Jim walked forward to inspect the space that had appeared between the door and the surface of the ship. “Hold up Rick, I think it’s open.”
Rick backed the vehicle away a few meters. “I believe I’ll hang around here until you come back out.”
“Good idea,” Jim said as he reached through the crevice of the now recessed door and tried to pull it aside.
“Wait,” Levin said, “we have to check the interior first.”
He untied a data pad sized flat screen from his belt. Detaching a small cylindrical object from its base, he shoved it through the crevice and played with the controls at the base of the pad.
“It’s an explorer mouse,” he announced as Jim maneuvered himself to peek over his shoulder.
The screen flickered as the shadowed image of a wall appeared. Light from their suits flashed across the wall and members of the team moved to get a better look. The image moved past a welded seam and several empty brackets. Two wall mounted gas bottles flashed them a green color. Gauges at their top still appeared to read full.
Levin maneuvered the remote camera along the flat surface and into a corner. The image rapidly swung around to an object that appeared to be wrinkled material. It slowly backed off and the five fingers of a glove swung into view.
“There’s a person in there,” Carol said in alarm.
Jim turned back to the crack in the door and moved his head left and right in an attempt to see in person what the mouse saw.
“It’s just an old spacesuit,” Levin announced after a brief pause.
“But it moved,” Carol exclaimed, anxiously. “The hand swung around in front of the camera.”
Jim glanced back over his shoulder and saw the others on the observation deck gathered around a high resolution monitor similar to the one they were looking at.
“The mouse must have brushed against the material,” Levin said. The scene on the data pad took in the waist to the chest and then to a truncated neck. “See, no helmet attached.”
The mouse backed away to reveal the complete suit hanging next to another. Helmets appeared held by wall mounted brackets above each suit. The mouse swung around again to view the interior of the door. They watched as it examined the hinges and sliding bracket.
Jim reached into the crevice again. “See,” he said, “it does slide up.”
He glanced back at the monitor and watched his own hand as it searched for the door slide. As he found it, he had to fight down a foreboding that he may be grabbed by some space fiend and dragged through the narrow crack. “It seems intact, but if they’d used a grease lubricant it’s probably frozen.”
Jim retracted his hand and looked down at the fine black powder covering the fingertips. “No, I believe they used graphite.”
“How primitive,” Chris said and Jim looked back to see his smiling face.
“Well I’m sorry if we didn’t have space lube or whatever the current stuff’s called.”
“Graphite works,” Levin said as he tugged at the upward sliding door.
Earl and Jim joined him, putting their feet up on the frame for leverage. It opened slowly with bits of insulation and plastic molding floating past them as they strained.
“This is more exciting than the time I dismantled a fifteen hundred year old generator on Regis,” Levin said breathlessly between grunts.
Jim peered into the opening. “I hope that the insides aren’t in as bad a condition as this door.”
Levin dove head first into the opening, “No,” he said, “the outside is exposed to the extremes of space. The interior should be in a much better condi... huh?”
Levin stopped as Celia caught him by the foot. “Ladies first, remember I have to check things out for killer bacteria.”
Earl caught the other foot and hauled Levin back into space. “Yeah, the monster from Planet X will rip your face off.”
Levin’s head reappeared. “I’m not familiar with a Planet X,” he said. “There’s a moon called Xanis. Is that what you’re referring to?”
“Uneducated aren’t they,” Karla said. “Even on Earth we knew that Planet X existed. Daffy Duck went there.”
Celia, pushing a box shaped instrument in front of her, dove into the opening. The bright white light of her suit’s inbuilt illumination system lit the section of interior bulkhead that Jim could see from his present position.
Jim stood next to the opening trying to control his impatience. “Didn’t Bugs Bunny defeat the monster from Planet X?”
“No,” Earl said, “it was Buck Rogers.”
Karla laughed. “How about Roy Rogers?”
“Or Will Rogers?” Earl said.
“It couldn’t have been Sammy Rogers,” Carol said.
“Who?” said three of the Earth born members in unison.
Earl looked at Jim. “Boy that Rogers family gets around.”
“It’s clear,” Celia said. “Only bacteria fragments and disintegrated pollen.”
The three men dove enthusiastically into a small room approximately the same size as the airlock on the Lydia. They looked around at the plain walls and Jim ducked back to avoid a small screwdriver floating in front of him.
A hatch in the opposite bulkhead was obviously mechanically barred. A large wheel at its center was painted red while the door was white.
Earl reached for the wheel and started to turn it.
“Hold it,” Levin said, pulling a camera from his belt. “We have to be scientific and record everything.”
“Oh fish,” Jim said, swinging his legs around and attaching the magnetic boots to a wall. “I feel like I did on Christmas day when I was seven. Dad wouldn’t let us open the presents until he loaded the camera.”
“What if the room behind this door’s pressurized?” Earl said. “I’ll get blown back and splattered. I saw that in one of those Flash Gordon Movies.”
“No,” Levin said, “it opens inward. If it’s pressurized then you just will not be able to open it.”
Once the photographic session was complete, Earl continued to turn the wheel until it stopped. Grabbing a handrail next to the door, he pushed with his feet and it easily swung open revealing a long hallway.
