Space Hoppers - Dance of the Guinea Pigs

by Jayne Bartholomew

  Since her attack she had thrown herself into work, and while she recognised that others possibly had more going on in their private lives than she did, there was no excuse for sloppy work.

  There had to be some meat somewhere, she thought, rifling through another cupboard. The screen in front of her flashed up, stating that the kebab would be collected by a serving android in fifteen minutes. It was requested for one of the Visitor pods in level five so she could be pretty confident that any type of meat would be acceptable, or at least dismissed as “foreign”. Maybe she could get away with ingeniously flavoured tofu?

  A sound of crashing pans to her right made her turn but she could see no one there and no movement apart from a pan lid spinning towards her. Honestly, how bad at putting things away did you have to be to topple heavy pans? Pretty bad, she thought. Her sous-chef might be a little heavy on the seasoning sometimes but generally he was pretty reliable.

  Rayine watched the pan lid as it slowly went past and circled twice before stopping, handle side down.

  There was a faint ripping sound as one of the grain sacks was split. She could hear the grain flowing out and if she really concentrated, Rayine could pick out an excited chattering sound.

  She calmly unrolled her pack of personal chef knives and selected one of the cleavers. Rayine was a conscientious worker, and if one of her customers wanted a kebab, then she would serve a kebab.

  Simon was alone in his pod in a kneeling position with his forehead on the floor as if in worship. His room was in darkness but from the starlight outside shadows could be seen moving around the pod. In the darkness his breathing was so quiet it was almost inaudible. As the clock on the wall ticked away at the seconds, the room started to get darker. The shadows grew so that they joined each other and the room began to fill with a blackness that swallowed the outlines of furniture. Darkness seemed to pour out from the silent figure on the floor until he was completely wrapped in the enveloping gloom. When he was completely surrounded by the darkness, he raised his head as a black mist slowly snaked its way from the corners of the room and circled the space above him. Simon was still, his mouth moving as he silently spoke an incantation.

  When he had finished he bent lower so that his head touched the floor and the black mist moved towards the window, passed through the glass and moved away from the ship.

  Booker picked up his intercom and buzzed through to Xander.

  “You sent a message asking me to come and see you?” said Booker.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m a bit busy right now, lad, can it wait until tomorrow?”

  “No.”

  “Is it more important than the possibility of the ship cracking up and the crew being sucked out into deep-space?”

  “Is that likely to happen in the next twenty minutes?”

  Booker looked around him. “Well, you never know in a ship like this, it’s...” His attention was distracted by one of the screens against the wall. “I’ll be with you in ten minutes. We have a serious problem down here.”

  Standing up on one of the metal units that littered themselves around engineering, he called his team together. As soon as he was confident that everyone was paying attention, he jumped down and strode over to the screen he’d been looking at seconds earlier.

  “Has anyone checked the readings recently?” Booker said, jabbed a finger on the screen impatiently. “No, don’t even try to lie. Look at this!” He pointed to a set of numbers while his team looked on, confused. “Just look at it, will you? What is the point of continuously raising the temperature if the bloody thing’s not working outside? Hmm? No, Max, put your hand down, lad, it was a hypothetical question. Right, who here has had experience of outside maintenance?” Again there was silence. “This is not a hypothetical question. Come on, speak up.”

  One of the team cleared his throat nervously. “Um, Ella had training last month but she’s in sick bay being treated for bite wounds.”

  “Who did her training?”

  “Mark did.”

  “And where’s he then?”

  “Sick bay too, he came down with hypothermia last night after the temperature of his pod dropped. It got so cold they had to get the doctor out to defrost him.”

  “Well, why wasn’t the temperature being monitored? I thought I’d given very clear instructions that there was to be a twenty-four-hour watch. Who was responsible that night?”

  “Ella. She was on duty when the attack happened. Fedka had training too but it looks like he had an accident while he was sewing and now he’s on life-support.”

  Booker stared at him. “While sewing?”

  “The scissors froze to his hand and then he repeatedly stabbed himself while shivering.”

  “Really? So there’s no one but me who can go out and fix the ship? Is that the situation we’re in?”

  Max put his hand up again. “Would you like me to get the suit, boss?”

  “You’ve got thirty minutes to get the suit prepared for exterior maintenance, I want to check the entire front section on level three, that’s the loading bay, Fighter launch pad and the Control room. Make sure you’ve sent an alert around so I don’t get clipped by an over-enthusiastic pilot.” Booker walked out.

  Garet opened the door and smiled warmly at his guest. “Hi there, thanks for dropping by. I thought we should get to know each other better seeing as you’re going to be with us for a while. Come on in, come on in. “He stepped aside to allow the visitor room.

  “Thanks for the invite, I can’t stay long because I thought I’d take Sarah out for a special dinner, but I heard you’re into cocktails and I wondered if you’d like to try one of mine?” Simon held up a dark blue opaque bottle.

  “Great! I’m always open to new ideas. Have a seat.” As Simon sauntered into the pod Garet closed the door, eyeing the bottle greedily. “So, is this an Earth drink you’ve brought with you or one you came across in your travels?”

