“What did it say? The personal entry, I mean.”
“It was a final message, a last goodbye. Just a few words, but without the context, it’s rather cryptic. I think they had already said goodbye, this was something different. They were reaching out… one final time. I think they wanted to leave something behind, just in case.”
Claire said nothing at first, barely acknowledged that she had heard. Finally then, hardly above a whisper, “Sounds about right.”
Amelia gave her sister a curious look, but let the odd comment go. “So what’d you find?” she asked. “Anything?”
Claire came out of her reverie. “The good news, they didn’t take everything with them when they left. There’s a store full of rations. And water. We won’t be relying just on re-cyc anymore.”
“Thank goodness. What about cryo-juice? I couldn’t bring it up in inventory.”
“That’s the bad news.”
“No cryo?”
“No cryo.”
Amelia let out a glum sigh. “Ah. Well… so we’re traveling eyes-open for a while.”
And they would be traveling eyes-open in their own shuttle. Even if they’d wanted to switch ships, the derelict would never be in any condition to leave orbit.
They were each suddenly lost in thought, each drawn to very different images drifting across their mental landscape. Amelia slowly stood up then.
“What say we get those supplies transferred over and get out of here?”
“Sounds good to me,” said Claire. “The sooner we’re off this boat, the better.”
§
Claire left Amelia in their shuttle’s main cabin and stepped up into the cockpit. She spent several minutes entering their departure sequence into the ship’s nav system. She hesitated a moment then, and initiated the procedure.
The docking clamps disengaged. Once confirmed, small jets fired and the shuttle pushed slowly away from the larger ship. Some seconds later, once at a safe distance, larger thrusters fired and the shuttle began to move quickly from the derelict. Claire verified their status, initiated the sequence to take them out of orbit.
Returning to the main cabin, she found Amelia sitting at the table. She had a bottle of water in front of her, was absently staring at it.
Claire sat down opposite. “We’re on our way.”
Amelia nodded; she lifted the water bottle in toast and took a drink. “Non-recyc,” she said. Her mind was definitely somewhere far, far away.
“Are you all right?”
“Sure,” said Amelia. “I’m just fine.”
“Great,” grumbled Claire. “Kind of hard to tell, you know. Your ‘all right’ aura and your ‘not all right’ aura are pretty much the same aura.”
Amelia couldn’t help but grin at that. She tried not to, but it showed up on her face in spite of herself.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah,” said Claire. She pointed to the bottle of water. “How’s it taste?”
“Good. Real good.” Amelia took another drink. She looked up from the bottle then, looked at her sister. “Are you going to tell me about the dead couple that you found in cryo?”
“Ah. So you know about them. System logs? I was planning on telling you.”
“Two cryo tubes were taken out of the system ahead of the shutdown, but remained online. Only one explanation I can think of.”
“Me, too.”
Both had pretty much come to the same conclusion. By intent or by misfortune, someone had been left down on the planet. When everyone else aboard the derelict transferred to another ship and left orbit, the two found in the cryo tubes had been unwilling to leave those down on the planet behind. At some point months later, following their goodbyes, the two had tampered with the ship’s systems, put the ship into auto shutdown, and had gone into cryo sleep. When the cryo-tubes depleted, there would have been nothing to wake them up.
Claire and Amelia still didn’t know the reason for the planet being abandoned. It may or may not have been related to what had happened to them eighty years earlier; which they had yet to fully understand.
Amelia turned her attention back to the bottle of water.
“Eight weeks, huh?”
“Give or take a couple of days,” said Claire. They were headed for a colony twelve times the size of the colony on Janus Two. “We might run into something sooner. Data on this region of space is both sparse and old.”
“Eight weeks,” sighed Amelia.
“Give or take.”
“Uh, huh…”
“Hey,” Claire perked up. “I brought some games over from the derelict. I know you’re tired of cards… I found a dice game; and checkers… you wanna play checkers?”
Episode Three
“Ghost Ship”
Claire had come up with what she thought to be one of her best games yet. It was a little bit handball, a little bit table tennis.
The unique component was deactivating the gravity plating.
Amelia hovered near the aft end of the main cabin, Claire forward near the access to the cockpit, with the table between them in the center of the room. The idea was to hit the small rubber ball back and forth to one another using their bare hands, with the requirement that the ball had to bounce off the top of the table with each pass.
It was the lack of gravity that made the play interesting.
Amelia pushed off to the left, reached out and swatted at the ball. The ball headed forward toward the table as Amelia continued traveling in the direction of the cryo beds. She twisted slowly about and her shoulder hit the upper berth panel.
Meanwhile, the ball bounced softly off the table and continued toward Claire. Claire drifted to her left and swatted the ball. It was a hard, downward stroke. The reaction of the ball, however, was an easy arc back to the table. It drifted up and glided aft to the rear hatch.
Claire let out a cheer.
Amelia held onto the cryo bed panel, hovering a foot above the deck.
