by Nate Johnson
Giving everybody one last look, “This isn’t the love boat, and I’m not returning these girls to their parents pregnant and alone.” Seeing everyone nod affirmatively he turned to the man next to him. “Do you have anything to add Professor,” he asked.
“A… No… I … a ... think that covers everything, Captain,” Professor Breat said, looking like a Pekinese puppy meeting its first German shepherd.
“Okay, then. XO make ready to get underway, I want to leave orbit within the hour, our first jump tomorrow morning, and to be at our starting point within a week.”
Turning back to the crew he said, “Gentleman, I know we have the best crew ever assembled. We have spent the last two years picking and shaping this team for this mission. We are going to set a record for the most space explored within our allotted six months. I am sure that if we do what I know we can do, we’ll find something. Let’s pray it is worth it. Dismissed.”
“Attention on Deck,” the XO barked.
Once the Captain had left the Rec Deck, the XO placed everyone at ease and instructed his officers to meet him in the wardroom in fifteen minutes. By unspoken agreement, the enlisted crew remained on the recreational deck until the officers and Chief Bowman had left. Erik plopped onto a couch and listened in on the conversations around him.
“Off Limits, damn that’s not fair,” Jimmy Donaldson was saying to his fellow engineers.
“I don’t know why you’re so worried Jimmy, you never stood a chance anyway,” Big Tom Weaver said with a laugh. Jimmy punched him in the shoulder then joined them in the communal laugh. Jimmy Donaldson looked like a cross between a Greek God and a choir boy. All blond, buffed and ready for bed. Women had a habit of stepping on each other trying to get to him.
As Erik listened to them and the others bitch and complain, he smiled to himself. A bitching Spacer was a happy Spacer. You didn’t start worrying until they stopped bitching.
Shaking his head, he stood up to leave. They were all professionals, and there wouldn’t be any problems. Hell, if the Captain really planned to push things, they’d all be busier than Valdorian chipmunks on vacation, and wouldn’t have any time for fraternization.
He followed Tom and Jimmy towards the berthing area to get changed into his deep space suit, stepping around wooden crates and cardboard boxes piled high along the passageway. Six months of extra rations took up a lot of space that no one had ever designed into things. The students had also brought along more gear than a mountain expedition, with cases of lab equipment and even books made of paper.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he looked at his two friends. Big Tom was the senior petty officer in navigation and on the first watch. Jimmy, the senior petty officer in engineering and lead on the second watch. Their two-man state room had been converted into a four-man berthing area to make room for their guests.
The thought that they had to sacrifice their precious space for civilians on a joy ride sent hot sparks up and down his spine. The three of them shared the room with John Chang, the deck department’s second lead. He took over whenever Erik shuttled the gig and had been assigned the fourth watch lead. They had formed a tight team over the last two years.
Erik had once heard the XO tell one of the junior lieutenants that the four of them made up the vital core around which the ship’s company revolved.
Big Tom got his nickname from his constant battle with weight, regardless of how hard he hit the gym. The Nanos kept it under regulations, barely. But, it was a constant worry every time they had a weigh-in. The missing musketeer, John, was headed back to the bridge to take the watch, leaving the three others to start organizing their crews and making preparations for getting underway.
Tom and Jimmy continued to banter about the civilians, as they walked down the long center hallway.
“Guys,” Erik interrupted. “I’m telling you, we’re going to have to keep a close eye on our men. Having women onboard is going to be a problem. I’m sure of it,” Erik said.
“Do you always judge so quickly?” a voice said from behind them. Erik turned to see Miss Beautiful brunette, Nora Johnson, standing there with her hands on her hips shooting him a look of pure hate.
“I can assure you that we ‘girls’ can take care of ourselves. You don’t need to worry about us,” she said, looking him straight in the eye. Daring him to dispute her.
Erik stopped and examined her, his gaze traveling up the form fitting tailored temp suit and stopping at the heart arresting violet eyes. She looks like a young queen upset at finding a mouse in the pantry. How do these people live with themselves? he wondered.
“Actually, Miss Johnson, “I wasn’t worried about you and your companions,” he said with a small sneer. “I was worried about my men. If they do something to get themselves court marshaled then kicked out of the Navy, I’ll strangle them myself before the Captain ever gets his chance.”
Taking satisfaction at the stunned look on her face, he turned and slapped his shipmates on the back and pushed them down the hall.
They had only traveled a few feet when Erik stopped and turned back around.
“And, Miss Johnson, please ask your friends to tone it down on the perfume. It’s not so bad now, the guys just got off a long shore leave. But, in a few weeks, it’s going to start driving them crazy. There’s no need to tempt fate, now, is there?”
The other two spacers were looking at him like he had lost his mind. Nora’s mouth dropped in shock, and her eyes registered her surprise at being confronted so openly.
Then she relaxed, “Is it ‘the guys,’ or yourself that is so affected, Mr. Tanner?” she said with a self-satisfied grin, obviously pleased with herself at getting in such a good comeback.
Erik grinned back, enjoying the tussle. “Oh, it’s the guys, Miss Johnson. I’m from New Kansas and grew up on a farm. Believe me, I’ve smelled much worse.”
