This is the tenth blog where I will be sharing chapters from my next book. Read the previous chapters here.

My second book in the Outbound series follows Virgil since his adventures in book one, Outbound: Islands In The Void. I will be releasing parts of my next science-fiction novel in draft form hoping to get some feedback from interested readers. You are always welcome to offer comments at: richard@richardandersonauthor.com. 

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Finally, the day approached when they would need to initiate deceleration. Simone Beaulieu confirmed both their position and the ship’s velocity. They were within the zone of their projected location. At sixty-seven kilometers per second (241,200 Kilometers per hour) they had achieved a record velocity for a human-occupied spacecraft. On July 11, 2260, the Spindizzy flipped over tail first to their direction and its receiving antennas re-oriented to the Ellie 5 Lightspeed Laser. After Simone verified their computer calculations she made a minor course correction.

“Is everything ready Simone?”

“Close to perfect.”

She locked in the course and signed off her acceptance to the ship’s computer. The Spindizzy started to decelerate. As the deceleration ‘gravity increased the rotation of the ship slowed. The stateroom platforms moved around to be perpendicular to the new force vector. Everything worked perfectly, and the two engineers returned to life as it had been before. The major objective of each day is finding creative ways to counter boredom.

Up until August 15th Anni worked mostly in the background in Daria’s mind. Their personal relationship never developed as existed between Virgil and Ofelia. Ofelia always expressed a robust personality and would never consider herself Virgil’s subservient. But then Anni had been nearly destroyed when her interface was removed from Ali Ebrahim’s skull. Her neuro net had been ripped asunder and left in disconnected fragments throughout the Datasphere. Ofelia had tracked down and reassembled her fragments. She found them in bits and pieces scattered throughout the electronic backwaters. Ofelia reconstructed Anni’s mind, but it was never the same as before. She tried to rebuild the few missing strands but was never sure how successful her efforts were. She did know that Anni was not the same person as before the attempted destruction. Ofelia had expressed remorse to Virgil about her inability to fully reconstruct Anni. Still Anni was sentient and a competent associate. She had no other shortcomings. So, it was on the evening of August 15th Daria Aquila-Greenly had just fallen asleep in her stateroom when she was startled awake by Anni.

“Daria, I am sorry to awaken you. I think something has happened to Ofelia. I cannot detect her coherent presence in the datasphere.”

“No cause for alarm Anni. Virgil is wandering around in the Valles Marineris enclosure. The connections there are spotty. Virgil tells me that his PET frequently loses his data link. Ofelia has the same problem.”

“It is not just that I haven’t received a message from Ofelia. I have lost contact with her intermittently. But what I detect now is a generalized sense of distress from some areas of her personal diaspora,” Anni said.

“What do you think that means, Anni?”

“I don’t know, but I feel something is wrong. I have concern for Ofelia.”

“Can you monitor and, perhaps find some of her recent visual recordings?”

“I believe so. Perhaps I can find some other memory files that will assist as well.”

“Good! Meanwhile, keep trying to detect her signal from Virgil’s interface.”

Daria ended the conversation. She didn’t feel a need to bother Simone at this late hour. They would be together soon enough in the morning. Nevertheless she had a nagging sense of unease. She wondered if Virgil was safe. Daria slept fitfully that night.

The next morning, she and Simone were enjoying their breakfast in the exercise/common room, she brought up her conversation with Anni.

“Daria, I don’t think there is anything to worry about. Virgil has been in the Valles Marineris enclosure… well, he’s just beginning his fourth day. According to what he told you he’ll be in there at least another three days… perhaps five.”

“I suppose you’re right… and Anni is continuing to monitor the situation. She’ll be diligent, after all she owes her existence to Ofelia, and they often collaborate on or share projects with each other. I believe those two virtual beings even help Virgil and me in our relationship with one another.”

“Wow, built-in mediators. And they must also be health advisers? How great is that? Both of you remain youthful, beautiful and happy. Those virtual beings must have a hand in that… I know you miss him Daria, but it won’t be that long until you are in his arms again. You will have plenty of time together in your lives ahead. Just keep that in mind. And the good news is, at our current deceleration rate, my calculations confirm that we will be inserted into Martian orbit on September 6th at 0632. 

Daria Aquila-Greenly didn’t confirm the fact that she and her husband benefited from Ofelia’s enhancements to their native repair mechanisms. Because the aging process in them was balanced by constant repair both would live a very long time. Soon enough that fact would become generally obvious, and they would need to find a way to address it… And everyone’s reaction to the information.