Christa rushed from the room to find the two Marine sentries posed with their rifles at the ready but unsure where to direct them.
"Remain here at your posts," Christa said to the Marines as Carmoody and Madu emerged from the conference room. Taking Madu's arm, she said, "Madu, Gracie, come with me." Looking back at the sentries, she said, "Keep everyone else inside."
Others from the room were already trying to get out when the Marines turned and immediately blocked the doorway with their rifles, forcing the people back inside.
"Madu, do you know what that alarm means?"
"The pattern, three whoops, a pause, and then three again, means there's a serious problem on the Vault level."
"What kind of problem?"
"The pattern doesn't identify it, but it's most likely environmental."
"Let's get down there."
As the lift doors opened at the Vault level, a Dakistian Christa hadn't seen before began talking excitedly at Madu. "Engineering room Six is flooding." He said. "Follow me."
The man turned and raced into the Vault without another word. It took several minutes of running to reach the rear wall of the cavern where the man paused just long enough to open a door that led to a long corridor. Madu followed him in with Christa just behind and Carmoody bringing up the rear. They hadn't gotten to this end of the cavern previously, so the two Space Command officers had been unaware that the area even existed.
The excited man opened another door halfway down the corridor and stood back so Madu, Christa, and Carmoody could enter. Inside were gargantuan tanks that rose ten meters towards the cavern's roof. Christa wanted to ask how they had gotten the equipment down here, but there were more important issues at the moment. Stairs that descended to a lower level were slowly disappearing into a rising tide of dark water as a dozen men and women standing on a raised steel platform that extended out along the giant tanks just stared down into the water.
As Christa likewise looked down at the flooding area, a hominid form suddenly broke the dark surface in an eruption of foam and bubbles.
The man, gasping for breath, shouted, "It's useless. I can't stop it. The valve is stuck."
Madu looked at Christa in shock.
"How high will the water rise if we can't stop it?" Christa asked the man standing next to her.
"If we read the charts correctly, the aquifer and water table in this area is quite high. I estimate the water could rise to about three meters above the floor of the rotunda."
"That's the highest floor in the facility," Madu said. "The water will be over our heads. It will even be over the heads of the Nordakians."
Christa grimaced, shrugged, and said, "Well, it appears we won't have to worry about a lack of drinking water anymore."
* * *
Chapter Nineteen
~ October 25th, 2285 ~
"Attention, all crew," Captain Permenans of the destroyer Hell Fire announced over the ship-wide com system. "We've recovered our fighters and we're about to move in on the freighter. Our distance from the planet is such that we don't have to worry about Marine fighters becoming involved, and we've already destroyed the freighter's FTL capability so they can't escape us. My hope is that we can move in quickly and take the ship without further damaging the cargo section. We will not target the sub-light engines unless there's no other way to stop the ship. If they refuse to surrender, we'll pour everything we've got into the bridge area until we kill every last mother's son aboard that ship.
"Now lock down anything movable because we're going in. Then report to your battle stations. Captain, out.
"Helm, take us to the freighter."
"Aye, sir," the helmsman said as he keyed the estimated position of the cargo ship into the computer. It was another two minutes before the temporal envelope was built and the ship began to move, but it arrived at the new location within five minutes. "Uh, we're here, Captain," the helmsman said, "but there's no freighter."
"What?"
"I said…"
"I heard you, dammit. Where is it?"
"This is where they should be if they had maintained their course at sub-light, sir."
"Com, find Wing Commander Fowler."
A few minutes later, the com chief said, "I have Fowler for you, Captain."
Permenans picked up the earpiece and stuck it in his ear. "Fowler, where the blazes is that freighter?"
"Uh, I don't know, sir. Isn't it where it's supposed to be?"
"If it was where it's supposed to be, I wouldn't be asking you."
"Uh, yes, sir. It was on the heading I radioed in when we received the order to hold position and wait to be picked up. I watched them on my DeTect and they continued on that course until we lost the signal."
"Are you sure you destroyed their temporal field generator?"
"Yes, sir. We blasted it to bits. I guarantee that."
"Damn. Captain out."
Permenans yanked the eyepiece out and glared at the Tac officer. "Tactical, find that blasted freighter."
"Aye, sir. It's not on the DeTect so we'll have to hunt for it. I'll establish a search pattern using the last known position as the center of the grid."
"Don't tell me," Permenans said with annoyance, "tell the helm."
"Yes, sir," the tac person said as he dedicated himself to the task.
* * *
Commander Conte, XO of the GSC destroyer Portland, entered the bridge just after having breakfast. The third officer was sitting in the command chair, so Conte walked to the Captain's ready room and waited until the doors opened to admit him.
"Morning, Jerry," Captain Gregory said. "Have a seat. You're way too early for our daily briefing. What's up?"
"Did you see the com traffic advisories this morning, sir?"
