The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link (12 page)

As I went to bed, I thought I might not be able to sleep, but it felt as if I’d just gone to sleep when Margret woke me up. I’d dropped my stuff off on the
Discovery
the day before so after getting dressed, I went to get breakfast. The
Discovery
was to leave at midmorning, allowing us to land on the planet’s surface after dawn.

Jack waited for me on the
Discovery
. “Just thought you might need this,” he said and handed me a small blaster. “In case you run in to any unfriendly natives. You’ll be fine, kid. I’ve worked with you. I know you’ll be just fine.” He looked nervous. “Oh, here.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a hammer. “If you carry one, machines take notice. Don’t go anywhere without a good hammer.” I looked it over. We both stood frozen, not knowing what to say.

“Women hug at a moment like this,” Kathy said as she entered the room. Jack took a step back and mumbled something about work. He turned and walked away. “What? Is he mad? I was just joking.”

“No, I don’t think he was mad. Jack’s a sensitive guy.”

“He hides it well.”

Sandra entered, and without even a nod, she took a seat in the front row. Jenny came in, in a rush, and threw herself into my arms, giving me a big kiss.

“I’ll miss you. Be careful,” she said.

Ron Siltstone entered, followed by his assistant, Nala. He went straight into the flight deck. No second-class ticket for him. Nala approached our group and informed us we’d be leaving soon. Kathy wrapped her arms around me and gave me a kiss to remember. Not to be out done, Jenny gave me another one and then the two women waved goodbye as they left the ship.

I took a deep breath and walked over and sat next to Sandra. She gave me an appraising look, then took my hand. “Don’t worry. We’re going to be just fine.”

“I know,” I said. She continued to hold my hand. Sandra is a strong girl, and it started to hurt.

“Ron shouldn’t be here. He has no reason for coming with us. Be careful around him. He has connections. Stay sharp. Don’t make him your enemy,” Sandra said.

She let out a small gasp when the
Discovery
rocked as it unhooked from the
Armstrong
. I looked at her. She bit her lip and her eyes were about to bug out. I squeezed her hand. She responded by crushing mine. She didn’t let up as we entered the planet’s atmosphere, not until everything settled and the ship quit rumbling did she loosen her grip.

“See, not so bad was it?” she asked as she straightened in her seat.

“No, and thanks for holding my hand. It helped.”

She glanced at me, then lowered her eyes. “Sure, that’s what I’m here for, to keep you safe.” She rubbed my hand. “You’re nice. I’ve always liked you.” I looked at her, and she gave me a smile.

“Margret, please show us the ship’s forward sensors.” The planet’s surface appeared on the front wall. It was green with shots of blue and white clouds. “Margret, what’s our altitude?” I asked.

“Just passing eighty-five kilometers,” she said.

“Ah, green. My favorite color,” Sandra said.

“It looks like pictures of South America, the Congo,” I said.

“Hard to see from this altitude,” Sandra said. “Drake, sometimes I get scared, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you down when the shit hits the fan. I’ll be there, don’t worry.”

I smiled. “Sandra, I know that, and I’ve always liked you too. I‘m just worried. If I mess up, I could kill a lot of people or ruin the whole mission.” I looked at her. “I’m scarred spit-less that I’ll screw up.”

“We’re in this together.” She patted my hand.

Radar readings said the ground existed and that it might be solid. I climbed into the mulch and called the
Discovery
, they lowered me to the surface. The mulcher shifted, facing straight down. I started the blades. The big machine chewed up the trees on its way, righting itself. Driving it in circles, I cut a place for the
Discovery
to land. As I did so clouds of birds took flight in front of me, and I saw a flash of an animal running away. More than a few animals weren’t so lucky. A small horse-looking creature disappeared under the blades. 

It took an hour to clear enough area for the
Discovery
to land. I was relived to watch it settle safely onto the ground. I climbed out of the mulch and then met Sandra at the door.

She gave me a hug and then kept an arm around me as we walked to the mulch. “Ron wants us to stay out of the way so they can film him taking the first steps on the planet.”

