The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link (14 page)

“His terms are unacceptable. If a scientist wanders off, we’ll search for him. That puts everyone at risk.”

“Drake, they won’t work with us. They’ll let this whole mission fail if they don’t get their way.”

“I read the mission history. There were arguments in the scientific community about professors being part of it. Undergrads and technicians are capable of performing the field work necessary, at least at this stage. Let’s stick to the plan. The professors are invited, but have to follow the board rules.” I smiled.

“That’s easy to say. You have union protection. Those two professors will pull every string to get back at us.”

“Maybe, but if this mission is successful, the good professors will rewrite history, showing how they worked and created a board. Just depends on how it comes out in the end. That’s what matters.”

Mike called as I checked the main power generation system. “Look.” He held up his assistant.

I could see Hinton talking to several scientists, who were in line to take weapons training for the first three-day research excursion.

“Baxter, right? What the hell? Don’t give in to these people. Compared to you they’re morons,” Professor Hinton said.

Mike stepped closer. “Professor, may I ask your opinion.”

“You couldn’t begin to understand my opinion!” He stormed away.

Mike turned to the two men. “Gentleman, we’ll have time to go on ten more missions. Suggestions where the missions should go are appreciated.” Mike walked away from the men. “Drake, you there?”

“Yeah. That was interesting.”

“Union or not, you start a legal file. Put a copy of everything in it, including that last bit. We’ll both need it. Don’t trust company-owned machines with your file. Make your own copy and keep it safe. Got to go.”

Making a safe file was becoming harder and harder. Margret knew everything so destroy her and it’d be gone. “Margret, did you hear what Mike said?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Make a legal file as he said.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Partition my mechanical eye and keep a backup of yourself in it as well. Update your backup when you run the eye diagnostics.”

“Okay, but why?”

“I don’t want to lose you. It’s just in case something happens.”

“Are you sure? If something happens to me, you can program my replacement.”

“I like you.”

“We love you, Margret,” Sandra said.

“Done. Thank you, Drake, Sandra,” Margret said.

I sat on the floor of the gym and studied while Sandra worked out. The change in our relationship had improved my ability to study. Even the noise of people huffing and puffing, being tossed onto the floor while sparing, didn’t interfere. I kept focused, making the most of any free time.

Snap
. The towel hit above my head. I looked up. Sandra stood over me. Sweat dripped off her face. “You didn’t see me, did you?” I shook my head. “Good, you’re supposed to be studying. One hundred and twenty-five V ups, my personal best. See? Steel.” She slapped her belly. “I’m finished, are you?”

“Ah, yeah. I’ve gotten ahead. Programing is hard for me. You sure you want such a stupid boyfriend?”

“I don’t want to cook tonight. Let’s eat in the chow hall,” she said.

“Sounds good. You haven’t answered my question.”

She looked me in the eye. “You need reassurance. Should I fall to my knees and pledge my never-ending love for you in front of everyone?” She smiled.

“Ah, that might be over the top.”

“How about you’re smart and I love you?”

“Good enough. I love you too, and good job on that hundred whatevers.”

“I’ll go hit the shower. You stay here and get a grip on that programing stuff,” she said as she headed toward the shower room.

Arm’s length. She’d loosened up since her status change to girlfriend. Come to think of it, five security personal worked out in the gym right now. She hadn’t loosened. She didn’t go to board meetings, but Mike was there. Me and my brat attack. I bet she sat at home and worried the whole time. How I can fix this, I thought as I plunged back into my studies.

I closed the lecture when Sandra’s hand went through the instructor’s head. She looked great, clean and relaxed. Her face showed no hint of stress or worry. I took her hand, and we walked to the next building.

The cafeteria was nice, a comfortable room on the third floor. Its walls were glass, and I could see the compound with its lit walkways and buildings. It was dusk, and I could make out the tree line without going to night vision. Sandra led me to a table by the windows, and the view inside and out was wonderful.

“I’ll serve you tonight,” I said. A flash of worry crossed her eyes very quickly, but I got it.

“Ah, no… Let’s go together. I want to see what they have.”

I felt awful. What was the best way to fix this? As we went through the line, a salad appeared on my plate and the rolls disappeared, along with the cake and brownies.

