Cadets

by Edward Miller

  Grabbing her tools, she began trying to align the containment field. It was getting hotter and she was starting to sweat inside the suit. She struggled to get a grip on the alignment mechanism inside the field with the long tool, and her hands were shaking. Looking at the gauge on the wall, she could see the temperature was up to a hundred and twenty-five degrees. The suit should protect her to about two hundred and ten, but only for a few minutes. Not that she’d ever reach that state, since she only had about five minutes to fix this problem before she’d be ejected into space to die an agonizing and lonely death.

  Her thoughts were starting to get fuzzy and she was feeling disoriented and nauseous. Between the extreme heat and high radiation, her vision was impaired as well, which made it extra difficult.

  Checking the timer on the wall, she saw that she had a little over two minutes until she and the reactor were ejected into space. “Come on, dammit,” she said, trying to get the field perfectly aligned until the whining noise stopped. The tool kept slipping off the adjuster. “Crap. I need something narrower.” She reached into her toolkit. She could barely see and had to go by feel. Meanwhile the countdown kept blasting in her ears.

  Core will eject in ninety-five seconds.

  Sweat was burning her eyes, and she knew she was getting dehydrated as she felt shaky. The radiation alarm on her suit went off, which made her heart pound even more. That meant she had sixty seconds to contain the overload before it reached critical mass. She reached into the containment field and made another adjustment, her hands trembling. The countdown continued. Fifty-six, fifty-five . . .

  Then the temperature alarm started blaring, adding to the countdown and her radiation alarm. If the radiation didn’t kill her, the noise would. It was beginning to hurt her ears, clouding her senses further. She dropped her sonic wrench and had to quickly feel around for it. She couldn’t see anything. The air was so dense between the heat and the radiation that she operating totally blind. Her hopes began to disappear with her vision.

  Twenty-one, twenty, nineteen . . .

  It had to be well over two hundred degrees in the room if the temperature alarm was sounding. She remembered something she’d learned in class: your blood starts to boil at two hundred and twelve degrees. She was seconds away from finding out what that felt like.

  Ready to give in to defeat, with a last half-hearted attempt, she made one final adjustment. She could sense she was about to lose consciousness, and could barely turn the sonic wrench. A noise startled her. This was it. It was the sound of the outer locks disengaging so the room could be jettisoned from the ship. She braced herself.

  There was nothing to describe the feeling of dying alone. No goodbyes, no last kiss. She closed her eyes tight. Five, four, three.

  She held her ears to drown out reality.

  Two . . .

  Then silence.

  Her whole body was trembling.

  A long alarm sounded, followed by:

  Containment field stable. Overload aborted.

  She hadn’t even noticed that her last adjustment had caused the whining noise to stop.

  She fell to her knees in tears. “I did it. I did it Ryan, I did it.” Then she collapsed on the floor face down. Though she didn’t have energy to even lift a finger, she could hear the automated systems flushing out the radiation and the cooling fans coming on. She kept going in and out of consciousness. She thought about her father, and prayed she would see him again. In the foggy recesses of her mind, she thought she heard someone calling her name from a faraway field. Then she realized where she was, and thought she heard someone pounding on the lead doors. She tried to lift her head to see. Could someone be coming to help or was it a dream? Her face fell back to the floor, breaking her faceplate. The last sound she heard was her oxygen hissing as it left her protective suit. Then she finally gave in as she lost consciousness.

  Chapter 34

  Medical Emergency

  Ryan had been pounding on the double lead doors the whole time the alarms were going off, knowing his life would be in danger if the reactor had ejected. He’d been momentarily elated when the all clear alarm had sounded. But now he was in a panic again as he listened for any signs of life from Amanda on the other side of the huge opaque doors. He thought back to the all clear warning. How had it been phrased again?

  Overload averted. Containment field stable. Doors will unlock when conditions are deemed safe.

