Rise of the Altered Moon: Altered Moon Series: Book One (The Altered Moon Series 1) (17 page)

“Sounds good,” CJ answered. “All right, G, let’s bring
Moonshadow
to her new home.”

“Aye, Captain, heading back to the
Altered Moon
.”

“Cat, how do you read?” CJ called into the comms.

“Loud and clear, Captain.”

“We’re bringing our new bird home,” he said.

“Roger that, the nest is open.”

“Acknowledged. See you in a few,” he said and turned to Gina. “Bring us in.”

“Aye, Captain, starting our approach now.” She brought
Moonshadow
in nose to nose with the
Altered Moon
giving Cat and GABI a chance to look over the new shuttle. Gina flashed the forward floodlights a couple of times then eased the shuttle up over the
Moon
, spun her a hundred and eighty degrees, and settled her down into the shuttle bay.

“Touchdown…and the crowd goes wild,” Boss said, as he raised his hands, wiggled his fingers, and imitated the noise of a crowd of people.

“Bay doors are closed and the bay is pressurized,” Gina informed them.

“So what now?” CJ asked.

“Now,” Boss said, “we go for a drink.”

“For a drink?” CJ was surprised at that course of action.

“Yes, buying a round or two of drinks and telling a few tales helps to loosen the average tongue, if you know what I mean,” Boss told him.

“Not me, boys. I’d like to sit this one out if you don’t mind,” Gina said. “That sounds like too much fun for me to handle. Besides, I’d like to do a full inspection on
Moonshadow
and sweep for surveillance and tracking bugs before we leave.”

“Very well, G, good idea,” CJ replied. “Have at it.”

Cat met them at the shuttle bay to check out the new ship up close. Boss told her of their plan to glean information from the local patrons of QT Station, and she declined to go along as well.

CJ and Boss made their way back to the small greeting chamber on QT Station and the same strange man they had met before.

“I am Warden,” he said, as though he’d never seen them before. “Please state your purpose here.”

“Ah, Warden, we seek your drinking establishment,” said Boss.

Warden lifted his left arm at the elbow and indicated an opening door on the far wall. “The transtube at the end of this corridor will take you to your desired destination.”

The two men rode the transtube to what appeared to be its only stop. The door slid open and they stepped into a large, oval-shaped room. The center of it was taken up by a large bar wrapped around brightly lit shelves loaded with every type of beverage you could think of. Hard liquor, beer and wine, coffee, fruit drinks, you name it, it was there. Dozens of people were lined up around the bar in every stage of intoxication. People sat at tables that filled the floor between the center bar and the walls of the room.

The perimeter of the room was lined with alcoves and small private tables. Large drapes of deep red material hung from the ceiling, which cast shadows across the private alcoves. The bright lights from the bar made the shadows even darker by contrast.

Two men and a woman stood on a stage with a series of flat panels in front of them at a slight angle, so they could easily reach them. Each of the band members slid and waved their hands over different areas of the panels to produce tones and sounds. The loud music had a lively beat and people cut it loose on the dance floor in front of the stage.

“Let’s try the bar,” Boss said.

They eased up to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks. CJ mostly sat back and watched as Boss worked his magic and soon had a small throng of people around him, laughing, talking, and telling stories. One hour and a couple of drinks turned into four hours and several rounds. Boss told one last story with a tense dramatic ending and a humorous twist that had everyone laughing in surprise. Boss waved good-bye to his group of newfound friends and shouted farewells to all, which were heartily returned by the bar’s patrons.

CJ and Boss staggered back to the transtube, down the corridor, and out into the greeting chamber. Warden stood in the same exact spot where they’d left him four hours ago.

“Warden…donj you…ever…shleep?” CJ managed to ask.

The man said nothing to them as they walked past him to get to the airlock; he just stood watched them go by.

“He nevr zhutzup,” Boss said, with raised eyebrows and half-shut eyes.

“Did…we get…what we need’d?” CJ asked, as he opened the outer hatch of the
Altered Moon
.

“Yez, bud I doan know what it iz.” Boss pulled a small surveillance bug that looked like a shooting star from his jacket lapel. “Thatz why I r’cord…ed evrthin.”

