Athena Lee Chronicles 0: The Lost Pilot Read Online Free PDF Page B

desk. While I had been in his many times over the past few years, I had never really looked around, much less sat. The walls in the office were covered in awards and pictures of the General with various dignitaries or politicians. The bookcases on either side of his desk were filled with fancy leather bound editions of great works of military strategy and history. I could tell that they were only for show by the line of dust surrounding them. His desk was made of teak wood and rare Italian marble. It was a surprise to find such rare items on a space station.
     
    "So, Captain, what's your choice?" He gazed into my eyes.
     
    I stared back at him. I began to wonder about the General. His eyes, something about his eyes.
     
    "Captain? Did your hear me?"
     
    I shook my head to clear it. "Sorry sir. My choice sir is Colony ship duty. I wish to go to space, Sir."
     
    The General nodded his head. "The lure of space. I can see that. I once had that myself, back in the old days. Are you absolutely sure of your choice? There'll be no coming back."
     
    Old eyes are what the General had. Old eyes that have seen all the world's wonders... and all its horrors. "Yes, Sir. I understand my choice."
     
    'Good, report to Major Stanley in the morning. Now your training really starts!"
     
    I thanked the General and returned to the hangar bay. As I thought about it, I wondered if General Gerard had been one of the earlier program's successes. His young body and old eyes could prove that.
     
    The training I received over the next two years only hardened my resolve to go out into space. The colony ships controls were very complicated and the simulators were extremely effective. The UN simulators covered many of the situations that we could encounter. So much to learn about these ships! I would not be alone. I would have a co-pilot, crew, and a small marine force on board the ship as well. We worked as a team with the trainers to get a feel for what shipboard life would be like. Outer space was still something of a mystery though.
     
    At least several dozen colony ships had just vanished over the past century since ships had began leaving Earth. Current theories were that they had been destroyed or malfunctioned in some way. Other than the Mars colony, the UN council was in contact with only two other colonies. They knew the location of over fifty others, but had no contact with them. Many of the early ships contained Government representatives who were tasked with setting up colonies under Earth's control. What little information the Earth had learned about the other colony planets was that once they were out of Earths influence they intended to stay that way.
     
    This was something that we hoped to change. Our leaders were sending administrators along with military forces to help found a colony. A last gasp chance at expanding Earth's influence among the far-flung colony worlds. As the ship's Captain I was the ultimate authority over everyone once we left Earth. I received special training in hand to hand combat and ship board warfare. Weapon caches had been secreted throughout the ship with access limited to only the crew. Earth gov was taking no chances.
     
    The ships were almost finished. They were five of the largest ever constructed in space. By comparison the largest earth ships ever built were supertankers used for oil production. The longest of those was just over 1500 feet long. My ship, the Precious Jewel, was over 3,000 feet long and would carry over 20,000 colonists. It was a generational ship. Cryogenics was still in its infancy, getting the science of how that works right was a lot harder then science fiction writers had envisioned. It would take about twenty years for the ship to reach our destination. Many of the colonists might die before reaching their new homes. This was one of the reasons that my brothers and I had been created. We would survive the trip and be the leaders of the new colony.
     
    As a future world