Forte Smiled, “No problem, Chief. We are a little ahead of schedule on the pre-entry systems check.”
The Chief, whose primary responsibility was to maintain the jump shuttles and hanger bay, shook his head in disgust, “I got three jump shuttles that won’t clear the hanger.”
Captain Stella asked, “What seems to be the problem? Will the hanger bay doors not open or the blast shields not close?”
Chief shook his head, “No, No, nothing as simple as that. The jump shuttles are not lined up on the tracks properly. If launched, the shuttle would get hung up on the track and not clear the hanger.”
Stella looked puzzled, “So they would launch half way and get stuck. How would we retrieve the crew and cargo with the hanger bay door open and the shuttle stuck partially out in space?”
Forte interjected, “We would have to send several crewmen out in space suits; it would take hours to retrieve the crew from a failed launch, as Chief describes.”
Chief said, “I don’t think we can fix it before we reach Earth.”
“Do your best to get the shuttles back on track, I’m sure it won’t matter. I don’t think there has ever been a time when we deployed all the shuttles at once. Anything else to report?”
“No Sir!” The Chief snapped to attention and placed his hand over his chest, the equivalent of a military salute on Earth.
Forte moved his hand to his chest and nodded at the Chief, the Chief disappeared beneath the jump shuttle to continue his work.
Stella touched Forte’s elbow and smiled, as if to steer him further down the aisle of jump shuttles. Normally, she would not show that much affectation in an open space, but she knew no one else would be in the hanger bay. “Shall we continue our pre-entry inspections?”
Forte grinned, relationships were not illegal aboard long-distance cargo ships like the Impegi, but there still had to be a decorum. They had to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Forte believed that most of the crew was oblivious to their relationship; at least, he had never mentioned it to anyone. “Shall we move along to the antimatter reactors?”
“We shall, Commander,” she drew out the word commander and intentionally twirled her long silky blonde hair.
Forte knew what tonight’s activities would consist of, but for now, there was work. “Shall we take the stairs down to the reactors?”
Forte and Stella walked to the other end of the hanger bay, past the shuttles, and entered the stairwell, which they knew would be empty. Two levels down, not even half way to the reactors, Forte grabbed Stella by the arm and twirled her around. With his left hand he pushed her back up against the metallic wall of the stairwell. He moved in close, dropping his hand towards her waist, tracing her curves and cupping her ass as he pressed his lips against hers. She relaxed, placed her arms around his broad shoulders and slid her tongue into his mouth. They continued to kiss for a few minutes, until Forte pulled away.
“What was that for?” Stella asked, with a smile.
“Just a preview of what’s to come,” Forte glanced down at her form-fitting uniform. Even after 70 years he still enjoyed spending time with Stella. To be fair, many of those years were spent in an LTS chamber. He wondered if he would feel differently if he had been with her for all those years. Vitahicians liked to think they were greatly superior to humans, and in many ways, they were. Yet, Vitahicians, like humans, have emotions. They feel, to a lesser degree, emotions like love, hate, desire, and greed.
“I can’t wait,” Stella smiled as she shook her mane of blonde hair and adjusted herself, “have to keep up appearances.” She winked at Forte.
Forte and Stella continued down the gray, dimly lit stairwell until they came to the reactor level. As they approached the thick, metal door that lead to the reactors, it slid open with a faint, soft whirring sound.
The reactor room was one of the largest spaces on the Impegi, second only to the massive cargo hold. The cavernous space housed six antimatter-injected nuclear fusion reactors. The six reactors were stationed three on each side of the large room. Each power plant was the size of a large house. There was a metal deck running down the middle, separating the two rows of reactors. Beside each reactor was a smaller antimatter container that was about the size of a travel trailer. The entire reactor room was pristine, not a speck of dust or smudge of grease. A stark contrast to the rest of the Impegi, which was a cloudy gray color, the reactor room was bright white.
Stella and Forte meandered down the center aisle and walked up to the display monitor in front of the reactor on their right. Neither of them were physicists or nuclear engineers, but they each had sufficient training to read the display well enough to be able tell if there was a problem. The sensors were indicating that all systems were operating within allowable tolerances.
“Hello, Commander. Hello, Captain Stella,” a voice cheerfully echoed from directly behind them.
Forte immediately spun around, startled by the intruder that had so quietly approached them. He instantly recognized Commander Furier, the ship’s quartermaster. On a cargo vessel, as large as the Impegi, it was common to have a quartermaster that was responsible for keeping track of the 270,000 tons of materials and supplies. The materials contained in the cargo bay would be worth trillions of dollars on Earth. “Commander Furier, what brings you to the reactor room?” Forte inquired.
“I’m just checking up on Captain Manabus,” Furier replied. Standing at five feet eight inches, Furier was short for a Vitahician female. She had shoulder length, straw-colored, curly hair with natural streaks of platinum blonde. Manabus was the Impegi’s Chief engineer, who should be somewhere in the cavernous reactor room.
“I just came from medical, and they told me that Manabus had not yet received his stage three vaccination,” she continued.
Forte frowned, “That’s not like him. I wonder what’s holding him up.”
Manabus appeared from behind one of the house-sized reactors waiving a sensor devise in one hand and small display screen in the other. “I’ve been busy down here reviewing the antimatter containment system. It seems we have a weakness in one of the containers.”
“How bad is it?” asked Furier.
“Not bad, looks like the container is holding at thirty percent strength.”
“Thirty percent? That does not sound good,” Stella remarked.
“It would be concerning, if we were just starting our journey, but we only have three days until we arrive. The reactors and containment fields will receive a complete overhaul before being reassigned to the far less strenuous duty of maintaining a stationary moon base. I will continue to monitor it,” said Manabus.
“First, you need to go up to medical and get your last vaccination,” Forte insisted.
“Okay. I’m going now,” Manabus said dramatically, and headed towards the elevator that would lead up twenty-two levels to medical. Manabus understood the importance of getting the vaccine. Without it, the Vitahicians would be susceptible to all kinds of Earth-borne diseases and illnesses that humans had developed immunity to over the last several thousand years. However, stage three of the vaccine was to protect the humans from diseases that the Vitahicians could carry, to which humans had no natural immunity.