Chapter One
By SilvyrWingThere wasn't really any artificial light in the morning. It was just sorta a wake-up call. Well… It was a wake-up call for the others. Typically, Bova didn't subscribe to the idea of waking up in the morning. Partly because there was no sun, thus there was technically no "Morning." Mostly because waking up was a lot less comfortable than being asleep.
But this morning was different. There's always a difference… A deviation from routine. Just every once in a while, but enough so that those experiencing such a difference would stay on their toes. It was just enough to break up that monotony of wake-up-do-stuff-go-sleep that the crew of the Christa was so familiar with… And, truth be told, they needed that.
So when the artificial lights came on in the morning, Bova knew that something was up.
"…What the hell's the light for?" he demanded, pushing himself to his elbows and looking into the beam of a flashlight.
"Uhn…" It was the half-asleep voice of his roommate, Harlan Band. The Earther was standing in the doorway, partially leaning on it, and looking more disoriented than usual.
Bova swung his legs over the side of his bunk, muttering a few curses in Uranusian. He could feel that it wasn't anywhere close to the time he was supposed to be awake… For one, he couldn't hear the sounds of the Christa starting up. Two, he felt as if he'd just fallen asleep a couple hours ago… And he hadn't dreamed at all. Normally in the course of a night, he'd at least have one dream, as he slept so deeply. Sighing, he waved his arm at Harlan, and the beam of the flashlight turned from being directly in his eyes to a spot next to him on the wall. "…What's wrong?"
"Suzee says there's a bit of a problem with the grav. Somethin' about how it's shuttin' down level-by-level. And the Christa's listing Starboard."
"So it's either somethin' we'll figure out within the hour, or it'll likely kill us all," Bova mused.
Harlan hesitated.
"Seriously, how bad is it?"
Reaching over to the plate on the wall, Harlan raised the lights a bit. "Well, Commander's got Radu and Miss D. loading up the Starlings while Suzee and Rosie hang out in the engine room and try to get whatever it is running right again. It just went a little while ago, but it's moving fast."
Bova stretched, throwing the robe on over his nightclothes. "Okay, so we're looking at something totally and completely—"
"Random," Harlan finished. "Yeah."
"I was going to say commonplace." Bova shrugged. "It's not like something like this hasn't happened before." He cracked his neck, obviously making a show of taking his time while Harlan started to shift his weight from foot to foot.
"Like the grav cutting off? Suzee's saying it could get to the oxygen recyclers. Or the climate control. Now when has that happened before?" The Earther looked quite disappointed. So much so, that Bova couldn't help a rather sardonic smile.
"I tempt to lump the 'doom' occurrences into one category. Makes 'em easier to keep track of… And as I recall, we've had plenty of those." He turned to the other cadet and motioned toward the door.
Harlan dimmed the lights back down in the room as he shifted the beam of the flashlight out into the hall. It was dark… For some reason, all the lights were still off. As if guessing the nature of Bova's unasked question, Harlan stated, "The lights are going haywire, too, so we've left 'em off, mostly. 'Cept for the emergency ones. And Thelma's up and about, but she's kinda… Uh. Well, I guess Thelma's workin' just fine." Shrugging, he continued to lead the way toward the Command Post, passing right by the Jumptubes. They were likely off-limits… Seeing as how the Jumptubes were usually the first thing to malfunction. Honestly, if the Lumanians were so technologically advanced, why could they not work the bugs out of their system?
Bugs.
"I think I know what the problem might be," Bova muttered, quickening his pace a little so that he was side-by-side with Harlan. "You said it was spreading level-to-level."
"Right," Harlan agreed. Not quite following the conversation, he remained distracted, trudging along until he was a couple steps in front of the Uranusian. Bova simply nodded and continued on following. Likely, he'd be the only one not worried by whatever it is that was happening, because he was pretty much the only one on the ship that knew that, eventually, they'd run out of luck. Granted, he also had the feeling that this wasn't their day, and that the problem was easily fixable, given a bit of time, and maybe some proverbial duct-tape. He'd have to make a quick patch, after all.
The ComPost doors slid open about halfway, before they stopped and Harlan crashed right into them. Already frustrated, Bova rolled his eyes and, showing absolutely no sympathy whatsoever, shoved Harlan the rest of the way through.
"Glad you could join us, Mister Bova," Seth Goddard said dryly. He was standing at the Helm… Bova couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. He was the commander of his very own vessel, and had all these dreams of flying again… Yet the Christa would not respond to his commands. She wouldn't allow herself to be steered by anyone by the cadets. It was sad, in a way… The Commander had all these dreams of grandeur, yet that's all they were – dreams.
