Expeditions of the Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  Elsbeth, “Here’s what I could piece together. The ship had a crew of 3, so apparently, we saw them all. They were doing some exploration on their own and apparently trying some trade. They had some kind of trouble with their maneuvering drive before they even came here. They did some scanning around the planet and especially within a few hundred kilometers of where we found them. However, the logs, coupled with the markings we saw on the wreck, suggest they were hit by something. It’s not entirely clear what, but I’m guessing a substantial missile. That probably did substantial damage and knocked their drive out. By that point, they were too low to pull out and they crashed where we found them. Other than that, we got some additional scan and mapping data from them that can supplement our own.”

  Ximon, “Excellent. Thanks for digging that up.”

  Elsbeth, “So, one message we need to convey to KSF is that either some people on Rarob have large and dangerous anti-ship missiles or there was some other ship there and it got a hit on 1440 before they knew what happened to them. Either way, we can’t assume the planet is a peaceful, innocent, safe place.”

  Ximon, “I would never assume that. There are just degrees of danger. I would certainly assume that there are some traders going there and trading weapons, though I’m not sure what resources the planet has that are valuable enough to trade. Complete analysis of our scans should give us more information on mineral content.”

  Elsbeth, “Well, there’s always blankets and pottery, but I think you’d need a lot of those to buy a 50,000-credit missile. I guess the other resource that most inhabited planets have is people – i.e. slaves.”

  Ximon, “That’s always possible. It’s illegal and unprofitable where we’re from, but that may not be true in this region of space.”

  Elsbeth, “Ah, humanity!”

  Some time later they made the jump back to Irapce and then back to Alfozar. As they went, they worked together to assemble a report – scan data, mapping data, medical samples, log data, and recordings of their two meetings and their inspection of 1440. So that was all put together in a nice package with a bow on top.

  Jaunt Seven: Rescue

  They came out of jump at Alfozar without incident as well. However, shortly after they headed for the gas giant, Mantis reported, “Captain, we’re receiving a distress call. Playing now.”

  A weak, coughing voice said, “Mayday, mayday //cough//. This is the merchantman Hope’s Edge //cough// but we are almost out. Medical emergency. Crew unable to operate ship. Shuttle presumed lost //cough, cough, cough//. Come to designated coordinates. Mayday //cough//.”

  Ximon, “Mantis, plot those coordinates and match to the vector of the communications.”

  A plot immediately appeared on the screen. Hope’s edge was apparently in orbit around a moon of Alfozar Decat’ – the system’s farthest gas giant.

  “What’s the timestamp on that?”

  “Eight hours ago, captain.”

  Ximon, “Hope’s Edge, Hope’s Edge. This is the KSS Mantis. What manner of assistance do you need?”

  There were squelches and crackles in response but no voice.

  “Well, I guess we better check it out.”

  Then he turned to Raiza in the co-pilot seat, “Please prepare for possible wounded.”

  “Elsbeth, please join us on the bridge.”

  When Elsbeth appeared a few minutes later, “Everyone, strap in.”

  Ximon initiated a 2G burn to the Hope’s coordinates.

  “Mantis, please continue trying to hail them and get everything you can on long range sensors.”

  As they got closer, they got one faint message from Hope’s Edge, “Medical //cough, cough// plague //cough// too weak.”

  Elsbeth, “Plague! I don’t like the sound of that.”

  Ximon, “We’ll be careful.”

  “Or we’ll be dead.”

  “Sure, something like that.”

  When they approached Hope’s Edge, Mantis did scans. Hope’s Edge was a 400-ton freighter and appeared to be in good condition, though her crew might not be.

  Raiza spoke up, “Ximon, to avoid concern, I recommend that Peter and I make the first inspection of the ship. We can’t be harmed by a human-borne plague.”

  Ximon, “That’s good thinking, but I’m not sending you over there alone. Elsbeth and I will accompany you two, in vacc suits if need be. Why don’t you and Peter get ready? Take the Medical Analysis Unit and whatever supplies you need.”

  Raiza kissed him, “Yes, captain.”

  When she left, Elsbeth said, “Thanks for volunteering me.”

