by Ryk Brown
Jessica activated the boarding hatch. A ring of dust around the hatch jumped outward, propelled by the small amount of pressure still present inside the Jasper’s boarding airlock. The hatch motor seemed to struggle at first, the result of not having been activated for a millennium. After a moment’s hesitation, the hatch retracted slightly inward then began to swing smoothly on its hinge, opening away from them and into the Jasper’s airlock.
Jessica leaned forward, peering into the dark, empty airlock. She pulled out a small, handheld light and reached into the airlock, releasing the light as far inward as she could. The light hung in the airlock, floating in place. “No gravity in there,” she announced as she retrieved her light and returned it to her suit pocket. “Have to use the mag-boots,” she explained as she activated the electromagnetic gripping system built into the soles of her suit boots.
She stepped through the hatch and made her way across the airlock, feeling the resistance of the magnets in her boots release their grip on the deck with each step. She reached the inner hatch control panel at the other end of the airlock and attempted to activate the inner hatch. “It won’t allow me to open the inner hatch while the outer hatch is open.”
“Wouldn’t both hatches normally be open when docked?” the sergeant asked.
“My guess is that it would be receiving a good seal signal from the docked ship, and we’re not sending one. Besides, even if we were, I doubt this ship speaks Corinairan.” Jessica stopped and turned around, looking over the airlock. “I think there’s enough room for all of us in here. Everybody squeeze in,” she ordered over comms. “Last man in, close and lock the outer hatch behind you.”
One by one, the other seven members of the boarding party entered the airlock, their mag-boots tugging at the deck with each step. Sergeant Weatherly was the last one in, closing the Jasper’s outer hatch behind him.
“Outer hatch is secure,” the sergeant reported.
Jessica returned to the inner hatch’s control panel. The indicator light was now green. She punched the open button for the hatch. A moment later, the inner hatch seal released, and the hatch cracked open. “That did it.” Unlike the outer hatch, the inner hatch was manually operated. She pushed the hatch inward, peering into the darkness beyond the hatch. She reached up and turned on her helmet light, casting a brilliant beam of light into the interior of the Jasper’s boarding deck. The beam appeared thick as it cut through the floating dust that appeared to be everywhere. She stepped through the inner hatch and into the boarding area, signaling for the others to follow and stepping cautiously as the beams of light from those behind her danced about the Jasper’s inner spaces ahead of her.
“Where is all the dust coming from?” Sergeant Weatherly asked.
“There are a lot of holes in the hull,” Jessica explained. “This ship is basically open to space.”
“Seems kind of funny,” Weatherly commented, “since the inner door wouldn’t open until the outer door was closed.”
“I guess they didn’t expect the inside to ever be opened up to space.”
“Or to survive a thousand years.”
“Yeah, I’m surprised the hatches even worked.” Jessica stopped as she came to the Jasper’s central corridor. She looked to her right, her helmet light shining down the long corridor. At the far end was a closed hatch. She turned around and looked aft, seeing the same. “Three teams,” she ordered. “Sergeant, you take two techs aft. I’ll take two forward. Last two, stay here and check out the midship area.”
“Aye, sir,” Sergeant Weatherly answered.
“Most of the compartment hatches will be closed because of hull breaches. You’ll have to manually override them. There should be some kind of override mechanism on the side.”
“Copy that.”
“Maintain radio contact,” Jessica advised. “If you lose contact, return here until you reestablish.” She looked at the time display on the data display on the inside of her helmet visor. “The Aurora will be passing us in about three and a half hours, so let’s be out of here in four at the most. I don’t want to have to chase them across the system.”
“Yes, sir,” the sergeant answered.
“Move out.”
* * *
Vladimir entered the captain’s ready room unannounced, unceremoniously dropping himself onto the couch along the wall.
“Can I help you?” Nathan asked from his desk.
“Nyet, I am good,” Vladimir said as he stretched out. “I just need to relax a bit.”
“You don’t have a bed?”
“I don’t need to sleep, just relax.” Vladimir turned his head toward Nathan. “Am I bothering you?”
“Not at all,” Nathan answered. “Am I bothering you?”
Vladimir looked at him, puzzled. “What?”
“I am the captain, and this is my ready room.”
Vladimir looked around the room. “There is no one here but you and I,” he announced. “Therefore, you are just Nathan, and I am just Vladimir.”
“Of course.” Nathan smiled. “Sorry, I forgot.”
“That’s why you have me,” Vladimir explained, “to prevent unlimited expansion of your ego.”
“What would I do without you?” Nathan mumbled. “How go the upgrades?”
“Everything is on schedule,” Vladimir told him. “They have finished fabricating the parts for the cannon turret and have begun fabrication of the parts for the first torpedo tube conversion.”
“How long will it take them to assemble the turret?”
“A few days, then another few days to install it for testing. We have already run the energy trunks to the compartment.”
“You’re making good time. You must be working hard.”
“I’m not doing anything at all,” Vladimir admitted, “at least, not in these projects. It’s all the Takarans, and a few of the Corinairans.”
