by Linn Schwab
Suzanne looked into the commander’s eyes and could see that she wasn’t going to get an explanation. “You really don’t know,” she observed, somewhat stunned. “How can it be that we don’t know who commands us?”
The silence that followed was a clear indication that Commander Eldridge was troubled as well. But it was also clear that she had no intention of discussing it any further with Suzanne. “We’re each given a job to do,” she said. “I suggest you remain focused on performing your duties.” Though her words said one thing, her expression said another: Perhaps when you’re more experienced, Commander, we’ll seek the answer to this question together.
Apparently that was all Suzanne could hope for at the moment, so she decided not to press the issue any further.
“And now,” Commander Eldridge said, “I have some unfinished business to attend to. You’re welcome to accompany me if you like. You might find this to be quite interesting.”
Suzanne followed her across the hangar to a bench where Genevieve was working on something.
“Well, Miss Winston?” Commander Eldridge inquired.
Genevieve frowned and shook her head. “I pulled the radio out of his plane like you asked, but I still don’t have an answer for you. I switched it on, and I could tell that the cipher is active, but I have no idea where it’s coming from. It could be in our equipment, or it could be in theirs. It could be on the moon, for all I know. Most likely it’s somehow embedded in the programming, but that’s not my area of expertise.”
“I see,” Commander Eldridge said. “Are there any programming experts on this station?”
“No. There might be some on Cumulus, though. Would you like me to transfer this radio there?”
The commander briefly glanced at Suzanne. “No,” she said. “Not just yet. We’re keeping this pilot’s presence here a secret, until we’ve decided what to do with him. Let’s just put this on hold for now, unless we come up with another solution.”
“Alright,” Genevieve agreed through a yawn. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna go get some sleep now.”
“Pleasant dreams,” Commander Eldridge said.
“Yeah. That would be nice.”
* * * *
After escorting Jason back to his room, Major Richards closed the door on him again, telling him she would return in the morning. When she left, he listened to the sound of her footsteps until they faded to silence in the distance. Once again, he tried pressing the button on the panel. Once again, the door refused to open for him. Convinced he would likely be alone until morning, he tried experimenting with the panel’s controls. No matter what he did, though, the screen remained fixed on the empty corridor outside his room. Either the controls in his room had been deactivated, or he just wasn’t pressing them in the right sequence to make anything else appear on the screen.
So much for that idea, he thought, and plopped down on the bed to see if he could sleep. For a time, he listened to the background noise — plumbing, ventilation, vibrations from machinery. It wasn’t so loud that it would interfere with sleep, but if he strained his ears, he could listen for clues about the ongoing operations of the station. Elevator, he suddenly remembered. There’s an elevator not too far down the hall. But though he thought he could make out the elevator’s sound, he couldn’t be sure if it was going up or down, or even if it came to a stop on his level. That’s not very helpful, he told himself. Perhaps it was best just to get some sleep.
He closed his eyes and tried to relax, and felt the evening hours begin to slip by. Eventually he heard an unexpected noise. What’s that? he thought, sitting up in bed. Someone had just opened the door to his room. In the doorway stood a solitary figure — a young girl in a green dress, perhaps twelve or thirteen, with what looked like a rolled–up sheet of paper in her hands.
“Hello,” he said, quickly getting to his feet. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.”
“My name is Michelle,” she said.
“Michelle,” he repeated. “I like that name. I think it might actually be French in origin.”
She smiled at him and stepped inside the room.
This has to be some kind of trick, he decided. They’re testing me to see if I’ll try to sneak out. “I wouldn’t close the door if I were you,” he told her. “It doesn’t seem to open from the inside.”
She glanced at the door controls unconcerned, then looked up at him and moved in closer until she was standing within arm’s reach. The two of them stared at each other in silence, each of them wondering what the other was thinking. Jason felt as if he’d been backed into a corner, and found himself searching for a suitable escape that wouldn’t offend his young, starry–eyed visitor. “You appear to be missing something,” he observed, then slowly raised his right hand to her chest, and ran a finger across her left breast.
She froze for an instant when she felt his touch, then glanced down and expressed a sense of relief when she realized he was referring to her pocket. “Oh,” she said before pausing to swallow. “Only pilots and officers have card keys.”
“Pilots and officers,” he said. “I guess you’re not a pilot or officer, then.”
“No,” she said. “Not yet, anyway. Someday I’ll be a fighter pilot, though.”
“And then you’ll have a key in your pocket, I suppose? A key that will enable you to fly a fighter?”
She smiled and nodded, and said, “Someday.”
He reached for the underside of her chin and said, “Well I hope that day doesn’t come too soon.” Apparently she had no response for that, so he decided to find out why she’d come here to see him. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Michelle? Are you here to extract military secrets from me?”
“No,” she said with a timid smile. “The reason I came here is to ask you a favor.” She pointed to the panel beside the door. “There’s a camera in that panel over there.”
“And?” he said, still uncertain what she wanted.
She unrolled the piece of paper in her hands and held it up for him to see.
