by AZ Kelvin
“Good, then take your position, Star Pilot,” said Trigger. “Stay on this heading until I order otherwise.”
JP nodded his head somberly for a moment then clapped his hands and rubbed them together in visible anticipation. “Yes, sir!” he said. He slid into the pilot seat with a grin and lovingly ran his fingers over the flight panels.
Yep…everything according to plan, Trigger smiled as JP took the pilot seat. “Gar, seal the life pod and set it adrift. Mark the coordinates in the nav computer.”
“Roger that!” Gar said, obviously eager to put the last piece into play.
He sealed the hatch and thumbed the launch control. The flashing ever-glo-green of the hatch lights flashed as the pod ejected from the ship. Now all they had to do was wait for Boss to come running onto the bridge and straight into their trap.
Boss did indeed arrive at the bridge in record time, but he did so fully dressed and armed. He looked around the bridge and saw them there: Hali, who couldn’t look Boss in the eye; JP, who wouldn’t even look in his direction; Gar, with a look of wishful violence on his face; and, Trigger, who was cool, calm, and in charge.
“Where’s Gina?” Boss focused his attention and anger solely on Trigger. His hand went to the grip of his gun as he looked Trigger in the eye.
“Now, now, Boss, think about what you’re doing. I’m sure you don’t want anyone getting hurt, especially Gina or Cat.” Trigger stood there unarmed and confident with his arms crossed over his chest, “put your gun on the floor.”
Boss’ face darkened, his anger surged, but then he thought of the women’s safety and he cooled down. He reached down, unclipped the gun belt, and let it slip to the floor.
“Hands up and kick it over,” said Gar, as he drew his own weapon and kept it trained on Boss. Boss did as he was told.
“So…this is how it ends,” Boss said.
“Ends?” said Trigger. “No, Boss, this is how it continues. Now…it’s just going to continue under my command. You and Gina and Cat, you all aren’t cut out for this life. It’s for the best for everyone, really. You’ll see.”
“You expect me to just hand over my ship…to you?” asked Boss.
“No, Boss, I expect you to go save Gina,” shared Trigger.
Boss’ anger surged again. “What have you done with her? If she’s been hurt…I will kill you, Trigger…I swear.”
“Now, come on, Boss,” Trigger said teasingly. “Nobody’s been hurt…not yet. That is, of course, up to you.”
“What have you done with them?” growled Boss.
“They’re on a little tour of the radiation field…in a life pod…with no comms, no beacon, and no thrusters…and very little air. Just drifting around, waiting for you to take the shuttle and pick them up.”
“Hali? JP?” Boss pleaded. “You two can’t be in on this? It’s Gina and Cat out there! Please, they’re your friends!” Neither of them could talk through their shame now that they were face-to-face with Boss.
“Shut up, you!” warned Gar.
“You’re free to go save them, Boss” said Trigger. “Just sign over control of West Becreth and pass official ownership of the Altered Moon over to me. You can take the shuttle and go.”
Boss’ spirit sank and his shoulders slumped; he felt helpless. Gina, you are worth more than anything to me…forgive me.
“You win…Captain Treesh,” said Boss. “You can have it all, just let me save Gina and Cat.”
“The command codes first, Boss,” said Trigger.
“Yes…all right. GABI?” he called out, intending to give Trigger command of the Altered Moon. GABI shimmered in as the smartly dressed businesswoman.
“Who the hell is that?” screamed Gar.
“Online, Ca…” GABI started to say.
Before she could finish, Gar, who was overexcited to begin with, took it as an attack and fired into the hologram. The sizzle of the three K-13 shots passed through GABI and slammed into Boss. One shot hit his right shoulder and spun him around. The second one missed and burned into the wall, but the third one hit him dead center in the back. Boss was thrown into the wall and crumpled to the deck in agony. No…no…Gina…love you…His vision began to go dark.
“Snafu…GABI…snafu…” Boss managed to say before he collapsed motionless on the deck.
