Captain Dylan Hunt walked down one of the many similar looking corridors of
the Andromeda Ascendant. It was good to take a walk down the corridor
instead of the usual run-for-your-life routine he experienced on a regular
basis. The walk; however, would never have happened unless he'd been called
by the ship's engineer, Seamus Harper. Even now, Harper was crouching on
the floor, messing around with the circuitry in the door panel. On the
plasma screen above, Andromeda's digital self was watching him with a
mixture of interest and annoyance. Dylan stood a casual distance away from
Harper, though the engineer didn't seem to notice. Dylan and Andromeda
shared a humored glance before Dylan gently cleared his throat.
"Mr. Harper." Dylan said. Harper looked over his shoulder, his
trademark overly confident grin beaming brighter than usual.
"Hey, boss," Harper said. The spiky haired young man placed the metal
plate over the naked circuitry in the wall before standing at his full
height.
"Rommie said you wanted to see me? Something about improving
security?" Dylan said. Harper didn't answer the question outright. Instead,
he stood in front of the door he'd been working next to. The door didn't
open. The motion sensors didn't kick in to allow him access into the room.
"Open sesame!" Harper exclaimed dramatically, raising his hands in
the air like a biblical prophet. Dylan watched skeptically as the door
automatically opened.
"You.?" Dylan said. Harper held up his hand to silence his captain.
"Close sesame!" Harper said with as much enthusiasm used when the
door opened. The door quickly closed after the command was given. Harper
crossed his arms over his chest proudly.
"What did you do?" Dylan asked.
"Simple as it may sound, I reprogrammed the door to function
according to sound waves instead of motion. That way, if any nasty aliens
ever decide to grace us with their presence, we can easily navigate through
the ship while they're still trying to get through the doors," Harper
explained.
"I'm impressed, Mr. Harper," Dylan said.
"Thank you."
"But, why isn't the door opening now? Why isn't it rapidly opening
and closing while you speak if it's programmed to recognize your voice?"
Dylan asked.
"Excellent question, Dylan. One that I can answer. I also programmed
the door to recognize a key word that'll trigger opening and closing,"
Harper said.
"Sesame?"
"Best I could come up with on short notice. But it could be anything.
We could use the word.I don't know.banana as the trigger. As long as it's
far from our normal speech or else a lotta doors'll be opening and
closing," Harper said. Dylan stared at the door for a moment, considering
his options.
"We could use it on certain doors: Hydroponics, Med Deck, Command.
Could you make the voice recognition separate from the motion sensors?"
Dylan asked. Harper paused in thought.
"Yeah! It could be like a .a safety measure. Andromeda gets invaded,
internal defenses go up and important doors automatically switch to voice
recognition instead of motion detection," Harper said.
"Exactly what I was thinking," Dylan said.
"Hey, great minds think alike," Harper said, laughing.
"Harper, it's time!" called Trance's voice from down the corridor.
Anxiety quickly invaded Harper's face. Frenzied, he scrambled to pick up
the remaining tools sprawled out on the floor. Stuffing the tools into his
tool belt, he could hear Trance getting closer.
"Harper?" Dylan began.
"Uh, gotta go, boss. I'll get working on the doors," Harper said.
Without looking, Harper sprinted forward, only to smash right into the door
he'd been working on; the program still voice oriented. Harper cupped his
hand over his nose, wincing in pain.
"I think Harper just proved the flaw in his door programming. In
times of panic, words are completely forgotten," Andromeda said through the
plasma screen.
"Excellent point, Andromeda," Dylan said. Trance came running around
the corner, a hypo-spray in her hand. Her eyes stared determinedly at
Harper, but the engineer had other plans. In his second attempt to escape
the golden woman quickly approaching, Harper was stopped by Dylan's heavy
hand on his shoulder. "Not so fast, Harper."
"Boss, this really isn't necessary," Harper said, his confident grin
slowly fading.
"You can't keep putting this off, Harper," Trance said. She began
lifting his sleeve but Harper pulled away.
"I don't need it, Trance," Harper snapped.
"Don't need what?" Dylan asked.
"His booster shot. He needs it so he won't get sick. It keeps his
immune system stable," Trance explained.
"Trance, I'm not gonna get sick. Rommie's cleaner than last week's
laundry. There's no way I could pick anything up," Harper said.
"It's not to prevent illness, Harper. Your shots are helping your
immune system in case you do get sick so it can fight back," Trance said.
She could see the twinge of sadness in Harper's normally sparkling eyes. He
hated being reminded how weak he was in comparison to everyone else. "I'm
surprised you're acting this way. You've had these shots since you were on
the Maru."
