by Nate Johnson
He looked at her for a long moment as he tried to understand why she was asking that question. It sounded innocuous, but there was something hidden behind her words.
Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “I don’t know. My enlistment isn’t up for another two years. If I reenlist then, they’ve got me. I will have too much time in to walk away from a twenty-year retirement. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Kaylee raised her cup to take a drink but paused. “In a perfect galaxy. What would you like to do?”
He hesitated for a moment. Could he tell her? What the hell. This was Kaylee, he could trust her with the truth.
“I’d like to be a farmer?” he said, then held his breath.
“What?” she said as she choked on her drink. The look of incredulous disbelief made his insides tighten up.
When she saw that she’d hurt him, she smiled gently. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I can’t think of you as a farmer. You seem. I don’t know, more action oriented, I guess.”
Logan sighed. See, no one would ever understand.
Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “I’ve had enough adventures to fill most lifetimes. Farming sounds peaceful, quiet. Plus, the equipment and bots do all the work. I just get to fix them when they break.”
She looked at him for a long moment, as if she were turning his words over and looking for the faults in his dream. At last, she nodded. “I can see it,” she said. “Especially if you had a little shop where you could tinker, and invent new things.”
He smiled. Yes, she did get it.
“I’ve got some money saved up. Not enough, not yet. But, if I can get enough before my enlistment ends. I just might be able to put a down payment on something.”
She nodded. “Yes,” she said. “On one of the newer worlds, land is cheap. Or would you go back to Corona.”
He shuddered and shook his head. “I’ll never go back there. Too many bad memories. The Blackthorn pulled in there once, but I just stayed onboard the ship, taking the other guy’s duty.”
Her expression softened as she said, “Yes, I can see it. Carving out a productive farm from the wilderness of some strange new planet.”
“What about you?” Logan asked. “Are you going to follow your father into the Foreign Service?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “He wants me to.”
“But, what about you, what do you want to do in a perfect galaxy?
Her eyes looked off into the distance for a long second. “I don’t know. I’ve thought about it. Believe me. But, I can’t think of something that excites my passion. I just don’t know. My biggest fear is that I will search for most of my life and won’t discover it until it is too late to do anything about it.”
Logan nodded. “Don’t worry,” he said, “You will think of something.”
“I do know, though, that whatever it is. It will not entail escaping from pirates.”
Logan laughed. That was the thing about this girl. She could laugh at the world. His insides swelled with happiness. Maybe it was just his full belly, but the world felt good. Like it was supposed to. A simple meal with a pretty girl. What more could a man ask for?
The speaker high on the bulkhead crackled, warning him of an announcement. His guts froze. This could not be good.
“Captain,” the A6127 AI announced. “I have received an alert bulletin referencing this vessel.”
Logan sighed heavily as his chin fell to his chest. He should have thought of that. Damn.
“Let me guess,” he said. “It reports this vessel as being stolen. And that we are considered armed and dangerous.”
“Correct,” the computer said. “In addition, a reward of twenty-five thousand credits is being offered for the return of this vessel and the two suspects.”
Kaylee’s eyes had grown as big as hen’s eggs as she looked back and forth between him and the speaker on the bulkhead. “What does that mean?” she asked.
“It means every ship in the galaxy is going to be looking for us.”
Kaylee gasped. “I thought we had gotten away.”
“I should have figured they’d do something like this. If it was only pirates, they’d have kept quiet and kept us for themselves. But someone powerful is behind this. Someone with a lot of credits. I should have stopped it.”
“How could you have stopped it?” she asked as her brow narrowed in confusion.
Logan’s mind twirled with would haves and should haves. If he’d only thought things through instead of traipsing around the ship looking at broken equipment or thinking about pretty girls.
This was bad. The message would have already been passed through the wormhole. Relayed by the beacons from one end of the galaxy to the other.
It was sort of ironic. The beacons he and the Blackthorn had installed would be the principal factor in his and Kaylee’s failure to escape.
Shaking his head, he frowned as an idea began to work its way to the front of his brain.
“Maybe...” he muttered to himself as he jumped up and ran for the bridge.
.o0o.
Kaylee’s heart began to race. Was the entire Galaxy going to be after them now? How could they ever get away?
She watched Logan rush from the galley. He was lost to her, she realized. Their wonderful conversation ended. That special closeness she had felt, shattered. Once again, her crazy world was interfering.
Gathering up the dishes she placed them in the washer and followed him to the bridge. She found him bent over a console. His fingers dancing across the screen. His brow was creased with concentration, and the corner of his lip was held firmly between his teeth.
She smiled to herself. Whatever it was, he was completely engrossed. About as far from a farmer as a person could be. The idea had seemed preposterous to her when he had first told her. Then she had seen how serious he was and how hurt he had been when she laughed.
He could do anything, she thought. And if he wanted to be a farmer, then more power to him.
