Josh pulled open the door and the team entered. A surprised Captain Torgenson looked up from behind the front desk.
“How did you get here?” he demanded.
“You didn’t make it easy, that’s for sure,” answered Captain Stoner.
“Why are you here?”
“Things do not seem to be going well. Perhaps I can be of assistance.”
“You have no authority here. I am in charge.”
“I received a distress call from Lieutenant Shasta. Where is he?”
“He is under my command now.”
“Yes, but he called me. I need to know that he is OK.”
“He is fine. Now, leave. You have no business on this planet.”
“I need to see for myself that he is OK. Actually, I would like my medical officer to check him out. If she feels he is fine, then we will leave.”
“If you insist. However, I don’t like this one bit,” mumbled Captain Torgenson. “Shasta is in the Communications Station. Do you know the way?”
“Yes, I do,” answered Josh.
“You and the doctor may go. The other two can wait here.”
Josh nodded for Dave and Keith to take a seat. He placed his arm on Marlana’s waist and guided her out the door. They headed back up the 7 Passageway.
Colin Evans knocked on the space pod door. He was baffled by Beverly’s reaction to their meeting. He would have expected her to be overjoyed to see him. But instead she seemed subdued and evasive. After the landing party descended into the city below, he and Beverly were alone. He had wanted to continue the hugging and kissing but instead Beverly excused herself. She took the cat and locked herself inside the James K. It had been over an hour and she was still in the craft.
“Beverly, if you won’t come out, can’t I at least come in?” he shouted. There was a click and the door opened. Colin entered. Beverly was still holding the cat. Her eyes were bloodshot.
“What have you been crying about?”
“About you,” she answered. “You know that I love you.”
“Of course, I know that.” He bent down and kissed her on the lips. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
“I am. Seeing you reminded me of how much I do love you.”
She looked up at him. Yes, she did love him. He was perfect. Very tall. Gorgeous. Extremely intelligent. Self-confident. Out-going. Headed for a brilliant career. Their future was cemented in place. Colin had a civilian job waiting for him once he completed his five year commitment to UGC, which was in another two years. He would be a junior partner at Hardwood, Thomas and Bittle Architects, Inc. in Boise, Idaho. Her college professor, Dr. Sawyer had promised her a faculty position at Boise State University teaching environmental studies. She had made a three year commitment to UGC.
But she also loved Keith. In some ways he was the complete opposite of Colin. Keith lacked self-confidence. He was shy. He planned on a long tenure with UGC. But now his career was in trouble. Obviously Colin offered her a more stable future. One that would make her parents proud. But is that really the future she wanted? Until she met Keith, she thought it was. Now she wasn’t so sure.
“But, it also reminded me of how much I miss you,” she added.
“I know,” said Colin. “I miss you too.” He took Penelope out of her arms and placed the cat on the floor of the craft. Then he lifted Beverly up and carried her into the rear of the space pod. He gently lowered himself onto one of the leather seats and with Beverly now on his lap he began kissing her passionately. She kissed him back.
Chief Warrant Officer Jackson Greene heard the announcement summoning him to the Bridge. He quickly turned off his computer and grabbed his belt pack. He checked to make sure he had a flash drive and his recording device in the pack. Then he reached for his cane as he headed out the door.
As he waited for the elevator Greene reflected on the events of the past month. He had to admit to himself that everything had gone much better than he had anticipated. He had been quite overly distressed when he first learned about his assignment. While it was an answer to his childhood dreams, he was also quite terrified of the prospect of being the sole blind person aboard a space vessel thousands of miles away from home. If he wasn’t accepted by the crew, life would be very lonely. But to his surprise, the crew of the Gladiator, thanks to Captain Stoner, had been treating him with total respect. Yes, he was enjoying his job immensely. The only drawback was having to be away from Liz.
The elevator arrived and Greene rode it down to the Bridge. The door slid open and before he even stepped off, Dennis Pearson shouted, “Jackson, I need you to analyze that shield that’s coming from Brisula. What’s it made of? What’s its power source? Can we penetrate it?”
“Yes, sir,” responded Jackson. “I’ll get on it right away.”
He walked over to the science station where Commander Andrews normally was stationed. Sitting down at the console, Jackson logged in and within seconds was quickly into the project.
Dennis Pearson watched the young man. He had a lot of admiration for him as did the Captain and Commander Andrews. Dave in particular had developed quite a lot of respect for Greene and had reported that he felt that the officer had the potential to be a very fine science technician. Dennis thought about Loring and how he had tried to convince everyone that Greene was the spy by insinuating that he headed up a radical group of blind people. Loring, I hope you burn in hell.
As they walked along the silver corridors leading to the Communications Station, memories of those thirteen days of captivity flooded Josh’s mind. He had finally gotten those images out of his brain and now they were returning with a vengeance. Just seeing the doorway to the Communications Station brought back the awful memory of Keith holding the bloody scissors after stabbing the Brisulan guard in the neck. Josh closed his eyes and shuddered.
“Are you OK, Captain?” asked Marlana.
“Just a bad memory of something that happened here,” said Josh opening his eyes.
