Chameleon Ch 31

Rianya and Zalara took a stroll to the beach when they finished another basket of sweet buns, red-fruit, and nutty-tasting, white cheese balls. It had been some time since the two of them had been together on a sandy shore, waves leisurely lapping, and no sounds of technology to spoil the peace. They held hands, and Zalara bounced as they walked, full of childhood energy stored up for several months.

While Zalara splashed in the waves, Rianya sat on the sand, her legs out, propped up with her arms behind her and her palms flat. With the sun high, the shadow of the cooling tower was close to its base. The day before, steam swilled from the top like a cloud factory, endlessly rising into the sky. Today nothing emerged, no sounds, steam, electricity, heat, or even people from the doors of the short, square buildings across the field.

Happy people of all kinds wandered the town. Green Pegasi males and females; short, furry Kiians, mostly females; Cetians, with ruddy skin, families, mostly; a few humans as well, mostly men there too, many wearing hats to protect against the bright light of Tau Ceti. She breathed in deeply, the fishy odors of the ocean, the sweet meadow grass, and burning wood with meat drippings sizzling in the air. Zalara jumped in and out of the water as the wave chased her up the shallow beach and rushed away just as quickly.

She’d grown tired of thinking all the time. For years her brain was always occupied, studying, solving problems, keeping track of her daughter, missing her family, wondering how she’d gone from a widowed country veterinarian to a space faring medicine woman with a husband in command of a ship that traveled in the skies, with the stars. Yet that first time she saw him, lean, long legged, his skin glistening with salt water, making his way up the shore after his morning swim, that’s when she knew, right then, nothing would be the same from that moment on.

Turning her mind off was impossible, of course. And foremost, a new baby to focus on. Zalara would have to spend less time with her and more with Tom, or any of the crew, who all adored her. But Earth was only a few months away. And there her brain began to flip flop. Tom was more fervent than ever about his command, and the crew admired him, would follow him anywhere. He’d earned that respect, and how could she ask him to forgo the life he’d created?

And then there was Cerebrus.

“Mama!” Zalara trotted up the shore with an interesting animal in her hands. “Look what I caught!”

“What is that?” she asked, hoping the creature wasn’t required to be in the water to live, like a fish. “Where did you find it?”

“In the rocks. It was coming out of a hole.”

Rianya examined the hard-shelled creature carefully. It had several legs and four arms, at least the body seemed to indicate such. They could have been all legs for all she knew. It was an amazing shade of blue, with marbled white markings, on a semisoft, leathery body. Three eyeballs, arranged in a triangle on its – head? – blinked like a frog.

“It’s very pretty, but it could be dangerous. You never know, it could have poison, or teeth, or a stinger.” She turned it over in her hands. “It seems safe enough, but go put it back on the rocks. That’s where it lives. It might be hunting for food.” The girl took the animals and skipped back toward the shore. “Thank you for showing it to me,” she called. As the child moved out of earshot, she uttered “Next time ask first.”

As the sun began its slow decent toward the horizon, Rianya had had enough of examining her thoughts.  She had a touch of nausea as the baby wriggled in the confines of her environment. Zalara ran up, her four-toed feet covered in coarse sand, her legs wet with the very salty water of Tau Ceti D. She splatted face down on the sand, giggling.

“Baby is coming soon,” the girl said to her mother.

“What?”

“She said she is ready.”

“To you?”  Zalara put her hand on her mother’s belly.

“Yes. Can’t you hear?”  Rianya shook her head. “It’s in my head. I hear her in my head, not my ears.”

“I think I know what you mean. No, I don’t hear her.”

“Maybe you need to listen harder,” Zalara suggested sweetly.

“I didn’t think she knew how to speak yet.”

“What’s her name?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I don’t know who she is. You didn’t get your name for a few days.” Zalara rolled onto her back, adding sand to her hair.

“I like my name.”

“I’m glad. How about we go to our lodging and wait for Papa and Honey.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Yes, I guess you might be,” Rianya said. Zalara helped her mother to her feet and they meandered back to the picnic area where food vendors all offered their specialties, savory, sweet, and rich. Making the decision was the hardest part, but they landed on strips of meat covered in a fruity glaze, grilled roots of some kind, and a tart, citrusy drink which was surprisingly refreshing.

þ

Another group of people from Maria Mitchell arrived that same evening. Among them, Jay May, Chen Lee, Jane Ferris, Bailey and Keith Campbell; those returning included Philip Adams, Wilson Mills, John Chin, Stu Watson. Enough personnel had swapped shifts that it no longer mattered, and the skeleton crew was in perpetual ambiguity. But, for all intents and purposes, the crew had managed to swap without compromising the safety of the ship’s operations.

