Morris started to turn but stopped himself. She would not be there. She could not. He knew that. He knew it as simple, hard fact. He'd turn to an empty room. But...
Morris deliberately avoided questioning his sanity. Logic told him that no mind could view itself objectively and in all the patterns he studied anomalies like that stood out. He might consider objectives, alternatives, consequences and implications but none of them fit him. None! He could only view the effects they might have on others.
He felt urgently and fought desperately the urge to turn. If he couldn't reason his way past this he would indeed need help, serious help, help not available for a long time. If he turned he risked losing his rationality to phantoms. To... ghosts?
Morris carefully and automatically secured the panel before him. It appalled him to see his hands shaking. A single cold drop of sweat trickled down his neck, then his back. He felt her...
"Technician!"
Morris jumped violently, heart racing and body shaking now. When he turned, saturated with fear and adrenaline, Kody stood before him. Only Kody.
"What's wrong, sir?"
"I'm... I'm fine, Midshipman. Tran. I'm polar."
"You are not polar, sir. It's time for lunch and you need to eat."
Morris ate mechanically. He had no doubt his sanity was intact but the cold, rational part of him questioned that certainty. Knowing that it was the wrong and probably worst thing to do he shoved the concern to the back of his mind as far as it would go. Beside him Eisley, Polov and Garret discussed the patterns they found with an attentive Jackson. Kody and Harper spoke softly at the head of the table.
"... and I'm telling you it's an outstanding design," said Eisley. She powered up a datapad and made a crude drawing of a rover.
"The process flow is the same for the motive system and the brakes," she said, tapping the diagram, "It has a safety along with a secondary system with its own redundant safety."
Jackson shrugged an impudent grin inviting her, almost daring her, to continue.
"That means that even if you lose the primary actuator," here she tapped the 'pad again, "there is no danger whatsoever of losing motive power or brakes. The cross-flowing pattern overlaps both systems so they each have, essentially, built-in double redundancy with safeties."
That was it! Sudden realization made Morris choke. Conversation stopped as Jackson pounded him on the back.
"What happened, Morris," asked the big man, "You cryo?"
Morris nodded. Now it all made sense. He was sane and with that sanity came, crystal clear with perfect hindsight, the explanations he didn't want to consider.
"Eat food," mumbled Morris, "don't breathe food."
Jackson chuckled and after a moment Eisley resumed her conversation.
Cold now with implication Morris scanned the room. Lace, Polov, Rackwell and Garret half-talked with a lot of attention on what Eisley said to Jackson. Delroy sat at the holocad and Kody and Harkin both huddled over a datapad in the corner.
Harper speared Morris with a steely, steady stare.
"My office, Technician."
***
Morris organized his thoughts quickly. No doubt Kody related his behavior and that did not bode well but no matter. The logic of it crystallized with each part fixed in Morris' mind.
Harper sat behind her desk and Kody stood behind Morris, against the wall.
"Ms. Harper. Commander. I know what you must be thinking but..."
"Technician!" Harper's no-nonsense tone stopped him cold. "Mister Kody tells me you sat and stared at a transfer module for twenty minutes without touching it. Is this correct?"
"Yes ma'am. I have..."
"Yesterday Ms. Lace asked you if you needed to talk to Doctor Jackson. Since the two of you are not the best of friends I assume she meant for professional reasons."
"Yes ma'am, but..."
"I myself observed you behaving oddly at lunch. Would you care to explain your actions?"
"I'll do so gladly, ma'am, but I need you to..."
"Sit down, Technician! You will tell me everything I want to know and that is all I expect to hear from you, do you understand?"
Frustrated, Morris sat and began talking. He spared no detail and throughout his explanation her expression didn't change. He described his conversations with Delroy, his dreams and what happened before lunch.
"... and now I know why," finished Morris, "If you'll just..."
"Technician. You sound to me suspiciously like a man standing on the bare edge of sanity and clinging to rationality by a weak thread. You yourself said the rational mind cannot objectively evaluate its own rationality."
"I can explain it."
"Please do so." Harper's tone made an order of the request.
"Commander... Please have Mr. Kody seal engineering." There! He finally managed to say it.
Whether from the desperation in his voice or simply to appease him Harper nodded to Kody. As he left she pulled out a stunner and set it on her desk. By her manner she knew she could handle things easily without it.
"Very well, Technician. Convince me."
"Do you have the power coupling that failed?"
Without shifting her gaze Harper pulled it out and slid it across her desk. Morris put on his holospecs and examined the thing microscopically. There was no evidence immediately visible but there would not be.
"I'm waiting."
Moving slowly, Morris activated a 'pad and brought up the ship's schematics. He excluded everything but the power networks and the systems that failed. Another command animated the flows.
"This is our power network."
"I know that."
"The system is designed with multiply-redundant safeties and backups beyond that. In theory the entire network can never fail. With the redundant flows and overlaps in place and with the safety systems functional the entire construct is over..."
"Mister Taylor I am prepared to call Doctor Jackson and have you sedated and in stasis."