Miss Johnson looked outraged, her hands clinched into fists like she wanted to slap him, hard. He chuckled to himself and pushed his friends down the hall. He was pretty sure he heard a muffled curse behind him.
.o0o.
Erik stood at ease in the Captain’s cabin, hands behind his back, feet slightly spread.
“You’re sure about this, Petty Officer Tanner?” Captain Freeborn asked, looking down at the broken sensor array on his table. The XO, Engineering Officer Clark, and Chief Bowen stood behind the Captain, looking over his shoulder at the crumpled piece of equipment.
“Yes, Sir. I checked it myself last watch, as part of the monthly preventive maintenance. Everything was fine.” Erik and his guys were responsible for maintenance of everything not located on the bridge or the engine room.
Of course, the cooks took care of the kitchen equipment, but everything else was his responsibility, both inside and out. Nothing ever broke. If it did, he had a replicator build him a new one and replaced it. But, this was different. Someone had purposely smashed a sensor array, rendering it useless. He could have it replaced in an hour, but this type of thing had to be brought to the officer’s attention.
The Captain looked over his shoulders at the XO. “Any ideas?” he asked.
“No, Sir. It doesn’t make any sense. It couldn’t have been our people. They’d know how easy it was to replace. What’s the point? And, I can’t understand any of Professor Breat’s people doing it. They’re all chomping at the bit to find a new planet just like the rest of us.” He shrugged his shoulders with a look of total confusion. Both, Chief Bowen and Engineer Thompson shook their heads in agreement.
Erik stood there without saying another word. He wasn’t so sure about the civilians. Some of them seemed a little off to him.
They’d been underway for a week now, and a smooth disrespect had grown up between the two groups. The crew worked their butts off, twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. And, the civilians sat around and read books, and talked about stuff.
The civilians, on the other hand, resented the enlisted guys. Probably for the sim
ple reason that the crew resented them. No one likes to be thought of as less than needed. Especially, highly intelligent, privileged little brats like these. It was all so childish and not a big thing, nothing that wouldn’t go away given enough time. But, it wasn’t his place to say, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Okay Petty Officer Tanner. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Chief, have your people keep an eye out and let me know if anything like this happens again. I’ll have a quiet word with the Professor, and maybe we can put a stop to it real quick.
“You know, Sir,” LCDR Clark said, “There is a lot of equipment that if they were sabotaged at the wrong time, in the right situation, could do a lot of damage.” The man shuddered when he thought about what would happen.
Erik swallowed hard, every spacer had heard stories about the wrong piece of equipment breaking at the wrong time and ships disappearing. Traveling through a worm hole and never coming out the other side.
There were two conjectures as to what happened then. Either they were trapped in inner space, stuck in their dead ship until they died of old age. Or, they simply ceased to be. Even the elements of their body were removed from the known universe, as if they never existed.
Receiving the Captain’s nod of dismissal, Erik came to attention, performed a smooth about face, and left the cabin.
He wasn’t going to let this rest. Nobody intentionally damaged his ship. No way. No how. He would get to the bottom of it, if it was the last thing he did.
.o0o.
Coming out of the jump, Nora held her breath. It always sent a thrill up her spine. And, tomorrow would be the first time into new space. Her heart beat faster and her palms began to sweat whenever she thought about it.
Anything could be on the other side. A huge rock hurling towards them, a fading sun ready to explode, or even aliens ready to blow them to smithereens. Anything was possible.
This was the ninth time in the last week, and it amazed her how blasé the crew was about the whole thing. Of course, they all had something important to do during a jump. She and her fellow students were as useless as always. Gathered in the recreation room. All of the screens lining the wall were focused on the new space.
After the first Jump, an unofficial challenge had sprung up between the students and the bridge crew. Who could determine their new position the fastest? It was easy to do when you were in known space. It was just a matter of matching up known star fields. In fact, because you knew where the other end came out before you entered, you already knew where you should be.
But, Professor Breat had set up a test where the students had to find out their new position without using known star field maps. The navigators had heard about it and offered to join. It had become a competition, and the bridge always won. Quite often by several minutes.
The students had been getting closer each time. Jonathan Pierce, the sixteen-year-old boy wonder had taken it as a personal affront, and decided on his own, to rewrite the software application that the Navy had spent millions of credits creating.
For two days he had locked himself in his room, and come out all smiles only the day before. Now he was bent over his computer mumbling commands into his throat mike.
Nora laughed to herself out of pure happiness. Tomorrow there would be no going back. The ship would step off into new space, and everything after that was an official adventure.
Chapter Three
A quiet tension filled the room. All of the students were scanning the various screens on the wall and their own computers, waiting for the indication that they’d jumped into new space. A nervous energy seemed to move from student to student like free flowing electrons. Nora smiled to herself, after this no one could say they weren’t true spacers.
As she worked on the program analyzing radiation statistics, she heard a noise and watched as Petty Officer Erik Tanner, the arrogant know-it-all, entered the room in full space uniform. Bright silver with heavy rings at the wrist and neck. This was a much more, heavy duty uniform than normal. He held a clear globe helmet under his arm, and heavy gloves in his hand.
