New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (54 page)

She swam for a second. "I'm
not sure I can," she gasped out.

"Sure you can. Pitch up
twelve degrees roll two point three degrees to port; bow down three point one
degrees, fire port OMS pod..."

He walked her through the
maneuver. In a few minutes they were above the tangled yarn. "Good. See,
you did fine," he said. She reached the indicated hyper limit and slapped
her hands together. "Break out!" she said exhausted. The hyper
generators shut down and the ship emerged into real space with a brilliant
flash.

"Good job," he said to
her. He unjacked and looked her over. She was floating limp, gasping for
breath. He reached in and pulled her helmet off, then pulled her to the side of
the tank.

She grabbed it.
"Thanks," she said. He looked over to the Chief. "Can you ask
the steward to bring a towel and drink?" he asked. She nodded. "Why
were you in that?" he asked turning his attention on the helmswoman.

"Um, that is our usual
course," the navigator replied.

"Through that?" he
demanded. He shook his head. "Maybe in alpha band, it all comes at you
what, over the course of a couple hours?" he asked.  Shandra nodded as the
wardroom door opened and the steward came out. "But in beta and gamma, you
need to plot around it."

The navigator's shoulders
hunched. "Sorry," she said. He shook his head. The steward handed
Shandra a towel and the drink. She gulped at the drink then wiped her sweaty
face.

"It's okay Jessie, we just
need to practice and get the kinks out," Shandra said. She shook her head.
"I should have caught it too," she said. She struggled to get out.
The Admiral reached in and helped her. "What was that anyway?" she
asked as he set her feet down on the deck. She removed the gloves and tossed
them over her shoulder into the tank.

"Debris field or Oort
cloud,"  he answered. She looked confused.

"Oort cloud that far
out?" she asked as she shook her head. "And a debris field?" He
shrugged. "Debris drifts when pushed by their initial impulse and solar
wind," he explained. He tapped the controls and pulled up the replay.
"The tangles you saw were the gravitational forces between different
objects in real space.”You’re lucky it wasn't  very dense," he said and
then shook his head.

"Somehow I think we could
have done better. What should we have done?" the Captain asked. He glanced
her way and then shrugged. "Plotted a course around it,” he replied.
"Best thing, don't confront something that dangerous unless you have to.
You'll lose a few hours, but since you’re in a higher band, you’re still
getting to your destination exponentially faster than alpha," he said. The
Captain nodded. "Or, you can drop down into a lower note of alpha and take
the slow route. It'll take you days to get through though," he added. She
nodded.

"Good point," she
nodded to Shandra. "Good work. Get some rest."

The Captain eyed the sensor
officer. "Um Captain?" She looked at her board. "We're off
course by twelve degrees, but we're in the system. No sign of neutrino's or
tachyons."

The Captain nodded. "Good to
hear. Carry on." She nodded to Shandra. "Get some rest dear."
Shandra nodded. "Food first, I'm starving!"

The Admiral chuckled. "She's
on the mend," she said. He patted her shoulder.

"Thanks Admiral," she
said.

He smiled "I told you you
could do it," he replied softly. She nodded playing with the towel behind
her neck. He escorted her off the bridge as her shift relief took the helm
station.

"So, why the classes. You
just agreed to fix the ship," the chief asked as she turned to him wiping
her sweat soaked neck down. She was coming along with the martial arts classes,
rising through the ranks quickly. Of course he hadn't given her an exam to let
her know that just yet.

He shrugged. "I was asked.
Besides, to keep this ship running smoothly, it's necessary."

She stretched a bit, wincing at
her shoulder. "Well, your teaching is worth it. If we ever run into
another brawl or mugger, they'll wish they were never born," she admitted.

One of the other girls gave off a
satisfied grunt. "I heard Cookie is getting into ethnic foods, scuttlebutt
said something called tacos tonight?" one of the girls asked another.

The other shrugged. "I have
no idea." She got up and grabbed a towel. "I'm for the showers, my
shift starts in twenty," she said. She sauntered off.

“Me too,” The Admiral saluted the
others and then left for the men's locker room.

