Dubious Heroes: a novel Page 19

  “He stuck his head in the door when he came down”, Lola said. “The guy with the hair.”

  “So you’ve met”, I said. “Anyway, the reactor was seconds away from failing, when the bad guys crossed our path and left a load of debris in front of us. Angela, our AI, decided that if she didn’t do something immediately, we’d likely all be dead. So she engaged the star drive, and we transited out.”

  “You can’t transit that close to a planet”, she said. “At least that’s what I’ve heard.”

  “Well, you heard right”, I said. “We left, alright, but we didn’t end up where Angie wanted us to be. She’s trying to figure out where we are, right now.”

  “So, what you’re saying is we’re lost, in a damaged ship.”

  “Jeez, you make that sound like a bad thing”, I said, smiling.”

  “He has a sense of humor”, she said, smiling back at me. “So, where are we going?”

  “Nowhere, yet”, I said.

  “What I mean”, she said, “Is that we’re boosting right now, so we’re going somewhere at about half a gee.”

  “Oh, shit. You’ll have to excuse me”, I said, feeling a bit dumb. “I’m kinda new at this. Angie?”

  “Yes?”

  “We need to kill the engines”, I said, “Until we actually know which way we need to go.”

  “If you cut the drives, we’ll be under zero gee”, she said. “And unless we turn around and decelerate, we’ll still be coasting along at our current speed and trajectory.”

  “I’m aware of that”, I said. “But we can’t afford to waste the fuel when we might well be blasting off in entirely the wrong direction. Let everyone else know, and do it, please.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “So basically, we’re screwed”, Lola said, looking even more dejected, which I hadn’t thought possible, a moment before. I figured she was a little younger than me, thirties, maybe. With all the things that could be done, she might well be double that, and no one would know. Regardless, she was quite pretty, in a pixie-ish kind of way.

  “Possibly”, I said, forcing myself to focus. “We haven’t really had time for a good look around yet.”

  An alarm sounded, interrupting me.

  “Zero gee in five seconds”, Angie said, via the ship-wide PA. Five seconds later, I felt the low vibration of the main drives stop, leaving a quiet stillness that was almost eerie. I floated up a couple of inches above the floor, and began drifting.

  “Damn”, I said, “I need sticky shoes.”

  “Me too”, Lola said, as she grabbed a table to steady herself.

  “I’ll drop down to the crew deck and grab a couple pair”, I said. “By the way, how are you doing? Weren’t you wounded too?”

  “I’m okay”, she said. “I think I was grazed by a ricochet or something, really more of a small cut. Eng put a local anesthetic and a bandage on it, back on the Cooper. It did hurt like hell, and there was some bleeding, but I don’t think it’s serious.”

  “I’ll take a look at it when I get back up”, I said. “In the meantime, belt into the other MedCouch and take a break. Angie will let us know if Kyra’s condition changes.”

  “Really, I’m fine”, she said.

  “Alright”, I said, not wanting to press the point. “I’ll be right back.”

  I ducked out of the MedLab, and made my way around the passageway to the door into the core. I had to sort of bounce along, pushing off the floor, walls and ceiling to move. Since sticky shoes are so common, ships weren’t really designed for ease of use in zero gee.

  I pulled myself down the ladder in the core to the crew deck. There was a storeroom with coveralls and other supplies, all several years old, but still perfectly good. I put on one pair of sticky shoes, and picked out another pair I thought might fit Lola, and headed back up. I was just climbing out of the core when the intercom clicked on.

  “Doon.” It was Cozi.

  “I’m here”, I said. “What’s up?”

  “We’re still in engineering”, he said. “We’ve done a quick assessment, and there’s nothing we can do about the reactor right away. I think we can fix it, but it may take a couple of days.”

  “What’s the hull look like?”

  “There’s a pretty good hole, in the reactor section”, he said. “It’ll have to be patched from the inside and outside, which is also going to take some time.”

  “How big of a hole is it?”

