Fatal Boarding Read online

  Chapter 17

 

 

  By the time I reached Tolson’s office, the Ex/O news had circulated through the ship like wildfire. Loyal Ann Marie sat at her desk holding back tears. I consoled her as best I could, explained things in the least hurtful way, and asked her to take some time for herself. She hugged me and handed me an ugly little report that said five more people were unaccounted for.

  R.J. stuck his head in the door as she was leaving. He had a clipboard and a bound stack of printouts under his left arm. I motioned him in and we sat and stared at each other. R.J. squirmed and gave in to curiosity.

  "So what'd he say to you?"

  "Oh, just some trivial things, like I'm Ex/O now, whether I like it or not."

  "And I thought we were in trouble before this."

  "Thanks so much. It's nothing, really."

  "What else did he say?"

  "He said the ship's rapidly falling apart."

  "Ah, he knows."

  "What did he say to you?"

  "In summary?"

  "That'll do."

  "He said to keep my mouth shut. Like I'm going to Paul Revere down the halls yelling the blob is on board!"

  "What's with the lap full of printouts? Have you become so neurotic you need a hundred crossword puzzles now to keep that incessant mind of yours occupied?"

  "Almost. Actually, I'm still stuck on givers of pain and pleasure. This stack is the data segment brought back from the alien ship. The one they thought was star charts."

  "And it's not?"

  "The Data Analysis folks accidentally translated the directory name. It means 'Trash'. We may have found a garbage file that wasn't emptied. So, with the help of the first translation, they think this particular file I have in my lap was called 'Adrena'. No idea what that means. Any thoughts?"

  "Not offhand."

  "Anyway, the directory and file name translations don't seem to be any help in understanding the file itself. It's like a whole different code. To me, it's like the best possible crossword puzzle. I'm working it on my own. In all the confusion, they could have cared less that I walked off with it. Can I keep it?"

  "Be discreet."

  "Any good news on Tolson?"

  "Wow, you not only want news, you specifically want good news!"

  "Well, that answers that."

  "So, R.J., I guess you've just given me an update on progress by the Data Analysis group."

  "You now know everything they know."

  "Good. I've got enough stuff to cram into my head in the next hour as it is."

  "By the way, you remember that pet theory of mine I didn't tell you?"

  "How can I remember something you haven't told me?"

  "Let me ask you this: Tolson was supposed to have been paranoid delusional. What didn't he do?"

  "What do you mean? The Doctor said a lot of the crew has been having terrible nightmares. Tolson had his awake. He found the best hiding place he could, and covered himself with a sun-guard foil so that whatever monsters were after him, wouldn't find him."

  "Yes. But what didn't he do?"

  "Come on, R.J."

  "The airlock door. He could have locked it from the inside. It was unlocked when you and I opened it. Why go to all that trouble to hide in there, and then leave the six-inch thick door, which would have protected him from nearly anything, unlocked?"

  R.J.'s logic set me back for a moment. "I doubt he was thinking too clearly."

  "Maybe. How's your memory? Any better?"

  "The same."

  "How about Brandon's? She was with Tolson last."

  "I haven't had time to see if there's an update."

  "You're not feeling slimy, I hope?"

  "Please...!"

  "This could all fit into my wild theory."

  "Will you tell me?"

  "One more thing to check, then yes, I'll go way out on a limb. Only thing is, when I think about it, it makes me want to go hide in an airlock somewhere." R.J. jumped up and headed for the door. He looked back briefly, tapped the close key and stepped through as it shut.

  I put R.J.'s usually odd behavior aside and glanced at the Commander’s indoctrination file, but decided the newest missing persons report had to be given precedence. Ann Marie had already forwarded it to the screen in front of me.

  It was an odd assortment of people, one Engineering assistant, one planner, two maintenance workers, and one clerk/typist. At first, there seemed to be nothing common. I brought up a correlation program and ran it. It came back with a single word: sickbay. They were on their way to sickbay during the zero-G period when last seen.

  I buzzed Security. A moment later a coordinator’s face appeared on the screen.

  "Yes?"

  "These missing persons reports. They were all headed for sickbay. It was a madhouse down there. There's a good chance these people aren't really missing. Ask the first shift coordinator to assign one person to each of these cases and have them report back as soon as possible."

  "Right away."

  I leaned back and opened the manila file folder with the Ex/O indoctrination instructions. It was dry reading, including the brief on the Emissary. They were so advanced just reading about their lifestyles was boring. Isolated individuals who existed as a community for appearance’s sake only. Their philosophy held that by participating in the education of developing cultures in their sector of the galaxy they could minimize the need for any other contact. Their own explanation for helping us was brutally honest.

