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STAR YAWNS 3
The Scavenger Hunt
By David Williams
Published by David Williams at Smash Words
Copyright 2012 David Williams
Smash Words Edition, License Notes
It was dark when Sam awoke. He lay on the floor with a splitting headache and extreme nausea. He couldn’t remember where he was for the moment but as the minutes ticked by his memory returned. As he struggled to his feet he suddenly felt a throbbing pain on the side of his head. He felt very ill and he turned on a light and made his way to the bathroom. He walked straight to the sink and turned the tap on and began to splash water in his face, and at that moment he saw his face in the mirror. There was what looked like an egg shaped wound just near his temple that was red and throbbing. He splashed it with water trying to stop it aching. Of course! The fat man must have slipped something into his drink, and then that little weasel the fat man called his assistant kicked him in the head. It was all coming back to him now.
He looked at his watch, deliberating his next move.
Suddenly the phone rang and he picked it up. “ Hello.” Sam said.
At the same moment his communicator beeped.
“ Hemorrhoid here,” he replied.
“ Captain, this is Doctor Flusher, sorry to bother you, but this is important.”
The Captain rolled his eyes, he was just getting into this holo program. “ It’s alright Doctor, what seems to be the problem?”
“ It’s not a problem sir, in fact quite the opposite. Will you come to the surgery please, our newest star fleet member is about to board.”
This lightened his mood somewhat. “ I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He ended the transmission by pushing his star fleet badge. “ Oh well, I’ll come back to this later. End program!” he said and the atmosphere changed from black and white to colour. Without missing a stride he promptly left the hollodeck.
Ten minutes later he was dressed in his uniform when he walked into the sick bay.
The Doctor was busy scurrying around and Ensign Lid-Lidia was lending a hand with preparations for the birth. As the Doctor noticed the Captain walk in he almost sang. “ It won’t be long now, just a matter of minutes I predict.”
“ So everything is going well?”
“ Splendid!” the Doctor beamed. “ I couldn’t be happier. I thought when Yeoman Worrigee became pregnant that the whole thing would be a disaster, with her being Finckonian. I read that only a small percentage of babies of her species don’t make it full term away from the home planet. Now here we are at full term just six months later and both mother and baby are doing fine.”
“ I am happy that everything has worked out. Now all Dweena has to do is give birth. Doctor is what I’ve heard correct about Finckonian babies?”
“ Do you mean, that they are born with an accelerated growth ability?”
“ Yes this is what I have heard.”
“ It’s true Captain, but there is no need for concern. It means the baby after being in the womb for only an incubation period of six months will be walking within the hour and will be able to talk an hour after that. Finckonians become fully-grown within a very short period of time. The downside is that they only live fifteen years. Dweena herself is only five years old, although she looks to be almost in her thirties by human years.”
“ Interesting,” mused the Captain. He walked over to the female lying on the hospital bed. “ I hope everything goes well.” he said, smiling and patting her on the hand. “ We are all proud of you and look forward to welcoming your little boy into the world, it is a boy isn’t it?”
“ Thankyou Captain,” she replied. “ Actually we don’t know what the sex of the baby is. It is safer not to have those types of tests. Finckonian babies are very sensitive while they are still in the womb.”
“ I wish you all the best Dweena.”
He turned to the Doctor. “ Before I go Doctor can you take a look at this spot on my face?”
The Doctor took a quick look. “ It seems to be a sun spot, but if you’re worried about it come back tomorrow and I’ll give you a physical examination.”
“ I’m not worried.” With that Dweena started to have another contraction, so the Captain decided he would leave.
* * * *
Mr. Sook stepped out of the turbo lift and walked over to Ensign Follicle. “ Did you manage to do the diagnostic and have you got the star dimensions I asked you about?”
“ Yes sir, I did the diagnostic half an hour ago and here are the star dimensions.”
Mr. Sook took the information and started to look it over as the captain walked out of his ready room. Mr. Base noticed him and walked over to him.
“ Captain have you been running ‘The Maltese Falcon’ simulation on the hollodeck?”
“ Yes, it’s a lot of fun isn’t it?”
“ I want to ask you something about it?”
“ Yes, go ahead.”
“ Do you know what it means to ‘take a powder’?”
“ Yes I have the understanding that it means that you have to leave or go somewhere.”
“ Thankyou Captain, I’m going to have to find some sort of program about American slang of the twentieth century.”
“ That sounds like a good idea Mr. Base.”
Base thought for a moment. “ What about ‘cracking foxy’, do you know what that means? I find this phrase quite baffling, I have no clue what it could mean.”
The Captain thought for moment. He had no idea what it meant either. “ I’m afraid I cannot help you with that Mr. Base.”
Mr. Sook stepped out of the turbo lift and walked over to Ensign Follicle. “ Did you manage to do the diagnostic and have you got the star dimensions I asked you about.”
“ Yes sir, I did the diagnostic half an hour ago and here are the star dimensions.”
Mr. Sook took the information and started to look it over as the Captain walked out of his ready room. Mr. Base noticed him and walked over to him.
