Space Trippers Book 1: Trippin' (16 page)

“Right.” Sanic agreed solemnly. “And why I am not very ‘Etherian’.” he added.

“But sometimes, I really wish I was.” he sighed as he again stole a glance across the room before looking up at the emitter blueprints that were fastened to the wall.

Tim was thoughtful for a moment as the young Ensign studied the diagrams.

“How long have you known her?” he asked curiously.

Sanic briefly looked down at his feet self-consciously, leaving one hand on the papers where he had left off.

“A few months. I was transferred to Saturna 3 between assignments. My next ship was to be this one...when it was called the Magellan, and she was in charge of building it. I used to go out to the park overlooking the construction bays every day.” he remembered.

“I mean, there wasn’t really much else to do while I waited for my next ship to be built, you know.” he added quickly as he thought it sounded too pathetic.

“So you went there and watched every day, but you never talked to her?” Tim asked already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t really possible with all the security and she hardly came out into the public areas.” the Etherian excused.

“And you couldn’t just wait outside the hanger when you saw her coming out to say, ‘Hey, I am assigned to your ship, I am really looking forward to it being completed. How about a tour?’ Or sending a note in with a delivery of flowers.” Tim suggested.

Sanic colored at the ideas that came so naturally to the easy-going Pilot. “Is that what you would have done?”

Tim shrugged. “If I liked her.” he said simply as he casually leaned on the wall.

“You...seem to like her.” Sanic prodded uneasily; in a competition with Tim he was not at all sure he stood even a remote chance at winning.

Tim gave a non-committal shrug as he looked calmly back to where Valesque sat working at the table. “She is….intriguing.” he admitted.

“But you’ve got the seniority on me, I’ll give you that.” the Pilot laughed, not showing any real sign of serious intent.

“And….even if I did decide to be serious, I wouldn’t try to cut you out.” he added with a touch of solemnity after a slight pause, continuing to watch her across the room before turning back to his rival with a generous smile. “After all, when it comes right down to it, it doesn’t matter how you or I feel, it’s still her choice to make. Right?” he said openly.

Sanic brightened a bit at this friendly offering, suddenly getting the feeling that….maybe…. the Lieutenant had actually started this whole conversation just to put him at ease.

“Right.” he agreed with a newly assured smile before the two friendly, possible rivals went to work on the large cylindrical shield emitters.

Valesque looked up from her worktable to see the two men in friendly conversation near the emitters. Finally, they seemed to be working, Sanic was holding some component and apparently instructing the Yorkie on how to install it inside the metal tub.

The perfect chance to sneak out, she thought, as she gathered her finished projects and slipped quietly out the door.

The nervous Virrilian Engineer made her way up the two levels to Science Deck 1 and the Med-room. With Lola having been transferred out to the Hydroponics lab at the Captain’s orders, there should be no one on the Med-room level except the Mobile Medical Unit. This was perfect for her objective.

Valesque walked quickly out of the Hydro-Lift onto the abandoned deck and headed for the empty medical room where the Space Tripper was waiting.

The deserted, expansive deck with its eerie silence gave Valesque a bit of a chill and she had to shake it off quickly before she started imagining things that would only slow her down.

She reached the Med-room and took a quick look over the three aisles of exam tables and medical lab areas just to be sure nobody else was present, before once again entering the doctor’s break-room.

As soon as she entered she was again hit with the strong audible wave emanating from the Space Tripper in the wall.

Valesque quickly stripped herself of her lab coat, hip pouch, Vid-screen and holder, and any other devices she had on her. She then arranged the tools and new creations she had brought around her, in front of the panel she would be accessing.

The wary Engineer then took up her Vid-screen again and opened up the panel lockdown program, she picked out the panel that covered the Space Tripper and hit the release key. After entering the code she had set up when she sealed all the access panels earlier the main break-room access panel hissed as it released its seal and slowly opened.

Valesque sat her Vid-screen aside once again and took a deep calming breath.

She picked out her new grounding device and a small spray bottle. Pointing the nozzle at herself, she pressed the cap and sprayed her body with short one second bursts. She then did the same to the grounding device.

Valesque was about to put the bottle back down when she looked at her arm in alarm. Dark red liquid was dripping in thin streams down her hand and forearm.

At first, she thought it was blood and wondered how she had injured herself already.

However, on a second examination she noticed the small pools of red liquid also on the top of the spray can.

The cheap metal had rusted with age, or from the damp climate of Saturna 3, and the rust now mixed with the anti-static liquid to form a blood-like substance that had run down her arm as she tilted the can.

Many people would object to her even having such a polluting gas-filled can, but when you are working in low rent labs on backwater planets you have to take what you can get. Not all planets are as advanced as others in their technology or tools. And there is no sense in wasting it, as there was no ozone layer around to ruin anyway.

Valesque carefully set the can aside, trying not to spill any rusty liquid on her new flooring. She then clipped wires from her device to herself at various places, careful not to restrict her arm movement.

Then she pressed her bare hands against the sides of the opening to ground herself before attaching the remaining wires to the wall opening and some to the metal bracing that mingled with the electrical wiring the Space Tripper was nesting in.

So far so good, she breathed in relief as she intently watched the lights and listened to the sound to check for any changes before continuing. She was now grounded to the ship, so she should be able to touch the wiring and the Space Tripper without accidentally setting it off.