  “Well, we can see stars thought it”, he said, “And I could climb through and walk around outside, if I wanted to.”

  “Jesus Christ”, I said. “We can repair that?”

  “Probably”, Cozi said. “We might have to cannibalize some hull plating from somewhere, but we ought to be able to fix it. Eng concurs.”

  “Alright, so you’re telling me there’s nothing you can do down there right now.”

  “That sounds about right”, he said.

  “Then come on up. We’ll all meet in the galley, and see if we can come up with some sort of plan or something.”

  “We’re on our way”, he said. “Out.”

  “Out”, I said, and walked back around to MedLab.

  “Cozi and Eng are coming back up”, I said to Lola, as she looked up from a vidscreen, where she’d been reading. “I thought we should all get together, have some lunch, and get an idea as to what we need to do.”

  “Good idea”, she said. “We’ll need to get blood samples from them anyway.”

  “Learn anything new?” I asked, looking at the vidscreen. She had pulled up the information on transfusions.

  “Not anything your AI couldn’t tell us a lot faster”, she said.

  “It’s probably not a bad idea for you to learn all you can, anyway”, I said. “Unless you’d rather be doing something else.”

  “I’m a Cargo Master”, she said, “Unless you have some cargo that’s in dire need of tending to, I don’t really have a job right now.”

  “Yes, you do”, I said. “As of now, you’re the Medical Officer. You okay with that?”

  “I’ll certainly try”, she said, then smiled. “How much does this gig pay?”

  “How about food, lodging, a trip home, hopefully, and all the air you can breathe?”

  “Sounds like a deal”, she said. “Where do I sign?”

  “Nothing to sign”, I said. “But you can grab that blood sampler, and join me in the galley.”

  “Okay”, she said, and promptly passed out.

  I suppose gravity would have made her passing out more dramatic; instead, she just floated there, stuck to the deck with her sticky shoes. I went over to her, and putting an arm around her waist, pulled her loose from the floor. Gently, I placed her on the other MedCouch, and strapped her in. She was small, maybe eight or nine inches shorter than Kyra, and probably didn’t weigh much more than a hundred pounds.

  I detached the MedCuff from the wall, and placed it on her arm. The vidscreen lit up, showing what I assumed to be her vital signs.

  “Lola’s hooked up now”, I said, figuring Angie was listening, since she usually seemed to be. “Can you tell how she is?”

  “She seems fine”, Angie said. “I don’t have much data yet, but if I had to make a guess, I’d say she’s either in some sort of systemic shock, or suffering from fatigue, or both. The MedSystem just started an IV drip for her, similar to what Kyra is getting.”

  “Thanks”, I said. “I assume you can keep an eye on her, as well as Kyra?”

  “Not a problem”, she said. “If I get anything more conclusive, I’ll let you know.”

  I bent over and looked at Lola. She seemed to be breathing regularly, confirmed by the pulsing lines on the monitor above her. I touched my fingertips to her forehead, and she opened her eyes. Startled, I jerked my hand back. She smiled weakly at me.

  “Busted”, she said.

  “I was just… checking your temperature, I suppose”, I said, and felt myself flushing again. “When I was a kid, I was pretty s
ick for a couple of weeks- some sort of flu epidemic- and my mother would do that when she came in to check on me. I don’t really know why she did it, but it always made me feel better.”

  “I think it works”, she said, and smiled again. “Thanks. Can I get up now? I really do feel fine.”

  “Why don’t you stay put for a little while”, I said. The MedSystem is pumping some stuff into you, and if nothing else, I’m betting you could use some rest.”

  “I’d rather be up”, she said. “There’s a lot that needs to be done.”

  “And I’ll gladly put you to work”, I said, “After you get some rest. That’s an order.”

  “I’ll file a formal protest”, she said, and smiled again.

  “I’ll note your protest in my official log, whenever I get around to actually making one.”

  “Fine”, she said. “Stop back in and let me know what’s going on, okay?”

  “I will”, I said.

  I left the MedLab for the galley.

