Chapter 13
The air quality on board had a processed feeling to it. It was musty and stale almost like a hospital or a large dense office building. The ambient low-frequency hum of the engines was something you felt more than heard. There was a noticeable ‘well used’, quality to the ship. Evidence of its age back when voyages took longer and the ship had to feel like a second home. Most people would have been turned off by it, Aurelius was in heaven.
A computer-generated voice from his tags directed him to main engineering, the section that housed the vessel’s massive Star Drive. He was to report to the chief engineer to receive his briefing.
The double doors ahead of him unlocked and slid open. The room inside was bathed in light from transparent metal that lined the main reactor–like windows. They formed caustic light patterns on the walls like an indoor pool, waving and shimmering. This was the ship’s beating heart, where its power and soul emanated from. He stopped to take in the sight. Personnel scurried around the room double- and triple-checking systems. A test of one of the systems changed the azure light pouring out of the engine core to an emerald green before slowly fading back. Aurelius cracked a giddy smile, the type of smile a kid makes when opening a birthday present.
“Where’s the chief?” he asked a crewman.
The crewman pointed to a little office overlooking the room. Aurelius could have taken a lift up to the second deck but thought it was more fun to shoot up one of the ladders. Aurelius knocked on the chief’s door. The plaque outside read “Chief Jeremy Marcus.” After a moment, a voice told him to enter. The office was minimalistic. No toolboxes or equipment racks like he would have expected. It was more like something out of an office building. The chief engineer sat behind the desk in the center of the room. Aurelius approached and stood at attention. “Hard Tech Aurelius Blaze reporting for duty, sir.”
“At ease,” Chief Marcus ordered, pointing to the empty chair across from his desk. He pulled Aurelius’s profile up on his screen. “Another level 2 hard tech. Welcome aboard, Mr. Blaze.”
Hard tech level 2? This was awesome news. It meant he’d be working on important stuff. Maybe even the Star Drive itself.
“You’ll have to forgive the lack of communication on your orders. Being Governor Maher’s ship, we have to do things a little differently.”
“Understood. Just glad to be a part of it.” Aurelius said.
“Save the ass kissing for promotion, Hard Tech.” The chief smirked. He logged Aurelius into the ship’s systems and issued him a bunk number and his tags blinked.
“By the way… Are you afraid of Spiders?” The chief asked, his eyes never leaving his screen.
“No?” Aurelius replied.
“What about enclosed spaces?”
“Not really…”
“Suddenly open spaces?
“I don’t think so…”
“Falling from an extreme height of forty meters or higher?”
“Hadn’t thought about it...”
“Spontaneous mid-air vaporization?”
“Is that a possibility, sir?”
“No… No… You should be fine.” the chief said punching away at his controls, “After you’ve taken time to familiarize yourself with our mission, you’ll be added to the duty roster and you’ll start getting work. We usually don’t let the newbies touch anything fancy for a while, but you’ll be able to get your hands on that engine core in due time.”
“Oh was I staring, sir?”
“We’ve all been there.”
As the chief dismissed Aurelius he caught of glimpse of a sign just outside his office; “Proudly accident free: 2 days.”
Aurelius went hunting for his bunk, wondering why the chief had asked him so many strange questions. Around the corridors and through a couple of bulkheads, he found it. A good sized room with a single round table and short booth seats in the middle. There were four bunk beds embeded into the wall to the right and all the lockers and storage cabinets in the room were painted to look like wood which only accented the hardwood floor stretched across the majority of the deck. This room was designed to accommodate four people and for something on an old heap of metal like this, it was strangely comfortable. There were two crewmen already in the room. One was a tall, wire thin, man with his dark hair pulled back into a tight, short, ponytail, and a shorter woman with almost chocolate skin covered in the dark lines of intricate tattoos. As they both turned to look at him he noticed a lock of her hair had been dyed a bright metallic blue.
The tall man was the first to speak, reaching out to grasp Aurelius’s hand in a surprisingly firm grip. “Hey! Dead man’s boots! I mean… Hi, I’m Paul. You must be the guy who’s here to replace old Jenkins.”
“Hey, I’m Aurelius. What do you mean replace? Whose Jenkins?”
“You mean you didn’t hear?” Paul asked.
“Why would he have? It only happened a couple days ago.” the woman said, standing up from the bottom bunk at the far end of the room and joining them, “My names Nyreen. Don’t let Paul here scare you. That accident was a once in a lifetime type of thing.”
“It’d have to be…” Paul said.
“Wait…” Aurelius said starting to feel a little nervous, “What? What accident?”
“Nothing to worry about. Word to the wise though never take your arc welder to the head.”
“Why would I…” Aurelius began to say before shaking his head, “What happened to this Jenkins guy?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Nyreen said. “You’re here to replace him.”
“I mean it’s not how I’d have wanted to get this posting” Paul added, “but you gotta take ‘em where you can get ‘em.”
“There suppose to be one more guy coming but he hasn’t arrived yet.”
“He replacing someone too?” Aurelius asked.
Both Paul and Nyreen gave him a look normally reserved for especially slow toddlers, “No. They just needed another Tech.”
“Oh… kay…” Aurelius said.
