Captivity

by Maureen Toonkel

  Pearson leaned back in the stiff Naugahyde office chair. He, Andrews, and Greene had been holed up all afternoon in the Science Center glued to the ship’s computers. And now with supper over they were right back at it. Dennis had spent his supper hour in the Brig comforting Diane. She was no longer crying, but her spirits were low as the reality of her situation sunk in. There wasn’t much that Dennis could do to lift her spirits. He simply told her to hang in there and reminded her how much he loved her.

  Just as they were returning to the Science Center after supper, Commander Andrews was summoned by the rookie communications officer filling in for Diane Pearson. Ensign Benjamin Rubin informed Andrews that Admiral Wilcox was requesting to speak with him immediately. Andrews scuttled off quickly to honor the request.

  Jackson Greene pushed his chair away from the computer screen and removed his headset. He used his feet to roll himself over to Pearson. “I’m sorry about your wife,” he said to Dennis. “I hope she is doing OK.”

  “Thank you for your concern, Officer,” responded Dennis. “I appreciate it.”

  “Um. The rumor going around is that Lieutenant Pearson is a traitor, and she is responsible for the Captain’s death.”

  Pearson had been wondering when the ship’s rumor mill would kick in. Andrews had told the crew that Diane was being detained for safety reasons. He alluded to computer transmissions and left the impression that due to her discovery of the messages she had put herself into a dangerous position. While not the truth, it was not a complete lie either. If the crew thought she was a spy her safety would be in danger.

  “Officer Greene,” Dennis said sternly, “I would advise you not to always believe gossip. Commander Andrews informed the crew as to Lieutenant Pearson’s status. Please get back to work.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jackson rolled himself back to his computer station and replaced his headset.

  They worked in silence until Andrews returned. Dave ordered Jackson Greene to continue searching for the source of the announcements. He asked Pearson to accompany him to the Conference Room to meet with him and Dr. Loring.

  Dr. Loring stood alone in the Conference Room. The last few days were taking a toll on him. He was having trouble sleeping and concentrating. He couldn’t understand how or why Josh had been captured. Where could Josh be? Was he OK? This was all so unexpected. It started that first day on Brisula when Lieutenant Hampton and Beverly Glenna appeared to be dead. He kept playing that scene over and over in his mind. Was there something he could have done to prevent all this from happening?

  “What are you doing standing all alone in the dark?” asked Dave Andrews. He flipped the overhead lights on. Paul squinted his eyes as the bright light blinded him momentarily.

  “Just thinking,” said Paul. “Where’s Pearson? Oh there he is right behind you.”

  “Good. We need to all keep thinking,” responded Dave. He waited for Paul and Dennis to take their seats before continuing. “I have some disturbing news to report. United Galaxy Command is not very happy with us, particularly me. I was under the impression that Josh had not told UGC that Hampton and Glenna’s bodies were fakes. Therefore I did not divulge that the Captain’s body was an imitation. As you know Josh announced to the entire crew that we were returning to Brisula to gather some additional data. I figured that he also told UGC the same thing. I may have assumed wrong. UGC has now received an anonymous transmission informing them that Captain Stoner has not been killed as I had reported to UGC. The messenger indicated that I did not want UGC to know that the Captain was really still alive as I wanted to assume command. The implication was made that I was stalling and sabotaging attempts to locate Josh in hopes that he could not be rescued, and I would be able to permanently take over the running of the Gladiator.”

  Dennis could not help himself. He burst out laughing. He tried to stop, but he couldn’t. The laughter just poured out of him. Tears began running down his cheeks. That’s ridiculous. Anyone who knew Andrews knew that he would never betray a superior nor would he do anything to jeopardize his career. He loved the Navy and he loved his job. He also was extremely dedicated to Joshua Stoner.

  Andrews and Loring stared at him with their mouths hung open,

  “I don’t see what is so funny, Lieutenant Commander. This is a serious matter.” Andrews appeared to be annoyed with Pearson’s behavior.

  “Dave, I am sorry,” gasped Pearson. “It’s absurd. You trying to upstage the Captain.” He burst out into another laughing fit.

  “If you cannot control yourself I will need to ask you to leave.” Yes, Andrews definitely was annoyed.

  Dennis bowed his head and looked down at his feet. He put his hand over his mouth to smother the giggles.

  Andrews turned away from Pearson and addressed Loring. “UGC is fairly certain that the transmission came from the Gladiator. We need to find out who sent this message. I will again examine the contents of all the computers on the ship starting with Diane Pearson’s.”

  “That is also absurd,” said Dennis uncovering his mouth and raising his head for a moment.

  Dave Andrews ignored Dennis. He continued addressing Paul. “I will work from my office in the Science Center. Pearson needs to continue working with Officer Greene. “

  At last the work day was over. The slaves dropped their shovels and got into line. They began the progression back to their cages. Josh paid attention to the tunnel they were walking through. On his first trips from the Cages to the gravel pits he had not taken notice of the environment. He had still been in shock over his circumstances. Now he tried to commit to memory everything in the tunnels. The trap doors on the tunnel floors and the cracks in the ceilings. And even the flaming torches affixed to the earthen tunnel walls. How many tunnels led off from the main tunnel? These tunnels were dark and dank compared to the shimmering silver tunnels he and Lieutenant Shasta had walked through when they first entered this underground city. If he and his crew were going to escape they needed to know all they could about the tunnels in order to navigate them without getting lost.

