Free Omega Rising by Joshua Dalzelle Page B

throughout history didn’t come when he thought about Deetz living in servitude. Was it because Deetz would be considered a machine on Earth, or was it simply that the situation he was in was so outside of his “normal” that he couldn’t apply any of his values to it?

                  “We’re exiting your star system now. We’ll be flying by a few interesting objects on our way out if you’re interested,” Deetz’s voice over the intercom stirred Jason from his thoughts. He swallowed the last, room temperature gulp of chroot and made his way back to the bridge.

                  “On my way,” he said, leaving his mug behind for one of the little service bots to collect.

                  Walking onto the bridge Jason saw that there were indeed some objects outside canopy, and they appeared to be illuminated by something other than the sun. “I’ve spot-lighted this asteroid while the ship completes a scan of it. All the objects out here are the left over debris from the formation of your star system, the forward sensors flagged this one as possibly having some rare compounds that may be worth extracting while we’re out here. We’re not necessarily on a tight schedule after all,” Deetz informed him as he slid into the copilot’s seat. As soon as he sat down the displays all faded out and came back up in English and displaying units of measure he could actually understand.

                  “So why light it up?”

              “Actually that was for your benefit. The ship obviously doesn’t need illumination to do the scans. I surmised what part of the spectrum is visible to your species from your medical scan and had the emitters project those wavelengths to illuminate the object.” Deetz seemed especially pleased with himself as he favored Jason with one of those odd, closed-mouth smiles.

                  “Thanks, I appreciate that,” and he did. The opportunity to view a Kuiper Belt object up close and in person was something to be savored, but it was also more than just that. Since the beginning of this trip he had walked on Mars, looked upon Jupiter, and was now observing an asteroid tumble through the interminable blackness of space, at the edge of Sol’s influence. All of this wonder to behold, and while on an alien spaceship and accompanied by an alien being to boot. Jason had met everything that had happened thus far with a childlike wonder and awe, and he was certain this innocence would not, could not last as he left his own world further behind. The fact that he was aboard a machine of war was indicative of the nature of the universe that waited for him.
    A series of beeps from his displays grabbed his attention, the ship had completed its scan of the object and didn’t find anything of note, certainly nothing worth staying for. Without a word Deetz grabbed the controls and turned the ship away from the object and began accelerating out of the system. This far up the gravity well the ship had enough power to pull directly away without taxing the engines. The acceleration numbers, presented in G-forces on his display, were astonishing. So much so that it became abstract, Jason knew if an Earth-bound vehicle accelerated this fast its occupants would be pulverized into a gelatinous mash against the rear bulkheads.
    Another set of warnings appeared on his display as they were still accelerating out into interstellar space, this one said ‘ Stand by for slip-space transition.’ Having been a science fiction fan for much of his life, Jason was looking forward to being there when the ship began travelling faster than the speed of light. A countdown from “5” appeared in the middle of his display and began winding down slightly faster than the Earth-seconds he was used to. At “1” the canopy suddenly went opaque and the lights on the bridge dimmed slightly for a split second, indicating an enormous power drain on