Stealing Endeavour: Book 1 of the Forever Endeavour, Amen Trilogy

by Martin Tays

  He grimaced, then spun off to flee in the other direction, down toward engineering. Even as he moved, he was bringing up the medical directory in his pcomp. He accessed an innocuous section entitled ‘Dental Records ― Backup’. Inside, there was only one item: a program with the unassuming title of ‘Full Wipe’. He jabbed his finger into the image, and was rewarded by a beep. The pcomp then spoke.

  “Please confirm identity.”

  “Moses Dunn.”

  “Please enter password.”

  Moses looked around, then pulled himself into a maintenance locker. He shut the door, took a deep breath and gave the code: “Sweet bosom of Morpheus.”

  “Password accepted. Please standby. Wipe begins in five… four… three… two… one. Shutdown.”

  The world turned white hot with pain.

  ☼

  “Can you see anyone?”

  Mattie checked the console in front of her and replied to Ami’s anguished question. “Yeah. They’re just now docking. Are you sure about this?”

  “No. But Moses is.”

  “I guess. I just find it so hard to believe. How could th…” Mattie’s face abruptly blanked. Her hands drifted up beside her head as her eyes, now unfocused, stared unseeing out over the rest of her now unconscious friends.

  And far off in the ship, a docking connector clanged.

  ☼

  There was sound, now, and a harsh, blinding light that hurt his eyes. Moses blinked and looked around. He spat. looking at the red globule floating in front of him, Moses realized that he must have bitten his tongue.

  “Christ.” He shivered. “Well, that was different.”

  The program that Moses ran had cost him a fortune, once, a long long time ago. It was incredibly illegal. It also was an insanely stupid thing to activate, since such things were manufactured exclusively in the blackest of the black markets and thus untouched by such quaint little oddities as guarantees or quality control.

  Moses had always, to be honest, thought that it was a complete waste of money. Fortunately, and ― he winced ― unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case.

  He closed down his pcomp, shook his head to clear it, then pushed over to the door.

  It was time to go greet his guests.

  ☼

  “Sir? Be careful. We haven’t cleared this area, yet.”

  Celestine Grace snorted. “So? What are they going to do? Snore me to death?”

  Miles looked back at his boss and sighed quietly to himself. “Sir?” He replied, patiently. “My job is to keep you safe. I’m just doing my job.”

  “Very well, Mister… um, you. You may continue to do so.”

  “'You'. Gosh. Now I understand, and thank you, sir.” Miles returned to scanning the corridor. He was uncomfortable with this. Well, he was uncomfortable with the whole thing, actually, but at this moment in time he was particularly uncomfortable with being on a potentially hostile ship in shirt sleeves. But Grace had been adamant.

  “That band of hooligans is not a threat.” Grace had stated while they boosted to orbit in the shuttle. “Or they won’t be, once we execute our warrant. I hate those suits, and I refuse to be stuck in one all day. Peeing in a bag. It’s undignified.”

  “Explosive decompression is undignified too, sir.” Miles had replied in a calmly reasonable tone of voice.

  “I can’t believe she… Ms… that that woman recommended you for this. You’re such a nancy.”

  The security operative shrugged. “You’re the boss, sir. No pressure suits. I’ll tell the crew.”

  So now Miles and a half dozen of his fellow operatives were spread out and inching, suitless, down the central corridor of the ship and toward the command cluster. Behind him, Grace floated in through the hatch, followed by the Security Directorate doctor they’d brought up to execute the warrant.

  Miles wrinkled his nose at the pair of them, then turned to push off toward the hatch at the far end of the corridor. He was almost to it when the alarm went off.

  “Jesus!” He instantly recognized what it was. Pressure leak! Miles grabbed a nearby handrail and frantically shoved, trying to get to the hatch before the automatic systems kicked in. He was too late. The hatch clanged shut.

