Merc
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Chapter 19 - Get out
Tor steered the ship and glided around the station attempting to inspect it from every angle.
"Sweety give me an update as to the status of the station."
"Internal atmosphere normal. No signs of decompression in any of the sections. Shields normal. Life support fully operational. Reactor power stable. The station appears to be uninhabited!" Sweety concluded.
"Can you get me docking permission?" Tor had a deepening sense of uncertainty, "And Sweety keep your scanners peeled."
Sweety took a moment to check her extensive database to determine the meaning of the expression 'peeled' and came back with the expression. "Right you are!"
Tor glanced at the technical pad and smiled.
"What?" Sweety asked.
"Just your personality coming back on line." He glanced towards one of the optical sensors. He liked to think if she had a face, she would be smiling. "I'm going to suit up just in case." He stepped into the back of the ship and opened the locker. At that moment he visibly sagged and after a moment tears welled in his eyes, as he saw the happy smiling faces of his parents framed in a small holo cube, their expressions locked away for all time, their laughter a distant memory.
It took a few minutes for him to compose himself and as he closed the door he whispered, "I'll miss you mum! Dad!"
Sweety observed though her scanners but said nothing.
Tor breathed deeply to compose himself before he sat back down in the pilot seat. He looked at the station and placed his hands on the controls. Then sat back again as a feeling of uncertainty crept over him. "Sweety, I've got a really unpleasant feeling about all this. Is it possible for you to patch into the onboard station cameras?"
"Checking security protocols. Level two G security coding in place." Sweety responded.
"Isn't that a bit low for this type of station?" The seed of doubt in Tors' mind began to grow.
"Acknowledged! The system has already been broken into, only low level security in force."
"So show me what's on the internal monitors." Tor leant forward. His eyes narrowed slightly, apprehensive to what may be revealed.
"Station system accessed. Specify location to view."
"Let's start at the docking bay and work our way around!" It seemed to be the logical starting point in Tor's mind. He dreaded to have to go onboard coupled with the nagging doubt at what he may find.
The docking bay had pieces of equipment scattered around. Tor could not decide if they had been put there deliberately by scavengers or just the scientists being untidy. They moved in to an illuminated, stark, and unoccupied series of corridors. The sense of emptiness was beginning to unnerve him. Tor thought a station, no matter how small, should contain people. On the scanner there was no one. The corridors outside the living quarters showed nothing.
Tor viewed the laboratory that formed the heart of the station. It had been stripped. Panning the camera view around he still did not feel entirely happy with everything he could see.
"Sweety can you identify those marks on the wall?" He zoomed in.
"Initiating scan!" Sweety responded, "Scan indicates Argon type blood."
It confirmed his suspicions, "Is there any other biological material on the station?"
"Scan indicates two concentrations of organic matter!" Sweety responded.
"What you mean to say is there are two dead bodies on the station!" Tor grimaced briefly and then settled his expression to enigmatic.
"Yes!" Sweety had avoided the subject and from using the term, having monitored Tors' latest reaction to death. The response was not as she expected, so she tried to analyse the databanks on Argon behaviour patterns.
"Why doesn't that surprise me!" Tor replied, whilst he considered this really was not a good day. "Only two! We need to determine what happened to the other four." He paused. "Sweety, is there anything odd happening inside the station?"
"Please clarify your request?" Sweety replied.
"It's a long shot really. There's no one on board, alive that is, but is there any indication that the station has been visited recently?" Tor needed to find some sort of sign.
"Scanning!"
He kept monitoring the internal scanners of the station whilst waiting for a response.
"Tor, I have identified two oxygen units being recharged."
"How long have they been recharging?"
"One hour thirty minutes!" Sweety replied.
"Are there any other space environment suits on the station?"
"Negative!" The response was immediate.
"Speculation, there were six scientists on board. Each one would have had an environment suit. Two are dead what happened to their suits?" Tor was trying to weigh up his options and he had a great reluctance to go on board the station.
"Space environment suits are expensive. Indicating potentially pirates have raided the station, which would also be compatible behaviour to the removal of equipment." Sweety responded.
