The Stars Came Back

by Rolf Nelson

  He’s gone. Helton leans against the doorway to the galley to let himself calm down for a second. He breathes deep, and looks down at the knife in his hand. He folds the knife and drops it in his pocket.

  CUT TO

  Close-up view of Helton’s head in profile as he stands in the galley hatchway looking around it with his flashlight.

  There is a slight sound behind him. He feels the cold point of a knife on his neck.

  Allonia: (OC, firm female voice) FREEZE!

  Camera view pulls back to show the blade of a chef’s knife against his skin. Helton freezes, then slowly raises his hands.

  Allonia: (OC) You are?

  Helton: Helton. New owner of this ship. You?

  Allonia: (OC) You don’t look like the owner I met a few months ago.

  Helton: (Pointing slightly with one finger at the knife) Do you mind?

  Allonia: (OC) Not until I know who you are.

  Helton: Helton Strom. I won the ship in a game a few days ago.

  Allonia: (OC, Sarcastic) Yeah, right. That’s what the last guy said. Didn’t believe him, either.

  Helton: No, really, I did! I’ve got the title in my pocket.

  Allonia: (OC) That’s what the last guy said, too. Do you take classes to sound so corny?

  Helton: What? NO!

  Allonia: (OC, Sighing) OK, slowly turn around.

  The knife at his neck moves slightly away. Camera view pulls back as Helton slowly turns to face Allonia in the narrow passage. In the light of his flashlight aiming at the overhead, he can see she has a lot of dark hair, a pretty round face, 21, about a size 14, not fat and soft, just full figured with curves in all the right places, visible even though she’s dressed in loose fitting, layered clothing. She has a LARGE kitchen knife pointed at him. It does not waver at all.

  Helton: Your boy gave me quite a scare.

  Allonia: Not mine. Just stays here sometimes. Now, then. You?

  Helton: As I said, I won the ship in a card game a few days ago, and I’m here seeing what it was I won.

  Allonia: (Mildly sarcastic) Well, lucky you.

  Helton: What are you doing here?

  Allonia: I live here, more or less. Free rent, keep the riffraff away. Safer than town. Heard you come through the alarm.

  Helton: Alarm?

  Allonia: Screen door.

  Helton: Can I put my hands down now?

  Allonia pauses, then pulls out her own flashlight and lights him up. It’s much brighter than his, and he squints his eyes nearly shut in the intense beam. She looks him up and down.

  Allonia: Hmmm… I guess so. You don’t look too badass. But I’m still going to check out your paperwork.

  Helton: Thanks. Just what every guy wants to hear.

  FADE TO BLACK

  Background

  FADE IN

  INT - DAY - Adelaide Spaceport restaurant & lounge

  Helton, Allonia, and Quinn sit at a table with a beverage in front of each (milk for Quinn). A handful of other patrons sit at other tables.

  Helton: See, I told you I owned it.

  Allonia: Now what?

  Quinn: You two get married, and fly Ship into the sunset.

  They both look at Quinn and burst out laughing.

  Helton: (Chuckling) I’m not the prince charming type, I don’t think, and it might be just a little too soon. I mean, I haven’t saved her from a dragon or bad guys or anything yet.

  Allonia: Hah, and where’s his space armor, eh, Quinn?

  Quinn: In storage on deck five. What about lunch?

  Helton: (Mock seriousness) I think I can manage that.

  Allonia: So what do you plan to do?

  Helton: I don’t know. I figured it would already be flying, so… (shrug)

  Allonia: It’ll cost a lot to get it back in the air.

  Helton: You a starship tech?

  About this time Quinn starts doing some typical bored boy things like eyeing stuff on the table, rearranging them, and lying on his back in the booth seat with his feet up in the air.

  Allonia: No, but that thing has been here since the port was first built. Before, actually. The port was built here because it landed here out of The Deep Black over a hundred years ago.

  Helton: Seriously?

