"She is a threat!” the Professor yelled. "She killed more people than anyone. She's the one who lead the gang that did this."
"Doc, what's going on?" Scrapper asked through the communicator.
"We have a situation here in the medical bay."
"What kind of situation?"
"Naomi is out, she found the Professor, and they're not exactly friends."
"I'm on my way."
"Doc,” the Professor pleaded, "sedate her right away. Your entire ship is in danger."
"I'm not a danger." Naomi insisted, baring her teeth.
"Oh, poor Naomi,” the Professor said in a soothing tone. "You are. You must have blocked all that out. Either that or you’re lying."
"I'm not lying."
The door opened and three men, each holding a gun, walked in. They pointed the guns at Naomi and the Professor. "What's going on?"
"Separate these two," Doc said. "Take her back to her room. Professor, get back into your bed, please."
"As you wish, Doctor,” the Professor said and stepped back into his room. The Doc ran over to the door and locked it.
"I'll go back to my room," Naomi replied. The men followed her as she slowly walked down the hallway. She struggled to remember anything before the closet. She remembered being chased, she remembered being cornered, and she remembered Janice attacking the people in the cafeteria. She looked at her hands, wondering if they could kill. No, no, I'm not a killer. Why would the Professor say that?
Scrapper turned the corner. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Naomi replied weakly. "I want to talk to Trang, now!"
"How did you get out? I told Trang to lock you in."
"I have some skills," Naomi replied, not wanting to give her friend up.
"Right, skills." They arrived at her door. He opened it, grabbed her arm, and threw her into the room. Without another word he closed, then locked, the door.
Alone Naomi sat on her bed. "I'm no killer," she told herself clinching her fists as tightly as she could. "I could never kill."
#
Scrapper angrily walked down the hallway, his feet stomping furiously. His skin felt hot to the touch, his lips curled under each other leaving a thin white line. He looked for Trang so he could figuratively strangle her.
She turned the corner and held her hands up defensively. "Okay, I screwed up."
"Damn right you did,” he said, stepping up to her face; close enough to feel the angry breath on his lips. "I ordered you to lock that door and you didn't and now Naomi and the Professor have met. I wanted them separated so I could get some honest answers. Do you think I'm going to get anything from the Professor now that he can deflect the blame to Naomi?"
"I didn't want her to feel trapped inside her room."
"I don't care what you wanted. I gave you an order and you didn't do it."
"Order? Since when do you give orders on this ship?" Her voice rose quickly with each word. "You don't even want us to call you captain."
"That's not the point," he replied with equal venom. "I give orders when I feel the need to and when I do I expect them to be followed."
"What are you going to do then? Court martial me?"
"I can throw you off this ship at the next port. Read your contract, it's within my authority."
"You'd never find a better worker than me and you know it. I know the Jolly better than anyone. I know how to work the AI. I know how to fly the damn thing. Good luck finding a replacement cause you won’t."
"No one is irreplaceable."
"Not even you,” she snipped.
"No, not even me,” he said, stepping back. His anger abated, his blood still boiled but fighting got them nowhere fast. "We'll talk about this when we don't have an UC ship running down our throats. I need you to talk to Naomi and find out everything you can."
"You sure?” she replied as if trying to continue the fight.
"Yeah, I'm sure, go now before I change my mind."
"And what are you going to do?"
"None of your damn business. Go, get out of my sight."
She gave him one last nasty look and walked past him toward Naomi's room.
He stood in the hallway, his body drained of all its strength. How long has he been awake? Twenty hours? When did he eat last? Yesterday morning sometime. His stomach growled even at the thought of food. He needed some rest and food; he didn't want to be half ready when the UC ship arrived.
Doc would never provide him with any stims, not with his history. He could really use some right now though, just to get him through the next day or so. Janice used the nanostims and Jolly said they were okay to use as long as they weren't abused. Maybe she still had some in her room. "Yelolus,” he said in his communicator.
"Yes."
"How is the cleanup in Janice's room going?"
"We got almost everything out and will start cleaning the room shortly."
"Where did you put the stuff?"
"In the docking bay with all the other stuff we plan on spacing."
"Thanks, hold off on spacing it, I want to check a few things out."
I shouldn't do this, the best thing would be to take a nap and wake when the UC ship arrives. How can I do that and ask my crew to continue working? Most have been up for as long as me.
He arrived at the docking bay after a few minutes and saw a pile of furniture lying there. Even from a distance the furniture smelled like the room. He saw the crew actively avoiding it. He walked over to the pile and started rummaging through it.
Most of the stuff he found was useless to him. Old clothes, some books, a few blank holograms. He found a paper journal. He opened it to find all but the last few pages ripped out. The last page had a doodle of a ship on it, nothing more. He tossed it aside and continued looking through the stuff. After a while he started wondering if she might not have any nanostims. Then, he found a bag. Nothing was labeled but he recognized the tan liquid inside the four syringes. He found what he was looking for. He placed it into his pocket and walked away from the junk. "Okay, I got what I need, you can space it when you want."
"Thank god," one of the crew said. "We've been wanting to get rid of that stuff since it first got here."
