Off Course

by Doug Farren

  Heather sat down in front the Captain. As she settled into the seat, she glanced at the computer pad and asked, “Is that the star system we're in now?”

  “What we know of it so far,” he replied, picking the pad up off the table and examining it as if seeing it for the first time. “The computer has identified most of the planets and moons and is now searching for water.”

  Heather stabbed a piece of ham with her fork. Holding it at the ready position she asked, “The Star-Pulse is a freighter, not a survey ship. So how are we able to find water? Doesn't that require some pretty sophisticated sensors?”

  “Not necessarily,” AJ replied while Heather put the fork back in motion. There was something sensual about the way she took the chunk of ham into her mouth. Her tongue sort of reached out and curled around it just before her lips closed. It required a monumental effort of willpower for him to yank his thoughts back on track.

  “All starships are equipped with gravitic sensors to map local spacial distortions. They're needed for the calculations we make just prior to a jump. Failure to account for these distortions can send a ship off in an unknown direction. We use the same sensors to find all the planets, moons, and large asteroids in the system. Once found, it's a simple matter to turn one of our telescopes on the object to look for the characteristic signature of water in its spectrum.”

  As he talked, AJ had the distinct impression that Heather already knew the answer to her question. She had been a deck-hand for a long time and was quite likely familiar with how starships worked.

  Picking up his nearly empty cup, AJ drained it, set it on his tray, and stood up. “I'll be right back,” he said, then walked over to the dirty dish bin.

  “I take it the computer hasn't found water yet,” Heather said loud enough for him to hear her.

  AJ deposited his dishes then refilled his coffee cup before returning to the table. Settling back into his seat he said, “Not yet. This system consists of four gas giants each with an impressive collection of moons. There’s only one rocky planet but it orbits so close to the star that most of its surface is molten.” Glancing at the pad, he added, “The computer has imaged 82 percent of all possible targets without finding a hint of water.”

  “I always thought water was pretty scarce,” Heather continued the conversation.

  “It's actually pretty common,” AJ replied. He glanced up from the pad and found himself looking directly into her eyes. He had never noticed they were such a beautiful shade of green – like looking at a perfectly polished emerald. Time seemed to slow and his thoughts froze in place.

  “Really?” Heather broke AJ’s trance seemingly unaware of his predicament.

  Forcing himself to disengage from those enchanting eyes he said, “Water is fairly common – large, usable quantities of it, however, are harder to find.”

  “But not impossible,” Heather said sounding hopeful.

  AJ took a sip from his coffee before answering. “Don't worry Heather. We have plenty of fuel. We’ll find water.” Picking up the pad he looked at it and added, “But not in this system.”

  The Captain excused himself and headed for the bridge.

  “Making a play for the Captain?” Tony Morales, sitting in a corner, asked as soon as AJ was through the door.

  Heather casually turned her head and looked in Tony's direction. He was the newest member of the crew and, at 22, was also the youngest. Tony’s life seemed to revolve around physical fitness. His 173 centimeter tall, muscular body looked like it had been chiseled out of granite.

  “Why do you ask?” she asked, looking at him critically. “Are you interested in him?”

  Tony grinned as he replied, “No way! But why would you be interested in such an old guy when younger meat is available?”

  “Old?” Heather said with menace as she got up out of her chair. “AJ is only two years older than I am. Does that mean you think I'm old?”

  Tony suddenly realized his coy-sounding ploy had badly backfired. His face flushed and as he struggled to find a way to mend things between them. “No! I didn't know you were that old.”

  Heather took another step toward him. “What does that mean? You didn’t know I was THAT old?”

  Heather was not angry, in fact she was thoroughly enjoying his discomfort. But she wanted to teach Tony a lesson so she screwed up her face and narrowed her eyes until they were just slits. She also balled up her fists and took a couple of steps toward him.

  Despite his muscles, Tony was not a fighter. He put up his hands as if they could act as a shield against what he believed was a pending attack. “I … I … I'm sorry! What I meant was, I thought you were much younger. You're beautiful and I … I mean ...”