We had a great time together. I got her talking about her parents’ self-defense school. “Lot of good people, the best, Drake. I enjoyed it.”

“Sounds as if you were good at it.”

“Yeah.” Her eyes took on a distant look.

“Sandra, do you know how to motivate someone?”

She looked at me. “You with your motivation. If you were in our school with the same motivation, you could be the best. Even though you don’t have the best athletic ability.” She smiled. “Different things motivate people—love, fear, anger, hunger, but those who hold a dream hold it tight and don’t let it go seem to do the best.”

“I don’t have a dream. I’m just afraid of failing and getting everyone killed.”

“Hmm, what about our six kids?”

“Having you forever feels like a fantasy too good to be true.”

She smiled. “Let’s go. It’s been a long day.” 

Chapter 10: Extended Excursion Vehicles (EEV)

Everyone watched as the two excursion vehicles rose quietly on anti-gravitational fields. Mike had done it, checking out everyone with weapons in only one day. The EEV’s were still on schedule, thanks to his organizational skill. Even the two good professors, Hinton and Jackson, had eventually come to be checked out in weapons proficiency. With the two vehicles away, only twenty people remained at camp, making it feel empty. That afternoon I got a call from the communication center.

“Drake, this is Torance at the com center. I’ve been getting a strange signal. I think you should come see. Maybe it’s being generated by my equipment?”

I was just puttering around in the shop, testing one of the darts that I’d recovered from Ron. “I’ll be right there,” I said. I walked into the living room where Sandra checked out a weapon. She had stores of weapons in every corner of our building. Sometimes she scared me. “I need to go to the com center. They think they might be having an equipment failure.” She nodded. “Are you coming?”

“You’re a big boy. You’ll be fine.”

“I might miss you.” She smiled. I gave her a peck on the cheek and then left her playing with her weapon.

Torrance waved me in as he hit a button for the door lock. Surrounded with panels, he looked very technical. I was impressed by the darkened control room and its displays.

“Take a look at this,” he said as his hands danced across a console input panel. “This is what the signal looks like with amplitude demodulation.” A series of pulses appeared, but looking closer, each one was filled. “Check this out.” He stretched one of the pulses, filing the screen. “I thought it was noise, but each pulse is filled with information. I’ve never seen anything like this. I didn’t know it was possible. Each one can hold terra bytes of information. Our equipment isn’t fast enough to see it all. See the slope on that pulse? Bet you millions it’s caused by our equipment, and this, my friend, is state of the art junk.” He waved around the room.

I looked at him. “You’ve ruled out equipment problems?”

“Yeah. Look at this. With the antennas disconnected, the signal goes away.” He tapped his console, and the signal disappeared. “Nothing in this room could create this signal.”

“Where is it coming from?”

He shook his head, then cradled it in his hands. “I’ve been looking all night. I think space and all around us.” He looked up. “Best guess from all around us, then up to space. That’s the signal path.”

I pulled out Margret. “Get me Mike,”

“Hi, Drake,” Mike said.

“I need to talk to you at the communication center—urgent.”

“On my way.”

“It’s a hard signal to follow. It jumps from frequency to frequency at random intervals,” Torance said.

I looked at the display of pulses and felt sick. Whoever made this signal was a lot smarter than we were.

Mike signaled from the door, and Torance let him in. I listened as Torance briefed Mike about the signal and what he knew and suspected.

Mike took a seat. “What the hell can we do?”

“Pray that they’re nice,” I said. Torance let out a nervous laugh. “Torance, keep an eye on the signal. Let me know if you see anything that might indicate more activity record, everything you receive.” I looked at Mike. “I don’t see that we can do anything else.”

Mike shrugged. “That’s what we’re out here for, to explore. Pretty scary business.” He paused. “Torance, do as Drake suggests. We’re here to learn. Archive everything, including this conversation. You’re positive about this, both you and Drake?” We both nodded. “Then send code C to the
Armstrong
. We have alien contact.”

“Are you mad? If I send that signal the
Armstrong
will never return for us.”

Mike leaned forward. “You knew what you were signing up for. You knew the rules. We all do. Send the code. Send it now.”

Torance sighed. “Yes, you’re right. We have to do this,” he said as his hands worked the console.

