Earth Star Voyager

Plot

In 2082, the Earth deep-space exploration vessel Vanguard Explorer suffered heavy damage after Captain Jacob "Jake" Brown tried to keep his ship from mutineers led by his second-in-command, Vance Arthur. Jake feigned compliance, attacked Vance, knocked him senseless, and escaped in an escape pod. The cause of the damage remained unknown. Six years later, in 2088, command cadet Jonathan Hays, age twenty-one, and his best friend Jessie "Beanie" Bienstock, a fourteen-year-old computer specialist, were among the young military cadets selected to crew Earth*Star Voyager.

Because of worsening ecological conditions on Earth, a plan existed to evacuate the planet and colonize another world. Probes had been sent six years earlier via the Vanguard Explorer, and one had returned data on Berenson's Star, which had a life-zone planet named Demeter. Earth*Star Voyager's mission was to travel to Demeter, perform a full planetary survey, and return the information; if conditions on Demeter proved accurate—the probe's data indicated human life could survive there—then humanity would colonize the world.

Construction of ships to transport the population had already begun but would take forty years to complete, and the trip to Demeter, using plasma-thrust engines and the Bauman Drive (named for Professor Bauman), would take twenty-six years. The crew was chosen from the Academy for their youth and intelligence. Jonathan, as second-in-command, would assume command if Captain Forbes was shown unable to continue due to age. A modified form of cryogenic suspension would be used during the voyage to slow the aging process; Beanie noted he would be forty upon return, and Captain Forbes mentioned they would still age.

Among the crew were Lani Miyori (communications specialist), Luz Sansone (a communications tech who took an immediate liking to Beanie), Dr. Sally Arthur (a twenty-four-year-old M.D.), Huxley Welles (an eighteen-year-old navigator), and Dr. Leland Eugene (the ship's psychiatrist). The crew arrived aboard Earth*Star Voyager and met Captain Forbes (the commanding officer), Brody (the ship's resident physical fitness instructor), and "Priscilla," the sentient supercomputer that served as the primary logic circuit for the vessel. Priscilla had seemingly developed a crush on Huxley. She was designed from the brain engrams of Priscilla Bauman (the daughter of Professor Bauman), so she had all the memories, thoughts, feelings, and desires of the real Priscilla Bauman.

Admiral Beasley, a war hero who fought back a criminal organization called the Outlaw Technology Zone, gave them a final pep-talk and saw them off from his flagship, the Triton Corsair. Not long after embarking, the ship had to pass through the junk belt. The auto-pilot could not travel the course plotted because the junk started to move due to the ship's engines. After the shields and ship took some damage, Jonathan took manual control and flew the ship through without further damage.

While checking repairs on an airlock, Captain Forbes found himself trapped inside with the system set to open the airlock to space. Jonathan found him before the airlock opened, and before being blown into space, the Captain told Jonathan to keep going and "complete the mission." Jonathan ordered the ship's psychiatrist to review the crew's profiles for any hint of psychopathology. Lani mentioned to Jonathan that she had suspicions of Dr. Leland Eugene, but Jonathan said he could not go on a hunch alone. Following this, Lani was critically injured while in cryo-sleep by an apparent malfunction.

Along the way to Demeter, they picked up the lost astronaut Captain Jacob "Jake" Brown while stopping at an abandoned station to make repairs. Brown initially paralyzed Huxley with a weapon but revealed he did so to prevent Huxley from walking into an "anti-matter zone." Captain Brown was accepted on board as an advisor to Jonathan and, finding out the crew was only armed with hand weapons, volunteered to build a rail-gun with the help of Beinstock in an airlock. Jonathan then received evidence of the death of Captain Forbes and Lani's coma that pointed to Leland. When Jonathan confronted him, Priscilla called Jonathan about suspicious activity in the rail-gun's airlock.

Jonathan investigated and found Brody sabotaging the rail-gun; a fight ensued and Brody was jettisoned out of the airlock. A transmitter was later discovered among his possessions that he was apparently using to keep in contact with a blip that intermittently appeared on the Voyager's long range scans. The crew also explored a distress signal from a massive space station known as "the 2020 World's Fair," which was inhabited by warriors and researchers of the Outlaw Technology Zone. The landing party was captured by the warriors after encountering one of Captain Brown's former crew members, Willy.

They discovered that the mutinous Vance had also landed there and became "Top Dog" of the warriors by employing a stunner much like the one Brown used on Huxley. A warrior named Whistlestick, who was beaten and humiliated by Vance, explained that anyone may challenge the "Top Dog" at any time. Huxley demonstrated his skill at pickpocketing by getting the key for their cage. Brown offered to occupy their captors by challenging Vance while the rest escaped.

After a difficult fight, Brown (who taught Vance how to make such weapons long ago) was able to make Vance's weapon backfire and destroy it—but spared Vance's life. In the ensuing ruckus, the crew and their two new allies escaped. The next discovery, explaining how Vance and Willie got to the World's Fair Station, was finding the wreckage of the Vanguard Explorer. Captain Brown requested permission to board it and retrieve his logs to prove the loss of his ship was due to mutiny, and to see if there was anything salvageable.

Beinstock, the Doctor, and he found the ship still had some power and computer function, but also found an unwelcome guest known as a "Shell"—a cyborg. Brown was able to shock the Shell into unconsciousness, and Doctor Arthur insisted they take him to the ship to help and examine him. In a cut-away scene, Admiral Beasley became aware of the Shell's presence on Voyager but was unable to do anything about it. Willie explained that the Shell was a cyborg created by the O.T.Z. and, although it was only a drone, it was probably packed with explosives.

The Doctor, with the help of Beinstock, was able to disarm the explosives and treat his injuries, and was able to bring the Shell back to consciousness while also keeping him immobilized. They interrogated the Shell, and he mentioned that his function was to help facilitate "Assembly." Data from the Vanguard indicated that several odd-looking ships passed by the Vanguard from the World's Fair over the last few years. Later analysis indicated the ships were modular. Later on, Doctor Arthur spoke to the Shell and discovered that he was abducted and turned into a cyborg when he was young.

After making some small adjustments to him to ease his discomfort, Doctor Arthur and he formed a brief emotional connection before his programming returned him to his drone-state. Later, he regained his full movement and smashed his way through the ship, damaging Captain Brown's jury-rigged railgun weapon and one of Priscilla's processors. The Shell warned them that they must stop "Assembly" then deactivated himself rather than let his programming make him kill Doctor Arthur. In another cut-away scene, Vance found himself in dire straits back on the World's Fair as the warriors now hunted him for his treatment of them.