Peggy Sue (The T'aafhal Inheritance) (42 page)

It had been a very long time since living creatures walked the halls of the ship. Indeed, an opportunity like this may never come again—and the small remaining store of antimatter can always be detonated if they prove to be agents of the Dark Lords. Signals were sent to the airlock door.

* * * * *

Kowalski drifted slowly toward the hatch, followed closely by his brother SEALs. Those on board the shuttle expected to see the trio bounce off the smooth metallic side of the bigger alien vessel, but the strangest thing happened.

The lead SEAL brought his hands up to cushion the expected impact on the solid surface ahead only the see his hands, then his arms sink smoothly into the hull. “What the hell is this shit?” Phil said, as his entire form passed through the side of the alien ship and disappeared.

“Phil!” cried Chief Morgan. “Are you OK?” Then Chief Morgan and PO Jones also drifted through the hatch’s metallic surface and vanished without a trace.

CIC, Peggy Sue

Aboard the Peggy Sue, all eyes were on the monitors tracking the remote mission’s progress. “Shuttle, what just happened?” queried the Captain.
It looked like the SEALs just passed through a solid surface.
 

“Captain, we don’t have a clue,” came the reply. “The SEALs disappeared through the side of the ship.”

“Peggy Sue, can you shed some light on this?”

“I observed the same thing as everyone else, Captain. I can describe what happened, but not how it happened,” the onboard computer replied. “There is one thing in my memory that might be pertinent—the geologist who discovered the artifact reported ‘falling through’ a solid wall of metal to escape his attackers.”

“He at least survived such an incident,” Lcdr. Curtis noted. Though she was concerned for the SEALs’ safety, secretly she was glad that JT had not led the team through the unopened hatch.

“Can we raise them by radio?” the anxious Captain asked over the comm link to the shuttle.

“Negative, Sir. Both comm and suit telemetry went dead when they passed through the hull.”

Everyone on board both the shuttle and the Peggy Sue watched the side of the alien vessel with a mixture of anxiety and puzzlement. Then, a small irregular object floated back through the hatch surface. Drifting toward the shuttle’s windscreen, it became clear that the object was a standard issue tool bag. Before anyone could comment, the tool bag was followed by its owner, PO Bud Jones.

“Have you something to report, Petty Officer Jones?” asked a relieved Captain Jack.

“Aye, Sir. There’s a bay behind the hatch big enough to park several shuttles in, and there seems to be an atmosphere inside. For some reason, solid objects can pass through the hatch but comms don’t work inside.”

* * * * *

The wreck’s AI was monitoring the activity at the open bay with great interest. Though the meaning of the electromagnetic emissions given off by the craft and the individuals that entered the bay were indecipherable, it was clear that they were using radio waves to communicate.

How quaint,
the AI thought, as one of the individuals inside the bay passed back through the hatch into space. Realizing that the aliens might not risk further entry without the ability to communicate, the AI established a relay between the ship’s interior and exterior for the frequencies involved.

“Bud! I can read you now,” transmitted an excited Chief Morgan. “Can you read me?”

“Yeah, Chief. You are coming in loud and clear.”

“Chief, this is the shuttle. We are reading you now as well.”

“So we have established that we can enter and exit the ship through the magic hatch, and now we are able to communicate from inside,” the Chief reported. “What’s our next objective, Lieutenant?”

“I think we need to ask the Captain for further orders…”

* * * * *

“What do you think, people?” Jack asked, turning to the knot of scientists gathered around the display tank. Elena, Olaf, Yuki and Rajiv looked at each other, each hesitant to make the first suggestion. Instead, it was Chief Engineer Medina who spoke. “I would sure like to find out how that pass-through hull trick works, Captain. Assuming it really does hold an atmosphere while allowing solid objects to pass in and out, it would sure save us a lot of time and wasted air.”

“I think that might be one of the simpler things we can learn from this derelict, Captain,” added Rajiv.