  Allonia: (Offhand) Seriously, as far as I know. Hasn’t moved since, except getting jacked up to be worked on. When I was his age (nods to Quinn) my grandma said it was a ghost ship. Didn’t believe her, used to get babysat on her, kinda like Quinn. Showed up crewless, landing on autopilot before grandma was born, and had a whole string of owners that all went bust with it. Called it the Dutchman back then. I moved in a year or so ago. Quiet. No shore power though. Bills not paid, so it was put into land-lock. Not that it could go anywhere.

  As she says this, Helton looks less and less happy.

  Helton: Great. Any more good news about my newfound albatross of ancient history?

  Allonia: (Shrugs) I’ve heard rumors it’s haunted, that’s why no one wants the buildings next to it. People claim to hear voices on board. Parts of it aren’t accessible; access hatches welded shut, hatches won’t open, things like that. Weird layout, not like any normal Meridian transport I’ve ever seen. Things work pretty well if you hook up portable power to them. So, can I keep living there until you go broke, too?

  Helton: Ah, weeeelllll, I guess there is enough room for us both-

  Quinn: (OC, from under the table) It’s a good ship. And a nice one.

  Helton: -for all three of us, until I can get a better idea of what I’m up against. Sure. In exchange for all the help and info you can give me, you have a free room there.

  Allonia: Any room I want?

  Helton: For now. Why?

  Quinn: I get the story room!

  Helton: Sure you can. I think. Unless I get it.

  Helton mouths to Allonia “Story room?” She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head in ignorance of the reference.

  Allonia: Can I expand the hydroponics section?

  Helton looks at her sharply, wondering about the sudden cooperation.

  Helton: (Carefully) There’s a hydroponics section?

  Allonia: Sort of. All kinds of interesting things on board, to be honest.

  Helton: If it doesn’t interfere with any other repair work, yes, I suppose.

  FADE TO BLACK

  Power

  FADE IN

  INT - DAY - Concourse hub information desk

  Helton and Allonia stand at the information desk of the spaceport. The same young InfoClerk as before sits at the counter.

  InfoClerk: It was the Dutchman? No wonder it wasn’t listed… Well, let me see, power, power… Hmmm… Yes, there is a shore power bill of… That can’t be right…

  He looks up at Helton, apologetically.

  Helton: That’s OK. I scored a pretty good pile when I won this ship. What’s the damage?

  InfoClerk: It says power can be restored to pad D9 with a payment of 182,000.

  Helton: (Incredulous) I’m sorry, I could have sworn you said “one hundred eighty two thousand.”

  InfoClerk nods sheepishly. Even Allonia is rather surprised at the bill.

  Helton takes a deep breath, his face indicating he’s biting back a rather profane retort. He taps his fingers on the counter for a moment in thought.

  Helton: (Thinking aloud) OK. Assets can come with liabilities. Can’t make it fly if I can’t get it started. It still leaves enough to make some repairs, or at least makes it easier to sell… (louder) OK. Do it. Get the power back on.

  Allonia: (Impressed) You’re richer than I thought you were.

  Helton: Not anymore. Just hope it doesn’t become what Dad called a “major learning experience.”

  FADE TO BLACK

  FADE IN

  INT - DAY - Tajemnica cargo hold

  The hold is pitch black except for the light from their flashlights and an LED on the wall com panel.

  Helton: Let’s see what I won.

  He p
laces his hand on the dimly lit wall com/security panel and stands in front of it.

  Helton: Strom, Helton T, new owner and captain.

  The panel lights up and scans his hand and face.

  Ship AI: (Voice is brisk, male, and military sounding) Present certification, please, sir.

  Helton holds the title up to the panel. The lit panel blinks. There is a long pause.

  Ship AI: Please present your eye for scanning, sir.

  Helton looks concerned, but positions his face up near the camera for an eye scan. Another delay.

  Ship AI: Cert approved. It’s been a very long time, sir. Welcome back aboard, Captain.

  Helton: (Turns to the cargo hold, theatrically, channeling Dr. Frankenstein) “It’s alive! ALIVE!” … (Glances at Allonia) No?

  Allonia looks askance at him, eyebrow raised, like she thinks him strange.

  Helton: Oh, sorry. I always wanted to say that. Would you prefer (theatrically) and He said, Let There Be LIGHTS!

  Allonia: (Dryly, shaking her head) We want power to go to the lights, Helton. Not your head.

