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To Boldly Go, Ch 21-25
By C.L. Nelson
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
April and Giraud were back in town for the evening. Night was beginning to fall, and the wreck had supplied them with everything they needed. Most of the equipment was too old to be of any use, but they knew that there was human life on this world. They didn't know if they'd ever get off, but that would be tomorrow's concern. They walked cross the city square, looking at the emblem which had seemed so familiar when they first got here. They were both beginning to feel drained.
"Now I remember that logo," April said, "That's the saucership logo."
"Of course, it was the old project Longarm logo, which was the military branch the saucerships were assigned to," Giraud added, also remembering her high school history.
"Captain April!" a voice called out from across the street.
They both turned to see who it was.
"Captain!" the voice called again. It was Commander Fairfield, who April considered lost during the battle.
They made their way across the street to meet him.
Two figures came up behind Fairfield as he waved to his captain. They grabbed him from behind. April ran forward to help, but his path was blocked by a speeding automobile. The figures dragged Fairfield down the street, to an alley. April ran forward, right on their heels. The figures spotted him. One drew a pistol and fired. The bullet whizzed by April as he continued to save his crewman. He reached for the laser he had beneath his shirt.
"Captain! No!" Giraud shouted as she caught up with him.
The figures were out of sight.
"You can't do that, it'll attract too much attention. They only had projectile weapons," Giraud explained.
"I know, I wasn't thinking. What do you suppose he was doing here?"
"I don't know."
It was dark now. They desperately needed sleep.
***
"We'll be arriving at the planet in thirty minutes, captain,"
"Captain! I'm receiving some sort of distress signal. It's an automated one from the ship Horizon," Rodgers reported from his console.
"Direction?"
"Planet surface, I'm transferring the coordinates to the helm."
"New course, Mr. Schmidt."
"Aye, sir"
***
The communicator crackled. It barely had enough power to sustain itself, much less the signal. It emitted a tone every thirty seconds to let the user know that it was running out of power. There was a faint warbling signal coming through the speaker.
"There!" shouted April, "That's a tracker signal."
"A space command ship must've intercepted the distress signal," Giraud commented.
"We've got to get back to the Horizon. That's where they'll look for us."
The two began gathering up their belongings and prepared to leave. It was early in the morning, and they still felt tired. It was hard to move, much less be able to move quickly.
***
Fairfield was now sitting in front of a uniformed man, presumably a General or other such high-ranking official. He'd spent the night in a jail cell, which was fine with him as long as it had a bed. He'd felt extremely tired ever since the sun set and he didn't awaken until mid-morning when the sunlight shone in his eyes through the barred window of his cell. The official circled the chair, puffing on a large pipe.
"We've been at peace for so long, now. I don't understand why you would want to start up hostilities again."
"What hostilities?" asked Fairfield.
The official shifted directions, gazing directly at Fairfield, "I don't want to play any more games. You know way too much to be from around here. I think you're a spy for the visitors. You haven't bothered with us for over thirty years, why start now? Do you need something from us?"
Fairfield took a deep breath, fearing the consequences of what he was about to do, "All right. I am an alien...to you, but I'm not interested in any conquest, I just want to get back to my ship."
"What ship?"
"I was taken from my spaceship, I was deposited here by my captors."
"You expect me to believe that?"
Another uniformed man came in and handed something to the official. The official frowned, and crumpled up the paper, "We will have to resume this later."
***
The transportation device was a highly complex piece of equipment, but one which Commander Jarvis had been familiar with since its introduction. Deputy chief engineer, Lt Commander James Weber, pulled open the lower panel on the console and rearranged the blue and green modules. He then went over to the chamber and pulled an access panel from the wall. Lieutenant Commander Weber disconnected the large coupling and the chamber lights went out. Next he pulled another wire and connected it to the big cable. He scratched his head, trying to figure out what Jarvis had done to this machine
***
Where...are...we? the presence asked, still reeling from the effects of the drug. The presence couldn't control any of the host's body parts, in fact, there were no body parts to control.
***
Lieutenant Commander Weber, the next ranking engineer was examining the console when Szylnick entered the room.
"Status report!"
"I'm still trying to figure out what was done here. This technology is quite new. I know that this grid here is part of the pattern buffer, and this one supplies the signal. I think its locked into some sort of loop."
"Can we shut it down?"
"Not without losing whoever's in there"
The intraship page sounded. Szylnick went to the panel on the wall.
"Doctor Guest here, Mr. Jarvis has left sickbay,"
"What? Wait a minute, let me get out of here." He left the room and the door shut behind him. The quiet was deafening. He tried the panel again, "Dr. Guest?"
"Here, sir. Jarvis has left sickbay. I don't know where he is."
"We've already located him, doctor."
They'd been out at the crash site for over an hour. The communicator finally went dead. The sun was up over the mountain and their fatigue had subsided as the sun rose.
"That's that," April said, looking down at the powerless device.
