Repairs
Stephanie could hear Jake but couldn't find him. The four meter high space was filled near to capacity with the Samson's largest systems. It was never properly lit, the walkways were as narrow as forty centimetres across in some places and she always had the feeling that the mass capacitors, energy management systems and the myriad of other old machinery that filled the space was about to activate and fry her alive or worse, close in and crush her.
It was one of the only places in the universe that made her feel claustrophobic and awkward. The clinking and clanking of someone trying to worm their way through a space that was even smaller than the narrow alcove of cables she stood in echoed again and she gave up on proximity radio. “Captain!” she called out.
Her reward was a quick, sharp CLANG! and the Captain Valance's voice carrying through a narrow space nearby.
“Ow! What the hell is it?” he called out from wherever he was beside or above her, she couldn't quite tell.
“I've been trying to get you on comms for half an hour sir.”
“Wireless doesn't work in this section, there's too much energy stored in the systems.” Captain Valance replied.
She could hear him shuffling through a space to her right. “So I'm surrounded by cables with power running through them. Nice.” Stephanie tried to be smaller, shrinking away from the interconnected components all around her.
“Aye, Chief Vercelli's crew almost have the Samson back in shape and the modifications I requested finished. The first load test was yesterday and all her internal systems are live.”
“Good to hear, we can start running two recruiting missions at a time when she's ready. Still, next time you decide to go making repairs you might want to let someone on the security staff know.”
“I ran into March on the way down here, he didn't log it with the security office?”
“No, sorry, I didn't get it. What are you doing in there anyway? I'm sure one of the deck crew would be happy to do it for you.”
Jake dropped down right in front of her, barely fitting in the walkway. He had to stand sideways to squeeze between the seemingly random components that enclosed him in on either side. “There's a jury rigged cross beam here that's barely anchored at one end. It's not critical for support but it'll rattle like hell if anyone pushes the Samson's engines near three quarter throttle. If Ashley ever pilots her again…”
“It'll happen all the time.” Stephanie finished for him. “Did you get it?”
“Nope, hands are too big. I'll have to get someone else to tighten it back down or come back with an extender. What brings you down anyway?”
“One of our new recruits was killed yesterday and sent out the main emitter control room service airlock. Price and Finn just found her drifting outside the ship.”
Jake lead the way out of the tight space then retrieved his gun belt and long coat from a railing on the way down the hall. “Have you figured out how it happened?”
“She was strangled with a moderately thin wire. Without the Triton 's artificial intelligences online we can't do a ship wide DNA scan to find the weapon but we're looking. Whoever did it knew that the emitter systems were being serviced around the main control room and they were able to remove all records of their passage through the ship. Everything points to either a small group of people or individual who were able to somehow transport a body without being noticed. I'm looking at medical staff.”
“Did you find any other evidence?”
“We found a freshly scratched tether loop inside the emitter control room which tells me whoever it was was tied to it when they hit the decompression switch. They were probably just standing a few feet away from her when she was flushed out into space.”
“Why didn't her vacsuit seal?”
“There was an override in place on her command and control unit. Whoever it was used one of Wheeler's back door codes.”
“Could it have been Burke?” Captain Valance asked as they walked across the darkened cargo area the Samson was secured in. The new energy emitters running across her outer hull made it look like some spiked sea creature.
“He was in stasis at the time.”
“Then we have a murderer on board. What do we know about this new recruit?”
“Vienna Lars was her name.”
“Any idea why Vienna was killed?”
“Records show her spending some time in the Pilot's Den, the lower berthing and she visited the command deck once to check in with security. She was looking to qualify for core engineering staff, with her education she might have made it too. She had a data and communications unit that's several years old with her and it has records of her being in contact with Regent Galactic going back several years. Over the last few months she's also been in touch with something called the Order of Eden. Her credit records show that a one hundred thousand credit deposit was made to them over eight months ago.”
“She was a West Keeper?” Jake asked in a whisper.
Stephanie pressed the call button for the bulk express lift as she replied. “My working theory is that someone's doing our work for us, but for some reason they don't want to get caught. I think it was someone who was on the Triton when we took it.”
“I agree, any leads?”
“Well, I'm going to have people follow up with people she might have met in the pub or berth. One of my security people was a police officer so I'm going to work with her.”
“Good, tell me if you find anything.”
They stepped into the large express car and Captain Valance brought up the forward command deck as the destination on the two dimensional screen then pressed the ACCEPT key. So many things had become manual since the old ship AI's were deleted. Stephanie rode along with him in silence for a moment before turning to look at him. “You're taking this really well.”
Jake gave her a small smile and nodded. “It sounds like you're doing everything I would. We're both experienced bounty hunters, despite our differences in style, so I'm sure you'll catch whoever did this. Just make sure word doesn't spread across the ship. This is so strange that the whole ship would be talking about it within a couple days.”
“I don't think that'll be a problem. As long as Finn and Price have each other to talk to about this I'm sure they can keep it to themselves.”
“You're right, those two are pretty tight lipped in the first place. How are things going between you and Frost?”
“All right, I reset his intoxicant rationing so it's a little lower than anyone else at the rank of Chief, so he's pretty pissed about that but it'll blow over.”
“Think he'll get used to you being Chief of Security?”
“He'll have to.”
Jake couldn't help but chuckle. “This is going to be interesting. I'm sure Ashley or Alice will give me the blow by blow.”
“You're on duty right now, aren't you?”
“I'm always on duty.” The lift opened to the busy main corridor of the command deck. With over two thousand crew members aboard and going about their business there was a lot to manage and the front half of the command deck was the nerve center, for the most part.
“I'll see you on the bridge later, I have to get to the security office and brief my Lieutenants. I get the feeling that we're all going to have to keep our eyes open if we want to catch whoever spaced Vienna's body.”
“Good hunting Security Chief. Hopefully I'll decide whether to congratulate or incarcerate whoever's responsible by the time you find them.” Captain Valance muttered as they exited the elevator car and went their separate ways.
Two Improbabilities
“Okay, so Doc Anderson took some customized genetic material and her memories into a wormhole for thirty years so she could grow naturally. When he came out only four years had passed out here and Ayan was born again with all her memories. She also doesn't have any genetic mods past being restored to what she should be if her family had kept from tinkering with their genes.” Jason said to Minh, still trying to believe what he was seeing through the hospital observation window. Ayan was sleeping peacefully, her broken wrist and leg had been mended through nanosurgery.