Buck Rogers
by AJ Marks
Part 2
Buck tried to get comfortable on the ‘bed’, if one could call it that, a slab of, something, with almost no padding. Perhaps that is what they used, if so it was highly uncomfortable and probably was the cause of their grumpiness, lack of a good night’s sleep.
He stretched out a bit, wondering what might happen next as the door slide open to reveal two more of the aliens standing there. They were both pointing their weapons at him as they looked at each other.
“Come along,” one said, surprising Buck that he even spoke.
Standing up he made his way over following along as they went down a few corridors, then up an elevator and finally down one more corridor. Neither of them spoke and Buck decided to stay quiet as well not wanting to make another mistake.
“Through here,” the guard said, opening a door allowing him to go through.
Inside he looked around seeing a room which confused him again as he spotted a human woman with dark hair sitting there. How could a human be here? He frowned as he looked at the others, two more aliens, and what appeared to be a robot even as a chair was offered to him to sit down on.
“This is the human you sent to spy on us,” one of the aliens said to the other human in the room.
“Now wait a second, I’m no spy,” Buck said speaking up unsure what was going on but he would not be called a spy when he wasn’t one.
“Silence spy, you have no right to speak,” the alien replied back.
“I have a question for him, if I may, it might get to the truth,” a voice said causing Buck to look around knowing it probably wasn’t the woman as the voice seemed male. He looked around seeing the small grey robot but it didn’t seem like him and he noticed that everyone was looking at a canteen-looking device on table.
“Very well, but make it quick,” the alien said.
“What is your name?” Buck heard the question but still could not figure out who asked the question.
“Who asked that?” Buck said looking at them all.
“Answer the question human,” one of the aliens sitting down said.
“Fine, I’m Captain William ‘Buck’ Rogers’, US Air Force, and some manners might do you good,” Buck said mumbling the last part out while still trying to figure out who he should be addressing.
“Fascinating,” he heard the male voice say again, but the small robot didn’t seem to be speaking.
“US Airforce, what’s that?” the woman said speaking up for the first time.
“The US is a shortened term for a country called the United States of America founded in the late 17000s and lasting until the late 2200s and was for a time considered a superpower during the first and second world wars and the Cold War,” the male voice said again as Buck looked down at the canteen which seemed to have lit up when he heard the voice speak. Was it some sort of communicator? He still pondered this when it ‘spoke’ again. “Captain William Buck Rogers was presumed lost in 2021 with project Wormhole, the first attempt by Earth to develop a warp drive.”
“I’m dead?” Buck said as nothing made sense to him.
“Explain more,” one of the aliens stated.
“This man, if he is who he claims to be, has been dead for over 400 years,” the canteen said and Buck noticed the lights flash with the words.
“A likely story.”
“If its true then his ship will have a primitive, and dangerous, Thu’lue FTL drive engine which, as you know, has been outlawed across the galaxy,” the canteen replied.
Buck looked around and back at the aliens as they spoke in a language he didn’t understand before one of the finally spoke up again.
“It is a primitive drive, how did you know that?”
“It was the first attempt by a nation of Earth to develop a FTL drive, or warp drive, as the scientists of Earth in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries considered, incorrectly, that going faster than light was impossible,” the canteen replied surprising Buck at what was said.
“Typical Earth arrogance,” the alien replied back.
Buck felt slighted at the reply by the aliens, and thought about saying something but a look from the woman silenced him. He waited a bit to see what would happen next and looked at the canteen, hoping that whoever was using the communicator was smart enough to give a good reply back.
“Your own race underwent a similar belief before contact with the Basslians made you consider other options,” the canteen said and he thought the aliens bristled at the statement.
Buck took a second to review what had been stated in the conversation. He had been presumed dead by Earth for almost 400 years now and, if the canteen was correct, the US no longer existed which also meant that everyone he ever knew, loved or cared for was dead as well. Such information would take some time to comprehend considering he was supposed to be on a short trip.
He looked back up seeing that everyone appeared to be looking down at something he did not have as they were silent for several minutes. The silence weighed on buck and he wanted someone to say something, anything, to end the silence. He thought about saying something but nothing came to his mind.
“Well, this does support your statement,” one of the aliens finally said looking up from whatever it was they were reading.
“Unfortunately the Thu’lue drive, while dangerous, is also the first step for almost all space-faring races as it’s the easiest drive to theorize,” the canteen said speaking up again.
“Still, such an event has never happened before,” the alien said.
“No, you are right, which indicates something went wrong with the test,” the canteen stated.
“There was a power surge, I tried to abort,” Buck said earning a glare from the aliens.
“Interesting, if he had not fully reached light speed its possible his actions could have saved his life,” the canteen said. “This is a question for our scientists, I would hope you share the data from the flight recorder, nothing else than to solve this mystery.”
Buck looked over at the aliens watching them for several seconds.
“Very well, I suppose other races will also want this information,” the alien said. “This does support your statements.”
“Earth Alliance has no wish to violate the treaty with the Rizonian Empire, and sending a spy like this is beneath both of us,” the canteen said again.
“Very well, we shall investigate the ship, if what you say is true it should validate everything, but if the treaty is violated again we demand double the reparations.”
“Double!” the woman said standing up and Buck noticed the rage on her face. “We did nothing wrong here!”
“Wilma,” the canteen said, his voice stern. “I’m sure double is acceptable, but we reserve the same right if you violate the treaty.”
“Fine,” the alien stated, then without further discussion they stood and left the room leaving buck, the woman and robot alone in the room.
He looked at the door then back at the others wondering what happened. The move did not seem to upset, bother, or even effect the others almost as if they expected such a reaction.