They entered. There were three people in the room: one officer and two slaves. The slaves were feeding computer printouts into a large mechanical shredding machine. They were bound in leg-irons and hand chains. The officer was sitting at the computer station. He was wearing a blue UGC uniform. When the Captain and doctor entered, the officer turned around. It was Wayne Shasta.
“Wayne, you’re all right?” asked Josh.
“Why, yes, Captain. I am fine,” answered Wayne.
“But, on that last call it sounded like you were hurt.”
“Call?” questioned Wayne.
“We were cut off when you screamed out in obvious pain.”
“Oh, that,” giggled Shasta. “No, sir. I wasn’t watching where I was going and I walked into a post. Quite embarrassing.” Shasta smiled at the Captain. “I had quite a bump on my forehead for a few days.”
“I see,” said Josh. “Well, let’s have the doctor take a look and make sure you’re all right. This is our new chief medical officer, Dr. Marlana Berg.”
While Dr. Berg retrieved her medical kit from her backpack, Josh studied Lieutenant Shasta. He stood quite motionless alongside the computer station with little expression on his face. Something seemed odd to Josh although he couldn’t quite say what it was.
“Joban asked me to say hello,” Josh said to Wayne.
“Joban?” said Wayne with a quizzical look on his face. “Of course. Yes. Please say hello to him and all of the other crew members. I do miss everyone.”
“I am sure you do, Lieutenant. We miss you too.”
Marlana approached, ready to begin her examination. She winked at the Captain and it was his cue to leave. He wandered over to the shredder where he picked up some of the documents from a pile waiting to be shredded. The printouts were official financial records from the Brisula Court House. They contained statements of the city’s revenues, expenditures, taxes, levies, and loans for the last several decades. Why, thought Josh, would they be shredding these original documen
ts? Surely this is important information that is needed in the rebuilding of Brisula City. As Josh continued to study the papers it became clear how deep the Tradians had seeped into the structure of the Brisulan government. Huge amounts of revenue and taxes were being paid annually to the Tradian Galactic Army.
“Captain,” called Marlana. Josh dropped the papers he was reading and walked over to the doctor and Shasta. “I have completed my exam. Mr. Shasta is in excellent health. His bump on the head has completely healed and he does not seem to show any ill effects from his recent captivity.”
“Thank you, doctor,” responded Josh.
“And I can’t help but add that I told you so,” the doctor gloated smugly. “There was no need to return to Brisula. I said that Mr. Shasta probably just tripped or stubbed his toe. Turns out I was right after all.”
“I guess you were.” Turning away from Marlana, Josh addressed Wayne. “Lieutenant Shasta, why are those documents being shredded?”
“That, Captain Stoner, is not any of your concern,” said a loud authoritative voice. Josh recognized it as the voice of Victor Torgenson. He turned around and was face-to-face with Captain Torgenson.
CHAPTER SIX
June 23, 1600 Hours
“How far from here is the Communications Station?” Dave Andrews asked. He and Keith Hampton had been sitting in the Dispatch office for over three hours. A few minutes after Captain Stoner and Dr. Berg left, Captain Torgenson also left. One security guard remained behind the desk.
“Not very far, about three blocks. We passed it on our way here,” answered Keith.
“Then it shouldn’t be taking the Captain this long to talk to Lieutenant Shasta.”
“No. Unless he wasn’t there and they had to go somewhere else.”
“I suppose that’s possible. But it still seems like it’s taking a long time.” Dave stood up. “I think we should look for the Captain.”
The office door opened with a bang. Victor Torgenson stormed in.
“Gentleman. Captain Stoner and the doctor have returned to the surface. The Captain has asked me to tell you to also return to the surface. My guard will escort you. Have a good day.” He walked past the desk and through a doorway in the back of the office.
The guard came out from behind the desk. He was one of the officers who had been with Torgenson when he took over command of the Gladiator. The guard, whose uniform had the name Danielli embroidered on it, held a zip gun in his hand and pointed it at the front door.
“I hardly think a gun is necessary,” said Commander Andrews. The guard ignored him and instead put his hand on Keith Hampton’s shoulder and pushed him forward. Dave nodded and the two Gladiator officers left the Dispatch office. They walked silently up the 7 Passageway with Danielli behind them until they reached the ropes hanging down at the Boulder Entrance.
“Up,” ordered Danielli.
Keith and Dave each grabbed a rope and slowly pulled themselves up to the planet’s surface.
It was quiet. There was no movement. No one was around.
“Perhaps they went to find Commodore Naper on the other side of the Lake,” suggested Andrews.
“Or they could be in the James K,” said Hampton.
“You check the space pod. I am going to check the other side of the Lake. I’d like to talk to Commodore Naper anyway and see if he can shed any light on Captain Torgenson’s actions. We will meet back here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Andrews headed for the Lake. Keith jogged over to the James K. He opened the door, stepped in, and walked to the back of the vessel. Asleep on the floor was Beverly and Lieutenant Evans, their naked bodies wrapped around each other. Keith quickly diverted his eyes and turned to leave. His foot brushed against one of the chair posts making a slight bumping sound. It was enough to wake the sleeping couple. They jumped up and grabbed for their clothes.
