During the time the dark matter banked, Jolly, Briz, and a couple legacy crew members triple-checked the calculations for the jump. Briz devised two new formulas to validate the process, creating an additional redundancy before the ISE activated. The remainder of the crew prepared the ship to penetrate the heliosphere and enter the gravity well of the target solar system. The ISE moved the spaceship without movement. One instant they’d be outside the Cygnus star system and the next instant, they’d be outside the star system designated IC1396.
Very few people understood how the ISE really worked and one of those was Ensign Brisbois. Captain Rand had a tenuous grasp on the physics of the engine, but Briz and Jolly were the only ones who knew exactly how it worked. They were both comfortable that it was ready to take them where they wanted to go. Briz continued to work with minimal sleep. Captain Rand checked with Jolly, who assured him that the Rabbit was perfectly healthy. Maybe Briz had spent his whole life in search of his personal nirvana. Once linked with Jolly, the Rabbit had become one with the ship.
If I’m nice to them both, maybe they’ll let me drive the ship around, just a little bit every now and then, the captain thought to himself, chuckling. His neural implant started flashing. He opened it to see that emergency alarms were sounding on the garden deck. He hit the alarm and ran from his post. The command deck was in the outermost ring of the core and the garden deck was the next ring, of five total before the center of the core where the hangar deck was located.
‘Jolly, what do you have?’ the captain asked as he jogged the corridors to the stairwell on his way to the garden deck.
‘There appears to be laser fire. Three of the sprinklers have activated and have extinguished the fire. I have no other information at this time. Smoke and mist in the area is inhibiting the visual sensors. I’m unable to share a view of the deck with you,’ Jolly apologized.
The captain didn’t concern himself with that as he arrived at the hatch moments later. It had closed automatically when fire was detected and the garden deck was unique with water sprinklers. The argon fire suppression system elsewhere through the ship would have killed all the plants and reduced their ability to scrub carbon dioxide from the air. The garden deck made long term space voyages possible.
The captain manually opened the hatch after Jolly confirmed that the fires were out. He ran down the center walk, not seeing anything. The smoke was being pulled into an exhaust vent, quickly clearing the air. A Rabbit called Allard popped out of berry bushes to his side, took aim and fired his small laser pistol. The captain dove, laying out in midair as he reached for the Rabbit and got a handful of harness. Allard struggled to free himself, but Rand wouldn’t let go, wrestling the pistol out of the small white hand and receiving a vicious Rabbit-kick to his mid-section before the fuzzy white crew member hopped away.
A ‘cat snarled up ahead.
“Everybody STOP!” the captain yelled. “Jolly! Turn off those sprinklers!” Captain Rand stuffed the pistol into a cargo pocket of his one piece duty jumpsuit.
“Cain, Ellie, and Tandry, report to the garden deck! You have two minutes to get here!” Captain Rand told Jolly to pass to the three ensigns. Another laser beam reached out from between lettuce leaves and the captain pounced on Beauchene, ripping the laser pistol from his small hand. The Rabbit bounded away.
“WHY?” the captain yelled at the ceiling not far above his head. He tapped his foot impatiently, arms crossed, a scowl darkening his face.
When the ensigns appeared, he was short and direct. “Get your ‘cats and confine yourselves to your quarters until further notice.”
“They aren’t ‘our’ ‘cats. It doesn’t work that way,” Tandry started to say. Rand cut her off with a dismissive wave.
“Get them off this deck, now!” He emphasized his sincerity by pointing at the hatch. “NOW!” he yelled.
The three ran away from him, unsure of where they were going as they called to the ‘cats over the mindlink.
‘Yes, master?’ Carnesto asked sarcastically in a bored thought voice.
‘Way to go, you furry cretin. You’ve gotten us all confined to quarters. Have you seen our quarters? And now there will be four of us in there! What the crap were you thinking? Of yourself, no doubt! Now, go! Get to our quarters and wait for us there. We’ll be along with your fellow miscreant shortly!’ she ended on a high note, not shouting over the mindlink, but loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear her. A couple other crew members showed up for damage control duty, but the captain waved them away.
‘She’s kind of mad, huh?’ Cain asked Lutheann, sitting calmly next to him and leaning slightly against his leg.
‘Yes, I think retreat is the best course of action. I shall find my way to your quarters without her seeing me,’ the ‘cat stated. Before the all-white Hillcat took a single step, Ellie’s glare locked her in place.
‘Too late,’ Cain told her, acting as if he were the one who was going to get yelled at.
“And you let him make trouble! We women have to stick together and you let me down.” Ellie shook her head while wagging her finger in the direction of the ‘cat. Mixial and Tandry disappeared without a word escaping either of them. Rand watched with approval. His own anger disappeared as Ellie vented her spleen at their errant companions.
‘To our quarters, ho!’ the ‘cat called and trotted toward the steps. Ellie kicked at her, but she deftly dodged and continued on her way without pause.
Ellie looked around her, embarrassed at having to leave her post. Cain looked away, not wanting to incur her wrath.
