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Reunion: Chapter 19

The halls were worn and showed the signs of its age. Outside of the white room that Adrian had left. Rust clung to the corners where the wall met the ceiling and the floor, there was the smell of mildew hanging on the air and that sourceless light wasn't as prominent.

The sounds of the ship echoes down the empty halls, machines whirred and the sounds of pumps could be heard as the still naked Canis cautiously walked alone. He kept his wits up, ready to be attacked by whatever lurked just outside of sight. He prodded ahead with his mind, constantly feeling for any sign of life or something to give him an idea of where he was.

There were no windows, nothing to gauge anything. There were only endless gray metal corridors with piping hanging overhead, carrying either wires or pipes. The place had a very industrial feel to it with little done to make the place feel appealing.

“I think we're in a ship." Dog commented. The often silent guardian that had watched over Adrian for most of his life from the deep darks of his mind only to have recently come to light was just as cautious, though his generations of memories from many past hosts gave him a deep well of knowledge to call on. “The way the ship hums, the feel of the vibrations on your paws, it just screams that this is some sort of ship."

“Like a space ship?" Adrian stepped over to the wall and rubbed his paw across its eroded surface and grimaced when a thick layer of rust that had been hiding behind a layer of paint, holding on after behind left untouched for so long, came away onto him. Most ships that Adrian had been on, transports and the one that Dog had stolen…

“Commandeered." Dog quickly said, reminding Adrian that Dog had nearly unrestricted access to his thoughts.

Modern ships were sleek and clean. The tangle of wires that Adrian walked under, ducking to make sure that he didn't get shocked, would have been placed behind paneling to keep them out of sight. No one wanted to see that.

“Back then, aesthetics weren't so important." Dog educated Adrian on the finer days of ship building. “Ships were built to be rugged and durable while cutting down cost without sacrificing reliability. Putting these wires behind walls meant that if there was ever a short or a break, the wall would have to be pulled away to get to the issue. Plus, hiding them cost extra."

“Hmm." Adrain grunted and took the first left he came across. He wasn't getting any directions from Dog since he didn't know where they were going either. “Does that help us find a way out?"

“No."

“Or find some clothes?" Adrian scratched his belly. Not that he minded going around ol' natural, there was just the issue of radiation. He had come here with a radiation suit initially, but that was gone now. He pulled at his fur. It wasn't coming out or anything. Maybe this ship was shielded.

“Do you think we're airborne? Above the radiation?" It seemed possible. Ships did fly.

“I doubt it." Dog replied. “From what I've seen, this piece of junk is in bad shape, though that hum in the floor grates and the fact that we aren't in total darkness hints that there is power. Do you think you could get us to the engine room. There might be something there to help us."

Adrian closed his eyes. He could feel the hum and slight vibrations on the bottom of his paw pads. They were faint, but there. “I think so."

It wasn't hard to follow the vibrations and as Adrian went longer and longer without running into anything, he became more confident. Whenever he got to a split in the hall, he picked a direction, if the vibrations got weaker, he turned around and went back.

There were door, lots of door, hatches that led to empty room with nothing in them. There were shadows where things used to be, but had been moved a long time ago. There was no trash, nothing loose, if it could be moved, it had been moved so Adrian found no use in exploring his surrounding too much.

After some time and a flight of stairs that led Adrian down several levels, he found himself in what was definitely the engineering spaces. The walls weren't really walls anymore, just bundles of more wires and pipes stacked on top of each other enough to make a wall like barrier. There were dials and readings every so often. Most were broken or in the red, but there were no alarms, those had appeared to be broken. Adrian couldn't tell if they had broken from age, going years of blaring before failing or had been purposefully destroyed to silence them.

The slight hum that had been mostly a background noise was now growing louder and louder as the vibrations grew in intensity. The sourceless light was replaced by conventional lighting that was dim and barely working. Adrian had to outstretch his hands to avoid beaming himself on a low hanging metal bars.

More walking and then they were there.

"Well I guess this is it."

“What gave it away. The sign that says reactor room or the fact that we can't go any farther back?"