  Josh was pleased to see Ensign Glenna sitting by herself in their cage. He watched as Hampton gave her a hug and they kissed quickly before a guard shoved them apart.

  They ate the raw slimy fish. It was gross, but Keith knew that they had to eat it in order to keep up their strength. He swished down several cups of water and moved close to Beverly as the talking hour commenced.

  “Are you OK?” he asked her as he glided his hands over her long blonde hair. “I was so worried. Where did they take you?”

  “Those are the same questions I have,” inserted Josh. He too, along with Wayne had moved as close as they could to Keith and Beverly.

  “I was taken to a medical room. Sort of a first aid station,” Beverly answered. “A nurse examined me. She gave me some brown foul smelling liquid to drink. She said it would improve my energy. It tasted awful.” She scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue. “But, I must say, I do feel more energetic.”

  “I am relieved that you are OK,” said Josh. “And Lieutenant Hampton, you appear to have survived your ordeal.”

  Keith looked embarrassed as he nodded and said, “Yes, sir. I am fine.” But actually the wound from the lash of the whip was a constant throbbing on his back. However he was not about to complain to Josh Stoner.

  “Now we don’t have much time, and there is something important that I must talk to all of you about,” said the Captain commanding their attention. “Do you remember studying Morse Code at the Space Academy?” They all nodded.

  “Fantastic,” Josh continued. “I am proposing that we communicate with each other using Morse Code during the times we cannot talk. I will use a tap on my nose for a dot and a swipe across my upper lip for a dash. Keith, you will use a tap on your wrist for a dot and a line across your wrist for a dash.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Keith. “I see where you are going with this. It could really work.”

  “Wayne, I want you to use a
quick pat on your head for a dot and a swipe on you head as a dash. And Beverly I am asking you to give a pull on your hair for a dot and a flip of your hair for a dash.”

  “We should use as many abbreviations and shortcuts as possible,” suggested Keith. “I remember when we studied Morse Code we also learned about the text messaging language that was used at one time on cell phones.”

  “Keith, thank you very much. I hadn’t thought of that. If I recall a lot of the text messaging was fairly easy to decipher. Thanks would be TXS and I don’t know would be IDK.”

  Under normal circumstances Keith would have been beaming with pride that he had given the Captain a suggestion and was thanked for it. But now he still couldn’t shake the shame he felt for betraying the Captain and United Galaxy Command. His emotions were all over the place. A part of him did not want to be rescued or to escape. But did he really want to spend the rest of his life shoveling dirt and eating raw fish?

  “Then it’s settled. We will use Morse Code and text messaging to communicate when we are unable to talk,” Josh was saying. “During the talking hour we need to concentrate on talking to other slaves and trying to learn as much as possible about Brisula.”

  Great, thought Keith. I only get one hour of the day to talk to Beverly, and now I have to use that hour to talk to other slaves. However he knew that the Captain was right. If they were going to be able to escape, they needed to learn as much as they could about Brisula. Keith had learned quite a bit by listening to the guards talking to each other. Keith’s bedding was right under the guards’ station house, and he had been able to overhear many of their conversations. During the time they had left he told the Captain and Lieutenant Shasta what he knew about the structure of the Brisulan world and how they obtained their slaves.

  It seemed like they were getting nowhere fast. Dennis Pearson was a man of action. Initially he had recommended that they do their research and make sure they didn’t jump into something with their eyes shut. But now he was tiring of doing endless research and searching through computer banks. There must be something they could do to locate the Captain. Were they overlooking anything of importance? And who was leaking information? If their theory was right the Tradians had known the Gladiator was going to be sending a landing party to Brisula. The Tradians were there waiting. That meant that the informant was not one of the crew members who were captured. The spy was someone walking among them on the ship. It was obviously not Diane or himself. So who then? After working with Jackson Greene the past couple of days, Dennis had come to respect the young science officer’s intelligence and diligence. He did not think Greene was their traitor. The informant was someone with phenomenal computer skills. Someone who was able to alter the ship’s sensors, so that they were unable to analyze Brisula’s underground makeup using the computer’s usual planetary assessment programs. On a spaceship with one hundred crew members there was only a handful of officers that had access to the computers that ran the spaceship. This included engineering, navigation, communications, laser technology, computer and applied sciences, medical documentation, and personnel files.

  Dave Andrews and Dr. Loring entered the room and interrupted Pearson’s thoughts. Andrews reported that he had conducted a search of the computer banks and could not locate the source of the message sent to UGC. Lieutenant Greene told them that he and Lieutenant Commander Pearson were still unable to locate the source of the loudspeaker transmissions.