"It was kinda necessary back then," Harper said.
"It's necessary now," Trance replied. He looked at Trance, hoping to find a
way to wriggle out of getting the shot. Looking into her eyes, he could
tell she wasn't going to back down. He sighed dejectedly before putting his
arm out. Trance smiled. She lifted his sleeve and pressed the hypo into his
arm. Harper flinched, rubbing his arm when the shot was over. Her smile
remaining constant, Trance pulled Harper's sleeve down and gave his hand a
quick squeeze. "See? That wasn't so bad."
"Easy for you to say," Harper grumbled. Dylan chuckled.
"Do you want a lollipop?" Trance asked playfully. Harper scoffed at her
remark.
"Trance, I'm not a little kid," Harper said.
"How 'bout a Sparky?" she offered.
"Now we're on the same wave length," Harper said. Trance's brow furrowed in
confusion over Harper's comment, but her impending question was cut off
when Andromeda's hologram appeared next to Dylan.
"Dylan, we're receiving a distress signal but they're not answering to
hails," Andromeda reported.
"What kind of ship?" Dylan asked.
"A Nietzschean research vessel, The Lady Godiva. She's Drago-Katsov,"
Andromda informed them. Dylan sighed. Looking at his engineer, he could see
the prominent anger and hatred filling the young man's eyes. Dylan turned
back to Andromeda.
"Set up Hanger 10 for rescue. Trance, get medical supplies ready.
Harper, you're with me," Dylan said. Harper followed Dylan, purposefully
keeping two steps back. His anger was palpable.
"I can't believe we're helping those stupid Ubers," Harper said, his
voice quiet, but loud enough for Dylan to hear.
"They won't be here very long," Dylan said. "Singapore Drift is a few
jumps away. We can take any survivors there to be dealt with."
"You mean you're not gonna try and convert them into the
Commonwealth?" Harper asked, picking up his pace until he was by Dylan's
side. Dylan looked at his engineer, half-grinning.
"You sound surprised," Dylan said.
"Well, yeah. Usually you're all gung-ho about changing people's views
toward the 'wonder and the glory of the Commonwealth,' even if they're
enemies," Harper said.
Dylan sighed, "Some enemies just aren't worth the time spent."
"Wow," Harper breathed.
"What?"
"I never thought I'd see the day when Dylan Hunt would share my
philosophy," Harper said. Dylan chuckled. By the time their friendly chat
was over, the two men arrived at Hanger 10. The hanger doors were open and
harpoons were slowly dragging the enemy ship inside.
"Trance, is medical ready?" Dylan asked.
"Maria's are on their way with stretchers," Trance answered. Heavy
footsteps rounded the corner. Tyr Anasazi approached the hanger door,
holding a Guass rifle.
"Tyr, glad you could join us," Dylan said. He looked at the gun. "It
is a research vessel."
"Research or not, Drago-Katsovs are never unarmed," Tyr said. Harper
immediately pulled out his Guass gun. Hesitantly, Dylan retrieved his force
lance from its holster. They watched the vessel slide into the hanger.
"Enemy vessel secured. Hanger 10 re-pressurized," Andromeda
announced. The three men entered the hanger. The vessel sat quietly. No
doors opened, no Nietzscheans rushed out to hold them hostage for control
of the ship. There was only silence except for the hiss of smoke rising
from the vents.
Dylan inspected the code pad on the vessel's entrance. Harper made
ready to pull out his probe but Dylan fired at the control pad, wasting no
time to enter the vessel. Laying face down by the entrance was a body.
Dylan leaned over the body while Tyr stood guard, making sure there was no
ambush.
"He's dead," Dylan said, standing again. They moved forward down the
length of the ship, finding body after body lying on the floor. None of
them were alive.
"A whole ship full of dead Ubers," Harper said.
"There is no battle damage and no wounds on the bodies," Tyr said
after turning another body over.
"What could kill so many Nitzscheans without warranting some sort of
fight.struggle.anything?" Dylan said.
"Maybe this one can tell us," Harper said. The young engineer was
kneeling next to a fallen Nietzschean. "He's still alive.barely."
"Trance, get those droids here NOW!" Dylan ordered. He turned to Tyr
and Harper. "Tyr, get back to command and send Beka down. Harper, search
the ship for anything of value. Catalogue it and put it into storage."
"Gotcha," Harper said.
"You'd better hope he lives," Tyr said, watching the Maria droids
take the body away.
"Why?" Dylan asked.
"Because whatever killed them could kill us."