Until the Dawn, page 33
It was well past dinner time when he and Greg mutually agreed to suspend operations for yet another day. They were still busy with the huge task of identifying and replacing burnt out circuit boards and other computer components, but fortunately for them the electronics division of their Lab wing had kicked its hardware production into overdrive. Normally this was Aaron's department, but Norris had decided to keep him busy steering the ship in the Command Dome. They no longer needed his innovative hardware design skills since the original schematics for the CAS systems were stored in their central mainframe. The electronics production this time around was geared toward replacement – specifically the equipment that had been damaged or destroyed during their unplanned transit into the gravity river.
Trey entered his quarters tired, hungry and slightly dejected. They had gotten so used to having the CAS singularity available for the Waywardsman's power needs that the comment he had recently made to Jillian about her being spoiled by its capabilities now seemed like a nasty omen. He was reaching for the light switch when he suddenly heard snoring. Grinning to himself he decided to leave the lights off and not disturb Nell. Dressed in cut-off jeans shorts and a T-shirt, his girlfriend from the Observatory was sacked out comfortably on his couch, sound asleep. He noticed that George was curled up and tucked comfortably between her ankles, purring as he enjoyed the warmth from her legs on both sides of his fur-lined body.
"Lucky you," he whispered to the cat and moved to the kitchen area. He opened his refrigerator and began looking for something to make a sandwich with. Since he still lived by himself – except when Nell was around – there weren't a lot of choices available. He was still rummaging through his meager choices when he heard her soft voice from behind him.
"Late night, huh?" she asked, sitting up carefully. George also got up as she moved her legs and hopped down to the carpet. The cat yawned slowly and then stretched out his front paws, doing his best to wake up. Nell reached a hand down and stroked his fluffy fur as he walked by, causing George to roll onto his back and playfully paw at her fingers.
"I guess so… it's not too often that I knock off for the day later than you do," Trey commented. "There's nothing in my fridge. MAarone, would you please do me the honor of accompanying me to one of the restaurants for a late supper?"
"Maybe," she said, reaching down with both hands to rub George's tummy. The cat decided to escalate the encounter, wrapping all four paws around her hands and starting to gnaw on her knuckles. She continued to tickle him and George suddenly decided enough was enough and leaped to his feet. The black and white furred cat scrambled quickly all the way into the kitchen before pausing alertly by Trey' feet, his tail curled high into the air.
"Maybe?" Trey asked curiously. "Woman, I'm hungry enough to eat one of those cows up in the Livestock wing all by myself. After looking at computer components all day, I was seriously thinking about using up one of my steak rations."
"Sit down on the couch," she said coyly, motioning to the opposite side of the sofa.
"Well… maybe I want to sit next to you," grinned Trey, winking at her.
"Nope, you've been working really hard so I'm going to teach you a new stress relief game, but it requires you to sit across from me," Nell decided. She continued to sit against one side of the sofa with her legs stretched attractively along its length. Realizing he wanted to eat dinner within the next millennium, Trey decided to humor her and sat down where she indicated. He swung his legs up onto the couch and she carefully curled at the knees so that he had room to place the bottom of his feet against hers. The material in his socks was all that separated their feet – he noticed she had left both her shoes and stockings sitting next to the doorway. Things were getting interesting, he mused silently.
"A new stress relief game, huh?" Trey asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at her.
"It's a piece of cake and really easy to learn," she countered, smirking at him. "I ask you questions and you answer them. If I like your answers you get a positive response."
"That sounds a lot like you have most of the power and control over this game," he noted with amusement.
"Exactly," Nell said, rubbing one of her feet along the inside of his shin. She ignored the puzzled look he gave her, noting that he didn't exactly yank his leg away from her probing foot. "How long have we been going together, Trey?"
"95 days," he replied. "That one is easy, because our first date was back on the Fourth of July. We went to the party in the Garden wing together and you captured my heart that night."
"Ooh, good answer," Nell smiled, moving her foot up to the inside of his thigh. She slowly rubbed her toes back and forth across his leg and watched the young scientist begin to grow steadily uncomfortable. In her off duty hours she spent a lot of time walking with Melissa, Jillian, and Liane in the Garden wing. The lovely tan on her legs that this exposure gave her was not lost on Trey as he struggled to maintain his composure.
"Do you want to work toward a positive, long-term relationship with me and me only?" She blinked her eyelids at him and blew him a kiss.
"Absolutely," Trey said, continuing to grow more and more uncomfortable as her foot continued to wind its way around the inside of his legs. He had to carefully sit up and shift position slightly as her foot worked its way under his shirt and onto his bare stomach beneath. "I'm a scientist. Do you realize how heavily the odds are against another female of any sort ever being attracted to me?"
"Do you want to have children with me?" she asked. He noticed her tone of voice had a distinctly serious flavor to it.