Morris took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Pretend you don't know about flow dynamics. Pretend you don't know about all the safety features. Pretend you've never seen in action the double-sequence-overlapping-safety model. S-suppose you have nothing to study but the static schematics. If you wanted to destroy the ship completely how would you do it?"
Harper said nothing. Her eyes widened as she considered his words and the stunner disappeared back into the desk. She looked from Morris to the 'pad to the ruined power coupling. The mil-spec Sparks Industries Multi-Phase HD that never failed.
"So, Technician, you're saying..." She looked at him expectantly.
"T-that the accident was no accident at all."
***
"I realize it sounds outer-orbit and I can't blame you for doubting it but look at the evidence. Lydia was a good technician. B-before we started she said something looked odd. She logged it! Then when she was inside the access she said something about a loose panel. It... I didn't think about it until Dr. Rackwell said something about the safeties."
"That started you thinking," she said, "Burnit! Burn it to hades!!"
"I hope I'm wrong," started Morris, "I can't really be right but..."
Harper held up her hands and Morris fell silent. A deeply troubled look of resignation settled across her features. After a moment she pulled out the official log 'caster.
"Acting Commander's log addendum," she said, stating the mission number, "Effective immediately I am placing Technician Morris Taylor under article 27."
Morris sat in stunned silence. Harper signed and sealed the log. Article 27 was similar to Article 21 but much stronger and reserved for the gravest of emergencies.
"I'm sorry, Morris," she said, "but this is necessary."
She opened the ship's safe and took out several high-encryption datacubes. She initialed its access log and handed it to Morris to do likewise. She then established security coverage within the office. He didn't see what kind of crypto s
he used to unlock the datacubes but the content she released didn't impress him at all.
"This is data concerning F37A," he said, "Basically what Commander Blakeschiff gave us but not as boring."
"Check the timestamp."
The data was securely dated and verified three months before Morris left Dracos.
***
"This..." Words left Morris.
"This mission," said Harper, "the mission to F37A was and is our sole objective."
Morris sat silent for a long time. Finally, "We need to turn back. As soon as we unlink."
"Not an option. This mission must continue as planned. If you check the other cubes you'll find base location sites and suggested procedures formulated by some of the most powerful minds within League Intelligence. I don't know why the Commander sat on them but they're not that different from what you all did on your own.
"I have just released 4C-classified material to you. You're the only civilian aboard with that high a level and I expect you to respect it." Harper unlocked another cube. "This is 6C with a need-to-know endorsement."
Morris read the indicated entries.
"Intelligence does its work well," she said, "Those are my contingency orders for any circumstance in which Commander Blakeschiff is removed from command. By order of the League Senate this mission will be completed."
"Why?"
Harper sighed. "The reasons should be obvious. F37A is effectively isolated. There are more-habitable worlds nearby so colonization is not an issue. While Halcyon has the pre-emptives the Rift Consortium could make an equally valid claim. So, for that matter, could the League. That doesn't even count the minor power groups around. The Claudian Resolve would chew rock and pizzle platinum to claim this."
"Politics!" Morris spat the word.
"Necessary," said Harper tiredly, "In terms of size, physical or economic, Halcyon isn't anywhere close to the Consortium or the League. They have a solid, strong economy but it's a tight one. Whoever discovers this site will necessarily bear the brunt of paying for its exploration."
"Halcyon has a right to it," said Morris.
"I agree. So does the League but Halcyon bloody well won't let us pay for it. I plus-plus promise you they're working their floppers off trying to come up with a way to claim - and pay for - this all by themselves. If the League has a team in place when they arrive they'll have to let us share the costs.
"As of now," continued Harper, "this mission has cost us one life. We have to make sure it doesn't cost us more."
Morris nodded. He heard the pain in her voice.
***
After a moment Harper spoke again.
"Could this coupling have been damaged before we left Helene?"
"No ma'am. These units are ruddy hard to damage without causing a complete failure and even then it's nearly impossible to do without its being noticed. Lydia and I checked the systems not long after we left. It wasn't as thorough as a groundside inspection but we would have noticed something that badly wrong."
"Torque!" Harper rubbed her eyes. "That means whoever did it is still aboard."
Morris didn't want to think about that!
"What's more, he or she was prepared to die along with the rest of us. I ran a sim with the full network active. We might just have dropped out of link but more likely we'd have differential field collapse."
Morris nodded reluctantly. With uneven and uncontrolled power loss their vessel would have emerged from linkspace scattered across several parsecs.
"Do not speculate among the others," said Harper coldly, "We cannot afford to show our cards. As of now our saboteur must act within the confines of a normal accident. My money says you're smart enough to prevent that from happening."
Morris shifted uncomfortably under more responsibility than he wanted to handle.
"What about the mission?"
"It must continue. We must land on F37A, establish a base, prepare for the follow-up teams and communicate this fact to the League and Halcyon. Past that we are expendable." She smiled bitterly. "As for the repercussions and mega-political implications, those are beyond the scope of my orders."
Once again she looked young and vulnerable.
"As to you, Technician," she said, "I believe you've just had a mild case of shock brought about by fatigue and trauma."
"Ma'am?"
