Chapter Four
“Jason?”
The voice spoke to me out of a long, dark tunnel. Unlike the gradual transition from sleep to wakefulness, coming out of induction anesthesia was like coming back from the dead. The suppression field generated by the operating couch kept neural activity below the threshold of consciousness for as long as necessary while the surgeons worked. It was as if I were a machine that had been switched off and then switched back on. There was no sense of time having passed, only a blank void. I just had to wait for my brain to finish rebooting.
“Can you open your eyes?” the voice asked.
My eyelids were heavy but I managed to force them open. Standing over me I recognized Doc and the surgical team that had operated on me.
“Well?” I croaked. Someone brought a straw to my lips and I took a sip of water.
“Well?” I repeated in a stronger voice.
“See for yourself,” Doc said, smiling.
A mirror field shimmered into existence in the air in front of me as he activated the motorized bed and raised me into a sitting position. Looking back at me was the face I had worn for nearly four years, a face I had once come to accept as my own. It was the face of Cordass Pell, rogue smuggler and transport ship captain. Reaching up with one hand I stroked the skin of my new-old face as I turned my head and looked at my reflection from both sides.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve done a fantastic job,” I said, in awe of their artistry. “You have my sincere thanks. You will also find a more tangible expression of my gratitude in the form of deposits to each of your personal accounts by the end of the day.” The doctors tried to object but I overruled them. “Like any professional, you deserve fair compensation for your work. And I appreciate your willingness to drop everything and run out here on a moment’s notice.”
Dr. Paul Link, the lead surgeon, spoke up. “Sire, with all due respect, we will not take your money. As members of the Diadem Order it is our sworn duty to serve the Crown, and I believe I speak for my entire team when I say that it is our personal honor to be of service to Your Highness in particular.” The sincerity in his voice brought a lump to my throat. I realized that I had insulted them by offering to pay them.
“Thank you, Doctor. I am honored to have people like you as Order members.”
I swung my legs off the table and stood up. Doc took my arm to support me as I stood. In spite of his white haired, grandfatherly appearance, his grip was firm and steady. But the last tendrils of my induced coma had already worn off and I stood easily.
“Unfortunately, time is growing short and I have to get to the bridge. Doc will see you to the transport we have standing by to bring you back to the capital. Just one favor.”
“Sire?”
“Try not to forget what my old face looked like. I’m going to need you to change me back again when we’re finished with our mission.”
Dr. Link chuckled. “I think we’ll be able to put you back the way you were. After all, we did it once before.”
I shook hands with each of them and strode out of the infirmary.
I went quickly to the main stairwell, climbed up one deck and headed to my cabin to change. As I had instructed, the captain’s cabin had also undergone some remodeling. Although none of the furnishings or fixtures had been changed, the rooms now had a more used appearance. The walls were faded, the carpet was a bit dingy and threadbare in well trafficked areas, and all of the furniture displayed the signs of many years of use. It was possible that I might need to have outsiders in my rooms and I wanted to leave nothing to chance.
When I stepped into the bedroom I found my uniform already laid out on my bunk. I changed quickly then turned on a full length mirror field to study my reflection. It was the same uniform I had worn during my time as the ship’s captain. While clean and meticulously pressed, it was also obviously well worn. The once black jumpsuit was now more of a washed out gray that was beginning to fray in spots at the collar and cuffs. Even my boots were convincingly scuffed. In spite of my humble appearance, it was strangely comforting to look down and see the four captain’s rings on my sleeves. I couldn’t help grinning as I thought about what Max’s reaction to the condition of my clothes must have been as he pressed the creases to razor sharpness. It was like putting a high polish on a battered old hovercar, but it was exactly the look I wanted.
Now that I was satisfied with my appearance I started for the bridge. I exited my cabin so quickly that I nearly walked face first into a pallet of power distribution nodes that was floating in the passageway in front of my door.
“Sorry, Captain,” the familiar, deep bass voice rumbled from off to my left. No matter how close we got, to Ian I would always be ‘Captain’. My chief engineer was maneuvering the pallet through the passageway with an antigrav dolly.
“I thought all of the system upgrades were finished,” I said, looking at the stack of equipment my chief engineer was pushing around.
“They are,” Ian said as he stepped around to my side of the pallet. “I’m just reorganizing a few things in the ship’s storage lockers.” He paused and studied me for a moment. “You should change your hair. Pell wore it parted in the middle,” he commented as he offered his hand.