“I’m done, Claire.” She wasn’t enjoying the game quite as much as her sister.
“Come on, Amelia,” said Claire. “You’re doing great. You’re only down by three.”
Amelia shrugged her shoulder as she rubbed at the spot she was certain was going to bruise. She had already expressed her concern that one of them was going to break something, but that had fallen on deaf ears. No use bringing that up again.
“I prefer my sports in one G,” she said instead. “Less chance I’ll bring up my lunch.”
A low tone alarm began to sound, reaching into the main compartment from the cockpit. One of the overhead light panels flashed.
Claire and Amelia exchanged curious looks.
The signal meant that the ship’s sensors were picking up something; which they shouldn’t. There was nothing out there.
Claire turned about and pulled herself forward through the hatch and into the cockpit. Amelia had a more difficult time, clumsily pushing and pulling her way forward. Her arm struck the door jamb of the hatch as she entered the cockpit. She grabbed hold of the back of the copilot seat.
“It’s a ship,” Claire said to her absently.
“Anyone we know?” Amelia worked her way around and pulled herself down into her seat. She locked her feet into the toe holds.
Claire ignored the sarcasm. “It’s not moving.”
“Not another derelict.”
“Don’t know yet.”
“How far away?”
“Six hours, current speed.” Claire was already running the calculations to slow the shuttle down. They were traveling ten percent light speed, and the sequence to park the shuttle alongside the ship was going to be rushed. If they weren’t going to fly right past it, they would need to start slowing down immediately.
“We should have seen it a lot sooner,” said Amelia. “Why didn’t we see it sooner?”
“I don’t know. Initiating deceleration sequence.” Claire ran her fingers across one of her panels. “We’ll come up alongside it in… just u
nder twenty hours.”
“All right...” Amelia gave her sister an exaggerated smirk. “Can I have my gravity back, now?”
§
Amelia stepped up into the cockpit, two cups of coffee in hand. She handed one to her sister as she sat in the copilot’s seat. She looked out the forward view window.
They had slowed to approach speed and were continuing to slow as they drew nearer the ship.
It was twice the size of the last derelict they had come across, was big when compared to their own shuttle, but was still quite small by most measures. There was no landing bay; the only access was the docking hatch.
As they continued to approach, they saw signs of external damage. There was an open wound in the hull; a blackened tear running along the starboard side.
The tear ran right across the docking hatch.
It appeared as though the hatch was open. To either side of it, the skin of the hull was torn and pulled up.
“We won’t be docking,” said Claire. “We’ll never get a lock.”
“So what do we do?” asked Amelia.
“I’m not sure.”
“One of us needs to go over there,” said Amelia.
“I agree.” Claire shifted position and began working at a console. “I’ll get us close. You make the hop-skip-jump over, see what’s what.”
“Really? I mean, I thought you’d fight me on this.”
“Like you said, one of us has to go.”
“Yes, but I was sure you’d want to do it.”
Claire wouldn’t look at her sister. She continued working at the console set to her left.
“I do. But I have to stay here. I’m a better pilot.” She hesitated. “Now go suit up.”
§
Amelia finished running the self-checks on her suit, these all the more critical without Claire there to do the buddy-check.
“Ready,” she said, reaching out and opening the airlock.
“Helmet cam, please,” came over the helmet intercom.
Amelia reached up and tapped a button on her helmet.
“Thank you,” said Claire.
“You’re welcome.” Amelia closed the airlock door behind her, stepped forward and opened the main outer hatch.
They were alongside the other ship. It was now only a few dozen yards away and was moving steadily closer. The docking hatch was directly across the open space.
The hatch door itself was gone, sections of the outer hull’s skin to either side of the opening torn and jagged.
“Whatever happened, it couldn’t have been pleasant,” said Amelia.
“Hear that,” said Claire.
Amelia attached a safety line to her suit, then to the recessed eyelet to the left of the hatch. The two ships drew a little closer, then held steady at thirty feet.
“I don’t dare get any closer,” said Claire.
“It’ll do.”
Amelia aimed and gently pushed off, the safety line trailing behind her.
Claire watched the crossing on the monitor set into the forward console, the video feed coming from Amelia’s helmet cam. The damaged hatch access came up quick, and she didn’t like the look of the torn metal. It wouldn’t take much to damage her sister’s suit.
She said nothing. The danger was obvious and she didn’t need to tell her sister to stay away from sharp objects.
There was a slight jarring of the image as Amelia landed at the access and stepped awkwardly into the airlock. The gravity plating was active. That was good news.
“The inner airlock hatch is open,” said Amelia. She disconnected the safety line from her suit and let it drift, then moved through and into the ship’s interior.
“Can you close it?” asked Claire.
“I’m trying now.”
Claire could just see the panel that Amelia was working with, her helmet lamp providing what light there was. It looked like most of the ship’s lights were out, though from the shadows that Claire had seen there had to be some emergency lighting.