  What the hell was taking the doors so long? He thought back to the day his mother died. He remembered how helpless he’d felt. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to try and save her, but the guards had held him back. This was a different situation, but with the same potential outcome staring him in the face, and he was just as helpless.

  Ryan was still banging on the outer blast doors and yelling Amanda’s name, trying to listen for a reaction out of her to see if she was alive. But so far, there was no response. He knew how high the temperature had gotten and that she was likely dead, but he wasn’t ready to accept it. He wished he could see inside. As he was preparing himself to give up hope for the only girl he’d loved in his entire life, he heard the automated computer.

  Environment stabilizing. Door sequence activating.

  The outer blast doors suddenly opened, but the reactor doors behind them were still closed. Ryan slammed the emergency com unit button on the wall just inside the blast doors. It connected him directly to the infirmary.

  “Doctor Basha here,” she said. “Have the doors opened?”

  “Just the blast doors,” he said. “Doc, I need you down here at the reactor room immediately.”

  Ryan knew they were working on Paul, but the doctor’s assistant could monitor him in the meantime. At least Paul was stable, last he’d heard.

  “On my way, Captain,” said the doctor.

  Ryan looked at the readouts on the monitor outside the reactor door. By his calculations, it would be another five minutes until the computer deemed it safe enough to unlock the inner doors. He noticed a display button and activated it to see if he could see Amanda.

  When the monitor came on, he was horrified. He could see her in the middle of the room, lying face-down on the floor. Her faceplate was shattered and there was blood on the floor. God, please don’t let her be dead.

  He heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned around to see Doctor Anya Basha running his way at a full sprint.

  “What’s the situation, Captain?” she asked.

  “She’s unconscious and the doors won’t open for at least another few minutes.”

  Basha looked at the monitor and shook her head. “That’s too long. If she’s not breathing, I have to get to her now.”

  Ryan knew what had to be done. Even if the environment wasn’t stable, he needed to get in there. It was a chance he was willing to take.

  “Doctor, stand back, please.”

  Once the doctor was at a sufficient distance, he entered the code on the door panel that he’d never in his wildest dreams expected to use: the emergency code that overrode all systems. A computerized voice answered him. Override code accepted. Place right hand on panel to verify.

  He placed his right hand on the panel. The voice confirmed. Thompson, Ryan, command override accepted.

  As the latches on the door started to unlock, Basha called out to him. “The temperature inside there is about a hundred and seventy degrees,” she said. “Still high levels of radiation. Get in and out fast.”

  Ryan ripped off his shirt and used it to cover his nose and mouth. The doors opened and he rushed in. Immediately his eyes started to burn. It felt worse than any sauna he’d been in and he could barely breathe, but he continued on. He saw Amanda on the floor. She wasn’t moving. Kneeling down, he gently picked her up and exited the room as quickly as possible. Once in the cooler engineering area, he put her down and entered the codes to shut the doors.

  Basha quickly took Amanda’s vitals. Removing her headgear, she grabbed a hypo from her bag and ga
ve her a shot in the neck. Then she pulled a small breathing device from her bag and placed it over Amanda’s nose and mouth. “I need to get her to the infirmary, now.”

  “How is she, Doc? Is she alive? Will she be okay?” Ryan was beside himself as he helped Basha pick Amanda up and put her on the gurney.

  “Her vitals are weak and she’s extremely dehydrated, but alive.” Basha paused to check Amanda’s pulse again. “Weak, but steady. A good sign. I gave her a shot of DPA.”

  “DPA?”

  “Diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid, for the radiation exposure. The sooner we get her to the infirmary and get some fluids in her, the more I’ll be able to tell. The test will be the impact to her cognitive systems, her brain function.”

  Ryan followed Basha to the infirmary, where the doctor’s assistant helped place Amanda in one of the beds. As soon as Amanda hit the bed, the doctor attached all kinds of tubes to her and the automated scanners started gathering information.

  “What’s it showing?” said Ryan. He was pacing back and forth.

