The young crewman nodded slowly. “Yes, you are right. We should get to work then,”
“Indeed, we should.” Basta said with a nod. “You two go to engineering and get this ship back online. We will hold the bridge and make sure that when it is ready, we can continue our mission.”
“Of course, captain.” Mancoff nodded. “Please come with me Henry.”
Henry walked with the young crewman, carful to keep a hold of bars on the walls when the ship pitched against the unknown disturbance. Energy sparked on displays, causing the lights to dim and go off and on. Henry imagined that much of the shops crew were trapped behind safety bulkheads and was glad that there seemed to be an unobstructed path from the bridge, deeper into the ship. As they got deeper into the ship and down toward the inner workings it became much less glitchy but no less shaky, the ships heaving to and from more pronounced. It was as if the dampeners that were fighting to stabilize the ship were working overtime and it was taxing the ships inner workings. In engineering were two, armed ships guards, stationed to protect the wave engine in such cases, as well as Kuromoto, Haverstain and Izari.
“Oh, Henry there you are!” Haverstain said as he looked up from a console. “How are things going up on the bridge? We got hit pretty hard.”
“Not ideal Haverstain.” Henry replied as he went over to a console and brought it online. “The ship has been through worse. I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Assuming we can get the systems back online”
“Oh, that is a relief.” Haverstain nodded. “I have had no luck getting the main computer or the wave controls online.”
“What if the wave emitter fails?” Izari asked. “There is something out there impacting the ship. The field that protects us uses a lot of power from the wave reactor. If the wave reactor fails then the field falls.”
“Ok calm down!” Henry interjected. “How about we stop talking about the worst-case scenario and just try to relax. Well, as much as we can with the pitching and rolling.”
“Henry is of course right.” Haverstain replied. “There is much work to be done and it is all for naught if we panic.”
“We are all here to do precisely this.” Henry nodded. “We knew that there would be a pretty decent chance that we would encounter resistance or things we could not predict. I am rebooting the main computer and am going to manually force the computer to reinitialize. Haverstain you know how this works so I want you to help me reset the systems one by one. Do not touch the essentials, they will not go offline even with the reset and with hope they should stay on as well as the wave reactor the whole time. Everyone else, go to a console and monitor everything else. If there is a potential problem that I am not predicting, we will need to be alerted the second it shows its ugly head.”
“On it.” Haverstain nodded as the others got on consoles and he began to manually reset the system breakers. “In the mean time let me tell you a little story. Something that might relieve people to what is going on. I was on a flight once, one of the first wave jumps on a ship that was not this one. We jumped out to the supply route outside the earth system to where an unstable asteroid belt was beginning to collide with each other. A couple of asteroids struck each other and we are not sure their composition but it emitted a powerful elector magnetic jump. Our drive was not as sophisticated as this one and it knocked everything out.”
“I think I have heard of this situation.” Henry added. “I think it was told to me when you were recommended.”
“Indeed.” Haverstain continued. “We did not have gravity, we did not have life support. Air was our first concern but it actually takes some time for humans to deplete the oxygen in a confined space. We had over an hour before air and carbon dioxide became a problem. The big issue was temperature. I don’t know of you know this, but a ship in space has about fifteen minutes in space before it grows too cold for humans to function and bodily systems begin to shut down. Aside from oxygen and the protection against special radiation, temperature is the most important factor. Within moments we could literally FEEL the ship grow colder and colder. We got the doors open manually…which is hard in zero gravity. We went down and realised that the magnetic wave generator would have to be primed and restarted from scratch.
“Not an easy task.” Henry agreed as he worked “That is why we perpetually leave these on. There are literally hundreds of small things needed to restart it.”
“Indeed.” Haverstain said with a nod. “This was exactly the situation we were facing…floating around with nothing but flashlights in a ship rapidly growing colder. Also, we could hear small asteroids striking the outer hull, it was only a matter of time before one punctured the hull and caused explosive decompression.”
“I cannot imagine the fear.” Izari added. “This seems kinda dire but at least gravity and life support are on…and the field seems to be holding while we work.”
“It is said that when people are faced with their own death so close that they were beyond fear.” Haverstain explained. “We were faced with a myriad of possibilities and they were all so terrifying that none seemed to be bad enough to hold above the others. In that case it was infinitely easier to ignore the fear, ignore the almost certain death and focus on the tasks we knew how to do. Myself and my two assistants knew precisely the restarting procedure and we instructed the rest of the crew to help us. We worked as it got colder and colder, I feared that my hands would freeze before they finished resetting the computer. As the reactor came back online we almost feared it was too late. We told the computer to worry about nothing at first except for heat, blasting it into the compartment and the rest of the ship. Air came with it but we hardly noticed, the heat feeling like it was a gift from god…or at least science.”