Next was the tricky part, removing some of the feeders from the ship’s main power cables, without alerting the Space Tripper.

Valesque took a moment to thoroughly examine the wiring; figuring out where the power went in and where it returned.

The Tripper would be connected to, and monitoring, the power that was flowing past it. But not the unused power that was returning to the storage cells. If she could determine where those were she could leach power slowly to that area, so the Space Tripper did not experience any sudden shocks when the feed it had was disconnected.

If the line slowly lost power until it stopped, the circuitry should not see it as a problem. Then she could completely disconnect the Tripper from that cable and it would not notice the difference.

It was like putting on a tourniquet and slowly stopping the blood from flowing, until it was accustomed to nothing flowing through that ‘vein’ and then disconnecting it completely before releasing the flow again.

It was a simple, yet time-consuming solution; she just hoped it would work.

The first connection she decided to remove was the feeder into the emergency backup power. If she could at least get that one supply freed, then even if the Space Tripper activated, they would still have life support for a while.

Valesque cautiously started her surgical procedure.

Meanwhile up on the Control Deck things were beginning to heat up.

One of the Control Deck crewmembers had spotted a ship approaching off in the distance. This was a fortunate coincidence as none of their exterior sensors were working.

It was still too far away to identify but Captain Fairbanks had her hopeless crew scrambling to get the off-ship communicators working, as she called her main Pilot and Operations Commander back to their positions.

Tim Baine had rushed back and slid behind his controls just as the approaching ship was coming into view. Even though it was still a bit too far out for most people to get an exact ID on, Tim could see it clearly with his extremely sharp eyes and he knew that shape too well to be wrong.

It was an I.P.F. Viper strike craft and it was heading straight for them.

Tim had been involved with some missions where the Vipers were active, and he knew their capabilities well. He also knew they never showed unless there was a kill strike order.

The deadly predator of the Intergalactic Police, the Viper was fast, sleek and agile. Once it was in pursuit the target had little chance, especially a large cumbersome one like this, it was like a shark on the attack; deadly and accurate.

He could not see why a viper strike would have been called for their ship, but there was no harm in being prepared. If this ship had actually been completed, he thought, its specs suggested it would have been capable of surviving even this kind of attack.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t, so he could only hope the ship they spotted was merely on a flyby in their path, on its way to another zone.

Captain Fairbanks was above him on the Upper Control Deck look out, where she had a clear view of him at his controls below her; but also of the massive two storey deck-wide view screens, on which the riveting scene was unfolding.

“Don’t make any sudden moves.” she ordered as her ‘expert’ pilot returned to his post below her. “We don’t want to appear concerned or threatening. Just keep us steady on our course until we see what they are up to.”

The Lieutenant acknowledged her orders as he arranged his flight panels around him. He wanted to be sure the right controls were in easy reach if he needed to try for any evasive action.

The Flight Deck crew stared at the scene outside, waiting with bated breath, their hands poised over their controls for immediate action. As the Control Crew above, headed by the newly arrived Ensign Sanic, rushed franticly around trying to find a way to get their communications system running.

They had inter-ship communication but the main incoming and outgoing off-ship systems did not seem to be accessible. Either they had not been completed because they were not necessary for the construction crew's use, or they had not been activated at some point along the way, either somewhere in the Control Deck's system or down on the Solar level.

As Operations Commander, it was Sanic's job to get the communication person's systems online. He did not have time to run down to the Solar Deck himself so he was going to have to try to talk the twins through checking the communications set up down there.

Taking a deep breath in expectation, he opened the video connection between his console and the main engineering floor.

Two curious heads crowded into the picture as the pink alien twins noticed the moving picture of Sanic suddenly appear by them.

"What is it, Brother?" one of the aliens asked, nothing but it's dark eyes showing in the return video.

"I don't know, Brother." the other replied just as puzzled, as he pushed his twin out of the way for a better look himself. "It looks like that Commander person who was down here earlier."

"Oh, yes. Yes it does!" the first one exclaimed in agreement, as he again moved his head into view. "It is that nice person who was showing us what the panels were for, isn't it Brother? I wonder why he is showing up on this screen. Why do you think that is Brother?"

Sanic put his hand to his head, trying not to be disturbed. "I'm on the Control Deck. I need for you two to check something for me." he finally said when there was a pause in the Twin's conversation.

"Check?" one asked as he looked at the other, “He seems to want us to check something, Brother."

This time Sanic cut in, he did not have time to wait through another cycle of their merry-go round conversation.

"Look. Right now there should be a panel lit up. That is the communications controls. I need you to check those controls." the anxious Ensign told them quickly.

The twins looked to where he had indicated, murmuring back and forth to each other as they located each item he called off to them.

It seemed like ages to Sanic, as he guided the befuddled twins through the process, all the while glancing up to check the progress of the oncoming vessel.

The foreign ship was now close enough for the Captain to make out, and she was a bit perplexed as she did. “Why would a Viper be intercepting us?" she pondered aloud from her post above the Pilot’s seat.

"The only reason a Viper would approach another vessel is if they had a strike order." Tim replied openly to his Superior’s muttered inquiry.

Captain Fairbanks scoffed at this reply. "That is ridiculous. We are on a mission to the war zone." she snapped authoritatively, smoothing down her regulation uniform with an air of assured dignity.

She was in her right place, she had her orders, and she was carrying them out to the letter.