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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Subject: Science / Science Fiction
- Published: 01/03/2023
Dog Star Five
Born 1951, M, from Gore Bay, CanadaDog Star Five
By
Donald Harry Roberts
I Enos Monkeyman
Basically the Odyssey Sirius Habitat was a redesigned, elongated early model shuttle craft with and extended cargo area that contained twelve standard size freight shipping containers that would transform into individual, self-contained habitats, created that way in case one was defective or destroyed.
The forward section was the flight control compartment that housed most of the computers and electronic components as well as a small one person pilots chair which was more of a precautionary after thought. The most important device in that area was a panel with three button, red, green and blue, none of which the pilot would touch during the entire flight to Sirius Five aka Dog Star Five. I will expand on the use of these buttons in due course.
The Odyssey Sirius Habitat was constructed in space. The construction facility was built in the mid-21st century. It then took nearly fifty years to build the vessel, ten active, the remainder caused by various conflict of interest wars on earth, during which time the operation was stalled.
So it was the opening of the 22nd century that saw the construction completed, a completely automated vessel maintained entirely by self-diagnostic maintenance bots who operated entirely independently from the ships computer grids and powered by DM energy cells. The ships engines and power grid were also fueled (to state it loosely) by DM particle manipulators. A thing of magic for most ordinary people.
There after several tests were conducted to assess the reliability of the ship’s systems. Then came another delay when the Continental Trade Agreement broke down and another war ravished the earth for nearly ten years.
Somewhere/time in all that mess I was created. In a laboratory through genetic/DNA manipulation that produced a hybrid Homo-Simian.
I matured in 2125 and spent my entire life learning how to be the only biological creature aboard the Odyssey Sirius Habitat ship.
I was afforded no technical skills since the bots were capable of running and maintaining the ship. My position, which was actually considered moderately important to some, was to act as a last ditch backup system if all else failed.
The only information I had was that the ship was bound for Dog Star Five, a completely human friendly planet that was 93 % equivalent to earth and according to a hundred years of research, uninhabited by another intelligent race. The research had detected some lower forms of life though with little accuracy.
I have to give the creators of the project this, they afforded me every comfort and distraction available for my estimated ten year voyage to Dog Star Five.
Other than my creators I had never seen let alone met another human though I knew that there were billions confided in the terrestrial region of the solar system and millions in the Jovian region.
Mostly I was kept in isolation so that I would be entirely acclimatized to it. The ship was fitted with conversation apps for my convenience.
On January 1st, 2127, the Odyssey Sirius Habitat was towed to a position in the asteroid belt which was a precautionary advance. “Just in case the whole damned thing blows up in our face. We believe we have harnessed Dark Matter as an energy source and have manipulated it to act in the capacity of unlimited fuel for a year long 1g constant acceleration to near lightspeed, but really, we have no idea what is actually going to happen when the engines initiate. Out in the asteroid belt we doubt a negative reaction will effect earth.”
I did not hear that speech directly but later. Somehow it got recorded on the ships log system.
They Named me Enos Monkeyman, apparently to celebrate the monkey, a chimpanzee sent into space in 1961, some 166 years ago. May your adventure be as successful. I have never quite understood why I was created for this. Why a hybrid-human-simian. Why not just a human. Having said that I do not think they anticipated that their hybrid monkey would test out with an IQ of 207, higher than any human, and yet maintain an apish advance in many ways. There is more on that subject but I will save it for later. It is rather intriguing and somewhat ironic. On launch day I was 25 years old. I chose to make that the day of my birth because no one seemed able to define when I was born. The ship essentially was born on that day after many decades in the womb of creation.
To The Stars
I could spend pages trying to explain the dynamic calculations and equations concerning 1g constant acceleration, but why. Suffice to say that from 0 to 99.9% of light speed is achieved at that acceleration over the course of 145.5 days, ship time. 99% can be achieved in 134.5 days but that .9 % makes a huge difference to the flight time.
Ignition occurred without incident. The DM converter functioned exactly the way the developers had guessed. Lucky. Acceleration was smooth and barely noticeable. I saw only five asteroids as the ship exited the belt. Most people don’t understand that in the asteroid belt most objects are 600,000 miles apart, not crunched together like you might see in some old movies.
So began the slow climb to nearly light speed which calculated to nearly a year as previously anticipated by calculators. Sensors detected a non-abrasive friction that caused a significant degree resistance essential slowing the acceleration. I dubbed it seawater resistance though no one ever actually heard that.