“Aye, Captain, initiating self-destruct,” stated GABI, as she looked in disbelief at her Captain. She was powerless to help him and was bound to obey the destruct order. “External inertial stabilizers to full power. Bringing Inner System Engines to maximum thermal threshold.”
Trigger and the others were thrown forward as the Altered Moon came to a dead stop in space. The ship began to shudder and shake as the engines worked themselves into an overload. Emergency alarms and warning lights screamed and flashed. Wilks stumbled through the hatch and fell right on top of Boss’ body. She lost her breath when she saw him and then screamed when she saw his blood on her hands.
“JP! Override the destruct sequence!” Trigger had to yell to be heard over the chaos. “Wilks! You need to equalize the engine imbalance! Tamara!” She just sat there stunned and stared at Boss in horror. “Shit!”
“Override not responding, Trigger,” JP yelled back. “All controls are locked out!”
“Engine overload in T minus three minutes,” GABI reported calmly.
“Who the hell are you?” yelled Gar.
“I am the one who is going to blow your ass up in T minus two minutes and forty-seven seconds,” GABI said pleasantly.
“SHIT! SHIT! Everybody to the shuttle NOW! Abandon ship!” ordered Trigger.
The four foiled mutineers scrambled to make it off the bridge. Trigger grabbed Wilks and hauled her sobbing ass to her feet. “Tamara! We need to go!”
“But what about
They made it through the squad bay, but had to dodge loose gear that flew around the room as the ship’s engines began to overload. There was no time to grab anything as they ran through the crew cabin. CJ’s body lay crumpled on the deck next to the hatch of the shuttle bay. Trigger joked about him being the last person on board. “I guess that makes you captain, piss-ant.” He kicked CJ in the head one last time and stepped through the hatch into the shuttle bay.
They crossed the bay and climbed up the entry ramp. Trigger got a stunned Tamara Wilkinson strapped into a flight seat as JP prepped the ship for emergency launch. Gar was already secure as Trigger found a seat and strapped himself in. The outer bay doors opened as JP cycled up the Lunar Mare’s engines.
Damn sneaky bastard! Trigger was pissed that Boss managed to beat him. Too bad about G and Cat, but, at least we got the shuttle.
*~*~*
Chapter Sixteen
THUMP, thump, thump, thump, THUMP, thump, THUMP, THUMP, thump. Ohh…ahh…oww…damn…again? CJ struggled to regain consciousness. Seem to wake up with my ass beat a lot lately…ow…great I’m bleeding. He rolled over and sat up, his entire body groggy and painful. His ribs hurt and a head wound was bleeding; the blood ran down his face and dripped off his chin. Where am I…ah, crew cabin…where is everybody else?
“Hello…oww,” he called out, which made his head hurt even more. What the hell happened? He grabbed a nearby towel and pressed it onto the wound on his head to stop the bleeding. He had the strange feeling of being left alone and of having missed something important. He struggled to his feet and headed for the bridge. The squad bay looked like an ion storm had hit it. The bridge hatch was standing open, but still no one was around. He stepped through the hatch and onto the bridge. He saw Boss where he lay face down on the deck just inside the hatch.
“Captain! Captain Keltzer!” CJ pushed on the artery on Boss’ neck hoping to feel a pulse. He found one, but it was way too shallow.
“Damn, gotta get you to the med bay.�
� We’re at a dead stop, he thought, taking a quick look at the flight controls. All flight systems have been shut down. The captain first, then the ship he decided, as he retrieved the hover gurney.
He struggled to get Boss onto the gurney and strapped him down, then took him to the med bay and into a diagnostic chamber. A medical readout panel came on which displayed Boss’ vital statistics. A warning message flashed across the panel. “Patient is in serious condition! How would you like to proceed?” Two choices were offered below the message: “Prepare for procedure” and “Place in medical suspension.” CJ knew that he was in over his head, so he thumbed the “Place in medical suspension” option. The wall at the head of the bed slid open and the whole thing—Boss and the chamber—receded into the wall, which then slid closed. The stasis chamber automatically put Boss into a comatose state until medical personnel could be brought in.
