by Linn Schwab
“There you go, Virginia,” Major Richards said as she placed the final touches on the replacement bandage. “That should do you for a while.”
“Virginia?” Dave said. “Is that your name?” He could see by Major Richards’ reaction that she regretted letting the name slip out. “What a coincidence,” he said. “That’s where I’m from.”
Virginia appeared to be mildly confused.
“Virginia,” he explained. “It’s the name of a state.”
His explanation seemed to leave her even more confused.
He sighed and nodded his head in acceptance. “I should’ve realized you wouldn’t be familiar with Earth’s geography. You have your own planet’s geography to study.”
“Thank you, Major,” Virginia said. She rubbed the bandage to test its adhesion, then stood up and headed straight for the door.
“It was nice to meet you, Virginia,” Dave said. She walked out of the room without responding. “Well,” he said to Major Richards, “I guess you were right. She really didn’t want to talk to me.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” she said, “I’d say your attempt to speak with her was quite successful. I haven’t actually known Virginia very long, but it’s been my experience that she doesn’t often say much.
“Now,” she said, “it’s your turn, Mr. Samuels. I need to have another look at your wound.”
As Major Richards examined Dave’s injury, he studied every detail of her appearance. The dress she wore was solid black with a sliver of bright red on the left side of her chest. The glint of red was from the face of a plastic card that she kept in a shallow pocket there. She appeared not to be wearing any jewelry — no earrings, or necklaces. No rings on her fingers. Once again, he found himself fascinated by how little he knew about her culture. Is it their custom to wear wedding rings here? he wondered. Or is that something they just don’t bother with? He pondered what her personal life could be like. Could it be that she has a family? Does she possibly have a husband and children somewhere?
“Well,” the major said as she rewrapped his wound, “I don’t see anything that requires immediate attention. I may have to do some additional work later on. But it’s still to soon to say for sure.”
“So, Doc,” Dave said, expressing curiosity, “I was just wondering ... are you married?”
She gasped and suddenly looked at him in shock. The intensity of her reaction took him by surprise.
“Gee, I ... I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Major. Really, I was just curious, is all.” He noticed that her face had gone pale in an instant and her mouth was hanging partially agape. “Are you alright?” he asked in concern. “You look like you just saw a ghost or something.”
“I ... I ... have to go,” she stammered as she awkwardly backed away from him. “I ... have some other duties to attend to. I’ll ... check in on you later.”
He watched her hurry out through the door, then closed his eyes and lowered his head in regret. “That didn’t go over well,” he observed. “Looks like I may end up in that cannon after all.”
The corridor passed by Major Richards like a blur. She found herself pacing back in forth in the elevator as it carried her up to the control room level. When the doors slid open, she headed straight for Commander Jeffries’ office. Commander Eldridge was seated at the desk again. She appeared to be surprised when the major rushed in.
“What is it?” the commander asked her. “Is it the pilot? Don’t tell me he died on us.”
“Yes,” the major said, then quickly shook her head. “I ... I mean, no. He...” she struggled to catch her breath.
“Calm down, Major,” the commander said. “Try to get ahold of yourself. You’re not making—”
“Commander ...” she interrupted her, staring intently into her eyes. “He doesn’t seem to know about the virus!”
The commander immediately got to her feet. “What?” she asked, looking thoroughly stunned and bewildered. “Are you sure about this?”
The major nodded. “Yes. I mean, I don’t know, he...” She shook her head in uncertainty. “He asked me if I was married.”
With an empty, faraway look in her eyes, the commander stared off to her side for a moment as her mind raced through a sudden barrage of implications. It was as if her whole world had suddenly just been turned upside down, and everything she’d come to believe was now suspect. She reached up and covered her forehead with her palms as she struggled to get her thoughts in order. “Alright,” she said, trying to regain her focus, “we just ... we just need to think this through. How could it be that he doesn’t know about the virus?”
“I don’t know,” the major said. “We’ve just always assumed they must have a vaccine. Otherwise, unleashing that virus on our world would just make the whole planet useless to them. There’d be no reason for them to keep fighting us for it.”
“Do you suppose it’s possible that they have a vaccine but are keeping the existence of the virus a secret?”
“Yes, I suppose they could. They could have administered the vaccine without telling anyone what it was actually for.”
The commander nodded. “Or,” she suggested, “perhaps they’re holding the vaccinations back until they actually need to use them. The men who die up in space really don’t need them. They’re never going to be exposed to the virus anyway. Unless...”
Major Richards waited for her to finish her thought. “Unless what?” she finally insisted.
“Unless they’ve already been exposed to the virus and developed a natural immunity to it.”
The major appeared to be skeptical of the idea.
“You don’t think it’s possible?” the commander asked her.
“I just don’t think it’s likely,” she said. “No one on Valhalla developed an immunity.”
“Yes, but our population was much smaller than theirs. By several orders of magnitude. And our genetic diversity was most certainly not as great. Let me ask you something, Major. If this pilot has developed an immunity to the virus, is there any way you’d be able to tell?”