Sandra and I watched from the top of the mulcher as Ron and Nala practiced and recorded the official landing on planet 9732. With Ron taking the first steps on it.

Sandra gave me a kiss. “I want you to know I’m glad we’re here together.”

After the show, Sandra pulled me into the
Discovery’s
lunch room. She made me sit and eat. As we left, she patted my bottom. “You’ll need to keep up your strength for this evening,” she said, shocking me speechless.

Ron met us on the loading ramp. “Young man, come here. I’ve looked at the lay out and changed it. I want you to put the command building on top that hill first. I’ve sent the mulcher.”

Sandra grabbed my hand before I could speak. “We’ll be happy to do that, sir. Right away,” she said. She pulled me away. “Drake, you’re a smart kid so act smart. Don’t ever argue with a guy like that. He’ll smash you.”

“Okay, but it’s stupid. We’ll have to move our equipment to get to his house. We could set up ours first. Now we’ll have to move it twice, because he wants his little love shack with Nala.” I climbed into the loader. “You coming,” I called.

She shook her head. “You go. I have work here.”

I liked having her close. Well, I’d better get used to it. We both had work to do. The loader was a huge machine with grabs on the front. I’d practiced running one in the simulator. It was easy to use. After removing our equipment from the
Discovery’s
hold, I uncovered Ron’s house and then took the first module up the hill while Sandra set up the communications building.

Ron and Nala waited at the top. Ron had a tablet in his hand and waved me to stop. He showed me it. “I want you to put that module right over there.”

“Okay, but first I want to shove dirt around. You know it’s what I do.”

“Put the module there. You don’t need to move dirt around.”

“Well, you’re the boss.”

I kept bringing up the modules, one after another. By the third it was obvious the land wasn’t level enough. No matter how much Ron adjusted the modules couldn’t be leveled. As I brought up the last module, a plan occurred to me.

“Hey, Ron, they want you up at the
Discovery
. A problem. Something happened.”

“Christ, get this fixed. Damn it, can’t anyone do their jobs?” He jumped into his buggy. “Nala, come on.”

After they left, I moved the modules and plowed the site flat. Once they returned, I had the sections connected and level. Ron walked around inspecting it.

“Well,” he said, “you better go set up so the
Discovery
can leave.”

“Set your shields. See you in the morning,” I said.

As Ron walked away, I thought of Bob. How far could you go to make people be careful? It was a few clicks from Ron’s hill to the landing site. When I arrived it was getting dark. Sandra met me and handed me a blaster.

“Keep this close and ready,” she said.

I looked around at the trees. They were dark and ominous. “Sandra, climb in,” I said.

As she climbed up, I told Margret to call
Discovery
and tell them to go. I felt better having Sandra next to me as I plowed the site for our building. Everything was eerie and surreal, and the trees had turned black. After placing the modules, I had to adjust them. She stood by my side the whole time with blaster ready.

“Honey, if hell breaks loose, get your pretty little ass inside the loader,” she said.

“Not without you.”

“Damn right. I’ll be right on your heels.”

The forest came alive as the sun went down, casting shadows about. Weird sounds, not familiar, came from the dark, reminding us we weren’t at home. We were on another world.

I finished connecting the modules as a strange growling and roar erupted from the trees. “Ah, Sandra, let’s go inside and turn on the force field.”

“Good Idea.” She took my arm and marched me into the building.

I hit the force field controls and relaxed when the indicators went green. “Margret, connect with the building security system. Wake me if it goes into alarm or trouble. Full volume, okay?”

“Yes. I’m connected and will notify you of any faults and alarms.”

Sandra let out a sigh. “Are you sure that force field is up?”

I pulled out Margret and checked. “Yeah, it’s up.”

“Let’s walk around.”

Sandra took my hand. She towed me along through the building. One side opened to a large garage big enough to hold the mulcher. Next to it was a shop. We were ready for anything. The other end contained a medical section with two exam rooms and an auto doc, capable of performing the most advanced surgery.

“Our goal is to keep you from ending up here as a patient,” she said, pulling me with her.

She continued into the living quarters, which had a kitchen, dining room on one side, a small living room, bathroom and bedroom.

