Death Haunts the Stars

by Jeffrey M. Fortney

  "Close the hatches!" Rivers ordered. Security techs at each hatch control punched the buttons on their override units and the hatches slid closed swiftly! Rivers was looking towards Mac Bradley and saw that the outer edge of Bradley's left hand was resting within the hatch's frame! "Mac, move your han..." Rivers yelled, but was too late!

  The hatch slid shut, catching the pinky of Bradley left hand between the hatch and its frame. The leading edge of the hatch closed on the outer side of Bradley's left hand, pressing the pinky finger into the hatch's frame. The edges of the hatch and frame sliced through the digital, severing it cleanly from the rest of Bradley's hand and crushing it in the hatch frame.

  Bradley bellowed in pain, dropped to one knee, and brought his right hand up to cradle his injured hand. Blood flowed freely from the wound and around the fingers of Bradley's right hand. Three med techs raced forward to help Bradley. They had him lay down on the deck while they bandaged the wound, started an IV, and gave him a shot of pain killer. Within a couple of minutes, they had Bradley stabilized, strapped to a backboard, and were moving him to an 'ambulance' parked further down the corridor.

  "Sorry, Skipper!" Bradley said to Rivers as he was carried past the captain.

  "It happens, Mac! We've got things under control here," said Rivers. "See you in the Med Center!" Rivers gave the medics the signal to get going. The medics moved out and Commander Bradley was on his way to the Med Center for treatment.

  Rivers checked the time and told the security personnel and medics that they'd wait a couple of more minutes. When the time had passed, Rivers contacted Commander Deckard in Main Engineering. "Pat, we've used the anesthetic gas in Stasis Compartment Three. Recycle the atmosphere in that compartment! "

  "Will do, Captain!" Deckard replied. A couple of minutes later, Deckard's voice came back. "It should be clear in there now, Skipper. Be careful!"

  "Roger that, Pat!" River replied. "Alright, everyone; let's take it slow and easy. Someone may have on a gas mask and avoided contact with the vapor. Hatches open first then we wait 10 seconds! Leap frog maneuver...one half to move forward on my order while the other half stands fast and lays down covering fire. Then we rotate. We leap frog until we have the saboteurs under control. Everyone copy that?" Everyone responded in the affirmative. "Ready? NOW!" Rivers shouted to the security specialists.

  The hatch overrides snapped both hatches open rapidly. Rivers and his personnel waited for a count of ten, then several personnel raced through each hatch and darted behind cover while Rivers and the rest fired their stunners towards the saboteurs' last know positions. Once in place, those personnel laid down a barrage of stunner fire while Rivers and several more security troops moved into the compartment. These crewmembers raced ahead of their predecessors' positions and took cover closer to the stasis pods.

  All of the security personnel were now in the compartment and had encountered no enemy fire. Rivers peered over the console he was using for cover and carefully scanned the compartment. Detecting no movement amongst the pods, he gave the order. "Move in using extreme caution. Capture and restrain any combatants. Whoever finds Johanson, sing out! Go! Go! Go!"

  Commander McLelland Bradley had trained his security personnel well. They moved up onto each tier on alert for any sign of aggression or attack. Each saboteur they found was unconscious but still they took no chances. While one security member kept a downed saboteur covered, another would take control of the saboteur's weapon. Then the unconscious person would be rolled onto his or her stomach and zip ties would bind the person's hands behind his or her back. Then another zip tie would be cinched around the person's ankles.

  This procedure was repeated until all of the saboteurs were secured. The senior security officer soon reported to Rivers that they had control of the compartment. Rivers ordered the medics, a team of doctors, and a team of engineers into the compartment. Two medics stopped to check on the downed security officer who had taken the pulse rifle beam to the face. The looks on their faces told Rivers that he had lost another crewmember.

  Several other medics quickly checked on the captured saboteurs and their co-conspirators. The engineers and remaining medical personnel began to check on the status of the colonists who were in the stasis pods.

  A young security ensign up on the third tier of pods called out to the captain. Rivers climbed the steps quickly and stepped over to the woman's position. The ensign pointed to the captive at her feet....an old, slender, white-haired man. Rivers had seen the man's face in books and magazines, in historical videos, on statues, and on monitors as the story of the invention of the FTL drive was repeated time after time. The man was Dr. Karl Johanson!

