Pen Draig

By Philip R Benge

Alun Reece, was once Starfleet’s ablest captain, but following the death of his wife, he was thrown in to the depths of depression. Then an astronomer receives a message for Mankind, supposedly from God asking them to come to him. The Church of the Universe send a starship in to deep space to investigate, and for some unknown reason, with Reece as its captain. Little does Reece, or his crew, know that their journey will lead them on the trail of the mythical Seeders, and in to danger from so many different enemies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip R Benge
• Release date: Apr 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463611807

Philip R Benge

Like most of the world, I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills, which meant that I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. I finally found the time and the energy to write some full length Science Fiction stories.

Book preview

Pen Draig

A Story By

Philip R Benge

Smashwords Edition

***************

Published by

Philip R Benge on Smashwords

Pen Draig

Copyright Philip R Benge 2019

Cover photo by Steve Jurvetson 2019

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Pen Draig

Contents

Chapter One: Back from the Brink

Chapter Two: The Voyage Out

Chapter Three: Pen Draig

Chapter Four: The Ordovices

Chapter Five: The Vault of Myrddin

Chapter Six: The Planet Chryste

Chapter Seven: Battle in Space

Other Books by the Author

Chapter One

Back from the Brink

It was the middle part of the 24th century, Earth was united at last under one government, however, for one man, Alun Reece, this did not lift him out of the depression in to which he had sunk following the death of his wife three years earlier. He was a tall man, just over six feet in height, aged thirty-five years, with a mop of black hair on his head, brown eyes, and a handsome, although rugged, face. His clothes had seen better days and needed replacing, one positive thing about him was the look on his face, if you looked carefully in to his eyes you would see just a ray hope, although this was still tinged with despair. His friends had wondered if anything would ever save him, at times they had even feared for his life. Four weeks prior, something had come along to give him a new chance of life, something unexpected. It had been a stranger who had been behind it and Alun had jumped at the chance. The four weeks had been filled with hard work that ended with Alun standing on the observation deck of the largest of the space docks in orbit around the planet Earth.

Here, he did feel better, a lot better, and he was determined to grasp the opportunity offered to him with both hands. He felt that old spark of life flowing through him, it was because he was back in space and away from Earth, for Earth had always seemed crowded whenever he was down upon its surface. He was looking at a spaceship that was hanging in space, attached to the space dock by eight large clamps to stop the vessel from moving. There were also three docking tubes attached to the vessel, one going to the ship’s main airlock and the other two going to the airlocks that accessed the ship’s holds. The spacecraft had a rather cumbersome name, the Church of the Universe, as it had been the Church who had commissioned it. It had been built for a very specific purpose, to take missionaries of the Church to the stars, to spread the word amongst those who had not heard the words of the one God.

The vessel comprised of five decks; the bridge, the galley area and a small hanger bay were on the top level. The large medical section, an equally large meeting room, the main airlock and the environmental section were on the second level. The engineering department took up part of levels three and four. The residential area was also on these two levels and finally, located on level five, were the ship’s hold and two further airlocks through which all the supplies were brought.

The vessel had been completed just in time to embark on a very different task to that intended, it was to travel 323 light-years from Earth to a yellow star to investigate the report that somewhere within its system there was not only intelligent life, but one that also knew the words of God. This information had been provided by Charles Samson, an obscure astronomer who lived on the planet New Caledonia, which was 110 light-years from Earth and the furthest that man had as yet travelled. The message had apparently been sent in a tight beam, aimed directly at New Caledonia, for no one else had received it. What was so special about the signal was the message within it, the Ten Commandments. The senders of the message, whoever they were, repeated the same message for one week, once every 24 hours, then the message changed, there were now only three words, ‘Come to Me’ followed with the co-ordinates of the star designated by Earth as HD73526. Samson had contacted the various News outlets, but they were not interested, they mentioned it once, saying that this was the latest obvious hoax to come to their attention. Samson then contacted the Church of the Universe, and some amongst the senior members of the Church did not see it as a hoax, they reminded their colleagues that they had been waiting for just such a sign from God, and this they believed was it.

Looking across at the bridge of the ship, Alun saw that three men were on it, working, they were the 1st watch he thought, waiting for their captain.

My god, their captain must be desperate for a command, Alun thought, and its crew were probably just as desperate, probably to escape justice for some crime that would carry a long prison sentence. For one seemingly filled with the spark of hope, he seemed very pessimistic and a little uncharitable, for the crew all followed the religion of the Church of the Universe and for the most part, they had no criminal tendencies at all.

