Drifter's Run (20 page)

It was not surprising therefore that her main banquet room was both large and opulent. The room was circular in shape, which echoed the ship's globular design, and allowed for a unique seating arrangement.

The tables were arranged in a series of concentric rings, with the less affluent passengers on the outside, and the downright rich toward the center. There were fifty tables in all, each seated eight bejeweled guests, and was served by two sentient waiters. The centermost table, the one located directly under the enormous chandelier of pink Edon rock crystal, belonged to
Claudia
's
commanding officer.

Captain Naomi Neubeck pushed herself away from the linen-covered table. She'd done it again, eaten way more than she should've, and Bones would give her hell. With her annual physical just two months away Neubeck needed to drop some weight but had put it off. Even in the low shipboard gravity she could feel the fat weighing her down. She'd work on it tomorrow.

Neubeck smiled at the men and women who lined her table. All had the rosy glow that comes with a mega-credit income, a twelve-course dinner, and some extremely good wine.

"Thank you for joining my table. Please enjoy the rest of the cruise and let me know if there's anything we can do to make the trip more pleasant."

Neubeck waved off the chorus of "thank you's," and headed for her day cabin. It was a comfortable ritual and rarely varied.

Have dinner with some of her rich passengers, make a final entry in her log, and call the bridge. Utter some sympathetic noises as Second Officer Rubashkin slandered the engineering staff, check the ship's position, and leave some orders for the next watch. Then it was down the hall to her sleeping cabin for a full nine hours of sleep. She couldn't wait.

Hu was a small man, with straight black hair and intelligent brown eyes. He knew Rubashkin was on duty, knew the second officer hated engineering, and knew how the conversation would go.

"Bridge… Rubashkin speaking."

"This is Hu. We have a problem."

"That's for sure. Tell me something I didn't already know."

Hu bit his lower lip and tried to keep his temper. "Our computer shows abnormal wear on field projector three. It's going to fail sometime during the next four or five hours. We can replace it now or wait for the projector to go belly up."

Rubashkin was silent while he thought it over. At the moment they were looping around Durna preparatory to entering hyper-space on the other side. The engineers would be forced to shut down the ship's protective force field in order to replace projector three.

Running the force field full-time sucked up a lot of energy, and added to operating expense, but provided an extra margin of safety in the unlikely event of a pirate attack or collision. Just one of the many things that put the Empire Line a cut above all the rest.

Still, the way Hu explained the situation, there was no way to win. Lose the field now, or lose it later. Not much of a choice with a hyperspace jump coming up and an irritable captain asleep below. The whole crew would celebrate when Neubeck passed her physical.

For one brief moment Rubashkin considered waking Neubeck to ask her opinion but quickly put the thought aside. No, she wouldn't appreciate being woken up, plus she'd give him the promotion lecture.

"How will you make first officer if you pass the buck? Show some backbone, Rubashkin… make a decision."

He hated that lecture almost as much as the one Bones gave on sexual hygiene.

"Go ahead and take the field down," Rubashkin said. "But work fast… otherwise I'll have your ass for breakfast!"

"Yes, sir," Hu replied sweetly, "and I hope you'll feel free to kiss it in the meantime." The engineer broke the connection before Rubashkin could reply.

The meteor was round but not perfectly so. It consisted of iron, nickel, and traces of other minerals. The meteor had been traveling around Durna for millions of years. During its lifetime planets had hardened, ecosystems had been born, and entire species had been plunged into extinction. It neither knew nor cared.

The odds against the meteor and the
Princess Claudia
trying to occupy the same space at the same time were unbelievably huge. And the odds of this happening during the brief period in which the liner's force field was down and the ship was in close proximity to the system's sun were even larger, but that's what happened.

The meteor was traveling at about twenty-six miles per second when it hit the
Princess Claudia
and sliced through the liner's durasteel hull like a knife through warm butter.

As luck would have it, the meteor followed the line of the ship's axis, holing both in-line drives and seventeen previously airtight compartments in the process.