“Keith,” shouted Beverly.
Keith did not stop. He reached the front of the craft and exited.
The lights on the science station console boards were all aglow in the Science Center. Lieutenant Junior Grade Bonnie Shea was in awe. Even though Chief Warrant Officer Jackson Greene couldn’t see the lights, he knew exactly which buttons were lit up. He was in complete control. When Lieutenant Commander Pearson had assigned her to assist Greene she was somewhat nervous as she wondered how she was going to work with someone who was blind. But there had been nothing to worry about. Jackson was very competent and showed her exactly how they could function together using his adapted equipment. In fact she was actually enjoying herself.
They had spent the last few hours analyzing the force field surrounding Brisula. Like most force fields it was invisible and impenetrable. But unlike the usual fields that were constructed of energy, this one was not. As best as Jackson could determine, the shield was made up of a dense hard substance. So far he had been unable to ascertain the exact identity of the substance, but he was able to inventory all its properties.
Jackson stood up and stretched his arms out toward the ceiling. He reached under his chair for his cane. “Let’s take a break,” he said. “I can use a cup of coffee. What about you?”
“Sure,” answered Bonnie.
They strolled down the hall and waited for the elevator. The doors opened and Bonnie was delighted to see Kyung Ahn.
“Hi,” greeted Ahn. “Where are you guys headed?
“We were going to get some coffee,” answered Bonnie.
“Great. I’m headed for the Leisure Deck. You can get coffee there.” He pushed the button for Deck Eight. When the elevator stopped Kyung grabbed Bonnie’s hand and the two skipped out the door and down the corridor leaving Jackson to manage on his own.
The Leisure Deck was a large spacious area, brightly lit, and outfitted with various gaming areas including ping pong, volleyball, badminton, bowling, basketball, and card tables. Like the Messdeck it had video games and vending machines. It was crowded with crew members on an afternoon break. When they spotted Ensign Ahn several of the crew began shouting, “Play something.”
“I don’t know if I can,” said Ahn holding up his left hand. “I don’t know if my finger is completely healed yet from when I cut it with a knife.”
“Play,” the crew began to chant loudly. “PLAY.”
Kyung went over to the piano against the wall. He sat down, cracked his knuckles, placed his hands on the keyboard, closed his eyes, and began to play. The only sound in the room was the melodic notes and chords of Music of the Night.
The Ensign played for about a half hour then joined Jackson and Bonnie for a quick cup of coffee before the three officers headed back to work.
“He is a very fine pianist,” commented Greene as he and Bonnie walked back to the Science Center.
“It is one of the things I love most about him,” answered Bonnie. “As you may have figured out, we are dating.”
“I wondered about that.” They arrived back at the lab. “Just a few more computations and I think we are ready to present a report to Dennis Pearson.”
Keith Hampton closed his eyes as he leaned against the Boulder. He could not erase the picture of Beverly in the arms of another man. Could it really be true? She was actually engaged to someone else this entire time. How could she have led him on? Was he so dumb not to have realized that he was being played for a fool? What must Captain Stoner think of him now?
“Keith?”
He opened his eyes.
Beverly was standing in front of him. She had put her uniform back on. She looked at him wide-eyed and almost apologetically.
He stared at her, shocked that she would have the gall to even speak his name.
“Go away,” he said. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Please Keith. Let me explain.”
“There’s nothing more to explain.”
“Keith, I didn’t think we were ever going to be rescued.”
“Nonetheless I deserved to know the truth.” He turned away from her.
“I suppose,” she said. “But, I needed you. I wouldn’t have survived without the love you gave me.”
“That’s mighty selfish,” snapped Keith still not looking at Beverly.
“I don’t think so,” she snapped back. “You probably wouldn’t have made it without my love either.”
Now he whipped his body back around to face her with anger in his eyes. “That’s hogwash. I survived because I am a highly trained officer of the U.S.S. Gladiator and I am good at what I do. My love for you was real and not just a circumstance of our captivity as apparently it was in your case. Now please, leave me alone.” He started to walk away when he noticed Commander Andrews coming up the pathway accompanied by another officer.
“Lieutenant Hampton, have you located Captain Stoner?” asked Andrews stopping in front of Keith and Beverly.
“No, sir,” answered Keith. “I assume you didn’t find him either.”
“No. This is Commodore Naper. He has not seen or heard from either of the Captains,” said Andrews. “My assumption is that Captain Stoner is still down below.”
Andrews asked Ensign Glenna if she had been able to contact the Gladiator from the James K. Keith watched her face turn red as she lied to Commander Andrews telling him that she had been continually trying without success.
It was decided that with Commodore Naper’s assistance, Colin Evans and Ensign Glenna would continue to try to contact the Gladiator and Victor Torgenson from the surface. Dave Andrews and Keith Hampton would return down below to look for Captain Stoner and Dr. Berg. Just as they were getting ready to descend down the ropes Keith had an idea.
“Commander, sir,” said Keith. “Brisula is quite a large city. There are a lot of places to look for the Captain.”
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