"Yes, I did."
"And, uh, did you happen to notice the one about being on the lookout for a freighter?"
"You mean the one from the commanding officer of North Pendleton on Dakistee?"
"Yes, sir."
"I didn't see anything special about it. The tac officer will watch for all ships listed on the advisory, as always."
"Read the description again, sir— if you would."
Gregory looked at Conte suspiciously, then called the advisory up on his com unit. "I'll be damned," he said after reading the notice. "You think this is the same freighter we tailed from Nordakia, don't you?"
"If it's not, it came from the same shipyard. And if it is, they either had no intention of going to Slabeca, or they have the worst navigator in the universe."
"The Nordakians thought they might make a run to Obotymot, but no one ever considered Dakistee."
"It makes sense though that they might hope to re-colonize their original home world instead of that hell of a planet they announced as their destination."
"How far are we from Dakistee, Jerry?"
"I estimate we could make planet-fall in seventy hours."
"Have the helm change course for Dakistee and have the tac officer keep an extra sharp eye out for that freighter."
"Aye, Captain," Conte said, getting up and walking towards the door.
"And Jerry?" the Captain said.
Conte stopped and turned. "Sir?"
"Good pickup. Thanks."
"Aye, sir."
* * *
"Tell me you have good news, Pete," Lt. Colonel Diminjik said to Major Garfield.
"I wish I could, sir, but the reports about the bodies were accurate. The Graves Registration people are directing the effort to get them into body bags for transport back to North Pendleton. So far the count is seventy-one. I have as many people as possible searching the forest around the site looking for anyone who made it into the cover afforded by the trees, including any who might have expired from their wounds. Those lattice weapons are nasty. Most victims seemed to have died from blood loss within minutes of being wounded."
"Any sign of Carver?"
"Negative. She must have made it into the facility here. We have
n't found any sign of dead or wounded Marines, either. I've had two people banging on the door with rifle butts and hammers since we arrived, but so far there's been no response from inside and we already know communications are out when the door's closed."
"If anything happened to her after I refused to immediately send back her half squad, the Admiral will have my ass— toasted."
"A half squad wouldn't have made a difference, sir. A full regiment wouldn't have made a difference here, unless they had fighters or SAMS. These people were all killed by air attack. The ground is littered with spent lattice rounds. Since the appropriations people have been refusing to give us a proper satellite network, there's no way we could have taken steps to prevent this slaughter."
"Yeah, thanks, but that doesn't make me feel any better. Keep trying to let those people in the facility know it's safe to come out. I've put every shuttle I could commandeer into orbit around the planet. If we can't have a satellite network, we'll use a people network to watch for approaching ships. I told the owners of the shuttles to send their bill to the GAC."
"Jeez, Colonel, you're digging yourself in deep."
"Pete, this happened on my watch. There's no way I'm coming out of this without having my butt roasted good and proper. This will probably be my last command, so maybe I can help the next poor bastard who commands North Pendleton by employing a few theatrics."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
"That's your response to this disaster?" Madu said wildly. "That we no longer have to worry about a lack of drinking water?"
"Calm down, Madu. It's a serious problem, but not as bad as you seem to think."
"You say that now, but you'll be singing a different song when the water reaches your nose."
"The water isn't going to reach my nose or yours. I doubt it will even reach the next level."
"How can you say that? You see the way the water is rushing in."
"We know the facility is tightly sealed or we would have communication with the outside. So, in order for the water to rise, it has to compress the air inside the facility. Right now, the pressure pushing down on the water outside the facility is sufficient to compress the air in here. But once the pressures equalize, the water will stop rising."
Madu looked skeptical, but said, "Are you sure?"
"It's elementary physics. You can try an experiment on your own and see for yourself. Take a glass and invert it, then press it down into a bowl of water. The water will only rise inside very slightly as you push the glass lower."
"But the Vault level is in danger of being filled, right?"
"That has to be our biggest concern right now."
"There are thirty thousand people down there."
"But they're all encased in self-contained stasis chambers."
"But each chamber is plugged into the electrical system. They rely on receiving a small amount of power from the facility to keep their systems operating. If the water fills the cavern, the power to each stasis unit might be lost."
"How long will the chambers continue to operate with no power being fed to them?"
"It depends on the level of energy in the small backup storage cells each chamber contains. After twenty thousand years, the cells might have decayed to a point that they no longer hold a normal charge. Fortunately, once the processing cycle is complete, very little energy is required to keep it that way. But in cases where the storage cells are completely drained, the occupant might survive for only several solars because the process will reverse when the energy runs out. The sleepers could awaken under water with only enough air to survive for a couple of hours, if the chamber doesn't automatically open."
"Okay, that's a very serious concern then. Is there a way to determine the strength of the storage cells without awakening the sleepers?'
"I can run a program and create a list of the sleepers according to the energy level of their sleep chamber power cells."