  “It’s a special recipe I just found lying around. Here”, he placed the bottle tantalisingly on the table, “you have to drink it in one to feel the full effects.”

  Garet swirled the liquid around the bottle like a connoisseur. “Interesting colour and grainy texture,” he said, holding it up to the light. “Is it a young year?”

  Simon sat back. “The secret,” he said, “is in the drinking, it’s the only way to really feel the effects, which are quite striking. It’s got quite a specialist market. Anyway, like I said, I’m about to go and meet Sarah but I’ll leave this with you and I’ll be really interested to see how you get on with it. Enjoy.”

  “Thank you, Simon, that’s really kind of you. I’ll let you know tomorrow what I think. I was in the crew-lounge earlier and I expect that after a glass of this naughty little number I’ll be dead to the world!”

  Simon smiled. “Yes, I expect so too.”

  Booker walked into Xander’s quarters without knocking and strode up to Xander’s desk.

  “The heating system’s been disabled,” he said, “and all the members of my crew who know how to fix it have been taken out of action. We’re in a situation where the only person to put on a suit and go outside is the Chief Engineer.”

  “You’re not going out there, are you?” Xander asked.

  “Of course not. This is probably not a good time but you should know that we also don’t have enough power to open another slug-hole. We’ve got enough to take us in to Kaor but that’s it, lad.”

  “So much for Plan B then. So not enough power to escape and not enough weaponry to fight a major battle. Great. Well this trip just keeps getting better and better. Anything else I should know about?”

  Booker walked over to the window. “Have you been to the pod Simon was assigned recently?”

  “Martyn put him in pod three, I think, the opposite side to Sarah. Why?”

  “It’s a lot darker than the other areas.”

  “Your meaning?”

  The Engineer sighed and said, “You know me, I�
�m a plain sort of person, I call a super-large hadron collider a super-large hadron collider.”

  Xander nodded; the Engineer’s lack of tact and diplomacy was already something of a legend back at the Academy.

  “But, well, it’s darker. It’s not just the lighting and I can’t put my finger on it exactly but it’s not right.”

  “There was something not right about how the travel-holes opened. Also, and I haven’t mentioned it to the others, but he and Sarah have a slightly different molecular structure. The doctor picked it up but he can’t swear that it’s not just some Earthling occurrence. There’s no hard proof, Booker.”

  “You had a feeling in the Gralic mission, remember, and I have one now. The worst that can happen is we make fools out of ourselves.”

  “I suppose so,” Xander hesitated.

  “We already know what happens when there’s a Pirate amongst us.”

  “Yes but…”

  “Has your back healed up yet?”

  Xander held up his hands in defeat. “OK. Fine. We’ll assume Simon isn’t what he says he is. I’ll go to Security and tell them to get some manpower together; you talk to Martyn about long-term species containment. I’m not going into this without preparation, understand? It’s not like he’s going anywhere. I want a co-ordinated approach.”

  “Agreed. I need to deal with something in engineering first but then I’ll be right on to Martyn. As you say, Simon’s not going anywhere.”

  “Good, we have a plan. Now, you’re not going to like this but,” Xander stood up, “congratulations. By the powers invested in me, blah, blah, blah, you’re now a Seeker.”

  The Engineer snorted. “I don’t have time for all that cloak and dagger stuff and you are not going to get me to decorate my pod with pink rocks.”

  “It’s started, Booker, the war is on. There isn’t a choice as to whether you want to do it or not. You’re either for the Light or for the Pirates.”

  “You know where I stand.”

  “So you’ll do it then?”

  “Does it have to be a pink rock?”

  Xander grinned.

  Ten

  Derek finished his flight duty and descended from his plane to get ready for dinner with Brelt. She had insisted, after the coconut incident, claiming that the concussion would hinder his cooking skills. As he neared the doors he saw Rayine standing by the side with a small mug of soup for him. This was not too unusual as the kitchen staff often made sure that the fighters were well fed and looked after. It would have been rude and ungrateful not to take the soup so he smiled his thanks and drank most of it in one gulp, trying not to grimace at the strong taste of aniseed. Rayine nodded approvingly and rushed off to the Visitor holding bay.

  Moving off to go to his pod he turned a corner and almost collided with Booker on his way back to engineering who looked blankly at him for a moment.

  “Ah, Derek. Just the person, I’ve been looking for you, lad. We’ve noticed a slight leak in the emissions from your jets and Med-crew want you to swallow these.” He handed Derek two small tablets from a pocket.

  “What kind of fumes?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about, lad, fumes are fumes. Just take the pills - I see you’ve got a mouthful of liquid in that mug of yours. There you are… good lad.”

  “What about the other crew?”

  “Don’t worry about them, it was only your jet that had the leak this time, they’ll be seen to later.” Booker started to move away.

  “But how do you know about the leak when I’ve only just got back?”

  Booker paused. “We picked it up on our sensors. OK?”

