Ghost in the Dark (Galactic Axia Ghost Series Book 1)

by Jim Laughter

  While they waited, Myra recalled what she’d learned about the force field. Mary had been the first ship to successfully get through the field. She had experimented with the upper limits of the field and discovered that although it would deflect ships coming in at an angle, and disable ships trying to go straight in, she could negotiate it by slowly easing through it using minimum power. The transition took almost an hour, so Myra and Baby had a little extra time.

  The last of the ground vehicles passed through the entrance and the gatekeeper signaled Baby that she could proceed. Although Myra’s piloting skills were proficient enough to do the tricky maneuver, she preferred to let Baby do the flying while she enjoyed the ride.

  The gatekeeper smiled and watched the little pink ship turn on edge in preparation to negotiate the portal. He’d witnessed Baby’s last flight out through the portal when she’d rushed to the rescue of her mother. He was amazed that she didn’t leave paint on the weathered stone when she went through. Now she was back under more relaxed circumstances.

  “Are you ready, Myra?” asked Baby as she tilted over on one side.

  “Why do you always ask?” responded Myra with a smile. “We’ve been doing this for years.”

  “Because I remember that time you weren’t ready and nearly fell out of your chair,” came back Baby. Myra colored at the thought.

  “That was a long time ago when I was trying to get used to these limited cloned eyes instead of using your sensors!” Myra replied with indignation.

  “I just wanted to show respect to a poor handicapped waif of a girl,” answered Baby.

  “I’ll show you handicapped!” replied Myra indignantly. “Let me have the controls!”

  “Okay hotshot,” Baby said. “Just don’t scratch my new paint.”

  Baby released the controls and Myra took over. She backed the ship up a ways and put it on an even keel.

  “Watch this!” cried Myra and accelerated the ship toward the narrow opening. When they got within one hundred yards of the entrance she started doing continuous snap rolls as they rushed toward the gate.

  “Hey!!!” cried Baby. They spiraled through the portal with mere inches to spare. As they flew through, Myra could hear a long, low whistle from the gatekeeper coming over the outside audio pick-ups. She smiled and brought the ship up into an inverted victory loop.

  “There! What do you think of that?” asked Myra. She leveled the ship and brought them to a standing hover.

  “I...I don’t kkknow..,” stammered Baby. “I had my eyes closed!” Myra snorted and resumed their journey toward the landing field.

  “You’re just a big chicken!” Myra said affectionately.

  “I am not a chicken,” answered Baby. “See? I have wings but no feathers!” She flapped her mechanical arms for Myra to see.

  Soon both ships landed on their reserved pads. A small delegation watched the landing from the viewing portal. The ships settled on the skids and opened their ramps. Ramor and the others came out to meet them.

  “I heard you had a bit of a scrap out there,” he said as Ane and Betty descended the ramp.

  “Yes we did,” Ane said with a shudder at the recollection.

  “We received your call for help and Myra and Baby blasted out of here in record time,” Ramor continued. “The early reports from the fleets sounded pretty grim.”

  “It most certainly was,” added Betty as she joined the group. They heard Baby and Myra talking and turned as Myra walked over toward them. As soon as she was clear, Baby lifted again and settled down at the front of the Mary Belle.

  “We’re glad Myra and Baby showed up when they did,” Ane continued.

  “We recorded her elapsed time to the battle and it was faster than even we thought she could do,” said Ramor. The group walked to the ground transportation that would take them to the complex of buildings at the far side of the field.

  “I understand she also now holds the record kill count for Red-tail ships in a single action,” Betty added and smiled at a blushing Myra.

  “You took out something like twenty or so before we even got there,” remarked Myra, trying to deflect the attention.

  “We better get inside,” announced Ramor. “We have a lot to cover with Krel.”

  When they reached the meeting room where Krel was waiting for them, he rose to greet them.

  “I’m happy to see all of you,” started Krel. “You gave us quite a scare out there, My Lady.”

  “That’s something I want to talk to you about,” Ane said. “How did so many Red-tails get to one spot in space without us knowing about it?”

  “We’re working on that situation right now, My Lady,” Krel said.

  “I thought we were working on a way to track them in space,” Ane said.

  “That’s true, My Lady,” Ramor said, “we’re developing a way of sensing the ion trails left by ships as they pass through space instead of having to rely on our proximity detectors.”

  “I’ve recently come across mathematics that suggest it might be possible,” Betty said. “But are you saying you have a working model?”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call it a working model,” answered Ramor. “It’s still somewhat experimental.”

  After clearing his throat, he continued.

  “We were puzzled about those Red-tails and their sudden appearance. We took the prototype out of the lab and put it aboard a ship. We went out to the area of the battle and found many indications of the Red-tail fleet. We traced back along the vector of their fleet, and then the trail seemed to disappear.”

  “What happened to it?” asked Ane.

  “Turns out that it hadn’t disappeared, but had just broken up,” said Ramor. “When we increased the sensitivity of the equipment, we were able to trace the individual trails left by each Red-tail ship.”

