The Silver Liner: Takes Flight!

by Daniel Sullivan

  “Thank you,” Fiona said. “I would have been sprawled all over the floor of the lift!”

  “We can’t have that, now can we?” Kendrick’s comment was innocent enough, but holding her as he was, it took on a more familiar tone.

  She blushed as he held her and their eyes held contact for longer than a moment. Then, he turned and led her from the lift. They soon arrived in the Med-Bay and opened the door, motioning for her to enter first. She saw two stacks of clothing folded on the table; an assortment of pants, skirts, blouses and pull over shirts. A bag sat next to the stacks, a bit of lacy white fabric peeking out of the top.

  “Thought you might need some clothes,” Kendrick offered.

  “Oh my God, you are wonderful!” Fiona exclaimed, hugging him quickly and kissing his cheek. Kendrick motioned for her to sit down, taking a seat himself.

  “Now, as I said; promise,” stated Kendrick. “You promised to come clean. Now, why are you on the run?”

  Fiona sighed and settled into her seat, trying to figure out how to forestall the inevitable. She really did want to tell him, but she was not ready, not just yet. Perhaps she would offer to let him take her to bed. She knew the look of a man who was attracted to her and he definitely was, and she to him. There were worse things than giving herself to him. In fact, now that she knew him better, the idea was quite appealing. The only problem was that in spite of the closeness they had developed, he did not seem the type to be easily distracted by the promise of sex.

  “Look, if we get to Mars without any issue, I promise that I’ll tell you. Deal?”

  “No, no deal,” Kendrick said firmly, shaking his head. “I need to know.”

  “You know, Kendrick, I’d be willing to offer you … anything you want.” She tried to manage a seductive look. God help me, she thought.

  “Anything?” His voice got low and he looked at her lustily. He leaned in close, his lips by her right ear.

  She could feel herself trembling as he placed his hand on her thigh.

  “Anything I want?” he whispered.

  She could feel his warm breath in her ear and could feel herself being turned on in spite of herself. “Yes,” she conceded. “Yes, anything.”

  He kissed her on the neck, slowly working his way back up to her ear, nibbling very gently.

  She gasped involuntarily. He keeps this up and I’ll end up making love to him and telling him too!

  “Baby,” he moaned. “Baby … you know what I want, don’t you?”

  She nodded and managed to say, “Uh … huh.”

  “Baby … tell me why you’re on the run.” He then sat back in his chair.

  She could not believe it. On the one hand, she was relieved that he really was a gentleman, but on the other hand, she was right back where she had started with him and was hot and bothered to boot. Nevertheless, stuck as she was, she did not budge.

  “I … I can’t,” she finally managed to say. “Mars … when we get to Mars.”

  “All right then,” the captain said tersely, “I see how it is. I talked to you about personal stuff ‘cause I thought maybe you an’ I were friends. Heck, I ain’t talked to nobody else about my wife in years; you were the first. I’ve treated you with respect, but you ain’t interested in reciprocatin’.” He stood up abruptly. “You wanna just be a stowaway, then fine—we don’t gotta talk none. An’ if yer medical skills are needed, you damn well better step up to the plate. We git where we’re goin’, you can git off an’ go do whatever it is yer plannin’ to do. No hard feelin’s an’ no strings attached. But while yer on my ship tryin’ to freeload a ride, you serve as the doctor like you agreed to. Got it?”

  “Yes, Sir,” Fiona said quickly, hardly believing that he was letting her off this easily.

  She thought for sure that he would lock her up and turn her over to the Alliance once he got to Mars or force her to make good on her other promise. Fiona really regretted not telling him, but keeping him in the dark meant that he would not have to lie for her. Once she got to Mars, Fiona could seek out her contacts, make her drop and maybe secure passage home. He turned to leave, but she did not want the conversation to end this way. Fiona cared about him, and was truly falling for him. While she was not ready to tell him her circumstances, Fiona did not want to let the opportunity for romance evaporate. The doctor stood up quickly and ran to the door ahead of him, placing her hands on his chest to stop him.

