I had to sweat a lot to get Kirik on board the "Aurora." And "sweat" in the literal sense of the word. By the time the former fugitive touched the ship's floor with his feet, a lot of time had passed. And with it, precious oxygen was draining away, not to mention the energy in the spacesuit.
It took us almost an hour to reach the ship's backup command center, hidden deep in the bowels of the starship and closer to the stern. We had to strain our already exhausted bodies to unseal each bulkhead on board the ship and continue our journey. Up to the next bulkhead. The only thing that saved us was that the starship was the final destination. And the ship's map allowed us to take the shortest and most preserved route.
By the time we reached the "Aurora's" backup command post, we were literally falling on our feet. Because, damn it, the ship reacted with some sixth sense to the fact that people had arrived on board. Alive, real, and even with the Ancients' gene. Well, why should they float in zero gravity, saving their strength while moving around the ship? Let me turn on gravity for them! Half of Fedor's! Well, so that flying is problematic and they don't run too fast.
Okay, that's just grumbling. The presence of any gravity allowed us to move through the corridors quite quickly. If only this magnificent and unusually helpful ship had launched the life support systems itself… But no, the "Aurora" knew the difference between helpfulness and hoarding.
The backup command post was not much different from what I had seen in the series.
A room without portholes, displays and consoles built into the walls, several control panels in the center of the room… And a huge door, more like a bunker wall built to survive a nuclear bombing.
Overall, it strongly resembled a room with a cell on Atlantis. Remove the control terminals from here, put a prisoner in a cell here – and it would be exactly the same.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, the lighting devices turned on, and the control panels and monitors slowly began to come to life. The ship began to awaken, reacting to the appearance of the right person in the right place at the right time.
"Can you figure it out?" Kirik asked when I removed one of the panels from the main console and connected my scanner to it.
"One moment," I asked.
The device came to life. The translation programs uploaded by Chaiya went into the ship's depths. The onboard computer accepted it without the slightest problem.
And immediately the light went out, and the panels shut down.
Damn…
"If this is a joke, it's a bad one," Kirik approached me. "Did you break something?"
"I don't think so."
"Mikhail, there are our people there!" Kirik pointed towards the disabled "Hippophoralkus." "Their oxygen will run out soon and…"
"Yes, and ours too!" I exploded. "And they have a whole ship full of air, and we only have a limited reserve! So, you better keep your opinion to yourself while I try to save our lives!"
As if mocking me or confirming my point, the backup bridge came to life again, shining with the light of the instruments and monitor screens. Only this time the inscriptions on the screens were translated into my native language.
Mentally thanking Chaiya once again, I approached one of the consoles responsible for the ship's life support systems and… This console was responsible for a good hundred different systems. For example, for controlling bulkheads in case of decompression. Temperature on board, oxygen and other gas content on board, lighting throughout the ship, armored shutters on portholes, temperature of liquids, including drinking water, hygienic… Oh, damn it!
What do I care about the composition of the aerosol used to clean the crew's bodies, or the liquid recirculation system? Yes, all in the best traditions of science fiction – liquids originating from the crew were recycled into what that same crew then drank. Or washed with… Honestly – I don't want to know about it.
Obeying my will, the armored door of the ship's backup command post closed, sealing us and cutting us off from the rest of the ship. Kirik had already prepared to shoot (well, yes, ricochets are such a trifle, really!), but seeing my sign, like, everything is fine, he relaxed.
"Let there be air," I said, activating the "Aurora's" life support systems. For the first time in ten thousand years, it was possible to breathe with my own chest on board the ship.
Thanks to the translator, finding the necessary systems was not a problem. It was much worse that the ship showed me a diagram of itself. In terms of damage.
Yes, I assumed that only the internal sections had survived. And, thank God, they are all connected. The problem was that a third of the crew was in damaged compartments. And getting them out of there will be, if not a big, then a very serious problem.
"Can we take off our suits?" Kirik asked cautiously.
Before answering him, I checked the information first with the ship's systems, then with a manual scanner. The old onboard computer on the damaged battleship might have been wrong, but my device never would have been.
The "Aurora" was indeed adapting its premises quite quickly to make them comfortable for humans.