I think, when they created me, they wanted a creature with a lower intellect that would not feel the effects of years of loneliness so much. I believe they would have been in error. A lower intelligence would have destroyed itself from the loneliness. I believe it was my extraordinary high intellect that kept me from the loneliness and boredom.
The bots did all the work and I could not interfere. So I used the time to study the dynamics of the Odyssey Sirius Habit ship over the year of acceleration and by the time full acceleration had been achieved I was well educated in every aspect of the vessel from the brain/the forward capsule and pilots chair to the DM exchanger and drive engines.
I was well prepared when the engines went into dormant stage, which was like a sleeping state.
This calculated to about a nine year real time voyage before the breaking process began and a year to arrive at our destination.
Concerning the actual flight/voyage to Dog Star Five there isn’t much to tell. Occasionally there was a proximity alert when an anomaly came near enough to activate the appropriate sensors, and for that the ship made minor course adjustments. Only once did the ship deem it necessary to activate the lasers to destroy a potentially dangerous asteroid. No record for the reasoning of that action was recorded. The machine simply did what it was designed to do.
As for myself, well I engaged in a bevy of experiments and inventions, some of which worked and some ended up in the recycle dump. But the real experiment and success came when my own creation took its first breath. I had found all the files, experiments and procedures concerning my own creation. I had to modify it somewhat so what I actually produced was a clone of Enos Monkeyman. I did not have individual simian and human dna samples.
So for seven of the nine years in flight I fathered and mentored my child, a male I named Charles, and made sure it would always be Charles. I should state that we were Orangutangs not chimpanzees.
Charles tested an IQ of 200 when he was eight years old, just before we arrived at Dog Star Five.
Interestingly, I never encouraged him to refer to me as Father but in his own discoveries he learned that I had in essence fathered him and it took only a brief explanation to help him understand why there was no mother involved.
I had to wonder what our earth propagators would have thought about my creating an offspring and companion.
Near the closing of the ninth year in flight the engine reactivated. The thrusters had automatical pivoted and began a breaking thrust. There was a slight shudder when the engines engaged but there after all went smoothly.
I make no apology that this voyage was not filled with dangerous adventures and may seem a little boring to some readers. Just imagine what the years were like since it is impossible to fill every moment of every day. Boredom was a factor but not prevalently destructive.
Nearly a year later the breaking thrusters shut down, the engines pivoted to their original position and the guidance thrusters activated. This is where things got slightly changed, which went against protocol. I took control of the pilot’s chair and steered the ship manually at will.
Sirius/ Dog Star Five was a small bluish/green marble now only thirty million miles away. I decided to approach slowly and am very glad I did.
Dog Star Five
It took five days to make my approach. the Five, as I had begun to call it, but that didn’t last long, nor did the concept that the planet was uninhabited by an intelligent race of people or that that race and others were completely alien to humanity.
I made a stationary orbit two hundred miles outside the planets ionosphere above a region of lakes, similar but much larger then our great lake region, and there were seven lakes. I had chosen a spot where I might settle the habitats, all of which would essentially land themselves once given appropriate coordinates.
I detected absolutely no manufactured structures so it wasn’t until the first night of my orbit that I learned there were cities down there. The physical world beyond sensor scans lit up with a million lights and I had no more started to reposition my ship when I suddenly found myself completely surrounded by small, one person pods and receiving directions inexplicably in English, slightly antiquated but none the less understandable.
“Prepare to be boarded by the Global Authority Security Service.”
I felt like I had flown around earth a few times and was orbiting over Europe.
I did what I was told and a few minutes later three security guards, unarmed it seemed, approached me in the command module.
“Earth humanoid but not human. Explain.”
Charles came out to join me.
I explained in detail who we were, which I need not repeat for you the reader.
Then I added. “I do not know why they did not come themselves. It makes little sense to me.”
“Do not try to understand humans. It will end up only in frustration. But tell us why you are here.”
“I am exploring the possibility of humans coming here to colonize the planet. They have no idea it is inhabited though they would recognized your species as Elf.” I explained.
“Yes. That is what they called us when we explored their world. I am surprized it took them this long to reach out into space.”
I did not respond to that other than to shrug my shoulders. Instead I said, I am Enos and this is my protégé Charles. We are here in peace and will depart if you so choose.”
“I am Ta Ja Nar. My companions are Tilarwen and Darvin. We will not allow you to land your colony vessel but you and your protégé are welcome to remain as long as you wish, forever if that is the choice.”
“I think we’d like that. Living among the elves, the magic people.” I said wistfully.
