by Kate Kyle
She glanced at him over her shoulder. The corners of her mouth twitched, but she didn't say anything for a while.
"Okay, let's try again," she said eventually, calm. "I've found absolutely nothing wrong with the ship or any system onboard, except for the comms. I've not touched them though, as advised."
"Not curious?"
"The ship said not to try to reconnect under any circumstances."
"As far as I can read, there is no 'under no circumstances' in the text." He pointed at the screen.
Another twitch of her regular face, and maybe even a slight drop in color, or was he imagining it?
"I have no grounds to doubt my ship," she said slowly. "So how about you come up with another way to understand what's happened."
She had a fair point.
"What's the first impression you had from this message?" he asked.
"That as long as we keep going to our destination without turning the comms on, we'd be fine. How about you?"
He thought about it for a moment.
"That your on-board computer is smart. I didn't know they make them this smart," he said.
She stared at him.
"What do you mean this smart?" she asked.
"Turning off all the instruments and itself."
"Self-preservation, I suppose."
He poked his index finger in the air.
"That's what I mean. Self-preservation is for intelligent beings only."
"No, that's a biological survival mechanism. Any plant can do it."
"Exactly: it's built-in into bio system, but has to be added to computers."
"I think you might have slept through the past fifty years or so," Jax said mumbling just loud enough for him to hear. No doubt, entirely on purpose.
He decided to ignore the comment and its point.
"Okay, okay," he picked up his train of thought. He was still struggling to see things clearly. "Maybe you're right and this is nothing so out of the ordinary. There was something else that makes me think the ship's computer is smarter than it should be."
"Can you be more specific?" she asked.
"Sadly, stasis mush is still here," he said, tapping his temple. "Maybe it's the fact that she signed off by saying 'goodbye' instead of, I don't know… starting the countdown to shut down?"
Her glance was a nanosecond away from an eye roll.
"Yeah, because it's a good artificial intelligence protecting stupid humans from contacting their not much smarter masters and preventing the whole solar system from collapse this way…" she snapped.
He threw both his arms in the air. Honestly, one couldn't win with this woman. What did she have to prove and to whom?
"Alright, I give up," he said, "But before I stop talking about it, how old is this ship?"
"About twenty-five years, I believe. It was one of the first built for the PanAm Confederation," she replied. "But it was refitted earlier this year to serve as a medical transport."
She believes?
Now, he had something to pin her on.
"You're flying it for the first time, right?"
Another shrug. She did an awful lot of shrugging. Jax's face might have been impossible to read, but her shoulders compensated for her lack of expression.
He considered his next step carefully. The point of the question was very clear and he wouldn't let himself deviate from it for the stupid sake of proving his point.
Maybe.
"Can you fly us safely to our destination?"
She exhaled loudly.
"Listen, mate. You clearly have a problem with me being here, don't you?" she asked, annoyed.
If there was ever the time to lose it, this was it.
"Listen, oversensitive princess. I was told that a pilot called Hunter Davis would transport me safely, in stasis, to the space port of Segedunum, so I can get to Si-Carb medical facility and have this half fucked-up shit removed from my head."
So far, all true.
"And now, " he continued, "I'm stuck, awake, on a ship, half-way to my destination, without any communication with the external world, or understanding of what's happened. On top of which, I’m with a pilot, whose name I don't recognize and who's prickly and unable to work together to find a solution. I've paid a lot of money to get where I'm going."
Dark blotches broke out on her suntanned face.
"Yes, of course, it's always about money," she fired back.
"Not this time, Princess. This time it's about…" he paused with his mouth open.
Shit. Control yourself better, Rutger!
"About what?" she asked.
He pulled himself back into the chair, carefully considering his next words.
"About getting safely to our destination: me, you, that strange woman in your cabin and everyone else."
She folded her arms across her chest.
"Are you sure, it's all?" she asked.
There was much, much more at stake, but he wouldn't tell her. Anyway, not now. Maybe, not ever.
"There maybe more," he said calmly. "But we need to work together," he paused and clapped his hands. The sound had the desired effect. She glanced at him. "We have to work together to find out what's going on, okay?" he repeated.
"Hard to argue with that," she grumbled. "I need to pilot the ship and keep an eye on the system. What do you offer to do?"
Rutger plopped back into his seat and let his sore muscles relax. Maybe, just maybe, they were finally reaching a decent starting point to solve the mystery.
"If the main computer system is shut down, we have to use our brains. In my humble opinion of a…" he paused. No, this was not a moment to be smug, pay back or tell a lie or the truth for that matter. "In my humble opinion," he picked up, "we need to figure out why only two of us have been woken up and why."
"Makes sense to me. And how do you propose to do that? Obviously, you already have more knowledge than I do and don't intend to share it."
"Listen," he said, wearily. "This is becoming tiring."
"It is, indeed," she cut in. "I've got a feeling that you're hiding something from me. I don't know if I can trust you."
He tensed again and grabbed the armrests of his chair.
