Space Shenanigans Read online

  CONTENTS

  DISCLAIMER

  Copyright

  Bio

  Dedication

  Title Page

  Mars Express

  Home Sweet Mars

  Robopops

  Rick 2.0

  Ceresly?

  Yo Ho!

  Diego Sanchez!

  The Fleet

  The Admiral

  Sabotage

  Mad Mexican

  Battle of Ceres

  Saved by the Battle

  Commander Spickard

  Good Pirating

  69ers

  Captain my Captain

  Ganymede

  Red Rodriguez

  Man Down!

  Catch me if you can!

  No Rest for the Weary

  No Pain No Gain

  Rick 3.0

  Come Out and Play-ee-ay!

  RoJacked

  Love Soup

  Ghost Story

  Space Madness

  Where is Steve?

  Deep Dark

  Mega Prime

  Grand Designs

  Uninvited Guests

  Afterword

  DISCLAIMER

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The Last Human: Space Shenanigans

  By T.F.R. LeBoomington

  Book 2

  The Last Human Saga

  By T.F.R. LeBoomington

  Editor

  DLP

  Soon-to-be Dr. in Nanotechnology

  Cover by T.F.R. LeBoomington

  ISBN: 9781798817872

  www.thelasthuman.co

  © 2019 T.F.R. LeBoomington

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For permissions contact:

  [email protected]

  Join the conversation here!

  https://www.thelasthuman.co/blog

  Bio

  T.F.R. LeBoomington resides between London and France. When he’s not working on some mad project he's out researching his books and studying humans in their natural drinking environments.

  Throughout the years he's worked in marketing, video production, gaming, smart homes and more. His passion for technology and knowledge of the tech industry is excessive and a bit geeky.

  He's been writing since he was a kid, but never attempted to publish anything until 10 years ago when he tried and failed miserably. A couple of years ago he decided to start writing again, on the side. The result is The Last Human Saga. It's a product of his love of 80s and 90s pop culture mixed with his love of futurism and science-fiction, filtered through his life experience.

  I dedicate this work,

  To my great uncle. He died on the day I finished writing Book 2. At least I got to tell him the whole saga, he knew more than any of you reading it!

  And to my family, my inspirational hardworking sisters, my mother who always believed in me whatever foolish project I pursued and my father who probably wishes I’d just get a normal job.

  And to my editor, outstanding scientist and talented artist, without whom this book would the ramblings of a madman.

  And to my number one fan who’s managed to make me believe this is a good read. Then again she thought that on the first draft.

  And to all my friends, for their support, inspiration and good times!

  Thank you all so much!

  THE LAST HUMAN:

  Space Shenanigans

  BOOK TWO

  By T.F.R.

  LeBoomington

  Mars Express

  Moon would have enjoyed her trip a lot more if Rick hadn’t been shot. She’d always wanted to travel. Even more so because she was part of the team that had discovered the stargate system. She'd always put it off, but now that her life was in danger she regretted spending the last twenty years in the lab. She'd contributed to some of the most significant post-war scientific advancements but had never enjoyed the fruits of her labour.

  Perhaps the chaos brought about by the idiots was a good thing. Maybe she needed to get out of her comfort zone. She'd been lonely for so long. Now she was united with people by the strongest of bonds. Survival.

  Interstellar travel was complicated, to say the least, and was pretty much impossible before the stargates. Sending nanobot ships into the vast emptiness between celestial bodies was one thing but sending people was still out of the question. Ironically, it was slower to travel within the solar system than it was from one gated star system to another.

  Unfortunately, stargates only functioned near spacetime anomalies and were useless for interplanetary travel, so people still had to chug along from planet to planet at subluminal speeds.

  The fastest way to travel between planets was the Solus Express. It was Moon’s first time. Colleagues of her’s had worked on the project. To link the system, they’d adapted stargate tech to create a modular array of smart tracks made of acceleration portals. This allowed the Solus Express to accelerate to a decent percentage of the speed of light over relatively small distances and decelerate without causing injury to the passengers. What most ships did in days the Solus Express could do in mere hours. This made the space train the preferred transport method for most.

  The ship itself was Spaceballs long, so long that carriages were loaded a few at a time. Each one of the cars could seat a hundred, once they were full the next section would enter the platform. Since only one ship could travel through the track at any given time, it had made sense to make a space train.

  Twice a Terran day, the express would depart from Luna and head to Mars. Other tracks linked the other colonies. The express crisscrossed the system, and the tracks could reorganise themselves to keep the optimum trajectories according to the different phases of planetary orbits.

  Moon had been invited to the maiden voyage but had passed. It would have probably been more pleasant...