The major started to shake her head, then gasped and suddenly raised her hands to her face. “I took a blood sample when he first arrived here! I wanted to make certain I got a clean draw before the virus invaded his bloodstream! But, if he was already exposed to it, there may be indications of it in the sample!”
“Is that something you’d be able to determine yourself?”
“I think so. I definitely know what to look for.”
The commander gave her a look of approval. “Do your best to find out,” she said. “If you have any more news for me later, I’ll be up in the gun bays for most of the day.” She looked out through the office door and saw the Second Battalion standing by in the corridor. “Excuse me, Major,” she said. “It looks like my work detail is waiting for me.”
When Commander Eldridge stepped into the corridor, the young Sentinels quickly stood at attention. “Ladies,” she addressed them, “the task that you and I are faced with is the reassembling of this station’s primary defenses. As I’m sure you can probably guess, it’s critically important for us to get this system up and running. The defenses here consist of twelve twenty inch guns, so this is going to be exhausting and very dangerous work. The individual components of these weapons are quite heavy.” She looked around at the girls and performed a quick head count.
“If I’m not mistaken,” the commander said, “a battalion normally consists of twenty–eight Sentinels. I’ve only excused Captain Starling from this assignment. So why are there only twenty–six of you here?”
“Commander,” Christy said, “I think one of my squad members is on the Calypso.”
The commander frowned and crossed her arms. “Well, if that is in fact the case, I guess I can’t accuse her of not doing her part.” She ordered the girls into an elevator and selected the uppermost floor of the station. When the doors opened, the group moved along the corridor until their pa
th was blocked by a closed bulkhead. Commander Eldridge tried the electronic switch, but the door refused to open for her.
“That’s odd,” she said, trying it again. Nothing happened. She tried a manual release mechanism, but she didn’t have the strength to force the door open. “Miss Mclean,” she said to Mindy, “this is the entrance to the station’s gun bays. The door appears to be rusted shut. Would you mind explaining to me how you managed to get inside?”
“There’s another entrance on the other side,” she insisted.
“Yes,” the commander said, “I’m well aware of that. But there’s no elevator access to that part of the station.”
Mindy cringed and lowered her head. Her forays into the maintenance tunnels had just been exposed.
“Normally,” the commander said to her, “I might look upon this situation unfavorably. But in this case, we really need to get inside here. So you’re going to have to show us how to get there, Sentinel.” She pointed back toward the elevator and instructed Mindy to lead the way.
* * * *
After sifting through the station’s personnel files, Janine made her way to the hangar deck. Most of the technicians who were present there appeared to be examining the enemy fighter. She found Genevieve working underneath its left wing and asked her if they’d been able to learn anything.
“Not really,” Genevieve said. “it’s the same design both sides have been using for years. The only difference we’ve found so far is that they’ve changed the shape of the thruster outlets.”
Janine glanced up at the engines in concern. “Is there any chance that might give them some advantage over the design we’re currently using?”
“I don’t have any way of knowing for sure, but I can’t imagine why they’d go to the trouble of changing it if it didn’t offer some improvement over the previous version.”
“Right,” Janine agreed. “We should notify our research teams on Cumulus. I’m sure they’ll want to look into this. Listen, Genevieve, I need to ask you a few questions. Step over here with me for a few minutes.” The two of them walked a short distance from the fighter.
“What’s this about?” Genevieve said. “I seem to be very popular today.”
Janine pulled out an archive interface and scrolled through some of the notes she’d made earlier. “The personnel files seem to indicate that you’ve been assigned here longer than anyone else. Would you say that’s an accurate assessment?”
Genevieve thought it over for a moment. “I think so. I can’t think of anyone who’s been here longer.”
“Okay,” Janine said, tapping the interface, “and who was the commanding officer when you arrived here?”
“Hmm. You know, I’m not really sure. Things were still kind of in disarray then. It was right after Commander Stinson died.”
Janine appeared to be intrigued by her explanation. “Commander Stinson died? Are you sure about that? There’s no record of her death in the personnel files.”
“Pretty sure. I loaded her coffin on the shuttle myself.”
“Are you sure it was Commander Stinson inside?”
“Well, I didn’t actually look inside, but it sure felt like there was a body in there.”
“But since you didn’t look inside, you can’t really be certain it was her. Right?”
Genevieve appeared to be confused by the questioning. “I never met Commander Stinson,” she explained. “Even if I had looked inside the coffin, I wouldn’t have known if it was her or not.”
Janine paused to look through her notes again. “What about the personnel files? Any idea why they weren’t updated?”
“Maybe no one got around to it. Like I said, things were kind of in disarray then. And Commander Jeffries still hadn’t arrived here yet. Maybe there was no one who was authorized to do it.”
“What about Major Richards?”
Genevieve shook her head. “She wasn’t here yet either. She came on the same shuttle as Commander Jeffries.”
“So they both arrived here together, then. After Commander Stinson was gone. I don’t suppose you’d happen to know how Commander Stinson died?”