  “Kind of my job. Plus, you’ll need to get logs and check the status of their engines.”

  Mantis spoke up as they approached, “Power ratings seem stable. No active scanners. Weak life signs. No visible damage. She’s pressurized.”

  Elsbeth said, “Ximon, why don’t you hit the aft air lock. We might be more centrally located and closer to engineering.”

  Ximon, “For you, anything. Go suit up and I’ll hook her up and then join you. Oh, and bring a gun!”

  “Wouldn’t want to get on a strange ship without one.”

  Ximon maneuvered the Mantis in and connected to Hope’s air lock.

  “Ok, Elsbeth, knock on the door! I’m getting suited up.”

  “No answer, but it’s not locked. Opening now.”

  “OK, stream video.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Ximon watched the video as he finished suiting up in the galley. It looked like they were in a ghost ship – no one in sight.

  Raiza reported, “I’ve taken air samples. The air is breathable and at normal pressure.”

  They came to the first intersection and looked both ways, seeing no one either way. About that time, Ximon came hurrying up behind, wearing a gun as well.

  Ximon, “OK, Elsbeth, why don’t you take Peter and head back to check the cargo bay and then engineering? Raiza and I will go forward and check the cabins, galley, etc.”

  Elsbeth, “Ok by me. Come on Peter. If I don’t think we’ll die, we can make out in THEIR engine room.”

  Ximon and Raiza headed forward and soon came to a couple of cabins. Both were empty and didn’t look recently used. Then they came to the large captain’s cabin. It was a very nice room but didn’t seem to be doing the occupant much good at the moment. There was a person in the big bed, and they seemed asleep or unconscious. Raiza rushed to check the obviously very ill patient while Ximon went to the computer. He was quickly able to pull up a general layout of the ship and tried to find some logs.

  Raiza said, “He definitely has some contagious plague-like disease. Your vacc suit was prudent protection for you. His pulse is very weak, his lungs are in bad shape and he’s severely dehydrated.”

  She worked to pump him full of stuff and said, “Ximon, please check for other patients.”

  Ximon went over to the galley and found a woman on a couch there, but he checked her, and she was dead.

  Ximon, “Raiza, there’s a body in the galley, but she’s definitely dead.”

  Ximon went on and found a supply room and then the medical bay. Inside the medical bay, both beds were occupied. In one, a man was hooked up to IVs, while in the other a woman was just lying there, alive but breathing raggedly. Another bed lay empty.

  Raiza, “I found the medical bay and two more patients. Should we move that guy in here?”

  “No, Ximon, I think he’ll rest comfortably here, but I’ll head that way. By the way, I found his communicator next to him on the bed. I’ll bring you that.”

  Ximon met her and brought her to the medical bay where she got to work.

  Ximon, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “No, thank you Ximon, but I might in a while. Why don’t you go check the bridge?”

  Ximon almost felt like she was trying to get him out of the way, but she knew her business.

  Elsbeth radioed soon, “Ximon, they’ve got a full hold and a mix of stuff. No peop
le there. There are two people in four cryo chambers, but I can’t tell if they were cryo passengers or if they were frozen sick. Engineering looks fine. The power plant is running fine and power and life support are fine. They could have jumped, but they don’t have enough fuel, and this isn’t aerodynamic enough to skim for fuel. They’ve got a dock for a small shuttle, but it’s gone. I’m pulling logs from back here. If you’ve found the bridge, please pull those logs. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be glad to get back to the Mantis.”

  Ximon sent her the layout of the ship and told her, “When you’re done pulling the logs, you and Peter come up to near the medical bay and we’ll lay out a plan.”

  They gathered in a few minutes and got an update from Raiza.

  Raiza, “We’ve got two patients here in medical, one in fairly bad shape. The captain is also in bad shape. I’m giving them large doses of antibiotics, but I think they tried some with limited success and then ran out. If they make it, they’re going to need help with various bodily functions. Peter, if you don’t mind staying, I could use your assistance. Ximon, I recommend that you and Elsbeth head back to Mantis and decontaminate. Study the logs and find out where they came from and where they’re heading. Also, see if you can find anything on their shuttle. There may be more sick there.”

