Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (3 page)

Jamie made his way to the space elevator and
watched the view via a monitor as it rose through the atmosphere.
Two hours later an announcement boomed into the tiny compartment
telling the passengers they were about to activate the HaV
intercept. The intercept cut the overall ride from nine days to ten
hours. So, after another six hours a second announcement informed
them they exited HaV and deactivated the intercept. Jamie looked at
the wall monitor. They were finally in space. Once docked, two
hours later, he walked through the orbital station to the
designated ranger hangar and saw a nondescript shuttle. He boarded
and took a seat. There were two other people that he didn’t
recognize, one slept and another read.

Repco

Jamie was too nervous to sleep or read so by
the time they docked with a ranger in geosynchronous orbit, he was
keyed up and keen to get to work, having studied the schematics of
the ranger external and internal views and systems. His shuttle
companions disappeared down a corridor but a sharp looking ranger
private led him to the bridge. Well, not right to the main bridge
but to the forward station.

“Raner reporting for duty, ma’am.” Jamie kept
his eyes forward. He knew this was a test straight away as they put
him under the command of a female. There was nothing secret about
this, he was told he was under special review to ensure he could
work under powerful women. He had merely nodded, a little
contemptuously, and now? He felt perspiration under his arms.

She studied him. Her eyes were blue, her hair
brunette. She had a strong face and her eyes flicked down to his
visitor ident. “You are assigned to the mobile recons. Report to
your direct supervisor. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He turned.

“Oh, and Jamie?”

He snapped back, his heart now pounded.

“Welcome on board the Repco.”

He felt the slightest brush of her mind
against his, but it was not intrusive. He considered it more like
meaningful eye contact. “Thank you, Captain.”

Clenching his balled up fists helped him
manage his overreaction but he unclenched them a little when they
both heard his knuckles crack. She gave him a little smile. He had
been told he had to find ways to work through his fears identified
during his training. He made his way through the narrow
companionways uncomfortably aware that the crew members were
female. His direct supervisor, surprise, surprise, was a female.
She looked a little similar to Leanne—black hair, dark eyes, olive
skin, of medium height, and shapely. But she was distracted as she
read a report on her wall module.

He was perspiring profusely now.

It was a good thing his handler wasn’t here
asking him what he’d observed because Jamie couldn’t remember a
bloody thing from just before reporting to the captain.

“Lieutenant Raner.” Her voice was stern but
not unfriendly. “Lieutenant Jennifer Johns will take you on your
induction tour, acquaint you with our security and safety
procedures. I’ll expect a risk assessment from you on my desk after
you complete the tour test.”

Lieutenant Jennifer—a forewarning that it was
another female. That was nice of the major.

“Yes, Major Karr.” Jamie was relieved his
voice was steady even as he heard his knuckles crack again. He was
sure his face was flaming red when Karr glanced down at his fists.
His handler had warned him it was a dangerous and telling habit
that he had to try to control if not break.

She seemed almost bored though. “As soon as
it’s completed we can give you your indent but for the moment if
there’s an emergency the visitor indent will tell any crew to look
after you.”

He’d been told twice already, once before he
boarded, once as he had boarded, and now. She must have seen his
expression. “The captain is aiming for the ‘Safe Ranger Award’.
Don’t stuff it up.”

“Yes, ma’am. I mean, no, ma’am.”

He was given one tour by the bright Jennifer,
a petite brunette who liked to wave her hands around as she spoke
in a pleasant, high-pitched voice, and then she handed him a
tablet. “You press ‘start’, and then you need to find the
locations, key in the positions and codes, and send it to Major
Karr when you are done. You have fifteen minutes. Immediately
after, you are to go down to the evac tube, suit up, put together
three items needed for EEVA…”

Jamie mentally recalled it was Evacuation for
Extravehicular Activity but that’s about all he could recall.

“…and I’ll come down and grade you on your
suit, equipment, and ability to follow protocols.”

He nodded and pressed ‘start’. “Thank you,
Lieutenant.” He stared blankly at the tablet for a moment unable to
read the map or words. “Get a grip, Jamie.”

A crew member laughed at him as he strode
past. “Just don’t fuck up the captain’s safety rating, sir. Good
luck.”