  I found the access code sheet and programmed the designated numbers into the secure-system's start-up data. There were password requirements for the Armory, Amplight engines, Tachyon drives, thruster control enable, life support, fuel storage, and the escape pod system. Next, I disabled the individual escape pod deployment options and redirected them to Security control as the Captain had instructed. As I finished the last of them, a call icon appeared in the upper corner of the screen.

  It was Paul Kusama, the lead propulsion engineer. "Commander, we received notification of your upgrade and new assignment. Sorry it wasn’t under better circumstances. We were under orders to report directly to the Captain but haven't been able to raise him."

  "What's up?"

  "Well, sorry about this. In the confusion that's been going on, we overlooked the fact that when you de-cable a thruster you lose a mandatory handshake which makes the thruster inoperative. It's a check so they can't misfire without a control system attached. We can still do the manual firing, but we need to fabricate a black box for each of the thrusters we intend to use to fool the thruster into thinking it's still hooked up. That'll take, say, about half a day. Say twelve hours."

  "I'll notify Grey myself. In the meantime, assume he will want to do that and go ahead and get going on it."

  "Already have, Commander. Kusama out."

  Before I had time to wonder about the Captain, another call icon flashed on. "Tarn, go ahead."

  "Adrian, what the hell's going on?" It was Frank Parker. He looked perturbed. "We need to speak with Grey. Where is he?"

  "What's up, Frank?"

  "We were supposed to deploy the two scout craft at 12:00. We've got the pilots tucked in, their cabins pressurized and the engines idling. But we can't get the hangar to depressurize. Where is Grey? He was supposed to be monitoring this op."

  "Have you been able to analyze the problem?"

  "All we know is, all of a sudden the environmental control system for the hangar won't accept commands. We expected to have problems opening the big doors. We were going to do a manual on that. This is the first environmental system on the ship that's been affected I know of. So what do we do?”

  "Keep working on it. Let the pilots sit. I'll go find Grey personally. I'll get back to you shortly."

  I cleared the screen and rubbed my eyes. There had been barely enough time to get through the indoctrination procedure and already I wa
s left with more problems than one person could handle. Grey couldn't actually be part of the missing persons list. Just for verification, I tried to reach him myself. No success.

  Accompanied by two armed guards, I headed back to Grey's stateroom. Each time things seemed to be as bad as they could get, they got worse. Grey had recently been exposed to Tolson in his transitory condition. Neither R.J. nor I seemed affected, but the Captain may have been more susceptible. Outside his stateroom, I opened the control panel and punched in my newly received access code numbers. For the second time in one morning, I would be entering the Captain's quarters, a place I had not even seen before today.

  The room was deserted. I asked the guards to wait outside and shut the door. I went to Grey's terminal and found one still in use. The Captain's log was displayed there. The last entry was a lengthy description of Tolson's condition and the method by which he planned to deal with it. There was also an unfinished paragraph detailing the Captain's misgivings about the future. Midway through the last sentence, something had interrupted him.

  I closed the log and looked around the room. It appeared undisturbed. There were no other clues to be found. I shook my head and turned to leave but was startled by the sound of a panel sliding open. The mysterious door behind Grey's computer had opened, revealing a corridor of darkness.

  From within a brilliant, cloaked figure hesitantly emerged. It stopped at the door and seemed unwilling to go further. Grey had neglected to mention one thing: the figure was feminine. Her features were just as Grey had described except for the faint slit of a mouth. Her robe was white and covered in diamond glitter. There was an aura of euphoria about her. Despite my prejudice, I wanted to move closer to her and submerge myself within it. It was like an ecstatic, angelic gravity.

  I stood dumbstruck for a moment but quickly recovered. "I'm Tarn."

  Her mouth never moved, but I heard every word. "Adrian Daniel Tarn, son of Daniel and Eileen Tarn."

  It was intrusive, someone reading my mind and putting things in there without my permission. I heard her again.

  "No, you capitulated."

  I tried to think of nothing.

  "Your Captain absent."

  "Missing at the moment. He was here within the hour."

  "Harm has befallen him."

  "How do you know that?"

  "What is the condition of your vessel?"

  I tried not to think the answer.

  "You remain stranded."

  "No, we remain stranded."

  "Continue to provide information there." She raised one robed hand toward the terminal Grey had been using, then backed away and the door slid slowly shut.

  I stood speechless and tried to sort out what had just happened. There had seemed to be a brighter light in the room from her presence. The silent emptiness had returned with her departure. Even so, she had not impressed me. Somehow, I did not feel inferior.

  So, the ET was online, and the ET was worried. It made me worry even more.