“We call ourselves Cini and this world is Sylvania. We share this world with many species you will recognize and some considerably alien as well.”
“What should I do with this ship?” I queried, expecting to be ordered to destroy it.
“I suggest you redirect it to what earth knows as Bernard’s Star. There is an uninhabited planet there suitable for human occupation. I am sure you can re-direct its communications as well. What you say became of you is your concern.”
“Nothing. I shall say nothing. They don’t need to know nor would they care much. I was just a monkey to them. They do not even know about Charles.”
“You may or may not be pleased to know that there are hybrids and humans here already. The humans came back with us when we left earth and the hybrids are a mystery even to our knowledge and wisdom.”
The Odyssey Sirius Habitat accelerated out of sight now restored to completely automated operations. Bernard was two light years away so it would be nearly four before it found an orbit around the inhabitable planet. I had to wonder if the humans would even realize the change. Probably not. They were essentially flying blind. I wondered if they had survived. When I departed there was another war lurking on the conflict horizon. It bothered me a little and for a moment but in truth I didn’t much care what became of them.
Charles and I settled in a nice little town, quaint and pseudo-medieval and we soon learned that the elf magic of lore was magic, Dark Matter Magic which you may have some concept of.
The village was inhabited by hybrids like Charles and I but they called themselves Chimerians.
In time I met many other species, some recognizable from lore and mythology and some completely alien but none the less comparable and companionable once we got use to each other.
A Final Note
There is something absolutely wonderful about Sylvania. Once you have been here for a while something in its atmosphere retards the aging process. I am now nearly a thousand years old. Many of the indigenous inhabitants are three and four thousand years old. Add to that I have learned the magic of Dark Matter and if I ever chose to I could visit earth with a thought and maybe someday I will, but not soon.
Charles has found a mate of a simian nature and they have produced children. I have chosen not to reproduce. I have chosen to explore the sciences of magic and aligned myself to the Guild.
But I must say, not is all perfect and without strife here for no matter where you are in this universe there is the element of negative energy that can emerge and arise at any time anywhere. I am just glad that so far the incidents of negativity have been few and easily dispelled.
Ado.
Dog Star Five(Donald Harry Roberts)
Dog Star Five
By
Donald Harry Roberts
I Enos Monkeyman
Basically the Odyssey Sirius Habitat was a redesigned, elongated early model shuttle craft with and extended cargo area that contained twelve standard size freight shipping containers that would transform into individual, self-contained habitats, created that way in case one was defective or destroyed.
The forward section was the flight control compartment that housed most of the computers and electronic components as well as a small one person pilots chair which was more of a precautionary after thought. The most important device in that area was a panel with three button, red, green and blue, none of which the pilot would touch during the entire flight to Sirius Five aka Dog Star Five. I will expand on the use of these buttons in due course.
The Odyssey Sirius Habitat was constructed in space. The construction facility was built in the mid-21st century. It then took nearly fifty years to build the vessel, ten active, the remainder caused by various conflict of interest wars on earth, during which time the operation was stalled.
So it was the opening of the 22nd century that saw the construction completed, a completely automated vessel maintained entirely by self-diagnostic maintenance bots who operated entirely independently from the ships computer grids and powered by DM energy cells. The ships engines and power grid were also fueled (to state it loosely) by DM particle manipulators. A thing of magic for most ordinary people.
There after several tests were conducted to assess the reliability of the ship’s systems. Then came another delay when the Continental Trade Agreement broke down and another war ravished the earth for nearly ten years.
Somewhere/time in all that mess I was created. In a laboratory through genetic/DNA manipulation that produced a hybrid Homo-Simian.
I matured in 2125 and spent my entire life learning how to be the only biological creature aboard the Odyssey Sirius Habitat ship.
I was afforded no technical skills since the bots were capable of running and maintaining the ship. My position, which was actually considered moderately important to some, was to act as a last ditch backup system if all else failed.
The only information I had was that the ship was bound for Dog Star Five, a completely human friendly planet that was 93 % equivalent to earth and according to a hundred years of research, uninhabited by another intelligent race. The research had detected some lower forms of life though with little accuracy.
I have to give the creators of the project this, they afforded me every comfort and distraction available for my estimated ten year voyage to Dog Star Five.
Other than my creators I had never seen let alone met another human though I knew that there were billions confided in the terrestrial region of the solar system and millions in the Jovian region.
Mostly I was kept in isolation so that I would be entirely acclimatized to it. The ship was fitted with conversation apps for my convenience.
