“How long will it take you?”
“Maybe a minute or two. We’re talking about just a few bytes of data here.”
“Do it.” Eriksen activated the com. “Eriksen to bridge.”
“Bridge here, Airman Garza speaking. Yes, Colonel?”
“Send Captain Quinn to get Doctor Kimura, and have him escort the doctor to the computer core.”
“Yes sir.”
Darius started work on the damaged code. He opened a parallel window that contained a communication file from Gabriel’s mainframe and compared the structure against the mystery code. With a few adjustments he was able to reconstruct the signature code.
“Sir, look at this.”
XCS-03-R
“Raphael.” The lines on Eriksen’s face hardened into a scowl. “Who on that ship would want to kill the doctor and Reid?”
“I don’t know sir. I don’t know much about the active crew on that ship, other than her commander is Colonel Fox and that Lieutenant Kimura is over there instead of Michael.”
“Wait, why is Kimura over there?”
“From what the doctor told me, she was on that damaged transport that had to make an emergency docking with Raphael.”
The hatch to the computer core slid open with a scraping noise. Darius and Colonel Eriksen turned as Dr. Kimura entered with Captain Quinn on his heels. The two men were a comedic mismatch of size; the slender gray scientist was dwarfed by the great redhead. Eriksen motioned for them to come closer.
“Doctor,” he said in a hushed voice. “Do you know of anyone on Raphael that would want to harm you?”
Dr. Kimura’s face registered his shock and confusion. “No, Colonel. Why?”
The colonel ignored the question. “Think hard. Any enemies? Anyone who might hold a grudge?” Kimura paused and shook his head. “Very well. Return to your work.”
“Colonel Eriksen, may I ask what…”
“No you may not,” he said abruptly. “Now return to your work.”
Dr. Kimura hesitated for a moment, but bowed and took his leave from the core. Captain Quinn watched him go with a puzzled look and then looked at the colonel. “Sir?”
Eriksen lowered his voice even more, to the point where Darius had to strain to hear him. “Captain, what I tell you in this room goes no further, understood?” There was a nod of acknowledgement. “It would appear that there is an assassin onboard Raphael. I want you to go through all crew and passenger profiles to see if you can find any discrepancies that might lead us to a possible identity.”
“Like what, sir?”
“I’m not sure. At this point we’re grasping at straws. But if you find anything funny at all, I want you to make a note of it and bring it to my attention. I also don’t want you drawing attention to yourself, so I need you to do it from one of the workstations in the propulsion section.”
“What about Smith, sir?” asked Quinn.
“Find a way to reassign him. I don’t care where to.”
Quinn thought for a moment. “I could have him inspect the thrusters early.”
Eriksen nodded in approval. “Lieutenant Owens, I want you to send a message to Michael and inform them of the danger you found in the com system. Let them know the problem is a threat to their passengers and how to fix it, but don’t give too many details. Then send a coded message to Raphael, for Colonel Fox alone. Notify her that she may have a saboteur with extensive knowledge of the com system. Maybe she can help us out.”
“Yes sir.”
Quinn and Eriksen turned and departed from the room. Darius was left once again with only the whir of the cooling fans to keep him company. As he stared at the graphic of the com system on his screen, a sickening thought hit him.
Michael was probably already hit.
Brev Capt Haruka Kimura
22 September 2024, 14:21
Raphael
The parabola looks right, if not a bit tall. Haruka squinted as she scrutinized the trajectory of Raphael on her nav screen. She zoomed in to the end point of Alpha Centauri B and opened a map that depicted the known stellar system. She sighed. I may have been wrong. It looks like Captain Bartrand put us on the exact correct course.
Haruka stretched her arms above her and yawned as the simulation continued. Her eyelids drooped and her back ached from sitting hunched in the chair without moving for hours. A sphere that represented the planet Demeter lazily arced its way around the orange star in the center. Two smaller, dotted spheres rotated in orbit around the planet. These were suspected to be moons but had never been fully confirmed. The outer moon was much larger, and its trajectory followed its smaller sibling at a more leisurely pace.
