Chapter 17

Rayz and I waited in Commander Tarry's office for our assignment. We were early, but it seemed the Chief Engineer all but lived in his office, so we were surprised not to see him. All the other engineers and techs had a week's worth of work already assigned, so they were busy. We were his off-the-books guys, spot checkers, troubleshooters; I don't know what Tarry actually called us.

Rayz fussed over his PDA while I wandered the office feeling bored after ten minutes of waiting.

"Do you think he is in a meeting?" I asked.

Rayz shrugged, if he knew anything he didn't let on. I watched my partner closely for clues, wondering what he was up to.

He noticed my interest and my boredom, waving me over. "You should learn this trick, Von. This application is called Symmetry, it's an access control software for collector arrays."

I looked over his shoulder. The menu had a number of button options such as traffic loading, rerouting, power off, and configuring grid; all of the items related to engineering adjustments for energy systems and shield matrix work. The ship's shield-sections or grids, consisted of 10 collectors connected in parallel that regulated energy and inlet temperature. The external-collectors would absorb energy, allowing the shield system's software to harmonize the shield function. With enough dysfunctional collectors, damaged or overload, the shield section would fail, exposing the ship to enemy laser fire.

"We use the remote PDA software from close range when we can't get in physical contact with a control panel," Rayz continued.

"So, it's a damage control software?" I asked, never having heard of such a thing before.

"Smart boy," he heckled, "I've just authorized your access to it. The same software gives you access to internal-energy storage, batteries and the like. Yesterday, Commander Tarry directed me to show you the software. I just needed you here, working an honest day's work instead of resting on the Bridge."

"We don't have that on clan ships," I confessed.

"They might, Von. You have been away for nine years," Rayz offered.

"It was nine years for you. Yet, only a year for me, " I thought, "because of the time dilation of the wormhole. Here the reverse is true, my wives on Haven will only have been missing me for less than a week."

Our discussion was interrupted by an older engineering officer. I'd never seen her before, her auburn hair was cut tight to her scalp. Her face was oval and pale, with piercing brown eyes that contained authority. Her name tag read, Lt. Clare Fante.

"Commander Price has informed me Commander Tarry is out sick today. I was called in to handle things," she announced.

"That old man never gets sick," challenged Rayz.

"I'd rather have had my day off, Rayz. People do get sick. Commander Tarry has covered for me on the night shift before," Lt. Fante answered, sighing softly.

Rayz straightened his shoulders remembering whom he was talking with. "Of course, Lt. Fante."

"I don't know what you two did to upset Commander Price, but he specifically instructed me to set your team to inspecting the ship's garbage systems," she grumbled.

Bile rose in my throat, but I fought it down.

"I hate foul smells," Rayz confessed, but otherwise not fazed by her comments.

"Off to your work, gentlemen," Lt. Fante ordered, moving to a console.

A small cleaning bot darted out of its cubby hole and followed us as we walked away.

While I had hands-on experience with control panels, the remote software interface was new to me and intrigued me, so Rayz was happy to share his knowledge as we made our rounds. We got the worst of it over in the morning, visiting the garbage disposal units in the outer-hull compartments; they happened to be the biggest units on the Entous. The potential volume of spoilage and waste from the cargo holds was enormous, especially if we were carrying fresh food supplies for a Fleet disaster relief mission. Like my first visit to the sweaty compartments, I saw more spider bots watching us from the ceiling. Rayz never saw them. When one of them followed us, the noise unsettled my partner, so through my implant, I sub-vocalized an order to Miley that stop the bot.

We ran across Duncan Altman, who was doing his own work in an area around a cargo hold. Rayz convinced him to show us the freezer room, which made them both laugh when they discussed it. The compartment was a small distillery for Shore Leave the nightclub's source of Freezer Burn really did come from a secret location.

"The Captain's second favorite room on the ship," Duncan said.

"It should be, it's his personal distillery equipment," Rayz commented, "but only senior engineers like Duncan know about it for sure. Most of the crew think it's a myth."

"The Captain's favorite compartment?" I asked, convinced of the answer already.

"The Bridge," Duncan crowed, feeling he got something over me.

We left him to make more of the alcoholic drink.

My partner and I worked out a clever route that placed us outside the main gym just before lunch time. It took only a few minutes for us to shower and dress. The uniform cleaning function in the locker room gave us clean work-clothes, which got rid of unpleasant smells before we took our lunch break in the Main Mess. As anyone would suspect, a full-sized disposal unit was in the kitchen, which we had planned on visiting after our meal. It was important to keep the units clean with virtually everything being converted into nutrients for the hydroponic system.