Giraud took the communicator from him, and turned it over, "Can we use power from the Horizon to recharge it? It looks compatible."
"We'd need a wire...maybe inside the ship."
The two went into the wreck. They began opening panels and ripping out wires which might work.
"Here's one," Giraud called as she pulled it out of the communications panel.
April put the one end into the communicator.
"This looks like the power connector," she pointed to an area inside the panel they were cannibalizing.
"Try it."
They plugged it in and the light on the communicator went on to show that it was accepting the charge.
"It'll be about an hour, now," April said, flopping down into a chair in the control room.
"Do you think they're coming?" Giraud asked.
"They're tracking the signal."
The two sat staring at the communicator as it charged for a long time. Giraud turned toward her Captain, "What will you do if they don't find us?"
April shot her an annoyed glance, "I guess we can always turn this into a house and grow radishes in the front yard."
She giggled, "No, seriously. What would you do without space command? What would you become?"
"Retired. No, I guess I haven't given the idea much thought. I want to go home at least one more time."
"Where's home?"
"I used to say it was in Arizona, on earth. Now, I'd have to say my home is in space, on board a ship. What about you?"
"Bradbury, on mars. We lived in the bubble city. It seemed like the outside was just beyond your reach. You never felt like you were really there, with the bubble and all. You ever think about retirement?"
"I'm not going to."
"What about family?"
"I used to have one. I don't anymore."
"What happened?"
"Why do you keep asking me all these questions? You know, you're really annoying!"
"It passes the time. Besides, you're an interesting person."
"I'm just some guy making his way through life."
She moved over to the station he was sitting at and sat on the console facing the chair he was sitting in.
"We may have to live together a long time. I'd like to know who I'm living with."
April just stared straight ahead, trying to avoid her. Her eyes were flashing at him, inquisitive and inviting at the same time. He could tell her, but what would be the point? She was right, though. They could be together for a long, long time. Still, if he had to be exiled somewhere, he was happy to have her keep him company.
***
"Mr. Weber, I need my transport machine. Now!" roared Szylnick through the intercom.
"Sir, this is a very delicate process. If I don't do it right, then we'll lose Commander Jarvis!" Weber shot back.
Szylnick chastised himself for being short with Weber. He was trying to reverse the process as best he could. There was no need to further jeopardize his chief engineer, "Well, how much further along are you?"
"I've got it narrowed down to a few wires. I should have it nailed in about two hours."
"Keep me posted." he punched out.
"We're within range of the planet, captain," Schmidt reported.
***
April and Giraud were still inside the wreck of the Horizon when the ground began to shake. They ran outside the ship to see what was going on. Hundreds of missiles soared upwards from the planet surface, from all around.
"Did they start a war and forget to tell us?" Giraud asked.
"They don't seem to be reaching any kind of apogee. They're headed away from the planet."
"The ship that's tracking this signal!" Giraud exclaimed, realizing the immediate horror as it dawned on the two.
"We have to shut it down, Now!" declared April.
They went back inside the Horizon. They had cannibalized the controls to recharge the communicator. There was no way to shut off the signal.
"We'll have to take the main power grid off line!" April shouted.
"Where is it?"
"We can disable it from on top of the ship."
April reached up and turned a wheel on the ceiling of the control room. It was tight, probably from the impact of the landing, he surmised. Giraud grabbed the wheel and turned. It finally loosened and the hatch fell open. They climbed out onto the hull of the wreck.
"Over here, " April called, "When they put a ship in dry dock, they cut the main power grid and reconnect from the dock's power. This looks like pretty much the same layout."
He located a hatch a few yards from the edge of the ship. It was bolted on.
"Tools! I need something to turn these bolts!" April shouted.
Giraud looked up into the sky, "Too late. Look."
The missiles were exploding, presumably hitting their target. The sky radiated yellow bursts, concentrated in one major area. April looked down at the bolts in frustration. His hands were shaking with rage. He lured the ship into that attack, he was responsible. He felt her hands on his.
"We had to try," she explained.
***
"Incoming ordinance!!" shouted Schmidt.
"Battle stations!" Szylnick responded.
"Estimated twenty to thirty nuclear-type missiles. Locked onto our location."
"Laser cannons at ready!"
"One minute to fire capacity."
"Repulsors energized, ready for defensive posture."
"At will, Mr. Schmidt"
"Launch all starfighters, intercept those missiles!"
***
Another tremor shook the ground. This time, a large object soared skyward, too fast to identify.
"Another missile?" asked April.
"It doesn't look like it. More like a spaceship," remarked Giraud.
***
Colonel Vig sat at the edge of the console, satisfied that what he was doing was right. Fourscythe had been launched. He stared out at the scope which tracked the movement of the weapon. At long last, his pet project, the one he'd seen from start to finish would now be proven in a real combat situation.
