The holographic model of the system vanished as Alura answered, "We are currently located two parsecs from the Jennea system which is uninhabited."
The vibrations of the ship were imperceptible as Alura changed course. Shaltia was at the communications station reviewing the distress transmission.
"There's no voice transmission. Just a signal."
The hairs on Cooper's neck stood up and a shiver ran down his spine.
"Let's be careful," he warned. "This could be a trap."
"Check the sensors and let's see what it out there," Shaltia said.
Sliding into the conn chair, Cooper started examining the sensor data as the Alura sent it to the screen. "There is a large object twenty-two hundred kilometers to our starboard. Maybe a ship."
A dot appeared in the distance. The object grew slowly as Alura approached it.
"No life signs, either."
Shaltia said, "I'm trying to hail them too. Nothing."
The object took form as they got closer. A large vessel, about ten times the size of Alura, floated in front of them.
"I hope they don't all want a lift," Cooper joked.
"What can you tell about it?"
"Let me see," Cooper said as he parsed through the data on Alura's screens.
"Allow me to assist, Captain Shaltia. The vessel appears to be Delluna class transport ship. It is somewhat outdated, but still in use. Mostly by the Cheundian System in colonization."
"How outdated?" Cooper asked.
"The Delluna class lacks the defensive and offensive capabilities, and the propulsion drive is typically a magnetic drive."
Cooper grinned. "You mean, she's not as pretty as you, right?"
"Beauty has very little impact on functionality," Alura responded.
"Yeah, I've heard that before. How long has she been floating?"
"Unknown. However, based on the collection of particles to the hull, it would seem that the Delluna has been here six months at the least."
"We should investigate," Shaltia said.
Cooper nodded. "Absolutely. With no life signs, there is salvage there."
"Do you ever think about anything that doesn't profit you?"
Cooper let out a groan. "There are no life signs. I'm not dismissing the people on the ship, but at the same time, we have an opportunity."
"All you see are opportunities."
Shaking his head, Cooper said, "Better than seeing regret."
Shaltia stared at him. Her brow furrowing in anger and frustration. "What the fuck does that mean?"
"Not now," Cooper said in a commanding voice. "I'm done talking about it."
The Delluna floated. As Alura approached, Cooper scanned the hull for any battle scars. The ship seemed unharmed.
"There appears to be an airlock compatible to our own. Would you like me to dock?" Alura asked.
"Yes," Cooper answered.
Shaltia stared out the forward clearview with a strained look on her face. Cooper was choosing to ignore her. She had a tendency to get half-cocked about something, and she had no problem throwing insults at Cooper. He knew she resented him, and he wanted to win her over. Running arms to rebels for barely more than cost wasn't his idea of smart business. Too much risk for too little reward, he thought. He did it though because of her, trying to ingratiate himself. Fucking, fat lot of good it did. She was back at the same argument.
Cooper could read her pretty well. Shaltia was an idealist. She wanted to charge against the machine running the universe, but she seemed to miss it each time. Her actions peppered with regrets from not quite tearing the cogs from the machine. The fact that Alura was Cooper's seemed to dig into her. He wanted a partnership of sorts. Hell, he let her make most of the calls, but she just wouldn't give an inch.
Returning his eyes to the sensor data, Cooper wanted to find the thing tickling the hairs on his neck. Cooper had been a gambler long enough to read a room. He knew if someone had a better hand than him most times, and he knew when a game was rigged. Something felt rigged here. But Shaltia would never ignore a distress signal, besides who knows what might be on the Delluna.
"Alura, do you read anything unusual?" he asked as his own eyes saw nothing.
"No. All sensor readings indicate the vessel is lifeless. Life support is activated. Auxiliary power seems to be functioning."
Looking to Shaltia, Cooper asked, "Anybody answering yet?"
"No," she said bluntly as she continued to hail the Delluna.
"Preparing to dock," Alura warned.
