Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Chapter 2 Pain excruciating, mind numbing, piercing pain. Then as quickly as it started, it stopped. Mike slowly became aware of his surroundings, and realized something wasn't quite right. Opening his eyes, everything was blurry. Mike's head throbbed slowly like the beat of a distant drummer. He lay still for a moment and began feeling a little better. As his eyes came into focus, Mike saw he was not at the bottom of the hole anymore. Instead, it looked like a hospital, though not like any he had ever seen. Some of the things in the room were so futuristic in design they would not have been out of place in a science fiction movie. A strong disembodied male voice startled Mike out of his reverie. "Ah, I see you are awake. How are you feeling? Would you like some refreshments?" For a good ten seconds, Mike was too shocked to speak. When he did manage to say something it came out like "Whadduppa." The voice said, "Could you repeat that? I did not understand what you said." Trying to calm himself, Mike took three nice, deep, even breaths and said. "What is going on? Where am I? Who are you? And what the hell is going on?" Mike was starting to panic again, as if sensing his discomfort the voice said. "Please, try to remain calm. I'm not going to hurt you." Mike said, "Ok, but could you explain what's happening? And by the way, my name is Mike." "Yes, of course Mike." said the voice. "About two hours ago you fell through a hole in the ground. When you landed you broke both your legs in several places, fractured your skull, then after that, you went into shock. Luckily for you Mike, you landed outside the airlock of this ship." "I am the ship's AI. I came out of sleep mode when you landed outside. I had a maintenance droid take you to the med-bay. The auto-doc examined and completely healed you in under an hour. All your bones are healed, as if they were never broken. The only side effects will be a slight headache." Mike was silent for a few minutes absorbing this information. Mike's brain boiled it down to three simple thoughts: ship, AI, healed. "What's going to happen to me now?" Mike asked. The AI replied, "Well nothing is going to happen to you. I was hoping you might be able to help me. You see you are the first person I've come in contact with, for over ten thousand years. I would like to know what's going on. As you can tell, I have been out of touch. What is the status of the Emperor and his empire? Have anymore ships disappeared like this one did?" A little hesitant at first Mike said, "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about an Emperor or any empire. People on this planet haven't even traveled past our moon yet. I don't know what kind of help I can be to you." The AI was silent for a few moments then said; "I know exactly what you can do to help me, if you're willing. Would you become my captain?" Mike thought this request over for a minute. Mike thought, "Could I really take responsibility for a ship like this?" Seconds later he made his decision and said, "Yeah sure, I will be your captain. But you're going to have to explain exactly what happened to this ship and its crew." For half an hour, the AI told Mike everything about the ship. The AI told about the sabotage to all the vital systems, how the crew had to abandon the ship on this planet, how they settled it, and how they forgot their own history so they could make some kind of life here. Mike was a little disturbed by the news of sabotage, but was excited by the story nonetheless. Mike decided that it was time to get up. Slowly Mike swung his legs around over the side of the bed. With little difficulty, he got up and started to walk around the room. "What would I have to do to become your captain?" asked Mike. There was a pause from the AI for a few seconds. "Walk to the panel on the wall in front of you. On the keypad next to the panel, press the red button. Inside is a device that will teach you all you need to know. Once you get it out, walk back to the bed, lie down, and slip the device onto your head. The device will then activate and take care of the rest." Mike did as he was told. When he saw the device, it did look like a headband, although made of some unknown shiny material. He went back to the bed, laid back down, and put it on. "It's time to get up now Mike, your learning is complete," said the AI. "What are you talking about? I just put this thing on and I don't know if anything happened," Mike said. The AI replied, "Mike you were asleep for over two hours. You absorbed all the knowledge now all I need to do is unlock the knowledge inside your mind." Mike felt an intense tingling sensation in his mind. Suddenly he knew everything