A Calm Mind

by Ruairí Cinéad Ducantlin

  “We will pick-up Ragnar and Cassandra on K’an. They used the Mayan portal to get there. Ragnar likes the place and Cass likes learning.”

  “What? Is that why those kids are on the bridge?”

  “They are not kids Michelle. They are officers and are capable of crewing the Jenny.”

  “Well I don’t like it and neither does Lucinda.”

  “Captain Raitt’s feelings are not affecting her ability to do her job.”

  “You sound like them.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Corb, it means… it means, I do not like the changes. I do not like that our friends always seem to be on duty. I do not like the changes in you. It means, something has to change.”

  Corb and Michelle’s quarters on the Jenny just became very quiet and claustrophobic. Michelle was increasingly agitated with the military nature of being on an interstellar spaceship. She did not like the effect the military bearing was having on her friends. After a long period of uneasiness, Corb shattered the silence.

  “Are you breaking up with me?”

  Michelle was shocked and immediately began to cry. That question was not what she expected and certainly not what she wanted. Corb jumped up, took two quick strides, leaned over, and hugged Michelle. Through the sobs, Michelle was barely able to speak.

  “No. No. That is not what I meant. I love you Corb. You know that. I will let you connect to me if you want.”

  “No, Michelle, I trust you. Now, tell me what is wrong.”

  “Corb, I have a bad feeling about this mission. That’s what we call them now, missions? Lucinda’s connection is soft now. It used to be bright. Someone is going to die. I can feel it. I know it. One of our friends is going to die.”

  Michelle’s sobbing increased, forcing Corb to wait for her to compose herself before she continued speaking.

  “Maybe I should stay here on Earth.”

  “If that is what you want…”

  Now Corb had tears. Michelle had never seen her man with tears. The shock of “her rock” with tears, rolling slowly down his cheeks, shocked her into a resolve.

  “No. I am here for you. Now. Tomorrow. Forever. I promised you my love and that is what you are going to get. Whether you like it or not.”

  Corb’s smile slowly emerged at Michelle’s veiled, friendly, threat.

  “What makes you think one of our friends is going to die?”

  “Don’t laugh. You promise not to laugh?”

  “Michelle, we have learned to self-teleport across interstellar space. We can connect on an ethereal level to our friends. We have a damned spaceship! Two spaceships! I don’t think you can say anything that will make me laugh.”

  “Okay. Well. Um. Day before yesterday. Um. Well, the tea bag… Um. The tea bag I was using broke because I pressed it too hard…”

  “And?”

  “On the table… Um… Promise not to laugh?”

  “Michelle!”

  “Okay, okay. The tea leaves on the table, they read ‘she will die’.”

  “In the mess on the table from the broken tea bag? You read the words ‘she will die’?”

  Corb’s tone was serious and concerned, Michelle was not sure if he was being serious or sarcastic.

  “Yes. I saw the words ‘she will die’. My mother said her mother had the Vision. Grandma told me I had the Vision. I did not think about it much… Until the day before yesterday.”

  “The tea leaves told you someone will die.”

  Before she could respond, Corb’s stern demeanor cracked and he began to giggle. Realizing he was about to burst out laughing, she punched him in the shoulder.

  “You can be an ass.”

  “Yes, I can. But, come on Michelle. That is just your mind playing tricks. I believe you may have had a premonition. I do. But not from the mess created by a broken tea bag.”

  “Do you think I had a premonition?”

  “Yes, I do. Your grandma may have been right. You may have the Vision. Now, let’s go meet the new crew.”

  “Corb, what if my premonition is correct? What if it comes true?”

  Corb stood, donned his customary hat, and turned back to respond.

  “If we know it is coming, we can avoid it.”

  Smiling, he turned and headed for the bridge.

  Entering the bridge, with Michelle, Corb was struck by Michelle’s previous observation.

  They are young. They are also hard, intense, and more centered. Gung-ho military types. These people are serious about their jobs. Handpicked from tens-of-thousands of volunteers, these people know they are the best at what they do. I need to ask Lucinda about the new crew.