Alura turned parallel to the larger ship.
"Shields will be down during docking procedures," the ship informed.
"Go ahead," Cooper said warily. Now would be the time to attack, he thought.
The conn flashed as the force field protecting the Alura disappeared. The ship made infinitesimal adjustments as it lined up the airlocks of the two respective vessels. A groaning along the hull indicated that Alura's airlock was extending to connect to the Delluna.
"Wanna go check it out?" Cooper asked Shaltia who still seemed to be upset.
"Yes," she said.
"Arm up then," Cooper ordered as he jumped up and left the bridge.
In his quarters, Cooper grabbed a laser pistol that he strapped to his thigh. He lashed a sheath holding a long double-edged blade about half a meter long. The knife was etched with a script that Cooper couldn't read, and it had an ornate full tang carved from bone. Cooper had won the knife off of a celinium sheik during a game of cards. The sheik had sworn to its mystical powers, however, Cooper was merely fascinated with its craftsmanship and balance.
He attached another dagger to his right calf and covered it with the cuff of his pants. Finally, he grabbed a holster holding an ancient firearm that he had stolen from his father. It fired bullets using a firing pin. The gun had been passed down for nearly eight generations. His father would have never let him have it, so Cooper stole it when he left home. The gun had been carefully preserved and treasured. The words "Smith & Wesson" stamped into the nickel finish. A silver star was burned into each side of the wood grip. For centuries, the gun had been in the Montbarts family, but it was never used. Cooper, though, loved the feel of it. The bonus was it could be fired even if more modern firearms, like his laser pistol, were rendered inoperable as some planets and systems do use energy dampening devices. Not to mention, the damage a bullet can cause as it rips through the flesh far outweighs a laser. The only downside was the sorely poor market for ammunition. Cooper had learned to make his own, but even that meant that his supplies remained limited.
A tap on the door alerted Cooper. When he opened it, Mitch plodded into the quarters. Cooper left him to wander the ship sometimes. Mitch would generally find him when he was ready for company.
"Sorry, buddy, you gotta stay here."
Mitch turned his head questioningly.
"Fuck it, come on," Cooper said. "You might need a walk, and I don't have to pick up your shit over there."
Cooper grabbed the brown leather bowler hanging on the hook and slipped it on his head. The two exited the quarters and moved forward to the airlock where Shaltia waited on them.
"Mitch is coming?" she asked.
"Yeah, he might smell something."
She shook her head. She had a laser pistol on her belt and a scanner in her hand.
"Ready," Cooper questioned.
"Let's check this out. Keep up with your dog, Cooper."
Cooper looked at the bulldog. "Stay with me."
"Alura, keep your scanners peeled for anything amiss," Cooper ordered the vessel.
"Yes. Captain Shaltia, if you can connect the transmitting port into their vessel, I will be able to access more data on the Delluna and its mission."
"Will do, Alura," Shaltia said.
"She's not the captain," Cooper said as the doors opened.
Exploring the Ghost Ship
The atmosphere in the pressurized airlock was stale.
It always tasted
stale, Cooper thought. The rest of the ship never was never that way. He pulled the laser pistol off his hip and stepped through the door. Shaltia was two steps behind him. The Delluna's airlock opened into what appeared to be an entry area. The lights were dimmed with emergency lights only shining.
"Did you think to bring a light?" Cooper asked.
"Yes, I suppose you didn't. You have enough firepower to take down a giroch, but you forgot a flashlight."
Cooper shrugged and stepped into the corridor. "Forward or aft?" he asked.
"Bridge is probably forward," she commented.
"Then forward we go."
The corridor stretched toward the front with emergency lights illuminating areas along the way until it ended in darkness. Stretches of black were broken with the beams of white light.
"It feels empty. Dead." Shaltia's voice held trepidation.
"Stay close," Cooper said as he stalked through the patches of darkness.
"How many people do you think were on here?" Shaltia asked.
