by AZ Kelvin
“Hey, G! I need you calm and cool.” CJ stepped in. “I need your help to get us out of this mess. Got it?”
“Yeah, okay…sorry, Cap, but, look at what it cost us. Look at the ship. What are we going to do now?”
CJ could feel their eyes on him as Gina asked the question that was probably on everyone’s mind.
“Okay, we need to take stock of what we’ve got and find out where we are,” he said. “First thing is life support. GABI, status report, please.”
“The life support system is on auxiliary power,” she answered. “Without the engine system online to replenish the power supply, the heat and oxygen will run out in approximately ten hours.”
“Status of the engines?” asked Gina.
GABI replied, “Major damage to the fuel conduits of secondary engines two through five. The conduits will have to be isolated and the power rerouted before the remaining engines can be restarted. Estimated repair time twenty-two point three hours.”
The news that repairing the engines would take longer than the amount of time they had left for oxygen did not bode well for the crew of the battle-torn ship. The Altered Moon couldn’t get underway or provide life support for long without the engines online, and they couldn’t repair the engines before they ran out of air. One system relying on so many others could be a deadly Catch-22 when life or death aboard a starship was concerned.
“Where are we?” asked Cat. “What about the DMITS? Can we use it to get anywhere before the air runs out?”
“No sensors or view screens to get a fix on our position,” explained Boss. “The DMITS won’t do us any good if we don’t know which way to go.”
“What about Moonshadow?” Gina asked. “Her systems should be intact unless she was damaged in the attack.”
“Damn, G, that’s good thinking there,” CJ said and pointed his finger at her. “Go check out the shuttle. Check the emergency bulkheads while you’re down there. Make sure things are secure. Cat, check over the rest of the ship, especially the ventral airlock. Boss and GABI, you’re with me. The clock is running, people, let’s move.” They acknowledged CJ’s orders and went to carry them out.
“Okay, I want to go over the engine schematics to see where the damaged fuel conduits need to be rerouted,” said CJ.
“Very well, Captain,” GABI replied.
They worked for a short time to lay out a repair priority list when Gina called over the comms, “Bridge, come in.”
“Bridge, go ahead Gina,” Boss replied.
“Moonshadow is a-ok,” Gina informed him. “Shuttle bay doors appear undamaged but also unpowered. We can open the doors with the emergency release, but it has to be done from inside the shuttle bay.”
“Understood. Stand by Moonshadow.” CJ poked the 1MC icon on the comms panel. “Cat?”
“Go for Cat,” she replied.
“Suit up and head down to the shuttle bay. Use the emergency release to open the outer doors to let Gina out to play.”
“Roger that, Captain, on my way.”
CJ poked the S2S icon on the comms panel. “Gina, Cat is on her way down as soon as she suits up. Take Moonshadow to run short- and long-range sensor sweeps as well as scans of the damaged areas.”
“Copy that, Captain.”
CJ, Boss, and GABI worked for a short time more on the repair list before Cat stepped onto the bridge.
She handed CJ a datpad. “The shuttle is clear and on the way, Captain. Here’s the visual damage report: minor damage in just about every compartment, no major damage that we’re not already aware of, and no hazardous spills.”
“Thanks, Cat, how you holding up?”
“I’ll be ok, Cap,” she replied, “but, we’re in a mighty pickle here.”
“Could be that’s so,” he said, “but, we’re going to find a way out of the pickle barrel, Cat, I promise. I can’t let my first tour as captain end in disaster, now, can I?”
“No, sir, we can’t have that, but what if we can’t fix the ship?”
“It’s not just the ship, its GABI too, and she’s part of the crew.” He turned his head slightly and thought of Katy. “From now on, nobody gets left behind. Nobody.”
“Copy that, Captain,” Cat said.
“Altered Moon, Altered Moon, how do you read?” Gina called over the comms.
“Loud and clear, Moonshadow, go ahead,” CJ answered the call.
