Dreaming of Atmosphere (16 page)

I thought about my conversation with Zoe this morning.

“Yes.” He said, as he looked into my face, “I can see that you care about her.”

“You know about us?”

“Of course, you’re on a ship with only 8 crew.”

“Sorry, I haven’t talk to you or Crege about it. I know you disapprove.”

“If it’s one thing I’m always amazed about you humans is your ability to adapt to nearly any circumstance. If anyone could make your responsibilities to Zoe as her guide work at the same time as your responsibilities as her lover it would be you, Seth.”

“Does Crege know?”

“Ha, he pointed it out to me.”

“What does he think?”

“He’ll warm up to the idea. You’ll probably notice how he feels about it when you spar.”

“He has been a bit hard on me the last few times we fought.”

“Probably thinks he’s knocking some sense into you. Like that ever worked. You ready for some more exercises?”

I checked my charge levels, they were down about 15%, but I felt ok.

“Sure, what’s next?”

“Energy fields.”

“Okay.”

He pulled out a small box from a crate nearby and set it down before us. I recognised it as an older model personal shield generator. He pushed a button on the side and a faint blue bubble appeared around him. More modern generators made completely transparent shields.

“How’s your energy knowledge?” He asked.

“A bit hazy. I remember the Prallgian-Kronnen Principle.”

The Prallgian-Kronnen Principle of energy manipulation was the central theme behind most modern energy applications. I don’t remember who the two scientists where, just their names that were penned to the theory. It provides an insight into a technology that uses electromagnetic fields to manipulate light itself. It is the basis for the modern energy weapon, which uses light trapped inside a shell of electromagnetic force to produce hard light, and the use of shields to ablate the EM fields that hold the light together.

“Right, so your nanites can form oscillations that propagate the fields needed to maintain a shield. They hold electrons together with strong nuclear force to break apart the hard light shells. Some of the energy will get through as heat, just as with normal shields. In fact the principle is exactly the same as a personal shield generator only you produce the nanites yourself, instead of using one of these.”

“Oh, because that box is so simple to understand, right?”

“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Seth.”

“My electronics knowledge extends as far as replacing the batteries in my gun.”

“You won’t have to know how to build a shield generator, you
are
the shield generator. You just to know how to command your nanites to do so.”

“Okay.”

“This is the same process as with the candle. Sense the field. Let your nanites interact with it. I’ll turn it off a few times, then I want you to try and shut it off. See how the field collapses when different qualities of the nanites in the field change. Let your nanites sense when the field is constructed and stabilises.”

I stretched out with my senses, or rather my nanites’ senses, and felt them brush against the blueness of the field.

“Popcorn.” I said, in surprise. Fel looked at me like I had a screw loose, “The field tastes like popcorn!”

“I don’t think tasting the shield will work, Seth. Try and
feel
it.”

“Okay, it feels like dipping my finger into a warm glass of fizzy drink. I can…almost hear the vibrations in the field.”

He switched off the shield and I saw it blink out. I also felt with my nanites as the shield lost coherence and became nothing but statically charged air. I began to see how my nanites worked, and each new lesson and test slowly began to crystallise in my mind. My nanites were learning, and so was I.

21.

We were nearly nine days out of the Argessi Jump Gate, with just over two weeks before we performed Maxine’s sling shot manoeuvre when we had our next encounter in deep space. So far, I’d managed to keep things on the level with Zoe, I wasn’t yet confident enough in my control to be able to keep her too close, and it was hard on both of us. New love tends to burn rather brightly, and like moths we were drawn to the flame. Now that I was keeping Zoe at arm’s length, or maybe just because he couldn’t stay mad at me for ever, Crege warmed up to the idea of us. Still, he was relentless in his sparing with me. I’d had several visits to Zoe’s med lab for stitches, and I was now sitting across from her with my left arm on her table while she worked to repair a tear in my synthetic skin.

“I miss you.” She said, not looking up from her work.

“I miss you, too. This is only temporary, and it’s for your own safety.”

“And this is for what?” she gestured at the cut that Crege had given me.

“Training accident. A non-fatal one, I might add.”

“He shouldn’t go so hard on you, what if he really does hurt you?”

“We need to be at our best, Zoe. We’ll most likely be involved in more combat before this job is over. I need all that Crege can throw at me. Look at it this way; my sessions with Crege push me to the edge of my wits, I’m never one hundred percent sure that if I slip up Crege won’t accidently impale me or take off my hand. When I’m at the edge like that, my control over the nanites is the weakest. I’m learning to control them in combat and in situations where my mind isn’t wholly devoted to them.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complain.” She stopped what she was doing and just looked at me.

“I miss when you’d ask me questions all the time.” I said, smiling.

“Liar.” She slapped my wrist. She folded the flap of synthetic skin over the wound she was repairing and tapped a pen instrument to the side of it. I could feel nanites sealing the skin and focused on it. I was wondering if I could duplicate the effect with my own nano-abilities when the general alarm sounded.

