by Jeff Sims
They opened the door and entered into a windowed waiting area. They could see that this entire section was dedicated to ship repair. Jack took a quick count and noted there were currently 4 ships receiving some type of repair. There were empty spots for at least 4 more.
There were two large exterior doors that provided an opening for ships to be transferred into the work area. The doors were clearly visible on this side, but Ella didn’t remember seeing them on her initial scan of the station. She asked Jack, “Do you remember seeing these doors when we scanned the station?”
Jack thought for a moment. He honestly didn’t remember seeing doors, but then he really hadn’t looked that hard. Most of his attention had been on the frigate. Jack replied, “No, I don’t seem to recall seeing it, but I really didn’t look. It has to be there though.”
Ella nodded and said, “True, clearly the doors are there.”
Ella walked to the door that led to the work area. She tried the door and found that it was locked. When she turned back around she suddenly felt her mouth tingle and realized she had an incoming translation request. She depressed her tongue to answer.
Ella spotted a secretary sitting at her desk. The secretary said, “I’m sorry, you cannot access the work area unless your ship is being repaired.”
Ella thanked the secretary, broke connection, and said, “Jack, we can only enter shipyard if our ship is being repaired. Let’s have the Jackal inspected for leaks or something or have the communication system upgraded.”
Jack shook his head in violent disagreement. This trip was already costing him a fortune. Well, he thought, he was making enough from the Advranki sea moss and the Solarian cargo to pay for the trip. In addition, the Hiriculans were paying him a good price for hauling cargo. Further, the Alliance was giving him money for hauling Ella and investigating the station. He quickly calmed himself down after he realized he wasn’t destitute.
Jack replied, “I don’t think that is a good idea. We may need to exit here quickly. It would be difficult for the Hiriculans to justify detaining a ship in space, but quite another to simply delay repairs in a dry dock.”
Ella replied, “You’re right. That was a bad idea.”
Jack said, “It has been a long day and I’m tired. Let’s go back to ship for the evening. I bet we will think of a new strategy tomorrow.”
They walked back to the center of the X and turned down the corridor to the right. They reached the electro-lift platforms when Jack paused and said, “Wait here a moment. The mercantile is next door. I am going to check to see if the Solarian cargo has sold.”
Jack walked into the mercantile and noticed that Ella was right beside him. Oh well, he thought, in for one monetary unit, in for a significant amount of monetary units. He verified that nearly everything had already sold. There were only three items left.
He cringed and lowered the price significantly. He didn’t want anything remaining in the rented warehouse when they left. It would be cheaper to dump the last three items into space than pay another week’s rent.
Now they entered the electro-lift and rode up to the platform. They passed through the archway scanner and were now facing in a new direction with the shift in gravity. Ella said, “We need a name for that effect, like gravity switching.”
Jack replied, “We technically switch gravity directions every time we leave one ship and enter another.”
Ella responded, “I know. But in those cases you generally have a period of weightlessness crossing from one ship to the other. This effect is sudden and intense.”
Jack really felt indifferent about the whole subject. However, he tried to play nice and responded, “You’re right. It is a little creepy. How about we call it gravity transference or gravity redirection?”
They stepped onto the moving sidewalk and began walking back to their mini-freighter. They were both tired and walked very slowly; letting the conveyor do most of the work. As they were walking, Ella was reading the signs above warehouses. Suddenly she pulled Jack off of the conveyor and onto a side corridor. She said, “This is where your warehouse is located.”
As soon as they started walking down the side corridor the conveyor below them started moving. This moving walkway filled the entire corridor and only moved in one direction.
Jack said, “There must be a motion sensor somewhere.”
They stopped at Jack’s warehouse. Jack entered a key-phrase the mercantile agent had given him and the large door opened. Ella walked in and briefly looked around. The three items were sitting next to the doorway. The room was otherwise empty.
Ella said, “The storage area is a little smaller than I imagined.” She quickly paced from one side of the room to the other. She switched and paced off distance between the other two walls.
“Well?” Jack asked.
“I guess it’s correct. Something seems off though,” Ella replied.
They exited the warehouse and walked to the end of the corridor. Then they turned left and followed this one way corridor until they found a perpendicular corridor. They turned left again and walked back to the main corridor. They took the main corridor back to their ship.
Jack awoke the next morning with a smile. He planned to enjoy his first sea moss free breakfast in weeks. His pleasant attitude didn’t last long though when he saw Ella in the galley making sea moss pancakes. Ella smiled at him and said, “You’re welcome. I saved just enough sea moss for tomorrow and our trip home.”
Jack forced a smile and replied, “Always thinking ahead.”
Ella appeared to have missed the sarcasm. She said, “Thanks” and pointed to her head.
Jack sat down and said, “Computer, status report. Are there any updates or mail?”
…Negative. The ship containing your return cargo has not yet entered the system. However, advance notice was received that it has jumped from Coufla. It should be here in 24 hours…
Jack aksed, “So, what do you want to do today?”