“Nothing,” said Amelia. It could have been damage to the door itself or to the operating mechanism. The power to the airlock door was independent of other systems.
Amelia left the gear room and entered the central passage. She started forward, and after traveling twenty feet she came to an open hatchway. She had to lower her head and lift her feet to step through.
“That’s an interior bulkhead, Amelia,” said Claire. “Can you close the hatch?”
Amelia said nothing, but the image on the monitor spun about as she turned around. While the hatch could be closed remotely under power, Amelia was able to manually push it closed on her own. When she lowered the bar handle, a small light above the hatch lit up.
“Positive lock,” said Amelia. She turned and continued forward. “I’ll find a console, see if I can get environmental systems up.”
Claire relaxed just a little. If Amelia could get environment up and running, she would be significantly safer. The cold vacuum of space was a very dangerous place, even with a suit and helmet.
Claire watched Amelia’s advance along the passageway on her monitor. There were only a handful of small emergency lights, these set far apart and creating a dull grayish glow in the corridor. A beam of light from Amelia’s helmet lamp reached out ahead and stabbed and slashed into the gray.
Those tiny emergency lamps had no doubt been dimly lighting the way for years. Claire thought it made the scene lonely and sad.
She saw a shadow flitter across the passageway some way up ahead of Amelia. It had no form, really, was a misty shadow among darker shadows.
And then it was gone.
Claire studied the monitor, afraid to blink, afraid she would miss it should it appear again.
“Amelia, did you see that?”
The steady march up the passageway appeared to slow.
“See what?” asked Amelia.
And then, again on the monitor… another apparition drifted across the passageway up ahead of Amelia. It passed from an open door on the left to another directly opposite. And then it was gone.
The scene on the monitor froze as Amelia stopped in her tracks.
“Oh, geez…” mumbled Amelia.
“That,” said Claire.
§
Claire stared at the monitor, her mind momentarily numb.
Blank. The screen was blank. The monitor had just gone… dead. Live feed, and then nothing.
She stabbed at the interface reset pad. Nothing happened. She tapped again, repeatedly, calling out to her sister. Only then did she realize that the audio had gone dead as well as video.
But that didn’t make any sense. Amelia’s helmet cam and the audio intercom were on separate and isolated systems.
Okay, okay… keep it together… no good if you freak out…
Claire leaned forward and worked anxiously at the keyboard panel, trying desperately to reestablish one or the other, audio or video.
She heard something. A crackling, hissing white noise came through her headset.
“Amelia? Amelia? You there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” said Amelia. She sounded calm; almost overly so.
“Amelia?”
“I said I’m here. What’s up?”
“I lost you,” said Claire, doing her best to bring it all back down. Don’t freak your sister. Don’t freak your sister.
“Lost me?” Amelia sounded more curious than concerned.
“Sight and sound. Both went poof.”
“Poof?”
“Yes. Poof. Still no video. Are you all right?” Claire was quickly regaining some semblance of calm.
“I’m fine.” And she sounded fine.
The monitor flickered back to life as Claire continued tapping at the keyboard panel. She lifted her fingers and leaned back. It wasn’t due to anything that she had done. It was just back.
The image was of the passageway, a closed hatch now only a few yards ahead.
“You’re back,” she said, as calmly as
she could.
“Good to hear,” said Amelia. “I missed me.”
“Not at all funny, Amelia.” Claire hoped her grin didn’t come across in her voice. “So what happened?”
“Nothing happened. I don’t know what happened.”
“Well, don’t do it again.”
“I’ll try.” Amelia was again moving down the passage. “It could be interference from damaged systems that are still live.”
“After all these years? How can anything be live?” There were the handful of emergency lights scattered about the ship, but that network was designed to last like… indefinitely.
“I know, but… Claire, I don’t really know how, but it doesn’t look like years.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know. I mean… it just doesn’t look like it’s been years.”
The display on the monitor spun slowly about as Amelia turned her head and looked back behind her. Another shadow moved into the passage ten feet further down the hall, drifted toward her and then disappeared through another doorway.
Claire felt a prickly chill pass through her. Those shadowy specters on the monitor were beginning to take on more solid form.
“They’re human,” she whispered, loud enough that the intercom picked it up.
Amelia faced forward again and continued up the passage.
“I don’t think they can see me,” she said. “At least not yet.”
“What?” What the heck did she mean by ‘not yet’?
“They seem to be busy going about whatever it is they need to be going about doing.”
The display on the monitor flickered, went static with white noise and then as quickly cleared.
“Hey!” Claire called out without thinking.
Amelia came to a sudden stop. “What?”
“Don’t you go dark on me again,” said Claire. She suddenly felt foolish.
“What?”
“The video. It… never mind.”
“Uh… okay.” Amelia was on the move again.
“Just… I don’t want you disappearing on me. If we lose contact, I’m bringing the shuttle in and I want you to head back to the airlock.”
Sisters in Space: The Complete Series Page 4