The world of starlight surrounded him as his sped off in the starfighter. All the functions appeared to be normal, at least that's what the instruments had told him. The missiles were dead ahead, moving fast. Deacon placed his hand on the fire control. The first ones flew toward him. He fired, the lasers finding their target. The missile exploded. The next target was a pair of them. His wingman, Loisette, was concentrating on another target. Deacon fired again, but the force of the blast was too much for tiny spaceship. His instrument readings were meaningless. There was no frame of reference to go by. Stars whizzed by at all different angles. The direction finder tried to re-establish a fix on his whereabouts. He pushed down on the accelerator control, hoping the thrusters would gain control. He felt the force push him back against the seat. He was still separated. His life support reading told him he had two hours of air.
***
"Repulsors ready," Schmidt reported.
"Begin protective measures," Szylnick responded.
The ships repulsors smacked into a group of missiles. They exploded on contact.
"First wave has been eliminated! One minute to recharge."
The forces from the blast rocked the ship, tossing people all over the bridge.
***
Deacon always thought that he'd live to tell about his time in the service, especially since the war had been over for five years. Yet, he was doomed, so he thought. He looked around for some sign of the battle, but couldn't see anything. The interference from the explosions must be affecting the direction finder, he thought. The ship had steadied out, and he was at least moving in a straight line. There was a planet about an hour from where he was by the computer's estimate. He started to lay in the course when the sensors pieced up a large movement of ships. He concentrated on them, thinking it was the battle in progress. They were still to far away for a visual. He readjusted his course to intercept them.
***
"Now!" shouted Szylnick, grabbing the arms of the command console.
Repulsors encountered the barrage of missiles just off the bow of the ship. The missiles exploded in unison. The blast was so strong it pushed the Exeter over onto its stern. Aboard the ship, people were tossed everywhere as the artificial gravity computer struggled to contain some sort of balance.
"We're going over!!" Schmidt shouted.
Everyone was thrown to the rear end of the bridge. The viewscreen showed the stars moving downward. Exeter pitched backward, rolling bow over stern. The bridge crew were thrown out of their seats as the ship continued to roll. At one point the gravity simulator could no longer deal with the continual changes in attitude, shutting down completely. People began floating around the room, still being thrown around from the ship's movement. Schmidt was no longer able to hold onto his station. Rodgers was rolling off the ceiling, headed back towards the floor. Szylnick was spinning towards the ceiling when he collided into Rodgers.
***
The ships were barely visible from where he was. They had no running lights, but through the use of the computer, he found that they were not space command ships, but a Romulan battle formation. The computer verified the presence of ten warbirds. Since the direction finder was without direction, it was impossible to assess where the ships were going. They were not, however, moving toward him. He maneuvered the ship in the direction of the planet. If he could get a message, he could warn someone. Still, he didn't know where he was. There was only fifty minutes of air left. The planet was still the only choice he had.
***
The computer realized which way was up. It fed the data into the artificial gravity unit, and it, in turn, restored the ship's gravity. People fell straight to the floor from wherever they happened to be floating. Most of the bridge crew landed in a heap toward the center of the bridge. Rodgers wasn't so lucky. He landed on the helm, rolling off of the station onto the floor. He clutched his side as he lay there, unable to move.
"Rodgers!" Szylnick called.
"My side...I can't move..."
Szylnick crawled to the command console, pressing the intercom button, "Sickbay, we need a medic on the bridge."
Schmidt took his place at the helm, once again, and tried to regain control of the ship.
"Get us back on course. I want to know where that signal came from."
Bursts of weaponry peppered the side of the ship. Exeter lurched sideways.
"Repulsors are off line!" Schmidt called out, furiously adjusting controls on the console.
"Damage report!" Szylnick ordered, climbing back into the command chair, which he'd been thrown out of.
"Only minor damage, sir. Port side on the primary hull is reporting scattered electrical malfunctions."
"Find out what that thing is and where it is. I want it out of my sky!"
***
Loisette found the offending object and tried to lock. It was fast, anticipating his movements before he could complete them. He pulled back and tried an intercept course from another direction. The ship spun end-over-end to face the attacking starfighter, firing a barrage of weaponry at it. The starfighter, taken completely by surprise, erupted into a fireball.
***
Szylnick watched the screen as the battle raged. Each starfighter was eliminated as soon as it was within firing range. The sky had been thoroughly emptied by the ruthlessness of the attacker. It turned and fired on the Exeter, once again.
"Evasive action!" shouted Szylnick.
"It's matching every course change, measure for measure! Scanners show no life forms present on board, sir," exclaimed Schmidt, trying desperately to operate two consoles at once.
"Get us the hell out of here! Recall all starfighters and engage warp drive as soon as they're recovered!"
"Aye sir, warp engaged."
***
Exeter moved away from the planet, and the attacker continued to pursue the ship. Schmidt peered into the scanner again, "We're losing him, but it appears to be following our warp trail, " he observed.
"Maintain present course and speed. I need any and all possible theories on what this thing is ASAP!" commanded Szylnick.
