Stepping Up (16 page)

I tell him to call me if he needs me.  “I’ve got a personal
matter to attend to,” I add.

“Okay, Shownya.”  He turns back to his welding. “Tell Dr.
Avi Gorb says ‘Hi.’  Hee hee.  Shownya thinks she has a secret.” He snickers as
he lowers the mask.  I just smile.
Nobody knows you like your friends.

I call Avi’s perCom, but he doesn’t answer.  I leave a
message: “Hey, I’m back aboard.  Give me a call, and we’ll get a drink or
something.”

In the meantime, I go by Sherri’s stateroom.  She isn’t
there, but her roommate points out my bag and Mack’s box.  I take them to my
stateroom.  Her room isn’t much bigger than mine; and she has to share? Aria or
Malcolm must have really gone the extra step for me.  I’m heading to inspect
the door actuators for the Ship’s Boat deck when my perCom beeps.  It’s Avi:
“Hey, Sonia. I’ve been down inspecting TMODs. Join me for a drink tonight?”

“You know I will.  Our sofa about 1830?”

“Excellent. I’ll see you there.”

That actually gives me enough time to check the actuators. 
When I inspect the work, I find welds a master craftsman would love to call his
own.  I have to look at the others to verify they’ve been serviced.  Gorb is
remarkable.

As usual, Avi is in the lounge before I get there.  He
stands as I approach.  I run the last two yards and jump into his arms, hugging
him fiercely.  I kiss him, breaking long enough to say, “I missed you.”  I
start to say more, but he’s pulled my mouth back to his.  “I’m hungry,” I tell
him when we pause to breathe.  “Have you eaten yet?” I didn’t think he’d want
to play tonsil-hockey in the chow hall or I’d have met him there.

“No, and I saw Rison on the menu.  Let’s go.”  We adjourn to
the chow hall.  We choke down a pair of flank steaks with potatoes and
trimmings then come back to the lounge.  Another couple is on our couch.  I
puff up, ready to make a scene. 
What’s the point in being a department head
if you can’t throw your weight around?
  Avi puts his hand on my arm, “It’s not
that big a deal.  Over here, I have something to give you.”  He pulls a small
box out of his pocket. 
Oh my!
Opening it, he presents me with a ring. 
It’s unusual.  It isn’t metal, so I don’t wobble much. It’s stone.  But it
wasn’t cut or stamped out.  I can see the grain of the rock. It’s been bent or
rolled into shape.  It has an engraving on it in a script I don’t recognize. 
It’s a simple stone band, no jewels, just the writing.

“What does it say?”

“It’s ancient Arean.  It’s a pretty idiom-heavy language,
but the closest translation is ‘You Grow Closer To My Heart.’  I saw it in one
of the stores on Goliath and thought of you.  You weren’t the only person to go
planetside, y’know.”

My heart is pounding inside my chest.  Tears stream down my
cheeks. I slip it on my left ring finger.  Knowing while I do that it will fit
perfectly.  And it does.  We’re standing beside a view port, the stars
streaming by us.  I jump up, my arms around his neck and my legs around his
waist.  He staggers for a millisecond but maintains his balance by putting his
hands on my backside to help manage my weight.  He lowers me onto the
windowsill.  I guess that makes sense, but I don’t want to let him go yet. My
ankles pull him in tighter to me.

With my chin on his shoulder I say, “So does this mean we’re
engaged to consider talking about thinking of future possibilities?”
That
ought to get his head spinning.

“Uh…that is...er...uh...yeah, I think. I don’t know...wait,
what?”  I pull back to look him in the eyes again.

“You are so adorable when you’re befuddled.”  We cuddle in
the lounge for a while.  But we both have to get some rest.  So we each go to
our own stateroom.  I take a shower and go to bed.

At 0300, I’m awakened by the sounds of intruder claxons
that are as annoying as they are deafening. Aria is on every holoCom, giving
orders. I am detailed a pair of Troopers to Engineering.  Their purpose is to
assist me in keeping anyone from tampering with the engines.  I ignore my
jumpsuit and pull my APE suit on, sealing everything but the helmet. I have my
pistol belt in one hand, a bag of shotgun ammunition in the other, and my
shotgun slung over my shoulder.  I’ve been hanging around Sherri too much. I
didn’t have the time to worry about such niceties as undergarments I wasn’t already
wearing. 