Ella replied, “I had the computer construct a model of the space station based on the tour we did yesterday. It isn’t exact, but it does show two interesting details that we should investigate.”
Jack didn’t reply directly to Ella. He was suddenly intrigued and said, “Computer, display model.” He paused when he realized he had slighted her and continued, “That is excellent work Ella; please show me what you found.”
Ella said, “Computer display exterior.” Ella spun her finger on the monitor and rotated the model. She rotated it left to right and then up and down. Jack closely watched the model, but didn’t see anything.
Jack replied, “I don’t see anything.”
Ella responded, “Exactly. Where is the large exterior door we spotted from the maintenance bay? It simply isn’t there from an exterior view.”
Jack replied, “Well, maybe they have found a way to close doors that don’t leave an exterior footprint.”
Jack didn’t see the big deal. The picture frame that Ella sealed to wall used a similar technology. He continued, “The Alliance certainly has the technology to build a door a door that disappears if they wanted to do so. It isn’t really a technical innovation.”
Ella replied, “That’s not the point.”
Jack said, “Okay, tell me the point. I seem to be missing it.”
Ella said, “If they hid one door, they may have hidden more doors.”
Jack whistled softly and said, “True.”
Ella switched back to a schematic view. She said, “Let’s assume for a moment that the station is equally laid out top to bottom, or more precisely that the top part that we explored mirrors the bottom part that we did not.”
Jack replied, “That is certainly a fair assumption.”
She pointed to directly above the ship maintenance area. Jack looked and saw there was a very large area that showed completely empty on the schematic. Jack asked, “What is that?”
Ella responded, “That is what we are going to do today.”
Jac
k smiled politely at the joke and waited for her continue.
Ella said, “Recall that I measured the number of steps that we took when we walked to your rented warehouse. Based on that, the entire warehouse district on this side is significantly smaller that it should be. There is more than enough space here to house a sizeable naval fleet.”
Jack answered, “True, or there could simply be more warehouses with an entrance we didn’t see.”
Ella replied, “This is where we need to investigate.”
Jack said, “How are we going to verify that there is a hidden base if it is hidden? Again, we didn’t see any entrances.”
Ella said, “I think the doorway is right there at the end of the warehouse corridor. We were standing right there and didn’t know it. I bet that they are using the same self-sealing metal technology to hide the inside door that they are using to hide the exterior door.”
Jack looked at the schematic a second time. Ella certainly seemed to be correct. There may very well be something there. The question in Jack’s mind is: did the Hiriculans count on Ella’s excellent sleuthing ability.
Jack replied, “There is no way we can get in there though. They will spot us attempting to enter and stop us long before we can gain access. I imagine they have the door remotely monitored.”
Ella said, “I have been working on that. We are going to disguise ourselves.”
Jack: “As what?”
Ella: “Isn’t it obvious?”
Jack: “If it was obvious, I wouldn’t have asked.”
Ella looked directly at Jack and said, “I am going to tell you a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone in the Alliance.”
Jack hastily replied, “Okay, I promise.” She had phrased the requested promise to Jack’s benefit. He might break the spirit of the oath by telling Ambassador Bline, but he wouldn’t break the letter of the oath because Hiricula wasn’t part of the Alliance.
Ella looked around the room. She then said, “Computer engage sound and visual barrier. Turn off all monitoring.”
…Engaged…
Ella said, “The Hiriculans are using Netos as fighter pilots. We found the remains of a pilot after the battle at Opron.”
“Wow!” Jack was truly shocked. He didn’t know what else to say. Finally, he gathered himself and said, “Maybe that’s why they cut off those Netos’ two arms, so they can fly fighters.”
“Huh,” said Ella, “Wouldn’t it be easier to rearrange the cockpit to accommodate the different physiology?” Ella was surprised that Captain Solear and Lorano never discussed this.
Jack replied, “I really don’t know. You have to remember that creating a new cockpit design would take years of development and testing. When you weigh the cost of having two separate cockpit designs against the cost to simply hack off a couple of non-essential limbs I think the answer may surprise you.”
Ella replied, “Well, not really I guess since we just saw two limbed Netos.” Ella paused for a moment, but Jack had no further response. Ella said, “Computer, remove barrier. Jack, please hand me a vial of your skin make-up.”
Ella mixed ingredients into the skin make-up until it reached the correct shade of purple. She put some on her face and checked herself in the mirror. Satisfied, she then dried some sea moss in the evaporator and began sculpting it. She glued the moss to Jack’s chin and touched up the edges. She then painted it with the light purple skin paint.
Jack looked in the mirror. He looked something like a Neto, sort of. Jack turned and said, “This will never fool them.”
Ella started sculpting her own chin. She replied, “Go find us some clothing.”
Jack sighed. Apparently, they were going to do this. He replied, “We don’t have any Hiriculan military uniforms. What are we going to wear?”
“Let’s just wear normal merchant attire.”
Jack gathered up some clothing that he hadn’t worn in several years. Fortunately, he was something of a packrat when it came to items that were still useful, but were no longer fashionable. Jack carried everything back and dumped it in front of Ella.