"That will cover your recent unusual behavior quite nicely. It will also give me a good reason to restrict you to light duty."
"But I'm needed..."
"To help me keep us all alive," she interrupted, "Which is why I intend to ride you hard about not overextending yourself. It wouldn't hurt things to have an apparent schism between us."
Morris' mind twisted to follow her sudden tangent. This was dirty politics with the stakes far too high for his peace of mind.
"So you're a steel-hearted... vix." The words didn't fit Morris' mouth and they tasted awful besides. "And I'm the poor victim of your frustration."
"Basically correct. Can you do it?"
"I don't really have a choice, do I?"
Harper nodded. Then, with her face a steel mask she jabbed the 'comm.
"Specialist Jackson report to my office now, please."
By the time Jackson arrived Morris had his face set in an emotionless mask that radiated anger.
"Specialist," said Harper, voice diamond-hard, "Take Technician Taylor to sickbay and sedate him. Now!"
"Commander..." started Morris.
"Be quiet, Technician! We'll unlink within a few hours and within two to five days to the planet. I will not have you exhausted when that happens. You have consistently worked too hard and ignored my orders to stop it."
Morris opened his mouth to reply but Harper switched her glare to Jackson.
"You have your orders, Specialist. Now!"
Chapter 10. Animosity
Morris and Jackson walked to sickbay shrouded in silence. Several others looked up when they strode through the lounge but none spoke. In sickbay Jackson sat Morris on the diagnostic bunk, set up the scanners and sat facing him.
"Talk to me, Morris," said Jackson, "Your ASFs are obscenely high."
Anxiety, stress and fatigue, thought Morris, "I've been working."
"No, sirra." Jackson shook his head. "I allowed for that. Something 'way deeper is acting up. Besides, simple overexertion wouldn't make Mallory go suborbital like that. You can either talk to me or I can give you a shot of neothor."
Morris reluctantly recounted his dreams, edited, along with the incident in engineering.
"That's a bit long for a delay," said Jackson, "but understandable. Don't worry, Morris. You're finally starting the recovery process. Loss plus proximity to where that loss happened plus the strain you've been under equals symptoms. We'll get you past it, brother."
Jackson dialed two packets of medicine.
"This is a mild sedative. Go to your cabin and take it, then lay down and rest until dinner. The other is onirex. Take one now and before you go to bed, it should tame down those dreams and let you sleep."
"Thank you."
***
Morris followed Jackson's instructions. Though it irked him not to be in engineering he saw the need. Jackson's sedative was very mild; he relaxed but never quite drifted off to sleep. He hovered in a hazy land of relaxation without any troubling dreams. Most of the effects wore off by the time his door beeped.
"Morris?" The voice belonged to Lace.
He opened the door.
"You're awake. Jared said you would be but I know you were really tired, too." She took his hand. "Are you up to dinner?"
"Of course. The sedative wasn't that strong."
They walked a while in silence.
"You really do work too hard, no blather," she said.
"I don't know any other way to work. I guess I'll have to slow down now, though." He tried to make the words resentful but they came out petulant.
"That won't kill you, sweets."
Dinner didn't
turn into the ordeal Morris expected. He showed Harper no overt hostility; he merely ignored her unless she addressed him directly, which she didn't. She did announce a ten-hour time to orbit, meaning they dropped out of link not long after her meeting with Morris.
Passive scans showed them the only presence in the system. That meant either that they were alone or that any other ships were not emitting signals. The isolation of the 9A-C-F37A system made simultaneous discovery nearly impossible so any low-emitting vessels would likely have nefarious intent.
Morris found himself evaluating the others. It troubled him that they acted as though nothing was wrong, then he realized that to them nothing was. The cold, logical part of his mind calculated, compared and tallied facts as he assessed each of the others as a potential saboteur. He worked with each of them as friends, as comrades and it bothered him that one could betray them all.
The evening ended early and without ado. No one wanted to miss orbit and Morris suspected that Harper would sleep strapped into the pilot station with the bridge gravity turned off. He waited a few minutes before going to bed and his terminal started flashing.
'How are you this evening, Specialist?'
'What happened between you and Harper?'
'Whatever do you mean?'
'Don't mock me! I want to know what happened.'
'We had a difference of opinion. She told me I was working too hard and I disagreed.'
'And?'
'Nothing more.'
'Don't insult me. I know there was more than that.'
'Would you like to discuss it in person?' Morris smiled and prepared for the barrage.
Delroy didn't respond for a long time.
'If that's the only way you'll tell me,' she posted.
That surprised him.
'No, Specialist,' he replied, 'I've said all I intend to about it.'
Again she waited a long time before responding.
'What do you think of our mission now?'
'In what way, Specialist?'
'What do you think will happen?'
'Tomorrow we establish orbit. We will then scan thoroughly to determine its true habitability, check out our landing zone, assess its meteorology and decide whether or not to continue. If so we will then land and begin construction of the base camp, establish some infrastructure for the follow-up teams and begin preliminary site survey and investigation.'
'Do you really believe that?'
'Of course, Specialist. Don't you?'
The module blanked then terminated, much as he expected. He privacy-locked his and went to bed.
***