“Hai,” agreed Yuki. “This ship may be as far advanced over the Peggy Sue as she is over a wooden man-of-war. No offense, Peggy Sue.”

“None taken, Dr. Saito. The advanced nature of the alien vessel is quite apparent.”

“It would be nice to discover just what the creatures who built the vessel were like,” said Olaf. “To this point we have found no advanced spacefaring species that have not been hostile.”

“An excellent point, Dr. Gunderson,” the Captain replied. Since the disagreement over bombarding the Ktchzz, Jack was trying to ease any feelings of alienation the big biologist might have.

“If they were a great spacefaring race it stands to reason that they would have known of other worlds with friendly species, si?” asked Elena. “If we can find their charts the task of finding other habitable worlds, and other possible allies, could be greatly simplified.”

“Another good thought, Dr. Piscopia. So we are agreed that the potential benefits outweigh the risks?”

“Captain, the SEALs reported that the bay behind the magic hatchway was large enough to hold several shuttles,” said Lcdr. Curtis, thinking of the tactical aspects of the situation. “If the hatch becomes impermeable for some reason, it would probably be safer for the expedition members to have the shuttle inside with them.”

“I think you are right, Commander,” the Captain concurred.
Not to mention the antimatter demolition charge.
“Shuttle, Peggy Sue. I want you to board and explore the interior of the alien vessel. Start by cautiously docking the shuttle inside the open port.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Bear replied.

“And Mr. Bear,” Jack added. “Be careful. The beacon came on when we drew near, a way in has been provided and suddenly we can communicate with those inside the derelict. It strikes me that someone or something is trying to lure us inside.”

Inside The Derelict

Bobby eased the shuttle toward the ‘open’ yet seemingly solid hatch. As the side of the ship approached, he noticed Matt Jacobs, seated in the copilot’s seat, was bracing himself for a collision. “Don’t worry Jacobs, the SEALs reported feeling nothing at all passing through the hull.”

“Begging your pardon, Mr. Danner, but that isn’t very reassuring,” the spacer replied. “SEALs ain’t really human, you know. They don’t feel pain the way we do.”

This elicited a snort from the pilot as the nose of the shuttle slide smoothly into the surface of the hatch. The line of intersection swept along the shuttle’s nose and then up and over the front windscreen. Without a sound or a tremor the shuttle passed completely through the hatch and into the bay beyond.

The interior space was lit by dim strips of light in the ceiling and floor. Bobby thought that it was a miracle that anything on board the old wreck worked at all. The SEALs had found tie-downs in the deck and moved to secure the shuttle with utility cord—sufficient to keep the shuttle from floating around the bay but not enough to prevent a hasty takeoff. Powering down the shuttle’s propulsion system, Bobby called to his passengers. “All ashore, this is as far as we go by shuttle.”

JT, Bear and the Marines disembarked to join the SEALs, while Bobby, Jacobs and Hitch remained on board. On the far wall of the bay, there was a conspicuously open doorway leading into the ship’s interior. The expedition formed three groups: Bear and JT with three Marines each and the three SEALs. They moved into the open passageway with the SEALs taking point.

Passing several closed and locked compartments the explorers came to a larger corridor running fore and aft. “Chief Morgan and JT, take your teams aft. We are looking for any equipment that looks functional or any indication that there is someone home. My team will go forward. Stay in contact, people.”

“Roger, LT,” said Chief Morgan, motioning to his men to follow him aft.

JT lingered a half a minute as the SEALs moved down the corridor. “Sing out if you find anything, brother bear.”

“In a heartbeat, JT.”

* * * * *

Bear, followed by Reagan, Sanchez and Brown, proceeded forward along the large corridor until it split into two similar sized passageways. The ursine lieutenant looked left, then right and said, “we are all going to go right. Brown, keep an eye out over your shoulder.”

“Right behind you, LT,” said Joey Sanchez.

