Dremiks

by Cassandra Davis

  When the two were far enough away, Guttmann looked over at Price. “We have real work to do?”

  “Well, you always have work to do. Myself, I’m going to try to beat O’Connell’s record on the simulator.”

  Swede was distracted by an electrical panel that was blinking on the bulkhead. He waved his hand over his head. “Go do your pilot things then. You won’t beat her, though. Not in a simulator.”

  “Whatever.” Tony tugged at his flight-suit and fixed his hair. “See you after my watch.”

  “Hey, don’t forget to tell Trell about the meeting with the captain.” Swede turned around and noticed the empty corridor behind him. “Price?” He took a few steps and looked down the other way, past the officer’s mess. No one was around. “What did he do, run?” The lieutenant shook his large blonde head and went back to studying the blinking panel.

  ***

  Dwax floated to the medical bay. He preferred humans to use the term “float” instead of the repulsive “slither” that some found so applicable. He wished he could understand the human psyche’s need to associate anything that had tentacles with slimy, slithering, creatures of the muck and wet. Dwax had never once slithered and he hated being dirty. In one of his arm tentacles, he carried a stack of disks for Dr. Ruger.

  Trained to follow in his father’s diplomatic footsteps, according to the rigid caste system of his home-world, Dwax had no useful medical knowledge. His father had, however, considered it a diplomat’s duty to supply Dr. Ruger with several weighty tomes on the subject. Much as he was bored by all things medicinal, Dwax was fascinated by the coffee-skinned doctor and her soft voice. Happily freed from a meeting with Chancellor Trell, Dwax looked forward to an afternoon in the doctor’s company.

  Right outside the medical bay Dwax encountered Ensign Robertson. They exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes before Nate excused himself.

  “I’m sorry, Honored One, but I must beg your leave. I have to go inform the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor about a communications blackout.”

  “There is a problem with the systems?”

  “Oh no, no.” Robertson rushed to clarify. Dwax noticed the ensign almost whispered his explanation. “The captain has decided that only official traffic, approved communications messages, can be sent twelve hours before and after the jump.”

  Both the Dremikian and Ensign Robertson kept their features neutral. “Ah. Yes. Well I am sure the Chancellor will be happy to oblige.”

  “Not.”

  Dwax was confused. “I have used the wrong words? He will not be obliged?”

  Nate grinned, his tension broken. “No, well… oh, never mind. I’ll see you later, ok?”

  “Yes! Please. Good day to you.” Dwax bowed in return to Nate’s formal salute. He was glad the ensign was so friendly and comfortable around Dremikians. Nate’s news was troubling but Dwax had a few hours to work out a way to slip his messages out. He would first spend a bit of free time with the nice doctor.

  ***

  That evening, Commander O’Connell called attention on deck when the captain entered the officer’s mess room. Captain Hill motioned everyone to his seat and nodded his thanks for the cup of coffee Ensign Chi handed him. Once seated, he laid his tablet precisely on the table and nodded once to the commander.

  She cleared her throat before speaking. “All right people, let’s get through this. We are twenty-four hours from first jump. We’ve all done this before. You know your duties and assignments. Please remember that jumps are designated “all hands” maneuvers. Make sure your people are properly scheduled and prepared. No mistakes because of fatigue, please.”

  Captain Hill watched the expressions of the officers and senior civilian personnel. His brother, Ryan Hill, was seated in Chancellor Trell’s spot at the table. Brett Hill had personally requested the Chancellor’s presence. The change in routine brought a severe frown to the captain’s face. He turned to Lieutenant Price, who was in charge of civilian and military cooperation.

  “Price, ensure that Chancellor Trell is aware of the all-hands status and the need for all civilian personnel to be awake and on-station for one hour prior to and one hour after the jump.”

  O’Connell flicked her gaze to Ryan Hill. She expected to see him bristle or at least look irritated. Instead he sipped his tea and continued to appear supremely bored. As if he felt her watching him, Ryan’s blue eyes lazily drifted up and locked on her face. His mouth quirked slightly at the corners. Without turning his head he said, “I’m sure I’m trustworthy enough to relay any messages to my colleague, brother.”