  With Lucinda in the captain’s chair, reading reports, Corb walked up and stood to one side, Michelle to the other. Lucinda had to look up and turn her head right and left to acknowledge her friends.

  “Are we going to pick up Ragnar and Cassandra?”

  Lucinda gave Michelle a sneer before responding.

  “Ragnar and Cassandra are on a mission. Our mission does not require their presence.”

  Two of the new crew looked quickly at each other, smiled, then refocused on their consoles, happy they were not going to be replaced soon.

  “Lucinda, has the crew been briefed on the mission? Do they know how it might be dangerous?”

  The same two new crew members looked at each other with raised eyebrows and worry.

  “You can be an ass.”

  “I have been told.”

  Corb smiled, Michelle shook her head in mock disgust, and Lucinda stood up from her command chair.

  “Everyone I need you to listen up. Mister Johnson is trying to make you nervous. That comment is his way of seeing who is serious and who wants to go home for some milk and cookies. Ignore him.”

  Lucinda turned to look at everyone on the bridge and received a nod of understanding. When she had assured nods from all the bridge crew, she issued another order.

  “Corb, Michelle, with me. Hofstadter, you have the con.”

  When Lucinda turned and began to exit the bridge, Michelle mouthed silently to Corb.

  “You are going to pay for this later.”

  Corb just smiled and followed Michelle, who, followed Lucinda, through the sliding doors.

  The bridge crew started to chatter as soon at the doors closed behind the trio. Lieutenant Hofstadter spoke over the din.

  “You people need to stop listening to the rumors. When the brass wants us to know something they will tell us. Now get back to your consoles. Ensign Wolowitz, that red dot indicates you let us deviate from the assigned orbit.”

  The ensign rolled his eyes, pressed a couple of well-rehearsed sequences, causing the red indicator to turn green, and the Jenny returned to the assigned orbital parameters

  “Corb, you can’t do that to a new crew.”

  “Come on, Lucinda, no harm done.”

  “Some of them are going to be put off the Jenny at Farmore. Others are going to transfer to the Marissa. I need them to think they are part of this crew for the long term. You two asking about our friends coming back to the crew does not help.”

  “One of them is going to die.”

  “What? Huh? What are you talking about, Michelle?”

  “Nothing, she thinks she had a premonition. No one is going to die.”

  “I can speak for myself, cowboy. Lucinda, I had a promotion, someone is going to die on this mission.”

  Lucinda’s demeanor changed from curt and stern to one of concern and worry. The others waited quietly while she contemplated what she just heard.

  Michelle has been acting odd. I wonder if there is something going on between her and Corb. Maybe I should ask to connect. No, that would be prying. I wonder who is going to die?

  “Okay. Um… Who is going to die?”

  “I don’t know exactly.”

  “Corb?”

  “No one is going to die if I can help it. In a few days, after we are underway, we can ask Landry wha
t he thinks.”

  “Who the hell is Landry?”

  Corb did not respond to Lucinda’s question and Michelle shrugged an ‘I don’t know.’ in Lucinda’s direction. Corb smirked, stood, and left Lucinda’s quarters, leaving the girls alone.

  “Do you think we can negotiate for a second ship? Something that is not a modified cargo freighter? Something we can use and really be explorers?”

  “I don’t know Michelle, but we are going to try. If we get a second ship, we will need this new crew to fly the Jenny home. I need you to help me keep Corb in line. I know he misses the team, but we need this crew also.”

  “I will do what I can but Corb is Corb and there are no promises. And, no ring!”

  “NT thinks ‘ring’ is what a bell does.”

  Both women laughed while Lucinda opened a couple of bottles of Shiner beer.

  “Who the hell is Landry?”

  “I have no idea, that is the first I have heard that name.”

  Chapter Five

  The Tortoise and the Hare.

  “The speed of the leader is

  the speed of the gang.”