She picked a similar looking outfit for each of them. Jack returned all the clothing back to his room and put on the outfit. He returned to the galley and noted that Ella had also changed. They stood in front of the mirror and Ella admired her work.
Ella said, “I think we can pass for Netos.”
Jack replied, “We look like purple Solarians in yesteryear clothing. I doubt this will fool anyone. Maybe we should just scrap the mission.”
“No.” Ella responded. “This will work.”
Jack said, “Well, I think something is wrong with the front of your shirt.”
Ella looked closely in the mirror. She even spun around a couple of times and looked again. Then she looked at Jack’s smiling face and suddenly realized the problem. Like most Solarians, she wasn’t well endowed, but her chest was certainly poking out more than a Neto’s should be. Ella strapped her breasts down so that they no longer showed.
While Jack was waiting for this final costume adjustment, he checked the items he had for sale. One had sold and two were remaining. He marked the prices down to ½ of the original. He was going barely below the break-even price on these items, but he wanted them gone.
They exited the ship and began walking down the spindle corridor. As they approached the exit to the warehouse district Ella reminded him yet again, “Let me do all of the talking.”
He answered for probably the fifth time, “Okay.”
They turned and exited the main moving corridor at what appeared to be the main warehouse cross corridor. It was about two corridors from the one they walked down yesterday. This corridor also ended at a wall. Ella looked over to Jack and whispered, “This is it, let me do the talking.”
Jack nodded okay and stayed silent.
Ella looked directly at the wall, held up her com pad and had it say in Hiriculan, “Please open the door, we are new recruits.”
Just as she had predicted, the doors slid open, revealing a small antechamber. The room was 3 meters wide and 8 meters long. There was a clearly visible set of doors on the opposite side. Against one of the side walls was a clear pane that looked into a control room of some sort. There were computer stations for 6 beings, but the room was currently occupied only by a bored looking station security guard.
The guard looked at the pair and said, “Garbeldty gloop”
Ella pointed to her mouth. She depressed her tongue and sent the guard a translation request. This time the guard looked directly at her and said, “What ship are you assigned to?”
Ella panicked. She looked quickly at Jack. Jack looked back and raised his hands in a gesture that implied – don’t look at me, I am being quiet. She said, “Jack, he wants to know what ship we are assigned to.”
Jack said, “Let me join the conversation.”
Ella depressed the facial translator and Jack said, “We can’t remember. They only told us once. What ships do you have?”
The guard said, “Well, the Incinerator is stationed here.”
Jack asked, “What class of ship is it?”
Guard: “It’s a frigate.”
Jack: “That doesn’t sound right. What else?”
Guard: We have the cruisers Mauler, Clawer, Thrasher, and Basher.”
Jack tried to make his face as vacant and dumb looking as possible. He said, “No. I don’t think we were assigned to a cruiser. I am pretty sure it was bigger. What else is there?”
Guard: “Well, there are 4 cruisers and 1 frigate.
Jack: “Is that everything?”
Guard: “Well, we have the battleship Obliterator on the other side of the station.”
Jack: “Is that everything?”
Guard: “They are putting the finishing touches on the brand new destroyer. It doesn’t launch for a couple of days yet. That destroyer will complete the flotilla at 7 ships.
Jack: “What’s it called?”
Guard: “The
Eradicator.”
Ella snapped her fingers and said, “That’s it. That’s the one.”
The guard opened the door and said, “Third ship on the left. You can’t miss it.”
Both Ella and Jack thanked the guard, broke connection, and entered the bay. The bay was huge. It was simply one large room shaped like a triangle. The top formed a point. The back side was a straight line up and the floor was a straight line out. The hypotenuse of the triangle followed the spherical curve of the station.
There were huge doors on the spherical side that allowed ships to enter. They were precisely aligned with the doors to the commercial maintenance area. If a casual observer noticed the doors opening, they wouldn’t be able to distinguish whether it was the station’s shipyard or the Navy’s shipyard.
Ella took out her com pad and took pictures of everything she could see. Jack finally stopped her by saying, “Stop that; you look suspicious. We don’t want to get caught.”
Left was a rather confusing direction. If one looked at the ships in relation to the space door, the ships were stacked on top of each other. However, if one looked at the ships in relation to gravity, they were sitting side by side. Jack and Ella turned left and walked straight to the destroyer.
Jack said, “The guard was right. It was easy to find.”
There was a guard stationed at the entrance of the destroyer. This one was wearing a military uniform. He stopped them, made contact, and asked, “Can I see your transfer orders?”
Ella responded, “We left everything on the freighter. We just wanted to verify where we were going before dragging everything across the space station.”
The guard said, “This is the correct place. Please gather your items and return.”
They bowed and nodded and assured the guard they would be back as soon as possible. They exited the area and returned to their mini-freighter. They removed their makeup and incinerated their costumes. Jack lamented the loss of perfectly good jump-suits. However, a fear of being searched far outweighed the financial loss of some seldom used clothing.
