Night of the Aurora (Salmon Run - Book 1)

by J.A. Marlow

  A crash and the sound of breaking metal echoed out of the supply room. Sasha grabbed his hand and tugged. "Anywhere is better than here right now."

  Yenni and Nanuk had a head-start, and Zach found himself having trouble keeping up. Once again he cursed the bunny boots. He knew it. He knew boots that had such a stupid name would be trouble.

  At first he thought they might have gotten away. No noises coming from behind them.

  Nanuk stopped at a turn, gesturing them forward, "Hurry!"

  Zach followed Sasha around the corner, chasing after Yenni's four-legged running form. Zach looked back to find Nanuk running after them on two legs, and the grizzly turning the corner behind them.

  Nanuk came to a halt near a panel in the wall, yanking it open with such force that it hit the wall on the other side of the hall.

  Zach slid to a stop, shouting, "Keep running!"

  Nanuk pulled out a short stubby weapon ending in the same bulb and short tube of the Security-bot's weapon. He brought it to his shoulder and turned towards the bear.

  A loud zap echoed down the hall, the weapon kicking back against Nanuk's shoulder. A bright yellow light burst forth, striking the bear at the shoulder.

  Bits of fur flew into the air as part of the bear completely disappeared.

  "Eww," Sasha moaned.

  Zach leaned against the wall, trying to get his breathing under control, turning away from what remained of the bear. Nanuk closed the wall panel and walked to them, lowering the tip to the floor.

  "I'm glad you know how to use those things," Yenni said, running back to them.

  "Disgusting device. I have no pleasure in the knowing. The Admiral won't be pleased it was used by a civilian," Nanuk said, shaking his head as he rejoined them. "But then, we are already in a lot of trouble."

  "Why should you be in trouble? It's not your fault the bear attacked," Zach said.

  Nanuk looked straight at him, "Why do you think? The bear wasn't the only thing that doesn't belong on this ship."

  Zach frowned, biting back the question he wanted to ask next. Not with Nanuk glaring down at him like it was all his fault.

  "Question is, how did the bear get inside?" Sasha said. "The same way we did? Dropped down through the snow when the ground opened up? If so, what else could be down here?"

  "With the systems not working in this area, it would be impossible for us to know," Yenni said. He sat back on his haunches, looking at first one and the other. "You do need to be returned to the surface. You do not belong here."

  "We couldn't agree more," Zach said, finding his voice. "Let's just be clear that we did not do this on purpose."

  A series of howls echoed through the halls. The howls rose higher in octave, weaving in and out with each other.

  "Wolves," Zach and Sasha said together.

  Zach groaned. Great, what else could go wrong?

  Yenni put his paws on his knees and scowled down the hall, "What is this place? A zoo?"

  "No time for discussion," Nanuk said. He tightened his grip on the weapon and led the way down the halls as the lights above them blinked. "Follow me."

  The halls noticeably curved as they quietly followed. Zach guessed they were getting closer to the core of the ship, making him wonder if they were dealing with a saucer-shaped ship. Like the flying saucers UFO enthusiasts claimed to have seen?

  The possibility of the ship being a way to explain the phenomenon did little to help him ignore the approaching wolves behind them. Very vocal wolves.

  "How can they be such good hunters when they are so noisy," Zach complained.

  "They are upset and lost. It's how they communicate," Sasha said.

  "I've heard wolves rarely attack humans," Zach said. And he hoped it was true.

  "Does that include those of us who are not human?" Yenni asked. He turned back down the hall. "I'm not willing to stay to find out."

  Zach looked down the halls at a juncture. With the echoes he couldn't tell what direction they were coming from or if they were getting closer or further away.

  Nanuk put a hand on his back and guided him forward. "Now is not the time to delay."

  "You know, without all the animals and robots running around I would be fascinated by this place," Zach said quietly, picking up his pace.

  Nanuk nodded his head, "Of course. You have the heart of a scientist."

  The lights blinked and a voice said, "Section three power has been restored."

