Space Trippers Book 1: Trippin'

by A. Lightbourne

  The output graphs showed the engines output to be quite lower then they were set for.

  However, no one unfamiliar with the ship’s circuitry, anyone other than herself, could probably detect any faults in the system.

  Therefore, they would not have found this jumble of cables leeching energy from the output of the engines. It was quite a good job of sabotage, because none of the other systems it bled into were producing any noticeable spikes and the leek was not easy to detect in the operational charts.

  She studied the job again; why would someone want to hamstring the engines?

  She considered the power flow, the energy leeched from the engines output would loop back into the system at various locations and eventually end up back in the power cells because the amount of energy was not used up in the circuit.

  This means, the feedback loop was probably not just meant to cause the ship to delay. The delay was just a by-product of the real intent. The feedback of the energy coupled with the presence of the Space Tripper meant only one thing.

  Whoever had set this up had not wanted the engines to use up too much power!

  They wanted to conserve the energy so it could be used when the Space Tripper was activated!

  This was bad, this was very bad.

  No matter what you set the engines at they would only output the same paltry amount because the rest was being saved up for the space jump.

  This means, if the feedback loop was connected to the Space Tripper and she attempted to undo the loop in order to give the Captain the power she wanted, the Space Tripper would be activated by the change and jump immediately before too much power was used up by the engines.

  This was getting to be a very complicated and serious situation. There could be more than one trigger set up on the Space Tripper. It was now extremely imperative she find a way to disconnect it, if any existed, and fast.

  Valesque reached down to retrieve the cover for the access panel.

  As she bent over she heard a sudden low growl and placed her hand over her stomach.

  It was then she remembered she had not eaten for the past three days.

  Her high protein, Virrilian metabolism had gone into hibernation stage while she was unconscious and her body repaired from the electrical shock.

  However, after Lola’s treatment, her metabolism had been rebalanced and now she was in desperate need of food. If she neglected it any longer she could go into an uncontrollable hunting mode until she had filled up on protein. And with a ship full of protein based crew mates, that was not a good thing to let happen.

  Valesque resealed the circuitry in the sleek, metallic wall as she mentally made a new priority list.

  First she needed to get food, and then figure out a way to disable the Space Tripper while delaying the Captain in getting the engines fixed.

  She had to come up with a plausible story otherwise someone like Sanic, who seemed quite adept at technical things, might start snooping around and find the feedback loop and sort it out, causing her more problems.

  Valesque took her Vid- screen out of her hip pouch again. The ship’s wall access panels had a pressure locking system to prevent unauthorized access; it just had never been implemented during construction. The Engineer quickly accessed the command for the ship’s panel lock down and initiated it, adding in an encrypted opening code only she could know. She clicked the 'Apply' button in the program and suddenly all the panels in the walls shifted and pressure sealed with a low hiss.

  Lockdown was initiated, now no curious ‘helpers’ could inadvertently cause her more trouble by messing with the crippled circuitry.

  If only she had done this before, she thought, but then it is a little difficult to have the cable panels on lockdown when you have teams working on them for installations.

  The Captain rapidly started receiving urgent calls from all of her Department Commanders on the sudden and very unexpected hissing all over the ship.

  Captain Fairbanks had one hand on her ear to shield out external noise as she listened to one after another of these calls, as she herself could only reply, “Yes, I know, we heard it down here too. I will find out what it was, I am sure it is a minor thing, no reason to panic.” she tried to assure the uneasy crewmembers. They were already on edge, not understanding anything on the ship, and now they unexpectedly hear strange hissing noises. Those cannot be good in space. Is the ship’s problem getting worse?

  She looked up as the Virrilian Engineer returned.

  “We just heard the sound of a lot of things abruptly shift and then a low hissing all over the ship. Do you know what that could have been?” she queried quickly, with more than a little concern.

  Valesque reddened a little at the fuss she had caused. “Yes, when I finished with my inspection I just sealed all of the ship’s panels. They should have been locked down before we launched, but someone must have overlooked that.” she fumbled. “They are pressure sealed, so that was the hissing sound you all heard.” she finished still trying to think up a plausible story for the inevitable question she would surely ask next.

  The Captain let out a slight sigh of relief as she smoothed back her hair and tapped the communicator in her right ear. “Crew broadcast.” she said, informing the inter-ship communication computer of her desired contacts. “To all personnel on the I.P.A Vortex,” she began, as her voice now came over everyone’s ear piece in the entire ship, including Valesque’s, “this is Captain Fairbanks speaking. The sudden hissing noise that was heard earlier was from the sealing of the wall access panels. All crewmembers are to return to their duties, there is no reason for alarm. That is all.”