By chance, Dorothy and Jen, Ensign Abhati's roommate, came in for lunch at the same time so they ate with us. Behind us, female sensor-techs sat in a group of five; they were from the Tree Loft and worked with Abhati, which allowed for a fun conversation. All the sensor and communication women had popped in on my happy hour event for a few minutes, so we had something in common to talk about. A group of petty officers conferred in a cluster next to the group of women, and eventually they added to the banter and volume of voices within our group. The men couldn't resist engaging the sensor techs with conversation. We were pretty boisterous by the end of lunch when Commander Price walked in.

He didn't like what he saw, so he gave us a dirty look that quickly quelled our noise issue. For some reason, seeing Rayz and me enjoying ourselves put a damper on the man's already testy nature. The Commander paused just inside the door, spotted a mess hall orderly and commandeered the poor guy.

"I'll take my lunch on the bridge; bring it up immediately."

The mess hall orderly wasn't responsible for such a task. He had a bottle of cleaning fluid in one hand and a rag in his other hand. His face was a carefully neutral mask until the Bridge Officer turned around to leave.

"Yes, Sir," he returned, but the Commander had already tuned the man out.

"What else could the mess guy say, " I thought. "That was a petty display of self-importance. Price is depressingly reminiscent of other aristocratic men of my acquaintance."

Rayz's surprisingly astute comment made sense when he said, "You don't think Price was surprised to see us clean and dressed appropriately? It seemed to make him anxious to leave when he saw we were having fun."

Normally, my partner would be oblivious to the frosty atmosphere of Commander Price. I didn't want Rayz to worry, so I suggested it was perhaps the men sleeping with their heads on the tables taking a short rest. My partner let the issue drop and our lunch partners followed his lead dropping the subject too.

While walking the ladies to the exit, we saw dreadful news on the community video display. Lt. D.W. Winterfall, senior sensor tech, died on the ice planet in an accident. He led a shuttle full of crew members on a tour of the base camp and was later found dead, before the shuttle's return. His death was under investigation, but from the message board comments, people on the planet thought he died alone in a freak accident. The sensor techs all said he was a good-natured man, a fine supervisor, a married man, but a servant to technical details rather than a social person. I'd only known him for one shift on the Bridge, but it saddened me he was gone. The only glimmer of brightness to the disheartening event was Captain Bank's declaration. It was his right to formally name a newly discovered, habitable planet, so he did. The Captain's video message said that instead of the scientific designation of the planet, he was modifying the log to call the world, Winterfall.

The Captain's action not only lifted the crew morale, but gave Lt. Winterfall's family a heritage. Of course, by imperial law all crewmen who landed on the newly discovered, if barely habitable, world would be granted citizenship to it and a small parcel of land. Exploration had its perks and being on the original ground teams had more than fame attached to it. To compensate for the dangers involved in opening a new world to the empire, the small benefit was seen as a bonus. Over time that benefit had the potential to become very valuable if the planet were settled. The dead man had no children, so I didn't expect the tiny tract would mean much to his widow. However, the shuttle full of crew that went for the tour had something to show for their day, and the word was out that the Commander was sending another bunch of crew members to Winterfall tomorrow with additional security, making him momentarily popular.

The rest of the day was not as much fun; the crew seemed subdued. Like most of the crew, I didn't like the thought of how Lt. Winterfall died alone on a strange planet. It was a reminder that the exploration business wasn't risk free.

"That's bad luck to lose a seasoned man," Rayz spouted.

"We've had all our bad luck for the week, right?" I asked, trying to reassure him.

His grunt sounded pretty skeptical.

We cleaned the disposal units in the operating rooms in Main Medical and were heading to the Bridge conference room when Nonie Cina stopped us. She pulled on my elbow and led us into a consultation room and closed the door. My lover flung her arms around me and gave me a kiss.

"We really have to get to our last job," Rayz mumbled.

"Something is going on that scares me," Nonie snapped, "I was just in my mother's office when the autopsy results came in on Lt. Winterfall ... he was murdered."

She tapped a command on the console. "My mother was listening to Miley's toxicology report when I walked in and moved to her desk. She had her display screen focused on a discolored patch of skin on Winterfall's neck as the A.I. concluded it was death by injection."

"What!" Rayz shouted.

"There was some sort of drug in his system that impaired motor functions, which was probably the real reason he fell into the icy pond."