  Around the cargo bay display screens and ceiling-mounted flat-panels slowly come to life. It grows brighter and brighter. Things still appear shabby and worn, with some screens and light-panels still dark, broken, or missing, but no longer scary. The cargo bay looks both cramped and cavernous at the same time. Most of the regularly spaced windows lining the second story to the middeck passageway are open, as are most doors on both sides. They both look up and down the length of it, taking stock.

  Helton: Want to give me the tour?

  Allonia: (Mock seriousness) Right this way, your majestic heroic-ness.

  They walk forward toward the stairs

  Allonia: Ever been on a Meridian transport?

  Helton: No. Read about them. Feels smaller than it looks from the outside.

  Allonia: Simple layout. Main cargo deck here, storage and machinery on either side. Usually they have only one cargo door, this has one at each end with loading ramps and heavy-duty airlock doors. The windows there go to the middeck passageway and rooms. A Deck is above the bay and all the way across. Most of the passenger and crew space is there; some of the doors are locked, a few hatches welded, don’t know what’s in them. Lots of machinery crammed everywhere, between decks, under the decking, outboard, everywhere. Port passageways have a red stripe, starboard have green. By the way-

  Quinn goes running by, grabs one of the chains hanging down from a chain hoist, and swings on it like Tarzan on a vine, laughing like a maniac. Typical boy playing and having fun.

  Quinn: Look out! Giant hamsters attacking! Man the railguns and Armadillos!

  Helton: (To Allonia) Giant hamsters?

  Allonia: (Shrugging off boy-child weirdness) Yesterday it was Greeks at Marathon-

  Quinn: -ATHENIANS!

  Allonia: (In exaggerated seriousness) Sorry, Athenians at Marathon. Tomorrow it might be mutant whales. He’s a good kid, but where he comes up with this stuff… (shakes head in dismissal.)

  Helton nods to Allonia in understanding, and grins watching Quinn swing like a crazy kid, then starts to follow her towards one of the side doors.

  Faintly something can be heard over the com system. Similar to static at first, then quickly evolves into an unusual pulsing sound, then becoming recognizable. Steppenwolf’s ”Magic Carpet Ride.” [Author’s note - go have a listen, read the lyrics. Seriously. It’s perfect. I’ll wait. Done? Continuing, then.]

  Music and singing comes through over ship speaker system, LOUD.

  Allonia and Helton look at each other wondering what this music IS? Quinn seems to like it, dancing like only an excited five-year-old white boy can.

  Helton: (Loudly, addressing the ship) Turn that OFF!

  Ship AI: (OC) In a minute, Sir.

  Helton and Allonia look at one another in surprise. Helton opens his mouth to start to say something, and the volume drops sharply, but still plays in the background.

  Ship AI: (OC) Better, Allonia?

  Allonia: Um, yes?

  Ship AI: (OC) It’s been a long time since power was hooked up. A celebration seemed called for.

  Helton: A celebration?

  Ship AI: (OC) Yes. Former crewmen liked that song, and it seemed appropriate. I can play something else if you’d prefer.

  Helton: It’s OK, just not quite so loud. It was a surprise.

  Ship AI: (OC) Noted.

  Allonia: And on that note-

  FADE TO

  Series of scenes as they tour the ship, song continuing to play in the background. The overall impression is the ship is old and massively overbuilt with thick metal and much reinforcement, cramped, a flexible design but in disrepair. It’s like an old submarine, with lots of obviously airtight and strongly built hatchways, bulkheads, and shutoff valves, and no swooshy slide-away doors. There are some clearly mismatched styles where the original design had been modified numerous times with whatever was available, and ugly-but-functional bulkhead-mounted equipment partially hidden by decorative walls that have since been altered. Color schemes seem to vary randomly at different points in the ship. Many wall-mounted screens, which double as lights, are clearly old, broken, or missing, (screens are all one of four standard sizes so they can be moved where needed) so lighting is usable but uneven. Each room has a small communication panel near the door. There are a handful of places where Allonia has cleaned up because she uses them.