Sandra looked at the beds and smiled. “The beds can be connected for special friends.”

My heart leapt to my throat. I just didn’t know how I felt, and her constant joking made me crazy. I didn’t have a chance with a woman as pretty as her. Better to be friends. I shrugged and turned away, trying to hide my shaking hands.

I wandered into the kitchen. “You hungry?” I called.

“No, thanks. I’m going to take a cold shower and go to bed,” Sandra said.

A cold shower sounded like a good idea to me as well.

Chapter 8: Kidnapped

With Sandra so close, I wondered if I could go to sleep, but I must have. Margret chimed. Sandra jumped up with a blaster in her hand so fast I never saw her reach for it. I grabbed Margret off the stand.

“Emergency message from Nala,” she said.

“Connect.”

“Help us! Please hurry! Please!” She crumpled to the floor in sobs.

Sandra grabbed Margret. “Get dressed. Hurry,” she said. “Nala, what happened?” Nala continued to sob. “Nala! What happened?” Sandra repeated.

“They took him. The animals came. They grabbed him, stabbed him and pulled him away. I couldn’t stop them.” She started crying hard then. Nothing Sandra did could get a response from her.

“Give me Margret. Get dressed,” I said. “Margret, play back the last ten minutes of video from the command center. Put it on the screen.”

The wall of the living room showed the front of the command center. Sandra came in to watch as she got dressed. God, she’s beautiful, I thought. Something moved at the edge of the trees and several tall men, no, animal things, came slowly forward. One made a motion, and they sprinted toward the door, crashing into it. The force field was off and the door sprung open.

“Margret, is there a video camera inside the hallway? Bring it up. Start at the time when the creatures hit the door.”

The door burst open, and the creatures entered, sniffing and moving cautiously. Ron came roaring into the hall, waving a blaster. One of the creatures made a quick movement, and a dart slammed into Ron’s side. It had a rope attached, and the creature pulled Ron toward it. Ron dropped his weapon and grabbed the rope with both hands. It looked as if he was screaming. The creatures grabbed him by the arms and pulled him off his feet as they ran out the door.

“Margret, run it back slow. Show me the dart in flight,” Sandra said. She walked up to the display and circled the dart, then took her fingers and moved them apart. The picture enlarged. The head of the dart was covered with barbs. “God, that must have hurt,” she said softly. “Margret, show him as he throws the dart.” His arm was a blurr. An underhand throw, but fast and hard. “Show it again. The creature must have had the dart in his hand.” His hand went back and then forward, and the dart flew fast and true.

“Margret, show the outside camera as they leave,” I said. The creatures pulled Ron across the clearing and into the trees. “Mark that spot.”

“You aren’t going,” Sandra said.

“Why?”

“It’s too dangerous for you.”

“The only place safe is next to you. You said that yourself. I have to stay within arm’s length of you.”

“He’s probably dead, but we have to go check. That’s the right thing to do,” she said, shaking her head. She stuck a finger into my chest. “Okay, but you do exactly as I say when I say.”

“Okay. So the rules are I stay within arm’s length of you and do exactly what you say.”

She smiled, then handed me a blaster. “Remember how to use this?” I nodded “Good, you’ll be using it. Let’s go.” She said handing me a day pack.

“Sandra, should we call the captain and let her know what we’re doing.”

Sandra smiled. “The captain will never approve of us going after Ron. It’s your call. Do we ask the captain to forgive us later or leave Ron?”

“What the hell can the captain do? Bust me to apprentice?”

I’m left handed, so I walked on her left and stayed close. I had Margret set my eye to night mode. It was weird at first. I walked backward to watch our rear, then turned around and checked front and both sides. We walked straight down the center of the clearing. Sandra wore night goggles, but they weren’t as good as a fake eye.

“Don’t see anything. Just a pretty girl,” I said.

“I can hardly see enough to walk. Maybe we should wait for tomorrow.”

“He’ll be dead by then. Let’s just take a look with my eye. I can see as if its midday.”

Sandra sighed. “Stupid kid, but I guess we should at least try.”

