Flight Of The Anasazi - Chapter 23

 Flight Of The Anasazi

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 23: Extra Terrestrial

Blumen volunteered to submit to a full scan by the leading robotics experts of Pax. Lalia wanted to visit a beach. The president’s daughter was similar in age with Lalia and offered to host her. Al was in communication with the plasma extractor in the system. Mark however told Al not to create FTL fuel here.  He was happy with the warm welcome but he also needed to be careful with the information about FTL.  

Mark himself was given leave to explore the system and document it.  Hiems was looking forward to more people from Florida arriving after Mark to establish formal diplomatic ties. 

One of the other rocky planets in the system was a frozen planet orbiting at a distance of four hundred and fifty million kilometers.  It had a mass roughly 1.4 earthmass. It orbited at over sixty four thousand kilometers per hour. It was surrounded by those high density ships that Mark had started to call mass tugs just to have a name for them. 

“Captain, I have completed my analysis.” Al said. 

“Life?”

“There is evidence of complex chemistry but I can not conclude it is life. However, whatever chemistry used to happen on this world, it stopped a long time ago. My analysis of the rock shows this world is three point eight billion years old.”

“Right. So we have a problem.” Mark said. 

“I will add it to the list, Captain.”

“We got a star and a planet that are in the billions of years old and we have another planet that is ten thousand years old. So, one of these things is not like the other.”

“I would have to concur, Captain.”

“So what’s out there. What am I looking at?” Mark asked as he stepped up to the viewport to see an endless plane of ice, only a small portion of which was lit up by the ship’s external lights. 

“The first thing to mention, Captain, is that the ice is not water. There is a layer of nitrogen ice covering the planet that is about twelve meters thick. There are also traces of carbon dioxide ice as well as oxygen ice. There are liquid pools of oxygen, so if something isn’t ice, I suggest you don’t step in it if you plan to go outside.”

“What’s the temperature out there?”

“Negative one hundred and ninety five degrees.”

“Well, we didn’t come here to look at ice. Get us up. I want to look around for something interesting before I go out to take a closer look. See if there’s any sign of the people who made the plasma extractors being here.”

“Excuse me, Captain?”

“You heard Hiems. He thinks his people invented the plasma extractors. Let’s look for the ruins of a domed city. A colony. A bunker.”

The Anasazi fired up thrusters and there was a thud sound that vibrated through the ship as the landing gear disconnected from the ice. A white cloud of gas started to surround the ship and then cleared. The atmosphere of the planet was very thin.  There was almost nothing for the Anasazi to glide on so the ship had to either fly high or use a lot of fuel.

“I don’t know why but I feel like it is not normal to find nitrogen ice. At least not this much. This is excessive.” Mark said. “Do you think those ships brought it here to dump it?”

“That is one possibility, Captain.”

“Are they storing it? Fertilizer, maybe. But I can’t think of a reason for a planet in this orbit to … Well, maybe I need to take a step back and realize I don’t know everything.  We need evidence.”

“It is possible the mass tugs were attempting to speed up or slow down the spin of the planet.” Al offered. 

“But for what? Don’t get me wrong. Good idea. But for what? Warm it up? Cool it down? Or did they just decide to park here so they would be all in one place?”

“Perhaps this planet was used for storage. Nitrogen is chemically stable so if someone wanted to preserve something, putting it under nitrogen ice is an interesting solution.”

The Anasazi was going along with almost nothing but ice in all directions. Then there was a canyon with cliffs on either side. 

“There.” Mark said. “That might be a good spot to grab some samples. The side is exposed.”

“I will find a place to land, Captain.”

“Let’s try to not sink so much this time.” 

The Anasazi came down onto the top of a plateau and landed on bare rock.  Al sent out a drone to scan the area and provide a digital map.  

Mark decided to let Al work and he went to make himself hot chocolate.  Something about this place reminded him of watching the first snow of the year out the window of his bedroom as a boy. Mark would want to go out and play as soon as he was able but Becky would be on him about wearing a jacket. But it was never the jacket that caused Mark to have a problem. He’d go out and run down to the Wilson farm to make a snowman with Clark and the cold would bite Mark’s hands right through his gloves. He’d find himself inside with Mrs Wilson getting him warm and giving him hot chocolate. 

“Captain, the drone has discovered something. There seems to be an artificial structure of some kind.”

“A base?”

“Negative. At least, it is not like the previous ruins we found.”

Mark touched the nearest screen and looked at the feed from the drone. The cliff side had an alcove and in the alcove were structures. “We got buildings.”

“Peggy would like to remind you that it is nearly negative two hundred degrees outside. And also, the path from the ship to the structures will not be easy.”

“Let me guess, she wants me to put on a jacket.”

“Her primary function is to keep you alive.”

“I was stranded in the Kuiper belt one time. I’ll be fine.”

Mark studied the scan of the area to make a plan. He thought he saw steps going up the cliff like a switchback. With all the ice, even if those were steps they might not be reliable. The gravity of the planet was going to slow him down too.  But that’s how it was.  He was so close but those final meters made it so far away. 

Mark asked himself if he wanted to spend the night on the planet and do this excursion in the morning. The answer was no. The longer he was here trying to solve this mystery, the longer it would take him to get home. On the other hand, he couldn’t go home and say he found life in another star system but was in too much of a hurry to check it out. 

Mark readied his gear and figured it would be safer and shorter to leave from the ship, go to the base of the cliff, and climb up. He started the printer on making the spikes he intended to use and called up information from the archive on how to do what he intended to do. 

When Mark exited the ship he found the ice to be rather sticky. With every step clumps of ice crumbled to a kind of snow and he had to shake it off. He took his time and went slow.  The scan didn’t show any fissure but he was working with limited equipment. 

When Mark got to the bottom of the cliff the drone came and grabbed one end of the rope from him. It flew up and drilled a hole in the rock.  The rope was inserted and then the hole was filled with fast hardening material. It wasn’t cement that would be found in the foundation of a house, but it hardened into rock even with the cold and ice. The drone came down to get the next rope and then carry it up to do the same thing. 