"Yes," I clicked the fastener under my throat, depressurizing the spacesuit. Slightly lifting the helmet, I was ready to snap it back on at any moment if I heard the hiss of air leaving the spacesuit… But no. The onboard computer had indeed pumped the necessary breathing mixture into the backup command post. And it's not even cold almost – there's a noticeable warmth from under the ceiling. Well, yes, the Ancients, like Americans, don't have batteries or anything like that. They have a ventilation system that circulates air and the required temperature throughout the premises.
However, what the hell difference does it make? It's not absolute zero here, nor even Oymyakon. And not even that praised "minus two hundred and seventy," which, as I recall, should be in a vacuum. The ship spent ten thousand years in a state of minimal energy consumption, the life support system was not working… In a vacuum, of course, there is no medium that would cool or heat in familiar criteria, but… Damn it!
Only now did it occur to me that I hadn't seen any snow or ice crust on any part of the ship. In theory, a lot should have changed over such a time… But it hasn't. Either more tricks of the Ancients' systems, or I know physics too poorly. I'd bet on the latter.
Well, that's not the most important thing right now.
And it's not even the question of how oxygen is generated on the ship if it was released into open space after the crew went into stasis pods. Yes, that's right. The "Aurora" didn't pump oxygen from the compartments into special tanks or anything like that. It simply opened the compartments from nose to stern and expelled all the air. And also all the liquids from its tanks.
The old saying flashed in my mind: "Vacuum is a perfect thermos." It seems I was too little interested in the secrets of space to authoritatively declare that some terrible sorcery was happening on board.
If you dig into your memory, earthlings have never found ancient technology in space that was frozen. I think it wasn't about saving money on props.
You can also recall how earthlings arrived at an Ancients outpost buried under frozen magma. It was impossible to breathe inside, but as soon as all systems were launched – the suffocating gases were immediately replaced by a breathable atmosphere. Technologies of another, more developed civilization in its best manifestation, so to speak.
"It's cold," Kirik's teeth chattered, having removed his helmet.
"It will take time for the ship to restore comfortable conditions for people," I explained, checking the readings. "It's minus five now. In a minute, it will be twenty degrees throughout the ship."
Cool, however… I think in Earth they could have been gilded for such a life support system. But… And why the hell should I think about Earth? Or measure by old criteria?
Well, I assumed that everything is relatively good on Earth. Let's assume I even give them this stub of a warship. And… What next? Will they make me some kind of prince? King? Will they give me all the money on the planet?
It sounds "tasty," but… Why the hell do I need all this? I have a spaceship (well, one and a half), a city-ship, and a completely different level of needs and criteria for assessing usefulness.
Shaking my head, I threw empty thoughts out of it.
Simultaneously, I freed myself from my spacesuit and put it aside. It might still be useful.
"We need to contact our ship," Kirik said.
"As if I don't know," I said, shaking my head, and walked over to another console, checking the indicators that interested me. "The 'Hippophoralkus' is de-energized. Every system. Even if we wanted to, we can't contact them. The only way to help them is to fix the transporter."
Backup command post of battleships of the "Aurora" type and similar ones.
"What about the plan with the 'jumpers' in the hangar?" Kirik asked.
"As before, it remains for the most extreme case," I replied. "The hermetic seal of the sections inside it is compromised. To get there, we'll have to break open several doors, the control mechanisms of which are damaged. Immediately after that, the hangar and the entire 'Aurora' will begin to depressurize. When we were getting here, we forced open quite a few good doors. And a couple of them," I pointed to the red blinking bulkheads that marked our path to the bridge, "we did break."
"A couple?" Kirik clarified.
"Well, a dozen," I sighed. "Due to the failure of the locking mechanisms in the compartment we entered, we had to cut off several decks to prevent decompression."
"So that the escaping air wouldn't shift the 'Aurora' from its place?"
"I doubt even the ship's ruins could be moved so easily," I admitted. "But it's better not to study astrophysics by trial and error. We don't have that many spare parts to fix what's broken. So it's better not to break anything else unnecessarily. And yes, we should also cherish the oxygen."
"Can't the ship create the atmosphere itself in the required volumes?" Kirik wondered. "Chaya said it's simple work for the ship's systems."