Adrian rolled his eyes and pushed on the door. It didn't budge, but he persisted. When he had been jumping from construction job to construction, the team of laborers were always briefed on safety since there were a few humans as well. If it was just Canis, Adrian doubted that they would have received a briefing

The briefings almost outlined a key security feature, sliding doors, such as the one that Adrian was trying to pull open, could be forced open in case of a fire. One of the safety officers had gone in depth about old ships and how most had this feature as well. One would think that the reactor room would be an exception, but it wasn't. If there was ever a time to lock the door, the ship's computer could do that or something, he stopped listening after that.

“There we go." Adrian heaved with his one good arm as the door gave way and its rusty gears complaining. The door had been blocking most of the noise and Adrian had to cup his ears as the ship's engine's roared.

“I can barely hear myself think, and I'm in your head." Dog tried to muffle out what he could. It was amazing what he could do and soon Adrian was able to uncover his ears.

“Thanks." He looked around the engine room. The actual engine, reactor, all of the main parts weren't in this exact room, he was now in the control room which had been stripped like much of the rest of the ship, but the computers here were bolted down.

“Head over to one of one of those terminals, maybe we can figure out where we are and possibly get some clothes and we'll figure out what to do next."

The terminals were still in working order, they had to be in order for the generator, the reactor, anything that had to do with power to work. This was the heart of the ship.

Unlike flying, Adrian knew how to work a computer and with the help of Dog who knew much more, they soon had the name of the ship.

“The USS Jacksonville."It was typed on the top of every page they went through. “What kind of name is that?"

"People used to like to name ships after cities and people." Dog said and directed Adrian to a set of files that held some ship layouts. If anyone needed to know how to get around the ship, it would have to be the people in charge of the engineering spaces so it would make sense for there to be layouts here. “Jacksonville was a city here on Earth."

“So much stuff about the past that I don't know about." Adrian pulled up a half corrupted layout. Most of the files were gone, the hard drives were failing and all he got was an image of hallways that suddenly cut off, making the ship appear as if it had been sheared in half.

“I'll tell you about it all later." Dog promised. “But for now, let's see about getting you some clothes." He looked over the image with Adrian's eyes. “There appears to be a barracks not far from here, if there's going to be something for you to wear, it would be there."

“That is, if there is anything left. This place has been picked more clean than that old bank that closed down several months ago. The second there wasn't any security, people flooded it and grabbed anything of worth." He stepped away from the terminal, he had a pretty solid image of it memorized thanks to Dog. “I even believe that someone came and stripped the carpet. Probably to use as insulation. Nights get cold and anythings helps." At this point, Adrian was talking more to himself than Dog, he used to always have someone to talk to on Mars, now it was just him and Dog.

He kept talking as he went through a new path, leaving the engine room as there was a flicker In the lights.

The barracks was only a two minute walk and while, like the other rooms, it was stripped, the lockers were bolted down so that they wouldn't tip if the ship experienced sudden acceleration.

“Jackpot." There was an old uniform in it and by the looks of its larger chest and contorted pant legs, it was the uniform of a Canis. “Finally something that fits." And fit it did, it fit almost like a glove minus a few tights spots around the abdomen and thighs. The previous owner must have been a little skinnier.

No longer running around a ship in the nude, it was time to get out. There were multiple exits to the ship, ranging from escape pods to the fuel ports, which if empty, could be walked through, to the many number of conventional entrances where a boarding tube would connect. The closest exit was one of the fuel loading tubes, but at the moment, there was no reason to try something unorthodox, so they started making their way towards one of the actual exits that was meant for people.

It was on the way out that Adrian started to get that feeling of being watched and Dog started to get the feeling as well.

“I've been thinking." Adrian said. They had long since left the engineering spaces and had gone up several decks where the lighting was better.

“Yeah."

“Something had to have brought me onto the ship." It had been bugging Adrian. “I couldn't have just magically appeared in that white room."

Before Dog could reply, Adrian rounded a corner and nearly ran into something.

“Why hello there." The robot said, cocking its head to the side.

“What the fuck." Adrian stumbled back and away. Ready to defend himself as best as he could he raised his good fist up. He could pick the skinny machine that had the build of a human, except with a hard rusted outer shell and a a face that was just two yellow glowing sensors where the eyes should be.