“ Captain have you been running ‘The Maltese Falcon’ simulation on the hollodeck?” he paused for a moment. “ Wait a minute did we not just discuss this already?”
The Captain shook his head. “ I don’t know, did we?”
Mr. Sook walked over to his control and examined the instruments. “ He’s right Captain, we seem to have lost some time.”
“ Please explain.”
“ If Mr. Base hadn’t said something none of us would have noticed. We went through a time rift. We don’t know very much about the Beta quadrant, but I’m guessing time rifts must exist here. I have heard stories about ships going through these things but I always thought them to be illogical stories with no basis. In other words, pure fiction.”
“ Can you pinpoint where they are?”
Mr. Sook took a look at his instruments. “ It would be very hard to detect them, I can only see the time rift we went through because we have gone through it. Perhaps there is some way to determine how to detect them, before we go through one again. At this moment I’m not sure what we can do.”
“ Get Mr. La Trenne to look into it and Mr. Base if you will assist him, we need to be able to detect them in advance, so we can avoid them. We could be having the same conversations all day.”
“ Yes Captain I’ll get onto it right away.”
Just then they heard the doctors voice. “ Captain, Yeoman Worrigee has just given birth to healthy baby boy.”
“ That’s wonderful!” he replied. “ Everything went well then?”
“ Yes mother and son are doing better than I could have hoped. Dweena is calling the baby Beta because he was born here in the Beta quadrant.”
“ I’ll come back to the sick bay in a short time. See you then.”
“ Don’t leave it too long Captain, if you want to see him as a baby you’ll have to be quick.”
“ I understand Doctor, I’ll see you soon.” The captain looked at Mr. Sook. “ Can I leave this time rift as
signment with you? I need to go down to sick bay.”
“ Yes Captain we will do our best in this matter.”
The Captain walked towards the turbo lift and turned around. “ I won’t be back up here until the morning, I’m a bit tired and I’m going to my quarters after I see the baby. So you have the COM Mr. Sook.”
* * * *
Before long the Captain entered sick bay.
“ Ah, Captain, I’m glad you’re here.” Said the Doctor. “ Both mother and baby are very well. I’m very pleased with how well this baby is doing. They are both lucky they have such a caring and efficient doctor.”
“ You always were a humble hologram.”
“ Anyway enough about me come over here and see how healthy this baby is.” The Doctor took the Captain to see the mother and baby. The baby was already much bigger than he was at birth and it had only been forty-five minutes since the birth.
“ Little Beta will be walking any time soon,” the Doctor beamed. “ And I suppose by morning I won’t able to catch him, he’ll be running so fast.”
The Captain turned to Yeoman Worrigee. “ I’m very happy everything went so well. If you need anything besides what the doctor can give, just call me and I’ll get it for you.”
She smiled, “ Thankyou Captain, but I’m just happy to have my little boy. I can’t think of a thing I’d rather have besides him at this time.”
As the Captain was walking out he said to the Doctor. “ What about the boys father? I never asked about him before.”
The Doctor spoke in low voice. “ The father is still on their home planet. He never agreed with Dweena joining star fleet. She hasn’t seen him for a very long time, probably the whole time that she has been pregnant.”
The Captain was silent for a moment. “ At the earliest time we have to give Dweena leave. The next time we go to a docking station or back to earth she can take some maternity leave to raise her child and be with her family.”
“ Good idea Captain I’ll inform her of your decision.”
“ Good! I’ll see you in the morning. It’s been a long day and I’m off to bed.”
With that the Captain walked back to his quarters.
As the Captain stood in front of the bathroom mirror he felt quite tired, he had had a busy day and hoped he would be able to get a good night sleep.
As he brushed his teeth he noticed the small spot on his face near his temple. The Doctor had said it was a sunspot but he thought it looked more than that.
As he lay down he could feel sleep coming across him in waves, but he didn’t seem to have slept long when he awoke.
According to his clock he had only been asleep three hours. He got up to splash his face and drink some water, he felt extremely thirsty. As he looked in the mirror the spot was now much larger than it was previously. As he examined it more closely he noticed other spots and extra wrinkles, which were quite deep. Then he noticed his hair had gone completely grey. As he looked at his face he could see now he was much older than he looked three hours ago. He looked at least twenty years older and he could not imagine how it was possible.
* * * *
He got dressed as quickly as he could and made his way to the sick bay. Earlier he had walked these halls effortlessly but now he could feel aches and pains and his uniform didn’t fit as well. As he entered the sick bay it all looked very quiet and the doctor was nowhere to be seen.
“ Activate the EMH,” he said, noticing how his voice sounded much deeper than normal.
“ Please state the nature of the medical emergency.,” the Doctor said as he appeared.
“ Doctor do I look older to you? Either I’m having a bad dream or I have aged quite a lot a short period of time.”
“ You look to be a man in your late fifties or early sixties. In other words you look your age.”
“ I’m only thirty-eight, people my age don’t look this old. How long have you been off line?”
“ I have not been in use for a number of years.”
The Captain was getting frustrated. “ I only saw you three hours ago. Remember Yeoman Worrigee gave birth a healthy baby boy.”