Another girl winced as she
stretched. "I think I pulled a muscle," she sighed as the girl next
to her leaned over and massaged it.

 "If it keeps up, ask the
sickbay for a muscle relaxant or a dip in the bath," another girl
commented.

The first looked up. "Muscle
relaxant?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

The second girl smiled. "I
got one after our last class. Remember that back flip? I needed it and
something more for my derrière afterward," she said with a wince.

The girls chuckled at that.
"So why do we have white belts and he has black?" the chief asked and
pointed to her white belt.

"Rank. He said once he gets
a handle on our proficiency we'll fill in the other ranks. Eventually we'll all
be black belts," Mary replied and smiled. "I can't wait to toss
Hinata around the bedroom." Another girl snorted.

"What's going on? Why are we
here? I mean, I know it's on the way, but this is a dead system right?"
Jennie asked as they entered the wardroom. The Captain looked up. The Chief
scowled.

"The Captain wanted a quiet
place to work. Besides, there's the ghost ship," Molly said. Jennie paled.

"Ghost ship?" the
Admiral asked as he held out a chair for Jennie. Mechanically she sat down, not
even looking at anything.

"A derelict. They made
landfall on an infected planet six hundred and twenty years after it was wiped
out by a virus," the captain said.

The doctor looked over to the
Captain. "A virus. I take it you’re talking about my kind?" he asked.
She nodded.

"That's all we know. The
crew left an automated beacon warning people away," she said. She shook
her head.

"Why not a sun
scuttle?" the Admiral asked.

She shrugged. "I'm not
sure."

"I can answer that Admiral.
I'm accessing the Bountiful now. The Captain's last log says..." Sprite
replied.

He waited. "I'm going to
stay in orbit, programming the idiot box to keep us here with a beacon. We're
all dead, but maybe we can keep someone else from going down there and getting
killed," The raspy voice startled him.

"That was the last entry.
The scenes from the cameras aren't pretty," Sprite finished. He grimaced.

 The Captain and Chief looked up.
"Yes Admiral, something to add?" the Captain asked pointedly. He
cleared his throat. "I just accessed the ship's log. She was left in orbit
as a warning not to go down," he said and then shook his head.

"Poor buggers."

He looked over the plot. A
shuttle was also orbiting the planet. Its course was erratic, dipping into the
atmosphere. "I take it the shuttle is one of theirs?" he asked.

"Actually, no, that's from
the Hermes," Molly answered. "She tried to board the ghost ship to
salvage her and was infected," she said and shuddered.

"When?" the doctor
asked.

"According to the word we
got, about ninety years ago," Molly said and then shook her head. 
"That long a wait?" the doctor whistled. "My word." He
shook his head and looked at the Captain with haunted eyes. "Captain, this
virus is persistent and deadly. Most likely airborne, and nasty, able to remain
for centuries, possibly eons," he warned. She nodded.

"So, why are we here?"
the purser asked.

The Captain gave her a look.
"It's on the way to the next colony," she replied. Vanessa nodded.
"It also gives us a quiet place to work." She nodded her chin to the
Admiral and engineers.

"Can we do a little
scavenging?" The purser asked.

The Captain's eyes flared, and
then darkened. "Absolutely not! Weren't you listening? This virus lingers.
It could be on any surface! It could even theoretically survive in
vacuum!" the doctor was incensed. "Settle down doc," the Chief
growled. She turned to the purser. "He's right, we can't take the risk."
She nodded to the doctor.

"Still, we can always do a
little prospecting," the Admiral commented, looking at the hologram.
"I highly doubt they sprayed each and every asteroid in the system,"
he said.

The purser looked confused.
"Asteroid hunting? Again?" she demanded. He shrugged.

The Captain nodded. "We can
give it a shot. I want a full test of the rocks before they enter my boat bay
though," she ordered. The staff nodded.

"Wise precaution
Captain," the Admiral said.

“I'm going to suck what's left of
their mainframe dry, perhaps we can learn something. At the very least we might
find files for later use,” he said after a moment.

The Captain nodded. “Make it so.”

The purser smiled. “I'd like a
copy Admiral, you may be onto something,” she smiled. “Do you think you can access
any of the planet's computers?”

