The Pathfinder Project (7 page)

“I’d like to help you, Admiral
Henry, but we’re a sitting duck out here,” Kaufield said softly to himself.
“God forgive me, but this is not a military vessel. We have no way of getting
through those enemy ships.” He activated a fresh set of PTP coordinates. “Adam,
please take us to our next destination,” he ordered. “It’s well outside our
solar system, there’s nothing significant of any kind there, and we should be
able to hold still long enough for your brother to complete his work. Hopefully
he won’t be too irked if we complete one more transit to protect the
Pathfinder
.”

“Aye, sir,” Adam acknowledged
grimly.

THE PATHFINDER PROJECT

After the most recent transit,
things had finally settled down enough for the Captain to order a shift change.
Mary Hastings entered the officer’s quarters that had been assigned to her for
the duration of the project. She could only imagine what all of the other team
members were going through… many of them had brought immediate family members
along to their posting at Khyber Base. Whoever was assigning quarters to the
hurriedly evacuated population had their hands full today, that was for sure.

Mary sat down on her bed and
let out a deep breath, then actually took the time to relax a bit. She still
wasn’t sure just what the hell was going on, but it was obvious that everything
after today would be vastly different. Would the human race survive? She
thought back to the video feeds they’d watched earlier of the Earth being
bombed with nuclear devices and shivered.

Next she glanced over toward
the computer station on her desktop and shook her head with frustration.
Normally she’d be using it to tune into the news feeds and hear what was going
on back home.
Not
today, she thought idly. Picking up a small remote
control, she activated the monitor and flipped through the channel settings.
Each and every one of them was filled with non-stop static. Unbelievable – not
one of the dozens of channels she had access to was able to broadcast anything
detectable. Even at this distance from the sun, she should be picking up
something
from the relay satellites.

She jumped slightly as her door
chime sounded. She waited almost a full minute, using the time to put her
emotional shields back in place before calling out, “Come in.”

The door slid open and her good
friend Specialist Glen Fredericks walked in. He was a tall, powerful man with
graying hair and he smiled warmly at her as he gave her a reassuring hug. “It’s
quite the situation we’ve got going, isn’t it?”

“I don’t completely know how to
handle this,” she replied. “It all happened so quickly that I don’t think most
people have had time to really think about everything that’s happened!”

“I know,” Glen replied briskly.
“Everyone’s either too shook up to keep their attention focused on their work,
or else they’re working their tails off and I have to remind them every few
minutes to slow down and not get reckless.”

“How’s the work going down in
the hangar bay?” she asked.

“Well, the shuttles are up and
running,” Glen replied. “They’ve been reinitialized with a simplified version
of the
Pathfinder
’s navigation program. But I still don’t know what to
do about the fighters. They don’t have PTP capability and the new program is
quite probably incompatible.” He hugged her again and lightly massaged her
shoulders. “It would be easier if Thomas hadn’t been reassigned,” he decided.
“That’s why I’m here. I get a quick thirty minute break to eat and then I’m on
my way to the Lab wing to join Mr. Roh and company. The rest of our staff will
be working long into the night to get both fighters and shuttles back up and
running.”

“This is so awful,” Mary said, feeling
helpless. “With a communications blackout in effect I can’t even
try
to
contact my family!” she declared. “How are we supposed to know if our loved
ones survived?”

“From what I’ve heard, our
passive sensors aren’t detecting any communications at all,” Glen pointed out.
“That means we have to wait, because there’s nothing more we can do.”

“You’d better get something to
eat,” Mary insisted. “Thirty minutes isn’t a long time for a break.” She kissed
him firmly on the cheek.

“You’re right, as usual,” he
said, smiling. “I think Thomas has his hands full with that CAS program. I’ll
go grab a bite and then give him a hand with the calibration procedures.”

“Please check back when you’re
through,” Mary requested. “I don’t go back to work until tomorrow morning and
I’m going to be sitting here scared to death, wondering what’s going on.”

“Then
don’t
sit here all
alone,” he suggested, standing in the open doorway. “I saw Nori a while back.
Why don’t you find Julie and the three of you can spend some time checking out
the ship. If I were you, I’d go visit the habitats in the “Livestock” wing. You
can watch and feed the animals until bedtime. It will take your mind off of all
the bad stuff for a while, at least.”

“You’re starting to sound like
my father,” she said, blushing. “Knock it off, buster.” Her smile faded and she
thought a moment. “But it is a good idea,” she decided. “I might just have to
do that.”

“Great, then I won’t have to
worry about you!” Glen replied. “I will stop by and check in tomorrow. Good
night, Mary.” She watched the door close behind him, wondering if her world
would ever be the same.

*    
* * *     *

Kaufield had been sitting in
his own quarters reading up on the
Pathfinder
’s current status for some
time. He sat back and shut off the workstation monitor on his desk, rubbing his
forehead to try and ease his slight headache. Considering the events of the
day, he felt pretty good overall. He was thinking seriously about whether or
not to continue reading when the door to his quarters slid open. A nervous
looking, freckle-faced twelve-year old boy walked in, smiling as soon as he saw
that Dennis was in.

“
Dad!
” he exclaimed,
running over and hugging Kaufield tightly.

“Hello, Joseph.” Dennis
replied. He hugged his son back and ruffled his wavy dark hair. “Did the
teachers get everyone’s kids accounted for?”

“Yes,” Joseph responded. “Mrs.
Anderson was a little grumpy at first, but some of the other kids hadn’t heard
the news yet. Once everyone understood we were under attack and needed to get
to safety, everyone pretty much cooperated.”