“You…shhure are…a smart guy there…Bosh,” CJ closed the airlock door and pushed the double pivot lever to lock the pressure bolts into place.

“Thaz yet to be zeen, my friend. But now I am awv to bed. Gud night.” With that, Boss zoomed his chair toward his quarters and almost crashed into the door before it opened.

“Night…Bosh.” CJ managed to get to his quarters and was very happy to find his bunk awaiting him. No sooner had his head hit the pillow then he was fast asleep and snoring soundly. Everything else would just have to wait until morning.

*~*~*

Chapter Twenty-Two

CJ wrestled his way back to consciousness mid-morning the next day to find things quiet and peaceful. An update on his datpad informed him that Gina and Cat had already started their duties. CJ roused Boss and the two delinquents oozed into the crew mess. CJ brewed a carafe of coffee and sat down at the table with it, then remembered that he forgot to bring a mug.

“Ugh…” he said, as he got up and filled two mugs, sliding one in front of Boss before he sat back down.

“Thanks,” Boss said, as he leaned up, grabbed his mug, and sipped the steaming coffee.

“GABI?” Boss called out quietly and rubbed his eyes with one hand. “Ugh. I don’t remember drinking that.”

“Online, science officer,” GABI replied as she shimmered in.

“GABI, you can call me Boss.”

“Protocol dictates that I refer to an officer of the ship by their given rank during duty hours, sir. These
are
duty hours, sir…for most of us.”

“Oh, hoo, hoo, hoooo,” Boss retorted. “It’s a little chilly in cyber land this morning. That was important espionage work last night, I’ll have you know…and dangerous. We should get hazard pay, in fact.”

“Forgive me, sir,” she answered, “but, I seem to have left my violin in my other business suit.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” CJ laughed out loud, and then put his hand to his head. “Ohh…so let’s go over the recording.”

Boss put the microchip from the spy pin camera into the reader on the view screen console. A series of entries listed the various files that were stored on it. Boss picked the appropriate file and loaded the video. “All set, Captain.”

“Gina, Cat?” CJ called into the comms unit.

“Good morning, Captain,” Gina answered. “We’re here, go ahead.”

“Hey, we’re going over our…ah,” CJ fumbled for the right term.

“Surveillance footage,” Boss helped him out.

“Our surveillance footage,” he continued, “in the mess, if you two would like to join us.”

“We’d be delighted,” Gina answered. “On our way.”

A short time later the two women walked into the crew mess, took one look at CJ and Boss, and nodded their heads knowingly. CJ could only imagine how bedraggled he and Boss looked.

“All bright eyed and bushy tailed, I see,” Gina said a little louder than usual.

“Do you boys need an analgesic?” teased Cat.

“Didn’t I just hear something about a protocol regarding the usage of command rank while on duty, Science Officer?” CJ looked over at Boss for support.

“Indeed you did, Captain,” Boss agreed. “Indeed you did. This is a serious breach of conduct. Court-martial-able I’m sure.”

“They attempted to disguise their activities last night as a hazardous covert reconnaissance mission,” GABI told Gina and Cat.

“Well then, my hovering superhero”—Gina came over to sit next to Boss—“regale us with your covert exploits.”

“I tell ya, no respect, no respect at all,” Boss said, with a quirky bug-eyed look on his face.

“More ancient Earth humor?” CJ asked Gina.

Gina nodded her head and scrunched her face. “Yup”—she looked at Boss—“he’s one in a million.”

“All right, Boss, start the show,” CJ said. “Too bad we don’t have a bowl of popped corn to munch on while we watch it.”

“Popped corn?” asked Boss.

“Yes, Katy introduced me to it on the
Istraulis
,” he told him. “It’s a dried vegetable kernel that pops open into a fluffy ball when cooked. Quite tasty, actually. She said it was an ancient Earth delicacy. That should be right up your alley, Boss.”

“I’ll be looking into it, you can be sure, Captain,” Boss said, as he began the ‘surveillance footage’ from the bar.

The group watched the video. CJ made notes about what people said and especially about how those around them reacted to what was said. He had GABI run an analysis of any and all planet or star system names that were mentioned during the video. The list was categorized and evaluated for relative importance. A list of four planets and two moons remained after the rest were eliminated for one reason or another.