  To Maggie’s uneasy mind, Ryan seemed to add extra emphasis to the word “trustworthy”. She turned her attention back to the captain and discovered with added unease that he was watching the interplay between her and his brother. Irritated at being put off-balance by the Hill brothers, Maggie charged ahead with the briefing.

  “Doctor,” she snapped. “Do you have any questions about medical emergency procedures?

  Cassie had her tablet ready for note-taking, but had been sitting quietly with nothing to record or question. She either ignored or missed O’Connell’s tone and shook her head with a sunny smile. “I’m probably more ready than anyone else. If everyone does his job correctly then I have nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  Captain Hill chuckled and favored the doctor with a rare smile. “I hope it is a very boring ride for you, Doctor. But, should we disappoint and fail in our assignments, will you be ready to step in and patch us up?”

  Typically at sea while military jargon and procedures whizzed over her head at briefings, Cassie was on firm ground now. She happily read off the assignments for her medical crew and the disaster emergency training rotations that she had completed in the past week. “Captain,” she summarized, “if all crew remember to turn on their personal medical chips so that I receive constant feedback on their health and welfare, I assure you that even the slightest scratch will be promptly treated and recorded.”

  Captain Hill, still unhappy that his military surgeon had been scrubbed from the mission at the last moment, was slowly attaining a comfort level with Dr. Ruger. Her outgoing personality, optimism, and medical professionalism soothed his lingering doubts. He smiled at her again. “Thank you for all your hard work, Doctor.” His eyes cut a few feet to the left of Dr. Ruger where Dr. Fortunas leaned backward in his chair. The white haired scientist, hands folded over his belly, nodded in acknowledgement of the captain’s perusal.

  “I assume you haven’t changed your mind and decided to allow me to run a few short, totally unobtrusive, experiments during our jump?”

  The captain said nothing, his features austere.

  “Mmm, I thought as much. Well then, I am the proverbial third wheel. I shall sit in my assigned jump-seat and take a nap while you all endeavor to not send us hurtling into the sun.”

  “We appreciate your confidence,” the captain said dryly.

  The officer’s mess and conference room was not a large space. Packed as it was with nine people, the temperature had already risen. The small table also made it very easy for the captain to notice when Lieutenant Price and Ensign Robertson began to fidget.

  “Very well, then. If there are no issues that need to be addressed here, I suggest we all return to our duties. Further reports and updates will be expected on schedule.” He tapped his tablet and made sure to make eye contact with Lieutenant Guttmann. The engineering department had a crucial timetable about which the captain required hourly updates. As the officers rose and negotiated past each other and toward the door, the captain remained seated.

  “A moment, Commander.”

  She was nearly to the door; standing right beside him, she looked down at the top of the captain’s head, unable to read his expression. She backed up and stood stiffly at the side of the table, waiting for the others to depart.

  “Anything I need to know about?”

  Maggie ran through a, disturbingly long, mental list of
possible transgressions. If the captain was probing for faults, expecting her to blurt something out in a guilty fit, he would be disappointed. “Only what is in my reports, sir”

  Hill turned his head and looked up at her. He blinked so slowly that he was almost staring at her. His expression was blank, without a movement of lips or eyebrows. “Indeed.” He waited, hoping that his silence and stern expression would break her resolve and have her explain the eye-play between herself and Ryan.

  She stared straight ahead, standing stiffly but not quite at attention. She’d had a lifetime to practice avoiding probing stares and harsh glares. As long as she didn’t make direct eye contact and kept her expression neutral, the captain would be unable to ferret out whatever information he was after. It was an annoying game, but one that seemed to define their interactions.

  Hill stood. He waited a moment longer before mentally shelving the question until a later date. “I will be making a round of the decks at one hour prior to jump. Please assume officer of the deck status while I am away from the bridge.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.” She waited until she heard the door snap shut behind the departing captain, then, exhaled a long breath.