  Mary Kay Ash

  Aboard the Marissa

  “Captain Turner, we are too far away. What if they are in trouble?”

  “You have your orders Ensign. Maintain position. Don’t even think about opening the comm channel. It will violate the Kripkeni rules of engagement.”

  The crew of the Marissa had been grumbling for a week. The Marissa arrived on station, after seven weeks of travel in the slipstream, then waited another two weeks for the Jenny to arrive. The Jenny arrived in system, transferred the new crew off the Jenny, then departed for the inner Kripkeni planets. Exactly seven Earth days ago, the Jenny embarked on the mission to establish trade with the hostile species, the Garune. The Marissa’s crew is grumbling about not being in the action and they are nervous about the status of the Jenny and her crew.

  The Marissa, as ordered, moved from two light years below to the elliptical plane of a star system called Kripkeni, to point-five light years below the plane. The Kripkeni star system has fourteen planets on an almost flat elliptical plane. According to the briefing provided by the Jenny’s captain, the fourth through seventh planets are inhabited.

  Ninety-five percent of the six-point-nine billion Kripkeni live on the fifth and sixth planets. The fourth planet is too hot for life at its equator but the poles support mining colonies. The seventh planet is the inverse of the fourth planet. Too far from the Kripkeni star to support life except in a narrow equatorial band. The seventh planet is wrapped in a ring of industrial scaled agricultural production facilities.

  The fifth and sixth planets are diametrically opposed populations. The fifth planet, Kripkeni Prime, is populated with the Kripkeni leadership, the elite, and the upper-middle classes. Truly an idyllic paradise, the Kripkeni leaders prevent the population of Kripkeni Prime from exceeding two and one-half billion souls.

  The sixth planet is referred to as the Kripkeni Subjective. Governed by the Kripkeni leadership on Kripkeni Prime, the population of the Subjective are the Kripkeni working class. The Kripkeni Subjective surface is completely encompassed by manufacturing facilities and living quarters. There are eight orbital platforms that are used to manufacture intra and inter-stellar spacecraft. There is a constant stream of mining vessels heading to and from the system’s equivalent of the Kuiper belt and the outer planets. The Kripkeni production quotas require a constant influx of raw materials.

  The xenophobic history of the Garune culture kept them isolated for millennia. Only when their star system’s supply of raw materials began to expire did the Kripkeni undertake active trade relationships with other interstellar species. The Kripkeni cultural air of superiority coupled with their xenophobic ethos resulted in an elaborate process for negotiating trade deals and partnerships.

  The Marissa’s orders arrived while en route to the star system. Communications via the micro-wormhole were short, concise, and not to be considered debatable. Captain Raitt ordered the Marissa to drop into normal space, at the designated coordinates, and wait.

  Seven days ago, the Jenny arrived and docked in the Marissa’s primary cargo hold. When the outer bay doors were sealed, and the atmosphere stabilized, the crew of the Marissa were shocked by the alterations to the Jenny.

  “Welcome to the Marissa, Captain Raitt.”

  “Thank you, Joshua. Call me Lucinda. Brando, good to see you again.”

  “It is good to see you too, Captain.”

  “Brando, can you pass the word, all crew not on board, are to muster in the galley in sixty minutes.”

  “All hands muster, sixty minutes, aye.”

  “Chief, you can show off the new toys but don’t be late. I hear the cook is outstanding, which way to the galley?”

  With that, Lucinda walked toward the interior of the Marissa followed by the senior officers. Everyone else stayed behind to listen to the chief brag about the Jenny.

  The Jenny’s exhaust ports are much bigger, indicating the new engines produced a lot more sub-lightspeed thrust. Along the hull’s port and starboard centerlines are two close-range laser turrets and two railguns. The eight turrets are offset just enough to encircle the Jenny with a close-range defensive battery.

  The color of the hull is no longer the gray-green from the original construction. The new hull plating is an iridium-gray metallic color. The new hull plates are thirty percent of the weight of the original plates. Thirty percent of the weight but able to withstand up to a twelve-megaton plasma bolt.