“He should be here anytime” Nyreen continued, “So that means you get first dibs on bunk.”
“Cool” Aurelius said, moving to throw his bag up onto the vacant top bunk.
“That one was Jenkins’. Nyreen said almost in mourning.
“Nyreen, that’s not fair…” Paul said, “At the end he was leaking down onto the bottom one too…”
Aurelius still had no idea if this was some sort of hazing ritual or if they had really lost this Jenkins guy to some sort of horrible accident, “Did they at least change the sheet?”
“Yeah. But I don’t know about the mattress…” Paul said scratching his chin.
Aurelius figured they were kidding and decided to play along with thier little joke. He took a few steps back and turned to face the room “Maybe I’ll just take one of these benches”
He threw his bag onto the round table in the middle of the room and sat down.
“We’ll let you read your mission briefing and get settled in.” Nyreen said taking a step toward the door and motioning for Paul to follow her.
“Thanks.” he said watching the two leave and disappearing down the corridor.
Aurelius read the mission briefing on his dogtags. Apparently Governor Maher had business to attend to on Terra Luna, Earth. What it was actually was anyone’s guess, but it meant he was in for a journey. It would take two-and-a-half weeks to get to Earth, with a three-day shore leave in the city of San Francisco, then two-and-a-half weeks back. This was a hell of an opportunity. He made a note to thank the hell out of Sarge when he got home. And to think he always thought Sarge hated him. By the end of the debriefing there was no mention of Aurelius being here to replace anyone. It made sense but he wondered if his new bunkmates had been messing with him.
“Aww, shit… You gotta be kiddin’ me,” a familiar voice said from the doorway.
Aurelius looked up from his handheld screen. Who he saw standing in the doorway felt like just one more joke in a day that had already had so many. Jerula stood there with his bag slung over his shoulder, “It’s pukey’s buddy! He isn’t here too is he?” Jerula said looking around as if Aurelius had been hiding Benny in a locker.
Aurelius laughed. “Well, I’ll say it’s a small freakin’ ’verse. Now I’m really glad you didn’t hit me last night. Woulda made this awkward.”
“I still might if you don’t give me top bunk.” Jerula laughed.
“Yeah no problem.” Aurelius said. With a month in deep space ahead of him at least Aurelius wasn’t going to be bored.
…
The giant clasps holding the Freedom’s Reach in place began to snap open one by one. All docking tubes and refueling cables detached from the hull and retracted into the massive dock that stretched out of Center Spire. Once everything was clear the ship began to back out of its gangway. The ship took several minutes to turn around, orientating itself towards its destination as it rose up from Center Spire and up higher and higher into the stratosphere. Booster systems that were powering its flight up through the clouds began to sputter out and detach, falling into the ocean just outside off the coast of Blades. They made splashes that were several stories tall and there were already craft in the water to retrieve them for the next launch of a Service-Corp vessel.
The engine room was buzzing with activity. Aurelius hadn’t been assigned any real duties yet, but the Chief had instructed all tech crew to report for disembarking. Aurelius watched in awe as the dormant power plants came to life. Spinning and humming, he felt that dull vibration that had been with him since he boarded the ship, shift into a true shaking of the decks. The Freedom’s Reach was coming to life all around him, it’s old hull groaning under the new stresses.
“Hey Jenk… I mean Aurelius, come over here!” the Chief called.
“Sir!” Aurelius replied, having to shout over the thrum of engines cycling through their warm ups.
“You wanna push the button?” the chief asked.
“The button sir?”
“Yeah the button that takes everything out of power up and gives control to the nav geeks on the bridge.” The Chief said pulling Aurelius over and showing him a long metal lever that was sticking out of the enormous power plant connected to the central turbine.
“When I say so pull that thing then hold on, because down here things can get a little rough.”
Aurelius was barely able to contain his excitement. He looked at the simple dented, tarnished and more than a little greasy leaver as if it were made of pure platinum.
The chief seemed to be listening intently to the whirring grinding and buzzing all around him, seeming to take note of every change in speed and pitch.
“Not just yet… Just a little bit more… Almost… Now kid!” And Aurelius pulled.
The ship rocked and bucked. Aurelius was almost thrown from his feet as the Freedom’s Reach lurched forward.
“That’s some kick isn’t it kid.” The chief said, helping Aurelius keep his footing.
“It was something all right.” Aurelius said; “You ever get used to it?” he finished.
“Hell no kid, but you do learn to enjoy the ride. Now don’t stick around here, run to one of the ports, you’re not going to want to miss the view as we leave.” The Chief said steadying Aurelius before pushing him for the door.
Aurelius staggered slightly as he made his way down the corridors to one of the lounges that butted up against the outer hull. When he finally reached one, it was crowded with off duty personnel and Aurelius had to squeeze himself into the nearest spot to the viewports that he could.
The Spire was glittering in the late evening sun, the clouds below giving it a carpet of soft peach, turning into bright orange. Above Aurelius could see a field of bright stars, swirling nebulie and somewhere off in the distance out of view, but never out of anyone’s mind was the Eridani gateway. Aurelius knew that even now up on the bridge a helmsman was setting in a course for that mystery that gave the Frontier human life.