  One deck down, Dr. Fortunas stepped to the side and allowed Dr. Ruger to enter the science and medical area ahead of him. “Totally unobtrusive experiments?” Her tone indicated she doubted his assessment.

  “Unless you are a cockroach, in which case the experiments promise to be quite invasive.”

  Cassie shuddered. “I hate those things. Please make sure that none escape.”

  Fortunas chuckled. “Except for those I coat in chocolate for my staff, I assure you that all my bugs are properly contained.” He enjoyed her look of horror and added to the medical doctor’s agitation by winking at her.

  “You are incorrigible.”

  “Indubitably.” He stopped by his desk to pick up a data disk. “By the by, what is the story between our dear Vice Chancellor and Commander O’Connell?”

  Cassie blinked and then blinked again. “What? Maggie and Ryan Hill? What are you talking about?”

  “I thought, perhaps, there was a politically motivated association between them. Ryan seems quite tight with Admiral O’Connell. Never mind, obviously my old eyes are playing tricks on me.”

  Dr. Ruger harrumphed. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with your eyes, just your suspicious mind. If you’ll excuse me, I have to make sure I’ve completed the captain’s checklist. I’d hate to be thrown in the head for dereliction of duty.”

  Fortunas stared at her and then threw his head back with a shout of laughter. Still chortling and shaking his head, he explained, “I think you mean “brig” dear. “Brig” is the word for jail. The “head” is the bathroom.”

  She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Why do I even bother?” When she walked away Dr. Fortunas was still laughing. He motioned his assistant to his side and began to set up the few experiments the captain would allow him to run during a jump.

  ***

  Commander O’Connell matched her stride to Lieutenant Price’s. He turned his head and nodded to her. “Ma’am.”

  “I’m going for a run, Lieutenant. You’re welcome to join me if you like.”

  Price shook his head. “No, thank you, ma’am. I maxed out my last cardio-vascular test, you know. I find I can stay in top condition with a run just once every few days. Since you’re going for a run though, do you mind if I pop into the simulator? I need to shave another few seconds off my docking maneuvers. I know I topped the best scores in the fleet before we left, but I don’t want to get rusty. Someone might set a new standard while we’re out here.”

  Maggie didn’t know whether to be astounded that the younger officer had so blatantly bragged, to her face, about beating her records or to be amazed that he could be so obviously self-absorbed and not run into the bulkheads out of sheer oblivion. Every other time Price made a self-aggrandizing statement or issued a thinly veiled challenge, she told herself she was overreacting. At the moment, the commander was convinced the young man was just being an ass.

  “Yes, you’d best go on. I changed the difficulty setting on the docking simulation to better mimic real conditions. Beating a record in a simulator set on easy mode is hardly worth mentioning. I’ll see you on deck for your shift.” She nodded in dismissal and turned to head down the side corridor to her quarters. The almost palpable sense of Price’s irritation made the smile on her face a fraction more smug.

  ***

  “Captain Hill was most distressed that you decided not to attend his briefing.”

  Chancellor Trell waved a pudgy hand over the table in front of him, indicating that Ryan Hill should help himself to the assortment of sweets. “Tut tut for him then. I’m sure you filled in admirably. I hardly have time for his little militaristic power plays.” Trell wiggled in his seat, reminding Ryan of nothing so much as a fat larvae struggling to slide back into a safe home. “Ryan, the military will try to assert authority where-ever and when-ever they can. It is up to us to keep this mission on track.” He pointed a finger at Ryan. “You should be able to control your brother’s urge to dominate. He can’t command us. This is a civilian mission.”

  “I’ll do my best, Chancellor, but my brother can be most obstinate.” Declining sugar for his tea, Ryan crossed his feet and slouched slightly in his chair.

  Trell snorted. The sound was repulsive; Ryan could not help wincing. “This latest order about limited communications, I find the timing questionable. Surely the admiral would have informed me of this prior to our departure.”