CJ read off his list, “N’tjalu, Luminar, Arzia Octonus, Tarris, Garrin V, and Garrin VI. That’s in order of distance from nearest to furthest. Garrin V and Garrin VI are two moons in the Garrin star system. The rest are planets.”

“It’ll be at least a day to a day and a half per stop,” Gina calculated. “The actual time would depend on current planetary conditions.”

“Nelson Moon’s research on dark matter manipulation would require constant access to the void of space,” GABI explained. “A space station, or a regular commute to such, would be necessary to his experiments.”

“So we wouldn’t have to do an entire planetary scan,” CJ pointed out. “We just need to find a space station or orbital platform.”

“It won’t be that easy,” Boss said. “Nelson learned his lesson well. He won’t build out in the open after what happened the last time.” He looked at GABI. “Do either one of the moons have an atmosphere?”

“Thin layers, sir. Under ten thousand kilograms of atmosphere per moon. Trace elements of oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, helium, and methane.”

“My bet is he’s going to be on one of the moons,” Boss said. “But, we should check all of them to be sure.”

“I say we start at the closest planet and work our way across the sector,” said CJ. “Anything we need to be wary of this side of the Imperial fence?”

“Nothing in particular, Captain,” Boss replied. “If we get hailed by Arzian Alliance patrols, give them the West Becreth ID code and say that we are here to trade artifacts at the Royal Bazaar on Arzia Prime. If they don’t buy that, then we’re going to have trouble any way you slice it.”

“Just another day in the life of the West Becreth Trading Company, eh?” said Cat.

“You can say that again,” said Gina.

“Ship time is…eleven-fifty in fifteen seconds…and mark,” CJ said, and the others synchronized their chronoes at the mark. “First stop will be N’tjalu in the S’byen system. Ship prepped and dust-off in forty minutes. Let’s roll.”

An hour later found the
Altered Moon
clear of ‘the back door’ and on her way out of the Thraden star system. All hands were present on the bridge, with CJ at the command station, Boss at the science console, G in the pilot’s seat, Cat manning the tactical station, and GABI responsible for quantum mechanics and the operation of the String Field Drive. All ship operations were nominal and the crew once again had an objective. Overall, things were looking up for the
Moon
and her reforged crew.

“We’ll be clear of the system’s gravity field in three hours, Captain,” Boss informed CJ.

“Thank you, S.O.,” CJ replied, using the short sign for science officer. “Time to N’tjalu from the perimeter of the S’byen system?”

“Estimated travel time is just short of thirty hours after jump,” he replied.

CJ spun his chair in GABI’s direction. “You know it’s just occurred to me that GABI doesn’t have a command designation. By ship’s regulations, only officers can be present at command meetings. I hereby make a motion to the command officers that are present that the entity, GABI, be promoted to operations officer and jump pilot forthwith.”

“I’ll second that motion,” said Boss. “That means she gets to be the O.O.”

“I think ‘Ops’ will work better. All in favor?” CJ called out for a vote. The vote came back unanimously, “Aye.”

“Congratulations, Ms. GABI”—CJ stood, faced GABI, and snapped a salute—“You are hereby promoted to operations officer and jump pilot of the most outstanding star ship, the
Altered Moon.
”

The difference between a computer system and GABI’s artificial intelligence was never more defined than it was at that moment. No inanimate machine could ever register the true surprise on GABI’s face. “I am unsure,” was all she could say.

“We are sure, GABI,” said Gina. “You’re already part of the crew as far as we’re concerned. It’s about time you were recognized for your efforts.”

“I am honored by your regard, Gina.” She turned to CJ. “Captain, I accept the position and will endeavor to fulfill the duties and responsibilities it entails.”

“Oh, I expect that, at the very least, Ms. GABI,” CJ pretended to huff and puff importantly. “You will be expected to materialize on time for every assigned shift. Don’t be late.”

“That would be impossible, Captain, as I am constantly on duty.”

“Good. Now that that’s taken care of, let’s go ghost hunting,” said CJ.