I wonder what it’s like there, she pondered. Dad said that Dr. Benedict said it was probably habitable. The word “probably” stuck in her mind. There’s no guarantee of that, even if we make it there in one piece. It could just as easily be a dead world. I suppose the approach probe will answer that question.
She zoomed out slightly so that she could see the remaining planets in the same window. Demeter was the second planet from the sun. The inner orbit was occupied by a rocky planet that was somewhat larger than Mercury, but also more distant. Haruka had heard that this one was tidally locked to Alpha Centauri B. Burning death on one side, frozen doom on the other. Two known planets lay beyond Demeter’s orbit. The first was a gas giant that was believed to be just over 1 Astronomical Unit farther out, but also hypothesized to be not much larger than Neptune. The second known outer planet was also a gas giant, but it had a different orbit type altogether. Haruka tried to remember the term that her father had used.
Circumbinary? Yeah, that’s what it was. She zoomed out a little more and watched the projected path of the massive, gaseous planet as it slowly traversed from Alpha Centauri B to its binary companion. Then she saw the blip that represented Raphael close in on the system. Again she zoomed in toward Demeter. She waited for the ship to enter the screen again. It did, and she gasped.
We’re coming in way too hot. Haruka watched as Raphael passed well in front of Demeter and off into oblivion. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Don’t panic, you can fix this. Just tell the major what’s going on.
Haruka loosened her harness and made her way past the empty command chair and rows of empty stations to both sides; with Emberley’s reassignments, she was the only one on the bridge. She traveled down the staircase into the crew pod and knocked on Major Emberley’s closed sleeper berth door.
C’mon, Major. Open up. She waited and listened for any response, or for the lock to open. Silence greeted her. She knocked again on the cold aluminum, but the result was no different.
Haruka sighed and made her way to her own berth with a quick detour to grab a meal on her way. As she consumed the preserved spaghetti and garlic flavored bread, Mancini returned from his duty. He was covered from head to toe in grease, and Haruka did not know whether to laugh or take pity on him. Despite the fact that she no longer had her companion to talk to while working, she did not miss propulsion maintenance at all.
When he saw her, Mancini grinned and gave her a dramatic, sweeping salute. “Reporting for dinner, Captain.”
She giggled. “At ease, soldier. Besides,” she said as she patted him on the stomach, “you’ve never missed a dinner in your life.”
“Why let perfectly good food go to waste, right Kimura?”
“Funny you should put it that way.” Haruka peered inside the pouch of spaghetti. “Perfectly good food is great, but I’m not sure how much longer I can live off of these things. Everything’s starting to taste the same.”
Marco tore into his meal pouch like a starved wolf. “That so, huh? Alright, princess. After we land this thing and get set up, I’ll make you breakfast. How about that?”
“Hah,” she snorted. “You only wish you could make me breakfast. That’s for your booty call girls, not me.”
“Tsk. You wound me. I’d never do that to you.”
“Right. Becau
se you remember I always try to keep you from getting punched in the face when you’re in trouble?”
“Yeah.”
She grinned. “There will be no one to protect that pretty face of yours if you get in trouble with me.”
Mancini’s grin widened and his eyes seemed to dance with light. “So it’s a date then?”
“Ugh, fine,” she conceded and rolled her eyes. “Breakfast only, nothing else. Try anything funny and I swear I’ll break your nose myself, Marco.” He raised his hands and cocked his head slightly, then went back to his dinner. “Say, have you seen the major lately?”
“Yeah, he’s in the gym. I just came from there.”
Good, he’s still awake. Haruka smiled and left the hallway. “Hey, where are you going?” she heard Marco ask, but she hurried her way out into the ship and down into the lower level, then sailed forward to the gym and opened the door.