  “Please, Ken, it’s not like that.”

  “Then, what’s it like?”

  “Kendrick, I really do want to be your friend. And I really do care about you, more than you know.” She put her arms around him and continued. “Don’t you think I want to tell you? Secrecy has been my only defense, both for myself and for those around me. Please don’t shut me out. I promise, I will tell you. And if you decide you want me gone after I do, I will understand.” She stood up on her tip toes and gently kissed him on the lips, this time, more firmly. When he responded, kissing her in return, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him more romantically before letting him go.

  “We’ll see what happens,” he replied, giving her a brief hug, then leaving the Med-Bay.

  Kendrick left quickly, not wanting her to see how troubled he was. The normally cool and collected captain found himself unsure of what to do about Fiona. He was sure that ‘Fiona’ was an assumed name; he had actually done some checking up on ‘Doctor Fiona Kinsale’ and found no record of any such person. A licensed M.D. would have come up. He even had Selene do a thorough search, something an AI could do without having to devote extra time to the task, and she came up empty. Fiona was also a stowaway running from the Alliance and God knew whom else, and her refusal to come clean compromised the safety of the ship. He should simply send word to the Alliance that he had her and would hand her over on Mars, but he could not bring himself to do that. For one, he strongly disliked the Alliance.

  More importantly, in spite of his own reservations, he found himself drawn to her. If they kept getting closer, he would fall for her. Worse still, he was ready to fall, wanting to fall for her. Fiona reminded him that the past five years of his life was not how a man was meant to live. No, he needed a woman in his life. It was part of who he was, though Kendrick refused to go for just any woman. Jillian and many others, had all been frustrated by Kendrick’s pickiness, then Fiona walked into his life as though she held the keys to his heart.

  What makes her so special? It certainly was not her looks; Kendrick actually felt a little sorry for the plain, gawky doctor in that department. Nor did Fiona possess any kind of seductive sophistication and the woman seemed to do her best to avoid being sexy. No, the attraction was to her person, not the flesh that housed it. He needed to be alone, so instead of going to the bridge, where Heather or Fiona could walk in on him, he went to his quarters. Plugging into monitor the ship functions, he lay down on his bed and meditated on all that had happened over the last twenty-four hours.

  Fiona was troubled as she went to her quarters. Once they got to Mars, she resolved to tell him and if he hated her, then perhaps she could meet up with some of her contacts and find her way into the underground. She shook her head, scolding herself for such foolishness. Who am I fooling? This is my home now. I can never go back. Even if I can somehow find a way to make the drop, my identity is compromised and my contacts will know to go silent. That’s what we all agreed to when I got involved. I’m on my own now. I’ll tell him at Mars; I owe him that, at least. Then, I’ll offer to throw in with his crew and leave my old life behind.

  The middle-aged doctor felt like a teenager as she wondered about whether or not her actions would jeopardize a romance that so far, only existed in unbidden thoughts in her head. Nevertheless, she swore that they had a connection. Fiona could feel it when their eyes met, when they hugged and when they sang together … when they kissed. The fact that his mere presence was enough to remove her fright of singing outside of church, both amazed her and served to make her fall even fas
ter.

  Things could certainly have been worse. The room was very comfortable, as Ken had promised. His ship was surprisingly warm, though it was still cooler than the station. Keeping ships warm in space was difficult. There was a reason that spacefarers wore the thermal jump suits: they kept them warm. Energy to warm a ship was at a premium on a space-faring vessel, so they were generally kept only warm enough to keep from freezing. Selene was pleasantly warmer than that.

  Fiona also had little in the way of clothing, but in spite of being upset with her, Kendrick had graciously loaned her more of his late wife’s clothes. Among them was one of Selene Royce’s robes. It was a fuzzy, warm affair. Fiona imagined that it took a lot, emotionally, on his part to let another woman wear Selene’s clothes. She knelt down by the bed to pray and give thanks to God for her Heaven-sent benefactor. Romantic thoughts came to her mind as she thought of Kendrick. She smiled, determined to leave the matter of romance in God’s hands. She prayed also for guidance and to know His will regarding her future. After she was done praying, she nestled into bed to rest. She realized that she had not slept much for the past few months. Now that the opportunity was there, her body was adamant. She pulled the covers over and curled herself up. Sleep came to her and for the first time in years, she slept soundly and peacefully.

