Mosar (Bright Horizons Book 3)

by Wilson Harp

  Chapter 2

  The doorway was impressive. A low, thumping hum and alternating pulses of blue and purple lights indicated this was a very important doorway. The automated weapons that lined the hallway to the door, and the four heavily armed guards, amplified the idea that the doorway was indeed very important.

  Alex took a deep breath and took off the ID card clipped onto the front of his jumpsuit. He slid it through the groove on the control panel in front of the doorway and stood still as the optical scanner confirmed his identity. Alex had been told the process included a retinal scan, an EKG, and an EEG. After a few seconds, the pulsing lights ceased, the low hum became silent and the door slid up allowing him to proceed. He left the card on the control panel to be collected by one of the guards.

  There was a short hallway that led to another door. This door looked friendly and inviting, at least in comparison to the door he had just left.

  The very important door slid down after Alex stepped through and the lights and hum returned. Alex walked to the friendly door and pressed the access button. The door slid open and Alex walked into the crew waiting room. Four other men were standing near a counter as they chatted.

  On the far side of the room, there was a large window. Out the window, Alex could see the ship. He gave a quick guess they were about a kilometer away from the vessel.

  “Ramirez,” one of the men said as Alex walked in the room. “How are you?”

  “Good, Cowboy,” Alex said. “I guess we are the first?”

  “Yep, you’re number five. Number six should be here in a few minutes.”

  “Twenty still?”

  “Twenty and Jii. We will pick him up at the first jump point.”

  Alex looked around for a place to sit, but there were no chairs or even benches. He leaned up against the waist high counter like the others.

  “You get to practice flying?” he asked Cowboy.

  “Yeah, they had a simulator built at Vandenburg. Crazy control system, but very responsive. Almost like a fighter. I’m used to a clunkier bird, but I guess I was the highest ranked pilot eligible to go.”

  “Eligible?” Alex laughed at the word. “More like required. I don’t know anyone who would have volunteered for this trip.”

  “Greenaway did,” one of the other men said. “Jii approved of the change before he went incommunicado. Edwards was in an accident, so they put word out that they needed a top-flight computer guy. They brought him in for training a couple of months ago.”

  “Greenaway?” Alex asked. “Captain Peter Greenaway?”

  “That’s him.”

  Alex recognized the name. He was the computer tech who had deciphered his message to Williams and made his rescue from the Otina prison possible. Alex had made a point to find him once. What he had seen had surprised him.

  “Isn’t he in a wheelchair?” Alex asked.

  “Paraplegic. Paralyzed in a raid on an Otina base. Great with computers and codes, though.”

  The door opened and Alex and the others looked over to greet the newest arrival.

  “Williams,” Alex said.

  “Gunny. Cowboy. Stephens. Daack. Richardson,” Williams said as he nodded to each man.

  It didn’t surprise Alex that Williams knew each of the men. Every man assigned to the mission had been given a complete dossier on the entire team. But that had been six months ago and Alex had not flipped through it since his initial reading. Williams, on the other hand, had probably studied and memorized each man and their details.

  “Is Greenaway here yet?” Williams asked.

  “No,” Daack answered.

  “What about his wheelchair?” Alex asked. “Will he be able to get around okay?”

  Williams shrugged. “Jii made adjustments to the ship’s layout. Once he saw what Greenaway was capable of, he made the decision.”

  The door opened again and another man stepped through.

  “Fields,” Alex said. “Good to see you.”

  The crew’s medic smiled and shook hands with Alex.

  “Ramirez, good to have you on board,” Fields said as he looked around. “I’m early.”

  “I told you an hour early, so you would be on time,” Jackson said. “You’re half an hour late from when you were supposed to arrive.”

  The others in the room laughed as Alex and Williams looked at each other with relief. They had hoped the comradery of the crew of the Hemingway would still hold. The men who survived the Itlia’cor weapons on that ship were the bulk of the crew on this mission.

  “When are we going to board?” Alex asked.

  “I’m guessing any time now,” Williams said. “It looks like they are clearing the area around the ship. Our schedule says we should jump within the next two hours.”

  The door opened again and another crew member entered. Alex recognized him as Peterson, one of the men on the security team.

  “Gunny,” Peterson said as he spotted Alex. “Glad to have you as my boss.”

  He had barely started shaking hands when there was a loud crack and the room they were in lurched forward. Everyone went to the window and watched as they drew near the ship that was secured in the middle of the gigantic room.

  “I guess we are going to be boarding now,” Cowboy muttered.

  As the ship drew near, Alex was a little disappointed. It was not what he expected. He had only seen the interior designs, and those seemed sophisticated enough. The exterior, however, was rough and unrefined. It had no visible ports or other entry points. It was mottled brown in color and Alex wasn’t even sure which was the stern and which was the bow.

  “It looks like a pile of junk,” said Stephens.

  “It’s supposed to,” Williams said. “We want anyone who observes us on the drift to believe we are a piece of debris.”

  “Odd shaped,” Alex said. “Which is the bow and which is the stern?”

