by M J Gauntlet
“Yeah, you could say I know him, and if you are hoping to meet up with him on Plato, I wish you all the luck. Hell, it is more than likely the Rapture won’t even be there. Sticking to a timetable was never one of his strong suits.” Seeing the sudden alarmed look on Zax’s face, she softened her tone.
“Look Zaxxion, it is just as likely that he will be there as it is he won’t. You can never tell with Murph. Heck, considering the condition of that rust bucket he calls a ship, a dollar to Silurian muffins, the Rapture is laid up in dry dock getting herself repaired. But if you like, when we reach the Greco star system, I will put in a call to Plato spaceport and inquire if he in is port, ok?”
“Thank you, captain. I appreciate that.”
“Now, one last thing. Would you happen to have something that might play havoc with electrical systems aboard ship? We have been having some intermittent interference and it seems to be coming from your deck.”
“No…I don’t think so. I have a few micro tools, but they have been powered down ever since I came onboard.”
“No, that wouldn’t do it. I guess I will have Windy keep an eye out for when the disturbance occurs again, maybe then we can pinpoint it. This time it wasn’t too serious. For a brief period of time, the ship’s A.I. experienced an error in her internal clock. It slowed down by a fraction of nanoseconds. It has also affected her decision gate protocols which affects her choice of responses available to her. Needless to say, if this had continued, it could have developed into a serious problem. Windy’s core processors practically run every important ship wide system.” She paused, then asked one more question. “What were you doing at about 1800 hours ship time. Just before I summoned you.?”
“I was having a bite to eat,” Zax replied, trying to keep a straight face.
“Why were you eating so late at night? Did you wake up with the munchies?”
“No, it’s nothing like that it’s just that…” he paused, a little embarrassed.
“Yes…?” she prodded.
“Well, I cannot get used to how you tell time on the Windjammer. I mean there are no clocks anywhere, yet everyone seems to know when their shifts start and when to sleep. It’s very frustrating. I’m still on Bright time, but they had two suns and nine different time designations. I try to keep out of everyone’s way, but how do I know when I’m in the way. How do you traders do it? Circadian rhythm… what?” Zax suddenly stopped talking, as he heard that both Brax and the captain were chuckling.
“I’m sorry we aren’t laughing at you, exactly, it is just that we are unaccustomed to having passengers around. Just a moment…” reaching into her desk, she pulled out a small round object. “Here put this in your ear, it is an earbud that will allow you to talk to and hear what the Windjammer’s A.I. is saying. It ties in directly to the auditory cortex, bypassing the ear and the tympanic bone. It will be confusing at first, because your brain will interpret the signal as originating in your brain. But over time your mind will adjust, and it will seem to you as if you were ‘hearing’ words with your ears. When you want to know the time or what crew shift it is, or even where a specific crewperson is, just ask her by simply saying Windjammer A.I. and she will respond. Of course, she still will not answer any question that is too personal or off-limits, but at least she can guide you through the corridors without Pilar taking you around the long way, so she can talk your ear off about cargo handling!” Ahosi finished saying with a wide grin.
“Oh, that’s ok captain, really. I don’t mind talking to Pilar; she has helped me understand a little about how traderships operate. The way she puts it, you all are here to make sure she and her cargo arrives safely.” Zax replied, with a wider grin. At that, even Brax gave a chortle.
“Yeah that would be the way she sees it. Anyway, I’m glad we were able to clear things up.” The captain looked down to read a scroll that flashed across her screen. “You are dismissed,” she said, without looking back up.
After Zax left her cabin, Ahosi spoke into the air.
“Windy, did Pilar and Santo have enough time to search Grayson’s quarters?”
“Yes captain...”
“Well?” she replied exasperated.
“The results of the inspection revealed nothing out of the ordinary in or around Grayson’ s stateroom. I followed their progress and they were quite through. Especially crewwoman Pilar, she searched through his personal items quite methodically.”
“Quite methodically, humm, yeah, I bet she did…the minx,” she said.
