Infinity (First Colony Book 13), page 4
Butler smiled. “Keep telling yourself that, Colonel Quinn.”
Sean grinned and looked at Noah. “You’ve got a good crew here.”
Noah nodded. “They are. They’re all volunteers.”
“So are mine,” Sean replied evenly.
“I didn’t know that. That’s… something.” He regarded Sean for a moment. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Sean laughed. “Yeah, of course I’m not serious. Since when has the CDF ever asked its highly trained soldiers whether they’d like to participate on a dangerous mission? Never. But they’re still a good group.”
“How well do you know them?” Noah asked, following a hunch.
“Rhoades has served under me before, but the rest I hadn’t met until we were on the shuttle on the way here.”
Noah snorted a little and shook his head. “I’m glad you can use this mission to hone your team-building skills.”
Sean blew out a breath and grinned a little. “Yeah, that’s what I’m doing. Come on. Let’s go get cleaned up.”
Over the next several days, the crew and passengers aboard the Infinity settled into a routine. Sensor logs were checked and monitored. Systems performance continued to be reviewed to ensure they were working properly. It was all perfectly routine, until it wasn’t.
A klaxon alarm roused Noah from sleep. He sat up and then sprang out of bed. Kara was seconds behind him. He grabbed an envirosuit and dressed himself, then snatched a helmet from the hook and pulled it over his head. The auto-locks engaged, and he was on his own life support. He looked at Kara, who had just donned her own helmet.
They hastened into the corridor, each of them running in opposite directions—Kara heading to main engineering and Noah running toward the bridge.
He headed toward the flashing lights of the bridge doors, using his implants to send his authentication. The doors opened and he went through, heading straight for the command station.
“Sitrep,” Noah said.
Chief Markovich’s eyes were focused on the holoscreen in front of him. “The I-Drive’s field integrity has been compromised, Captain. We’re unable to hold the field.”
Noah’s eyes widened and he swung his gaze toward the main holoscreen. The deck lurched to the side, and Noah grabbed onto the nearest handrail for support. The field wasn’t just destabilizing; they were off course and were almost out of control.
“Helm, disengage the I-Drive,” Noah said.
“It’s not responsive, Captain,” Myers replied.
Noah hastened toward the command station, using the handrails to steady himself.
Markovich looked at him. “There was some kind of gravitational anomaly detected and then the field started to destabilize. I ordered an emergency stop, but the computer core hasn’t been responding. It’s sluggish.”
Noah nodded. “It’s struggling to compensate.” He opened a comlink to main engineering.
The deck lurched again as if some great unseen force had swatted the entire ship like an irksome bug. Metallic straps burst from their chairs, locking Noah and the rest of the bridge crew in place.
Kara acknowledged his comlink.
“We’ve got to get the I-Drive offline or we’ll come apart,” Noah said.
“I’m at the controls and it’s not responding. The damn thing won’t acknowledge any commands I give it.”
Noah gritted his teeth and tried to think of a solution. “Cut the whole damn thing. Get to the power core and do an emergency reset.”
There were a few moments of silence. The ship would be destroyed if she couldn’t get it done.
“Noah—”
The comlink severed and a barrage of damage reports appeared on the main holoscreen. Then it flickered and went offline.
The ship shuddered violently, and Noah clenched his teeth, swallowing hard. He wanted to race down to main engineering. He knew what needed to be done, but so did Kara and the rest of the crew there. They were much closer to the problem, but that didn’t mean the powerful urge to do something about it wasn’t in him.
“What do we do, Captain?” Markovich asked.
The ship lurched again, and this time it felt as if the ground had fallen away from his feet and he was free-falling. He grabbed onto the armrests.
“Hold on!” Noah shouted. “Just hold on!”