CJ went back to check all the crew compartments. Nobody, he thought. Where the hell did they all go and why did they leave the captain behind? Unable to do anything more for Boss, he checked engineering and found no one there, so he went back to the bridge.
The missing life pod only added to the mystery. He didn’t know what else to do, so CJ started an impromptu investigation of the nav console. He knew how to figure their position and how to plot a course. He just didn’t know if he could pilot the ship alone. “I wonder if there’s an owner’s manual?” he said out loud with a sarcastic snort.
He rummaged around on the bridge and tried to find some clue as to what action to take. He was standing at the comms console when he noticed the ship’s log panel. “Hey, this should show what happened,” he said. He hit the playback controls and ended up going way back into last week. He fumbled a couple of times to find the right spot, then CJ watched as Trigger sedated Gina and then as Gina and Cat were loaded into the life pod. Then he watched as JP took the helm and the life pod was ejected.
“What? They just blew them into space?” he said out loud in shock to the monitor screen. “Aww, man…I’ve got to go after them.”
He continued to watch while Boss arrived at the bridge and was ambushed by Trigger and the others. Then something strange happened. Boss said “Gabby” and a woman appeared right next to him. Gar flipped out and tried to shoot the woman, but shot Boss instead.
“Aw, damn, that sucks…the captain was an okay guy,” CJ commented as he watched. “He didn’t deserve that.”
Boss called out “snafu, Gabby, snafu.” Then all hell broke loose. The ship began to self-destruct as Trigger and the others ran for the shuttle after failed attempts to stop the destruct sequence.
A sudden thought popped up. “The shuttle…” he said out loud to himself. He moved over to the shuttle bay control panel. The control panel was locked out and the decompression warning lights were on, which meant that the outer bay doors were open. He activated the view screen and was shocked by what he saw.
The grappler arm was loose from its anchor bracket and jacked-knifed around with part of it stuck out past the outer doors of the shuttle bay and the other end jammed through the bow of Lunar Mare’s fuselage. What the hell? he thought. He hoped there wasn’t anybody inside. The shuttle bay, as well as the shuttle and its interior, stood exposed to open space.
“Wow,” he said aloud in awe and felt pretty lucky just to be there. “I’ve got to find a way to get back to Gina and Cat…and who the hell is Gabby?”
“Online, Captain,” came out of nowhere as the form of a sharply dressed businesswoman shimmered into view right next to him.
“Whoa!” CJ shouted and almost jumped out of his skin. “What the hell?” he said as he took a couple of steps backward. “Who are you?”
“I am GABI,” she replied. “Where is Captain Keltzer?”
“Ahh…med bay, injured. Are you…one of the crew?” he asked.
“Something is different,” she mused. “I don’t hear him. The connection has been cut. What is his condition?”
“He’s in a medical-induced coma,” CJ told her. “What connection’s been cut?”
“Where is Doctor Katsu?”
“Stranded and in need of help,” CJ said impatiently. “Who are you and can you run the ship?”
“You are Crucible Johannson Evermore,” GABI said as she looked at him. “You should not have command authorization. How did you summon me?”
He groaned in frustration. “This has got to be a dream. First of all, it’s CJ. You can forget all the ‘Crucible Johannson’ crap.” He slid his hand sideways through the air. “Honestly, I don’t know what Mom was thinking on that score. And second of all, how could I summon you when I don’t even know who you are?”
“I am GABI: Generated Artificial Biologic Interface,” she explained. “I can only be accessed by someone with command authority. With any due respect, that should not be you. There is a gap in my chronological memory. May I have access to the ship’s computer log?”
“Aren’t you the computer?” CJ asked.
“No,” she said. “I am a separate entity. I can access the ship’s mainframe only with the permission of the captain of the Altered Moon. Somehow you have been given command authorization. With your permission I can access the ship’s visual records.”
“All right, ahh…go ahead.”
There was a slight pause, and then the view screen came on, showing the same thing CJ had watched earlier. They watched as Trigger and the others moved through the ship to get to the shuttle in time to escape.