  I ran into Cozi and Eng coming from dropping off their suits. We all headed into the galley, where both started rooting around in the food locker. After picking out a couple of packets, they slid them into the processor, which would reconstitute and heat them. To get ship’s rations, you started with food that was, under the best of conditions, of dubious quality, and then freeze-dried the bejesus out of it. The end product was every bit as appetizing as it sounds.

  I went over to the locker, and fished out a packet for myself. It was labeled “Gourmet Beef Stroganoff.” I’ve always had a bad habit of reading labels, when I’d probably be better off not knowing. Under “ingredients”, I saw that it didn’t really contain any beef (not that any part of a cow had made it off of Earth in the last fifty years, anyway), nor did it contain flour, which presumably real noodles are made of. Instead, it has ‘simulated beef product,’ and ‘artificial soya product’. I stuffed it into an empty processor, and waited the thirty seconds for my gourmet meal. Cozi and Eng were standing and eating, which looked odd, but made sense in the zero gee. Anything you tried to set on the table would just float off anyway. Fortunately, the ship rations were gloopy enough that we wouldn’t have to resort to eating from tubes. Liquids were in squeeze packs anyway, so they weren’t an issue.

  Cozi looked up from his meal, and through a mouthful of something which looked grotesque, said something.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Where’s Lola?” he said, after he swallowed.

  “She’s resting in MedLab”, I said. “She passed out for a minute, but I think she’s fine. I had to order her to stay put. Speaking of which… Angie?”

  “Yes, Doon?”

  “Can you see that the MedSystem puts a mild sedative into Lola’s IV? I want her to get some rest.”

  “Done”, she replied. “It should put her to sleep shortly.”

  “Perfect”, I said. “How’s Kyra doing?”

  “Same as before”, she said. “If there’s any change, I will let you know.”

  “Sorry”, I said, “just checking.”

  “Anything else?” she asked. “I’m using every spare bit of capacity I have to try and calculate our position.”

  “That’s it”, I said, realizing I’d managed to annoy our AI. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “Is there anything I can do for Lola or Kyra?” Eng asked.

  “As a matter of fact, there is”, I said. “Be right back.” I trotted out of the galley, back over to MedLab, and picked up the blood sampler I’d forgotten. Lola was already asleep, either naturally, or with a little help from the drugs. I returned to the galley, to find Cozi and Eng dumping their empty trays into the recycler. I walked up to Eng.

  “Stick out your finger”, I said. He looked confused, but held out a hand, and pointed his index finger at me. I slid the sampler onto his finger, and it pricked him, taking a sample.

  “Ow”, he said. “What is that?”

  “I just took a blood sample from you”, I said. “It’ll tell me your blood type, plus a few other things. Kyra needs a transfusion because she’s lost a lot of blood. Neither Lola nor I matched her type.” I looked at the readout which showed AB Negative. “And neither do you.” I waggled a finger at Cozi. “You’re next.”

  He walked over, and held up a finger.

  “Cute”, I said.

  “Hey, you didn’t specify which finger”, he said, grinning. I stuck the device on his finger, took the sample, and checked the readout.

  “And we have a winner”, I said. “Your type is O Negative, by the way, in case you need the info again.”

  “I’ll tattoo that on my ass”, he said.

  “Put it wherever you like”, I said. “In the meantime, eat another meal, and drink plenty of liquids. Kyra needs a couple pints of your blood.”

  “When?” he asked. “We have a huge list of thing we need to get busy on and some of them are pretty critical.”

  “That’s why we’re having this meeting”, I said. “We need to see where we’re at and come up with some sort of a plan. You guys can go first. What’s your top priority?”

  “The reactor”, Cozi said. “But there are things that need to be done before we can fix it.”

  “Such as?”

  “That big hole in the hull”, Eng said. “We’ll have to EVA to fix that.”