Because everyone knew there was a court-martial waiting around back home.
"Glad to be here," Bova responded, in just about the same flat tone Goddard used. He hopped up onto his console and started consulting the readouts. Then he hopped over to Rosie's terminal and hailed the others.
"Hey, guys. I think I know what's wrong. Just hang out for a while. Few systems may go up and down."
There was a brief pause before Suzee responded from the engine room. "I read, Bova."
Almost simultaneously, Radu's voice came in on another channel. "Gotcha," he was saying, while Miss Davenport was screaming something in the background about not shutting off the oxygen.
"So what's wrong?" Goddard asked as Bova jumped down off the console pedestal. "I had Suzee checking the engines; she said it looks solid."
Bova shrugged noncommittally. "The engines are probably fine," he responded. "In fact, if Miss Davenport checked out the computers, she probably woulda figured it out. 'Course, she couldn't have done anything, but…" Situating himself in front of his own console again, he directed a read-out onto the main viewscreen. Line after line of code scrolled past.
"So…" Harlan prompted.
"We landed planetside about a week ago. Christa probably picked up a bug… It's been incubating since then."
"…Incu—" Goddard paused, rolling his eyes. "You're saying she's got a virus."
"Yeah." After isolating a bit of the code, the corners of Bova's lips turned upward it what was perhaps a smile… More likely a grimace. "There were a lot of radio transfers from the immediate area. Probably got assimilated somewhere along the line, and… This is a pretty good bit she picked up right here." He highlighted the code in white. It was partially in some sort of alien language, but that was changing as the translators kicked in and converted the symbols to numbers and words.
"That doesn't mean much to me," Seth admitted rather angrily. He certainly knew how to command a ship, but he couldn't recognize a virus if it bit him on the—
Suddenly, the emergency lights went out, leaving only the green glow of the terminal for the three crewmen to see by.
"Meant to do that," Bova clarified, as he separated one of the lines and wrote in another. The emergency lights came back on, and soon after, the main lights started to power up, just as a siren went off. Bova twisted another dial, shutting the viewscreen off.
"And there goes the proximity alarm," Harlan drawled, leaning back on the helm as Bova worked.
"Actually, that wasn't one of mine," Bova replied. "You may wanna check and see what's out there."
Suddenly stunned, Harlan leaped up into his position, switching the viewscreen to an outside venue. They were awfully close to an asteroid. He swore loudly, before turning back to the Commander. "It was on auto, just like it is every night!"
"That'd be the first system I took offline," Bova responded, casually.
"Thanks for the warning!" Harlan snapped, pulling back on the flight crystals so that the Christa narrowly missed flattening itself on the asteroid's rocky surface. With the systems going bad, the artificial gravity wasn't enough to keep from pulling them down as the ship went almost vertical before straightening itself out again. Thankfully with Bova and Commander Goddard so close to the console, they had something to grab onto.
"That wasn't my fault, Commander," Harlan stated defensively.
"I know. Just… Keep at the helm for now. Bova, it may be a good idea to tell us what systems you're taking down, please!"
"I'll keep that in mind."
Radu's voice came through the radio. "Any reason Miss D. and I just had a near-fall from the floor?"
"I have the channels patched into each other at the moment," Bova responded. "That way I can tell you what I'm doin'. Everyone okay?"
"We're fine," Suzee and Rosie answered, their voices muffled by the sound the engine was exerting.
"I'm patching up the Christa's computers. Just a virus… Mostly affecting the grav sectors, but there's a bit in other places as well. Speaking of grav, I'm rebooting it now. So… Hang onto something." Looking up to verify that Harlan and Commander Goddard were locked down, Bova deleted a line of code from the terminal… And suddenly, he was floating.
Holding onto the terminal with his foot, he hurriedly entered in a reboot sequence. "Starting up gravity again. Make sure you're near the floor," he spoke into the com. After executing the code, he heard three sets of boots thump back to the floor.
"Thelma," Bova called.
Seconds later, the android was at his side. She had the uncanny, interesting ability to appear from absolutely nowhere. It unnerved most of the crew… Bova was rather indifferent. Smiling, Thelma asked cheerily, "Yes, Bova?"
"The virus was affecting maintenance. Probably why you didn't catch it…" He shut off his terminal. "It should be okay now, though. Run a check of all the systems."
"I am already running a check and fixing the errors inserted into the Christa's mainframe."
Goddard and Harlan both turned their eyes to the Uranusian at the same time.
"Hey," he started. "I'm not perfect. But at least we're not listing anymore."