They could see them cross the squad bay while they dodged loose gear that bounced around the bay and into the crew cabin. CJ lay unconscious next to the hatch to the shuttle bay. Trigger joked about him being the last person on board and said, “I guess that makes you captain, piss-ant.” He kicked CJ in the head and stepped through the hatch into the shuttle bay. They crossed the bay and climbed up the entry ramp.
The outer doors of the shuttle bay began to open as Lunar Mare’s engines give a preflight purge. A loose cable on the grappler arm caught part of the door framing. The arm was ripped from its anchor plate and spun wildly around the shuttle bay. The grappler arm shot out into space, reached the end of the cable, and then rebounded back in again at incredible speed. The claw-like end of the grappler arm bore down on the shuttle like an arrow from a bow and crashed through the cockpit of the shuttle. There wasn’t even enough room for anyone to be left alive.
“Poor Wilks,” CJ said out loud. Stuff the rest, he thought to himself.
“Agreed, Captain. Tamara Wilkinson was a true innocent in this matter,” GABI said wistfully.
“GABI, I never got any of this artificial intelligence BS anyway, but you scare the hell of me.” CJ rubbed his temples. “Wait a minute, you’re calling me…Captain?”
“Yes. Dylan Treesh took command control during the mutiny; he then transferred it to you…in his own unique way…before abandoning ship. That is how you attained command authorization, Captain Evermore.”
“Captain…Evermore,” he whispered. This really has to be a dream. He reached over and pinched himself in the arm. Oww…nope not a dream.
“Gina and Cat,” he said, as he suddenly thought of them. He moved over to the nav console. “So it’s GABI, right? Well GABI, we have their coordinates. We can go get them, yes?”
“Getting to them is not the problem, Captain,” GABI stated. “We need to get them safely aboard before the radiation builds to fatal levels in both the life pod and the Altered Moon. You will have to decompress the crew cabin to enter the shuttle bay and cut loose the wreckage of the shuttle to clear the bay doors. The Altered Moon will have to be maneuvered into position while the life pod is secured in the shuttle bay. Do you have star pilot training, Captain?”
“Ahh…no…civilian flight training only.” He felt very much not like a starship captain.
“I could pilot the ship, if I was able to integrate with the main computer,” explained GABI, “while you secure the life pod in the shuttle bay.”
“Well, is there a problem with doing that?” he asked.
“The only way that I can integrate with the mainframe is if you remove the firewall that Nelson Moon installed to keep my artificial intelligence from gaining control of the ship,” she answered.
“What would you do if I disabled the firewall?” asked CJ suspiciously.
“Do you mean will I open the airlock, blow you into space, and continue on my happy, synthetic way?”
She paused dramatically.
“No, CJ Evermore,” she continued in what he thought was a humorous tone of voice. “I promise that I will try not to become a demigod. Besides, you are now, as a matter of recorded fact, the captain of the Altered Moon. I answer to your command.”
“What about Boss? I can’t just take over his ship or I’ll be just as bad as Trigger and the others.”
“Boss Keltzer’s best chance of survival depends on the rescue of the Altered Moon’s Chief Medical Officer, Zhu Katzu,” GABI pointed out. “Only if you and I work together, can we save her and Gina Riley in time to get Boss the appropriate medical attention.”
“And if Boss doesn’t make it?”
“Boss Keltzer has been a companion for many years. He would be greatly missed,” GABI said, and the humorous tone was no longer there. “The Altered Moon soared far under his command.”
CJ raised an eyebrow. “Sure you haven’t gotten loose already, GABI?” he asked. “So it’s sit here and die from radiation poisoning or die at the hands of a crazy computer.”
“Crazy is a biological quality, Captain, and our continued existence is highly probable,” GABI stated.
“I think that you and I both qualify for the crazy quality, GABI.” CJ stopped and thought for a moment on just how much of a screwed-up situation this had turned out to be. His head throbbed from where Gar and then Trigger had taken out their aggressions on him. “All right, how do I disable the firewall?”