Roo the Day Page 2
“On it, Boss.”
The stars changed again. The image on the screen was almost big enough to be useful, but I wasn’t getting much out of it, yet. Like the rest of the bridge, I waited anxiously for Sue’s report. She said, “It isn’t autodocs, Boss. It’s the old-style suspension chambers. I don’t see anyone awake, and their power isn’t looking great.”
“How long do you think it will hold out?”
“We could send the coordinates back to the fleet, and let them pick up the ship, but I’d feel better if we took care of it ourselves. That power core could last another hundred years, or it could blow tomorrow. I just don’t have any way to tell for sure.”
“Do we have an ID on the ship?”
Saucy said, “Survey ship that went missing not long before the Gene was built. It was one of the reasons the Navy got funded.”
“Nobody came looking for her?”
“Nobody was sure where to look, Boss. She was on a long survey mission, and comms weren’t as reliable back then. Ships went to the last system they transmitted from, but there wasn’t any sign of them. There wasn’t any way to know where they went after that. Survey Captains had a lot of leeway in which systems they chose to look at.”
“You’re saying she was a long way from home, and rather than run back and get another comm, the Captain decided to keep surveying, and trust to luck to bring the ship home?”
“That was what the investigation concluded at the time, Boss.”
I said, “Sue, I’d like a scan of the surrounding area. Any more ships around? Any place to hide a ship?”
She tinkered with her console. “No ships, powered or not, in my search radius. Nothing corresponding to any kind of stealth we’ve seen before.”
“Ease us closer, Ruth. Anybody sees any signs of life on that ship, sing out.”
Once we got close enough, we could see that something had blown out in the Engineering section. Saucy said, “There’s the problem. These old drives would do that, sometimes, if you didn’t maintain them like you should. If I had to guess, the Captain thought he was on the trail of a good planet, and decided to keep looking, when he should have gone home to get his drives gone over.”
“You’re saying this was preventable?”
“I’m saying that’s what it looks like. I’d have to see the maintenance logs before I could say for sure.”
“Understood. Seems like a big risk to take, this far out in the black.”
“There is the possibility he didn’t realize his reports weren’t getting out. Routine reports didn’t always get answered.”
“This ship seems to have had a vast selection of cracks to slip through. The way you describe it, I’m surprised any of these ships made it home.”
“Many of them didn’t. It got so bad, the Commonwealth decided it wasn’t worth the manpower, not to mention the ships.”
“There’s no real way to tell what planets this ship has been to, is there?”
“Not until we get aboard and download the log.”
“We better decontaminate that thing till it shines, then.”
Topper asked, “You think they’re carrying the screaming purple flu, Boss?”
“I don’t have any idea, but I’m not interested in finding out the hard way. While we’re on the subject, we ought to check the computer systems for malicious code, as well.”
“Gee, Boss, you know how to get a bot’s attention.”
“As long as this thing has been out here, who knows who or what has stopped to mess with it.”
Gene said, “I resemble that remark, Boss.”
“And yet, you’re solid as a rock.”
“Thanks, Boss.”
Saucy asked, “Do you really think there will be something on board there that we need to look out for, Boss?”
“Not unless we fail to look. Then there will be three or four things we should have looked for.”
He replied, “Murphy is our shepherd, Boss.”
“Exactly right, Saucy. Exactly right. Get Andre on the comm, please.”
Andre must have known I would call. He answered right away. “Yes, Boss?”
“We’ve got a derelict that’s been alone out here for a long time. I need you to go over and have a look. Be careful of malicious code, and disinfect the crap out of it. We may want to send humans over at some point, or even bring the durn thing aboard to work on. Bringing the screaming purple flu aboard is not an option, understood?”
“Understood, Captain. Find out what we can, and don’t let the ship damage any of our crew.”
“How soon can you be underway?”
“As soon as the lock finishes cycling, Boss. We were waiting on your order.”
“You’re going without a ship?”
“Less to decontaminate, if we find a problem.”
“Good thinking. Can you send us a video feed, so we know what’s going on?”
“Sure.” Saucy split the screen, half the exterior of the ship, and half Andre’s video.
“Stay on the comm, Andre, in case one of us has questions.”
“Okay, Boss.”
The Marines flew over in formation, like it was just a drill. A little voice inside me hoped it went off that smooth. Once they got there, they spread out, and searched the outside of the ship. One of them found the airlock, and started getting it open. The rest of the team seemed to be gathering scans and other evidence of what happened to the ship. When the lock opened, a couple of the bots got in it, and the one who had opened it, cycled them in. Andre said, “They report the oxygen content is good inside, and they are scanning for pathogens and toxic chemicals.”