  “Where did the trails lead?” Myra asked, obviously interested in this development.

  “Everywhere,” answered Ramor.

  Astonishment swept the small group and Ramor hastily continued.

  “As far as we can tell, the Red-tails congregated shortly before you saw them. They came from all directions in groups of two or three, or even singularly.”

  “That explains why we didn’t see them on our way to Firstas!” exclaimed Myra.

  “Yes,” said Krel. “Such a maneuver would have taken excellent coordination by that many ships.”

  “This means the Red-tails have changed tactics again,” said Ane thoughtfully. “That gives us another reason to solve both the mystery of the missing ship and how they become animated. If we’re to meet this new threat, we’ll need as many of the new ships as we can field.”

  “We see that need too and that’s why we were expecting you,” Ramor said. “We’re glad to have the Mary Belle here so we can run some experiments of our own.”

  “Mary?” called Krel. “Could you move over to the test area by Ramor’s lab?”

  Several moments passed before they heard a response.

  “Okay,” responded Mary lifelessly.

  “How long has she been like that?”

  “Ever since the little ship disappeared,” answered Betty. “We’ve made no progress since that first meeting nearly two weeks ago.”

  The group fell silent while they all contemplated the situation.

  ∞∞∞

  Walking through the corridors of the palace, the chief of security enjoyed the relative quiet that pervaded when the empress was away. He’d heard the reports of the battle, and if his hair hadn’t already been gray, it would have been by the time the short battle was over. His last report was that she was safe on Firstas, so he knew she was in good hands.

  Rounding the corner, he entered the corridor leading to the palace museum. As he approached, he noticed a contingent of repairman inspecting the workings of the sealed room. Puzzled, he walked over to the foreman to inquire just what was going on.

  “What seems to be the problem?”

  “Oh, hi Chief,” the for
eman responded, looking up from the clipboard of work orders in his hand. “We received a work order about the floor mechanism needing lubrication. We thought while the room was down, it would be a good time to do the work.”

  “May I see that order?” asked the security chief. “No one told me about the room going down.”

  “Sure,” responded the foreman as he handed the flimsy work order over. The security chief examined the two-week old request. He noticed the guard on duty had posted the time the room had sunk down into the bedrock.

  Without saying a word, the chief handed the work order to the foreman. He turned back toward his office. In his mind he compared the timing of the room going down with the events at the institute. He knew the room disappeared whenever something threatened the safety of the Axia.

  By the reaction to the disappearance of the new little ship, he gauged that the little ship was more important than he first thought. Putting two and two together, he concluded the ship’s disappearance had caused the museum room to drop. He broke into a run and hurried down the hall to his office where he picked up the telephone and put in a call to the comm center that handled signals between the planets.

  While he waited for the connection to Firstas, he realized that he had the first break in the case of the missing ship. Now they would know the exact time it had disappeared.

  ∞∞∞

  They were having trouble at the test area on Firstas. Finally, Ramor called over to the guest quarters and asked for Ane.

  “What seems to be the problem, Ramor?” asked Empress Ane after she picked up her extension.

  “Well, as you know, we’re trying out some experiments to determine how Baby and the other little ship became animated,” he began. “One of the experiments was to try to duplicate exactly what happened at the institute the night the ship disappeared.”

  He paused and Ane felt it necessary to prompt him.

  “So? What’s so important now?”

  “Well,” continued Ramor hesitantly, “part of the experiment involved putting another little ship into the cargo hold of the Mary Belle. When we tried to do that, Mary shouted ‘No!’ and slammed the cargo hatch shut. Since then, all she’s done is cry and she won’t tell us why.”

  Ane was silent for a few moments as she fought down her anger at those who did not understand.

  “Ramor, just leave Mary alone for a while, I’ll be right over.”

  “Yes, My Lady,” replied Ramor and broke the connection.

  Empress Ane called for ground transportation and rode to the front entrance of the test building. The car had barely come to a stop before Ane was out and running toward the Mary Belle. She noticed that only the usual troopers were around her, and there was no sign of any technicians.

  As she approached the closed front hatch, she called out. “Mary! It’s me. Open up and let me in.”

  Without response, the hatch of the Mary Belle opened and the ramp extended to Ane’s feet. She walked up the ramp and the hatch closed behind her. Ane entered the control room and sat down in the control chair.

  Empress Ane sat silently for several minutes before gently whispering a single word.

  “Mary?”

  Several more minutes passed before there was any response. Ane heard the click of the lock on the door to Mary’s room and took it for an invitation to enter. Slowly and carefully she entered the room. Lying on the bunk was the covered decoy they had used at times to fool the curious.

  Taking a seat in one of two chairs, Ane sat silently for another minute before she spoke again. In a voice soft and subdued, she carefully spoke to her best friend.

  “Mary?” she whispered. Tears ran down her face. “I’m sorry.”

  Mary started to cry audibly and Ane joined her in tears as they shared Mary’s grief.

  ∞∞∞

  Betty and Krel were discussing various technical aspects of the lost little ship when the ringing phone on the corner of Krel’s desk interrupted their conversation. Krel excused himself and answered the phone. After a moment, he switched the call to the speaker so Betty could take part.