Nora’s eyebrows rose, and her heart sped up. What was he doing here and why was he dressed like that? Did he know something? Every crewman had an assigned mission during a jump, why was he here?
“Good morning, Professor. The Captain told me to report to you and answer any questions you might have.” Professor Breat looked up, surprised to see the spaceman in his classroom. Then, obviously, remembered something and smiled, nodding his head.
“Yes, of course. Please have a seat. The Captain did mention that he would send someone. We have several questions. And, I’m sure there will be more. Raymond?” the Professor said, indicating his young assistant, then returning back to his computer work.
Assistant Professor Raymond Combs was almost as arrogant as the petty officer, Nora thought. He had been hitting on her and every other girl in the party since they came aboard.
He was handsome enough in that blond, blue-eyed way. But, he reminded her too much of her father’s assistant, a sycophant who never had an original thought in his head.
She sometimes had to fight from letting her head hit her desk whenever the man started to lecture. He parroted Professor Breat’s lectures word for word.
Nora watched him leave his computer and walk over to the crewman, his face wrapped up in a scowl at being interrupted.
“What are you all dressed up for? You’re not afraid of a little jump are you?” the Assistant Professor asked, chuckling at his own humor, as he folded his arms over his chest.
Tanner didn’t blink, but let his eyes slowly travel up the body in front of him, finally coming to rest on the man’s face. Tanner shook his head, obviously disappointed in what he’d found, making the young Professor turn red.
“Combs, isn’t it?” the spacer asked. Then, not waiting for an answer, “I’m dressed in full kit, as we say, because we’re entering new space. Sometimes, minor problems occur.”
Brenda Crawly let out a gasp.
“Usually, it’s nothing serious. But, it is my job to step outside and fix it.”
Nora’s heart skipped a beat when she realized what he meant. Why was this man always at the center of things?
What must it be like to be out there with nothing between you and instant death but thin suit cloth?
She remembered something her father had once said about the men who worked for him. He said, ‘you could always tell who the real men were. They always wanted to be at the pointy end of the spear.’
She hadn’t fully understood him, but she thought she was beginning to.
“Why you?” she asked.
The spacer turned, obviously surprised at the question. “Because that’s my job,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, “and … I guess because I’m good at it.”
Professor Combs looked down his Grecian chiseled nose and tossed his hair back over his shoulder. “Well, it’s always nice to have a trade.”
Nora frowned at his obvious put down. Smiling at Nora, as if his comment was much wittier than it was, he turned and scurried back to Professor Breat.
“There’s a guy that wouldn’t last two weeks before the mast,” Erik’s fist clenched in and out, as he mumbled under his breath.
She nodded her head, as if lost in thought, until someone said, “ten seconds.”
A quiet descended over the room as the clock slowly ticked down. Then, the screen blinked, to be replaced with all new stars. Her head spun, and she felt dizzy at the sudden shift. A gentle hand rested on her back, helping her keep her balance.
My God, she thought, we are somewhere new. No human has ever been here. She looked over at Tanner to see how he was taking it. He had his eyes closed and was silently counting to himself.
“Why are you counting?” she asked.
He kept on counting until reaching thirty, then his face broke into a huge smile, and he let out a deep breath. Turning to her, his smile dropped as he considered what to say.
/> “Because, the first thirty seconds are the critical part. If we’re going to hit something, it’s in that first moment. After that, we have enough situational awareness and room enough so that we can maneuver around anything.”
Her eyes opened as wide as tea saucers, “If it’s so dangerous why don’t they use probes?” she asked.
“We are the probe, Miss Johnson. You need a Higgs field to get through a worm hole, and you need a crew to run the Higgs engine for the field. This isn’t a trip to your grandmother’s house. The Navy loses about ten percent of ships on missions like this. They never talk about it. Can’t make space flight seem dangerous, might upset someone. That’s why we know it must have been some idiot civilian to let you students onboard.”
She craned her neck to look up at him. He was deadly serious. She had never heard about any of this.
“Why didn’t you tell us before we jumped?” she asked.
“No need to worry you now, was there? You’ll have more than enough time before the next one,” he said with a sly smile. A smile that she desperately wanted to wipe off his face. What was it about this man that made her so angry all the time?
“Alpha Golf thirty-six,” a disembodied voice said from the Intercom.
“Damn,” Johnathan Pearce said, as he slammed his fist into the table top.
A holo projection of the galaxy appeared in the middle of the room. All of the students stood and looked at the projection as it slowly rotated. A giant ball of yellow gas, surrounded by spiraling glittering arms of milky white stars. Sixteen red circles indicated each of the inhabited planets, and a blinking orange cross on the outer edge of the third arm showed where Mother Earth should have been.
Nora had to fight a tear every time she saw this image and all that had been lost. Turning away she focused on another part of the galaxy.
A large yellow square, two inches to a side, was blinking. She knew that this represented where they had entered the worm hole. Suddenly, a green triangle appeared on the opposite side of the galaxy, and a gold line immediately connected the two. This was their new position. Trillions and trillions of miles, hundreds of light years in an instant. It didn’t seem possible.