“No. I really don’t have a clue. That does seem kind of strange, though, doesn’t it? I mean, we don’t really know how Commander Jeffries died either. Maybe this base just doesn’t like commanders.”
Janine stared at her in silence for a moment, as if giving serious thought to her comment. “One more question for you,” she said. “Are you familiar with the word ‘Valgrind’?”
“Valgrind?” Genevieve said. “No, I’ve never heard that word before. Not that I can remember, anyway.”
Janine frowned and tapped her fingers on the interface. “Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now. If you remember anything related to what we’ve just discussed, make sure you bring it to my attention.”
* * * *
Concerned about the other members of her squadron, Virginia wandered into the control room to see if there were any recent updates from the battle zone.
“There’s not much going on,” Veronica told her. “There hasn’t been any fighting out there for hours.”
Virginia sat down at the console beside her. “Has there been any word on casualties yet?”
Veronica frowned and nodded. “Yeah. We lost two pilots in that exchange. But neither of them were members of your squadron. I think your friends are all on the Zephyr right now. Just waiting to see if anything else happens.”
Relaxing and leaning back in her chair, Virginia watched an array of blinking lights perform a complex choreography on the console in front of her. Veronica closely observed her expression while wondering what was going through her mind. “Do you think he’s going to help us?” she asked, her eyes projecting a cautious sentiment of hope. “Is that why you decided to bring him here?”
Conflicting emotions resurfaced in Virginia. Again, she struggled to make sense of them. “I’m not really sure why I did it. But why would he want to help us? He’s our enemy.”
The hopeful look in Veronica’s eyes seemed to fade. “He seems nice to me,” she said. “Nicer than I expected him to be.”
Virginia’s eyes remained fixed on the console. “You just said we lost two pilots in that battle. Did it even occur to you that he might have been the one who killed them?”
Veronica closed her eyes and turned away. “I hope he didn’t. It makes me feel sick just thinking about it.”
An alert chime sounded on one of the consoles. Veronica leaned forward and checked the scanner. “There’s something coming this way,” she said. “Lindsey,” she inquired, “is it one of ours?”
Lindsey shook her head. “I can’t tell. I’m not picking up an I.D.”
Veronica looked at Virginia in concern. “If that’s an enemy ship, we’re in big trouble. We don’t have any defenses right now.”
Virginia reached up and rubbed her arm. There was still too much pain for her to be effective in combat.
“It’s not a ship,” Lindsey insisted. “It’s too small to be a destroyer and too big to be a fighter.”
“I’ve got it on camera,” Miranda announced. She pointed up at one of the overhead monitors.
Veronica focused her eyes on the screen. The object looked unfamiliar to her. “What is that?” she said. “It’s definitely not an asteroid.”
Virginia observed the object for a moment, then realized she knew exactly what it was. “It’s a turret,” she explained to the others. “A turret off from a heavy cruiser.”
“What’s it doing here?” Veronica asked. “Could it have come from that wreckage field?”
Lindsey typed an entry into her console. “No,” she said, “the trajectory is wrong. I wonder if it’s a part of the same ship we saw pieces of a little while ago.”
“What ship?” Veronica asked in concern.
“Just part of one,” Lindsey explained. “The nose section of a heavy cruiser passed by here when the rest of you were down in the hangar.”
Virginia look
ed at Veronica and nodded. “I think I know what’s happening,” she said. “There must be some old shipwreck remains caught in an unsustainable orbit. Eventually, they’ll probably fall back to Valhalla and burn up in the planet’s atmosphere.”
Veronica got to her feet and stared out through the window above her console. She watched the turret drift by in the distance and wondered if there might be hidden eyes inside it, attempting to pinpoint the station’s location. “I hope you’re right about that,” she said. “Because it sure seems awfully suspicious to me.”
DISCOVERIES 063
Following a roundabout path through the maintenance tunnels, Mindy led Commander Eldridge and the others to a section of corridor that was closed off at both ends. She walked to one end and opened the door to the gun bay. Commander Eldridge stepped inside and quickly surveyed the room. The massive gun barrels were resting in open cases on the floor, and various components were stacked along the outer walls. A forest of chains and cables hung down from the ceiling, where enormous hoists were mounted on motorized tracks. The room’s appearance seemed to suggest the disassembly process had been abandoned at some point.
“Well,” the commander said, “it looks as if everything we need is still here. Let’s start with this first gun closest to the door. I’d like to have at least one of them pieced together before lunch time.”
* * * *
Having run out of leads in her investigation, Janine returned to the cafeteria to continue her search through the station’s records. When she arrived there, she found Robin sitting alone at one of the tables, staring down at the remnants of her breakfast rations. She considered sitting at a separate table, but decided Robin might benefit from having some company.
“Captain Starling,” she said sitting down at the table, “still having trouble eating?”
Robin yawned and nodded her head.
“You look tired, too. Are you not sleeping well?”
“I keep having this dream,” she said. “The same dream. I’ve had it three times now, and it keeps waking me up.”