  “Can it!” Heather silenced him. “Even if I were your age, a remark like that would have gotten you nowhere. Fact is, if you had said that to me ten years ago, you would probably be laying on the floor nursing a bloody nose. I don't know what kind of women you’ve been with in the past, but you’ll find that treating them with respect will go a lot farther than treating them like a streetwalker.”

  Without waiting for or expecting a reply, Heather spun on her heel and walked out of the room. Tony would have been very confused had he seen the smile on her face as she walked away. “Who knows”, she thought. “If he learns from his mistake, maybe I'll take him up on his offer. That is, of course, assuming the Captain doesn't pick up on the clues I've been dropping at every opportunity.”

  Chapter 6

  After a jump into deep space, the Star-Pulse jumped into the second star system and began the search for water. Two incredibly huge gas giants were found to be orbiting the star. The material that should have formed the system's rocky planets had been caught in a gravitational tug-of-war between the two giants and now orbited the star in a wide band between them.

  Although water was discovered, it was located on the surface of a large moon well inside the magnetic field of the innermost planet. The moon orbited so close to the parent that it was being gravitationally squeezed by tidal forces generating huge, violent volcanoes. Like the moon Io, which orbits Jupiter, the volcanoes spewed forth huge volumes of electrically conductive debris, some of which made it into space. The debris acted like a giant conductor moving through the gas giant's magnetic field creating a deadly storm of radiation.

  “You're certain?” AJ asked after hearing the Chief's report.

  “Beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Lora replied, tapping her computer screen to emphasize the point. “The Star-Pulse wouldn't survive 30 minutes in the radiation field surrounding that moon. Even if we could, the moon's surface is highly unstable and the atmosphere is practically pure sulfuric acid. If that isn't bad enough, the computer predicts the weather at the surface to be worse than anything we can possibly imagine.”

  “Could we rig a couple of maintenance robots to run the extraction plant?” AJ did not want to give up so easily. The star system seemed to be taunting them by dangling a tasty fruit within sight but just out of reach.

  “Not a chance!” Lora spun around in her chair so she could directly face the Captain. “The tides on those oceans would smash the rig to pieces. The winds are so strong they make a terrestrial hurricane look like a light breeze. The electrical current being carried between the moon and the planet not only ionizes the atmosphere causing it to glow even during the daytime but it also creates thunderstorms the likes of which nobody on Earth has ever experienced. It would be like trying to set the ship down inside a giant blender placed inside a microwave oven running at full power. It can't be done.”

  AJ slumped back in his chair – defeated. “Where's the next system?” he asked.

  “Six point seven eight light years,” Thomas immediately replied.

  “Close enough to make in a single jump,” the executive officer remarked. He had appeared on the bridge a few minutes ago after learning that water had been discovered.

  “What's our jump-drive status?” AJ asked.

  “We can j
ump at any time,” Thomas said, a knowing smile gracing his face. “Jump calculations are already complete and I'm running parallel updates at 15 minute intervals.”

  “Very well,” AJ replied, straightening himself in his chair. The water was out of reach and there was no use wasting any more time trying to figure out how to get to it. “Patrick, get the crew into their suits for an in-system jump. Give me a call when they're ready.”

  “Aye Sir!” the executive officer acknowledged the command and left the bridge to carry out the order.

  Fifteen minutes later, the ship was ready.

  “Jump initiation in 30 seconds,” Thomas intoned, his voice transmitted to the entire crew through their suit com units. He counted down the last ten seconds and then announced, “Jump!”

  There was the normal lack of sensation and the expected delay as the ship transited through hyperspace. “Jump complete!” Thomas said as he casually scanned his console. “Target coordinates appear- - -”

  A piercing alarm interrupted the report. It was a shrill tone that seemed to penetrate a person's skull to impinge directly upon the brain. It lasted just over a second and was replaced by a loud, recorded voice, “Collision alert! Brace for impact and emergency acceleration.”

