by S. H. Jucha
Mickey finished his conference with the humans and the SADEs involved in the gate investigation. It perturbed him that none of the humans, especially Pia, wished to return to the outpost. They waited at the site of the second dome for data about other locations to visit.
“You’ve a gift from Alex,” Miriam said to Mickey, when she ended the links.
Mickey dubiously eyed Miriam. He’d noticed that the SADE had developed a sly sense of humor. No doubt from too much time spent in Jatouche company.
“A beautiful gift,” Mickey remarked sardonically, eyeing the image of a dilapidated class four freighter that he’d received.
“I thought that it wasn’t polite to judge the worth of a gift by its appearance,” Miriam teased. “Shall I send it back?”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Mickey growled. His patience was short, having been drained by the frustrating lack of progress with the domes and the increasing dangers.
“Apologies, Mickey,” Miriam said quickly. “There is an active alien craft aboard the freighter. A command module is installed in the Tripper’s controller, and the craft floats over a pedestal, which is referred to as a cradle. The craft is purported to have an antimatter engine.”
Mickey swung quickly to swat Miriam’s arm, but the SADE danced clear.
“Feeling better?” Miriam asked in sweet tones.
“I would be, if I’d connected,” Mickey replied, grinning.
Miriam considered her immediate goal achieved. Mickey’s mood had been restored. His worries for the safety of the investigation teams weighed heavily on his shoulders.
“The Transit Tripper suffered engine malfunctions and was fortunate to make Crimsa,” Miriam continued. “Alex intends to leave the freighter with you. It has the beginning of an engineering laboratory in a module adjacent to the module containing the alien fighter.”
“Wait! You said fighter,” Mickey said, sitting upright.
“When the alien ship approaches its target, it shares energy, and the target is completely destroyed,” Miriam explained.
“How completely?” Mickey inquired.
“Space dust, according to reports logged on the Tripper’s controller,” Miriam replied.
Mickey mulled the opportunity, trying to see how it might fit into the gate investigations. The Messinant power plants, which were thought to be antimatter, were intricately woven into the consoles and dome operations. It was difficult to isolate one aspect of the dome from another for study.
“Where is the Tripper now?” Mickey asked.
“In the dark, high above Pyre,” Miriam replied.
“What’s the nearest available Trident?” Mickey asked.
“Captain Alain de Long’s Trident is inbound,” Miriam answered. “The warship will arrive within hours. His Trident escorted the freighter.”
“Alain isn’t with his squadron,” Mickey mused. “Was he injured?”
“According to Hermione, a SADE who accompanies Ude, Nata, and Petra, the captain has decided to resign his squadron position,” Miriam replied.
“A lot has happened in other systems,” Mickey said quietly. “Has there been a great deal of loss?”
“Surprisingly, neither Hector’s nor Alex’s fleets suffered loss of life at either system,” Miriam said with pride.
Mickey chuckled and shook his head at the incredulous good fortune. “Then we better solve the riddle of the gates without any losses ourselves, Miriam, or we’re going to be mightily embarrassed when next we meet Alex.”
“We shall endeavor to make that happen,” Miriam replied.
“Contact Alain and request he ferry you and me to the Tripper,” Mickey said. “I’d like to get a better idea of my gift. Do you know where Gorsatha of the Hagar is working?”
“It saddens me to tell you, Mickey, that Gorsatha retired to Crocia,” Miriam replied. “He grows in bulk and is expected to enter the dorgatha stage soon.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Mickey said. “Gorsatha did a marvelous job managing the outpost’s construction. It pains me to think of that brilliant mind slowly sublimating to that of a monstrous reptile.”
In this case, Miriam had nothing to say to relieve Mickey’s sad thoughts. The short lives of biologicals ended in myriad ways.
“What are the statuses of Bortoth and Daktora?” Mickey asked.
“The Crocians state that they’ve been relegated to administrative positions on Pimbor, and they’re restless. They’ve requested to be notified if there are other opportunities to advance their engineering knowledge,” Miriam said, pleased to be able to provide Mickey with an alternate train of thought.
“Send a cube, Miriam,” Mickey said, clapping his hands with a boom in expectation of the new challenge.
Miriam winked, connected to the Triton dome administrator, and sent the request. With the Pims’ dome having been recovered from the Colony, the Crocians would be aboard the outpost within the next cycle.
When Alain’s Trident arrived at the outpost, he excused Petra and Nata from duty. Then the two pilots, in the company of Ude and Hermione, took a traveler to the Jatouche medical station. Soon afterward, another traveler landed aboard the warship, and Mickey and Miriam disembarked and made their way to the bridge.