Scrapper laughed, "Well, have at it." He placed his hand in his pocket to ensure the bag was still there then walked out of the hanger. Minutes after closing the door he heard the airlock open and all the contents of the docking bay spilled out into space.
Scrapper found an empty room to sit in. Too scared to turn on the light he sat there in the dark. The last thing he needed was for some crewmember to come investigate what why the light was on. Pulling out the nanostim he placed it on his arm. The button on top would inject a small needle into his skin and release the nanostims into his blood, reviving him, make him feel as if he had slept for eight hours. His thumb hovered over top of the button.
Last time he did this with normal stims he nearly killed his crew. That was not going to happen now. He wasn't going to abuse them like he did then. What about the next time he needed a boost? Could he control it then?
Yes, he thought. I can. Once this job is over I'll head back to a space station, sell all the stuff from this ship and retire. I can go back to Earth and live the life I want.
He placed his thumb on the button but still did not press. Sweat started to pour from his head. His memory drifting back to the last time he needed to use stims to stay awake. He at the tail end of a fifty hour shift. He told his crew he’d slept but he hadn’t. Instead he stayed up, high on stims, trying to keep one step ahead of his second who was gunning to become captain. The time’s he should sleep he studied report after report, memorizing his mission, the ship, his crew, anything to keep his edge. He ordered his ship into an asteroid belt forgetting to give the order to raise the shields. His second didn’t mention anything to him. His second let the mistake go unnoticed until it couldn’t go unnoticed anymore. His second ordered the shields raised after they were hit by the first ast
eroid. The damage was minimal but one person died. He lost his ship and his reputation. Not soon after that he left the UC.
It's not like that here. Everything is fine. He pressed the red button. One vile of brown liquid entered his system. For a moment he felt a strange warmth spread from his arm to his shoulder, then down his torso to his legs and head. The warmth felt good, but nothing like a stim. The warmth faded and he felt no different. The shot was a dud. The nanobots must have died or never activated.
He fell back into the bed and closed his eyes. The needle fell out of his hand onto the ground with a solid ting. He looked at the dark, feeling the tears form in his eyes.
He closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep. The sweat on his brow dried and when he opened his eyes again he sat up. He grabbed the bag with the nanostims and walked out.
Chapter nine
Trang still felt Scrapper's anger even though an hour had passed since their encounter. She made a mistake. She'd made mistakes before but he'd never been that angry. The severity of the situation sunk in. They could be in danger and Naomi held the key to what that danger might be.
Walking the hallways she tried to let the feelings from the encounter melt away. Humans and their emotions, especially anger, took a while for her to walk off. She didn't want that distraction when she talked to Naomi.
"Trang," Scrapper said over the communicator.
"Here," she replied.
"You haven't talked to Naomi yet?"
"No."
After a few second he replied. "When you feel up to it please talk to her. Scrapper out."
Scrapper knew of her sensitivity, he used it more than she was comfortable with, but he also gave her space when she needed it. She needed that space now. However, with the limited time they had she sucked it up and knocked on Naomi's door.
"Come in."
Trang unlocked the door and walked in. Naomi sat at a desk with the computer running. She looked like she was looking something up, or maybe recording a log entry. Whatever it was she turned the computer off and spun in her chair to look at Trang. "Hi."
"How are you feeling?"
"Confused. I was just told I was a killer, a mass murderer and I don't remember."
"What do you remember?"
"You mean before I went into hiding?"
"Yeah."
"Not much, to be honest. My job is a bit boring. Go to a computer terminal, monitor the system, maybe have a conversation with the AI, just make sure there aren't any issues. I do that day in and day out. Sometimes the only conversation I have is with the computer. I go to bed, then wake up and do it all over again. Days tend to blend together, we've been here a while and I fell into that routine. Janice, Lisa, Frank and I would hang out after work, but not always."
"So, you were close to those three?"
"As close as I can be. I'm bit of wallflower. When they partied I stayed in my room."
"Were you around them when things went down?"
Trang felt something from Naomi, a whisper of deceit. "No. I mean, I knew they found something and brought it onboard but I didn't know it was dangerous until Janice came through that vent and started killing people."
"Why do you think the Professor thinks you're the leader?"
"I don't know. He was always an odd one. Janice and Lisa talked about how he used them as slave labor."
"What does that mean?"
"Having them work twenty or more hours a day, supplying them with the nanostims so they could continue working after most people should sleep. He used to keep them awake for twenty-four to forty-eight hours before sending them home."
"So, he's the one who addicted them to the nanostims?"
"I think so. They started acting very weird. I was worried about them but they just brushed it off. Do you think that had something to do with it?"
"We don't know. We know that nanostims can cause people to go a bit nutty, but I don't recall anything this bad."
"It's the Professor's fault. He's the one who provided them with the nanostims."
"Thanks, I'll tell Scrapper."
Naomi gently placed her hand on top of Trang's. She looked into her eyes. In a low voice she asked, "You didn't get in trouble for what I did, did you?"
"Yeah. But that's okay, Scrapper and I have been together for a while, he'll forgive me soon enough."
"Oh, so, you're a couple?"