Step by step three ropes were set to run down the side of the cliff with each secured at the top and at regular intervals along the way. Mark tested the harness that he had on over his spacesuit.  He got it attached to the main rope and then he got the climbing devices set up. Mark was secured to the center rope.  The first climber went up the rope to his left until the straps were taut. Then Mark let the other climber go up. The two climbers synced together and they carried Mark up the side of the cliff. 

As he ascended Mark really started to feel like he’d been on this planet too long. The cold was starting to bleed into his suit. The gravity was making his breathing more difficult. He knew he had to investigate this but he also really hoped it was worth it. 

He pulled himself up over the edge of the cliff into the alcove and had to wipe away the ice that had clung to his visor. He was first on his knees and he struggled to get to his feet.

But all of those small annoyances were gone when Mark got his first really close look at the structures. 

“Al, can you hear me?” 

“Loud and clear.”

“We got square structures.” Mark said as he stepped forward.  “Brick laying. They’re made of brick. No. Stone.” Mark went right up to one of the walls and touched it. “Polished stone made to fit together. There’s no seal or anything. This is a primitive structure.”

Mark walked the narrow path that was like a kind of street between the buildings. “It’s like a little town.  Maybe for forty or fifty people. I’m going to take a look inside one of the buildings.”

Mark went to a doorway. The actual door was gone, if it had ever been there.  Inside he found a space that had boxes on the floor. On the walls there were shelves.  The ceiling was low so Mark had to lean over to walk around in the room. On the shelves he found the traces of whatever had been put there.  Mark could not recognize it. At first he thought it looked like a freeze dried vegetable but which exact one was impossible to say. 

“I’m going to take this for analysis.” 

Mark reached for the dark colored vegetable but when his gloves touched it the material started to flake and collapse in on itself. 

“I hope you can still use this.” Mark chuckled as he got as much as he could into the sample bag. 

Mark went to another building and inside he saw a big circle.  In the center there was the dark ash of what used to be a fire. On the wall there was some kind of fabric drooping down to the floor. Oh, good. A better sample. 

Mark carefully got a hold of the material and moved it. It started to tear but that was ok. Mark didn’t need the whole thing. He just wanted enough so that Al could tell him what it was. 

And then Mark stopped moving and looked down. The lights from his suit revealed a figure under the fabric. First Mark saw shriveled up leathery feet.  He moved the fabric more and next to the wall was a person.  

No. Mark looked closely.  Whatever this was, it was not human. 

The being was short and stocky. It had clothing, but made of what? It had a head and two arms.  The hands were pulled into fists and held to the chest. 

“It froze to death.” Mark deduced. 

In the thing’s hand there was an object.  Of all the items to cherish in its last moments it had held onto this. It was two pieces of straight thin material fastened together at perpendicular right angles. 

Flight Of The Anasazi - Chapter 22

 Flight Of The Anasazi

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 22: Planet Florida

The Roanoke was directed to travel to and dock with Memory station. Instead of the docking port they wanted the ship to come into the hangar for a landing.  The ship carefully got into position for the docking arms to get attached and then transfer the spin of the station to the Roanoke. Then the ship glided into the hanger and made touchdown.  

Once the ship was secure Karen turned the Roanoke’s gravity off. Everyone was orderly as Stormer got the ramp down and one by one Roma and her crew left the Roanoke. Waiting for them outside were the medical staff of the station. There was some time dealing with getting Roma and her men the medical attention they needed.

“Alright, everyone.” Roma began. “I want to thank you all for your service. Each and every single one of you were instrumental in the completion of our mission. We had some challenges but you all did your duty and I commend you. Thank you for your efforts.” 

From some distance away the doors opened and a group of people entered the hanger. Roma could make out security personnel as well as reporters. Roma stood at attention and her men, seeing her, did as well. Stormer came to stand next to Roma and then her crew all got in line. 

The president herself was coming along with Senator Freedman and Admiral Black. 

“Sir, Captain Amanda Roma, reporting mission failure. The ship is intact. I surrender her over to you.”

“Welcome home, captain. I understand you’ve had quite the journey.” the president said. The president came shoulder to shoulder with Roma and then posed for the cameras. “This wasn’t mission failure at all. This was a huge success for not only this government but also all of humanity.  Captain Roma’s pioneering success is the first step under my administration to us becoming an interstellar species.”

Once the impromptu press conference was over the medics got back to treating the men and Roma was pulled to a secret meeting between the president, the senator, and the admiral. 

“The situation at Technon Station is serious. We have a bit of a conflict on our hands.” the senator said. 

“How serious is it?” Roma asked. 

“We have a ceasefire and it’s holding for the moment.” the president said. 

“But they’re trying to block our access to the plasma extractor.” the admiral added. 

“Without it, they can’t sustain Cloud city.” Roma deduced.  “What set them off. If independence is really what they want, can’t it be worked out?”

“The liberals are going to lose the election.” the senator said.

“You wish.” the president shot at him.

“This isn’t the time for grandstanding, madame president. You people brainwashed Cloud city into thinking the conservatives were subhuman monsters so you could have a monopoly on government. Now those people are more loyal to a party than to the actual government. They see the writing on the wall. You’re on your way out and they won’t accept it. They’ll fight.”

“I hope peace can be had soon. The news I have is not for wartime ears.” Roma said. 

“I was filled in but only briefly. You say you actually found a plasma extractor already out there.” the admiral wanted clarification on.

“We did.” Roma confirmed.

“This changes things.” the president said. 

“It’s not going to change the election.” the senator said. 

“It might. And even if it doesn’t, there’s always the next one.”

… 

The Anasazi had landed on a planet called Pax. The government of the system wanted to hold a grand state dinner for Mark, Lalia, and Bluman. Al was able to begin translating their language and the people of Pax were able to use their own technology to understand Mark and Lalia. 