“Thanks, Andre.”
After a few moments, he came back on. “They report nothing found. I’m having them disinfect anyway, just in case these old-timers found something that the scanners can’t detect.”
“Good work. Keep us posted.”
I finished my coffee, and demolished another cinnamon roll, before Andre came back on the comm. He said, “Boss, they’ve disinfected the whole ship, and are ready to start investigating. Anything in particular you want them to look at?”
“We need the log, if they can get it. Find out what that power draw is.”
“Boss, they already found the power draw. Four old-fashioned suspension chambers. I’m afraid there are no survivors, though. Even suspension chambers weren’t meant to last this long. One odd thing, Boss. The records show a ship of this class would have had six bots aboard to assist the human crew. We found no sign of any bots.”
“That is odd. Bring back any records you can find, and anything that looks out of the ordinary. We’ll send the location of the ship to the fleet. They can send someone out to haul her back to the Commonwealth. That crew needs to go home, but there’s no need for us to drag them all over the place, before they get there.”
“Understood. We’ll finish up here, and come back aboard. I’ve arranged for decontamination, once we come aboard.”
“Good thinking. Looking forward to your report.”
I sat and watched them work, until they started back to the Gene. I said, “Ruth, make sure Sally knows where this wreck is. When Andre’s team is aboard, you may resume the previous course.”
“On it, Boss.”
“Sue, good work with the new sensors. These folks would have been out here forever, if not for you.”
“Thanks, Boss.”
“Tex, when Ruth goes to FTL, you can take the charge off the weapons, but not before.”
“Leave ‘em lit for Murphy, yes, Boss.”
It wasn’t long before I felt the Gene go to FTL. I asked, “Mr. Topper, have I forgotten anything?”
“Not that I am aware of, Boss.”
“Your ship, then.”
“My ship, yes, Boss.”
“Don’t hesitate to call if anything else comes up.”
“Yes, Boss.”
I headed back to the cabin. Jimmy was just coming out of his room, dressed and ready for t
raining. I asked, “Pete handed you off to Niner-Deuce?”
“Yep. I think he’s even stricter than Pete.”
“I’ve heard that about him.”
“Why are you up so early?”
“Topper found something he needed me to look at. No biggie. All taken care of, now.”
“I wish I had more time to get the real story out of you, Dad. I better get going, though. Don’t want to be late.”
“See you later.”
I turned to go into our cabin, and met Janet coming out. She said, “Oh, there you are. Snitz was whining because he couldn’t find you.”
I slapped my leg, and said, “Here, boy.” Snitz came running. Janet asked, “Where were you, anyhow?”
“Topper needed me on the bridge. All taken care of, now.”
“I better get going. Scotti doesn’t like it when I’m late.”
“See you later.”
She took off, and we headed for the grass room. Jim and Molly were there waiting. I said, “I figured you and Janice would be settled down on Shaved Ape Key by now. What are you doing, still out here in the black?”
“Janice has been a space nut, since she saw ‘Forbidden Planet’ at the drive-in. She wants to see as much as she can.”
“So, Sally didn’t ask you to stay on, just to talk to me?”
“She may have mentioned something, I don’t rightly remember.”
“Just because the name of the ship is BS Gene Cernan, doesn’t mean you have to try and fill it up.”
“With BS, you mean?”
“Yep.”
“Well, Janice does get a kick out of flying in the stars, that much is true. But Sally did ask me to stay on, and see if I could help you stay on an even keel.”
“Gene told you about what happened last night, I assume?”
“He did. Those new sensors are something else, huh?”
“That they are. That wreck would have sat there in the black forever, without them.”
“Too bad there weren’t any survivors.”
“The way Saucy talked, they’ve been marooned since before the Navy was even built. It would have been a miracle for even one of them to have made it that long.”
“I suppose you’re right, but I still have to hope for a happy ending.”
“Me too, but this time we just couldn’t make it happen.”
“Did the Marines find anything we could use?”
“I don’t know, yet. They brought back copies of the log and all the records, but until somebody goes through them, we won’t know what we’ve got.”
“Janice and I could help with that, if we wouldn’t get in the way. We’re not trained to do much on the ship, but any turkey can comb through records.”