On January 1st, 2127, the Odyssey Sirius Habitat was towed to a position in the asteroid belt which was a precautionary advance. “Just in case the whole damned thing blows up in our face. We believe we have harnessed Dark Matter as an energy source and have manipulated it to act in the capacity of unlimited fuel for a year long 1g constant acceleration to near lightspeed, but really, we have no idea what is actually going to happen when the engines initiate. Out in the asteroid belt we doubt a negative reaction will effect earth.”
I did not hear that speech directly but later. Somehow it got recorded on the ships log system.
They Named me Enos Monkeyman, apparently to celebrate the monkey, a chimpanzee sent into space in 1961, some 166 years ago. May your adventure be as successful. I have never quite understood why I was created for this. Why a hybrid-human-simian. Why not just a human. Having said that I do not think they anticipated that their hybrid monkey would test out with an IQ of 207, higher than any human, and yet maintain an apish advance in many ways. There is more on that subject but I will save it for later. It is rather intriguing and somewhat ironic. On launch day I was 25 years old. I chose to make that the day of my birth because no one seemed able to define when I was born. The ship essentially was born on that day after many decades in the womb of creation.
To The Stars
I could spend pages trying to explain the dynamic calculations and equations concerning 1g constant acceleration, but why. Suffice to say that from 0 to 99.9% of light speed is achieved at that acceleration over the course of 145.5 days, ship time. 99% can be achieved in 134.5 days but that .9 % makes a huge difference to the flight time.
Ignition occurred without incident. The DM converter functioned exactly the way the developers had guessed. Lucky. Acceleration was smooth and barely noticeable. I saw only five asteroids as the ship exited the belt. Most people don’t understand that in the asteroid belt most objects are 600,000 miles apart, not crunched together like you might see in some old movies.
So began the slow climb to nearly light speed which calculated to nearly a year as previously anticipated by calculators. Sensors detected a non-abrasive friction that caused a significant degree resistance essential slowing the acceleration. I dubbed it seawater resistance though no one ever actually heard that.
I think, when they created me, they wanted a creature with a lower intellect that would not feel the effects of years of loneliness so much. I believe they would have been in error. A lower intelligence would have destroyed itself from the loneliness. I believe it was my extraordinary high intellect that kept me from the loneliness and boredom.
The bots did all the work and I could not interfere. So I used the time to study the dynamics of the Odyssey Sirius Habit ship over the year of acceleration and by the time full acceleration had been achieved I was well educated in every aspect of the vessel from the brain/the forward capsule and pilots chair to the DM exchanger and drive engines.
I was well prepared when the engines went into dormant stage, which was like a sleeping state.
This calculated to about a nine year real time voyage before the breaking process began and a year to arrive at our destination.
Concerning the actual flight/voyage to Dog Star Five there isn’t much to tell. Occasionally there was a proximity alert when an anomaly came near enough to activate the appropriate sensors, and for that the ship made minor course adjustments. Only once did the ship deem it necessary to activate the lasers to destroy a potentially dangerous asteroid. No record for the reasoning of that action was recorded. The machine simply did what it was designed to do.
As for myself, well I engaged in a bevy of experiments and inventions, some of which worked and some ended up in the recycle dump. But the real experiment and success came when my own creation took its first breath. I had found all the files, experiments and procedures concerning my own creation. I had to modify it somewhat so what I actually produced was a clone of Enos Monkeyman. I did not have individual simian and human dna samples.
So for seven of the nine years in flight I fathered and mentored my child, a male I named Charles, and made sure it would always be Charles. I should state that we were Orangutangs not chimpanzees.
Charles tested an IQ of 200 when he was eight years old, just before we arrived at Dog Star Five.
Interestingly, I never encouraged him to refer to me as Father but in his own discoveries he learned that I had in essence fathered him and it took only a brief explanation to help him understand why there was no mother involved.
I had to wonder what our earth propagators would have thought about my creating an offspring and companion.
Near the closing of the ninth year in flight the engine reactivated. The thrusters had automatical pivoted and began a breaking thrust. There was a slight shudder when the engines engaged but there after all went smoothly.
I make no apology that this voyage was not filled with dangerous adventures and may seem a little boring to some readers. Just imagine what the years were like since it is impossible to fill every moment of every day. Boredom was a factor but not prevalently destructive.
Nearly a year later the breaking thrusters shut down, the engines pivoted to their original position and the guidance thrusters activated. This is where things got slightly changed, which went against protocol. I took control of the pilot’s chair and steered the ship manually at will.