“It is amazing how much you can miss a thing when you have it withheld from you.” Henry added as he cycled the computer and waited for a response. “Clean running water, electricity, basic necessities used to be very hard to come by when I was young. Sometimes when I am surrounded by all of this I marvel on having seen the stark contrasts of one and then the other.”
“I have seen much evil in the eyes of men deprived of such things. Kuromoto added. “I have seen the worst of man up close.”
“What do you mean.” Izari asked.
“I was once a soldier in the united peace corps.” Kuromoto replied. “I was sent in a unit to a small country in Europe where their economy, government, and pretty much their entire country fell apart. There was a provisional government but they seemed to be more occupied with securing their power that they forgot that their people were starving. We were stationed there as mostly a safeguard at first. But the leadership decided that they would start to ration what food they had left. People get crazy when they get hungry enough, all semblance of logic and restraint disappear. Though more food was on the way and the end to the situation politically was not far, the people had grown desperate. In one of the colony hospitals a virus broke out and needed vital medical supplies to be escorted to it. We had to take a convoy out and though we assured the people that it was not food they still came after us. The riot broke out faster that we even could imagine and though we managed to get the convoy to the hospital, the masses descended upon it with furious rage. It was just me and a battalion of armed soldiers between a hospital full of the sick and an angry mob that would tear everyone inside apart when they found no food. We warned them as much as we could…but in that crowd, was a collected mania that scared me down to my soul. They charged forward and though I abhorred the idea of opening fire on civilians I had to. That was the evil I spoke of, the choice between life and death to kill those who are desperate to save those who are more desperate. Compared to that I fear no special destruction that this situation could result in.”
“I have seen something similar but not as bad.” Izari added. “On Mars, there was one of the smaller work biospheres that malfunctioned. It began to vent the breathable atmosphere and there was nothing that could stop it…resc
ue was the only chance. There were fifteen workers and only three spacesuits. Though there were many ways to determine who got the suits it all descended into violence. The men literally killed each other, leaving the last standing too injured to get into the suits so none survived. I was on the emergency team that showed up to patch the dome and when we arrived we saw the worst of mankind.”
“The system is starting to cycle and is searching for the manual systems to come online.” Henry broke in. “It is already detecting the systems that you are restarting Haverstain. Why don’t you tell me what happened next on the crippled ship…please tell me it has a better ending other than the evils of humanity. I am understanding of what you both witnessed, but I think we all need a little bit of positivity right about now.”
“Of course.” Haverstain commented as he continued his work, showing the same detached repetitive work as his story had described. “As the heat came back on and the air got better we started to allow ourselves to react. However, it seemed that with every triumph we saw there was an equally disastrous setback that came into view. Once systems came online and gravity kicked back in we realised that the small asteroid problem was much worse than we thought. The outer hull was damaged and there were countless asteroids out. Also, there were two more asteroids moving toward each other and their collision would dwarf the shockwave from the first one. We had to first get the shields online to protect against the smaller asteroids just to buy us enough time to get the jump engines online to get out before the massive collision. We managed to do it but we could feel the asteroids hit just before we jumped. You have no idea how much you notice the small details of life after surviving a disaster. Everything feels hyper realistic and you appreciate everything all the more.”
“I have been through a few life and death situations myself.” Henry added as the computer came back on. “They all have given me a greater appreciation for the people and things around me. I think the computer is coming back online. That’s funny.”
“What is it?” Haverstain asked.
“There seems to be some kind of program running.” Henry replied. “It might be what caused-“
Suddenly the ship pitched to the side violently, the floor going to a forty-five-degree angle, the lights fluttered off, the emergency lights struggling to take affect. Henry grabbed Haverstain, who was closest to him and held to a nearby bracket that was bolted to the floor. The ship pitched again, backwards and to an angle the other way. Henry and Haverstain bodies flung around but Henry managed to hold his grip. As the ship righted itself and the lights came on, everyone struggled back to their feet.
“Is everyone ok?” Henry asked. “That was a close call but it seems we are still intact.”
“The navigation console is gone!” One of the guards said as he looked over at a pedestal off to his right.
“Could it have fallen off?” Henry said as he looked around.
“It was rigged to have to be manually detached.” The guard said as he looked around. “Also, it seems the alarm has been disabled.”
“Disabled?” Henry asked. “That should not be possible. Why would someone steal the navigation console?”
“Are you serious?” The guard asked. “That is the device that contains a copy of your evolving star map, with it they would unlock the entire galaxy.”
“But why take it during a crisis?” Henry added. “The risk…wait…the computer program.”
“Wait, where is my partner?” The guard said as he looked around. “He is gone.”
“So is Izari, Kuromoto and Mancoff.” Henry said. “Everyone look around.”
The small group began to search the hold for signs of the NAV console and the four-missing people. They called out and checked everywhere they might have gone.
“The door to the compartment is still shut.” Haverstain commented. “Where could they have gone.”