  Rick was unconscious. The plan was changing again. From what she’d gathered they were heading down to Mars now. They had to fix him. The superheated magnetically propelled projectile had severely damaged both Rick and his armour. Moon grimaced at the hole where his shoulder used to be. The armour had saved his life, but his shoulder was destroyed and his arm barely connected to the rest of his body. The suit’s medical support systems were keeping him alive, but he needed medical attention. His wound had been immediately filled with regenerative foam. The arm wouldn’t fall off. Yet. But it wouldn’t function either. As far as Moon could tell from her scans, there were no functioning bones, ligaments or tendons left in that zone.

  There had been little to no panic as they boarded the express and no one had chased them. Moon still couldn't believe what had happened. This was all so surreal. Brock just killed these people, who were trying to kill us. And they'd filmed it. What lunacy is this?

  People seemed comfortable in their seats and had paid little attention to the agitated group. Moon was bewildered by that. Brock was covered in blood and dragging a man in armour. The entire scene had been live on social media and countless on Terra had watched the action in awe. People millions of kilometres away were more excited than the ones sitting in front of them. Maybe the show’s following was lesser in the colonies. Maybe the express’ sound insulation was that good. Moon bent over and nestled her face in Moondog’s fur. What madness had she gotten herself into?

  ◆◆◆

 
The Solus Express had taken off soon after the group boarded. This put Moon at ease, somewhat… The express was the fastest way to Mars, they'd be safe from pursuers. For a while at least. She cradled her dog and glanced worriedly around the carriage. Rick was out cold. Amy was monitoring his vitals while in sync with Mom. She was blaming herself for what had happened. Going on about how it was her job to keep Rick safe. Gary looked like someone about to snap. He made Moon anxious. Brock’s features were stone-like. He stared blankly into the distance. He said he’d been in contact with his people on Mars. Whoever they might be... They'd be waiting for them at Mars Orbital with a transport.

  When Rick came to, all eyes were on him. He couldn’t move any part of his body. The suit had locked up to ensure his body would sustain no further injuries. Because of this Brock had laid him in between two facing seats, feet on one side and upper back and head on the other. The way a teenager might choose to sit if he was trying to be extra obnoxious.

  “What the fuck?” Moon was not surprised at the question. She was starting to understand him. Nobody rushed to answer. The answer seemed obvious. “What happened?” Maybe Rick didn’t know. It was probably his first time being shot by a railgun.

  “You’ve been shot,” Brock answered. Nobody could see Rick’s reaction because the helmet would stay stuck on as long as first aid was being administered by the suit’s systems.

  “Where?” Rick tried to move, but it wasn’t happening. “Where am I shot?” The suit’s medical systems should have done a good job of numbing the pain, so Rick’s question was probably earnest. Though to those looking at him and the scorched foam-filled hole where his arm used to meet his shoulder it seemed like a silly question. Brock's gloomy expression seemed to agitate Rick more. “I feel fine though.” Rick tried to turn his head again to get a look, but it still wasn’t happening. “Mom, can you do something about this?”

  “No. I’m sorry Rick, there’s no way of overriding the suit’s medical procedures. But I can do this!” The visor on Rick’s helmet slid up revealing his frowny face.

  “That’s great… Thanks, Mom.” The sarcasm was lost on no one. Moon smiled. How he kept his sense of humour in a time like this was beyond her comprehension.

  Rick strained to move some more, but the armour was well and truly locked. Moon was slightly amused by his efforts.

  “Yeah that’s the suit doing its job, but you’re not fine.” Brock tried a sympathetic look. The same look everyone else had been attempting. The awkward, forced-smile was slightly horrifying on him.

  “How’s Steve?”

  Brock looked surprised. “Who’s Steve?”

  “He’s fine” Gary turned to Brock, “he’s one of the camera bots. The last one.” Rick seemed relieved.

  “Hey, Steve! Mate! That was some sick ninja-ing around in the terminal! You’re crazy!” Moon shook her head but smiled on the inside.

  “So what happens now?” Moon thought it was a good question and a good time to ask it.

  “We go to Mars and fix Rick. Then we carry on with the plan.” Brock’s calm and composure was contagious. Moon felt better. Gary breathed a sigh of relief.

  “When are we getting to Mars?”

  “Eight hours and forty-six minutes left” Amy replied.

  “OK, I’ll have a nap then. Mom close the visor.” With that, Rick shut his eyes. He slept all the way to the station.

  ◆◆◆

  The Mars Orbital Station was a massive thing. Brock was making everyone study holograms of the space structures and Mars. Everyone had to be ready in case of an emergency. Moon caught herself feeling excited as they reviewed and planned scenarios. She understood how the spherical station was split into major sections. Brock traced out escape routes for them, exploiting traffic flow through the passenger areas and hiding spots in the commercial and shipping zones. Brock had drilled them with different scenarios until he was sure they’d know how to react. “It’s all about instincts” he’d droned on, “it needs to be second nature”, “you'll only have seconds to react”. Their preparations had lasted hours, Moon had been thankful when Brock relented, and she could finally nap. She dreamt of being chased in a busy station.