“Then they are working together after all.”
“The technicians seem to be fine with it. It’s the down-in-the-dirt, Corinari types that get all ruffled up whenever there is a Takaran nearby. It is very amusing.”
“Not according to Jessica.”
“She worries too much. She has been spending too much time with Cameron.” Vladimir sat up suddenly. “Hey, how is she doing over there on that ship?”
“They haven’t reported anything since they boarded more than an hour ago. I guess they haven’t found anything worth reporting.”
“I really wanted to go on the boarding party,” Vladimir said. “Can you imagine, a thousand year-old spaceship? From Earth no less. That would have been fascinating. Like being in a museum.”
“A museum full of holes,” Nathan reminded him, “ones that open the ship up to space.”
“I have worn a spacesuit before.”
“I can’t send my chief engineer on dangerous assignments, Vlad; you know that.”
“You could have fired me, at least long enough to go on the mission.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“Captain, Comms,” Naralena’s voice called over the comms.
“Go ahead,” Nathan answered.
“Sir, I have Lieutenant Commander Nash on comms. She needs to speak with you.”
“Put her through.” Nathan waited for the telltale crackle that told him Naralena had connected him with the lieutenant commander currently on the Jasper. “Whattaya got, Jess?”
“You’re not going to believe this, Nathan.”
“Try me.”
“It’s a colony ship,” she reported over the comms. “Or at least, that’s how she was loaded out. And get this: there are still about three hundred colonists in stasis pods.”
“Bozhe moi,” Vladimir exclaimed.
“Are they alive?” Nathan asked.
“No, sir, most of the pods malfunctioned a long time ago. Probably due to power loss. There’s only a trickle of energy coming out of the ship’s reactor right now.”
“You said most of the pods malf
unctioned.”
“Three of them are still functioning, sir. And their occupants may be alive, we can’t really tell.”
Nathan stared at Vladimir for a moment as the wall-mounted display screen behind Vladimir’s head came to life, showing an image feed from Jessica’s helmet camera as it scanned the rows of pods, finally settling on the three that were still functioning. “You’re right, Jess.”
“About what?”
“I don’t believe it.”
“What do you want me to do, sir?”
“Tell her not to touch anything!” Vladimir insisted.
“Don’t touch anything,” Nathan ordered her. He looked at Vladimir, shrugging his shoulders.
Vladimir looked uncharacteristically grim. “If those people are alive, and if they were escaping the bio-digital plague, how do we know the passengers and their electronics are not infected?”
Nathan’s face paled suddenly. “Lieutenant Commander,” he called over the comms in a more official tone, “you and your team are ordered to withdraw to the shuttle and await further orders. Do not touch anything. Do not interface your suit electronics with that of the ship or any of its electronic equipment, and do not open your suits, even when you are back in the shuttle. You are all under quarantine until further notice. Understood?”
“Understood, sir.”
“We’ll make orbit in about an hour. Sit tight until then.”
“Yes, sir. Nash out.”
Nathan killed the comm channel. “Risk assessment?”
“Assuming the virus is present? If they do not open their suits, they should be fine. We can decontaminate them before they return. It isn’t a problem.”
“And their electronics?”
“We have been using Corinari suits for all EVAs,” Vladimir explained. “Their software and comm systems are completely different than ours, or that of pre-plague Earth. We had to create translation algorithms in order to link the Corinari suits up with our own data systems. Those algorithms do not exist on that ship, so they should be safe. However, I would wipe the suits and reload their cores before using them again, just to be safe.”
“Then the risk to the ship and crew is minimal at this point?”
“I am no doctor, but I think so.”
Nathan nodded his head in agreement as he keyed up his comm-set. “Helm, change course to make orbit above the second planet, and rendezvous with the Jasper and our shuttle. Minimal propellant consumption.”
“Aye, sir,” Josh answered over the comms.
Nathan quickly switched calls. “Comms, Captain. Wake up the XO and tell her to report to my ready room. Then contact Doctor Chen, Doctor Sorenson and Lieutenant Montgomery, and have them meet us in the command briefing room in half an hour.”
“Aye, sir.”
Nathan looked at Vladimir. “I guess you’re going to have a closer look at that ship after all.”
“Gospadee,” Vladimir exclaimed. “I am not sure I want to, now.”
* * *
“Are we sure there’s no risk of infection?” Cameron asked.
Everyone at the conference table in the briefing room had been wondering the same thing ever since the meeting had started.
Nathan looked at Vladimir.
“All data that we have on the bio-digital plague indicated that while it could be transmitted over the air, it did require an open comm-system running compatible protocols. Most digital infections occurred over hard connections. However, many infections also occurred via wireless connections, such as those used for short-range data connections, like in port. As our comm-protocols are based on those in the Data Ark from that period, had we been wearing our standard issue EVA suits, we might have been at risk of exposure, assuming the Jasper is infected.”
“What about the ship?” Nathan asked. “Our computer and comm-systems are also closely integrated. We also have short-range data-comm systems that are used in port or in ship-to-ship links during rendezvous.”