"Okay, add in the fact that there are two units on recharge, would indicate that perhaps two were killed, two escaped and possibly two have been captured?" Tor was fishing for possibilities.
"There are alternative possibilities that could be explored." Sweety commented.
"Go on?" Tor hesitated.
"The scientists came into contact with an alien life force. Four of them were killed potentially by the last members of the team and two were ejected into space. The surviving two left the station to hide when pirates subsequently discovered and looted the station."
Tor sighed, "I like my theory best!"
"The oxygen units only last two hours. If there are survivors hiding then they will need to replace their packs in the next half hour." Sweety commented.
"Somehow I don't really want to just sit around for half an hour. Whoever took out the lasertower may still be around!" Tor replied. "But I can't leave as I have supplies to deliver. If I just dump the supplies, Caran will ask me for a status update from the scientists. Then I'd have to lie to him, he would find out later that I lied and I'd get the benefit of a personal interrogation." Tor shook his head, "Only thing we can do is a quick search of the area see if we can find anything. Starting with that big ugly looking asteroid."
Gently he steered the ship towards the cratered and fractured surface.
"Sweety can you modify the HUD display to show minimum separation on the left, right, top, bottom and front!"
"HUD updated."
Tor looked around, he now had five distance measurements and as he drifted the Piranha into the main fractured canyon of the asteroid each one dropped in value. As he progressed along its length occasionally one side would find an opening or adjoining fracture causing the distance measurement to abruptly shoot up. He saw nothing and Sweetys' scanners barely managed to penetrate much below the surface.
"Sweety I'm going to go back, we're getting too far from the station for a suited exploration." He brought the ship around. Flying back down the canyon he reached the point closest to the station, then looked for deep fissures.
"Tor I would estimate that if there is anyone out here they have twenty minutes of air remaining."
He monitored the scanners looking for a fissure in the base of the canyon going deep into the rock. "Understood Sweety, can we do a short range com message focused towards the asteroid?"
"Confirmed adjusting outgoing signal."
"This is Tor Grall here to deliver supplies, if there's anyone there please respond!"
They waited and Tor began to wonder if he was looking at the right asteroid.
He found a deep opening on the scanner. "Sweety I'm going to take us closer, can you repeat the message every thirty seconds?"
"Acknowledged."
"Thanks!" Tor concentrated on the scanners, the black hole of the fissure was unrevealing even in the bright forward guiding lights of the ship.
"Tor I'm detecting a small relay unit near the entrance of the fissure! It is inactive." Sweety reported.
It was two minutes of slowly moving forward that Sweety detected an object ahead of the ship.
"Tor I'm detecting a ship up ahead."
"Can you identify it?"
"It has the signature of an Argon Lifter! I'm also detecting two faint life signs." Sweety commented.
"How do you mean!" Tor closed the gap to the stationary ship and halted fifty meters away.
"Registering two life forms, both in environment suits. Both suits exhibiting a malfunction of the thermal unit due to prolonged continuous use. First life sign is showing extreme hypothermia and is in a critical state. Second life sign also showing reduced core body temperature. Both are unconscious!" Sweety reported.
Tor tapped on the console. "Can we beam them aboard or do I have to get them?"
"Yes they can be beamed on board!"
"Okay beam them on one at a time, and Sweety this ship isn't equipped with a medical unit so you're going to have to tell me what I need to do." Tor voiced his concerns.
The first person and the most critical of the two was beamed onto the bunk still suited.
"Tor you need to hook up the suits to the recharge unit. I can stabilize the air temperature inside the suit and bring it up gradually to prevent thermal shock from taking place." Sweety instructed
Tor quickly set to work. Thankful the pipes extended to the figure on the bed.
The second person was beamed on board and was lying on the cabin floor.
"Tor you will need to link up the emergency supply unit!" Sweety commanded.
He once again dragged a set of pipes from the storage unit and coupled them to the prone figures' suit. "How long before they recover?"
"Temperature stabilization complete! The second passenger should begin to recover within the hour, the first passenger will take five hours, providing there are no complications." Sweety reported.