“Ahh,” he said, “I think I understand. And I’d be happy to grant you this favor, Michelle.”
The two of them stepped over to the panel together. Michelle reached for the controls and entered a few keystrokes.
So that’s what I was doing wrong, Jason determined, and he gave her an unexpected kiss on the cheek.
ORDNANCE RUN 087
With a flip of her tail, Robin broke the water’s surface and soared through the air before splashing down again, leaving barely a ripple between the ocean waves. Beneath the boundary between air and water, another dolphin swam to her side, and nudged her to breach the surface again. On her second leap, he took flight beside her until the influence of gravity pulled them down again. A feeling of exhilaration coursed through her as she propelled herself up toward the boundary once more. Again, they both streaked through the air side by side, leaving glimmering arcs behind their tails as droplets of water slid off their bodies.
Never before had Robin felt so much joy — so much freedom, so much grace and power. And never before had she felt the kind of attraction she seemed to be feeling for this other dolphin. She found herself mesmerized by his appearance as he led her through a series of corkscrews and spins. The two of them were literally dancing through the water, with the occasional breathtaking touch of skin on skin, and tantalizing smiles that promised more to come. In a shaft of sunlight, she turned to face him and noticed something familiar in his eyes. She recognized him, and in that instant, she knew he didn’t belong on Valhalla. Jason, she realized, quite taken by surprise. The revelation left her momentarily stunned. A strong underwater current pulled him away from her, and as his image faded in the distance, his body returned to its natural form. A human male. An Earthling pilot. But one she hoped she would see again.
A dream, she realized as her eyes slid open. And definitely one of the better variety. She decided that perhaps Michelle had it right. If he
r dreams were anything at all like this, it was easy to see why she was so obsessed with men. She looked through the darkness at her slumbering friend and noticed something unusual about her. She was lying face down on one side of her cot with her right arm dangling over the edge. On the floor was what looked like a sheet of paper that apparently had slipped from between Michelle’s fingers.
That picture again, Robin told herself, as she quietly got to her feet to retrieve it. But when she picked it up and took a closer look, she could see that the faces in the image had changed. The attractive young couple she’d seen before had now been replaced by Jason and Michelle. She gasped and quietly uttered, “You little...” before deciding she didn’t want to wake the whole room. She stared at the culprit’s sleeping face for a moment, feeling outrage that Michelle had placed herself in such danger for the sake of acquiring such a meaningless keepsake. Possessions are forbidden, she wanted to remind her, but she soon felt her anger begin to subside. She recalled that she also possessed a secret keepsake, tucked away beneath her pillow, just like Michelle’s. A blue card key that had somehow gone overlooked in the control room. Her last remaining link to Commander Jeffries.
With the peak of her outrage behind her now, Robin slid the photograph underneath Michelle’s pillow so that no one else was likely to find it. “You’re lucky it was me,” she whispered at Michelle. “If Commander Eldridge had found this…”
She shook her head and climbed back into bed.
* * * *
Jason awoke to the sound of footsteps in the morning. Someone was running through the corridor outside his room. When he checked the panel beside his door, he saw several young girls run past one by one, in some sort of organized fitness drill. One of them waved at him as she passed. Even though he only caught a glimpse of her face, he knew right away that it had to be Michelle. When they were gone, Virginia showed up at his door to escort him to the cafeteria for breakfast.
“You’re not taking part in the group exercise?” he asked.
She shrugged and replied, “Maybe later.”
“Mind if I join you for a run, then? I could certainly do with the exercise myself.”
Virginia answered with a tentative nod. “I’ll have to ask if it’s alright first.”
“I’m sure you can talk Major Richards into it. She’s allowing you to escort me to the cafeteria, so she must have a little bit of faith in you, right?”
“It’s not me I have to ask about,” she said with a grin. “I’m not sure how much the major wants you to see. You are a prisoner here, remember.”
He let out an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. “Yes, I remember. But I’m still hoping we can get beyond that.”
Virginia led him through the serving line, then the two of them sat down at a table together. Shortly after they started eating, the younger girls streamed into the cafeteria and formed a line at the serving window. Upon receiving their rations, they found tables nearby where they could keep a close eye on their visitor. The youngest girl briefly stopped at his side and gawked at the heaping servings on his tray.
“You sure do eat a lot,” she said.
He smiled at her and said, “Believe me, sweetheart, you wouldn’t pass up a chance at food like this if you had to eat what we eat.”
“You don’t have food like this back on Earth?”
“On Earth, yeah. But not out here. We’re not exactly blessed with a wealth of fresh produce.”
“So why don’t you go home?” she asked.
“Well,” he said, “it isn’t that simple. But if I can talk Major Richards into releasing me, I’m gonna do my best to make that happen.”
“You mean Commander Carillo,” the girl corrected him.
He looked to Virginia for an explanation.
“There’s been a change in command since you arrived here,” she told him. “A new commander has just been appointed to this station.”
“So it’s Commander Carillo I have to convince now?”
Virginia bit her lip. “Not exactly. Things are ... complicated here right now. I don’t think you’re real high on the list of priorities.”