  "Medics!" Rivers called out. Two medics raced over and reported to the captain. "Get this man to the Med Center ASAP! Give Dr. Rivers my compliments and ask if she could bring him around as quickly as possible. I need to speak with him!" The medics acknowledged their orders and set to work preparing the patient to be moved. Rivers signaled two security guards to come over to his location. When they arrived, Rivers ordered them to stay with Johanson at all times.

  Rivers walked around the compartment and checked on the status of the stasis pod occupants and the remainder of the prisoners. One of the medics reported that three of the pods had shut down during the battle, their control console having been damaged by pulse rifle fire. The occupants inside those pods were dead. A medic reported that one of the saboteurs was dead and a number of others were injured. The dead man had rolled down two tiers of steps and broken his neck by colliding with a handrail support post. Several had been injured when they became unconscious and collapsed against objects with sharp corners.

  Another medic had recovered the crushed remains of Mac Bradley's left pinky and placed it in a sample bag. The medic excused himself and raced off to deliver the damaged digit to the Med Center on the off chance that it might be reattached.

  Rivers took a moment to contact the Medical Center to ask about Mac Bradley's condition. Charlotte Rivers answered the captain's call. She told her husband that Bradley was awake, alert, and madder-than-hell at himself for being clumsy enough to put his hand in the path of a rapidly closing hatch. Rivers gave Charlotte a quick update on the number of injured and dead in the stasis compartment and then signed off.

  Rivers turned to the senior security officer in the compartment. "Lieutenant, I'm heading to the Med Center. I want to check in on Commander Bradley and to speak with Johanson, if possible," said Rivers. He paused, then continued, "Good job here, Lieutenant! Tell the Security personnel they did a great job!" With that, Rivers turned and left the compartment. Out in the corridor, Rivers thought of snagging an empty personnel transport then thought better of the idea. The medical, security, and engineering personnel needed the vehicles more than he did.

  Jogging down the corridor to the nearest elevator, Rivers pulled out his comm unit and checked the time. He was shocked to discover that the standoff in SC3 had only lasted about 30 minutes! He whistled a few low notes then picked up his pace. First, to the Med Center to check on Mac and maybe talk with Johanson, Rivers thought. Then, I'll run down to the Main Dining Facility and end the party there with some good news!

  **********

  The Medical Center was a flurry of activity but was surprisingly quiet as Captain Rivers entered. The doctors, nurses, and medics were busy treating injured crewmembers and saboteurs. Noticeably absent were Doctors Rivers, Lewis, and Schmidt. Before he could ask, a nurse pointed towards the Med Center's surgical section. "Dr. Rivers is in Surgery One, sir!" Rivers nodded his thanks and began to walk in the indicated direction.

  Rivers jogged up the steps to the viewing gallery that overlooked Surgery One. Pausing at the window, he looked down into the sterile environment below. Dr. Rivers chose that moment to look up momentarily from her patient and nodded to her husband. The captain leaned over and pressed a button, activating the intercom between the gallery and the operating room.

  "How's Mac doing?" h
e asked. The concern was evident in his voice. James Rivers and McLelland Bradley had been close friends as well as shipmates for many years.

  Dr. Rivers spoke as she looked back down and continued to work on Bradley's left hand. "He's stable. He insisted on a local anesthetic but given the damage we felt it best to use a general. Of course, he pitched a fit, so we compromised...and knocked him out!" The doctor finished her part of the operation and turned to Doctor Lewis. "Michelle, will you finish up here, please. I'm going to check on our other critical patient." Dr. Lewis stepped closer to Bradley's left hand and picked up a dermal sealer to close the wound.

  It was then that Captain Rivers noticed Dr. Allison Schmidt standing next to Bradley on his right. At first, he thought she might be monitoring his pulse then he realized she was holding his hand. Rivers chuckled. Looks like Mac and Allison are an item after all, he thought.

  Rivers walked back down the stairs to the Med Center's main level and found Charlotte Rivers as she stepped out of Surgery One. She paused to speak with her husband for a moment before going to change her surgical garb for a fresh set.