We arrived at the command center. Margret confirmed that the force field was set. Sandra called Nala and told her to stay put.

“Okay. Are you going to look for Ron?” Nala asked with a hint of panic in her voice.

“Yes, as much as we dare. I have a responsibility to protect Drake, and he comes first, but we’ll go see what we can do,” Sandra said.

“I understand. You must protect Drake. Maybe you shouldn’t even go.”

We entered the forest at the same spot that we’d seen the creatures take Ron. They’d left an easy trail to follow. One would have to be blind to miss it. I stopped Sandra, and whispered into her ear, “These creatures hunt. They know how to cover their trail. I think they’ll set an ambush using Ron as bait.” We continued following, but very carefully.

We heard him crying. At first, I thought it was an animal. We followed the sound. Sandra turned to the side, and we circled it. I saw him before she did, sitting next to a tree under a fern. I took her hand and pointed her at him. After a few moments, she nodded. I looked around carefully, picking out three other creatures. I pointed them out. She shook her head and pulled me close.

“No good. We have to go. Sorry,” she whispered. She gave my ear a light kiss and then turned. A spear sank deep into her thigh. I shot the creature who’d thrown it, then the two others.

“Run, Drake,” she yelled.

I grabbed her and lifted her onto my shoulder. Damn, she’s heavy, I thought. Turning, I shot two other creatures and then ran.

“Margret, give me directions to medical. Hang in there, sugar.”

“Shit, I hate being called that,” Sandra said, shooting at a group of creatures that followed.

I broke into a small clearing. In the middle between two posts Ron was stretched out naked with several darts sticking out at different angles. Sandra swore as I set her down with her back to one of the posts. With shaky hands, I tore her pant leg open searching my day pack I found a medical kit and bandaged her leg.

She grabbed my arm. “Drake, you said you’d do as I say. Leave me and Ron. Run. You can make it. Leave us.” She let me go.

I smiled. “I love you, Sandra.” I reached down and gave her a kiss.

She laughed. “You what? Did you say you love me?”

“Yes, I love you, and I won’t leave you.”

“Stupid kid. When I’m well, I’ll beat your stupid ass.” I shot a creature across the clearing. “Nice shot, but I’m still going to beat you good.”

“Margret, can you bring the rescue vehicle to us?” I said.

After a pause, she said “Yes, on its way.”

“Great. What’s the ETA?”

“Three minutes.”

“Good, Margret.” I shot another creature.

I turned and shot the ropes holding Ron up. He fell in a heap, letting out a scream. After thrashing around, he went silent. I reached for some pain pills, but Sandra stayed my hand.

“We could end up like him. Keep the painkillers for yourself. Keep them close. Take them if we get overrun. That’s a better way to die.”

I looked at the pills. “Sandra, no. I have to get you back.” I walked over and stuffed a couple into Ron’s mouth, forcing him to swallow them. He was quiet after that.

They charged. Thirty of them roared, throwing their darts as they ran straight toward us. I pulled Sandra around the post, getting her cover, then we fired, killing them. They didn’t get closer than twenty feet. Later, a few more came out of the woods, holding their hands out. They moved very slowly, carefully picking up their fallen comrades. We watched in silence. Sandra reminded me to keep watch on all fronts for a sneak attack, but nothing happened.

The rescue vehicle lowered itself into the clearing. I had Margret bring it in close. Sandra wouldn’t go in, but let me take her to the door where she sat watching my back as I figured out a way to transport poor Ron. I used a laser and cut off all the shafts sticking out of him and then loaded him into a stretcher. He screamed as I moved him. As soon as I pushed him inside the rescue craft, I grabbed Sandra and pulled her in, locking the door and setting the force field.

“That was rough,” she said with a smile.

I reached down and picked her up like a baby. It was a struggle. Laughing, she put her arms around my neck. Huffing and puffing, I set her on a stretcher and then pushed her into the auto doc.

“Ron should go first,” she said.

“I need you. No one needs him.” I pushed her into the machine.