“Lots of the children are still
pretty young. I would imagine that it’s going to be hard for some of the
parents to decide just exactly what to tell them.”

“I know,” Joseph said. “The
teachers are planning to hold a special meeting tomorrow in one of the
classrooms. They’re sending E-Notes to all the parents and inviting them to
come. Mrs. Andrews said that if we all talk about it together as a group, then
it’ll make it easier for the parents to finish talking about it in private.” He
twisted his tall, spindly body around, glancing at the wall behind his father’s
desk. “
You put my picture up!
” he declared proudly.

“Of course I did. You’re quite
the artist,” Dennis replied. He looked at his son’s hastily-framed rough sketch
of the
Pathfinder
and chuckled. But you did goof up on that rear landing
skid, kiddo. The front of it looks a little bit like a cat’s paw.”

“It’s a great sketch and you
know it!” Joseph giggled, smacking his Dad on the shoulder. “The teacher said
that during the next art class I get to try and draw one of the fighters!” His
expression became concerned. “That is, if we’re going to
have
classes after
tomorrow.”

“Yes we are,” decided Dennis.
“We’ve been planning to take the ship on a two-month voyage to fully test out
her key systems anyway. I think the best thing for everybody right now is to
have something to do. I don’t know how long it will be until we can return to
Khyber Base or Earth… we need to assess the damage first and determine the
status of our enemies. That means the last thing we need right now is everybody
sitting around all day with nothing to do but worry.”

“Everybody is scared,
real
scared,” Joseph told him, frowning. “The adults are trying to hide it, but you
can see it in their faces.” He looked at his Dad, who responded by smiling
warmly back at him.

“I know, son,” Dennis said
firmly but gently. “That’s because a lot of scary things happened all at once.
Everybody’s been running their tails off making sure their jobs are done and
their families are safe.” He reached across his son’s lap and turned the
workstation back on. “And…” he said, grinning, “Everybody needs to relax a little
bit. So the first thing that you and I are going to do tonight before people
start going to bed is to cheer them up a little bit.” He pointed at the words
on his screen. “Read that for me please, and let’s see how well
you
do
as a temporary Captain, my boy.”

*    
* * *     *

Mary was on her way back to her
quarters after spending time in the Livestock wing with friends, just as Glen
had suggested. The activity had cheered her up some, and she sure had enjoyed
seeing horses again. If their stay on the ship lasted long enough, she had
decided to make a point of scheduling time to actually grab a saddle and go
riding.

There certainly was enough room
on the vast interior of the Livestock wing’s inner surface. And – if she got
bored with the limited riding area – all she’d have to do would be to walk
across the catwalk to the
opposite
side of the wing where the gravity
was reversed and the
rest
of the animals were stored. She was nearly to
her door when a soft chime sounded.

“
Attention everybody
,”
said a nervous voice erupting unexpectedly from a nearby wall speaker. “
This
is acting Captain Joseph Kaufield speaking
.”

Mary couldn’t help it, she
giggled out loud as she realized that the Captain’s son was using the all-call.

“
My Dad wants… uhm… asked me
to let you know that everything is okay
,” Joseph continued. “
We haven’t
heard anything further from Earth, but the
Pathfinder
is in good shape.
He says he has a lot of faith in all of the talented people assigned to this project,
and we’re going to find a way out of this. So we’ve decided that everyone who’s
currently off duty should get their butts to bed and get some rest…
” There
was a brief pause, and Mary could hear Dennis laughing in the background. “
And
that’s a direct order from your temporary Captain
.” The wall speaker
promptly went silent.

Mary laughed out loud as she
opened the door to her quarters. After all the things that had happened today,
she wouldn’t have thought anything else could possibly catch her by surprise.
But that little trick from father and son had certainly done just that. She
made a mental note to stop criticizing Kaufield for reading up on Psychology in
his spare time.

*    
* * *     *

Promptly at 7:00 a.m. the next
morning, Captain Kaufield and his senior officers gathered for a status meeting
in one of the
Pathfinder
’s observation domes. Adam Roh was the last to
arrive, since he had been assigned to gather each division’s status reports and
organize them into an overall summary. He ignored the smell of coffee – man,
what he wouldn’t give for a donut right about now – and sat down next to Mary.
Among the other officers present she also recognized Colonel Neeland and Dr.
Simmons.

“For the purposes of rumor
control,” Dennis stated, “This will be an open forum. At the conclusion of our
discussion, transcripts of this meeting will be distributed to any interested
party.” He took a sip of coffee. “That being said, is it good news or bad,
Adam?”

“Mostly good, sir,” Adam
replied. “All Project Team members and their families have been assigned to
quarters.” He glanced at the hastily printed list in front of him. “Total head
count is 897, with 72 of those assigned to Colonel Neeland’s company of
Marines.”

“That’s the really good news,”
Murray spoke up. “I can have my troops maintain around the clock security on
all of the ship’s critical areas. The crew and passengers will see us… but as
long as they behave themselves, that will be the extent of it.”

“Good,” replied Dennis. “Since
we can handle as many as 1,200 passengers we’re in no danger of over-crowding.”

“Thomas is still working on the
CAS software,” Adam responded. “From what he said after working through the
night, they’re very close. They actually generated a singularity earlier this
morning for approximately thirty seconds.” He paused, checking his notes
carefully. “The shuttles are up and running, four of which are currently out on
patrol as per your orders, sir. They’re attempting to get as close to Earth as
possible. Two of them are due back within the hour.”