“Biggy biggy, I’m glad that’s over,” the smaller robot said, his mouth lighting up as he spoke.
“Twiki, be nice, we have a guest,” the canteen replied back as Buck looked at them wondering what exactly had happened here.
“I’m Captain Wilma Deering,” the woman said introducing herself for the first time. “This is Doctor Theopolis, advisor to Earth, and his sidekick, Twiki,” she said indicating the canteen and small robot. “We should probably get going, Twiki you know the way back?”
“Of course, biggy,” Twiki replied back.
“I’m all for that, and you all seem to already know my name, but I prefer Buck,” he said to them.
“Lead on Twiki,” Wilma said as they left the room, went down a few corridors, and passed a few aliens who paid them no mind, until they reached a large hangar.
Buck looked on at the large shuttle, something he had never seen before. It looked like another sci-fi show, and he wondered when he had been transported to some other dimension where sci-fi was a large part of everyone’s life. Either way he was glad to be leaving this ship and headed back home.
*****
Buck felt the shuttle lift off with an odd rocking sensation he never felt before and it was more like a car driving than in a spaceship. He relaxed back into the chair, which was very comfortable compared to the quarters the aliens had given him and took a moment to look around. Everything seemed like a billionaire’s airliner, polished, neat and clean and everything in looked to be expensive to him.
“Well Captain Rogers, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, perhaps I can answer some of them for you on our way back,” the canteen, Doctor Theopolis, said to him.
“Yeah, you could say that,” Buck said back to him trying to figure out where to start. “Where are you and how does this communicator work?”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand the question Captain Rogers, I am right here in this shuttle and I don’t know what you mean by communicator,” Theopolis replied.
“You’re a human speaking to me through this device,” Buck said picking up the canteen and looking it over a bit closer wondering how it worked.
“Please put me down Captain Rogers,” Theopolis said. “I am a series 2100 AI, used to help advice the Earth Council in important decision as I am not swayed by emotions but logical decisions.”
Buck almost dropped the canteen at the explanation but took one more look and placed it back down on the table. He looked it over wondering if it really was a robot, and if it was, possibly the most complex robot he had ever seen before. He looked at it again, this time with better understanding at how it knew so much.
“Then Twiki is?” Buck asked looking over at the grey robot.
“Biggy biggy, his legs,” Twiki replied. “Nice to meet you Buck.”
“Um, nice to meet you too,” Buck replied, still a bit uncertain at everything and knew it would take some time to get used to everything. Robots of such complexity and ability to carry on a conversation was something he had not seen, and only heard of on internet forums and news articles. “Has it really been that long?” Buck asked, looking back at Theopolis.
“Yes Captain Rogers, you were assumed to have died when the Enterprise went to warp,” Theopolis replied back. “The warp drive used on the Enterprise is known to be highly unpredictable and with side effects that vary greatly. Some blow up and others are never seen again, it seems that they slip into light speed and disappear. Interesting that yours reappeared, perhaps it was a glitch, very interesting.”
“So, are we currently going faster than the speed of light?” Buck asked changing the subject from the assumption of him dead.
“Yes, this shuttle is equipped with the latest warp drive, and we are currently going 20 times the speed of light and should arrive back at Earth within the hour,” Theopolis replied almost blowing Buck’s mind at that. He had no idea such speeds were even possible. “You see Buck, once you break the speed of light Liam’s laws of physics takes hold.”
“Liam’s physics?” Buck asked having never heard of this term before.
“Ah, yes, Melissa Liam, she was a few decades after you’re failed flight, but she theorized that once you broke through the barrier of light speed, time began to resume again, a bit like a reverse bell curve. Of course the hardest part was actually breaking through the barrier, but we discovered that she was correct.
Buck had no idea what Theopolis was saying but he assumed it made some sense, though it still sounded very sci-fi in his opinion.
“So, Earth is now much more technologically advanced?” he asked waiting to hear what he might have to learn again.
“Yes and no, there are different groups on Earth still, think of them like countries, some are more primitive than what you probably recall, others much more advanced. The wars did a lot of things, separated a lot of groups,” Theopolis stated.
Buck realized how much history he would have to learn once more and wondered what type of wars went on during his absence. He assumed a nuclear war had been avoided much to his relief.
“So, does your group represent Earth in space and the other races?” Buck asked switching the conversation a bit to something he might need to know.
“There are two space-faring countries on Earth, the North American Alliance and the United Asia Confederacy. Some parts of Europe are parts of the two groups, and Australia, which is part of the NAA,” Theopolis answered before continuing. “The NAA is slightly more advanced in space faring, so we generally take the lead over the UAC, but many times the two nations will work together, like defense.”
Buck nodded but really had no clue to what it all mean in the long run. Something else he would have to learn and if the two countries were close or not.
“I will say, you caused quite the commotion, you could say it was almost a war with the Rizonian Empire,” Theopolis said surprising Buck, as the last thing he wanted was to start a war. “They are fiercely territorial with any race, and anyone entering is usually destroyed, you were lucky.”
“Probably wanted to see who I was first, I did send out a communications right away,” Buck said recalling what happened.
“Yes, a primitive technology probably seemed a bit strange to them,” Theopolis stated. “They probably were confused as why such a ship entered their space, especially with a human on board. There are other ways to spy on them which are easier, better, and do not risk the treaty we have with them.”
Buck pondered that for a few seconds wondering what types of spy technology they might have now compared to when he left. He had a lot to adapt to if he was to reacquaint himself with Earth and its technology, and the politics had probably changed tremendously as well. Maybe he wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore like he would have if the test had been successful.
Either way he looked forward to returning to Earth to see the changes, and be back home.
End part 2