I grinned as I allowed my hand to be swallowed by his meaty paw. Ian was the same soft spoken giant he had been when we first met four years and another life ago. Like the others who had decided to stay with the ship, I was glad to have him. Not only was he a gifted engineer, he also looked after the Prometheus as if it were his own child. He knew every piece of equipment, every seam and every bolt on the ship. He was also the only member of the crew who had been aboard for each step of its refit. I would stake my life that he knew each of its systems even better than the people who had designed them.
“Are you going to need more time to finish what you’re doing?” I asked, looking at the floating pile of components.
“No, this is the last of it. Everything will be locked down by the time we’re ready to leave spacedock.”
“That’s good because I’m on my way to the bridge now and we’ll be heading out in a few minutes.”
“Then I’ll finish putting these away and get back down to the engine room. I want to be there when we bring the new drive system on-line.”
“That’s right,” I said, remembering what Bobby had told me. “I heard you were having trouble with one of the new engines. Nothing serious I trust.” I was familiar with the specs for the engines and knew that tolerances allowed for an alignment difference of up to fifty microns for the injectors. But I also knew Ian. Fifty microns was not within his tolerance.
“Already taken care of. I think you’ll be pleased with the ride they give you.”
“I’m looking forward to trying them out,” I said. I eyed the floating stack of equipment. “Well, I’ll let you finish up here so you can get back to the engine room.”
Conversations with Ian tended to be brief and to the point.
I sidled past the pallet and stepped into the transverse corridor that connected the port and starboard passageways. Halfway along the passage I turned into the main stairwell and climbed up into the command superstructure. Moments later I strode onto the bridge.
The command center was bustling with activity as the ship was being readied for our departure. Each of the stations was manned and all systems appeared to be up and running. Nearly a dozen engineering techs were also present to help with the final adjustments. Everywhere I looked, people were either bent over, laying under or waist deep inside different consoles or access panels.
As I looked at each of the stations more closely however I saw that sections of virtually every console were dark. The parts that were active displayed a number of red, warning indicators. There were even several empty spaces where control boards had been removed, leaving gaping sockets with exposed circuitry. Above the communications station the monitor screen was
a static filled blur with a large, spider web crack spread across its face. Maybe we wouldn’t be leaving in a few minutes after all.
“Captain on the bridge!” a voice called out suddenly from my left. I recognized it as belonging to Tom Joiner, our new comm officer. Tom and the engineering techs snapped to attention while my old crew simply looked up from what they were doing.
“Relax everybody,” Chris said with a smile. He placed a hand on Tom’s shoulder, the gesture seeming out of place since he was so much younger than the seasoned comm officer. “We’re not that formal aboard the Prometheus. Remember, we’re just a simple, independent trade ship. You can all go back to what you were doing.”
As everyone went back to work I placed my fists on my hips and took an exaggerated look around the shambles of what used to be the bridge of my ship.
“Good lord, Chris! I wanted the ship to look like we were going through hard times. I didn’t actually want you to tear it apart.”
“Welcome to spacer’s hell, Jason,” my exec said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Or should I say, Captain Pell.”
“Just don’t make a slip like that in front of anybody off the ship,” I chided.
“No, sir.” He looked around the bridge, folding his arms across his chest as he surveyed the scene. “Pretty convincing, isn’t it?”
I stepped up to the command chair and spun it toward me. The chair gave an annoying squeak as it swiveled and there were several strips of duct tape on the seat-back and cushion, covering what I assumed were splits in the padding.
“What did you do to my chair?” I asked as I sat down. The squeaking was even louder as I swiveled back around, now that I was sitting in it.
Chris grinned. “It took them forever to get that squeak just right.”
“You know, there is such a thing as too much realism. Can we still drive this boat? From the looks of things half of the control systems aren’t even working.” I glanced at my command board and saw that several sections were dark.
“When we’re in camouflage mode, like this, everything still works even if it looks like it’s off-line. The dark sections you see on some of the boards are mostly just readouts for redundant systems. But all of this is just window dressing.” He raised his voice and addressed the bridge. “Okay people, I think the captain gets the idea. Let’s put everything back together before the boss has kittens.”
Inactive sections of consoles glowed to life around me as the bridge crew reached for concealed switches beneath their boards. Several people opened hidden compartments and withdrew missing control boards which were quickly slotted into place. Once snapped in position the glossy panels immediately came to life. The cracked monitor screen above the communications station was taken down, revealing it to be only a false cover that had been fitted into place over an otherwise functional display.