Sirius/ Dog Star Five was a small bluish/green marble now only thirty million miles away. I decided to approach slowly and am very glad I did.
Dog Star Five
It took five days to make my approach. the Five, as I had begun to call it, but that didn’t last long, nor did the concept that the planet was uninhabited by an intelligent race of people or that that race and others were completely alien to humanity.
I made a stationary orbit two hundred miles outside the planets ionosphere above a region of lakes, similar but much larger then our great lake region, and there were seven lakes. I had chosen a spot where I might settle the habitats, all of which would essentially land themselves once given appropriate coordinates.
I detected absolutely no manufactured structures so it wasn’t until the first night of my orbit that I learned there were cities down there. The physical world beyond sensor scans lit up with a million lights and I had no more started to reposition my ship when I suddenly found myself completely surrounded by small, one person pods and receiving directions inexplicably in English, slightly antiquated but none the less understandable.
“Prepare to be boarded by the Global Authority Security Service.”
I felt like I had flown around earth a few times and was orbiting over Europe.
I did what I was told and a few minutes later three security guards, unarmed it seemed, approached me in the command module.
“Earth humanoid but not human. Explain.”
Charles came out to join me.
I explained in detail who we were, which I need not repeat for you the reader.
Then I added. “I do not know why they did not come themselves. It makes little sense to me.”
“Do not try to understand humans. It will end up only in frustration. But tell us why you are here.”
“I am exploring the possibility of humans coming here to colonize the planet. They have no idea it is inhabited though they would recognized your species as Elf.” I explained.
“Yes. That is what they called us when we explored their world. I am surprized it took them this long to reach out into space.”
I did not respond to that other than to shrug my shoulders. Instead I said, I am Enos and this is my protégé Charles. We are here in peace and will depart if you so choose.”
“I am Ta Ja Nar. My companions are Tilarwen and Darvin. We will not allow you to land your colony vessel but you and your protégé are welcome to remain as long as you wish, forever if that is the choice.”
“I think we’d like that. Living among the elves, the magic people.” I said wistfully.
“We call ourselves Cini and this world is Sylvania. We share this world with many species you will recognize and some considerably alien as well.”
“What should I do with this ship?” I queried, expecting to be ordered to destroy it.
“I suggest you redirect it to what earth knows as Bernard’s Star. There is an uninhabited planet there suitable for human occupation. I am sure you can re-direct its communications as well. What you say became of you is your concern.”
“Nothing. I shall say nothing. They don’t need to know nor would they care much. I was just a monkey to them. They do not even know about Charles.”
“You may or may not be pleased to know that there are hybrids and humans here already. The humans came back with us when we left earth and the hybrids are a mystery even to our knowledge and wisdom.”
The Odyssey Sirius Habitat accelerated out of sight now restored to completely automated operations. Bernard was two light years away so it would be nearly four before it found an orbit around the inhabitable planet. I had to wonder if the humans would even realize the change. Probably not. They were essentially flying blind. I wondered if they had survived. When I departed there was another war lurking on the conflict horizon. It bothered me a little and for a moment but in truth I didn’t much care what became of them.
Charles and I settled in a nice little town, quaint and pseudo-medieval and we soon learned that the elf magic of lore was magic, Dark Matter Magic which you may have some concept of.
The village was inhabited by hybrids like Charles and I but they called themselves Chimerians.
In time I met many other species, some recognizable from lore and mythology and some completely alien but none the less comparable and companionable once we got use to each other.
A Final Note
There is something absolutely wonderful about Sylvania. Once you have been here for a while something in its atmosphere retards the aging process. I am now nearly a thousand years old. Many of the indigenous inhabitants are three and four thousand years old. Add to that I have learned the magic of Dark Matter and if I ever chose to I could visit earth with a thought and maybe someday I will, but not soon.
Charles has found a mate of a simian nature and they have produced children. I have chosen not to reproduce. I have chosen to explore the sciences of magic and aligned myself to the Guild.
But I must say, not is all perfect and without strife here for no matter where you are in this universe there is the element of negative energy that can emerge and arise at any time anywhere. I am just glad that so far the incidents of negativity have been few and easily dispelled.
Ado.
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Shirley Smothers
08/09/2023What a great story. You should try to get this professionaly published. A great read. Congratulations!
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
Lillian Kazmierczak
08/09/2023Donald, that was a fantastic read! Such detail made the story fascinating! A well-deserved short story star of the day!
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