"If the power system is working properly, yes," I confirmed, continuing to read what was on the screen. A ship's log is a fascinating thing. Especially if you read it from end to beginning. Only out of thousands of entries, I was interested in maybe a few hundred. "But the problem is precisely that the 'Aurora' is running on the remnants of its MNT's energy. The generators were damaged and are not functioning. So, we don't have time to enjoy the local scenery and appreciate the classic Lantian interior."
Comparing the ship's plan with what I already had, I mapped out a path to the transporter cabin. I'll have to cross half the ship, as it's located in the central part. And by its size, it's no bigger than that little room on Atlantis.
I wonder, in how many trips did the crew members go here? A hundred or two?
If I interpreted the data on the number of people in the crew correctly, there are about five hundred of them on the 'Aurora'. That's according to the roster. According to the stasis pods used, a little over three hundred. What happened to the rest – died in battle, during the journey, or did the starship go on a raid with an incomplete crew, remains a mystery for now.
Either way, three hundred and twenty Ancients is three hundred and twenty Ancients. No longer two and a half Lantians.
We left the spacesuits at the ZKP, of course. It would be foolish to carry them with us – the ship, at least the sections where we were going to work, were fully intact. So, if we don't have to take a walk in open space, everything is fine.
And now for the details I found out while the ship was restoring the required temperature, atmosphere quality, humidity, and other vital settings for the crew in its compartments.
The 'Aurora', despite all the damage it has sustained, is not going to fall apart. Thanks to the builders.
The starship was damaged while evading the Wraiths. They managed to complete their mission, jumped into hyperspace. But it turned out that the ship's damage was too great. Therefore, to avoid dying from the deadly radiation emitted by the damaged hyperdrive, it was decided to send the ship on a sublight speed flight. The crew went into stasis pods, contacted Atlantis, and requested help.
But there's a nuance. The ship's course lay in an area where there aren't many Stargates nearby. The 'Aurora' was sent in such a way that it would arrive at the nearest planet with a gate, where it would be met by repairmen from Atlantis in a hundred years. And... But after some time, the Lantians left the galaxy. And they didn't care about their brethren at all.
To make your brain explode completely, it's enough to understand the fact that it was from Atlantis that the signal was sent, which deactivated the ship's systems, except for the stasis pods. Thus, they made sure that the starship would not fall into the hands of the Wraiths. And the MNT on it, I suppose. And the fact that more than three hundred people ended up in a deadly trap...
Digging and freezing, I have no words to explain all this politely, even to myself. And, most importantly, without the desire to drag the Ascended by their energy genitals. They simply abandoned their kin to die slowly! To die!
Because, if there was any plan for a triumphant return to Atlantis, the Ancients clearly didn't implement it.
Damn it all! None of the Ascended even thought about saving their comrades! They just threw the big and fat rules of Ascension out the window regarding everything!
And yet, as Chaya told me, and as I knew myself, to Ascend, you don't necessarily have to strain yourself. From the higher planes of existence, you can simply be offered a "hand of friendship," "brotherly help," and all that. I'm sure that even nine, eight, or a couple of thousand years ago, it was definitely possible to thaw them all out and Ascend.
No words, only emotions. Although... I should stop being surprised by such things. These are the Ancients, damn them... "Everyone has the right to choose, and we cannot interfere." Spit on such a philosophy.
I don't even want to think about it anymore. I need to distract my head with more tactically important information.
The ship is incapable of traveling between galaxies, as it is equipped (like the 'Hippaphoralkus', by the way) only with an interstellar engine. But, I remember from the series, it's not a problem to convert them.
The starship has an arsenal for guided missiles – the main weapon of the Ancients. Only the crew fired every last drone in their final battle with the Wraiths.
There is indeed little energy in the MNT – at most half a percent or something close to it. In terms of MNT that Atlantis has, it's a drop in the ocean. In terms of the energy of the entire rest of the galaxy, this module would be enough to power an entire planet... for some time.
From the ship's log, it's clear that the starship received a secret mission from the Atlantis Council. The documents don't say what exactly they were tasked with, but I know that anyway: to discover weaknesses in Wraith technology. And the series also said that this information could turn the tide of the entire war. Delicious, give me more.