  “What the hell is going on?” Grace came careening down the corridor and smacked the bulkhead hard enough to bounce. Miles grabbed him to keep him from drifting off. The security chief clutched his reddened nose as blood began to seep out. A small red blob of it hovered in front of his face, then began drifting rapidly upward. It vanished into a ventilator.

  Horribly, Miles’ ears popped.

  Miles looked around frantically. It had to be here somewhere, and it had to be active. Ah! There! By the utterly, utterly useless hatch.

  “Uh wand duh gknow wud duh fud id happuhning!” Grace was screaming, his hands clenched around his now streaming nose.

  Miles ignored him and pushed over to the hatch. There, to the left of it, was an intercom unit. On it, a light quietly flashed. Overhead, a quiet recorded voice spoke its quiet little litany of doom: “Pressure leak. Central corridor. Pressure leak. Central corridor. All hands respond. Pressure leak.” It droned on, oblivious to the panic its words were inspiring.

  He pulled his sidearm and flung it down the corridor, then pushed himself out to where the unit could get a good look at him, holding his arms up to show he had nothing to hide. “There!” He pulled himself back in to the intercom and shouted frantically. “I’m unarmed! We’re unarmed! We give up! You win, you bastard! What do you want us to do?”

  A tiny vid window popped into existence before the panel. Moses smiled out at them. It wasn’t a pretty smile. “Hi, there!” He said, brightly. “So nice of you to drop by.”

  ☼

  Miles swallowed again, to equalize pressure across his ears. Dunn had stopped pumping the air out of the corridor as soon as Miles had spoken, but the pressure now stood at around two thirds normal ― high mountain peak territory. The SD doctor had passed out, once, and was making threatening motions toward passing out again.

  He turned to the intercom. “Okay. Now what?”

  “I note that Mister Grace is still dressed. I need everyone down to their underwear. Now.”

  “And the point of this is?”

  “Well, there’s actually three reasons: one, I can make certain that you’re unarmed. Two, you and your people will be at a psychological disadvantage.”Moses smiled. “And three, because it’s funnier than hell.”

  “You’re a scary man, Mister Dunn.”

  “Call me Moses.”

  Miles snorted. He turned back toward the unclad group behind him and shrugged, then looked at his employer. “You heard the man, sir. Skivvies, only.”

  “Uh ruhfuze.” Grace barked through his still cupped hands.

  “Then we’re all going to die, sir. And dying on account of your modesty is not an option. Johnston? Chen? You may relieve Mister Grace of his excess clothing.”

  “Oh, may we, sir?” Carmine Johnston grinned and pulled herself forward. Neither she nor Hy Chen had missed the fact that Miles had chosen the only two females in the group to do the work. She expertly stopped herself by the security chief and rotated to face him. “You may note, sir…” She said brightly. “… that neither Ms. Chen nor myself are wearing more than a pair of briefs.”

  Despite himself, Grace glanced downward. Johnson reached out and smacked him on the forehead. “Please don’t do that again, sir. My point was that I don’t want to be half naked here any more than you. In fact, substantially less. But I did so because I did not want something as stupid as not wanting someone looking at my tits…” Smack. “… stop that… endangering everyone else. So you will remove your clothing. Now. Or Ms. Chen and I get to peel it from your unconscious body. Do I make
myself clear?”

  It took him less than ten seconds to strip. He hung there in the middle of the passageway, blushing, as several astonished seconds passed.

  Miles was the first to laugh. He shared a look with Johnston, then lost it completely.

  “It is not…” Said Grace, haughtily, “That funny.”

  “Oh… oh, no sir…” Miles finally managed to get out. “I beg to differ. You’re wearing…” He snorted again. “You’re wearing a pink mesh thong. It’s quite… I’m quite stunned, sir.”

  “Oh…” Johnston added, snickering, “… but on him it works.”

  It was another minute before the laughter could die down enough for them to continue. Miles spoke to the face in the vid window. “All right, then. Thanks, by the way. I’ll carry that sight to my grave.”

