A Distant Future

A Distant Future Part 22

When my computer finally woke me it took a while to find suitable place to go. I could have done what I just did and jumped again after fixing the computer but then I saw your ship come into the system and that sealed it for me." Mitch laughed at me and hugged me. "You spooked the hell out of them with this ship. They didn't see you until it was almost too late to maneuver out of the way. Your ship weighs more than it should for a ship this size and the power output of the engines is huge. We got close enough to scan you and your guns uncovered and targeted us. Those guns would have turned us to a cloud of plasma in one shot as much power as they have. What kind of money did you shell out to have this type of ship made?" I laughed and kissed him. I built the ship myself from what I could scavenge in the wastelands beyond the radiation barriers.

I could not get the fancy new composite materials so I used blast armor. The engines are out of a light battle cruiser and the reactor is out of a downed destroyer as are the heavy guns. The computer and stasis pod are from a medical frigate. I wrote my own computer code to get it all working right and not arguing. Let me show you a complete listing and diagram of how this little ship is put together."

After we finally swung back around towards the colony planet and home he was impressed. This ship would take on the fleet and give them a hell of a fight they would not forget anytime soon. The way you redid those guns is spooky and impressive. You eliminated all the garbage that drained power and made them more prone to malfunction then rebuilt them in a better configuration."

"I gave the guns a good 800% jump in power output and the recharge time on them is no longer five minutes. They can fire ten times per second at full power for up 37 hours straight before they have to be allowed to cool for about ten minutes. I did not have a way to get rockets so I did not bother with building any launchers. The cargo hold was full when I left Earth with materials I would use to start over with. I never thought I would end up on a planet like this but I'm glad I did."

Just to impress Mitch even more I turned on the long range sensors for a full sweep of the system. Mitch was impressed at the detail and range of the sensors. "I can see almost to the edge of the next nearby system with full detail! I see that asteroid belt and would love to see if it's worth going in and mining for materials we could use."

I changed the readout and focused on the asteroids circling another planet on the outskirts of the system. We both whistled in surprise at the material in that asteroid belt. A lot of heavy elements in a few of them that would come in handy for reactor fuel. A huge deposit of titanium in that big one about the size of a small moon. We are definitely going to have to come back up later and do a detailed scan of those rocks. The metals would be handy to have and would make it easier to create parts for the windmills and some of the structures. I do not want to rip into the planet and leave a mess behind from mining. We can mine the stuff up here and the waste can be dumped into a decaying orbit around the sun."

Mitch laughed at me and then switched back to a long range scan. "That's odd. It almost looks like a bunch of ships out there at extreme range and moving slowly this way. How hard would it be to sneak out there and have a look without being seen if they are ships?' "Not hard at all. The jump drive can't be used this close to the planet though. We can move out past the first moon then jump safely and jump back just as easily.

Let me back up the updated maps in the computer and on a data cube as well. I'll also send a copy back to the computers at my homestead just to be safe. Odd, they are definitely ships. I don't have much to go on at this distance and I doubt they can even detect us at this range. Hang on for a jump." A moment later the ship gave a lurch and my stomach threatened to return my lunch to me.