As the Captain said this he looked around the sick bay. There was an elderly man and a very old woman lying on hospital beds. “ This can’t be, is this Yeoman Worrigee and her son Beta?”
Even the Doctor looked surprised at hearing this. “ You’re right Captain, this is them.”
“ Are they still alive?”
The Doctor ran a scan. “ Yes they are both alive, but according to my facts they are much older than Finckonians usually live.”
The Captain thought for moment. “ We must have gone through another time rift, one that has aged us all. Excuse me, I must get to the bridge.”
“ Wait a minute while I examine them further.” The Doctor did a few more scans and tests. “ They are both in a heavy sleep. I am thinking of putting them both in a coma. Do you think you can reverse the ship and go back through the time rift?”
“ That’s what I need to find out. I don’t want to jump twenty years of age, I’d rather age the usual way.”
“ Captain, I fear that if you can’t reverse what has happened I am not sure how much longer I can keep these two people alive. If I put them in an induced coma it might buy us a few days but given their advanced age I cannot guarantee anything.”
The captain looked into the face of Beta. “ I can’t believe this boy was only born just over three hours ago and now he may die from old age. I promise you Doctor I’ll do all I can to make this right.”
With that he walked out of the sick bay.
* * * *
Captain’s log unknown:
We are somewhere in the Beta quadrant and during the night we passed through another time rift. Everybody on board is now at least twenty years older than they were at 23 hundred hours last night. It is unclear how we must proceed but I am determined to find the solution, which will return our lives to its normal state. The lives of some of the crew depend upon it.
A few minutes later the Captain walked onto the bridge. As he stepped out of the turbo lift he was disturbed to find that everybody was much older than when he had left only a few short hours ago, except for Mr. Sook, Mr. Base and Sub-Commander Kazzie-Spockers.
“ Mr. Sook why didn’t you call me when we went through the time rift?”
“ I didn’t want to disturb you, as I thought you looked quite tired the last time I saw you. I also thought we would have reversed our condition by now.”
“ How have you tried to remedy the situation?”
“ You will recall asking me to try and pinpoint the time rifts. Three of us were working to achieve that goal. No matter how we tried though, it was something we could not find the answer to. When we passed through the time rift that aged us, all three of us became unconscious for a few moments and when we came to we were a bit disorientated for a minute or so. So we missed our chance to attempt to reverse through the rift.”
The Captain thought for moment. “ So how do we stand at his moment in time Mr. Sook?”
“ We are attempting a search for the rift but we cannot locate it. Our primary concern is that if we pass through it in the wrong direction, we will continue to age. So far we have aged twenty four years according to my instruments.”
The Captain turned to think. “ I think for now we should stop all engines and all officers will come to the conference room in twenty minutes. Then we’ll decide how to get ourselves back on track.”
* * * *
Twenty minutes later all the officers where sitting around the table. As well as the Captain and Mr. Sook there was also Sub-Commander Kazzie-Spockers, Lieutenant Base, Lieutenant Beani-Phoohs, Ensign Lid-Lidia, Ensign Follicle, Commander La Trenne, Oh-No the shape shifter and Doctor Flusher.
“ Thankyou for coming here in the middle of the night, but as you can see we have an urgent matter which must be corrected very qui
ckly. We are all twenty fours years older than we were yesterday and this situation means life or death to the two Finckonian members of our crew. What is particularly sad is that the newest member of the crew who was only born last night and may die from old age if we don’t find a solution to this dilemma. Has anybody got some idea how we may fix this problem?” the Captain frowned.
Mr. Base spoke up first. “ Captain, three us have been working on this problem for a few hours now. We were working on this before we even went through the second time rift. My solution is that we make straight for the closest inhabited planet and tell them our story. The people of this area know more about the Beta quadrant than we do and they just may be able to give us the right coordinates so we can return to the area of space that has the time rift.”
The Captain nodded his head. “ That sounds like a good idea. Are you sure you won’t be able to find these coordinates on your own?”
Mr. Sook spoke next. “ I agree with Mr. Base, Captain. Time is of the essence and we could throw around equations for hours.”
“ Could we have a show of hands who is in favour of this idea?” The Captain said.
Everybody put up their hands accept the doctor.
“ Don’t you agree with this idea Doctor?”
“ It’s not that I don’t agree. I think we should go the planet and still work on a solution on our own as well. Perhaps if we work it out quickly we won’t need to travel around the quadrant needlessly.” He paused for moment. “ I’m really just concerned for my patients.”
“ I think the Doctor has a good point here. Mr. La Trenne, both you and Mr. Base will continue to work on this problem and in the mean time we will set our sights for the closest inhabited planet. Make it happen.”
As he said this Kazzie-Spockers gave him an old fashioned look.
* * * *
Before long they were on their way to the closest planet they could find that looked to be M class. They had traveled some five million kilometers when they came across a space ship that was traveling very slowly. As they scanned the ship it seemed to need many repairs.
“ Ensign Lid-Lidia hail the space ship,” the Captain said.
“ No response sir,” she said after about a minute.