  "Change of direction!" Nanuk shouted out at Yenni and Sasha, pushing Zach down a side corridor.

  As Zach turned to see if the two were following he spotted a flash of a gray and white body at the end of the corridor. The bright yellow eyes of a wolf stared back at him. Another wolf joined the first.

  Zach made himself turn away, hurrying after Nanuk just barely under a run. Nanuk stood at the middle of the hall. He waved them all past before touching a large pad several times. A transparent sparkling falling curtain appeared across the hall.

  The wolves wove back and forth towards them, as if deciding if it was worth coming after them. Zach couldn't help stepping backwards. He didn't like getting looked at so impersonally, as if he were nothing more than a piece of meat.

  "Don't be so fearful, human," Yenni said. "The field is strong enough to withstand a plasma cannon blast."

  The lights blinked, and with it the curtain faded. Zach looked it over. "It's no good if the power goes out."

  The wolves looked at the ceiling, their bodies tensing. The bigger dark gray one regarded them once more before bounding back to its pack at the end of the corridor.

  Nanuk touched the pad again, saying, "Isolate deck sixteen. Native life-forms are on the deck."

  A light on the pad switched on and someone demanded, "Did you bring something on this ship?"

  "No sir, this is none of our doing. Activate all containment fields possible. You don't want this spreading to other decks," Nanuk said. He tapped the pad and turned towards them. "I knew we were going to get blamed for this."

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  "THIS IS RIDICULOUS," Yenni said with a shake. The fur around his neck fluffed up. "Our lab is in shambles. Animals running around free as if they own the place. Inconsistent lights, fields, and doors. I can't work this way!"

  "Want to chase the interlopers out yourself?" Nanuk asked with a laugh.

  Somehow, Zach could picture Yenni doing that very thing. The mental image of the little creature taking on the bear gave a bit of humor to the situation that had just cured him of ever watching a horror movie again.

  Yenni turned and stalked down the hall away from the forcefield. "A little security is too much to ask for? How many days or weeks have we been set back? This is no way to conduct a research mission!"

  Zach and Sasha hurried after him as Nanuk followed. "Don't you dare go off on the Admiral, Yenni. Now is not the time."

  "It's never the time! Chastise us, but he can't even keep the ship going. And I thought the last administrator was a failure," Yenni continued. He opened a small room and stepped inside, turning to stare at Nanuk, twitching his ear. "And today, I will be heard!"

  Nanuk reached out and caught the door before it could slide closed. "Inside, children. I will not leave you on this deck until the invaders are contained."

  "And thank you for not calling us invaders," Sasha said as she ducked under the white furry arm to enter the room.

  "Technically you are, but you are more likely to obey orders when it's time to leave," Yenni said, tapping at a wall panel just inside the door.

  Nanuk joined them inside and the door slid closed. "Unless they are in the midst of adolescent rebellion."

  "Not everyone goes through that," Zach said, not liking the connotations that everyone turned into an idiot in their teen years. He was only fifteen, but he wanted to think he hadn't caused big problems for his father.

  "I agree, not everyone. Although I do admit to having one in my family who is living up to it," Sasha said, crossi
ng her arms in front of her chest.

  Nanuk's eyes went wide, the corners of his mouth turning up. Zach quickly said, "No studying us. This isn't the time."

  Yenni nodded his head several times in quick succession. "Indeed it is not. Dealing with the dangers of the native life is bad enough on excursions, I do not need to be regarded as a tasty morsel while in the supposed safety of our craft."

  Zach watched symbols flashing on the side of the door. If he were elsewhere he would think that meant they were in a large elevator, but he couldn't feel the sensation of movement. "Are we going deeper into the ship?"

  "Another level." Yenni pointed at the weapon, "Nanuk, get rid of that horrid thing."

  Nanuk looked down at the weapon he had slung over his shoulder, "Sorry, little guy. This stays with us until we know the other levels are secured. Technically, if creatures from the surface have made it to the upper level, they could have also made it to other levels."