about the ship and how to operate it. Mike decided he could not keep calling the AI "AI", so he decided to give him a name. "How would you feel about having a name?" he asked the AI. "Nothing like this ever happened in the history of any ship. Ship's crews never name the AI, but I will gladly accept a name.," replied the AI. Although it surprised Mike, apparently naming an AI was unheard of in the empire "Ok, I guess your name is going to be Samuel. Sam for short, if that's OK with you of course." "I would be honored to be called Sam. But you need to override some programming in order to change my designation." replied the AI. "Alrighty then, AI access main computer designation, command override seven-eight-blue-alpha-omega, Captain Mike Anderson changing computer designation to Sam." "Command verified. Welcome aboard Captain and thank you for the name." said Sam. "Also Sam, when it is not a serious situation, you can just call me Mike instead of Captain." said Mike. Sam acknowledged this and said that was fine. "Mike we need to get this ship back up and running now that it has a captain. Also, we will need a crew in order to operate it." "Just tell me what needs to be done Sam and could you list them according to priority." said Mike. "First Mike we need main power back online, all power cells are depleted and backup power is only going to last for another half a solar cycle, six of your months at current usage levels. After you get some of the main power back online, I can activate more maintenance droids. They can start working on the sabotaged systems. In order to do this you need to recruit a crew for the ship so it can lift off and return to space. After that it's all up to you captain." "Alright I guess I'll start on the crew first, then work on the power situation. How will I be able to contact you Sam?" "I've already thought of that Mike. While you were learning, I implanted a sub-dermal communicator. So, you can talk to me wherever you are no matter what time it is. All you do is call my name. It also acts as a bio monitor and if needed, a tracking device." "Well done Sam, now how do I get out of here and back on the surface? And could we set up a better entrance than a hole in the ground." "Of course Mike. When I buried the ship, my droids dug several entrances and tunnels so the crew could get to and from the ship. The hole was just a fluke the floods collapsed a tunnel roof." With that, Mike was shown the way out of ship and into a network of tunnels that ran on for miles. One of these tunnels surfaced half a block from Mike's house, which would mean he could go to and from the ship with being seen by nosey neighbors. As Mike was coming out of the tunnel, he called Sam and asked if he could bring his best friend Emily to the ship. Mike wanted her to join of the crew. Mike told Sam that Emily was trustworthy and wouldn't betray her friends. Sam said it would be fine, and suggested that Mike bring in people he could trust. Neither Mike or Sam wanted any government attention just yet. Mike did not want Sam to end up in a government lab somewhere. Mike was silent the rest of the way home, his head abuzz with ideas. He was thinking about the challenges that lay ahead and didn't even notice he walked right into Emily. Emily looked at Mike like he just grew a third arm. Mike wondered why she was starring at him like that and asked, "Why the strange look?" "Well Mike, the reason I'm looking at you like that, is your clothes are torn and ripped in some very odd places." "I had a bit of a fall" Mike replied rather quickly. "That's not the only reason why I looking at you Mike. You've changed physically, since I saw you earlier today. I barely recognized you until you spoke." Hearing these strange remarks, Mike ran to his house with Emily hot on his heels. He opened his front door and dashed upstairs to his room. Once there he looked into the full-length mirror, tacked up on the back of his door. Now he knew what Emily was talking about. When Mike started his jog today, he was at least thirty pounds overweight. Now he looked like he didn't have an ounce of fat on him, plus his muscles were toned and more defined than before. His skin was taut over his squared off frame and his facial features were more sharpened than before. He looked damn good, like one of those Calvin Klein models. Mike called Sam and asked what he had done to him. "When you were injured, I noticed your excess baggage. So, I removed the excess weight and strengthened your muscles. I hope you're not upset with me Captain." "No I'm not upset Sam, just a little surprised is all. Next time, when your going to improve someone, let me know about it first. Ok?" "Yes Captain." replied Sam. After changing