create the shipyard. Never would we have thought to discover another alien race at that time."

"Hold on, there is something I don't get," Stoick said with a frown. "Why couldn't you just have placed the shipyard above Rhea?"

"I can answer that," Captain Mala said as she glanced at the Chief before asking for a holographic star chart. Astrid pulled one up above the table and Mala asked her to zoom into the area encompassing Rhea and Titan. "The creation of a shipyard in itself is an arduous task. The Genesis ships had limited resources in storage after such a long journey according to historical records, hence why Rhea was established as a water reservoir. For a shipyard of that magnitude to function miner robots would have to have been sent to nearby asteroids or smaller moons in orbit around the planet to get the required building materials. The Sirius space station that Sergeant Haddock and his team had been charged with setting up was not only the base for the shipyard but also boasted several smaller refineries within different sections to refine and create the components we needed. An EM drive of a Genesis ship had to be gutted to operate these refineries as the station's solar sails could not collect enough sunlight. Refining resources mined from space would release a lot of radiation. The placement of the station was for safety reasons primarily. If there was any kind of leak or explosion then the Rhea colony would not be affected by the radiation, sulphur exposure or other waste. It would be a health risk if any of those were to mix with the minable water reservoirs. Rhea does not have much of an atmosphere so if an explosion did occur the debris would not burn up."

"I'm afraid Captain, that history has been too kind," the Sergeant spoke up. "The Solar sails never even made it to full deployment status, though I can't say I regret being on that mission,"

Year: 23XX (2 years after Rhea colony establishment)

Location: Sirius space station (under construction), Above Titan

"Haddock, how do the Starboard photovoltaic arrays look?" The question came over the radio as one Spencer Haddock sat in the control room to monitor the progression.

"Sensors show you are right on target for interception," Haddock answered as he looked out the viewport to see three people in spacesuits guiding the new module into its docking port. "Target deviation is less than 1mm."

"Ha Ha I'll be glad once this job is over." One said through the radio. "What about you Haddock? You've been stuck here longer than any of us. Rhea's coming along nicely, they've even started making a park for recreation now in a detached sphere. I can't wait to take my daughter there and it's all thanks to the C-type asteroid mining."

"True, but this scenery grows on you," Spencer joked as he looked through the left viewport to see the hazy yellow atmosphere of Titan.

"At least if you're staying longer you'll have more power now. The gravity wheel can only supply so much," The astronauts over the radio joked. "It would be a welcome relief once this place becomes self-powered."

"Hey, did you hear the latest mining report?" Another astronaut asked. "They identified several M-type asteroids in Saturn's outer orbit. The yield is at least ten times the ore we are currently mining from the S-types. Is that why this array construction is being rushed now?"

"Seems like it," Another answered. "They want this place fully operational by the time the ore shipments arrive.

"Docking successful," Spencer stated as he typed something into the onboard computer. "Diverting power from the living quarters to rotate the array." From the viewport he could see the solar panels turning towards the direction of Sol. Once that was done the diverted power was restored to its original designation. "What is the situation with the solar sails?" He asked over the radio.

"Situation is green, over, Solar sails ready for deployment." One of the Astronauts outside reported. Spencer nodded though no one could see him. Solar sails were supposed to stretch from the port-photovoltaic arrays to the starboard ones, traversing the inner diameter of the gravity wheel like a corkscrew. On the starboard array a mushroom-shaped sail was to expand from the end as well. The sails were there to catch extra solar winds from Sol and to also serve as a magnetic sail, using Saturn's magnetic field to increase the station's propulsion and rotation, increasing the artificial gravity and also using it to power the systems that had been offline until now.

"Release the sails," Haddock ordered. His systems indicated that the port-side sails were unfolding nicely. The starboard sails he could see opening now in all its majestic golden glory. The starboard sail itself deployed in four parts, each membrane part was held together by three support cables, with the station serving as the payload being in the center.

"Extension moving smoothly," one of the men outside commented over the radio as three-fourth of the starboard sail was fully deployed. "It looks like we'll be your transport home once this operation is done,"

Things however took a turn for the worst when one of the fully deployed support cables snapped and slammed into two astronauts.

"Mayday Mayday!" One shouted over the comm. "Oxygen tank ruptured!"

One of his comrades answered the distress call as they were attempting a rescue mission while trying to dodge the crumbling sail, but Spencer himself had to act quickly as the loose cable was heading straight for his command center. There was nothing he could do for the men outside as they scrambled to save their crewmember. Here, nearly zero gravity was his friend as he pushed out of his chair with enough momentum to reach the door behind him. The scrape of the large cable could be heard against the space station as he saw a small crack appear on the viewport just as the door closed. The scraping continued and from the station's corridor viewports he could see the loose cable drifting wildly in the vacuum of space. This wasn't good as it was drifting right towards the port sails that were still in process of extending along the bulk of the station. There was an audible groan in the mechanics of the station as the cable entangled itself with the port sails while now spinning taunt across the station's bulk diameter. This wouldn't be good for anyone and with another push in near zero gravity Spencer headed in the direction of the airlock.