Fifty-six men, women, and children died instantly. Twelve of them were engineers and one of those was Hu. During the next few hours another fourteen would die of wounds suffered during those few seconds.

The effect was almost instantaneous. Acting on the information provided by thousands of on-board sensors the ship's computer closed airtight doors, shunted all remaining power to essential systems, and set off a cacophony of alarms. One of these was right next to Neubeck's head. She rolled over and stabbed a button.

"Neubeck here… what's the problem?"

Second Officer Rubashkin's voice was tight. "We've been holed, Captain, reamed is more like it. damned near the whole length of the ship. Early reports suggest a meteor."

"It went right through the force field?"

Rubashkin felt his throat constrict. Poor Hu. He wanted to throw up. "It was my fault, Captain. The number three force field projector was on its way out. I authorized repairs."

Neubeck was struggling into her uniform. "Don't blame yourself, Andre. I would've made the same decision. Casualties?"

"Heavy I'm afraid," Rubashkin answered. "Hold one. Tell 'em to seal it off! We'll get a damage control party down there as soon as we can!

"Sorry, Captain, we've got a fire in the Purser's Office, electrical probably. We'll dump power to that location, pump the air out, and deal with it later."

Neubeck ran a brush through her hair. "Do you see an immediate need to abandon?"

Rubashkin paused for a second as if thinking it over. "Nah, it's not that bad. Captain, at least not yet."

Neubeck let out her breath. "Thank Sol. Good work, Andre. I'm on my way."

"Authority rests partly on appearance," that's what they teach you at the Imperial Maritime Academy, and it's definitely true.

Neubeck looked in the mirror. A rather plump middle-aged woman with prematurely gray hair looked back. Where had the extra chin come from? Damn. She'd start the diet tomorrow, but for the moment this body would have to do.

Neubeck stepped out of the cabin and into chaos. The emergency lights provided just enough illumination to see by, a recorded announcement insisted that passengers stay right where they were, and the air smelled faintly of smoke. Thank Sol the argrav was still operational. The passengers were frightened enough without floating around in zero G.

A cadet ran toward her, one of six young men and women in training to become officers, and not a day over sixteen. He held something in his arms and wore a look of wide-eyed desperation. Neubeck grabbed his arm and forced him to stop.

"Tolan."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Walk, don't run. Remember, the passengers and crew are looking to you for an example. Understand?"

Tolan stood a little taller. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Carry on."

Neubeck forced herself to follow her own advice as she strolled down the corridor.

"Citizen Tanaka, good to see you. Yes, everything's okay, please return to your stateroom."

"Lady Carolyn, what a stunning robe! Why don't you step back inside? I wouldn't want it damaged."

"Technician Quigley… you're supposed to be on C deck standing by the emergency fusion plant, are you not? Kindly go there without further delay. Walk don't run, Quigley… this is an Empire liner after all."

And so it went until Neubeck reached the bridge. It was huge and, given the ship's considerable status, appropriately impressive. No less than twenty-six large screens covered the curved bulkheads. Some were ominously blank.

Three of them showed a ragged hole in the
Claudia
's
hull, surprisingly small for all the damage it had done, and leaking a column of whitish vapor.

Below the screens, control panels glowed, each containing hundreds of green, red, and amber buttons, each controlling and monitoring an important part of the ship.

You could almost tell where the problems were by the number of people gathered around each station. Hydroponics was unmanned, while a small army was clustered around the engineering station, and damage control was double teamed.

Neubeck climbed the two steps to her thronelike command chair and dropped in. It sank slightly and adjusted to her form.

Due to the emergency there were more rather than less people on the bridge. Officers and technicians from all three watches had shown up and were trying to help. It was interesting to see how each reacted to stress.

Many seemed unaffected but here and there Neubeck saw definite changes.

A normally calm power tech shouted into his intercom as if the volume of his voice could get him what he needed. And there, over on the other side of the bridge, the usually dour fourth officer was cracking jokes like a professional comedian.

It was quite a show but she had little time to appreciate it. The moment the bridge crew realized Neubeck was there everyone spoke at once.