  There was a lot of traffic to and from the station. Mars was home to plenty of factories both orbital and on the surface. Most of the mining bounty from the asteroid field came to the Mars orbital factories after being sorted in Ceres. The constant line of ships toing and froing to Ceres had created a vibrant industry, and as a result, Mars was growing fast. Since it was first colonised in the thirties, the planet had seen its inhabited surface double every few years. Moon didn’t like being chased or shot at but was looking forward to visiting the red planet and was glad to have finally ridden the Solus Express. It hadn’t been the experience she’d have chosen, but at least now she knew the inner-workings of Mars orbital.

  Moon’s team had helped design the first Martian colonists. From Luna, they’d launched ships crewed by robots carrying bacteria, fungi, seeds, materials and equipment to start building the first habitats and to begin the terraforming process. They’d started by melting the poles with fusion reactors and targeted meteor impacts. This released the trapped atmosphere and propagated liquid water to the surface. They, however, failed to reactivate the Martian magnetosphere by re-starting the core convection currents. Instead, magnetic field generators had been set-up to shield the first transhuman colonists from radiation and keep the newly thickened atmosphere around.

  Almost overnight the appearance of Mars had changed. Bacteria, algae and modified extremophile organisms were the first organic colonists, and their combined effects accelerated the creation of a tolerable atmosphere. Several artificial gravity generators had been deployed around Martian colony sites in preparation for the arrival of the first colonists. Artificial gravity generators had to be kept small because they were very energy hungry and larger devices could expand into catastrophic world-ending black holes. They’d been developed in a lab close to Moon’s. There had been some close calls...

  By now Mars’ terraforming was well underway. Though it would take a while before it was properly Terra-like; the Martian Zero Cities and neighbouring regions were habitable and quite pleasant. Green spaces, water bodies and all those things people craved. Moon had heard nothing but praise. The melting of the poles had flooded most of the planet’s northern hemisphere creating the Great Martian Ocean. The region of Cydonia had become a coastal paradise after the flood and home to the Martians. Moon allowed herself to daydream of orange beaches and blue-green waves.

  Home Sweet Mars

  The Solus Express had begun its docking procedures with Mars Orbital Station and passengers had started gathering their things. The hustle and bustle woke Rick.

  “What’s all this noise?” Rick’s eyes fluttered open. He tried to move but found the armoured suit was still locked up. So it wasn’t a dream. Fuck. “Guys?”

  “We’re arriving, just about to dock with the station.” Amy was hovering just above Rick’s immobilised body. “How are you feeling?” She flashed the worried emoji on her display.

  “I’m fine. I mean... I feel fine.” Rick strained to move his head. “This is so annoying. I wanna get up. I wanna see Mars.”

  Rick had been so excited about visiting Mars. He’d been devastated when that path closed. But now that it had reopened he was crippled. The Universe worked in random confusing ways. Further confirmation of the futility of planning.

  “I’m sorry Rick we can’t override the suit’s medical systems. They're designed to protect you.” Amy seemed genuine enough but Rick wasn’t ready to give up.

  “Mom are you sure you can’t override the suit?”

  “No, I’m sorry Rick. Only medical professionals can do that.”

  “Well, you’re both useless…” Rick was pouting behind his visor, but it made no difference. There was nothing the AIs could do to unlock the suit, and no one could see his face anyway. Rick still thought they should see his unhapp
iness. His visor slid open just as Amy started again.

  “Well, actually we’ve set up a system to enable you to see…” Amy stopped to see if Rick’s curiosity was engaged.

  “What system?” Rick snapped at Amy, and she giggled at his powerlessness.

  “We’ve rigged your helmet so you can receive video feeds from us. You can see what I can see and also what Steve and Brock see.” Amy paused, she was trying to gauge his reaction. He was as pleased as can be. “Moon didn’t want you looking through her eyes though and, well, we thought you’d not want to see through Gary’s eyes.”

  “Hmmm, interesting…” Rick was intrigued. “So how does this work?”

  “Same as everything else. The suit’s brainwave conversion system. Just think it, and it will happen.”

  Before Amy could finish the visor slid down. Rick had switched to Brock’s sight. He was on one of the viewing platforms eyeing the space station. His eyes scanned the horizon, occasionally stopping on anything perceived as suspicious. It was impressive. He could zoom-in and focus on objects at incredible distances. I want some of those. Rick switched to Steve’s vision and could see Brock now. The bot was busy getting cutaways and pick-up shots. Rick changed to Amy and found himself looking at his immobilised self. This is weird. The hole in his shoulder was visible now. He frowned at the sight of the scorched wound and the seat’s bloodied fabric underneath. He switched back to his own sight and sighed.

  “Thanks ladies, this is cool. I appreciate it. Not sure what I’d do without you.” It was better than before, but the sight of his shoulder was a downer.