Quixote operated the Osprey to and from the Terra Ceti ~ Earth Compound. Rougeau and Cerebrus would be on the third shift with Tessa, Danielle, Kym Byrd, Ron Painter, and others. Cerebrus had settled himself on the bridge with Rougeau for the duration. Boredom, and impatience, had begun to set in with Rougeau, and despite routine tasks to carry out on the bridge, he paced, sat, stood, went to the mess, returned with food, looked out at Tau Ceti D from the fishbowl bow.

“Mr. Rougeau, are you unable to sit at the helm? I can perform your tasks, if needed.”

“Look at that beautiful planet. I didn’t know I wanted shore leave so badly,” the navigator admitted. “There’s no reason for both of us to be here.”

“Did you want to revoke your offer?”

“No, of course not! I just don’t understand always having two people on the bridge. I mean, I know why, but we’re in orbit, it seems redundant.”

“Especially since I am capable at all stations.”

“Except the captain’s chair,” Rougeau reminded him. The two locked eyes.

“Of course,” Cerebrus replied. A red signal on the helm lit up with an urgent, recurring beep. Both snapped their attention to the console.

“UOO, straight ahead, mass nearly six tons, dimension, rectangular, a bit over one by two by three meters. Composition, metallic, carbon-steel, temperature, approximately… my god,” Rougeau said. “three thousand one hundred Celsius. What would be in orbit at that temperature?” Cerebrus turned on several sensors, cameras, and other instruments to get information on the object.

“It’s probably a satellite or space junk,” Cerebrus said. “It’s too small to be a ship.”

“It’s too hot to be anything like that. Distance?”

“Nine kilometers.”

“Take evasive action,” Rougeau told the android. Without hesitation Cerebrus adjusted their trajectory enough to avoid a head on collision with the hot box. They watched as it seemingly floated past their port side. “Good work,” the man said.

A blast and explosion knocked the Maria Mitchell on her side, tossing the android and human out of their chairs, pitching them violently to the deck. The ship listed port, leaning into the damage, and slowly losing speed as the engines abruptly stopped.

“What the hell was that?” Rougeau shouted. The ship continued to roll, slowly, dropping the crew on its side, then the roof, then the side again before Cerebrus sprang to the console, unaffected by the same disorientation that life forms with inner ear balance mechanisms endured.

“Bridge! What’s going on?!” Quixote’s voice rumbled over the intercom. Rougeau grabbed hold of anything nailed down and dragged himself to the captain’s chair.

“Bridge! What’s going on?!?” This time the call was from Dr. Adams.

“Attention all crew! This is Ensign Rougeau. There’s been a malfunction,” was all he could say. “Commander Quixote, please report to the bridge. We’re trying to stabilize the ship and figure out what happened. Stand by!”

“I have dorsal and ventral views,” Cerebrus said, displaying holographic images of the ship in front of their eyes. “port and starboard views,” he added, and two more images appeared.

“Look at that!” Rougeau’s mouth dropped open with his first glance at the port side. A gargantuan rupture spanned the side of the ship from just behind the portholes to the edge of the torus ring. “Was that the box that hit us?”

“I would deduce that it magnetized and attached itself, but I don’t have any theories as to why it exploded.”

“What in blazes crashed into the ship?” Quixote bellowed the second the elevator door opened. Xe bounded down the steps into the nadir, giving Rougeau a hard look until the man climbed out of the captain’s chair. The footing was unstable, but manageable.

“We tried to avoid it, Commander, but we think it magnetized to the hull.”

“What is IT?”

“A small metallic box, very high temperature,” Rougeau said. The reptile focused on the image intently, and opened a com channel.

“Attention crew, we have a fire and hull breach port side, at the number four ridge. Engineering, send fire control crews in EV suits to port, ridge four, aft the portholes, deck three and four, the galley. All personnel evacuate decks three and four, port side, fore of the torus, aft of portholes.”

“Quixote, I am able without an EV suit to assist.” Quixote looked Cerebrus up and down.

“Go. Be sure to tether yourself! You won’t have an EV suit tether available. I don’t want you being sucked out.”

“Aye, Commander,” the android said, standing, and moving quickly to the elevator in a flash of white.

“You’re supposed to be driving the vehicle,” Quixote said sternly.

“It was little, and we tried to go around it. We did go around it. It must have followed us.”

“I don’t know why it would explode. Look at that breach. It must be ten meters long by another ten meters wide. It spans two decks.”

“I’ve got casualties here!” Adams’ voice squawked over the com.

“We’re putting teams on it, Doctor,” Quixote answered. “Rougeau, please man the helm while I take care of the repairs. Contact everyone on the surface and tell them to stay put.”

“Aye, Commander.”

Rougeau watched the commander rush up the steps and to the elevator, xe’s muscular tail flashing from side to side, whipping behind the saurian as xe spun about face, watching the elevator doors as they closed.