Major Emberley was still inside, working on what looked like a leg press exercise. He glanced at Haruka and nodded at her before he continued his routine. “Come on in, Captain. There’s plenty of room.”
“Sir, I’m not here to work out. I have something to report.” She tried to mask her nervousness. The information she was about to divulge could be catastrophic if not resolved. I just hope he has faith in me to fix it.
Emberley stopped his workout, released himself from the apparatus, and then turned to face her. He reached for a towel and wiped away the sweat that had beaded on his forehead. “Go ahead,” he said, out of breath.
“Sir, it appears that Captain Bartrand did indeed make an error in his calculations after the low orbit slingshot.” She drew in a deep breath through her nose so as not to make a sound. “His course is on target for the planetary orbit of Demeter, but the computer sims show that we’re moving too fast. As it sits right now, we will cross the orbit about two months before the planet itself reaches the target point.”
Emberley’s eyes widened. “My God. We can’t just stop the ship in the middle of space and wait for the planet to catch up. Can you slow us down a little bit so that our target is there at the same time as us?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but something inside her told her that slowing down now would be wrong. “I need to do some more research on our options, sir. If we hadn’t discovered this mistake, it would have been fatal. I want to make sure that I don’t make any mistakes myself.”
He nodded. “Very prudent, Captain. By all means, take all the time you need. I don’t care if it takes you a day or six maintenance cycles to figure it out. The safety of the ship and its passengers can’t be left to a chance decision.”
“Thank you, sir.” She saluted and took her leave. After she closed the door she let out a great sigh. She hadn’t noticed before that her hands were shaking. She rubbed them together as she kicked off of the wall in search of the ladder up.
I have to say, she thought. It sure is nice having a commanding officer who actually cares about the mission. Now, what to do about bringing the ship back on course…
A huge yawn parted her lips, and she stretched her lean body.
I’ve got thirty years to figure this out. No sense in starting calculations now when I’m so tired.
Haruka changed her course once more, and this time she headed for her berth.
Calvin McLaughlin
22 September 2024, 15:16
Michael
“That should just about do it.”
Cal sighed in relief as Hunter put the final touches on the routine that would mask his new berth’s location. “Thanks, man. I owe you one.”
Hunter shook his head. “No, not at all. If there’s even a chance that what the colonel says is true, you need to be protected. Whatever your father did, you had no idea.”
I have no idea. There’s an understatement for you.
Cal looked around the computer core room at the racks of computers in precise rows. The song of their cooling fans was akin to the heartbeat of the ship. One thing that he knew about Michael was that every system in the so-called “support section” was absolutely vital to operation. The computers regulated the sleeper pods and kept track of various navigation sensors while the crew was asleep. The reactor and generator, farther aft, powered the whole ship. Cal marveled at how these few systems would keep everyone alive all the way to this new planet that Hunter had talked about. There was also the constant nagging idea that something might go wrong.
Like in my last dream. He shook the thought from his head and looked at his friend. Hunter had put on a headset that was plugged into the mainframe terminal. He stared intently at the screen.
Cal cleared his throat and asked, “So what now?” Hunter did not look up at Cal, but instead held up his hand with one finger up to his lips, as if to silence him. Cal looked at the screen and saw the active com indicator. “What is it?”
Hunter sighed and placed the headset on a Velcroed hook that was attached to the side of the terminal. “Well, it looks like Captain Hartley and his crew can stop their investigation.”
Cal gulped. That doesn’t sound good. “What were you listening to?”
Lieutenant Hunter Ceretti turned to meet Cal’s uneasy gaze. For a moment, Cal thought he saw fear in his friend’s eyes.
“We just got an incoming transmission from Gabriel. They said they found an… exploit. It was in their com system.” Hunter’s voice was hushed and solemn. “They think the same problem may exist in our computers as well.”
“What do you mean by exploit?”
