Chapter 81

Pluto

With Borealis repaired and departed a considerable portion of the Arkos stations ship repair and construction assets were suddenly available for other uses. While warship construction was still the top priority several other projects were in the works. Construction of science vessels in docks once home to the newly built seeder ships were quickly taking shape. Instead of a clean sheet design it had been decided to use a proven design configuration with major upgrades while also interchanging some systems entirely. From a casual observation of the ships taking shape one might believe they were nothing more than duplicates of Destiny. While they appeared so from the outside that was far from the case internally.

The Copernicus class science vessels were very similar to the overall Destiny design. While retaining the use of solar recharging as the primary power source it had been felt that a reserve power option was further needed should an emergency arise. With that a lone Asgard neutrino ion generator now resided in the engineering section of each vessel. In place of the original faster than light drives the design called for rested a hyper drive like those found on the Aurora class. Matter stream creation units had been added to ease resupply issues during extended voyages like those encountered by the Destiny expedition. Asgard transport beaming units had also been added. On the belly of the ship, behind the main weapon could be found retractable doors to the newly added jumper bay. Doing away with the traditional shuttles in place of the much more advanced jumpers was seen as the obvious choice. Instead of just two shuttles each ship of the Copernicus class would carry five jumpers; more than enough to evacuate the entire crew should the need arise.

In the gate room of each vessel further changes would be found once complete. Doing away with the limited range star gate as found on Destiny in its place now rested a Pegasus model. One of the reasons for this was the Pegasus models ability to override older model gates in proximity. A new nine chevron address for each had already been assigned. To avoid an incursion through the ships gate an energy shield iris was installed. Further energy field security barriers would be emplaced throughout the ships similar to those so recently added to the SGC. To assist in their science and exploration role sensors identical to those found on the Daniel Jackson class science vessels were to be added.

Retention of the Destiny weapons suite was felt to be a priority. Due to their orientation as science vessels this suite of weaponry would remain in the control of each vessels onboard AI. Many if not all of the defensive systems would remain under the AI's sole control. These vessels were not being constructed to be combatants but would retain the ability to protect themselves from assault should the need arise.

When complete the Copernicus, Galileo, Edmund Halley, Sagan, and Hawking would begin their detailed exploration and analysis of this galaxy and others. It was hoped that these vessels would continue the SGC mission of first contact, exploration, and scientific understanding into regions of space as yet unexplored by the Tauri.

Aboard Destiny in the chair interface room sat Dr. Rush, several technicians, the Asgard scientist Heimdall, and the avatar of Destiny. Arriving through the stargate Heimdall brought with him the recently grown copies of Ginn and Amanda Perry. After an exhaustive review of the procedures to download a consciousness from the databanks of Destiny it was now felt safe to attempt the actual transfers.

"I want you to be bloody well sure this will work. We may only get the once chance at this" stated Rush.

"I assure you Doctor the procedure will be completed to your satisfaction" assured Destiny.

"My people have used a similar process for many thousands of years Doctor. Your concern is noted but not necessary in this instance. Please do not be alarmed" replied Heimdall.

"We're ready to go on our end Doctor Rush" interjected one of the chair technicians.

"We'll try Ginn first if you don't mind" answered Rush.

Unknown to the others in the room minus Destiny Rush had his concerns over the procedure. To protect Amanda Perry he was more than happy to do the trail run on Ginn. Altruism was not something Rush was known for after all. Bringing in the mindless body of Ginn and seating her in the interface chair the room fell silent. As the technicians entered the command to begin the download process Rush stared at the control screen with a single fixed intensity.

"The consciousness of Ginn has grown in size considerable size since the initial download" said Heimdall.

"What would cause that" asked Rush.

"She had open access to my databank before her programs quarantine. In essence she has learned a considerable amount of knowledge during this time. It is to be expected that this knowledge would be assimilated into their program. It is a normal and pleasant side effect of the process" answered Destiny in a reassuring tone.

"So when they are downloaded into their bodies they'll know all you know? That's brilliant" exclaimed Rush.

"Not all I know, but a considerable portion. Certain sections of the database are protected from their reach for security reasons. Were they to be downloaded with the sum total of my database they would surely perish as the amount of information is far too vast for their physiology to handle at this stage in their evolutionary development" replied Destiny.

"Shall we begin" asked Heimdall.