Chapter Two
He arrived on the
deck of the sensor room a few seconds later, he
stepped out of the turbolift and began walking in the direction of the sensor
room that was a few dozen meters down the corridor.
"Computer, are
you still there?" He asked.
"Affirmative,"
The computer responded.
"Good." He
said. "Can you give me the position of the second life-form that is
onboard the ship?"
"Affirmative,"
It answered. "Life-form is located in the armory."
Stevenson froze. The
armory was located on the same deck as the sensor control room. The same deck
he was on.
Of course, the life-form
could be a sensor malfunction but it was unlikely. It was no use to try to
reassure himself...He was scared...Stevenson took a deep breath and resumed his
walk towards the sensor control room. He came to the room without incident and
entered.
The room was not
unlike the rest of the ship, empty, dark and silent. He walked to the main
console and tried to access the sensor logs for the past few days. He managed
to go around a few little bugs in the systems and gained access to the external
sensor logs of the past week.
So, three days ago,
the Valiant was cruising around routinely through space. Two days ago,
the Valiant wasn't moving, the logs also showed a disturbance in local
gravimetric readings--which could indicate another ship. The day before, the
readings were virtually the same as the ones from two days ago. And the sensor
readings for today said that the Valiant was the only ship in the area.
Nothing else...
Besides the curious
gravimetric disturbance, there wasn't much Stevenson was going to learn from
the sensor logs. The possibility of another ship in the area was an interesting
discovery, but not a very useful one.
He nodded:
"Okay..." He needed to access the internal sensors logs, but the
access to the subroutine was obstructed by an information gap in the system. He
didn't have the computer skills or the tools necessary to repair such a
problem.
He wouldn't learn
anything more by staying here...
He stood up and was
about to exit the room when he suddenly stopped, he said: "Computer, give
me the location of the unidentified life-form on board the Valiant."
"Unidentified
life-form is in corridor 8 section D-1."
That was just
outside the sensor control room.
"Computer,
secure the door of this room!" He said quickly.
Almost immediately
after giving the order, Stevenson heard a strange noise from behind the door. A
low humming noise...
Stevenson kept his
eyes locked on the door, he backed away slowly...
The humming sound
just got louder with every second that passed, Stevenson was getting really
nervous: "Uh...Computer..." He said. "You wouldn't happen to
have a way out of this room?"
"Jefferies
tube access JA27." The computer said.
Stevenson scanned the
room and saw the small access door to the Jefferies tube. He quickly opened it
and entered, leaving the humming sound behind.
This was his
environment, he was an engineer, he spent long hours every day inside several
of these cramped Jefferies tubes and he got to know them almost by heart.
Soon enough, he came
out of the Jefferies tube into engineering.
He
walked to the main console at the center of engineering to check the power
systems. He asked the computer once again: "Computer, locate unidentified life-form."
"Sensor
control room."
After having entered
the control room, the life-form had stopped, which was good. The farther the life-form
was, the more comfortable he felt.
Now, the power
systems...
Propulsion, shields,
weapons, all of the main systems were offline. The auxiliary power was making
sure that the necessary systems--life support, auxiliary lights--didn't fail.
"Computer, could
you tell me where all the power is going, please?" He asked.
"Power is
being drained by an exterior influence." The pleasant voice of the
computer answered.
"Can you
identify the 'exterior influence' please?" He said.
"Unable to
comply, sensors are not functioning."
He sighed.
Suddenly, he got an
idea.
He moved across
engineering towards his office. His office in engineering was a cramped
three-by-three meter room with a chair, a desk with a computer and a
replicator. It was separated from engineering by a thin door which opened
half-way when he approached it. He squeezed through the two doors and let himself
fall into his chair.
He pressed on the button
to activate his computer; it was a laptop and wasn't connected to the main
ship's systems so it worked with no problem.
"Computer,
access my logs for the past three days."
The logs were
displayed on the screen; they continued at regular intervals but stopped the
morning of the day before. Strange...He usually took logs every day, normal and
personal. What had caused him to not make his logs? The only reason he
wouldn't make a log entry would be if he was unconscious or not aboard the
ship.
So, it was
reasonable to believe that one of these things had happened to him the day
before, and whatever had happened to him had also caused him to lose his memory
of the past three days.
"What is going
on?" He whispered to himself.
Then, he heard a
sound...
It was the buzzing
sound he had heard in the sensor control room...
When the life-form
had been nearby...
He quickly said:
"Computer! Close the door to my office and lock!"
The computer
cooperated and the doors of his office closed and locked, leaving him alone in
the small room.
The buzzing sound
was slowly getting louder and louder. He could only assume that the life-form
was getting closer...He looked around his office to see if there was anything
he could use to defend himself. There wasn't...
The sound got
louder...and louder...
Then, there were a
few strange crackling noises and...
And the doors
opened...
Stevenson stared up
at the life-form...
It was a large mass
of blue crackling energy, almost like living blue static, it had the vague
shape of a humanoid but Stevenson couldn't locate anything familiar.
And then he looked
up at the 'face' of the creature...
It was the spectral
face of Captain Alan Kline...