by Darrell Bain
As Jeremy stepped back from his session he glanced at the screen. A tiny red icon flashed momentarily at the very edge of the display, just as it had before.
"Look, there's that image again!” He pointed to the screen and took two steps forward, bringing him right next to Chambers, who was logging some data. She turned to look, but to Jeremy's dismay it had disappeared by then.
"What did you see?” she asked quietly.
After he described the tiny red icon he had seen, she asked “Are you sure you saw it, Jeremy?” She glanced directly at everyone else in the control room. “Did anyone else see what he did?"
Jeremy noticed that she very carefully did not describe what he said he had seen or mention the word “again". It didn't matter, though. Just as before, he was the only witness.
"Are you certain of what you saw, Costa?” Lisa Trammell asked when no one else spoke up.
"Yes, ma'am, I'm certain. It was like ... I'm sorry. I don't have enough experience to say what it resembled. It was tiny and red, as if the computer was designating it as an unknown mass, though."
At that moment COB Shinzyki entered the control room. Jeremy was convinced that he had X-Ray vision. Hardly anything unusual happened without him making an appearance. It was uncanny, but the spacers and their officers seemed to take it for granted.
"Problem?” he asked in his gruff voice while studying the expressions of the people there.
Jeremy thought that was what he was doing. If so, he apparently didn't like what he saw.
"Speak up, people. I'm not a mind reader,” he said sharply. His eyes looked dangerous as a hungry shark, and the officers, including the XO, appeared subdued.
"I thought I saw something on the screen, sir. No one else did, though,” Jeremy said hurriedly. It sounded to him as if he was admitting to a hallucination, but the Chief Warrant Officer didn't act like it.
His voice softened. “Tell me about it, son. Everything you remember."
He did so, including the previous time when he'd seen the same thing.
"Well, there's one sure way to find out. Let's play back the recording.” The Chief dropped into a control seat and began tapping at the console board. Within seconds he had what he wanted. “Is this it, Costa?"
Jeremy was amazed. Now why hadn't Lieutenant Whistler done that? “That's it, sir, just like I saw."
"All right, now when was that other occasion? Do you remember the date?"
He thought frantically. “Uh, it was right after the last transition, Chief. A Tuesday, because I remember that's the day I study the micro-journals we downloaded from the ship."
Shinzyki brought up the display for the date and instituted a search at the approximate time Jeremy told him he had briefly seen the object on the screen. A moment later he said “Sure ‘nuff, son. There it is. Now, why didn't someone go back like I did just now and take a look?"
"I, uh, I don't know, sir.” He knew, but he didn't want to tattle on Lieutenant Whistler. No one liked a fink.
"Who had the watch then?"
Trammell had been busy checking the log. “Lieutenant Whistler had the watch, Chief."
He grunted but Jeremy noticed his face harden and set in lines resembling cracks in a granite cliff. He continued tapping the controls and eventually leaned back in the chair.
"That's the best enhancement this comp is capable of. Costa, does that look like a spaceship to you?"
"I don't know, sir. I've never seen one on this screen."
"Yeah, I guess you haven't. Still, that was good work, spotting it for as short a time as it was displayed. I wonder ... XO, how ‘bout we up the gain on the detectors and narrow it down to the area of a vector timed to our progress since then?"
"You think it's a ship following us?"
"I don't know but ... umm, maybe we shouldn't do that. If it happened to be a Monkeyclaw, it'd know we pinged it for certain. But we could stop the search for orbiting mass for a few minutes, and that'd give us a big increase in our passive scan."
"That sounds good, Chief. Do it."
Shinzyki tweaked the controls very cautiously, increasing the passive detection by small increments over a period of several minutes. Trammell stood behind him, watching the screen while Jeremy and Jana eased in as close to the XO and COB as they dared. He noticed that Lieutenant Medford was keeping an eye on the other numerous readouts and gauges without having been asked. He was rapidly learning some of the intricacies of interaction in the control room.
"There! Got him! By God, it is a ship, and unless I'm losing my eyesight, it's them fu ... them damned Monkeyclaws again!"
"Lieutenant Medford, please notify Commander Brackett,” Trammell said immediately.
Jeremy listened and watched with open-eyed admiration at how quickly the COB had pinned down the image he'd seen. He glanced around furtively, wondering when he and Jana would be ordered from the control room. He expected it to happen any moment, but when it did happen it was Jana who was excused.
"Costa, you stay here,” Shinzyki said. “I want Commander Brackett to see what kind of trouble you've gotten us into. Waters, you can go now."
For a moment he was nonplussed but then saw that the Warrant Officer was allowing a hint of a smile to soften the sharp planes and lines of his face. Tentatively, he relaxed. A moment later, he snapped to attention as Commander Brackett entered.
"As you were,” he said. “What is it, XO?"
"Let the Chief tell it, sir."
"COB?"
"Yes, sir. This young man here spotted something a week or so ago,” he began, putting a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. “It should have been reported at once when he spoke up, but ... circumstances ... prevented it. Then Explorer Costa spotted the same thing again and I, um, followed up on it. To make a long story short, I believe he found a Monkeyclaw ship that's following us.” He removed his hand from Jeremy's shoulder and pointed to the screen, where the faint icon was still being observed by the passive detection systems.
