After finishing his supper, Daniel got up, said thanks to Chef, and went to stateroom. Dana followed him. The room was all clean and everything was fixed there. He went straight to the Administrator's Panel, placed his hand on the wall and logged out of Administrator mode. Administrator mode was too risky. Once on, Dana would not raise any alarms to his orders or suggest anything different from his commands. The machines just become tools when it is on. It was necessary to avoid any rash decisions. This mode was created to give power to Captain of the ship when Human staff was aboard.
He sat in his control chair.
"Brief me on situation Dana!" He commanded.
"Sir! Running engines with full performance without any efficiency and security…"
"Go straight to the point. I will check details later." Daniel was not in the mood.
"Yes Sir!" Dana paused.
"Sir due to recent activity, both of the support engines have failed and are out of commission. Support engines need to be replaced. Steering engines in the wings to control the direction of the ship have become in-operable until full scale repairs. The steering system itself has taken a toll due to overuse and misuse of engines. It needs major repairs."
"So, you are saying, we cannot change our direction at this moment" Daniel was alarmed.
"Yes sir!"
"Ugh." Daniel exasperated.
"We have enough resources onboard to get them repaired. I will be alright." He thought.
"Okay. What else?"
"The gravity control system took a major blow and is being repaired as we speak."
"That's it? Main engines did not take any damage? And what about power and structural problems? Nothing?" Daniel was pleasantly surprised.
"It is good, no, great news." He thought to himself.
"No Sir. These systems did take damage. However, it was not reported because these systems have already been repaired and are functioning properly." Dana explained.
"Huh. Nice job." Daniel smiled.
"My pleasure." Dana said mechanically.
"So, how much time will it take to fix all the problems." Daniel asked.
"Sir, gravitational system will be repaired by today and…"
"Today?" Daniel intercepted.
"How long I have been sleeping?" Daniel murmured to himself. He instinctively looked at his wrist to check time. He had forgotten to wear his Gear.
"One month." Dana told him.
"What? That long?" There was one surprise after the other.
"It feels like, I just slept overnight and woke up." He thought.
"How long till we reach our destination?" Daniel asked.
"With current condition of the ship and no major deviations en route, we will reach on 31 December, 3031. It will be one-year delay from schedule." Dana informed
"Not bad." Daniel nodded his head.
"Resume your report."
We are out of materials to repair or install any engines. Until we retrieve required materials, engines cannot be replaced or fixed." Dana explained.
"What the hell." Daniel exclaimed. It was a major drawback. Not able to change directions means certain death. He just had a nightmarish experience due to inability to change directions.
"Any news from Head Quarters?" Daniel asked.
"None, Sir."
"Okay."
"Scan all the surrounding area, as we proceed, for any cosmic bodies with suitable conditions to land and collect materials." Daniel instructed.
"Yes sir." Dana responded.
"You can leave now." Daniel ordered.
Dana disappeared.
"Resume first playlist" Daniel ordered, and a slow song played. Daniel started humming the song.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A few months had passed since the Black Hole incident. Daniel was lying in his lounger after a session at gym across the hall. Today he was looking dapper in black slim fit suit with Blue shirt and black leather closed-laces shoes. A glass of wine was lying on his right side. He would occasionally pick up the glass and had sip of wine. He was in relaxed mood.
He was reading a book titled Beginning after the end by Her-Kas. This was his favorite book. He had already read this book more than a hundred times. In fact, he had already read every book in his library multiple times and he had more than 10,000 books in his library. He had listened to all the songs in his playlists so many times that he remembered all his favorite songs by heart.
They had acquired the required materials from one of the asteroids around a month ago. Full recovery was expected by end of today.
Beep. Beep. Beep…
Suddenly, high pitch siren went off and startled Daniel.
"What the…" Daniel was annoyed.
"An unidentified moving object has appeared around 2,000 kilometers ahead of us." Dana warned.
"Unidentified?" Daniel wondered.
"It is freely moving. It is too far away to tell." Dana responded.
"What? Freely moving? It could be a spaceship." Daniel got excited. He sat up. He had a big smile on his face.
"First turn off this alarm. Do not let it go off. I am fully awake." Daniel was irritated.
"How long till our Navigation system becomes fully functional?" Daniel realized that it could be an enemy. He needed to be prepared.
"Three hours." Dana responded.
"It is too much time. How much time will it take for us to reach within estimated firing range of this object." Daniel asked.
"Maximum 60 minutes, if they do not move towards us."
"Okay. Turn off the main engines and engage all the secondary resources as well. Tell me final estimated time of full recovery." Daniel commanded.
"All the units engaged. The expected time reduced to 150 minutes." Dana informed.
"Okay. Show me the real time radar imaging on my right and countdown timers on my left." He wanted to see the upcoming ship himself.
The glass on his right lit up with radar imaging and on his left with digital timer, set for 88 minutes.
Radar was showing image in three circles. The outer and biggest circle showed any bodies within the radius of 10,000 kilometers. The area was highlighted in light red color. The middle circle covered 1,000 kilometers of radius and was highlighted in pigment red. The inner circle covered 100 kilometers radius and was highlighted in Dark red color. He could see a dot moving towards bottom at 15 degrees in the outermost circle.