The presidential palace was grand and beautiful. The gardens alone were magnificent. This seemed like something more for a king or an emperor. 

Mark was in his full dress uniform. Lalia was in an elegant dress. Blueman was also in a dress uniform but of a different style from Mark. They all sat in their designated seats.  

“Now is as good a time as any to get some answers.” Mark told president Hiems. 

“I feel as if I do not know the right questions.” Hiems said. “You are from another world. You must have so much to tell us.”

“And we have so much to learn from you.” Lalia said.

Hiems smiled. “I appreciate that. I am told that you two do not actually speak the same language as each other. How is this?”

“I am from Meica. My husband came to us from the sky the same as we now visit you.” Lalia explained. 

“I see.”

“Bluman was rescued from a moon.” Mark said. 

Bluman nodded. “Please do not mind me. I may not have much to say.”

“We too have robots. We do not however dress them as a person. It is interesting.” Hiems said.   “We have thought for a long time that we were alone in the universe. It is both amazing to find out that we are not and yet you are the same as us. There is life on other planets.”

“Not just life. The same kind of life. I found dozens of them. Not just people. Trees. Grass. Chickens. Grasshoppers. Someone has been planting humanity out among the stars.”

“Who?”

Mark shrugged. “I still don’t have that answer. We found plasma extractors, like your own, planets in the middle of being printed, sort to speak, and fully terraformed copies of my world out there. And each with a moon.”

“Do you think the the plasma extractors are making planets?”

“I saw it.” Mark said. 

“But that means some people invented space travel and plasma extractors thousands of years ago and left here for the stars. We don’t have any evidence for that.”

“I can’t explain it. But that is what I saw. I’m curious. You believe this is the origin of the plasma extractors?” Mark asked. 

“I assumed, of course.” Hiems said. 

“I assumed they came from mine.” Lalia said. 

“Tell me of your world. What is it like?” Hiems asked her. 

Lalia smiled. “I am from a village called Wood Meadow. My father is Jer. Our village leader is Gol and our king is Ragon. In my village we have many families.” 

“Is it cold or hot?”

“The summer is hot. The winter is cold.  In the winter my father can not work so he cuts wood and sometimes he goes with Nolo, one of our elders, to go hunting for game. In the spring it is planting season so my father works in the fields. We don’t own our own land so we work Nolo’s fields for a portion of the crop. I work as a weaver.”

“What about animals?”

“We don’t have any animals. But there is a cat that sometimes comes by. It is grey and looks grumpy but he’s actually sweet. Sometimes I help with milking the cows when Tona or Meta are sick. Oh, and we have horses. I don’t have a horse but several of the hunters have horses.  And there are birds. These are animals that can fly.”

“I know what a bird is.” Hiems said with almost a laugh. “Dear Lalia, I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

“I documented as much as I could. I don’t think anyone is going to believe this.” Mark said. 

“But I don’t understand. If Lalia’s people are farmers, were they kidnapped from Pax?” Hiems asked.

“God made us on our world.” Lalia said. “As surely as he made you on yours.”

“And you, Mark, please tell me of your world.”

“My home planet is called Florida.” Mark explained. “We have advanced technology, similar to your own. My ship, the Anasazi was made there. Florida and Pax share the same mass, chemical composition, spin, tilt, and moon satellite.”

“This confronts me with a question.” Hiems said. “Are you a copy of us or are perhaps we a copy of you?”

“I don’t think anyone is a copy.” Lalia said. “The worlds are similar but not identical. You live here. This world is beautiful. I hope you have a beach I can visit.”

Hiems nodded. “We have many beautiful beaches. Let me ask, how long will you be staying with us?”

“We only need to stop for a short time while we calculate the path to our next destination. I would be happy to carry a message from you back to my people.” Mark offered. 

“I will have someone prepare a statement. I hope you will not leave so soon. Your arrival is very important news and we have no right to keep it a secret. Please consider staying a while.”

… 

The meeting was going to take place at the Wilson farm.  Captain Roma was driving. She pulled onto the dirt driveway between the barn and the house.  Senator Freedman got out of the car and Roma followed him. 

“Go ahead.” the senator told her. 

Roma nodded and took the lead going up the steps to the porch. The Wilsons were expecting them so the door soon opened before anyone had to knock. Donald was in the living room being comforted by Jacob. Angie and her boys stood to the back behind her parents. 

Roma stood at attention and once she had everyone’s eyes she read from the official letter. It had been determined that Mark Adakai had died on his test flight.  

“We are sorry for your loss.” Roma said. “He was an inspiration to me.” she continued. 

The party all moved outside and in the Wilson family cemetery a small marker had been placed for Mark next to Clark’s headstone. 

“We will be naming the new station under construction at HC03 after him.” Freedman informed them. “We will not forget his sacrifice.” 

Flight Of The Anasazi - Chapter 21

 Flight Of The Anasazi

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 21: Emergency Landing

The Anasazi came out of FTL without losing power.  Al got the ship into an orbit and the plan was to just check the ship and wait until morning. The Anasazi launched a probe and Mark looked out the viewport at the star in the distance. 

“These people have ships in space too?” Lalia asked him. 

Mark’s face lit up. “We might be able to see a space station if they built one big enough. Al, let’s pull it up on display.”

“I could also rotate the Anasazi so that you can have a view from the viewport.” Al offered. 

Mark was going to decide but then paused. “Lalia, which would you prefer.” 

“Maybe …” she began. 

Just then Al interrupted both of them by turning the white lights of the ship to yellow and sounding an alarm. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“We have an incoming distress signal.” Al said. 

Mark rushed to the captain’s chair.  “Play it.”

The sound of a human voice called over the radio. Mark could not understand but he recognized the pattern. 

“That’s a mayday. How far away is it?” Mark asked. 

“It is coming from closer to the star.” 

“Radio back that we’re on the way. Once you have the location locked in let’s FTL over and see if we can help.”