  “Unfortunately,” Moses responded, “I’m afraid I will too.”

  “Okay.” Miles pulled himself closer to the intercom. “We’ve had our laugh. Enough. What now?”

  “Handcuffs. In a string. Wrist to wrist, all the way down the line. All but you — you’re their safety man. Don’t abuse it.”

  “Somehow, I knew you were going to say that.”

  “When you’re done all of your equipment ― and I mean all of it ― goes into the airlock in the forward end of the passageway.”

  “And then?”

  Moses leaned forward. Miles looked at the expression on his face and wondered why they had ever considered this man harmless. “And then you get the hell off my ship.”

  Miles nodded. “I understand. Thank you.”

  “One person stays, though.”

  “Oh.” Miles looked around at his charges. “I guess I’ll be your hostage, then.”

  Moses looked startled for a moment, then laughed. “No, no, no… though it says a lot for you that you offered. The doctor.”

  Surprised, he turned and stared at the still groggy Security Directorate doctor. The doctor looked at him, a bit scared and very confused. Miles shrugged at the expression on his face and turned back to the intercom. “Huh. Okay, but… why?”

  “Because you and your cronies arrested everyone who was going to go on this ship. Because we are soon to be leaving this system for parts unknown, and we don’t have a doctor to take with us.”

  “You do realize that’s kidnapping?”

  “Yep.” Moses replied brightly.

  “Okay, just so you know.”

  The doctor was staring at the intercom, a horrified look on his face. He finally spoke. “You… you can’t do that!”

  “Really?” Moses leaned forward in the viewer and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Watch carefully.”

  Miles drifted back to the doctor. He spoke to him in a low, intense tone. “Doc? Listen to me. You’ve got to do this. Three reasons. One, he has the upper hand and can kill us in a heartbeat if he wants to. Two, if they’re going to do what I think they’re going to do, they’ll be deep in unexplored space.” He reached out and grabbed the frightened man’s shoulders. “They’ll need a doctor. They’ll need you.”

  The doctor, a small colorless man, swallowed convulsively. “And three?” He finally squeaked.

  Miles shrugged. “Well, actually, there is no third reason. I just thought it sounded better.”

  “Oh.”

  Once the equipment was rounded up and passed forward, Miles placed it in the forward airlock, which Moses had opened for them. He lashed it in place, pushed himself back from the airlock and looked over toward the doctor. “You’re next.” The doctor stared at the open hatch, then shook his head.

  “Look. I’m sorry.” Miles pushed back over to him and took him arm. “I really am. But you don’t have a choice, here. Well, actually, you do. Conscious or unconscious?”

  The doctor looked at him for a moment, then slumped. “Conscious.”

  “Good man.” Miles gestured at the open airlock, and the doctor, shoulders hunched, pushed his way inside. Miles kicked off of the bulkhead and went back over to the comm panel to announce “That’s it.” The airlock door swung shut, the doctor staring mournfully out of the buddy hole.

  “All right then, boys and girls.” Moses announced. “Time to go home.”

  Miles felt his ears pop again as the pressure rapidly ramped back up to normal. He glanced at the gauge over the airlock. The pressure inside was still at about two thirds of an atmosphere, which meant that the doctor and, more importantly their gear, was utterly inaccessible. He shook his head and looked over to the vid window. “I underestimated you, Mister Dunn. We underestimated you. Nicely played.”

  Moses grinned. “Well thank you, son. Now get out, if you would be so kind, and don’t come back.” The airlock at the lower end ― the one they’d entered a century ago ― swung open.

  Miles gestured toward the lock and his people started moving toward it. The two girls towed Grace between them. Grace, still clutching his damaged nose, had his eyes screwed tightly shut to avoid looking at the girls’ muscular and still mostly bare bodies. Miles grinned. “Well, what do you know. He can be taught.”