  Ximon, “Yes, ma’am. Let us know if you need us back.”

  “Yes, Ximon. Thank you.”

  Ximon and Elsbeth used the long decontamination cycle in the Mantis’ air lock and then both went and took showers and preventative drugs. Then they fed the logs to Mantis and all three started analyzing.

  After a while, the picture emerged. The ship came from the Irapce system, with crew mates starting to get violently ill during the jump. By the time they came out of jump, the medic had put one in a cryo chamber and had two in sick bay. The captain, Grayson, got the ship to an orbit near the gas giant and sent the shuttle to skim for fuel. However, as the captain noted in his log, “I hate to send them – Zeke and Jack look like death warmed over, but we’re doing to die if we stay here.”

  The shuttle had left almost 26 hours earlier, far longer than skimming and returning would have taken.

  Mantis noted, “Captain, I’ve scanned the area around the gas giant repeatedly and have found no sign of the shuttle. The last sensor data from the ship shows the shuttle entering the atmosphere 23 hours ago. Unless they landed on another moon or are on the far side, probabilities would suggest they likely crashed on the gas giant.”

  Hope’s End had been bound toward the Xalanan subsector to trade, planning to hit Edorener, Zezaho, and Xalanan.

  Ximon reported back to Raiza, “Dear, it looks like the shuttle is likely lost and at least one of the people in the cryo chambers was an early patient that took a bad turn. I’ve sent you a summary of the doctor’s logs if you hadn’t already seen those, as well as some related notes from the captain. How is it going there?”

  She looked perfect even though she’d been working hard with sick patients and bodily fluids.

  She said, “They’re at a critical point. I believe two are mending, but one is looking uncertain. If he doesn’t improve soon, we’ll have to put him in a cryo chamber. Check back with me in a few hours.”

  So, Ximon and Elsbeth waited while Raiza and Peter worked with the wounded. The hours ticked by and Raiza reported, “I had to put the doctor in Cryo. He’s in bad shape. But the other two are starting to come around. We’re starting to sanitize portions of the ship as time allows. We’ll check back in a few hours.”

  Ximon took a nap and was awoken by her next report 4 hours later, “Ximon, Captain Grayson is conscious and would like to speak with you. I’ve got him set up for a video link if you’d like.”

  “Sure, just a minute.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and threw water on his face.

  Ximon, “Greetings, Captain. This is Ximon Sabo of the KSS Mantis. How are you doing?”

  Grayson didn’t look great, but he definitely looked better than the last time Ximon had seen him. Grayson’s voice was scratchy, but clear, “Damn sight better than I was thanks to this angel here and the big guy. You’re lucky to have her on your ship. She’s a great nurse and a great beauty. That alone can heal a man, you know. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for helping. The angel says I need to rest for about a day before I can get up, but we’ll see about that. Also, I need to ask if there’s a way you can help me refuel. She tells me you haven’t seen our shuttle. I hated to send them, but it seemed like our only chance.”

  Ximon, “Yes, captain. We worked out a plan to refuel you. If you don’t mind, we’ll slave Hope’s End controls to follow us to an orbit nearer the gas giant. Then, we’ll go skim and then come back and pump that into you. That should get you about full. Then we’ll go skim ourselves. By that time, you might be ready to fly. If you want, we can jump to 535-336 together unless you want to go back to Irapce.”

  “Can’t go back. Need to make the pay and I’m already losing money. That sounds like a great plan if you don’t mind. While you’re there, watch for the shuttle.”

  “Will do. I’ll be over in a minute and we’ll get going.”

  Then he said to Raiza, “Dear, are you and Peter ok if Elsbeth and I head to the gas giant to skim?”

  “Of course, Ximon. We’ll continue sanitizing and taking care of our patients.”

  Ximon slaved Hope’s End (he had Grayson’s communicator for authentication) and headed for the gas giant. Then they skimmed, came back, and hooked up their pumps to fill Hope’s End. Then they skimmed again and came back.

  Ximon, “Raiza, how are you doing?”