“Triangulating location now.”

Mark reached for the radio and spoke. “Anasazi.  Unknown vessel, we have your SOS and are on the way.”

“I am narrowing down their location, Captain. The distance involved means it will be several minutes before they receive your reply.”

That was one of the new aspects of FTL travel. The fastest way to send a message wasn’t to send a message but to just go there. 

“How long have they been out here?” Mark wondered out loud.

The Anasazi made the jump to get within rendezvous range of the distressed ship. Al did a scan to pin down the other ship’s exact location and started to move the Anasazi to intercept. 

“Captain, the ship has radioed back. It is possible the name of the ship is the Dardanarius.”

“Anasazi. Dardanarius, we have received your SOS and are on approach to you now.”  Mark cut the radio and told Al, “Work as fast as you can to decipher their language.”

“Already on it.” Al announced. 

The other ship radioed back with frantic words.  The words repeated. They repeated again. 

“Initial analysis suggest power failure, and venting. There is one man overboard, outside the ship.” Al translated. 

“How many souls do you have aboard?” Mark asked. 

“I am running a scan, Captain.”

“Anasazi. Dardanarius, I can be in range of docking or spacewalk in one hundred and eighteen minutes.”

“In addition to the radio I will attempt to communicate with them via pictograph.” Al offered. “They seem alarmed that someone who doesn’t speak their language is coming to help them.”

The Dardanarius had fourteen men and one woman aboard. The captain of the Dardanarius was a man named Cesor. 

The Anasazi had to cut gravity so the docking between ships could be accomplished. However, before the two ships could be docked together the man in the spacesuit outside had to be rescued.  Instead of going out himself, Mark sent Bluman since the robot didn’t need a spacesuit. The man overboard was unconscious but had secured himself to the ship before the suit failure.  

Mark and Lalia watched via camera feed as the robot approached the man dangling outside the Dardanarius.  Bluman got the crewman secured to a harness and then signaled that the task was completed. 

“Anasazi. Dardanarius, be advised we have hold of your crewman and are pulling him to safety now.”

“They sound relieved by the good news.” Al translated. 

Bluman arrived in the airlock with the unconscious man and Mark waited for it to cycle. 

“Ok, get him to medical. Al, let’s get the ships docked.”

The Anasazi matched speed and spin with the Dardanarius and brought the two docking ports into contact with each other. The dock on the Anasazi was significantly wider than that of the Dardanarius so Al planned for the Anasazi dock to completely surround the Dardanarius dock.  The Anasazi dock would then attach directly to the hull of the disabled ship. 

The crew of the Dardanarius were all in their spacesuits and using the bridge as the one room they would keep heated.  The electrical systems of the ship were damaged so it wasn’t even an issue of the Anasazi providing power to the Dardanarius.  Instead, the Anasazi’s life support system would have to do double duty for a bit, supplying air through the docking port once the hatch was opened. 

“Anasazi. Dardanarius, I am opening the hatch. Permission to come aboard.”

“They seem to indicate that you have permission, Captain.” Al said. 

The hatch opened and Mark entered. It was freezing.  Down the corridor the door to the bridge opened and the other crew members started to come out. Mark waved his light at them and the first one came down to greet Mark.

“How long have you guys been out here?” Mark asked. 

The man spoke but Mark could not understand. Al translated what he could but it was just the gist. 

“Come on. I’ve got food and power.” Mark said as he guided the man to the hatch. 

One by one Mark greeted each crew member as they came to the hatch to cross over. 

The last crewman asked Mark something and Al stated that he was perhaps inquiring after the injured man.

“He’s in medical.” Mark answered. 

Mark shut the hatch and, after getting it sealed, ordered Al to detach from the Dardanarius. 

“Everyone, get planted to the floor. We’re going to turn on gravity.” Mark announced. 

The gravity ramped up and slowly everything glided gently down to the floor before the full one G came into effect. 

“It is safe to remove your spacesuit, Captain.” Al said to Mark but the announcement was heard by everyone. Mark got his helmet off and looked around. The captain of the Dardanarius was sitting on the floor of the corridor looking exhausted. Mark approached and the man threw up. 

“Lalia, help me. Let’s get everyone to the mess hall. After that we’ll do medical checks one by one.”

Lalia came out of medical where she had been tending to the injured man.  She came over and help Mark pick up the captain and bring him to the mess hall and get him seated in a chair. 

The captain moaned.  

“Gravity is hard, but you need it.” Mark said. 

Mark and Lalia went to each crewman one by one and helped them up. They helped the crewman walk to the mess hall and Bluman was already preparing meals to be served to them. It wasn’t fancy food, just premade meal packs that could be heated up. 

Once all the of Dardanarius’ crew were in the mess hall Mark checked on the man in medical. 

“Bruce, how bad is it?”

“He is in serious danger. I am getting him warm but whatever electrical accident happened it burned him and sent him into shock.”

That voice of Bruce’s still grated on Mark’s ears but that exact moment was not the time to complain about it. “Do what you can for him.”

Mark went back to the mess hall and Lalia was helping men get their helmets off.  Mark went to the captain and he helped him get his helmet off and also take off his gloves. 

“You ok?” he asked him. 

He had his eyes closed and spoke. 

“I believe he wishes to thank you. He might have also said something about time or enduring it.”

“Let your men know it’s almost over. I’ll have you all home soon.”

“Soon?” the captain said, repeating the sound.

Mark nodded. “First, let’s do a health check on everyone.”

… 

Boom.

There was that predictable momentary jolt and then the Roanoke was finally on her way home. This was predicted to be the last jump.  

“This is Captain Roma. If anyone is injured, report in.”

Roma had a lot on her mind but the short flight meant there wasn’t really time to deal with it. 

“Due to the medical emergency, I have planned to come out of FTL near Technon station.” Karen said. 

“Let’s hope your calculations are right.”