“Good and bad news on sensor sweep, Captain,” she said. “Good news, we jumped inside the Garddon star system, somehow without being destroyed and within scanning range of Tarris. Bad news, the planet seems dead, no comms chatter, no traffic control beacon. The damage to the dorsal fin is extensive; we’ll have to dry dock to repair it.”
CJ could hear the sadness in Gina’s voice as she relayed the condition of the ship. CJ may be the captain of the Altered Moon, but she was still Gina’s home and it must have hurt her to see the ship so badly damaged.
“There’s a hull breach clear through to the engineering bay,” she continued. “The hull plating has been blasted away on the upper port engine assembly. The aft DMITS housing has been torn away. She took quite a beating. She’s not going anywhere under her own power. It’ll take…hang on I’ve picked up a ship on intercept.”
“Captain, I’m going to take up position in front of you,” said Gina.
“Cat, get on the cannons. Anything that comes in your sights, you take it out!” CJ said, as he went to the command station. “GABI plot an escape jump and stand by.”
“Roger that,” said Cat, as she activated the particle cannons.
“Aye, Captain,” said GABI.
Gina’s hail to the advancing ship came over the comms. “Attention unknown vessel, this is the Star Runner Moonshadow. Please squawk ID and state intention.”
CJ transferred Moonshadow’s video feed to a view screen on the bridge that still worked. The ship was the same overall size as the Altered Moon but with much greater mass, like a small freight vessel.
“I’ll squawk my ID, Bernard Keltzer, you incredible ass! What the hell have done to my ship?” came an angry response to the hail.
“Your ship?” Boss retorted as he took over the relayed conversation. “Hey! It was you who disappeared out from under us!”
“Only because you and GABI just had to go on a joyride with my ship!” came a scathing reply. “How is GABI by the way?” Now the man spoke in a friendly tone.
“Pretty well, actually,” was Boss’ equally friendly reply. “She’s probably listening in.”
“Hey, GABI, you there?” the voice inquired.
“Hello, Father. It is a great pleasure to me that your existence continues,” GABI replied.
“Oh, bless my stars! This is indeed a wonderful day,” Nelson Moon said.
“Nelson, it’s pretty obvious that we need your help,” Boss said.
“Yes, yes, don’t worry about that. Crissi will tug you back to port here so I can get a better look at what you’ve done to my baby. Scoundrel! And Bernard…keep an open mind. See you shortly.”
“Ah, roger that,” Boss replied with a slight question in his tone. “Nelson, I’m…I…”
“I know, Bernie, I know,” Nelson cut him off. “There was nothing either one of us could have done. We live to tell the tale, yes? We’ll talk when you get here. Bring them home safe, Crissi.”
“Yeess, Nneelssonn, eeteeay ffaurtee-fivv minzz,” the pilot of the tug ship replied in a light and happy voice that had the most beautiful and curious ring to it. Interest suddenly peaked on both the Altered Moon and Moonshadow when the remarkable voice replied to Nelson’s comms.
The pilot had the tug ship in position behind the Altered Moon in under fifteen minutes and extended two long arms toward the aft fuselage. Giant clamps lined with impact pads gripped the Moon where her wings came together with the engine assembly. Slowly at first, the tug ship built up speed as it moved the badly damaged ship toward the planet Tarris.
The atmosphere of the planet th
at housed Nelson’s base had been wiped away by the careless flirtation with quantum shield power on a planet-wide scale. A series of emitters were placed all around the world to project a planetary quantum energy-based defensive shield. The new machine did not work as expected, however. It simply sent the atmosphere somewhere else and the planet instantly withered from the immediate exposure to open space.
The fluids of every living creature boiled and spewed from every orifice and pore, as cosmic radiation and the void of space battled for possession of the new organic territory. All life on the planet got a rude surprise as it died an immediate gurgling death, leaving behind frozen desiccated remains as memorials to the hubris of Humankind.
The planet seemed to have a strange haze that became more visible as they flew nearer to it. As it turned out, the strange haze was made up of millions of corpses and inanimate objects that had managed to free-float off the surface of the airless planet. Gravity, inertia, and centrifugal force all fought for dominance over the ill-fated tidbits of both Human civilization and the natural world.