“There were no anomalous items discovered.”
“And while Grayson was here my cabin, did you give him a full scan?”
“Yes, I did...”
“Argggh…Windy you are doing that on purpose!
What were the results?”
“The results of my scans were negative. There were no anomalous readings detected… Doing what on purpose?”
Captain Ahosi snorted, but she decided that the next time they hauled livestock, she would ask for a second decontamination.
Back at his cabin, Zax sat down at the small com desk and began worrying his bottom lip. What would he do if the Rapture was not in port at Plato? He decided that there was no use worrying about it, either the ship was there, or it wasn’t. If it wasn’t then there was nothing, he could do about it now, he would just have to figure out some way to find her. Right now, he would have to wait until they transitioned into the Gastro star system. As he crossed over to the desk, a thought occurred to him: I wonder if the captain was referring to the object tucked away beneath his armpit. Zax started to take out the ovoid again, then froze.
“Windjammer A.I., are there cameras or imagers in this stateroom?”
“Yes, there are passenger Grayson, but if you are wondering if they are now active the answer is no, they are not. It would be not only rude to activate them, but it would be unethical.” Came the reply in his head. It was a weird feeling to hear a soft toned voice in his brain. Zax stopped and considered what the captain said earlier: “… something that might play havoc with electrical systems aboard ship… some intermittent interference and it seems to be coming from your deck…”
Was it possible that if the artifact was removed from the skin pouch; maybe it could disrupt the electrical systems of the Windjammer, or her Artificial Intelligence? A chilling thought occurred to him. Could it even affect the workings of the transitional drive?! I think for the time being, I’m gonna keep that little artifact right where it is.
The cabin door chimed, but this time it didn’t open until he rose and pressed his palm on the plate cycling the door open. Standing in front of him was Pilar, with a huge grin on her face.
“Hello Zax!” she said cheerily. “I was on my way to the machine shop and I thought I’d come down and see if you needed anything.” …on my way…sure, I bet the machine shop is on the far side of the…!” Zax’s train of thought however, was swiftly derailed!
“Machine shop? You have a machine shop on board?” he said, a little taken a back.
“Of course, silly!” Every tradership worth it’s steerage has one. It is a must for interstellar ships like the Windjammer. Anyway, I figured since we are just a day away from or rendezvous with the Krillian rook ship and later we travel on to the ‘T’ point, I should dump some scrap parts to lower our mass before we leave the system. The captain has ok’d you to see more working parts of the ship. Want to come along?”
“Sure,” he said. Zax noticed that this time the route down the passageways was more direct. The shop was located three decks down, almost directly below his stateroom, in fact.
When he entered the workshop, Zax was amazed to see how completely it was outfitted. While most of the tools and machines looked their age, they were all well maintained and operational. Zax walked around the large workroom, picking up various tools and commenting on their use and working condition. There was various type of laser cutters, expensive micro cutters, which were lying next to a state-of-the-art mylar
comp data block inscriber. There was even a plasma chamber for Tri-D modeling!
“I see you know your way around a machine shop,” she finally exclaimed, impressed by his naming of so many of the tools.
“What makes you say that?” he said innocently.
“Ha! One only has to take a look at your face! You look like a kid that has been locked in a sweet shop all night! Well, enjoy, but remember don’t touch any of the tools, Abrams…he’s the engineer…doesn’t like it when anyone, even the crew, mucks around with his tools.
Pilar walked over to one of the workbenches and began to gather up various odd parts that were laying there. She was about to dump them into the hopper, when Zax walked over and stopped her.
“Excuse me Pilar, but why are you dumping that injector assembly?”
“Humm…? Oh this? I see you know your propulsion engine parts too! This is scrap. Abrams thought he could salvage it but gave up. I was just going to put it into the hopper for the routine space dump prior transition. No use us carrying the extra mass along with us into the jump. Mass equals fuel, you know.” As she was explaining, Zax had been picking up the various pieces and examining them.