“Get with Andre, I’m sure he will know who is working on it. The training machines don’t hurt, anymore, you know. There are plenty of them around, if you want to learn something.”
“Pardon me, my Galactic isn’t as good as it could be. Did you just say get off your butts, and learn something useful?”
“I was hoping to say it somewhat nicer than that, but I suppose that’s what it boils down to, yes.”
“We just don’t know where to start.”
“Vacuum operations, zero gee, and rescue operations are things everybody needs, as many people as we find in a bad way, out in the black.”
“Okay, Sally wouldn’t let us on the ship without those.”
“Well, I’d have to say just find something that looks interesting. If it turns out it isn’t something you want to pursue, you’re only out twenty minutes or so.”
“You mean, just take a course, and decide if you want to know more about it, after you’ve taken it?”
“I sure can’t tell you what’s in all of the courses we have available. Somebody poking around in them to see what we have, that we don’t know about, has got to be a good thing.”
“That sounds like a Bob plan, alright. ‘We have no idea what some of these courses will teach you to do. Some of you take them, and find out.’ Isn’t there some kind of guide to tell what’s what?”
“I’m sure there is. I wouldn’t want to trust it too far, though. Some of the courses are deliberately disguised, to make it harder for someone without proper authorization to find them.”
“Why do I get the feeling you turned this meeting around on me. I seem to be the one getting the advice.”
“Sweet little insolent me? Whatever do you mean?”
“Get on out of here. Your dog already left without you.”
“Have a good one, Jim.”
“You too, Bob.”
I wandered up to the galley. I saw several bots, and they waved, but none of them had any troubles I needed to look into. Stella greeted me with, “Morning, Boss. Will an omelet work this morning?”
“That sounds good. How did you guess?”
“I have a little better statistical modeling package than some of the bots.”
“Have you met those two nerds we have looking for planets?”
“Yes, Boss. Sally suggested the same thing. They’re Commonwealth, remember? Working with a bot isn’t something they can get their heads around.”
“I could speak to them, if you want me to.”
“Don’t bother, Boss. Scotti gave me access to their data, and I’m running my own analysis.”
“Come up with anything they’ve missed, yet?”
“Not yet. I did find a couple of places I assigned a different priority to than they did, but it wasn’t a big thing.”
“Still yet, make sure Rikki has your results, as well as theirs, when he heads out again. Phonelia, too.”
“I update Veronica every time I can, Boss.”
“Good work. I hope we find Rikki before he gets himself in trouble. If Joanna hadn’t been there to coach me on how to deal with these new folks, I would have messed up.”
“That all depends on how many middle-of-the-night layovers we have, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose it does. You don’t think we should have stopped for that ship?”
“I think it was the right thing to do, Boss. It was just an unhandy time for it to come up.”
“If we knew when Murphy was going to pay us a visit, we wouldn’t have to be ready all the time, and we wouldn’t be as good at our jobs, would we?”
“I suppose not, Boss.”
She went and brought out my breakfast. When I finished, George and Ringo were waiting for me. I asked, “What are you taking me in for, fellas? I haven’t been back long enough to get in trouble yet.”
George said, “Topper told us that you would probably want to walk the ship after breakfast. He sent us to make sure you didn’t find more trouble than you could handle.”
“Does he have bears wandering the lower decks? What kind of trouble does he expect me to get into?”
“What he said was, ‘If I knew what kind of trouble he would get into, I would fix it myself.’ He seemed to think you could find trouble where no one else could.”
“What do you think?”
“We let you drive into town for groceries by yourself, and you almost got picked up by the Air Force. I think Topper might be right about this one.”
“I wish I could argue with you about that one, but you’re right. At least, do some camo, so you don’t look like Marines. I go walking around with the two of you looking like that, I won’t find whatever it is I’m looking for.”
“You don’t know?”
“Nope. I get the urge to go for a walk, and I find something. No logic to it. Scares me, too, George. I’ve got no explanation. Let’s head out.”
I only knew two places I needed to check while I was out and about. I figured I should go see Frank and get it over with. I hoped Wilma had managed to get him settled down and able to work with Scotti and Tikki. After I got through there, talking to Scotti and Tikki would be a breeze. We got close, and I said, “You boys stay back, and be ready to shoot, if anything goes sideways. Have your lethal weapons r
eady, if stunners don’t work.”
Ringo started to ask something, but George cut him off, and said, “Understood, Boss.”
I looked at Ringo. “You had a question?”
“If he’s so dangerous, why do you keep him aboard, Boss?”