"It appears to be anticipating the ship's movements, before they're even executed," Schmidt re-iterated his observation from earlier.
"Possibly, it's reading the computer signals as they're being fed to the processor," Lieutenant Esterhaus, acting Science Officer hypothesized, "If signals were sent directly, bypassing the control processor, this may provide the secrecy we need to defeat this thing. The fact that the craft is unmanned indicates that there is some sort of computer on board which is capable of devising countermeasures based on the signals it picks up from its targets."
Manual override still talks to the computer, so that's no an option," Schmidt observed.
"We could wire the signals directly to the controls," Lieutenant Kelly, environmental systems engineer, suggested.
Szylnick agreed, "That's fine for maneuvering, but how will we get the commands to weaponry?"
"Communications!" exclaimed Schmidt, "We get a man into the fire control station, call them on the intercom and tell them to fire."
"We have to assume that this thing can interpret voice communications as well as data. It would pick up the signal as it was being transmitted," countered Esterhaus.
"A communicator wouldn't, however," suggested Szylnick.
Schmidt agreed, "Not if the link was already open before we encountered the attacker. The speaker's passive on a communicator. It wouldn't necessarily know if the link was routine or not. We'd only need one word to convey the message."
"Fire," Szylnick muttered to himself, "Make the preparations. When you're ready, we'll turn back toward the planet on the same course. If it's still following, we'll be sure to meet up with it again."
***
Weber had been studying the schematics for the transport mechanism for some time. It didn't look like there was any way to keep power going and still re-wire the system. He looked up to rest his eyes. He glanced around his room, half dazed from the concentration. There has to be something which can supply the gigawatts that were needed to sustain the pattern in memory. He got up, rubbed his eyes and decided to take a walk. He left his cabin and made his way down the corridor. Crewmen were still cleaning up the damage from the gravity incident earlier. At least things were right side up again. That was, unfortunately, one of the problems with a computer generated gravitational field generator. If there was no frame of reference, the computer couldn't simulate the proper pull, and it shuts down, until the bearings can be reset. It had been a while since he'd experienced that. Usually that happens right before a serious hit or impending explosion. He passed some security officers in the hallway, noting that you could always tell which of the crew were security. They were the ones with the wide belts and holsters for the lasers they carried. No one else on board carried sidearms, unless they were on a landing party. Then, the weapons would be issued out before disembarking. Wait...lasers! That was it, they held enough power that they might be used to keep the pattern stable while the wires were re-attached! He punched an intercom panel on the wall.
***
Szylnick was waiting impatiently for Weber to perform the operation. Three laser weapons were brought into the transport room, and Weber had already disassembled one of them, and connected the battery to the main power input. There would need to be more than one of these to sustain the buffer without ship's power supply.
"Once we cut over, we have approximately one minute to re-connect the wires and get the ship's power supply back to the buffer," he explained, removing the screws on the second laser. There certainly was more than enough experimentation going on throughout the ship.
***
The observer had grown tired of occupying this area of the ship. He was mostly energy, and he felt the need to spread out and find other parts of this corridor. The human was no longer needed now. He slid through the connections, exploring the ends of each. The lines were like looking down long tubes to him. Each end felt like something, and the something identified itself each time he contacted it. He felt the main power, he felt weapons, life support, and immense knowledge. Wait, this may be of interest, he thought, his mind brushing once again over the connection. This requires further exploration. His presence slid into the connection. he felt himself covered in wisdom. He could sense images of ships, leaders and machines all moving through him. He would stay in this place for a while, while he sorted out each image.
***
They were ready to go back into battle. Esterhaus was now at the helm and Schmidt had been dispatched to the fire control station. The ship was now being flown as manually as possible. Each touch of the helm's controls produced a jerk in the ship's movement. Szylnick stared out at the screen, focusing his concentration on the upcoming battle.
***
Fire control was in the depths of the primary hull. In fact, it was Y deck, considered the lowest in that section of the ship. Once, this area was fully manned with a compliment of five people. During the first years of the ship's life, the station was actually responsible for firing the weapons. Better use of the ship's superstructure as a signal conductor led to interconnecting all of the ship's basic functions directly to the main computer. Now, it was primarily a back-up system in case of a computer failure. Schmidt took his seat in front of the fire control panel. He touched his hand on the viewscreen located above the controls and waited while the screen activated. A crosshair pattern appeared in the center screen, flashing to show that ship's weaponry wasn't locked onto anything. He hit the switch on the left side of the console and the control board lit up. At the bottom of the screen, the word "armed" was now displayed in red. He pulled out his communicator and placed it the right of the display screen, "I'm in position," he reported in.
"Standby," Szylnick replied.
***
On Szylnick's command, Esterhaus began turning the ship to reverse course. It was difficult watching both the astrogator readouts and his hands on the buttons. Every once in a while, his hand would drift off the button while he struggled to read the coordinates displayed by the astrogator. Finally, they were doubling back, maintaining warp.
