"What the heck!" I growl, just barely catching my cube before it hits the floor. I look up and realize that everyone has left the gallery except me. And Derek. He’s the one who got my attention by knocking my feet off the chair.
I wince. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to yell." I concentrate on unbuckling my harness and putting my stuff away.
"You were pretty zoned out. What were you studying?" Derek leans against the chair in front of me, his arms crossed loosely. I notice that his uniform fits him quite nicely. I divert my eyes.
I stand up. "I was reading all the logs and articles concerning the Tempest." I step toward the door, but Derek doesn't move out of my way. I would have to climb over the chair in front of me to get around him.
His head is tilted to the side and he's staring at me.
I look down, frowning. "What? Is there something wrong?" My clothes aren't inside out or dirty. Today I even remembered to change out of my scrubs. I look back up.
He stands to his full height. "No. I just can't figure you out." He shrugs.
"What? Why do you need to figure me out?" I ask a bit coldly.
He puts his arms up in mock surrender. "I didn't mean anything bad by that. It's just that you seem to be crazy smart yet you let people treat you like dirt." He frowns.
My jaw drops. "What? You mean people like you? And your friends?"
He lowers his gaze to the floor. "Yes. And I'm really sorry about all of it."
My breath catches. "You are? Why now?" I drop my pack to the floor, turning my full attention to Derek.
He looks to the side before turning back to me. "Why don't you tell us to stop? Or turn us in to the teachers?"
I grind my teeth. Does every man in my life only answer questions with another question? "Fine. If you won't answer that, I'll ask you another question. Why did you recommend me for this trip? It's not part of our regular assignments. There were no bodies found, so it's not part of my job." I gesture to his unwrinkled uniform. "And security has already been over every inch of the ship."
Derek runs his hand through his hair and again his gaze slides to the door. Without answering me, he turns and walks to the door. It cycles open and stops, and he gestures me to go first.
That's two questions he's refused to answer. I grab my pack and stomp out the door. Before I can get too far though, Derek steps in front of me and puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me. He then turns me toward him. Surprisingly, I let him.
I find myself staring at amazing dark eyes and long lashes. His handsome face betrays conflicting emotions, but I'm not quite sure which ones. Anger, remorse, confusion? I stiffen, not sure what’s going on here.
He takes a deep breath and lets it out. "I know I didn't give you a chance when you first came to Delta. I just assumed anyone who would work in a morgue wasn't smart enough or worth knowing. I thought all you did was handle dead bodies and fill out paperwork." He clasps his hands together, staring at them. "But after seeing what you could do with just a few clues yesterday, I checked up on you."
My pulse quickens. "What do you mean checked up on me?"
He still doesn't look up. "Nothing creepy or anything, just normal background check kind of stuff. I just wanted to know how someone like you, I mean someone who works with dead people, could know so much."
My face gets hot and I feel anger bubbling up from inside. I squeeze my fists tight. How dare he poke around in my personal life!
He suddenly looks up, and I see true remorse behind his eyes. My anger stalls momentarily. Behind the pretty boy look, he's more complicated than he shows to everyone else. I feel as if I'm getting a rare glimpse of the real Derek.
"What I found was that you're freaking brilliant, Bren. All those classes and awards you earned on Mars Colony, well you're amazing. I hope that you can forgive me for checking on you. And for calling you muerta all this time." He looks at me with a pleading expression.
I clear my throat. All the angry words float away. Crap. "You aren't the only one who treated me that way."
"I know. The others follow my lead." He shrugs. "I'm sorry about that too."
I shake my head. "All right, I understand all that. But what does all that have to do with today?"
"You remember our last conversation yesterday?" He asks quietly.
"Sure. I had just told you about my mom. And then you left quite suddenly." I cross my arms as a chill goes up my spine.
He slumps against the wall. "Since I know more about you than you do me, I have an unfair advantage."
I raise an eyebrow. "Yes, because you used your job in security to check up on me." I lean against the other wall, resigned that this might take a while.
He gives me a crooked smile. "Yes. Well, it is my job to know the people on our station. For security purposes."
I roll my eyes. "Do you do that for all your classmates?"
His face is suddenly serious. "No. And it won't happen again. I don't want to get in trouble."
"Then why did you take the chance doing it on me?"
"Because of what you did yesterday. Our security team should've solved that problem. That's what we're trained for."
"Oh, so it's a pride thing? You were upset the muerta figured it out before you?" I reach down and pull my bag back onto my shoulder.
He steps in front of me. "No, that's not what I meant. I—" He's cut off by the sergeant's voice over the comm ordering us downstairs.
We stare at each other.
"Bren, I really need to explain myself."
I shake my head. "Looks like you'll have to do it later. The sergeant doesn't sound very patient."
He presses his lips into a thin line and we step into the lift. We ride in awkward silence to the entry level. When the lift doors open, an unhappy sergeant greets us.
