CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Things on the Exon was quiet for the first time in several days. The Sargent was the only one busy at the time. He was monitoring the signal that their ship was sending out. All of a sudden, he started mumbling loudly to himself and making a huge commotion.
“What is going on over there Sargent?” The Captain called out to him.
The Sargent did not answer right away because of trying to do about eight things at once. Everyone, now out of concern rushed to the Sargent’s station.
“For an instant, I got a visual of a ship coming through the time conduit, then as fast as it appeared, it disappeared.” The Sargent told them as he continued to mess with adjusting his equipment.
“Maybe it was a ghost image or a piece of debris that had broken off the conduit’s walls,” Private suggested.
“You Idiot, I am not a rookie at this, I know what can happen! No, this was a ship, a big one!” The Sargent fired back.
“Private, you and Sara take over the monitoring of our signal, I am going to help the Sargent see if we can figure out what is going on.” The Captain ordered.
“This is really odd. I have never seen such a buildup of jerky fluid in a time conduit before.” The Sargent mumbled.
“Jerky fluid? Let me see.” The Captain ordered.
“This can only mean one thing, a time block.” The captain concluded.
“A what?” Sargent and Private asked in unison.
“It is a phenomenon that rarely occurs naturally. We may have triggered it when we made our hasty ten-year jump. It is also possible that the stress of having a carrier ship go through it, something a time conduit was never designed to handle, mat have caused it. However, it is more likely something that was planted in all the time conduits, when the carrier ships were ordered to pull out.” The Captain explained.
Sara, who had left out of the discussion about how or who would have placed a time block in the conduit, did some research on her own. When the conversation between the three calmed down, she spoke up.
“Captain, according to this, time blocks were outlawed by your species some two hundred years ago.”
“Yes, that is true, but our species has been known to violate their own rules if they feel it is in their best interests at the time.” The Captain replied.
“Boy does that sound familiar,” Sara mumbled.
“Captain, if they have broken through the time block, thus causing the flood of jerky fluid, why don’t they come all the way out? They must know that the jerky fluid will start to break down their propulsion components.” Private asked.
“Quite simply, they have to be sure that where they come out is exactually where we are. If the come out and they are wrong, they too will now be stuck here.” The Captain said sadly.
“Sargent, tune a probe to send a sonab135 to the very outside edge of the exit of the time conduit.”
“What good will that do?”
“It will give me an approximant time that the carrier ship has before they suffer to much damage. In the meantime, we can do to help them determine for sure where we are.” The Captain said, then ask Sara to join him over at another station.
“You know Miss Parker, if we are successful in being rescued, you will have a very short time to get clear of the ship.”
“Captain, I have no intention of staying here,”
Her answer caught him by surprise.
“Miss Parker, it is one thing to be among the three of us, and still be able to mingle with your own kind. It is quite another matter to be cut off from humans completely.”
“Captain, I understand what you are telling me however, I basically have been an alien living among my own species. I have never been respected or treated anywhere close to the way that this crew has treated me.”
“Miss Parker, I cannot guarantee that everyone on my planet will be as hospitable as we have. You just don’t know what you might be facing.”
“You see Captain, that is why I want to come. I know what I have been through here, and even in this ten-year jump, I see nothing has changed. No, unless you forcibly make me stay, I am coming with this crew.”
Sara paused a moment, then added.
“Your species invested a lot in your studies of earth. Right now, all you have is data. I have the chance to be living proof of what humans are like, and what they can become.”
The Captain now stood and pointed his finger at Sara.
“No one on this ship tells the Captain what to, or not to do!”
Sara now stood also.
“I have up to this point and will continue to obey all your orders. That is unless one of them is to stay behind.”
The two of them stared at each other for a long time. Finally, the Captain shook his head.
“You are indeed a stubborn female…You will fit right in with ours.” The Captain grumbled.
“Sargent, what is the results of that probe” The Captain belted out.
“Sir, the results are inconclusive, but best guess is they have at most two hours.
“Okay crew, up until now we have played by all the rules. I am fixing to break about ten of them, and it will be recorded in my report that this alone was my decision. Sargent, get a fix on the closest communication satellite to the conduit, and move it so we can direct our signal through that to boost the signal. Private, begin working on a way that if it becomes necessary, we can help power them out of that conduit.”
“Captain, it is not possible for a research ship…”
The Captain banged his fist on his station.
“Everyone needs to get this straight, we are in full blown emergency mode. We now not only have our own lives at risk, but we also have the responsibility of all those who are trying to rescue us. Now I will not put up with negative attitudes. We so far have done more than any other research crew has ever had to do. So, get busy and get me results!” The Captain ordered.
Private and Sara, went over to assist the Sargent in re-routing their signal to the satellite once he located one, he could manipulate.
“I am dealing with two problems here. Private, you are going to have to re-route power from somewhere in order for me to have enough to guide the satellite into position.” The Sargent ordered.
“On it!
“Now, if I can get a powerful enough one that will handle the amount of kalams we are going to put through it,” The Sargent mumbled.
Twenty minutes later, the three of them had everything in place.
“Here is hoping!” The Sargent said as he pushed the final button.
“How long before we know if it worked or not?” Sara asked.
“It’s hard to say. I have improvised using various pieces of other species equipment before, but never this big, from this far away,” the Sargent said apprehensively.
“Come on Sara, we have a job to do also, I am sure Sargent will call when he gets results.” Private stated.
“I don’t remember the Captain asking for us…”
“No Sara you are right, he didn’t, but he will. We are going to need all the power for our engines that we can manage.”
“I don’t understand”
“The Carrier ship has probably burned up several units, just trying to get to us. Our engines are small and only designed for short range, but in reality, they are simply miniature versions of the units used on the carrier ship. If, when the time comes, we can have our as in tip top condition as possible, it could be fitted in the carrier ship to help get us home.” Private told her.
Sara smiled at him.
“Okay Percy, what do you need me to do?”
The two of them worked hard, trying to again make use of parts gotten from earth, to function on the Exon’s complex engines. Private was amazed on how much Sara had learned in such a shot time. He was also glad to have someone working with him that was not always questioning what, or why, he was doing certain things. They had just finished doing as much as Private thought ought to be done at this time, when the Sargent called out for everyone to come see what was at his station.
Comments (0)
See all