Alain grinned when he spotted Mickey and extended a hand. Instead, he received a hug and was easily lifted clear of the deck by New Terran mass.
The crew smiled at the reunion of two old friends, who had known each other since the earliest days of the Méridien-New Terran meeting.
When Alain’s feet returned to the deck, he grasped Mickey’s shoulders and held on. Separated from individuals, such as Mickey, brought home what was at the heart of his desire for change. The bridge of a warship was a lonely place, and he missed the close-knit camaraderie of the time aboard the Rêveur and the Freedom.
Connecting Kara, Mickey, and Miriam, Alain sent,
Mickey replied.
“We’ve time for a meal and some relaxing conversation,” Alain said cheerfully to which Mickey eagerly agreed.
Later, Miriam interrupted Mickey. Alain and he were deep in conversation about the past, present, and future of Omnians.
Mickey and Alain joined Miriam to board a traveler, and a pilot from the Tripper launched the freighter’s only traveler to make room.
After boarding the freighter, Mickey made for the bridge, where his implant app told him the crew waited. He twisted his upper body to ease through the bridge hatch. On the other side, Kara was the first to greet him.
“Really happy to see you, Mickey,” Kara said with relief.
Mickey hugged Kara. He whispered, “Good to see you too.” Then he turned to Jackie and quipped, “Have you lost some weight, Jackie?”
Jackie grinned, locked her arms around Mickey’s waist, and hoisted him off the deck.
Mickey grunted in surprise. When his feet touched the deck, he remarked, “Slimmer and stronger,” which had the crew laughing.
Mickey went quickly throug
h the crew, hugging, greeting, and chatting. Then he arrived at Laestra, the lone Méridien crew member. “A new crew member,” he commented.
“Still deserving of a hug,” Laestra replied. Then she did her best to encircle Mickey with her slender arms.
Having previously greeted many a Méridien, Mickey was careful to reserve his strength, as he gently pressed his hands against Laestra’s back.
Kara handed off the bridge to Pauline and Paulette. The twins shared the role of second mate.
Then Kara and Jackie retired to the captain’s quarters with their guests.
“I understand that you’re handing the freighter over to us,” Mickey said. “How did that happen, and what about you and your crew?”
“Cordelia is extremely persuasive,” Kara replied.
“You mean generous,” Alain commented.
“That too,” Kara said, “but if I’d known how much maintenance this ship’s engines needed, I might have refused the offer. As for the crew and me, we’re receiving a replacement freighter when we return to the fleet.”
Mickey eyed Kara. He believed a new freighter was something that Kara couldn’t afford.
“Tell me about the trouble,” Mickey requested, changing the subject.
“Engine three requires an entire overhaul. It’s offline,” Kara summarized. “Engine two lost a part to service engine one. Engines one and four are operating in tandem to provide propulsion and maneuvering.”
“This was the first time we had to access the engines, while underway,” Jackie added.
Jackie’s opening statement made Mickey and Alain wince. She was describing something that should only be done by engineers in the controlled environment of an orbital station.
“What we’ve discovered,” Jackie continued, “is that the crew must reach the engines through crawl tubes with hatches on either end. The panels for air evacuation and supply were operating intermittently, which made for some tense moments.”
“Can the Tripper make the outpost?” Mickey asked.
Kara regarded Alain and Miriam.
“Let’s put the question aside of whether that should be done,” Mickey said quickly. “I want to know if the freighter is capable of sailing.”
“Yes,” Kara replied. “I wouldn’t want to push it through another set of transits.”
“Understood,” Mickey replied. “That’s not my intention. Tell me about your package.”
“Miriam probably knows more about the arrangement of the drone, cradle, and module than we can tell you,” Kara said, frowning.
“I want to hear about how you enticed an unpiloted alien fighter aboard your freighter,” Mickey explained.
“I see,” Kara replied. “It was a multi-step process. The SADEs identified the drone programming module within Vyztram’s memories.”
Mickey intended to ask about the name, but Miriam’s private message shared information about the AI of the Arcus.
“Jackie,” Kara said, directing her second mate to continue.
“After the freighter’s modules were conditioned for utilities, a traveler transferred a cradle,” Jackie said. “It’s important for you to know, Mickey, that a drone and a cradle are paired.”
“Explain,” Miriam interjected.
“A lot of work was done to understand Vyztram’s limitations to control the fighters,” Alain said. “The AI could assign the number of drones and dictate the general duty. Thereafter, the drones relied on their internal programming. When the drones returned to the Elvian ship, they settled over specific cradles.”
