{"id":2181,"date":"2024-09-20T11:03:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T11:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2181"},"modified":"2024-09-20T11:03:20","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T11:03:20","slug":"nothing-but-spare-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/nothing-but-spare-parts\/2181\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing but spare parts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard tell that science instructors at the Fleet Academies teach students that the <\/em>most important thing, the core fundamental need that humans have when terraforming new planets, is water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those two hydrogen and one oxygen atoms are used to sustain us wherever we go; no water, no humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t a revelation, nor is the fact that what they spout is mostly cyberpuppy-shit, but I am somewhat surprised that it\u2019s running through my thought processes now, like one of those old steam trains from the VidArchives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d laugh at how tangential my thought processes are, but I\u2019m too busy wrestling with the controls of my freighter as it\u2019s buffeted by the subspace disturbances generated from the… well, armada is the only word, that is appearing in ActuaSpace around me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m trying to get out of their way before one of those dumb Navy jocks rematerialises on top of me and fuses us together. It won\u2019t cause them much damage, but for me, and the colonists on Gliese 180-C, it will be fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve even noticed me, although no doubt the military neuranetworks piloting the ships will have. Even now, my viewscreen is flashing up red warnings left, right, and centre, and sirens are screaming for my attention. This old class-Lambda rustbucket isn\u2019t used to being thrown around like a toddler\u2019s toy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome on baby,\u201d I mutter to her under my breath, as another Dreadnought appears less than a hundred klicks off my port side, and I skitter away. She doesn\u2019t answer, I disabled all the AI functionality that wasn\u2019t related to life support, critical function reporting, and navigation years ago. I\u2019m beginning to wish I hadn\u2019t. It\u2019s a lonely enough life anyway, running parts for air purification and recycler systems out to the ass end of the galaxy without having to feel like I\u2019ll die alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adrenaline\u2019s running hot, I\u2019ve been ducking and weaving for what feels like an eternity but, glancing at the chronometer, I see it\u2019s been less than five minutes. Weird how we still use Earth time, even though most of us have never been there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another panel\u2019s started flashing, but I\u2019ve not got time to give any attention to it. Comms from this fleet are the least of my worries at the moment. I\u2019ll talk nice to them after I\u2019ve finished, y\u2019know, not dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not even sure which faction\u2019s fleet it is, but I already know how it\u2019s going to go. Demands for paperwork, boarding, inspections… this time for some unusual reason, I decided to go above board, so if I survive they won\u2019t find anything amiss. Lucky me, huh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must not have disabled everything I thought, as a voice speaks to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning, lasergrid defence systems activated<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shit, man, they\u2019re lighting me up now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I glance at the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh. My. God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the, what, fifty so far warships, twenty-five have launched missiles at me. They\u2019re hyperspace-enabled hunter-killers. I don\u2019t stand a fu…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve heard tell that science instructors at the Fleet Academies teach students that the most important thing, the core fundamental need that humans have when terraforming new planets, is water. Those two hydrogen and one oxygen atoms are used to sustain us wherever we go; no water, no humanity. They\u2019re wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1129,1384],"tags":[114,1024,116,13,12,148,1402,1227,118,749,672,1120,632,1000,159],"class_list":["post-2181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1129","category-sept-2024-precious","tag-but","tag-isn","tag-like","tag-me","tag-my","tag-no","tag-parts","tag-running","tag-they","tag-those","tag-us","tag-used","tag-ve","tag-water","tag-what"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-zb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2183,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions\/2183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}