"Good! You work on that while I try to find some way to stop the rising water."
"How?"
"I have no idea— yet. Now go."
As Madu disappeared through the door, Christa turned to look at the men and women standing on the platform. They were all looking at her with curiosity. As Director of this facility, Madu, was the ultimate authority. Yet they had just witnessed this slightly odd-looking stranger with the wild hair color order her about as if she was subordinate— and, after accepting the order without question, Madu had hurried to complete the task.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. I'm Commander Christa Carver. This facility is currently under martial law and I'm the senior ranking officer. I need you to follow my instructions as if they were coming from Madu. Do you understand my words?"
Christa waited until each had nodded.
"Do any of you have a problem with that directive?"
Each of the assembled people shook their head to indicate a negative.
"Good. First, I need suggestions for ways to stop the rising water. Who wants to go first?"
The assembled group, all mechanical engineers who had never worked together before, looked at one another but offered nothing.
"Someone must have a suggestion," Christa said. "Who is the senior person here?"
The man who had met Madu, Christa, and Carmoody at the elevator raised his hand partially. "I guess I am."
"And your name is…?"
"I'm Aestolul Derkardlek."
"Well, Aestolul, how would you solve this problem?"
"We've already tried everything we could think of."
"Surely you didn't try everything possible. The water is still rising. We must stop it to ensure that your fellow sleepers don't drown."
"Uh, we could wake them and bring them to a higher level."
"No, that's not possible. We'd run out of food in a solar. We have to stop the water from rising."
"But you heard Semuthl. The valve is stuck open."
"How can we close it?"
"It's underwater."
"I realize that. How could we close it if it wasn't underwater?
"We'd use a hydraulic power unit, and, if that didn't do it, we'd shut off the water line outside the facility and swap out the valve."
"I already know we can't shut off the water line. I suppose you're going to tell me we don't have a hydraulic unit either."
"Well, we don’t."
Christa nodded. "Yeah. Okay, let's rack those brains, everyone. What else can we try?"
Her words were met with blank looks from everyone.
"Somebody must have an idea."
When no one offered anything, Christa looked around the area searching for a kernel of an idea.
As she looked upwards, she said, "What would we lose if this entire section flooded?"
"These tanks contain a reverse osmosis filtration system," Aestolul said.
"If this area was flooded and the process ceased, we would be dealing with unfiltered water?"
"The filtration process would only cease if the hydrostatic pressure was less than the osmotic pressure."
"So if this area was completely submerged, it wouldn't affect the filtration?"
"We'd probably lose the electronic sensors and be unable to monitor the flows."
"But the water would continue to flow in and be filtered."
"Of course. We can't stop it, remember?"
"If this door to the corridor was closed, is there any other way for the water to get out?"
The engineers conferred for a few seconds and then Aestolul said, "Water will flow around the pipes where they pass through prepared holes in the walls."
"Is that all?"
"The total volume could be significant."
"Okay, we have two tasks ahead of us. First, I need someone to find the environmental system controls and increase the air pressure in the facility. The more we increase the pressure in here, the more we slow the flow of incoming water."
"I can do that," Aestolul said.
"Good. Second, can anyon
e here weld?"
One of the engineers raised his hand. "I've done hobby welding."
"Good, you're now our welding master. Get everybody outside and weld the entrance door closed. Then track down all the places where water could leak out, stuff them with whatever packing material you can find, such as clothing, rags, or even wood, and weld something in place to prevent the water pressure from pushing the packing out."
"But I don't have welding equipment."
"This is the utility section of the facility. I'm sure there's welding equipment somewhere down here. You're in charge of this operation and everyone here is part of your team. Task half your people to look for welding equipment and packing material and the rest to hunt for possible leak holes outside the filtration room. Now, go find what you need and get to work."
"Yes, ma'am," he said and started giving instructions to those around him."
* * *
"There she is, Captain," the tac officer aboard the Hell Fire said as the ship dropped its envelope ten million kilometers from the Gastropod.
"At last."
"What are your orders, sir?"
"Sound General Quarters."
* * *
"Sorry to disturb your meditation, Excellency, but the DeTect system indicates that a ship is approaching on a direct course— it's coming on very quickly," Gxidescu reported to Vejrezzol.
Vejrezzol jumped up and ran to the bridge. "Why haven't you engaged the alarm?" he demanded of Gxidescu.
"You didn't tell me to do that, Excellency."
"Fool. You're the captain. I shouldn't have to tell you."
Gxidescu looked over at the security station and nodded to the tac officer. Alarms began to sound throughout the ship.
In two more minutes, the com officer said, "All gunners are at their posts, Captain."
As Vejrezzol climbed into the first officer's chair, he said, "Do you think this is the ship that launched the fighters?"
"That would be my guess. They must be here to complete what they began."
"Are the— cargo containers ready?"
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