Once inside the stern most located engine, Denise moved through the control room and into the room that actually housed the engine. This was where she loved to be. The smell of grease and grime combined with the feel of the huge machinery always brought a feeling of familiarity.
She ran her fingers alongside the giant machine. Her eyes darted from one area to another. She already knew what she was looking for based on the condition of the singularity drive and the previous two engine rooms that she had looked at, but she wanted to make sure that this engine was still in good shape to handle the stress of moving the whole ship through space on its own. With her satisfaction sated, Denise moved to the power regulator.
“Ah, there’s the problem. The power regulator overloaded. Once that happened, a fuse was tripped and the power from the singularity was stopped. This prevented an overload to the engine room, like it was supposed to. However, this also created a feedback reaction to the singularity containment field. This was not supposed to happen. Once the singularity containment field was notified that there was an energy surge, it would shut down the power to that engine. This didn’t happen and the surge overloaded the containment field. This in turn created a feedback along the engines, from aft to stern.”
Everything that Denise said went right over Vincent’s head. He only nodded as if he was following her every word.
“Now look here. This break is too even. See how it’s sheared like this? It’s too precise to have happened on its own.”
“Are you suggesting that this has been sabotaged?”
“We may never know for certain, but I highly doubt that this had happened on its own. There’s nothing here to have caused it, no stress fractures, no fallen debris, and no rupture from an overload. And the way the metal is here...see it? It’s slightly melted, and here and here. That’s from precision heating, like a torch. Whoever did this, knew what he was doing. I’m sure if I investigate the trail of the feedback, I would find similar damage to various other backup regulators that should have prevented the feedback being sent back to the singularity engine.”
“Can you fix it?”
Denise gave Vincent the “Please don’t insult me, I can fix anything” look that included a slight smirk and a roll of her eyes.
“Yes, I can fix it. Once I do, I should also get started on the other regulators in case there’s another feedback, but I can do that while in route. Then I’ll work on the corresponding stern engine and go from there.”
“Is there anything I can do…”
Denise wasn’t sure how she should have taken that. This seemed to be the first time that he actually volunteered to help. Was he trying to state that she couldn’t handle it or was he actually trying to be nice? It was hard for her to tell. She shook her head.
“No, I’m fine. Just give me some time and wait for my signal before flipping any switches.”
Denise started her work. She adjusted her laser torch and started to weld the regulator back together. Once that was done, she would still need to fix some of the wiring and calibrate its programming.
Time passed and Vincent watched as Denise moved from one tool to another with precision. He had to admit, she knew what she was doing. He wondered what else she might be familiar with…
The bang resonated throughout the hull and shook the whole ship. Both Denise and Vincent were thrown back and slammed into the wall.
“What in the world was that?” Denise exclaimed pulling herself up off the floor.
Vincent’s eyes went wide. “It’s bad, very bad, that’s what it is. It sounded like something big hitting the ship. Helena and Eric were supposed to be taking care of that. I’ll go make sure that they’re alright.”
Denise could only shake her head as she went back to work. She hoped that the ship would hold together at least long enough for her to make her repairs. She knew that once she had fixed the collapsed warp field that they would no longer be attracting anything else in this area. However, the objects that they had attracted were still coming at them from their momentum. As soon as she could get these engines fixed, they could move out and let the object pass by.
A second impact jolted the ship again. It wasn’t as strong as the initial crash and hadn’t tossed her aside this time. However, it did give her an incentive to finish up faster.
“There, that should do it,” Denise said more to herself than to anyone else.
She knew that Vincent had left, but wondered if he had come back. A quick look through the highly tempered window into the control room told her that someone had returned. The shape was vague while standing in the shadows. However, once it moved toward the control panel she was able to see...
“Oh it’s you. If you could just...wait what are you doing. No! Don’t touch...that will turn the engine...Wait...NO...I’m still in here!”
Denise’s body was sucked through the air and into the moving parts of the engine. There was a crunching sound and a spattering of blood from where she was last seen.
Chapter: 16
“Eric! What happened…?”
With the exception of the comment and the gasps that had circulated, the scientists almost went silent as soon as he walked into the makeshift bridge.
Eric was sure that he looked like hell since he felt like it. His nosebleed had stopped but had still left a trail of caked blood on his face. His body felt like a spaceship had struck him and had left him for dead and the slight limp and stiff movements of his body was a sure give away that something was wrong. Of course there was the look upon his face that he was sure that he was projecting. He was still in shock, in distress, and he knew it.