"As long as they don't turn out like Aaron," he chuckled, laughing gleefully at his own joke. Nell's foot suddenly withdrew quickly from beneath his shirt and kicked him smartly on the shin. "Ouch!" he growled and then grew serious as he saw the expression on her face.
"Do you want to have children with me?" she repeated. "Do you want to start a family regardless of where we end up on this trek through the universe of ours?"
"As long as it's with you, Nell Hansen," Trey said sincerely. "After what happened to me emotionally as a result of the attack on Earth, I never expected a girl to ever look at me seriously again, much less a beautiful person like you." Both of her bare feet slipped under his shirt and he struggled mightily to maintain his dignified posture. He mentally forced himself to take large, deep breaths and cautioned himself to ignore the sight of her lovely bare legs. He was successful with the deep breaths, but found that he inexplicably couldn't remember what the second part of his plan had been.
"Do you like me?" she asked, fluttering her eyelids at him again. "Do you really like me, Trey Rem?" He looked into her dark brown eyes and smiled.
"I love you, Nell, and I'm not afraid to say it. I don't care where we end up or what obstacles we have to overcome, as long as I spend the time with you…" He watched her face begin to glow with embarrassment and was pleased to discover that she could grow somewhat uncomfortable as well. "If it's a commitment you're looking for, you've got it. Don't worry about silly little things like that."
"Are you proposing to me?" she wondered out loud.
"Hell no. You'll know when I'm proposing to you because it'll be a complete surprise and I'll do the deed properly." He was a bit puzzled and risked a quick look toward the kitchen where George sat carefully washing his face with one paw. "I thought you said this was a stress relief game. So far it's been more of a heart to heart…"
Her T-Shirt hit him squarely in the face, leaving him temporarily unable to see and beginning to realize that everything his friends had told him about women over the years was pretty much true. "What do you think happens next?" she asked.
"I'll tell you what," Trey decided, tossing the shirt aside. "I may not be the toughest, most physical guy on the ship but I am a guy." He got up off of the couch and watched her playfully stand up on it, her feet sinking deep into its cushions. He walked over and stood next to her with his mouth inches from her bare stomach. She was a knockout anyway you looked at her… so having her stand there in short shorts with only a bra on was just about more than Trey could take. "Okay, now I get it," he grinned, "You're in control of the questions, and it's my job to take care of the stress relief part." He kissed her bare stomach several times, focusing particularly on her navel area. He finally couldn't resist and grabbed her firmly around the waist with both hands and lifted her gently to the carpeted floor.
"Kiss me," she said and Trey quickly obliged her. He had minimum experience at close encounters with women so his hands delightfully began exploring the curves and surface of her skin. Somewhere around that time her bra hit the floor followed almost immediately by his shirt and suddenly they were kissing deeply and passionately. She pulled back from his kiss and gasped for breath while Trey sank to his knees, kissing her beautiful naked breasts. Both his hands and hers worked furiously to remove their remaining clothes.
"What if…" she gasped as he continued kissing her breasts and bared stomach. "What if you and Greg can't get the CAS Drive fixed? That means we're trapped in this gravity river."
"Oh we'll get it working again," Trey promised. "And if we don't, then I guess I'm spending eternity with you!" Laughing, he picked her up – Nell took the opportunity to wrap her legs around his waist. She giggled uncontrollably as Trey took a step forward and nearly fell.
"Don't quite… know if I'm… made for this," he chuckled as they stumbled toward the bedroom. He paused, noting that George was walking curiously toward them, his feline instincts sensing something interesting developing. "Sorry cat," Trey said firmly before shutting the door. "This is strictly a matter for the human animal."
* * *
Early the next morning, Norris arrived for the early watch in the Command Dome and took his usual seat. Each day since their arrival within Poseidon's influence, he had taken the time to carefully study the overhead monitors, admiring the breathtaking scenery that continually surrounded them within the gravity river. A substantial amount of matter continually poured into its clutches and the visible stars coming along for the ride kept everything brilliantly lit up in a spectacular display of patterns and color. If their CAS systems weren't so thoroughly damaged the Captain would have been overjoyed at this opportunity to study the natural wonder. However, the undeniable fact that many of their computers were still non-functional simply reinforced his initial conclusion that the power of this natural phenomenon needed to be respected.
William was not comfortable within Poseidon and never would be as long as they were trapped and unable to generate a stable singularity. Of course there was the option of using shorter, standard PTP transits to move the Waywardsman back into normal space. He was simply not ready to choose that option yet since the ship would expend massive amounts of fuel in the process. A non-CAS journey back to normal space would require years of continual travel and almost certainly force them to stop periodically in order to locate additional sources of fuel. He was proud of the Lab team that they had assembled and confident that only time and patience was needed in order to fully restore their CAS systems.
