Title: In Good Time
Summary: What has happened to the crew of the Enterprise? Can anyone solve the mystery?
Rating: PG (Language)
Genre: General
Author's note: Some of the chapters are short; some of the chapters are long. Please R & R!
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In Good Time
Aeryn Alexander
Chapter One:
The Silent Ship
When Commander Charles Tucker woke up that
morning, the clock in his quarters was flashing all zeros. He knew instantly
that he had over slept and chalked the flashing clock up to a minor glitch
in ship's systems, which he fully intended to deal with later. He threw
his uniform on in a rush, cursed his ill luck, which had cost him his breakfast,
and began purposefully trudging to engineering, where he was expected to
be at 07:00.
As he strode through the corridors of the
Enterprise, it struck Trip as very odd that no one else was around. The
ship was normally bustling with activity in the morning. On an ordinary
day he could expect to pass no less than five crewmen on his way to the
lift from his quarters. Nevertheless, he continued toward engineering.
But it too was empty.
Commander Tucker walked around the empty, all
too quiet engineering for several long minutes. Everything was in perfect
working order. In fact the ship was traveling at warp four. Only the emptiness
seemed wrong. Engineering was never left unmanned and unattended. If there
were a list of rules for running a star ship, that would certainly have
been at the top: never leave engineering unsupervised.
It was with great reluctance that Trip left
engineering and climbed aboard the lift again. He knew that the next place
he had to visit was the bridge.
The stars were passing before the great ship
at an awe-inspiring speed as Commander Tucker glanced at the view screen.
Everything was on-line and as it should have been, but the bridge was vacant
and silent as he stood there, baffled.
"This is not happening!" he said out loud
and feeling very much like it was all a bad dream.
Then, behind him, the lift doors suddenly
whisked open ...
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