  Raiza, “I am, of course, fine and our patients are much improved. I would prefer to have Captain Grayson rest for at least 8 more hours before we jump, but he says the only way he’ll spend more time in bed is if I join him. He is, of course, joking.”

  “I’m not so sure, I’d like to get you back to be safe.”

  Raiza, “In any case, why don’t you navigate both ships to a jump point and that might be a reasonable point for him to get up.”

  “Sounds good.”

  In about 6 hours they were at a jump point and docked again. Ximon and Grayson exchanged jump coordinates, so they’d come out of jump near each other in case Hope’s End needed help. Raiza left the Hope’s End crew with a good follow-on supply of drugs and clear instructions.

  Before they uncoupled, Raiza said the patients were no long contagious and the captain wanted to give him a gift. Ximon was reluctant, but trusted Raiza’s judgement. Nevertheless, he and Elsbeth wore medical masks when they met in the Hope’s air lock, so did Grayson and his navigator. They presented Ximon with a small case of whiskey, which Elsbeth greedily accepted, and thanked them profusely.

  Grayson, “Seriously Ximon, you’ve got one fine lady there. If you hadn’t already married her, I’d be tempted to.” Then he pointed to Peter, “… and this guy is pretty handy as well – he lifted us around like we were nothing and worked hard to clean up our piss and vinegar as it were. Thanks again. Not everyone would do what you and your crew did. I’ll send a letter of thanks to the KSF. We need more ships looking out for one another.”

  “I’m glad we could help. Take care and we’ll see you on the other side.”

  Then they decoupled and jumped to 535-336. A few days later they came out only a few hundred kilometers from Hope’s End. This time the star 535-336 seemed quiet and everything was settled.

  Raiza grabbed the radio, “Captain Grayson, how are you?”

  Grayson, “Ah, angel. I didn’t think you cared. I’m fine, thanks to you and so is Douglas here, but it’s awful lonely over here. If you wanted to come over and join us ….”

  Ximon cut in, “Thanks for the kind invitation, but we’ve got some bad memories of this system so we’re just going to skim and get out as fast as we can. We’ll skim once, pump you up, then skim again, but Elsbeth has something for you, so if you don’t mind, we’ll dock and get you that.�
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  The process of multiple skimmings and pumping fuel into Hope’s End took several hours but went without incident. Then they docked and Elsbeth and Peter lugged some stuff over.

  Elsbeth explained, “It’s not much and it’s ugly, but this crazy pump set up should allow you to lower these big hoses to the outer atmosphere and skim that way. It’ll be slow, but it’s better than not having an option.”

  Grayson called to thank Ximon again, “Thanks for that. You kind of feel naked if you’re jumping around dead space like this without the ability to skim. Now why didn’t you send this other beauty over earlier? I would have gotten well much faster with two hotties in attendance.”

  The decoupled and jumped back to Zanerus. Once there, they helped Hope’s End refuel again, but then had to part ways.

  Ximon radioed Vir’s station at Zanerus 4, “Zanerus Station, this is the KSS Mantis. We’re back in system and have data for you.”

  After a minute or so, Judyta came on the line, “Mantis, this is Zanerus station. Please send what data you have. Will you be able to land? We might need your assistance with a few things, and I’ve got at least 2 spare men here you could take away from me.”

  “Roger, Judyta. Transmitting data now. It includes scan data from the systems we’ve visited as well as a setup report for Alzroid’s team. Yes, we will be landing. ETA 9 hours.”

  “Excellent Captain. I will try to ensure everyone is alive when you get here.”

  “It will be more interesting if they are.”

  Mantis headed for Zanerus 4, scanning the system on the way.

  They got there in a few hours and landed near the station. From the outside, everything looked alright. However, no one came out to meet them, so after a few minutes they suited up and headed for the station’s main airlock.

  Inside, Vir met them, “Greeting Captain. Come in to station.”

  Ximon, “Greetings. How is everything going?”

  Vir, “All is vell, but we use your help.”

  About that time Rotoz and Judyta appeared.

  They both shook hands and Rotoz said, “Welcome. It is good to see you.”