  “Engines are over there,” Daack pointed. “Cockpit is on the far side. Jii wanted it in the middle, but I had problems flying from that perspective.”

  “You’ve flown it?” Williams asked.

  “Just a simulator. Very complex and yet almost instinctual.”

  The room slowed to a stop. Alex could see the plating on the vessel, but he still couldn’t see any entry points. The door opened and some of the station’s crew moved a mobile ladder to allow them to exit. Once they did, the door shut again and the room started its trip back to the outer ring to pick up the second set of crew.

  “Gentlemen, we are prepared to board you onto the craft,” a man said as they assembled near the ship.

  Alex stepped forward. “Get me on board,” he said.

  “You’ll need to lose the clothes. You’re boarding au natural,” said a man with a thick southern accent.

  Alex knew that part. Even the clothes they were assigned on the station would be left behind. Only items pre-approved by Jii would be allowed on the ship.

  “Where am I boarding?” Alex asked. He still didn’t see the opening.

  The man pointed to a slick spot on the underside of one of the protrusions from the vessel. It looked like some sort of oil residue. It had a faint green sheen to it, but as Alex looked, he realized it went deep into the surface of the ship.

  “How are we to…” Alex said as he stared up into the goo filled entry way.

  “Like this,” said Williams. He had stripped off his clothes as Alex dithered. He walked over to the spot and reached his hands into the green substance. He seemed to be pulled into the goop and soon disappeared up into the ship.

  “Are you ready?” the station crewman asked.

  Alex nodded and stripped off his clothes. He looked at the man, who nodded and motioned with his hands that Alex should do like Williams had.

  Alex thrust his hands into the green goo and felt himself being pulled upward. He pushed up with his feet on instinct and felt the momentum carry him fully into the slimy passage.

  His hands hit the empty space on the other side of t
he goo and his head popped free a moment after. The momentum of his push off carried most of his body through the portal and he barely had to work his feet free to be standing in the ready room.

  Williams tossed him a towel.

  “Feels like it covers you, but there’s very little to wipe off,” he said.

  Alex rubbed the towel over himself, but Williams was right. As sticky as he felt from the experience, he was dry and clean. The walls were lined with lockers which held each of the crew’s uniforms and sleeping kits for the voyage. Alex found his locker and started to get dressed. He heard someone else come through the portal.

  “Whoa,” said Cowboy.

  “Towel,” said Williams as he tossed it to the tall Texan.

  Soon all seven of the men from the initial boarding room were in the ship and dressed.

  “I guess we better check out the rest of the ship,” Alex said.

  The door which led from the ready room to the rest of the ship slid open into a large common living area. Tables and chairs were set up and two food stations lined the walls. The cabinets held enough food for a year for the entire crew. Alex really hoped there would be no need to stretch rations.

  To the stern were the crew sleeping cabins, engineering, and the secondary security station.

  Alex looked into one of the crew cabins. Two bunks and four footlockers were in each one. He would be sharing his cabin with three of his security team on alternating shifts. There was a cabin designed for Jii which had a single bed, a data station, and a space where his rejuvenation chamber would sit. The Otina lived for thousands and thousands of years when they had access to a fully functional rejuvenation chamber. Alex had tried to imagine what it must be like to live a thousand years. Every time he tried, he gave up after an hour or two and played some mindless video games to stop his headache.

  Over all Alex thought the ship was comfortable, though Spartan in design and tight on space.

  “How does it look?” Alex asked Williams as he stepped into the engineering work room.

  “Good. Every piece of equipment I could have hoped for is in there. I’m surprised at how tight they packed it.”

  Williams opened a drawer. “I would be surprised if there were any changes in the last couple of weeks. Jii has been very strict about what would and would not be included. He was particularly concerned about any changes to equipment once he was put in cryogenic containment.”

  The sound of another crewmember entering the ready room rippled through the ship.

  “Sounds like more crew have arrived,” Alex said. “Shouldn’t be long before they open the gateway and we head out.”

  “Greenaway should be coming in with this batch, let’s go get his wheelchair from storage so we can get him situated,” Williams said.

  Alex followed Williams down to the ready room. Two crew were drying off and a third started to emerge from the goo-portal as they entered.

  “Wow, that was intense,” he said as he fumbled about on the deck.

  “Greenaway with you?” Williams asked.

  “Yeah, he and Doc Ward came in right before we started toward the ship.”

  “I’ll go get his wheelchair,” Williams said.

  Alex looked over the men in the room. Fuller and Hendricks were there. They were part of his crew for security.

  The two men saw their leader and approached him.

  “Gunny, looks like we’re all set,” Fuller said.

  “Yep, just have the slow wait and hopefully a quick and easy exercise,” Alex said with a smile.

  “Have they delivered the Otina?” Hendricks asked.

  “No,” Alex said. “We’ll pick him up just outside the system.”

  Another crew member arrived from the goo entrance and Alex looked to see that it was Doc Ward.

  The corpsman coughed and sputtered as he pulled himself out of the green substance.

  “Greenaway is next,” he said as he got to his feet. “I told them to give us a minute before they pushed him into the port. I’ll need some help getting him out.”