***
It wasn't long before the sensor alert indicator sounded.
"Here we go..." said Szylnick, leaning forward in his seat.
***
Schmidt watched nervously as the attacker appeared on his display screen. He grabbed the fire control stick, maneuvering the crosshairs onto the image of the attacker. The crosshairs still flashed, signaling that the attacker wasn't yet in range.
***
The tension was mounting on the bridge. On the screen, the image of the attacker was growing larger by the minute.
"Sound General Quarters!" ordered Szylnick.
***
BATTLE STATIONS flashed in the light over the doorway of the fire control station. Schmidt found it a little distracting, but still managed to focus on the target. The crosshairs were still flashing and he kept moving the control stick, keeping the crosshairs superimposed over the attacker's image.
***
"Still out of range. The attacker does not appear to be sensing the lock from weapons," reported Lt Kelly as he looked at the scanner readout.
Szylnick was beginning to feel faint, then he realized that he was holding his breath. Esterhaus steered the ship onto what was basically a collision course with the attacker.
"The attacker's weapons have been activated," observed Kelly, "We are being scanned."
***
Schmidt could hear all the conversation taking place on the bridge through the passive microphone on Szylnick's communicator. Still he focused on the control stick, his index finger beginning to itch as it rested on the fire button. The crosshairs stopped flashing, and the word "locked" appeared underneath the crosshairs.
***
"Target within firing range," reported Kelly.
"Stand by..." Szylnick said. He didn't want to give this thing any time to think or break off the attack. He picked up the communicator which was resting on the arm of the command chair, "Fire!"
***
Schmidt pressed the fire button and held the stick firmly. The attacker had no time to process the action. It tried to flip end over end, still taking the continuous flow of laser energy as the beams reached out from the Exeter. The beams caught the engines as the ship rolled over. It exploded into a fireball and vanished from the screen.
***
Szylnick let out a deep breath, "Stand down from battle stations. Maintain present heading. Let's put this ship back the way it was, gentlemen. We've lost some time, but we can be ready when we get to the planet."
***
"There," Weber commented, attaching the last battery, "We're ready."
Another transport officer pulled a lever on the wall, just opposite the console. Weber saw that the battery was now powering the buffer. He knew which two wires had been crossed. It was now just a case of changing them back. He pulled them both looses, and connected them again, in reverse order. He plugged the large cable which supplied power from the ship back onto the board which housed the buffer memory components.
"Main power on," he said, looking up at the officer at the switch.
The hum of the transport mechanism began once again, and the board lit up, showing all systems were back on line. The transport officer flipped a few controls and pulled the levers down, then back up. The hum of the machine rose steadily, and a chattering sound began to rise from the chamber as a form began to sparkle and take shape. The noise faded and Jarvis appeared on the disk. Jarvis looked around, disoriented from all that had happened. He felt nothing. The presence was gone, his thought were once again his own.
"Are you all right, Mr. Jarvis?" asked Szylnick.
"Y-yes, I feel fine," answered Jarvis.
"Report to Sickbay, Doctor Guest wants to check you out."
They'd finally found their way back to the third planet. A grid had been laid over the planet's image on the screen.
"The computer's best estimate of where the signal came from is right here," explained Lieutenant j.g. Tigue, who had replaced Rodgers as communications officer. The grid had a red dot showing the location.
"That would be the place to start,," Szylnick commented.
"I'm scanning the area now," Schmidt reported, as he looked into the viewer at his station, "There appears to be some indication of a self-contained power source."
"A ship, perhaps?" Szylnick speculated.
"Possibly. There's not enough information."
"Schmidt, you're in charge. Have security send a detail to the transport room," he ordered, leaving the bridge.
***
They had been sitting on the ship's hull for hours. April looked up at the sky, thinking about his life as a ship's captain. They always prepare you for dying as the result of a space battle, but no one has ever prepared him for the possibility of being marooned on a planet somewhere. Giraud had enough sitting around. She got up and began walking toward the ship's escape hatch. April turned to watch her.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Back inside. We're not accomplishing anything here."
He got up to follow her. She turned around to face him.
"This ship will never fly again. We don't have any way off of this world. Furthermore, the locals have something against using technology, and they know we're not from around here. We have no other choice but to try and fit in."
He stiffened at her suggestion. He refused to believe that he would have to live out his life here. She turned away from him, climbing back down through the escape hatch. He followed her down. She walked down the ramp and back toward their vehicle. April stood on the ramp, looking back at the wreck. The temperature was dropping. She could see her breath in the cold air. Once again, fatigue began to set in as the sun set behind the mountains.
"We should be getting back, now," she called to him.
He started down the ramp, towards the vehicle. She turned towards the front, strapping herself in. He started the engine and steered the vehicle away from the wreck. He took one more glance at the wreck before looking back toward the path leading to town. He saw a shimmering light, right next to the wreck. He slammed on the brakes.
"What are you doing!" shouted Giraud, startled by the sudden stop.