9
Sergeant Scott
We follow the sergeant and the rest of the team out of the security ship in silence. I stare at Derek's back and replay our conversation in my head. I don’t know what Derek was trying to tell me, but there's no way I can talk to him now that we're on the Tempest surrounded by the other guards.
As we go through the airlock and into the Tempest, the sergeant updates me on everything that security has done so far. It sounds like they've covered every inch of the ship to try to figure out where the crew went and what happened aboard the ship. Most of what he tells me I already know from my research.
One thing that does surprise me is that Derek was part of the first team onboard the Tempest after responding to the distress call. Maybe that's why he's so personally invested in solving this case. That, and if we were to successfully solve this mystery, it might help him earn his permanent apprentice status.
Our group gathers in the wide corridor just inside the hatch. So far this ship looks well maintained. The walls aren’t all scuffed up, and when I open one of the electrical panels, I find that the wires and connectors are newer and all in place. The Valiant had looked like the crew had desperately scrounged parts from one section of the ship to fix another.
I close the panel and turn, as the corridor is suddenly quiet. The security guards are stiff and at attention and the sergeant is glaring at me. I give him a small smile and lean back against the wall, crossing my arms. “Sorry. Just checking.”
I watch Derek out of the corner of my eye as the sergeant continues briefing us. Derek keeps his posture attentive and his gaze forward. Mostly. I catch his attention flick over to me occasionally.
I force my gaze off Derek and back to the sergeant. He's got a sour expression. "Any questions before we start the tour, Miss Teves?"
I'm about to tell him no, when an idea pops into my head. "Who all from this team was with the first boarding party?" I look around the room as several guards, the sergeant, and Derek all raise their hands.
"Good. I've read all the reports and sensor logs, so I know what you did or did not find. So we need to think out of the box."
I turn toward Derek and one of the maroon-shirts th
at had raised his hand. "When you first stepped foot on the ship, did you notice any odd smell or temperature difference?"
They both shake their heads.
"Was there anything that felt out of place?"
The other guard pipes up, "What do you mean out of place? I've never been on this ship before, so I wouldn't know what is normal or not."
I uncross my arms and push off the wall. "True, but humans make an impact on any environment they live in. Did you notice dirty dishes left out, hatches not closed fully, or clothes or personal items lying around?"
Derek steps forward. "The kitchen looked like there were several crew members that had just left their meals in a hurry. That's why we figured maybe they had to quickly abandon ship. It looked like whatever happened was a surprise to most of the crew."
I smile, grateful that Derek is taking this seriously, despite whatever happened between us. I turn to the sergeant. "What about the engineering and ship-wide systems. Was everything on and running?"
He frowns. "Yes and no. The main engines were still on, and most of the lights and power. But there were certain systems that were turned off, either electrically fried, or powered off at the main junction."
I think through all the layers of systems a ship has. I'll need to figure out which ones the sergeant found without power. "Can we see the kitchen first, and then the engineering sections please?"
The sergeant gives me a quick nod, his sour expression deepening. I wonder how Derek was able to convince him to include me on this investigation. From the stiffness of the sergeant's posture, I'm guessing it took a lot of convincing. Or bribing.
The sergeant leaves half his team at the entrance, and sends several others to the bridge to check on the ship's systems again. Two end up joining us.
We take a lift down two levels. It opens to a corridor even wider than the one above. Double doors straight ahead mark the kitchen and dining areas, and there are corridors that stretch both left and right. I make a mental note to check my diagrams to find out where those lead.
We pass through the double doors and the smell of old food and dirty dishes hits me. I look at Derek, frowning.
"It wasn't this strong when we were first here. But," he gestures to several tables with dirty dishes still on them, "we were told not to touch anything."
I nod. Of course, the whole ship would be considered a crime scene. "When did you first come aboard?" I walk along the wall that leads to the kitchen, skirting the tables with unrecognizable food decaying on metal plates.
Derek hurries to catch up to me. "Six days ago."
I step carefully around the kitchen inspecting counters, floor and ceiling. I don't touch anything, but I do stop and close my eyes, committing everything I've seen to memory. This helps to keep the scene in my long-term memory.
I open my eyes and turn. Right into Derek's broad chest. "Oof. Sorry about that."
He steadies me with his warm hands. I can feel the sergeant looking at us, so I step back quickly and push past Derek.
"Can we head to the engineering section now?" This is directed at the sergeant, but I don't dare look at him. My face is warm and I'm mentally shaking my head. Concentrate, Bren. Forget about Derek. Work the problem.
By the time we get down the last ten levels to the engineering section, my face no longer feels on fire. I'm filling my thoughts with all the details I've seen and read, trying to stay in the zone, as my mom would say. She described the zone as that place where I was totally focused on solving a problem. After a lot of training, I can now block outside stimuli and use all my senses to mentally walk through a scene. It’s helped in the past, and I hope it can help now.
I pull up the engineering diagrams on my cube. With the 3D display glowing just a few inches above the cube, I look through all the systems and panels. Everything on the ship seems to be in order. There aren't any warning lights, nothing shows up on any of the exterior sensors, and there doesn't seem to be any signs of sabotage.