  “Go ahead,” Krel said to the speaker box.

  “Is either Empress Ane or Professor Ebilizer there?” asked the voice that Betty recognized as the chief of security at the palace on Shalimar.

  “Yes, I’m here,” responded Betty. “The Empress is presently unavailable.”

  “It’s not an emergency but I may have a new lead on the missing ship,” the chief said excitably.

  “Go on,” prompted Betty, her hopes aroused, she slid forward in her seat.

  “As you may remember, one of the missing pieces of information we need is an approximate time of when the ship disappeared. I just found record of the museum room going down three minutes after 2 a.m. on the morning the ship disappeared. Considering the urgency you and the Empress attached to the disappearance, I surmise the importance of this little ship was enough that its disappearance would somehow trigger the room to go down!” he finished breathlessly.

  “That’s great!” replied Betty. “Now we can narrow our search of records to a more manageable task.”

  “That’s just what I thought,” answered the chief. “I’m going to detail a squad of troopers to examine all of the flight records we have using the new timeframe as a reference.”

  “Good work, Chief,” Betty said. “I’ll inform Ane and Mary, and as soon as we’re done here, we’ll be back.”

  “Good,” responded the chief. “Please give my regards to the Empress and Mary.”

  “That is good news!” said Krel, who had listened while Betty and the chief spoke. They began to discuss the ways this new bit of information might help narrow their search for the missing little ship.

  Chapter Nine

  A cheer went up as the train pulled out of the station and chugged toward the mountains. Inside was a full load of tourists excited about their winter excursion. It was warm and balmy down here in the zone under weather control.

  Many of the passengers were in shirtsleeves, but a few sweltered in heavier clothing. The overhead luggage racks were crammed with down-filled coats and winter apparel for wear at the higher elevations. Many people also brought boots so they could stay warm in the snow. Those were jammed under the seats.

  Two locomotives snorted at the front of the train, the front one sporting a butterfly plow on its pilot. The management didn’t want any trouble out on the line and considered the extra traction power provided by the second steam engine good insurance.

  Of course, the sights and sounds of two locomotives chugging up the grade was very popular with the passengers. Many of them leaned out the windows so they could watch or photograph the steamers when the train rounded the long curves.

  Behind the engines, the management provided an open-air car for the more hardy tourists. Several passengers in this car were filming the engines and recording the music of the exhaust pouring from the stacks. An ancient poet had once said that a steam engine was a symphony of sight and sound.

  After refilling with water at the midpoint station, the train whistled off for the end of the line at the mountain village. The weather had grown colder, and almost everyone had donned their coats. The cold still didn’t keep some from leaning out of the windows to get faces full of cinders. Occasionally, on tight curves, branches loaded with snow would sway, and the snow loosened by the exhaust from the engines would spill down on those with their heads out.

  Bobby watched the train working its way up the mountain from his vantage-point at the lookout. He enjoyed watching it climb slowly up the grade, and he tried to be here as often as possible. What he didn’t particularly like much was the antics of the tourists when they arrived at the village.

  Every other day it was the same. The crowd would romp in the snow and flood the village with people who had probably never experienced snow before. Bobby learned to absent himself just before train time, and today was no exception.

  Today he was going to hike o
ver to the ridge on the other side of the lookout from the village. Grandpa Gary taught him to be prepared, so he carried extra food and emergency supplies for his foray. Earlier in the winter, he had proven himself a quick study in learning the tricks of winter mountain survival. Now no one worried when he went out alone.

  When he passed the station, he checked in with the stationmaster and left word where he would be and when he expected to return. He strapped on his snowshoes since he would be leaving the paths cleared for the visiting tourists.

  Bobby trudged out across the field and up the trail toward the ridge. He carried a paperback guide book with a history of the area about when it had been a mining camp many years ago. He found history very interesting and enjoyed rediscovering traces of the past.

  ∞∞∞

  “That’s all I can take for now,” said one of the repairmen as he pushed back from the workbench, his latest project a dismantled pile of parts.

  “Me too,” said one of the others. “Let’s break for lunch.”

  Around the room other repairmen also extracted themselves from whatever piece of equipment they were working on and headed for the mess hall.

  After getting whatever they were serving that day, the repairmen sat down in twos or threes to eat their lunch and shoot the breeze.

  “I think we’re finally starting to make some headway with that mountain of junk,” remarked one of the men.

  “Yeah,” agreed another. “I’ve worked on so many units that I could do it in my sleep.” They all laughed at the comment.

  “I was talking to the chief this morning and he’s very pleased with our progress,” someone said.

  “He should be,” replied the first man. “We’re ahead of schedule with the communication equipment and should be able to get to those sensors in the next day or so.”

  “I for one will be glad for the change,” his friend said. “I’m ready for something new.”

  ∞∞∞

  “It should be around here somewhere,” muttered Bobby to himself. He was searching for the entrance to the old Zahab mine. It was reputed to be one of the largest shafts ever bored into the mountains.