“All hands report to stations!” called Eric, who was on watch now.

“Duty calls.” I said as I stood. I was about to run out of the compartment, but decided at the last moment to circle the table and give her a quick hug and kissed her. “We’ll talk more, I promise.”

“Be safe!” she called as I ran out of the med lab.

I dashed through the passageways and into the mess hall, then up the ladder well. I met up with Eric at the top; he was on his way to engineering. He muttered something about a signal artefact before dashing past me down the ladder well.

I got to the command module; Maxine and Fel were already there.

“What have we got?” I asked as I activated my console.

“Long range sensors have picked up energy bursts consistent with weapons fire, and then we’ve got nothing but a faint tone.” Explained Fel.

“Looks like we caught the tail end of a fight. A big one.” Said Max.

Crege opened the hatch and climbed past us, he was wearing a damp jump suit. He must have been showering after our spar when the alarm sounded.

“Human is well?” he asked as he strapped himself in.

“I’m fine, Crege. It was a clean blow.”

“Human has honour in defeat.”

“Slow us down a little Crege, down to point one gees.” Commanded Max, “Fel, get a trace on that signal artefact. I want to know if there’s anything salvageable or if there’s any survivors. Seth, you’re on radar. Let me know the moment you spot the guilty party.”

We got to work, scanning our sensors and correlating data. About twenty minutes later Fel reported he had the location of the tone he’d picked up, and Max told Crege to head towards it. We started braking, as there was a strong possibility that the tone we’d picked up was a distress signal of some kind. My sensors were clear so far, but I had my eyes peeled. Nearly an hour later, Fel had spotted the debris field from the battle that we’d stumbled upon. There was several large star ship sections still floating about, and Fel managed to pin point were the tone originated. When we got closer, I was amazed that anyone could have survived the explosion that rent such damage to the ship. Our cameras picked up dozens of frozen bodies adrift between the carnage.

“We have an opportunity here, gentlemen.” declared Maxine, “I want to send a boarding party to that wreck. Find out what you can, salvage anything that looks valuable and look for survivors.”

“That’s a rather macabre opportunity, Captain.” Said Fel, his eyes flashing a pale brown; disappointment.

“The opportunity lies in sending Artemis on the away team. I want her, Cuts and Seth out there as soon as we can, and while they’re out there Fel and Eric will start that plan we’ve hatched to get three of those bombs out of here.”

I saw Fel’s eyes turn a stark white - admiration.

“I see.”

“You’re kind of sending me into a viper’s nest there, Captain. With two vipers.”

“Artemis strikes me as someone who will remain professional in a dangerous environment,” explained Fel, “and Mal Cutler is hardly a viper.”

“He is a snake, though.”

“You don’t have to make pleasant conversation with him, just heed his warnings about structural integrity.”

I sighed and stood to leave, “Should I grab them or will you pipe them to the air lock?”

“They’ll meet you there.”

“Good, I’m going to put my M4 MAEL on.”

I went to my cabin and unlocked my personal armoury locker I’d installed there. My old Star Marine space suit was stored in a crate at the bottom, my helmet resting on the top. It was a bit musty, I hadn’t worn it for some time, and it needed some airing. Maybe not all the sweat from last time had dried properly before I packed it away. I checked my weapons and this time selected a small sub-machine style handgun. The United Arms E2S is a personal favourite, it’s lightweight, has decent accuracy and an excellent battery efficiency that is nearly unmatched by other weapons of the same price. The one fall back it has is there’s no select fire capabilities, it’s always going to fire more than one shot. I put the gun on my bunk along with two spare batteries and started to don my space suit.

The M4 Marine Armoured Extra-Vehicular Laminate Suit, the MAEL as we called it in the marines, was built up of several layers of ablative material and segments of armour. It was heavy, and took some time to get used to, but I’d worn them for years as a Star Marine and it was like a second skin to me. Like the Light Duties Space Suit, it had a thruster pack on the back and a status link up for monitoring. It used to have a shield generator as well, but I’d long ago removed it in favour of a utility compartment that I used for extra ammo or tools.

The MAEL is a lot easier to put on than the lighter suits, strangely enough, as it’s mostly different sections that bolt on. The computer built into it magnetically seals the sections and inflates part of it for added mobility. The result is a figure that is a little larger than life, but comfortable and well protected.

I made my way back towards the air lock, where I could see Artemis waiting for me. She was nonchalantly checking her ballistic pistol, her light duties suit helmet hanging from a hook on her belt.

“You going to shoot that thing out here?”

“If I have to.” She said.

“Much of a kick back? In zero gee, that could send you tumbling back.”

“It fires rockets. Not much kick, but a big bang.”

“A gyrojet? Pretty rare these days.”

“It’s a bitch to find ammo for it, but me and this little shooter have been through hell together.”

“I never pegged you the sentimental type.”

“A girl’s gotta have her trinkets.”