“Right. It’s Nelson Season,” added Boss pulling another ancient Earth expression out of his seemingly bottomless hat of quips.

“Hey! I know an ancient Earth saying,” Gina playfully piped in. “Is your village missing its idiot?”

Everyone on the bridge broke out in laughter including Boss, who was the butt of Gina’s joke. Even GABI smiled at the well-meant jibe.

“Captain, with all the changes, I’d like to ask if there is a command structure that you prefer to operate under.” asked Cat.

“Well, ah, we’re going to need shift commanders, which would be Boss and me, Boss being second in command,” CJ said. “I’ll need department heads for flight, jump, medical, tactical, and engineering just to run the ship.” He thought for a moment then said, “That would make the three of you commanders by standard regulations, if you want to be that formal about it. Right now we have a science officer, a star pilot, an operations officer, and a chief medical officer. Technically we’re short a tactical officer and an engineering officer to cover what’s necessary. But, I think we’ll put off recruiting any crew for a while.”

“Just wondering who to call ‘sir’, sir,” Cat said.

“I’m not going to expect things to be too formal around here, Zhu. Besides, I think you’ll know the right time for the proper respect.”

“Yes, sir.” She nodded. “Thank you, Captain.”

The time it took to get out of the gravitational field of the Thraden star system was well spent; it was filled with discussion of what they may find and how they would deal with different scenarios. A quick quantum jump plotted with the String Field Drive and executed by the
Altered Moon’s
new jump pilot dropped the ship and crew at the edge of the S’byen star system.

“Full stop, G,” said CJ. “Long-range scan, please, Boss.”

“Full stop, aye,” Gina answered.

“Long-range scan shows fourteen planets, fifty-two moons, two asteroid belts, and eight hundred-twenty-two comets,” Boss reported. “Planet N’tjalu is the thirteenth planet bearing forty-two by one thirty-five, distance two point nine million kilometers.”

“Set a course, G,” CJ said. “Space normal speed. We don’t want to attract any attention.”

“Aye, Captain,” she answered. “Course plotted and engaged at space normal.”

“ETA, Boss?” CJ asked.

“Twenty-nine hours, Captain.”

“Very well,” he answered.

The idle time on space flights within star system boundaries passes in a variety ways; it can go fast, taken up by the constant tasks that need to be performed, or it can creep by if what you need to do is easily handled and you have a long time in which to do it. The command crew could always fill their time with monitoring systems and making log entries. The need to fill extra time was not a problem that the crew of the
Altered Moon
had to deal with at the moment; being short on personnel they all had extra duties.

Five hours into the third shift rotation Boss spoke up. “Coming up on N’tjalu, Captain.”

“Thank you, Boss. Standard orbit, Ms. Riley.”

“Standard orbit, aye,” she answered.

“Doctor Katzu, will you come to the bridge, please?” CJ called into the comms.

“On my way, sir.”

The bright greens, blues, and yellows characteristic of this world were clearly visible from their point in space. N’tjalu and Luminar were the only two planets on the search list that could support life. The reason they made the list at all was due to each planet’s planetary ring system. The size of the rubble that formed the rings was big enough to hide a facility for Nelson’s research. The rings around N’tjalu were made up mostly of water ice, which reflected the colors of the planet’s surface. It was a truly beautiful world.

Cat stepped onto the bridge just as they achieved standard orbit.

“Boss, take Gina and do a sweep of the interior rings with
Moonshadow
,” said CJ. “Cat, GABI and I will run a perimeter sweep of the outer rings. Scan for any unusual concentrations of dark matter.”

“Aye, sir,” Boss answered. Gina locked in the autopilot and left with Boss to board the new shuttle.

“GABI, take over the flight systems and begin a grid search pattern,” CJ instructed.

“Aye, Captain.”

“Cat, take the science station and scan for dark matter particles as we run the search pattern.”

“Aye, sir.” She moved to the sensor console and began the scanning process.

Scanning the ring system for any sign of dark matter research took several hours and yielded no results. Gina brought
Moonshadow
back to roost in the shuttle bay of the
Altered Moon
after she and Boss finished their circuit
.
The crew left the S’byen star system and the first day of their search behind them as they continued on their quest to find Nelson Moon.