The guys finished Carding well before I had and were looking over the cabinets on my return. Retuning my card to its box we all began selecting cards that were relevant to our chosen preferences.
Both Craig and Graham Carded Eradani geological surveys of Earth and once in Kalgoorlie and able to connect to the web they would compare that knowledge with what they could find on line. Craig then went on to learn as much about other Eradani controlled planets as he could. He discovered the second Earth base was located in the Italian Alps south east of the village of Melago and was actually of similar size to Stamford. At some point we would need to take an excursion to the Alps.
Graham undertook further Carding on Eradani mining methodologies and ore transporters. Steve decided to Card the Transitional Drive (TD) and Eradani and Aurigae weapons systems. This proved to be heavy stuff and the system stopped allowing Steve to learn more after five cards each of seven minutes. He would not be able to Card again for 24 hours.
Predictably, Brett elected to learn Eradani computer sciences, again a large subject that required three separate six minute Cardings. The Eradani system was binary based but substantially more advanced than ours. As Brett had predicted, the Eradani OS was capable of learning and had no doubt been quite busy over the last 20 years or so being educated by the snippets of information it had managed to garner. The major servers and operating hardware were located on Level I but Melago was also operational and had been feeding Stamford volumes of information over the years. Much of this had been garnered by tapping into and utilising wireless LANs in villages and towns around the base. The system employed cyber stealth technology with long range, powerful probes to achieve this. We all thought that to be a little dodgy, something the CIA might do. But it had educated the Eradani system and it had managed to incorporate a number of programs and applications into its own operating systems.
Adam spent the morning learning to pilot other craft besides the Razor including the heavy duty attack craft, the E10 Trapeze, of which we had 88 sitting on level 7. He also studied the D23 Taipan, a very versatile craft by way of its interchangeable internal capsules. Similar in form and function to #Thunderbird 2 from the old television show, the Taipan could, among other abilities and, depending on the loaded capsule, be a freighter, a surveillance craft, a passenger transporter or a rescue craft. Unlike the Razor or the Trapeze, the Taipan was configured for star travel. There were 44 Taipans on Level 8 along with numerous capsules in varying configurations.
As we already knew, there were 20 squadrons of single seat Razors (220 craft) and eight squadrons of dual seat Razors on Levels 5 and 6. Only half these were operational while only 11 of the Trapeze and 22 of the Taipans were functioning. The rest of the fleet contained no seridium. A later search of the designated storage areas revealed no spare seridium rods in the base. This effectively incapacitated half our fleet.
I had Carded all information, including piloting (or was it commanding?), the interstellar class frigates on Level 9. Once we had all completed our preferred Cardings we headed up to this level to view the five S4-07 Dugites and were surprised when only four were present. Another mystery we needed to solve, perhaps it was located at Melago? Another puzzle was the state of this level, especially adjacent to the vacant dock. While the rest of Stamford was neat, tidy and clean this location had boxes and containers all over the place. Most were empty but one of the containers still held several sealed boxes of seridium rods. Not enough to fuel the rest of our fleet but better than nothing. Then I had an awful thought, what if the Dugites were not fuelled?
Unlike the smaller craft each Dugite had large umbilical cables running from the central belly of the craft back to the rear of the hanger. A smaller cable branched off of this line and ran to a large console adjacent to each craft. We walked up to the nearest console and with a tap of the glass keyboard the system came to life. I typed in some commands and got our answer. This Dugite was in standby and operating on external power. No seridium was on board.
We moved on to the next console and I repeated my actions; this time the answer was what we wanted, this Dugite was running on external power but was fully fuelled and charged. I checked this craft’s arms inventory and found it was carrying four squadrons of Razors, along with a squadron of Trapeze and two P11 Valets, a large 60 passenger shuttle craft. A quick check on the other two occupied consoles revealed the same status as the second Dugite, fully fuelled, fully charged and fully armed. All craft but those on the first Dugite were ready to fly.
Craig and Graham needed to be heading back to Kalgoorlie as soon as they could. By the time Craig and Graham arrived in Kalgoorlie it would be too late for Graham to catch the evening flight so they would both be staying the night in town. Graham could catch the morning flight and Craig would stay over for a couple more nights. Regrettably then, we walked away from the Dugites. Plenty of time later to explore them, perhaps even take one out for a spin!
Brett and Graham would both need to give their employers their resignations so Graham would not be back for over a month. Brett would head back to Perth after Easter and see his employer. He would return a fortnight later as he only needed to give two weeks’ notice. The rest of us would head back to Perth in a week or two. Adam and I needed to explain things to Mum and hopefully Dad would be coming home soon. We could use his expertise running Stamford. We were also keen to start recruiting our friends and family. Even girlfriends were a possibility.
We all joined Craig and Graham outside and made our farewells. Graham was sorry to be leaving, he really enjoyed the Razors yesterday but, as he said, there were things to do and people to see. Money to be made and spent. Craig told us to stay safe, if we were going to fly then make sure we weren’t seen. And as tempting as it was, space should not be on the agenda. We would all do that together when he returned.
They hopped into the ute and waved as they set out to the south and the road back to Kalgoorlie. The three of us looked at each other and as one headed back to Level 6 and our Razors.