Their multiple light sources made weird patterns down the dull metallic bulkheads. Darkened doorways on both sides appeared at regular intervals.
Celia launched herself from the outside wall through the door and drifted slowly down the hallway gently glancing off the left wall as she went. “Clear here too.”
The rest followed scanning left and right through the doorway. The lights on their suits illuminated plastic and metal crates anchored by webbing straps through steel loops attached to the deck.
Jim reached down and touched the apparently carpeted deck. “Hey, this looks like it could be the soft part of velcro.” He stopped himself by grabbing one of the handrails which were on either side of the corridor.
“It is,” Levin said. “We still have examples of the overshoes they used to grip to it for walking. The same covering is on the ceiling as well.”
Jim looked up at a hastily hand painted notice next to one door which read ‘Cargo Pod 136’
At the end of the corridor another door led to a vertical shaft with climbing rungs, which possibly ran from the top to the bottom of the ship. Closed doors appeared at regular intervals on two opposite walls of the square shaft. At every sixth level there were two extra doors on the other two walls. Jim tried to count the levels but lost track after fifty two.
“I’m trying to get an idea of the layout. It seems that most of these lead to corridors that run from one side of the ship to the other. The infrequent ones lead fore and aft. They probably connect with numerous other shafts like this one. So where now?”
“Find the main computer room,” Levin replied as he started his drifting climb. “It’s usually in the forward section of the middle deck. We have several ships’ plans and they’re all the same.”
A dozen decks up, he stopped and turned to face a
closed hatch and pointed. “I believe it’s this deck, and it’s in that direction.”
“Why do you think that Levin?” Jim called. “Intuition or a scientific deduction?”
“No, there’s a sign on the door which reads ‘Main Computer Room’ and a large arrow.”
“Levin, was that a joke?” Jim asked.
“Hey, Levin cracked a joke,” Chris said.
“I’m proud of you Levin,” Carol added
“No... ah... I do not think it was a joke. I... I... just read the sign.”
Jim pushed Celia up as Levin turned the oval shaped wheel. Leaning back against the far wall of the shaft Levin kicked the door. It opened inward just as Celia arrived and stuck her box through. Levin reached down grabbing the loose outer insulation fabric on her backside and lifted her through the door.
“Chris,” Celia said as she floated down the corridor. “Levin’s playing with my ass.”
“What? I’ll beat him silly if he is.”
“No... I... Just helping her through the door. I did not mean...”
“What’s this?” Jim said. “Levin’s turn in the barrel?”
An amused chuckle from Earl informed him that his old army joke was older than he thought.
The party reached another door fifty meters down the corridor. Once opened, it revealed another shaft and another door opposite. On either side of the continuing corridor, more doors were placed at regular intervals. Jim looked around trying to rid his mind of the disorientation caused by the sheer monotony of the layout.
He also noticed that the handrails in this section of the ship were simple galvanized water pipes and the bulkheads were unpainted steel plates. The stenciled stock numbers were still visible under the oil preservative.
The pipes were pitted as if they had once been actually used as house plumbing for a length of time. His mind touched on the idea that they were also intended for the same purpose once the colonists reached the surface of the planet.
“Everything here’s solid steel,” Jim said.
“According to early colonial records the steel was necessary,” Levin said. “They used it for construction and manufacture until they found enough on the planets for their needs.”
“But the weight,” Jim said. “How did they launch this much into space? You’d think they would’ve used all light metals like aluminum and titanium.”
“That has been a mystery for centuries,” Levin said. “We do not know how they got this much steel into space. We were unable to do it until the development of anti-gravity. There are all sorts of theories ranging from a long lost source of great power to assistance from an alien species. Either that or they had developed anti-gravity then lost the technology to do it.”
Jim broke into a broad grin. “Same as with the building of the pyramids.”
“Building of what?” Levin said.
“I’ll explain when we get back to the Lydia,” Jim said.
“When we get into the ship’s computer system we may just solve the mystery,” Levin said.
Three shafts later, another hand painted sigh read ‘Main Computer Room’
“At last,” Jim said. Levin propelled himself at the door and energetically turned the wheel. Jim turned to the left. “I’ll try this side door.”
Seconds later, Jim looked up at a stack of sarcophagus shaped containers, three deep. He stuck his head in the gap between the bottom and second one in the first row. Below a frosty glass plate on the bottom container he read the numbers 161977. He detached the hand light source from a strap on his chest and shone it thorough the glass plate. It illuminated the obvious outlines of a female face. Her eyes were closed and her hair was covered with some sort of finely meshed net. Her skin had a yellowy hue under the pure white light and her facial features seemed totally relaxed.
Jim floated, fixated by the pretty face that had held the same expression for two thousand years.
He flinched when a sudden movement of his light cast shadows on the woman’s eyelids. The sight of the shadow, coupled with his imagination, had them suddenly pop open. He fought down a mild panic caused by flash backs to numerous horror movies.
“Hey, I found a human in here,” he called as he moved on to another container.
“Celia and me found a whole mess of them in here,” Earl announced.