“Sprite?” he asked softly,
looking at the view port.

“Accessing. Admiral, there's a
beacon ten point four kilometers from the capital city... or at least where it
used to be. It's an automated beacon. The signal strength is weak...” He felt
the AI reach out.

“There's an automated beacon on
the surface, but it seems to be just that,” he reported.

He felt Sprite's return. “It's
just a traffic beacon for a local airport Admiral,” she said.

He sighed. “Just a traffic beacon,”
he said. Their faces fell. He shook his head. “Nice try though.” He nodded to
the purser who sighed.

“Well, it was worth a look.
Thanks,” she said gruffly. He nodded subdued.

The aerial view hologram
projected onto the bridge had everyone speechless. The towers and spires were
crumbling; some litter fell from time to time. The meeting had adjourned to the
bridge to get a better view.

The odd thing was there was no
life, no birds, and no plants. "Just dust. Dust in the wind," he said
softly.

"It killed everything? Even
the plants?" Shandra asked softly. He nodded mutely.

"I wonder if it's dead
yet?" the purser asked, studying the holo.

"Well, since the ghost ship
was infected less than ninety years ago, I would say yes," the Captain
said dryly.

"Terran water bears and
centauri lice were known to survive centuries, or even eons without food,
water, or air," the engineer said softly.

"Bears? You mean the cute
cuddly things?" Shandra asked confused.

He shook his head. "No, they
were bugs; they were just named after bears because of their shape and ability
to hibernate," he replied. "It's been a while since I had biology...
but if I remember correctly they squeezed as much water out of their bodies as
possible and locked themselves down into hibernation. Their skins turned rock
hard." He shrugged. "Actually, the only reason I remember it is
because it was part of the introduction to stasis in mister Tedra's
class," he said and then smiled. Shandra nodded.

“Then again, they could be
nanites,” he observed, watching the desolate planet spin.

“Nanites?” the Captain asked
warily.

“There are several types
actually, and two different central forms, purely mechanical, or a modified
organic,” the admiral explained.

Shandra shivered. “One isn't
enough?”

“You've got two weeks, I want to
be out of here in fourteen days. Make the most of that time.” the Captain
informed them. Jen nodded but looked troubled. “And I insist you all take time
off on Centennial,” the captain added.

Molly nodded. “I promised Tia,”
she sighed. “Structural repairs?” she asked as she turned to the admiral.

He nodded. “We should get the
first load of asteroids in later this morning if Deidra is her usual punctual
self,” he replied.

Shandra smiled. “Not if Hibiki is
with them, I bet they'll do a little show boating in the asteroid field first,”
she said. Several of the women chuckled.

“That's a pilot's stock in
trade,” the admiral chuckled.

“Go on, get a move on,” the
Captain waved. “Remember! 2 weeks! Not a day more! I want to be in Centennial
for the harvest!” Jen waved as the rest of the staff filed out, leaving Vanessa
and the Captain.

"So, why did we come
here?" the purser asked the Captain softly.

"I wanted him to see it for
himself," she said. She nodded to the retreating engineer.

"I think he's seen a lot
Captain, he was the defending Admiral at the Nexus 3 colony and Juarez
sector," Vanessa said quietly.

The Captain looked startled.
"How did you know that?" she demanded. She turned to the purser.

The purser shrugged. "I
checked him out in the ship's database," she replied with a shrug.
"Making him see all this, are you trying to prove that there's no hope for
civilization?" She waved to the ship. "I think there is. So does he,
and now, so do the crew."

The Captain looked around.
"Maybe, maybe you're right."

“So I hear you're talking fuel,”
a voice in the doorway drawled. The class looked over to the open door. Taki
the load master was standing there, leaning against the door jam. Her arms and
feet were crossed. She had a strip of grass in her mouth. She was looking down
at her shoes. It always amused him how each of the ladies had their own
distinct style. For instance Taki sported a tribal head band and leather vest.
Unlike many of the women she had on pants, also made of leather.

He smiled. “Yeah, we're
discussing fuel. We...” He indicated Molly and Jennie. “Were going to call you
about changing the fuel situation.”