  A flurry of reports assaulted the Captain's ears as he felt the ship begin to shudder. The reports came in so fast he had no time to sort out who they were from.

  “The computer has taken control of the helm.”

  “Pylons are retracting.”

  “Asteroid bearing one point one by fifteen point six. Collision in eight seconds.”

  “Engines at full emergency power.”

  Despite the ship's internally generated artificial gravity, AJ could feel it shake and shudder under the terrific thrust of the engines as the computer tried to limit the inevitable damage about to be sustained. The main viewscreen automatically shifted to show the trajectory of the approaching asteroid. The computer rolled the ship and was pushing the aft section to one side as the asteroid quickly closed the gap.

  The entire ship suddenly and violently shook as it collided with the asteroid. There was a horrible, groaning sound mixed with multiple high pitched squeals. The sounds were being transmitted through the steel fabric of the ship and seemed to be coming from all directions. AJ felt himself being pushed into the side of his chair.

  The engineering console lit up with red alarms. “Main reactor trip!” Lora shouted above the groaning of tortured steel. A second later she yelled, “Both backups are down. Fire in engineering.”

  A damage control board located near the engineering station suddenly sprang to life as the ship's internal diagnostic system analyzed the extent of the damage and worked to protect the ship as best as possible. A secondary screen located in the captain's console displayed a summary of the damage.

  The groaning and shuddering stopped just as suddenly as it had started as the asteroid slipped clear. The sudden silence was quickly shattered by AJ. “Chief, how bad is it?”

  Lora scanned the engineering board then slid her chair over to the damage control station and quickly absorbed what was shown there. Even though the Captain’s own computer display summarized the damage, Lora knew he preferred to hear a verbal report.

  “Severe damage to the port section of the ship aft of frame three four four. The aft port pylon is destroyed. All reactors are offline and we’re running on stored power. There were two fires in engineering – both are now out. Backup reactor bravo has sustained minor damage. The shuttles appear to be undamaged and the core is still air-tight.”

  “Casualties?” AJ asked.

  “The computer reports no casualties,” Lora replied as she continued to work the damage control console.

  “Can we restart the main?”

  Sliding her chair back to the engineering station along the tracks built into the floor, Lora punched in a command. “All systems show green. I say yes.”

  The hatch swung open and the XO, suit helmet flipped back and gloves dangling from the wrist straps, stepped into the room. “What the hell happened?” he demanded.

  Ignoring his second in command for a moment AJ said, “Chief, restart the main reactor.” Turning to Patrick, AJ told him, “We hit an asteroid. Give me a minute and I'll fill you in.”

  Activating the ship-wide address system, AJ said, “Attention all hands! The ship has collided with an asteroid and has sustained significant damage. At present, it appears as if the core of the ship is airtight. Heather Contreras, Petty Officer Delgordo, Lieutenant Delray, and Commander Johekar contact the bridge. All other personnel standby for further instructions.”

  All three named individuals called in at nearly the same time. AJ conferenced them together through his console. “Heather, break your crew into two-person teams and have them do a quick survey of the entire cargo area. How long do you figure that will take?”

  “If we use power suits instead of handlers we should be able to finish in about four hours,” she replied, stressing the word should.

  “Do it. Mr. Delgordo, you and Petty Officer King are to check out engineering. Lieutenant Delray, take charge of the third shift bridge crew and make a sweep of the non-engineering sections of the core. Doc, have you had any reports of injuries?”

  “Only a couple of bumps and bruises, nothing serious,” the doctor replied.

  “That's good news. Everyone is to take a pad with them and log anything out of the ordinary. Be safe and don't take any risks.” Glancing at the clock, AJ did some quick, elementary-school math and added, “Everyone meet in the mess decks at seventeen hundred so I can let you know where we stand.”

  AJ cut the link and turned to face Patrick. The officer had used the delay to strip off his suit which now lay piled in a corner near the coffee dispenser. Seeing he now had the captain's attention he asked, “How bad is it?”