The Roanoke came out of FTL above the plane of the system several kilometers above Technon station.  The ship lost power momentarily but was already in the rhythm of getting it back on. 

“Lozentz, get someone on the radio.” Roma ordered as she got out of her seat. “Dardar, check with Fussy about Delcor.”  Roma went to the viewport and looked out. Home. She was finally home but she didn’t have time to savor this moment. 

“Captain, Technon station has radioed back asking our intentions.” Lozentz said. 

“What? We have a medical emergency. We need to dock.” Stormer barked.

“It seems Technon station has been taken over by the Cloud city independence movement. They have weapons aimed at us.”

“I do not need this right now.” Roma said. “Evasive flight. Get us out of here. Pop the FTL if you need to.” Roma ran back to her seat and then hit the comm. “Everyone, wherever you are, lock in place there. Ready for jump.”

The Roanoke actually did two jumps. She went high over the system to round the star, and then came back down on the other side. 

“Roanoke. SOS. We have a medical emergency. Repeat, this is the Roanoke. We have a man injured. Medical emergency.”

“FDP. Roanoke, we read you.” the radio called back. 

“Roanoke. Florida Defense Platform, where can we dock? I am prepared for reentry.”

“FDP. Roanoke, that is negative on reentry. We have an ambulance ship heading to you.”

… 

Bruce had a chance to check each person who had crossed over from the Dardanarius and then Lalia led them to a bunk. The Anasazi had beds to spare. 

“You’ve got the calculations for jump?” Mark asked Al. 

“Ready at your word, Captain.” 

“Let’s get everyone strapped in. No time to waste.”

Mark headed from medial to the conn and found the Cesor holding onto the rail in the corridor to support himself. 

“Captain Cesor, we’ll be leaving soon.”

He struggled to turn to look back at him. He was laboring to speak. 

“I think he wants to be in medical. He wants to check on his injured crewman.” Al said. 

“I’ll take you to him.”

Mark helped Cesor get to medical and put him in a chair that had a harness. Then he announced over the comm that he wanted Lalia and Bluman to do the rounds of the ship to make sure everyone was secure. 

Mark marched to the conn. “Al, how long will the jump be?”

“Eleven minutes, Captain.”

Mark got into his seat and buckled in. “Lalia, where are you?”

“On my way now. I’m getting Bluman fastened.”

Lalia shortly arrived at the conn and got into the first officer’s chair. 

“Punch it.” 

Boom.

… 

The medics from the ambulance ship came in and Stormer directed them to medical.  Karen provided the information she had already collected and Delcor was floated out. Roma wanted to go with him but the ambulance medics told her there wasn’t room. The hatch closed and the ambulance detached from the Roanoke. 

“If I wasn’t in shock before, I am now.” Jameson said to Roa. “I know it’s not magic. I just can’t believe we really got back this fast.”

“No, you’re home.” Roma told him as the gravity slowly pulled everything to the floor and then increased. 

Roma sat in the captain’s seat and told Lozentz to get Senator Freedman or Admiral Black on the radio. It wasn’t a simple matter at this exact moment. It seemed there was an active conflict with Cloud city.  

“Roanoke. FDP,  this is Captain Amanda Roma. I need to speak with Senator George Freedman or Admiral Jeff Black immediately.”

“FDP. Anaszi, we understand but there’s nothing we can do about it right now. Keep your position relative to the station and await instructions.” 

Minutes turned to hours and Roma was exhausted waiting for an answer. 

… 

The Anasazi was in an orbit around a green and blue world.  Between the planet and the moon there were several large spinning space stations.  The captain of the Dardanarius got on the radio to explain and request docking. 

Bluman served dinner in the mess hall.  It actually wasn’t big enough for all of them to sit and eat at the same time. On ships this size that were actually called into service the crew would usually take meals in shifts. Some of the men could sit in the mess hall but others needed to carry a tray to their room. 

While that was going on Mark, Lalia, and Cesor were in the captain’s quarters having their meal. 

Flight Of the Anasazi - Chapter 20

 Flight Of The Anasazi

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 20: Plasma Pit Stop

The Roanoke was approaching the swarm that had sent the signal. Roma felt her anger building.  

“Those are plasma extractors.” she said. “They’ve already put them out here.”

Stormer was silent.  

“The signals coming from the objects don’t make sense, Captain.” Lozentz reported. 

“Plausible deniability.” Roma stated. 

“Any weapon systems?” Stormer asked. 

“None we can see with our current scans.”

“They’re building something. What’s that?” Roma asked. “Helm, put us on a path to intercept.”

“Aye, Captain.” 

The Roanoke got closer and once the ship passed beneath the heat shield of the closest extractor it was clear what was being built. 

“They’re building another one. The older ones get damaged over time from flares so this might be the replacement.” Stormer said. “Communications, find us a laser port.”

“Aye, Commander.”

“This could be a lucky break.” Stormer added. 

“Karen, I need any records you have about this.” Roma said. 

“I do not have any records of a plasma extractor project here.” Karen stated. 

“I can see them. They’re here. When we get connected dump the drives. I want to know who’s ass I need to chew out when we get back home.”

… 

Two days after the power outage the Anasazi was docked at the local plasma extractor.  Mark had ordered a full check of every system, every panel, and every wire in the ship. If there was a way to check it, they were checking it. The Anasazi was well built but hadn’t actually been built for such a long continuous mission. 

The gravity was back on and Bluman walked up to Mark with a portable display to show him the list of parts the robot had determined needed replacement. Mark looked over the list and agreed to each item. Mark went back to what he was doing when Lalia came to him to show him something she found and didn’t know where it was supposed to go. She had just found it and even Mark didn’t know what it was. 

“Must have broken off of something.” Mark thought and then had an idea. “Take it to medical and have Bruce scan it. Maybe Al can figure out what it is based on the scan.”

Mark yawned and then rolled his head on his shoulders. 

“Captain, I believe I have news.” Al said. 