When I get to Engineering, I report to Aria and verify loads
in my spare magazines. I perform a quick functions check on each weapon and put
a round in each chamber.  My pistol goes back in its holster, my shotgun across
my back.  Ginny calls me with an update. She’s going to be kicking ass and
taking names on the Ship’s Boat deck.  The other engineering personnel check in
with their locations.

Gorb is already here. His breathing is shallow, and his eyes
are darting all over the place.  He’s terrified. He already has access locks on
the iris valves and doors. With those in place, no one aside from Captain
Prowse, Aria, Gorb, or me can get into engineering without an access code. 
Following ship protocols, we both seal our APE suits.  The ship is liable to be
depressurized at any time.

There is a ring from the outer doorbell. “Sonia! Open up.
It’s Freddie and Stan.” I level my shotgun at the door. I stand off to one side
and signal Gorb to dilate the iris valve.  If I see anything other than Freddie
and Stan, I’m prepared to empty my weapon at it.  The plasteel petals of the
door scrape against each other as the valve dilates.  I see two familiar
looking men in the corridor.  They are alone.

“Lower the muzzle, squatter,” Freddie growls, “it’s just
us.”  Freddie and Stan come in, and Gorb closes the door behind them.  These
guys would be truly massive in their armor, but are still pretty intimidating
in only the MUTES II armor.  The Multi-Use Tactical Environment System Mark II
allows the user to survive ballistic impact from a fifty-gram projectile
traveling at roughly one kilometer per second.  He won’t be happy, but he’ll be
alive.  It’s not Strike Armor; but it’s better than what Gorb or I have. They
have riot shotguns with grenade launchers as their primary weapons.  I’d feel
safer from the enemy if they were wearing Strike Armor and packing fusion
weapons, but those would potentially destroy our ship as well.

Stan keeps checking the mobile scanner he holds.  It beeps
in his hand.  He adjusts the sensitivity.  Soon he detects objects in the
corridor leading to the maneuver drives. “Uh, oh,” says Stan. “I wonder where
they came from?  Wake up, Fredso, three bandits inbound.” The signals are
moving slowly but steadily down the corridor towards the maneuver drive room
entrance.   And, of course, we’re on the most direct route.

Freddie says, “Okay, this is what’s gonna happen: Gorbo,
you’re gonna open the iris valve, and we’re gonna carry two gas grenades into
the corridor, and possibly follow that up with some small arms fire.  Got it? 
Once we are through the door, close it.  So have you checked the seal on your
APE suits?”

“I’d be lying if I said I was in complete agreement with
that plan.  I hope you’ve grown comfortable with the enhanced sighting systems
you’ve been given.  We’ll open the valve far enough to toss the grenades, but
no more—about eighteen inches, maximum.  Once we’ve evaluated any affect, then
we open the iris if needed, and you go through shooting. Ready?” Once they
signal they are prepared, Gorb opens the valve no more than half a yard.

As the grenades go through, I get a glimpse of the
intruders. I hope Gorb didn’t see what I saw.  The door closes, and the
grenades hiss their universal neuro-pathogen. The intruders are unaffected.
They continue to move in our direction.  “Looks like the bad guys have APE
suits or respirators also,” Freddie says.  “I hope it’s not armor.”

“Would you board an unfriendly ship without armor?” Stan
asks him.

“Aren’t you just the cutest little ray of sunshine?” Freddie
asks him sarcastically.  He turns to me, “Sonia, see if you can shut off
gravity and oxygen to that corridor. If not, we’re going in blasting.” Freddie
and Stan verify the rounds in their chambers.

I send a situation report to Aria:  Unknown intruders, three
in number, approaching Maneuvering.  Gas grenades had no effect.  I’m going to
shut down local gravity and seal that section of corridor.  Once that’s done,
we’ll pump the air out.

“Gorb, get the iris door behind them shut.” I start working
the gravity controls.

I look to Freddie. “What happened, how did they get aboard?”

“How the hell should I know?  I slept through all my physics
classes.  You’re the one with all the education.  Both of you fall back.” Gorb
now has the corridor video monitors up and running. One of the aliens raises a
weapon and fires a blast at the iris valve into the maneuver drive room.
Predictably, it shatters.

They move into Maneuvering.

We get direction from Aria: “There goes the local
depressurization idea. Sergeant Call, you and your battle buddy take them out.
We have no troops to reinforce you.  We have at least twelve up here to deal
with.”