Standing there, Alun thought back those four work-filled weeks to when he had called to see Archbishop Wendell, it was after he had received a phone call from Bishop Tarisman, asking him to call on the archbishop the next day, for lunch. An invitation to lunch with one of the most powerful men on Earth, why?

He arrived early, not sure at what time an Archbishop had lunch, he was immediately shown in to a small study, with the word private on the door. One hour later, Wendell walked through the door, shook his hands and said to Alun.

Alun, it is good to meet you, sit down please, we will have our lunch in here, it is a little more private.

They did not talk about the reason why he had been invited to join the archbishop, instead they ate their lunch and reminisced over times past. However, when they had finished, Wendell finally got around to the reason why he had asked him to call.

Alun, I may call you by your given name, may I? When Alun nodded Wendell continued. We need you back at the helm, back doing what you do best. You must have heard about the message from the distant star HD73526, and you probably know that we are sending a starship to investigate it?

Wendell stopped here, waiting for an acknowledgement from Alun, who replied quizzically.

I have heard about it, yes.

Alun, I want you to captain that ship.

Me, why are you offering the captaincy of your vessel to me your excellency, you must have many an able captain to call upon. Especially as I do not even believe in your religion any more, nor in your god?

You were the best starship captain in the space fleet, before you resigned your commission with the fleet, you still are the best, you just need this mission to bring you back to us. However, to answer your question, while Bishop Tarisman will be in command of the mission, I need you to be the ship’s captain. Why? I will tell you Alun. Although I firmly believe that the signal was sent by God, and that when you arrive at the star you will be met, if not by God, then by his messenger, I need you to act as a counterbalance. You will be there to ensure that Bishop Tarisman and his team are not beguiled by a fraud, or worse, something sent by the Satan to seduce us in to believing that he, Satan, is God. However, to make your task all the more difficult, I insist that you give him the benefit of the doubt, up until he proves to be false.

Alun knew that this meant he would have to argue vehemently with Tarisman, at some point, probably during the meeting with whoever had sent the signal and, he was not so sure that in his current state he was able to do that. However, he held that thought back and instead he asked.

Will the ship carry defensive weapons, defence shields.

Yes, Alun, we are not foolish, however, although they will scare away a pirate, they will not allow you to engage a space cruiser. Wendell replied. Not that we anticipate a world capable of building a space cruiser sending such a message. Now, there is no pressure, but we do need an answer from you today. Why not sit in our garden of solitude while you consider our offer?

No pressure then Alun thought, just be sure to best the devil, however, he did not say these words, instead he nodded, stood up and followed a young novice who had appeared to show him the way to the garden. Entering it, he found that there was just the one wooden bench to sit upon, it was amid an oasis of solitude in the centre of a crowded city. However, he did not think about the archbishop’s proposal, he thought about his wife, as he always did when alone. He remembered the good times that they had enjoyed together, her terrible death beneath the building that had collapsed upon her. It had been due for demolition, a slight tremor had hastened its demise and taken the life of his wife along with it. She had been walking past it on her way to a cafe, where she was due to meet her sister, when it happened. She and a dozen other people had died under the falling building, and his life had come to a shuddering stop. Sitting there, Alun could feel her with him, urging him to take the job, go search for whoever had sent the message, and in doing so find his way again, otherwise only an early death awaited him.

Bishop Tarisman suddenly appeared, Alun noticed with surprise that the sun was beginning to set, he had been there all the afternoon without realising it.

Archbishop Wendell wondered if you had come to a decision Captain Reece.

Alun looked up at the bishop, a sad sort of smile upon his face

Yes, Bishop Tarisman, I have, is the archbishop free.

On entering the archbishop’s study, he was greeted with a nod and asked to sit, then Wendell asked.

Alun, you were in our garden for a long time, but then time is of no consequence when you are in that garden, time passes unnoticed, I know from experience. However, to business, please tell me that you have decided to accept my offer.

I have your excellency, because I need to work again, or I will lose what is left of my mind, so, yes, I am your man.

Wendell looked at Alun on hearing these words. Yes, the Archbishop thought, he does need something to stop him from thinking about the death of his wife, the responsibilities that he will have on this voyage will help to take his mind off it. Wendell knew everything about Alun, he had researched him the moment that Bishop Martell, his second in command of the church, had proposed him as the captain of their new flagship. Something about Alun’s history had made him offer the post, and after meeting him he was sure that he had made the correct choice.

The voyage is due to start in four weeks Alun; you have one week to get your affairs in order and three to get to know your vessel and crew thoroughly.

That week was not so hectic as it would have been for him before the death of his wife. All the utility bills were paid by direct debit and he spent some of the time purchasing new clothes for the trip, as his existing ones had been in need of dumping for some time. He had also acquired