An obvious computer voice came from ceiling speakers. “Code C activated and will proceed in thirty seconds. Preparing to erase star charts in one minute. You may cancel by tapping the countdown timer display.” A timer was displayed on a side screen.

Torance looked at Mike. “I don’t have proof that these signals come from aliens.”

Mike smiled. “I know what you’re doing. This is my decision. You don’t have to take any responsibility.”

“Our decision,” I said. “Mike, I wasn’t at any of the pre-launch meetings, so fill me in. What happens now?”

Mike leaned back. “First the
Armstrong
returns home in the most confusing way possible to report to fleet.” He paused, and the room went quiet.

“Mike, ah, what about us? Are we going to be rescued?”

“Maybe they might send a rescue mission or more likely declare us dead,” Mike said.

“Count down complete Code C sent,” the voice said.

“Sweet,” I said.

The room was quiet. We were lost in our own private thoughts when the computer voice announced the destruction of the star charts in computer memory.

Margret interrupted my meditation. “Drake, EEV2 reports a power failure. They’ve made an emergency landing. Everyone is safe.”

“Tell them we’re on our way,” I said as I stood. I looked at Torance and Mike. “No second guessing. We had to send code C. It was the right thing to do. Torance, get some sleep. Continue monitoring and looking for changes. Mike, we’re not done yet. We need to let everyone know what’s happening and keep them from panicking. The decisions we make in the next few days will make a big difference to our future. Margret, let Sandra know about EEV2. Tell her she’s required to go with me.”

Sandra met me wearing her full battle gear, and wasn’t amused by me requiring her presence. Looking her up and down as I walked through the door, I commented, “Dressed to kill.”

I got a slight smile from her. Tough crowd, I thought as I climbed into my battle gear. I’d argued with her about the necessity of wearing it, and had soundly lost. After our rescue of Ron she had decided that we needed to be prepared to fight. I climbed into the special jumpsuit. Its pockets were loaded with enough rations to last four days, and included bandages and three throwing knives. I pulled on a vest with extra power packs for the blasters and ammunition for the rail gun. Did I mention the hand grenades? After pulling two charged particle and one audio blaster out of their chargers, I stuffed them into the vest’s holsters. Then I lifted the rail gun from its rack and slung it over my shoulder before heading to the emergency vehicle. I shook my head. The gear must weigh a hundred pounds. I’d told Sandra that, and she’d dumped it all on a scale. All together it only weighed forty. Felt like a hundred to me. She met me at the door of the EEV and gave me a full inspection, fastening buttons and pulling straps tight.

“Drake, take every outing seriously. We don’t know what’s out there. It’s best to be prepared. You wouldn’t go work on a machine without tools and parts, right?”

“Sandra, truth is I’m just a giant doll that you like to dress up,” I said with a smile.

She laughed at that and gave me a kiss. “Let’s go, Ken doll,” she said, pulling me inside and then closing the door.

Sandra climbed into the pilot seat. It was her opinion that I sucked at flying. She was very diplomatic about telling me. She’d said, “Sweetheart, you suck at flying.” I took the dummy seat, giving her a smile. Outside the star was going down, and the trees were turning black. Margret sent the flight computer our destination, and Sandra finished with the pre-flight as I strapped in.

Flying over the forest, I thought about the first time I saw it. That was what maybe ten days ago. So much had happened. I glanced over at Sandra. Girlfriend, who’d have thought? We’d known each other for over a year, not as if we’re strangers.

Up ahead I saw lights from the EEV. Sandra turned, flying a circle around the sight. It’d landed in a large clearing, making it easy to land near it. I followed her out and watched her back as she inspected the area. The clearing was covered with low-growing shrubs. I had Margret set my eye on night, and stayed closer to Sandra than she liked. I’m not about to let something happen to her.

After her inspection, I went to work, looking for the fault. In a few minutes, I learned the circuit was shorted. Using a time domain reflectometer, I measured out how far away the short was. Using diagrams of the EEV I located the failure. Procedures said it’d take an estimated ten hours to get everything moved so I could repair it. After setting up some lights, I started in. It’d be a long night.