  “I guess.” Derek creased up his brow and looked back at the jet again. “But how did you have time to talk to Med-crew?” He turned to find Booker had already gone.

  As Derek made his way down the ship towards his pod Garet spotted him. “Derek, glad I found you! I was just on my way to the crew-lounge. Care to join me?” He hooked an unbandaged tentacle around his waist and stopped him.

  “Thanks, Garet, but I’m just going to meet with Brelt and…”

  Garet’s eyes lit up. “Really? Well, before you go I just happen to have a hip flask of a little snifter I made up earlier. You have to try it!”

  Still keeping a vicelike grip on Derek a tentacle came up to unstop the flask in Garet’s breast pocket and wiggle it at Derek. “I won’t take no for an answer and I’m not letting you go until you try it! Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?”

  Realising from experience that the quickest way out of the situation was to drink whatever Garet suggested, he smiled weakly, took the flask and drank deeply.

  Feeling an inner glow of satisfaction at a job well done, Garet released his hold, patted the pilot on his back until he finished spluttering and went back to his pod

  Derek could feel the kick of the alcohol but he couldn’t understand the current fixation with aniseed. Fighting down a slight feeling of nausea he turned the corner and saw Sarah, staring at her hands, sitting on the floor outside his pod.

  “Hi, Derek.” She picked herself up off the ground. “How was the flight?”

  “Fine. Can I help you with something?”

  “Um. Well, yes, as it happens. I just wanted to say thank you for what you did back on the Namdol planet. You completely saved the situation and I wondered if I could repay the favour with some information. Could we go inside for a chat?”

  “Now’s not really a good time, I’m supposed to be seeing Brelt for dinner and she’s cooking. She’s a really good cook and I’d hate for things to burn. Could we talk about it another time?”

  “It’s Brelt that I needed to talk to you about, kind of. Well, Brelt and Simon really. Can we go in? I promise to be really quick.”

  “Well, if it’s about Brelt then yes, I suppose so.” Sarah stood to one side as Derek opened the pod door. “What’s happened?”

  “You know that the crew are saying that Simon’s been spending a lot of time with her recently?”

  “Have they?”

  “Oh yes, it’s been the talk of the ship. I wondered if you realised that part of that is because of a pheromone that humans can secrete, which others find irresistible?”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely! I know that without this pheromone Brelt wouldn’t want to go five minutes in his company and she really likes you without it but … I thought that maybe if you had some of this … pheromone it would kind of even things out between you.” Sarah smiled up at him and tried to look guileless.

  “How were you planning on doing that?”

  “He had to give a sample to Med-crew when he first came on board so they could test it for infection and … stuff, and I stole a vial of it from them.” She was actually impressing herself with her ability to lie.

  “I’m not sure. It doesn’t sound very fair really, does it? I’d rather she liked me for who I am. She’s a free thinker and I don’t want to influence that.”

  “Did she say that Simon asked her to go away with him for the weekend when they get to Kaor?”

  “No, that must have slipped her mind. You know, now I think about it I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I let her be fooled into going with him, would I?” Sarah shook her head. “Go on, jab me.” He held out his arm and rolled his sleeve up. Sarah whipped her hand out from behind her back and used the epi-pen to pump the solution of Cadka directly into his blood stream.

  Derek, now feeling more than slightly nauseous with a developing headache and no time to change, made his way towards Brelt’s pod. She welcomed him in wearing the thin red dress and a warm smile. The aroma of aniseed filled the room.

  Simon opened his arms expansively. “Rayine, you’re a marvel! You’ve really made this place look special, I can’t thank you enough.”

  Down in the Visitors holding section, in one of the larger side rooms, a candlelit dinner had been prepared. The cutlery shone and Rayine was on hand in crisp chef whites with a serving android in attendance.
As in the Dining Hall at the Gathering, one wall had been moved back to show the stars.

  “This is exactly what I had planned.” Said Simon.

  Rayine’s half-face blushed with pride.

  “There’s just one thing, though, that would make tonight perfect.”

  She looked up questioningly.

  Simon took a step back towards a panel by the door.

  “Closure.”

  Thick metal bars shot down from the ceiling and joined with ones that had sprung up from the floor, completely blocking Rayine off from the entrance. She ran up to the bars and started to tug on them. Simon smiled happily at her and nodded towards the view behind her. Her hand flew to the remains of her mouth in horror as she realised what was happening.

  “Now, I’m not sure you quite appreciate this at the moment but try and think outside the box and be grateful that you have the best seat in the house for tonight’s performance. Judging by the look on your face I believe you missed the second half of the show last time but tonight, for one night only, I’ve lined up a re-run.” Picking up the bag that Rayine had used to transport the food, he started to clear the table. “This smells delicious, I’m going to really enjoy it.” He added a long knife with a silver blade and the bottle of wine to the bag and did it up as best he could. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat but I’ve got friends coming over later and there’s still so much to do. Ciao.” As he left he turned the lights off.

  “Caution, there is a member of engineering carrying out external maintenance around the loading bay. Repeat - Caution, there is a member of engineering carrying out external maintenance around the loading bay.”