5
Noah swallowed against a sudden ripple of nausea as the visual display on the main holoscreen altered abruptly. The endlessly shifting patterns of hyperspace flickered, jumping about with a chaotic cadence like a poorly executed animation. His readouts flashed steadily downward as the entire ship wobbled out of the bubble in space created by the I-Drive. A pattern of bright flashes raced past the external feeds on the main holoscreen, the I-Drive bleeding transit energy in curtains of azure glow. The flashes of lights cycled downward as their velocity decreased until the ship was once again in n-space.
Noah’s readouts stopped blinking. The visual display was suddenly still, filled once more with unwinking pinpricks of normal-space stars. He sagged against his restraints and the sense of nausea faded almost as quickly as it had come. He looked at the helm and navigation readouts. The Infinity’s velocity had dropped from 27c, or just over 29 billion kilometers per hour, to just under ten percent of c. It hadn’t been a smooth transition and they were tumbling through space.
Noah’s mouth was dry, and he cleared his throat. He lifted his head and turned toward Markovich. “Are you all right?” The chief nodded. “Everyone sound off. Is anyone injured?”
The bridge crew had only suffered some bumps and bruises. They’d all been strapped into their seats, but Noah knew that probably wasn’t true for everyone, and certainly not for anyone who hadn’t reached their emergency stations in time.
“We’ve got emergency power, Captain,” Markovich said.
Noah nodded. “Helm, we should have maneuvering thrusters. Get us out of this tumble and level us off. Ops, are any of our scanners working?”
Delta Mattison rubbed her face and blew out a breath. She reached toward her holoscreen and cycled through the menu of options. “Negative, Captain. Scanners are offline. I’ll review the logs and get the current status from engineering.”
“Understood. Everyone else, we need to find out what shape we’re in. I want to know what systems are operational and what needs to be repaired. Ms. Yu, are shipboard comms working?”
“Yes, Captain.”
That was something at least. Otherwise, he’d have to rely on limited comlink capabilities in the envirosuit.
Noah brought up the critical-systems readout on his personal holoscreen. Life support systems were only working on the bridge, but there were several areas that had been sectioned off. Believing it was better to conserve his suit’s life support reserves, he removed his helmet. After a few moments, the others on the bridge did the same.
Noah opened a comlink to main engineering.
“Engineer Duckman here, Captain.”
Kara hadn’t answered. His stomach sank and he scrunched his face into a tight frown as his heart rate spiked. She might not have been near any of the comlink terminals in main engineering. “What’s your status? We’re still on emergency power. When can main power be restored?” Noah asked.
“We have some injuries, Captain. Dr. Hathaway is on her way here with two of her aids. Uh, she’s just arrived,” Duckman said, sounding as if he were gesturing. “Chief Roberts was near the computing core. Captain, it’s going to take us some time to get things sorted down here. We need to do a full system purge and reset for the main reactor, but the main power relays have been overloaded. I can put together a schedule, but I need to show Dr. Hathaway where our injured spacers are.”
Noah heard the strain in Duckman’s voice. They were shaken up. “Understood. I’m going to make my way down to you.”
He severed the comlink and Markovich raised his eyebrows inquiringly. “We need to get damage-control teams deployed. I’m going down to main engineering. There are several people injured down there. I want you to take a team and check the forward sections. We need to account for everyone onboard.”
“I’m on it, Captain,” Markovich replied.
Noah tried to open a comlink to Kara, but there was no response. He shook his head and chided himself. He needed to focus.
He walked toward the helm station.
Myers looked up at him from his console. “I’ve managed to reduce the tumble, but with the main engines offline, it’s going to take a lot of time.”
“Smooth us out as much as you can, and I’ll see what I can do about getting the main engines back online.”
“Aye, Captain,” Myers replied.
The inertia compensators and the artificial gravity still worked throughout the ship. At least those systems were still online. They could run off emergency power, but with the ship still tumbling through space, those systems were going to drain the power reserves before long. He might need to reduce the artificial gravity field to fifty percent of Earth norm if this kept up.
“Ms. Mattison, you have the con. I’m heading down to main engineering. I’ll conduct a deck sweep on my way down,” Noah said.