Sandra stood guard as I worked. I don’t know how she did it. I would have died, standing there all night with nothing to do but look at dark jungle trees and listen to me whine and complain. As I pulled a battery pack out, I looked out. The sun started to rise as I crawled inside. I cursed to myself about Sandra’s requirement to wear her commando gear as one of the blasters dug into my side. I’d tried to talk her out of it, but she’d been firm.

“Outside the force field we’re in a war zone, and this is what you wear,” she’d said, giving me a kiss on the forehead.

How the hell can I argue with that, I thought, pushing myself past some duct work. One more piece of conduit pushed aside would give me access to the short in the cable. A couple of hours after sunrise, I moved the section of conduit, giving me access to the failed circuit. I inspected it and found the problem was a support clamp, which had broken loose, causing it to rub against the sharp edge of a frame member. The cable was worn. I decided to cut out the bad section and make two splices. Replacing the whole cable would be best, but that would take four people three days. Not going to happen during our voyage. I crawled out to get the splice kits and new section of cable.

Sandra sat close to the access panel, sipping coffee. The morning sun caught her hair, illuminating strands that had escaped, giving her a halo. I might have stood looking at her for hours, but my stomach rumbled and I yawned. She looked over and held out her coffee. After sitting next to her, I sipped it. This was the first break I’d taken in seven hours. I’d beat the hell out of the ten-hour estimate.

“Going good?”

“Yeah. I came out to get some stuff to fix the short.”

“How long?”

“With luck I’ll be done by nightfall.”

“Long day.”

“And night. Sandra, nobody’s that lucky,” I said, putting my arm around her.

A deep pleasant hooting came from the jungle. We both looked in the direction of the sound. Several scientists were out collecting samples. They all turned toward it. Sounds of branches breaking and falling made me think that whatever made it was approaching. Sandra stood. I followed, grabbing my rail gun and loading its power pack. Two large bears, gorillas, stood on their back legs. They were about three meters in height. White with gray and black markings, they were beautiful to look at. They had pointed velvet ears complete with black masks.

“Take the one on the left. Fire when I say,” Sandra said.

I put my crosshairs on the beast’s head. He was so pretty I prayed I wouldn’t have to shoot him.

The beasts started dancing? They held their hands out, palms up, and looked as if they were smiling. A scientist came forward. She danced with them, holding her hands out, palms up also.

“Stay focused, Drake,” Sandra said.

I kept him in my sights, but I was relieved that he looked friendly, and I trusted him. Other scientists called to the woman, Massa, not to get any closer to them. She just waved them off and continued dancing and approaching the beasts. I triggered my guns recorder and kept the beast in my sights. Massa put her hand in the beast’s paw that I aimed at. He closed his paw slowly on her hand, then pulled her to him as he struck, biting her neck. Blood sprayed into the air. As the beast screamed, celebrating his kill, I fired, tearing the back of his head off. Sandra killed hers.

“Drake, get a stasis stretcher,” Sandra said as she ran toward Massa. I ran over to our EEV and opened a side compartment before pulling out a stretcher. At a run, I followed Sandra. Once I arrived, she had her hand on Massa’s neck, trying to stem the blood loss. We pulled Massa onto the stretcher and activated it. Sandra sank onto her haunches, shaking her head. “I don’t know if we can help her. We can’t heal her in stasis. If we take her out, she’ll die before we can help her.” Suddenly we were surrounded with Massa’s friends and loved ones.

“We’ll do what we can after we get her to camp. Maybe we’ll just wait for the
Armstrong
and let doc take care of her,” I said.

Massa looked awful. I turned the cover of the stretcher black, then assured everyone we’d do everything we could for her. Sandra and I took her into the EEV.

Sandra looked at the stretcher. “Thanks. I’m brutally honest. Most of the time that’s not the right thing to do.”

“Thank you. I’ll never argue about being prepared with you again. If I do, remind me about the bears,” I said. She gave me a hug and a smile. “I’d love to stay here in your arms, but I have an appointment with a cable that needs splicing.” She nodded, pushing me away. Quietly sighing, I took her hand. “I need you come.”

I led her out. I slung my rail gun over my shoulder as I passed the door. I felt embarrassed about whining and complaining about her efforts to protect and to prepare. Massa would live. We’d come up with something, and the fact that she had a chance was all due to Sandra’s efforts. Hell, I was proud of her.