He swung the vehicle back in the direction of the wreck.
***
Szylnick faced the dead spaceship after materializing on the surface. He started up the walkway.
"Commander! There's a vehicle approaching," one of the security guards warned.
They took cover behind the rocks and bushes surrounding the crash site. The lights grew bigger until the full vehicle was in view. One of the security guards held his weapon steady on the approaching vehicle.
"Don't fire!" whispered Szylnick from a position slightly to the left of the guard.
Two figures got out of the vehicle.
***
"Captain, I don't see anything," Giraud observed, looking around the front of the vehicle.
"I saw something. They're here, I know it."
"Who's here?"
"A landing party. I know I just saw someone transporting into the area."
"Sir, it's late. You may not be seeing things clearly."
"I know what I saw!"
***
The two figures appeared to be arguing. Szylnick maneuvered around for a closer look. The voices appeared to be speaking English. He wondered what two people would be out this late at night. Unless, of course, they were looking for some privacy. A grin started across Szylnick's face, remembering some of his own encounters.
***
Giraud stormed back to the vehicle, "There is nothing here! We're wasting time. You'd better get used to the fact that we're stuck here. Permanently!"
"One more look."
"No."
April wasn't used to being told no like that. He was a little surprised.
"Let's go. There's nothing here."
***
Szylnick could almost make out the features of one of the figures. He decided that now would be the right time to show himself.
"Commander!" one of the guards whispered.
Szylnick walked toward the two figures. Immediately, he recognized one of them. It was his captain.
"Captain April?" Szylnick asked.
"Slick?" April turned around.
"We thought you were--"
"We thought the ship was lost," Giraud commented.
"Let's get back to the ship. There's a lot I have to brief you on," Szylnick suggested.
***
April could tell something was wrong as he began to see the transport chamber swirl into view. There was a serious look on the transporter's face as he struggled with the controls. All April could do was watch the operator, since he was only partially there. Apparently, his brain was functioning, since he could think. The transport effect was sending pins and needles throughout his body. He was paralyzed, standing half on the disc. The operator continued his struggle with the machine. Finally, April had control of his senses again as the tingling subsided and he could finally move again. He still experienced the disorientation as his body adjusted to the sudden change in surroundings.
"Welcome home, Captain!" the transport exclaimed, "We almost lost you."
"That explains the rough ride," commented Szylnick.
"Status report," April responded.
"There's no power anywhere in the ship! We had to shut down non-essential areas just to get you aboard," the transport explained.
"Let's get to the bridge," April nodded to the transport as he headed to the door.
***
On the bridge, all the lights were dim, and panels which served no immediate purpose were dark. April sat down in the command chair, staring out at the screen which was currently off. Instead, the screen had been slid open and a window now served as the only means of seeing what lay beyond the ship. The planet surface curved downward from left to right. In the distance, the last rays of the planet's sun were reaching from behind the planet. They were now on the nightside. April tried to get a handle on the situation.
"How long ago did this happen?" he asked.
"Just after the commander transported down to the surface," Schmidt answered, "We haven't determined the cause, as of yet."
Giraud was at her station again, looking through the viewer. The scanners are not at full capacity, I'm unable to determine the direction, but the power seems to be draining off the planet surface, too. The pull doesn't seem as strong there, probably due to atmospheric diffusion. I can't get a fix on where it's going, but everything on the planet is being drained of power. Wait--I don't believe this, but it looks as though neural energy is included in this stream leaving the planet."
"What!" gasped April.
"It could be a misidentification due to system resources, but the energy stream leaving the surface includes neural energy, generated by mental activity. The ship's energy is also included in this stream."
"What about the crew?"
"Neural energy doesn't seem to be included. More than likely, the ship's hull is protecting the crew from the drain."
Szylnick shook his head, staring out the forward window, "That has to be one hell of a power sponge to pull off energy toward space like that."
"That would explain the sudden fatigue we experienced when the sun set," April commented.
"I need to analyze this a little more, but I don't have all of the computer's resources at my disposal right now. All I can do is record the data and try to make sense of it later."
"Sir, may I make a suggestion?" Schmidt asked.
"Shoot," April answered.
"Can we get a long-range scan set up? If we get out of the planet's range, we could possibly get a better fix for where the power is going."
Giraud turned around in her seat, putting her hand to her chin. It might work, she thought, but there was the risk of the fighters losing power before they were out of range. There was also the question of whether the computer would be able to receive the data.
"Captain, we've lost all but six fighters so far. As it is, we won't be able to defend the ship if the Romulans engage us again," Szylnick observed.
April looked down at the arm of his chair and swore to himself, "I cant risk it."
"I understand, sir," Giraud responded, looking to her instruments once again.
"This only started when we reached nightside, maybe its something that only happens at night," Schmidt suggested.
"Captain, if we can get sunward, we might be able to beat this thing," added Szylnick.
"We still need power to start up the impulse engines," April noted, "Where's Mr. Jarvis?"