Freddie tells us, “If you have armor and weapons, get it on
and get locked, cocked, and ready to rock. Stay here unless and until we call
you.” He and Stan get ready to take a maintenance tube over to the maneuver
drives and hopefully surprise the aliens there.

“What you see is what I got.  Go do some of that mindless
killer stuff.”  They nod and duck through the opening.

I have an idea.
“Gorb, do we still have those suits
of Strike Armor we were experimenting with down here?  If we do, and they
aren’t too broken down, we’ll get into them as best we can.  Then hunker down
and wait for Freddie’s roar of triumph.”

“There are the three suits that you have been working on in
workshop 2. One is still in pieces.  We should be able to get two of them
functional.  Coolers don’t work yet, though.”

Freddie is on my perCom’s earpiece. “I heard that.  Sounds
like a good plan. This is nothing new to us, squatter. Watch your back if we go
down, hear me?”

“You watch your own back.  You still owe me five pick up
lines no man can resist.” 
I hope I sound braver than I feel.

The intruders have moved deeply into the maneuver drive
area, and appear to be running scans of the drives, either trying to see what
they can disable without destroying the ship, or to get propulsion design
schematics. Gorb and I get into the experimental armor.

“I’m scared, Shownya, but I will help you if you get hurt!
Gorb loves to help!!”

“I’m scared too, Gorb.  But we’re gonna make it through
this, hear me? Everything will turn out okay.” 
Again with the feigned
bravado.

We pass the ship’s status board.  It’s lit up like a starry
winter night.  There are reports of significant damage, probably from
skirmishes, on the upper decks. The intruders are clearly trying to disable and
capture the ship, but just looking at where things are happening, they may be
trying to make their way to the bridge or the Captain.

Maybe if we sour the milk a bit
.  “Gorb, what would
it take to force a coolant leak in the maneuver engines? Can we make that
happen from here? If we can bake one or two of the bandits, that would be one
or two fewer for Freddie and Stan to worry about.”

“Release valves zulu 4 and golf 992.  We’ll have to block
them open to defeat the safety interlocks.  I anticipate a coolant cross feed
pressure differential bolus. That should do it.” 

“Get on it,” I tell him.  While he’s doing that, I strip off
my APE suit for the untested Strike Armor. 
I wish I had put on my jumpsuit
now.  This thing is going to chafe something fierce.

We hear a furious firefight ensue between Freddie/Stan and
the aliens. There are two explosions, and the main maneuver drive panel shows propulsion
capacity has dropped by 28 percent.

Freddie reports: “Stan is down. Aria, drop the knitting
needles, and get me some help down here! Sonia, grab your shotgun, load it with
plasma rounds, and come in through the south door. Get rid of this bastard in
the main drive room, and I can take care of the other two.”

“I’m on the way.  Move away from the inboard capacitor
coils—big red cabinets—hold your breath, and watch yourself.  We’re going to
try to boil one of those…things.  I’m wearing that Strike Armor you’re so fond
of, so don’t shoot me.  Which way is south? Stern?”

“ACK, yes, sternward. Turn on your positioning system in the
suit. Are you naturally blonde and that’s a wig?  You had me thinking you were
smart.” I hear a lot of firing over the channel.

There’s a small control unit on my left wrist.  I toggle
over to PS and am instantly aware of my position on the ship. The ship’s
computer is also feeding me the enemy’s positions.  There’s a small map over my
left eye that gives me a diagram of where I am and the corridors and furniture
associated with it. 
Pretty cool.

“Gorb, release the valves; make it happen.  It may be even
easier now.  Are you armed? Do you know how to use it?  I have to go help
Freddie.”

Gorb’s face twists into a pained expression. “Gorb does not
hurt people!!! No, no, no, Shownya!  Gorb helps, not hurts!” He’s on the verge
of hyperventilation.  The inside of his helmet is fogging up.  Opening it is
not an option; I feel my armor inflating.  The ship has depressurized.

I report to Aria, “Maneuver drive is going down. I’m moving
to back Freddie up.”

“Acknowledged. Lock Gorb in a closet or something. He panics
when he sees blood.  He is useless in a fight but too valuable to be left
exposed.”

“Roger.”

I tell Gorb, “Okay, okay, calm down.  Breathe…that’s it. 
First I want you to open the valves like we discussed.  Then I want you to go
into this closet.  I want you to stay very still and very quiet.  Do not open
the door until I come get you; do you understand me? This is very important.”