"This is a transport ship. Probably a decent number. Fifty?"
Another corridor intersected in a dark patch. The lights along the new hall were fewer. The end seeming to vanish into an abyss.
"Which way?" Cooper asked.
Shaltia shined her light down the new passageway. There appeared to be a door about fifty meters down.
"Maybe it's the bar," Cooper joked.
"Let's hope not," Shaltia responded. "I need you to search the rest of the ship."
"Ha, ha, ha," Cooper commented sarcastically, but he was glad to hear her taking jabs at him.
The door opened automatically when the reached it. The inside was lined with tables. A serving station stood at the opposite end of the room with a door leading to another area. The tables were empty for the most part. A few dishes and cups were scattered randomly on tables. Some appeared to have dried substances that Cooper guessed was food at one time.
There was only one emergency light by the door. The rest of the room was darkness cut into by the beam of the flashlight. Navigating his way around the tables, Cooper walked to the serving station. Dishes of food that had long rotted sat in warming stations that had gone cold a while back. A moldy odor drifted in the room leaving a sense of decay.
"Food's still here," Shaltia said.
"Yeah, but no people."
Cooper moved past the serving station into the adjoining kitchen. Giant coolers hummed in the back. "Come on, Mitch," he called the dog that was licking a plate on the floor.
"Maybe they must have the fridge on auxiliary power. Don't want the beer getting warm."
Pulling on the door of the cooler, Cooper opened it to feel the blast of cold air rushing out. Shaltia's light shone through the door illuminating the darkened interior. Cooper reached to the side and found a switch lighting the inside of the refrigerator.
Shaltia looked at him.
"I thought if the refrigeration worked," Cooper said nonchalantly.
The cooler was filled with foodstuffs. Most of the meats seemed fine, but the vegetables had turned slimy or sprouted stalks. Mold had covered most of the food.
"No one's eating anything lately," Shaltia noted.
"Nope." Cooper stepped out of the cooler and pointed his light into a pantry filled with canned goods covered in a fine dust. "Everything seems pretty much untouched."
"Maybe they abandoned ship?" she questioned.
"We need to find the bridge," Cooper said. He added as he looked over the stockpile of food, "At the very least we know we have some canned fruit for later."
"Yum," Shaltia responded curtly.
"Let's find the bridge," Cooper said. "Maybe we can find what happened to them."
Mitch sniffed at the edges of the cooler.
"Leave it," Cooper said. "C'mon."
Mitch padded along as they returned to the corridor.
"It's damn eery," Shaltia said.
"Yeah, it's just dead." Cooper touched the transmitter in his ear. "Alura, are your scans showing anything?"
"Not yet. When you get me access to their computer, I should be able to pull more information."
"Let's find a computer," Cooper said.
"Bridge," Shaltia sounded exasperated.
As the trio approached the front of the vessel, more corridors cut off the main one. The hallways were progressively darker.
"Maybe more non-essential passages," Shaltia suggested. "We should continue forward, I think."
"Agreed," Cooper said.
Mitch strutted along in agreement.
"Wouldn't escape pods have transmission capabilities?" Shaltia asked.
"Most, I thought, had beacons that could be dropped to leave voice and data records for any rescuers."
"Why didn't we see that?"
"Good question. Maybe the ship has drifted too far."
"In six months?" Shaltia questioned.
"I don't know," Cooper admitted.
The corridor ended at a lift. Power seemed to be shut off, and the lift was non-responsive.
"Ideas?" Shaltia asked.
Cooper slipped the tips of his fingers in the crack of the door. Pulling apart, he pried the doors open about half a meter revealing an empty shaft with a service ladder.
"Up or down?"
"Maybe we should split up. You go up. I'll go down."
Both of them looked at Mitch who was peering down the lift shaft.
"Mitch," Cooper commanded. "Stay!"
Mitch looked up at his friend.
"Sit!"
Mitch sat obediently.