“So ending the war isn’t high on the list of priorities?”
“Of course it is,” Virginia insisted. “But look around you,” she said, gesturing toward Robin’s battalion. “If we release you, we risk compromising this station. Can’t you understand why that would make us cautious?”
He nodded and said, “I see what you mean. Obviously there are important things to consider.” They must be sabotaging my fighter, he decided, so my instruments won’t have a fix on this station’s location. A reasonable precaution, he told himself. Perhaps they’d release him when they were certain it was safe.
A voice rolled out of some speakers in the room, issuing an order for a group of personnel.
“Attention, Second Battalion. Report to the gun bays in five minutes.”
The younger girls raced through their remaining rations, then got up and left the room when they were finished. Only one of them remained when the others were gone. A girl with blond hair ... and a key in her pocket.
“Who is that?” Jason asked, pointing to the girl.
Virginia looked over at her and smiled. “Captain Starling,” she called out, “would you care to join us?”
The girl nervously stood up and walked to their table.
Captain? Jason wondered. She’s got to be kidding. Either that, or they’re really in a desperate position.
* * * *
Work commenced in the gun bays as usual — moving things, lifting things, bolting things together. Measuring and re–measuring tolerances. Lubricating gears and other moving parts. At one point, Mindy looked up at a gun barrel and found herself suddenly concerned about something. Commander Eldridge happened to catch her staring upward, and asked her what was on her mind.
“What do these guns fire?” Mindy asked her.
“Twenty inch diameter high explosive shells. Is there any reason in particular why you’re asking?”
Mindy looked at her and said, “We don’t have any of those.”
“And how would you know that?” the commander asked her. “No, wait. Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You’ve been in the armory, haven’t you?”
Mindy winced and nodded her head.
Commander Eldridge sighed in exasperation. “Is there anywhere on this station you haven’t yet been?”
Mindy quietly nodded again.
“It’s a dangerous game you’re playing, Miss Mclean. There are hazards on this station that could kill you in an instant. One of the reasons we have walls and access panels is to reduce the danger those hazards pose to us. I suppose these guns aren’t much good to us, though, if we don’t have anything to fire out of them.” She gestured for Mindy to walk beside her, and called the rest of her squad together. “ECHO 5,” she announced to them, “I have a mission for you. I’m sending you to the Aries munitions station to bring back a load of twenty inch shells. I’ll have Captain Starling meet you on the spur. Make sure you get directions from the control room before you leave.”
All six of them headed for the exit together. As Chrissy walked by, Commander Eldridge grabbed her by the shoulders, and immediately spun her back around. “Not you, Miss Carver. You’re still needed here, since you’re the only one small enough to squeeze inside the gearing. They’ll have to complete this mission without you.” She then walked to the nearest intercom panel and issued instructions to the control room.
* * * *
After being invited to join them at their table, Robin found herself listening politely as Jason and Virginia conversed with each other. Both of them made occasional attempts to include her, but for the most part she just sat there in silence, gazing in a dreamlike state at Jason’s eyes. There was something about the dream she’d had earlier that simply refused to let go of her thoughts. It wasn’t Jason’s eyes, she finally decided, or his smile, or even the imagined touch of skin that continued to linger at th
e back of her mind. As pleasant a distraction as she found him to be, his presence was eclipsed by that of something else — something that was missing from her previous dreams. She recalled a mountain, and a sense of disorientation, and a panicked feeling. Where is the water! And she knew now that it wasn’t just any water. It was ocean water that was missing from her dreams, along with its unique smell and taste. The ocean was still calling to her, it seemed. But now it was calling to her in her dreams.
“Captain Starling, report to the spur.”
The announcement shook Robin free of her musings. She glanced at Virginia, then got to her feet.
“A call to battle?” Jason asked with concern.
She answered him with a look of uncertainty, and quietly hurried toward the elevator. When she arrived on the spur, the others were already waiting for her, minus the youngest member of the squad. When she asked them what was going on, Caroline explained the situation to her, and informed her that Chrissy wouldn’t be coming.
“Any word on which ship we’re supposed to take?” Robin asked.
The other girls all shook their heads.
Robin looked along the length of the spur. “I guess that means we’re taking the Cricket.”
* * * *
Captain Hoile looked at the instructions on his screen and shook his head in bewilderment. The Mona Lisa was docked at a repair facility, undergoing repairs for torpedo damage. The work wasn’t even close to being completed, but he’d just received orders to head out again, and rendezvous with a station in sector Y–12.
“This can’t be right,” he muttered to himself. He summoned Derrick and J Mac to his side. “Take a look at this,” he said, and directed their attention to the screen.
After skimming over the instructions, the two lieutenants looked at each other in confusion. “I don’t understand,” J Mac said. “I thought we were supposed to remain here for two weeks.”
“Those were the admiral’s orders,” Captain Hoile confirmed. “But according to these instructions, this new order seems to take precedence. Even though it comes from a subordinate officer. How can that be? Who is this Commander Karen Parks, and how is it that she can overrule Admiral Sands?”