“Well,” he finally started to say, “I guess we’ll make the most of it. We could jump into the path of a meteor. That would resolve the situation rather neatly, I would think.” He looked at her with big eyes and a half-smile.
She shook her head and snorted. The captain watched, suspecting that the situation was close to being resolved. He had to find Allard, the Rabbit who kicked him, and the other one who’d run off. Rand gave the pair a great deal of latitude. The Rabbits had kept the crew alive with just enough food on their last cruise.
The captain checked in with Jolly. No damage that he could see besides a few singed plants, and the Rabbits were already meticulously trimming them. Rand approached, couldn’t think of anything to say, so he settled for wishing them luck. They offhandedly thanked him for removing the infestation. He thought better of arguing with them, expecting the ‘cats would be back. He’d have to hide their laser pistols and then figure out how they got them.
Jolly kept it to himself, knowing that he’d given the Rabbits access. Sometimes things needed to be spiced up and this cruise was going too well, which put the older spacers on edge. He appreciated the opportunity to help, although he’d never admit it. He already had faked video footage showing the Rabbits helping themselves to the storage locker.
All in a day’s work. He was comfortable with the calculations and as the banking reached one hundred percent, they’d set course for a record jump. Jolly looked forward to that. He insisted the Rabbits stop their war with the ‘cats and prepare to enter their new existence. They were going to become explorers.
When Cain, Ellie, and the two ‘cats squeezed into their quarters, Ellie became even angrier. Lutheann and Carnesto looked surprisingly remorseful as Ellie delivered a supreme tongue-lashing. At the end, she asked what they had to say for themselves.
Carnesto coughed once, looked at Lutheann, then spoke. ‘They started it.’ He laid down and curled his tail toward his cat face, closing his eyes as if preparing to sleep. Ellie reached a hand under his chin and gently lifted his head, looking deep into his eyes.
“What. Did. You. Say?” she asked, clearly articulating the words and sending shards of ice with each one. No one tried to answer her question. Carnesto was confused as to what to do. His instincts told him to fight. His mind told him that he wouldn’t win.
‘I said, we’re sorry and it won’t happen again?’
“That’s what I
thought you said. Now if we can convince anyone that you’re sincere, we can get you out of here. I think we’re spinning up the ISE and I should be at my work station. I hate leaving Briz alone. He’s so engaged with the systems, he’d fall through an open hatch if no one was watching over him. He needs me there to keep him safe while he does his genius stuff.”
Cain activated his neural implant. ‘Jolly, how long do you think we’ll be confined to our quarters?’
‘You’ve already been released, Master Cain. The captain wanted to make a point. He’s done that. Now it would be best if you reported to your work stations. We’ll be activating the ISE shortly.’ Cain smiled at Ellie as he changed his focus from the window before his eye to his partner’s face.
Then he looked at the two ‘cats who hadn’t moved since they sat down in the quarters. “You two are on probation!” he lied. “Promise us that you won’t antagonize the Rabbits,” he demanded.
‘Yes,’ came two voices over the mindlink. Cain wondered what that meant, but wouldn’t dwell on it.
Ellie got up, opened the door, and pointed into the corridor. “Get out.” The two ‘cats were off like a shot. She wondered how they were going to get through the hatches, given their collars were nowhere to be seen, but she didn’t care as long as the two furballs weren’t trapped in her quarters.
Cain gave Ellie a peck on the cheek, a lingering hand caressing her butt, and headed toward sewage central, what he’d taken to calling his workstation. He went down the wide stairs toward the central part of the core. Ellie ran after him, taking the stairs down one flight from their billeting to where the primary engineering section was located.
Ellie arrived as Briz was furry hands deep into one of the coolant couplers. “Let me do that, Briz.” He described briefly what he thought needed fixing. Her arms were longer and she could leverage better within the tight space. She unhooked the line coupler and put the new one into place. She double checked her work as she’d been taught on the Traveler, then she closed the access panel. Briz didn’t react when she gave him the thumbs up.
Once the tools were returned to their case, Ellie assumed her workstation, running through a long checklist of systems to verify on top of everything that Jolly had already done.
When the EM drive was in operation, it created g-forces during acceleration and they had to strap themselves in. The ISE was different–there was no acceleration. There were no restrictions on how the crew prepared for the ISE activation besides that they be in their work spaces and ready to work when they arrived. After an ISE jump, every system on the ship would be checked, verified, and double-checked. The ISE caused stresses that Jolly and the other ship AIs could not yet predict. Something would break and the people had to react.
Traveling as far as they were--one thousand, two hundred, thirty-five light years--none of their sensors gave them the slightest clue as to what was at their target destination. They were counting on data from the original mission, roughly two millennia ago, which was recent data as far as interstellar charting went.
Checklists were completed in all sections. Jolly compiled the reports and updated the progress for Captain Rand. Pickles received the updates, verified status of the crew members as a redundancy, and reported the status to the captain.
“All statuses show green, Captain,” Pickles said through his vocalization device. The tone reflected a simple conversation, academic in nature, without underlying excitement or anxiety. To the Lizard Man, it was raw data and a simple validation that it was within desired parameters.