"Good boy. Stay here. We will be back." Looking at Shaltia, he said, "You go first. I want to make sure you make it."
Rolling her eyes, she responded, "Because I can't reach a ladder five feet away."
"No, because I don't want to have to scrape you off the bottom of the shaft."
"Fuck you," she said as she jumped to the ladder without his assistance.
She was already descending when Cooper looked at Mitch and muttered, "Women."
Mitch stared back without understanding.
Cooper leaped to the ladder and began scaling the rungs. The ladder ascended into darkness, and Cooper took each rung with greater trepidation.
The climb felt like an eternity. He would glance down to see the dim light from the open door. With each rung that he took, it got farther away, and the sheer blackness of the shaft crawled over him. The occasional thin line of white that appeared to be other lift doors was the only light. Cooper continued to climb reasoning that the bridge was likely at the top of the ladder. Besides even if it wasn't, then the descent to each level would be easier on both the body and the mind.
Reaching up one more time, he realized he made it to the top. He descended a bit until he thought he was at the uppermost lift door. Looping his legs around the ladder, Cooper stretched his body toward the thin line. His right hand touched the door. He explored the darkness with his fingers until he felt a lever. Pulling it, he watched the light pour into the shaft as the door opened.
Cooper extended a leg to the floor outside the lift and then grabbed the edge to pull himself out. Looking back down the black hole, he couldn't make out the light from Mitch's door. He hoped his friend was staying put on that level.
The light from this level was brighter. He was standing in a foyer area with four doors. The one directly in front of the lift was labeled "Command Bridge." "Navigation," "Communications," and "Captain's Office" were labeled on the other three.
Cooper chose the bridge. The doors opened to show a much larger bridge than Alura has. Six stations were situated in front of the forward window. A large view screen hung from above. Five stations were on each side of the bridge, and the captain's chair sat in the middle.
Mental note, Cooper thought, I need a captain's chair.
Moving to the computers, he looked at the displays. Most stations appeared to have powered down. He found one of the forward stations still displaying information. H
e slid into the chair and began bringing up information.
"Shaltia, come in," he said into his transmitter.
"Go ahead."
"I found the bridge. How are you?"
"I decided to start at the bottom. I'm heading to engineering."
Cooper pulled up the logs.
"The vessel's name is the Burnside. Logs indicate it left Cheundia eighteen months ago. There should be seventy-five people on board."
"Where were they going?"
"This is odd. It says their destination was on Donal, the fifth planet in the Nacob System." Cooper paused. Then he asked, "Alura, come in."
"Yes, Cooper."
"Are we on a direct course from Cheundia to the Nacob System?"
"No. The Nacob system is in the four hundred quadrant. It would take two years at three hundred light-speed to reach Nacob from here. The Nacob system is a five-month voyage from Cheundia."
"That's a long way from here," Shaltia said over the transmitter.
"Yeah, the log ends eight months ago. The last entry is about making a stop in the Lovat System. Then nothing."
"The Skolic system? That doesn't make sense. What kind of colony is this?"
"According to the log, they were starting an agricultural colony. The manifest lists livestock."
"Oh, shit," Shaltia exclaimed.
"What is it?"
The transmitter remained silent.
"Shaltia, come again. What is it?"
Silence.
"Shal!" Cooper exclaimed. "What is going on?"
"I'm good."
Cooper sighed with relief. "What happened?"
"I think I found one of the livestock."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Shaltia responded. "Looks like some type of cattle. It's been dead a long time."
"Fuck, they probably abandoned ship and left the livestock to starve."
"I don't think so."
Cooper sat up a little in the chair as he scanned through more ship data. "Why do you say that?"
"This thing doesn't look like it starved. More like it was maimed."
Cooper stared at the screen in front of him. He double checked the numbers he was seeing.
"Maimed?"
"Yeah, mostly skeletal and skin at this point, but it's in an odd position."
Alura's Bind_Book One Page 2