Starship Arcadia (Farthest Reaches Book 2) by Brandon Ellis & Max Wolfe

Author:Brandon Ellis & Max Wolfe [Ellis, Brandon & Wolfe, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2024-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Atlas Rift

Captain Scott Moore

We boarded the train and watched as the platform receded, the subway car picking up speed and hurtling us through the bowels of Arcadia. I glanced around at my team, realizing the silence needed to be broken.

“Quite the sight, isn’t it?” I gestured to the vast expanse of the ship visible through the subway car’s windows. “Our Antediluvians cousins certainly had a flair for the dramatic.”

Feazer pressed his hand against the seat cushion. “Indeed, Captain. It’s difficult to believe Arcadia was created by humans.”

“The Antediluvians prioritized both form and function, Captain,” Erika said. “It’s as if they sought to create a harmonious balance between the two. Very Greek, I might add.”

Chief sneered. “There are a lot of questions. We could learn from them, sure, but all of this… it’s too much to believe.”

“How many times have I heard that since we left Earth?” Vincent asked.

“Then you explain it,” Chief said. “Explain how the ship created a French subway train and rendered the same kinds of signs I’ve seen in Paris. How did it create a functioning bridge identical to Atlanta’s?”

Vincent folded his arms as the train took a sharp turn. “It’s constructed everything from Scott’s mind. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Instantly?” Chief asked.

“Probably used nanoprinters and rearranged atoms,” Vincent said.

“Michael had said there were fabricators aboard the ship, but we haven’t found them yet. Thankfully, the biodomes provide enough nutrition for us to eat for as long as we’ll be alive,” I said.

“If Arcadia can print material on the nanoscale, their printers might not be visible using the human eye,” Vincent explained.

My brother’s speculation made sense, but there had to be more to it. “Then couldn’t Michael simply refit the ship using those same machines? Why take us to Eos in the first place?”

“You tell me, Scott. You’re the one who spent the most time with Gisele and Michael.”

Chief gave Vincent a dirty look.

“Michael wants us to recruit personnel from Eos in addition to the refit,” I replied.

Erika gripped the subway pole. “Captain, that would imply there aren’t Antediluvians in cryo onboard this ship.”

“I don’t think there are. Those people we met when we first boarded the ship seem to be the previous crew.” I knew somehow they’d declined into a primitive state, probably because Michael saw them as incompatible with his mission. Failure wasn’t to be rewarded, he’d said. Failure. At what?

Vincent bounced his leg up and down. “Why doesn’t Arcadia, oh, I don’t know, print people?”

“You mean make clones?” Chief asked.

My brother shrugged. “I guess. If that’s what they are. I have no idea.”

“You can’t print people,” Feazer said. “Brains don’t work that way.”

Erika gave Feazer a look.

I faced Chief. “What are the chances Arcadia uses the same type of genetic manipulation as the Shapers?”

Chief lifted his chin. “I’d say relatively high.”

Erika placed her hand on the glass. “Sir, whose memories is Arcadia using?”

“Mine,” I admitted. “Gisele is a woman from my past.”

“An important woman?” she asked.

Chief knew what she meant to me. So did Vincent. I’d spilled my guts to them about her more than once.

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