  The admiral had informed Ryan Hill, but he chose to keep that information to himself. “I don’t think it will be an issue. Young Ensign Robertson is in charge of communications. I’m sure we can escape the notice of a green boy.”

  Trell’s second chin wobbled when he shook his head. “Don’t underestimate Robertson. His father has an ear for our cause. I would not make an enemy of him.”

  “I know who our friends are, Chancellor. I remind you that the military is my problem. You still trust me to handle this, of course?”

  Trell rushed to assure his deputy of his continued support. When Ryan answered a page from his wife and asked to be excused, Trell was in a more amicable state of mind. “Of course. We must keep the good lady happy, mustn’t we?”

  The younger Hill brother shot the chancellor an assessing look. His features returned to neutrality when he discerned no hidden meaning in the portly man’s words. “Yes. The trials of marriage...” He forced a laugh and departed. The door had barely shut behind him before a scowl marred his features.

  In his quarters, Ryan found his wife in a state of hysterics.

  “Calm down, Marissa. It’s just a small change in our schedule.”

  “Small?” Her shrieks echoed in the tight confines of their room. “It’s too damn soon! They will discover this too early and then what will we do? It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. You said...”

  Ryan Hill walked over to his wife and slapped her across the face. She reeled backwards from the blow. In shock, she sat on the edge of the bed, holding her cheek. “Control yourself. You knew the timing could be affected this way. You will watch your tongue and keep yourself together, is that understood? Any more outburst like this and you risk giving away everything.”

  “How dare you hit me?” She hissed the question at him while pushing back her long black hair.

  “I dare Marissa. I dare quite a lot, and I dare for you. Never forget it again. I have work to do before the jump. I suggest you lie down and get some rest. You will need it.” He left her sitting there. He could feel her glare on his back; he didn’t care.

  ***

  Outside the bulkheads and corridors of the ship, Neptune slipped past. The Hudson slowed, as if taking a deep breath before plunging into the blackness beyond.

  Chapter 5

  At two hours until jump, as announced on the ship-wide broadcast system, O’Connell relieved the c
aptain as officer of the deck. Lieutenant Price strapped himself into the co-pilot’s seat but did not remove helm control from computer guidance. Once buckled in his seat, Tony began running through the co-pilot’s one hundred-fifty point pre-jump checklist. Most of the items on his list were redundancies shared with O’Connell’s pilot’s list. When it came to conduit jumps, the ISA felt double checked was double sure.

  O’Connell didn’t immediately settle into her own seat. She’d be strapped into the pilot’s chair for the better part of four hours and was in no hurry to start that stretch any sooner than necessary. Jumps were, to her, an exercise in hyperactive boredom. Everyone on the ship scuttled about frantically checking systems before strapping into seats and… waiting. Once the navigational computers told the engines to begin their phased jump sequence there was nothing for the pilots or anyone else to do. They sat and stared at computer screens and hoped everything worked as intended. Price and O’Connell would both have their hands on the controls in case something did go wrong, but any actual piloting of the Hudson during the jump was done completely by the computer systems.

  Around the crowded bridge, military personnel moved to their stations with swift steps and intent expressions. If anyone shared the commander’s cynical view of the pre-jump routine, he didn’t show it. Ensign Robertson checked the large, back-lit, star chart on the wall above his station and then double checked the readings on his tablet. He caught Price watching him and gave the co-pilot a short nod.

  Behind Robertson, Chief Turner’s post was still empty. He was with the captain, making a final round of the crew spaces. The chief’s role during the jump was to monitor the bridge engineering readouts. Lieutenant Guttmann would remain in the engineering bay for the jump, where he had actual control of the systems that started the jump.

  Beside the chief’s station, Ensign Chi was in his chair. He wasn’t strapped in, yet, preferring to wait until the last possible moment. Having his movements restricted disconcerted Chi. It was one of the reasons he’d never made it past basic flight instruction.