"Which do you want more, Captain? Argrav or power to the force field?"

"The passengers are worried, Captain… there's a mob forming on the boat deck."

"The fire's out in the Purser's Office… she wants to know if we'll repressurize. The passengers want their valuables."

"Silence!" The voice belonged to Rubashkin and it had the desired effect.

Neubeck put on her smile, the professional one which said, "I'm confident and you should be too." She gave her orders in a crisp, calm voice.

"Hold your questions until asked. First things first. All personnel not actually part of this watch to the rear of the bridge. You'll be called on as needed."

Ten or twelve people headed for the rear of the bridge.

"Andre… how much power on the drives?"

Rubashkin was a big burly man, with beady little brown eyes and a thick black beard. There were circles of sweat under both his arms.

"None, Captain. The meteor hit both drives. We could shunt some power from the fusion plant to the auxiliary thrusters, but it wouldn't do much good."

Neubeck swallowed hard. None! It seemed hard to believe. "How about repairs?"

Rubashkin shook his head sadly. "The engineering spaces got the worst of it. The meteor killed all of our engineering officers and seventy percent of the techs. The survivors say that drive one is completely hopeless. As for drive two, well, they aren't sure. Repairs would take the supervision of a competent engineer."

Neubeck's eyes went to the main screen. Durna filled it with her fiery presence. Could she actually see the sun getting larger or was that just her imagination? She cleared her throat. "How long before Durna pulls us down?"

Rubashkin shrugged. "Forty, maybe fifty hours."

Damn! They would have to take a hit right on the edge of the sun's gravity well.

Neubeck shifted her gaze to the nav screen. It showed the entire Durna system, including the asteroid belt, Dista, Pylax, and the other mostly uninhabited planets. They needed assistance and needed it fast. "You called for help?"

"First thing," Com Tech Formo answered. She was small, with severe bangs and an elfin face. "I looped a distress call. Still no answer."

Neubeck nodded understandingly. They were a long ways out. Still, Durna was a well-populated system, and they should hear something soon. "All right. Let me know the minute you get a response."

Neubeck turned to Rubashkin. "It sounds like the passengers are getting restless. How many did we lose?"

Rubashkin examined a printout. "Fourteen. Due to the point of penetration the meteor killed more crew than passengers."

Neubeck nodded her understanding. "Gather all the friends and family into one place. B lounge would do nicely. Get the chaplain down there. Whatever you do, keep 'em away from the rest. Grief breeds panic.

"How 'bout the main banquet room? Any damage?"

Rubashkin glanced at the fourth officer and got a shake of the head. "No damage, Captain. Why?"

"Call the galley. Tell them to prepare for a party. Get a hold of the chief steward. Tell him to notify the passengers. They have one hour to prepare for a costume ball. A thousand credits for the most attractive outfit. Once you have them in the main banquet room make sure they stay there until further orders."

Rubashkin smiled at Neubeck's plan and turned away to give the appropriate orders.

Neubeck motioned to the fourth officer. He stepped over. His name was Arthur Zembey and in place of the frown he normally wore there was a smile. "Good evening, Captain. Have a nice nap?"

Neubeck smiled in return. "Somewhat shorter than I would've liked, Arthur, but it'll do. Where's number one?"

The first officer was a woman named Indulo and should've been on the bridge by now.

"Unconscious," Zembey replied. "She led a damage control party into drive room one. Something came loose and bounced her head off the inside of her helmet."

Neubeck swore silently. Indulo was a real loss. Well, one had to make do. "Listen carefully, Arthur. I want you to coordinate all damage control. Get a patch on the hull. Repressurize the damaged compartments as soon as you can. Seal drive room one and forget it. Do what you can for drive room two. Have it ready for repairs. Sift the passenger list for engineers. Maybe we'll luck out. Sol knows we deserve it!

"Have the pilot run a computer projection. How long can we wait before launching the boats? Meanwhile hide all the damage you can. It hurts morale. And have someone get me a cup of coffee, but make it black, I'm on a diet."