Trang laughed. "No, not like that. He's a good guy and a friend, but his baggage is way too much for me to carry."
"What kind of baggage?"
Trang hesitated then looked up at the ceiling. "Jolly? You there?"
"You know it, hon."
"Can you not listen to me for the next ten minutes or so?"
"Oh, gossiping about Scrapper, you don't want me tell him. Okay, I get it, I'll turn the mics off."
"Thank you," Trang said.
"Your AI is a bit sassy."
"Our last Captain was like that and the AI's get their personalities from the Captain's logs. I don't think she's listened to Scrapper's yet. I don't think he wants her too."
"Too much baggage?"
"I think so," Trang replied. "He lets little things out every so often. I knew him for two years before I found out he’d been married. Don’t know what happened to his wife but I have the feeling it didn’t end well. Just last week he told us a story about his family. They were rich and wanted him to stay on Earth but he left and he hasn’t talked to them in years. I think he’s ashamed, you know? Ashamed he lost his command because of his stim addiction. Ashamed he had to become a salvager. I think that’s why he wants this so badly. With the money he can make he can go home and show his family he can succeed."
"He’s in this till the end? No chance of him giving up?”
“Not with a haul like this.”
“Thank you for trusting me. You don't really need too." Naomi gently squeezed Trang's hand. "I appreciate it."
Trang did not move her hand; she liked the contact, liked the feelings that were emanating from Naomi as they touched. She wasn't against being with a woman, but at this moment those thoughts had to be put aside. "Thanks. I have to get going so- if you need me just ask Jolly, she'll get in touch with me and I'll do my best to get here."
"You're going to lock the door again?"
"I really have no choice."
"I get it, I really do. I hope we can talk more when this is over and I'm on my way back to a space station."
"Don't worry, we will." Trang stood and walked to the door.
Naomi grabbed Trang's arm and spun her around. She leaned in and kissed Trang on the lips.
"Never kissed an Echolite before,” Naomi said, licking the top of her lip.
Wide eyed and with a heavy voice Trang asked, "I thought you were a shy wallflower?"
"I'm sorry, I guess- I guess I just like the attention you're giving me. I wanted to let you know that."
"Well, now I know," Trang quickly opened the door and between gasps of breath said, "I'll see you later."
She closed the door and tried to catch her breath. It felt as if she ran a marathon, her face flushed and she felt her legs go weak. Shaking her head, trying to get the feeling of Naomi's lips from her lips, she briskly walked down the hall and toward the bridge of the ship. She had to get as far away from Naomi as she could. If she stayed or walked back into the room she feared what might happen next. Echolites were no good in human relationships.
She walked onto the bridge to find Scrapper sitting at the captain's seat looking at his computer. The Captain's chair sat in the middle of a small room. Seven other stations sat around him. The crew sitting in those chairs faced the Captain while his chair could spin around to look and talk to them as needed. Scrapper’s feet sat on an unmanned navigation console. He looked up with his eyes, not moving his head. "Trang," he said with a smile. "How's our friend?"
"Um, getting spunky." Trang replied. She never hid anything from Scrapper and she didn't feel like starting now. "She kissed me."
His whole head lifted up to look at her. "Really?"
"Yeah, said she wanted to thank me for all the attention I was giving her."
"I'm starting to wish I had gave her more attention," he replied. "Are you guys going steady now?"
Trang cocked her head. "What?"
"Nothing, old Earth term. I sometimes forget you didn't grow up on Earth. Anyway, forget it, bad joke, maybe Jolly will explain it to you at some time."
"I can explain it to her now," Jolly replied.
"No, that's fine,” Scrapper turned to Trang. "Did she tell you anything interesting?"
"Besides the kiss? No, nothing she hasn't told us before. She doesn't think she killed anyone."
"What do you think?"
"I don't know. This time I felt something from her, some deception."
"Why now?"
Trang shrugged. "My senses aren't always perfect. It felt like she was holding something back. I was under a lot of stress when I first talked to her. Heck, she was under a lot of stress too, that could have affected it. It could be nothing at all. As far as I know what I felt was her wresting with the fact she wanted to kiss me. It's really hard to tell."
"I take it that means you don’t trust your feeling with her right now?"
Trang shrugged. "Pretty much."
"That's okay. Keep working with her see if you can get anything new."
Sensing Scrapper had nothing else to add Trang sat at the scanning station. "Want me to see if I can find out the name of that ship?"
"Can you do it with a passive scan?"
"I can try. Jolly, want to help?"
"I'm a bit busy right now looking at hours of video."
Scrapper laughed. "That's my fault. Jolly, keep looking. Sorry Trang, I think you'll have to see if you can do it the old fashioned way."
"No problem, I'll have a look." She accessed the telescope trained on the ship and observed at it closely. The ship was a tiny dot slowly moving against the background of stars.
"How well do you know United Corps ships?" Scrapper asked.
"We Echolite's don't have the fancy equipment you guys have. We studied all sorts of known ships from all distances until we knew them well. I'll admit, it's been a while since I've done it and the classes have changed a bit over the years but my best guess is this is a destroyer, Card class."
Scrapper's Hope Page 5