"Can you walk me through all the systems down here that you checked and what you found?" I ask the sergeant.
He stares at me.
"Isn't that why we're here? To see what was missed and find the crew?" I smile sweetly. I do understand that the sergeant could be upset that his crew missed something, but I'm still enjoying his discomfort.
He glares at Derek, who stands silently next to me. I wonder if he's second guessing talking the sergeant into this.
Not waiting for an answer, I walk over to the nearest console and pull it up on my schematics. I go from console to console checking all the diagnostics myself. Derek stays with me, looking over my shoulder. The sergeant stiffly follows, adding comments every once in a while at each station. Most of the time he just tells me that everything is as they found it a week ago. No changes or errors in any of the ship's systems or sensors.
I get to the escape pod console and study it carefully. At first glance, everything looks fine. It shows the escape pods have all been deployed, which is why security ships are still out scouring the immediate area. Those pods have to be somewhere. But I find it strange that there are no sensor readings of where the pods went.
I turn to the sergeant. "Has your crew checked the pod bays? Did the pods actually leave the ship?"
His brows furrow, causing a deep crease to appear between his eyes. "All the sensors say they launched, and an outside sweep of the ship shows that the bay doors are closed. They close automatically after launch."
I instinctively twist a long curl of hair around my finger as I'm thinking. "But if the crew didn't want whoever boarded them to know where they went, how would they alter the readings on the console to disguise their trajectory once they were launched in the pods?"
Silence.
The sergeant steps over to the console and runs his fingers over the controls. After a minute, he steps back. "I don't think there’s a way to give false readings from here. Once they launch there aren't any controls in the pods that connect back to the ship. Each pod is independent. So they couldn't do it from inside the pods either." He pauses. "What are you thinking?"
I shake my head. "I have a trace of an idea, but I'm not sure yet. Can we see where the escape pods are launched from?"
We exit the main engineering room and walk down a few corridors. If I'm calculating where I am correctly, we're heading toward the back of the ship.
The sergeant stops at a set of sealed doors. "These lead to the dock that not only holds the emergency pods, but also the launch system and tubes for escape." He places his hand on the bio scanner and enters some commands into the keypad below that. The doors hiss open and I get a slight whiff of lingering exhaust.
10
Escape Pods
We step inside and the doors close behind us. The room is a long and narrow with simple consoles near each door opposite us. I count five pod doors.
"Can you always smell the exhaust after the pods launch?" I ask as I make my way over to the first console and door.
"Sometimes. It seems faint but I believe it's normal." The sergeant steps next to me as I examine the first console.
I look sideways at him. "Can you tell me the steps to launch one of these pods?"
He narrows his eyes at me, but he answers. "This room is more or less a waiting room. The evacuees wait here while a tech prepares the pods for launch." He places his hand on the console. "Once the main launch system is ready, the inner doors open into the launch area where there are separate consoles at each airlock."
"So if I were to open these doors, and if a pod was still in its tube, I'd see it?"
"No, not exactly. There's still another sealed door between this one and the actual tube the pod is in. It's a security precaution so as not to get accidentally sucked out into space if something goes wrong with the pod door."
"Can you open this so I can see for myself?" I point to the door next to me. Pod One is written across it in large, black letters.
"We've already established that the pods
are gone, Miss Teves."
I shrug. "Humor me, Sergeant." I match the testiness in his tone.
He grinds his teeth together, making the muscles in his square jaw tighten. Silently he pushes a few buttons and the door to pod 1 whooshes open.
I walk through the door followed by Derek. This room is much smaller, just big enough for a few people to wait their turn to get into the pod. The next sealed door is even smaller.
Once the sergeant joins Derek and I in the tiny area I point to the door. "So on the other side of this door is where a pod usually is? Before it’s ejected away from the ship."
"Correct."
"And you said your team checked the outside doors and they're firmly closed?"
"Yes."
"Then it's safe to open this door to the tube?"
"Well, yes it's safe, but—"
"Then open it please, Sergeant."
More jaw grinding. I think he might lose a few teeth before we're done with this investigation. I look away before he can see me smile.
After some incomprehensible grumbling, and a few words in some language I’m not familiar with, the sergeant manages to get the sealed door open. I wonder if he’s grouchy because of me, or if he’s always like this.
There's nothing here. It's empty like the sergeant said. I peer down the tube and can see a small window inset in the far bay door that leads out into space. The temperature is colder here, and I can definitely smell the exhaust from the pod's engines.
I turn back to the sergeant. "Was that difficult to get the door to open? It seemed to take longer than the first door." I point behind us.
"Yes, I had to override the safety mechanisms. That outer door there," he points down the empty tube to the door I was just looking at, "is the only thing that is protecting us from space."
I bite back a nasty retort. "Can we see the other ones please?"
The sergeant rolls his eyes and turns toward the door. "Sure, why not?"
Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 5