“So, the program module was copied, a cradle was moved and powered, and then the drones were recalled from wherever they were stationed,” Mickey surmised.
“You have it, Mickey,” Kara said. “One drone zeroed in on our freighter, and it settled over the cradle that was installed.”
“And the drone floats above the cradle?” Miriam inquired.
“Z and the other SADEs who investigated the drones never saw a fighter touch a surface, not asteroid or ship, when resting,” Alain said.
“There’s no grav plating in the Tripper’s modules,” Mickey pointed out.
“True,” Jackie replied. “We pinned the cradle in place. When the drone returned to the cradle, we closed the module, and no one has been in there since we sailed.”
“I won’t ask if the drone is still positioned over the cradle,” Mickey said.
“Based on what was discovered at the Worlds of Light, Mickey, if the drone had been dislodged and touched this ship’s bulkheads, we wouldn’t be here,” Kara said.
“I need to see it,” Mickey said.
“I knew you would,” Kara said, grinning. She rose from the table and directed Jackie to lead the way.
Mickey and Miriam traded points about the condition of the freighter, as they made their way from the bow module to the galley way that ran through the freighter’s container modules. The ship was well maintained, but the wear and tear of a century or more on a New Terran intrasystem vessel was obvious.
At the module that contained the drone, Jackie checked the newly installed panel to ensure that the module’s integrity and conditions were optimal. Satisfied, she undogged the hatch and spun the wheel to unlock it.
Mickey prevented his mouth from dropping open. Before he’d joined Alex, he’d seen the like aboard New Terran ships, but afterward, he’d spent decades aboard Méridien-designed and built ships. He’d never visited the Tripper, and, therefore, he hadn’t realized it was such a relic.
Now Mickey understood Cordelia’s plan. She gave Kara an important assignment that fit Alex’s request. In return, Kara and her crew would be freed from sailing the dark in a deteriorating ship.
Jackie made to step through the hatch, but Kara laid a hand on her arm, and Jackie stepped back.
Miriam edged past Mickey. When she left the grav-plated galley way and entered the module, she grasped a bulkhead-mounted bar, as her feet left the deck.
Mickey stepped through the hatch and latched onto the same bar.
“It looks benign,” Mickey said, marveling at the alien ship’s elegant design. He glanced around to find the next handhold.
Mickey and Miriam backed out of the module, and Jackie closed and dogged the hatch.
The group returned to Kara’s quarters.
“The dome and cradle appear well mated by the alien technology,” Mickey mused, which was a cue to the others not to interrupt his thoughts. “I question how to make the best use of the drone. However, the immediate need is obvious. There is a stable triad formed by the Tripper’s controller, which has the Elvian command module, the drone, and the cradle. I don’t wish that relationship disturbed.”
“Rebuild the freighter around that structure,” Miriam suggested.
“Hmm,” Mickey murmured. “Perhaps we’ll ensure that the Tripper can make safe transits.”
“Engine overhaul or replacement?” Miriam questioned.
“Replacement,” Mickey said. “The Earthers need to construct an extra set of the new triad engines produced for the outpost’s carriers. See if that order can be delivered with the next two carriers.”
“The optimum work effort would be accomplished if the freighter were near Triton,” Miriam pointed out.
“Agreed,” Mickey replied. “Captain Walton, please make ready to sail. Miriam will provide coordinates for you. When the Tripper makes station, you and your crew are relieved of responsibility for delivery. My congratulations on a job well done.”
“Thank you, M
ickey,” Kara said. “The others will appreciate hearing that from you.”
“Good fortune with your new freighter,” Mickey added, grinning. He knew Cordelia would reward this crew mightily.
As Kara walked her guests to their traveler, she sent privately to Alain,
16: Mistrallian
Nalia, who managed the outpost’s medical suite in Pia’s absence, connected with Hermione, who privately connected to others, aboard Captain de Long’s Trident while it was inbound.
Hermione borrowed Neffess’s Dischnya style of chortle to reply. She sent imagery of Ude. Encased in his massive avatar, he was seen jumping from the cab of a construction machine to the ground eight meters below. His avatar’s feet sank twenty centimeters into the soil.
Immediately afterward, Hermione sent the medical details of Ude’s injuries.
Nalia determined from the growing conversation that a close allegiance existed among this collection of humans and SADE. As a medical specialist, she set her primary operating approach to treat them as a unit. It was obvious that Ude was valued by the others.