  "Were you able to reattach Mac's finger?" the captain asked his chief medical officer.

  Dr. Charlotte Rivers shook her head. "No, we weren't! There was just too much damage to the bones, muscles, and tissues. It was basically a mass of jelly. Otherwise, the wound was clean, the medics stopped the bleeding, and we were able to reconstruct the area minus the finger."

  Rivers gave a sigh. "How about Security Sergeant Flanery's pulse beam wound?"

  Charlotte shook her head again. "She's alive but in bad shape. The pulse beam caused some very nasty nerve damage beyond the point of contact. She needs better treatment than we can provide here. I've got a team prepping her for stasis right now."

  "Damn!" said Rivers. "Well, hopefully, she'll be the last person harmed by these blasted saboteurs. Speaking of which...where is Johanson and how is he doing?"

  "Celeste Cahill and a team are with him in Isolation Three. He's in pretty rough shape. Based on historical records, he would be 219 years old. I'm guessing he has spent much of the time since his recorded "death" in either suspended animation or stasis. As such, he's physically much younger than his calendar age but I think he's facing the effects of advanced age combined with cellular damage caused by multiple, lengthy stays in SA and stasis," Charlotte told her husband. "He's waking up from the anesthetic gas but I don't think he'll survive much longer."

  "I want to talk with him then," said Rivers with a sense of urgency in his voice.

  "I should protest, James; but I won't. We need to know if all of Johanson's people have been captured and that the ship will be safe now. Down that way, third door on the right. I'll go get changed and join you shortly." She gave her husband a quick kiss then walked off to the changing her scrubs. The captain turned toward the isolation ward and walked quickly down the short corridor to Isolation Three. He pressed the door chime and waited for a moment until a nurse opened the door. Recognizing the captain, she stepped aside to let him enter.

  "Ah, Captain!" said Dr. Celeste Cahill. "Our patient is waking up."

  "Good!" said Rivers. "Doctor, are the cameras and microphones in this room set to record?"

  Dr. Cahill stepped over to a console along one wall. She checked the display and touched a couple of buttons. "They were on 'monitor only' but are in recording mode now, sir!"

  Rivers stepped over to the bed and looked down at the frail old man lying upon it. An oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose and IV tubes were delivering fluids into each arm. The wireless medical telemetry sensors attached to his body sent their signals to the medical monitors on the wall above one end of the sick bed. All of the readings registered in the low end of normal...and seemed to Captain Rivers' untrained eyes to be weakening.

  Rivers leaned down towards the man's head and examined his face closely before speaking. "Doctor Johanson," he said softly at first. When there was no response, Rivers spoke more loudly, "Doctor Johanson! I need to speak with you!"

  The old man's eyelids fluttered open slightly. He squinted, trying to bring his eyes into focus. Then he turned his head slightly towards the captain.

  Rivers locked his eyes onto the old man's, trying to get Johanson to focus on him. "Dr. Johanson, why are you aboard my ship?"

  Johanson took a deep breath, making Rivers fear it might be the old man's last. Then Johanson began to speak...slowly and in a weak, quivering voice. "My fault...my fault. My discovery spread...humans out...into deep space. We took the worst of...of ourselves out...out into...the universe...like a disease."

  Rivers shook his head while keeping his eyes locked on those of Johanson. "No, sir! Your invention helped save Humanity. We no longer face the danger of extermination from an extinction level event on Earth. And our best and brightest strive to make our homeworld and our colonies better places to live."

  "No! No...," said Johanson, shaking his head weakly, "...humans are evil...at heart...evil...they take death and destruction with them...wherever they go. I regret...sharing my discovery with the world. So I helped...helped form...the Earth Only...Movement...to stop space exploration...stop colonization."

  "Stop it by any means necessary, Dr. Johanson?" asked Rivers.

  "Yes! Tried protesting decades ago. Didn't work...spent years in SA...coming out to speak with family and supporters, as needed. Went back into SA. Next time out...more protests. No good. Then tried violence at launch sites...and other...Colonial facilities Earthside. Still not enough. Been in and out of stasis...rallying supporters...planning...planning..." Johanson seemed to drift off.

