Chapter Fourteen – Engineering
Pete swung his chair around, headed for the rear storage bay. There was a lot of work coming up and he needed to prepare. He let the door slide closed behind him and slumped back against it. The idea of getting an alien spaceship up and running again was somewhere between the biggest thrill of his life and scary enough to freeze his brain.
It had been hard enough just getting Pod Nine running again after shutting down her systems.
At least then he’d known exactly what he was doing. A.B. had taken him through the procedure for a complete shutdown and restart of a pod a year ago. And about six months ago, he’d learnt how to tie in a generator to a pod’s systems. All he’d needed to do was put those two procedures together.
This time round though, Pete knew that he might be biting off more than he could chew. An alien ship. An alien ship. He closed his eyes, wondering how in the world he was supposed to know what anything on the ship was. Oh, he was sure that it’d all be labelled. In an alien language that he couldn’t read.
One step at a time, kid, one step at a time. Don’t over think the problem. Feel it!
Hearing A.B.’s words come back to him, Pete smiled slightly and he took a deep breath. He knew that the first step in solving any problem was working out where the problem lay. The second was in knowing what tools you’d need to fix it. As far as Pete knew, the answer to the first would hopefully be as simple as a lack of power.
His mind wandered to the hole in the end cargo pod that he’d seen. He sure hoped there wasn’t any more damage than he’d first thought. He shook the thought from his mind.
One problem at a time, Pete told himself sternly.
Pushing off from the door, he set to work. He started with moving the third generator into place near the door, before flipping out his scanner to take a reading of the second generator. It was slowly being recharged by the pod that it had had to jumpstart. Sixty-two percent. Pete nodded, pleased with the progress. If all went to plan, he knew that they’d need it up to full power after they escaped this null energy bubble they were caught in.
He opened a compartment onto a fairly extensive array of tools. Not knowing which tools were going to be the most useful to him onboard Star Runner, he collected up the ones he knew for certain that he’d need with the generator as well as a basic selection of some of the others. The pod jolted as he snapped his tool kit shut.
Pete looked up. A pair of metallic clunks came, immediately followed by the whine of the servos for the pod’s arms. Hitting the door release button, he staggered out of the storage bay, weighed down by the tool kit in his right hand. Glancing out the front viewport, he saw the edge of Star Runner sliding out of view. The servos whined again as the pod was brought flush with the airlock.
“We’re docked,” Nick announced from the pilot’s seat.
Alexander nodded. “Pete?”
“I’m as ready as I’m going to be,” Pete answered. “But I’m going to need some help getting the generator up through the airlock.”
“What do you need us to do?” Holas asked eagerly, jumping to his feet.
Pete was glad that for once Nick decided to stay out of the way. He glanced across at his younger brother and saw him lounging back in the pilot’s chair, absently picking at his control panel. With Holas and Zheen to help, it didn’t take long to manoeuvre the bulky generator to the side of the airlock.
“We’re going to need torches up here,” Alex called down. He had slipped into the airlock and scampered up to open the airlock to the Star Runner.
Pete snagged one of the torches that he’d placed on top of the generator.
“Coming up, Alex,” he called.
Alex swivelled his head around and reached down to catch the torch that Pete lobbed up to him. He watched as the bright beam from the torch was snapped on and disappeared inside the ship. Alex twisted around on the ladder before looking back down.
“Plenty of space up here. Looks like a storage bay.”
“I think we’ll need to turn this object on its side in order to get it through the hatch,” Holas said, looking up inside the airlock.
Pete nodded his agreement. The generator was quickly stood on its end and shuffled into the airlock. Pete found himself squished against the inside wall. With a bit of effort, he found that he could sort of squat down if he leant to the right.
“Lift it up and I’ll grab it from up here,” Alex called.
“On three,” Holas said.
“One . . . Two . . . Three!”
Pete strained as he lifted the generator as much as he could. He could feel it tipping slightly towards him, pinning him further against the wall. He quickly let go and felt for a better handhold. His fingers gripped and he lifted again.
“Got it!” Alex called down.
THUMP!
“Hang on!” Alex called. “Slightly more towards Holas!”
Pete strained as he gradually felt the generator rise. He lifted his knee under it, trying to brace his back as he put everything he could into getting the generator higher. It seemed to get slightly easier the further into Star Runner they were able to push it. Pete collapsed back against the wall as Holas was finally able to stand underneath the generator and finish pushing it through the airlock by himself.
“I hope we don’t have to do that on too many decks,” Pete panted.
Zheen nodded as she leant against the wall opposite him.
“Come on up. The air’s a bit stale, but it’s breathable and there’s hardly any gravity at all,” Alex called down.
Pete grabbed up the torches, handing one each to Holas and Zheen before checking the battery on his own.
“What do you want me to do?” Nick asked.
Pete looked up at his brother. “Stay here. Keep an eye on those sensor readings. Let us know if anything changes.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?” Nick asked sarcastically.
Pete shrugged. “Come and tell us, I guess.”
“Hmph,” Nick huffed.
Pete turned and quickly followed Zheen up the ladder. For once, the pod’s gravity field lined up perfectly with another vessel. He thumbed on his torch as he reached the top rung, adding his beam of light to the three that were already there. They were in a room that seemed to almost completely cover the bottom deck of the command module.
“Which way’s up?” Zheen asked.
“My guess is that way,” Alex answered, shining his torch into one of the far corners.
Pete added his torch to Alex’s as he peered into the gloom. There seemed to be some sort of door. A turbo-lift? he wondered. He turned and hefted one of the back corners of the generator and promptly staggered forward as the generator that they’d just struggled to lift nearly completed a somersault.
“Good one, Pete,” Alex grinned at him. “I thought engineers knew about things weighing less in low gravity.”
Pete gave his brother a shove as he passed him to go and right the generator. He lifted the front end and turned around to look as he felt the generator lurch. Zheen smiled back, her grey eyes sparkling at him in the low light. Between them they sort of bounded along the deck, covering three steps worth with every one in the low gravity.
“There’s no power to the doors,” Alex commented as he repeatedly stabbed an orange button beside the doors.
Holas stepped up beside him, placing the tool kit on the deck. “Allow me.”
Pete watched intently as he quickly popped off a cover below the button. Inside, was a large lever and what looked to be half a dozen computer chips slotted in beside it. Holas seemed to pause before pulling the lever. The doors whispered open and four beams lit up a ladder that rose above them.
“I have the door opened to the next level,” Holas called down from above them a minute later.
Once again, the generator was put on its side and pushed up. Alex climbed the ladder as soon as th
e generator had cleared the door to the next level. Zheen and Pete quickly followed. This time when Pete flashed his torch around, there was no mistaking where they were. The flight deck.
In the dim torchlight, Pete made out a number of consoles lining each wall as well as a large horseshoe-shaped one towards the front. A single chair sat in the middle of the room.
“Come on, we can explore later, once we get the power restored,” Alex said, leading the way towards a pair of doors at the back of the bridge.
Pete tore his eyes away, hefted his end of the generator once more and followed. He couldn’t wait to get a proper look at this ship. And besides, what better place could there be to start than Engineering?
He led the way down a short ramp before stepping out into a corridor. Doors lined both sides. Pete counted three on each side, but he ignored them, instinctively knowing that Engineering lay on the far side of the double doors in front of him. He paused to allow Holas to open the doors, noticing Alex trying to see down the cross-corridors to either side of them.
As soon as the doors ground open, Pete strode in. The vast room seemed to stretch out before him, welcoming him. This was what he’d been waiting for. Engineering.
Star Runner Page 14