A vision danced into her head. Logan, standing on the crest of a ridge looking out over his land. A wife and three children standing next to him. A pang of jealousy washed through her at the thought of some other woman sharing his world with him. The two of them creating something out of nothing. The thought sent a strange shiver down her spine.
Pulling herself out of her daydream, she approached him and asked, “What is it, what can you do? The message has already been sent, you said.”
He nodded without taking his gaze away from the screen in front of him.
“True,” he said. “But there is nothing stopping another message being sent. Something canceling the first one.”
She nodded, if he said so, it must be true. “Won’t they learn of the new one, and just send another? Won’t they know it didn’t come from Montlake?” she asked.
“Yes, I can fool the system into thinking the message came from Montlake. But I still need to stop any messages reaching Montlake. At least messages about us. They need to think the original is still in effect.
“I’ve just got to convince the beacon to not forward any message dealing with this ship. Anything that references, the Starship Princess, Logan Miller, or Kaylee Rene’ Williams.”
“You can do that?” she asked, trying to keep the hint of surprise out of her voice.
Logan laughed. “Kaylee, I programmed every beacon between here and Chang-Li. If I can’t do this, then no one can.”
She had a dozen other questions but decided to keep quiet and let him work.
After a few minutes, he smiled at her and touched the corner of his screen. “There,” he said. “I’ve just canceled the original alert. I sent it through the beacon. One way, out to the galaxy. Telling everyone the original was a mistake. Montlake will never know that the cancellation was sent.”
“Will that be enough?” she asked.
“No,” he replied. “It will keep the legitimate ships from hassling us. To them, we will just be another passenger vessel. But it
won’t stop the people who want to force your father. They now know we escaped Montlake, and we are probably on our way to Taurus. Plus, unless I can do the next part and hold up all messages referencing us. Someone might ask about the canceled alert and Montlake will just issue another one.”
“How long will it take, the reprogram of the beacon?”
“A bit, I’ve got to study the message traffic, make sure I’ve got everything covered.”
Her heart jumped a little, could he really do it? Where they once again out of danger?
Shaking her head, she sat down in one of the chairs and watched Logan at work.
He really is amazing. Taking out pirates, hacking beacons, flying starships. Yes, she thought to herself. If he became a farmer, it would be the best damn farm on the planet.
As he worked, his brow furrowed more and more as he tried to work out an issue.
“That’s strange,” he mumbled to himself as he pulled up another screen.
“What is?” she asked, but he ignored her as he concentrated on the equipment in front of him. She doubted he had even heard her.
Let him, work, she said to herself. He was doing this to save her after all.
At last, he leaned back and once again touched the corner of his screen. The smile on his face let her know that he had been successful.
“There,” he said. “We are back to just worrying about pirates. Everyone else should leave us alone. And I’ve forwarded the programs out to the other beacons.”
Kaylee’s stomach relaxed. There had really never been a doubt. She watched him frown and look back at the screen as if there were puzzles that still needed to be solved.
“Are you sure?” she asked as she held her breath.
Logan smiled, “Yep, it should work. But there is something else. Something that doesn’t make sense. I need to look at some data. But, then, what else is there to do around here for the next two weeks?
Kaylee’s stomach turned over as a thought jumped to the forefront of her mind. An enticing thought that she quickly squashed before he read her thoughts.
Under no circumstances could she have him knowing what she was thinking about. Her only defense against Logan was his honor. He is from a different world, she reminded herself. A world that she could never really understand.
Sighing, she left the bridge and returned to the safety of her stateroom.
Chapter Twelve
Logan leaned back in the command chair on the bridge and studied the readings. Everything was normal.
But, his gut told him something was off. He couldn’t place it. But it was there.
Three days on board and he’d learned the feel of the ship. Hell, he’d spent most of that time bringing equipment up to his standards. And loved every minute of it.
Kaylee had taken over the job of cook. He’d fixed the galley equipment for her, first thing. So all it really meant was selecting a menu, and delivering him food here on the bridge.
He did try to get to the galley for a sit-down meal with her at least once a day. The rest of the time, he was either analyzing radio traffic or fixing equipment.
They’d passed through six wormholes, and cruised past two inhabited planets. All without issue. The Higgs engine had worked as it was supposed to. No fluctuations or drops in power. No one had been waiting for them. No ship had lifted off from a planet to pursue them.
Things were good.
Without warning. An extremely loud clanging alarm sent a burst of pure adrenaline to his heart, kicking it into overdrive.
Almost immediately, he felt the ship’s gravity field fall way. His stomach rose to his throat as bile threatened to spew across the bridge.
“Damn,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “This ship is going to be the death of me,” he muttered to himself as he scrambled to grab a chair arm to stop himself from floating away.
A6127 announced, “The secondary gravity generator has failed to energize.”
“No crap,” he answered as he fought to bring his stomach under control.
A sudden scream from Kaylee’s room kicked him in the gut. People could get hurt with the sudden loss of gravity. Banging into overheads. Floating items that weren’t meant to float.