Hunter seemed to ignore his question. He turned back to the terminal and brought up a schematic of the ship. Cal watched as screen after screen flashed by, until at last Hunter stopped at one particular drawing. He traced the screen with one finger as a sneer marred his face. Hunter slammed his fist into the terminal, making Cal flinch.
“Damn it,” he seethed. “They’re right. This is the wrong com software version. How damn long have they known about this?” Cal gulped but did not say a word. He watched as Hunter’s fist slowly balled up and relaxed, over and over. “They want us to create a null mailbox for the com system so transmissions don’t go right through. Would be kind of nice if they just gave us the program, wouldn’t it?”
“Maybe they don’t know how to,” Cal suggested.
“Oh, they know how and have done so already. How do you think they knew it would work?”
Ugh, he’s right. Cal put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. Uneasiness gave way to a feeling of bitterness. He forced this aside for a moment and asked, “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
Hunter scoffed and pulled from his grasp, and Cal took a deep breath and settled down. Hunter cleared his throat and confidence returned to his voice. “I’ve got my work cut out for me. For the good of the ship I need to get to it right away. Go tell Hartley and Dayton about the message. Tell them to stop looking for the problem with the sleepers, and that Gabriel may be hiding something from us.”
“Sure thing, but do you have any idea what that might be in case the colonel asks me?”
“With any certainty? No. But from the way this guy Lieutenant Owens from Gabriel was talking, it sounds like they may have experienced the same thing. Only they were prepared and we weren’t. He specifically said that this exploit was a threat to the passengers.”
Cal nodded. “Sounds like you’re right, they do know something.” He pursed his lips as he took a moment to think. “Hey, this means that the computer thing would have to be started from somewhere off the ship, right?”
“The thought had crossed my mind. It makes total sense. Make sure you tell the colonel that as well. Personally I don’t think that we have a saboteur on board. I know all the guys we work with and I don’t think any of them could or would do something like this.” Hunter started typing on a blank terminal screen. “Anyway, I’ve got to get started on this right away. Go, tell them.”
“You got it.”
Cal pulled himself along the walls and out of the
core. He paused for a moment in the smaller, dim hallway of the support section. He looked aft and could make out the form of a hatch in the distance. I guess the reactor is back there, from the plans of the ship, he thought. Captain Hartley will be back there. Cal floated toward the hatch but stopped again before he got there and heard a loud whine from the rear of the ship. I don’t have access, and he’ll never hear me over that noise anyway.
Instead, Cal turned about and shot forward into the gallery. He made his way toward the bridge of Michael. His gaze was locked forward and he ignored the dark maws of pods on either side as he sought out Colonel Dayton. He came at last to the open airlock that went to the crew section, then passed through it and went up the staircase to the bridge. Cal grabbed the railing and came to a stop as he passed under the massive glass canopy. He looked up and took in the panoramic view of the stars, smattered all over the sky like glitter cast off by a child.
Colonel Dayton’s voice reminded him of his purpose. “Can I do something for you, Mr. McLaughlin?”
Cal straightened his posture as he locked eyes with the ship’s commander. “Yes, Colonel. Lieutenant Ceretti reports that he has received a message from Gabriel.”
“I know. We received the same message up here. Do you know if he’s applying the fix they talked about?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good,” Dayton said as he nodded. “Should just be a matter of time before we catch Doctor Fairweather’s assassin, then we can put this whole matter to bed.”
Cal glanced around at the workstations surrounding the command chair. He could see Sergeant Drisko seated at one of the workstations to the right of Dayton, but the rest sat vacant. Cal made a gesture toward the commanding officer. “Sir, may I?” Dayton nodded and Cal pushed gently from the railing and stopped at the command chair. He bent his head next to the colonel’s and lowered his voice. “Are you sure the killer is on board?”
Dayton turned and looked directly into Cal’s eyes. “Do you know something that I don’t, Mr. McLaughlin?”
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