In less than a minute the bridge had undergone a complete transformation. Gone was the dilapidated bridge of an aging transport that had seen better days. In its place was the high tech nerve center of a cutting edge starship. With the systems up and running, the engineering techs gradually drifted off the command deck until only the bridge crew remained.
I felt myself smiling as I slowly swiveled through a 360 degree pan of the bridge. All of the stations were in the same places I remembered, but I could see that several consoles had been upgraded or augmented. The room hummed with the sounds of its various systems. I rubbed my palms affectionately on the armrests of my chair as I allowed the seat to return to its normal forward facing position. The squeaking the chair produced however was setting my teeth on edge and I shot Chris an annoyed look.
“Sorry about that.” He stepped up to my chair, squatted and reached under the seat. A moment later he came up with a C shaped clamp that had been clipped to the chair’s supporting piston. I gave the chair a tentative turn. Not only was the annoying squeak gone but it turned easily now, too.
“We didn’t actually split the cushions,” Chris said as he handed me the clamp. “That’s just some tape we slapped on for effect.”
I glanced at the clamp and handed it back to him. “I think we can do without that.”
He shrugged and slipped it into his pocket.
I settled back into my seat, relaxing into the familiar cushions as I felt a surge of excitement flow through me.
“Ship status?” I asked.
Chris moved to his station and flipped a series of switches. He studied his board for a moment, then said, “External umbilicus and all moorings have been cleared. The ship is now operating on internal power. Life support and artificial gravity are on-line. All control systems are on-line. All external hatches are closed. Hull integrity is one hundred percent. Maneuvering thrusters are at station keeping and the main drive system is on-line and at your disposal. The ship is secured for departure, Captain.”
“Thank you, Exec.” I said, completing our usual ritual. I opened the ship-wide PA. “Attention, please. This is the captain. We will be leaving spacedock in one minute. I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you once again for volunteering for this mission. You all realize the importance of what we’re trying to accomplish and what is at stake. I won’t downplay the danger we might be facing. The pirates have demonstrated that they are ruthless killers. And unless they are stopped they will go on murdering and stealing. But they didn’t count on going up against this ship and its crew. I am confident that each of you will perform admirably. In my eyes, every one of you is a hero. Once again, you have my deepest, personal gratitude. Good luck to us.”
I switched off the PA and turned to the comm station. “Signal dock control that we’re ready to leave, Tom.”
A moment later we received departure clearance. I looked at the helm and gave Bobby a nod. “Maneuvering thrusters ahead. Take us out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Bobby touched the thruster controls. I watched the main screen on the forward bulkhead as the ship gently began nosing its way out of the spacedock. A minute later we had cleared the structure.
“The ship is free and clear to navigate,” Bobby announced.
“Let’s put some distance between us and the dock,” I said. “I want to be sure they’re not in range of our drive before we really open it up. Turn us to a heading of 0-4-5 relative. Ten percent power only.”
“Going to ten percent thrust.”
Bobby adjusted our heading and touched the throttle icon on one side of his console. He slowly slid his finger forward as he gradually fed power to the engines.
I watched the readings on my command board as the ship got under way. In spite of the power surging through the drive system I couldn’t feel any vibration in the deck plating. I continued to study the read-out as I watched the distance grow between us and the spacedock.
“How are we looking, Chris?” I asked after we had been under way for a while.
Chris took a moment to double check his board. “All systems are reading normal.”
“Let’s stretch our legs a bit, then,” I said. “Helm, go to half thrust.”
“Answering half thrust,” Bobby said.
In moments we had surged past what had been our old flank acceleration. My command board continued to show all systems running smoothly and I still felt no vibration under my feet.
“Bring us up to full power,” I said after a while.
“Full power, aye.”
I maintained a watchful eye on my board as Bobby slid his finger along the glassy surface of his console, extending the thrust indicator bar to its fullest length. This time I could detect a faint vibration in the deck. If I hadn’t been looking for it I doubt I would have ever noticed. The new engines were impressive.
I settled back into my seat and focused on the scene displayed on the main viewscreen. Somewhere out there was the enemy, vicious predators who for too long had been preying on my nation’s ships and people. It was time t
o turn things around, to bring the fight to them.
“Set course for Beta Antares Three,” I said. “Take us to light speed.”
“Yes, sir!” Bobby said.
Bobby reached for a different section of his panel and brought the hyperdrive on-line. I could sense the power of the hyperdrive pulse through the ship as the Prometheus gathered itself for the jump to light speed. A moment later the ship hurtled itself into a kaleidoscope tunnel of swirling light as it flashed out of the realm of three dimensional space.