Tor looked at the two figures. Pipes from the recharge unit and emergency cabin supply crossing the cabin, he really didn't know what he should do next. Part of him was telling him to get away from here, another part of him was saying he should stay until one or both passengers woke up as they may have things they want to recover.
"Sweety, can we open a com back to Caran in Argon Prime?"
"We will need to get clear of the asteroid field before we can transmit." Sweety responded.
"What about the relay units you picked up?" Tor had a feeling that if he did manage to get through then Caran would probably ask him to stay put until the scientists awoke.
"They will link us to the station when reactivated!"
Tor turned the ship on its axis, the last thing he wanted right now is for someone to creep up behind his ship. He switched off the external lights and everything went black. It was one of the few times that Tor had ever been somewhere that, when unilluminated, was devoid of all light including starlight. It made him uncomfortable. The alien ship was behind him now, the scientists on board probably knew what it held on board, but due to their current condition were unable to advise.
Tor could only take comfort in the fact they had chosen to hide there, returning to the station to swap their oxygen units before coming back here. His mind raced through a series of other less palatable and suspicion laden ideas but he pushed these to the back of his mind. Even so he repositioned himself so that he could keep an eye on his passengers and also quickly glance out into the darkness.
"Sweety if we did reactivate the relays would the station be able to open a com to Argon Prime?"
"Yes! Its transmitter is powerful enough to overcome the interference of the asteroid field. However the people that have already discovered it will also become aware that we are here." Sweety paused, "At a personal level, whilst we remain in the asteroid field I will not be able to contact any freighters and give instruction."
Tor had momentarily forgotten the other necessity for clear transmission.
"What'll the freighters do?" He began to weigh up his options, an hours lost trading would not hurt his credit balance.
"They will dock and await further instructions! Fenegalas will be unable to trade for you as he will not have access to the credits!"
Tor sighed, "I think I'll just have to live with that."
In Tors' mind time began to drag. The waiting for some type of indication that the passengers were going to awaken was becoming painful. Ever alert to the possibility of seeing another ships' lights, trying to seek him out, was playing tricks on his mind. A quick turn of the head combined with the reflection of the cabin lights on the cockpit glass did not help to ease his state of mind.
"Temperature normalization of second passenger complete." Sweety announced, "Passenger may be woken!"
Tor exited the pilot seat, he made sure his blaster was to hand just in case. Carefully he unclipped the air supply and allowed the pipes to retract back. Gently he lifted the helmet of the sleeping passenger and unclipped it. With a slight twist the seal broke and there was the hiss of released pressure.
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Slowly he removed the helmet to reveal the sleeping face of Professor Autland. A wave of relief passed over Tor, if it had been a complete stranger he would have been more wary about waking him. Instead he called out loud and gave him a shake.
"Professor! Wake up!"
The professor stirred and mumbled something about getting back. Tor gave him another shake, "Professor!"
Slowly Jeron came around, then started with a jolt. "What? Where am I?"
"Safe Professor and a lot better off than your companion!" Tor indicated to the bunk.
"Uh, what happened?" Jeron put his gloved hand to his forehead as he tried to remember. "Tor isn't it?"
Tor nodded reassuringly and gave a brief smile. "Sweety tells me the thermal control units on your environment suits were breaking down!"
"That would explain the increasing cold and tension!" Jeron glanced over to the bunk then at Tor. "Where are we?"
"On my ship! And we're still inside the asteroid!" Tor allowed his curiosity to take over, "What happened out here?"
"We'd just opened the inner door! It was wonderful." There was a gleam in the eye of the Professor, "The others had been across. Picked up the heater units to be recharged on the station, examined the power coupling interfaces, taken atmospheric samples and a whole load of other stuff." He paused for a moment.
"Then we came across." He indicated with a tilt of the head to his companion. "And we'd only been away a few minutes when Leord sent out a station under attack signal. He also performed a data dump back to the data logger and shut down the relays." Jeron carefully got to his feet and began to remove the environment suit.
"How long ago was this?" Tor needed to make a decision, however his mind still was not clear about all the options.