Brackett glanced at it. “It doesn't look like much. How sure are you?"
"I checked it against our previous sightings of the ‘Claws, sir. It's them or another of their ships. Judging from the vector, it came out of hyper a half hour behind us."
"Makes sense. Otherwise, we'd have picked them up immediately. Good job, Costa. You're to be commended. Now what I'd like to know is why it wasn't reported to me the first time he saw it."
"A word, Skipper?"
It was the COB's standard tactic for requesting a private conversation. Brackett nodded, and they went off to a corner of the control room to talk without being overheard.
Jeremy didn't need to hear the brief conversation. The way the commander's face changed from a composed mask to a grimace that appeared briefly and just as quickly vanished told him that Lieutenant Whistler was in trouble. Brackett motioned to Trammell and the XO joined him and COB Shinzyki. They spoke briefly and the XO left the control room. Brackett came back to stand by the screen, not deigning to take his usual seat.
"What have we found in this system, Rayne? Anything yet?” he asked her.
"I'm getting some readings now, sir,” Lieutenant Medford said. “Looks like a gas giant about forty-five degrees from our vector and an earth-sized mass about six AUs farther in and thirty degrees the other side of our vector. Both are in the ecliptic, and the Earth object is just about in the middle of the life zone.” She blinked her dark brown eyes to bring the control room back in focus after staring at the small screen where she had downloaded readouts and boat data while the others had been using the main display.
"That's good, Rayne. Any signs of water?"
"That just came on line too, sir. The spectrograph says yes. Looks like a fair amount."
"Fine.” He nodded to Chambers. “Joyce, please set up the coordinates and let's head for it."
"What about the Monkeyclaw ship, sir?"
He shrugged. “There's nothing we can do about it yet, but pass the word and log this order: I do not
want our active detectors pinging it, not for any reason at all, unless I specifically order it. If its distance from us changes in a substantial way, or if it paints us or shows any signs of hostility, I want to be notified immediately, no matter what time it is. Log that, too."
"Yes, sir,” Medford said and got busy.
"Costa, you can go now. Don't say anything about this for the time being. Understand?"
"Yes, sir. I never talk about what goes on in the control room, sir."
Brackett granted him a small smile of approval. Added to his previous commendation, it made Jeremy feel good, as if he belonged in the control room. It was totally different from the sensation that occurred under Lieutenant Whistler's watch. As he headed back toward the day room, he wondered what the commander would say to Whistler. Whatever it was, he hoped the astrogator didn't take it out on him.
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Chapter Nine
Commander Brackett sat at his desk, deep in thought even before Lieutenant Whistler closed the door behind him on his way out. His chastisement of the astrogator had been as harsh as he thought needful, but he doubted that it had made the impression he sought. The man seemed impervious to criticism. He wondered if he even realized how big a mistake he had made by ignoring something as important as a possible sighting, even if it was by a student astrogator. It would have taken him only moments to run the recording back and see whether or not Costa had been imagining things, but he hadn't bothered. His attitude had endangered the boat and might do so again in the future. Which made him think the training of Costa and Waters should be speeded up, especially Costa. Waters was fine, too but she wasn't quite as sharp as the young man. From all reports, he knew that Costa had a great deal of potential. Joyce said so, and when he spoke with Chief Dugan and Mr. Cantrell, he found that they thought well of Costa, too. And one thing was certain: without at least one competent astrogator, no one would make it back to Earth. The situation left no room for error, and with that thought he made his decision. He thumbed the intercom.
"Control Room, XO."
"Lisa, is Joyce still on duty?"
"Yes, sir."
"Send her to my cabin, if you will, please, and have one of the spacers find Explorers Costa and Waters and tell them to report to me, too. You can notify Lieutenant Whistler to replace Joyce in the CR."
"Yes, sir."
* * * *
Jeremy sat stiffly in a chair beside Jana in Commander Brackett's day cabin. He felt excitement build inside him as he listened to Commander Brackett, Lieutenant Commander Chambers and the XO discuss his and Jana's future.
"...so that's what I want. Push them as hard as you can. I want them to be qualified as soon as possible."
"Did you hear that, Jeremy? Jana?” Chambers asked. Her voice was almost as stern as the Commander's.
"Oh, yes, ma'am! Just tell me when you want me, and I'll be there,” Jeremy said.
"I will, too,” Jana echoed.
"I think we'll work an hour or two a day in the control room and as much time as necessary with me in my cabin to get you away from distractions. Is that satisfactory, Commander?"
"That's fine, Joyce. I'd suggest that you use the control room during hours when you can have the instruments to yourself. I'd say take as much time as possible while we're in the early phase of each hyper for that part of their training. I'll give Lieutenant Whistler some time off then, so the control room won't be so crowded."
Whistler did get in trouble, Jeremy thought. But surely he's not going to put either of us in his place. We're just backups, like he said.
* * * *
"You're late,” Juanita said when he called her personal com much later that day. “I've already found someone else."
"Huh? What..."
Her giggle interrupted his startled incomprehension. “Relax, lover. Just kidding. Are you off duty now?"