  6

  Kendrick had begun to notice a lag in some of the ship functions over the past hour, and plugged in to diagnose it. He also had put Heather to work in engineering. The captain wanted all systems checked. This was deep space and they were just three humans floating in a tin can. If there was a problem, he wanted to know it. The Selene’s AI came up in his head, but she was in a bit of a panic.

  “What is it, Baby?” he asked. “You seem upset.”

  “Under … attack ... fighting … virus,” replied the AI through the speakers on the bridge, her normally pleasant voice filled with consternation. “Unplug! You … could be hurt!”

  However, Kendrick did not unplug. Instead, he dove in mentally to see where the virus was. He was able to locate it, but it was well under way in its mission. He quickly moved all of Selene’s personality data into an external drive unit and disconnected it from the mainframe. By this point, all of the navigational data was destroyed, along with a good deal of systems information. Once he separated life support and other vital functions, and shifted those to the external drive unit as well, he disconnected the dummy terminals throughout the ship. He finally unplugged himself and picked up the physical microphone and keyed it up.

  “Ladies, we have a problem. Git on your space suits and brace yourselves. Hang on to somethin’ bolted down.”

  With that, he shut down Selene’s computer and went to the server room behind the bridge, locating the main drive. Carefully removing it, he noticed the drive was hot to the touch, more so than it should have been. He loosened the bolts and partially removed it, smoke escaping its casing as its vents were exposed. Removing it fully and disconnecting it, he put the drive partially into its slot for storage, leaving the connections unhooked. Then, he rounded up his own space suit from the closet on the other side of the hall and put it on, returning to the bridge.

  Fiona and Heather came floating through the door a few minutes later, Fiona speaking first, her voice thick with worry.

  “Kendrick, what on Earth is going on? The lift didn’t work! Why are we wearing space suits?” Fiona was more than a little worried; orders to put on one’s space suits were only given when a ship had suffered some catastrophic failure.

  “’Cause someone slipped my baby a Mickey,” he said, his voice wavering and his face ashen. “I think I saved her personality files, but I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to restore her.”

  “Kendrick,” said Fiona softly, putting her hand on his shoulder, “What’s wrong?”

  “I just … don’t wanna lose her again. Her personality is in the computer. If I can’t git her back online, then she’s gone for good.”

  Fiona marveled at how attached he was to Selene. His wife was years dead, yet he held onto her in the form of his ship. No wonder he didn’t just fall for my clumsy attempts at seduction, she thought. If ever I were to be loved by a man, I would want him to love me like he loved her.

  “I know the AI is important, Sir,” said Heather, “But what about us?”

  “Well, I’m flyin’ manually now,” he declared. “We didn’t lose spin gravity or life support like I expected to, so we’re in good shape there; those each have their own systems, an’ thankfully, the virus ain’t got to those yet. An’ now it ain’t gonna.” He took his helmet off and the two women followed suit. “An’ I made damned sure that there was some kind of override that wasn’t dependent upon the computer, though that ain’t meant to be used goin’ this fast through space. Right now, the only sensors this ship has is that window and our eyes. Gonna have to slow down. A lot!”

  Kendrick went to another alcove off the bridge and produced star charts.

  “Once we’re movin’ at a speed that I can safely pilot manually, I’ll plot the course with these bad boys; I print ‘em out regularly, so they’re current. Our two months will turn into more like a year, but we’ll get there. They must have sent it with the damned codes for the race. Only way it coulda got to us. Wonder how Fujita is doing?”

  He keyed up the microphone and contacted his rival.

  “Captain Fujita, I got hit with a virus,” Kendrick said. “It’s affecting most of Selene’s systems.”