  When she had finished her announcement the Captain turned her red head once again towards the Virrilian Engineer. “In the future, inform me before you do anything that might cause general panic amongst the crew.”

  “Have you fixed the problem with the Engines yet?” she then asked, not letting a second more slip by in finding the underlying cause of that problem.

  “Uhhmm… not fixed it yet, no.” Valesque evaded, trying to formulate her convincing story of why the engines could not be fixed at the moment. Besides the explanation where the Space Tripper was involved.

  “But you have figured out what the problem is right? Something to do with that control panel and the wiring in the wall over there?” the Captain prodded hopefully.

  “Y-Yes.” the Engineer replied slowly, guarding her words. “I did find a slight…problem, with the, uhm, relay…between the control panel, the engines and the output.” she said vaguely.

  Sanic looked a little intrigued by this but said nothing.

  He had come up with some ideas of his own, from looking at the engine read outs and the information the Virrilian Engineer had been looking at, as to what the problem might be.

  Sanic knew from their previous discussion that some things were wrong with the ship and the Captain needed to be made aware of them before they got involved in a war.

  But if Valesque thought it best not to tell her, or not to fix the problem, he just had to trust her judgment on that. He knew she was not trying to get them all killed, she just wanted to save her ship.

  “But, this problem can be fixed?” the Captain urged.

  Valesque thought for a moment. “It can be fixed.” she finally said.

  The Captain looked very relieved, until the Engineer continued. “But, it will take some time. If the problem is fixed too soon it will cause a…backlash in the other systems of the ship and could cause even more problems. You see, during construction, the output from the engines was... diverted, to prevent accidental overpowering during system testing.” she continued, almost believing her own story. It could happen.

  “You mean they hamstrung the engines.” the Captain observed bluntly.

  “Sort of, like that.” the Virrilian agreed, surprised she had actually caught on to something so quickly.

  “So how long will it take you to undo this… bypass thing?” Captain Fairbanks
asked her, hoping to be full speed to the Corseccan Galaxy right away.

  “Well, it could take some time, I have a few things to do first and then I need to study the problem a little more. Releasing that energy too quickly or in the wrong way could permanently damage the engines, or the ship.” Valesque replied ominously.

  “First things first, Ensign, I expect you to get to work right away on fixing this problem your team has caused.” the Captain returned curtly, not wanting anyone wasting time on other things besides getting this ship up to speed.

  “No.” the Virrilian replied, trying to hold back her increasingly quick temper. “First I need to get something to eat.” she said, just as her stomach gave out another low growl. “I am getting very hungry, and believe me Captain; you wouldn’t like me when I am hungry.” she finished with a very menacing grin.

  The Captain suddenly felt like she now knew what a deer in the crosshairs felt like as she unconsciously stepped back from the intimidating Virrilian. As she recalled, they had a very high protein metabolism, and therefore hunted and ate a lot of meat.

  “Food first.” she quickly agreed. “In fact, I think we should all take a nice dinner break and then we can get back to work full force.” the agitated Captain continued as she smoothed back her hair and started to turn to leave the room.

  “Ensign Sanic, I would then like you to finish instructing the twins here about the operation of their control panels, if that is at all possible.

  In addition, when you are finished with that perhaps you can look into the inoperable state of the shields and weapons systems. And Miss Valesque,” she said addressing the Virrilian she was retreating from, trying not to say anything upsetting in her present condition, “we shall leave the engine problem in your hands. I expect you all to report to me with any progress by the end of the night shift. That is all, carry on.”

  And with that she made a hasty departure as she headed towards the Hydro-lifts, her Second in Command in tow.

  Sanic then turned to Valesque, as they too made their way to the other side of the deck to catch the Hydro-lifts.

  “Well, thanks to you we have a dinner break. Where do you want to go?

  Would you like to go up to the Star deck? I hear the menu programs in the food duplicators are really good, and the scenery from the windows up there is amazing.” he suggested, trying not to stumble on his words as he realized he was asking her to dinner.

  Valesque’s mind was preoccupied, and stopping for dinner was not on her agenda.

  “No thanks, Sanic. I can’t right now. I'll just get my usual from the duplicator in my lab. I have a few things I need to do before the Captain gets too insistent on those engines.”

