(a short story)

In Time (A short story)

Chapter 5.

It was a typical spring morning, Liam was sitting on the castle wall enjoying the view out over freshly planted fields. The Head Man came up the stairs and told him that, “the ship was making a strange noise and saying, warning, warning.”

Liam made his way down to the ship to find an alarm sounding.

“Computer, turn that off,” ordered Liam, he then added, “what is the problem?”

“A ship has just entered orbit and it has started scanning the planet surface,” replied the computer.

“Can you indentify the ship,” asked Liam.

“It’s a Airon ship,” replied the computer.

Liam sat down in the cock pit chair, he knew it was now just a matter of time before they discovered the ship and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“I guess this day has been coming ever since I got here,” said Liam, before adding, “all good things come to an end.”

He got up from the cock pit chair and started walking out of the ship, as he did he asked, “how long before they scan the ship?”

“Four point two hours,” replied the computer.

Liam walked out of the ship, stopped and looked around the castle’s court yard, villagers were going about their daily routine, it was just another day.

The head man was waiting for him, he looked at Liam and asked, “it everything alright?”

“No,” replied Liam, he paused and just looked at the Head Man, before continuing, “your Overlords have returned.”

The colour ran away from the Head Man’s face, he just stood there and said nothing.

“I know your Overlord as Airon’s and their not very friendly, it’s only a matter of time before they locate the ship, if they find me they will kill me,” said Liam, as he sat down on the step that lead into his ship.

“Why will they kill you?” asked the Head Man.

“I don’t know, they have a history of killing anyone who violates their space,” replied Liam.

“Can’t you hide from them?” asked the Head Man.

Liam sat there just staring straight ahead for a few moments.

“It’s worth a go,” replied Liam, who got to his feet and started walking into the ship, before adding, “wait here.”

Once back on the flight deck Liam barked out some orders, “computer, shut down all Androids, complete shutdown, no return to base, shut down in location, in five minutes.”

Liam sat down on the cock pit chair before continuing, “computer, in ten minutes I want you to shut down everything, all ship operations, everything, including you.”

“If I shut down completely, you will not be able to reboot, you will not be able to restart any ship operations,” replied the computer.

“What percentage of power would need to stay active to enable a reboot?” asked Liam.

“One percent,” replied the computer.

“Would the Airon’s detect one percent of power?” asked Liam.

“Unknown,” replied the computer.

“Would you be able to detect one percent?” asked Liam.

“Yes,” replied the computer.

“Compete and total shut down in ten minutes,” ordered Liam.

Liam started walking out of the ship, he stopped and said, “computer, good bye, it’s been fun, I’ll miss you.”

Liam continued walking out of the ship, once he was gone the computer said, “good bye Liam.”

Once outside Liam told the Head Man that the Androids were about to shut down, the Head Man just looked at him so he said, “the mechanical men are going to shut down in a few minutes, organize some of the villagers to put dirt on them, I need them to look like they have not moved in a long time, make them look like statues.”

“Yes Liam,” said the Head Man.

“Get back here as soon as you can and bring me a change of clothes, like yours,” said Liam.

“Yes Liam,” replied the Head Man as he ran off.

Liam sat on the step outside the ship waiting, as one of the Androids walked past, pushing a wheel barrow full of straw from the stables, it stopped and just stood there like a statue, a piece of modern art. One of the villagers came over to it and started smearing mud on it and then throwing straw at it.

The Head Man returned with some cloths, so Liam took them into the ship, returning a few minutes later, looking very much like one of the villagers.

“How do I look?” asked Liam.

“Just like one of use,” replied the Head Man.

The ship went quite as it shut down, no lights, no noise, it was eerie, it was like the ship had just died, if Liam got through this, things where not going to be the same without the ship, the computer and the Androids.

Liam looked at the Head Man and just said, “all we can do now is wait.”

The wait was not very long, a ship approached the castle, travelling slow and low, it stopped and hovered over the abandoned village for a short time before them moving closer to the castle. The villager all gathered in the court yard of the castle as if they were expecting something, Liam blended in with them and hoped.

A hologram appeared in the court yard, all the villagers fell to their knees and looked at the ground, as did Liam.

“Who is the Head Man,” said the Hologram.

The Head Man looked up at the Hologram and said, “I am.”

“Where is the occupant of this ship?” asked the Hologram, while pointing at Liam’s ship.

“He is dead, Overlord,” replied the Head Man.

“When did he die?” asked the Hologram.

“Not long after he arrived, he was killed by a raiding party, but not before he drove them off, Overlord,” replied the Head Man.

“Where is his body?” asked the Hologram.

“We burned it, Overlord,” replied the Head Man.

“What happened to your village?” asked the Hologram.

“It was burnt by the raiding party, Overlord,” replied the Head Man.

“What do you know of the escape pods to the south?” asked the Hologram.

“I know nothing of what you speak,” replied the Head Man.

The hologram disappeared and the Airon ship moved away gaining altitude and speed till it disappeared from sight. Liam walked over to the Head Man and said, “thanks for doing that, you saved my life.”

The Head Man smiled and said, “no thanks are needed,” he paused for a moment and then asked, “will you bring the mechanical men back to life?”

“I’m not sure I can,” replied Liam, he then added, “how often do you see these Overlord?”

“Every fifty years,” replied the Head Man.

“I don’t have to worry about them anymore,” said Liam.

Liam left it for a week, just to make sure the Airon’s had left, before embarking on a little trip, he walked south, hoping to locate the escape pods. He realised that they had power supplies and if any still had power, he may be able to use them to re boot the ships computer. It took him a full day to get to the general area of the escape pods and then the best part of another day to locate them.

The power supplies were quite heavy so he could only take one back with him so he chose the one with the most power and headed back to the castle. It took him a full day to get back and he was quite exhausted by the time he arrived.

The next day he connected the power supply and activated the computer, after a short time, lights started flashing and the computer made the start up noise.

“Good morning computer,” said Liam.

“How can I help?” asked the computer.

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