  Fields greeted his fellow medic and the two prepared to assist Greenaway as he boarded.

  There was the gloopy sound of someone arriving through the port when the door to the ready room opened and Williams came in with an elaborate looking wheelchair.

  “They are pulling him in now,” Alex said.

  Williams nodded and moved the chair near the port. Alex looked back as the medics pulled in the computer expert. He would be the only man on the crew who was not hand-picked by Jii at the beginning of the mission. He was the only one not saturated with mosar. He was the only one who would have been safe on Earth. Alex considered Greenaway one of the bravest men he had ever met.

  Ward and Fields dressed Greenaway and sat him in his chair in less than two minutes.

  “That was amazing,” said Greenaway. “The gel must have some properties which inhibits the growth and radiative properties of mosar. That’s why it’s used as an entry point for the ship.”

  Williams nodded. “That makes sense. I didn’t consider the inhibition of the radiative properties. I’ll see what Jii says about it.”

  “Is he already on board?” Greenaway asked.

  “No,” Alex said. “We still have to go pick him up.”

  The ready room was getting crowded, so Alex headed for the cockpit. It was barely big enough for the flight controls, a seat for the pilot, and a data station where someone could stand. Alex had the impulse to call it a bridge, but that would stretch the word beyond the breaking point.

  Cowboy sat at the controls when Alex entered.

  “Control to ship, we are sending your final crew directly. Eight minutes until we start chamber decompression.”

  “Affirmative, control. As soon as we mark point one GU, we’ll give the release command.”

  “How close are we?” Alex asked.

  “Eight minutes for them to clear the dock, then they will decompress. We’ll be free in fifteen minutes or so.”

  “Sounds good. I think we should bring Jii up to the command room when we get the delivery.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Cowboy said. “We should have plenty of room in there.”

  Blue lights began flashing from outside the thick cockpit windows.

  “That’s the signal for the ground crew to start packing up,” Cowboy said. “Better get the crew to their stations.”

  Cowboy pressed a button.

  “Crew, this is your captain. Alpha team, report to stations. All others, please settle into the crew compartments or enjoy our lovely lounge.”

  Alex left the cockpit and made his way back to the security station just beyond the command room. He sat at the main console and flipped on the monitors. The rest of the crew moved with purpose either to their duty station or into the common room.

  Alex looked over the controls in front of him. A helmet with a holo-display which was more advanced than he could have imagined sat on a stand beside the monitors. He had practiced using it for targeting and directing fire from weapons in a simulator the Pelod had set up at great expense. His job would be easy until they encountered a problem. Then he would have to put on the helmet and it would all be on him and his security team to protect the ship.

  In a short time, Alex felt the stabilization clamps release from the ship. The engines were started a few seconds later. The low hum which penetrated the ship seemed loud as it started, but Alex knew soon it would become the normal sound of silence.

  “Crew, we are ready for launch. All stations check in,” Cowboy said over the ship’s intercom.

  Alex pressed the button which indicated the security station was in good status. A few seconds later the whine of the thrusters began.

  The external visual scanners showed the dock sliding away. The forward scanner showed a vast patch of dark sky growing ever larger. The whine of the thrusters raised in pitch as stars were revealed by the side scanners. And then the thrusters stopped. The low hum of the engines became an un
dulation and then the scanners went dark.

  Alex pulled up his most recent mission briefings on the tablet assigned to the security station. He had only skimmed most of the data and had closely read only the sections for his command. He didn’t know about Greenaway’s assignment, and that bothered him. He was usually interested in every aspect of a mission. He chided himself for his sloppy preparation.

  He read for around twenty minutes, when Cowboy’s voice cut over the intercom.

  “Security, Medlab, and Engineering to the hold. We have a package to receive.”

  Alex left his station and met Williams and Fields in the hallway.

  “Guess we’re already at the rendezvous point for our guest,” Alex said.

  “Appears so,” replied Williams. “Where do we want to set him up?”

  “Command room,” said Alex.

  The three arrived at the cargo bay and located the receiving hatch. It was filled with the same green goo as the entry port they had slid through to board the ship.

  “We are ready to receive,” Cowboy said over the intercom. “Are you set to get the pod in?”

  “We’re set,” Williams said.

  A clang of metal and the hiss of a tightening seal announced the docking of the ship to the deep space storage container. A light glowed through the receiving hatch and Alex could see the goo ripple as an object started moving into the ship.

  Alex and Fields grabbed handles attached to the object as it emerged. Williams had assembled the track the rejuvenation chamber would sit on and had it aligned as the others maneuvered it out of the entry port. The chamber holding the frozen alien clanked down into place and Williams tightened the levers which connected the pod to its rolling platform.

  “It’s secured,” Williams said. “Let’s get him to the command room.”

  Chapter 3

  “Sara, who is this young man your father tells me about?” Kitch asked.

  Sara hopped over to the couch and dropped down beside Kitch.

  “His name is Geoffrey and he is so sweet,” Sara started. “He asked me out to a concert last weekend, and we ended up talking for hours at this little diner afterwards.”