His heart raced as he began to pull himself, hand over hand off the bridge and down the passageway.
Thankfully, handholds were in place, evenly spaced, exactly for this actuality. It was the only way to move.
The memory of all the trash Kaylee had gotten rid of flashed into his mind. Thank God. Otherwise, it would have been like cutting his way through a jungle in here.
As he moved, his legs floated out from behind him, useless now except for launching a person.
He frantically tried to reach Kaylee. His lungs fought for air as his heart panicked. Was she hurt? Trapped?
Reaching her door, he smashed down on the control button to open it and positioned himself to launch into the room. Just as his legs bent to push off, a vision from heaven greeted him.
Kaylee, as naked as a newborn, her face a combination of fear and pure anger. She floated in mid-air, arms out, her wet hair drifting around her head. She must have been in the shower, he realized as he fought to figure out what to do. She didn’t seem hurt. No blood, no obvious broken bones.
She looked at him, he looked at her, unable to pull his eyes away. For just a moment, she seemed to have forgotten that she wasn’t currently wearing clothes. He, on the other hand, couldn’t think of anything else.
Another one of those memories that would stick with him.
Her eyes suddenly registered the fact of her nakedness, and she squealed once again. Her hands instantly going to cover the critical points. Her action however just went to illuminate her nakedness.
“Get out,” she hissed.
He shook his head to clear the confusion and remembered where he was and who was floating before him.
Using the hand hold, he pulled himself to the side of the opening. Placing his back to the bulkhead, he tried to regain some awareness of reality.
God, the woman was perfect.
“Are you okay?” he asked, throwing his voice around the edge of the door and into the room.
“No,” she yelled.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“What’s wrong?” she yelled. “I’m floating in mid-air. And Oh yeah, I don’t have any clothes on. Of course, I’m not all right.”
Logan sighed and felt himself relax. If she was that pissed off, then she wasn’t hurt.
He tried not to laugh. Things weren’t serious, not yet. He had a pretty good idea what had happened.
“Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
“No,” she yelled again, “Don’t leave me like this.”
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll be right there.”
“Don’t you dare come in here,” she said with a haughty voice that could have stopped a charging Valerian bear.
“Kaylee, listen, I can’t do much from here. I either come get you, or I go fix the problem. You choose.”
A long silence greeted his statement until he heard a heavy sigh from the other room. “Go fix the problem,” she said.
“Will you be okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said firmly. “And close the damn door before you leave.”
Logan smiled, then pushed the control button with a deep sense of regret.
Shaking his head at the memory of the vision he had just seen, he pulled himself aft towards the engine room.
As he made his way, hand over hand, he caught the familiar scent of burnt wire. Not good, he thought, as he opened the engine room door.
His stomach fell as he was greeted by a wave of gray smoke. Fire, every spacer’s worst fear. It wasn’t like they could step outside and watch the thing burn.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled himself into the room. Almost immediately, he identified the problem. The primary gravity field generator was hissing and sparking like a kid’s fireworks.
Swallowing
hard, he pushed off and grabbed the emergency kill switch. A lever that would stop all electrical power to the equipment. However, when he pushed down on the lever, all he did was shoot upwards and bang his head into the overhead.
“Damn,” he yelled as he rubbed the top of his head. This lack of gravity created more problems than he had anticipated. And just think, in the olden days, they used to travel in space without a gravity generator. The idea seemed preposterous.
The sparks kept growing, and a small yellow flame was starting to leak out from the back of the equipment. His heart thumped in his chest. If the insulation caught fire and spread to the Higgs engine, they were screwed.
Using his hands against the overhead, he pushed himself back down towards the equipment. He needed to anchor himself, he realized. Looping a leg over a rail, and locking his foot under the edge of the Higgs engine, he grabbed the kill switch and heaved.
A satisfying thunk vibrated off the bulkheads as the switch slid into place. Immediately, the lights flickered, and the sparks stopped. The flames continued, but he knew that was just the guts of the machine burning. They wouldn’t last.
The smoke was stinging his eyes as he examined the secondary gravity generator. Normally, the equipment should have come online automatically with the failure of the primary. But knowing this ship, the relays hadn’t been checked since they were installed a generation ago.
Shaking his head, he threw the switch to bring the secondary online.
An alarm sounded through the ship, followed by the quick return of gravity.
“Ow,” Kaylee called from her room. Accompanied by the sound of items falling to the deck throughout the ship.
Logan unhooked his foot and put out the fire with an extinguisher. Once the flames were gone, and the smoke cycled out of the room, he examined the primary gravity generator.
Like he thought, toast. The insides were burnt to a crisp.
Well, they better not lose the second one or they were going to have a long, difficult trip home.
Reluctantly, he left the engine room and walked back to Kaylee’s cabin. He’d perform preventive maintenance on the second generator later, just to make sure it lasted until they could get somewhere and get some spare parts.