  “Oh, right.” the young Ensign muttered in disappointment. “Besides you know all about the duplicator’s menus and the view from the Star Deck already. You made them, right?” he said trying to sound more cheerful.

  “It did turn out pretty well up there. It's one of my favorite places on the ship. Maybe, if I get some time later, I can give you the tour and show you some of it's more subtle features.” she suggested, seeing his forlorn look.

  Sanic brightened at her suggesting they meet later. “Okay.” he said, his spirits high again. “I will look forward to your insider’s tour. Now I guess I better get something quick and get back to work down here. I think educating the twins might be a long and exhausting task!” he laughed as they reached their respective Hydro-lifts.

  Sanic stood before the left lift doors and Valesque who was going down to her lab stood next to him at the right lift doors.

  “Well, this is where we part. I really enjoyed the tour of the Solar Deck.” he commented quickly as both their doors opened. “You will have to tell me more about how you came up with some of the designs, especially the Light Core later.” he finished hurriedly giving Valesque a parting grin as they both stepped into their respective lifts and the doors hissed shut.

  As soon as the automatic doors on the Hydro-lift closed, Sanic let out a long sigh, relaxing his jangled nerves.

  At least I finally asked her, he thought to himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror-like finish of the polished steel doors.

  From his short, muscular build and tan skin, to the ends of his spiked, blonde-tipped hair, he looked like a true Etherian. If only he could act it, he thought, and then he could talk to his dream girl freely, with no anxiety.

  But the self assured Pilot acted more Etherian than he did, he sighed.

  Then… she had not seemed to take any interest in Lieutenant Baine, he brightened at the reflection.

  And she hadn’t really turned down his invitation, at least not technically.

  Moreover, he was actually on the same ship with her, stuck in a confined area in the middle of space. He could see her anytime he wanted and talk face to face with her, he reminded himself.

  There would always be another chance, he smiled, as the now determined Etherian looked straight back at him from the surface of the Hydro-lift doors.

  Chapter Five: Springing The Trap

  General Gorbok sat in his darkened office on the upscale side of Saturna 3.

  Around him flickered numerous floating screens, each illuminated with different information.

  Some showed personnel records, some departure logs, others displayed various star charts and the locations of deployed military craft.

  The aging Military Officer seemed to be focusing on one screen in particular; on it a small blip moved steadily towards Corseccan Space.

  The tough old General gave a slow menacing grin as he watched the ship moving away. His plan had succeeded. The scientific vessel I.S.A Magellan had been seized and sent out on its emergency mission.

  Now all that remained was to set the last piece in motion, before finishing the paperwork, and all his troubles would be over.

  His troubles, he groaned, all his troubles starting and ending with that little Virrilian inventor and her stubborn non-acquiescence to Military requests.

  He had dealings with her indirectly and directly for many years.

  Fresh out of Galactic University when she went into development of the Space Tripper and refused to sell the plans to the I.P.A, sticking with her sickening morals and desire to please her people.

  Fodder, all that useless sentimentality.

  Throwing away good field research possibilities under complaints of the possible harm to the test subjects.

  Her brilliant mind wasted on useless household gadgets and engine thrusters.

  He had offered her the chance of a lifetime, to be on his winning team.

  But it was fine, he got over it.

  He found a better way, a simpler way to reach his goal.

  Then she ended up in his own backyard, building her streamlined, ultra-mechanized, ultra-powerful ship. Equipped with, from what his spies had gathered, the most advanced weapons system in the galaxy. Foursquare firing power, four oscillating shields. The thing was impenetrable.

  It was perfect, but she would not let him have it.

  He had tried to persuade her, to get her genius and her magnificent design on his side, but she was so stubbornly pigheaded.

  Hating the Military. Hating the pure pursuit of power and dominance over the entire universe.

  Simple girl.

  She called him ‘General Warlord’, he chuckled, she did not know the half of it.

  She even had a restraining order on him!

  But he got it in the end.

  Her precious ship that could make or break all his dreams.

  That solid chunk of shimmering metal that could be wedged right in the middle of all his great plans.

  That menace of a miracle the ‘Magellan’, and its creator would not be a thorn in his side for much longer, he sneered.

  With that satisfying thought, the coarse old man turned his chair towards a new screen that illuminated in an open space before him as he swiveled his seat.

  “Connect me with the Intergalactic Poli
ce Force Vessel 1119036 on a secured wave.” he commanded the newly arrived screen.

  It was time to put the last pawn into action.