  “Pretty bad,” AJ replied, getting out of the command chair. He brought the XO up to date while he poured himself a cup of coffee.

  Patrick shook his head and said, “We got lucky. What can I do?”

  “I need you to work with Lora to assess the damage to the pylon and its supports. We took quite a hit in that area and I'd like to have someone personally check it out. At least we have a spare pylon as well as two spare emitters. Let's hope we can repair it, otherwise we're going to be stuck here.”

  “I'll get right on it,” Patrick replied.

  Both senior officers realized the significance of the lost pylon. The hyperdrive field was emitted from a complex hybrid of electronics and crystals mounted on top of the pylon. The pylon itself had to remain absolutely unmoving with respect to the other pylons otherwise the generated field would be unbalanced with potentially disastrous results.

  The pylons themselves were totally nonconducting and, because of the mechanical strength required, were constructed as a single crystal matrix literally grown molecule by molecule. The pylon measured 1.5 meters in diameter at the base and slowly tapered over its 9.5-meter length to a diameter of just under a half meter. The base of the pylon was securely anchored and locked to the others with a complex, super-rigid web of high-strength steel. Because of their importance, the pylons were retracted into the ship when not in use.

  AJ walked over and stood next to Thomas. “You may as well scan the system,” he told him. “Even if we can repair the pylon we're going to be here for a while.”

  “Aye Sir.”

  AJ wandered from station to station as the crew worked to assess the extent of the damage. The ship's autonomous maintenance and repair robots would take care of the vast bulk of the repair work. If there was some damage the computer could not cope with it would request human assistance. The robots were stronger, faster, and far more efficient than any human mechanic.

  About 40 minutes passed. “Captain!” Thomas practically yelled out. “I think we have another problem.”

  “Specify,” AJ ordered, rubbing his jaw.

  “I'm picking up strong signals from the t
hird planet. The computer confirms it's of intelligent origin.”

  AJ nearly dropped his half-full cup of coffee. For a brief couple of seconds, which seemed more like an eternity, his mind went completely blank – as if it simply refused to accept what he had just been told. “Inhabited?”

  Chapter 7

  AJ waited until the entire crew had gathered in the mess before making his appearance. He was in no mood to answer the same questions over and over again. All discussion quickly subsided as he took his customary place at the head of the room.

  “Well,” he began after taking a deep breath. “I'm not going to sugarcoat this – we’re in a bit of a pickle.”

  AJ looked and moved as if he had recently finished a marathon race. His face was haggard and his normally visible five-o'clock shadow had become thick stubble. Since the hairs were the color of deep space, from a distance it looked as if he had suddenly acquired a full beard.

  Using his computer pad, AJ dimmed the lights. Another touch caused the front wall to change from a picturesque scene of a moving river to a map of a star system. The orbits of five planets were depicted with summary information next to each.

  The Captain paused to allow the crew to digest the information shown on the map. The system was composed of two huge gas giants, both larger than Jupiter, and three rocky inner planets.

  “Just so there’s no confusion,” AJ addressed the crew, “let me explain how we got to where we are at this moment. We exited hyperspace directly in the path of an asteroid. Had the computer not taken the immediate actions that it did, we would have been completely destroyed. Despite those actions, the collision did some serious damage to the ship. Most of it involved the cargo decks. We lost some of the cargo as well as the port-side telescope array. The aft port thrusters are also damaged but are being repaired.”

  AJ looked at the deck for a moment, the brim of his hat hiding most of his face. Looking up, he went on. “The greatest damage, however, was the total loss of the aft port hyperdrive emitter pylon. We do have the necessary spare parts to rebuild it, but the damage to the framework supporting the pylon is beyond the ability of our robots to repair within a reasonable period of time. The entire section of the ship in that area is going to have to be torn down and rebuilt. Our best estimate puts the repair time at nearly six months. So, the bottom line is, we’re going to be stuck in this system for some time.”