“Understood, Captain,” she replied.
Noah grabbed his helmet and headed for the door. He opened a comlink to Sean. The bridge doors opened, and he saw Sean striding toward him. He killed the comlink.
“Are you all right?” Noah asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I have a couple of teams conducting a sweep of the decks below,” Sean said and shrugged. “That is…”
“Good, thanks for that. I have Markovich leading a team checking forward of the bridge. I’m heading down to main engineering.”
Sean nodded and fell into step beside him. “Is Kara okay?”
“I don’t know. I can’t reach her via comms. There are some people injured. Main power is offline, along with four major systems that are causing a cascade of systems failures throughout the ship,” Noah said with an edge to his voice.
“When it rains, it pours.”
Noah hastened past the elevator and entered the stairwell. Elevators would remain offline until he knew the extent of the damage to the ship.
“Are any of your people injured?” Noah asked as they turned a corner and descended another flight of stairs.
“Yeah, seven have been taken to sickbay to get checked by the doctor. Mainly impact trauma but nothing life threatening as far as I can tell.”
They reached main engineering and Noah heard Kara’s screams echoing through the corridor to the computing core. He ran, swinging off his helmet as he sped toward her voice. There were several people being carried out on stretchers. The lights flickered nearby, and Noah smelt acrid smoke from a recent fire.
“I can’t reach her like this. I need the pressure jack to lift this thing off her—Captain!” Duckman said. He’d been speaking to Dr. Hathaway.
“Kara!” Noah called out.
“Noah,” she answered in a gasp of pain.
He couldn’t see her. There were several processing unit towers smashed together over the entire work area in the computing core.
“We’re going to get you out of there. Just hold on,” Noah said. He scanned the area, searching for a way to get to his wife.
The walls of the towers had torn open, exposing numerous metallic shafts that made up one of hundreds of the Infinity’s central processing units. Long metallic rods pierced the towers’ shield walls like spears. They were bent into a tangled mess, and his wife was somewhere inside.
He stepped to the side and leaned around, careful not to put any of his weight on the towers. He couldn’t see her face, but there was blood on her legs. A chunk of a tower had her pinned to the floor.
Noah looked at Dr. Hathaway and spoke before he lost his nerve. “She’s wedged to the floor by the rods. There’s some blood.”
Hathaway leaned over to take a look. “The rods might be what’s keeping her from bleeding out.”
“If I can get them off her, will you be able to save her?”
Hathaway blinked a few times. “I’ll need a path to her as soon as you clear the debris. I can’t even examine her to see what the extent of her injuries are. If you’re seeing blood, that means her envirosuit has been breached.”
Noah clenched his teeth and nodded.
Duckman came over to him. “I have two pressure jacks on the way here. We can get her out of there as soon as they arrive.”
Kara cried out in pain as the entire mass of debris shifted. “Noah!”
“I’m here, Kara! I’m here. We’re working on getting you out of there.”
“My legs. Oh God, my legs… ahh! There’s so much pain. So much pain—” she bit off the last of her words with a gasp.
Noah swung his gaze around, hoping someone could help, but all he got in return were sympathetic looks.
Kara cried out again, and it tore at his heart.
Noah clenched his teeth and growled in frustration. He spun around, frantically searching for something he could use to get her out of there. “We can’t wait for the pressure jacks. Duckman, I want you, and…” he paused, searching for someone else, “you, Xavier, come over here. Get ready to lift. Sean, I want you on the right side with me.”
“Captain,” Duckman said, “all of us here can’t lift even one of those towers, let alone three. We have to wait for the jacks—”
“Do what I say!” Noah snarled, startling them to silence. He turned toward the doctor. “I can see her legs from the right side. We’ll get this up and you can reach her.”
Hathaway glanced at the others for half a second, then moved toward the right side and squatted. She clutched her med kit to her side.
Sean moved into position, grabbed a section of metal, and waited for him.