  ● Helton is examining one of the “mystery cylinders” on the cargo deck (70cm across and 1m long with a 1cm hole in the top). The only markings are a simple lit candle logo/image on one end. There are several of them on the cargo deck. Helton tries to move one briefly by tipping it up but fails. It’s obviously very dense/heavy.

  ● Allonia showing Helton around a tight 12-man sleeping berth room, that still looks cramped even in good light, but no longer dangerous and haunted, just old and dirty.

  ● The galley, where it’s obvious a portion has been cleaned and is used by Allonia, the rest of the stuff just getting pushed semi-neatly aside. Allonia is pointing out where things are.

  ● One of the midlevel windows into the cargo bay with the window propped up and open. Allonia is pointing to the windows across the cargo bay, where we can see Quinn’s head run by other open windows, one after another, holding something up over his head like a flag.

  ● The “garden,” a largish room full of racks and trays, many of which have soil or water, and some plants growing here and there, along with a few small potted bushes. Workbenches and cupboards line the walls, and there are several light panels hooked up to some sort of battery/fuel-cell unit.

  ● Engineering Command Center, nearly eighteen meters long, a low room with lots of machinery. Many hatches/panel covers, some open. Wires and components exposed or hanging down. An empty, open tube entrance about half a meter across. Another hatch low against one corner with a barely discernible, and unnoticed lit candle logo. A largish tube with lots of stuff hanging off of it on one side. Several pieces of machinery hanging down from the ceiling. A partially disassembled torpedo-sized something on a wheeled cradle in the middle.

  ● The Officers’ Mess, a room with a long table in the middle, a dozen mounted pedestal chairs around it, cupboards and access hatches line the walls, along with a couple of screens. There are several one-meter screens/lights that look like they can fold down from the ceiling depending on what’s needed. Two are down and obviously broken.

  ● The head, obviously designed for large numbers to use fast: six shower heads in a communal stall, pocket doors on either end (one only half in), toilets in small stalls, eight small sinks with emergency “lost gravity” covers, and lots of small numbered lockers and cupboards.

  ● They open a heavy door off the cargo bay to reveal what looks like a small storage closet with a jumble of assorted mechanical detritus stacked in it.

  ● Allonia opens a door on B Deck, showing a clean and orderly, if small, cabin where she�
��s been living. Desk with a sewing machine on it. Chair. Bed. Decorative draperies. Bookshelves with a few books and various knickknacks, as well as a couple of plants under a light. It looks clean, bright, cozy. There is a door to one side, and an open closet door with a variety of clothes hanging in it.

  ● A small hatch like a miniature submarine watertight door on middeck passageway that is clearly welded shut along one edge. Allonia is pointing out damage on the door from previous opening attempts, and Helton is inspecting the welds.

  [Appendix I has diagrams]

  Seymore

  DISSOLVE TO

  One end of the cargo bay

  Helton approaches one side of the big aft doors and pushes a button on the wall.

  Helton: Open.

  Nothing.

  Helton: (Pushing button again) Open Sesame.

  Nothing.

  Helton: Open the cargo bay doors, please, Tajemnica.

  Ship AI: (OC, softly) I am afraid I can’t do that.

  Helton: What?

  Ship AI: (OC) I can’t open the cargo bay doors, Sir.

  Helton: Why not?

  Ship AI: (OC) They are manually locked, Sir.

  Helton looks over at where the doors come together, and there is a very solid looking manual latching bolt shut fast. He gets a somewhat frustrated “well, DUH!” expression on his face, and momentarily puts his arms akimbo, staring at the latch. He walks over, and with great effort loosens and unlatches it. Nothing happens.

  Helton: Open the door.

  Off to his side, an airlock-type hatch door to the stairway opens with a creaking sound like a crypt that hasn’t been opened for centuries. Helton looks at it, a quizzical expression on his face.

  Helton: (Articulating carefully) Open the main aft cargo doors that I just unlatched.

  With a rending, screeching sound, as if the crypt occupant is annoyed at being disturbed, the massive doors grind sideways, revealing the closed loading ramp sloping up.

  Helton: Lower the ramp.

  Ship AI: (OC) I would not advise that at the current time.

  Helton: (Annoyed) Who’s in charge here?! I said lower the ramp.