“Prepare to activate the ISE. Start the countdown, Jolly,” the captain said over the ship-wide broadcast. Jolly started his countdown from ten. When Jolly reached zero, the ISE created a bubble around the ship, which expanded to encompass the spindle section. The energy surge made hair stand on end. Those without hair felt a tingling sensation. And then the bubble collapsed as they arrived at their destination.
Alarm klaxons rang throughout the ship and red lights flashed. Something had gone wrong.
Engineering’s On Fire
When the alarms indicated a fire in engineering, Cain was off like a shot, feet barely touching the deck as he raced down the corridor and up the stairs, taking them three at a time.
Flames shot through the open hatch. Cain yelled, “Engineering’s on fire!” as the klaxons continued to scream, echoing down the corridor away from him. He sensed, more than heard, the anguished cry.
The hatch was open. The automated fire suppression system had failed.
He ripped open the damage control panel and pulled the tank out. He threw it hastily over his shoulder, reached behind him with a well-practiced maneuver to start the flow of air, and wrapped the dangling mask across his face. He draped the fire hood over his head as he ran. He didn’t have time to put on the whole outfit. People he knew were dying.
He hit the flames of the doorway at a dead run. The intense heat scorched his bare forearms as he passed, and he yelled into his mask as he slid to a stop in the middle of the space, looking for survivors. A Rabbit lay under a terminal, an ugly scorch mark cut across his white fur, leaving blackened hair around burned pink flesh underneath. The Rabbit moved–Briz was alive.
Cain slid him out from under the melting terminal. The Rabbit was dense and blocky, half Cain’s height but the same weight. Cain pulled an equipment cover off the back of a chair, wrapping it around the Rabbit’s head and over as much of his body as he could, then hefted him up, trying to avoid the injury. Cain lumbered toward the hatch, ducked his head, held his breath, and jumped through the flames. He deposited the Rabbit in the passageway and raced back into engineering. Ellie was in there somewhere.
He should have been alarmed that the flames didn’t seem to hurt as much this time. The next victim was a Wolfoid, horribly torn apart from the force of an exploded containment vessel. He saw something odd about the way the Wolfoid’s body, bigger than a human’s, was laying on the floor.
A pink-fleshed hand snaked out from underneath the heavy gray fur. Without remorse, Cain heaved the Wolfoid’s shattered body to the side. Ellie was dazed, but seemed to be okay. The Wolfoid must have taken the full force of the rupture, protecting her. Cain’s breath caught as he looked at her silken black hair, the ends curled and brittle from the heat that had passed over her.
He pulled her to him as blue lights started to flash within engineering, signaling the imminent flooding of argon gas into the compartment. He kneeled, rolling her from a sitting position to over his shoulder. He stood without much effort. She wasn’t heavy and laid easily over his shoulder as he hurried for the hatch. The flames had died down somewhat, but he still ran through, hoping speed would keep them safe. Once through, he stopped, took off his hood and breathed deeply of the better air in the corridor. The hatch to engineering closed.
The klaxons stopped as someone helped Ellie from his shoulder, and he looked at the closed hatch. Anyone still in the space would be denied oxygen, just like the fire. The argon gas was supposed to be flushed in a matter of seconds, but it would be too late. He was surprised that he didn’t know how many people worked in the space. Three? Four?
“Holy Rising Star, Cain! You shouldn’t have gone in there. Why the hell would you do something like that?” the captain’s words were harsh, but his eyes were grateful. As the older man looked at the two survivors in the corridor, he added, “but I’m glad you did, son. Looks like you saved two lives, irreplaceable lives.”
The two Hillcats waiting for Cain and Ellie in the corridor couldn’t have agreed more. Carnesto yowled in pain as Ellie came back to her senses. The burns on her lower body attacked her with waves of agony. He put a furry paw on her head to help her through the worst of it.
Cain stood and looked at the closed hatch of engineering, but that wasn’t what he saw. He saw a door to a school while flames belched from windows, scorching the walls above. This time, he was unafraid. He’d gone into the chaos and rescued the survivors. He’d done what he set out t
o do, be the man that the captain was.
“Aletha!” he yelled at the closed hatch.
“I’m who you need me to be,” he sobbed, reaching his hand toward the metal, not touching it, knowing that it was hot. “Has it only been six months, my love?”
When he turned, Ellie sat there. The expression on her face told the whole story. She was crushed, her physical pain dwarfed by her emotional anguish. Lutheann glared at her human.
The captain hovered over Briz as other crew members arrived. There was a small medical lab on board the ship and it was run completely by bots. They put Briz on a stretcher and headed that way. A second stretcher appeared and Cain chased away a crew member from one end. He’d carry his wife, even though the pain in her eyes implied that he might be better off elsewhere. He couldn’t take his eyes from her, apologizing over and over in his mind. The ‘cats followed as Cain and a fellow from ship’s stores navigated the hallway to the med lab, which was located one deck up from engineering.
Cygnus Rising: Humanity Returns to Space (Cygnus Space Opera Book 1) Page 15