It was Doctor Richard Atkins who had stepped forward to examine him. He looked at Eric’s head to see if there were any more injuries besides a bloody nose, like a concussion. He could tell that the security office was in shock and it must have taken something quite serious for him to get into that state since he had military training. Although there didn’t seem to be any other noticeable wounds, he was going to have to make some time to do some counseling with Eric to make sure that the didn’t have some meltdown due to PTSD. It would be a very bad thing to have their security detail become highly agitated or extremely emotional, and even more so since he was skilled with a firearm.
Eric just brushed him aside. He knew the medical rules of having the doctor examine every possible wound, ache or pain while on this mission. This was because there could be undetected or unknown bio-agents, venoms, microorganisms or other health hazards that haven’t been accounted for on an alien planet. It was also because since any problem could become complicated over time, it was best to deal with things before a concussion became serious or a cut became infected. However, he had no time for this now, there would be time later.
Richard was taken aback. This happened every time he insisted on taking a look at someone’s wounds; he was brushed away as if he were some annoying gnat. If he wasn’t telling his patients to come in sooner than he was at least telling them to take their medications more often and that was for his regular patients. Those that he had to go see often pushed him away and claimed that it was “nothing” to be concerned about.
Didn’t they know that he was a doctor? He had taken years of studies, spent a good deal of money, went one of the most prestigious schools, and had years of practice. He knew what he was doing. Medical and psychological science was his field of expertise, not theirs. He didn’t brush off their suggestions when someone mentioned how an engine should be fixed or how the security should be. He didn’t scoff at findings of plants or animals. He didn’t brush aside data findings of atmospheric or oceanic findings.
That was all supposed to change on this trip. This trip there were rules in place for everyone to be checked out at least once a day and everyone was supposed to have every bump, scrape, cut or bruise reported. On top of this, everyone was supposed to see him once a week for a psych evaluation. They had all agreed on this and had all signed waivers to show their compliance. But
if this was how they were going to treat him, despite all agreeing otherwise, then he wondered why he was even on this mission. He wasn’t just going to show up to bandage up someone’s wounds just to let them go out and do it again. He was a professional, and a valuable member of this team, and it was time he was going to be treated like one. If Eric wasn’t going to let him tend to his wounds now, he would find another way later.
“...and where’s Helena?” Tracey asked.
“Didn’t she go with you?” Cleo questioned.
“Were you able to take out the incoming...whatever it was?” Bruce chimed in.
Suddenly the questions started to fly at him quicker than he could answer. Eric really didn’t want to answer any of them; he simply didn’t have the heart to do so. He wanted, no he needed a drink. That seemed to have helped before, right after the Los Angeles riots, but there wasn’t one on board to be had since there wasn’t supposed to be any on the mission. The top brass had thought it best that everyone on this mission keep their wits about them. However, sometimes Eric found that he needed a little help to keep those wits. This time, that was just not going to happen. He was going to have to do this without help. With a sudden sigh, he started his tale.
“Yes, we were able to take out the meteor that was heading our way. However, the railgun overheated and exploded. Helena….”
Eric’s silence spoke volumes.
Eric could tell that they wanted to say something, anything. Or, perhaps they wanted him to say something else like perhaps “just kidding, she’s just around the corner. I got you all.” But he wasn’t going to say that, and she wasn’t just around the corner. She wasn’t coming back at all. He didn’t know what else to say, not even something that could give them comfort. All he could do was look on as the rest of them simply stood there in shock.
Despite the fact that all seemed to be in distress and seemed to be incapable of doing anything else except for taking in the horrible, terrible and shocking news that Helena was gone, all eyes seemed to turn away from Eric and toward the new arrival. It was as if they wanted to hear some good news, something that would lessen the blow of losing one of their own. But, by the look on everyone’s face, Eric could tell that this was just not going to happen. Somehow the situation had gone from bad to worse.
“Vincent? Where’s...where’s Denise?”
“Is she alright?”
“Is she coming...back?”
“Please...say that she’s alright.”
The terrible realization that one of them was already dead brought them all to the assumption that if Denise hadn’t come back with Vincent then she might have had a similar fate. They had hoped that they were wrong. By the look on Vincent’s face, they weren’t wrong, they were horribly correct.
Vincent shook his head. “I only left her for a moment and never saw what happened. I can only assume that when the asteroid hit us that it had turned the engine on while she was still in the engine room.”
There was an audible gasp from Tracy. “You mean…”
Vincent nodded. “I’m afraid so. There was nothing I could have done. She was dead before I even reached her.”
Tears started to run down Tracy’s face. She was scared beyond anything she had ever imagined. She had known nothing like this before. Her life had always been cushiony; she had never realized that this was a dangerous mission, a mission where her life, and the life of others, would be on the line. She had never actually expected to do much work; she was going to let everyone else do that. But now people were dying, including their only engineer. Now they were stuck here without any hope of survival.