Relief filled him, not over the words but
that there was another male on board. He flushed recalling now that
there’d been a lot of males, he had just panicked. He looked at the
tablet screen again. “Excellent, I can read again.”

Fifteen minutes appeared on the tablet. He
had to go to E deck, section Green, corridor Eight. He moved
quickly, climbed down two levels, studied the map on the side of
the wall, headed to Green, and Eight. He found a safety port,
recorded what it was, and the code. The next place was cargo. That
was easy to find. He had five minutes. He ran to the ladder and
climbed up, decided it was the quickest way, but when he reached
level four he couldn’t reach Red because of some sealed hatchways
flashing ‘orange’. Orange was no go. There was no one around so he
checked the route and headed back, running out of time. He paused.
Should he get to the last location or go direct to the evac tube
no. 8? He’d get to the tube on time, but his tour would be
unfinished. He checked the route map and saw the code for the
safety valve he was supposed to record. It might not be correct, or
part of the test.

Jamie headed to the last location, recorded
the code and pressed ‘send’ before picking up a key-like object
with his name on it. He took it with him to the evac tube. As he
entered the tube he waited a little impatiently for hatches to
open. The instructions had specific details for closing them but
also clear pictures. It became clear that a three tiered system for
all processes existed, and was standard, on most military rangers:
hard copy on durable papir, soft copy usually tablets and Ebrains,
and a virtual holo system that tapped into the Aryan implants. To
his left was a small GELpad with marker indicating that the virtual
system was “off”. All newbies evidently had to use hard copies
first. Now that he was inside another tiny, rectangular room full
of equipment lashed to the walls or floors, he checked the
instructions on the suit attached to the wall. It had been made
especially for him but, despite the good fit, he found it bulky as
he started on the three pieces of equipment. He hadn’t quite
finished when Jennifer cycled in. She tapped at her head and smiled
at him. “I’m resetting the virtual system.”

Jamie decided to use the hard and soft copy
versions to get around the ranger. “I was late in the tour.” He
didn’t like to make excuses so just pointed out the obvious
instead. He saw her grin.

“I’ll check your suit and then, while I
inspect the first two pieces, you can finish the third.” She moved
up to him.

He stood, a little nervously, while she
examined the suit. “Did you check to ensure this room had O2?”

Duh. “Yes.” The specs came to mind, all
military rangers usually had up to seventy percent of space inside
depressurized. His eyes locked on to hers, and then followed her
movements, her hands. Did she know? Was she aware of how stiff he
was, every muscle tight in fear? Not fear of females but fear of
being prey again.

In a chirpy voice, she declared, “All good.”
She went to the EEVA scanner unit and began to check the
components. He knelt down and completed assembling the maintenance
and repair robot with nanites kept in special vials. Jennifer moved
over and inspected the robot. “Good. I’ll send my report to Major
Karr, she’s expecting you.”

He nodded, and began to undress, mindful of
the fact she hadn’t left. Most people wouldn’t even be bothered by
it. He peeled off the base suit, aware the top smelled, and climbed
into his own standard, black ranger overalls. But he manfully
continued, packed up and reattached the suit to the wall, and
almost opened the hatch in a rush to get out without thinking. He
paused and checked the instructions. He had to ask Jennifer to
stand behind the yellow line. After she moved, with a grin, he
cycled out. Jennifer was as much a predator as a teddy bear was.
But he was mindful that, through his skewed filters, he was seeing
monsters everywhere and it was affecting his cognitive abilities.
He wiped the sweat off his top lip and found a toilet to splash
some water over his face, using a ration of his supply.

He reported to Major Karr, verbally going
through the tour, his impressions and the test results.

“Did you check the equipment bay had
oxygen?”

For a microsecond he paused. Did he? Doubt
filled him but he quickly replayed his actions. He distinctly
remembered checking O2 levels. “Yes, ma’am.”

With a final nod, she gave him an ident but
told him to keep hold of his visitor one as well, and he was shown
to his room by a short male. “This is yours while you are
here.”

“On my own?” How much did people know about
his rape? The male showing him his quarters was definitely, by
design, non-threatening.

“No sharing on the Repco. Each is an escape
pod so keep your things locked down if you aren’t using them. You
have the D.E.P., which stands for Deluxe Escape Pod, or just call
it DEP. We call it the Ritz.” Crewman Levan took him through the
quirks of the pods. “You can leave the hatch open on blue, but any
other color you have to seal yourself in, or out, depending on
whether you have duties and how claustrophobic you are.”