  “Not much yet, said the doctor. “Her vitals are better than they were. I’m sure the cooler temperature and fluids are helping.”

  Ryan watched as an automated device took a blood sample.

  A voice called out from one of the beds on the other side of the room. “That’s okay. I’m fine. Thanks for asking. Don’t worry about me.”

  Ryan walked over to Paul. “What the hell happened, man? You scared the crap out of me.”

  Paul shrugged his shoulders. “I really don’t know. First I heard the vibrations. Then next thing I know, I see Amanda about to yell something and an explosion knocks me on my ass. That’s the last thing I remember until about five minutes ago, when I woke up in here.” He looked over at Amanda. “What happened to her?”

  “She was in the reactor room, and—”

  “The reactor room?!”

  “Well, there was an overload in progress and she went in to stop it just before it went into lockout mode. She was seconds from being ejected. Damn if she didn’t find a way to stop it. She’s in pretty bad shape, Paul.”

  “I’m sorry, Ry. She better pull though. If anyone can, it’s Amanda. Wait, what kind of overload?”

  “I’m pretty sure the monitor said it was the containment field.”

  “The containment field? Are you sure?”

  “Well, when Rawlings told me that you were hurt and Amanda was inside the reactor room, I took off from the bridge so fast I really don’t remember, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it said.”

  “Ry, that’s suicide trying to align that while it’s active. She’d be dead in an instant. It couldn’t have been that.”

  “Containment field . . .” said a female voice from behind him. Ryan turned around. It was Amanda, half sitting up! “. . . aligned . . .” Her voice tailed off, then she fell back to her pillow.

  Ryan’s face lit up as he ran to her bed. “You’re okay!” he said. She was barely conscious as she looked up at him with half-closed eyes.

  “Okay?” she said, lifting her head to look down at the tubes and bandages. “This?” She reached her hand up to point to him. “Next time,” she said, in a strained voice, “listen . . . to . . .” Then she started coughing uncontrollably.

  Doctor Basha stepped in. “Captain,” she said, “I need to ask you to leave. Both my patients need to get some rest.”

  “But—”

  “You may be the captain of this ship,” said the doctor, “but in the infirmary, I’m in charge. Now, as I said, both my patients need to get some rest. I’ll have a report to you within the next eight hours.”

  Ryan looked at the five-foot-tall doctor and wanted to laugh. She was glaring at him with her hands on her hips. “Do you have any idea when either of them will be ready for duty?” he said.

  “If they get through the next twenty-four hours without any symptoms or setbacks, I’ll let you know.”

  “So then—”

  “Run along, Captain.”

  Ryan nodded and smiled. “Of course, Doc.”

  He looked at Paul and Amanda. “Get some rest, guys. I’m really glad you’re both still with us. I mean that.”

  Paul waved. Amanda was asleep.

  As he left the room, Ryan thought about Amanda, and about the mission ahead. They had two days of traveling before getting to Pluto. Paul seemed in better shape, but it was Amanda he was really worried about. He prayed she’d make a full recovery. Besides the obvious, he needed them for Pluto, and he most certainly needed them before they reached Earth. This was going to be impossible enough as it was, and if they had any chance of pulling this off, they were going to need their top engineers. Not only that, but when the chips were down, Ryan had come to rely on Amanda’s genius. Most of all, though, he just wanted his friends back.

  Chapter 35

  Deep Space Outpost, Pluto

  Ryan was on the bridge checking the latest status reports from all the ships in his armada. Fortunately there were no major issues other than the near disaster with his own ship. There were some minor problems, like the Napoleon’s environmental systems acting up, and the Columbus was having trouble with their sensor array. But those were easy to fix, and all in all, they’d been lucky.

  The doors to the bridge opened and Ryan had to do a double-take. It was Amanda! She’d been in sickbay for almost two days and was showing signs of recovery, but now she looked downright healthy. Not bad for someone who’d almost died. Paul fared even better and was already back in engineering. As Amanda approached, Ryan stood up and started clapping. The rest of the bridge crew followed suit. She responded with a half smile and looked slightly embarrassed.