"About two days, but with you here I can continue my work. You should see it Tor! The ship is a magnificent find! We'd even managed to supply limited power to the ships subsystems with a couple of power packs." Jerons' whole body reflected his enthusiasm. Tor glanced at the Professor his own mood bordering more on suspicion than joy.
"What's the name of your companion?" Tor asked.
"Tereana! How is she?" Jeron asked casually.
Tor glanced across then back to Jeron so he could read the mans expression, "She'll live! The ships bringing her back up to temperature."
"Ah, to prevent thermal shock!" Jeron responded.
Tor could not tell if the man was pleased or displeased with the news. Tor felt a twinge of mistrust begin to creep over him, the Professor appeared to be more concerned with the scientific discovery than the well being of his colleague. He decided to put it down to the nature of the professor and his complete absorption in the work he did, which probably did not leave much space for anything else in his life.
"So you've kept going back and forth every two hours to change air supply units?" Tor observed.
"Correct. Whoever attacked the station ransacked the place, but they didn't take everything, so I reasoned they were likely to come back. Also it gave me an opportunity to continue my research." There was a subtle change in the Professors expression as he reflected. "I guess we were too worried about being caught to notice the suits were beginning to go wrong!"
"Well we can't remain here indefinitely. How much more time do you need?" Tor interrupted the thoughts of the Professor. He was eager to be moving.
"Without a suit I can't do much more, but if yours is functioning correctly you could always go and retrieve the data logger!" The professor proposed.
Tor was uneasy at the prospect of leaving his ship, "There's a spare suit in the locker. You know what you're looking for, it would be better for you to go."
Jeron suddenly appeared to be perplexed by the information.
"Something the matter?" Tor asked.
"No, no, nothing at all?" Jeron paused, "I think we should decide on how to progress. Before we leave we should at least have restored the engine power of the other ship!"
"What will that require?" Tor asked, knowing there was a fair chance that the parts required would not be found locally.
"That information is on the data logger!" Jeron responded.
"Sweety, can you access the data logger from here?" Tor adopted another approach to try and prevent either of them from having to leave the ship.
"Accessing!" Sweety replied, "Cannot establish link. Unit inside alien ship protected by low level shield."
"Professor, it's down to you! As a proposal, if you can let me know what you need, I'll go get the parts whilst you continue your work here!" Tor smiled and adopted an open honest posture.
The Professor sighed, "Agreed!"
A few minutes later and the professor was jetting away from the Piranha and back to the alien ship.
"Tor!" Sweety spoke up.
"Yes Sweety?"
"Can you put on an ear mic!" Sweety requested.
Tor looked bewildered, "Sure what's up!" He rummaged around through the lockers until he found one.
"What is it Sweety?"
"I've had a chance to analyse the malfunctions on the suits." Sweety paused, "Tereanas' suit has been deliberately tampered with! The professors appears to have broken down due to reasons as yet unclear to me."
"You mean they may have sabotaged each others suits?" Tor asked quietly.
"No, Tereanas' suit has progressively been deteriorating over a period of time conducive to the nature of the applied fault!" Sweety affirmed, "The professors is much more recent, perhaps as the result of a low level energy surge!"
"Anything else?" Tor asked.
"I've done a complete frequency scan of the alien ship. It appears to be sending out intermittent low level noise but I cannot decode or translate if there is a message." Sweety commented.
"Is there anything you can compare it to?" Tor felt uncomfortable again.
"I can only compare it to a whisper, but outside the audible range of frequencies!" Sweety responded.
"Although we can't hear it. It doesn't mean we can't detect it at the subconscious level!" Tor glanced nervously at the sleeping figure. He felt he now knew the cause of his current apprehension, and that in it self was comforting. What effect it was having on Jeron and the sleeping Tereana he could not guess. "How's the Professor doing?"
"The Professor has entered the outer airlock of the ship!" Sweety replied.
"Sweety if we upload the data, is there any chance of something getting onto your systems which can cause damage?" Tor needed to be certain that this was the right thing to do.
"I have put the highest security protocols in place and isolated the data storage unit from the other subsystems." Sweety responded.
"Let's hope it's enough." Tor reflected.
Tor was playing the waiting game again. Sweety kept him updated as the Professor moved the data logger from the alien ship and outside the shield.