***
The senior staff had reassembled in the meeting room, which was just downstairs from the bridge. Captain April had just finished explaining the situation to Jarvis. Jarvis took all the information in and studied it. This would require an immense amount of power to accomplish.
"Under normal circumstances, how long would it actually take us to get through to the sunward side if we stay in orbit?" he asked.
"Three hours," Szylnick answered.
"However, the rate at which the drain is progressing will only leave us enough power to run life support systems until we can recover," Giraud added.
"By that time, we'll be nightside again. Damn," Jarvis worked the rest of the logic out in his head. The whole ship would have to be shut down just to power up, "It would be easier to leave orbit."
"We still have a man unaccounted for on the planet surface," April told him.
The intercom beeped at the captain's place. It was Schmidt. The power drain had now forced closure of life support to nonessential areas.
April faced his staff, armed with this new information, "Begin preparations for the shutdown. I need those engines yesterday. That'll be all. Mr. Jarvis, I know you can handle it. Let me know when you're ready."
***
The presence was so immersed in the information and culture of these beings that he hardly realized that he had been trapped. The horrifying reality struck him all at once that something was wrong. The pathways that led him to this place were all now closed. He tried to find another way out. He slid through the connections, looking for an active contact somewhere. There was one leading to a mechanical function. This one would do. He felt himself slide through the contact. Immediately, numbers were all around him. Values of great proportion and some of the most minor values. Where was this place? he thought. He moved further through the contact. He began to feel as though he had appendages again. He had form and substance! He saw the planet below him and the gentle gliding motion as he flew high above the planet. He tried to move in his new body, but he was immobile, hanging. He could see outside, but he felt as if he had no energy to do anything. The numbers were now registering all around him. I must have entered the ships propulsion and navigation circuits, he thought. I may be able to use this to my advantage.
Jarvis studied the master panel while he scratched his head. This had never been done in flight before. He would have to shut every system down in order to use the impulse engines. The engines, however, were needed if they were to get out of this predicament. Slowly he put his finger on the first switch, having enabled it wit his chief engineer code. He held his breath as he began flipping the switches. One by one, the status lights went out as each circuit was turned off. He continued to flip off switches until the only one left was the master life support. It was locked by a special code, which he could only override with a card he had slid into the board earlier. Once this switch was thrown, all life support functions would be off line. The ship's air would run out in about one hour and thirty minutes, roughly, without doing the math. He had the feeling that he was killing everyone on board, although that's not really what was happening. He finally got the nerve up and flipped the last switch. The air recirculator shut off abruptly, and the stream of fresh air which he'd felt from the register as he sat sweating stopped. This was it. Even if the air would last, the temperature would now begin to cool as the conductivity of the deck plating would bring the inside temperature equal to the negative degree temperature of space. He pressed the intercom.
"All systems except the engines and communications are off line," he reported.
"Good, begin the engine start up procedures," April replied.
"Aye, sir."
He moved to another board and began to set up the program which would initialize the engine control systems prior to startup. He could feel that the temperature was dropping. Engineering had two long tunnels which led to the outside of the ship. The tunnels were the exhaust drain from the impulse drive. The vent doors at the end of the tunnel were closed, but the air was being cooled from the metal all around. This would take a few minutes.
***
The presence felt something nudging at him. It kept trying to clear space for something. He tried to avoid it, but it began closing the space which contained him. What was it? He tried to approach it, but it had the force of a weapon. It was eliminating everything in its path! He retreated back, concentrating carefully on the object. There must be a way to stop it. Think! Use your mental energy.
***
Jarvis had gone into his office and left one of the technicians to monitor the program. He grabbed a manual disk from its holder and plugged it into the viewer. He began to search for engine start procedures, just to check his memory. The initialization would take a few minutes, and although he'd done this many times, it was always best to refresh his memory on the subject instead of leaving it to chance. In this business, a mistake could be deadly.
***
Master Crewman Sheridan watched the monitor as his boss told him to. The numeric display was progressing along steadily enough. He sat back in the chair, waiting for the operation to finish. The console beeped, and he began to punch a series of numbers into the console, in preparation for the startup sequence. He entered the sequence, waiting for the response. The console didn't respond. Then, he looked at the monitor. INITIALIZATION SEQUENCE FAILURE it read. A wave of horror gripped him.
"Boss! We got a problem!" he shouted.
***
Jarvis emerged from his office to see what the technician was talking about. He couldn't believe what he'd just seen.
***
The presence was relieved that he'd defeated whatever weapon had been sent after him. Actually, he'd assimilated it into his own being. He felt this would serve him against any other devices being sent after him. Surely, the occupants of this vessel would know that he was here. Now he was ready. He still couldn't move and couldn't see. There must be some way to regain his original form. While in the knowledge place known as memory bank, he learned of a way to `replicate' items, although it was still theory, he might be able to use this knowledge to get out of wherever he was. However, he was trapped for the moment. He would have to wait for the right opportunity.