  “I am stumped,” announced Dave Andrews slamming down the computer printouts that he had been reading from earlier. “I do not know in what direction we should proceed. We can’t send down more search parties not knowing exactly what we are looking for. It is too dangerous. We cannot risk having more crew members captured and tortured.” He paused for what seemed like an eternity as he stared at his hands. Finally he continued. “As long as the ship’s sensors are incapacitated we cannot even pinpoint where on the planet there is any human life.”

  A gloomy silence invaded the room. The three of them stared at the walls trying their best to avoid each others eyes.

  I’ve never seen Andrews so depleted, thought Pearson. He is usually the one who has the ideas on what to do next. We are in big trouble if he cannot help us to carry on.

  Pearson broke the silence. “Dave, do you think that the informant is a regular crew member? You know a human. Or is there a Tradian among us?”

  Andrews perked up. “That is a very interesting question.” He turned to face Dr. Loring. “Didn’t we learn that the Tradian anatomy differs from ours?”

  “Yes,” responded Paul, “the Tradian stomach is on the right side of their bodies.”

  “Would it be possible to X-ray everyone on the ship?” asked Andrews. “How long would that take?”

  “It is certainly possible,” said Paul. “With my hand held Bio-Scan it should only take a couple of hours.”

  “OK. Then that is our next step. Let’s meet back here in three hours.”

  Diane was lying on the cot in her Brig cell with her arms folded on her chest. How, she thought, did I get myself into this mess? Why would a transmission to the Tradians show up on my computer? She kept going over this in her mind. Who besides herself and Denny would have had the password to get into her personal computer?

  All of a sudden a thought sprang into her head. Paul. That was what she couldn’t remember. A few days before they arrived at Brisula the first time, Paul had asked if he could use her personal computer. He said that his computer had crashed, and Officer Greene had not yet figured out what had caused the crash. She had given him her password. He said that once his computer had been repaired he would let her know, and she could then change her password, so he wouldn’t be able to get in to her account any longer. He had never gotten back to her, and with all the commotion over the Captain and the others’ deaths she had completely forgotten about it. Until now. But that was ridiculous. Paul was not the traitor. He too was wrapped up in the events going on with Brisula and had simply forgotten like she did.

  Dennis Pearson entered her cell. He bent down and gave her a long kiss on the lips. She unfolded her arms and wrapped them around his neck. Good grief, how she has been missing him.

  “Denny. Do you trust Paul Loring?”

  “What kind of question is that?” asked Dennis looking puzzled. “I’d trust Paul with my life. He’s a very skilled doctor. He’s also a good friend.”

  Diane told him about Paul borrowing her computer.

  “No way,” responded Dennis. “It must be just a coincidence. Paul is not a spy.”

  “What if Paul gave my password to someone else who is the spy?”

  “That’s a possibility, but Paul is much more responsible than that. It is more likely that someone stole your password either from you or Paul.”

  At that moment the seaman on guard opened the cell door, and Paul Loring and Nurse Rugan entered.

  “Amanda and I are here to take a Bio-Scan,” said Paul. He was holding a small tablet device. Nurse Rugan held a clip board with a printout of all the crew members. She was using a red ink pen to check off each person that was Bio-Scanned. “We are checking everyone’s stomach to make sure they are not carrying a deadly stomach flu that’s been reported to be in the atmosphere around Brisula. Diane, if you would please stand up and place your hands on your head, I can quickly check you out.”

  Diane got off the cot and placed her hands up on her head. Paul slowly moved the Bio-Scan across the middle of her body going from left to right and back again.

  “You’re clear,” said Paul. “Dennis, I might as well get you done too.”

  Is this really necessary? Dennis thought to himself. Oh well, I guess I can humor him. He got up and placed his hands on his head. Paul scanned his chest.

  “Well, well,” smiled Paul. “Guess what? You’re clear too.”

  Dennis gave him a smirk and then said, “Paul, Diane tells me that your computer was out of commission, and she gave you her password.”

/>   “Um, yes. It was very nice of her to help me out.”

  “Did you ever get your computer fixed?”

  “Well, yes. Why are you asking?”

  “You were supposed to let me know when your computer was back in commission, so I could change my password,” said Diane.

  “Oh, didn’t I?” Paul asked. Diane shook her head. “Well, I am sorry. With everything going on it must have slipped my mind.” Paul turned toward Nurse Rugan and put his arm on her shoulder. “We better get going, or we won’t get to everybody.” He tapped on the door for the seaman, and they left when the door slid open.

  “See,” said Dennis to Diane, “I told you Paul just forgot. That’s all.” Diane nodded.

  CHAPTER NINE

  May 30

  Considering that it was 0400 Paul Loring was wide awake and cheerful as he bounced into the Conference Room.

  “Are you practicing for a ballet?” inquired Dave Andrews.

  “How can you be so wide awake and chipper?” asked Dennis Pearson. “I’m exhausted.”

  Paul laughed as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “This was kind of a fun assignment. Waking people up at three o’clock in the morning to Bio-Scan them. You wouldn’t believe some of the remarks that were thrown at me.”