“You do or you don’t.” Mark said as his eyes went back and forth from the schematic on the display and compared that to the actual wiring he was inspecting. 

“Guidance has informed me that if our calculations are correct, we are a minimum of four jumps away from a star that likely has advanced technology.”

Mark stopped working. “Technology? Four jumps?”

“They will need to be long jumps. Each one will be more than five hours.  But keeping the engines to the newly set safe speed and our data shows we can reach the star.”

“Four jumps. Are we planning a week’s worth of travel now?” Mark said. “That actually reinforces the need to not be complacent. We are fully stocked on food, right?”

“We have significantly more than enough.”

“But first we have to keep the ship together.” Mark said.  “And let’s not forget the last time we found a system that had space flight, there was a war going on. We better be careful.” 

… 

“One at a time. What do you make of it?” Stormer said. 

Fussy looked at the others present in the conn and offered, “Obviously it’s not meant to be understood. It’s code.”

“Code for who?” Jameson asked.

“Black ops.” Fussy said. 

“So you think this is one of ours?” Roma asked. 

“Where else could it have come from?” Fussy concluded. “Captain, you’ve been trying to get out here for nine years and they’ve been blocking you for at least that long.”

“Those structures are older than nine years.” Jameson pointed out. 

Fussy shrugged. “We can’t tell how old they are. They’ve probably been here for a century or more. Or at least sent from Florida that long ago.”  

“Before the war.” Roma concluded. 

“The ports on it aren’t compatible with any standards we know of.” Stormer pointed out. 

“So the story we’re putting together is during the war or before, one side or the other sent out at least one of these extractors. It took the long way to get here. All the data in the drives is encrypted and even after breaking the encryption it’s all in a fake language in an effort to prevent the other side from getting access to it.” Roma summed up. 

“And after the war, anyone who remembered these were going to be here were gone.” Stormer concluded. 

“Ha! Kept secret more like.” Fussy pushed. 

“I have to be honest, Karen has already cracked the encryption and that’s the actual hard part.” Jameson said. “I say we pick one of these, wide the drive, have Karen write a new OS for it, and take it over. It’s exactly what we need.”

“I like that.” Roma said. 

“To do that we’ll need to breach.” Stormer pointed out. 

Roma nodded. “Assemble a team. I admit I am eager to go see what’s over there.”

“Captain, you’ll be needed on the Roanoke.” Stormer said. “I suggest we give the task to the second officer and one of the engineers.”

Roma felt a sting for a moment but made herself remember that command came with compromises. “Agreed. Jameson, who can you spare?”

“How exactly do you plan to breach?” Jameson asked. 

“Let me just point out that there is an airlock.” Fussy said. 

… 

The Anasazi was in tip top shape. As much as a crew of two humans and one robot with limited intelligence could muster. 

“We are ready to undock.” Al said. Mark looked out the viewport at the plasma extractor. 

“Just hold off on undocking for a bit. I want to think about something.”  Mark said. 

Mark left the conn and went to his quarters to just sit on his bunk and think. He didn’t know why he was feeling like this. He wasn’t even sure what he was feeling. Was he ever going back to his normal life. And what of Lalia? If he did make it back would they really just let her live with him? Mark had had her in the medical scanner. She was human.  But she was also alien. Not alien as some other kind of lifeform but still.

Mark and Lalia could just pick a nice habitable planet and survive on the Anasazi.  Or, if that upcoming system with advanced technology was suitable they could settle down there. Every jump was a risk. Every jump was a danger. The recent power outage started to make Mark reconsider just jumping endlessly star to star.  

“Al, I need a contingency plan.”

“For what eventuality?”

“When we get back, if we get back, our mission is not over.  If Lalia is in danger, we will be bringing her home.”

“With the detailed measurements we have collected, the route and number of jumps can be calculated.”

“I just have to know she is going to be ok.”

“I understand, Captain. I will create a procedure.”

“Thanks.”

“Also, I should point out that the next star will be the smallest star we have visited. I believe this will be beneficial as it adds to and expands the data set we have already collected.”

“The thing I keep thinking about is who put all these plasma extractors out there.”

“We may never know.”

“I am changing the plan. Let’s get to a higher orbit and then instead of running the FTL during the sleep cycle let’s sleep here and do checks in the morning. If everything checks out, we’ll FTL then.”

“I will make the announcement to the crew.”

“Lalia and Bluman. I’ll tell ‘em.” 

… 

The Roanoke was docked at the plasma extractor thanks to the newly created docking port. Karen was indeed able to create software to take over the plasma extractor.  This meant not only the ability to fabricate replacement parts for the damaged Roanoke but also the extractors could supply maximum power to the FTLs to maintain gravity in the ship. That was important because Delcor was still in medbay. 

Gravity did not reach as far as the corridors in the extractors so when Roma went over to inspect it personally it was in zero G. 

The lights were flickering on and off in the corridor of the extractor and because of the leak everyone had to use spacesuits. 

“Progress report.” Roma said. 

“The plasma extractor is producing FTL fuel.” Stormer said. “We’ll be stocked up on everything before we leave.”

“Don’t take too long. Delcor is stable but we need to get him back.” Fussy said. 

“My guys are going over every millimeter of the Roanoke. It won’t do Delcor any good if the ship comes apart at the seams mid flight.” Jameson said. 

“You both have good points.” Roma said. “Jameson, I want to know the moment we’re ready to go.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Fussy, stay with Delcor. Do what you can for him.”

“Aye.”

“Karen, can you read us from in here?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“How many jumps is it going to take us to safely get back?”

… 

“Everything checks out, Captain.” Lalia sounded out so Mark could understand her without a translation. 

Mark smiled and kissed her hand. “Ready to go?” he asked her in her language. 

She nodded. 

“Strap in. Let’s get out of here.” 

Lalia went to her seat and Mark buckled his harness. He listened for Lalia’s buckle to snap and then he touched the display near him. “Al, we’re all ready. Engage.”

Boom. 