Fuck…
They'd chosen the ship mainly because it was an emergency transport, expecting everything to be done in a hurry, without too many questions or too many opportunities for Rutger to be trapped in exactly this type of situation.
Would his inability to lie ever come handy?
"Listen, Jax…" he said slowly, running through the possible options.
Careful… very careful…
"My biggest goal for now is to reach Segedunum and the clinic in one piece. This is also your goal. I have no intention of harming anyone or anything on this ship, or, in fact, in the city, or the entire Rebels' Republic. I may have my own secrets, but they don't matter for now. I can understand your objections and I can see you've got trust issues, but for now we have to find a way forward."
"I'm keeping an eye on the way forward," she said grumpily and pointed at the screen. Her eyebrows were still drawn in.
"Good. You also need to keep an eye on a lot of other things. So, let me check whatever I can check, and then I'll report everything I've found to you. Agreed?"
She sat back; her arms still folded on her chest.
"And what will I get out of this agreement?"
"A possibility of finding out what's happened."
She looked at him through narrowed eyes.
"Whatever," she shrugged. "The computer said that the near-field comms should be working. You can't see much beyond the info directly pertaining to the flight and the operations of the ship. But I will give you access." She pulled a small handheld screen from under the console and pushed in his direction.
He smiled, perfectly happy with the offering.
She turned to her console again and, after a few seconds silence, the small screen in his hand lit up.
"All yours, read only, of course. T
yping only. It's been pre-programmed to respond to my voice."
"Thanks," he said. "No screens for passengers?" he asked. That was strange.
"Passengers?" she said and gave a sharp laugh. "Check the shipping manifest and tell me if you see any passengers there."
He chuckled.
"Okay, that's a fair point. I'll let you know if I find any passengers, but I'll start with the cargo."
He brought up the list. And since he knew all that there was to know about the person stored in pod 3, he tapped the name of the person in pod 7. The pod description showed that the storage unit itself was empty.
Lulu Zhou's file opened up. There was a small green, blinking dot beside her name.
What was that?
"Are your passengers, I mean, cargo, tagged?" he asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised. You're precious, they don't want you lost or stolen."
"Blinking green means alive, I gather?"
"I wouldn't have a clue. You're supposed to be in stasis, right?"
"Another fair point."
He tapped on the green dot. As expected, the screen changed, showing the dot on the background of what looked like a room. A big room. With seven small, blue dots neatly arranged on both sides of it.
"Can you see if she's in your cabin?" he asked.
Her hands froze over the console.
"What do you mean?" she asked, a note of suspicion clear in her voice.
"I'm asking if you can check whether Ms. Zhou is in your cabin."
A second later the main screen displayed the live stream from the pilot's pod. As far as Rutger could tell, the room was empty.
"Crap," Jax groaned. "Where is she?"
Rutger studied his screen again. The green, pulsing dot had just approached one of the blue dots.
"My guess is the medical cargo bay. Near one of the stasis pods."
4
Jax
Jax jumped to her feet. Yeah, this strange, tall guy had irritated the crap out of her, and he was holding out on her for sure, but the woman …. What the hell was she doing in the medical cargo bay?
Did the ship wake them to annoy Jax? Was it some sort of a test?
Nah, there was probably some completely rational explanation for this. Usually, there was. Like the day the water supply in the Academy's camp broke down. Too old of an infrastructure which couldn't cope with a heavy rainfall, was the verdict of the inspection. Not a sabotage, as some trainers suspected. Because aspiring pilots didn't really want to get pregnant and would happily drink water, like everyone else, clean, fresh, enriched in all needed vitamins, microelements, and the fertility suppressor.
Jax clenched her teeth. Better not to think about those few crazy days, and particularly their consequences.
"Going to check on her. You?" she asked.
"Working on getting more info from the system," he replied, adding a grin.
A pang of paranoia hit her stomach. She locked the ship's direction in. The map of the local area floated back onto the big screen. With her handheld device in the pocket of her jacket, she touched lightly her right hip. Yep, her stun gun was still there. Ships built in Rebels' Republic had a space debris defense laser and one just-in-case handheld temporary paralyzer for each crew member. Any more weaponry taken onboard and the ship wouldn't depart. The engine would simply get locked. It was how you could rule the world without a gun: all you needed was knowledge and technology.
A stun gun would have to do.
After all, she had just seen Lulu Zhou barely able to walk by herself.
Unless the woman had been faking. But why would she do that?
Jax winced. She had to keep her suspicious nature in check, otherwise she'd lose her ability to think clearly.
"Keep your comms channel open in case I need your help," she said and headed for the cargo bay.
Her guts clenched tighter as the entrance to the cockpit closed smoothly behind her. Morning sickness? No, it was too early in the pregnancy for that. It had to be fear. Or simply paranoia from leaving someone she didn't know at the helm of the ship, even if it locked and would respond only to her voice or her fingerprint until she logged out, or until someone from the HQ took control of the ship remotely.
Or until a powerful and very smart alien entity invaded the ship…
"Ha-ha," Jax said out loud to herself. Sometimes, it helped shut out her internal paranoiac.