“Why do you always end up behind me, Sanchez?”

“From past experience, I find it the safest place to be, Lieutenant.”

“You’d better hope we don’t have to beat a hasty retreat.”

After curving to the right the passageway angled back forward, past more doors on both the left and right. At the end of the corridor was a door, blocking the way forward. “Reagan! You have a high mechanical aptitude. Float your ass up there and see if you can find the door controls.”

“Coming, LT. Can you squeeze to the top or bottom of the passageway?” Reagan scrambled past the bulk of the armor encased, 600 kg lieutenant, a task only made possible by the lack of gravity. Ronnie pulled up at the door and made a close inspection around its edges. “Hey, it looks like there are some controls here on the starboard side. One of the symbols is glowing.”

“I don’t see anything glowing,” Bear rumbled.

“What? Oh, I have my suit’s UV vision turned on because the interior light has a strong ultraviolet component. Like the overhead lights, the symbol is glowing in ultraviolet.”

“Great. See if you can get it to open.”

Ronnie pressed the glowing symbol, waited a few seconds and then pressed the symbol below it. The lower symbol illuminated and the door silently slid aside, revealing a pitch black space beyond.

* * * * *

Working their way aft, the SEALs passed a number of stations equipped with deck mounted chairs and wraparound screens. The chairs were of a size and shape that humans would find acceptable, though they were a bit on the small side. The chair backs consisted of two halves with a seven centimeter gap between them. Farther down the gap widened to a sizable opening at the bottom, just where a human’s back meets buttocks.

“What do you make of this, Chief?” asked Phil.

“Don’t know. The screens are blank and there are no visible controls. Aside from the odd looking seats, they look like the gunner’s stations on board the Peggy Sue.”

“There seem to be a lot of them,” said Bud. “I guess there’s little doubt that this was a warship.”

“Yeah,” said Chief Morgan. “And many warships have scuttling charges to keep them from falling into enemy hands, so keep your eyes open and don’t touch anything.”

* * * * *

JT’s team had taken a corridor that branched off the one the SEALs went down. It brought them to a cavernous chamber amidships, filled with large cylindrical shapes shrouded by thick cables and twisting conduits. Edging his way along a catwalk that was several sizes too small for the armored men, he sighted an open cylinder containing some familiar objects.

“Now there’s something I didn’t expect to find,” JT said, more to himself than to the others. “How did they get here?”

“The last time I saw one of those we were about to get into a fur-ball that nearly cost us our lives,” remarked Jon Feldman, peering over JT’s shoulder. The objects in question were cradled in a row of six form fitting receptacles—egg shaped objects whose blunt ends were the size of soccer balls. They were antimatter containers, apparently identical to the ones found on the alien refueling station in the Beta Comae system.

“Heads up everybody. The last time we found a clutch of these egg things, they came with a hoard of assorted bug-nasties sporting plasma cannons.” Lt. Taylor and Feldman were old hands, but Rosey Acuna and Fritz Samuels had both seen the hairy cricket on Pzzst. All the Marines had, and they did not need to be told twice. As his team assumed defensive positions, JT called the others. “Bear, Chief. We have ourselves a possible situation here.”

“Go, JT,” answered Bear.

“WTFO?” called the Chief.

“We just found a piece of equipment with a half dozen antimatter eggs inside,” JT reported. “At least that is what they look like.”

“Eggs? Like the ones on the Space Mushroom?”

“Exactly like those, my furry friend.”

“What are you talking about?” asked a confused Chief Morgan.

“When we boarded the refueling station at Beta Comae we found a cache of egg shaped antimatter storage bottles. We took a bunch of them, but unfortunately they were guarded by a hoard of alien cyborgs that gave us one hell of a fight.”

“These are the same things that we fetched from the asteroid belt back home?” Asked the Chief. The SEALs were aboard ship, but had not participated in the retrieval of the antimatter stash from the asteroid belt.