After we arrived at the emergency building, I hauled Ron into the medical area and pushed him into the station’s auto doc. Several warnings came up on the screen—infections, loss of body fluid, severe trauma, imbedded projectiles.

I stood looking at the readout. Strangely, I felt nothing. We’d risked our lives for him, but I didn’t care if he lived or died. I was just glad Sandra was safe.

Taking a deep breath, I said, “Margret, get me Captain Marcel Ramon.” After a few minutes, a sleepy-looking woman appeared.

“This must be an emergency,” she said.

“Ron was kidnapped by natives. We got him back, but he’s hurt and in the auto doc.”

“Let me speak to Sandra.”

“She took a spear in the leg and is in another auto doc getting healed.”

“So when you say
we
got Ron back, what do you mean?”

“Sandra and I.”

“
You
and Sandra? What the hell was she thinking? She took you on a rescue mission? I told her you were important. Those doctors are too damn smart to tie their own shoes. We need someone to keep shit running. What the hell was she thinking? Young man, you’ll send me the whole record of the rescue, everything you have on it. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, good. I’m glad Ron is alive, and neither of you were seriously injured. I’ll have to remove Sandra. She can’t stay with you. I’m switching you over to Dr. Weston. He needs to talk to you about Ron.” She smiled. “Thanks, Drake, for saving him, but you need to be careful. We need you to keep the camp running. Goodbye.”

Dr. Weston looked sleepier than the captain had. “Ron was kidnapped by natives. I’m sending you the readings from the auto doc now,” I said.

He turned to look at a screen. He swore softly. “He might not live. Keep him in the auto doc for now, and we’ll come and get him as soon as possible. Ah, keep an eye on the auto doc’s supplies, especially the pain medications.” He frowned. “You did good. No one could have done better.”

“Ah, thanks, doc. Sandra took a spear to the leg. She’s in the auto doc on the rescue vehicle now.”

“Send me the auto doc readings.”

“Go ahead, Margret.”

Doc’s eyebrows furrowed as he read the report, then he smiled. “When she’s awake, put her to work. She doesn’t get a day off for this.”

“Thanks again, doc. I’ll tell her that. Look forward to seeing you soon.”

“Later, kid.” He closed the communication.

I checked Ron’s auto doc supplies. They were full. I went to get cleaned up. I wondered about what the captain had said, if she could replace Sandra. Maybe Sandra would want to be replaced. Checking with Margret, I saw the force field around our building was up with no alarms. As I climbed into the shower, I thought, gad, we could have died. After finishing, I got some breakfast for Sandra.

It felt good to be clean again. Sandra was just rolling out of the auto doc when I came in with food. “You’re clean. Where have you been? You’re supposed to stay within arm’s reach,” she said. I gave her a foolish smile and set her tray onto a table before I came over and helped her to a bed. “The captain is going to pull me after this stunt.” She looked away as a tear ran down her cheek. I pushed a tray holder to her and then moved her breakfast to it.

“Do you want to stay here with me?”

She glared at me. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know. I can’t figure you out. You change. I can’t keep up.”

She put her head into her hands and sighed. “Sorry, you’re just so dense you make me mad.” She reached out and took my hand. “I like you and I want to stay.”

“Then I’ll have you stay.”

She scoffed. “You’re just an apprentice. What can you do?”

“Well, sugar, Bob isn’t fit for duty so I’m the only engineer available, but I’m an apprentice. The captain can’t order me to do what I’m doing. She has called the situation an emergency, but that’s a very weak call. So, dear, to make a long story short, I’m playing ball with the captain and will continue to do so as long as she plays with me. Or us, as the case may be. Don’t worry about a thing, dear. I have your back.”

She leaned back, shaking her head. “You’re so full of shit.”

I smiled. “Margret, call Linda Tames. Time to collect on my union dues.”

Linda looked beautiful, even after being woken up in the early morning. I told her about Ron’s kidnapping and how Sandra had saved him. “So, Linda, Sandra took a spear to save me, and I just won’t feel safe without her,” I said.

“So you have this on video, right?”

I sighed. “No. When I turned my eye to night vision I accidentally turned off the video buffer. I was nervous and screwed up.”