She did appreciate the upsides of her lack of trust, but sometimes it could get out of proportion.
Besides, maybe leaving Baron Rutger in the cockpit on his own wasn't as dangerous as Lulu Zhou in the medical cargo bay.
Actually, that was an important point.
Jax sprinted towards the elevator and, moments later, she arrived on the lower deck.
She saw the woman as soon as the elevator door opened: Ms. Zhou stood by the control screen and tapping at it.
Jax's heart kicked into the fifth gear, and so did her long, strong legs. She burst through the opening door, hitting her right shoulder. How much force was she allowed to use? She knew she could manhandle and even stun a passenger who placed the safety of self or others at risk, but what about medical cargo? These people were supposed to be fragile and in stasis, or coma, or whatever that was called!
"Step away from the screen!" Jax yelled and rushed towards the control panel.
The woman didn't respond. She seemed to be completely engrossed in whatever she was doing with the screen.
Jax stopped a few feet away from the woman. She was taller than Lulu, which made checking on the screen easier.
The screen flashed the message, "Access denied".
What a relief.
It still didn't address the issue of Lulu Zhou being at the panel, or, for that matter, out of Jax's cabin.
Jax pulled her teaser out.
"Ms. Zhou, step aside from the screen, or I'll fire."
The woman froze, her hands hovering just above the touchscreen.
"I just wanted to…" she said, her voice weak and quivering.
"Hands up and move away from the screen," Jax repeated calmly.
The woman stood motionless.
Maybe she needed a little push… Jax put her stun gun to the woman's back, just above her right shoulder blade.
"This is my paralyzer, Ms. Zhou. I am the captain of this ship and you must obey my orders. Move away from the screen."
The woman's hands sprang up. She no longer wore the wrist unit.
So much for staying in touch if you were in trouble…
Jax stepped aside to make room for Ms. Zhou, while still holding the teaser to the woman's back.
Lulu Zhou stepped away from the screen, still staring at it.
"What did you attempt to do, Ms. Zhou?" Jax asked. She pushed herself between the screen and the woman. Just in case.
Lulu Zhou's big, brown eyes filled with moisture.
Was she about to do a weepy number on Jax?
Jax tensed her shoulders. She hated excessive displays of emotions, as they almost always were manipulative in nature. Well, at least in Jax's experience.
"What are you doing here, Ms. Zhou?" Jax asked. She had many more questions, but 'one question at a time' was the best way to gain answers.
"Just checking if all is okay with the parameters," the woman replied, her voice still trembling.
"This area is operated by the ship's computer system. It's been set up to deliver everyone to our destination safely. You have no right to be here. I mean outside your pod," she corrected herself.
"But I have been woken up early. I must check if everything is okay with the systems," the woman protested.
"Why would you? It's none of your business what happens outside your pod."
Lulu Zhou's face darkened. She lowered her hands a little.
Jax tensed and gripped the teaser she was holding at the height of the woman's right arm, harder.
"Of course, it is my business. My own safety is my business. And your business is the
safely of all your passengers, whichever state they are in. But since you're busy with something else, as a responsible person I decided to-"
"To take things into your hands and put others and yourself in danger?" Jax cut in.
"Are you accusing me of something, Captain? I've done nothing wrong and my intentions are honorable."
There was a slight shift in the woman's attitude and in her tactics. Jax was almost certain that the whole display was meant to be a distraction.
Jax might have not known exactly what was going on, but she could smell a liar from afar.
What was Ms. Zhou lying about?
"You've done nothing wrong, because the screen didn't allow you to access the control panel," Jax said calmly. "If you're intentions are honorable and you have nothing but the safety of yourself and others travelling on this ship at heart, you should remain in my sleeping pod. Because that is the safest place for you to be at the moment."
Lulu Zhou's eyes narrowed. She leant forward slightly. The end of Jax's taser was just millimeters away from the woman's flesh.
"I'm here because you and your lousy ship can't ensure our safety."
Jax took a deep breath through her nose.
Yeah…
Without taking her eyes off the insubordinate passenger, Jax touched the control panel screen, which stopped flashing.
"This is Jax McCarthy," she said slowly and clearly. "Return to preprogrammed procedure. Display room parameters."
She couldn't see the screen, but she hoped it was now showing what she wanted it to show.
Jax pressed her lips together. A smug smile was probably not appropriate right then.
"And this is because," Jax said slowly, cocking her head slightly to her right, to point to the screen behind her. "The amount of oxygen in this room is very limited and it's started to drop."
Ms. Zhou's face drained of color.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"Humans who use up oxygen are not supposed to be here at all until the room is opened for disembarking," Jax explained patiently.
This was actually an interesting strategy. Jax, even though taller and with more muscle mass needed more oxygen, but she had trained to cope in similar situations. Ms. Zhou, on the other hand, was weakened by her medical condition, as well as the stasis, and should start showing signs of oxygen distress. And once she'd collapsed, Jax could simply carry her out of the room.