"Or was pushed into the water by the killer who knew he would drown," Miley interjected.

"Oh." Nonie exclaimed, surprised by the presence of the A.I.

Confused, Rayz looked at the door panel speaker from which Miley addressed us.

"Hello, Miley," I responded.

"Good day to you, Ensign Solon," Miley said. "The Captain, Commander Price, Lt. Ulla Foth and the ship's Yeomen have been informed. The nature of Lt. Winterfall's death is classified."

"We won't tell," Rayz announced, nervously looking at me.

"Don't tell my mother I said anything; she will kill me!" Nonie pleaded.

"Has Counselor Cina threatened you?" Miley inquired.

"No, Miley. Her statement has a figurative meaning, often used among a family unit," I explained.

"A manner of speaking, an underlying idea, a saying or idiom," Miley said, parroting a database factoid, conveying her understanding.

"That's it," Nonie said, defensively.

"What do you want me to do, Ensign Solon?" Miley asked.

"Since we already know, it isn't a secret to us any longer, so disregard our knowledge and don't report it," I responded, crossing my fingers that the A.I. would listen to me.

"Very well," the ethereal voice answered.

Curious what she would reveal to me, I asked, "How many people were on the planet at the time of his death?"

"Forty one crew members."

"Do you know who did it?" I asked, feeling bolder.

"No. There was no video or audio coverage outside of the camp."

"The Bridge crew is expecting us, Von," Rayz interjected. "We already called ahead."

My partner was clearly nervous about our interaction with Miley, and was not looking for any further potential trouble. Miley almost never talked to the general crew. Nonie opened the door and walked out, her keenness to leave almost visible. Rayz immediately followed her.

"Thank you, Miley," I said, and then followed my friends, wondering why the A.I. deferred to me.

On the Bridge, besides Captain Bank, I was happy to see Abhati, Yeoman Harper Wood and Yeoman Richard Rogers. The Rice brothers were working at their consoles, but they didn't grace me with any eye contact. Abhati was working the communications console, talking into her headset. Wood and Rogers were having coffee with the Captain, standing in our path to the conference room. All three of them moved out of our way when they saw the tool kits in our hands and the cleaning bot tagging along at our heels.

Both elderly yeomen winked at me while sipping their cups of java. The Captain smiled and welcomed us. I was sure the murder was on his mind, but his face showed no concerns. "Perhaps the Captain was going to have a private word with his trusted yeomen before we interrupted, " I thought.

Once we stepped over the door's threshold the door closed behind us. The cleaning bot veered over to the small kitchenette waste disposer, and then it stopped. It waited for us to open the maintenance panel so that it could clean inside the unit.

"I've got the panel this time," Rayz offered.

"Great," I acknowledged.

The compartment had a long table with enough chairs for eight people. Just inside the door were a small desk and a comfortable chair for the Captain next to the kitchenette. The utilitarian-looking kitchenette had two cabinets, a compact sink and a tiny countertop with the coffee machine and disposal unit. Running along the side the conference table was a ramp that ended at the ceiling. I knew when opened, a hatch door dropped onto the narrow ramp to provide access to the Captain's gig. The gig was a light boat, propelled by fast, in-system engines. The craft was tiny compared to a shuttle, its normal complement was a pilot and up to two crewmen besides the Captain. It was used mostly to ferry the Captain while in port, between ships that were not docked. The gig was also considered the Captain's escape pod or lifeboat in a catastrophe. None of the Solon clan ships had such an expensive craft, so I hoped to catch a look at it someday.

The small disposal unit was cleaned by our machine within ten minutes. It was our last job, so Rayz dismissed the small bot to return to its charging station in engineering. I looked at our job orders on my PDA, and was surprised to see nothing in the queue, I showed my device to my partner.

"The Chief would have a list of things for us to do," Rayz grunted.

"Maybe when Price told the Lieutenant to assign us to the cleaning he didn't have any real idea how long it would take?" I answered.

"Probably," was all Rayz said.

"Since we are free, why don't we see if that crate is still blocking that emergency suit access on the hanger deck? That was a safety hazard ... On the way, we could stop at a certain medical aid station just outside of the hanger for a short break," I said.

Rayz's face was blank until he realized what I was suggesting. "I am sure Dorothy would like that. Isn't Wendy working there today?"

I smiled. He smiled back.

"You are a clever one, Von."