"Uh, yes. Can I come over?” Even after spending the night with her two days ago he found himself a bit hesitant in asking. She didn't seem to mind, though, not the way she answered.
"I'll be waiting."
He hurriedly washed and used a depilatory cloth on his face. Wistfully, he remembered the shower they'd taken together, and wished they could do it again. Maybe if they found a source of water on the planet they were approaching that was clear enough to see ... no, they had been able to see through the water before and still didn't know what had gotten two of the crew. The wildly bubbling water had concealed whatever denizens had come to the beach to feed. Maybe a waterfall? That would be nice. Kind of public, though. He shook his head and admonished himself for daydreaming as he hurried along the passageway to Juanita's cabin. He could hardly wait to tell her about his new duties.
"Hey, guess what hap—umph.” Juanita's lips pressed forcefully against his own, preventing him from completing the sentence. Not that he wanted to, just then, with her arms around his neck and his around her waist, her body firm and sensuous beneath the silken fabric of a nightgown.
"You were saying?” she asked, smiling up at him a few moments later.
"I think you made me forget,” he said truthfully, acutely aware of his reaction to her appearance and the feel of her body under the gown.
"Come sit down and see what I have.” She took his hand and drew him the two steps to the little loveseat her cabin rated. Even lower grade spacers rated larger cabins than explorers. Once he was seated, she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and reached beside her for the glass reposing on the tiny table next to the seat.
"What is it?"
"Tonky Juice. Ever have any?"
"Not that I know of. Where did you get it?"
"We spacers have our ways. Here, taste. Just a little bit.” She held the tiny bottle to his lips.
He sipped tentatively, taking a small amount into his mouth, and swallowed. It made a pleasant tingle at first, and then spread a warming sensation through his body. A few moments later his mind swirled with erotic images. He didn't know how long they lasted, but when he came back to Earth he found himself grinning like a fool.
"Like it?"
"Wow! What a trip! And the way it hits so fast! It must burn through the stomach wall almost immediately. Is that stuff legal?"
"So long as a person knows what they're drinking. It causes the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to open so that the active ingredient gets down to the intestines fast. That's where it's absorbed. We'll have a little more later. Right now, I hear you have a new job."
He was amazed that word had already spread. “Um, yeah. I'm going to be studying astrogation more than I thought I would. It's going to be just about a full time job from now on."
"What's wrong? Doesn't the Skipper already have two astrogators?"
"Uh huh. I guess he just wants some backup."
She raised a brow. “You aren't telling me everything, are you?"
He felt uncomfortable. “I'm sorry, ‘Nita. There's things I just can't discuss."
"Good for you. The whole boat knows, but don't let anyone goad you into talking about it anyway."
He saw she was serious and was glad she agreed with him. He would have felt badly if she had insisted he tell her something he had been ordered specifically not even to speak of—even if she did think everyone already knew. He wondered how Whistler's dereliction of duty had gotten out, and if the whole story had, or just part of it.
"And don't look so grim. It's just the way the boat works. It's hard to keep a secret for long when we're all cooped up together like this.” She pulled his head down for a brief kiss and he felt better.
The rest of the night went so well that once or twice he began to wonder if he might be in love. But looking back, he thought it more likely that the Tonky Juice made him feel that way. He didn't have a hangover the next morning, either.
* * * *
"Coyote is third up for this landing,” Chief Casey Dugan announced to the gathered squad. “We'll relieve the Dragons at first watch, 0800 hours tomorrow morn
ing, for guard and work details. Plan on being out of the boat for twelve hours, so bring a couple of rations. Now go and get your gear in shape. After inspection, I want you to exercise, relax and get some sleep tonight. We'll be busy the next few days. Costa, you're excused. Make certain your gear is in order first, and then report to the control room."
Jeremy opened his mouth to protest, but closed it without speaking. It wouldn't endear him to Chief Dugan to dispute an order in front of the whole squad, especially over not being allowed out of the boat with the others. He guessed that was what being excused from guard duty meant. He didn't like it, even if it did mean no work details gathering water or organics. He wanted to get out of the boat for a while! Surely the need for more qualified astrogators wasn't that great. Nothing to do but follow orders for now, though. He could always see the Chief alone later. He headed off toward his cabin with the rest of them after being dismissed. As he walked with the loose group of men and women toward their quarters, he suddenly became aware of a conversation somewhere ahead of him, loud enough that it must have been meant for him to overhear.
"The Skipper's fair haired boy, isn't he?"
"Yeah. Maybe sucking up to ‘Nita got him to the CR instead of risking his neck outside with the rest of us."
"I bet she's the one did the sucking."
He recognized the voices as those of Johnny Lann and Buford Russell, the big rawboned Englishman. Both of them were E5s and much older than he. He didn't particularly like either one, but up until now he hadn't had anything against them, other than Lann's being ‘Nita's previous lover and Russell's being too loud and overbearing for his taste. It was Buford who'd made the first remark, but Lann had gone right along with it, implying that ‘Nita helped get him into astrogator training. He felt his neck burning and tried to tune out the remarks, but they continued until he dropped from the squad to enter his cabin.