“Get us out of here!” Tracy screamed more out of fear than anything. “I want out! We need to leave! We need to go, before anyone else…” Tracy just couldn’t bring herself to say what was on the tip of her tongue. “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! Please, someone get this ship moving!”
Doctor Atkins shifted his attention from Eric to Tracy. She was near the point of a full emotional breakdown and was a higher priority than an individual who didn’t want his expert help. He held her by the shoulders and tried to calm her down. What he really needed to do was get his medical bag and give her a tranquilizer or some form of sedative. While he was at it, he would give one to Eric just to make sure that he didn’t snap as well.
“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” Vincent stated. “Denise wasn’t able to get navigations online. We’re going to need that fixed before heading out. Even then, we need to get to the outer reaches of this system before we can use our singularity drive. Until then, it's going to be a bumpy ride with just the one impulse engine that Denise was able to fix.”
“I’ll see what I can do about the navigations,” Bruce stated.
All eyes turned toward him with mixed emotions. Some thought that this was some cruel joke in a desperate attempt to be funny and lighten the mood that they were in. Others were skeptical that he could actually do the job, even if he believed that he could. Then there was an “Oh please make it work” look from Tracy.
“I told you,” Bruce answered their questioning eyes. “I know someone who’s been caught up in the legal debate over his ship. I know a thing or two, probably nowhere near as much as…” Suddenly he stopped. He understood that bringing up Denise's death could bring a total emotional meltdown from one, if not two, individuals.
“Sounds like a plan,” Eric stated. “I don’t know about everyone else, but the sooner we get out of here, the better. What do you think, Vincent?”
All eyes turned to where the ship’s security officer had been, but he wasn’t there anymore. The empty space where he used to occupy was the only message they needed to know that they were more alone than had initially thought. Vincent had abandoned them in what they were sure was their darkest hour and their greatest need.
Chapter: 17
Upon hearing Bruce state that he could fix the navigations, Vincent had slipped away from the crowd. There was nothing more that he could do here. He was already crowding the packed room and since he knew nothing about how to fix the navigations, and nothing that he could do or say to comfort the rest of scientists in regards to their losses, it was best if he just quietly walked away.
Besides, there were two other things that were on his mind. First these deaths were too convenient, too coincidental. He wondered if either one of them was a real accident, let alone both of them. Or was it that someone was making sure that they all stay here, at this location, for some reason, and if so, then why? They were way off course of any known routes and there wasn’t really anything out here, at least as far as the scientists were concerned, unless they knew about…
Vincent shook his head. No, they couldn’t have known. There had been too many precautions and enough security to ensure that no one else knew.
The second thing that started to plague his mind was the fact that there hadn’t even been a full day of being awake and he had already lost two people under his care. He took his job very personally and any loss, even one of these scientists, was something that he was going to carry for the rest of his life. He had too many losses during his active duty days and a few more during his tour here on the Harbinger. He had a job to do, and he wasn’t doing it. It was about time to change that.
Vincent had made his way back through the distorted and littered halls full of demolished conduits, fallen debris, and sparking and failing electronics. A couple of twists and turns and he found his way back to his personal room. There were two things that he wanted here and both would help ensure that he would be able to give the best protection possible.
Vincent opened the top drawer of his dresser and found the first thing that he was looking for. There, sitting on top of his clothing was his pride and joy. It was a PAWS type weapon, evolved from the old LAWS naval laser that was created so long ago.
Handheld laser weapons were attempted not long after the Navy started implementing large laser devices aboard their ships. However, there was a prob
lem getting the amplifiers small enough to fit into something handheld. Once that had been addressed, these amplifiers would overheat due to their design and size so they now needed a coolant. The coolant idea had stopped the weapon from overheating but didn’t always work and handheld lasers had a history of blowing up.
The laser weapons were eventually shelved by the government until their flaws could be addressed. Until then, the PAWS weapons were created. These didn’t shoot beams of light, but shot plasma instead.
The design had been based around the bullet shooting pistols. However, instead of a metal bullet sitting on top of a metal casing filled with gunpowder, the bullets were now small crystals. Each crystal was artificially made hollow and filled with a gas. Once the gun is fired, the same principles of sending a metal bullet flying through the air would send the crystal. The small explosion of discharge would heat the crystal in flight which would heat the pressurized gas. As the gas heated, it would build pressure and continue to heat until it became plasma. The crystal casing would lose its integrity during flight and from the plasma gas. Once the crystal bullet hit its target it would shatter and the superheated plasma would explode inside of its target. An individual hit would have a fairly small entry point but a very large exit wound.
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