---
It had been way too commonplace. Way to obvious an answer. Well, obvious for Bova anyway. Sure, it had been a longshot, but instead of running around like a Uranusian Arkipian-Sy without one of its heads, he'd isolated the problem and fixed it. No, they weren't going to die today, and they weren't going to have to abandon ship, either.
"There's always somethin'," he mused to himself. "You'd think they'd all get used to it." Leaning against the pars across the lexan window, he looked out toward the stars. The others were on their free time… Class had gone off without a hitch, and so had command post duty. And lunch… And class after that. Now that they had a little time to themselves, Bova chose to spend it alone in his bunk. He was happiest that way.
"You just keep playin' games, though, don't you? Wondering when we'll slip up. You know just as well as I do that it'll happen one day… And you'll laugh when it does. Not… that I actually believe there's a 'you' out there or anything." He paused, blinking as he realized he was talking to himself. But it didn't seem so bad… In fact, he almost felt like he was distant from the Christa… Looking at it from afar. And that was nice… Calming. Mellow.
So he kept talking.
"Big damn cosmic game of chess, and we're the lost pawn…" The statement actually elicited a smile, which Bova quickly quaffed when he saw his reflection in the glass.
Detached, like he was dreaming…
But it was so cold.
Suddenly, he frowned.
"There's somethin' out there, I know. Don't get me wrong. I mean, we can't mess up enough as it is on our own. We need someone else to help us to that. God forbid humanity could do anything on its own."
For some reason, he totally missed the fact that he'd collectively referred to all the universe as "Humanity."
"Wouldn't want to anger whatever god is out there. Or… What's that guy's name?" He eyed a particularly bright star. "Lucifer. Satan. That one that the Earthers always talk about. Bunch of mythology, no matter how you look at it."
…And Bova was a scientist. He had no room for stuff like that. Stories, that's all they were.
"I'm tired, Satan. You don't mind if I take a little nap, do you?" He eyed the clock… He was supposed to be at the Command Post ten minutes ago.
A nap definitely wouldn't hurt.
---
So comfortable and warm. It was like he was snuggled in the most comfortable blanket ever created. Technology… That's what it was. This high-tech stuff was always really nice.
Someone must have covered him with a blanket while he was sleeping… which meant someone had found him asleep when he should have been up at the Command Post!
Suddenly stirring, Bova found his movement sluggish… Compounded by some sort of viscous fluid that was surrounding him. The blanket. Usually not disposed to panicking, he found that none of his indifference mattered now… He had to get out, or he was going to drown. Attempting an electric blast, he found that it was impossible. In fact, he couldn't even feel a spark of energy.
He thrashed, and was suddenly aware of a dull hum as some sort of machine started up close to him. Opening his eyes, he looked through the red ichor only to see more of the stuff. It was only translucent, and his vision certainly wasn't made for seeing through it. There was light on the other side, though, and he tried to swim toward it. Reaching out, Bova's hand met glass.
After so little movement, he was already tired, as if he hadn't used his arms for years. Attempting to hit the barrier in front of him, he was met with both his own exhaustion and the stickiness of the fluid. About to resign himself to the whatever-it-was that was waiting for him, he found that he could actually breathe.
So… What was this? Had Christa been boarded? Were they all captive? Bova curled his arms around his legs… The warm blanket wasn't so warm anymore.
A drain opened under him, and his ankle dropped into it. The hole was too small to pull him through, thankfully, as he didn't really think he'd have the strength to fight against it. The liquid drained rapidly, though, and the drain snapped shut again. The liquid that was still clinging to the glass prevented Bova from seeing out, but that didn't matter too long. He realized that there was no cover over his head, and he looked upward to see…
And endless column of pods… Probably similar to the one he was in. They were all filled with the red fluid.
A rush of air greeted his foggy senses, and he tried to focus his eyes on whatever it was that was moving outside the pod. He could discern dark and light, but the shapes were rather fuzzy. Someone was standing just inside a dark block… A door. He was holding out a hand.
"Shuttle from the Malachi," the voice said. It was warped, though. Fuzzy. There was probably still fluid in Bova's ears. "We heard one of the waywards was up. Thought we'd come getcha."
Bova wanted to respond, but he couldn't remember how. The hand reached out toward him. It was gloved… The person that was helping him seemed to have thought ahead. Had the hand been bare, it wouldn't have been able to find a grip around Bova's wrist… Considering he was still covered with the jelly-like fluid.
The strong arm dragged him out of the pod, and for a moment, Bova thought he might have been dangling in the air… He couldn't really tell, though, odd as it seemed. It didn't matter, though. Seconds later, he was on a metallic floor. It was cold.
The unidentifiable male voice spoke up again, but this time it wasn't addressing Bova. "Let's get out of here. This place still gives me the creeps."