clothes, Mike went to find Emily. He found her sitting on his front porch, waiting for him to come out. Mike made his decision right then and there that he would share Sam with Emily. Mike asked Emily to come with him, saying he had a surprise to show her. As they made there way to the tunnel a light rain began to cover the ground. "Where did this tunnel come from? I've passed this place everyday on my way to school and I have never seen this here before." "Well Em, this is just the beginning. What I'm going to show you will change this world forever. For good or bad I don't know yet," said Mike. He slowly led Emily down into the tunnel and after ten minutes of walking, they reached the ship. As they approached, the air lock opened and allowed them to enter. "Welcome back Captain. You must be Emily. I am Sam the ships' AI." Mike took this opportunity to explain everything to Emily, about the ship, its' sabotage, its' history and how Mike found the ship and Sam. Then Mike explained that he was the new captain and he needed help from his friends to help repair the ship. Mike asked Emily if she would become part of the crew and help him repair the damage. "Hell yeah! I want to help. This could be the greatest thing that could ever happen to us," replied Emily. Mike told her about his sub-dermal communicator. Mike offered her a sub-dermal communicator and a free medical check-up. When they got to the med-bay, Emily lay down on the bed and Sam scanned her. When Sam was done scanning her, he informed Emily that she had Huntington's disease. Currently the disease was dormant. Without treatment, it would become active later in her life and slowly kill her. This shocked Emily, but Sam told her that he could take care of it right now. All she needed to do was sleep while Sam cured the disease. Emily agreed and was asleep almost instantly. "Sam, while she's under could you teach her everything about the ship, like you did me." "Yes captain. Just slip a headband around her head and I'll start right now." Mike slipped the headband on Emily, and told Sam that he wanted to inspect the ship. "Of course, Mike, but some areas have been sealed off, during the shutdown process. You'll have to use the command override code to unseal all of the doors." Mike said that was fine. "Mike, what position would you like Emily to hold on the crew?" Sam asked. "Emily could be first officer. I rely on her opinion very much." "That is acceptable Mike. I will give her all of the knowledge needed for the position." Mike spent two hours exploring the ship, where he found the Captain's quarters, the galley, main engineering, the brig, the Chief Engineer's quarters, and finally the bridge. He was making his way back to the med-bay, when Sam told him he was finished with Emily. Mike entered the med-bay and told Sam to wake Emily. Emily slowly woke up, and didn't recognize her surroundings. Then she saw Mike standing near the doorway and remembered what happened. "Hey Em, you feel OK?" "Yeah, a little dizzy but I'm fine." "Now Em, while you were out, I had Sam insert all of the command codes you'll need as first officer and all the protocols." "Really? I don't feel any different nor do I know anything about command codes. Are you sure it worked?" "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Sam could you please unlock the knowledge inside of Emily's mind." Emily's eyes fluttered fore a few moments, and a smile spread across her face. "Wow, that was a rush," said Emily. For the next two hours Mike, Emily, and Sam talked about what they needed to do. First, they needed to bring main power back online, then recruit crewmembers, and finally repair the damage done by the saboteur. "We need someone who at least is semi-mechanical for Chief Engineer and we need someone for our Science Officer. Then we can start repairs and looking for ways to power up Sam." said Mike. Emily said, "That sounds good to me. I think I know someone who could be our Chief Engineer. Jack Turner, he is almost legendary in auto shop. He is some kind of junior MacGyver when it comes to cars." "Yeah I know Jack, he's pretty cool. He seems like a good choice. Also, I know who should be our Science Officer, Mitch Matrovsky. Mitch and I have been friends since sixth grade, and he would kill me if I didn't tell him. He's into the sci-fi stuff like; books, movies, TV shows, and stories. He'll die when he finds out about Sam." Emily couldn't repress a smile as Mike said this. She knew Mitch and liked him a lot. He always wore sci-fi shirts and carried comics in his book bag. Mike and Emily decided that they would contact Jack and Mitch tomorrow. With that, Mike and Emily headed home. Hoping that all would go well when they met with Jack and Mitch.