***
The engineering staff were all crowded in Jarvis' office. Jarvis faced each of them as he sat behind his station, "I want any ideas you can give me, based on what I just told you. We're going to have to kick-start the engines without the use of the computer."
Everyone in the room looked at each other for a few moments until someone finally spoke.
"If everyone monitors one function, we can manually watch each of them into the ignition phase," Crewman Bertoulli began.
"There's about twenty four functions which have to be monitored," Sheridan countered.
"I can call in bravo and charlie shifts, if necessary," answered Jarvis.
"I know the core temperature ranges, I'll take those," Senior Crewman Evans volunteered.
"I've done repairs to the containment fields, I think I can keep the ratios steady," Sheridan added.
"That's going to be tricky," Jarvis commented, "Once the pressure builds, you're going to have to keep adding power to the field. Any mistake and--"
"I understand, sir," Sheridan acknowledged.
"Good, The rest of you figure out which functions you'll be monitoring while I call the rest of the teams in. Be ready to go in twenty minutes. We're losing time. You're in charge, Mr. Sheridan."
***
"Power is almost at fifty percent capacity," Szylnick reported.
What the hell is taking so long! April thought to himself.
Giraud exclaimed from her console, shocked with the findings she'd been able to come up with since the situation began, "Sir these drains are coming from all over the nightside of the planet! Every city, town and power source on this hemisphere is losing power. I hooked in the medical scanner circuits to further analyze the organic energy, and everyone on this side has a body pulse rate of below 100 beats per minute."
"That as if they were in suspended animation," responded April.
"There's more," she continued, "I reviewed the data from the starfighter patrol over the fourth planet earlier. I think this is the source of the power drain."
She handed the print of the images taken over the city on the fourth planet. The pictures showed a large gathering of dish antennea set out in a circular fashion. In the center was a large building
"We're losing power from that?" asked April.
"Its soaking up power like a sponge," commented Szylnick, "Sir, we have no defensive posture right now. If we encounter another Romulan attack like we did earlier, we'll be totally vulnerable."
"Understood," answered April. Frustrated, he punched his intercom, "Jarvis! What's taking so long!"
"We should have restart in five minutes, captain."
"I need it now. Report."
"We've encountered some...difficulty in establishing initiation."
"Explain."
"Sir, with all due respect, we are about to start up the engines manually. I have to assist in this process."
"Understood, April out."
Szylnick turned around, "Sir, do you want me to go to engineering?"
"No, we don't need extras breathing down their necks. This is going to get tense enough without our help."
***
The air was frigid in the engineering section. People's breath was now visible Crewmen were at each station, watching their monitors, waiting for the sequence to begin. A few were starting to shiver. Jarvis held the checklist in his hand, which was actually a translation of the startup program. Everyone was ready, waiting for the next command. Jarvis began to read off from the paper, "Open antimatter release valve."
***
The ship began to rumble and vibrate as the engines started.
"A little rough, but under the circumstances..." Szylnick commented.
"I'll be happy with whatever we can get," April answered.
"Engines coming up to full capacity," Szylnick read from the status board.
"Get us sunward as soon as we're able," commanded April.
***
"Keep watching those screens!" Jarvis called out. Frost was forming on some of the display monitors. He looked back on the paper, "This is it! Drop containment to thirty percent and open exhaust valves."
The workers manipulated the controls at their stations and there was a great roar as the engines shuddered to life. The doors at the end of the exhaust tunnel opened and a rushing of air cooled the room even faster than before. The ship rumbled into activity. Jarvis punched the intercom, "Engines at full capacity, captain."
***
"Get us out of here," April ordered.
The ship banked left and began to move over the extreme northern pole. The sun came back into full view as they crossed the horizon. The viewscreen automatically dimmed to accommodate for the bright sunlight streaming. All systems were starting to come back on line. Giraud fed all the data she'd been collecting into the computer and waited for the results of the diagnostic program.
"All ships power levels rising. The drain is gone," Szylnick reported from the status board.
"Captain! The power is all being pulled toward the fourth planet!" exclaimed Giraud with the results.
April just looked at her. This was obviously something significant, but there were other things to attend to, "Are you sure?"
"I ran the program twice. All the energy has the same angle of movement, and the same heading as its charted on the master grid. For some reason, the energy is being drawn toward the fourth planet."
"Could that be a function of the geological makeup of the fourth planet?" Szylnick offered.
"We would've experienced it when we encountered the fourth planet before," April responded, "Look, we don't have time for this right now. I want to know where Commander Fairfield is. We need to get him out of there."
"There's a weak tricorder signature, I'll give you the coordinates," Lt Tigue reported from communications.
"Give it to the transport room. Szylnick, get us as close as you can to those coordinates," April said, leaning forward in the chair. He was going over in his mind what it was that had to be done next.
Concludes with Chapters 26 - END
C.L. Nelson The Early Years To Boldly Go, Ch 26-Fin |
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