Jamie nodded. He didn’t have a problem with
small spaces and the pod was a decent size, easy to live in.

“You think, sir?”

Jamie frowned. Thoughts accessed without
permission was rude. He realized he had felt the captain’s gentle
mind-brush but had not registered Levan’s mental extraction.
Another overreaction.

Levan blushed. “Sorry, Lieutenant. You
haven’t read the personals yet. We can reply or respond to public
thoughts since we’re all mostly Avatara. For verbal communique
first names are okay to use but only while we are in the blue,
equal rank or below, and only after you’ve used rank designation
once at the start of address.”

“I didn’t know. And not to worry, Levan.”
Jamie gave him a friendly smile. He saw his leather bag on the bed,
walked over and unrolled it.

“Security needed to go through your kit. All
in place?”

“Nothing’s missing.” He fingered the tools,
they needed sharpening.

“You do a lot of wood carving?”

“And I build furniture. My uncle taught
me.”

“My uncle taught me how to net fish. Not
really useful in space unless I can go fish in the Klados.”

Jamie chuckled and found he could now easily
access data again. The Klados was the first dimension and filled
with a lot of matter. Drawing out matter was illegal—because once
removed it couldn’t be replaced easily—and required a special
license. Aryan Space carefully monitored matter levels in normal
space. He breathed out in relief.

“Spend the rest of this shift, which is third
shift, settling in. Read all the pod protocols. Your schedule’s
been shunted to your system.” Levan touched a monitor that lit up
and Jamie saw what looked like a roster. “Eat and sleep fourth
shift, report for duty on first shift. Just go to Karr’s
office.”

Jamie nodded.

“If that’s all, sir, I’ll leave you. Press
this pad if you need help.”

“Thank you, Levan.” Jamie opened and closed
the drawers and cupboards. The bed was longish, thankfully, but it
didn’t look like it would fit his six foot four height. He lay on
it but his feet dangled over. There was even a small bathroom,
standing room for two with a pull out toilet. The pod was
egg-shaped; the bed had one curved edge, the desk the other. With a
quick assessment he decided on the type of fighting styles that
would suit a small area. He stood at the opposite end to the hatch
after he sealed it. It unsettled him how quiet it was as he enjoyed
a bit of white noise.

He spoke to the panel, feeling silly. “Jamie
Livio Raner.”

“Imprint on GELpad.”

He positioned his hand on the blue GELpad to
his right and a holo system booted up. A control panel formed and
he touched it. He was impressed with the triganic material. But the
control stick was separate in case the Lygon or nanite systems
died.

“Would you like to eject?”

“Ah, no?”

“Is that a question?”

“No, I mean I do not wish to eject.”

“Affirmative, ejection sequence
terminated.”

Jamie wiped the sweat off his brow and read
the rest of the information. “Hmmm, not even the captain is in one
of these.” He opened his mission file, and used his SNA to confirm
his identity. SNA existed in DNA, embedded as a signifier for the
Aryan Government but the science bored Jamie. There were four DEPs
usually assigned to visiting officials.

“Sentinel 12847, your mission is to protect
the Tri-Matter Documents… While in training, the Repco will be
stopping in Anchorage Station delivering new security net modules.
You need to be on the ground crew...”

Jamie checked but there was no other
information. They’d been shown samples of mission briefs. This
seemed vague. The screen flashed as all the data dissipated; it
tracked back until it was untraceable and inaccessible. The program
would also move some other data blocks around to cover the gaps.
But Jamie’s understanding on programming was rudimentary. He
checked the Repco routes. Sure enough, in four days—no, sixteen
shifts—they would arrive and he was designated to the ground crew.
It was too early to ask for time off. But under training? He was
off duty; maybe he could volunteer to find out how the ranger to
ground teams operated. He was told to look at the easiest solutions
first, and the ones that seemed most likely to suit what he might
be expected to say or do in any given role. He had sixteen shifts
to volunteer. So, he checked the roster and volunteered for the odd
job here and there to keep it random, but not so random that it
couldn’t possibly be random. He sent the request and smirked as he
remembered the hour-long lecture about how to make things
random.