“Yes, that would make the ship susceptible as well,” Vladimir agreed.
Abby shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t.”
“She is right, Captain,” Lieutenant Montgomery agreed. “So many of your computer systems were damaged during the battle of Takara that it was easier to replace them than it was to repair them. Your ship is using Takaran computers and Takaran operating systems. We simply wrote translation algorithms to interface with various hard-coded components still functioning within your ship.”
“That had not occurred to me,” Vladimir said, looking sheepish. “They are correct, Captain. The translation program needed to link the ship with Earth data-comm systems has yet to be written. It was considered a lower priority, since we were so far from home at the time.”
“Great, then the ship is safe.” Nathan turned to Doctor Chen. “What about the crew?”
“No cure was ever created for the biological version of the plague,” Doctor Chen explained. “Those few million that survived did so through a natural immunity. The biological version of the plague was bred into extinction over time.”
“The digital version died out on Earth when her industry collapsed and the last power plants went offline,” Abby added.
“Correct,” Doctor Chen agreed. “If the plague exists on this ship, in either version, the ship and anyone infected must be destroyed… completely.”
The room went quiet for a moment.
“Doctor, we have eight people at risk over there,” Nathan said.
“Nine,” Cameron corrected, “the shuttle crew chief.”
“Twelve if you count the three still alive in stasis on board the Jasper,” Doctor Chen added. “I am well aware of that fact, Captain. But we are talking about a plague that nearly destroyed the entire human race. We’re talking upwards of three hundred billion people, sir.”
“What about the Corinairans?” Cameron asked. “Their medical technology far surpasses ours.”
“I’ve talked about the plague at length with them,” Doctor Chen said. “There was considerable documentation about the biological version stored within the Data Ark before they realized there was a digital component, and they locked the Ark down to protect it.” Doctor Chen sighed. “However, it is not enough for them to tell if they could develop an antidote. They would need a live sample.”
“Can we at least detect it?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, sir. I believe we know enough about it to be able to detect its presence,” Doctor Chen assured him, “at least the biological version.”
“And the digital version?”
“Yes,” Vladimir answered. “Fragments of the base code were discovered in electronic components found in archaeological surveys on Earth. It should be enough for us to detect its presence in the Jasper’s computer systems.”
“With one hundred percent assurance?” Cameron asked.
“Nothing has one hundred percent assurance,” Vladimir said with a shrug, “except never powering the potentially infected system up to begin with. Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, maybe ninety-seven…”
“Which is it?” Cameron asked.
“High nineties, to be sure.”
“Problem, Commander?” Nathan asked.
“I can’t help but wonder why we are even taking the risk.”
“Besides the obvious ethical reasons?” Nathan asked.
“Obviously, we have to try to recover our own people, but do we have to rescue the survivors?”
“I think we do,” Nathan said. “At least, we should do our best to determine if there even is a risk.”
“I’m not sure I agree with you, sir,” Cameron stated, “not when the stakes are this high.”
“There’s another reason,” Jessica called over the comm-channel.
Nathan felt guilty, having forgotten that Jessica was listening into the meeting from the shuttle docked to the Jasper via the comms. She had not taken active participation in the discussion because of the few second comm-lag that still existed as the Aurora approached the pl
anet.
“This ship’s comm-array has been up and running for centuries,” Jessica continued over the open comm channel. “She’s been recording incoming signals the whole time. That’s a lot of signals intelligence.”
“And a lot of post-plague history,” Nathan added. “She’s right.” Nathan turned to Vladimir. “Would it be possible to access those comm-logs without connecting them to this ship?”
“We could pull the equipment from the Jasper, assuming it is still functioning, and set it up here. We just have to completely isolate it, not even connect it to the power grid. We’ll have to set up a battery system or a small generator for it.”
“What about those three stasis pods?” Doctor Chen asked. “Those people might survive the revival process. Can we bring them over as well?”
“That’s a bit more difficult, but it is possible,” Vladimir told them. “They were designed to be portable. The better ones even had their own backup power supplies that could run them for months.”
“We can’t revive them there?” Cameron wondered.
“The entire ship is open to space, remember?” Nathan said.
“Can we patch up and repressurize that one section?” she asked.
“Welding in zero gravity is hard enough,” Vladimir told her, “let alone in a pressure suit.”
“We have full quarantine capabilities within medical,” Doctor Chen assured Nathan. “We should be able to tell if they are infected before reviving them.”
Nathan sighed, looking at the time display on the bulkhead over the hatchway. “We’ll reach the planet in approximately twenty-eight minutes. We’ll start with retrieving our own people. If they pass decon and post-mission medical and are free of the bio-digital plague, we’ll proceed with the rescue of the three survivors, as well as the recovery of the ship’s logs. If our people are infected, they will remain in quarantine until they are cured or until other arrangements are made, and the Jasper, her logs, and her survivors will be destroyed.” Nathan looked at the others, pausing for additional comments from his staff. “Everyone take the necessary steps to prepare. Dismissed.”