  The kicker is the new plasma cannons. Mounted five meters apart, along the centerline of the Jenny, the cannon’s muzzles protruded from the front of the ship. The cannons had to be installed on the center line of the ship to counteract the recoil. The cannon’s fire control is integrated with the new engine management system. The new engines and their sophisticated controls keep the Jenny on station when the cannons were fired.

  It took a week, in Earth standard time, before the first message from the Jenny was received by the Marissa.

  In the video message, the exterior of the Jenny is visible and has noticeable battle damage.

  The message, from Lucinda, was short and direct. The Marissa was ordered to rendezvous with the Jenny one-quarter light-year from the sixth Kripkeni planet.

  Chapter Six

  Who bullies the bullies?

  “Into the valley of Death

  Rode the six hundred.”

  Alfred, Lord Tennyson

  Aboard the Jenny – Seven Days Earlier

  “Here we go people. Computer, alert status one.”

  Lucinda’s order caused the klaxons to wail, the ship’s lighting to dim to a ruby hue, and everyone on the bridge to pull their safety harness a little tighter.

  “Computer kill the klaxon.”

  When the wailing stopped, Lucinda continued in a dry, commanding, voice.

  “Everyone, we are about to drop out of the slip-stream into a combat situation. There is no going back. Comms start recording. If we run into trouble initiate the auto send so the Marissa will know what happened to us. Weapons?”

  “Capacitors charged, targeting computers ready.”

  “Thank you, Nick. Corb, are you ready?”

  Strapped into the chair at his console, he had a thousand-mile stare in the direction of the main monitor.

  “Corb, are you ready?”

  “Sorry. Yes, they are waiting.”

  “Who? What? Who is waiting?”

  “Our challenger. They are waiting. Navigation bring our nose up eleven degrees and five degrees to port.”

  The navigator looked at Lucinda, the captain of the Jenny, for confirmation to execute Corb’s orders. When Lucinda nodded affirmative, the navigator complied with Corb’s request.

  “Also, we are going to delay dropping out of the slip-stream by one-point-eight seconds.”

  “Aye, one-point-eight-second delay.”

  “Corb, ar
e you sure?”

  Corb took his eyes from the main monitor, smiled brightly at Lucinda, and turned back to the monitor as the Jenny dropped from the slip-stream.

  The video monitors took less than one second to focus the high-definition images. On the main screen was a Kripkeni battlecruiser. The Jenny was so close the battlecruiser filled the main viewing monitor and the auxiliary screens to either side of the main monitor.

  “They out-weigh us by one-hundred and sixty-seven metric tons.”

  “Thank you Janish. Corb?”

  “Navigation, how far to the battlecruiser?”

  “Three-hundred meters.”

  “THREE-HUNDRED METERS? Corb what have you done?”

  “I put us nose-to-nose with the Kripkeni battlecruiser named None Shall Pass.”

  The panicked voice of the ensign at the sensor station rang out.

  “They are firing, Captain.”

  A conventional LASER beam scorched the forward portside hull of the Jenny. A second beam scorched across her bow. A third beam scorched across the hull, just above the bridge. The plating above, and behind, the captain’s chair became discolored.

  “Everyone relax, those were warning shots.”

  “Warning shots Corb? I can smell the metal heating up. Is this a trick? Is this why the rules prevent using shields? No shields so they could fire on us as soon as we dropped from the slip-stream?”

  The Jenny was inside the effective range of the shields generated by the None Shall Pass. Being so close to the battlecruiser negated the Jenny’s forward shields.

  “Trust me, those were warning shots. Next, they will want to talk. Nick?”

  “Captain, you are being hailed.”

  “DON’T answer that, Lucinda.”

  “What? Why not, Corb?”

  “It is a sign of weakness to talk. With the Garune, you either fight or talk, not both. They fired on us, we are in a fight. I recommend using the forward defensive lasers and destroy that hatch under their bridge.”

  “Captain, you are being hailed. They are insisting.”