  “That’s two or three hours of EVA”, Cozi said, “And while we’re out there, we might as well deploy the solar panels, provided there’s enough light to bother. At present, we’re running on batteries, and they’ll have to be recharged. In a pinch, we can use the generator, but it has a limited amount of fuel, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

  “What does it burn?” I asked.

  “Hydrazine”, Cozi said. “Find me a comet or an asteroid, and we could probably make some.”

  “Maybe the solar will work”, I said. “Angie?”

  “Yes?”

  “Any stars in our immediate area?”

  “There’s a Class-M forty-four light minutes away”, she said. That’s about seven hundred fifty million miles, which, for comparison, is about the mean distance of Jupiter from Sol. So yes, there is a star, and you could expect about twenty percent of the light levels you’d get on Luna.”

  “I can live with that”, Cozi said. “It’s not much, but it’s not nothing.”

  “Still no fix on where we are?” I asked.

  “The external cameras, or at least the ones left, aren’t that powerful, so the amount of data I’m getting is very low. Couple that with the fact that we only have cameras on one side of the ship, and I’m having to spin us to look around, and that once I have a set of stars, I have to image them in three-dee, then look at them from different angles to see if they match anything in my database… well, it’s going to take a while.”

  “Would repairing the other cameras help?” I asked.

  “Yes, it would”, she said.

  “Another thing for your to-do list, Cozi”, I said.

  “I’ll add it, but it’ll be low priority, until we get the reactor back online”, he said. “We’ll pull the bad ones when we do our EVA.”

  “Both of you have to go out?” I asked.

  “Yep”, Eng said. “It takes two to handle and install the solar panels; they’re a bit cumbersome. Plus, it will speed up the hull repair, particularly since I have more EVA experience than Cozi.”

  “Considering he doesn’t have any, that’s a given”, I said. “Angie, can you give us a summary of our expendables?”

  “Certainly”, she said. “First, there’s fuel. We’re at thirty-five percent capacity, after losing that fuel cell. That isn’t as dire as it may sound. This ship was designed for long voyages, so that amount will last for quite a while. Not that fuel will be an issue, since you’ll run out of air, water, and food a long time before you run out of fuel.”

  “Well, how long do we have?” I asked.

  “Five months”, she s
aid. “Longer, with rationing.”

  “Great”, Cozi said, his eyes bugging a bit. “Just fucking great.”

  “The good news”, Angie said, “Is that if we can figure out where we are, we’re in a good position to transit out, and back into known space. It’s our best chance of getting back.”

  “Is there any other damage that needs to be addressed?” I asked.

  “Other than the minor things you were working on prior to the distress call, I don’t have anything else”, Angie said.

  Cozi shrugged. “That’s what we have, too. We may find other stuff once we get started, but for now, that’s it.

  “Okay”, I said, “Here’s what we’re doing.”

  I nodded to Cozi.

  “I want you do that transfusion before you EVA. You’re the only match with her, and while I don’t expect there to be any problems out there, you never know. I used to think that old saying whatever can go wrong, will go wrong was just some bullshit old people used to say. I’m beginning to believe in it as a fact of life.”

  “How long is the transfusion going to take?” Cozi asked.

  “I have no idea”, I said. “Angie, do you know that one?”

  “An hour or so for the transfusion”, she said, “Plus another six to eight hours of rest afterward. At least, that’s what the medical system says.”

  “That’s how long it’s going to take, then”, I said, before Cozi could complain. “No arguments.”

  “If you want”, I said to Eng, “Go ahead and start with the EVA by yourself, and do what you can. Assuming you’re comfortable doing an EVA solo.”

  “That’s not a problem”, Eng said. “We need to stage for the repairs anyway. We’ll have to scavenge some hull plating from somewhere to make the patch. I’d suggest from one of the cargo bays.”

  “Coordinate it with Angie”, I said. I walked over to the processor, and removed my forgotten Gourmet Beef Stroganoff. It was cold. I grabbed a spoon, and ate it anyway, while Cozi and Eng conferred over their list on one of their Pods. I pitched the empty tray into the recycler, and walked to the door.