  After the last of them moved through the hatch, he turned back to the monitor again. “So… what now?”

  “Now you get on your shuttle. And leave.” Moses gestured. “You know, leave?”

  Miles shook his head. “No, I mean what’s next for you?”

  “Oh.” He shrugged. “To be completely honest, I’m not absolutely sure. I’ve been making this up as I go along.”

  “You realize that the instant I get in the shuttle I’m yelling for help?”

  “Of course. But help’s at least a couple of hours away. Hopefully, we’ll be gone by then.”

  “Hopefully.” He looked back down the now deserted passageway, then back to Moses. “It’s a helluva risk you’re taking, Mister Dunn.”

  “Yeah? Probably.” Moses paused, then looked the operative in the eyes. “Don’t you think it’s worth it?”

  Miles reached out and patted the bulkhead. He looked back to the window, a ghost of a smile on his face. “Yes. Yes sir, I guess I do. Good luck out there.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I meant it.”

  “I know.”

  The security man looked at the intercom one last time, an unnameable emotion on his face. The he shook his head and pushed off down the tube to join his people.

  ☼

  “Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!”

  Ami’s eyes shot open. She tried to leap up out of her seat and discovered in a suitably kinetic manner that she still had her lap belt fastened.

  Moses came into her field of vision. “Hey.” He said softly. “Slow down. You’re okay. We’re okay.”

  She blinked and looked around, confused. “The… where… is it over?”

  “Yep.”

  “Damn.”

  Moses smiled. “No, no, sweetie… we won.”

  “We did?”

  “Yep.”

  “Oh. Goody. Hooray for our side.”

  “No. Hooray for Captain Spaulding.”

  “And suddenly it's Grocho, again.” She shook her head to clear it and looked around the bridge. Everyone save her was still unconscious, strapped into their chairs. Drifting behind Moses was a small, colorless man who looked as scared as she felt. The man had some sort of device in his hands.

  “All right, then, doc.” Moses said. “It works. That’s very, very good for you. Now wake up the rest.”

  The little man nodded jerkily and moved off. He went up to each of the unconscious people and did something with the unit in his hands. Each woke with a start. Moses came up to each, in turn, and spoke to them calmly. Eventually, everyone was awake and looking at him oddly.

  Finally, Leo spoke for the crowd. “Okay, Moses, wh
at the hell just happened?”

  “Okay. Short version. The bad guys came on board, I convinced them to leave, they left. Doc, here…” He gestured to the stranger, “… has kindly volunteered to remain behind with us.”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  Moses, turning, further explained the situation to the doctor. “Shut up.”

  He looked back toward the expectant group, a serious expression on his face. “Okay, folks, it’s like this. We are now the only crew available for the Endeavour. If we don’t get her going, and going soon, the bad guys are going to come back. And if they come back… well, if they come back, people, we all lose. Everybody loses. Got it?”

  “Do you mean to tell us that you single handedly overcame a Security Directorate strike force?” Cath said, incredulous.

  “Eh.” Moses shrugged. “Close enough.”

  “Riiiight.” A low hubbub broke out as everyone began talking at once.

  Moses clapped his hands together sharply. Everyone shut up. He smiled. “Look. You all know why we’ve been getting this ship in shape, right?” There were assorted nods in reply. “You all know how important it is, right?”

  “What’s your point, Moses?”

  “My point, Cath, is that we are now the only people who can do this. Period. If we don’t leave, and I mean leave now, it’s not going to happen.”

  There was a moment of silence. Finally, Leo spoke up. “Um, well…” He looked around uncomfortably, then cleared his throat and continued. “Well, I guess we should… leave?”

  Moses glanced over at him. “Good idea. Wish I’d thought of it.” He looked back at the group, still stunned by the enormity of it all. “Okay. Boots and saddles, people. Cath?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’ve got half an hour to get the engines hot. Can you do it?”