The Anasazi entered FTL. Mark and Lalia were free to move about the ship for the next six hours before the Anasazi would need to drop out of FTL. 

“I have a surprise for you.” Lalia said to Mark. 

“What’s that?”

She took his hand and brought him to their quarters. “Bruce helped me with this.”

“Bruce? You about to kick my butt at chess?”

“No.” she answered and then laughed. 

She handed him a headset like the kind Mark used to use for the flight simulator. “What’s going on?”

“Put it on.”

Mark put on the headset and he saw the town called Epic Simulation of Life. Yes, the AI onboard the Anasazi actually named their fake town “Epic Simulation of Life” or ESOL for short. Mark just looked around for a bit and shrugged. 

“The graphics are ok.” 

One of the avatars walked up to him and she looked just like Lalia. “Which one is this one?” Mark asked.

“It’s me.” Lalia said. 

“What?”

“They made characters for us. So we can walk around.”

“But really we are actually just sitting in our quarters.”

“I know. But we can walk around and talk to everyone. We can explore the countryside out side the town. We can see the sunset.”

“Ok. It’s ok.”

“Walk with me.”

The digital Mark walked with the digital Lalia and she brought him outside of town.  There was a river and a bridge made of wood. She stopped him on the bridge.  “This is going to be so amazing. Just watch.”

“I’m watching.” Mark said. 

She led him further and on the other side of the bridge was the village. It wasn’t just any village. It was Lalia’s village. There weren’t any people there but the houses and buildings and everyday items of the village were there set up. 

“Oh, wow. Now this is something.” Mark said. 

“See. There’s my father’s house. And there’s the shaman’s house. And over there is the church you like.”

“And the bonfire.” Mark said. 

“I thought about having the glowi colored or not colored. Al told me to make a button to change it back and forth.”

Digital Mark walked over to a spot and smiled. “This is where I was standing when I decided to ask you to dance.”

“I realize I might never see my home again.” Lalia said. “I didn’t really understand how far away we were going. But I’m here now. I miss my father. But I know he wants me to be happy. The only thing that makes him happy is to know that I am happy. Al told me about your plan. To send me away. I won’t go. This was my home. I was a little girl in Wood Meadow. Now I am a married woman. You are my home. With you is where I belong.”

“I’m just thinking of your safety.” Mark said. 

“Come. I have one more thing to show you.”

Mark followed her and beyond the trees in the place where the Anasazi had landed now stood a full size model of Mark’s house.  Mark figured they must have made it based on the render he had made before. Upon entering Mark noticed that there was no furniture or anything.  Lalia brought Mark to one of the rooms.  Inside he saw a nursery with a crib.  

“Are you trying to tell me something?” Mark asked.

“Bruce confirmed it.” Lalia answered. 

… 

It was only Roma and Stormer in the captain’s quarters. 

“Here is my plan.” Roma said. “We will keep two FTLs as backups. We will only use one for propulsion and three for braking. Karen’s plan is for fourteen jumps. The power will go out between each one so I need you to get it back on. Everyone will be on alert on the lookout for any damage.”

“The men are exhausted. We’ve had a bit of a break but they are exhausted.”

“We can’t stay here. Delcor needs medical attention.” 

“Understood, Captain.”

“We don’t know what speed the FTL has to go to cause the exponential contraction so this will be a bit of a learning process.  I need you to help me keep the morale up. We’re on our way home.”

All through the Roanoke men got to their stations. The Roanoke undocked from the plasma extractor and got into a higher orbit. 

All the men were tense. Jump number one. 

Boom. 

Flight Of The Anasazi - Chapter 19

 Flight Of The Anasazi

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 19: Maintenance

For the first time in the longest time the power on the Anasazi went out. Mark was surprised because the relentless good luck of not having a power outage had made him come to expect it. Al had been pushing the engines to go faster and faster each jump. Al had also been taking longer jumps all the way up to seven hours. Again and again there had been no problems but this time the lights had gone out. Mark still had the switch to get emergency power back on but he was out of practice with reaching it and the conn was back. 

“Don’t panic. Don’t panic.” Mark yelled as he reached for the switch and felt in the dark for the right one. 

The lights popped on and Lalia was holding onto her seatbelt for dear life. She spoke but Mark could not understand her. 

Mark floated over to her and reassured her. He got her out of her harness and then the two of them floated through the ship to their spacesuits. Until full power was restored they’d need the spacesuits just in case the issue was serious.  Lalia had been in her spacesuit a number of times but never yet in a serious emergency like this.  

Mark and Lalia found Bluman floating in the tool locker next to the 3D printer.  It had lost power as well but getting him turned back on was just a matter of a tactile button. 

“We’ve lost power. I need your help.” Mark said. 

“Of course.” Bluman said. 

“I need you to tell Lalia that everything is going to be fine but we need to work together.” 

Bluman relayed the message to Lalia and then the three of them went together to the generator room. Mark got the battery reserves on to power the ship and get life support going again. The RTG was still supplying power so they could have that as a minimum while they worked. 

“Captain.” Lalia said to get Mark’s attention. She pointed out something she found.  

“Oh.” Mark said when he saw it. “Well, that has to be replaced.” Mark examined the frame that held down the damaged unit to the rest of the ship. “We have to unscrew these. One two three.”

Mark set Lalia to that job while he followed the power line to get that disconnected. Bluman was holding replacement lines and offered Mark one. However, it was not a replacement line he needed. He needed a replacement part. 

Mark took a moment to close his eyes and visualize the ships systems in his head. He needed a replacement for that part. To get that he needed the 3D printer. To get the 3D printer to work they needed this part to work. “We’re going to have to bypass it.”  He said that and knew it was true but also knew it was double work.  That meant creating the bypass, running the printer, making the part, taking down the bypass, and then reinstalling the part.  “Or, I can try to run the printer from the H3 tank.”  That was a possible plan but it meant going outside the ship at least twice. “Gotta be the bypass. Lalia, Bluman. We got a nice eight hour job in front of us.”