“Mind giving me buddy checks?” She nodded and started going over all my seals and folds for any mistakes I may have made. While we were reversing, Mal made his way up to the command deck and joined us at the air lock. He was carrying a case of tools and instruments.

“Can’t keep your hands off our female crew, huh?” He sneered at me.

“You can’t keep your mouth shut, can you?”

“I can keep my pants shut though.”

“Oh, is Cutsy Wutsy jealous?” pouted Artemis, “You want me to come over there and put my hands all over your space suit, big boy?”

Mal gave her a dirty grin and sauntered over to her.

“You can put your hands all over me anytime, sweet cheeks.”

Artemis stepped closer to him and seductively ran her hands over his suit from his neck junction down to his crotch. Then she grabbed him. Hard.

“I think you’ve got a suit breach, lover boy.”

Mal was doubled over and crooning. Artemis put her helmet on and smile at me. Yeah, I was smiling too, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. While Mal struggled to recover his dignity, I helped him with his buddy checks and soon we were all ready to leave. We climbed into the airlock and flushed the air from it.

Ready for EVA.
I texted to Max.

Opening outer ‘lock. Good luck. I’ll text when you can come back, keep her occupied until then.

Roger.

“Outer airlock opening.” I warned over our suit comms.

Sure enough, in moments, the hatch opened and we could see the wreckage before us. We had matched the drift pattern of the closest section to the one that had the signal coming from it, but we couldn’t get the ship any closer than a few sections away. We would have to hop between drifting hull sections to get to where we wanted. That was okay; it gave us time to search for loot and gave Eric and Fel time to disarm the bombs.

“On me. Link suit trajectories to mine.” I leapt free of the Dreaming’s airlock and drifted towards the first piece. On the others’ suits will appear a path that their thrusters can match to ensure we all stay safe. I landed expertly on the first piece and engaged my magnetic boots. I turned to assist the first person to land, and was almost knocked down by Artemis sailing over almost directly behind me. She hit me and I grabbed a handful of her belt. Our helmets clinked together but my boots held us to the deck.

“Next time, wait until I give the all clear.”

“Sorry, I thought you were going to keep moving, like Makarov Formation.”

“You’re familiar with Star Marine tactics?”

“I’ve studied a little, yes.”

“Okay, well we’re not in the marines here; we’re just going to take it easy and safe, all right?”

“Yes, sir!” she gave me a mock salute. She stepped aside and started to look around, while I gestured at Mal to come. The piece we were on was blackened by what appeared to be fire, there were twisted metal beams and pipes, and a section of deck plate had buckled. There was a hatch about three metres away that went through a bulkhead, and it looked like there was a compartment or two still intact. Mal went to the bulkhead and attached a sensor to the metal.

“Doesn’t look like atmo on the other side. Looks like it all got vented.” He said. Atmo was slang for atmosphere; air.

“Let’s crack the hatch.” I said.

I grasped the hatch release bar and looked to Artemis. She pulled out her pistol and stood at the ready. I pulled the hatch open and she stepped in, scanning with her head.

“Clear.”

“Why are we going in armed?” asked Mal, gesturing at Artemis.

“This ship looks like it was destroyed by a class 3 weapon. It’s also large enough to be military in nature.”

“So, everyone is most likely dead.”

“Most military ships carry synthetics for security. They don’t need air. If we trigger a defence system, they could activate synthetic soldiers for us to fight. We need to be ready.”

“Wouldn’t Fel have detected the synthetics’ electronics? Or were you doing that job?”

“We could have, except there’s too much radiation here to pick up anything but the signal artefact. Dormant electronics are invisible.”

“Great.”

“Don’t worry, Cutsy, I’ll protect you.” Broke in Artemis.

“No thanks.”

We moved into the compartment and had a look around. There was too much damage to the compartment to guess at its purpose. Anything that was loose in here had been smashed to pieces by the explosion. A buckled hatch led deeper into the section, and we got Mal working to cut it free. We could tell that the compartment was breeched, as the bulkhead had several holes in it.

When it was open, we moved in, this time I was in front. A large section of bulkhead was missing, as if a great explosion and burst from the next compartment. We climbed through the gap and were greeted by an open stretch of space before another drifting section of hull began. We moved to the edge and checked out the distance. A jump would have to be assisted by our thrusters, as the next section spun slightly differently.

Once again, I went first. I wasn’t worried about missing the section, our thrusters could correct our course without issue, I was more concerned about our suits scraping one of the jagged pieces of metal that drifted about, or jutted out of the torn sections of hull.

This next part was more intact, and we found the first compartment had several lockers that appeared functional. We set about opening them. They were mostly personal lockers, and held little more than clothing and keepsakes. One locker held a few electronic gadgets though, nothing useful but worth a bit of credit. We didn’t exactly consider ourselves as looting the dead, but as the first to locate a derelict ship we had right to anything of value that we could salvage from the ship unless there is a survivor.