  Tanner was at the sensor station and stepped aside to let her resume her post. “Welcome back, Big Red,” he said. “I’ve kept your seat warm.”

  “Thanks, Tanner,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

  Ryan walked up to her. “Glad to have you back. How are you feeling?”

  “Much better,” she said. “You really don’t all have to make a big deal. I’m fine.” She looked over at him and smiled. “Really,” she added. “I am.” Maybe she was warming up after all.

  “Okay, everyone,” he said, as he watched Pluto emerge on the monitor. “Back to business. We’re at our communications point.”

  Ryan took out his Slider and brought up the codes for contacting the deep space outpost on Pluto. He also needed them for requesting permission to dock. “Open a secure channel,” he said to Jill. “Send the following sequence: Bravo, One, One, Zero, Alpha, Tango, Romeo, Charlie, Foxtrot, Zero.”

  “Sending code now,” she said.

  Less than a minute later they received a reply.

  “Deep space outpost. Code received and clearance granted. Proceed to dark-side landing platform.”

  “Nicole, you heard the man,” said Ryan. “Take us around to the back door.”

  “Roger that, Captain,” said Nicole. “Setting coordinates for the rear landing platform.”

  “Jill, send a coded message to the rest of the fleet to follow us in. Tell them we’re going to the dark side of Pluto. One by one.”

  “Sending message now,” she replied.

  “Beware the dark side, young Jedi,” said Tanner. “It is twisted and evil.” Ryan shook his head and laughed. “You and your two-hundred-year-old movies,” he said.

  “Yeah, but they keep releasing new versions,” said Tanner. “The new one’s in holograph format.”

  Ryan looked at him.

  “I’m serious,” said Tanner. “Lucas’s great-great grandson supervised it himself.”

  As they approached Pluto’s noxious atmosphere, Ryan watched on the main viewer as all fifteen battleships and the two transports made their way to the landing platforms. The ship began to buck suddenly. With winds exceeding two hundred miles-per-hour, it was difficult to maneuver, even with the stabilization controls. He had to hold tight to his command chair as the Churchill shifted from side to side l
ike a runaway elevator. Even the monitors kept getting clouded up, as the external temperatures were reading at minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Thank God for thermal shields.

  “You really need a sweater out there,” said Tanner, breaking the tension.

  Finally the intense shifting stopped, and Ryan breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the Churchill settle onto the terrain. “Thank you, Nicole,” he said to himself. The ship still shook in the surface wind, but nothing like on the descent. He watched the monitors as the other ships touched down. As soon as the last ship had landed, the ground platforms lowered until they were well below the surface of the planet. At last, things were quiet.

  Ryan looked at Amanda and Tanner. “Okay, I’d like you two with me. The rest of you stay put for now.” Turning to Jill, he said, “Inform the captains of each ship to stand by for further orders.”

  “Will do,” she said.

  Ryan left the bridge with Amanda and Tanner. They continued down the corridor until they reached the main exit. As they approached, he stood for the automatic facial scan and the door opened. There were six armed officers waiting on the other side. One of them walked up to Ryan and blocked his path. “Where’s your commanding officer?” the guard asked.

  Ryan looked at him with a straight face. “That would be me.”

  At that moment the commander of the outpost showed up. “Lieutenant John Haywood, commanding officer. Care to explain to me what’s going on here?”

  “Cadet Ryan Thompson, sir. With me are Cadets Amanda Williamson and Tanner Blackhart.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Haywood. “Cadets? Thompson and Williamson? How do the kids of our top admirals end up here? What the hell happened? Did the Altarrans attack the academy?”

  Tanner cleared his throat. “I thought you should know that I’m Susan Blackhart’s son. She was the head librarian at the public library in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.”