“I’ve found the main computer,” Levin exclaimed enthusiastically. “Now, should I turn you on or wait until we’ve pressurize the room?”
Jim had almost forgotten Levin’s habit of talking to the electronic equipment. He floated down the narrow gap between the stacks occasionally looking through a plate while listening to a running commentary on the progress with the computer system.
“I think I’ll turn you on. The others we have are still perfectly sealed... Ah.... You still work you sweet thing. Now, where’s your main inventory?”
“I think Levin’s just fallen in love,” Chris said.
“Sixty four decks,” Levin said, oblivious of the fact that someone else had spoken. “Three hundred and eighty three thousand six hundred and fifty four passengers. Oh, my. I didn’t know there would be that many.”
Jim looked up from a glass plate behind which was the sleeping face of a black male. “How come? Don’t you still have old ships like this in space museums?”
“Now you beautiful creature, where’s your port jack so I can download from that magnificent solid state drive.”
“There are none left,” Carol was answering for the preoccupied engineer. “On arrival, the colonists dismantled the ships and took them to the planet surface. We only have parts.”
“There we go, now let me see what else you can tell me while we’re doing that. Four hundred and thirteen cryogenics chambers no longer functioning.”
“Information coming through at this end,” Carol said.
“Can you easily get at the chambers Jim?” Dr. Chin asked. “I mean, if there’s one to the front of a compartment can it be accessed first?”
Jim peered down the narrow corridor between the stacks. It was barely wide enough for his shoulders let alone for maneuvering a chamber. “That’s a negative Doc.”
“Oh, darn. I was hoping to use one of the nonfunctioning ones to experiment with.”
“They’re all connected to the wall at the back,” Earl said. “A number of small pipes and a rather large wiring harness.”
Jim climbed along a horizontal metal bar, which was part of the supporting rack for the second level. Peeking between the chamber and the wall he saw what Earl had described. “Earl, looking at one now. Can you see any jacks? If Doc’s going to work on one, we’re going to have to disconnect it and take it to the Lydia.”
“No, I think they have to be cut, and the pipes too.”
Jim reached behind and felt along the wires where they went through a hole in the bulkhead. “Doc is it all right if we cut one? Can you work on it that way?”
Jim paused and waited for a response. “Doc?” Another minute went by. “Doc where the hell are you? Can anyone over there hear me?”
“They’re no longer on the observation deck Mr. Young,” Rick said from his vantage point in the excursion vehicle.
“Chris?” Celia called. “Don’t scare us like this, talk to me.”
“Nothing for you to worry about,” Chris replied. “Continue what you’re doing.”
Chris’ voice had an unusual tone. Jim recognized it. The communication system had changed to a voice activated one that only transmitted when you spoke above a certain volume. The minor background whispering he had heard since donning the suit had disappeared. “What’s going on Chris?”
“Nothing,” was the sharp reply, “continue with the job.”
Jim strained his ears as Chris spoke. “I heard shouting in the background Chris. What the hell is going on over there?”
“We’re in the 3V room. The battle has started,” Chris said. “Am recording. You can see it when you get back. Don’t think about it; keep your mind on
safety over there. Nothing you can do here.”
Jim kicked a wall in frustration. He didn’t know whether his feelings were due to his present inability to watch the events unfolding on 3V or not being able to assist at the battle itself.
“Six solid state banks plus four optical drives. You are a big one,” Levin said.
“Levin, shut up!” Earl snapped.
“Huh?”
“Chris, put through the audio,” Jim said.
“Chris cain’t do that right now,” Sam said. “He’s taikin’ care a Carol. She’s powerful upset. Halbert said he’d do the puttin’ through thaing. Dr. Chin has gone ta see that there crew lady, Marie. Her husband is on one of them there ships and she’s powerful upset jest like Carol.”
Jim pivoted his legs down and felt the clunk as his magnetic boots attached to the floor. He grasped a handrail and slowly walked down the corridor in the direction of the computer room.
“....the cruiser....” Jim recognized the voice of Spinelli. “its battle signature indicates that the Bund has changed its name to the Barbarosa.....life pods are....medical corvette Hamstead.”
“Tell us what you can see Sam,” Earl said.
“Lookin’ at bits of one of them there Bund cruisers. Peter said they don’t report what got hit on our side, jest t’other.”
“Security Earl,” Peter added.
“....hit....” the one word from Spinelli had a new tone, one of panic. “....came straight through the wreckage of the battle cruiser. They lost five out of the eight fast fighters in the maneuver........abandon ship.”
“Peter, who’s abandoning what ship?” Jim asked.
“Don’t think about what’s doing here,” Peter said. “Think about what you’re doing there.”
“The transmission has discontinued,” Chris said. “I can only assume that Spinelli’s ship was hit and they have been ordered to the life pods. The network has switched back to Pellan, so I turned the sound off.”
Jim slowly made his way to the main computer room. Levin was bent over an old style keyboard while watching text appear on a monitor. It sat, bolted to a flat steel plate supported by four legs that appeared to be made of the same water pipe as the handrails. A white plastic chair floated nearby. Jim tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped in alarm then turned.
To Wake the Living (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 2) Page 10