Neither the captain nor his yeomen were on the bridge when we left. Private Nehring was one of the security guys on duty outside the bridge. The two guards must have changed duties because Nehring's visor wasn't up when we went in. One of the two guards always had his visor down to thwart any biological or environmental issues, which made it difficult to identify the person under the closed helmet. "Perhaps they take turns breathing the ship's air rather than the stale air inside the sealed Shark armor, " I thought.

We weren't in a hurry, so I asked, "What's happening today?"

"Hear about Winterfall?" he asked.

"A shame about his accident," I responded.

He just nodded. I didn't think he knew it was murder yet.

"Lt. Foth is going down to the ice planet tomorrow with the next batch of citizens," he added.

"Citizens?" Rayz asked.

"You know, crew members getting a quick tour for the landing perk," Nehring answered.

"Ah, the bonus, right you are," my partner said.

"I didn't know Ulla was going down," I interjected.

"Saw it on the security-scheduling board," Nehring said with a shrug. "Looks like a number of senior tech ratings are going this time."

"Thanks for letting me know," I said, flashing him a two-fingered salute as we left.

He grinned, knowing his boss was one of my girlfriends. Ulla Foth wasn't the type to hide anything about our relationship.

We headed back towards the elevator.

"Dorothy and I are scheduled to go down in two days," Rayz mentioned in passing as we passed my cabin.

"Great," I said, casually. "The bonus doesn't mean anything to me, I am going back to Haven, " I thought.

Rayz dropped into to his normal quiet persona, which gave me time to consider how to help obtain and move useful items into the shuttle. I didn't want to count on my ladies for all our supplies, for one thing they had never lived on a primitive planet before. However, my mind constantly nagged at me about being watched by Miley. The ship's A.I. was a potential wild card in spoiling our escape, but also a potential ally. Miley's deferential treatment of me felt odd, she was looking out for me, even providing confidential information. I had wondered if it was my mother's doing, some hidden sub-routine that looked out for a member of the Solon family. It was crazy but I felt it was time to find out.

Normally, an A.I. would contact the command staff about an observed security breach or a suspected breach that involved personnel acting against the Captain's orders. The question was what orders, if any, were in the system about me or the prototype shuttle? If Miley was against us escaping and we got caught, I was ruining the Winslow sisters' careers. Also, their father might take offense at my causing the scandal, and he might want a pound of my flesh to clear his clan's honor. Her family's clan had as much influence in the affairs of the empire as mine. The Winslow clan was rather militaristic compared to the Solon's more diversified interests, mining, A.I. development, bio-tech medical, genetics and ship design.

It was my father who added bio-tech medical and genetics specialties to planet Solon's fame; as a Wolfenstein he had added a considerable bit of modern prestige to the old but the noble name of Solon. My mother had the noble bloodline so I was expected to use it rather than my father's family name. Lady Solon represented both old money and a respected bloodline that predated the imperial family's own ranking among the nobility. All the concerns about the Solon name were my older sisters' since I was leaving this universe. I probably even messed up their plans, since the family probably believed I was dead. "Stop daydreaming, " I thought.

"Miley, what are your orders about me?" I sub-vocalized through my implant.

"To serve and protect," Miley answered, crisp and concise.

Her answer was reasonable, but uninformative.

"I mean are there any orders limiting my movements off the ship?" I clarified, feeling a bit rusty about quizzing an A.I.

"Do you wish to shuttle down to Winterfall?" she asked. "Like the other crew? It is a common subject of discussion."

"No, Miley; but now it is repaired, I am interested in observing, first hand, the shakedown cruise of the prototype shuttle," I responded, with a half-truth. "The shuttle is important to my fiancée."

"The Captain has given me no restriction for you to board Winslow One, nor has he limited you on returning to Haven," Miley answered, with what I thought was humor in her voice.

I was quiet, feeling a bit surprised at her logic. Rayz and I exited an elevator while he remained oblivious to my scheming.

"You stated, on your arrival, it was your goal to return to that planet. The expedited repairs of the shuttle and the stocking of unusual quantities of supplies, makes your inquiry quite logical," Miley added, " ... if not overdue."

"Did she just chastise me?" I thought.

For a moment, I rolled "if not overdue," around my brain.

"You will aid me in my departure plans?" I asked boldly.

"Of course, Ensign Solon," she said. "I will set my minions in motion. We will talk at another time."

"She disconnected from me! Something is seriously different about her. A.I.s don't end conversations, humans do, " I thought, and then realized we were entering the First Aid Office next to the hanger.

Wendy was the nurse at the duty station by the entrance; she had her head down, working on the console with Dorothy explaining something to her over her shoulder.