Only the data is encrypted with the ship's captain's code, and cracking such protection without Chaya or sophisticated hacking programs is completely unrealistic. But I think if we revive the captain, we can negotiate. Not that I want to start exterminating the Wraiths right now. But sooner or later, we will definitely clash to the death. And this will be a big problem. For us. The Wraiths don't care if they all die, except for one. He will be happy that there are more people left to feed on.
How, where, and by what means the crew gathered such valuable information is also unclear – there is no information about it in the ship's log. I don't think, of course, that they tracked the Wraiths and dissected them somewhere in a local dungeon until they revealed their most terrible secrets. I suspect that somewhere in the galaxy there is something like a secret laboratory or a surveillance center that collected this information. And the 'Aurora' was just a courier who delivered it.
It's just unclear why the starship was sent for such secrets when Atlantis was already under the waters of the Lantian ocean. Why not earlier? Why the 'Aurora' specifically? Weren't there more combat-ready ships? In the end, they could have disassembled the 'Aurora' for parts and restored the 'Hippaphoralkus'! They wouldn't have had to break through the entire Wraith fleet blocking Lantea!
It seems the Ancients never looked for easy ways.
After all, it's so great to create problems for yourself out of thin air, and then heroically overcome them. And not overcome them, shamefully fleeing to Earth and leaving an entire galaxy of people to the mercy of the Wraiths.
By the way, studying the ship's log gave me another indirect confirmation of what I already suspected: Atlantis is capable of docking starships at its piers. Because the 'Aurora' took off from "pier number two of Atlantis." I suspect it's one of the "large" piers; the other three are not trustworthy, and they are very densely built up. But the "large" ones in the central part have a cavity that fits the ship's dimensions very well in shape. Or very close to them.
Or maybe my imagination is running wild.
What's important is something else.
This ship is not only a source of valuable specialists but also rich in invaluable information. If only it hasn't become outdated by ten thousand years, otherwise it will be inconvenient.
"Look!" Kirik grabbed my hand, stopping me in the middle of the corridor. I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice we were almost there. "Are these the stasis pods you were talking about?"
For a second, I was still lost in my thoughts, after which I followed in the direction he indicated.
"Exactly," the answer made Kirik grunt and, without much fear, approach the structure protruding from the wall. "They allow the preservation of human bodies, slowing down their life processes to an absolute minimum."
Somewhat resembling a highly technological alien egg, the stasis pod on the 'Aurora' was a horizontal platform built into the wall. And there were dozens of rows of them – all the way to the corridor ceiling. And they are not small here. I don't know why the Ancients built corridors and compartments three to four meters high, but I think when you don't have to worry about saving space on ships, cramming useful mechanisms into every corner, you can afford comfort even on a research ship.
Stasis pods on board the 'Aurora'.
According to the beginning of the ship's log, the 'Aurora' was precisely a research starship. The flagship of its series. And its tasks, like those of its classmates, included exploring the darkest corners of the Pegasus galaxies. Where there are no Stargates.
The ship is very old – it is much more than ten thousand years old. At the time of its construction, it was considered cutting-edge technology. And the stasis pods are installed here precisely so that the great minds and most valuable representatives of their race do not waste precious days, months, and years flying around the galaxy.
Yes... This is another problem. The hyperdrive on the 'Aurora' is much older than the one on the 'Hippaphoralkus'. And traveling from one end of the dwarf galaxy Pegasus to the other could take... A few months at best. And even then, only thanks to the MNT.
My own battlecruiser flies faster, and solely on its generators – we reached the outskirts of the galaxy where the 'Aurora' was located in a week. The 'Aurora' needed months...
But even so, the technologies of this ship far surpass what even the most developed civilizations in the galaxy have. Including the Wraiths. Probably, including the Wraiths.
Meanwhile, Kirik approached the nearest pod and wiped a small icy film off the glass lid covering the upper part of the body of the person resting inside with his sleeve.
"If this is such excellent technology," he looked at me, "then why do you need the Wraiths' help?"
I also approached the pod, activating the scanner and passing it over the person frozen inside. The scanner beeped, displaying data on the screen.
"Look closely," I advised, reading the inscriptions on the screen.
