The Passing Of The New Age - Chapter Two

 Watt was soon joined by Trospheo in the corridor, and they entered sickbay together. The first thing they saw was the stranger sitting up on the examination table drinking a glass of water. Before they could approach him they themselves were approached by Singh.
    “How is he?” Watt asked.
    “In perfect health, and very hungry.” Singh replied. “I didn’t tell him anything about his current situation. I thought it best to wait for you.”
    “Very well Doctor.”
    Watt then walked over to the stranger, extending his hand as a token of friendship.
    “Hello, I’m Captain James Watt.”
    The stranger seemed very interested when he heard Watt’s name.
    “Hello. Are you THE James Watt?”
    “It depends on which one of us you mean.” said Watt. “Tell me, how did you come to be on that space vessel?”
    “To be perfectly honest Captain I don’t have any idea. All I know is that I was on my way back to Earth.”
    “Can you remember your name?”
    “That I can. Terrence Hogan.”
    “What was the year you made your journey in?”
    “Seems an odd question. It was 2000. Why did you ask that?”
    Watt began to rub his chin.
    “There’s no other way to tell you Mister Hogan, but I’m afraid you’ve been in hibernation for three hundred and seventy years.”
    Upon hearing this new Hogan dropped his glass of water.
    “Are you sure?”
    “By the old calendar this is 2370.” said Watt. “I’ll let you rest now. If you want to talk to anyone Counsellor Trospheo will be happy to help you.”
    Watt left sickbay a few minutes later. He bumped into Magus in the corridor.
    “How is our patient?” Magus asked.
    “Awake and somewhat confused.” Watt replied. “It seems that his sleeper ship was returning to Earth in the year 2000.”
    “Odd. I don’t remember any space missions returning to Earth in that year.”
    “Perhaps you can work with Lom and Sutek in examining that ship.
    “I’ll help them study the information when they bring it back, but I’d also like to keep an eye on our guest. I have a rather strange feeling about him.”

    Sutek and Lom, now wearing spacesuits, returned to the sleeper ship. The power had now failed completely, and they had to find their way with the aid of torches.
    “I hope the computer is still in the same place.” said Lom.
    “Why wouldn’t it be?” asked Sutek.
    Sutek was about to take the computer discs when another person beamed over from the Valkyrie. It was Magus. Sutek was surprised to see that Magus was not wearing a spacesuit. Then he remembered why.
    “How are things going Commander?”
    “I now have the floppy discs Ambassador.” Sutek replied. “Commander Lom is currently trying to restore power.”
    “Captain Watt has asked me to help you with the information.” said Magus. “How long would it be until your report is ready?”
    Sutek looked down at the discs.
    “There is some decay here. Extracting the information could take time. I would say at least three hours.”
    “Well, at least we can continue with our journey back to Earth.”

    A short time later Sutek sat at one of the science stations on the bridge, trying to analyse the information from the old discs. Time and time again he got the same result. Each of the discs had been wiped because of their age. Soon he came to the final disc. This disc, as Sutek found out, contained some very interesting information indeed.

    The ship having been made safe, it was soon taken into one of the shuttle bays. In the shuttle bay Watt watched as it was towed in by a shuttle craft. After the process was complete Watt walked over to the ship and began to look at the markings as Lom and his engineering team began their work inside. A few minutes later Lom approached Watt as he looked at the markings.
    “Is anything wrong sir?”
    “These markings are rather odd.” Watt replied. “Hogan claims his ship was returning to Earth in the year 2000, but he didn’t say from where.”
    “Does that matter?”
    “I think it does. Man didn’t start to colonize planets until the late 21st century. This doesn’t look like a colony ship to me, and if it was from the year 2000 it would have been under the command of NASA. There are no NASA markings here. It seems, Commander, that we have a mystery here.”

    In sickbay Hogan sat on his bed as Trospheo entered.
    “How are you feeling?” she asked.
    “Apart from a slight case of shock okay. I can’t believe I’m now in the 24th century. So much must have happened while I’ve been asleep.”
    “It certainly has. Tell me, have you remembered anything else?”
    “Apart from my name and the time I fell asleep, nothing.”
    “I may be able to help you there. In the past I have used my telepathic powers to restore people’s memories.”
    “And you want to do that to me? No way!”
    Trospheo seemed surprised by this.
    “I can assure you that you wouldn’t be harmed by this.”
    “No. This is no way I’m letting anyone inside my head!”
    “It’s alright, Mister Hogan. There’s no need for you to lose your temper.”
    “The answer is still no.”
    “Very well then. If you changed your mind tell Dr. Singh.”
    Trospheo then went towards the exit. She turned around and looked at Hogan. She could tell there was something very wrong with him.

    A staff conference had been called in the observation lounge. Present were Watt, Magus, Pendragon, Sutek, Lom and Trospheo.
    “Report, please, Commander.”
    Sutek walked over to the main viewer and began to give his report.
    “From what Commander Lom and I can tell this vessel drifted off course due to a massive power failure in it’s nuclear drive over three hundred years ago. Shortly afterwards the power came back on to restore the life-support systems, but the navigational systems were beyond repair.”
    “What about it’s point of origin?” asked Watt.
    “So far we have been unable to determine that.” Sutek replied. “All of the data on the floppy discs have been erased over the passage of time. All I can tell is that it’s destination was Earth.”
    “Ambassador, have you managed to check the old space registers of that time?”
    “I have been in contact with Starfleet Records on Earth.” Magus replied. “Most of the records from that era were lost during World War Three. I, however, have a perfect memory. As far as I can remember there were no spaceships from NASA landing on Earth in the year 2000.”
    “Then where did Hogan come from?” asked Pendragon.
    “I don’t know exactly.” said Magus. “At that moment in time NASA were concentrating on their Jupiter mission.”
    “I have noticed something odd about Hogan.” said Trospheo. “Because he seems to be suffering from amnesia I offered to use the technique on him I had used countless times before. He refused. He seemed to panic when I suggested it to him.”
    “You mean he didn’t want to be cured?” said Watt.
    “His behaviour does seem odd for someone with amnesia.” replied Trospheo.
    “Captain, I urge caution here.” said Magus. “By all means study  the vessel, but it seems that Hogan isn’t being entirely truthful.”
    “I agree.” said Watt. “Very well, meeting adjourned.”