“I apologize." The robot raised its arms up in a non threatening posture. “Your movements through the ship had been sporadic, but once you began making your way towards docking hatch charlie tack three, I positioned myself here and waited."

The attack didn't come so Adrian dropped his fist. “You're the one that brought me on board?"

“Why yes." The robot nodded. “I did as much as I could, given my program limitations in first aid, but there is no longer any threat to your life." It turned around and began to walk down the hall. “Now if you would follow me?"

“Dog?"

“That is most definitely an old service model droid. Nothing dangerous from it, though they can't operate without some sort of directive given to it from someone."

“So, should I follow it?" The robot stopped at the end of the hall and waited patiently for Adrian to follow.

“I do want some answers and I think this is the best way to do that."

“If you say so." Adrian said and began to follow the robot which clanked its way forward loudly which made Adrian wonder how it had gotten anywhere without him hearing it.

“Where are you taking us.. Er… Me." It was hard sometimes to remember that even though there were two people present, there was only one body and he didn't exactly want anyone to know more about Dog. They would just think he was crazy or try to kill him if they were Dominion.

“I have been directed to take you to the bridge."

“To meet the captain?"

“Captain Rossier has been deceased for *static* memory corrupted." It didn't stop moving, not realizing that it didn't answer the question.

“Ok then." Adrian didn't ask anymore questions until they reached the bridge. The bridge wasn't on the exterior of the ship, it was located in the dead center. In the middle of the ship, the bridge and the crew would be out of harm during combat. This design allowed the ship to take massive damage and still operate.

There was no one in the big room that had a central walkway that went in-between two pits where people would sit and work while the command staff could watch from above. The command chair, on a raised platform in the center was barren.

The robot walked over to tube shape object in the corner, stepped into it and immediately shut off, leaving Adrian alone.

“Hello?" Adrian said and heard his voice echo down at the far end of the bridge.

No reply.

“Anyone home?" He tried again.

“Hold your horses." The monitors all lit up at once to a blank, blue screen. “Can't rush old technology, these computers aren't what they used to be and it takes time to boot up."

Adrian looked for the source of the male voice that squeaked with interference. It was coming from all sides.

“Step more into the room, the cameras can't get a good look at you where you're at."

Adrian did as he was told and found one of the cameras, a small half of a orb on the ceiling.

“There we go." The camera shifted a little, the lens flaring. “Jeeves seemed to have done pretty good job patching up your arm, there's no blood seeping through that uniform you found. Wasn't aware that there were any of those left around, most things rotted away a long time ago."

“Jeeves your robot?" Adrian walked up to the command chair. The black leather was cracked and the stainless steel wasn't so stainless anymore.

“Yep. Last one on Earth, maybe. That might be a lie. I have no idea how the rest of the planet is. I can tell you that New York has seen better days." The monitors flickered and a video played.

There was a sunny, blue sky, clouds, the sound of bird. The video shifted downwards showing an endless ocean with craft floating on the waves. Some were small, some had massive sails, though Adrian didn't know what a sail was, others were just as large as a space ship with thousands of cargo containers. The camera started panning to the right and there was a statue of a green woman in loose garb holding a torch and a tablet. The video cut out.

“Good old' New York. Wonder how the old apartment is doing. Haven't been there for a while, though the last time I was there the city wasn't exactly so hot. Happens when war comes rolling on through and decimates the planet. Those weren't the good times." He kept going and going and Adrian had to cut him off.

“Excuse me." Adrian said politely, not wanting to anger whoever this was. “But, why have you brought me here, but first of all, who are you?"

“Not polite to ask for a name without giving one first, buster." The voice didn't sound angry.

“I'm Adrian."

“The last time I called myself anything, I went by Charlie Protocol, but to be frank, that's dumb, you can call me what my friends call me… Or did call me since I doubt any of them are still alive. Wouldn't that be amazing? If one of them was still alive. The stories we would share. So much has happened. Well, not here, there are dust storms. Massive things that come rolling around every so often. I guess I wouldn't have many stories, but the stories they would have..."

“You name?" Adrian interrupted again.

“Oh right. Call me Crane."