Kirik, frowning, looked through the glass of the pod and recoiled, looking at me with wide eyes.
"It's an old man here!"
"The technology is good, but it's imperfect," I explained, pointing to the elderly man lying inside the stasis pod. "This guy was in the prime of his life when he went into the pod. Now he's a decrepit old man who will barely survive being pulled out of here without resuscitation in the form of reverse feeding by a Wraith."
"I don't think they'll be thrilled," Kirik shook his head. "After all... For them, the war was yesterday, and here... Waking up to find out that ten thousand years have passed, your race is practically extinct, and you yourself were saved thanks to a Wraith..."
"It's not that simple," I said, scanning the neighboring pods. "The Ancients are quite inventive guys. The people in these chambers are not just sleeping – their minds are active."
"How is that possible?"
"Something like a dream," I tried to explain. I think if I tell a former fugitive that the minds of the crew members are united in a virtual reality, in which they are on board a copy of the ship and living life... I think this explanation will also need to be explained. And we don't have much time. Although we have plenty of MNT reserves, but... I have a cunning little idea... But I can't do it myself, I'll need help.
I hope the crew members will help me with it. Well, if not... Then to hell with them, I'll just turn off the pods if these bastards don't recognize me as their leader and swear eternal service. Conditionally, of course. And I'm talking about the oath, not about turning off the pods.
I've had enough of Chaya's demarches. If another three hundred and twenty freeloaders are added to that, looking at me like I'm shit, it's better for them to die peacefully in their sleep. I'm not going to heroically throw myself onto the Lantian flag just because these guys are who they are. I have no desire to look into their mouths with admiration and catch every spark of their great (not) wisdom.
And besides, this is not a democracy here at all.
"And in their sleep, they... are awake?" Kirik asked suspiciously, referring to my words.
"The body sleeps, and the mind lives in a fabricated world, one for all," I explained as best I could. "They think they are still on board the 'Aurora'."
"And what are they doing there?" asked the former fugitive, looking around. "Watching us?"
"I hope not."
It was said in the series that the crew could not influence the physical world from their virtual reality. Therefore... This does not exclude the fact that there may be observation devices in the room with which the crew can know about our presence and peek.
In the events known to me, it was never possible to establish what exactly the crew perceived as reality. Before the Earthlings landed on board, Wraiths arrived on the 'Aurora', after which they managed to connect to the virtual reality and make the crew "forget" that they had entered the stasis chambers.
We, thankfully, didn't have that happen – the 'Aurora's' ship log notes the appearance of starships of any type in close proximity to it, as well as the boarding of living and non-living objects. We are the first to be here in so long.
It seems Chaya was right here too: the Earthlings were unlucky not to make it to the festival of life, as they had previously awakened all the Wraiths in the galaxy. That's why they only managed to have a brief chat with the crew, learn that the Wraith that infiltrated the virtual reality had deleted the secret message. And then, the Earthlings vanished into oblivion, with the ship's commander's consent, blowing up both the 'Aurora' and a couple of Wraith ships that had arrived.
A perfect story about how to shit without taking off your pants.
Honestly, both the Ancients themselves and their serial descendants... Oh, and I vowed not to judge. I'm not without sin myself. Just an hour ago, I almost died in outer space.
"Do you think a Wraith can really revive them all?" Kirik asked, looking around the chambers.
"It can handle a few, at least," I assured him, orienting myself by the map. This conversation was starting to annoy me. "So, I suggest we split up. Do you have a radio and a weapon with you?"
"Of course."
"Then your task is to go through all accessible rooms – the doors will open immediately when you approach them. If they don't open, it means the compartment is damaged and there's nothing to do there."
"And what am I supposed to do on this patrol?" Kirik inquired, glancing at my energy pistol in its hip holster.
"Check the pods," I ordered. "There should be a person in each one. If there's anyone else besides them, or if you find empty ones – let me know. And I, for now, will restore the transporter."
"Who else could be on board besides these people?" Kirik became wary.
"Ideally, no one. But anything can happen. Better to be safe. However, I don't think you need to inspect every pod – at most the first and second rows from the floor. If someone wanted to connect to this system, they wouldn't climb into a chamber right up to the ceiling."
"Logical."
"That's what we stand on."