  “Captain Royce,” Fujita growled in reply, “this had better not be your doing!”

  “Nope. I’m slowin’ down too, but I think I still have command of the engines. We got hit with some kinda virus. I think it was in the starting codes. Still got spin grav an’ life support. How ‘bout you?”

  “Then, you go to Mars,” spat Fujita, completely ignoring most of what Kendrick had just said. “Claim your false victory. But you will know the truth; you and your crew.”

  Sitting at the helm of the Selene, Kendrick shook his head in disbelief. With life support still on, they had been able to remove their helmets, but that was about the only good news.

  “Just keep spoutin’,” Kendrick said as he brought the engines back to life, firing the retro rockets. The ship lurched and began to slow.

  “Whatcha doin’ Sir?” Heather looked very concerned as she asked.

  “Slowin’ down an’ pickin’ ’em up,” the captain replied, as if the answer were obvious.

  The sound of Captain Fujita’s insults continued to fill the Selene’s bridge until Kendrick had slowed enough for the Fujin to catch up to him. Heather stuck her finger into her open mouth, acting as though she wanted to vomit from listening to the Japanese captain.

  “How rude,” Fiona gasped indignantly after one of Fujita’s more colorful insults.

  Finally, the Selene was alongside the Fujin, causing Fujita to stop mid-stream as he saw the silver liner through his windows.

  “All right, hotshot,” said Kendrick, taking advantage of Fujita’s momentary silence, “ya got no life support, no engines, an’ no navigation, an’ the virus will leave ya crippled in space, either to float forever or to be picked up by whoever pulled this stunt. Either way, ya lose yer ship. Come with us. At least you’ll keep yer life.”

  Fujita finally stopped his ranting and seemed to be considering Kendrick’s offer. The Fujin’s bridge was lit by auxiliary power and Kendrick could see the Japanese captain conferring with his crew when an explosion rocked the ship. They looked out the window expecting to see one of Selene’s engines in flames, but instead, they saw the entire rear section of the Fujin glowed bright red; one of her engines had exploded with enough force that the shrapnel had struck the Selene, and fires likely raged internally, heating up the outer skin. Whether it was from the virus or something else was unclear, but something had exploded. Other explosions likely would follow.

  “Okay, Fujita,” said Kendrick, not haggling with the proud captain any longer. “Yer ship’s
about to explode, so I’m gonna try to send a line. Open a hatch so I know where to take it. Then y’all can come across.”

  “Hai,” was all Fujita said in response.

  Captain Lorgen looked with satisfaction at the results of the Alliance virus. Both ships were fully disabled, the Fujin partially destroyed and the Selene motionless, her windows and any lighting having gone dark.

  “I’m on them now, Sir. They’ve done our work for us. Our little insurance policy should be paying off soon too.”

  “Do not let the Alliance apprehend our quarry, Captain,” replied Colonel Tracht. “Use any means necessary; the Verona must not make contact with Royce. Once you board the Selene, take the doctor. Make Royce the offer and try to resolve this without having to kill him.”

  “But, Sir,” protested Lorgen, “I can take that guy down easily.”

  “Unlikely, Captain,” replied Colonel Tracht. “Never underestimate him; remember, two Zduhać bounty hunters and two corvette captains recently did, and look what happened to them. Royce is crafty and can handle himself, but that is not the issue. Royce has his uses, both current and future. He is more valuable to the United States alive than dead. If he refuses the offer, tranq him, knock him out, or just plain drag him. Just as importantly, get that woman back here. Joyce Keane has caused us enough trouble. It’s high time she answer for it.”

  “Yes, Sir,” replied Lorgen with resignation as Tracht’s image disappeared from the screen. He closed on the Alliance cruiser and ordered the gunner to power up the weapon systems.

  “Mister Stiles, target the cruiser,” he ordered.

  “Sir,” replied the gunner, “that’s the Alliance Cruiser Verona. Are you sure?”

  “We have our orders, Mister Stiles,” replied Lorgen with a smile.