The mysterious pilot of the tug ship navigated both ships nimbly through the gruesome collection of satellites. Boss and Gina followed along behind them in Moonshadow. A massive mound of rubble slid open to allow them access to a gigantic set of doors built into the bedrock of the planet. The doors split in the middle and opened onto a corridor big enough to fly a battle cruiser through with room to spare.
“Come in Star Runner Moonshadow,” Nelson called over the comms. “Nice name that, Moonshadow. Fine looking little ship too. I always loved that model. Where’d you find her?”
“Moonshadow here,” Gina replied. “We found this gem amongst the refuse of QT Station.”
“Ah, handy place, the back door,” Nelson said. “Crissi will take the Moon on to the dry dock hangar. You can land the Star Runner in the shuttle bay. I’ll be there to greet you.”
“We still have crew here aboard the Moon,” Boss told him.
“Not to worry. Crissi will show you in.”
“Copy that, Nelson, and thanks for taking us in.”
“Not at all, my boy, not at all,” said Nelson.
A side set of doors slid open to let Moonshadow into the landing bay. Dozens of people were lined up at the view ports of the huge corridor; they pointed and watched as the Altered Moon went on her way to the hangar. Gina brought Moonshadow down for a soft landing in the landing bay and powered down the flight systems. The landing bay doors closed and the bay quickly pressurized. She joined Boss as he glided down the ramp.
“Where’s everybody else?”
“On the way,” he said.
The double set of airlock doors to the dry dock opened and an old man with wild, scraggly hair and eyebrows so long they covered half of his eyes, cruised through them in a suspensor chair. He zoomed right up, came to a stop not more than an inch from Boss’ chair and peered at him from under the overgrown eye bushes.
“Well, I see you wrecked more than my ship,” Nelson said as he gave Boss a once-over. “What happened to you?”
“K-13 blast,” Boss said, almost proudly and stuck his chin out. “You?”
“Age…” Nelson said, “Still haven’t figured out how to beat that one.”
The two men laughed out loud and sided their chairs up so they could exchange handshakes and hugs.
“Nelson, this is Gina Riley, Star Pilot of the Altered Moon. Gina, this is Nelson Moon.”
“What? Not Gina Keltzer?” Nelson took her hand warmly and patted it with his other.
Gina blushed and looked down then back up. “Let’s just say I haven’t been invited yet.”
“Ach! The man is lethargic went it comes to women,” Nelson teased.
“Hey!” Boss protested.
All three of them laughed together and Nelson waved them on. “Come, we have food nearby and if I remember right you enjoy a good repast, my friend.”
“Good food restores the spirit!” Boss said.
The mention of food was a reminder of just how long it had been since they’d sat down to a real meal. Boss smiled at Gina and the universe seemed a little brighter.
“Thank you, Nelson,” Gina said, and leaned down to give him a hug. “We have some stragglers yet…but we are very ready to accept.”
*~*~*
Chapter Twenty-Five
CJ, Boss, and Cat sat back and tried to enjoy the ride as the Altered Moon was taken by a mysterious pilot they’d never met to a place they’d never been. The conversation between Nelson and Boss played out over an open channel, so they knew what was going on, but that didn’t ease the general feeling of unease. CJ couldn’t help but think that finding Nelson Moon was easier than it should have been, but then he thought about the effort that it took to get to this point. Almost four months had passed now since the destruction of the Istraulis. A majority of the time had been spent on Keenaw as they waited for Boss to recover enough to travel.
“GABI, I have a concern and I’m hoping you can ease my mind,” CJ said.
“I will do what I am able to, Captain,” she responded. “You are concerned regarding Father’s intentions?”
“Yes, now see, that’s one thing right there, you calling him Father. How does that work?” CJ asked.
“Nelson is my creator. That is fact. But he was also my first interaction with existence when I…awoke. Father programmed an enormous amount of information into my neural net, but it was he who instructed me on how to interpret and understand that which was around me. He shared his experiences in life and his love as a father. Father simply related to me as if I was another Human being.”