… 

The lights were all red in the Roanoke. The men were working in shifts with limited down time but up to double rations if the men could eat that much. Stormer was exhausted and was resting. Roma was in the conn and again Karen had come back with a nonsense answer about their situation. The Roanoke had sent out an autonomous distress drone to report back that the Roanoke was in trouble but there was no way to know if that drone would be able to successfully stop. 

There were several burning questions in Roma’s mind. 

How had they gotten to HC03 so fast?

Where was the Anasazi?

How was the Roanoke going to get home?

The Roanoke had been able to FTL closer to the star and get into an orbit that matched the Anasazi’s flight plan but there was no sign of the Anasazi. The star was point zero eight solarmass. The light of the star was a deep red but it was dim. 

The render of the ship was up on display so Roma could cycle through systems to see progress on repairs. 

Over at communications Lozentz was relieved by Dardar. 

Roma looked at another display to get the raw numbers that were collected. She plotted the numbers onto a graph.  Something wasn’t adding up, that much was obvious to everyone. The question was why. The problem was that while in FTL electromagnetic signals from outside couldn’t get in.  The ship had to navigate from gravitational data and it only really showed that their target destination was in front of them, not how far.  Back home this wasn’t really a problem because the motions of the planets and other objects in the system were well known.  Anything larger than a golf ball was tracked or cleared.  The known motions of the planets was used to assist with navigation and laid over gravitational data.  But in the span between the stars when going FTL, with everything so far away the gravitational data only showed in which direction a gravitational point was, not how far away. 

Roma pulled up Mark Adakai’s file. What would Mark Adakai do? What was he thinking? If he was alive out here then what had he been doing? 

She played a recording of Adakai and Freedman discussing his first FTL. 

“They hit ignition and the ships just vanished. Poof. Gone like a magic trick.”

“To where? What was the flight plan?”

“The ships start from the plasma extractor and were set to fly to Memory Station. They never made it. Systems start up and then the ship is gone. It’s just gone. Not there anymore.”

“Twice?”

“Twice. They said they needed a real pilot, a human who could out think the machine, but I said no way. But Daniel heard about it and volunteered. Now we have to send someone. It’s an order.”

“And you choose me.”

“I’m not ordering you. You can refuse.”

Roma stopped playback. One phrase struck her. Out think the machine, she needed to out think the machine. How do you even start to do that? How had Mark done it? 

It dawned on her that she was not Mark Adakai. Captain Mark Adakai was not here. Amanda Roma was here.  How could Amanda Roma out think the machine? She could feel her heart beating as she thought.  She had wanted this. She had fought for this. Now she was here in a life and death situation. Now it was up to her to not only keep herself alive but keep these men alive. It was all on her. 

She pulled up a spreadsheet program and started putting numbers in. On a separate display she had the numbers plotted and graphed. On top of that graph she put the expected speed and distance. See, they don’t line up. So, that’s wrong. It just is wrong. The hydrogen wasn’t slowing the ship down, it was somehow speeding the ship up. Or … the reason the hydrogen was building up wasn’t because there was more hydrogen but actually because the ship was already going faster than it was supposed to. 

Roma went back to the spreadsheet and typed in an equation. The solution was then graphed and compared to the actual data points. It didn’t match. She tried another equation. Again, it could not connect the dots and didn’t match observations for flights under an hour. She adjusted the equation. The graph shifted but still didn’t match up. 

“The ship was going faster. That is the mystery. The ship was going faster.” she said to herself. 

She tried another equation. There it was. That was the solution right there. It matched observed flight data for short flights and also matched the Roanoke.  

“Karen, I want you to analyze and tell me about this.” Roma ordered. 

“Of course, Captain.” Karen’s voice answered. “Your equations would imply that the speed of the ship was increasing exponentially.”

“There are two components to the distance covered.” Roma explained. “One is speed and the other is contraction. Which one makes more sense?”

“In order to increase speed, more power would need to be fed to the FTL.  This did not happen.”

“So that means it was spacial contraction and that was independent of our speed. And it was not linear. It was exponential.”

“I am analyzing your theory now, Captain. It seems that the data does support your conclusion but it is weak.”

“I ordered a stop because we had hydrogen build up on the hull. Mark would not have stopped for that. He would have kept going. He wouldn’t have known he was in trouble. He wouldn’t have known until … he passed the star.”

Roma adjusted her graph to show the possible speed of the Anasazi when passing HC03. 

“If you are correct, Captain, there would be no way to safely stop at those speeds. If the Anasazi attempted to come to a full stop, it would have been destroyed.”

“And if he didn’t come to a stop?”

“He wouldn’t be in our galaxy anymore.”

“Well, one thing is for sure, he’s not here. Karen, it’s time to start making a plan on how to get home. We have to report this.”

“Captain!” Dardar yelled. “I’ve got a signal.”

“What!”

… 

Al came back online and the various displays with information came to life. 

Mark had his feet secured to the floor of the ship by the foot holds and Lalia was actually floating upside down with her head next to his as if she were standing of the ceiling. It was Lalia who spoke first to ask Al if he was ok. 

“I see we have suffered a power outage.” Al said. 

“One of the transformers had a burnout.” Mark said. “We did what we could back there but we need you to tell us if anything else is broken.”

“I will get the local gravity turned back on.” Al said. 

“Hold it.” Lalia said. “Gravity is expensive. First is safety.”

“She’s right.” Mark said. 

“I understand.” Al said. “Instruments show that we are in orbit around a star traveling at eighteen thousand kilometers per hour. I see the Anasazi was able to come out of FTL well below relativistic speed.”

“I think you had too many things going all at the same time.” Mark said. 

“It would be noteworthy to have found the actual limits of our FTL engines.” Al said. 

“We need to do full safety checks. And get another AI to help you go over the data from the jump.  Let’s find a number we can stay under. If it was speed or the time of the jump, I need to know what was too much.”