Of course there was also the issue of just who had brought them here. That was yet another reason he hesitated to begin moving out of the celestial river. Someone unknown to them had obviously been observing their progress very closely since the Waywardsman left the Milky Way and had even gone so far as to ask for their trust. Waiting to see whether a CAS singularity could be generated within Poseidon's gravity addressed at least three immediate issues: (1) Could they CAS transit out again given the conditions of the environment surrounding them? (2) Would the unknown person or persons observing them show themselves or at least attempt to make contact? And lastly, (3) It was the Captain's experience that patience was almost always rewarded in the long run. Taking their time in this case gave Jillian and her staff in the Observatory wing what they had most longed for since their journey started – the opportunity to conduct a detailed study of a marvel like Poseidon up close.
Thus far they had detected no direct threat to the safety of the ship or its crew… that was what mattered most to Norris at this point. The unexpected battle in the wasteland galaxy had left him more than a little bit cautious. It had reinforced the need to be watchful and mindful of the unpredictable dangers that surrounded them so far from familiar space. The speed and precision of the alien attack had shocked him, making the Captain more determined than ever to be ready for anything – any danger – that might appear and threaten them again.
William glanced up sharply, noticing that Aaron had snuck in sometime during his silent study of the glittering nebulae on the monitors. The elder Rem was busy reviewing information on the helm console with one hand while attempting to maintain his grip on a hot cup of coffee with the other. The Ensign he relieved nodded gratefully and headed toward the nearest exit, probably on his way to grab a bite to eat and almost certainly to get some rest. The Comm-link next to the Captain lit up and he quickly acknowledged the signal.
"Good morning, Captain Norris, this is Murray," Colonel Emerson said, his voice breaking the peaceful silence that – until now – had dominated the Command Dome. "I hate to bother you this early, but we've got a situation in progress down here on deck four and I could really use your help."
"What's going on?" asked William curiously.
"There's another potential security breach in Peter Wrangler's quarters. We've got a level one alert in place down here and armed troops on the scene since people are naturally a bit edgy where Mr. Wrangler is concerned."
"I'm on my way," Norris replied. "I'll be down in ten minutes."
"Oh, and Captain?" the Colonel asked quickly.
"I'm still here," said William reassuringly.
"Before you do come down, I'd suggest you take a look at security file 'Murray100' in the computer log. It will explain a lot."
"Acknowledged," replied Norris. He snapped the Comm-link closed and activated his work station, using it to quickly call up and review the information that Emerson had drawn his attention to. He shook his head in dismay at what he saw before shutting down the computer and rising to his feet. "Aaron, I'm going down to deck four to see what all the fuss is about. I'd be most grateful if you would mind the store for me while I'm gone."
"We'll keep your seat warm, sir," Aaron grinned cheerfully, taking a slow sip of coffee.
* * *
Norris found chaos on deck four, but not at the high level he had expected. The marines had forced most of the civilians back from around Peter Wrangler's quarters, but there was still a large enough crowd of angry civilians to make the situation dangerous.
"Traitor!" someone shouted angrily. "Freaking child killer!" Other people joined in, shouting their own insults and heated comments. The situation was definitely in danger of escalating and would certainly have done so by now if the marines had not aggressively formed a protective circle, their backs to each other, at the crowd's center.
"Our Council gave you a second chance!" Jon Komm pointed out, standing at the forefront of the crowd in the doorway to his quarters. "You Brotherhood murderers think you've beaten us, but in the end you'll find out that Americans cannot be held down for long!"
The Captain wasn't the least bit surprised to see Jon leading the mob – his outright hatred for his Brotherhood neighbor was well known amongst the crew. Komm pointed at Peter Wrangler, who was standing next to four armed marines and still wore an apron from his morning shift in the restaurant.
Noticing Norris's arrival, Colonel Emerson hastily stepped forward to join him. His expression was concerned but so far his troops had maintained the peace.
"Someone found a small black rock lying in the corridor this morning," Murray said informatively. "They reported the find to Security, so we ran a priority check and it turned out to be fuel ore. I immediately initiated a security alert and we searched Wrangler's quarters. These were found in his desk drawer." He carefully handed Norris three more dark-colored mineral stones.
"That certainly explains our current situation," William decided, glancing curiously at the stones in his hand. "Thanks for taking charge and keeping things under control."
"You're welcome," replied the Colonel.
In front of them, Komm pointed an angry finger at Wrangler. "We should shove you out a damned airlock for this!" he shouted. "That will put a stop to your private little bomb-making business." He waved his arms and tried to start a chant of "Airlock, airlock, airlock…" Some members of the crowd began to chant with him but were abruptly silenced as Norris stepped forward. He grabbed the hand Komm was pointing with and yanked the man toward him, staring fiercely into the other man's eyes as he did so.
"Are you finished?" the Captain snarled angrily. "I don't appreciate people trying to form a lynch mob on my ship."