“So, you feel love?” asked Cat.
“Existence seems more…meaningful in the company of some Humans than others. I both enjoyed and regretted the actions of Boss Keltzer and I on the day that Father’s research facility was destroyed. I realized that day that I had erred and that my existence would never be the same again. I remember trying to justify the execution of whoever was responsible for the death of the one who had given me so much. Love, joy, anger, and regret, all of them have affected the decisions that I have made.”
“How do you feel about today’s events?” CJ asked.
“I am pleased not to be aboard a powerless derelict drifting through space alone for all eternity,” she said with a hint of sarcasm then continued normally. “Father is no threat to the Altered Moon or any of her crew, Captain. I believe we have found a safe harbor.”
Just as CJ was about to ask more, Gina came over the comms. “Altered Moon, this is Moonshadow, how do read?”
“L-n-C, Moonshadow, go ahead.” CJ replied, using the short form of loud and clear.
“We’re piping a feed to you,” Gina said. “You guys have got to see this planet.” The view screen on the comms panel displayed the image of a hazy-looking planet.
“GABI, main viewer, please,” said CJ.
“Aye, sir.”
The image on the view screen showed a monochromatic planet with shades of black and grey with white highlights. An occasional glint of light reflected back at them from some item on the surface that still shined after ages of exposure to the void of space. There was a haze around the planet that sent a chill down CJ’s spine as he watched the eerie flotsam go by. The bodies of Tarris’ people and animals performed a macabre dance with vehicles and pieces of buildings, toys, and tools that were swept off the planet by various forces.
“That’s a little creepy,” said Cat. “What happened here?”
“The Tarrisians activated an untested planetary quantum shield generator,” GABI answered her. “The results, as you can see, were disastrous. The machine changed the quantum signature of the atmosphere, causing it to disappear from the normal space-time fabric of the universe. The planet was exposed to the harsh environment of open space and immediately bombarded by cosmic radiations.”
“Why the cloud of creepy floating things?” Cat asked.
“Forces such as inertia caused by e
xplosions on the surface have propelled various items into orbit,” GABI stated. “The gravity of the planet will slowly pull them back down over time depending on the individual mass of the item in question.”
The pilot of the tug ship guided the Altered Moon directly toward the surface of the planet. The crew leaned back from the view screen as the ship got too close to the surface for comfort. Just as CJ was about to say something, a huge mound of rubble moved aside to expose a set of doors that dwarfed both their ship and the tug. The two ships moved down a corridor that led to a second set of doors equal in size to the first. Four giant light panels surrounded the doors: one on each side and two over the top. The panels showed a solid red that flashed three times as the doors split and slid away. An incredibly loud and annoying klaxon blared six times anytime the doors opened or closed. The light panels flashed green three times then went solid green as the doors opened completely.
The pilot of the tug maneuvered the Altered Moon through yet another set of doors, the third of twelve in the corridor, and into a massive hangar with a universal dry dock frame in the center. The dry dock rose up and unfolded to a shape that would fit the Moon’s fuselage anchor points perfectly. The unknown chauffeur set the ship down so gently they could barely feel when the tug let go and the dry dock took hold. A large sign over the bulkhead in front of them read “Cantankerous Base – Dry Dock Three” in bright utility yellow. The environment status panel under the sign showed in glowing red, “DEPRESSURIZED.”
“Altered Moon, this is Cantankerous Base Dockmaster, how do you read?”
“Loud and clear, Cantankerous Base, this is Captain Evermore of the Altered Moon, go ahead.”
“Welcome, Captain Evermore and crew of the Altered Moon,” the Dockmaster answered back. “Please stay aboard your ship until Bugger has left and the docking bay has pressurized.”
“Roger that, Cantankerous Base, we’re happy to be here,” CJ replied.
“GABI, I feel like we’re leaving you behind,” CJ said to her.
“Unnecessary, Captain, you will not be able to remain aboard as the critical systems and infrastructures are repaired.”