Noah accessed the ship systems for the area through his wrist computer, bringing up the artificial gravity controls. “Engage the magnets in your boots,” he said. The others clicked their heels together and the boots of their envirosuits became active.
Noah reduced the artificial gravity field to ten percent. “Okay, together now. Lift!”
The four of them lifted the tangled mess of processing units off the floor.
“Hold it right here,” Hathaway said and scrambled underneath. “She’s clear!”
“All right,” Noah said. “Let’s move this away over here,” he said and tipped his head to the side in the universal gesture indicating the nearest clear space.
They carried the remains of the processing units off to the side and lowered them to the ground.
“I don’t believe it,” Duckman stammered. “I’m such an idiot. I didn’t even think of lowering the artificial gravity field.”
Noah hastened over to Kara.
Hathaway had placed trauma packs on Kara’s legs and was running a scanner over her waist toward her chest.
Kara winced. She was in so much pain. Noah froze at the sight of her. He stood there blinking, not knowing what to do, but he wanted to do something to take away her pain more than anything. Every instinct inside him urged him to hold his wife in his arms, and through sheer force of will, make her better. He waited. He had to. He couldn’t give in to his primal protective instincts, and he hated not being able to do more.
Dr. Hathaway pushed a metallic cylinder to the side of Kara’s neck and pressed the button. “This will dull the pain. You’re bleeding internally, and your legs, pelvis, and back have been crushed. We’ll give the medical nanites a chance to reach the problem areas, and then we’ll move you to sickbay.”
Noah swallowed hard, his throat as dry as a barren planet. He sank to the deck by Kara’s side. She looked up at him, and her lips trembled as her eyes seemed to lose focus and her blinks became longer. He reached out, took her hand in his own, and leaned closer. “You’re going to be all right. You hear me? You just lay there and relax for a minute. You’re going to be all right. Don’t worry about anything.”
“Noah,” Kara said softly. Her eyes were open, but she seemed to be staring past him. “Is the baby okay?”
Noah’s mouth slackened and the breath caught in his throat. His gaze darted toward Kara’s stomach.
“Did she say baby?” Hathaway asked.
Noah’s thoughts flatlined, and his mouth refused to form any words.
Is the baby okay?
Hathaway brought up her scanner and made circular motions above Kara’s stomach, staring intently at the small holoscreen.
Sean squatted across from him, his eyes wide. “She’s pregnant?”
Noah shook his head, his breath coming in gasps. “I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said and looked at the doctor. “Is she?”
Hathaway closed the scanner, the edges of her lips drawing downward grimly. She looked at Noah. “I’m so sorry. There was too much trauma. I can’t detect anything. I’m so sorry.”
Sorrow closed his throat and he looked at his wife, going blind for a few seconds before blinking away the tears. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing evenly.
He let go of her hand, laying it down gently by her side. Then he opened his wrist computer and accessed Kara’s biochip records.
“She was pregnant. She just found out. Her chip sent an alert to her earlier today.” He lifted his gaze toward Sean. “She was pregnant, Sean.” The words caught in his throat and his mind went numb as waves of emotion threatened to overwhelm him. He just sat there. Kara was alive, but their baby…
Noah rocked back and forth. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. I don’t…”
Sean reached out and grabbed Noah’s shoulder. “Hey,” he said, firmly. “Hey, just breathe. Okay, just breathe. One second at a time. Just breathe, Noah.”
Noah nodded and closed his eyes.
He inhaled a breath, held it for a second, and then released it. It was all he could do, but what he wanted to do was scream.
6
Connor was descending the stairs of the colonial administration building in Sierra when his wrist computer buzzed a warning for his upcoming appointment, and he dismissed it. It had been seven hours since they’d lost contact with the Infinity. He reached the seventy-fourth floor and palmed the door controls, striding down the hallway heading toward the governor’s office. A security agent looked at him and waved him through the checkpoint.