  Rivers reached forward, gripped the old man by the shoulders, and shook him gently. "Johanson! Stay with me! How many people did you have with you on the Conestoga? Tell me! How many of your people on my ship?"

  Johanson's eyes opened only slightly, but pure hatred burned within them. "My people...are on...several ships, captain. Not just yours! Among the crews...as colonists...and...and...and hidden aboard..." Johanson's eyes closed again. His breathing grew ragged and shallow. Rivers allowed himself to be pushed aside by Dr. Cahill and a nurse as they moved in to try to help Johanson. Rivers looked at the medical monitors and watched Johanson's vital signs decline rapidly.

  Dr. Rivers entered the room and proceeded to help Dr. Cahill but it was no use. Johanson's condition grew steadily worse and within a few minutes his breathing stopped. A moment later, his heart stopped beating. Doctors Rivers and Cahill tried to revive the old man but nothing worked. Finally, Dr. Rivers made the call and drew the sheet over the man's head. She turned to her husband and said, "I'm sorry, James. We couldn't revive him. Did you get the information you needed from him?"

  Captain Rivers shook his head. "Not enough. I still need to know how many people they have on our ship!"

  "Well," Charlotte began, "you can ask some of the other prisoners, can't you?"

  "We can try! It depends upon how well Johanson compartmentalized his organization. If we can identify the leaders, they'll know the names of every one on their team and then work our way down each cell's chain of agents," replied the captain. James and Charlotte stepped out into the corridor that led back to the Med Center's main lobby. As they passed an examination room, he saw a security specialist use a tablet to take a picture of the injured saboteur on the bed. Rivers pulled out his comm unit and stepped into the examination room.

  "Phipps...Turkel, this is the captain! Come in!" he said into the device.

  "This is Turkel, sir. Go ahead!" came the prompt reply.

  "Are you still in the IC3?" Captain Rivers asked.

  "Yessir!" replied Turkel. "We're standing by."

  "Excellent, sergeant!" said Rivers with hope in his voice. He looked quickly at the security specialist's name tag on his tunic then continued, "Security Specialist Dixon is going to send you a series of photos. I want you to run them through the facial recognition program and correlate them to the list of known associates of Dr. Karl J
ohanson and the EOM. Send your results to Dixon's tablet."

  "Aye sir!"

  The captain turned to the security specialist. "Dixon, I need you to take a facial image of each of the prisoners. Send them to SGT Turkel in Security ASAP then come back to me!"

  "Aye aye, captain," the young security specialist said then left the room.

  Captain Rivers joined his wife again in the corridor. "Hopefully, we'll get an idea of who we have captured. And...just maybe...we'll get a break."

  Several minutes later, Specialist Dixon walked up to Captain Rivers. "Done, sir!"

  "Good work, Dixon! Please standby, I may need your help." Rivers said.

  "Aye, sir!" Dixon acknowledged the order.

  Several more minutes passed. Finally, the captain's comm unit pinged. "Rivers, go!"

  "LT Phipps, captain. We have some hits on our prisoners. Sending the information to Dixon's tablet!" Phipps reported.

  Dixon stepped forward and raised his tablet so that Rivers could see the display. "We're looking at it now. Are anyone of these people listed as leaders within the EOM?"

  "Computer shows two possibles, captain! Our FR program says this first one is Doctor Jessica French, one of Dr. Johanson's granddaughters. The second is Doctor Emil Stine...he was on the board of Johanson StarDrive, Incorporated then resigned and served as an senior officer within the Earth Only Movement organization," Phipps reported.

  Rivers looked at the two faces on the tablet's display then turned to Dixon, "Quick! Let's find 'em!" Dixon led the way with Rivers close on his heels. As they rushed past Dr. Rivers, the captain called out to her. "When we locate the right suspects, I want them to answer questions!" Dr. Rivers nodded and stepped over to a nearby medicine locker. She searched for and found the drug she needed. She inserted the vial into a med injector and went in search of her husband.

  She found James in an examination room, standing next to a middle age man who was struggling against the straps holding him to the exam table. The captain didn't waste any words. He pointed to the doctor's injector then to the man on the table. Charlotte placed the injector against the man's neck and gave him an injection.