“Wait! If you give me a little time, I’m sure I can fix this injector assembly so that it is good as new,” he said finally.
“Well…I don’t know…Like I said, Abrams can get pretty touchy about other people using his tools. If he won’t let crewmembers touch them, I can just imagine what he would say, or do to me, if I let a passenger use them.
“That’s ok, I have my own tools back in my cabin, and if you will wait here a moment, I will go back and get them. Windy will guide me back. I am sure I can fix this, so you won’t have to junk it.”
“Well…if you could fix the injector, it would save the ship several thousand units! Ok you can give it a try, but if you screw up it will be both our asses. Go ahead, I will wait for you to get your tools and come back,” she responded reluctantly.
About ten minutes later, Zax was back with his rucksack over his shoulder.
“Ok, just give me a few hours and I will have the injector back good as new!” he said, unslinging the pack and digging inside it for his tools.
“Very well, I’ve got to see to my duties. Please, don’t touch anything but those parts, huh?” As she turned to leave, she spoke into the air, loud enough for Zax to hear.
“Windy keep an eye on him, will ya? Make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble and notify me when he leaves the machine shop, or if he does anything you determine as ‘unauthorized’, ok?”
“Understood Pilar.” Zax heard in his head.
“I’m sorry about having her keep an eye on you Zax. You just make sure you behave down here, but I’m not even sure you should be doing this. Try to finish as quickly as you can, then go directly back to your cabin. Ok? If it turns out you cannot fix the injector, just call me, and if there is time, I will place them in the disposal bin. I must do it; the bin won’t open for you.”
Pilar gave him one last look and went down the passageway, closing the shop door behind her. Turning back to the workbench, Zax fished out various of his tools from the pack and got to work.
Five hours later Zax leaned back, stretched, and eyed his handiwork. In front of him were two completely assembled ion injector modules. Once he separated out the parts, he realized that if he had just one new part he had spied in the spare parts locker, would have been able to make two of the modules instead of one. The problem was convincing the Windjammer’s A.I. allow him access the sealed locker. Lucky for him the part was behind a metal screened door, sitting there by itself. He decided the best way to convince Windy to open the sealed locker, was by appealing to her dedication to the ship.
“Windjammer A.I.,” he said, “would please unlatch the door to storage bin A61?”
“I am sorry Zaxxion, but I was given instructions to only aid you in the rebuilding of the injector module, and you have finished that task.”
“Yes, you are right, my lady, but if I can assess that single part behind that gate, I will be able to construct a second ion module.”
“I have been given no instructions to give you access to locked sections of the machine shop.”
“Windjammer A.I., my girl, I understand that, but two ion injectors are far better than one. Just think, if one were to fail, you would not have to spend the eunits on obtaining another. That is money that can be saved for other shipboard concerns…such as additional cleaning and disinfecting after animals are transported,” Zax said, trying to sound nonchalant and innocent. There was a long pause, then he had heard the soft click of the latch to storage bin A61 disengaging. Trying not to smile, (he wasn’t sure if the A.I. would recognize what that meant, but he wasn’t taking any chances) he walked over to the open bin, removed the part and was able to finally finish the injector. Using his sonic cleaner to remove the carbonized residue that had gone undetected, (it was usually overlooked) and clogged both the intake and exhaust manifolds, he finished with the project. All that was left to do was to check the thickness of the inner walls with his micro calipers. Zax gave a brief thought of using the more accurate (and expensive) caliper hanging just a few meters in front of him, but he remembered Pilar’s warning, and the ever watchful A.I., so he decided not to push his luck and used his own instead. After a few seconds, he was satisfied that the reassembled units would pass any inspection the fastidious engineer would care to give them. Taking the time to take a second self-tour of the machine shop (with hands in his pockets the whole time), he yawned and decided to call it a day (or was it night).
“Windjammer A.I., what time is it?”
“Standard in system Bright time it is 26:09 after second sun rise. Ship time it is third shift 14:00 hours.”