  "If power was restored to one section perhaps they have discovered the problem," Zach said. "But who knows how far surface life has penetrated. Does the ship have stairways between decks?"

  Sasha bumped his arm with a grin, "Look at you. Bending that uptight attitude and just fitting in, taking it all as it comes. This is great."

  "And when we get out of here, I'm going right back to my old ways," Zach mocked. He looked away from her. "And I'm not uptight."

  "Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. Limited flexibility? No, that isn't right, either. Rigid? No?" She lapsed into silence, muttering words to herself.

  "None of the above," Zach muttered back.

  The door slid open. Yenni ran out first, yelling, "Qeet!"

  "Good, he isn't going after the Admiral," Nanuk said under his breath as he followed more slowly.

  "I have a feeling we don't want to meet the Admiral," Zach said quietly to Sasha.

  "Oh, really? Whatever tipped you off to that?" Sasha pulled her coat off her shoulders, fanning herself with one hand. "Power or not, the place hasn't lost its ability to produce heat."

  Several turns through the halls had Zach lost again. He looked behind, wishing his mind were better at memorizing such things. After this he was going to look up memory training games to get better at it.

  Sasha might have feelings that they were safe with Nanuk, but he was still a scientist, and he and Sasha were of the species Nanuk studied. Those two facts together equaled one big troublesome equation with many open-ended potential results. That they were moving deeper into the ship made him obsess on the equation even more.

  His father was right, sometimes he worried too much. He wished he could shut it off.

  Nanuk stood in the middle of a partially opened large double-wide door, waited for them to pass by him before moving to the side to tap a wall panel. Thick metal slid out on both side, sealing them away from the corridor.

  Bulkheads, the science fiction part of his brain said.

  Yenni had another such door partially opened, but he didn't wait for them before bounding into the room beyond. His body disappeared, but Zach could hear him yelling at the top of his squeaky voice, "Qeet? Get down here! I want to speak to you right now!"

  The next room would be cavernous, if it weren't for all the closely entangled pipes and other odd shapes haphazardly running from ceiling to floor. Semi-transparent displays floated in the air, circling slowly around the tangled pillars, displaying gauges, readings, and moving bars.

  Zach wished the translator could translate the written word as well as the spoken. He wanted so badly to read and understand the information the displays flashed.

  Yenni circled one of the tangled pillars, shouting at the ceiling, "Qeet, I mean now! I will not wait."

  "Open!" Sasha said suddenly. She grinned at Zach. "That's it! You weren't as open to the environment and changes around you. But, you're getting better."

  "So glad you figured that out," Zach said with a shake of his head, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling.

  And his eyes remained glued to the ceiling.

  Four-pointed electric blue and green eyes stared down at him, a soft body of dark gray and white dots dangling from one of the tangles running across the high ceiling from one of many arms.

  It reached down and grabbed a protrusion from one of the pillars, lowering itself out of the pipes and shapes in the ceiling. It reached out with an arm towards one of the floating displays. The display responded by rushing forward, turning to it fully.

  "You believe your yelling will aid the situation?" the creature snapped. One of the eyes looked down at where Yenni stood. "What is it you want? Be quick about it."

  "Be quick? Are you or are you not the head engineer, Qeet?" Yenni demanded.

  "Currently, I am the only engineer until headquarters deems the mission worthy of another personnel placement. Which isn't likely. Make your point." Qeet swung lower with two arms and wrestled with a small box in the middle of two loosely entwined tubes.

  "Do you realize we have intruders from the surface on level sixteen? One of them destroyed our lab. How are we supposed to replace the damaged equipment?"

  "Only one? I see two native species behind you. Not wise to bring them in here," Qeet said. He turned back to his display, touching several of the symbols with two tentacles. "I do not have time for this. Create a requisition for your lost equipment, as usual. Perhaps you can get it on the next supply shuttle."

  "That is not the point!" Yenni said, jumping up and down.

  "Perhaps I might clarify matters," Nanuk said, stepping forward.

  "If you can expedite the request, I would be most pleased. Do you have a plasma blaster, Nanuk?" Qeet waved a tentacle at him.