“We need to find them.” The guard said as he walked over to Henry. “There is no end to the bad things that they could do if that NAV console ended up in the wrong hands.”
“Can they escape the ship?” Haverstain asked. “We are theoretically at the center of the universe, what are they going to do with it here?”
“You would be surprised what they could do if they knew how.” Henry added. “We need to find them and fast.”
“What about the ship?” Haverstain asked. “We are still in a crisis situation with a field that might not last next to an unknown celestial body.”
“The computer is recycling and I set it to isolate and reverse the errant computer program that dropped our countermeasures after the jump.” Henry explained. “It will reroute everything automatically and within the hour the ship will completely be up and running. We need to find out what happened before then.”
“Why?” Haverstain asked. “What happens then?”
“Simple.” Henry replied. “Once the ships systems come back online a really effective way to get away with the NAV console will present itself.”
“Alright.” Haverstain replied with a nod. “What do we do?”
“I am at your disposal sir.” The guard stated with a nod. “Just give me orders.”
“Ok there was definitely something that happened when the ship pitched and the lights were out.” Henry explained. “I doubt everyone was involved but we need to go after them and figure out what they did.”
“Then there is no time to waste.” The guard insisted. “We need to find them before the power comes back on as you stated.”
“Yes, and we will not have much time to do so.” Henry commented. “We are maybe an hour from port.”
“Can we not delay the ship from returning to normal?” Haverstain asked. “To buy us more time to search for the culprit and the NAV computer?”
“No.” Henry said with a shake. “We have no way of knowing what we are facing here and how long our field will hold. I am not willing to risk the lives of all the crew on board for our technical secret. You say they might do bad things with it but that is not something I can weigh human lives over. We have a time limit and it is all we can use for it.”
“Agreed.” The guard said. “We trust you Henry…you are a good man that has done well for this crew…we must use the time as best we can to turn this ship upside down.”
“Haverstain I need you to stay here.” Henry replied as he turned to Haverstain. “Make sure the ships systems continue to come back online and combat any problems as they come up. Leave the search to us.”
Haverstain nodded and went back to work on the ships computer to monitor the reboot. Henry and the guard went to work, they started at the back of the engineering area that was not sealed off and started to work forward. The ship was big but not big enough for anyone to easily get past Henry and the guard with so many of the aft bulkheads closed. There were a lot of places to look and they knew that they might need to get lucky. There were not many people to be seen, most people were wither on the bridge or the back of the ship. The pair reached the communications area and found the doors were locked up tight.
“Excuse me have these doors been opened recently?” Henry asked to a crewmember who was rushing check that everything was still intact in the back of the ship.
“Not since the jump sir.” The crewmember offered. “Not since the situation started to get bad.”
“Is there anyway to know that for sure?” The guard asked, seeming understandably suspicious.
“Yes!” The crewmember replied as he pointed up to a red light over the door. “This means that the compartment has been sealed. It is not as secure as an emergency bulkhead but any doors, panels or vents that are opened would cause an alarm to blare and it has been on since we started the jumps.”
“Thank you.” Henry replied. “That helps us a lot.”
The crewmember went back to his work and left the guard and Henry. The guard looked around. “So, one less place to look, right?”
“Indeed.” Henry replied. “Though I fear the NAV computer is much
too small and easy to hide in a skip like this. It is ultimately locatable but I fear not so easily with the time that we have remaining.”
“I understand.” The guard replied. “What would you suggest?”
“Well we are looking for something small but there is also something big we could be tracking.” Henry added. “We cannot find one perhaps we can find the other.”
“The culprit and the missing people?” The guard asked.
“Precisely.” Henry replied. “A small portable console would be easily enough to hide in a ship such as this…a bunch of bodies…unconscious or otherwise…not so much.”
“That makes a lot of sense.” The guard agreed. “What did you have in mind.”
Henry moved to the side, feeling along the wall, he found a large shuttered vent. “Unless I am mistaken this vent is at the back of the engineering room. It has been awhile since I have looked the schematics but I think this is right. It seems to be slightly ajar and easily could fit people though.”
“Yeah there looks like there’s a lock but it was not reengaged when it closed.” The guard added. “Whoever went through it was likely in a hurry after snatching the console.”
“That and seemingly pursued by three people.” Henry added. “Presuming one was the thief and the others pursuing.
“That would mean one of them is the thief and potentially a saboteur?” The guard asked. “Who do you think it is?”
“Unknown.” Henry admitted. “I doubt it is Mancoff. This back vent looks like it has to be unlocked from the outside with some manner of key. It would have had to be unlocked before hand. The kid was brought down here by me and suggestion by the captain. If he was planning this he would have no way of knowing, he would be taken here. I also don’t think it is your partner as I don’t imagine he would have the technical expertise to pull off the sabotage.”
Waves: The Collapsing Universe Page 8