"Uploading data!" Sweety commented. It took five minutes to transfer the several terabytes of data and confirm it was complete. Sweety scanned through the scientists' reports and avoided the alien data taken from the other ships' computers.
She prepared a list of items and displayed them on the screen. Many were isotopes of rare elements and semi-precious metals occasionally found in mineral rich asteroids. Some of which are extracted in the production of Quantum Tubes.
"And what do we do with this lot?" Tor enquired as he read through the list.
"If my analysis of the alien ship is correct it has replication technology, more advanced than our own, which will be able to reassemble these raw elements into its own type of fuel cell." Sweety responded.
"How advanced is this technology?" Curiosity crept over Tor.
"If my analysis is correct, the ship, given the right basic elements to work with, could replicate itself." Sweety responded.
"Could that include replicating a living organism?" Tor asked.
"As in a clone?" Sweety asked.
"Yes and no! Giving the replicator the basic compounds that make say a person, could it then make a real living person." It was one of those ethical questions, often asked by news reporters on the GalNet news. Tor was curious to know if the aliens may have thought the same way.
"I am unable to determine if the alien system could perform this action. Reproducing a person by replication is highly complex. The number of variables and construction algorithms required are greater than the memory capacity of this ship." Sweety then added. "However it may be able to perform organ regeneration by means of replication."
"Message coming in from the Professor!" Sweety announced.
"Tor you now have the data. I'll continue here and see you again in a few hours!"
"Confirmed Professor, and be careful!"
"Sweety, lets get moving. Navigational lights and HUD!" Tor sat in the pilot seat and began manipulating the controls. "Engines to low power. Sweety keep scanning for other ships!"
The Piranha picked its way carefully out of the ravine. He was grateful to see the stars again, and the station hovering a few kilometers away.
"Tor I have incoming ships! Two pirate Hawks and an Orinoco." Sweety responded.
"Damn!" Tor cursed under his breath, "Target the nearest and fastest one!"
"Target acquired!" Sweety confirmed.
"What's its status?" Tor brought the Piranha back under the rim of the fault line and began to increase the power to the thrusters. Sweety confirmed the Piranha had a significantly better top speed. After a few disorientating seconds he pulled the ship clear of the rift and out into the asteroid belt.
Tor knew his best chances were in open space. The close confines of the asteroid field meant speed was of little advantage unless you were well practiced in asteroid dodging. Which he was not!
As he pulled away he shouted out, "Sweety, get me a direction out of here!"
The response came back, "Tor we have Alien AI infecting the system, security protocols breached. Unplug me NOW!"
He reached across and almost tore the technical data pad from the console unit. The surface of the asteroid nearby spat small chunks of rock against the hull of the Piranha, as the two Hawks made a brief pass.
"Sweety, what's going on?" Tor called out. He still had the ear piece on.
"I was examining the translation matrix when the data cascaded. Everything became readable but we have another intelligence on the computer system. Far more advanced than anything I have encountered." Sweety responded.
"Shit!" He muttered under his breath, he did not know where he was or where he was heading. He only risked short bursts of maximum speed to gain some short gain over the Hawks however they did not slow by nearly the same amount as Tor struggled to see a way out of the field.
Suddenly the helm controls did their own thing.
"Sweety what's happening?" It was a desperate plea. The Piranha shot forward on full thrusters and began to turn back towards the large asteroid whilst avoiding the smaller ones with sharp precision movements.
"Tor my scanners indicate the AI has reconfigured and rebuilt the transporter matrix into a replicator device." Sweety announced, "Weapons and shield systems are being reconfigured and combined. Targeting system has been reprogrammed. Tor we have no recognizable weapons array!"
The Piranha dove into the canyon at full speed pulled up and shot along the base, twisting, turning, rising and falling as it tracked along the length of the rift. Tor sat petrified, the ship out of his control, too scared to be sick and an unwilling passenger in his own ship as it hurtled with knife like precision through the canyon.
Then the ship stopped, rising above the rim of the canyon it turned and faced the pursuing pirate ships. Tor knew where he was, the research station sat just a few kilometers away.