  Good grief, how many tentacles did it have? Zach had lost count several times.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  "INDEED I DO, and we had need to use it tonight to save our lives. Life-forms from the surface are gaining entry into the ship," Nanuk said, patting the strap of the weapon.

  Zach nodded vigorously to that. He didn't ever want to come that close to another bear again. Well, an earth bear, at least. He was beginning to agree with Sasha. Nanuk seemed safe.

  He shook himself. Nanuk admitted to not being of the Earth. How could they really trust any of them?

  "There are scattered power and systems failures including bulkheads, doors, and containment force fields," Nanuk continued. "I believe the security-bots might also be affected. Obviously this is of great concern when some of the life-forms are considered dangerous."

  "But not us!" Zach quickly said. "Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to make it clear Sasha and I are not dangerous."

  Nanuk looked down at them, the corners of his mouth quirking up, "Indeed. These two have not shown themselves to be dangerous."

  "I am quite aware of the problems," Qeet said. "They are ship wide and have been occurring for a short time only. I believe they are related to the strong surges in the aurora above us, but I have not ascertained how as of yet. Until I do, I will not be able to compensate for the problem. I am not yet certain it is the aurora, but the timing is suspect."

  "Do you mean to say you do not know how long these unacceptable problems will continue?" Yenni squeaked.

  Qeet disappeared around to the other side of the tangle. "Perhaps you would care to come up here and aid me?"

  "The last time I did that the Admiral threatened to have my hide," Yenni said, flicking his head.

  Zach heard a twitter from somewhere in the ceiling, "Indeed, and well you should remember the warning. If it helps, the generator is pulling through a lot of power. The charging of the battery cells will soon be completed. It will be nice to be at full power again. For a while."

  "Did the problems start with the aurora?" Zach asked. "It's a particularly strong one right now. It shut down the Solar Express."

  "No, it did not start at that point." A tentacle dropping out of the ceiling for a moment told Zach where the engineer had disappeared to. A display zoomed upwards in respo
nse. "It began no more than twenty-eight ocks ago."

  Whatever an 'ock' was.

  "Can you shut down the generator to see if that has any effect," Nanuk suggested. "We may have a bad locater again."

  "Do you think I have not thought of such a thing? No!" Came Qeet's voice from the midst of the ceiling. A tentacle came down and gestured, sending the display flying towards a pillar where it began circling it. "Do not tell me how I should conduct my duties. The generator is not at fault and shall remain operational. We need the power. It shall continue as long as the aurora remains so active."

  "Aurora power generation. I wonder if we could do something like that?" Zach said quietly. He definitely needed to look up the Fairbanks aurora project. A break-through like that could help power every country in high northern or southern latitudes.

  Sasha gestured at the equipment in the room, "I think this is beyond humans at this point."

  "Not forever. If they can do it, why not humans at some point?" Zach raised his voice, "And the aurora is the only thing different tonight."

  "Nice try, human. However, we have used the aurora for power generation many times and it has never resulted in this type of problem." Qeet reappeared out of the ceiling at another pillar. He dropped down and summoned to him another of the floating displays. "Many were as powerful, some more so. It cannot be the aurora."

  Zach looked down at his watch. Over an hour since they'd left the train. He frowned again, "How long is twenty-eight ocks?"

  "Humans, you are distracting me." Qeet swung out of sight to the other side of the pillar.

  "By my calculations, each ock is approximately two point four of your minutes," Nanuk said absently as he watched Qeet. He looked down at Zach. "Why do you ask?"

  Zach did the calculations in his head, pushing his tongue against his cheek as he did so. He smiled. "It comes out about right."

  "You get a twinkle in your eye when you figure something out," Sasha said with a lopsided grin. "Okay, share."

  "The evacuation. It almost matches."

  Sasha's brow wrinkled, "The evacuation? How can that have anything to do with this? The town doesn't even know this ship is here."

  "If it isn't the aurora, then it has to be something else," Zach insisted. "Like us."