“Whoa…no wonder I’m bushed. Believe it or not, I think I can find my back to my stateroom on my own. Goodnight, my lady.
“Goodnight to you Zax.”
Upon reaching his cabin, Zax dialed up a light snack of salted lake Eel, and a watercress salad, with a nearbeer chaser. It had been a long time since he had worked like that, and even though it was tiring, it was also satisfying to work with his hands once again. It felt like his head had just hit the contragrav field, when he was jarred awake by a chiming from inside his head. Rolling over,he was shocked to see that he had slept for over seven hours.
“The captain requests that you see her in her on the bridge at your earliest convenience,” the A.I. informed him.
Zax blinked the sleep out of his eyes and switched off the contragrav field. Humm ‘…captain requests...on the bridge...’ Perhaps the captain’s opinion of him has moved up a notch or two.
“Very well Windjammer A.I., tell Captain Ahosi, that I will be up to see her in about twenty minutes. With your guidance, of course, my lady.”
“You may call me Windy, if you wish,” the A.I. replied. It appears that he has risen a notch in the A.I.’s opinion as well!
Zax exited the fresher, put on his newly cleaned cloth pants, along with a new thin plasticine shirt and light jacket. With a fit of adventurism, he decided for breakfast he would try something called ‘deviled pom- pom egg’ along with a steaming cup of highcaf. The one thing he noticed aboard the tradership was that there was always plenty of highcaf. Pilar is convinced that the ship would grind to a halt if they were to run out. He began to think that he too was becoming addicted to the stimulating beverage. When he finished his repast, he left his cabin and headed to the bridge. To his surprise, he was able to navigate the way without having to ask Windy for directions. He was feeling quite proud of himself when he finally reached the captain’s cabin, only to find it sealed and Captain Ahosi sitting in the center captain’s chair on the bridge.
“Over here, Messer Grayson (oh-oh, it was back to Messer Grayson),” Ahosi beckoned, swiveling her chair around to gaze at him through the visor of the ships interface headset. “Just give me a second, there are few in system matters I must attend to and then I will be f
ree to deal with you.” Pivoting back around, she waived her hands around the space in front of her as she manipulated the myriad of gauges and instrumentation, only she could see, which were displayed holographically via the headset.
Upon hearing the words: ‘deal with you’, a small chill passed down Zax’s spine, and sent his thoughts tumbling through his brain. What have I done? Did I somehow insult a crew member, or did they find out about the artifact beneath my skin? Maybe he was mistaken about his apparent rise in Captain Ahosi’s esteem.
After a couple minutes of running through, what Zax supposed to be the ship’s system check list, Ahosi removed her headset and swiveled the chair back around, so it directly faced Zax.
“Messer Grayson (oh-oh that can’t be good Zax thought), Chief engineer Abrams here,” she indicated, pointing to the burly chief engineer, sitting at what must have been the engineering station on the bridge, “tells me that you have been busy in his machine shop.” She paused to level a stare at him. Zax looked back at her and abruptly noticed, that the bridge was filled with all eight of the Windjammer’s crew. Besides the engineer Abrams, there was first mate Santo Gomez standing next to the captain, second mate Trina Idrija was manning communications, Irene Tamiko engineer second class, was currently at the scanning station sitting next to, Branda Idaho at the deactivated weapon’s station. Brax was standing just behind Zax, and there was Pilar, standing off to one side looking at him, crestfallen. In fact, every crewperson on the bridge was intently watching him.
“I while I realize that you were given permission to do so by a member of the crew...” Captain Ahosi was saying, “I want you to understand, it is highly irregular to have a passenger mucking around in an area as sensitive as the ship’s machine shop. I have already had a stern talk with Pilar about ship security and protocol,” she said coolly, giving the supercargo a look that could blister plasticrete. If Pilar could have crawled into a hole and pulled it in after her, she would have.
“Please captain, it wasn’t totally her doing, I convinced her that I would be able to help! If there is anyone to blame, it would be myself,” Zax blurted out.
